Seven Days of Oats a la Sam

Last week I made a post for Five Days of Protein Shakes, with my daily ingestion of protein shakes also comes my daily consumption of oats (as I'm sure you all know by now).  Since I hadn't made an entry for any of these bowls last week I figured I would give you guys seven days of oats a la Sam.  Sit tight and relax, you are about to enjoy :)

Day 1 - Orange and Almond Infused Oats

I have never used orange juice as a split base for my oats, however, I had a lot of oranges left to eat before I left for my trip to British Columbia and I didn't want these precious fruits going to waste so I figured I would experiment.  I mean, it's not too different from water, just that it has a little zing to it.  I wasn't sure what flavours I wanted to go with the orange infusion, but as I was making my oats I just had a lot of ideas flowing through, as to what I've seen orange paired with on prior occasions.  The first bite I took I was a little reluctant as it had sort of an iffy taste to me, I can't really describe what it was, perhaps overkill in orange?  I'm not sure, however, once I took my second and third bite I was definitely smitten by the divinity of this bowl.  There were so many flavours that I used in this bowl, and in unison they all came together very well.  This was a really divine bowl, and it was an excellent way to begin the day.  I'm not a juice drinker, so with the orange infused in the oats it gave my morning ritual a nice little twist.  This is definitely a very versatile bowl and will certainly be enjoyed again - this would certainly be ideal in the summer, perhaps even as overnight oats and have them cold rather than warm.  I loved it, and it was certainly a great way to start a weeks worth of various bowls of oats!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/3 cup soy milk + more for topping
• 1 ripened banana
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1/8 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed

Garnish:

• Cacao nibs
• Almond slivers
• Coconut flakes
• 0% fat blackberry Greek yoghurt
• Orange zest
• Maple syrup

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, orange juice, cinnamon, ginger, salt, almond and vanilla extract to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana.  Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard).  Top with additional soy milk, and the rest of your garnishes!

Day 2 - Almond Joy Oats

I’ve never had Almond Joy before, to be honest, I’m not even sure if we get Almond Joy chocolate bars in Canada.  However, I have seen numerous recipes online via my dear fellow bloggers of imitation recipes for this delicious looking and sounding treat.  I am a huge fan of almonds (hello Amaretto, am’I right?), and coconut we all know how in love I am with this beautiful flavor, when mixed together with a ibit of chocolate well, this is amazing.  In this case I cheated a bit, and didn’t use real chocolate since if I don’t have to have chocolate I usually opt to not have it, but carob chips I am seriously very fond of.  I remember this one time I had a friend over, and I was making “chocolate chip cookies” with carob chips instead, had the bagg open and as they were sticking their hand in the bag and gobbling up some chips behind my back they were well quite shocked to be completely honest that the taste wasn't at all what they had expected hahaha.  This oatmeal however, despite the fact that I’ve never eaten an Almond Joy, if I can use my imagination, well I think that this would be neck in neck as to what it would taste like.  This was seriously fantastic, and again, just like many of my breakfast bowls of oats resembles a healthy dessert rather than what's supposed to be a healthy breakfast, thankfully both categories work and my tummy and tastebuds get a treat as well!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oatmeal
• 1/3 cup coconut milk + more for topping
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 ripe banana
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Garnish:

• 1 tbsp carob chips
• 1 tbsp slivered almonds
• 1 tbsp coconut flakes
• 0% fat vanilla Greek yoghurt
• 1/2 tbsp hemp seeds

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, salt, almond and vanilla extract to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana.  Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard).  Top with additional soy milk, and the rest of your garnishes!

Day 3 - Crunchy Peanut Butter Oatmeal

I have never been one for cereal, especially cereal and milk, gross.  I was always a weird kid when it came to breakfast.  For many years I wouldn't eat breakfast, no way Jose.  Then I started eating breakfast and it wasn't your typical breakfast food, no, I would eat pasta, Mr. Noodles, ice cream, macaroni and cheese, yes I was a weird kid.  This went on for many years.  It's only the past few years, more so when I started going to University did I start to eat like a real person, and would also eat breakfast, nowadays I love it, and is by far my favourite meal of the day, and could hands down eat breakfast meals all day long.  When it comes to cereal, I am still not a fan of cereal and milk together, yes, I will do like I did when I first started incorporating cereal in my diet and have a glass of milk on the side but never together, yuckers.  My current favourite is of no surprise to me since the main flavour is peanut butter.  I eat this cereal when I'm craving something junky but don't want to feel guilty - even though I may eat a lot in one sitting uh oh, oh well, better than a bag of chips.  The other morning when I was making my oats, I knew I wanted peanut butter, then I thought of my wonderful cereal and figured hey why not throw them together in one magical unison?  Well magical unison it was.  This bowl was creamy and full of peanut butter and because of the cereal it had a nice crunchy bite to it as well.  I loved this, and will definitely keep this as a go-to if I'm not feeling motivated to think of something special to make for my breakfast bowl!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oatmeal
• 1/3 cup coconut milk + more for topping
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 ripe banana
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1/4 cup peanut butter cereal crushed
• Handful of peanut butter chipits

