Hey pals! Hope you’re all taking the time right now to pause, tune in, and center. January can be a bit heavy sometimes, and this year particularly, so it’s okay if your body, mind, and soul are needing extra TLC. Return to your intentions, have compassion for yourself if you veered off the path you had envisioned, and remember it’s all part of the journey. You are not behind; you are exactly in the right place. Give yourself permission to feel good right now, even if your mind tells you that you don’t deserve it, or there’s nothing to feel good about. I hope this post inspires you to take stock of the little things that make your world a little brighter and reminds you that feeling good is the most important thing you can achieve on a daily basis. <3

Eats

Vegan Brownies

Starting with my fave this week. I had a real hankering for brownies and I was kinda between these protein brownies and these super-rich brownies (this is my FAVE traditional brownie recipe w/ minor modifications), but then I randomly found these in my Bookmarks and was like, eh why not? It was almost the in-between version, since the protein brownies felt a bit too healthy for what I wanted, and the traditional ones felt a bit too heavy. These brownies, I think, are my  new FAVORITE healthy brownie. You know I don’t just throw that kind of title around. I also really really love Alexis’s peanut butter zucchini brownies for a fun twist.

Vegan Power Mac and Cheese

Another Hummusapien recipe, and this one is an old favorite. I think this is my most-made recipe from her website and definitely one of my all-time favorite easy 30-minute dinners. It’s so satisfying while also being so nutritionally dense and wholesome. Best of both worlds. I love it with a dash of hot sauce at the end.

Pistachio Milk

So I recently tried pistachio milk from new local company Tache, and it was pretty dang wonderful! I wasn’t sure how it would fare as a hot beverage addition (I love adding a creamy milk to my tea or Four Sigmatic hot cocoa). Well, it was great. Not gonna be a regular purchase because I still love oat milk and it’s cheaper haha, but definitely lovely for an occasional treat! It’s super creamy and nutty, and if you like the pistachio flavor, you’ll love!

BEST EVER Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins with Streusel Topping

No doubt I’ve shared these wonder-muffins before, but they are truly out. of. this. world. Trust me, biting into one of these will cause an instant flow of joy straight from your tastebuds to your heart. It’s science, guys. I usually make them with frozen blueberries, but you can follow the recipe exactly or use your favorite berry! They’re forgiving that way. And yes, they’re the sexy ones at the top of this post 😉

Flourless PB Chocolate Chip Cookies {Healthy & Delicious}

One of my favorite old reliable cookie recipes. This is one of those that you can whip up in minutes if you’ve got a cookie hankering, but kinda want something wholesome and nutritious, but still like a real COOKIE. Yes, they’re sweetened with just a banana and the chocolate chips, and yes there’s no flour, but they’re truly one of my favorite peanut butter cookies EVER. Perfect not just for dessert, but also as a breakfast or snack (honestly that’s my motto for all cookies, but ya know).

TJ’s Oat Milk

At this point, I’ve got my oat milk favorites down. It’s Oatly for tea and cocoa because it’s super creamy, and it’s Planet Oat for drinking straight or adding into cereal because it’s delicious and not too overwhelming. I would say Trader Joe’s Oat Milk is at the same level as Planet Oat. It makes for a super refreshing drink (I especially love pairing it with dark chocolate), and it’s creamy without being TOO creamy. Big fan.

Chocolate Kodiak Cakes

I hadn’t made these in quite a while and forgot how delicious and EASY they are! My fave way to prepare these is to chop a banana into the batter, and I use almond milk instead of water for the liquid. Always served with peanut butter and maple syrup. Ahhh this takes me back to senior year weekends when I’d wake up at 11 and would make these pancakes with some coffee in our wonderful old house, and it felt like the height of comfort-coziness. 🙂

Movement

My body was REALLLYYYY craving yoga the last couple weeks. There were still some days when I really had an urge for a heart-pumping sweaty workout, almost as if I had this surplus of energy, and letting it out in that way felt amazing. But more often, my body was craving slow gentle movement, and it’s been really nice to honor that and enjoy the almost massage-like quality of a great yoga session. In fact, I think my soul was craving it just as much as my body,  and I love when yoga becomes a moving meditation. Thank goodness for no longer having any rules about how many days per week I need to do an “intense workout.” More on this in the Favorites section.

