Happy Friday! 

Wow, this was a long week, how about for anyone else? I got sick (again), hibernated most days, and generally felt like a recluse! Maybe that's how most Januarys go when you live in New England. 

Anyways, to bring some sunshine into my days I've been fiddling around in the kitchen and came up with this sweet but not too sweet muffin. I love crunchy peanut butter, bananas, and chocolate (well, who doesn't?). So I figured, why not combine all three and see what happens? 

It was beautiful what happened. You need to make this recipe stat. It's very simple and won't consume much of your time. Best of all? There are no oils or vegan butters, so you can enjoy them with half the guilt!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all purpose organic Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3 large organic Bananas, mashed
1/3 cup organic Cane Sugar 
1/4 cup organic Agave
​2 Neat Eggs 
1/4 cup organic Applesauce 
1/3 cup organic crunchy Peanut Butter at room temperature (I prefer Teddie Natural Peanut Butter) 
1/4 cup organic Vanilla Almond Milk (Almond Breeze works great)
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
1/3 cup Enjoy Life Mega Chocolate Chunks & more for topping 


Instructions: ​

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line a 12 pan muffin tin with baking cups or spray with a nonstick coconut spray.
2. In a medium size mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt). Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the bananas, cane sugar, Agave, Neat eggs, and applesauce. Mix until well combined. Slowly add in the peanut butter, almond milk, and lemon juice. Mix well. Add the chocolate chunks.
4. Divide batter evenly among the 12 muffin tins, filling 3/4 of the way to the top. Top with additional chocolate chunks.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. 
6. Enjoy! 

When I say "Tofu" to any non-Vegan or non-Vegetarian the most common reaction is usually a contorted face or "Oh, I hate that." And they really aren't that far off base. A plain, uncooked block of Tofu is disgusting. In fact, it's downright inedible. 

But when you mix some spices with creativity, you can transform an ugly, tasteless block of soybeans into something magnificent! In this case, you can make a delicious, easy Vegan appetizer in under 30 minutes. 

Ingredients:

1 (14 oz) block of Organic Extra Firm Tofu
2.5 Tablespoons Crunchy Organic Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
5 Tablespoons Hot Water
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Ginger Powder
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil or Sesame Oil 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. 

2. Remove the Tofu from the packaging and drain. Press the Tofu on a cutting board until completely dry using paper towels. Cut the Tofu into thick cubes.

3. Place the Tofu cubes onto a nonstick cookie sheet in a single layer.

4. Bake the Tofu cubes for 25 minutes, flipping half way through to ensure they are crispy on all sides. While the Tofu is baking, mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a medium size bowl. 

5. If the sauce is too thin, add flour, one tablespoon at a time. 

6. Remove the Tofu from the oven after 25 minutes and allow to cool on a baking cooling rack. Once cool, place the Tofu cubes in a bowl and pour sauce over them. Allow to marinate for about 10 minutes. If you are using a bowl that is oven safe, I'd recommend throwing the Tofu back in the oven for a few minutes to heat up before serving. 

It was truly a special moment when I walked down the street in Key West and came across a little more than a half dozen newborn baby chicks with their mother.

If this doesn't make you go Vegan, I don't know what will. I challenge you to at least go meat free on Mondays. Check out Sir Paul McCartney's dedicated Meat Free Monday website for more information. One day a week, really can make a world of difference. 

If you've never been to Key West, Florida I describe as a blend of Las Vegas and Burlington, Vermont. There is a fabulous food scene, pockets of hippies, plus drinking and debauchery all night, every night. But the best thing about Key West is anything goes. No one cares what you look like, what you're eating, or where you're going. It's the most relaxed place I've visited. 

In prior visits, I was vegetarian and I found the food options to be unique and delicious. Now that I'm vegan, I wasn't sure how easy it would be to find vegan food. To my surprise, it was out of this world. I ate like a Vegan Queen every day. 

I want to provide a brief overview of the three main vegan/vegetarian places I frequented while visiting. 

We started out our meal with two vegan appetizers: Spinach Gyoza Dumplings with a Soy-Ginger dipping sauce. Outstanding. Absolutely delicious. 

Appetizer round two. These tofu faux "chicken wings" melted in your mouth. They were the perfect combination of crispy and flavorful. 

I enjoy a stir fry as much as the next girl, but usually they aren't too spectacular or unique. Ok, you have vegetables, a noodle, and some type of sauce. Not particularly blow your socks off interesting. At first, I was hesitant to order this stir fry but boy am I glad I did. The flavors exploded in my mouth. The vegetables and tofu were crunchy, while the noodles were soft. The sauce used to saute the dish wasn't too oily or overpowering.  Two thumbs up dish. 

