Month: June 2015

Your New Addiction: Cold Brew Coffee

Hey there! Thanks✨ for visiting Happy Healthy Noms for this week’s Tidbit Tuesday.👌

Today enjoy my new favorite thing: Cold❄️ Brew Coffee☕️! All summer☀️ I’ve had a cup of iced cold brew coffee every morning🌄.

👍It is literally the best✨ iced coffee☕️ you will ever have (sorry Starbucks, but this has got you beat!)

 💛What is Cold Brewed Coffee? As the name suggests it is brewed cold❄️,  instead of hot🌋, It takes about 1⃣2⃣-2⃣4⃣ hours to brew–but it is so worth the wait! Cold Brewed Coffee enhances the flavors of the coffee beans, bringing out the nutty, chocolate, or floral flavors.

It also lowers the acid up to 6⃣5⃣%, therefore brewing a delightfully light🍃, but full–bodied🌷 cup of deliciousness🙏.

⭐️So, what do you need to make it?

1⃣Get good quality roasted whole coffee beans. Light–roasted beans will bring out more nutty and floral flavors, whereas Dark–roasted beans will bring out chocolate flavors. (You can use decaf and caf–or both! I keep both in mason jars in my fridge~✨)

 2⃣Get a burr mill* coffee maker and coarse grind the coffee beans.**

*A burr mill coffee maker is more consistent and produces the perfect coarse grind for your cold brewed coffee~✨

**I use a Mr. Coffee burr mill coffee grinder. The price is right and it works great!

 So, you have the beans. Now, How to Brew It?

You Have 3⃣ Options:

  1. Use a OXO or Toddy cold brew maker.  (🌟I use the OXO.)
  2. Use a French press, here is a video explaining it.
  3. Budget Friendly: Coffee+water+nut milk bag. Or here is a video using a strainer.

How to use the OXO:

  1. Ratio: 1⃣ oz coffee by weight to 4⃣ oz water by volume. What does that mean?✨ Simply put in  3⃣ 1⃣/2⃣ cup coarse ground coffee beans and 4⃣0⃣oz water into your OXO.👍
  2. Let it sit for 2⃣0⃣ minutes and then stir it!
  3. After 1⃣2⃣-2⃣4⃣ hours, flip the switch and drain it out.

To Enjoy: have 2⃣oz over ice with your favorite non-dairy milk* with your favorite coffee sweetener**.

*My favorite💛 non–dairy milk: Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk. ⭐️Tasty with a kiss of nuttiness, and only 3⃣0⃣ calories! How can you go wrong?

** My favorite💛 coffee sweetener: Chocolate-flavored Sweet Drops Liquid Stevia. ⭐️This stuff has just the right amount of sweetness and hint of chocolate. With dairy-free milk, it makes any coffee (cold or hot brew) instantly amazing~✨

Until next time, remember: have your veggies🍅 and drink your cold brew coffee too!

How to Start Hoop Dancing+Hooping Videos

Hey there! Thanks✨ for visiting Happy Healthy Noms for this week’s Move Your Body Monday!🌟

“Yoga” hooping from one of my hooping videos
Interested in hoop dancing?⭐️Today I explain how to start!✨ I also have a 🆕 hooping video🎥 at the end!👍

💜How to start hooping:💙

1⃣~ Get a beginner dance hoop. No, you can’t use a kid hoop from Toys-R-Us!🚫 You need a dance hoop👍. 

My 7/8 Beginner Dance Hoop!
 Recommended dance hoop webstores: Kelsey Hoops (Great prices and she has a wonderful custom hoop shop! I have 2⃣ lovely hoops made by her!) Also, Galaxy hoops has pretty hoops. There are also many hoops on Etsy. Want an LED hoop? Get one from Moodhoops (great prices, great products, and fast shipping!)

“What kind do I get?”

Answer: Make sure it’s made of HDPE! 

“What do all the numbers mean?”

