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Smörgåsbord of recipes

Hello everyone, and happy weekend!

It has been an insanely long week for me which is why my blogging has been far less numbered than last weeks. This was our first week of wrap as the week before we finished filming, woohoo! Now, we only (how I cannot wait 'til the number is one day) three weeks left of wrap, then I head to Montreal to work on the television show Blue Mountain State. My mom however leaves for Montreal to start work not this coming Monday but the following, so her and I decided to "get away" for the weekend and we got a hotel room at the casino we enjoy going to. I admit, 90% of the reason I wanted to come is because the beds here are like perfect cotton-like clouds, I swear you lie on the bed and the mattress forms around you, just like Homer in the Simpsons does... except this is not because of fat of course.

With that being said, I decided not to bring my camera, I kind of regretted after seeing the huge Parlour room we got put into but I don't have the pictures from this mornings/yesterdays food so I figured what better time than to do a "photography closet clean-up". I have had so many recipes backlogged that I just haven't gotten around to posting that I figured I'd post tonight.

To start, I want to post this downright sinful taco inspired rice bowl that I came up with. Yes, this is one old recipe, I made this the night that I went to kickboxing, and I believe that was in January, oops. I can still remember the satisfaction I felt when I ate it, it was such an impressible dish. It was filling, healthy, and overall satisfyingly delicious. It was so simple to whip together as well and would be perfect the next day in a lunch as well, I think I may have to whip this up sometime this week now!

Taco Rice Bowl

Recipe by me - serves 1

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup rice (I had white Basmati on hand, however feel free to health it up and use wild or brown rice)
  • 1/2 tbsp taco seasoning
  • 1 tomato - chopped
  • 1 green onion stalk - chopped
  • 1/2 avocado - chopped
  • Italian vegan cheese - to flavour
  • Chow mein noodles - to flavour (for some crunch)
Directions:

In the bowl of your rice cooker add your rice, 1 cup of water and taco seasoning. While the rice is cooking, chop your vegetables and grate your cheese. When the rice is done, add it to your bowl and top with your vegetables, cheese and chow mein noodles (black beans would be especially good in this too, for health and flavour purposes).

Apple Risotto with Toasted Walnuts

Recipe adapted from
here

This following recipe is fresh on my taste-buds as if it was yesterday as well. This risotto left such an impression on me that I continuously crave its heartwarming, comfort food feeling. I have wanted to post this recipe on many occasions but could never find the recipe. I knew it was from How Sweet It Is but every time I searched the recipe I could never find it... and I realized today is was because she used pecans instead of walnuts so I never got the title right, go figures. I decided to be smart today though and just search "apple risotto how sweet it is" and voila now I can pass on the recipe! I really enjoyed this, it was incredibly savoury, and surprisingly it wasn't too sweet even with the use of red apple instead of green. I will certainly be making this come the fall as I am not craving these flavours at this moment in time, but look very forward to having it again, deeeee-lish!

Ingredients:
  • 1 red apple, cored and chopped
  • 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
  • 2 tbsp Earth Balance (or butter)
  • 3/4 cup Arborio rice
  • 1 1/2 cups white wine
  • 2-3 cups vegetable stock
  • 1/3 cup Italian vegan cheese (or Parmesan cheese)
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
  • Sea salt and pepper to taste
  • Chopped parsley to garnish

Directions:

Heat a saucepan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of butter. Add apples and onions with a pinch of salt, and saute until soft, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once soft, add the other tablespoon of butter, push the apples and onions to the side, and add rice. Toast rice for about 1 minute, then add wine. Simmer over medium-low heat until rice absorbs wine, then add vegetable stock about 1 cup at a time, following the same rule. Stir constantly, making sure nothing is sticking to the bottom. After all the liquid has been added, taste to see if rice is cooked enough for your liking. If not, add more and repeat the process. In the meantime, add the chopped walnuts to a small skillet and toast over low heat for about 4-5 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan.

Once rice is finished, stir in most of the pecans, reserving some for garnish. Top with chopped parsley and remaining pecans and serve.

