1. I have fallen in love with smoothie bowls. Can’t stop, won’t stop.
2. One of my regular customers came in without his wallet last week. I told him breakfast was on me and not to worry about it (the perks of being a regular.) He insisted he would come back to pay, and sure enough he did. Along with paying for his coffee and lemon loaf he proceeded to buy a $20 gift card, and then gifted it to me. Humanity can be wonderful.
3. I also channeled my inner Pocahontas last week and canoed myself just around the river bend.
Or Lake Washington, same thing.
This is what I look like getting blown away.
4. I’m done with school for one month. I walked away from my summer biology class with a 4.0.
5. On Saturday I hiked Mailbox Peak again. I didn’t even wait a full 30 days before going back. It was even more brutal the second time. I won’t be hiking this one again for a while.
6. The day after the hike (yesterday) I had a Sunday long run. Ouch.
7. Roasted cabbage….that is all.
8. Looking for a good energy bite recipe? My coffee bites along with ten other recipes have been featured on Daily Burns “11 No-Bake Energy Bites” article!! So many good looking balls.
9. Speaking of balls…I’ve become obsessed with coffee tastings and parings. Like, it’s all I think about when I’m not thinking about running, eating, or breathing. Nothing says fall like Starbucks annual Anniversary Blend. I wanted to do a tasting to highlight the spice notes along with some maple and pumpkin oat flavors. So I made some Maple Pumpkin Pie Oat Bites.
Maple Pumpkin Pie Oat Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 1 heaping tblsp uncooked oats
- 1/2 cup ground flax seed
- 1 tblsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup creamy almond butter
- 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
- heaping tblsp raw pumpkin seeds
Directions
- In a medium sized bowl combine oats, ground flax, and cinnamon. Mix well.
- Stir in your remaining ingredients until well combined.
- Place the mixture in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Roll the mixture into approximately 1 inch sized balls. Makes 10-12 bites.
- Store in air tight container.
10. I then proceeded to bring these to work to have a coffee tasting with some of my coworkers.
It was a fun time.
Q: What’s your confession?
Blissfulbritt 
63 thoughts on “Early Morning Confessions”
Femme Fitale Fit Club
I just made my own bites which will be featured on the blog in a few days. Yours look delicious.
foodielovesfitness
I love smoothie bowls too! Actually, I just posted a fig honey smoothie bowl recipe last week 🙂 I also am a fan of ball bites — so fun!
Brittany
OH MY, your smoothie bowl sounds fantastic!
allieksmith
I need to try the pumpkin balls! YUM. I saw them on your instagram and they made me want to drink some Anniversary Blend, too!!
Brittany
You should totally get yourself like 1/4 lb or something just to try them together! HA. You don’t have to buy the entire 1lb bag!
Rach @ This Italian Family
Just around the river beeeeeeeend! Love that Pocahontas reference! 🙂
Also, I love the story about your regular at Starbucks. The baristas at our Sbux make us feel like family. Which is obviously a sign that we are there too much, but it’s still great in its own way. 🙂
Amy @ A Desert Girl
I want to work with you! Coffee pairings with food and awesome regulars who are super cool examples of the human race. That’s awesome!
Lauren @ ihadabiglunch
That story gives me so much faith in humanity. I LOVE genuine, beautiful human interactions like that with strangers 🙂
Amalia
My confession is the doctor told me to stop eating gluten/dairy/coffee/alcohol and sugar for a week – but I’m still having coffee. *Sly smile*
Brittany
Oh girl, if you stopped drinking coffee I would send you BACK to the doctor to make sure you were feeling OK. I am ALL for cutting back on certain food items (quite a few actually) but coffee?? Heelllll naw!
Martha B
So much yum in one post as usual. I definitely need to get in on this ball craze.
Bunny Eats Design
I love roasted cabbage! Did you know you can get a similar result with a hot pan? (just in case you don’t feel like firing up the oven)
Brittany
What a fantastic idea, thank you for sharing!
Amy
Ahhh!! I’m SO proud of you for your DailyBurn feature!! Their articles are always so popular, and they drive so much traffic… Really happy for you Brittany!! 🙂 And that’s such a sweet story about the regular customer. I love humanity when simple, thoughtful things like this happen!
