life updates

Hey guys, it feels so weird to sit in front of the camera. I haven't filmed in a couple weeks now. I decided to take a little bit of space after my last video and just kind of take some time to like process everything and breathe and just try to get back to a good headspace. I have had a rough couple weeks and I've had some really dark thoughts, dark times, and I just want to say thank you to everyone who has taken the time to send me a kind message full of compassion and empathy and all the messages saying please come back, I

miss your content, I've been with you a long time, that has gotten me through these last few weeks like so much and made me want to come back because truthfully I wasn't sure if I wanted to come back and that's been a lot to process in my mind even just beyond my last video. It's no secret, I feel like over the last few years there's just been so much hate directed at me online. And a lot of it for good reason, but also a lot of it in

ways that I just never really understood, and a lot of ways that I've seen a lot of people also say they don't understand. And I just, you know, if my last video, first of all, if you're still here, I'm grateful. I'm so grateful. But if after my last video, you choose not to forgive me, that is totally okay. I really do understand, but I must ask that you please move along and please stop watching me. Please stop

harassing me. Please just move forward. You don't have to watch. It's been so much, but at the end of the day, I have been on YouTube for almost half of my life, which is so crazy to think about. Almost half of my life. And I love it here so much. And I love sharing my life. I love doing fun things with you guys. I love sharing this chapter of motherhood and all the fun things that we do together. And I don't want to let any negativity drive me away from that.

Because taking this little break really helped me refocus to just see that this is something I really, really enjoy. I started this so long ago, back when it was just for fun. Like, you couldn't even make money on YouTube when I started in 2011. Like, it was, I didn't know you could.

I just loved what I do, and I still love what I do. And I know we've built a really beautiful community here, and the supporters are... I can't thank you enough. I really can't. So many heartwarming messages.

If you sent one over the last couple weeks, I saw it and I am so grateful. And if you're still here watching, like I said, thank you. And thank you for allowing me the last couple weeks to take some space and grow and heal. Yesterday was the first day I felt like I want to pick up the camera again. I really needed this break for a multitude of reasons but I'm ready to be back. I miss you guys. I miss you so much. So without further ado, let's um let's hop

into vlog.

Okay so Anderson is having his morning nap right now so you already know it wouldn't be a classic Alex vlog without baking something or cooking something. We're foodies here. So I was looking up black bean brownies because you guys have been telling me that I tried them long ago and that I liked them. I don't remember. I don't know why I don't remember. I feel like I made sweet potato brownies but I don't remember making black bean

brownies. But these are made of like mostly whole foods. I think like all whole foods or almost all whole foods. I'm trying to eat more whole foods and less processed foods. It's a journey. I'm not perfect, but I'm trying to eat less processed and more whole. So making things homemade is the way to do it. And I know I'm very lucky that I have the time to do it and I can like share it with you guys and let you know if it's good or not, if it's worth your precious time. So for this recipe, okay, the one I'm following, I'll link the recipe I'm following, her page is called Chocolate Covered Katie.

And if that's your website name, I immediately trust you, 100% girl. Okay, so what you're gonna need for this, a can of 15 ounce black beans, drained and rinsed very well, two tablespoons of cocoa powder,

half a cup of oats, quarter teaspoon of salt, a third of a cup of pure maple syrup, or you can use honey or agave. I was going to use my sugar free Lakanto maple syrup, but this is like mostly a zero point recipe like it's really low point. So I'm going to follow her way and use real maple syrup. I have this organic Amber maple syrup from Whole Foods that y'all uses. So I'm gonna use that then a pinch of

Stevia or two tablespoons of regular sugar or you can skip that and bump up your maple syrup to a half a cup quarter cup of vegetable oil or coconut oil Two teaspoons of vanilla extract half a teaspoon of baking powder, half to two thirds cups of chocolate chips. You can always do more on top.