This vegan apple crisp dessert was OK. It was piping hot when served so we had to wait quite a few minutes just for it to cool down. The flavor was somewhat lacking. It really just tasted like rolled oats, cinnamon, and apples. Nothing too spectacular. But I was determined to come back to sample other desserts on the menu. They were sold out of most of their desserts the night we had dinner.

​I came back a few days later and sampled their vegan Carrot Cake and vegan Key Lime Cheesecake. Yes, I sampled two desserts in one night and at them both myself. The vegan Carrot Cake was honestly the best vegan Carrot Cake I've ever had. It was super moist, bursting with flavor, and had an amazing gooey cinnamon frosting. Admittedly, I purchased a second piece of carrot cake a few days later and devoured it. 

Overall, The Cafe Key West is an amazing sit down restaurant for vegans. There are so many choices (which I love) that I had a problem deciding what to eat.  The food is fresh, flavorful, and local. And the price point is easy on the wallet. Oftentimes organic, healthy, vegan friendly cafes and restaurants are very pricey and only have small portions. The Cafe Key West is affordable and generous with their portions. It's a Vegan's dream. 

I only sampled two items from the Sugar Apple Cafe & Market but both were satisfying and delicious. The Peaceful Tempeh sandwich is under $10 and one of their most popular items on the menu. It tastes a bit like Thanksgiving with the cranberry sauce, which is just fine by me. 

Their fresh pressed juices are a little on the pricey side, but I haven't found a place that doesn't sell fresh juices for cheap. Either way, this organic carrot juice with green magma was refreshing and filling. 

Sugar Apple Cafe & Market offers an intimate cafe with just six stools inside and one small table outside. It's more of a grab 'n go cafe offering fresh pressed juices, delicious fresh made-to-order sandwiches, salads, and smoothies. Their menu boasts a range of unique dishes and is quite reasonably priced. When we went for lunch, there were only two women taking orders and making the food, so be patient you might have a wait. The market has a wide variety of vegan, organic, non-GMO, gluten-free foods and products. There is a large selection of teas, spices, vitamins, herbs, and homeopathic remedies. The market is a great place to browse while you wait for your food or drink. 

Avocado Toast is all the healthy rage. Many health conscious restaurants and cafes have Avocado Toast as an option. It's so easy to make at home too. This version from Date and Thyme was mediocre. I'm no salt fiend, but there just wasn't much taste to this Avocado Toast. It desperately needed salt, more spices, and flavor. It really lacked flavor. Definitely a disappointment for $4.95

Acai Bowls are also all the health food rage. The Acai berry is a superfood packed with vitamins, nutrients, anti-aging and weight loss properties. My first time trying an Acai Bowl with fresh fruit was in Maui. I don't think I've had one since that compared to how delicious and fresh that was. Date and Thyme's Acai Bowl was good, but it was $11.95! In my opinion (and many other reviews on Yelp) that's far too expensive for what it is.  Their Acai Bowl contains goji berries, which are not my favorite because they get stuck in your teeth. 

Date and Thyme is a good last minute option for Vegans but it's far too expensive and the portions are small. I also tried the oatmeal power bowl. When I finished, I was still hungry. It also wasn't very flavorful or unique. They have a small organic market next to their kitchen featuring fresh produce, snacks, seasonings, teas, and other grab n' go meals. It's very cute and well laid out, but the cafe and market is the kind of health food store that gives eating healthy a bad wrap. 

Patrick Brown is on a mission to eradicate the animal farming industry by creating the perfect meat-free burger. Brown is doing it to save the planet.

He and a large group of scientists have been tinkering with the color, taste, and texture to replicate a beef burger. So far Brown's startup company Impossible Foods is being sold in four high end restaurants and has caught the eye of former Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Read more about how Impossible Foods is attempting what some may think is the impossible. 

The holidays have been over for several weeks now. The Salvation Army bell ringers have faded away. There are no more Toys for Tots charity drives. There are no large food donations boxes around the neighborhood. 

Giving to a charity at the end of the calendar year is not only beneficial for tax purposes but also it feels good during the holidays. But what about the remainder of the year, especially now in the dead of winter when those who are less fortunate need help the most?

I encourage you to give back to your charity of choice all year round if you are able. One easy way to do this is by donating non-perishable items to your local food pantry or food kitchen. The next time you are grocery shopping, spend an extra few minutes and an extra $25 to pick out some healthy items to donate. 

