Espresso Chocolate {avocado} Mousse

Today’s recipe is a sweet little treat made with healthy fats from avocado, naturally sweet Medjool dates, and mineral & antioxidant loaded raw CaCoCo chocolate blend. Not only is this dessert rich and flavorful, but it’s also vegan/plant based, refined sugar-free, and loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals.

Don’t let the avocado scare you, I promise you cannot even taste it after the espresso, cacao, and Medjool dates are added! Avocado gives this recipe the perfect creamy texture that you will be sure to love. This kicks your typical Jell-O pudding to the curb! Plus you can make it in under 5 minutes!

Eat it plain, or spread it on a brown rice cake or whole grain toast for a quick snack!

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Espresso Chocolate {avocado} Mousse
Serves 2

1/2 avocado
2 Tbsp Original CaCoCo (or raw cacao powder)
1 Tbsp coconut milk (or milk of choice)
1 shot of espresso (or 3 Tbsp strong french press)
4 Medjool dates, pitted

Remove pits from dates. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth and mousse-like.

Homemade Animal Cookies

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, little bunnies! My sister got married on July 19th, so as you could imagine, life has been pretty crazy! I finally got a few minutes to myself to relax and catch up on emails after our out-of-town guests had returned home and the newlyweds left for their honeymoon!

I want to introduce you all to Erin! Erin is one of my friends, and also my spin buddy at Full Psycle! She loves baking and creates the best low-ingredient desserts on her blog (3 ingredient red velvet cookies? I meannnnn). I am one lucky duck and get to taste test when she brings her creations to spin! She so totally spoils me!
Revenge Bakery and Rabbit Food For My Bunny Teeth
I love that she balances baking, healthy eating, and exercising. She loves green juice, and salads, but she also loves the occasional sweet treat. She’s seriously adorable and such an amazing person with mad style.

Erin and I had a fun girls’ day and made these adorable bunny ‘circus’ animal cookies!

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I bought this adorable bunny cookie cutter from our favorite store Daiso! It’s a Japanese dollar store, so this cookie cutter was only $1.50 in store!

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Instead of using artificial food coloring to dye our frosting pink, we used small amount of beet juice from canned beets!

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Homemade Animal Cookies
{with vegan options}

1 ½ cups White Flour (or gluten free alternative)
½ cup Sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1 egg (or egg replacer for vegan alternative)
½ tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients (sugar, flour, salt) in one bowl. In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients (earth balance, egg, and vanilla) and beat using a hand mixer until well mixed. Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet mixture while beating with a hand mixer until dough has been formed. Place the dough in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes until dough hardens. Roll out dough with a rolling pin in between parchment paper (if the dough seems too sticky to roll out, add an extra tablespoon or two of flour). Cut desired shapes with cookie cutters until all the dough has been used. Bake for 5 minutes until lightly golden brown.

For the frosting:
Royal Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla soy milk (or almond milk – creamer is best)
¼ tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients with a small whisk. Divide frosting evenly into two separate bowls. Use 1/4 – 1/2 tsp of beet juice in one half of the frosting to give a light pink color.

Vegan option: Melt vegan white chocolate chips. Color half of the chocolate chips with about 1/4 – 1/2 tsp of beet juice for pink coloring.

Summer Trend: Pineapple Print

Caution: cute fruit ahead!

This Summer, one of the biggest trends to hit the streets are – Pineapples. Wait, what? Yep, pineapples. Golden ripe, multicolored, you name it… We are seeing them everywhere. I personally love pineapples. They’re tasty and they’re super cute. I also love that they’re taking over for summer! There’s nothing better than a healthy snack gone trendy! Dole was WAY ahead of the trend! Healthy food + fashion = everything.

Here is a little round-up of some of my favorite pineapple things for this summer from apparel and nail polish to origami and gift wrap! Only the cutest fruitiest pineapple goodies for my readers!

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Scarf: ASOS  |  Dress: Topshop for Nordstrom  |  Jar: Rachel George  |  Compact Mirror: Forever21  |  Candle: Urban Outfitters  |  Card Holder: Anthropologie  |  iPhone Case: Nasty Gal  |  Shoes: Zappos  |  Headphones: Forever21  |  Nail Tutorial: The Wonder Forest  |  Print: Melinda Wood Designs

Origami-Pineapple-Straws

Pineapple-Straw-Origami-Step-by-Step-InstructionsMy other personal favorite are these adorable Origami Pineapple Straws! Perfect for your Piña Kale-ada! I mean, how cute are these?!! You can follow the step-by-step instructions from Sugar and Charm or watch this video (it’s very helpful)!

Free-Pineapple-Wraping-Paper-DownloadLooking for the perfect gift wrap for a summer birthday? Download and print this free Pineapple Gift Wrap from Whimsey Box and finish it with a neon bow!