Answer: You’ll see 3⃣/4⃣ or 7⃣/8⃣–get 7⃣/8⃣! The next confusing number will usually say inches between 3⃣0⃣-4⃣0⃣. A good beginner size is: 38-40″. But if you want it tailored to you, measure from the floor to a little above your belly button. That is the number you’ll want!🌟

👌Tip: It’s fun to get your beginner hoop in pretty colors and sparkly patterns, but you will drop your hoop, wreck it, and beat it up! So, it may be better to get it in a more solid print (which is typically cheaper!) But the choice is yours. 💁🏻

2⃣~ Google for “hoop classes”+your town to find hooping classes near you!) Can’t find any? That’s okay!

More “yoga” hooping~✨
3⃣~ Look on YouTube for “beginner hoop tricks” or “beginner hooping.”

👍Recommended hooping tutorials:

“Isolations” from one of my videos~✨
*Isolations are too difficult (and basically impossible) on a beginner hoop. You’ll want to buy a 3⃣/4⃣ Polypro 2⃣8⃣-3⃣2⃣” to do isolations!

My 3/4 32″ Pink Polypro!
4⃣~ The most important step is being kind to yourself! Hooping is difficult at first. When I started I couldn’t even hoop around my waist!

🌟Know that you will get the hang of it, and with enough practice you will get it! My biggest advice is: practice really does make perfect (or at least very close to perfection!)

💗This week I have a daytime🌄 (with my pink hoop) and nighttime🌌 (with my LED hoop) hooping videos 📹 !

Daytime🌄 Flow:


Nighttime🌌 flow:

I have 2 more hooping videos🎥 on my YouTube channel! Please check them out~ I update my YouTube often, so subscribe👍 to my channel!

Miss last week’s Move Your Body Monday? Here’s last week’s post.

Until next time, remember: Have your cookies🍪 and move your body💃 too!

Poolside Party Smoothie Bowls

Hey there! Thanks✨ for visiting Happy Healthy Noms for this week’s Smoothie🍵 Sunday!

Today I have 2⃣ smoothie bowls that are perfect for the poolside and sure to be cool and refreshing~✨

 🍈Mini Melon Smoothie Bowl🍈

A simple snack–sized* smoothie bowl to cool you off and hydrate your body on a hot🔥 summer☀️ day!

*You don’t have to have a mini smoothie bowl! Double up on the toppings and the smoothie to make a meal–sized version!

⭐️What’s in it?💛

🍈Smoothie: watermelon, silk unsweetened coconut milk (or coconut water.)

🍈Toppings: watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and a sprig of mint.

☑️Calories: 1⃣7⃣8⃣


🍋Zesty LemonBerry Smoothie Bowl 🍓

I made this for lunch when it was 9⃣0⃣ degrees☀️ outside and it was just the thing I needed to cool❄️ down! The zesty👌 smoothie with the frozen berries makes a yummy blend of sour and sweet, and the coolness❄️ is hydrating, energizing, and refreshing~🌟

🍋Smoothie: one peeled lemon*🍋, fresh mint, spinach, frozen broccoli, and lemon&berry Sweet Drops Water Pack**.

🍓Toppings: frozen/fresh raspberries, frozen/fresh blueberries, frozen/fresh raspberries, frozen/fresh strawberries, chia seeds, flax seeds, lemon zest, and a mint sprig.

*Don’t throw away the lemon🍋 peels! Eating a little bit of the zest as garnish is an all–natural heartburn❤️🔥 medicine💊!

**Sweet Drops Water Pack adds a little bit of natural calorie-free sweetness and enhances the flavor. PLUS you can put it in your water too! (I found this at a local health food store, and It’s super yummy~✨)

☑️Calories:1⃣8⃣9⃣

Until next time, remember: have your veggies🍅 and eat your cookies🍪 too!

Caturday: Talking Cat ❤️s Boxes and a Chicken Cat

Hey there! Thanks✨ for visiting Happy Healthy Noms for this week’s Caturday!😺

😻Would you believe me if I said my cat, Indi, can talk? Check out this video and you decide:  (Also, my voice is NOT this high-pitched. It only is when I talk to my cats!)

