#Snowtober

BOO. It’s Halloween! I hope you’re having a spooktacular day full of electricity, heat, internet…you know, the essentials. My roommates and I don’t have power so I’m currently shacked up in Starbucks, charging all of my electronics and using their internet. I haven’t exercised in two days because my gym is closed, my achilles problem is acting up again, I can’t prepare food, I faceplanted outside my condo on black ice earlier this morning and I can’t even blog about the wonderful soup I made the other night because my camera cord is MIA. Phew. Sorry. I just needed to get that all out. Ahem, well until I find that darn cord, I will have to depend on my handy dandy iPhone to keep you all in the loop. 

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. That’s what I keep telling myself. Exhibit A: snow can keep my plain Chobani yogurts chilled for the time being. I can’t live without ’em! To the bottom right is a sneak preview of the Pumpkin and Butternut Squash soup (recipe will be up soon!) I made the other night with my friend, Amanda. We crumbled wild rice tempeh on top, alongside pumpkin seeds for a little crunch. Absolutely divine and the perfect way to warm up from this ludicrous weather! Colder weather = soup season and cozy fires. I do like that. Side note, how cute are the costumes Taylor put together for us the other night!? Gotta love having a design major as a roomie! She’s so crafty. Also, for those who don’t follow me on Twitter, I got low-lights (pictured top left). It may not look to be that dramatic of a difference but it is in fact darker…more natural. I’ve embraced the dirty blonde. Well, that’s about it. I apologize for whining. Stay warm and have a happy Halloween!

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Natural Pumpkin Oatmeal “Cuffins”

I recently stumbled upon Raw Is Sexy, the fabulous blog of a Californian raw chef and plant based wellness coach who transforms everyday favorites into natural, vegan recipes. When I saw her Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies, I couldn’t resist and whipped up a batch right away with a few tweaks.

After a long day, these little buggers were just what the doctor ordered. Is it just me or are cookies the best medicine? I wasn’t alone in my love for this culinary creation. My roommates and friends raved about them…I had too many leftovers lying around and although these are guilt-free I simply HAD to give some away before I ate the entire batch! Taylor coined the name “cuffins,” based on the fact that they taste like healthy muffins in cookie form. The name stuck. 

Ingredients
1/2 cup of water
2 cups flaxseed meal
2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 whole avocado
1 cup of pitted medjool dates
1 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree
1 1/2 ripe bananas, mashed
Dash of stevia, and vanilla extract
Option additions: chocolate chips, nuts, etc.
*Next time I will experiment with using more pumpkin puree and less bananas because the flavor wasn’t as predominately pumpkin as I had wished

To start, place the avocado, water and medjool dates in the food processor. Blend until smooth.

Next, combine your dry ingredients. 

Mash up your banana and add it to your the avocado mixture with the pumpkin puree. Fold in the dry ingredients.

Time for the fun part! Roll into balls and place onto a lightly sprayed cookie sheet. I may have eaten a spoonful or two of the batter in the process…

Set the oven to 350°F and bake for 10-15 minutes before indulging!

Quick, easy and delicious. Go ahead, have two or three. They’re healthy! Pumpkin Oatmeal “Cuffins” are great days later heated up in the toaster oven, too. Add a cold glass of soy milk and you have yourself a great afternoon pick-me-up. I even crumbled one up on top of my Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal the other morning. Doesn’t get much better than that! Healthy cookies with no added sugar, eggs, butter or flour? Yep, that just happened. Enjoy!

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Naked

I have always been a fan of Naked all-natural juice and smoothies. The Green Machine is my jam! That’s why when I was contacted by the fabulous brand to try their new reduced calorie smoothies, I was thrilled. Guilt-free, 100% juice and no added sugars? SCORE! The Reduced Calorie Lychee and Reduced Calorie Citrus Lemongrass are far from watery or tasteless, like other “reduced” drinks. Instead, they provide for satisfying hydration, loaded with nutritional value at just 100 calories per serving! The tropical lychee smoothie made for quite a refreshing post-run fuel with its coconut water base, if I do say so myself. 

