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FOODIE FRIDAY: AMAZEBALLS with gourMaya.

FOODFeb 15 20132 Comments

I recently had lunch with Maya Abitbol, the woman behind the nutritional food blog gourMaya. Now, aside from being stunningly gorgeous (why do I even need to mention that, I’m so shallow) Maya is a mother of two adorable kiddies (Oliver 4, and Amelie, 1), who also has a full time job in finance. While doing all that, Maya manages to feed her family non-processed, healthy and natural foods. She also insists on only making one dinner per night. No kids meal vs grown up meal. (I know a lot of us dumb down our food for the kids, or even make them completely different dinners. But I’ve  found that when we actually SIT with the kids for dinner and eat with them, which is hard because they eat at 5 pm, they will always eat the grown up food we eat.)  Maya’s blog actually was born out of her Instagram account, and on it she shares everything from recipes to healthful living tips with kids, and you should DEFINITELY go check out her daughter’s 1 year old birthday party. Amazeballs is right! 

Anyway, I have to say, I was really truly skeptical when Maya suggested a sugarless flourless raw oat ball. I actually said, Maya, that sounds kind of gross! But at lunch she brought me a small jar full (I’ve been getting so much free food, YAY!) and they were great. They kind of tasted like oatmeal cookie dough. Maya’s son is allergic to many nuts, but when her pediatrician asked her to introduce sunflowers into his diet, she discovered Sun Butter and adapted her recipes. Enjoy!

SOME Q&A WITH MAYA:

I secretly cheat with this highly processed food…  York Peppermint Patties. Sometimes when I’m at the pharmacy and they are just staring  me in the face at the cash register, I can’t resist. That mint filling must be made with some kind of poison- but it’s so refreshing! Definitely a soft spot of mine. 
Favorite secret ingredient… Quinoa Flakes. This is the quinoa grain pounded out and flattened into flakes. I mix these into breading, sprinkle them in muffins in lieu of oats and make hot quinoa cereal for my kids breakfast with cinnamon and apple sauce. It’s gluten free and more nutritionally “complete” than other grains.
What I wish I knew about cooking 5 years ago… It’s all about prep. If you cut out the prep time cooking can be an enjoyable and creative outlet rather than a rushed and stressful part of your day. If you have the ability to delegate the prep (cutting, peeling, cleaning fruits and veggies) that is ideal, otherwise manage your time by organizing yourself well and being efficient (ie: dice several Vidalia onions and  refrigerate in an air tight container early in the week and use as needed).
It took me a long time to acquire a taste for… Kale. It’s kind of bitter and I can’t really get behind the while kale chip
craze because they always taste burnt to me (even the ones you pay $24 a bowl for) but I do like certain Kale salads now as long as it’s paired with right ingredients and dressing. It’s also great for juicing.
My favorite tool in the kitchen is… Kitchen shears. They come in many shapes and sizes and can be way more efficient than cutting. I prefer them to a knife when working with raw fish and chicken cutlets, it’s easier to get them into the desired shape. Shears are also great for lettuce or snipping fresh herbs directly into a dish.
Favorite dish in the city…Brazil-nut croquettes from the vegan restaurant PURE food and wine in Union Square. Everything there is so healthy and the garden is one of my favorite spots in the city.
If food trends were stocks, I’d invest in… Chia. This fabulous super food is packed with Omega-3 and actually has the same nutritional content as flax but is way sexier in my opinion. It can be used as a gelling agent in many recipes- ie: can replace eggs and help modify the amount of oil needed.  I think chia is the next chocolate chip- you can sprinkle it on anything!

Ingredients:

1 cup of old fashioned oats

1/2 cup natural sun butter*

1/2 cup pitted and diced medjool dates**

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut flakes 

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips***

1/3 cup honey 

1/2 cup ground flax seed****

1 TSP vanilla

Method:

Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl in no particular order. Wear latex gloves and knead the mixture like dough until fully combined. Pick up dime sized portions with your thumb and index finger and roll into a ball. Once balls are formed, refrigerate for at least one hour and serve.

If serving these as “cake-pops,” as pictured, puncture each ball with a paper straw. Make sure entire area around straw is covered with the mixture. This will only begin to stick once refrigeration is complete.

 Maya’s Notes:

* “Natural” Sun Butter is the version I like to buy since it has no added sugar. There are many other sunflower seed butter brands, but Sun Butter is the only one I’ve seen that has no traces of tree nuts or peanuts so if allergies are a concern this is a great option. It is processed in a sunflower only facility. If allergies are not a concern, feel free to sub in peanut butter, almond butter, or cashew butter. 

** Generally, any date that comes pre-pitted isn’t juicy or meaty enough for this recipe. I find that the Turkish or Medjool dates are of the soft and moist variety that work best since they act as a binding agent together with the honey and Sun Butter. These usually do not come pitted, but that really only takes a second!

*** I like “Enjoy Life” mini chocolate chips since they are made with real chocolate, do not have added sugar and are soy and dairy free. 