✨I found Indi a couple years ago on the 4⃣th of July🎉. (Indi=Independence Day) I think she’s part bengal, which are known for talking!🌟

😸Besides talking, Indi’s other hobbies include fitting into boxes:😻

 😹BONUS CATURDAY CAT: This is my boyfriend’s cat, Tut. Doesn’t he look like a rotisserie chicken🐔?😸

Until next time, remember: have your veggies🍅, eat your cookies🍪, and love on your cats too!

Foodie Friday: My Favorite Summer Veg Breakfast

Hey there! Thanks✨ for visiting Happy Healthy Noms for this week’s Foodie Friday.🌟

💛Today enjoy an original veg/an recipe made by me for: my all-time FAVORITE  breakfast🌄 for the summertime.☀️ (No, seriously–I have this almost everyday!)

✨And best of all? It takes 5⃣ minutes to make‼️  ☀️Summer Rendezvous Bowl🍈

This is a delicious protein–packed vegetarian breakfast 🌄 that I enjoy all summer long! ☀️This is a “rendezvous” because the fruit in this bowl is only there to mingle during the summer. 😿

💛What’s in it?💛 

  • Equal parts 0% Greek Yogurt* and 0-2% Cottage Cheese** (a total of 3/4 cup) 

*Dislike Greek Yogurt❓I promise you will like it with the sweetener–it takes away the bitterness. No? You hate Greek Yogurt⁉️ Then just use the cottage cheese!

    **I like Wallaby Organic Non Fat Greek Yogurt and Kalona Super Natural Reduced Fat Cottage Cheese (OR you can also use dairy-free yogurt!)

    🌟(Happy Healthy Fact: like Greek yogurt, cottage cheese is high in protein and low in calories! Plus the brand I listed is super creamy and super yummy!)

    • Top  with 3/4 cup Cantaloupe, a packet of Sweet Leaf sweetener**(Natural with an A+ taste!), and 2⃣0⃣ Pistachios.
    • ☑️Calories: 2⃣3⃣2⃣
    • Optional: 💁🏻add 1/4 cup bran cereal. (I like Nature’s Path: Flax Plus Multigrain Flakes.) 
    • ☑️Calories w/cereal: 2⃣5⃣9⃣
    • You can also add 5⃣ more pistachios for just 2⃣0⃣ calories!

    Until next time, remember: have your veggies🍅 and eat your cookies🍪 too!

    Recipe Review: Vegan Baked Chai Donuts

    Hey there! Thanks✨ for visiting Happy Healthy Noms for this week’s Review Thursday.🌟

    Today I stumbled upon a vegan recipe for Baked Chai Donuts from the cooking blog, handful of raspberries.

    They sounded amazing, and they WERE.  The texture was perfect. If I didn’t tell the person eating it what it was, they would have thought it was an unhealthy cake donut! (But the secret: they are healthier!)

    Not to mention the flavor is phenomenal. The chai spices in the donut really stand out, and the cinnasugar glaze adds just the right amount of sweetness.

    ☑️Calories: 1⃣6⃣0⃣

    Recipe rating: 💛💛💛💛💛

    What’s in it?  💫Happy Healthy Hint: I highly recommend grinding whole cardamom and nutmeg. I ground the cardamom in a small coffee grinder, and shaved the nutmeg with a micro plane. (Doing this makes the donut’s flavor and aroma DIVINE.)🌟

    📝I made 3⃣ changes to the original recipe:

    1⃣~ Instead of all-purpose flour, I ground up Wheat Pastry Berries into Whole Wheat Pastry Flour using my Vitamix Grains attachment *

    *Can’t make your own flour? Use store bought Whole Wheat Pastry Flour.

    2⃣~ Surprise, surprise✨ I replaced the sugar🍬, but this time with Truvia Baking Blend**!

    **This was my first time using Truvia Baking Blend and I was very happy with it! It added the perfect amount of sweetness and didn’t have a weird taste.

    ✏️NOTE: replacing sugar with Truvia has a unique ratio–see below⬇️.