So the only things with W.W. points in this recipe are going to be the vegetable oil, the maple syrup and the chocolate chips. Pretty good. I was contemplating, I think I'm'm gonna use instead of sugar this allulose Because it is only two tablespoons So we'll skip out on should you can use stevia or sugar so I'm gonna use the allulose from Truvia

But I will calculate all the points at the end using what we use So you can use this in a food processor or a blender. I'm just gonna use a blender and make my life easier. I'll show you guys some updates from the last few weeks as well. As you can see here in the corner over there, we rearranged like some of the countertop in the kitchen

and we bought a couple things from our place because as you know, our slow cooker broke and then our air fryer broke. So it was just a fun old time. So we bought the Wonder Oven from Our Place. We got the larger size.

They have like a smaller one, which is great for like one to two people. And then we got the bigger size, which is great for like families, because also the old air fryer, it didn't like fit that much.

And as we are, we want perhaps another baby, maybe. Thinking about it, starting to think about it. I know that Anderson's almost one. Starting to think about it. We wanna like buy things that are bigger and that can hold more stuff.

So we have been loving it. It's an air fryer, a baker, a baker? It's an oven. Broil, reheat, and toast and airfryer It does so much and we've been using it all the time. We even I gave my mom our smeg toaster Because it's just everything is that now which is really nice

If you don't want to like turn on your oven and like heat up the kitchen It's just that so we've been using that a lot because it's actually been like pretty warm so Maybe we should bake the brownies in there and I can show you how it works and then we don't have to heat up the downstairs.

Okay, let me first and foremost rinse these very well. Wearing that Abercrombie dress that I showed a few vlogs back. It's got a drop waist. So like if I pull it down, I feel like, I don't know if it looks good or not, but it's

got the shorts underneath, which I love. Um, and I love the gingham, so we're just rocking with that. I'm also going to make some, um, little protein snack packs just to keep in the fridge. So I whipped up some hard boiled eggs, which cracked in the process, so now they're all like oozing egg white.

They look a little scary.

They actually kind of are giving The Last of Us, so as you guys know, I always love to talk about the shows we're watching. In the last couple weeks, we were watching, we finished Stick. What did we watch? I feel like we watched something after that, maybe not. I think we just started The couple of weeks, we were watching, we finished Stick. What did we watch? I feel like we watched something after that.

Maybe not. I think we just started The Last of Us, which we're watching now. And I think we only have one or two episodes left. There's not that many episodes this season. And I'm like gutted about it. But honestly, I had heard that some people said this season was like slow or not that

good.

We are both loving it. I had heard that some people said this season was like slow or not that good.

We are both loving it.

I won't give any spoilers, but what happened in episode two killed me.

It destroyed me. I cried. But it's I think it's a really, really good season. I'm enjoying it a lot. Yard's enjoying it a lot. I feel like it's I don't know. I feel like it's really good. So that's what we've been watching. Let me know if you watch it too. It's one of those shows too, like honestly

ever since I watched Game of Thrones, that was like I've said before, that was like my gateway show to watching really good TV that I thought I wouldn't like. Like if a show has really good reviews, like it's worth trying. You might like it. Open up your eyes and just try it because I never thought I would like Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, Breaking Bad. I was just a sitcom girly and the office girly.

Always an office girly. But I never thought I would like like drama or like I don't know sci-fi, horary, thrillery, but like, good TV is good TV. Alright, how much should I rinse these?

How much is too much?

Okay, I feel like they're rinsed pretty darn thoroughly. Beans are so good for you guys. We gotta eat more beans. We gotta eat more beans. I'm gonna eat more, oops, more chickpeas in the air fryer, because I love those,

and they're such a great snack, and I'm a snacky girl. But you gotta get your fiber. They've just got, oh, they're just so good for you. Gotta eat more beans, you guys. We gotta eat more beans. I follow all these nutritionists,

and they're always preaching about beans. And it's true. Like the countries who are living the longest and healthiest lives, they eat beans. So, beans. All right, step one. The nice thing about this recipe is that it's pretty easy to make because you just add everything

to a blender or food processor. So, do a half a cup of oats gonna do two tablespoons cocoa powder quarter teaspoon of salt half a teaspoon of Baking powder two teaspoons of vanilla I'm gonna do two heaping Spoonfuls of the allulose cuz it's a little less sweet than sugar a third of a cup of maple syrup

We're gonna do one quarter cup of vegetable oil. All right, now we're gonna blend this up before we fold in the chocolate chips. I'm surprised there's not an egg in here, so fingers crossed. All right, here's the before.