I had the Mango Veggie smoothie the other day as an on-the-go meal replacement. Who knew it could be that easy to get your daily dose of veggies? Each 15.2-oz bottle has two full of veggies and one serving of fruit (the ingredients include mango, carrots, sweet potato, sweet corn, apple, chickpeas, butternut squash and a hint of lemon). Can’t beat that! According to Naked Juice’s global nutritional manager Laura Karness, Ph.D., R.D., “The Mango Veggie blend can help meet the daily requirement for more than 8 nutrients, including fiber, vitamins A, C, E, B6 and B12, niacin and pantothenic acid.”

Thanks again, Naked Juice! I loved the new juice blends and highly recommend them. Two thumbs up from me!

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal

I’m a big breakfast person but lately my favorite meal of the day has been routinely consisting of two scrambled eggs and a banana smeared with natural, chunky peanut butter. Although delicious and healthy, I needed a little extra umph the other morning before a tough exam. Enter Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal (inspired by this recipe on Family Fresh Cooking). Believe me, it tastes just as good as it sounds. If not better. Between the whole grains and protein-boost, I had the energy I needed to power through midterm’s week. This recipe is a keeper, perfect for a crisp autumn morning!

Ingredients
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 scoop vanilla soy protein powder
1 cup soy milk (I used Silk Vanilla)
1 egg
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Dash of baking powder, salt and all spice
Sweetener of your choice (i.e. stevia, agave nectar, honey)
Optional toppings: bran cereal flakes, mashed ripe banana, pumpkin seeds, dried fruit, nut butter, etc.

To start, preheat the oven to 350°F and coat a small (8×8) baking pan with cooking spray. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients (including the spices and sweetener of your choice).

In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (whisk the egg before adding) before slowly folding in the oat blend.

Pop in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until the oats are fully cooked. I sprinkled bran flakes on top for some more healthy carbs. Beware, the lovely aroma wafting from your oven is almost as amazing as my autumn must-have candle scent, Yankee Candle’s Frosted Pumpkin. Mmmm…

Spoon into a bowl and add in toppings of your choice. I garnished my oatmeal with an extra spoonful of pumpkin puree and some pumpkin seeds, as well as a mashed, ripe banana. Holy cow this was so delish. I can’t wait to make it again!
What’s your favorite pumpkin dish? 

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

A Taste of Heaven

Starbucks Americanos with an extra shot of espresso make tough Thursdays all the more manageable.

Veggie-filled lunch during my copy editing lecture…worth all the stares from my peers.

 Pumpkin ale after a long day of studying? Quite a lovely and festive dessert. I earned it. Yum!

Enjoy your weekend!

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren

Life According to Instagram

It’s October. One month of my senior year has come and gone already. Is this real life? Someone pinch me. I came in this year differently than ever before with one thing on my mind, to focus purely on enjoying my last year as a husky…soaking it up for all it’s worth. Instead of staying in, worrying about next week’s exam, a pressing deadline or the scariest, my future, I decided this year was going to have a little less anxiety and A LOT more fun. I need to live up my last college year whether my GPA likes it or not. Right? Ok, ok that’s a little extreme but you get what I’m saying. I may be spending less time in the kitchen or in front of my computer, blogging last night’s meal but that’s not because I don’t love Sprinkled with Love or you, for that matter. It’s just that I’m currently a little distracted with the wonderful, exciting world whizzing around me. I’ll let my Instagrams do the storytelling of last week…

Raw fish with fresh ginger in my belly? Like. Finding hot dogs for my besties while tailgating Saturday’s game? Mission accomplished. A much needed manicure with OPI’s new Get in the Espresso Lane? Check. A home-cooked meal Sunday night (unpictured) and getting to pat my buddy, Nate, on the head? Good boy. All in all, things are pretty good on my end. Except for my achilles tendon issues but I won’t get into the fact that I’m an accident-prone mess, falling apart one limb at a time. Focusing on the good!

Sprinkled with Love,
Lauren
PS: I swear I’ll have some recipes up here soon…that is what my blog is supposed to revolve around, right?