The Best Way to Start a Sunday?

* a note from Samantha:

This post was supposed to go live Sunday night, but my 

computer didn't want to upload the photos. 

Technology, you have won again.

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Pancakes. 

Specifically, peanut-butter pancakes (: 

I remember being little & always seeing my mom eat peanut butter with bananas. I always associate the taaasty combo with her now! So even though I was at my Dad's house for this mother's day, I decided to make a breakfast I knew was made right after my mommy dear's own heart! Enter my best creation.... like, ever. 

Chocolate-Peanut-Banana Cakes

MMMmm! Look at those guys! Seriously, these were to-die-for good!

In the mix:

-1/4c peanut flour

-2T wheat bran

-1/2 a melted banana

-1/4t baking soda

-scant 1/2 c rice milk

-toppings: other 1/2 the banana, 1T chia seeds, & a fudgie!

My dad even took a bite of these & he was a fan! #Winning

Of course, since it was Mother's Day and all, I had to see my mommy dearest! We planned on going to Lululemon for some shopping (!!!!) but since we only have a showroom, the store isn't open on Sundays! Booooo ): at least she & I are gonna go on Saturday now, after I get off of work! I'm so excited, I'm gonna have to hide my wallet from myself! If you're wondering how far my relationship(read: infatuation & obession) with Lululemon goes, lemme paint you a picture. 

As I'm typing up this post, I'm wearing Lululemon pants, Lululemon top (on sale at the Orlando outlet! Lovin itttt), and drinking out of my stainless steel Lululemon water bottle. It's a problem for my bank account.  Speaking of that water bottle, the toddler program director for my Senior Search saw my water bottle and we got into a huge discussion about how obessed we are! Turns out, we were both at the Lululemon outlet store in Orlando (we live in Ohio) within two days of each other! It was so crazy! Hahahaha I love stories like that though (:

Once Mommy & I realized the Lululemon trip was gonna be a no go, we decided to meet up for coffee instead! We walked to a little local place that's pretty close between her house & my Dad's and I dragged my brother along hahah. Since I don't drink coffee ("My name's Samantha, & I was a caffeine addict.") I just rolled with some San Pellegrino I saw right by the counter! I love how fun sparkling water isss! My mom, brother, & I sat in the coffee shop and chatted for about an hour and it was such a great way to spend the day! I hope my Mom had as much fun as Will & I did! 

When I got home, I was el haaaangry -- and a salad beast was completely in order. This one had butter lettuce (my new favorite), mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, & tomatoes. I seriously love my salad beast meals! They feel so fresh and tasty and make me so happy once I'm finished with them (:

I had a couple of errands to run today, including the grocery store & the book store. While I was picking up Animal Farm for my brother, I also found this little gem hiding out...

I got Veganomicon!!! 

I'm sooo excited for all the sweet & incredible recipes in there, even my family was excited about some of the stuff they saw! I'm gonna crank out as many of these recipes as I can before I'm excommunicated from a kitchen (read: working with dorm room materials). I see some good stuff comin' up (;

Errands were followed by a nice, quick 30 minute run. My ankle started hurting pretty early so I didn't push it and just took it easy. Then I came home for a yoga video with Jillian -- this was my first experience with JM, and OH. MY. WORD. 

She's incredible and also makes me want to cry. I did the thirty minute Yoga Meltdown and I was really feelin it! I love great workouts from yoga, they feel like I hit all my bases!

Seriously, she's awesome. I'm gonna be watching tons of her videos from now on.

Attempting to follow along with The Thrive Diet ideals, I had a nice little green smoothie as soon as I got out of the shower! It was jussstt right (:

-1c rice milk

-1 scoop chocolate greensuperfood

-1/2t maca powder

-2 big handfuls of baby spinach

-handful of frozen mixed berries

I'm not sure if it was the amazing grass powder or the berries (or both?!) but this smoothie had the funniest dark brown color! My brother took one look at it, rolled his eyes, and walked away. And I sipped happily the whole time! 

Not too long after the dirtdelicious smoothie, it was dinnahhh time! I took a cue from Courtney for dinner, and rolled with the stuffed spaghetti squash! 

Courtney, this was fantastic! Great recipe gal pal (: I used zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, carrots, marinara, & nutritional yeast to replicate the dish. Good thing there are leftovers for tomorrow night!!

I spent the rest of the night flipping through Veganomicon and writing down all the recipes I wanna try! The list is getting lonnnng pretty quickly (:

Anyways, I'm off to have my snack! Not sure what that is yet though haha

Do you prefer pancakes or waffles? I've always had a tendency for pancakes... maybe because 'cake' is in their name
Have you experienced Lululemon (:
In a baaaaad way. Yes. I've been stalking their site since I turned on my computer. #Ineedrehab
What is your favorite cookbook?
Before I went vegan, my dad had this one about southern cooking from Pat Conroy. It was like a story mixed in with a cookbook and it was really incredible. Some delicccccious stuff in there -- although I don't think a single recipe was vegan (; 

Samantha