chocolate mousse in a glass

ok so maybe not the most INSPIRING photo of all time but how could i post without a photo?
anyways, after my flow class, i NEEDED a chocolate smoothie! but i was also down for experimenting. and what i have ended up with is the softest, most lightest (almost foamy!) pudding of a smoothie. i'm 'drinking' it with a spoon! heaven.
this is what i did and well, i'm not one for following recipes (or measuring) so strictly so the following is my best educated guess:
*half a frozen banana
*half an avocado
*1 cup almond milk
*2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
*1 tablespoon yacon syrup (i've been loving trying it in everything lately, trying to figure out exactly what i like about it. i'm so used to dates and maple syrup as a sweetener, this fruity sweetness is a nice switch!)
*a sprinkle of red maca powder (figure it can't hurt to combine some with that cacao)
*a sprinkle of lucuma powder (hmm, since i didn't have enough sweetness with the banana and yacon... haha)

i'm going to do my best to save some of this for paul to try when he gets home. i'm so curious for a second opinion!

crackers and ice kream!

um, so i haven't been incredibly creative lately. salad lunches (though i am LOVING my lazy dressing of sprouted chickpea miso, dijon, ground flax, apple cider vinegar and olive oil) but yesterday i decided ENOUGH is ENOUGH and played with some things. including the dehydrator which i haven't touched since i dehydrated some persimmon slices the other week (swoon!).

yesterday i wanted to try out the new yacon syrup i bought. i thought SMOOTHIE but had hmm, hemp milk and ice. the iced coffee texture wasn't exactly what i was craving, so i started adding some avocado and lucuma and then i decided to freeze it to be more like an ice cream. it was a subtle sweet and super creamy but it froze a bit more flakey-icey than i hoped. but having avocado in it meant paul was weirded out enough not to want any. which meant more for me but also makes me wonder if i have strange bachelor-style eating habits?

 i had been soaking flax seeds and pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds so i finally made some crackers! the bottom ones are the mix of seeds with 1/2 an orange, some slivers of red onion and 2 medjools. the top crackers are just a mix of the soaked flax seeds (whole and ground) with some braggs - salty crunchiness!

hooray for using the dehydrator again!

thank you, rooted!

yesterday was not the best day and that's after a not so great wednesday. i can't even remember the last time i felt so frustrated and BLEH!
paul got home around the same time as me which is a crazy thing in itself and he suggested dinner and eek! the day suddenly perked up!
the especially crazy thing though was that i wasn't craving anything in particular and not particularly hungry.
so... the best place to go (and he hadn't been yet!) was rooted on the drive. i always feel so much better after being here and last night was no exception. the people here are amazing and the food is incredible!!! (ooh and i'm happy to report they are open every day 11-8!)
i quickly regained my appetite! YAY!

we shared a large kale casear (i felt like i could eat another of those! soooo good!!) and i had some of paul's chili and i ate most of the mexican wrap. messy but delicious! ooh and we had the lucuma/mesquite cheezecake for dessert! YES!

this is probably my most favourite place to eat in vancouver. and i can't help but think that even though i haven't mastered eliminating stress in the work part of my life, at least i don't seem to have food-caused stress in my life and i'm healthy overall. 

and eating at places like rooted make me feel super lucky and happy.

<3