This summer couldn’t be any sweeter!
xo Catherine

Motivational Wallpapers // 04

This month’s motivational wallpaper is a reminder to work everyday at making your dreams a reality! Whether you’re trying to reach a weight loss goal, career goal, etc., you’re dreams won’t work unless you work towards them everyday! this gold confetti wallpaper is super dreamy and celebratory so that each and every time you see it, you can imagine your dreams becoming a reality and the happiness you will feel when they are accomplished. Go ahead, dream big, and work hard!
Sample-Wallpaper-Dreams-Dont-Work-Unless-You-Do
DL-Wallpaper-Dreams-Dont-Work-Unless-You-Do// click to download // DREAMS DON’T WORK UNLESS YOU DO (3867 X 2418) // DESKTOP

iPhone-Sample-Dreams-Dont-Work-Unless-You-Do // click to download // IPHONE (1936 X 3000) // DREAMS DON’T WORK UNLESS YOU DO

Looking for previous Motivational Wallpapers?
Motivational Wallpapers // 01
Motivational Wallpapers // 02
Motivational Wallpapers // 03

As I was telling you guys a few weeks ago, I have this new obsession with office supplies and home decor. I went completely out of control on RachelGeorge.com and bought almost every gold and clear acrylic item I could find! If you love chic decor and pretty gold things, you need to checkout their website!

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Dreams-Dont-Work-Unless-You-Do-Gold-Office-Supplies-3Kate Spade Acrylic Gold Stapler and Tape Dispenser.

Dreams-Dont-Work-Unless-You-Do-Gold-Office-Supplies-4Kate Spade Gold Acrylic Pencil Cup

Dreams-Dont-Work-Unless-You-Do-Gold-Office-Supplies-5Reiko Kaneko Gold Drip Tease Creamer (soldout) Gold Lip Tease Mug. If you like the “Drip Tease” style, there is an awesome mug, teapot, and bowl!

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Dreams-Dont-Work-Unless-You-Do-Gold-Office-Supplies-7Sassy Note Set by Sugar Paper. Beyond obsessed! Gold + leopard = everything.

Dreams-Dont-Work-Unless-You-Do-Gold-Office-Supplies-8My new setup with my new monthly motivational wallpaper that I created for my little bunnies! Next up, I need these White Ceramic Pineapple Jars by Two’s Company! I die!

Want to see more from Rachel George?
Website // Instagram // Facebook

RFFMBT readers get 20% off of RachelGeorge.com
Promo code: GOLDBUNNY

I hope you love the new wallpapers!
Health & Happiness
xo Catherine

Tropical Dole Banana Salsa

I am so excited to work with Dole Bananas again for their summer Peel the Love tour!
The Peel the Love Summer Banana Cabana is touring the nation and holding events that’ll let you peel like a kid again, including yummy samples, free recipe cards, giveaways, coupons and more! Checkout the tour schedule and catch a Banana Cabana event in your area up until Labor Day!

When Dole contacted me to make an original banana recipe, I knew it needed to be something different and out of the box. I use bananas daily in recipes from green smoothies and banana nicecream to banana roll-up snacks and banana bread breakfast quinoa, but this time I wanted to create something more savory and less expected. What’s better than a savory and sweet salsa for all of your summer parties and barbecues?! I’m so excited with how great the flavors and textures combined with my perfectly ripe Dole Banana! I hope you and your summer party guests enjoy this as much as I did!

Dole Bananas Peel The Love

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Tropical Dole Banana Salsa
Serves 1

1 Dole banana
1/4 cup pineapple, chopped
1/4 cup mango, chopped
1/4 cup tomato, diced
1/4 cup corn
2 Tbsp jalapeño, diced
1 Tbsp cilantro

Chop banana into small pieces and chop and dice other ingredients. Gently fold all ingredients together until well combined. Serve with whole grain chips. Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days.

Dole Banana Peel The Love Tour Dates 1

JULY DOLE BANANA CABANA TOUR DATES
July 12-14 – Columbia, SC
July 14-18 – Phoenix
July 19-25 – Jacksonville
July 23-26 – San Diego
July 28-August 2 – Alabama
July 31-August 3 – Los Angeles

AUGUST DOLE BANANA CABANA TOUR DATES
Continued until August 2 – Alabama
Continued until August 3 – Los Angeles
August 7-8 – Mississippi
August 7-10 – San Francisco
August 11-15 – Sacramento
August 14-16 – St. Louis
August 17-18 – Reno, NV
August 21-24 –Des Moines
August 22-25 – Portland
August 29-Sept 1 – Minneapolis
August 29-Sept 1 – Seattle

The Dole Banana Cabana will also be at:
FPFC Foodshow
7/14/2014 – 7/15/2014
Anaheim, CA – Disneyland Hotel
3pm – 6pm

Show Dole Bananas some Love!
Website // dole.com/peelthelove
Facebook // Facebook.com/DOLEbananas
Twitter // @DOLEbananas
Pinterest // Pinterest.com/DOLEBananas

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