I’m feeling super happy today. Today is the first day in maybe two weeks that I’ve felt light and joyful. I’ve been writing a blog post about how tired I’ve been; how tired I was during my workout classes and how tired I’ve been of cooking clean food. I couldn’t even seem to finish the post because I was so tired. The whole post was based on how tired I was (probably a mixture of post-Christmas blues + January Blahs) and how I had FAITH that it was just a temporary feeling and the joy would return.
Well I just trashed that post. The joy has returned!
If you are still feeling the effects of the January Blahs I want to give you a few reasons to smile today!
1. It’s Throwback Thursday (#TBT). I rarely participate but there’s always somebody that posts a totally hilarious or cute photo that makes me smile. Here are two because I couldn’t pick one. Here are two pictures of my dog Boyd when he was a puppy!

You can’t help but smile- lab puppies are the cutest (although this morning Boyd stole a muffin out of Alice’s lunch kit and chewed the container and ate the muffin- I wasn’t smiling at the time…)
2. The sun returned. I had to really search for my sunglasses since it seems like forever since I saw the sun!
3. January is half OVER!!!!
4. It’s Pitbull’s Birthday!

Yes, you read that correctly- Pitbull- Mr Worldwide, Mr 305! It’s his birthday. I love Pitbull. Well, maybe I don’t actually love the person Pitbull (there is something slimey about him) but I LOVE THE SONG Timber! It was my favourite cardio routine we did at my gym last year. It was my birthday request and I would stay after class all summer and we would rock out some more cardio to Timber! That song makes me super happy!!!!! It’s actually the ringtone on my phone 🙂 Click here to smile! (it will take you to the Timber video in case you aren’t familiar with the song)
5. Chocolate Zucchini Muffins! Baking healthy muffins is a tough one. I haven’t found too many recipes that are actually good. Usually healthy muffins fall into two categories- playdoh texture or sawdust. Rarely do they taste like, well, a muffin! I have shared two awesome muffin recipes. The Carrot Apple Muffins and my personal favourite Sarah’s PMS Muffins are awesome but my family was getting a little tired of them. The Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are from my Oh She Glows cookbook and I also found a variation on her website ohsheglows.com . These muffins almost taste like cupcakes but are vegan, dairy-free, nut-free, oil-free and refined sugar-free. Most importantly, my kids LOVE them!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
11/4 non-dairy milk (I used coconut)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar (I used Braggs)
2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup Sucant, coconut sugar or natural cane sugar (I used coconut)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup mini dark chocolate chips
11/4 cup grated zucchini

1. Preheat oven 350*(although I found mine were under baked so the next time I did 375)
2. In a small bowl, combine flaxseed with 3 tbsp of water
3. In measuring cup, combine nondairy milk and the vinegar
4. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt
5. To the milk mixture, stir in flaxseed mixture and maple syrup and vanilla. Fold in to flour mixture until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and zucchini.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins and bake 15-17 min (I did 19-20min)

Choose happy 🙂