Miessence Deodorant Review + Giveaway!

Today’s post talks about something we all must deal with, whether we like it or not: stinky pits. It’s a blunt way of saying it, but really, it’s true! I was sent some deodorant to review by Jessica Andrews, and I want to tell you all about it.

Jessica is a part of a work-from-home business called Miessence. The company sells all kinds of natural, organic healthcare products; they have everything from toothpaste, to makeup, to deodorant! Like I mentioned before, everything is organic, non-synthetic, and all the ingredients are familiar. In fact, their website boasts that they are “the World’s first extensive range of internationally certified organic skin, hair, body, cosmetic, oral and nutritional products.” That’s pretty cool if you ask me.

If you want to know more about organic, click these links to the Miessence site: What is Organic?
Why Organic?

So why should you use Miessence over another product? Let’s take a little ingredient comparison look, shall we?

Average Deodorant Ingredients	Miessence Deodorant Ingredients
Aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gyl cyclomethicone stearyl alcohol C12-15 alkyl benzoate PPG-14 butyl ether hydrogenated castor oil PEG-8 distearate hydrogenated soybean oil talc fragrance hydrolyzed corn starch behenyl alcohol	*Certified organic Aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice* Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) Non-GMO Xanthan Gum Citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) fruit extract Citrus bergamia (bergamot) essential oil* Citrus aurantifolia (lime) essential oil* Canaga odorata (ylang ylang) essential oil* Pogostemon cablin (patchouli) essential oil* Pelargonium graveolens (geranium) essential oil

Frankly, the ingredients in the left column (which I typed directly from the label of my old deodorant stick) scare me. I don’t recognize the majority of them, and the ones that I DO recognize are certainly not things I want going into my largest organ: my skin. They are toxic chemicals. It really makes me appreciate how good-for-you the Miessence ingredients are.

In fact, if you want to know more about the different ingredients and the role they play (because every ingredient used in Miessence is active and beneficial) visit the deodorant’s page. The ingredients are listed, with pictures, and you can click on them for information. Did you notice that there are NO aluminum components and NO chemical antiperspirants? Of course, there are no nasty toxic ingredients either. I love that I can feel confident about the ingredients when I put it on; there’s no hesitation and no concern.

Speaking of concern and feeling confident, you’re probably wondering how well it works. My honest opinion is that it works pretty dang well. Reapplication is necessary after a few hours, but that’s the case with most deodorants anyway. It held pretty well through several hours of dance lessons, and it also wasn’t too bad after a sweaty workout. It wasn’t perfect, but it was still very impressive. I would choose it over traditional deodorant ANY day.

One thing that’s interesting to me is the scent. To be honest, I was a little put off by the scent when I first took a whiff. With a name like “Tahitian Breeze” I expected kind of a tropical, sweet, pleasant smell. It’s not that it smells bad—it really doesn’t—but it is kind of strong. “A warm and balmy blend of intense floral and citrus aromas,” like the website says, is pretty accurate. (Emphasis on the word ‘intense’ was added by me.) However, despite the initial intensity, it does wear down. The protection is there, but the scent fades so as to not interfere with your daily scent/perfume. I thought that was very nice, since I do wear perfume/body spray. I don’t like it when my scents clash.

Are you interested in trying this liquid, roll-on deodorant for yourself? Luckily for you, Jessica has offered a $25 gift certificate to her Miessence site. You can try the deodorant or something else that interests you!

What do you have to do to win this lovely gift certificate? There are seven ways to enter—you are welcome to choose any and all of them.

1. Subscribe to Jessica’s Miessence newsletter that she just started up and leave comment letting me know you did.
2. Link to this post in a blog post of yours. Leave a comment saying you did.
3. Visit Jessica’s Miessence Facebook page and like it. Leave a comment saying so.
4. Add my blog to your blog reader or subscribe to it by email. Tell me in a comment.
5. Follow Jessica on Twitter. Leave a comment to let me know.
6. Add Jessica’s blog, http://earthloveandcraziness.blogspot.com/, to your blog reader, or subscribe to it by email. Let me know in a comment that you have.
7. Visit Jessica’s shop and pick out what you would choose if you won. Tell me what you’d pick in a comment.

