Morselicious Marathon Medals, Spring cleaning, Nilla-nutty recipe

Who wants a NILLA NUTTY recipe?

Who’s earned a Marathon medal?

Who wants to order Week 1 of my ULTIMATE 21 day MORSELICIOS Detox e-cookbook?

I’m SOOO excited to share my first 7 days of MORSELICIOUS recipes with you! Each day includes recipes for breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, dessert and hot cup’s of MOJO, shopping list, healthy tips and mo’! Great gift idea for Mother’s Day!   :) Email me today to order!

Congratulations to my MORSELICIOUS sister, Seana for completing her first half marathon (13.1 miles) in the Sacramento heat, none-the-less in 3 hours & 23 minutes!
INCREDIBLY PROUD of her!!! See her MORSELICIOUS MEDAL below!

Say this three times quickly!!

MORSELICIOUS MARATHON MEDAL
MORSELICIOUS MARATHON MEDAL
MORSELICIOUS MARATHON MEDAL!

Seana's 1:2 marathon medal

Spring has sprung and so has Mo, the Morselist’s creative clean-“itis” craving. ‘Tis time to morselfy your spring cleaning, so let’s get started with some of
Mo’s top 10 tips!

1 Clear the clutter. You all know what I mean. Get it clear and clean!

2 Donate items you haven’t used or worn in more than 6 months to a worthy cause

3 Start a compost bin, can or jar, if you don’t have a yard. I use a large jar to put my brewed chicory root and vegetable peelings. Coffee grounds, tea leaves and even clean egg shells mixed in with soil does wonders for your garden AND reduces waste. DOUBLE MORSELICIOUSness! Watch this 3 minute “how-to-compost-video via The Sierra Club”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FfnbTC1Mis

4 Make your own eco-friendly cleaner. My favorite concoction is to mix
Baking soda with peppermint castile soap and warm water, which makes an excellent fresh smelling NON-toxic scrubbing agent. Consider adding fresh lemon juice and even using the used lemon for extra fresh scent, scrub and shine. For the sinks and toilet bowl, NOT using the same sponge, try a mixture of baking soda and white vinegar. It actually fizzes when you mix the two, so it’s kind of fun…yes, one must make FUN out of spring cleaning! It’s the MORSELIST’s rule! ☺

5 Clean your refrigerator. Start by taking EVERYTHING out, shelf by shelf. Yes, you may do this one shelf at a time. Deep clean the inside of your fridge with a mixture of warm water, fresh lemon juice and baking soda. Towel dry and put everything back, assuming your food items and jars, etc. are already clean. If not, clean those, too and toss any old and moldy items… say that 3x quickly:
“OLD and MOLDY
OLD and MOLDY
OLD and MOLDY” ☺

6 Clean out and clean up your pantry/cupboards: After removing your shelves, again one at a time, consider lining them with fun lining paper…so much easier to clean. Heck, you can even make your own, if you’re feeling extra MORSELICIOUSly crafty or get your kids involved. Make it fun and while you’re at it, clean up your pantry items that contain high fructose corn syrup, sugar, msg, too much sodium, ingredients you can’t pronounce and did I mention sugar? Stay tuned for my upcoming article on SUGAR DETOX.

bouganvilla

7 Open sunshine! Open your windows and breathe in the fresh air! A lil’ fresh oxygen does the body and soul good.

8 For mo’ oxygen in your home, pot some plants in every room. You know I LOVE my green and yes, I have plants in every room of our home and not only does it provide natural beauty, it provides mo’ oxygen and cleaner air. TRIPLE MORSELICIOUSness!