    Ratio for using Truvia
    3⃣~ I replaced soy milk🚫 because it’s on my out list. It is considered to be more processed than other milks like almond milk. I used Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk***.

    ***I love this almond milk because not only is it only 3⃣0⃣ calories in a cup, but it doesn’t contain carageenan❌ (an iffy ingredient that can cause inflammation💔 which can lead to heart disease and cancer. It’s found in many foods including dairy-free milks–so read your ingredients!)

    4⃣~ The recipe had 2⃣ toppings for the donuts, but I made up a “Cinnasugar Glaze” that combined them together.

    ⭐️Cinnasugar Glaze:💛

    • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
    • 2-3 Tbsp Silk Unsweetened Almond Milk
    • 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
    • 1/4 tsp cinnamon

    Ready to go into the oven~✨
    ☑️You can get my Wilson donut baking pan for a great price at Bed Bath and Beyond.

    👍The baking time and temp was perfect.

    Fresh from the oven~💛 ready to be flipped onto the cooling rack.
    Look at that glazed donut goodness~💛
    🌟NOTE: The recipe said it would make 1⃣2⃣ donuts, but it only made 6⃣. So, double the recipe (you’ll want 1⃣2⃣–heck you’ll want 2⃣4⃣!😻

    Have a product, recipe, or cookbook that you want me to review? Comment below with the link, or e-mail me at: happyhealthynoms@gmail.com

    Until next time, remember: have your veggies🍅 and eat your donuts too!

    How to Make the Perfect Smoothie

    Hey there! Thanks✨ for visiting Happy Healthy Noms for this week’s Tidbit Tuesday.👌

    ⭐️The Skinny on Smoothies: 💛
     🌟To make the perfect smoothie that is grit–free and perfectly blended is, hands down, made with a Vitamix.

    💟I’ve owned a TurboBlend Two Speed Vitamix for several years and I am in LOVE💗. All my smoothies are made with it, and it is used in preparing most of my recipes.

    😎Yes, the price is SO worth it. (NO, I am not being endorsed or paid by Vitamix, I am just a huge fan of it~)

    👍The great thing about a Vitamix? It does so much more than smoothies! You can make:

    • COLD❄️ Ice Cream 🍦and HOT🔥 Soup 🍵! (I don’t know how it does it, it’s like magic✨)
    • You can also mix up dough🍕and batter.
    • You can make salsa, hummus,  and guacamole.
    • You can also make sauces, dressings, and syrups.
    • 🍞And my favorite feature is the grains attachment!  I can grind my own flour from wheat berries into whole wheat pastry flour to oats into oat flour. 

     

    Until next time, remember: have your smoothies💜 and eat your cookies🍪 too!

    Move Your Body Monday: Hoop Dancing w/LED Hoop Video

    Hey there! Thanks✨ for visiting Happy Healthy Noms for this week’s Move Your Body Monday!🌟

    I have been hoop dancing💃 since May🌷, and I LOVE💗 it!

    Hoop dancing (or “hooping“) is a great calorie-burning aerobic and strengthening workout that doesn’t feel like a workout!💟 Hooping is fun, can be relaxing🌾, and is fairly easy to learn👍.I started out with that beginner hoop, but switched to an advanced pink polypro hoop, and I just got my advanced LED hoop in the mail today!🎉 Look at this baby shine~✨

    My hoop is from Moodhoops and is called Glitch. It’s 3⃣3⃣ inches, and made out of clear polypro.

    Check out my first flow session with my new LED hoop:

    💗I’ll post hooping videos on Happy Healthy Noms every Monday and also on  my Youtube.

    🌟I take hoop classes locally, which means there are probably hoop classes by you too! If you’re interested just google “hoop classes” +your town!👍

    ⭐️If there aren’t hoop classes by you, you can learn from tutorials on YouTube. I supplement my classes with these tutorials. My favorite💛 tutorials are by DeAnne Love.

