peach crisp smoothie

So I'm halfway through my second week back to school and I'm already missing sleeping in, eating pancakes for breakfast on a Wednesday, laying in bed browsing Pinterest foreversssss, and eating cake for lunch. Well the cake for lunch thing doesn't depend on if I'm on break or not, but you know. Being back to normal life has me hurting. My brain. My heart. {dramatic.} My abs. Seriously did someone somehow punch me in the stomach without me knowing errrrrr what?

The thing about being a blogger is that you pick and choose what you share. I think everyone tends to leave out the awkward or embarrassing parts and that ends up painting the picture of a perfect person. And I am far from that. So lest you people think I'm not totally loony and don't make a fool out of myself constantly, I'm gonna tell you a funny story. That happened at the gym this afternoon. It's already wonderful, isn't it? 

So at my gym, there's this really tiny trainer and this really huge trainer. The huge trainer is really serious, intimidating, has a freakishly low voice, and his biceps are about the size of a watermelon. When I started going to the gym, I kid you not, he scared the crud out of me and I would fumble trying to figure out how to turn the treadmill on for like HOURS {dramatic.} rather than ask him for help. As time went on, the tiny trainer ended up being my trainer- less scary, ya know. 

ANYWAYS. Today, I noticed I had squats as part of my program and I was dying a little bit inside because the gym was packed and I hate squatting in front of people. I mean, is it even possible to enjoy that? Not after watching some girl nearly touch her booty to the floor and bounce up effortlessly. When I moved over to the squatting cage {pretty sure that's not the right term.}, I asked my trainer to help me and give me some tips because I was pretty sure I wasn't doing it right. 

WELL. No, he called the other trainer to help me. Oh my gosh you guys, I wish I could have just ran out of there like the speed of light. As he meandered on over to me, he set up the barbell, explained what to do, and made me face the WALL. After he walked away, I decided I'd had enough of staring at a wall and sticking out my butt for all the world to see so I thought I'd move the hooks so I could squat the other way.  BAD IDEA, YOU GUYS. BAD. I. DEA. Bolts went flying, dinging off of this thing and that thing. My friend tried to help me move the barbell and we nearly hit a few people in the schnoz. The huge trainer yelled to the tiny trainer that I needed to face the other way, and me being the stubborn brat that I am said I didn't want it that way. 

MORAL OF THE STORY. I totally made a fool out of myself, made a crap load of noise, nearly took a few precious lives with a barbell, and made the trainer who already dislikes me dislike me a teensy bit more. 

I'm trying to think of how to segway from that gem of a story to this smoothie, but can't really think of anything. So here ya go! A smoothie for your face! I think you'll love it. It tastes like dessert and you can totally have it for breakfast. Or if you're a freak stress-eater like me, eat it for lunch. 

peach crisp smoothie 

1/2 banana

1 frozen peach

small handful of raw walnuts

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. pure maple syrup

2 tbsp. oats

dash of ground cinnamon

2 tbsp. soymilk or other non-dairy milk

handful of ice

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth. Add more ice or milk as needed. Pour into a glass and serve immediately. Makes one large smoothie. 

maple flax cashew butter granola

I am seriously so easily excited, it's kinda odd but a good thing nonetheless. It doesn't take much to perk me up. AT. ALL. Bring me a cup of coffee without asking and we'll be BFFs. Text me in the morning and I'll love you forever. Give me a bar of 70% dark chocolate and I'll dance with endless jubilee. Come over with a tub of ice cream and a chick flick and I'm the happiest camper that ever roamed the lands. I'm not even gonna tell you how excited I got when I was home alone this morning and found Friends was on. Three episodes even! Boomcachowpoooow. Oh and when I found coconut oil at the store? Pretty sure my week was made. Almost two years living in a place where food trends never see the light of day sort of does weird things to a {already weird} person. 

I just got done saying how easy I am to please, but when I found the coconut oil I was thinking "NOOOOOW I just need to find nut butter other than peanut butter." Sure enough, when we were out of town yesterday, scanning the isles of the grocery store for anything awesome or American that we can't find in our little town, I found cashew butter. I'm not even going to tell you how much it cost. Let's just say my dad told me "Merry Christmas!". Which means I probably shouldn't be eating it out of the jar with a spoon like I dooooooes. ANYWAYS. I got really psyched. Last week, coconut oil, and now cashew butter? Winning at life. *fist bump, yo*  Guys, that stuff is fan-freaking-tastic. I want to cover anything and everything with cashew butter. Including my face. MMMM. 

