Hello everyone! Wow it feels like ages since I’ve written a post! Why you might ask?
I switched over to my very own self-hosted blog! I’m pretty excited about it, even though it didn’t go down without a few hitches. You might notice the title on my blog looks weird as do the post titles. I cannot figure out for the life of my how to change them and it’s driving me crazy! Oh well, I suppose it’s not too big a deal…maybe this will inspire me to create my own header finally ;). If anyone has any advice regarding this please let me know, I’d really appreciate it.
On the up-side, the lovely JavaScript for Healthy Vegan Fridays now works properly on my blog- so check it out, you can actually look at all the submissions right in my blog post!
Now before I get into the “What I Ate Wednesday” component of this post, I have some catch-up to do…
- Thank you all so much for your support and submissions to the very first Healthy Vegan Friday! I really enjoyed reading all the submissions and I can’t believe that as I’m typing this, we had 63 link-ups. So great and I can’t wait to watch it grow (hopefully!). Make sure to check back next on Friday for the featured and most popular posts!
- There is still one more day to enter my giveaway for Tropical Traditions coconut oil. Make sure to enter before midnight tonight!
- I participated in 2 foodie swaps last month but haven’t don the reveal posts yet (since I couldn’t touch my blog during the transfer). I’ll get there though, so for the people who sent my packages, don’t worry I haven’t forgotten.
- It’s been over a week since I posted an actual recipe. Eesh. I’ll get on that guys.
Ok, now that that’s out of the way, time for another What I Ate Wednesday. Hosted by the lovely Jenn of Peas and Crayons, this is a weekly blog hop that gives bloggers the opportunity to share our eats.
This month’s theme is “Summer Staples”. I already shared with you my main ones in this WIAW post- smoothies and salads! And yesterday did not disappoint in that respect. I might also sprinkle in some pictures of recipes to come, just to tease you all ;) So here goes!
the usual warm lemon water- did you know it kick starts digestion and wakes up your liver?
Breakfast was a lovely porridge inspired by Katie at Katie Did. This is actually coconut flour! I modified and veganized her recipe for Coconut Flour “Oatmeal”. What resulted was a surprisingly oatmeal-like bowl that was naturally sweet and very filling. I’ll post my recipe for it soon.
Update: recipe for Spiced Strawberry Coconut "Oatmeal"!
Here comes the salad! This one has mixed greens, topped with an Asian-inspired slaw and a Sesame-Edamame Burger. This was a burger creation from the weekend that turned out amazing and actually held together on the grill. Recipe to come.
Update: recipe for my Sesame Edamame Burgers!
I had a slice of this beauty after lunch. Inspired by Annie at An Unrefined Vegan’s Chocolate-Coated Key Lime-Coconut Creme Pie. When she made this pie she challenged me to create a raw version. Well months later, it finally came to fruition. This is my version of a raw chocolate-coated key lime pie! And it is definitely delicious. I can’t wait to share this one with you all!
Update: here's the recipe for my Raw Chocolate-Coated Key Lime Pie!
Snack was an unpictured bowl of cherries, blueberries and raspberries. I think this is another summer staple of mine- berries! They are just so fresh and juicy.
My dinner. Yes, it’s a smoothie. I just crave them in the summer so find myself having to have one at some point. Usually it’s earlier on in the day, but better late than never! This is a cherry green smoothie topped with a bunch of random cereals from the pantry and some sprouted and dehydrated buckwheat groats.
This is a more appropriate dinner photo and while I didn’t eat it yesterday, it is definitely worth sharing! I made one of the best pasta sauces I have ever made! I’ll definitely share it soon. And no, I didn’t edit the photo, it’s corn pasta so it really is that yellow!
Update: recipe for Creamy Chickpea Tomato Sauce!
To finish off the day I had some Chamomile, Sage and Mint tea and a couple Chimes ginger candies.
Check back tomorrow for one of the recipes!
Which recipe would you guys like to see first?
Have any of you had frustrating experiences with blog design/transferring hosts?
What are YOUR summer staples?
Have a great day everyone!
Hey Gabby! I’m actually shaking in my boots and still on the fence about going self hosted (may I ask which hosting company you went with and why?) mostly because I’ve got tons of internal links to pages on my blog that’ll have to be changed over and I’m hearing it’s such a headache to get it all fixed. Kudos to you for taking the leap – it looks wonderful! High five’s from my hands to yours :)
I went with Bluehost and it’s been smooth sailing so far! I also got the WordPress Guided Transfer so they did everything for me and gave me 2 weeks of support which was so helpful so I highly recommend that!
And thank you! I love “e-high fives” :)
Thanks for the info! I'm scheduling in all of this transfering over business for next month and 'researching' when time permits…your testimonial is a strong one, thank you so much!
