Two.more.days.
Two more days until I can bust out the Christmas decorations and officially start celebrating the Christmas season. I know a lot of people already have their trees up (jealous!!!), but it’s kind of tradition to wait until December 1st in the Spoons household, so… two.more.days. Until then, we need to see November off properly, and what better way to do that than with a monthly favourites post?
See you in December! 😀
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. food .
November definitely goes down as the month where my chocolate cravings were at an all time high. I just couldn’t seem to get my fill, but you better believe I tried! How? Well, with plain old chocolate bars, for one…
Dagoba easily makes my favourite barred chocolate. Not only are they intensely chocolatey, smooth, and dangerously delicious, but Dagoba also makes sure to ethically source their cocoa beans. Gotta love a company with good values.
In addition to bars, chocolate has been sneaking it’s way into my system through almond butter as well…
I picked up this jar of Barney Butter Cocoa and Coconut Almond Butter when I was down in the States over the summer, and I can’t believe it took me this long to crack it open — this stuff is like… well… crack. It’s chocolatey almond butter (which makes it an automatic winner in my books), with a lovely subtle coconut flavour (so you should probably like the taste of coconut if you want to enjoy this). I’d keep things classy and say that I enjoy it best on my oatmeal or a slice of toast, but the truth of the matter is that I usually just end up eating it straight from the jar with a spoon. No shame — it’s that good.
And you know you’re in the middle of a full-blown addictive episode when even your coffee has crack chocolate in it…
Combining two of my favourite things into one deliciously comforting drink?! Well played, Godiva… well-played indeed.
As far as non-chocolate things go, I’ve been loving Bob’s Red Mill organic coconut flour…
This is a perfect example of one of those foods that I used to love, somehow forgot about, rediscovered by chance when I was clearing out my pantry, and fell in love all over again. I’ll admit that working with coconut flour is… an interesting experience… but the texture and flavour is so pleasantly unlike any other flour, that it’s definitely worth going through a bit of trial and error to find recipes that work.
Coconut flour is high in fiber and naturally gluten-free. It has a wonderfully sweet and mild coconutty flavour, and results in baked goods that have a dense yet incredibly light texture… as long as you get the flour to liquid ratio right. I think my favourite use for coconut flour is in mug cakes, but I also like adding a spoonful or two to my Greek yogurt and oatmeal to give them a more batter-like consistency.
Speaking of batter… I’ve been baking! Given my chocolate obsession, it’s no surprise that 2 of this month’s 3 recipes involved chocolate, with the third satisfying a random craving for molasses…
[healthier] Chocolate Glazed Donuts
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. beauty .
Things were pretty quiet on the beauty front this past month, mostly because I’ve been trying my best to reign in my shopping habits and ask for things for Christmas instead of buying them for myself (we’re going to conveniently ignore the fact that I reached Rouge status at Sephora — I was buying gifts!!). I only really made one new beauty product purchase in November, and that was this Origins Clear Improvements Active Charcoal Mask…
I’m a huge fan of using masks on a regular basis. Not only do they help prevent breakouts by unclogging pores, but they even out your skin tone, suck out impurities, and leave give your face with a beautiful healthy glow. I love the Origins mask because it manages to do all that without being overly harsh on my sensitive skin. A lot of masks have a tendency to leave my face looking overly dry, blotchy, and irritated, but that’s definitely not the case with this one. I’ve been using it once a week for the whole month of November, and I’ve definitely noticed a huge improvement in my skin.
I almost included this next product in last month’s beauty favourites, but I wanted to give it a bit more time before I recommended it to you guys. Well, a bit more time has passed, and I can confidently say that I freaking love this thing…
I know it doesn’t look like anything fancy, but this Creamy Clay bar soap by Soap Works may just be the best thing that ever happened to my face. I have sensitive skin that’s also pretty prone to acne… I used to use really harsh chemical cleansers to try to fight the problem, but more often than not they’d just irritate my skin and make things even worse. Over time, I’ve been swapping out the chemicals for gentler, more natural products, and this bar soap is one of those. A quick rundown from the source:
Fine Bentonite clay absorbs excess oil on the skin without drying; cleans and tones all skin types; all vegetable content. This is a great all-purpose bar. It is designed for normal to oily skin. The bentonite clay is supposed to absorb surface skin oil without excessively drying the skin. We believe that especially strong, astringent soaps used on naturally oily skin clear away too much surface oil causing the skin to compensate by over producing more oil, thereby exacerbating the problem.