All right, and here is the after. Looks good to me, I think. So I'm heat, I'm he-preating, preheating the Wonder Oven. Okay, I am going to spritz my pan. Now I'm gonna add in my chocolate chips. Whoa, whoa. Why is it steamy in here? Why is this smoking? Oh, this is thick. How am I gonna get this out of here? I fear I fear this is going to be a little difficult. Okay. All right. Okay. Oh, it smells delightful

Divine really i'm afraid to taste the dough But I kind of want to I kind of want to okay I got to figure out how to get all this out of here This blender is a little difficult for this because the ridges inside, it's like hard to get the dough out, or the batter I guess.

Oh no. All right, don't be like me. This is why, this is why I'm here to test things for you, so you don't have to do this. Oh boy. Okay, this is, this is quite difficult.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Okay, this is, this is quite difficult. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. All right, this is the best we're going to get here. I got, I'd say 90% of it out. Hopefully it rises a little bit because this is not a lot of brownie. It's a very thin layer. I don't know if I have the willpower to not try this batter. I don't know if I have the willpower to not try this batter I don't know if I can do it all right here. Oh

Damn

Well, that's delightful All right, I didn't get to mix these in and I don't feel like it's gonna matter that much anyway cuz they're so thin But I'm doing a quarter cup of Lily's no sugar chocolate chips or low sugar chocolate chips on top. And if these are good, my mom can have these on her anti-inflammatory diet because there's no refined sugar.

Okay, so I just preheated the oven here. And like I said, it's so nice not to get your whole house like hot from the real oven. So I have it on the bake setting on 350 and it has a little water thing too So you can like if you're toasting old stale bread, it makes it super like warm and moist We've been using this a lot like love it

And then I put this board underneath here. So when you open it, it like sits perfectly So I'm gonna pop this in It has multiple layers, but I took out the, I took out the other air fry rack and the other cooking rack, and then it has a crumb tray in the bottom to catch crumbs. So do 15 minutes on 350, and then we'll see how it goes, but I'm pretty excited to see it feels feels promising All right, you guys 15 minutes

Wow, I

Mean they look good We'll see Okay, so I have been letting them cool now for kind of a while. It says to let them cool for at least 10 minutes so Yeah, this is touchable. They look really good. The great thing is on her page She has the nutrition facts and the WW point breakdown and then I checked it on my phone It said on mine

it would be four points per brownie if we do this into 12 but hers says three maybe it depends on the ingredients you use what kind of things but they're around 115 calories per brownie as well if you're curious so, I'm gonna cut these into 12. Please disregard my dirty oven. I tried to cut them as evenly as I could. I don't think I did that great of a job. Also, because these are like a very fudgy texture, you're probably better off doing them on parchment so I could just like slide them out now

I'm like, how do I get these? Oh, okay. Actually, it's not that hard. Okay, here is one of the brownies I mean, they're kind of like small for the points and calories. I was looking into it Maybe we could do applesauce instead of veggie oil because that was the most high Calorie thing but they look good And either way they are packed with more nutrition than a typical brownie. Okay, you guys Cheers Looks good. No see. Oh Wow, this tastes like a real brownie

Like not a diet brownie not like a WWE Brian this tastes like a real brownie. Oh my god. You would never know this is made of beans. Okay, I could not recommend these more. Definitely make these. And doing it in the blender was just fine because they recommend the food processor,

but the blender I didn't have a hard time, so wow. And then on this side of the kitchen now, here's the updates over here I need to add one last bottle for this before I run it But now we have the two baby brezza's next to each other and then we got to be our place matching a crock pot And then I just did some cookbooks here with our tissues and Bruni's jog treats

So that is on the side now. It's not like we need to leave this out, but I think it looks nice and it kind of covers that plug there. And then this is the setup over here, which I really like. We got this dish rack.

This is new. This is from Simple Human. And then my Simple Human dupe from Amazon also broke. I feel like everything just broke recently. I feel like everything just broke recently. I feel like everything just needed to break and refresh. I don't know.

So we bought the one from Simple Human that sprays because I've had the Amazon version for a long time. And this one can hold a bigger roll of paper towels, which is kind of nice. And then we've been loving this dish rack as well. It has like a knife block here.

It can hold cups here. It has this drain spout that can move into different spots. And Yard and Charger Dishes, and he highly recommends. So he's been loving that. And as the designated chef of the house, I'm obsessed with this. I can't shut up about it.

10 out of the house. I'm obsessed with this. I can't shut up about it. 10 out of 10 recommend. Then moved the cutting boards here, the knives. So it's just really easy to cook here now. And then over here, moved the KitchenAid and the Google Home, which I love to watch

or listen to things while I cook. Do you wanna say hi to the vlog? Hi sweet boy. Hi sweet angel. You're the cutest little baby in the world. Yes, I think I'm gonna bring my mom some of those brownies because I think she'd really like them and she like loves a sweet

treat, but she hasn't like had a lot of choices on this diet. She um mostly has just like Greek yogurt bowls with honey and berries. So I think she'll really like this. So we'll probably go over when he wakes up and we'll bring Bruno so he can play with Cha-Cha for a little bit on my mom's work break.

So that'll be fun, my love.

Yes, I love you.

Okay, we've got the boys loaded up. Anderson and I just had lunch. I just had boiled eggs, hard boiled eggs. And it's so funny because one of the reasons I'm trying to eat more whole foods is because there was like a segment on GMA

and like the study about people who ate more whole foods were like more satiated, lost more weight, like the study but like My mom since she started eating more whole foods like her cravings have gone down so much And I know I eat too much processed foods like for sure So they even said eating just less processed food can make a huge difference, especially the ultra processed food. So

it's so funny like I had one of those brownies and hard boiled eggs and like, I'm just like super full and satisfied. And like, I find my food noise is lower when I am eating more whole foods. So anyway, I'm gonna drink some water

and we're gonna go over and bring my mom her brownies. Packed her up a few and I'm gonna surprise her of course and get her a nice coffee on the way because my mom and I just love a beverage and I know this will make her happy. You chewing on your favorite?

There's this like little ball thing with like all these different squiggles and it like turns and has little teethers on it. Anderson's that's his current favorite because his favorite changes all the time. But there's quite a line for Dunkey today. I did actually stop and get myself a crispy DC.

And then I also need to after we go to my mom's stop at FedEx, I'm gonna return that really cute orange set. I should have done it the last couple weeks from Abercrombie, the crop top and the skirt. I got the skirt in an XL and it was a little bit tight. Some of my XXL stuff from Abercrombie was big, so I thought I would do the XL but it was a little tight and then the top

I did get an XXL and it fit nicely but it was very short so I'm just gonna return that um because it just did not feel right um so yeah we'll stop and do that and honestly I can't decide if I should stop looking for this Diet Coke ghost or not. I'm like, does it exist? Has anyone seen it anywhere? Hi, can I please just do a medium iced coffee with extra cream, no sugar?

Yes, please.

Thank you.

She's on medium now. She's not, she doesn't want a large iced coffee these days. She's on her medium grind. She says the coffee to cream ratio is better. So we do what we do.

Hi.

Yes, he loved the doggo.

It's a family moment.

Family moment. Oh my God, I got it on camera.

Anderson's been rolling his R's.

Bruno, come over and join us.

Come on, Bruno. been rolling is ours. Bruno come over and join us. Oh he's drinking water. Come here Bruno. Yay! Everybody! It's a party! Look how gorge they are. They look legit. Alright

here you go. And you know what I like? The fact that I'm gonna be full when I eat it because when you eat a brownie that's full of just white sugar and white flour and white sugar.

This one was super satisfying, honestly. Okay. And you can be so honest, be so honest.

Oh my god, it's amazing. Yeah? Yeah. Doesn't it taste like a real brownie?

Kind of crazy. And let me tell you something, mm, this is delicious. Oh good.

Anderson's blowing raspberries. I don't, no one in the world would know

that this is made with black beans.

That's what the baker said. She said no one's ever guessed the first ingredient is black beans.

No, and that's the first ingredient.

So that's the majority of the recipe.

Yeah.

He's so funny.

And I love beans. I love them. Fiber and protein, they're really so darn good for you.

You just don't even know. Hi, Chowder.

We got Chowder, we got Bruno, we got the baby.

You having fun with your little thing

You spun it upside down silly boy

This kid is so funny. You're looking at you and then Anderson's looks at him and smiles

Just whipped up some air fried chickpeas in the air fryer basket portion of this. And I really like this because in my other air fryer, it would like, kind of like blow the air. So everything would like bounce around. And this, you still get a nice air flow through it, but yeah, they came out perfect. I did them on 375 for about 15 minutes and I shook them in between it depends how crunchy you like them. So they're just rinsed chickpeas

And I did a spritz of avocado oil salt pepper Garlic powder onion powder paprika and a little bit of slap your mama and the outside is crunchy. I'll let you listen but the inside is still soft and that's how I like them. You can do them as crunchy or soft as you want, but they are such a great healthy snack. They're so filling and I usually can't even finish

a whole can because they're just like super duper filling. One of Anderson's favorite things is to just play with my necklace of him. In other exciting updates, the tomatoes are gorgeous. They've turned red. There's some other ones coming in,

but we've got a bunch of red ones.

Isn't that so exciting? Yay!

Who wants baby laughs?

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha.

Okay, it is so much later, we just had dinner, we're gonna take a walk and I got these in the mail today. I think they're gonna be life changing on the stroller because they're these silicone grippers because Anderson likes to drink a bottle sometimes in the stroller but then he likes to bling it off. So these strap onto the car seat or the stroller. He's playing with a paper towel roll

right next to me right now. You can do it with toys. So this one is for a bottle because it has this little circle here. So you just put it on here because I can't tell you how many times he's flung it off.

Then I gotta wipe it. So this will prevent it from falling to the ground during walks. You can do it with sippy cups too, I'm sure. Yes, that's amazing. And then this part will loop around the stroller bar handle.

And then these ones here have a little attachment for like a toy

So that'll be nice too. So he'll have some some entertainment

So you can put the toy on here and then tighten it on this ball or this ball

so came in a little pack of three and I'm thrilled All right between the bottle and the toy This is life-changing. Hey you guys I just took the best Shower the everything shower where you exfoliate shave not a hair wash day, but like everything else and I just feel Refreshed ready to snuggle up watch the last of us. I Am using the lineage water sleeping mask used a lot of this and it's just been like so amazingly hydrating

Oh another little update with that new. I have a little mascara crumb under my Wipe I have been using that new lash serum now for It's got to be close to a month, the one from The Ordinary, multi-peptide lash and brow serum. And I don't know if it was clear in the vlog today,

but when I use mascara, I feel like my lashes have grown a lot. And I'm just so in love with this. And it doesn't irritate my eyes. You know what's really crazy crazy and I would love to know if anyone else has this too,

when I don't have my contacts in, I can't do anything. I mean, every single makeup product makes my eyes burn. Everything hurts my eyes. They are that sensitive and I think that's why I had reactions both times that I had lash extensions put on my eyes are just insanely sensitive

Like I can put that brow serum on without my contacts in it. It like feels a little like Stingy for a second, but it doesn't like do anything beyond that like others do. But I just can't get over how sensitive my eyes are because I was considering LASIK since Yara got it. But I'm like, I don't think I can handle it because I don't know if I'd be able to like

wear makeup after or wear certain skincare cuz like it burns my eyes like it burns my eyes so please let me know if you are the same way because I'm just I don't know like would getting LASIK fix that I really just I'm not sure so I just showered now Yara's gonna shower and we are going to watch our show and I'm not sure so I just showered now Yara's gonna shower and we are going to watch our show and

see uh see if she can find Abby. That's not really a spoiler alert is it? I don't think so. Bye!