Sorry that you have to leave a comment for all of them, but since I will use a random number generator to pick the winner out of the comments section, it’s important that each entry is accounted for. I want everyone to get the opportunity they deserve. The only way to do that is to leave comments for each entry.

Also, once you make an initial purchase at Jessica’s Pure Miessence shop of any amount, you will receive 10% off discount for every transaction that follows! You don’t get it on the first one, but you’ll get it on all the others. Make sure to take advantage of this great offer!

The giveaway will be open until midnight the night of next Tuesday, May 3rd.That gives you one week to enter as many times as you can!

Thanks for reading!

He Is Risen <3

Easter is almost over, but I just wanted to quickly say how much I love this holiday. I’m grateful for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I’m grateful for the sacrifice He made so long ago. It is for that reason only that I have the opportunity to live with Him again. Happy Easter, everyone. He is Risen. ♥

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,
Confused at the grace that so fully He proffers me.
I tremble to know that for me He was crucified,
That for me, a sinner, He suffered, He bled and died.

Oh, it is wonderful that He should care for me
Enough to die for me!
Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

I marvel that He would descend from his throne divine
To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine,
That He should extend his great love unto such as I,
Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify.

Oh, it is wonderful that He should care for me
Enough to die for me!
Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

I think of His hands pierced and bleeding to pay the debt!
Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?
No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat,
Until at the glorified throne I kneel at His feet.

Oh, it is wonderful that He should care for me
Enough to die for me!
Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

Two New Easter-Themed Recipes!

Hey guys! Today I have two new recipes for you, and they’re both just in time for the Easter weekend. I, for one, am really enjoying all the time in the kitchen that Easter allows. It’s just a natural thing to bake carrot cake and coconut-flavored things around this time. Of course, I am completely and 100% aware of the true meaning of Easter, but I will get to that in my Easter post.

Onto the recipes!

The first one is Toasted Coconut Almond Butter!
I was experimenting with toasted coconut the other day, and I happened to have a handful of toasted coconut and an almond in my hand at the same time. I ate them together, fell in love, and that is how this recipe came to be.

• 2 cups raw almonds
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut
• 1 (liquid) TBSP coconut oil
• 1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt (to taste)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 10 drops Vanilla Stevia Drops*** (In hindsight, I should’ve only done about 5-6. Just a little too sweet for my tastes.)

***The only reason I added this was because I wanted vanilla flavor, but I didn’t want to use vanilla extract. I have this weird thing about putting vanilla extract in things where it won’t cook out. It tastes nasty to me.. the alcohol is not pleasant. In baking it’s fine, but with nut butters, smoothies and raw foods, I usually pass. If you aren’t weird like I am, feel free to add 1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract, or omit it entirely.

First things first, roast the almonds and toast the coconut at 350 degrees. I lined two pans with an ungreased sheet of tin foil (or you can use parchment paper) and put almonds on one, coconut on the other. The almonds will take about 10 minutes at 350 degrees, stirring once halfway through, (I think I did 13 mins, to be exact) but the coconut will toast quickly. Be sure to keep an eye on it. I’d give it a check after 5 minutes, then stir it and decide whether or not it needs longer. It should look like this:

(source)

Let them cool briefly, then dump both the almonds and toasted coconut into your nut butter-maker of choice. Process until a fine powder forms, then continue until it begins to butterize. You will probably need to stop and push down the sides a few times. Continue to process until it starts to get smooth. Once it starts to look like almond butter, you will probably notice that it is really thick. Add the coconut oil now, as well as the salt, cinnamon and optional stevia drops/vanilla extract. Process until smooth, and ta da! You are done. Scrape the delicious almond butter into a container and store it in the fridge or on the counter.

As you can see, I chose to store mine in the fridge… and this picture was taken after several spoonfuls had been removed from the container.

Make this, and let me know what you think! It’s the perfect Easter-themed nut butter, but it can be made any time of year. I really love it.