Good luck with the move! It can seem stressful but in the end it always works out!
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Hi Gabby
Congratulations on self hosting. I think it’s much better to be in control of your own website as much as you can and you have so much flexibility to add really cool features to your website.
I went self hosted right from the start so didn’t have a headache transferring over but I did have a headache that when I upgraded my WordPress all my URLs of my posts all changed names automatically so all my links were broken and when I changed them back they all just changed again. It was so stressful as it was pointless writing new posts as the links to them were broken straight away. After a few weeks I was very relieved to fix the problem.
I bought a theme for my website so I had more flexibility and I’ve been playing around with headers and logos and have recently changed my design but I’m still not happy with it. I’m very picky but don’t have that much time to work on it so I’ll leave it for a few months then revisit it in the future. There’s no rush to change your design, all in good time, and people are still loving your content. I actually like the clean feel of your blog as it’s not at all cluttered and distracting.
I’d love to see your pasta sauce recipe as I make a lot of pasta, also gluten free pasta.
My summer staples are peaches, nectarines, watermelon and a few cherries. I love summer fruit!
Thanks so much Katherine! I love having my self-hosted blog- it feels all grown up! Although I’m useless at design and coding so it’s going to be a while before I get it designed how I like it. That’s so annoying about all your links! Glad to hear you’ve fixed it!
That’s cool you bought a theme and are designing your own stuff- I’m really jealous of your talent ;)
Thanks for your lovely comment on my own design. I like the cleanliness of it too, although there are a few things I’d like to tweek and update- like all my social media buttons and a couple of the fonts.
I love your summer staples too! They are just so sweet and perfect in summer.
That pie is simply dreamy! I’m still not very experienced with raw desserts, so I’d sure love to find out how you made it. Looking forward to that recipe.
Aww thanks Hannah :) nothing quite comes close the the beauty of your desserts though!
I’ll be sure to post it very soon!
It all looks great, Gabby! The new web design (it looks so clean with just the text as the header) and all your eats! If I had to choose, I really hope we get to see your “best pasta sauce” first!! :)
Thanks Janet :) I’m happy to hear you like it- I’m just being nit picky about it I guess! I hope the sauce lives up to my praise of it- you make some pretty awesome pastas I have to compete with!
that pie looks so good! So I’m afraid I just have to follow mainstream opinion: post the recipe of the pie first please!!
I reckon every single one of the summer fruits is part of my summer staple. Just can’t get enough of them.
I agree with you on summer fruits- they are just so sweet and juicy!
I don’t blame you for picking the dessert, I would too ;)
Yeah! Raw Lime thingy sounds wicked knickers!
AND YAY for self-hosting, so much more fun! I want to come eat at your house, seriously what a great day of food.
Haha best expression ever- wicked knickers :)
Thanks Lou! I feel all grown up with this self-hosting business!
awesome! u will figure the settings out in time :) solutions to things like these occur to me in dreams:)
that burger and pasta sound delicious!
Thanks Richa! I think I just have to learn to not stress and it will all sort itself out in time. I can’t wait to have inspirations in my dreams!
Yay welcome back! Congrats on the self hosting, that is so exciting! I was a bit frustrated with the whole process of switching over from blogger, trying to figure everything out on my own literally overnight. As far as a header, I basically just chose a photo that was fun and colorful. I’ll probably change it maybe at the start of each season to keep it fresh and fun but we’ll see. I knew I wanted to use that font because I’m obsessed with it. I’ve seen people do collages on their headers too, or you could do something simple with no photo?
I can’t decide if I want the recipe for the coconut flour oatmeal, the cream pie or the pasta sauce first!! They all look so amazing I’d be happy to try any of them first!
How do you like the ginger candies? I need to find some easy to consume ginger and candy is typically easy ha!
Great job Gabby, your blog looks beautiful and I’m so excited for your future posts! You have so much great stuff planned! oh and my summer staples are definitely fruit! So refreshing :)
Aww Sarah, thank you! It was a bit of a headache tranferring but I guess that’s all part of the process right? I feel like I’m not creative enough to design my own header, even choosing an image as a background seems daunting lol
Both recipes will get posted, so don’t worry about choosing ;)
I love the giner chews! I have tried 4 flavours and I love them all! They are spicy and sweet and help settle my stomach and kill sweet cravings which is good at the end of the night.
As alwyas, your support is greatly appreciated my dear :)
So glad to hear the ginger candies help settle your tummy. That is what I need. Specifically for nausea. I really don’t want to drink ginger ale so I want to find ginger candy or ginger tea, something with enough ginger in it to help but also small enough that I can consume it while not feeling well. And no I’m not pregnant, lol.