9 Start an herb garden, even if it’s just a little pot…I have a pot of fresh bail on my kitchen counter and it lasts much longer than buying a bunch of basil at the market every week, plus it’s SO fragrant and there’s something really fun about clipping your own fresh herbs for every meal. Try it, you’ll like it. Just ask Mikey. (And if you don’t know that reference, good God, I’m old!) ☺

10 As a reward for completing Mo’s spring cleaning list, I’ll share my
MORSELICIOUS NILLA NUTTY SHAKE recipe. As with 99.9% of my recipes, this is vegan, gluten-free, almost NO sugar or sodium and of course, loaded with oodles of MORSELICIOUSness! Enjoy!

coconut

MORSELICIOUS NILLA NUTTY(vanilla-coconut-almond) SHAKE

½ cup canned coconut milk
½ cup almond milk (I prefer unsweetened)
1 tbsp vanilla flavor
¼ tsp pure ground vanilla
optional: 1 tbsp cacao nibs
crushed ice

Serves 2
Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until desired consistency and sip or slurp the MORSELICIOUSness.

TIP: If you double or triple the recipe, you can freeze remaining shake in popsicle molds or ice cube trays and blend again with mo’ milk of choice when your CRAVING strike What are YOUR favorite ways  to  spring clean/detox? 

Ready. Set…. GO!

www.themorselist.com

Morselicious Nuttin’ Butter & Valentine’s Day Coupon

Happy MORSELICIOUS Monday!
Who’s ready to share their XOO’s this Valentines Day? http://shop.macnmos.com/main.sc Use COUPON CODE

“XOMO” for 15% off all orders $19.98 and over through February 14th.

Now, onto our guest post today via a MORSELICIOUS local nut butter company. Mmmm.

Hello, Morselist readers! Our names are Travis and Vicki, and we’re the creators of Nuttin’ Butter. Nuttin’ Butter is an LA-based business dedicated to nut butters, one of mankind’s greatest inventions. Our two-person operation creates gourmet peanut butters, almond butters, and peanut-almond-cashew butter blends using all-natural, high-quality ingredients. No fillers, no polysyllabic stuff—everything we use is recognizable and, more importantly, damn tasty.

 

We’re stopping by Mo’s blog to tell you about one of our favorite flavor creations, ‘Mega Rich. Not simply an almond butter, ‘Mega Rich is a blend of dry-roasted almonds, raw walnuts, roasted golden flax seeds, and a sprinkle of sea salt—that’s it! Walnuts and flax seeds are the best sources of Omega-3s (other than fish, which wouldn’t taste nearly as good in an almond butter), which are essential fatty acids linked to brain health and much more. Not only does ‘Mega Rich provide Omega-3s for your brain, protein for your muscles, and healthy fats for your heart, but it also contains lots of delicious nutty goodness for your taste buds—hey, they’re important, too!

 

Now, our ‘Mega Rich pairs well with many different foods—apple slices, carrot and celery sticks, and rice cakes, to name a few—but we enjoy it most in smoothie form. As busy as we are running this business, we need our meals to be portable and easily prepared, but still jam-packed with essential nutrients. That’s why we came up with the recipe to this nutritional powerhouse:

smoothie1

A ‘Mega Rich Morning

Serves 2

1 ripe banana, unpeeled

2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk

2/3 cup old-fashioned oats (optional, but great when you need an extra-filling breakfast)

4 ice cubes

1.5 cups frozen kale or fresh spinach (add more ice if using fresh)

3 dates

2 tablespoons ‘Mega Rich

1 teaspoon cinnamon

 

-Throw everything into a blender and blend until smooth. The ‘Mega Rich adds a nice crunch to the smoothie, which is important for achieving satiety.

smoothie2

Hope you guys enjoy the smoothie recipe! If you’d like to read more about our story and our line of artisan, all-natural, all-delicious nut butters, please visit our About Us page. We also have an online store that lists our entire flavor line-up, including two new seasonal additions! (What better way to celebrate the holidays?)

 

More questions? Feel free to email us, hit us up on Twitters or Facebooks, or even better—come visit us at one of our farmers market booths!

 

Big thanks to Mo for sharing her awesome blog with us!