My next recipe is one that I was really excited about as it formed in my head. I was craving something carrot cake-flavored, and Katie had just posted her Carrot Cake Milkshake recipe. However, I’d also been eying Kath’s Dough Boy Smoothie for quite some time now, so a fusion of the two was in order.

Carrot Cake Batter Shake
This is a quick, easy breakfast that can (and should) be prepped ahead of time. Since most everything is done the night before, all you have to do in the morning is throw in your frozen banana, a splash of water, coconut cream and ice cubes. Done, and delicious.

• 1/2 cup nondairy milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• 90g steamed baby carrots* (scant 1/2 cup?)
• 3T rolled oats
• heaping 1/2 TBSP chia seeds
• heaping 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• shake of ginger
• shake of allspice
• pinch of salt
• splash of vanilla & coconut extracts (optional)
• 2T coconut cream**
• 3/4 frozen banana
• 1/4 cup water or non-dairy milk
• 4 half-moon shaped frozen almond milk cubes*** (can sub ice cubes)

*I know steaming the carrots is a pain, but it really helps bring out the sweetness. You could probably get away with just doing them raw, but I’m not really sure since I’ve only tried it steamed. Just steam your carrots while you’re prepping the rest of the ingredients and you should be fine.

**Coconut cream is the solid stuff that rises to the top of a **cold** can of coconut milk. Put your can of coconut milk in the fridge the night before you want your shake, while you’re prepping the rest of the ingredients.

***These are super simple to make. Just pour almond milk into an ice cube tray and you’re done!

The night before:

Like I just said, stick your can of coconut cream in the fridge and get your carrots steaming. While the carrots are steaming, combine the nondairy milk, rolled oats, chia seeds and all spices in a blender. You can either add the extracts now, or in the morning. (I opted for the morning, cause I was afraid that the alcohol taste would permeate through the entire smoothie if left overnight. Maybe I’m wrong though; you choose what you want to do! ) Add the steamed carrots, and quickly pulse a few times till all the ingredients are combined. You are NOT emulsifying or blending anything; all ingredients should remain completely whole. This step is simply to make sure everything is covered and mixed. Stick your blender in the fridge and let it sit over night. Pour almond milk into an ice cube container and stick into the freezer, if you so desire.

In the morning:

Remove your blender from the fridge, as well as the can of coconut milk. Open the can, scrape off 2T of cream and add it to the blender. Then, add the frozen banana, water or non-dairy milk, and almond milk cubes or ice cubes. Blend, baby, blend! Everything should be completely emulsified and blended. Pour into a glass and enjoy.

I know it sounds very complicated, but really, this shake is so simple. The only things that take a little extra time are the carrots and coconut cream.

I topped my smoothie with a sprinkle of granola and my Toasted Coconut Almond Butter.  

This shake was awesome, but there were a few things that I would do differently next time.

• This came out very thick and creamy, thanks to the chia seeds, banana, oats and coconut cream. It holds true to its ‘cake batter’ title. While this was my original intention, it left me feeling like it was a tad too rich. Next time I will probably add a few ice cubes to thin it out and make it not so rich.
• I often struggle with how to bring out the coconut flavor in smoothies and baked goods. Although the coconut cream adds a great texture and thickness to the shake, the flavor is not so evident. The coconut extract added a funny alcohol taste in my opinion, so that didn’t work either. The only other option was to add coconut oil/butter, but I decided against that because it typically gets lost in shakes. So yes, I have a dilemma! Do you guys have any thoughts/suggestions?
• Also, last but not least, this lacked a little tang. It usually comes in the form of cream cheese frosting on a traditional carrot cake, so next time I will probably add a couple spoonfuls of unsweetened, plain soy-yogurt.

So there you have it! Two new recipes for your trying and tasting enjoyment. I’m curious to see what you guys think, especially about the Carrot Cake Batter smoothie. I know I kind of ripped it apart in my additional notes, but it really was very good!! I enjoyed it the way it was; I was just able to come up with a few improvements that would have made it even better.