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, salt, and vanilla extract to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana an peanut butter.  Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard).  Top with additional soy milk, crushed cereal and peanut butter chipits.

Day 4 - Chai Spiced Banana Oats

Okay, looking at the ingredient list, this definitely wouldn't look like a recipe I would want to make early in the morning, I mean, it looks like the list is as long as The Great Wall of China, but it's not really, there are just a lot of spices.  Chai has got to be my favourite spice combination, it incorporates all the fall flavours that I love so much, and it's just so warming and aromatic.  Especially when paired with oats, it gives you such a warm, home comfort feeling.  This bowl of oats was the perfect thing to wake up to and have for breakfast.  I loved it, and it was certainly a great pick-me up on a day where I certainly wasn't feeling like going to the gym and working out.  This truthfully didn't take any longer than my regular oats that I make, and was certainly worth taking out the few extra spices to add a little zing to my morning.  If you're not a big fan of ginger, I would almost suggest putting a little less than suggested and adding more cinnamon, all depends on how spicy you want it to be (however, with the added coconut, maple syrup and carob chips it adds a hint of sweetness)!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 ripe banana
• Dash of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp of nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp of cloves
• 1 tbsp flax
• Maple syrup - to garnish
• 1 tbsp carob chips 
• 1 tbsp pecans 
• 1 tbsp flaked coconut

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, salt, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, flaxseed and vanilla extract to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana an peanut butter.  Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard).  Top with additional soy milk, maple syrup, carob chips, pecans and flaked coconut.


Day 5 - Blueberries and Cream Oats

Recipe inspired from here

Hmmm, as I mentioned the other day, my mom bought me twelve bags of frozen fruits, and well, the blueberries needed to get gobbled up since out of all fruits, these are basically my least favourite.  However, I've come to appreciate them when it comes to having them with warm oats as they seem to ooze all over the place and create the perfect flavour to oats (Blueberry Cobbler Oatmeal) also when paired with cinnamon and banana (Blueberry Pie Smoothie).  The other day as I was stumbling upon the foodie blogs I came across for a blueberry breakfast that actually looked quite delicious.  At first I was contemplating using raspberries instead of blueberries and thought what the heck I might as well give it a shot.  I'm glad I did.  I'm still not fully converted to blueberries, but I'm beginning to appreciate those little buggers a teeny bit more.  This oatmeal was luxurious, and definitely in the lines of a dessert as opposed to a breakfast (you really do feel like you're doing the body harm when eating this - but you are by no means doing so).  I loved this, and will certainly be trying it again, and perhaps trying it as I initially wanted to with raspberries.  I loved eating this because not only was it so tasty and good for me, it was darn right beautiful to look at, now that's a bonus right?

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup coconut milk + 1 tbsp + more for topping
• 1/3 cup water
• Dash of salt
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp slivered almonds 

Directions:

In a small pot add blueberries, maple syrup, vanilla and 1 tbsp of coconut milk.  Heat over low heat until the blueberries are heated through - make sure not to boil the coconut milk.

Make your oats as you typically make them.  Then top with your blueberry compote, slivered almonds, additional coconut milk and maple syrup!

Day 6 - Tropical Oats

Do I even need to write a little tidbit for this next bowl?  I really don't think so, and I'm not going to.  Instead I'm going to head downstairs and clean up after my cats, because by now, we all know how amazing tropical flavours are, how well they meld together, and how delightful they are with oats especially for breakfast when the weather isn't as warm as it's going to be for the rest of the day and you want to feel as though you're in the Caribbean somewhere drinking slurping back on a gigantic Pina Colada.  All I'm going to say is, do yourself a favour, and make this - you know what to do.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup coconut milk + 1 tbsp + more for topping
• 1/3 cup water
• Dash of salt
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp chopped cashews
• 1/4 cup chopped pineapple
• 1/4 cup cubed mango
• 1 heaping tbsp coconut flakes
• 0% fat vanilla Greek yoghurt
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, salt, and vanilla to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana.  Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard).  Top with additional soy milk, Greek yoghurt, mango, pineapple, cashews, coconut flakes, and hemp seeds.