All that? Definitely true. I’ve been washing my face with this soap twice a day, and it literally leaves my skin feeling squeaky clean without the slightest hint of dryness or irritation. The clay pulls off just enough oil to keep your skin clean, without stripping away too much and causing your skin to go into freak-out mode. And the best part of all? It costs around $3 and works so much better than all those fancy expensive cleansers.
And since we’re on the topic of cheap and natural, I have to give a shout-out to baking soda…
You’re looking at me like I’m crazy, but hear me out. Baking soda is an amazing beauty product. What I do is dump a good amount in a bowl and add just enough water to make a paste. Then I’ll spread the paste over my face, wait a minute or two, and manually exfoliate my skin by vigorously rubbing the paste in small circular motions. Baking soda is a great natural exfoliator, and the best part is that it’s gentle while still being effective. I do this every second night or so after I’ve taken off my makeup.
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. odds and ends .
I’m going to keep this part short since this post is already epic in length, but… read this book:
See this movie…
[source]
And buy this snowboard [if you ride]…
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. blog .
Another good month for Spoons! Blogging can feel like a full-time job at times, but it always feels great to see the fruits of that labour. Some favourite posts/happenings from this month include:
- Getting comfortable with eating and resting. Honouring hunger and taking rest days — two things I’ve struggled with in the past, but learning to trust my body and give it what it needs has made a huge difference in both my physical and mental health.
- Getting uncomfortable with selfies… not once, but TWICE! I have the hardest time taking/posting pictures of myself, but people love seeing the face behind the blog, so I figured I should push myself out of my comfort zone and get comfortable with selfies. Work in progress 😉
- Starting a movement to [hopefully] shift back to traditional WIAWs where bloggers used to share a full day of eats.
- Hanging up my running shoes and putting on a pair of snowboarding boots — my seasonal exercise plan for the winter.
- Satisfying cravings in the kitchen…
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Think food — what’s the first one that comes to mind? Chocolate 😆
Which kind/brand of nut butter are you currently obsessed with? Still loving my Maisie Janes, but the coconut AB is amazing.
Best thing that happened in November? J coming to visit 😀
What colour lights do you have on your tree? White.
I need to get my hands on that cocoa coconut Barney Butter… like now! Also omg, I totally forgot about that MJ almond butter I bought when we were in Minneapolis. It’s still sitting in my HLS bag in my closet lol. I need to crack that open soon!
Gah! Don’t make me badger you through texts! I wanna know how you like it 😛
Phew! I thought I was the only one getting extremely comfortable with chocolate and that almond butter this month. I swear, I’ve been downing tbsp. of the almond butter like it’s only $1.00 and available in my grocery stores…both not true.
Feel like decorating my Christmas tree? I swear it looks better naked than after I have added any decorations…. oops.
Props for choosing a chocolate which is ethically sourced and with good moral principles 😉 Chocolate almond butter? I’ve never had that before! I do enjoy chocolate oats WITH almond butter so thats a natural progression. Iherb here I come!
You had some especially amazing posts this month, Amanda- some of my all time favourites ever. Except for that selfie with a face mask…..I can never look at guac the same way again. Hope your weekends going well buddy!
I’m super intrigued by that chocolate coconut almond butter. I’ve been a big fan of the original almond Barney Butter, so I can only imagine how delicious this stuff is. I need to find this!
Best thing that happened this month: sorting out my college transfer & looking forward to a new school
Color of my x-mas tree lights: white. classic, IMO. 🙂
Tell me something, have you tried COMBINING those coffees? I’ve been big into mixing grounds lately…the pumpkin and hazelnut combo I’ve got going on now is ah-freakin-mazing! 😀 And coconut flour is definitely one of those blogland found ingredients that now I can’t imagine my life without. I swear it’s the best thing that’s happened to pancakes since maple syrup! haha!
You have yet again convinced me that I need another beauty product! That bar! My face is practically SCREAMING for it! It is SO hard to find a good facial cleanser for sensitive acne-prone skin…I’ve had so many irritations and those moments where, after you dry your face off, you feel like you’ve put a mask on or something? I hate that! They don’t have a store near me, but I’m about to take a look at the online shops to see what kind of deal I can find!
Currently thinking of a peanut butter mug cake since that’s what I’m eating as we “speak”. I am actually nut butter-less at the moment, but I DID rescue an “empty” peanut butter jar that my mom was about to throw away today while we were getting our Thanksgiving meal ready so yeah, something in a jar is happening tomorrow for sure! 😉 Best thing to happen this month was definitely hosting Sarah and Melissa for our little mini-blend reunion a few weeks ago. And while my tree isn’t up yet, the lights on it are white…always white! I like to do color themes with my tree each year so the multicolored bulbs just aren’t my thing.