Have a wonderful weekend! Mine will be awesome; I can’t wait. I’ll see you guys on Saturday for an awesome review + giveaway! What could it be?

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Happy Birthday to one of my very best friends, Audrey Michelle! She is turning 18 tomorrow, on April 22nd. I’m extremely excited for her. I love you, Audrey.

No Rhyme or Reason

I apologize for my absence! To say that I have been busy would be QUITE the understatement. I really am sorry and have missed posting + commenting. I wish I could promise that I’ll do better, but I really am doing my best. Be patient with me please, and know that I’m trying to post and comment as much as I can!  

I have no specific focus on my post for today, so I thought I would show you some pictures that have been hiding in my folders.

I made Angela’ s Rustic Banana Oat Cake (sans the glaze) with some blackened bananas, and it was amazing—to say the least. My family and I loved it! I used unsweetened chocolate chunks and omitted the nuts. I think I also used stevia in place of the sugar or maybe did half/half. I can’t remember. It was awesome though and was incredibly dense. So good.

I have been LOVING Carrie’s Inside Out Peanut Butter Cupcakes! These are one of my favorite snacks. They pack 24 grams of protein and are so, so amazing.

(I got some TJ’s peanut flour in New Mexico on my trip to Utah a couple months ago, but I have a tip for those of you without TJ’s! Do some research and see if there’s a food storage store nearby you. There’s a company called Walton Feed that makes something called “Peanut Butter Powder” which is peanut flour. It has a higher fat percentage (28%) compared to Trader Joe’s (12%), so the stats aren’t quite as stellar, but it’s still great! It’s often sold at food storage stores, so see if there is one near you. )

I usually eat them alongside a banana or a sliced apple, since the “cupcakes” are very low in carbs. They’re also pretty low in fat, so sometimes I top them with a chocolate-coconut butter mixture. (It’s basically liquefied coconut butter with cocoa powder & stevia, all stirred together.) A glass of unsweetened vanilla almond milk regularly makes an appearance, as well.

Apple with cinnamon, woot woot.

I have been making a LOT of my Salted Dark Chocolate Almond-Pecan Butter! I seriously love that nut butter; it is THE best one I have ever had or made. If you haven’t made it yet, pleaseeeee do. A good combo is two whole Baker’s Unsweetened Squares and two of the flat, thin Lindt 85% squares. That’s usually what I do, because my mom likes to eat it too and doesn’t quite like it straight unsweetened. It’s also pretty cool, because I’m not the only one making it! My friends Audrey and Landon also make it quite frequently. I love it when people make my recipes in their own kitchens. It feels cool.

Here’s some peanut butter “ice cream.” I made it out of frozen unsweetened vanilla almond milk cubes, peanut flour (but you could use peanut butter), some frozen banana, vanilla stevia drops and almond milk to get things going.

I don’t remember what the chocolate sauce was that I topped it with. Maybe like cocoa powder, coconut oil and stevia? Haha. I crumbled a little bit of organic graham crackers on top, too. I know, I know, organic junk food is still junk food, but I eat these graham crackers VERY, very rarely.

These are classic 3-ingredient peanut butter cookies (sugar, peanut butter and eggs) that I ended up vegan-ifying by using a flax egg. My little brother helped me, and he accidentally dumped my little baggie of ground flax (maybe 1/4 cup?) into the mixture. We thought it would be a flop, but they actually turned out very well! It made them heartier, and it was cool.

Hmm, this is a pita pizza! The sauce was humnut sauce (hummus + nutritional yeast + water) and I topped it with daiya, sliced tomatoes, spinach, and one of my pesto burgers.

So good.

Oh, I made Kayla’s favorite bread recipe! It’s this one, from Cooking for Seven.

It was pretty good! I’m not sure that I liked it more than my regular favorite recipe, but it does take significantly less time, which is a huge bonus in my book. I think they’re both really good, and since this one is quicker, it’s probably the one I will make from now on. Thanks, Kayla! Oh, I should also probably mention that my mom and I doubled the salt and the honey in the recipe… we do that with the other one, too. It’s kind of embarrassing for me to admit that, considering it’s usually quite the opposite with anything I make. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m pretty anti-sugar, but I guess I have a thing for bread with a hint of sweetness. We like ours to taste like Great Harvest bread… what can I say?

And last but not least, this was a delicious blueberry-banana smoothie that had…

• 1/2 frozen banana
• frozen blueberries
• frozen almond milk cubes
• almond milk
• ice
• and guar gum

I ate it in an almost-empty raw almond butter jar, topped with granola, shredded coconut and coconut butter. So good.

Haha, well I hope you enjoyed this random, pointless post. My next ones will be better, I think! I was a bad blogger and left my camera at a friend’s house, so no food has been photographed as of late. I’m sorry; forgive me?

Question of the Day: What are your favorite random snacks or quick meals? I like the aforementioned cupcakes and yummy smoothies! Have you ever done something silly like leave your camera at a friend’s house?

Thanks for reading!

There’s a New Burger in Town

Hey guys! Thanks for your sweet comments about my room. I appreciated them, and it was awesome to hear about what some of your rooms are like!

Well yesterday was the day… I’m 17! Pretty crazy. It was a really good day! I got to sleep in, do my work out, AND be productive all day, so that was cool. One thing that was pretty crazy about yesterday was that I wasn’t hungry at ALL. Seriously, I was almost disappointed! lol. I was going to make one of Ashley’s famous buckwheat bakes for my birthday breakfast, or Angela’s Sweet Potato Breakfast Casserole, but I had no desire to eat, so I didn’t. Nothing sounded good, and I wasn’t hungry. For lunch I just had some leftover channa masala (my mom took me out to an Indian restaurant for my birthday dinner the other day!) and some leftover tofu. Also, remember how I was considering making a Kelsey-friendly cake/pie type thing? That didn’t even sound appealing anymore, and I didn’t have to make it anyway! Do you know why? Because some of my AMAZING friends had already done it for me.

It’s a vegan, agave-sweetened, chocolate cake made with whole wheat flour. Amazing!

And can you guess what it was frosted with?

My Dark Chocolate Pecan-Almond Butter!! They are SO cool. I said in that post that I wanted to frost my birthday cake in the stuff, and they really did it! Haha, it was so neat. It also tasted amazing!

So since it was my birthday, I decided to give you guys the two veggie burger recipes I was teasing you about earlier. A lot of you guessed that they contained chickpeas or spinach… but actually, the only person who was correct was Tara!

I know, it looks so appealing. This burger does, indeed, contain….

PESTO! It’s a pesto-lentil-tofu burger, to be exact. No spinach involved.

This one contains no chickpeas, which was a common guess. It actually is made of…

Sweet potatoes!

Sweet potato lentil tofu burger, to be exact.

And now the recipes!

Lentil-Tofu Veggie Burgers 
– Two Flavors: Pesto and Sweet Potato

This makes one large “base” batch, and then you divide the batches in half and flavor accordingly.

Ingredients:

Base batch -

• 1 block of extra-firm tofu, pressed (I used my Tofu XPress)
• 1 cup dry lentils (which makes 2 cups cooked lentils)
• 1/2-3/4 cup diced vegetables* (optional)
• sea salt, to taste

*I was running low on veggies, so I just used some already-cooked onions and peppers that were leftover from another meal. You can use carrots, celery, corn, or any other vegetable you like.

Cook your lentils in 2 cups of water and cut and sauté the vegetables in an oiled pan. Reserve 1 cup of the lentils for later. Because I used my mini food processor, I pulsed everything individually: First I dumped the other 1 cup of lentils in, processed till chunky and poured them in a mixing bowl. Then I dumped in the vegetables, processed them a bit, and added them to the bowl with lentils. Finally, I did the same thing with the tofu, processing until very smooth and adding it to the bowl. If you need to add a tiny bit of water to get things moving, that’s okay too. Alternatively, if you have a big food processor, just throw everything in at once (Although I would suggest doing the lentils a few seconds before everything else. You need them to be broken down so they help hold the burger together.) and process till combined.

Now divide the mixture into two separate bowls, and add the following for each batch:

Lentil-Tofu Pesto Burgers-

• 1/2 batch of the veggie burger base mix
• 1/2 cup of the reserved lentils
• heaping 1/2 cup pesto** (somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4)
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
• 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
• Italian seasoning blend, to taste
• sea salt, to taste
• (These would also be great with some nutritional yeast, but I had none)

**I used a homemade vegan parsley pesto, but you can use whatever you like.

Add all ingredients to the bowl and stir well to combine. Form patties with hands, using a heaping 1/3 cup for each patty. Place them on a greased (and I lined mine with tin foil) baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, checking doneness occasionally and flipping them over halfway through. Let cool and enjoy! Makes about 5 patties.

Lentil-Tofu Sweet Potato Burgers-

• 1/2 batch veggie burger base mix
• 1/2 cup of the reserved lentils
• 1 medium to large sweet potato, baked and skin removed
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• sea salt, to taste

Process the baked sweet potato until it’s smooth and mashed, or just mash it really well with a fork. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl, and form the patties, using a heaping 1/3 cup for each patty. Place them on a greased (and tin-foil lined, if you like) baking sheet and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Flip them over halfway through cooking, and check occasionally for doneness. Sometimes they cook quicker, so keep an eye on them. Let cool and enjoy! Makes 4-5 patties.

You could do what I did, which was make the base, divide it in half and add the flavors, or you could halve the base mix and just make one flavor. It’s up to you entirely, but both of these are pretty awesome! I’d suggest trying each of them, and let me know which one is your favorite.

Question of the Day: What is your very favorite veggie burger? I don’t find ones in-stores that I like very often. The only ones I like are the organic tofu burgers from Trader Joe’s. Doesn’t it figure that I don’t have access to them? lol.

Words + Pictures + My Room

Wow, hey guys! I’ve missed you all a lot. This past week was absolutely insane for me. It was Spring Break, and I had to go to two separate campouts, haha. It required a lot of packing—both clothes and food.

The first camp I went to was our yearly church camp for girls. We had it over spring break this year, and it was a lot of fun! I called the campsite ahead, and even though the menu was not easily adaptable at all, I thankfully had a whole refrigerator to myself in the kitchen!

For breakfasts I brought some Wildwood Plain, Unsweetened Soy-yogurt and stirred it with pre-bagged portions of protein powder + cocoa powder. I also brought a couple packs of NuNaturals stevia, because if I don’t sweeten that little mixture… it’s quite disgusting. I also ate it with an apple or banana, which was provided by the camp. I could’ve done oatmeal, but I didn’t know how easy it would be for me to get hot water, and microwaving oats in little disposable bowls does not always work out well. It usually overflows, and I didn’t want to deal with that. I also didn’t want to have to run down to the cafeteria each night to mix up overnight oats… so soy yogurt + an apple was the best option.

As for lunch and dinner, they had an awesome salad bar, so that pretty much took care of those meals. For two of the Mexican-themed meals they even had guacamole, salsa and black beans! I was happy. I also brought some microwaveable soups just in case, and a couple homemade veggie burgers. I came up with TWO new recipes and I am sooo excited to share them with you guys!

I know, they look quite scary. These are the “batters” for the different flavors of veggie burgers.

Any guesses as to what the two different flavors might be? They’re totally different, and both are equally amazing. I honestly can’t pick a favorite. These will be added to the rotation for SURE.

Anyway, back to camp meals. I used these veggie burgers as a protein supplement for the meals, and it all worked out quite nicely! Camp was awesome, too, by the way. I got to spend a lot of time with friends, and we did some fun things like archery, rock climbing wall, zip-line, and canoeing. I ended up going on a 4-hour long canoe trip, which was just insane! The winds were blowing like crazy and we had insane waves. All us girls were soaked by the end of it. We felt so trapped at times, but it was empowering to finally finish. I had to be picked up early from camp, which was both sad and happy. I was sad to leave, but I was excited to go to the other camp, too. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed our time there.

When we got home, we immediately went into party mode. My little brother’s birthday was on the 11th of March, and two of his best friends’ birthdays are coming up soon, so they did a big combined 13th birthday party. They had a ton of fun.

Speaking of birthdays, mine is coming up! It’s this Saturday, March 26th. I’ll be 17, which is pretty crazy. I don’t know why, but I always get so excited about my birthday. I know that birthdays aren’t that big of a deal to some people, but they are to me! haha.  I’ve been debating over whether to make a super awesome vegan chocolate cake with some sort of filling/frosting, or to stick with what I know I like, which is my Tofu Chocolate Mousse Pie. Any suggestions?

Before I go, I wanted to share some pictures of my room with you guys. I usually keep my room clean, but because the past month was so extremely busy, I kind of let it go. Laziness and thoughts of “I’ll put it away later” took over, and I wasn’t happy in my room. I’m a naturally neat, clean person–especially when it comes to my own space—so it was hard for me to be in there. A few weekends ago I took the time to deep-clean my room, and I tackled things I don’t usually get to. I wiped my mirror, cleaned my chalkboard, dusted, vacuumed, rearranged some things, put away laundry and made my bed. I was so happy with it afterwards and I didn’t want to leave.

Get ready for a huge load of bedroom pictures…

The look right when you walk in the door. Forgive the food storage boxes, haha. We have a ton of food storage and it’s gotta go somewhere! I also love my doorknob, which is the green spiky thing in the bottom left corner. All you do is cut the top out of one of those balls, and then you stretch it over your doorknob. It’s really fun.

When we initially decorated my room, I decided I wanted the theme to be bright green, sky blue and black and white. I also wanted zebra to be in there. I’m really big into clean, sleek, contemporary looks, so I wanted my room to be as IKEA-esque as possible. Haha. We painted the walls white so that the bright green and blue would really pop. I still have a few more things that I need to get up, including green curtains, shelves, and things for my walls so they don’t look so bare. That probably won’t happen in this house, though. Anyway, here you can see my zebra chair. It’s actually a plain brown, plush butterfly chair, but I threw my big zebra blanket over it. It’s really comfortable. I also love that white rug. It’s so soft and it looks super cool.

I love my bed! The mattress is actually a futon mattress, so it’s really big and comfortable.

Behind my bed is this cool film strip photo holder that we got at IKEA. It has pictures of me when I was little.

The view from my bed. The door on the right is my bedroom door with the green doorknob. The one on the left is my closet.

The top of my dresser. The frame says “Be True.” I need to put a picture in there… but I haven’t decided which one yet.

My iHome and my super cool blue/green lava lamp. That rose is actually the same rose in the pictures from my birthday last year! Some of my guy friends gave me roses, and this one preserved really well. It’s almost exactly a year old now.

The three fragrances I wear most often. Left to right are Aeropostale Promise Me, Nollie, and Pink, which was a gift from a friend. All three of them smell sooo good.

The view from my chair. My full-length mirror and a black chalkboard thing. I arranged the magnets in a smiley face.

One of my favorite quotes that’s on my mirror. I read it often.

A close-up of the magnet/chalk board. I have yet to hang this on my wall, because we’re moving and my mom didn’t want me to make anymore  holes in the wall. When I do put it up eventually, I want to paint it green so it bounces off the white walls. I like this board because it has a lower section for my some of most-used items. Hairbrush, straightening serum, anti-frizz serum, deodorant and straightener.

I bought that Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum three years ago, and I’m just a little over halfway through the bottle! It’s super concentrated so it lasts forever.

And last but not least, a quick look at my closet. Haha. I’m not going to show you the inside-right, because it needs some work.

So there you go! That’s more than you ever cared to see of my room, haha.

Question of the Day: What does your room look like, and what kind of design style do you like? As I said before, I’m really big into sleek, modern, clean and contemporary looks. I was trying to achieve that with my room, but I could still do more. A super crazy silver lamp would be awesome.

Thanks for reading!

Socca Monster

Alright, so you’ve probably seen it around. Almost everyone else has posted about this amazing creation… I figured it was about time that I did the same. I’ve been busy in the kitchen making one thing: socca!

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The Pure2Raw girls got me started on socca, and I’m loving it! It consists of only three ingredients, if you don’t count the oil in the pan:

• chickpea flour
• salt
• and water

It’s ridiculously simple and is SO versatile. I’ve made it three times now, and each version was different. I apologize for the lack of pictures; I’m just going to have to use some of the twins’ pictures. Theirs are better than mine could ever be anyway!

The first version I made was their chocolate socca. I mean, come on, it’s chocolate. Of course it was the first one I tried.

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It was wonderful, and I enjoyed it topped with peanut butter. Again, sorry for the lack of picture.

The next time I tried it, I used the base recipe…

• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp oil in the bottom of the pan

and made it into a pizza crust! I added some Italian spices to the socca, and it was a fabulous crust. I topped my pizza with a plethora of veggies, tomato sauce and daiya cheese. Picture it in your head, or check out Alex’s blog where she has a pretty picture of her socca pizza.

Last but not least, my favorite version (and the only one I managed to get a picture of) was the Pure2Raw twins’ carrot cake version! I had to break out the old juicer to get some carrot juice, but it was so worth it. I modified it a little bit, and here is my version of the recipe.

Kelsey’s Carrot Cake Socca

• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1 cup carrot juice
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger powder
• stevia, agave or other sweetener, to taste
• 3 tbsp shredded coconut
• 2-3 tbsp chopped walnuts
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 1 tbsp solid coconut oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together the chickpea flour, carrot juice, sea salt, spices and sweetener. Place the coconut oil in the bottom of a 10 inch cake pan (although, if the only pan you have is bigger/smaller, that’s fine too. Just know that the resulting socca will be thicker or thinner, depending on the size.) then place the pan in the preheated oven. This will melt the coconut oil and get it hot, which is what we want.

Next, whisk in the coconut and walnuts. Pour your batter into the pan, right onto the hot oil. Don’t worry about spreading the oil to grease the sides. Next, use your hands to drop the raisins individually where you want them to be in the socca. I do it this way so the raisins are fairly well distributed. You can do this with the walnuts too, if you like.

Place the socca in the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes. Check on it at 20 and see how it looks. You’ll know it’s done when the middle is set, the sides are pulling away from the pan, and when the top is golden brown and cracking.

I usually don’t let it cool for too long… I just cut into it and eat it. Serve it up on a plate with your toppings of choice, and devour!

Mine did not have the same lovely orange color that the twins’ did… but it was still delicious and tasted JUST like carrot cake. Amazing.

I originally planned on eating a little more than 1/3… but I kept picking at it and eventually just ate half of it.

I topped it with Katie’s Coconut Banana Butter, which is holy amazing. This was so wonderful!

I did eat more than what’s on the plate, just so you know. Haha.

It should be noted that socca can be cooked a couple different ways, but so far I’ve only ever baked it. I know you can skillet cook it… but I’m kind of scared to flip it! Haha.

Also, you might be wondering where on earth you get chickpea flour. My answer is pretty short and simple: any regular grocery store! I don’t buy chickpea flour—I buy bagged, uncooked chickpeas at my local HEB or Wal-Mart. Then, I grind the flour myself in my Vita-Mix dry container. It’s ridiculously loud, but it’s worth it. It is such a great money saver… bags of chickpea flour are very expensive, but bags of dried chickpeas are just over a dollar. The bag I grind up makes about 2.5 cups flour. Ashlei has a really good tutorial for grinding your own flour, by the way.

Question of the Day: Have you ever made socca? What is your favorite way of making it? How about your favorite version?

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Oh, by the way, what should I do with the left-over carrot pulp?? I know you can make muffins, crackers and stuff, but I have yet to find a recipe that seems right. Does anyone have suggestions or ideas?