MaraNatha, I think I love you.

Hi guys!

So I have noticed that my blog has been doing that I-think-i’m-going-to-post-posts-on-different-days-then-they-were-posted-on thing again. How annoying! Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful What I Ate Wednesday (even though my post says that I posted it on Sunday…)! If you missed this week’s link party, check it out here and continue post WIAW stalking with me!

So, I kind of have a new obsession.

It’s not really new, but the way it is coming back into my life, you would think I have never seen such a food.

Lately, breakfast has meant putting almond butter on everything I can find.

Favorite things to smear in almond butter:

• Apples
• Apricots
• Dates
• Plums
• Green smoothies
• & Spoons

Do I have a problem? Perhaps.

It all happened when those awesome makers of MARANATHA ALMOND BUTTER sent me a free coupon good for any of their butters. I really wanted to try this product before I bought it. Afterall, it is the most expensive nut butter I have ever seen.

I’m not sure why their almond butter taste better than any other I have tried. It is just delicious! I cannot explain. it’s dry roasted almonds, seriously.

Thanks MaraNatha for this review and changing my views of almond butter!

For more MaraNatha products, visit here.

Can you guess what tomorrow’s Friday Feature will be? 😉

What is your favorite type of nut butter?

Farmers Market recap 6

Hi friends!

Wow, what a crazy week! After nearly 6 days of being extremely sick, I think I’m starting to feel better! It was so weird, I felt like everyday was a new illness because it was all so random! First the flu, then a cold, then what felt like strep throat or tonsilitis, then back to the flu… it was insane. Not mention my loss of appetite, that’s always a strange one for me. I ❤ food.

Recap

Raw nut butters for sale! Only sold 2 mini. 😦

Granola

Samples

Look at all of the cans!

No, you’re a jerk. This is Scott’s jerk marinade. Oh my goodness, IT’S HOT! I actually tried it though and it was good.

Banjo band playing behind our stand. Nice music but having to scream the ingredients to our customers was not joyful.

 

The Jar Head Salsa guys are our good friends. Scott helps them with marketing and I eat the salsa.

This booth belongs to another good friend of ours. She is super talented and friendly!

I didn’t realize this at the time I took this picture but I totally know this family!

Our first attempt at making mustard. It was a hit! Although this is what broke my Vitamix (more on that later).

I love how I never have to buy soap again, I simply trade for it.

Lots of plants!

beautiful day at the market 🙂

Taking Risks

I don’t like being a negative nancy on my blog (or in real life) but things just aren’t going “great”. I’m definitely not saying things are going bad, but honestly, Scott and I are starting to worry. I guess I really wouldn’t say “worry” but more “over thinking” if you will. We spend all of our money on food to prepare for the market, it’s actually extremely risky business because we never know what to expect! But people love us. & I know in my heart that God is always good. People like what we’re doing, they love seeing our new recipes we come up with and they love getting the chance to try new food. But we’re not really making money at the Market. What do we tell customers, “hey, buy our stuff so we can pay rent and not be homeless”. That will really make them want to come back. There is no doubt in our minds that we will continue to grow each week but, can we really keep up with buying new blenders and fancy jars to make the products the customer’s want to see? We really don’t know what to do! Except pray. Pray that we will get a few catering jobs just to help us grow a little more. Give thanks that we are extremely blessed to be living in such a great country in which we are able to do things like this. Be thankful for how much we have grown. And always stay hopeful because God is always good.

& With that said, we may have a new business opportunity coming up. Fingers crossed that they call back today.

Questions of the Day: Tell me about a time that you took a risk.

Winner Winner

Hi friends!

& new friends I made from my latest giveaway! I love you guys. Meeting new bloggers is so much fun!

Well, today is the big day. Let’s find out which two readers won a sample of my nut butters! But first, let’s talk about me!

Some of you on Twitter read my tweet about how I found 19 jars of nut butter in my house! 19! Oh man. This wasn’t even including the 2 jars I just used this week for OIAJ. Now do you believe me? I wasn’t lying when I told you I was getting serious about this Operation Overstock.

I started my cleaning yesterday after my post:

Wow that’s a lot of stuff. I turned that into this:

That’s a little better huh? You can tell which shelf is mine.

I found so much PASTA! Not just all mine either. I guess buying large amounts of pasta runs in the family.

Then I tackled my tea obsession:

And turned it into:

Taa-daa!

I’m really scared to get started on my canned goods. So many beans! That’s okay though, I can live off rice and beans. It’s one of my favorites!

I finally made an appointment to go see my Doctor for my knee pain.

The reason I don’t want to go to see my doctor is because I know she is just going to tell me that I need to stay off my feet and rest or take some painkillers. One, I’m not going to stay off my feet. My job requires me to stand on my feet for eight hours a day. Two, I love being active, hello! I love working out, I just don’t feel the same without it. I have recently developed a love for step aerobics and I’m not going to give that up. People keep telling me, “it’s probably just your joints..” or “you just have weak quads…” Well you know what? Excuse me for caring but, I want to fix that. I’m 19 years old, not 87. Even if I “rested” okay, then what? My knees are going to keep hurting whenever I work out? I’d rather them hurt then sit on my butt all day.