Oh girl, I’ve been OBSESSED with mixing coffee grounds! I haven’t tried mixing the two yet because they’re pretty darn sweet on their own, so I usually mix them with a little bit of Bux’s Pike Place to a little more richness.
Catching Fire was good-one of the few sequels that’s better than the original (imho). I need to reread the books now 🙂 Speaking of movies, I also saw Thor 2 this month (I’ve been counting down the weeks and days) and it was pretty good too-I think it may have been one of my favorite things this month (one…there were several!)
I was thinking about going to see Thor 2 while J was up here — I think we may just end up going 😀
Oooh have you tried the dagoba milk chocolate? It’s my favourite (and I’m usually a dark kind of girl ;)) my fab nut butter has been ABC butter (almond cashew and Brazil nut) so good- please let us know if you try it (it is really worth trying ;))! Xo
I think that fact mask just made my Christmas list! This fall I had a huge acne breakout and switched from a harsh acne cleaner to aveeno natural cleaner and it’s already been a pretty big imrovement. I have ever used baking soda on my face but I scrub my teeth with it once or twice a week as a cheap way to help keep the coffee stains away.
Ah I just have to say this again, I am so happy your blog exists! It was one of the first I started reading after recovering from anorexia (happy and super healthy as in I eat cake everyday now) and I love your outlook on things, and I get a lot of inspiration for food here too! Anyway, I just bought that coconut flour and made some gluten free muffins with it. As you say it is an interesting experience and they turned out looking ugly, but taste like heaven!
Peanut butter and sushi come to mind! Not together though…
My favorite nut butter right now is the white chocolate coconut peanut butter from Naturally Nutty! Oh so delightful.
I’m so happy to see that you’ve had quite a lovely month! 🙂
You definitely had a fantastic month with baking. I’m still drooling over those donuts.
You also did awesome with the selfies. I need to take a lesson from you because you’re right, people like to see the face behind the blog. Almost all of the larger/popular blogs post pictures of themselves on a regular basis.
I’m still obsessed with Justin’s vanilla almond butter but now I’ve got my eye on the chocolate kind…yum!
I love to see your gorgeous face! And you’re right — people DO love to see the bloggers behind the blog. I just find it awkward because I don’t hang out with people who like to take pictures on a regular basis, so it’s usually just me taking them and… yeah… That results in mostly selfies 😆
I feel like we enjoy a lot of similar things: chocolate, Hunger Games, and sweets and on my list this month too! I’m eager to try your baking soda trick!
I’ve used baking soda on my face too, it actually works really well! That almond butter looks delicious. I still find myself reaching for good ol’ Jif, but I love trying new stuff too!
Great list of favorites! I love the unsweetened Dagoba Chocolate baking bar ( 100% of course), but it’s hard to find around here and way too pricey to order online, but they do make good chocolate.
SO glad you finally started using coconut flour! I honestly can’t go without this stuff. It makes everything taste like cake and it’s so filling:) Greek yogurt is a DEFINITE pairing. I also love to stir about 1/4 cup into some almond milk and just eat it with some cinnamon and stevia for a thick, batter like protein pudding:) YUM!
Have a great weekend<3<3
I always enjoy these posts and seeing what other peoples favorite things are. ha. Anyways I saw the Hunger Games and was very surprised with how much I enjoyed it too. Glad you are having a great time with man over there!
We always have white lights on our tree because my mom does a red, green, and gold-themed ornament thing, so the white looks awesome against all the colors 🙂 I love it. EEK, I can’t wait for Christmas!!! My favorite nut butter is an ongoing question considering it changes weekly, BUT I’ve been loving Earth Balance’s pb + coconut butter so I must try BB’s version!!!
I hope you’re enjoying your time with J so far!! Does he snowboard?? I have to write you back soon! I always keep forgetting when I go in my inbox. FAIL.
He does 😀 I dragged him up to the hill a few times already 😆 And no worries girlie, take your time! I was just getting worried that I somehow forgot to e-mail you back and deleted your message, so it’s good to hear that I didn’t.
Thanks for that Baking Soda Tip!!! <3
SO in my price range.
Happy Holidays!!!
White twinkle lights. Always.
(I don't hate colored lights. I don't discriminate…all twinkly lights are great, Just for me it HAS to be white/clear.)
I absolutely LOVE Origins. If it wouldn’t be so darn expensive – seriously, it’s one of my absolute favorite beauty product! And considering my skin is in the midthirties now, I definitely need it 🙂
Favorit nutbutter- my OWN!! Seriously, I love that I can make my own flavors now. Ok, until my processor died 3 weeks ago.
