Peace Within, over 1300 Pageviews on VBK, & Christmas Banana "Ice-Cream"!!

The lighting is perfect: it's almost a gloomy day, dark and misty but the air is dry and silvery. Perfect time to post.

I've not had hardly any time at all to post, I just barely had to get a new phone because I dropped my old 5c on my friend's toe and it dropped and the screen literally faded to dark purple. What the heck? This past week was the last week of school before a whole 2 weeks of break! (I just adore Christmas and New Year's break!!) 

Anyway, in this post, I'm going to share my thoughts and feelings on how I've changed over the past couple of months, and how my change has been a good effect on me and my surroundings.

My mental health has improved quite a bit. Even though it may seem so sparkly and like I'm so joyful all the time, I'm not. I'm a real person with real feelings that I don't always brush off. What I've learned over the past couple of months is that my body is often in a war with itself. For now, I'm finding some unity within. 

Most days, my body image is alright. Some days though, I feel lonely and miserable, withdrawn and isolated. With these real feelings, I mask them into a false feeling I like to call 'fat'. I feel fat on those days. Here's something I've learned: you cannot simply feel fat, you must be calling yourself fat because of unwanted feelings you don't feel like coping or coming to terms with. This isn't for everybody, but I hear this a lot. 

I also have anxiety. Anxiety is merciless. My anxiety is not me, but I like to hide behind the shadow it creates. I usually fret over small flaws and details in my everyday life, whether it be me consuming food with a lower nutritional value than I'd like, or not moving around enough. 

Butterflies eat away at my gut. My eyes aren't my eyes anymore- they're some dark, shadow's eyes that have no depth with specks of panic. My hair becomes brittle and thin, and my hands turn eggplant purple; My hands become cold. There's also a constant ring inside my head- I'm not crazy, but guilt likes to bottle up inside my gut and come up to my head to explode. I think the guilt likes to trick me into thinking that I'm worth less than how much I really am.

When I feel like this, I am quick to recognize that I've sank to the bottom of a murky pool with sharp edges and weeds swimming around. Today I swam and pulled myself up to the surface of the pool; I am okay. 

The past few months have been mostly lived in peace. I like the word peace, it reminds me of a beautiful river streaming freely; I'd like to live in that river forever. The plan for the next couple of months is to renew peace within my body for good. Maybe my body and I can be friends. Think of your body as a house: you wouldn't try to burn it down, so why would you try to damage your body in order to even make it look like something unrealistic? 

For today, my body is at peace. It might not be tomorrow or the next day, but for today, that's enough.

On the other (less emotional) hand, VBK had reached over 1300 page views! What a pleasant surprise! Thanks to everyone who has read my blog. I'm blushing right now <3

Today I'm sharing with you guys a new favorite banana "ice-cream" recipe! You all know the drill- freeze some spotty-dotty bananas and whip 'em up to create an ice cream like texture. 

The right blend of citrus and matcha green-tea flavor along with berries really gives a pop-tart taste and smells just like Christmas should. Tip*: if you freeze the bananas and let them thaw for 10-15 minutes, then you'll make the blending process easier on your blender or food processor. 

HEALTHY CHRISTMAS CHEERY ICE'CREAM:

*2 frozen, spotty dotty ripe bananas, sliced

*1/3 C of any plant-based milk(s) (for this I used half coconut and half almond)

*1 tsp. each of matcha green-tea powder, pure vanilla extract, orange zest, and honey

*1/2 C of frozen mixed berries

*1/3 of a frozen acai berry packet

*2 ice cubes

*sprinkle of excitement for Christmas (coconut sugar)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Start whipping up your bananas with the plant-based milk(s), frozen berries and acai packet, and ice cubes. After, you should stir the stuff

2. Add in the rest of the ingredients and whip up some more. When you're finished whipping and stirring, then scoop the yumminess into a colorful Christmas bowl and let sit in the freezer for approx. 30 min. to an hour to harden and thicken up for the perfect ice-cream/frozen sorbet like texture. 

3. Sprinkle some coconut sugar on and enjoy by the fireplace! Actually, please don't. The whole thing will melt profusely. Stay cozy though!