**** Make sure your flax seed is ground. You can either buy flax seed and grind it yourself in a coffee grinder or food processor or buy flax meal which is pre-ground. Flax is the  omega-rich super food that will give this healthy snack the extra boost, but if you do not have it the recipe will not be altered. 

***** If you want to give these balls some extra crunch, brown rice crispies are a great addition, but fair warning- they are a rare find!

I know a dessert item with no flour, sugar, eggs, or oil is hard to come by and hard to take seriously, but these are SERIOUSLY divine. 

Try them. YOLO. 

xx, gourMaya 

Hope you enjoy them! I love that so many people have been using the Foodie Friday recipes! AWESOME! Go check out gourMaya HERE!

 

Beauty Regimen: Two things I’m Trying.

FASHIONFeb 14 20135 Comments

Now, I don’t usually chat here about my makeup skillz or homemade avocado face scrubs because I’m just not that kind of girl. I have had a steady face wash/moisturizer/bronzer  morning routine going for about 10 years now. (I’m olive-y toned, so I use it instead of blush, I don’t look orange!) But as recently as this week I decided to try two things.

1. BB Cream

What the heck is BB Cream? It’s Blemish Balm, and it originated in the 60s to treat blemishes, but they gained popularity when Korean actresses discovered them and started raving. For a while people out here were ordering them off Asian websites because they werent available anywhere except the far east. Now pretty much every brand makes one. Think of it as like a makeup/moisturizer/SPF combo.  I do not normally wear any type of foundation or base. I’m sure they are all very good for those who use them. But the feeling of makeup on my face does not make me happy. And as a younger woman with decent skin, I felt that it actually added years to my face whenever I did have to wear it. (Foundation just heads right to the creases in your face, no?) Anyway… I bought the Garnier BB cream from the drug store. I have no idea if it’s the best, or what. When I first put it on, I gobbed it on like moisturizer. Bad move. It felt weighty on my face and I couldnt wait to wipe it off. How did it look? Really smooth. No pores showing, but not like I was wearing a whole face of makeup. You couldnt even really tell, it was just like I applied some skin smoothing photoshop wand to it. Just, peachy, really. So the next day, I put it on in tiny blobs that I applied gingerly. Tres bien. I felt great until late at night, when you get that cant wait to wash my face feeling. VERDICT: I think I’m gonna stick it out. It’s only been a few days, but I can definitely see why people swear by it.

2. Peroxide & Baking Soda Tooth Whitener.

I’ve seen this on Pinterest a billion times and have always wanted to try it, but it wasn’t until I had dinner with Nicole from So Haute last week that I made the resolution to really try it. (I guess I thought it was too wacky to really do in real life- not so!) Nicole said she wet the toothbrush in peroxide then mixing with a small amount of baking soda that she could literally see instant tooth cleaning/whitening results. Stains disappear, she told me. She did this while doing Crest White Strips and she said the results was both instant and long lasting. So far I just tried the mixture without the strips. Do the teeth look WHITER? Yes, they look cleaner and more uniform. (I don’t have coffee stained teeth, but apparently its great for that.)  I think the White Strips will make them look BRIGHTER too, if you can imagine that. VERDICT: I love this. Its basically just a home made toothpaste. I love  mixing the two and getting a little science experiment right there in my bathroom. I like the salty-ish taste. I can feel my teeth being made really clean by this. I’ll keep it up and let you know how it goes!

So, what do you think? Tried these guys yet? Anything new to share in the how to look just a little bit better with minimal effort arena?

And oh yea- Happy Valentine’s Day!

Shop Talk: Mociun.

ART, FASHIONFeb 13 20132 Comments

I’ve always been enamored with little stores that sell “Objets d’art”, home goods, tiny jewels and glorified tchotchkes. Mociun, was founded by  RISD graduate Caitlin Mociun in 2006 with a small collection of hand printed  Bauhaus inspired women’s garments. Over the past five years the company has expanded adding digitally printed fabrics and fine jewelry. The retail store sells a ton of little gifts, ceramics, water colors, and more… all with sustainable, local when possible, and organic production, with designs by Caitlin Mociun, David Neale, Doug Johnson, Eric Bonnin, Shino Takeda, Blue Eagle Pottery and Baggu.

As soon as I saw the weavings on the walls, I knew I was going to like Mociun. Not to mention, brass jewelry in the style of those french retro bracelets I love, delicate rings that I’m obsessed with right now, the hand made pottery and random geometric hunks of brass were also appealing.

Lets take a little tour, shall we?

MOCIUN
224 Wythe Ave @ the corner of N. 4th
Brooklyn, NY 11249
Store hours: Monday – Saturday 12:00pm – 8:00pm.
Sunday 12:00pm – 7:00pm. 

Online shop HERE. 

Life.

photographyFeb 12 20135 Comments

I don’t have time for a proper chat today. I’m doing a photography project with my daughters school, and Im heading over there for some prep work, so that should be exciting and fun.

But I’m  over at La Dolce Vita  blogging about my favorite room in the house today. Which do you think is?

