Good morning to you bloggies! I am currently sipping on some joe, pounding away on a paper for my Public Health. For once, I am actually excited to write a paper. Paper writing is my my forte, I am much more a presentation kind of girl. My topic is on Corporate Social Responsibility, highlighting a company that goes above and beyond in their role towards society.

Which company did I choose to write about? Mmmm Whole Foods, der. I’m learning about all the amazing things (other than make delicious food) Whole Foods does for our communities. I am learning about their environmental campaigns, why they value organic food, the foundations they have, the donations they make, how they value local farming, their sustainability initiatives, the list goes on my friends.

My concluding thoughts: I want to work for a company that values good health. Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet, is Whole Foods mission and I think it’s genius.

Want to know what else is genius?

Adding heart sprinkles to homemade granola to make the perfect homemade valentine gift Because there really isn’t anything better than a homemade gift from the heart.

Pre sprinkles

A little extra sugar never hurt anyone, plus it just makes my granola look cool. I can’t really take complete credit for this idea, it was Ashley’s. 

My obvious choice in packaging was a Mason Jar. Confession: I am a MJ hoarder. I have an entire shelf filled with different jars. At least I don’t hoard weird unicorn figurines or clocks. 

A Little Bit-a-Love Granola
Ingredients
-2C rolled oatmeal
-1/2C sunflower seeds
-1C nuts (I used chopped walnuts)
-2T sesame seeds
-2T ground flax seed
-1C golden raisins (or any other dried fruit)
-1/4C honey
-1/4C olive oil
*Optional: Add a handful of love, heart sprinkles

Method
-Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
-Mix dry ingredients together and then pour on wet. Toss.
-Evenly spread granola onto baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes. Every 10 minutes or so, give your granola a toss so it cooks evenly.

I’m hoping my special someone doesn’t read this. I am not the best at holding back surprises

Time to get schtuff done!

What is your favorite kind of valentine give to receive/give? 

You ask for budget friendly, I give you budget friendly! This recipe my dears, costed me like $0.25 to make, not even! If you think about it, a pound of popcorn kernels in the bulk section is roughly $1.69.  A serving of popcorn, unpopped, is about 1/4C. I’m too lazy to do the math so I relied on Google for this, but let’s just say that for every one pound of popcorn there’s about 1.62 cups of unpopped popcorn. If you divide cost/cups ($1.69/1.62) you get roughly a $1.00 for ever 1 cup of popcorn kernals. Then, divide that by 4 (if you use 1/4C as your serving) and bam…$0.25. 

That’s like a gumball. Or 1.5 bananas…(fun fact: when it comes to money I relate everything to bananas. Like if I’m about to purchase a shirt for $40 (which is ridiculous) I always convert it into “banana talk.” ie: That $40 shirt is worth 210 bananas)

Did you follow? Didn’t think so. I don’t blame you, math isn’t necessarily my forte. 

Anyways, what I’m trying to say is that popping your own popcorn and adding spices you already have is a HUGE money saver! I’ve been missing out. I know I’ve talked about Penzeys Spices before, and that I’m pretty obsessed. Fajita Seasoning is BY FAR my favorite spice. Fajita Seasoning + popcorn = zing.

Fajita Spiced Popcorn

Ingredients

-1/4C unpopped popcorn

-1t fajita seasoning (or to taste)

-olive oil/water

Method

1. Using the stove top method (or any other method for that matter), pop ~1/4C of unpopped popcorn kernels.

2. Transfer freshly popped popcorn into a large Tupperware. Then, either using an olive oil mister thing or a spray bottle with water (janky? hah!), coat your popcorn. This part is done so that the spices will stick. 

3. Sprinkle on spices and toss.

*NOTE: I am all about the non-fat popcorn, which is why I don’t pop my popcorn in any sort of butter or oil. I used water to give my popcorn moisture, so that the spices would stick. If you pop you popcorn in oil, you won’t have to worry about this part!*

Not going to lie, at first I used a little too much fajita seasoning. I didn’t realize that when consumed in a condensed form, fajita seasonings would be very spicy. AKA I torched my mouth.

I need some more flavoring ideas for my popcorn. What sorts of spices do you put on yours? 

Do you do something similar to my “banana talk?”

Two things I love about today.

[Number 1] See below

Pin Me!

[Number 2] I TAUGHT MY FIRST YOGA SCULPT CLASS TODAY! Well, a partial class! I was one of four teacher trainers who got to teach a full class..TO REAL PEOPLE! For my sections of class I taught:

Sun A.

Squats.

Core.

It was awesome! Did I mention that it was awesome Today’s class was a free, so over 45 people showed up. ME. TEACHING YOGA. TO 45 PEOPLE. I was beyond nervous. My heart was flying and my palms were sweaty. When all eyes were on me..it magically all went away. Adrenaline kicked in and it just felt like I was on top of the world! I can’t wait to actually start my yoga instructing career To say I am excited is just an understatement. 

Peanut Butter Balls definitely fit into this excitement. I brought a batch in to my yogi loves to enjoy pre/post sculpt. This recipe is extremely simple, healthy, and delicious. They are…

-All natural

-gluten free (when made with certified gf oats)

-made with no added sugar

-healthy treats

Seriously. I may or may not have eating half the batter before I could even bring them in…This is probably why I ended up making 2 batches. One batch is a plain peanut butter version and the other has a cocoa, chocolaty twist.

Obviously the darker ones are the Choco Choco Chip Peanut Butter Balls and the lighter ones are made with just peanut butter! Here’s how easy they are to make…

Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients

-1/2C quick cooking oats (certified gf)

-1/4C all natural peanut butter

-1/4C honey, raw

-2T flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose)

Choco Choco Chip Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients 

-1/2C quick cooking oats

-1/4C all natural peanut butter

-1/4C honey

-2T cocoa powder

-3T semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method

1. In a small food processor, process oats for 15-20 seconds. You don’t want to turn your oats in to oat flour, rather coarsely chop them up.

2. Add the rest of your ingredients and process for about a minute, or until it becomes doughy. (You may need to add a squirt more of honey if it is still too dry.)

4. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out the dough and role between your palms. Each batter make 8-9 balls, depending on how much dough you eat 😉

 One more thing to add to my list of things I love about today.

[Number 3] I LOVE living with someone who has fun kitchen accessories. Look at this adorable plate Ashley has…This is when playing with your food is more than acceptable.

Do you have any fun kitchen accessories/gadgets?

Random/Fun question of the day: If you had to choose a single food as your last meal, what would it be? This is oddly a heard question, but I think I would eat an entire jar of MaraNatha Almond Butter.