HAPPY weekend lovely!! 🙂
so many wonderful things! I still need to see catching fire! 🙂 and I have that face mask too!<3 Sephora always gets me!!! hehe
First food that comes to mind? Turkey. I cooked a 10 lb turkey AND a 8lb turkey breast yesterday for Thanksgiving dinner for me and my family (among other things)….that’s 18 lbs of poultry. Which I found out was…quite a lot.
I’m currently back on my peanut butter obsession. My favorite brand right now is Peter Pan Crunchy- it’s not expensive, and the texture is much smoother than some of the others. But that’s always subject to change, I’m pretty fickle when it comes to my nut butter preferences.
Best thing that happened this November? I went to Boston last week and while there I visited this restaurant downtown that served me the best damn burger I think I’ve ever had. Or maybe it was just that it’s been forever and a day since I’ve had one. Either way, it was delicious.
Also, I made a pecan pie for Thanksgiving that LITERALLY gave me a foodgasm in the first bite. I needed a minute to recover from how good that pie was.
Our Christmas tree lights are a mixture between white and gold- it’s really pretty at night.
<3
Awwr white and gold sounds absolutely gorgeous. All my lights are white, but I have a lot of gold accent pieces 🙂 And 18 lbs of turkey is definitely impressive! I came across a link that might give you some ideas of what to do with the leftovers: http://www.shugarysweets.com/2013/11/leftover-turkey-recipes
Thanks for the beauty reviews! I’ve been having major issues with my face and read somewhere that a good mask will sometimes do the trick. I will definitely have to give this one a try!
Have yet to try baking with coconut flour (though might give that mug cake a try!), but like you I add it to my yoghurt – one of my favourite evening snacks is Greek or Turkish yoghurt (the “real” 10% type – none of that low fat stuff!) mixed with almond and coconut flour, honey, and cocoa powder. Yum.
First food that comes to mind is of course peanut butter. I am still all about Peanut Butter and Co. and have decided that the Mighty Maple is my favorite even though I have about 18 jars of Crunch Time on reserve and only one jar of Maple. Strange of me, isn’t it? Too bad you can’t eat peanut butter.
I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve thought that 😆 Would definitely make life a lot easier…
That almond butter sounds SO good…as if I need to get hooked on another kind! 😉
I talked about making pancakes a few weeks ago that were a total fail and the reason was because I totally effed up the coconut flour:liquid. I have to keep trying with it though! For sure agree about Catching Fire! I loved it so much.
I love coconut flour too! I’ve never tried it in my greek yogurt. I’ll have to give that a go. I also have to make that chocolate mug cake ASAP. Thanks for sharing!
First food that comes to mind: cashews!
Which kind/brand of nut butter are you currently obsessed with? Adams all-natural peanut butter has been my go-to for years. It just can’t be beat.
Best thing that happened in November? Went to Quebec City with my boyfriend who lives far away!
What colour lights do you have on your tree? Multicoloured 🙂
I am curious now about the soap you use on your face…I have acne prone skin too!
Wanna see Catching Fire with me? J and C can come 🙂 Double date! I hope you’re not reading this and enjoying your Friday instead!
Bah! See, if I would have read your comment earlier, I could have taken you and C along to see Catching Fire! (I dragged J along to see it AGAIN 😆 )
First food that comes to mind at this point in life – oats..baked, stovetop, overnight <3
I completely agree with you on the acne/dry skin story. My skin only cleared up when I switched onto a gentle cleanser and made sure to moisturise diligently to stop my skin from creating extra oil. I just started using a avocado/oatmeal mask (see how oatmeal obsessed I am!) made by Freeman which I'm loving. It leaves me glowing. Best thing this month would have to be learning to give my body the respect it deserves and discovering myself after a confusing/painful time. Enjoy your weekend xoxo
So I just bought Barney’s Espresso Almond Butter and am in love! I love that it really isn’t sweet at all (less sweet then their normal crunchy, but I guess that’s because there is 3g of sugar in the original and only 1g in each of their new flavors!) The coconut one is next on my list to get, can’t wait!
You had some fabulous posts this month love! And I need to search out a Dagoba bar, you have me curious about them!
the first food that comes to mind is oatmeal…but that’s because I’m currently eating a bowl 😉
Currently obsessed with Skippy’s Natural peanut butter and barney butter crunchy almond. Although I’m also wishing that I could be reunited with my Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut…I miss that stuff.
I can’t wait to do some Christmas decorating! I’ll be hunting for some new decorations today 😉
I want that Origins product. Thank you for the baking soda idea, very clever!
