Passover, Palm Sunday, & Resurrection Sunday

We’re Moving!

Hi Ya Everyone!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, secret is we’ve been working on a new site so we won’t be posting here any longer but you will be able to find us at our new home that should be launching in the next few weeks! So we’ll have a different look but the same name and same health and wellness tips, recipes, and gardening information coming to you as soon as we’re ready to go! Thank you for all the love and support you’ve shown since day one! Hope to see you at the new stomping grounds!

You’ll be able to find us at kellyhughesroberts.net but we’ll be sending this site over so if you’re already subscribed you don’t have to worry about a thing, you’ll still get a notification every time we post. If you’re new to us then you’ll be redirected to the new site as soon as it’s ready to go.

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Chocolate SunButter Cookies

Holy chocolate! Beware these are addicting and so good you may eat the whole batch! I’ve made these a few times now and added some different spices and even matcha powder to change the flavor profile and for a little pick me up (but with all this chocolate you may not need anymore pick me up!) 🙂 I also used my bourbon infused maple syrup we carry in the Provisions store at the Pilates studio. You gota try it! The best is on pancakes!! These cookies are sticky and messy to make but so worth it!!

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of Himalayan sea salt
• 1/2 C of maple syrup or local honey (gota try these with the bourbon infused syrup!)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C raw cacao powder
• 2 tsp vanilla- (make sure to use the kind without the alcohol)
• 1 C sunflower seed butter
• 1/2 C dark chocolate (80% cacao or higher)- chopped
• ***(if you want to change them up add a Tbsp of Matcha Powder, add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg, or heat them up with a 2 pinches of cayenne)***

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, whisk eggs, vanilla, sunflower butter and mix well. Add salt, baking soda, honey or syrup, cacao powder and stir well. Fold in chopped chocolate.
3. Wet your hands with water so they’re less likely to stick. Spoon the dough into your hands and roll them into a ball or roll slightly and drop them on the sheet if you want them to look a little more rustic like mine in the picture.  **(Remember the dough should be really wet and sticky.)
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool slightly before eating.
5. They should be really moist and rich and you can’t eat just one!! Enjoy!

Matcha Lattes for St. Patty’s Day!

I can’t believe it’s St. Patty’s weekend! I love this holiday, I don’t know if it’s because it’s that time of year where winter is coming to an end, spring will be officially here in 3 days, it’s the beginning date to start sowing your garden and planting cool weather crops, or it’s ingrained in to my blood with a great grandmother from Donegal, Ireland, or maybe it’s because everyone seems to be surrounded by so much luck and happiness on this day. Either way it’s my favorite!

So in honor of everything green and soon to be growing! Here is my matcha green latte recipe in my new favorite cup for St. Patty’s! I hope you love it and are surrounded by lots of luck today! 😉

Ingredients:

• 1/2 teaspoon organic matcha
• 1/4 teaspoon local honey
• 1 dash organic cinnamon
• 1 Cup boiling water
• 1/4 Cup unsweetened coconut milk

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil on the stove. In the mean time in your favorite cup add matcha, honey, and cinnamon.
2. In a small sauce pot, add your coconut milk and begin to warm. As the milk starts to warm, use a whisk to froth the milk so you get those nice bubbles.
3. Add the hot water to your matcha-stir or whisk well. Then top with your warm and frothy coconut milk. Enjoy!

When the Going Gets Tough…

Finding Your Motivation

January and the excitement of a New Year has passed, but your strategy for success in the New Year is hopefully still going strong. Statistically, only 64% of people who made New Years’ resolutions are able to maintain them into the month of February. Research suggests that differences in motivation may be related to the dopamine function of the brain. Dopamine is thought to be the brain chemical that fuels will and it is critical for psychological motivation. While people commonly associate dopamine with the experience of pleasure in the brain that accompanies everything from drinking alcohol to physical pleasure, the neurotransmitter’s effect in certain regions has more to do with reward, or the anticipation of pleasure.

Dopamine Pathways. In the brain, dopamine plays an important role in the regulation of reward and movement. As part of the reward pathway, dopamine is manufactured in nerve cell bodies located within the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and is released in the nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal cortex. Its motor functions are linked to a separate pathway, with cell bodies in the substantia nigra that manufacture and release dopamine into the striatum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Trick Your Brain into Cooperation

Wray Herbert, offers insight into how to use the quirks of the mind to change behavior in his book, On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Brain’s Hard-Wired Habits. Herbert explains how he used heuristics to trick his brain to stay motivated, “I go to the gym every day, but I didn’t always. I used make resolutions and so forth and then I listened to Woody Allen who said that 99% of life is just showing up. [So that is using the default heuristic, which means that it’s easier to keep doing what you’re already doing than it is to change and make a decision.] Basically, I just started, I said to myself if I show up and don’t do anything, that’s fine. But I never went and did nothing. So just changing your default position puts you at the gym. Now the active decision is to go home.” So it’s playing a little trick on your brain. “I also use the scarcity heuristic in my in spinning class. Sometimes, I’m tired and I don’t want to do it. I tell myself, “You’re going to be at your desk all day. This is the only 45 minutes that you get to move, this is gold,” and that actually works. Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/04/mind-reading-how-to-use-the-quirks-of-the-mind-to-change-behavior/#ixzz2KK9oUq9L

Take Time to Review and Revise

When you find your focus waning and you begin to become unmotivated, it is helpful to ask yourself the following:

Why am I doing ___ (whatever your goal may be), what outcome do I really want? Are these reasons really important to me? Priorities change as new information arises and what once seemed important may no longer be so. Be honest with yourself about whether what you are pursuing is really going to get you to where you want to be. You may find it helpful to clarify your priorities and values in order of importance, so that you have a list to refer back to when feeling unmotivated, and when making life decisions.

What would I rather be doing? Often we find ourselves dividing up our time between competing activities like sleeping in or making it to the gym. Decisions about how you spend your precious time must continually be made, is the alternative activity really more important to you or have you just mismanaged your time? Can you schedule your time so that you can do both activities? Are you spending your time on priorities and goals that you enjoy, not just ones that you feel obligated to do? If you are not enjoying the activities that will get you to your goal, it is time to reevaluate if you are headed in the right direction, the ultimate goal is a life fulfilled, not a life endured.

If I don’t do ____ now, when will I do it? Mental health breaks are needed and encouraged, but if you are struggling with procrastination or being able to balance your time between responsibilities, whether personal or work related, and all the other pursuits that fill your time, perhaps more effective time management is what you need. We live in a fast paced society with ever-increasing demands on our time but with the increasing demands there has also been great advances in technology and time management. If you have a smartphone or access to the Internet, there are numerous programs that can help you manage your time and be more productive. One of my favorites is Astrid Tasks which allows you to make actionable lists (great for breaking down steps in your success strategy) with the ability to set specific due dates for each task and the ability to leave comments or notes on each specific task. It also has a collaboration feature allowing you to share your lists with anyone that has an email address even if they do not use Astrid, and you can have all this for FREE. For more information, please visit https://astrid.com/.

Related articles

• The unsexy truth about dopamine (guardian.co.uk)
• This is Your Brain on Dope(amine) (psychologytoday.com)
• Dopamine Not About Pleasure (Anymore) (creativitypost.com)
• Why Our Brains Like Short-Term Goals (entrepreneur.com)
• The (Un)Happy Neuroscience of New Year Resolutions (6seconds.org)
• The Science of Surprise: How Doing the Unexpected Keeps You in Love (howaboutwe.com)
• Long Term Effects of Cocaine Use (alcoholism.answers.com)