It's less than a week until Thanksgiving and a couple of days until my birthday... where has November gone? Maybe it's the lack of snow (not that I'm complaining), but it feels like it was just July yesterday.

Anyway, I'm feeling all the fall vibes. I've been adding cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to all my bowls (and drinks), and though I've been eating eggs + avo for most breakfasts, sometimes it's nice to switch it up with a sweet and salty bowl for rainy days, weekend mornings, and even dinner (yes, this happened one night).

This bowl uses cauliflower, flaxseed meal, and chia seeds to give you an "oatmeal"-like consistency, but is completely grain free. It's a great way to get some extra veggies and is a fun base to add all sorts of toppings to. The recipe is vegan, Paleo, Whole 30 friendly, and contains no added sugars. Let's get cozy!

Fall Cauliflower "Oatmeal" Bowl

Serves: 1 | Time: 5 minutes | Paleo, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, Whole30

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen cauliflower rice

• 1/2 banana

• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

• 2 tbsp protein powder (I use Sacha Inchi protein powder)

• 1 tbsp chia seeds

• 1 tbsp flaxseed meal

• Optional — 1 tsp each of adaptogens (I used 1 tsp maca powder, 1 tsp ashwagandha)

• Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and vanilla extract to taste

Toppings:

• That's it.™ Apple + Cinnamon Zesty bar

• 1 scoop almond butter (I used Georgia Grinders' pure crunchy almond butter — use code AP20 to get 20% off your order)

• Pumpkin seeds (I used GoRaw sprouted pumpkin seeds)

• 1 scoop Kite Hill Unsweetened Greek-Style Yogurt (or normal Greek yogurt, if you're not dairy free)

• 1 scoop homemade cranberry sauce (I microwaved organic cranberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, vanilla extract)

• Dry roasted almonds and cashews

• 1/2 banana

• Pink Himalayan sea salt

Directions:

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the cauliflower rice, banana, chia seeds, flaxseed meal, and almond milk. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

2. Let sit for another 2 minutes so that the chia seeds can absorb the moisture more.

3. Add in the adaptogens (if you’re using them), protein powder, and the spices, and mix thoroughly. Add more almond milk if you want a thinner “oatmeal” consistency.

4. Top with toppings of your choice! I love using a That's it.™ fruit bar because it has lots of fiber and no added sugar. I usually use whatever’s on hand, but these toppings (listed above) are perfect for fall!

There are so many versions of cauli oats you can make — just switch up the spices and toppings to suit your mood! Here's a chocolate coffee (so, a mocha?) cauli oat bowl I made earlier this month:

Now, onto snacking.

My go-to snacks are often a piece of fruit + nuts, hard boiled egg + smoked salmon or avocado, a meat stick, or a bar. If I have time, definitely a snack plate.

Bars are definitely the most convenient pre/post-workout though, as you can imagine, and let's be honest — just plain fun. TBH, I get more excited about bars than I do about candy or dessert. Call me weird.

So when I'm "living the bar life," as Noelle from the Well-Fed Women Podcast (formerly the Paleo Women Podcast) calls it, bars are a lifesaver to prevent hangry-ness in my everyday life, in case I can't eat any food at an event, to supplement with protein or fiber (or both!), while traveling...

These days, I've been making an effort to eat fewer bars/snacks and more real food, but they still play a large part in my life as I'm on-the-go a lot.

The point was, I try to look for bars that are as close to whole foods as possible. There's a lot of scary ingredients on the backside of many bars (or really, most packaged food), so it's important to read them.

For protein bars, that means I'm digging RXBars lately. No B.S. is their tagline, and I agree.

For fruit/snack bars, I'm loving That's it.™ fruit bars — it's literally just fruit. That's it! ;) Seriously, peep at this nutrition label:

They also have Paleo and Whole 30 boxes so you can just buy an entire box. Um, like what??? Who else thinks that'd be a perfect gift (oh yeah, also a Holiday Gift Guide coming your way soon)?

Note: This is brought to you by That's it.™ — I'm proud to be working with them as they were recently certified by the Paleo Foundation. All opinions remain my own and all proceeds go toward keeping this blog up and running! Thanks, as always, for your support.