How to survive a summer of days where the mornings are also steaming hot…

A medley of fruits: blueberries, peach slices, and banana chips over a crumbled homemade bar, Greek yogurt + peanut butter swirled in.

And all of my bowls of oats lately have been cooked and then put in the fridge to cool down. It’s funny how I crave different foods, textures, hot/cold depending on the seasons. Sometimes it really varies from day to day, or meal by meal. Like lunch for instance, I don’t mind having something warm, but I’ve noticed that I’ve been letting my food cool down for a bit just in general.

Perfecting these bars still!

These are way better than my first batch. I made some changes like using macadamia nuts and cashews, dates, banana chips, and a flaxseed mixture.

When in doubt, go with egg noodles!

I couldn’t decide what to serve with the chickpeas and mushrooms with mango chutney, so I opted for these noodles. Not only are they super quick to cook, but you get to bust out the chopsticks!

My mom was curious about spaghetti squash...

I was so delighted when she asked me about it! Each time I cook spaghetti squash I’m wowed by how this vegetable can really look like that stringy, long pasta! I remembered seeing a recipe in the Veganomicon that used this squash: spaghetti squash Mexicana with tropical avocado salsa. This alone sounded yummy! I opted to take them up on the suggestion of using papaya for the salsa. Afterall, we had a whole bunch from our backyard.

This is a recipe that you can adjust to your likings

I accidentally let my hand go with adding the spices–oops! I loved all these flavors though. It was so fresh (perfect for summer) and you can use the salsa for other dishes or even just as a dip for chips! And now my mom knows why a spaghetti squash has its name.

Another fresh idea... like a banana pie

Inspired by raw desserts--I love how flavorful they usually are.

This isn’t completely raw, just inspired. But if you do want to make it raw you can omit certain things or use vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract, for example. I made a crust by mixing medjool dates, cashews, walnuts, cinnamon, and unsweetened coconut shreds in a food processor. Then I whipped up some cashew cream and mixed in the banana, honey, a bit of lime juice, coconut milk, and vanilla extract. Then I started layering: crust, filling, and then topped it with banana slices, coconut shreds, and cinnamon. You want to let it sit in the fridge or the freezer so it solidifies. You pull it out when your patience has dwindled down to nothing, and enjoy!

This plate of food may be mistaken for a palette of vibrant paints!

I baked some sprouted tofu with leftover herbed bread crumbs, olive oil, and soy sauce. I sautéed some squash, red onions, mushrooms, and dates. Served it with jasmine rice, sliced sun-dried tomatoes, chopped scallion, and avocado slices! This was so random, but delicious and awesome to look at before I dug in.

Now this dish isn't nearly as nice to look at.

But it doesn’t mean that it tastes bad! Hey, Indian food doesn’t always look the most appetizing, but in my opinion I think it’s the most delicious cuisine out there. Anyway, I cooked some amaranth in a chipotle broth, then added black beans, sliced mushrooms, onions, garlic, spices, hickory smoke, brown sugar, vegan Worchestershire sauce. I also added some flax oil in the end since I’m trying to incorporate more omega-3′s into my diet. After seeing my mom’s amazing glow and all of the salmon she eats, I want that too! I’ve also started sprinkling toasted hemp seeds on to some things (today it was on some nachos), and chia seeds as well.

The girl with the goods!

Remember when I tried the ChocoVine way back when? Well I saw it at the store the other day and it was on sale! I mentioned it to my dad, and he actually confessed that he had been eyeing it for quite some time but wasn’t sure if he would like it or not. Uh Dad… they’res only one way to find out, duh!!! And if it so happened that he wouldn’t like it well there’s a little young lady that would happily finish the bottle off for him! Oh and we can’t ignore that jar of peanut butter. It’s my favorite peanut butter in the whole wide world and it just made sense to get the “big-as-my-head” size instead of the regular one. I definitely look like the happy bear that found the jar of honey whenever it’s opened!

No I didn't finish that big jar quite yet!

This was another jar of the same peanut butter that I had. Instead of using oats though I used a 10-grain hot cereal mix. So would this be called 10G’s-IAJ? Aka 10-grand in a jar? This sounds like something Jay-Z would enjoy, oh and me too. Jay-Z, care to join me for breakfast? Oh, and I found a book the other day called Extreme Beauty in Vogue. It’s so inspiring and wonderfully bizarre. You can find out more about it here.

Speaking of Vogue… here are some recent purchases I made that I can’t wait to wear out and about!

I love the neckline.

And let's talk about the back...

Perfect for the summer when the last thing I want to wear is... clothes haha!

A breezy silk top... weakness.

And a beautiful scarf marked down from $100 to $9--clearly that deal needed to be taken advantage of!

These are called "Broken-in Boyfriend Shorts"... I can pretend.

The "Hello! I still have arms in the winter" top.

And this shirt for the win!

I think my style overall is pretty eclectic, and I can’t quite pinpoint it because I just get what I really like. One thing that I have noticed though is that I’m a sucker for sheer things, silk, beautiful detailing, uniqueness, and I unintentionally don’t own a single pair of jean pants. Someone once asked me where my style comes from, and this is what I said, “My style comes from different past eras, nature, and what I think the future would look like.” I guess this is why I consider it eclectic–all over the place! I’d like to know how you would describe your style!

I think you can guess where we went for the recent Argentina vs. Germany match.

I love going out to watch the games because everyone around you is as into the game as you are! Lots of hands flailing, cheering, clapping, and thinking out loud… very out loud. Oh! And I can’t forget plenty of chocolate cappuccinos and black forest cake with fresh whipped cream m’mmm.

I believe this game is going to go down in the history of soccer!

I tried to capture the cheering, but really... the entire restaurant was filled and I could only remember to take a picture after the outbursts.

Auf gehts Deutschland!

Oh my goodness, I am still so happy about their victory. I can’t wait till Wednesday when Germany plays Spain! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend and celebrating in one way or another. So many reasons to celebrate, right? Happy Independence Day, America!