Coco-ban-iwi Smoothie

Recipe by me

Haha, I just love the name of this smoothie, it just sounds so ridiculous. This is an incredibly simple recipe to throw together, but the result is one delicious cup of yum.

1 frozen banana + 1 cup of coconut water + 1 kiwi + 1 scoop of vanilla whey powder = blended together until well mixed.

Tropical Banana Bake

Recipe by me

This is one of the best breakfasts' I've had in a long time. It's not that it was anything special, it's just the fact that it incorporates my favourite flavours. I decided to go a little crazy with this one, and instead of the usual thin-burger like banana scramble that uses 3 tbsp of oats I decided to go with a whopping 1/2 cup of oats. It was perfect, filling, definitely full of flavour and all around amazing. What's even better is that if you use the base of this recipe and sub-in your flavours you have an endless amount of possibilities!

In a medium bowl mix together 1 banana + 1/2 cup of oats + 1 tbsp chia seeds + 1 tbsp goji berries + 1 tsp vanilla ... microwave for three minutes

Spread almond butter on top of the bake.

Top with 1/2 tbsp granola + 1 tsp slivered almonds + dried mango/pineapple/papaya - to flavour + 1 1/2 tsp flaked coconut

Drizzle maple syrup on top

Devour.

Banana Flax Oatmeal with Toasted Walnuts

Recipe taken from here

Hot diggity dang. I love oatmeal, especially when there is bananas in it, even more when bananas are mashed into the oatmeal which gives it an ultra fluffy-esk density. The blog where I got this recipe is where I got inspired to make my oatmeal with bananas mashed into the oatmeal, and I haven't gone back since. Seriously, if I don't have fresh bananas in the house, making oatmeal isn't even an option. This was a bowl full of hearty flavours and it definitely left me full for many hours afterward. This was so good and I would definitely recommend making this if you love the flavours of banana and walnut together, yum!

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups water
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 medium banana, (1/2 inside the oatmeal the other half to spread on top on top)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp flax seed meal
  • 1/4 tsp pumpkin spice
  • Toasted walnut pieces
Directions:

In a medium size pan, heat the oats, water, and salt over medium heat. Once the mixture begins to simmer, approximately 5-6 minutes, stir in the sliced banana. Continue to stir until the banana breaks down and the mixture thickens. Add vanilla, flax seed meal, and pumpkin spice, and stir until incorporated.

Pour into a serving bowl (or empty nut butter jar) and top with banana and walnuts.

Chocolate Chia Seed Fruity Parfait

Recipe adapted from here

I've never been much of a fan of pudding, I've said it time and time again. The only pudding I've ever been able to munch on is pistachio pudding. I love pistachio's so it's not too surprising, seriously anything with this nut is good news in my book. Chocolate pudding, ew. Butterscotch, oh it looks like nasty ear wax. The rest of it, ehhhhh. Maybe it's just because I haven't had homemade pudding. Well, I decided to make Chia Chai Pudding and actually enjoyed it, so since then I have been saving recipes for pudding. Last week as one of my breakfasts' I decided to try a chocolate chia seed pudding, and hot diggity it was good.

This is what I did:

Ingredients:
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1/2 cup chocolate rice milk
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together. After everything is mixed, cover and leave on your counter for 20 minutes before enjoying. Or you can leave it in the fridge overnight and enjoy the next day. The chia seeds continue to absorb the liquid they are in so you may need to water your pudding down with some more almond milk if you leave it till the next day.

Then I made a parfait. I took out a glass, started with the chia pudding, topped it with blackberries and chopped bananas, did three layers then added a dollop of strawberry jam with the fruit. It was very, very decadent, but a great way to start the day!

I actually have quite a few more recipes left, and think that I have enough in this post, so I am going to do another Smörgåsbord of recipes this week to completely rid myself of old recipes, it's like a Spring clean for my blog! Woo!

Speaking of Spring cleaning, were you apart of the masses of people who got around to doing so?

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