I’ve been burnt out. It’s the first Friday in a very long time that I am not having to write meal plans or do check ins… and to be honest, I am quite happy about it. I have been working a full time job, doing private counseling and also buying and selling clothes (for fun) for a long time (three years or more, who knows at this point).
I need more than a two week vacation break.
And I need a vacation where I’m not working with clients. I haven’t had one of those in three years either.
One thing I found myself not doing anymore is baking/cooking/reveling in the taste of delicious foods that I myself make then shove into my mouth. There is just something so satisfying knowing that “I” did this. I made this. And it’s sooo delicious. And it makes me happy… so why did I stop?
I call it moon milk because it sounds cool. Hip. Chic. Sleepy.
I played around with this recipe for a while. The key here is to really be careful about the lavender to milk ratio… it can get ugly real fast.
Sweetner is a MUST. Honey again for me.
And a secret splash of… salt.
No kidding. I had been playing around with this because I wanted to test out lavender for sleep. I just couldn’t love the recipe. On a whim last night I threw some stuff around like a witch over a potions brew and what do you know? IT WORKED!
Lavender Moon Milk
Ingredients:
1 Cup milk of choice (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
1 TSP dried edible lavender buds
2 TSP honey
¼ TSP coconut oil
¼ TSP vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
Directions:
Place all ingredients in pan over high heat on stove top.
Once brought to rolling boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes – stirring occasionally.
Strain lavender out with mesh strainer.
Enjoy!
I truly believe this helps me calm down. I haven’t had it enough to talk about sleep… though last night I had the “moon tummy” as I so creatively came up with and was so tired.
I ended up waking myself up and reading on my phone into all hours of the night… so that’s on me.
However, if you’re wanting to know what lavender has been proven to help with I’ll tell you.
Studies have strong evidence that lavender is good for
Anxiety
Depression
Restlessness
I would also like to mention even though I didn’t sleep last night I felt oddly positive today. Could be me overthinking. But hey.. whatever works.
Lavender also has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.
So while I wouldn’t use this on wounds or injuries needing actual medical emergencies – you could test it out on bug bites and small burns (like the one you might get when making this drink)
Enjoy your moon milk!
P.S. I don’t recommend putting lavender buds on your drink – they’re disgusting, I used them in the photo because I am hip. Chic. Cool. Sleepy…
For that party I made this hummus because I finally found pine nuts (in bulk at HEB, love that place)
I hate looking up recipes with long intros so I will get right to the point.
Pine Nut Party Hummus
Ingredients:
1 (15 oz) can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup tahini (stir well)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 clove garlic
2 TBSP olive oil
2 -4 TBSP water
dash of salt
dash of Italian seasoning
Toppings:
handful of pine nuts
scoop of minced garlic
1 TBSP olive oil
Italian seasoning
paprika
Directions:
Put all ingredients (sans toppings) into a food processor or into a bullet (I used my smoothie cup on my ninja) starting with only 2 TBSP of water, adding more as needed, and blend until smooth. Move to bowl
For topping, place pine nuts in skillet over medium-low heat and toast until golden brown, stirring often.
Add olive oil , garlic and Italian seasoning to pine nuts and toast on low until warm (about one minute)
Top hummus with pine nut mix and top with paprika as you see fit
I’ll admit it started on a trip to Austin, Tx – the city full of weird food and people. I love the culture there, it’s a place I’ve wanted to live for a long time. I probably never will, the traffic is horrible. But I like to visit and try new things.
I had actually gotten this in the cafe of the hotel we were staying in. I added 4 shots of espresso and paid my $15.00 thinking it was just another “something” I was trying on one of my adventures… Well I ended up paying nearly $60.00 by the end of the weekend gulping down my golden coffee every morning , just loving life.The worst part of it is is that I didn’t even think to try and make it at home until we went back again for a few days… stayed in the same hotel, paid the same price tag to make my insides happy. So after the second trip I decided to find out how to have my heavenly drink without breaking the bank account with trips to the weirdest city on earth.
After some trial and error I found a recipe that I tweaked to make it how I wanted it and it comes out to this:
Nomad Nutrition 