For the longest time I thought I HATED oatmeal. I didn't like the texture, I found it boring, and just honestly just completely avoided it. BUT, a few months ago I decided I would just give it a try. I mean why not? I needed something super filling to get me through 3 hour studios and oatmeal seemed like the perfect thing to make!

In order to enjoy eating oatmeal, I tried so many pre-pagaged ones--I know not the best--and even tried different types of oats and some recipes, but nothing gave me the texture I was looking for. I ended up chucking pretty much every superfood, nut and seed, spice, and type of oats that I had into a mug, poured some almond milk and water on it, microwaved it, and the result was complete PERFECTION--well almost. It took a bit of tweaking, but eventually I created my full-proof oatmeal full of healthy fats and protein!

I usually just eyeball what I put in, but I tried my best to get measurements that were close to how much of everything ends up going in!

Ingredients

1/2 cup instant rolled oats

1 tbsp instant steel cut oats

1 tbsp mixed nuts, crushed

1 tbsp walnuts, crushed

1 tsp chia seeds

1/2 tsp raw hemp seeds

1/2 tsp raw cacao nibs

1/2 tsp raw sunflower seeds

1 tsp raw pumpkin seeds

1 tsp raw cacao powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 cup water

*Sometimes I add more water after cooking to get it to the consistency I like!

Instructions

1. Add all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix to coat everything in the cacao powder and cinnamon

2. Add in the almond milk and water

3. Let sit for 10-20 minutes, sometimes I'll even leave it for an hour while I have my coffee or even overnight, to soak

4. Add more water if needed and microwave on high for 3-3 1/2 minutes, stopping and stirring to make sure it doesn't overflow

I end up making this recipe probably most days of the week since it keeps me satisfied enough to get through all my classes and it's amazing to have as a pre- or post-workout meal!

Claire

xx

I am currently on the road to recovery with a knee injury--literally the WORST--and to avoid the FOMO of watching other runners run past my window, I have been doing a lot of different forms or cross-training to not only stay in shape and keep my body working hard, but also to strengthen the muscles around my knees.

When I first began to feel serious pain in my knee, I turned to yoga. Yoga is such a great form of exercise for recovering from injury and preventing injury. I am lucky enough to have yoga classes offered most days of the week at my university's gym that range from more mellow forms of yoga to power yoga. I usually go 3 times a week--twice for power yoga in the evening and once in the morning for regular yoga, but somedays, when I either can't make it to the class time or there isn't one being offered, I'll do a Yoga With Adriene video. Yoga With Adriene has been amazing for allowing me to practice yoga without even having to leave my dorm room! Her videos range from yoga flows that are aimed more towards stretching to flows that involve a lot more power and strength. They are super great at helping me make sure I get a lot more stretching in than I used to and strengthening and using different muscles that I normally wouldn't.

Alongside yoga, I incorporated some HIIT. At first, to increase strength in my legs, I stuck to low-impact HIIT and then as the muscles in my legs grew stronger and my injury subsided more, I began to include more higher impact HIIT moves. My personal favorite way to HIIT train is through Lucy Wyndham-Read's YouTube channel. I have been doing Lucy's HIIT workouts for about a year now and she offers everything from toning, to low-impact, to high-impact--anything for anyone at any level. Her workouts can range from 4 minute HIIT routines to longer 15 minute ones and what's great about all of her workouts is that she has both high and low impact options for all of the moves--so I could still do all of my favorite workout videos of hers and just substitute the low impact for any moves that caused pain in my knee. Incorporating HIIT training into my recovery plant allowed me to keep up my cardio, without having to turn to the elliptical--personally, not a fan.

I also did physical therapy on my knee with exercises that I was given by a doctor that targeted where I really needed to build the most strength. All of these things combined have really helped me speed up the recovery process and have kept me busy and active while being unable to run.

Although I am not 100% yet, I am getting closer to pounding the pavement again full-time!

Claire
xx

Yoga With Adriene

Lucy Wyndham-Read

Okay, so technically there is no baking involved....but let's get baked anyway!

The Zoeva brushes would have to be my all time favorite makeup brushes. They are super soft, amazing quality and affordable.

The Rose Golden Luxury set is absolutely stunning. It comes with all the makeup brushes you would need for a nice everyday makeup look and it doesn't hurt that it looks beautiful as well. The set includes some of my favorite brushes in my collection, the powder brush, the silk finish brush for foundation, the luxe sheer cheek for blush, and the winged eyeliner brush.

Even if rose gold isn't your thing, I highly recommend giving the other Zoeva brushes a try. They do amazing vegan brushes (although sadly, not all are in this set!) and just look gorgeous sitting out on my desk. Before finding this brand, I never knew where to get high quality brushes that are also affordable!

The set:

106 Powder

102 Silk Finish

110 Face Shape

127 Luxe Sheer Cheek

142 Concealer Buffer

227 Luxe Soft Definer

231 Luxe Petit Crease

317 Wing Liner

+ a cute little makeup bag

Claire
xx

Zoeva Rose Golden Luxury Set

For breakfast I love starting out my morning with a smoothie bowl and a black coffee. Today I decided to make my smoothie bowl a bit more special and make it an acai bowl. Smoothie bowls are a go-to breakfast for me when I have time to make them because they are super filling and full of great ingredients. I usually don't measure or anything, I just chuck all of the ingredients into a blender and hope it turns out well!

Smoothie

handful of kale

handful of spinach

1 packet of frozen acai

a few chunks of frozen banana

frozen strawberries

frozen blueberries

a sprinkle of flax seed

Toppings

half a banana

granola

chia seeds

hemp seeds
pumpkin seeds

cacao nibs

Bagels are one of my favorite things and I am really picky about bagels, not gonna lie. I love fresh, fluffy, New York style bagels. I usually pick up a dozen bagels from Bruegger's every so often and freeze them for days like today where a bagel is the perfect quick lunch option. Today I used a plain bagel and just popped it in the toaster until it was nice and golden brown. Then I spread some Kite Hill almond cream cheese, my absolute favorite cream cheese substitute, on top and it was ready to eat!

For a snack I had my favorite kind of apple, a honey crisp apple! I really like chopping up apples quite thinly so that they become a nice snack food that I can munch on for a bit while working on either school work when I'm in school or since I am currently home for the holidays, watching a little TV on my laptop.

For dinner I had some leftovers from the night before, a quick quinoa dish with sweet potatoes. My mother made me this for Thanksgiving this year, since no one else in my family is vegan, and ever since it has become one of my favorite dishes. It wasn't the most Thanksgiving-y dish because of the spicy flavors, but it worked well for my first plant based Thanksgiving! And it does't hurt that I now have this amazing meal idea to enjoy on a regular basis.

Quinoa

1 cup tricolor quinoa

1 can black beans

1 tsp coconut oil

2 tbsp red onion

1 tbsp jalapeno

2 tbsp red bell pepper

2 cups vegetable broth

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of ground pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp chili powder

Sweet Potatoes

2 medium sweet potatoes

1 tbsp hot Hungarian paprika

Instructions

1. For the sweet potatoes, preheat oven to 375 F and line a baking tray

2. Chop them into little cubes, about 1 inch, and season with paprika

3. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until cooked, shuffling them around every so often to make sure they don't burn on one side

4. For the quinoa, finely chop the red onion, jalapeño, and red pepper

5. Heat a saucepan on a low heat and add a little bit of coconut oil

6. Sauté the chopped veggies until lightly browned

7. Add 2 cups vegetable broth, the quinoa, and black beans

8. Add in the salt, pepper, and spices

9. Let cook for about 15-20 minutes

10. Once everything has cooked, layer the quinoa in a serving dish and cover the top with the sweet potato cubes

11. Serve on a bed of spinach

Purely Elizabeth Ancient Grain Granola

Kite Hill Cream Cheese Style Spread

Bruegger's Authentic New York Style Bagels
Nada Moo Lotta Mint Chip Ice Cream
Chocolate Crinkle Cookie Recipe

Rarely do I ever come across a healthier blondies recipe, so when I stumbled upon Madeleine Shaw's recipe while scrolling through her blog, I had to give it a try--vegan style!