***NOTE: Please take into account that I am posting something said very personal. If you are in any way triggered by this, then please notify me. I'm trying to, as I said, find some peace within and this is my journal. Xxx, Alli <3***

Life is like a cloud.
It's heavy, more cumbersome. It's also rainy but sunlight always shines through the murky, gloomy globs of mist and air. Actually, life is more like the weather- the right weather, that is. Life is like the weather in Utah, always right on the seasons and quick to shift out of order unexpectedly. Because how could it be like the weather somewhere always alluring and too honey-colored and charismatic, like in the South or in Hawaii?

As humans, we like to keep things on edge. The windy, boisterous days sum up hard faces and silent treatments, while the rainy days suffocate too much bliss and elation. In a weird way, those days level out in the early midst of Springtime and sometimes Autumn. In the real weather of Autumn/Fall, there are the crispy chills of burnt char and there is not much of the dewey scent lurking in the air anymore. Lemons are abundant in this season; There's only sour faces and too many sweet, superficial know-it-alls.

I'm not comparing how my mood is in these seasons, I'm just comparing the seasons to life. In the Summer, the cold lemonade stand resemble rebellion, and adventure is fresh in our minds. How about stepping out on the deck in a funky new halter top, or try rocking that pink mascara? But then there's the snow. The snow, there's only so much that I can brag about here in Utah. It's not slushy- rather a warm heat-blanket that covers the world around me. The books about Christmas aren't lying, the snow really is a huge blanket. Our lives revolve around the winter time. Not exactly the season, but life resembles it in a beautiful and wispy way. You're never too mental and never too alluring.

The point is that our lives must be sticky-sweet and too ripe but sour. If our lives revolved around the weather in, say Hawaii, there would be too many artificial sweeteners. I'm not bashing warm weather, but balance is good. In life balance is the key.

Balance is the key to a lifestyle. In food, in exercise and daily life, balance is everything. A little too much weight on one side, and the key to balance can be destroyed- forgotten and lost is what they say. It's so easy to leave out the essentials and to forget about balance. There is no such thing as normality, but there is such a thing to being sweet and sour. When life gives you lemons, make strawberry smoothies. Don't make lemonade. Just make lemon-water, it's more hydrating anyway.

STRAWBERRY MERRY SMOOTHIE

*1 C of frozen strawberries

*3/4 C of coconut milk

*1 tsp. of raw cacao powder and vanilla extract each

*1 super ooey-gooey persimmon

*1 package of frozen, pureed acai

*OPTIONAL, but what gives the best color and flavor: 1/2 of a frozen pitaya (you can use 1/2 of a PitayaPlus pack

*1/2 C of filtered water

Blend it all up in your Blendtec blender and practically inhale enjoy and have a wonderful, healthy Thanksgiving!

Xxx, Alli <3

VBK's Best Healthified Pancake Saturday Stack [wild blueberry and cinnamon mylkshake pancakes]

So many Pancake Sundays have gone by without notice. Such a shame. At least tomorrow shall be celebrated and praised with pancakes. I'm not sure why-maybe it's because making pancakes and taking pictures of them and noshing decorations for them making them pretty cute takes a long time. I am a girl with not a lot of patience. I like to get to the end of the story, where the girl lives happily ever after in the spotlight. I like my banana ice-cream right out of the blender, as opposed to letting it freeze for 2 hours just for the consistency. And I like pancakes that take less than 30 minutes. I'm pretty sure I've just done that. 

So fluffy, so light, and cinnamony with warmth and a heavenly scent that fills the house. I guess I should really take the time to make some delightful pancakes like these more often, because it's obviously all worth it! 

Cinnamony cinnamony eat it up, yum! These taste even better with wild blueberries inside them. They burst with a jammy flavor in your mouth- but don't let the wild blueberries spill everywhere! That happened to me and it was so not fun sweeping them up while they're juices spilled purple all over the place! 

