Motivation Monday: “Never let success get to your head. Never let failure get to your heart.”
I have been traveling so much recently. I can’t wait to update you guys on what I’ve been doing and what is happening in the blogosphere! I’m gathering all of my photos from my recent adventures and will post them later this week.
I love upcycling old recipes. There are so many simple ways to alter old recipes and make them into something completely different.
Let’s start with my Southwest Quinoa Collard Wrap recipe. Subtract the collard greens and add whole bell peppers, throw in some pepperjack cheese, green chiles, and tomatoes, and turn those avocado slices into some guacamole. Voilà, a new dish is born!
I suggest pre-making a batch of Southwest Quinoa so you can make stuffed peppers and collard wraps all week!
Helpful Hint: 1 cup of cooked southwest quinoa = 1 serving.
1 Tbsp of Quick Guacamole + 1 serving of plant based fat.
Use these measurements when making wraps or individual stuffed bell peppers.
Southwestern Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Serves 4-5
4-5 bell peppers
1 cup dry quinoa + 2 cups water
1 15oz can unsweetened corn kernels
1 15oz can low sodium black beans
1 4oz can diced green chiles
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1 Tbsp Southwest/Fajita seasoning (I used Mccormick Salt-Free Southwest)
Quick Guacammole
1 ripe avocado
1 small jalapeño
1 Tbsp lime juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring quinoa and water to a boil, then reduce to low heat and cover for 10-15 minutes until water is absorbed. Cut tops off of bell peppers and remove seeds and “meat” from inside. Rinse and strain the beans and corn. Once quinoa has finished cooking combine with corn, beans, green chilies, tomatoes, onion, pepper jack cheese, and fajita seasoning. Scoop the quinoa mixture into the bell peppers. Transfer stuffed bell peppers (without lids) to a baking dish lined with foil and bake for 25-30 minutes.
For the Guacamole: Remove the avocado “meat” from its skin and transfer to a bowl. Dice jalapeño into small pieces. Add jalapeño and lime juice to the avocado and mash with a fork. Serve one tablespoon of guacamole on top of each stuffed bell pepper after they are cooked.
Note: 1 cup of southwest quinoa mixture = 1 serving. Use this measurement when making wraps or individual stuffed bell peppers.
The Rabbit Food Pyramid Breakdown
Produce: bell pepper, green chilies, tomatoes, onion, and jalapeño
Whole Grain: quinoa and corn
Protein: beans and pepper jack cheese
Plant Based Fat: avocado
Each mixtape is 100% free for you to enjoy, inspired by the season, no one artist repeats on a tape, and displays cover art designed by Kevin at 
The trip started off with some night before travel snack shopping at 
Printed a bunch of new business cards. They were a big hit at the conference!
Ended up making a special RFFMBT shirt to wear for my panel. At midnight… haha Can you say procrastinating to avoid packing?
I was up early on Wednesday morning to fly up to San Francisco. Needless to say after my night of procrastinating, business card making, and shirt creating, I needed a Skinny Vanilla Latte from Starbucks.
Boarded the plane in style… on the tarmac! Off we went to SF!
I arrived at the 
My office away from home for a few days!
How beautiful is this view? My room looked right at the Bay Bridge!
I found Waldo on top of one of the buildings!
Checked in at registration and met Sharese Alston who coordinated my trip and the event! It was so fun to meet her and finally put a face to the lovely lady behind all of our emails! I wish I got a picture with her, she is the cutest thing and full of energy. Once I checked in, I got my name badge and ran to the bus for our tour.
I couldn’t have arrived on a more beautiful day. The sun was shining, the sky was bright blue, and the two hour drive to our tour destination was absolutely stunning.
Our tour destination: 
So pumped when they brought out these suhhh-weeet hairnets for us to wear. Nothing says sexy like a hairnet.
Snapshot of all our the tour attendees entering Mycopia in their super chic hairnets.
Before each room/area we went to in the farm, we had to dip our shoes in little tubs of a bleach mixture to prevent any spores from being transferred into the farm.
Getting an intro to the soil and planting process. So not what I was expecting! I thought we would drive up to vineyards of mushrooms outside! Ha! Boy was I wrong!
Jars of soil and growing mushrooms. Totally not how I imagined mushrooms being grown.
Inside the “farm!”
Full grown mushrooms.
