Healthy Breakfast Banana Nut Bread

Hi guys! I am going to keep today short and sweet. 

If you guys have seen this post, then you know that I am a huge fan of Simple Mills. They are a great healthy alternative to some of our most loved dishes. The best part, is that all of their mixes are absolutely delicious and Colton approved!!

The first time I made this dish I was shocked as to how scrumptious it was. I loved it served warm with just a little bit of butter! I plan on making this for family members this year, as well as having a loaf ready at our home Christmas morning. There is nothing better than opening up gifts with Hot Cocoa and something comforting like warm bread. I love the idea of Banana Bread for Christmas morning because it’s not so sweet that it will make your stomach hurt but it still makes your heart just as happy. 

This bread is Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Paleo Friendly 🙂

You can find Simple Mills at Whole Foods or you can buy it from Amazon! 

Ingredients

• 1 Simple Mills Banana Bread Box 
• 3 Eggs 
• 2 TBS Coconut Oil
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1 Banana
• 1/4 Cup Crumbled Pecans 

Directions 

• Preheat Oven to 325 degrees. 
• In a large bowl, lightly mash the banana. You want it to stay kind of clumpy. Once mashed, at and whisk together the eggs, oil and water. 
• Add in the Simple Mills mix and pecans. Whisk until well blended. 
• Pour batter into a lightly greased 8×4 loaf pan. 
• Bake 30 minutes. Then, loosely cover the pan with foil and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes. 
• Cool for 10 minutes before removing bread from the pan. 

Three more sleeps until Christmas! 

xo,

Lauren

 

Amazing Holiday Green Superfood

If you follow me on Snapchat (Lauren_smith6), then you have most likely seen me talk about this amazing Green Superfood that I have been drinking and literally adding to everything. Since you guys were so interested in it, I decided to share what it was! 

It’s called Amazing Grass Green SuperFood and no joke, I live for this stuff.

Like, I’m not kidding when I say I love this stuff. 

I’ve actually ben drinking it everyday for a few months now, so I cannot believe I am just not sharing it with you all!

I first had it back in October, while sampling things throughout Whole Foods because… why not? Anyways, in my route of samples, I tried this little green drink concoction they had made and oh my was it delicious. 

After reading the information card, I found out that main ingredient in this drink, was a green flavored powder from Amazing Grass Green SuperFood. Which is actually a powerful blend of nutritious greens, phytonutrient packed fruits and vegetables, cereal grasses, digestive enzymes and probiotics. Aka – all the good stuff! You’re pretty much getting a full serving of all of your daily fruits & vegetables in one scoop. 

It’s literally a miracle powder. It is packed with a ridiculous amount of vitamins and probiotics, so I swear it is the only reason I haven’t gotten sick this season 

The very first flavor I tried, was their Pumpkin Spice Flavor and it literally tasted just like a cold pumpkin spice latte. So being the basic girl that I am, I bought it because, hello it was October and betches love pumpkin. Although, now that we are in the full swing of the Holidays, I went ahead and picked up the Holiday Cookie Flavor, which I also love just as much. 

So how do I use it? 

I love to put it in smoothies. Especially my Cake Batter Protein Smoothie.  I just add one scoop of the powder into my smoothie recipe and wah-la! That’s it! 

Then my absolute favorite way that I have been using it, aka – they way I use it the most, is by making a hot milk drink out of it. I love making this drink and then cozying up on the couch. It makes me feel like I am drinking Hot Chocolate, when in reality I am drinking something way better for me. I don’t exactly have a name for it….. but here’s how you make it 🙂

Ingredients: 

-1 Cup Original Sweetened Almond Milk 

-1/2 Scoop of Green Super Food

(Note* If you do not want to use the sweetened almond milk, you can also do unsweetened and then add a little bit of honey to it) 

Directions: 

In a microwaveable mug, microwave Almond milk for two minutes. Two minutes is important because you want it to get hot enough to make it foam a little bit. 

Carefully remove the mug so that you do not get burned. It will be very hot. 

Add 1/2 scoop of the Green Super Food and stir well until completely mixed! 

Let it sit for a minute or two to cool down then enjoy! 

You can find this Amazing Green Super Food on  Amazon! 

xo,

Lauren 

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What I’m Bringing To Thanksgiving This Year

Yum, yum, yum guys. Or as my mother would say, “Yum-o!”.

This Thanksgiving side is not only healthy, but is freakishly delicious. 

Like, I made this last week, and ate it like it was candy within a day. 

I love this as a Thanksgiving side because it literally is so good for you. The amount of fiber and nutrition in the sweet potatos and brussels sprouts is incredible. Since Thanksgiving is such a filling Holiday, it is important to have just a few healthier options. 

Since this is exactly what I’ll be bringing to Thanksgiving, I figured I had to share it. 

This recipe is not only easy to make, but the roasted crispiness of vegetables will even have all of your most non-vegetable family members getting seconds. 

For more healthy Thanksgiving recipes, be sure to check out my pumpkin pie cashew dip (YUM) and this quick & easy Thanksgiving day side from last year. 

Ingredients

1 lb brussel sprouts 

1 large sweet potato 

2 minced garlic gloves 

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 

1/2 tsp garlic salt 

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp pink himalayan salt

pepper to taste 

1 tsp thyme 

Directions

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees f.

-Fix your brussels sprouts by cutting off the ends and then cutting them in half. Add to bowl.

-Peel your sweet potato and then cube it into bite sized pieces. 

-Mince garlic and add to bowl. 

-Pour olive oil into bowl then add all spices on top. Stir to coat. 

-Drizzle a little bit of olive oil onto baking pan to coat it. Then pour veggies onto baking sheet. 

-Roast for 45 minutes. When the are done, they should be brown and easy to pierce with a fork. 

-Cheers! 

xo,

Lauren 

Skinny Pumpkin Spice Latte

Photo Details: Night Dress // Wishful Mug // Slippers 

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Guys, I am really excited to share this recipe with you all! The moment it hit October and even the thought of cooler weather was approaching, I told you all over Snapchat (lauren_smith6) that I would come up with a healthier version of the beloved, Pumpkin Spice Latte. 

Because I hate to break it to ya’ll, but incase you didn’t know it or have just been avoiding it, Pumpkin Spice Lattes are terrible for you. Like it hurts to look at the nutrition. Cough, cough…. 380 calories, 13 (g) fat, 50 (g) carbs & 49 (g) of sugar all in one 12 oz latte.

You literally might as well have a milk shake. 

When deciding to take on the task, I realized, I didn’t even know what a latte actually was -lol. Is that bad?

Any who, so of course, I did what any normal human would do. I googled it.  It ends up, a latte is basically an expresso + steamed milk. Easy enough. The problem is, I don’t know about you guys, but I do not have an expresso machine. So in place of the expresso, for this recipe, I used really strong coffee. 

What makes the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte so bad for you, is their steamed milk & pumpkin concoction. Which is all of our most favorite part. So this is where the creativity came in. To make the steamed pumpkin milk, in a saucepan, I heated almond milk, organic pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, honey and cinnamon. The result?

Literally pure, sweet heaven. 

Most the time when making recipes for you all, saying that I go through trial and error would be the understatement of the century, but I honestly cannot tell you how well this turned out. I’m talking so good that I had to run into our room & wake up Colton to try it. He isn’t a big pumpkin spice latte person -ha, but even he enjoyed it! It was just so comforting to have, early on a Sunday morning. 

The recipe below calls for (1) Latte but if you want to make more, just double the recipe! You can also save your milk & pumpkin concoction for later! Just keep it in the fridge and heat it up when you want to use it! 

Skinny Pumpkin Spice Latte 

INGREDIENTS

-6 Oz Strong Coffee

– 1/2 Cup Non Sweetened Almond Milk

-1/4 Cup Pumpkin Purre 

-1 TBSP honey 

-1 TSP Pumpkin Spice

-1/2 TSP Cinnamon

DIRECTIONS 

-Heat saucepan over medium heat for 3 minutes to fully allow it to heat up. Once heated, pour in Almond Milk. You will notice it start to steam a little and create a little bit of foam. This is good. Keep stove on low – medium heat for the remainder of the recipe. 

-Next, stir in the Pumpkin Purre until it fully becomes a liquid and mixes in with the milk. Once mixed, add the Honey & Pumpkin Spice. 

-Let the mixture sits in the heated saucepan while you make your coffee. Make coffee to your liking, using a coffee maker or Keurig, and fill coffee to about 6 oz. Once coffee is made, pour milk & pumpkin mixture over the coffee and top with cinnamon. 

-Wait to cool down to your liking & enjoy! 

Nutrition: Calories (109); Fat (1.8g); Sugar (19g); Carbs (23g)

***I would like to note. In the nutrition, yes, there is still 19 (g)s of sugar, but this is okay because the sugar content is only from the honey. Honey is good for you! It’s an all natural sweetener with endless benefits. You can read them all here. Think of it this way, one banana has 14 (g)s of sugar. So do not fret over the number. 

 xo,

Lauren

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