VBK''S BEST PANCAKE SATURDAY STACK   

*1/8 C of coconut flour and pumpkin puree each

*1/2 C of oat flour (you can either buy this or grind rolled oats up in a blender/food processor.) + 1 Tbs. of rolled oats

*2 Tbs. of greek yogurt, plain or vanilla works well

*1 tsp. each of baking powder, vanilla bean extract, cinnamon, and either natural maple syrup or maple extract

*1/2 tsp. each of nutmeg, optional maca powder, and coconut sugar

*1/4 C of coconut milk

*2 egg whites or for a vegan substitute, use 1 flaxseed egg

Method to happiness:

1. Mix everything together and flip on a pre-heated pancake pan and top with lots of goodies.

2. ENJOY!! 

Let's go wild blueberry picking please

Xxxx, Alli

Spinach & Avocado Frozen Yogurt + Very Berry Kitchen's Favorite Banana "Ice-Cream!" (the oh-so vanilla post)

The days are going by too quick; It is almost Thanksgiving and we just barely got over Halloween! I have been getting lots of sore throats and cold chills recently, and I really hope that I don't start coughing all crazy because I literally look like quasi-modo whenever I cough! (Special Fact: drinking pineapple juice is 5x more helpful than cough medicine.***) Pumpkins and distinct kinds of cooky-shaped squashes are everywhere. I mean, literally everywhere because my sisters even have pumpkins in their rooms.

Next weekend, I plan to have a "healthified" booth at a Japanese boutique where you can sell anything you want! My uncle Mike is going to sell his bottle openers, and my bootiful cousin Madi is going to sell her precious bows  which are oh-so lovely! (I can't say that the bottle-openers are oh-so lovely! Teehee) 

Anyway, I'm still deciding on what to make for the boutique, because I want everything to look and taste sinful, but the treats and desserts will all be totally healthified and pro-nutrient dense! Maybe I'll make my legendary sweet-breads, or maybe even a fully-raw vegan cake. But for now, we shall eat and fantasize over a big bowl of spinachy-avo-froyo! Lettuce (pun pun!) have our froyo and always eat it.

SPINACH & AVOCADO FROYO + VBK'S FAVE NICE-CREAM!

*1 C of plain greek yogurt mixed with 1 tsp. of vanilla extract

*a huge handful of baby spinach

*2 Tbs. of soy milk (or any other plant-based milk your heart desires)

*1 rip of a vanilla bean

*1/2 of a super ripe banana

*1 frozen kiwi- diced so your food processor/blender can run smoothly

*1/4 of a mushy and super creamy avocado

*2 frozen, spotty dotty bananas + 1/2 of a banana- not frozen

*1 rip of a vanilla bean

*1 medjool date- pitted and pureed (if it's not pureed, then you might get teensy chunks of the date, even you have the highest-speed blender/food processor out there)

*2 ice cubes

*1/2 tsp. maple extract (or 1 Tbs. pure, natural maple extract)

*a tiny scoop of PB + a tiny drop of almond milk

Very Berry Kitchen's method:

1. In a very high-speed blender, blend the all of the ingredients together for the green frozen yogurt part. Pour this into half of a container and freeze.

3. In a food processor/blender, blend all of the banana ice cream ingredients together, save the PB and maple. After everything is blended all the way through, add the PB and maple and pulse. Pour this into the other half of the frozen container and freeze for at least 45 minutes for a creamier consistency. 

3. Top with any other yummies and ENJOY!!

this is the same recipe, but with some blackberries added to the nana nice-cream part <3

Xxx, Alli

One More Month Of Loveliness & Honey-Baked Strawberry and Poppy-Seed Almond Mini Bread Loaves

There are countless times I have jumped into big piles of burnt leaves.

A season I have always dreaded has actually grown on me. Pumpkin has burst into a flavor I have appreciated greatly and balsamic vinegar has become a staple with all things sour-dough. Maybe the charred leaves are good for props on instagram. And maybe, just maybe, I really do enjoy cinnamon flavored everything. 

Jumping for joy 

I love pictures! Pictures are memories that never end. You can replay the memories over and over again in pictures. Here's the thing: we all grow up but in pictures, everyone stays the same. Nobody is reminded of the animosity of a person someone has become. Or of the dead. Everybody is reminded of the sweet and crisp memories that they shared with the people in the pictures. That is just how life goes on and on and on. 