Make a point of it to drop off your donated food items at your local food pantry or food kitchen each month.
If this type of donation doesn't speak to you, maybe creating a "yard-based" food pantry like the ones described in this NPR story is something you could get behind. Maybe you eat a very bland diet of rice and beans for a week so that the money saved on food is donated to help hungry families. Perhaps a financial donation resonates the most with you. 

Think about the difference you could make in someone's life. More than 42 million Americans lived in food insecure households in 2015, according to Feeding America. Help end hunger in America. Feeding America also has an easy tool to help you find your local food bank. 

Maybe you are the type of person who has five New Years resolutions written down on a piece of paper before the clock strikes midnight on New Years Eve. Or maybe you are someone who takes a few minutes to reflect on the previous year and then writes down a few flexible goals for the year on New Years day.

​Or maybe you are the type of person who thinks that it would be a great idea to create goals, but decides it's too time consuming and believes goals are meant to be broken so why bother. Whichever type of person you are, here are 10 easy tips to help keep you positive, healthy, & happy in the beginning days of the New Year. And remember, just because it's the new year doesn't mean you have to start over. You can start fresh anytime of the year.

1. Just Say Yes. Expand your horizons, crawl outside of your comfort zone. Say yes to a date. Say yes to trying a new food. Say yes to a friend who asks for a favor and it's an inconvenience for you. Say yes to playing with your kid, nephew, niece, cousin, sibling, or neighbor's kids. Say yes to trying a new color for your wardrobe. 

2.  Experiment with Essential Oils. If you don't mind spending $10 on an experiment to help enhance your mood, keep reading. Essential oils such as lavender, peppermint, spearmint, orange blossom, and many others have a wide variety of uses to help improve the mind. You've probably heard of using lavendar essential oil on your temples to help you go to sleep or to add a few drops to a room infuser. One technique I've particularly grown fond of is placing a few drops of peppermint essential oil on the           bottom of the bathtub before taking a shower. The steam from the shower activates the peppermint oil and helps awaken your senses.  

3. Drink More Water. For most of us, drinking more water throughout the day is a chore. It's tasteless, boring, and just not fun. I get it. But the reality is, we need to survive and the more we have of it, the better off we are. The Institute of Medicine recommends men should consume 13 cups of water per day and women should consume 9 cups of water per day. Water helps regulate our body temperatures, remove waste from our bodies, keep us hydrated, and protect our most important internal organs and brain. Life hacker offers a handful of solutions to trick yourself into drinking more water. 

4. Express Gratitude.  Let go of the past, remove expectations for the future, and embrace the present. Be grateful for everything in your life. Each day (maybe it's first thing in the morning or right before bed) write down, say aloud, or just quietly share to yourself at least three things you are most grateful for in your life. Try to remember to do this simple exercise everday for at least one week and take a mental note of how you feel. You'll be amazed at how taking a few minutes out of your day to reflect on everything you already have can be transformative in your life. If you need a few tips on how to go about doing it, read this. 

5. Just Smile. Did you know smiling is contagious? Did you know smiling can help lower stress and anxiety? Did you know smiling helps you become more attractive and more trustworthy? Smiling doesn't just have to happen when you laugh at a funny joke. You could try and change your outlook on life and smile just because. 

6. Take a Bath. ​Treat yourself by disconnecting from all technology and distractions to allow yourself to drift away in a warm bath. Add Epsom salts to the bath to ease any stress or soreness. Spend 20 - 30 minutes in the bath either with a book or a glass of wine or your favorite drink. Put this time aside for you. 

7. Volunteer. Do you remember a time in your life when someone unexpectedly gave you a helping hand? Maybe it was at work, at home, or from a random stranger. Do you remember how you felt afterwards? It's pretty awesome receiving help in life, especially when you need it most. Pay it foward and help improve your community by volunteering either with your local food pantry, homeless shelter, Big Brother Big Sister chapter, or other organization that aligns with your interests. To explore some ideas on how you can get involved, check out this website. 

8. Go Vegan! January is officially known as "Veganuary!" The month is dedicated to "reduce the suffering of animals by inspiring and supporting people across the globe to go vegan for the month of January." Feel great about yourself. Help the environment. Be compassionate to animals. Everything you need to know about Veganuary is on this dedicated website, including a vegan starter kit! What are you waiting for? 

9. Give an Unsolicited Compliment. Whether you are waiting in line at the grocery store, commuting on the train, or at work, try offering an unsolicited tasteful compliment to someone you may know or a complete stranger. Those few words may really make someone elses day. 

10. Adopt a Kitten. Check out who needs a home from your local animal shelter. It will bring so much happiness to your daily life. :)