Yoga With Adriene 30-day Breath Series: I like to combine whichever videos feel most right to me that day. Recently put together Flow, Feel, and Space, and it felt incredible

One of my favorite total body under-40 minute hiit workouts. Mine ends up being longer because I like a LONNNNGGG cool-down 😉

Drop Yoga + Trust Yoga – this left me feeling so centered and grounded and was exactly what I needed

43 minute kickboxing + upper body strength workout

This quick 15-minute hiit + this 10 minute butt Pilates routine + this 12 minute leg Pilates routine

58-minute yoga for compassion (one of my all-time faves)

Replenish Yoga + Balance Yoga – I love when after the yoga class, I feel exactly like the name of the video. These two left me feeling replenished and balanced on a day when I felt quite drained and overwhelmed

 

Favorites

Baking

Baking brought me SO MUCH JOY this week. Those vegan brownies were not only delicious and a joy to eat throughout the week, but the whole experience of baking them was just so fun. I really love baking when I feel that I have lots of time for it, you know? There’s nothing worse than stressed, frantic, frazzled baking haha. I love when I can turn on some tunes, lay out all my ingredients, and just get to leisurely measuring and mixing and stirring. So meditative 🙂 The blueberry cheesecake muffins are also super fun to make because it’s a whole PROCESS. You’ve got the batter and the cheesecake filling and the streusel topping, and you have to assemble them all in the perfect little stack. A labor of love. 🙂

Spotify Duo

This is actually related to the above one because one of my biggest joy moments of the week was using this feature with my boyfriend while baking. If you’re unaware, Spotify Duo is a new feature on the Spotify app that I am pretty sure is still in its beta stages. Essentially, it allows you to start a session with another person (you simply send them an invitation link whenever you want to link up) and then you can listen to the same music until you disconnect. Each of you has the power to queue up new songs, skip, pause, etc. It’s a really really nice way to feel connected to someone far away, and it’s been a really special little relationship thing we’ve been doing through long distance.

How My Yoga Practice Has Transformed My Relationship With My Body and Mind

So this is a lil plug hehe, but I recently became a contributing writer over at Advice From a 20 Something, and this was my first personal post. I owe a lot to my yoga practice — it’s been a source of tremendous peace, comfort, and grounding throughout all the tumults of pandemic times — and I truly feel like it’s something I take with me off the mat and apply to other areas of my life. If you’re feeling curious about trying yoga, or even if you believe it’s “not for you,” I highly encourage you to give this post a read. Oh, and if you’re interested, here’s the other post I wrote for the site (’cause decreasing food waste is not only important but can also be fun!)

Getting to Center by Marlee Grace

I mentioned a few weeks back that I was reading On the Road. You may notice it is not in my favorites list because to be totally honest with you guys, I wasn’t a huge fan. I respect that it’s a classic and all, and I guess I’m glad I read it, but honestly, I found it highly problematic and wasn’t at all a fan of the writing style. Sadly, neither the plot nor the themes nor the characters redeemed it for me, but I will say that it was mildly engaging. In the sort of way that you can’t look away from a really scandalous and dramatic reality TV show LOL where you can’t stand the characters and don’t really get why you’re watching it, but some part of it is still entertaining.

ANYWAY.

I was so happy to finish On The Road because that meant I could finally read Marlee Grace’s book Getting to Center that I’d purchased for myself about a month ago after hearing Marlee speak on the Let it Out podcast. I really loved Marlee’s voice and what she had to say, and the book seemed like it would be very up my alley and very timely considering many of us likely felt very OFF-center in the past year. I really enjoyed it. Something about the way it’s written makes it feel like a really gentle warm hug. And isn’t that something we all desperately need right now? I really recommend if you’re looking for a good vibes read that reminds you that you are okay and safe and whole and don’t need fixing AND also you can keep growing and becoming your best self every day.

Soul

Pixar really GOES THERE with this new film. Have you guys seen it?? I was honestly quite taken aback at how deeply spiritual this movie is, and though I’m not sure the themes in it would be totally grasped by children, I do think every single adult in today’s world would benefit from watching it. It’s a beautiful tribute to life and teaches an important lesson about the true meaning of purpose.

 

And that’s a wrap! As always, let me know if you tried anything from the list, or tell me what makes your Joyful list this week. Sending lots of love, and wishing you the sweetest week <3