Alisa Fleming ~ I’m celebrating the New Year, New You Event with Hallie at Daily Bites and Alexa at Lexie's Kitchen, and that means an awesome new recipe for you! The event is intended to inspire us all to make and sustain healthy changes by taking small but meaningful steps. Last week’s theme was focused on fitting in more produce, but this week is all about Smart Snacking. (See the New Year, New You post for more recipes and giveaways!)

To be honest, snack ideas are a tough one for me. I’m a simple girl, often noshing on organic carrot sticks, apples sprinkled with cinnamon, and rice cakes slathered in nut butter. But sometimes I do crave more, so I decided to tackle my weakness, sweet snacks. In the afternoon when I hit a wee slump, I often reach for a cookie or two. I don’t want to deprive myself of that sweet afternoon hit, but lately I’ve been working to healthify my mid-day snacking by using more whole food ingredients for a bigger energy boost without a subsequent crash ...

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Alisa Fleming ~ I had the opportunity to meet the legendary Mary at a conference last year. With her success in business, I was expecting a quick and formal introduction with a conservative business person, but the woman that I met was at ease and friendly, with a beautiful smile from ear to ear. Nonetheless, she was busy, so there wasn’t a lot of chatting. Fortunately, her assistant at the event filled me in on the various Mary’s Gone Crackers Organic products, and quickly told me her favorites were the Sticks & Twigs.

Mary’s Gone Crackers Organic Sticks & Twigs are what I would call a throwback to the early days of vegan and “granola” food. While the health food industry is spending billions to create “healthy” imitations of guilty foods, Mary is embracing the flavors and textures of whole grains and seeds. The Sticks & Twigs are very hearty and very crunchy, yet full of flavor from the various gluten-free grains and seeds (brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, flax, etc.) and savory herbs and spices. They come in three flavors:

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In a discussion with Annelies at Attune Foods, she mentioned how many people have trouble transitioning from their ordinary breakfast routine (often filled with sugars in the form of sweetened breakfast cereals, pastries, or sweet spreads) to their hearty Uncle Sam Cereal (pure whole grain and flax seed goodness). Slamming your taste buds straight from sweet to almost savory can be a bit of a shock, especially in the early morning when our senses shout "Need quick energy, grab sugar!" So I thought it would be fun this month to share my secrets to migrating slowly from sweet to savory and for naturally sweetening breakfast cereal without any added sugar (including honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and plain old white sugar).

I am a self-described sweet tooth, so when I decided to give up a.m. sugars last year (that's right, no added sugars before noon!) it was quite a transition. It was time to get creative for those mornings when I simply must have something that is at least a little sweet. One of my fixes, was this quick recipe for Hearty Vegan Breakfast Cereal & Fruit. Head to this post (I was asked to guest post on Attune Foods!) to see the recipe and read more of my healthy sweet breakfast tips. And please, by all means, comment on that post and share your own tips! I will be reading and can always use more ideas.

Alisa Fleming ~ Each year a new ingredients steps up in the world of dairy alternatives. The most recent superstar was coconut, but I’m wondering if it’s now the almighty flaxseed’s turn to shine. True, flaxseeds can’t rival the natural cream of coconut, but the health food industry has come up with a recipe to make flax-based milk alternative that tastes pretty darn amazing.

Several months ago I read an article from a mainstream publication where a group of dairy-consuming writers sampled various types of milk alternatives for a big taste-test. I’m always curious when people who drink cow’s milk regularly, weigh in on milk alternatives. Still, their findings surprised me. Of all the varieties, flaxmilk won, hands down. Flaxseeds made into milk beat out coconut, almonds, soy AND rice – seriously? Now this was something that I had to taste for myself …

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