Day 7 - Strawberry Nutella Oats

Okay, okay, Nutella and strawberries are absolutely amazing.  Clearly I’ve had peanut butter and Nutella are amazing together, as are bananas and Nutella.  As we all know, chocolate and strawberries are matches made in heaven, but with the addition of hazelnuts, holy moly it’s a whole other world.  This oatmeal was incredibly creamy, luxurious, sinful, perfectly sweet, packed full of protein, and was incredibly filling and a perfect way to start a work out.  I made this a few times before I decided that I need to photograph it because this is certainly one bowl that needs to be shared with the rest of you, pure perfection in a bowl.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oatmeal
• 1/3 cup coconut milk + more for topping
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 ripe banana
• Dash of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 medium sized strawberries – quartered than cut in half
• 1 tbsp Nutella
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds
• 0% fat strawberry Greek yoghurt

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, bring your oats, milk, water, salt, and vanilla to a boil.  Once your oats have started to boil, mash in your ripened banana and Nutella.  Keep your oats on the stove until your level of "cooked" oats has been achieved (mine take about 4-5 minutes, I still like them a bit hard).  Top with additional milk, Greek yoghurt, strawberry slices, and hemp seeds.

What are some ideas you use to spruce up your morning oats?

Shake, shake, shake senora.

So, it's been a few weeks now that I've been seeing a personal trainer and things are looking up.  Not only do I get my butt whipped by the trainer (for it's easier to push yourself to the extreme when you have someone dictating for you what to do), but I am also whipping my own butt when I am going into the gym by myself and doing weights.  I was never someone to approach the weight machines, because honestly, it's not that I didn't want to, it was just a fear of the unknown.  I didn't want to use the machine improperly, and with that I just didn't try.  I've always stuck to your stereotypical "cardio" exercises, however, now that I'm education myself, and learning proper terms etc... I now know this - "Any form of exercise can be considered cardio exercise if it raises the heart rate sufficiently and can be sustained for long periods of time. Often normal activities such as walking or climbing stairs can be turned into cardio exercises if they are done intensely. Typically cardio exercise involves engaging major muscle groups which require a large amount of oxygen, such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, chest and arms. Running, swimming and bicycling are typical cardio exercises, though a wide range of activities, such as yoga, basketball or even sexual activity can constitute cardio exercise." taken from here.

With that being said, I do miss running and biking, but having my heart feel like it's going to jump out of my chest from doing weights is such an amazing feeling, and it's a nice change.  What's even more fantastic is that I'm gaining the knowledge to make this happen to me without a trainer.  I'm learning basics, and I know how to apply them to machines I hadn't used prior.


With all of this strength training I'm definitely feeling the need to fuel up, not just because I'm supposed to and told to, but because my body is craving the extra protein, the additional nutrients, and the increase in food overall.  On average I'm having about two protein shakes a day, this is helping a lot to keep me full since I'm packing them in along with my meals.  

I now have a lot of shakes under my belt that I'm really excited to share with you guys.  Recently I've stumbled upon a fLAVORATOr page on Pinterest, and it's super neat to see how many people have repinned my recent shakes as inspiration to healthy, delicious shakes.  This makes me feel really happy because I know I don't get a lot of traffic on my blog, but through Pinterest it definitely helps, and it's nice to share other bloggers recipes as well as my own.  Through all of this, I'm just going to jump to some recent shakes I've been enjoying that are simple and quick to make, and that are super delicious that I think you would all enjoy as well.

Peanut Butter Crunch Smoothie

Recipe adapted from here

I'm not sure what it is with me lately when it comes to peanut butter.  I've made three batches of peanut butter cookies.  Been stocking up on peanut butter cereal - these being my favourite.  Making peanut butter, jam and banana sandwiches at least four times a week.  Adding peanut butter into my shakes, or throwing some into my oats in the morning, whatever it is, I have been sucking it in like there's no tomorrow.  When I found a recipe to add peanut butter cereal into a shake, there was no doubt in my mind that I would be making it as soon as possible, especially since I had a box of this exact cereal on hand ;) fate or what?