Brittany
EEEP thank you, Amy!
P
That’s so sweet about the guy! And the canoe trip sounds like it must have been a blast 😀
The Vegan 8
I have never tried roasted cabbage before, looks delish! That is so amazingly nice about the customer repaying you too, that is rare, but so nice to hear about it! The balls look delicious and perfect for Fall!
Cassy
Good job on the bio grade!It was most definitely not my best subject so I’m impressed. I’m having a moment with energy bites right now too – for some reason I think food is more fun when it’s in the shape of a ball.
Brittany
Thank you!! I think taking ONE class at a time was key for this grade! I’ll take it.
Heather @ HeatherRunsFast.com
So many good things in one post! Smoothie bowls and balls- YES! So smart you are, missy 🙂 Great job on the 4.0! Not only is that customer a good example of humanity, but YOU are a good example… you started the chain of kindness 🙂
Ellie
I’ve never made any of these famous granola bar-like “balls” everyone has been talking about. I have also never eaten any! It seems like my kind of trend but I just haven’t jumped on the bandwagon. Maybe it’s my aversion to baking of any kind…that cabbage though…YUM!
Brittany
This is one bandwagon you’ll want to jump on and never get off! I’ve been rolling balls for two years now and never looked back! 🙂 I think my favorite part is that they require NO baking…at all. Literally takes 15 minutes.
katalysthealth
Those are some mighty tasty balls you got there 😉 I can’t believe that fall and pumpkin season is so close! Give me all the pumpkin!!
And that is too sweet about your customer. Its stories like that that really help to restore my faith in humanity.
Kayse
Sounds like a stinkin wonderful past few days, hiking, canoeing, delicious food, and people paying it forward?! Good for you 🙂 And, congrats on your 4.0!
Khushboo Thadani (@KhushbooThadani)
These balls look delish- they remind of the PB cookie dough balls I make..such a great snack! My confession is that it’s 10.40 and I’m working from bed- in my defines, I woke up feeling run down with the flu :)!
Mary
Woo for the Pocahontas look! Looks fun. 🙂
I have never roasted cabbage or even thought of roasting cabbage before. This is now on my to-roast list! Roasted veg is always my go-to lunch and I love throwing as much veg into the oven as possible. The more flavours, the better!
Choc Chip Uru
Yay congrats on the fab grade! You deserve a whole batch of these balls just for you and you alone 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
An Unrefined Vegan
I think your readers need a little e-book of energy balls/coffee pairings! At least, this reader does…
Brittany
You know, it’s funny you say this. Yesterday I was at the bookstore browsing cookbooks and couldn’t find a single book with the idea I have for one. Now to just get past the daunting idea of actually writing a book, electronic or not!
An Unrefined Vegan
As a wise person once said: “Ain’t no hill for a climber.” And you, my friend, are clearly a climber.
di @ life of di.
I’ve never had a smoothie bowl but I’ve seen them all throughout the blog world. Also, that roasted cabbage looks delicious. I usually just steam mine but I will have to try it roasted! My family thinks it’s weird that I’ll just eat a half a head of cabbage with some other veggies for lunch (not all the time but from time to time!) I seriously can’t get enough!
Davida @The Healthy Maven
confession…I get overly excited by the idea of balls.
kcriemer
soo much ball talk 😉
i’m actually going to make some protein ball bites tonight or tomorrow to fuel me throw many a workout–except it wont be many cause they don’t last long..
Charlotte
Ahh i want all the maple pumpkin oat bites!! Congrats on that 4.0 and yay humanity!! so nice of you to give that guy his breakfast and so nice of him to pay it forward (or, in this case back to you!!) confession- i ate all the food i brought to work today before 1pm (it was supposed to last me through dinner:) )
Brittany
Oh girl, I do that ALL the time. HAHA.
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy
I love smoothie bowls too. They are so much better than drinking a smoothie out of a glass.
kathy @ vodka and soda
my confession is that i want those balls in my mouuuuuuttttthhhhhhhhh
Arman @ thebigmansworld
BALLS MUST BE EATEN WITH COFFEE. Always. The sweetness contrasts the bitter perfection.
Smoothie bowls- Damn Summer can’t come fast enough here.
