Wellness Weekend, February 6-9, 2014

Happy February, everyone–and Happy Wellness Weekend! You know, in a normal month, I’d probably be amazed at how quickly the time is passing by (almost Valentine’s Day–have you got something special planned?), but with our weather the way it’s been, I’m just happy to see it go. I do NOT look forward to more ice and snow. . . let’s get into spring already, shall we? (C’mon, Mother Nature, give us poor Canadians a break!).

Well, if there’s one thing I DO look forward to, it’s your recipes every week. Now that I’m barreling ahead on the next book, I’ve been eating all my go-to staples (like this and this and this) pretty much every night. Please, won’t some of you uber-talented folks come and cook for me until mid-March? (Okay, well, at least, I can peek at what you link up to Wellness Weekend each week!).

Newsy Tidbits:

• Are we connected on social media? I’ve been getting my feet wet with Instagram and kind of love it. I share pics of The Girls, recipe development, meals, and more that you won’t find on the blog. Be sure to follow me there to see all the fun photos! And if you’re interested, I’m also on Pinterest, Google+, twitter and Facebook, too. Or, you could just subscribe to my weekly updates and be sure you never miss a blog post or event announcement!
• I’ve been blown away by the incredible response from all of you to the guest posters on my blog while I scramble to wrap up this book! Thank you so much for giving each of them such a warm welcome. In case you missed it, Spabettie offered an incredible, easy and delicious Strawberry-Hazelnut Bar for Valentine’s Day recipe this week. Check it out here.
• And speaking of Valentine’s Day. . . I’ll be popping in with my own special recipe for Chocolate Cinnamon Heart Sandwiches, an easy and delicious treat you can feed to your sweetie for V-Day! Here’s a sneak peek:

And now. . . on to this week’s event!

PLEASE DO NOT ADD YOUR GIVEAWAYS OR CONTESTS TO THE LINKYS BELOW–THEY ARE FOR RECIPES ONLY.

This Week’s Picks: Check out these beverage recipes…

Vegan Carrot Cake Smoothie from Coconut & Berries. This looks like such a winner! And judging from the response on instagram, you all thought so, too!

Creamy Dream Lucuma Almond Milk from Gluten-Free Cat. Y’all know how much I love lucuma. . . so glad to see it in Heather’s milk as well! 🙂

Apple Ginger Smoothie from Practical-Stewardship. Another gorgeous smoothie filled with good-for-you ingredients. Yummers!

Looking for more beverage recipes? Here are some from the blog:

• Sweet Potato Smoothie
• Mint Smoothie
• Calcium-Rich Cranberry Smoothie
• Homemade Hemp Milk

And this week’s Readers’ Choices:

Readers’ Choice, Savory

Stuffed Socca from Powered by Peanut Butter. Sounds like a perfect quick dinner to me!

Readers’ Choice, Sweet:

Build Your Own Breakfast Cookie from Vegan Mommy Chef. Cookies for breakfast? Who could refuse?

Thanks for joining in and sharing all your healthy, sugar-free and vegan recipes. I love seeing what you whip up each week! And I hope you’ll also share on Facebook, Pinterest, twitter and Instagram, too! Wellness Weekend even has its own group Pinterest board so you can keep track of each week’s links. Check it out right here. And if you’d like to be added as a pinner on the board, just let me know! You have to follow me on Pinterest first (and then I follow you, in order to add you). You can pin any of the recipes from any Wellness Weekend. 🙂

Here’s How to Participate: The event occurs once a week, starting Thursdays at 8:00 PM my time and running until the following Monday at midnight.

• Simply link up a vegan recipe you made (and posted about) that contains health-supporting ingredients. This means any good-for-you whole foods, especially those with antioxidant properties or “functional foods” (ie, offering naturally medicinal or health-promoting qualities–such as garlic, coconut oil, all vegetables, fruits, herbs, etc.)–but any fresh, real food is welcome! No-no’s include white flour or sugar, highly processed foods, or animal products. Definite no-no’s include: cane sugar (evaporated or otherwise), sweeteners ending in -itol, margarines, or faux meat products. Items like vegan protein powder, grain or bean flours, or coconut milk are fine even though they are technically “processed,” since they either contain a single ingredient, or could technically be made at home. Also, please note that this is a vegan recipe event. A minor ingredient with a vegan option is fine, but if the main ingredient is intended to be meat or other animal product, your recipe likely belongs in a different link up event.
• This is a recipe event. Your blog post must contain a recipe.
• You may link up older posts from your archives as long as they contain a link to this post. Please do not link up any posts you have previously shared at an earlier Wellness Weekend event.
• Please link the post with your recipe, NOT your blog’s home page or another event page.
• You may submit up to three recipes, but please follow the guidelines for each one individually. ONLY ONE THUMBNAIL FROM EACH BLOG POST, PLEASE. If your post contains two suitable recipes, link up once and people will still see all your fabulous recipes when they click on the linky. 🙂
• Please mention this event and include a link back to this post so that others can find all the recipes posted!
• Feel free to use the blog badge, above (or see the left sidebar of this page–if you need the html code, let me know and I’ll send it to you). Many thanks to Adrienne of Whole New Mom for setting up the badge code for me!

PLEASE NOTE: In order to promote your posts and the event, I like to occasionally tweet, mention on Facebook, or pin your blog post(s). On occasion, I will repost your photos in the following week’s Wellness Weekend as well. If you prefer that I NOT use your photos or links, please let me know in the comments below, or send an email to me at ricki@rickiheller.com. Thanks! I will reluctantly remove any links that don’t comply. I apologize, but I will no longer be able to leave a comment telling you that I’ve removed a non-compliant link. I hate to have to remove links! PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES BEFORE POSTING! And now. . . what have you been cooking up lately? Please share!

Never miss a recipe–or a comment from The Girls! Click here to subscribe to RickiHeller.com via email. You’ll get recipes as soon as they’re posted, plus cookbook updates and my upcoming newsletter this fall! (“We love subscribers, Mum. . . almost as much as we love treats!”

[Disclaimer: this post may contain affiliate links. If you buy using these links, at no cost to you, I will earn a small commission from the sale.]