This is definitely one of my recent favourites, hence my peanut butter binges, but with the peanut butter from the cereal and my protein powder it was pure heaven.  I even made a chia crumble that I'd recently made for some added protein/deliciousness.  This is a for sure you must make sort of recipe, do it for yourself, you will not regret it!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 3/4 cup Peanut Butter Crunch Cereal
• 1 scoop peanut butter protein powder (or chocolate protein if you don't have peanut butter)
• 1/4 cup 0% fat vanilla Greek yoghurt
• More cereal for garnish + chocolate chia crumble 

Directions:

Blend milk, cereal, yoghurt and protein powder until smooth.  Top with cereal and chocolate chia crumble.

Chocolate Orange Smoothie


If you're already a fan of chocolate and orange together, you don't need me to tell you that this is going to be a sure fire hit.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/4 cup water
• Juice from 1 orange
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 scoop of protein powder

Avocado Citrus Smoothie

Recipe slightly adapted from here

It's been a while now that I've been tossing avocado's into my shakes, especially when I don't have any spinach left and I want some green-ness added in.  What's awesome about avocado when added to your shakes is the creaminess.  When I was younger and my mom make my brother and I smoothies they would always be made with juice, and I felt that this left them being very runny, and resembled a healthy juice.  When I make my smoothies/shakes, I like them to be creamy and thick - resembling a milkshake.  Seeing as it's been a few years since I've had a milkshake since I never buy vegan ice cream, and when I do have ice cream in the house I like to eat it in a bowl instead of drink form I needed to find a way to have this result in another form - frozen banana/avocado definitely gives you this result.  You don't need ice cream, you don't need to feel guilty you can just drink and enjoy.

This smoothie was incredible.  While I was drinking it, I was wishing that every sip I took, it would magically fill back up.  I am a huuuuuge sucker for citrus, and never think to put it in my shakes (other than orange of course), but the addition of both lemon and orange in this drink is blissful.  It has the perfect punch of tartness, than the yoghurt, avocado, banana and vanilla pick up and add sweet touches as well as bouts of creaminess.  Will certainly be enjoying this puppy come the summer time instead of lemonade, yum!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 an avocado - frozen
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/3 cup blackberry non-fat Greek yoghurt
• Juice of 3/4 lemon
• Juice of 1 orange
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (optional)

Directions:

Combine everything into a blender and blend until smooth.

Caramel Apple Green Smoothie

Recipe taken and slightly adapted from here

And lastly - yes, you read correct - caramel apple smoothie.  The one thing I love about eating healthy is that there is almost  always an ingredient to mimic those unhealthy ones that we desire so much.  Milkshake/ice cream = pureed banana, creamsicles = Greek yoghurt + orange juice + pureed banana, caramel = dates, yes dried fruit resembles caramel especially when added with flavours that enhance caramel flavours such as apples.  This was incredibly delightful and such a wonderful treat.  This is sure to be enjoyed by all, even those avid of steering clear of green shakes.  

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 apple - original uses frozen, I used fresh
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 cups spinach
• 2 medjool dates, pitted
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch salt

Directions:

Place in your blender in the order of the ingredients listed, then blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.

When you want something refreshing and healthy what do you throw on in your smoothies/shakes?

Snackin' Sundays...

Happy weekend all,

Before I forget:

Hello to my one and only favourite father in the entire universe. 

You rock my world, and I cannot wait to see you!

PS. on Thursday I will be eating your slice of cake!

As many of you have probably noticed, especially the ones who /cough, called me lazy and told me to update my blog because it had been far too long, the past few weeks I've been slacking just a bit.  However, the past week and a bit I've posted two or three times, woohoo!  As I was reading one of my newly discovered favourite blogs, Snacking Squirrel, one of the questions at the end of one of her blogs posts' was do you find you blog less in the summer?  My answer is yes, yes, yes and yesssssss.

Last summer I wasn't working as I was on disability for the most part, therefore I spent the majority of my days in doors in my kitchen baking and cooking.  When I wasn't in the kitchen, I was sitting on the couch infront of the tv with my legs on the foot stool writing blog posts... wow, what a lame summer I had.  Despite it being lame, and honestly, for the most part insanely unadventurous I taught myself a lot, a lot in the kitchen, as well as learnt a lot from reading other blogs.  This summer however, I'm working insane hours, I've actually been going out with friends I've met in Montreal, I spend time working out, as well as I'm trying to make leftovers so I can spend less time in the kitchen.  With that being said it's very hard for me to find time lately to blog, even the motivation to want to blog.