Anyway, I just hope my doctor sends me to see a knee specialist and actually does testing on me so we could just figure what the heck is wrong. I’ll keep you posted! But for now…

And the NUTTY winners are……

Mindrunningwild (pecan butter) & Butterjessfly (plain) !

Both new readers I believe!? Yay!

Congrats girls! Please email me with your addresses so I can send you that nut buttah!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Big Plans

A post that is NOT about the Royal Wedding:

Hi everyone!

Oh my, I have started so many posts for today but I think I’m just going to start fresh. I’ve been pretty stressed this week with exams and other things. One thing for sure is that my body was craving exercise!

The Week’s Workouts:

• Monday- Zumba
• Tuesday- Abs and cardio
• Wednesday- Cardio and Zumba
• Thurday- Two new classes! Strength training and a step class! After this I did more cardio.
• Friday- Cardio and lots of stretching! So sore.

I usually don’t go to the gym everyday but it really felt good. I’m done with my classes until next Wednesday so I actually have a little  bit of spare time. I feel like I’m getting back in my groove again and I’m loving it!

So I was going to wait until it was official but I just can’t wait any longer to share this news!

Starting May 15th, the boyfriend and I are going to have our own stand at our local Farmer’s Market! We haven’t turned in our app yet (still need to think of a name for the business…) but the manager loves our ideas! We will be selling vegan baked goods such as desserts, granola, and date bars (made by your truly) and then we will have other items such as different flavored hummus, spice mixes, salts (the bf is obsessed with salts), homemade nut butters, and other semi healthy vegan foods. I’m really looking forward to starting this business but it is quite stressful! Not to mention costly. This is a huge step for us and we are so thankful for this opportunity. I have hope that good things are going to come our way.

I also want to plan on having monthly giveaways of the products we make for my bloggins. I think that will be fun! Mainly because if it wasn’t for all of you, I wouldn’t be who I am today for so many reasons.

Big thanks!

What are your plans for the weekend?

On Sunday I am hoping to go to a huge Farmer’s Market in Detroit, MI. Basically to find a good deal on dates.

Texas SWAP

I loved hearing about your meal packing experience on my yesterday’s post! I enjoy packing meals because I’ll know that healthy meals are available throughout the day, and well, I’m forced eat healthy, right?

I also believe in a fun lunch bag such as:

In other news, Christin and I decided to do a food swap! Poor Christin doesn’t have a Trader Joe’s, so I got her TJ’s swag and she got me a lot of  s w e e t  things from TEXAS!

This girl hooked me up!

Purple Bird Christin’s packages included:

FRUIT LEATHERSS

You have no idea how badly I wanted to try these Artisana packets! Thanks girlfriend!

Homemade PB? Are you serious? I LOVE YOU.

Awesome bars I haven’t tried before…

Awesome AB I’ve never tried before…

AMAZING GRASS!

Roasted nuts

Local soap! My favorite.

PEANUT FLOUR that is no longer to be found?!?!?

Thank you so much CHRISTIN!

♥ I LOVE food swaps ♥

Nut Butter Week Recap

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a great Hug a Veg day. To be honest, I don’t really celebrate it because not a lot of people that I surround myself with approve of me as being vegan. Also, I had to work all day and in general, I have had a lot better days! How many hugs did you get?

I only taking two classes this semester and I’m already weighed down by homework. I just wrote a three-page essay and it took me over three hours! Really… three hours? It’s funny how its takes me so long to write a paper but it only takes me a fraction of that time to write a 400+ word blog post! 🙂 I also think it’s funny how my computer is a piece of shit and likes to mess with me while I’m trying to do semi-important tasks! Grr! Moving on…

In honor of Katie’s Nut Butter week I whipped up some meals using nut butters. Whatever Whitney, you use nut butters daily! 

Yeah so what, what vegan doesn’t! I did make a coconut butter smoothie for a late dinner one night:

I used

• 1 tbsp coconut butter
• a few frozen strawberries
• a few fresh raspberries
• a few frozen mangoes
• 3 tbsp soy yogurt
• 1/2 cup water

I loved how the coconut butter didn’t blend all the way so it had little coconut chunk surprises 🙂

For breakfast I like making PB&G’s (Peanut butter and granola sammies)

Adding apples or pears are a must…

And who could forget the hazelnut??? ♥

Best eaten with snackimals, pretzels, or in a grilled sandwich with pair slices.

What a fun week, thanks Katie!

I plan on starting my FITNESS CHALLENGE this week as well. Even with all this homework, I am going to plan exercise time in to get rid of this school stress. Longer posts to come later in the week involving…

• Sweet Potatoes
• Fitness
• New Larabars!