I felt like I was in wonderland when I walked into this room!
I’ve never thought of mushrooms as gorgeous until this day.
Had to refrain from touching them haha they look so soft and… pretty!
Getting a demo of how the mushrooms are “picked” from their jars. No cutting needed.
Mushroom packaging room.
Delicious mushroom snacks for us! The chef sautéed three different types of mushrooms in olive oil with a little bit of salt and pepper and it was absolutely to die for. On a side note, how cute are these mushroom bouquets?! Call me crazy, but I’m tempted to throw a mushroom partayyy and have some adorable mushroom center pieces! They’re too cute! Huge thank you to 
Day two started off with a nice lonnnnggggg walk. I really worked my glutes and calves on all of those hills haha.
Wouldn’t be SF without a cable car photo.
My favorite Chinatown. Ever.
Another cable car photo.
Visited my old stomping grounds at FIDM SF (although I did go to the LA campus)!
After several hours of walking up hills I went back to the hotel for some hydration… andddd met the amazing Kathy from 
and dove into my snacks! 
Later Thursday night I met up with two of my friends Michaela and Katherine from home! We enjoyed tons of laughs, a bottle of wine, and amazing Italian food at Ristorante Milano. It was so great catching up with them. Missed these girls so much!
It took us about 10 tries to get a photo of all of us in the cab.
And here’s the final product. Look how clear the photo is! Hahaha We tried.
Pre-panel selfie! I was really proud of my hair that day haha and my bunny phone case obviously needed to be shown off!
Golden kale necklace and custom handmade “EAT MORE RABBIT FOOD” shirt!
Before the panel, Kathy and I met in the lobby and explored the conference room!
My name badge and “SPEAKER” ribbon! Ahhhh!
Kathy’s pre-panel tea. Loved how the leaf on the tea bag peaked out of the mug!
Featured speakers for the interactive blogger panel!
Speaking with Amy Sherman from 
After our panel, Kathy and I hopped in a cab and made our way to 
We arrived at 5:30 for our 6pm reservation hoping to be seated early… until we found out that 
Kale Quinoa Tofu Salad with cooked peaches. The menu had me at kale.
Stuffed artichoke. To die for! It was cooked to perfection and at first bite was reminiscent of a portobello mushroom.
Oh yes, I’d like to order the “Slap Yo Mama.” I couldn’t resist taking a photo.
Vegan Baklava. Holy yum. I’m such a sucker for Baklava. It’s totally my Armenian roots coming out! Love how they were cooked as individual treats!
Vegan Knaffe, an Arabic dessert!
Completely stuffed from dinner at Saha, we went back to the W… and got stuck in the revolving door. Yes, you read that right! For the brief time we were stuck, I had visions of SFFD having to come break the glass and rescue us! What was probably seconds felt like hours as the entire lobby of guests were staring! I could not stop laughing, it was so epic! This 
After the revolving door incident we decided to go get Soy Matcha Green Tea Lattes and go on a stroll to Union Square.
I told Kathy that we had to go in the glass elevator a.k.a. Oz at the St. Francis hotel to see the gorgeous city view! …and then we eded up getting stuck in the elevator. There were no buttons inside. total. fail. We had to ride it until someone else got in and pressed “lobby” with their hotel key from the outside! For a hot second, I though’t we were going to be stuck in yet another 
We got back to the W and watched the new lights/light show on the bay bridge. It felt like I was at Disneyland every night watching World of Color!
It wouldn’t be the W without super out-there decor! When I got back to my room the first night, I noticed a pink and purple light glowing from above the desk. I laughed hysterically because at the 
Saturday morning, Kathy and I packed our bags and met up in the lobby.
Since we both had flights around the same time, we shared a cab to SFO and got to hangout together at the gate before departing. We found an awesome cafe at the airport that was loaded with healthy options – so rare in the airport world. They had a yogurt bar with nonfat, 1%, and 2% Greek strained yogurt, soy yogurt, and your choice of toppings along with a big selection of Kombucha! Multi-Green Kombucha, nonfat Greek yogurt with kiwis and granola for me, and Synergy Kombucha for Kathy! It was an excellent way to end the trip!
While on my flight, I opened up my book to find a hand written note from Kathy. I totally started tearing up on the plane while reading this. She is so genuine and kind. Still speechless, I’m framing this!