First food to come to mind: apples
Kind of almond butter: Trader Joe’s raw unsalted (I have always been a creamy nut butter gal but last time they only had crunchy in stock and the thought of being almond butter-less for even a couple of days was too much to bear so I bought the crunchy and have been surprised by how much I like it.
(Forgive me the run-on sentence!)
Best thing to happen in November: Made a new friend.
Color of tree lights: I live alone so no tree for me but I’ll be spending Christmas at my parents who have white lights.
Have a great weekend and first day of Advent! Do you usually get an Advent calendar?
Awwr yay for making new friends 😀 And I sure do have an Advent calendar! I picked up my peanut-free version about a week ago 😉 I might have to share with J for the first couple of days though 😆
Coconut flour is definitely a tricky flour to work with.. but when you get it right it is so worth it. And that almond butter! Seriously, I need that stuff!!
Very interesting about the baking soda. Do you have super sensitive skin? I’m afraid to try it because my skin is so sensitive and I’m afraid baking soda alone would dry it out so bad.
I definitely have sensitive skin — that’s actually why I use baking soda. A lot of other exfoliators that I’ve tried out have either scratched up or dried out my skin, but baking soda is super gentle and I can use it even two days without any problems.
I never thought about using baking soda as an exfoliator – such a great tip! I am slowly turning all of my products to natural subs – baking soda features heavily! When I can find an all natural eyeliner I’ll be set…
Those gingerbread pumpkin bars are happening this weekend. Fact.
That Origins Mask is now on my Christmas list!
I LOVE Dagoba bars!!! They’re so good 🙂 I hope you had a great week, girl!
That Barney Butter AB with chocolate and coconut – good gosh! That’s just plain ridiculous! I cannot believe tht one little jar could hold that much good stuff!!! It’ true what me dad says – precious things come in small packages!!!! I am trying to get off my “Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter” kick – maybe I should switch to this????
Thanks for the info on coconut flour – I have been on the fence about it – but think when my whole wheat runs out, I am gonna switch.
I have been on the oats kick – oats for breakfast, oats for dinner, oat flatbread (Thanks to Khushboo) to snack on and oats for dessert! Oats and nutbutter and chocolate are my drugs of choice these days – my “crack” 🙂
Best thing that happened in November – things working out on the work front, which transcended to things being better on the home front
Aaaannndd….we usually wait till the Friday after Thanksgiving to put our tree up, (when my daughter was younger, I would wait till her bday in early December had passed) but we were sitting around last night chatting away and well…the tree was dragged out and put up – then we sat around with hot chocolate and the white lights from the tree illuminating everything – so thankful for the little things 🙂
Hope you have a wonderful time wth Mr. J!
Oats are my crack at the moment too!! Can’t get enough. At least twice a day..and I’ve been loving Amanda’s baked apple oats smothered in nut butter..so goood 🙂
I’m still SO happy to hear that things have cleared up for you on the work front <3 And coconut flour -definitely- isn't a replacement for whole wheat! It's more like a fun little thing to play around with on the side.
I’ve heard coconut flour was troublesome for first-time users, so I keep holding out on it!
I also really like the Origins line. I just ran out of my night-time moisturizer, and my face is suffering. It’s my absolute favourite. I need to look into their mask, too! Always love your recommendations.
Have you tried their eye cream? That one is pretty amazing as well. But definitely pick up some coconut flour — even if your recipe doesn’t turn out, it still tastes pretty fantastic (as long as you like coconut).
Wow! All that food looks yummmy….from the products to the recipes. Can I come live at your house? 🙂 I wanna try that nut butter! I love almond butter, so adding coconut and cocoa would be even better!!!
I agree with you about Christmas decorations, I am excited for the Christmas music to begin in two days!
Coconut flour is a staple in my house. It’s amazing all the different things you can do with it! I need to check out that face mask. I’ve been looking for a new brand, as I wasn’t happy with the one I was originally using, so this may be it!
Think food — what’s the first one that comes to mind? Chocolate for me too!
Which kind/brand of nut butter are you currently obsessed with? Typically I’d say PB, but you’ll be proud…my jar of Barney Almond Butter has been getting quite a lot of use lately. In fact, I’m getting low and need to buy another jar asap!
Best thing that happened in November? Celebrating Thanksgiving!
What colour lights do you have on your tree? White lights for us.
I’ve been loving coconut flour the most in mug cakes — what else do you use it for?
The main thing I use it for is in mug cakes, but I also use it to make crumb topping in lieu of white flour, so then those dishes are allergy friendly. It tastes so good and you wouldn’t even know the difference.