Friday Favorites

Hooray for Friday!   Where has the summer gone? It's hard to believe that it's already August!  I'd like to add this installment onto the blog, Friday Favorites where I tell you what I have been loving this past week.  

I have been looking for another pair of distressed shorts since I pin quite a few outfits with them.  I have another older pair from Abercrombie but sometimes I feel that they are a little too short.  These ones are the perfect length and the right amount of distressing without looking to raga-muffin.  Best part I was able to score them for around $23.  

Tank, Shorts, and Headband

Quest Bars are in one word amazing!  They have an amazing amount of protein and fiber to keep you full for hours unlike some bars on the market that an hour later you find yourself scrounging for more food.  I prefer the all natural line that uses Stevia instead of sucrolose.  They are a bit pricey but I feel that they are worth every penny because it goes towards my health.  The texture is different from most, it's kind of hard and chewy, which I prefer because it takes me longer to enjoy.  I know alot of people who will nuke them in the microwave for a few seconds too to soften them.  (Also a warm day in your purse will also soften them ;))  And the chocolate chip cookie dough tastes like cookie dough ice cream to me.  I probably will never buy another granola or bar type snack again.

I fell into this book after seeing Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes on Jenna's blog.  My local library didn't have Bread and Wine however after reading the description of Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace and Learning the Hard Way online I knew I wanted to read it.    Shauna's breakdown of each chapter are little stories only a couple of pages long.  The way she writes is very personable, almost that she is in your kitchen sharing a cookies and a cup of coffee telling each story.  You feel for her and what she has gone through but it's not a pity me party.  A heart to heart talk between best friends.  It's something that I will always go back to and re-read.  I've decided to that I'm  going to be buying this for a few Christmas gifts this year for some special women in my life.

Hands down my favorite potato chip is salt and vinegar.   When I saw these mentioned on a few blogs I knew I had to track them down.  These do not disappoint and think they were gone in 3 or 4 days.  If you like salt and vinegar chips, I highly recommend trying these almonds.

Milky tea oh my goodness.  This goes back to my childhood.  Every time I was sick my mom would make me creamy black tea with cream and sugar.  Recently I have found myself craving this cup of comfort.  I've tried this with other black teas but nothing compares to Salada Black Tea Bags.  Instead of using cream and sugar I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  Mmm so comforting and good!

Up until recently I would use a frozen banana in my smoothies to make them creamy.  An even better alternative I have found are avocados!  Holy yum, avocados make it thick, rich, and creamy all what a smoothie should be.  I stumbled upon this when one day I was out of spinach for my smoothie and decided to use half an avocado to up the "greenness".  Since then I have not stopped using them.  This particular recipe below has:

~1.5 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1/4 cup of old fashioned oats

1/2 avocado

1/2 frozen banana

~1.5 tablespoon of cocoa powder

2 giant handfuls of spinach  

Put everything in a blender and enjoy!

Linking up with Lauren for Friday's Fab Favorites and Katie for Some Thing's I'm Loving.