On Monday evening I posted the above photo on my Instagram and Facebook.  I did a large grocery shop (finally) and did so with meals in mind to specifically plan for the week in an attempt to save money and waste less.  That said, our schedules are a little bit all over the map which makes dining together during the week a bit difficult.  I said I would share my dinners today for the week so here we go...

Do you guys remember those banana-coconut snakaroos I picked up at Marshalls a few weekends ago?  Well, they were amazing, but that small bag was seriously $9, which was a lot crazy, but I was feeling frivolous.

Fast forward two more trips to Marshalls and my mouth was watering for them again but I wouldn't let myself splurge.  Instead, I picked up a few missing ingredients and attempted to make them the other night.  And guess what:  amazeballs.  Yep.  A-maze.  Balls.  Or, bites.  Either way, here's how I did it:

Ingredients:

* 1 banana  preferably super ripe, but mine wasn't

* 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

* 1/3 cup rolled oats

* 4 tbsp coconut oil

* 2 tbsp chia seeds  optional

* 3/4 scoop chocolate protein powder  optional

Make it:

Mash it all together with a fork.  If it's too dry, add some coconut oil.  If it's too wet, add some coconut and/or oats.  

Once you get a sticky, yet thick consistency--I seriously eye balled all the ingredients so my measurements are estimates--use your hands and make bite size balls.

More like two-bite, sized balls.

Eat immediately or refrigerate and share with friends who appreciate healthy snacks that don't taste healthy.

I wanted to share with you guys some groceries I recently picked up.  Since my grocery runs generally look about the same with a substitute of certain fruits and veggies here and there, the basics are always kept on lock.

I love eating healthy and have trained my tastebuds to enjoy the flavours of certain things I know some people don't like.  I'm a huge quinoa fan, prefer whole wheat breads (when I eat gluten), enjoy adding oatmeal in my morning shake, like the taste of unsweetened almond milk, etc.  I try to eat healthy 80% of the time and make healthy food choices.  I will always love pie, pastry, ginger snaps, chocolate & sweets, but try not to overindulge too much.

I typically do one larger grocery shop per week, but tend to hit the store a few times within the week to grab more unique foods that are required for a certain dish or meal I'm planning.  I always keep fruit, yoghurt, eggs and some sort of salad mix on hand.  I frequently eat salad for lunch during the week and usually add some form of protein--hard boiled eggs, chicken or tuna--if I can.  My favourite salads contain fruit--some sort of berry or pears--avocado and nuts (if I have them on hand, which I generally don't).  Most often I make a mix of avocado, grape tomatos & spinach.

I always buy the largest container of eggs as if I don't cook them, I will just hard boil all of them, stick 'em in a vase in the fridge for an easy snack or again to add to a salad in a pinch.

Back in March, when I switched over to a Gluten-free lifestyle--ish--I also swapped out my 2% milk for almond milk.  I was a milk fiend and would drink two or more large glasses per day and go through, what I would call, 'withdrawls' if I didn't get my milk.  This would even result in headaches; I was serious about milk.  The calories and sugar in it though are pretty serious and I was likely consuming 300+ calories in milk alone.  Unsweetened almond milk has 30 calories/cup which is awesome.  I find it's pretty thick too so a small glass is enough for me.  Additionally, I like to buy one regular--for cooking--and one vanilla flavoured for drinking.  Once the vanilla runs out, I will drink the original but prefer vanilla.

The Oikos Greek yogurt is a personal fave and they come in so many flavours now.  Since my last vacation in Mexico, I've become somewhat obsessed with all consumable things coconut, mainly, ice cream.  Unfortunately, coconut ice cream is very hard to come by so last week I tried throwing one of my personal sized coconut yogurts in the freezer and the next day?  Coconut frozen yogurt!  It actually tasted pretty good and is obviously much better for you.  I'd suggest taking it out an hour before you want to eat it as it gets quite frozen.

Hope this post was interesting and let me know what else you would like to see on A.Co est. 1984.

I have recently been trying something new with my diet and food:  Gluten-free.

A little about my diet would be that I don't follow a diet. 

I've never been on a diet.

I don't really do diets.

More after the jump....

Last night I got together with two girlfriends and there was wine, cheese, and quiche.  And lots of chatter.  And laughs.  And good times. 

While sitting around, I noticed a neat little box of notecards on Rachella's table and she said they were conversation cards.  So we played.  The questions were things like, 'If you could spend one year somewhere, which country would you choose?' (Brazil for me), and, 'What would you like to receive as a birthday gift?' (designer shoes), and, 'If you could do one indulgent thing without suffering the consequences, what would it be?' (tanning; haha), and more.  We took turns reading cards and answering each one.  So simple and yet so fun and entertaining! 

Fall is officially here, enjoy it while it lasts (preferably with wine and cheese)!

Outfit deets:

* Spense dress (from Ricki's and no longer available).

* Bamboo wedges (old) that are like real sized Barbie shoes and I've worn with a pink skirt in a pretty (tulip) garden post a couple years ago.

* Ardène hat (above) & Giant Tiger stripe hat (below, similar).

* Accessories:  J.Crew Bubble necklace & Joe Fresh bangle.

We held my sister's bridal shower at the end of July on one of the hottest days of the summer.  A party that was planned for outdoors was quickly moved inside prior to the bride's arrival as we were sweating just setting up some chairs and a tent.

The theme was garden tea party meets Kentucky derby and we asked all the women to wear, 'Elaborate hats,' which was a total hit.  I picked up my sister's white sun hat from Ardène and it was eventually decorated with ribbons and bows from all the gifts she opened.

The food consistent of an amazing watermelon tea pot filled with melon balls, finger sandwiches, chic veggies & dip, cheese, crackers, meat and spinach dip.  The lemon cupcakes with blueberry icing were a big hit and served on a cake stand I made specifically for the event.  To drink, we served a mix of rosé wine, mimosa's, flavoured waters and non-alcoholic punch.

We played many games, including one where I asked the bride trivia questions about her husband-to-be (I already had the answers from him) and when she got the answer wrong, she had to eat three gumballs.  She had quite the wad by the time the game was over!  I'd love to share some pictures of our afternoon: