Our favorite lunch right now
Over in the NYSM Vineyard Haven kitchen space, we have a lot going on. There is production happening most days, all day, orders being shipped out, customers coming through the door for drinks and treats, phones ringing and meetings happening all at the same time. We are busy little bees back there. But we always like to slow it down to eat some lunch together. Pictured here is our go-to favorite and super easy meal. Each time we make it, it is always more beautiful than the last time. There are different ways that you can vary the recipe, using different beans, different greens or whatever calls to you. We thought we would share this with you for a little lunch inspiration if you are tired of your same old sandwich.
You will need:
1 head of kale
Fermented cabbage (optional...buy at your grocery store)
Organic chickpeas
Organic Tempeh
Hummus (optional)
Hemp seeds (optional)
Nutritional Yeast
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Sea salt
To make:
Steam the kale for 5-10 minutes.
Rinse and drain chickpeas
Saute tempeh in some coconut oil for about 5-10 mins or until light brown on each side
Combine all ingredients and serve with a dollop of hummus, drizzle olive oil and balsamic and sprinkle with sea salt and nutritional yeast (and hemp seeds if desired). Enjoy this amazing and nutritious meal!
Winter Fun
This is probably our favorite time of year. We tend to feel more creative during these quieter winter months because we have more time for self care and reflection. We have been taking long morning walks on the beach and playing with new recipes in our kitchen (like the white chocolate fudge pictured above—amazeballs). In order to keep ourselves on track and moving forward during this slower time of year we like to start off our week by doing what we call the “circle of life” exercise. We draw a circle and divide it into say 8 categories; Love, Creativity, Finances, Health, Family, Fun, Purpose, and Support for example. You can really use any categories you like but this is a good baseline. Then you judge each category on a scale from 1-10, so if you are feeling low in the “fun” category you would place a dot closer to the center of the circle, or on the outside of the circle if you feel like that is a strong point for you. So at the end you connect all your dots and sometimes it doesn’t look anything like a circle. Sometimes it looks like a shriveled up raisin or a pear maybe. But that’s great! Because now you can have something to focus on for that week. So last week my fun category was low so I chose to focus on that one. I began knitting, I planned a night out with friends, I took walks on my most favorite beaches and I went shopping one day. After a week of putting more energy into having fun now when I do that exercise fun is at a 10. Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of effort to make great changes in our lives. It is such an empowering exercise because it puts the reins back in our hands and reminds us that we are in charge of our own lives and changing the things that might need a little tweaking. A little bit goes a long way. What do you guys do to feel empowered around your own lives?
Coffee addiction?
Is anybody else addicted to coffee right now? I'm not saying that coffee is bad by any means, for some people it is medicinal. For me, I tend to go overboard and ignore the signs from my body to stop drinking it. I have pretty big mood swings, strong cravings for sugar and don't seem to cope with stress as well. So I've decided to take a break from drinking it and see what happens. In case any of you are in the same boat, I wanted to share my coffee alternative with you, my Energizing Morning Smoothie. I put some of the most energizing foods around in this smoothie and it gives me a nice clean, long lasting energy buzz. Here's the recipe and let me know what you think and how you feel!
Energizing Morning Smoothie:
1 cup milk of your choice ( I like to make my own almond milk but not required)
1/2 frozen banana
1 T hemp seeds (GREAT source of Omega 3's, brain function)
1 T chia seeds (optional)
1 T Be Cozy or plain Raw Cacao
1 T Maca (GREAT for energy and hormone balancing)
1 T cacao nibs (ENERGY + Antioxidants)
1/2 t cinnamon (Balance blood sugar, fight depression)
Handful of ice for thickness
Blend and drink up!
Are you Ballsy enough?
Last week during a brainstorming session on the beach, Ky and I were trying to think of ways we can spread the word more about our amazing products in a fun and authentic way. It is a requirement for us to have fun in the process of spreading the word about NYSM otherwise we feel like we are missing the whole point. So much of our business is really based around lifestyle design and we want to get more people involved. So we came up with the idea to do these mini “challenges.” For example, starting today we are taking our “Be Ballsy” product and we are going to post pictures of ourselves doing something that we consider to be ballsy each day for 2 weeks. This could simply just be a picture of how/when we like to enjoy eating our balls (hehe), or doing something out of our comfort zone that makes us FEEL ballsy. Whatever your interpretation. We will do this “ballsy” challenge for 2 weeks, then we will move on to one of our other products, like “Be Kookie” and so on and so forth. We will be blogging about our experience and posting fun videos as well so stay tuned. Please join the challenge by posting on Instagram and/or Facebook using hashtag: #beballsychallenge. At the end of the 2 weeks we will choose the best "Ballsy" pic and send you a FREE CARE PACKAGE, just cause we want to and we think you're awesome. We look forward to connecting with more of you and getting people to be more/eat more BALLSY!
Are you willing to experiment?
By Bennett
You know what I think is really cool? When you throw all of your beliefs about food out the window and start over. It’s a pretty refreshing feeling. To lift all of the sometimes limiting beliefs I have about what I like, what I don’t like, what makes me feel good and what makes me feel bad, and start over. I know for me, my body is affected differently from season to season by what I consume. This time of year I can tolerate gluten much easier and I am not as affected by alcohol either. It’s always refreshing when things change like that because I begin to question my food again and go back into the experimental zone. It’s a reassuring reminder to me that everything is connected and that we are all connected to the seasonal, ever-changing cycle of nature. This past week I have been paying close attention to my sometimes restricted and conditioned thoughts. I notice how it makes my body feel tense and try to let the thought go and relax in my body again. I’ve been carrying this same practice into my thoughts around food. I’m letting myself experiment more and changing thought patterns about what I tend to think is “good” or “bad” for me. Because in my opinion, nothing is really “bad” unless you really think that it is. If you are eating with guilt, you will ingest that emotion. I find that the more relaxed I am around food and the choices I make, the easier it is for me to digest and metabolize my meal or snack. It can be a little unsettling at first but do you find yourself in this same experimental place from time to time? Share your thoughts below!
Incredible offerings at our retail locations!
Okay so most of you have come to know us from our delicious chocolate bars. But since opening our second retail location this year, we’ve really expanded what we have to offer you all. Like, really expanded. We recently hired a baker named Julianna and we absolutely love her and all that she has created! She is an incredibly inspired and passionate baker who spent weeks researching delicious new recipes to provide for you all. Everyday we walk in the store she has created not just one but many new wonderful creations! Things like snickerdoodles, banana bread muffins, chocolate coconut scones, coffee cake, strawberry orange bread, chocolate dandy biscotti, chocolate avocado pie and cranberry walnut biscotti…just to name a few. We are so blessed to have Julianna, Elise, Blair, Evan and Elizabeth all helping us with production this year. Stop by Vineyard Haven to see one of their bright shining faces or stop by our Edgartown store and meet Sarah or Jenny who hold down the fort over there. We now have extended hours, 7:00am-7pm in Vineyard Haven and 7:30-10pm in Edgartown. Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone and we hope see you all soon!