The raw dessert looks delicious, but the coconut porridge sounds exciting, so let’s try one of those first! As for waking up the liver, I don’t know much about that – does it ‘sleep’ at night? A post on whatever goes on would be interesting! Do you know why, if it does, the live goes to ‘sleep’?
Sounds good- I can definitely get one of those posted for you soon :)
In terms of a sleeping liver- I’m not to sure lol. But I DO know that lemon water encourages your liver to produce bile which is an acid that aids in digestion and helps to clean you out. While that sounds gross, it really make you feel amazing!
I’ll definitely be sure to do a post on lemon water at some point- it’s such an ingrained part of my morning routine, I can’t believe I haven’t already!
Looks great! Look forward to that key lime pie! :)
Thank you Kibby :) I somehow thought that would be the one to pique your interest!
The raw pie!!!
That is a popular request, which doesn’t srprise me at all ;)
I just had the most difficult time switching over I just had the guy who designed my wordpress do it for me! It made it 100 times easier because I was about to tear my hair out and stress is never the answer! I really want to see the Raw Dessert! It looks SUPER scrumptious! Love and Shine CourtStar
Haha it was definitely stressful and I’m still not 100% happy with it, but I’m going to leave it for now. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who’s experienced this!
Raw dessert coming right up ;)
Congrats on the switch to a self-hosting site, Gabby!!! It was sooo scary for me, but it ended up being not that big of a deal and it has made all the difference for me to have a much more professional-working site. Yay for you! :)
Thank you Carrie! Yes it was very scary and stressful and frustrating, yet at the same time no big thing. Now that most of the kink have been worked out, I can’t wait to play around with it and really make it my own! I’m definitely going to have to get someone to help me design it at some point, since I have no head for something like that.
This all looks so good- the edamame burgers, the marinara sauce, the smoothie bowl! Yum! And congrats on moving your blog over- It looks lovely! :-)
Thanks x 2 Kristy! It was a really good day of eats that’s for sure :)
I’m not 100% satisfied with the way my blog looks yet, but I’m going to save that struggle for a later date. I’m so happy it’s done though and I can’t wait to play around with it!
Well, of course I’d love to see the coconut oatmeal recipe ;-)
Don’t you just love that corn pasta? I actually prefer it over whole wheat. Even though I’m not gluten intolerant, I still like it over other kinds.
Sounds like you had an exciting, albeit frustrating time switching your blog over. I’ll get there one of these days.
I was so excited to see Jenn’s WIAW post for this month, but unfortunately didn’t have time to put together a post this Wed, but next week will be a summer eats palooza!
I’m already excited for this Friday’s HVF!
Haha I had a feeling you would ;)
This is my first time purchasing corn pasta and I love it! I love that it’s a wholegrain, but still has the feel of white pasta. And the colour is so fun!
Yes switching the blog over has been frustrating, but very rewarding at the same time. Eventually I want to change the design on it, but I’ll save that headache for a while. At least now I havefull control over it and can display our HVF properly :) I was seriously so upset about how it turned up on my blog before!
I’m so excited for this week too- I can’t wait to see how this grows!
Oh wow those edamame burgers look good!
Thanks Heather! They were a very proud moment for me! And such a satisfying dinner too :)
Mmmm your WIAW is gorgeous :D
And loving your new self hosted site it looks fantastic!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Aww thanks Uru! I still have to work on some design stuff, but for now, I am happy with it!
Woohoo, Gabby! So excited – - naturally I would like to see the raw version of the key lime pie!! My fork is ready!
Hehe I’m so proud that I was able to do it! I hope I can do you proud ;)
I’d love to see the marinara sauce recipe! I’ve found a great pizza sauce, but am still looking for a great tomato sauce for pasta, polenta, etc. I drink lemon water when I remember to, but I seem to do a bit better with lime! Not sure why…apple cider vinegar can help my stomach too if I get indigestion, which has been kinda often lately. Enough babbling, happy WIAW Gabby!
I’ll definitely post that sauce recipe! I ope you like it- it was so simple but the flavours were brilliant :)
I’ve definitely heard of ACV being a great stomach settler- I’ve actually been meaning to add it to my lemon water recently since it’s so alkalizing (and full of loads of good bacteria if it’s raw). The lemon took me a while to get used to, but now it’s something I really look forawrd to in the morning. I find stevia helped me get used to it!
OMGosh yum, that pie looks so good
Oh it is, and thank you!
Loving the look of the cream pie and the “oatmeal” I saw a similar meal on someone else’s blog, it looks awesome!
Thanks Kammie! I was so surpised how much the texture came out like oatmeal!
Welcome back! Raw chocolate coconut key lime pie?! Sounds and looks heavenly! I enjoyed the WIAW summer staples challenge too. To me, it’s all about fresh berries and BBQ!
Thanks Sarina :) It is a seriously satisfying dessert!
Ooh barbeque that’s a good one!