Pin it now, make it later- homemade almond butter
Organic raw almond butter is freaking expensive. Like around $20 bucks for a jar expensive. So when my mother-in-law told me how she started making her own peanut butter with her vitamix I thought we should give it a try with almond butter. I bought one pound of organic raw almonds for $12.99 and it yielded a large mason jar full of almond butter. Pretty good, right?
Read MoreRoad trip map
Sixteen hours driving, four bathroom breaks, three tanks of gas, and zero problems! As far as long road trips go, this was pretty easy. We didn't hit any traffic, only passed two cops (but were doing the speed limit), and only hit a little pocket of light rain for about fifteen minutes. Pretty good, right?
Even better, my dog was a trooper. He didn't whimper once the whole time. He leaned up on the console THE ENTIRE TIME and every once in a while would switch it up by pushing his nose under the arm of whichever one of us was sitting in the passenger seat as seen above.
We got in just after 11pm on Saturday, and on Sunday morning I went on a hunt for groceries. I thought I'd do a fridge check post, since this is probably the only time I'll ever have a clean enough fridge to post on the internet.
Top shelf: Pita pal hummus, Better Than Bouillon, strawberries, shredded cheese, Honest Tea Lori's Lemon*, three zucchinis.
Middle shelf: Three English cucumbers, a bag of kale, sprouts, a stack of meat (ground hamburger, ground bison, chicken and turkey bacon).
Bottom shelf: Celery, romaine, green beans, cauliflower.
Top shelf: Butter, ginger root, eggs.
Second shelf: feta, butter, more eggs (Greg eats 6 a day).
Third shelf: spinach, salsa.
Bottom shelf: Almond milk, apple cider vinegar, Just Cranberry.
Top shelf: ice trays, the best bread ever, frozen broccoli, Amy's burrito.
Bottom shelf: Frozen fruit for smoothies/sorbets, the best English muffins, salmon.
Looking forward to settling in and getting some yoga on the beach classes going. If you're local, check facebook for updates!
*****UPDATE***** It was just brought to my attention that Honest Tea is owned by Coca Cola. Coca Cola spent $1.7 million dollars on advertising to vote no on prop 37 in California, which would've required labeling of GMO products. Because of that reason, I will not buy Honest Tea in the future. Another contributor to the advertising campaign was Dean Foods, who owns Silk (the almond milk shown in my fridge). Looks like I won't be buying Silk products anymore, either. Ugh. Read more about the other organic and natural foods brands owned by larger corporations here.
I had kind of a rough day yesterday at the lyme doctor. Something is off and they don't know what it is. All I know is that I'm still having trouble walking, and various joints, including my elbows, are giving me problems which is why in this video I only did one chaturanga. I think this flow still works, though, and if you miss the chaturanga you can throw it in there between plank pose and downward dog to make the flow a little more traditional. This is a good sequence for the middle of the afternoon to combat the afternoon slump. It's suitable for all levels, just be sure you warm up first, and always work within a pain-free range. Have a great weekend!
PS- More videos here (please subscribe!), how to dress for yoga, and a seriously intense ab workout.
Yesterday was the first really warm day we've had since we got back to the states just over a week ago. Whenever the sun comes out like that it's like a guaranteed great day in my book and yesterday was no exception. My knees are still a little creaky with arthritis, but I couldn't resist putting on my sneakers and taking a walk. Later, an old friend from college came over. We had a home spa day- used the migun massage table my mom has, tried out a couple face masks (I used Origins Charcoal mask and she used Ren Glycolactic Skin Renewal Peel), and laid out on the deck to catch up. While we had been in touch while I was in Germany, there really is no substitute for hanging out and catching up in person.
A quick note about the face masks- I thought the charcoal one was okay. It tingled a bit, but I didn't really notice any results besides just having softer skin. My friend really liked the peel and said she noticed a difference right away.
What I ate Wednesday
The only problem with What I Ate Wednesday posts is that I need to remember to take pictures of my food before I eat it all. Anyway, here is a little of what I ate yesterday: a bowl of homemade granola with almond milk, an ezekiel english muffin, homemade raspberry sorbet (1c frozen raspberries, 1/2c almond milk and 2T maple syrup in a vitamix), and a green smoothie with cucumber, spinach, celery, lemon and apple. I'll be better at taking pictures next time. Who else does WIAW posts? I love to see what others eat and get ideas for meals!
PS- There's an awesome Food Revolution Summit happening online in a couple days that'll feature a bunch of awesome speakers. You can tune in live or up to 24 hours after to listen to them speak. It's free, so check it out!
Instant back pain relief
Backnobber by the Pressure Positive Company
I hurt my back yesterday shooting a video for later this week (will I ever learn to warm up before jumping right into things?!) and the only silver lining to the back pain is that my mom is a massage therapist and has all sorts of interesting tools for massage. We've got a futuristic silver cloud massage bed and all sorts of balms and oils, but the thing I most like is this backnobber. It's a metal s-shaped tool with wooden knobs at the end that you press to apply trigger point acupressure-type therapy to your knotted muscles. Feels so good!
*This is not a sponsored post.