While I'm thinking of ways to use my precious cashew buttahhh other than eating it with a spoon or smothering it on toast, I figured I'd start with granola. Because granola basically is the best breakfast food eeeeeever. I've started making my granola in smaller batches recently because I basically have no self control and if there's an overabundance of the stuff sitting on the counter, I think it my duty to shove it down my face hole. If only granola-eating was an actual paying job, I'd totally be loaded. And then I'd go back and clear off that shelf of fancy-pantsy cashew butter. 

maple flax cashew butter granola

1 1/2 c. quick cooking oats

1/3 c. puffed brown rice cereal

2 tbsp. coconut oil

3 tbsp. cashew butter

3 tbsp. organic maple syrup

1/4 c. flax seeds

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until evenly combined. Pour onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven occasionally {about ever 5-6 minutes}, stirring the granola around so that it doesn't burn. Let cool before removing to a jar or plastic container to store. Serve with milk or yogurt and fruit or by itself for an afternoon munchie!

maple nut granola

Greetings, earthlings! I'm sure you all are wondering where the heyhey I've been… Or maybe you haven't, I don't know. Either way, I'm heeeeyah now! This last week has been quite the whirlwind. And it's only going to keep going. Our 'merrican visitors are leaving tomorrow, and *le sigh* I am sad to see them go. We had a great week doing a VBS with some cute little kiddies. I won't go into the details, but let's just say it's quite hectic and nothing like the organized VBSes in the States with coordinating snacks and decorations. Umm, no. Yesterday we had a Celebrate Jesus Youth Parade that has been 6 months in the making. All the planning, meetings, and hard work paid off. We had probably a thousand people show up, wonderful worship, prayer, and powerful messages. I was the photographer and WHOO! At the end of the day, it felt like I still had my camera strap around my neck. I also got SUPER sunburned in this dang African sun. On the upside, it will turn into a tan which I was really in desperate need of. 

Next week, we have lots of other things going on {which I can't even think of. I can't even remember what I'm doing tomorrow.} and our American team members {that actually live here.} are going back to the States a week from tomorrow for 6 months. I honestly can't believe they're actually leaving. They'd been talking about leaving for months and months but due to some complications, had to stay up until now. It's going to take some getting used to, that is for sure. We see each other almost every day and they've been such an encouragement to me since the day we got off the plane in Namibia. We're basically like siblings. Seriously, their mom said no friends one day but I was allowed over there because I count as family. It's going to be really difficult, but I'm spending as much time with those two as I can in the next six days and I'm praying for comfort and strength to get through it. I've thought about serenading them with Stay by Rihanna and bringing them cupcakes in hopes of getting them to not leave me. If you can't tell, I'm really super duper not looking forward to next Sunday when I give them the BIGGESTFREAKINGHUGEVER until they get their buns back here on New Years. I told my other friend I'm going to make him fat when they leave because I'm an emotional baker and/or eater and he'll get the good end of that deal. I'm also thinking he'll have to put up with an innumerable amount of tears and chick flicks. I probably won't be blogging for awhile. Life is so crazy.

I'm coming to realize the fact that I'm in Africa for a reason and I want to take advantage of the time I have here. Taking in all the scenes, sounds, and smells {err nah. BO isn't a smell you want to remember.} Of course, I love my blog, but I'm obviously not in Africa to blog about food when I'm around people on a daily basis who will go days without a bite to eat. It seems kinda weird, doesn't it? Don't worry, I'll still blog, but not as often as I used to. I like to have my blog as an escape when I have some down time or am stressed.

On a positive note… GRANOLA. Granola is the shiiiiiz and one of my ultimate comfort foods of choice {see where i'm going with this? yah.} Since our visitors brought us approximately 2353224553 gallons of homemade maple syrup, I figured I'd throw some in granola. 'Cuz why not. The weather here is so granola-worthy. It's winter now and in the mornings and nights, it gets SO COLD. Like 40 degrees cold. Didn't think that could happen in Africa, didya? That's Namibia- anything but stereotypical Africa. Anyways, I made this for breakfast this week because every morning, my mom would set out some granola from the store. But that stuff has lots of weird and unnecessary things in it {corn syrup? really?} and miiiiiiiiiine tastes way better. I'm just sayin'.

maple nut granola

2 c. quick-cooking oats 

1 1/2 c. puffed brown rice cereal

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 c. dark brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. chopped walnuts

1/2 c. organic maple syrup

2 tbsp. sunflower oil {or another oil}

Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until evenly combined. Spread on a lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Once cooled, pour into a large jar or plastic container.