Raw Vegan Dessert?!

Am I vegan? Nope. But holy cow raw vegan desserts?! Seriously??

The other day, I decided I wanted to make a raw vegan carrot cake. No reason.. kinda just felt like it. So I went to our local Sprouts on student discount day and loaded up on the goods. I got a bunch of randos like Walnuts, Low-Fat Desiccated Coconut, Carrots (Obviously), a real vanilla bean pod!! etc... I basically just threw everything together and voiala! Vwallla...? Voila...?

I AM A CHEF PRODIGY

I even made 3 layers!! Food processors rock! Guys when I save up enough money to open up a real BakeryZero, this will definitely be on my healthy dessert menu 👌. So no worries, you might get to try it soon! 😄 Oh man my mom and I SCARFED it (my dad & bros tried to, but we were too fast...).

The best thing about it is that even though we demolished it, it settled sooo well and didn't leave any of us with a big/full/"food baby" stomach ache! YAS! I LOVE EATING HEALTHY!

Before & After

Left: Hawaii summer of 2016
Right: Cruising Europe summer of 2017

These photos are only a year apart but my "health & fitness journey" began 2 years ago when I was starting my freshman year of college. From leaving High School, to now (finishing my 2nd year of college), I have experienced a 25 lb. weight loss... and I'm still eating like a MANIAC!? (I can eat a lot. No joke)

Okay.. no.. I'm not solely promoting weight loss... that's not my overall goal here (even though it can often be a sweet bonus to being educated and living a healthy lifestyle). My goal is to FEEL healthy and energized and happy! On the inside and the outside.

To be honest I was feeling good in my left photo! I was active and exercising often. And no, I don't believe I was even the slightest bit overweight or unhealthy either! What really happened in these past few years is I became educated. I started to learn what different foods do to my body and how I react to various exercises. I've been able to reach my health and fitness goals as I continue to learn!

My trick is a healthy lifestyle, healthy alternatives, & knowing what/how to substitute! 🙌

Do I still eat Mcdonalds cheeseburgers occasionally? Yes
Do I still eat cinnamon rolls? Yes
Do I still have dessert? Yes
Do I still make mistakes and eat five pounds of dark chocolate after dinner sometimes? Yup
Do I really consider that a mistake though? ....

So stay tuned! Cuz I'm going to share EVERYTHING I am doing to stay fit, happy, energized, and healthy!

Also P.S. Can we just take a moment to appreciate my gnarly tan line on that cruise ship photo... And my Mufassa hair/lion's mane? 🐯 Hahah

Friendly Reminder

Wassupp! So a few days ago this was the conversation my mom & I had...

Mom: "We should hike Timp Mountain sometime"
Me: "Lets do it tomorrow! 4AM!"
Mom: "Oh shoot really? ...Okay!!"

Hahahah it was DANG hard!! But so much fun!!

Moral of the story:
#1 - Think before you speak
#2 - Have fun and enjoy life!!
Ok I'll admit... I am pretty lucky to have a mom that is my twin. We both love exercising and having fun and laughing and traveling and eating salads and smoothies. So even though I accidentally pulled an all-nighter the night before, and even though we started on the wrong trail for an hour and had to come all the way back to the beginning to start all over again, and even though we got lost about 6.5 times during the hike, and even though I am wobbling around everywhere like a chicken, this was still such a blast. Took us 10 hours but we made it!! Aand I may or may not have cried when I saw the parking lot with our car sitting there after... I was dying. Worth it.

BTW anyone else think its the best when you pack a PB&J and it gets kinda squashed and yummy? For some reason I looove it. Chunky Peanut Butter & Grape Jelly.... Ahhhhh. And bonus: we totally got to eat it at the highest peak of Timpanogos Mountain! So fun!

Ran into some fun people too. We talked with a bunch of cool guys at the top, and we even had a "tour guide" for almost half of the hike. His name is Ben Woolsey and he's 75 and a CHAMP. He's hiked it almost 900 times and sometimes does it twice a day.. yeah that's insane. Don't even want to think about it. 75 years old, and he was creaming us. So money.

After our excursion, we were CHOCOLATE WASTED (translation: tired) and it was soo perfect because we treated ourselves to one of our FAVORITE hearty plates from @Cubbys. We both demolished the rice and kale salad and it was absolute bliss. Yum. Sure I can't really remember eating it because I'm almost positive my face was falling into my bowl I was so tired, but I know it was delish because of past experiences... hahah.

Thank you Cubby's! 🙏

BE ACTIVE
HAVE FUN
CHALLENGE YOURSELF
ENJOY LIFE
WORK IT

Peace out girl scout ✌