-Travis and Vicki

facebook.com/macnmos

themorselist.com

 

Eating a rainbow-Wednesday

Happy EAT A RAINBOW Wednesday!

This Morselist is SOOO inspired! I taught my first healthy cooking class through an incredible non-profit organization, Equitable Roots via Worksusa.org,  to a group of teens last night and they were INCREDIBLE! For more info and /or to support Equitable Roots, please visit:

http://eroots.org/faqs/

My lesson plan focused on eating the rainbow of veggies and fruits every day and I created recipes around that theme, and true to a MORSELICIOUS lifestyle/diet, NO salt or sugar were included in my recipes. However, the director of the program brought sea salt and honey, just in case. When I saw her unpack those 2 items, I jokingly asked, “Um, what are those? Why are those in the Morselist’s class?”

She smiled like a kid who had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, NOT the morsel jar and replied,

“It’s just that I KNOW these kids and they’re going to want salt and sugar, so I figured honey was  a healthier alternative.”
I conceded and asked her to keep them hidden under the chef’s table and that I would offer ONLY if ABSOLUTELY necessary. We shook hands, so to speak and made a deal.

Mo’s fusion veggie tacos

Open sesame slaw

Mo’s fancy spa water

Ingredients:

1 sliced cucumber

1 sliced lemon

2 sliced limes

1 sliced orange

ice

water

Directions:

Fill pitcher with cool water and ice.

Add sliced fruits and let sit for at least 10 minutes.

Enjoy this refreshing vitamin packed NO calorie drink!

I asked the students to name some of their favorite foods in a rainbow and yes, one student yelled out, “SKITTLES!”

Another student quickly chimed in, “that’s NOT real food!”

My spirit soared…a MORSELITE in the making! :)

Some of the students had never tasted an orange bell pepper or zucchini or seen purple/red cabbage.

They chopped, diced, sautéed, grilled a plethora of veggies and made

a mountain of a taco with sesame slaw on the side or on top of their tacos.

We used fresh herbs, spices, citrus fruits and they devoured every morsel. (pun intended!)

I told them they could use  a pinch of sea salt or honey ONLY, IF ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!  One student asked for it BEFORE she even tasted her food.

I asked her to PLEASE taste first. Voila! NOT one of the students added either to ANY of the dishes.

One student wasn’t eating his dinner, and I asked if it was because he didn’t like it. He said, “No, I LOVE it, but want to bring to my family. “He melted my heart

Then we made dessert. One of my favorites, CUCKOO FOR COCO-Nanaliciousness

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 can coconut milk

1 frozen sliced banana

blend well

pour into small cups and

garnish with fresh mint leaves

Directions:

Add coconut milk, shredded coconut and frozen banana into

Blender. Blend well, until you get a smooth shake like consistency.

Pour into dishes or small glasses and garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Drink or eat with a spoon.

For a thicker, pudding like consistency, add crushed ice and blend.

One student chewed on the mint and declared, “it’s pretty good, but it doesn’t taste

like gum.”

—–

The next class started a bit rocky.

One student was SOOo turned off by my recipes and stated, ”What the heck? There’s NO meat and we CAN’T fry our tortillas and NO soda?

I guess I’ll just have to go home to eat..”

I smiled while taking a VERY deep breath, and replied,

“well, since you’re here now, you can at least make the dishes

and try a bite. If you don’t like it,  you don’t have to finish.”

He rolled his eyes in what I took as his own style of agreement.

Guess what?
He was the first one to ask for seconds and BEGGED my director

to “PLEASE bring Mo back to teach more classes!”

The director apologized for underestimating me and the kids and said,

“You were right, Mo. I guess if you cook with fresh herbs and spices and food, you

don’t HAVE to add extra salt/sugar. Lesson learned.” :)

Ahhh…the MORSELICIOUS gold at the end of the RAINBOW!

http://mo-themorselist.healthcoach.integrativenutrition.com/

Morselicious Monday winners!

