Hi hi hi!! Going to try and quick post this…yaaah right! No seriously..I have to get to packing! Eeeek.

Okay. BUY this! If you are new to Kombucha I would start here. I haven’t seen it everywhere but found it at our local natural food store, Natural Grocers. It is made by GT’s Synergy [that makes my fav. Kombucha] but this is less intense than the traditional kombucha drink. Chris and I LOVE these little guys. They’re the size of a an energy drink. You get a nice energy boost without the shaky caffeine feeling. The flavor is awesome.

I’ve been having a weird sinus/dizzy/nausea thing going on since Saturday. Today was probably the worst. Blegh! I tried to keep my diet simple. Lot’s of carbs! I had toast + eggs for breakfast and cinnamon rice cakes w/homemade PB + jelly for part of lunch. My appetite was less than normal today.

We are now a ONE car family!! The lease was up on my car and since we are both pretty jobless right now, we’re turning this in and going with 1 car for as long as possible. I’ve probably only used this car 6 times in the past 3 months, so I think we’ll do pretty well. Living in the city has it’s advantages. Once one of us gets a real full-time job, we’ll start using Denver’s stellar public transportation as well.

I consulted Gena today to see what she thought would help with my weird symptoms. She suggested ginger tea, and not anything too fizzy. Yes, Kombucha’s are kind of fizzy, but this one actually wasn’t and I only drank about 1/3. I also had 1/2 of this Simply Mate that was lemon/ginger, with real ginger in it, not just ginger flavor. It was REALLY good! Both helped with my stomach.

Any excuse to eat saltines, is a happy day in my book. I could eat a whole sleeve in 10min, no joke.

I also picked up some ginger root from WF. It’s amazing what FOOD can do for your health! I took two of these and they helped a LOT in less than 1 hour. After about 15min they made me really warm and definitely had a tingly/gingery feeling + taste going through my esophagus. It was a little weird but stopped after like 30min. Nothing too bad…definitely still worth taking!

SO much more tolerable than zinc lozenges which I hate! These are chewable and taste like orange.

So, no, I’m not making my mom buy me everything on that list. I’ll be bringing some of it home with me!

Scottish Oats – Mama Pea’s Cherry Almond Granola - Love Grown Foods Sweet Cranberry Pecan Granola

I got a few of these on a great sale recently and love it. So far it’s working really well and does not sweat off!

I’ll be bringing home a few of these tea bags. Goji Cacao Berry Green tea!! So delicious. It was a gift from my lovely sis-in-law awhile back.

Obviously taking some bars with me. Larabars, Amazing Grass bars, ota.bars, and a bar I haven’t tried yet Rawma Bar.

I bought this recently and am taking it to try while I’m home.

More tea. It’s so easy to pack and silly to spend the money on it while I’m home. That is most of what I’m bringing. I might also take a bag of Amazing Grass Chocolate SuperFood :) and a few other things.

Oh. Well, this too!!! You know I couldn’t go home for 12 days without taking some of my maple cinnamon almond butter with me!! I packed a jar for my family to try out. Yummers. This stuff is seriously dangerous!

Thick.

And a new nut butter!!! I have to leave you with a recipe :)

Oh man. I am quite excited about this simple salt kissed cashew butter.

Salt Kissed Cashew Butter

2c raw cashews
1/2t salt

Preheat oven to 325*
Roast for 10-15min stirring a few times. You want them browned, but watch so they don’t burn.
Add cashews + salt to your food processor.
Process + scrape down sides until the mixture turns smooth + creamy. [~10min]

If it’s whirling + whirling around and not getting smooth enough add 1/2-1t oil [grapeseed, safflower, sunflower, etc.] and process for another few minutes. That should do the trick!

I’ve had raw cashew butter before, but like this version a LOT more. YUM! :)

ALSO…..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last summer visit with my grandparents and dad, before Chris and I moved to Colorado. My grandpa was almost 93 in this photo!! He passed on his 93rd birthday, sadly, but he lived a great life. I definitely miss seeing him. My grandma now lives up in Cleveland, by the rest of our family. So it will be really nice to spend time with her while I’m home.