    🙏If you have any questions about hoop dancing let me know! *comment✒️ below or e-mail📧 me at happyhealthynoms@gmail.com

    I can help you pick out a good beginner hoop or find tutorials to start your hooping journey!✨

    Also, fellow hoopers : I’d appreciate any constructive criticism~💜

    Until next time, remember: Have your cookies🍪 and move your body💃 too!

    So Yummy! Summertime Vegan Smoothie Bowl Recipes

    Hey there! Thanks✨ for visiting Happy Healthy Noms for this week’s Smoothie 🍵 Sunday!

    Today I have 2⃣ delicious and nutritious vegan smoothie bowl recipes that are both perfect for those hot summer days~☀️

      🍓Fruit Salad Smoothie Bowl🍎 

    🍏My favorite vegan fruit smoothie bowl that I have made so far! It’s perfectly sweet, delightfully satisfying, and super refreshing for a hot summer day~☀️

    🍇Smoothie: avocado, spinach, orange, carrots, apple, raspberries, and vanilla flavored vegan protein powder*.

    *I use Bio Chem 100% Vegan Protein Powder

    🍍Toppings: fresh pineapple, black seedless grapes, apple slices, strawberries, flaxseed meal, and chia seeds.

    ☑️Calories: 3⃣0⃣8⃣

     ✨Veggie Party Smoothie Bowl!🎈

    🎇This is a veggie party in your mouth! It has a complex flavor that is fresh, super filling, and nice and refreshing!🌟

    🎉Smoothie: coconut water, spirulina, spinach, mixed greens, frozen broccoli, lime juice, orange, and baby carrots.

    🎊Toppings: mini sweet bell peppers, sugar snap peas, baby carrots, cucumber, celery, cilantro, and hemp hearts*.

    *I use Mantitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts (Food Fact: Hemp hearts are super high in protein! 3⃣ TBSP has 1⃣0⃣g!)

    ☑️Calories: 2⃣7⃣8⃣

    ✔️Next time: I’d like to add ginger and maybe forgo the coconut water (or use less) because it was a little too watery!

    🌺Tips and tricks: To make the cucumber flowers🌸 I used Bento Vegetable Cutters from Amazon.

    Until next time, remember: have your veggies🍅 and eat your cookies🍪 too!

    Caturday: Why is coconut palm sugar the best?

    This week’s Caturday has an excerpt from my blog post: Vegan Cookie Cake: Looks Ugly, Tastes Pretty

    Coconut palm sugar is my favorite✨ sugar to use in baking!

    Use 1⃣to1⃣ when replacing other sugars.

    It has a low glysemic index👍, it ACTUALLY contains trace vitamins and minerals*, and has only 1⃣5⃣ calories!

    *It contains zinc, magnesium, potassium and copper

    😻 Additionally, it has a divine, rich carmelly and molassesy  taste. 👏

    HOWEVER, it also tends to darken the color, so for a less healthy but more picturesque cookie🍪 (or cookie cake) keep the flours and sugars the same.🙏

    But best of all…

     Cats love it too! 😸

    See you again tomorrow for Smoothie Bowl Sunday~🌟

    💫Take a look at my blog posting schedule below~‼️

    ✨Move Your Body Monday: I post my favorite🌟 workouts, including videos🎥 of my hula Hoop Dancing!💟

    👌Tidbit Tuesday: A peek at my favorite🌟 happy healthy things or healthy eating and living facts, tips, and tricks.

    ⭐️ Recipe Review☑️ Thursday*: I post ✨recipe reviews of vegan and usually gluten–free baked goods🍰🍪, vegetarian and vegan cooking*

    *📌Recipes are from various cookbooks📖 and cooking blogs📝, and will include pictures and tips and tricks~👍

    **‼️Got a recipe or cookbook you want me to review? I would LOVE💗 to review it! E-mail📧 me at : happyhealthynoms@gmail.com

    ❤️ Foodie Friday: I post original healthy (usually) vegetarian or vegan recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner!👍.

    ⭐️Smoothie Bowl Sunday: I post this week’s delicious and nutritious smoothie bowl creations.

    Until next time, remember: Have your veggies and eat your cookies🍪 too!