Happy MORSELICIOUS Monday!

CONGRATULATIONS to our MORSELICIOUS SWEET LEAF STEVIA recipe winners, Lindsay and Reece!

How was your weekend? What did you do? I started the weekend with a magnificent hike with my friend, Nicola. The misty ocean fog was still making its way through the mountains and if I let my imagination wander, I could have sworn we were trekking through the grassy knolls of Ireland.  No, this isn’t a pix of our hike, just wanted to show you what my imagination looks like… :)

Then, a few of my cohorts from IIN and I got together for a study session/potluck/share fest. Michelle made a delicious quinoa salad. Edie made mixed greens & wild rice tempeh with a delectable vinaigrette. Suzi sprouted a buckwheat caramelized onion raw pizza.  OMG-YUM! I, of course made MORSELS! I’m blessed to be in school with such fascinating women. Doug and I attended my ‘lil’ sis, Meni’s orchestral concert.

She plays viola and was incredible! Sunday, we took the Metro downtown, an adventure in Los Angeles and a great mini-stair work-out!

We saw the Tony Award winning performance of Stephen Sondheim’s, FOLLIES at the Ahmanson Theatre.

This show is LEGENDARY and inspiring!  My good friend, Jenifer is in the show and she just found out she’s performing at the Tony Awards! Soo excited for her!

Stay tuned for mo’ upcoming recipe challenges. Mac-n-Mo’s is partnering with some TASTY foodie companies. As promised, here are the winning recipes. Please try them and let me know how you like:

Lindsay’s Chocolate Peanut Butter MORSELICIOUS Brownies

1 Bag Morselicious Mix

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup mashed yam (cooked)
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
5-10 drops Sweet Leaf Stevia
1.  Preheat the oven to 350.
2.  Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl.  If the cocoa is lumpy sift it.
3.  Combine the wet ingredients with an electric mixer.
4.  Add the dry ingredients
5.  Oil an 8×8 inch pan (I used coconut oil).
6.  Pour in the morseliciousness.
7.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes depending on how gooey you like it.
—–
Reece’s Fruit Delightfully Nutty Morsels (NOT cookies)Ingredients:
3/4 cup Morselicious Mix
1/4 cup dried apricots (or your favorite dried fruit), chopped
1 medium, ripe banana, mashed
1 1/2 tbsp coconut milk
3 teaspoons Sweet Leaf Stevia
1 tablespoon unsweetened preserves (I used Apricot that I happened to already have)
Pinch salt (Optional)
1/3 cup walnuts, choppedInstructions:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Mash together all ingredients thoroughly. If it seems a bit dry, feel free to add a bit more coconut milk. Drop by the spoonful onto a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden. Experiment with different dried fruits!

Nutso-Sweet Friday: What to eat pre & post work-out

Happy Nutso-Sweet Friday!
Q: What should I eat before and after exercise?
A:  Before Exercise: It is always good to start with a simple, light snack such as a piece of fruit. Simple carbs are the way to go because they provide quick energy. While you may feel you need a little food energy to exercise, you don’t want to be weighed down. Besides, you don’t want your body to be working so hard on digesting when you’d like the body to focus on your intent: working out! Too much food just before exercise may cause you to have a stomach ache.
After Exercise: After your workout, it is a good idea to replenish with some healthy carbs (fruit, some veggies, whole grains) AND protein. Protein is necessary because it helps to build and repair the bodies cells and your muscles, which hopefully have been working hard, will certainly need a boost. After you work out, you can afford a little more because your metabolism is in full-gear and you can take the time to sit, eat and digest your snack or meal without interruption.
For more in depth explanation, please check out this article which I had the pleasure of working with some great fitness experts and dietitians: Sweat it out, and Power it Up!
And what a coincidence, this recent LIVESTRONG article which I had the pleasure to contribute discusses just what to eat and when. Scroll to: What to eat.., After a Tough Training Workout.

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