Best and Worst Dressed: Grammy’s 2013.

FASHIONFeb 11 20136 Comments

This is so easy its almost not even worthy of a blog post… Isnt it obvious?

Rhianna. Looked. Gorgeous. Although isnt this a little overdressed for her? Last year she was all sexy and dressed down, this year she is giving us ephemeral. It’s freaking phenomenal though.

She performed in this, so sexy.

I say overdressed- because look what Beyonce showed up in… I mean, The Grammy’s are notorious for all over the place outfits. And Queen Bey coming off of her Superbowl performance has reason to dress down. She’s too cool for school, obviously. What do you think? Also, I really dislike Beyonce’s choice of shoe. And her body is so crazy its hard for me to believe its real. That waist line is crazy! (Not that I think she did anything to it, just saying it’s amazing.)

Solange looked amazing. And thank the lord she isnt throwing her leg out of that slit. Girl knows how to be cool. And I love the spiked neon pumps. And the afro. Amazing.

This might be the best of the night – Kelly Rowland KILLED it in this outfit. KILLED. Its the perfect combination of badass and beautiful.

This custom made Givenchy was a point of contention online. I say, for her, its a win.

She got a teeny drop wrinkled, but this photo was taken at intermission. So gotta forgive it. Lena looks cute with her Jack Antonof.

Is this slit too high? It might be. But I usually love how Maria Monounos dresses. The slit though… thoughts? Maybe this is bad.

All of the rest of the people on this list are wearing black. Interestingly enough.

Allison Williams, aka Marnie, aka Katy Perry’s date for the evening, you shine bright like a diamond.

Ridiculous that Kathy Griffin never looked so good.

Ditto Kelly Osborn. Love the cut out dress….

I love Estelle in this. Girl is cool, she can pull it off.

Chrissie Teigan was just gorgeous.

Should I get into the worst dressed? Ok, here goes. For this evening, for my rule of thumb for worst dressed was- if you look like you are in a costume, it’s not great.  They are all beautiful women, but once in a while we all make mistakes.

Katy Perry Does Pricilla Presley in Gucci. I think the hair, or the boobs killed this look. One or the other. If there was no peek a boob it would have maybe been cool?

Taylor Swift is a grecian goddess AGAIN. This isnt BAD bad, its just whatever. Her Never Getting Back Together song is just so ridiculous I thought it was a joke when I heard it for the first time. (But I also thought One Direction was a spoof when I saw them on SNL, so yea…) She’s undeniably extraordinarily gorgeous, but for someone with so many boyfriends she has the sex appeal of a stick. And that is probably because she is still so young and awkward. Like a baby deer who was just born and is stumbling around on their lanky legs.

Karli Kloss as a Real Housewife. I dont know why, but Im just not a  huge fan of this. Maybe because it makes her look so skinny? Or maybe it just looks a little too luncheon in Beverly Hills for this event. Camille Grammer would kill in this. Side pony and all.

Adele as a lampshade. This was a hate it or love it moment. I’m on both sides of the fence. It’s kind of badass to dress like a lampshade from the 70s? Isnt it? It looks like there should be a plastic covered couch really close by. But maybe thats good? The more I look at this, the more I like it.

Ashanti literally looks like she’s drowning in this. Maybe this is a lesson to all, that peek a boobs are not a good look.

Alexa Chung, this isnt a picnic, other than that, its pretty… but its just not the right venue.

J Lo- this leg makes me VERY angry at you. This whole thing just needs to stop. She does this with a complete lack of irony. That’s why its so awful.

Carrie Underwood- other people really liked her in this Disney Princess  Roberto Cavalli look. She doesnt look bad exactly, and it’s not even the dress thats killing it, it’s the hair.

Anyway, I think they were all so obvious. None of these worst dressed people actually look BAD, so maybe, it just wasn’t that exciting of a red carpet?

Thoughts? Agree? Disagree?

Saturday Night Fever!

FASHIONFeb 10 201317 Comments

Last night I had hair and makeup done for a party, and boy did I feel good about it. Why don’t I do this more often I thought? It was also one of those times where I actually went to a store and bought something to wear to said party, instead of just throwing on some concoction that I came up with last minute. I love doing a retro thing, and I LOVED the simple sleekness of this winter white jumper. Clean and simple = what I dig, yo. So my hairdressers kid was over and taking pictures of me for his mom to instagram… and then I just got in the mood to take pictures… and I’m usually the least photogenic person ever, with the stiffest, most awkward smile. I avoid cameras like a plague, unless I’m the one holding it. But since I was doing silly things, and releasing my inner Beyonce/J Lo Fierceness, I was more relaxed and I think the pictures turned out pretty cool! Hence the blog post. AND all this goes to show, that the right lighting can make anyone look good. Throw enough flash on it, and anything can happen. I just love flash photography sometimes for it’s really raunchy, homegrown, retro quality. Ha. Oh and for once, I totally got The Memo.

Happy Sunday!

The jumper is by Reiss, HERE.