Meet Monique
Girl behind the blog. Ambitious by nature. Passionate about pancakes, life, and laughter. Here to inspire you.
Food Photography
Popular Posts
Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing {vegan & gluten-free} 
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies {flourless, no butter} 
Nutella-Stuffed Brown Butter + Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies {my favorite cookie ever} 
Healthy Chicken Chickpea Chopped Salad 
Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies with Sea Salt {vegan, gluten-free & healthy} 
Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies 
Kale, Edamame, and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette 
Best Ever Vegan Avocado Chocolate Birthday Cake with Vegan Chocolate Ganache 
Vegan Detox Green Monster Smoothie {with kale, strawberry, cucumber, & banana} 
Strawberry Coconut Chia Seed Banana Bread
Cheesy Egg White Veggie Breakfast Muffins {low carb, gluten free}
Yes, the weekend is here. I should be thrilled, but to tell you the truth, I am sooooooo tired. The only thing I’m thrilled about is the chance to sleep in.
I don’t think I’ve recovered from last weekend yet, plus my new job started on Monday so I’ve been going, going, going. Maybe I’ll take the weekend to recover just a little bit. This is really just me explaining why I haven’t been posting as frequently.
But here’s something to look forward to: A brand new redesigned Ambitious Kitchen! Yes, each day we’ve been plugging away on my new site! I’m excited for it to launch, but let me tell you, it takes more work than you would think!
Anyway since I’ve been on the go lately, I’ve needed to make sure that all of my meals and snacks are prepared ahead of time.
I’m also kind of on this no-wheat experimentation diet, thus I’ve been eating high protein breakfasts – including these awesome veggie-packed egg white muffins.
Jalapeno Chickpea Lentil Burgers with Sweet Mango Avocado Pico {vegan, gluten-free}
It really felt like a Summery Cinco de Mayo weekend, didn’t it?
I spent the better half of it with my face in a bowl of chips and guac… like you would expect anything less from me. I’m just going to be honest and say that I’m hoping to repeat it every single weekend for the rest of my life.
But seriously.
I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to Summer. My ears are longing for Lana Del Ray and old Mariah Carey beats.
Everyone knows Minnesota summers are the BEST EVER! Probably because we endure a solid six months of Winter? Nevertheless, a completely irresistible three months are coming soon. I can’t wait to lounge by the lake and catch the pink-painted sunsets with a drink in hand. YUM!
Anyway I was thinking we’d start enjoying the flavors of Summer a little early with a bit of mango avocado pico and burgers packed with fresh flavors. I already know you’re down.
(If you don’t know what that means, the just make the burgers and enjoy how freaking healthy delicious they are.)
Black Bean, Sweet Potato, & Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers
The nice part about becoming older, is that you truly gain wisdom. It’s kind of weird to think about sometimes, isn’t it? To really acknowledge how much you change each and every year. As I glanced out at the sunrise during my flight to Chicago this morning, I thought about the little (big) things I’ve learned during my 20s (thus far):
- Your time is better spent doing what you love. Always.
- You learn a lot about other people and the relationships you find yourself in and sometimes it’s a pattern. It’s weird.
- You become better at understanding others in a more of an emotional sense. A good thing!
- You realize that sometimes two people just aren’t right for each other, but you accept it, move on, and that’s that.
- You realize you need to be patient when it comes to your career and success.
- BUT You learn to walk away from the things that don’t leave you satisfied with happiness, and then choose to pursue what keeps you smiling.
- You value close friendships more than ever. You leave drama behind.
- You are more thankful for your family because they will always be rock solid.
- You begin to acknowledge the fact that a different location wont change your feelings or allow you to start over. Your location doesn’t control your happiness — YOU do.
- Somewhere along the way, you grow up a bit.
More than anything, I’ve discovered that your 20s are about trials and tribulations. The best you can do is to just be yourself. Only try to change what you CAN control… and the rest? Whatever! Simply put, we all can be better than the people we were yesterday.
After all this, I’ve also realized that growing up means enjoying thing that are actually HEALTHY for your body and mind. Especially food that makes your body feel good on both the inside and out. Unfortunately, inhaling 5 cookies at once won’t bring you any sort of happiness.
Trust me on this. I’ve had several bad experiences with Girl Scout Cookies. Shhhh.
Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing {vegan & gluten-free}
I’m finally back from Arizona. Booooooooooooooooooooo.
I had so many fun nights I can’t even begin to tell you. The food, the margs!, riding around in a red convertible, soaking up the sunshine, swimming at night, baseball games, Mexican food, FroYo, plus a trip to Sprinkles cupcakes!
I want to be on vacation for the rest of my life.
Funny enough I also went on a date during my trip! (The most random things happen to me, I swear.) I met him through a friend and we hit it off. On our date we went to the zoo, ate really good Italian food, and laughed hysterically. I don’t think he reads my blog, so in my opinion it’s perfectly okay to talk about how sweet he was. FYI: I told him about the life-changing cookies and I think he was sold.
Seriously you guys, I have to stop telling people about the flavor profile of brown butter and those freaking cookies; it’s just too nerdy. Especially on dates.
Sesame Garlic Roasted Asparagus
Sorry about not blogging as frequently; I think the fact that I haven’t seen sunshine in over a month is really starting to get to me. It’s depressing and quite frankly I have no idea why my parents decided to raise me in Minnesota? People who live here are super humans; they have the ability to handle bone-chilling weather and things like tator tot hotdish. (I’m being sarcastic, but it’s totally a thing.)
So the good news is that I’m going on vacation in a week and I can’t freaking wait. I’m headed to Arizona and you can bet I’ll be soaking up the sunshine like it’s my job. Don’t worry, I never fail to slather on the sunscreen. Oh and I definitely won’t be forgetting to consume copious amounts of Mexican food. Words cannot describe how much I love the Southwest culture.
Homemade Arrabbiata Sauce with Zucchini {the only tomato sauce you’ll ever need}
Confession of the day: I’m an absolute lover of mini meals because I consider them real treats! For example, my go-to snacks are bananas rolled in toasted almonds, rice cakes with cottage cheese and honey, or cereal with ice cold almond milk. Oh and margaritas! Because those can be considered snacks, right?
Anyway I’m getting back to the point here… I eat a lot of carbs, and that’s a problem. But you guys, I just ADORE nooks-and-crannies english muffins and basically every flavor or Cheerios to ever hit the market (minus Dulce de Leche).
Raise your hand if I just described you, too.
Surprisingly I’ve managed to stop buying both bread and cereal so now the only carb-like food lurking in my cupboards is a pack of rice cakes, low-carb tortillas, and apparently marshmallow creme, which I ate from the jar last night while watching old episodes of Felicity.
I don’t know if you know this but teen drama from the 90s is extremely stressful.
So this whole low-carb thing means that I am forced to give up pasta and opt for something else to pair tomato sauce with. That’s where spaghetti squash comes in handy; it’s gluten-free, low-carb, and freaking delicious! Did you know that one cup of spaghetti squash only has 42 calories and 8 net carbs? I can literally eat platefuls of it!
The real star today isn’t the spaghetti squash though; it’s my homemade arrabbiata sauce — a spicy tomato marinara sauce with garlic and herbs. I was reading somewhere that arrabbiato means angry in Italian, which for me just translates into one mean, spicy marinara! It is sensational, especially when paired with garden veggies.
I enjoy making homemade tomato sauce because I love knowing what ingredients are being used plus the flavors are always bold and fresh. I thought it would be fun to show you how I make my favorite sauce without canned ingredients so that you can enjoy it too! Trust me, once you try this you won’t go back. Continue reading
Vegan Almond Butter, Banana, + Oat Smoothie
Did you have a good weekend?
Mine was wonderful. I caught up with a friend over margaritas and mexican food, and also enjoyed some yoga sculpt classes where I sweat my entire soul onto the mat. I absolutely love yoga though; there’s just something about it that makes me feel incredible. I compare it to a bit like a runner’s high, except with an emotional connection. Perhaps it’s a little difficult to explain, all I know is that I’m smitten with my yoga practice! In fact, I’ve been considered becoming a yoga instructor. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time especially because fitness is such a huge part of my life.
First though, I’m focusing on a redesign for Ambitious Kitchen which will take up an incredible amount of time. So if you see pictures of me with bloodshot eyes, it’s from staring at my computer for too long. Not from other things. Obviously.