Brittany
You speak my language!! Balls + coffee = pure epic bliss.
Melanie
Ooooo, your smoothie bowl looks fantastic! I need to try that! Those pumpkin bite things look phenomenal too. YUM!!!
Matt @ Runner Savvy
What a nice guy! 🙂
GiGi Eats Celebrities
I WOULD LOVE FOR POCCAHANTUS (LOL NICE SPELLING, I KNOW… I AM too lazy to scroll back up to check the spelling)………. To pour me a cup of delicious coffee, on a canoe… AND OMG THIS IS SOOO HAPPENING SOON! OMG OMG OMG I AM SHITTING MYSELF JUST THINKING ABOUT IT. I hope that doesn’t scare you away.
PS: You should have dropped trow when that guy gave you that $20. JUST SAYIN!
Brittany
I only drop trow for blonde girls with cake balls.
Domi
Roasted cabbage is one of my all-time favorite foods. Weird, sure, but at least I own it. 😉
Isn’t it the best when customers turn out to be great humans? I had a lady come through drive a few days ago and her card got declined, so she took a long time at the window and ended up not being able to pay. She had sipped her drink already, so it was kind of a lost cause. The next guy rolls up, asks if she was able to pay, and then insisted on paying for her drink as well as his! What a sweetheart.
Brittany
Wow, what a guy! I love that. Seriously, some of our customers are the BEST!
Lucie Elizabeth (@CollectingLight)
YOU are an absolutle GEM! We seriously need more people like you in the world! I bet you made that mans YEAR! Girlllllll, I say it in every post and am probably do your nut in but PLEASE come visit me in England 😉 Seriously, we need a Skype date!
http://www.journeysthroughmeadows.com
sincerelylily
i loooooooooove that you picked up the tab for a customer and then he returned your kindness with a gift card— awesome people do awesome things 🙂 that roasted cabbage… looks amazing. And I love the lake shot! I love that you made pumpkin flavored balls…. you are like ‘come on fall!’ haha
confession – ummmmmm i see you SOOOOOOOOOOON
Brittany
I CAN’T WAIT FOR FALL, but I REALLY can’t wait for YOU TO BE HERE!
Ashley
Confession: I make the most delicious and simple PB&J balls every single week. Just PB and raisins blended until combined and somehow it tastes like the sandwich. Basically I have a ball obsession too.
Food, Booze, & Baggage
The bites sound great and the smoothie bowl too!! The canoeing sounds like a nice time.
apartmentwife
life is good for you ms. brit! a 4.0 in biology, a canoe around the bend, a hike, and, to top it all off, a $20 gift card? nice!
willrunforpizza
“Speaking of balls…” Call me shallow but I can’t stop laughing at that right now. haha. On the real though, those “balls” sound SOOOOOO good!!! Must. Make. SOON!
jaydaangela
Those bites sound AMAZING! And I love smoothie bowls. LOVE them. So cute about the guy buying you a Starbucks card. It’s the best when people are awesome 🙂
rika@vm
Funnnnny! I had roasted cabbage few nights ago for dinner with cilantro vinaigrette and it was dang good! I love your smoothie bowl, looks so pretty with the berries & pumpkin seeds…Im gonna miss the berry season (sniffs). Goodness, these bites are tasty!
Haley B
Hi hi! Just found you through another blog – love this! I really like your style & your obsession with coffee. We have that in common 🙂 I spent a few years barista-ing back in college!
Missy
Congrats on the Bio grade! Killed it.
Mellie Dee
congratulations on the 4.0!! what a smart cookie! canoeing is on my list. but until I am able, I will live through you. 🙂
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goodstorysarah
I saw this and thought of you! https://www.wta.org/signpost/new-route-opens-on-mailbox-peak
Jenni Hallet
Can I easily swap the flax seeds for chia seeds? I just bought a LOT as Sam’s Club had an amazing deal on them by me. 🙂
Brittany
The chia seeds will give a different texture, but give it a try and see what happens!! They absorb more liquid and turn gelatinous so I’m not sure how they would mesh with the pumpkin in these. If you try with the chia let me know how they turn out! 🙂
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jejansonius
Yayyy I have all the ingredients for those balls, and I just thawed out some natural pumpkin I have hip hip hooray I’m making these!