Anyway, the leaves in the American Fork canyon were beyond beautiful. They were not charred to a flaming red and pumpkin orange yet. They were bursting with dynamic yellows and the Aspen trees were thick with syrupy golden yellows and crimson red leaves. If I were a leaf, I would want to live in the season of Autumn forever. 

Well, I'm a person. I can at least eat Autumn spices and foods forever. So to be very honest with you all, I have been noshing eating lots of warm, creamy, honeyed sweet-breads everyday this Fall. 

I have a standard recipe for all of my mini loaves that pop in and out of my little toaster-oven, so you can surely tweak any of the recipes to make them you very own! This recipe that I'm featuring is going to be an almond poppy-seed and strawberry bread. I use only wholesome ingredients in these loaves, along with only whole wheat flour. You can mix up the whole wheat flour if you really want to: spelt flour is nice, oat flour, almond flour, or even regular all-purpose flour would suffice in this recipe. 

Nothing tastes more like the season of pumpkin spiced-lattes than these babies do!!

HONEY-BAKED STRAWBERRY AND POPPY-SEED ALMOND BREAD + ingredients

*3 Tbs. of whole wheat flour 

*1 1/2 tsp. each of bourbon vanilla extract, freshly squeezed (or bottled) lemon juice, maple syrup, and poppy-seeds

*2 Tbs. of low-fat greek yogurt (I used Trader Joes' brand, but you can of course use any other vegan sub. like soy yogurt or coconut-cultured yogurt. I just haven't found a brand I really like.)

*1/2 C of soy milk

*1/3 or 1/2 of a small mashed, and spotty dotty banana (just as ripe as you would use for traditional banana bread)

*1 tsp. of baking powder

*3 small and very berry delicious strawberries- roughly sliced

*some honey for drizzling over

My method:

1. In a measuring cup, mix the vanilla, lemon juice, maple syrup and milk together. This makes a vegan buttermilk with the lemon juice and milk. Let sit for 10-15 minutes or until it starts to curdle. 

2. Mix all of the ingredients together. Let this sit for approx. 10-15 minutes longer. 

3. Pour the bread batter into tiny bread loaves and drizzle with lots of honey/agave nectar. In a pre-heated toaster oven @425 degrees, bake for 16-18 minutes and ENJOY!!

Springtime, Missing Seasons, and Peachy Cinaamon Pear "Strudel" Baked Oats

I have an appetite for all things warm. I'm a flower child awakening at sunset. I'm a dragon fruit cactus that only opens up during nighttime, because nighttime is when all of the quiet and creepy animals and insects pop out into the fray of the moon reflecting its sliver rays onto the earth. I'm curling my toes hoping, wishing, and praying that the Fall weather will be delayed so I don't have to take my heat blanket out just yet. I need some balmy rain to heat me up- not the mysterious gloomy kind which only melts my happiness and leaves me feeling bitter and despairing inside. What can I say? I am attached to the weather. My mood is oscillating in the early spring time when mother nature is deciding which days will be wrecked with slush and rain, and which days will not be. I guess I'm spoiled. I take the heat for granted, and complain about the cold. I guess nighttime is when I should really be sleeping, but I lie awake at night dreaming about luminous sunsets and balmy winters at Disneyworld instead.

Today I will be sharing with you guys my favorite heat-me-up meal. I could tell you all that this is a meal to dream about at night, but I would rather you eat this in the day and fantasize your dreams at night. 

 These oats are perfect for rainy autumnal mornings when the weather isn't treating you well. In the background, there is a stack of pear and chai spiced pancakes topped with PB and raspberries. (Maybe I'll make a post on those pancakes one day :D) Anyway, strudels have never really been that great until this little beauty came along!

Peachy Cinnamon Pear Strudel Baked Oats (and what you'll need)

*2/3 C of old-fashioned rolled oats + 2 tsp. to sprinkle on top

*1 drop of stevia, or 1 Tbs. of pure maple syrup

*1/3 C each of any plant-based milk you desire (I used almond milk, but you can use rice, hemp, cashew, coconut, or even oat milk if you want!), and applesauce

*1/3 of a squishy-mushy overly ripe pear (Bartlett is the best kind in my opinion. bartlett is usually sweeter, softer, and easier to bite into)

*1/3 C of freshly squeezed peach juice. You may want to freeze a couple of too-ripe peaches that are too squishy to eat, and then microwave them. 

*1 tsp. each of date sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and baking powder

*1/2 tsp. nutmeg 

Method:

1. mix all of the wet ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. 

2. mix all of the dry ingredients together and slowly stir and add to the wet ingredients. Pour into a ramekin, (I use coconut oil spray so it doesn't stick) and sprinkle a few baby pear slices on top. For a crispier effect, sprinkled the 2 tsp. of oats, 1/2 tsp. of coconut sugar and cinnamon on top. This makes it so the oats look like a cobbler/strudel. 

3. At 350 degrees, you should bake your "strudel" at around 18-22 minutes. Serve with more plant-based milk and enjoy!!

Blueberry Bushes Forever & The Blue-Miracle Bowl Straight From Heaven

Ahhh…. the simplicity of it all. Isn't it incredible how the simplest fruits and vegetables can color and fill your life up?

I need a blueberry bush in my garden. In my cozy, homie, and not-green-enough garden. I mean, my garden is very green, but I'd like it to be a bit more versatile- with snow peas and watermelon sprouting voluntarily in the summer and avocado trees and broccoli bushes showering me with love during whatever season they are best in. Overall, I would like a lot of things. I would like a kitten named Coffeepot, a new screen in replace of my shattered on one my phone, and a towering blueberry bush that would last forever.

My summer trip to Seattle was lovely (you can read more about it in one of my recent posts). Blueberry picking and sight-seeing was the highlight of the trip, but mostly blueberry picking. It felt super therapeutic to roam and skip through the large bushes that seemed never ending. The blueberries were ripe and juicy- almost too juicy not to eat every one of them! I was in heaven. I was in a grassy green land where I felt like I belonged somewhere. I belong in a blueberry bush! We took home 8 pounds of pure, unadulterated blueberries that evening. Picking the berries became a full-on competition to see who could grasp the biggest and juiciest berries, and I think I won. (even though I pretty much ate all of  the bluebs anyway! Teehee)

Blueberries actually are not my favorite fruit, it's just the joys of picking them. Simplicity is best, so lettuce (pun pun!) water our broccoli gardens and carry on with the blueberry picking and eating. You can learn a lot about yourself by finding therapeutic adventures you love!

THE BLUE-MIRACLE BOWL OF LOVELY AND BLUEBERRIES (along with the recipe):

For the Vanilla Lovely Ice Cream

*1 tsp. of vanilla bean paste and date sugar each

*1 scant tsp. of lemon juice- freshly squeezed or from the bottle

*3/4 tsp. of maple extract

*2 ice cubes

*1 3/4 spotty-dotty frozen banana

*1/4 C coconut cultured yogurt or greek yogurt

For the Pink and Pretty Ice Cream

*3 frozen bananas -spotty and dotty indeed

*Either 3/4 C of frozen raspberries, or even better, one frozen pitaya/dragon fruit packet 

*2 ice cubes

*1/4 C of pineapple and frozen orange each + the orange zest

METHOD:

1. In your Blendtec blender/food processor, blend the solids first for the vanilla part, and then add the liquids and pulse. If your blender/food processor has a difficult time doing this, then add 2-4 Tbs. of any plant based milk you prefer. (I use almond milk from Trader Joe's) Scoop that into a big bowl and place it in the freezer for at least 20 minutes.

2. blend the frozen things first for the pinky-party-whatever flavor. Add in the rest of the ingredients by pulsing and then fully blending. scoop this on top of the vanilla flavor.

3. Now you're ready to top your ice cream with toppings! I topped mine with (of course) blueberries, more berries, and desiccated coconut. Now Enjoy! 

***NOTE: this bowl is bigger than all of the other ones, but you can of course halve the recipe. I usually eat these rainbow bowls as my meals, so they have significantly more ingredients to fuel and fill me up for hours.***

Xxx, Alli