Since I have less time for blogging, especially when it comes to the weekend I just find no motivation to want to even blog on my Friday or Saturdays and usually end up writing a little post on my Sunday evenings... I figured I would set some special time aside for something I came up with; "Snackin' Sundays".

I may not be a huge snacker, other than my whole cantaloupe, or whole pineapple once or twice a week, but I do make some baked goods usually on Sunday so I have "dessert" for my lunches.  As I mentioned last week, I wanted to start incorporating more of my baked goods so that I could get over my non-vegan catering cake binging... and honestly, it's REALLY been helping.  I don't even think I had a piece of cake from the caterers last week.  So, what I'm going to do on Sundays is post snacks that I had during the week that may not of been posted and show my current favourits.  This will give me something to post, as well as it will motivate me to post on my weekends.

My first and favourite snack that I had this last week is something that I came up with because I was dreeeaaaaming of my favourite Larabar-imitation truffles the Peanut Butter and Jam Truffles, out of all the truffles I've ever made these have by far been my favourite.  I haven't remade them because... truthfully I find it hard to make recipes a second time.  Before I started to bake and cook I used to make the same things over and over and over and over and over again... because, it was easy and I didn't know how to bake or cook.  Now however, since I do know how, and I see the million upon million of infinite recipes and alterations I see no reason to make the same recipe twice.  However, I was craving that flavour pairing so here is what I did...

Peanut Butter and Jam "Apple Crisp"

Recipe inspired by here

In the bowl of my food processor I added,
1/4 cup peanuts + 3 dates + a dash of salt + 2 tbsp raspberry I jam = processed until a ball formed.

I then cut a Granny Smith apple into slices, and smeared the "peanut butter and jam" mixture between the apple slices.  Drizzled the mix with maple syrup.

This is by far one of the best snacks I've had in a loooooooong time, and regardless of how I feel about duplicate snacks (other than smoothies which I occasionally repeat) I will be making this again, because it's just way too good to not experience again

Mediterranean Olive Bread

Recipe thoroughly adapted from here

Okay, okay, this recipe is on par as my top favourite with the above recipe.  The addition of Kalamata olives with rosemary in a quick bread is just magnificent.  This is by far one of the best quick breads ever!  It's perfect for breakfast, a quick snack, with your lunch/dinner even as dessert.  The ONLY thing... this does not keep very long, as after a few days it get's gummy and the olives make the bread insanely strong tasting.  If gobbled down in the first few days (since I'm the only one who eats this stuff in my house) it's hard to consume quickly and I didn't freeze it as I wasn't home every day and didn't think of it.  This again, would love to make again, as the smell is definitely unique, and the taste well hot dang, amaziiiinggg!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 spelt flour 
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flaxmeal + 6 tbsp water)
• 1 cup rice milk
• 1/4 grapeseed oil
•   3/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives

Directions:

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 350º F. Spray a 6-cup loaf pan with vegetable spray.
Ask a question about this step.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, rosemary, and salt.  In a large bowl, stir together the flaxmeal and water and allow to sit for 3-5 minutes until a gel-like mixture forms.  When this forms stir with your milk and grapeseed oil.
 
Add the flour mixture and fold until about three quarters of the dry ingredients are moistened. Add the olives, and fold just until the pieces are distributed and the dry ingredients are moistened; the batter will be stiff. Ask a question about this step. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 5 to 10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely on the rack. Serve with olive oil for dipping.



Cherry and Stone Fruit Amaretto Yoghurt Parfait

Recipe by me

Ingredients:

• 2 dried apricots + 2 dried plums + 2 dried prunes - chopped
• 1/2 cup of frozen cherries tossed in coconut oil over medium heat in a skillet
• 3/4 cup plain yoghurt drizzled with amaretto agave nectar
• Granola
• Cacao nibs

 Directions:

Layer your ingredients as desired and gobbled down (you can either let your cherries cool, or you can add them warm so that there is a nice hot and cold combination).

Crispy Coated Apple Fries

Recipe adapted from here

Think apple crisp sans work.  Loved, loved, loved.

Ingredients:

• 2 granny smith apples, sliced, peel on (all your nutrients are in here)
• 1/2 cup rice milk (all I had on hand)
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup blueberry bran cereal
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup flax seed
• Organic real maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F

In a food processor, combine walnuts, almond flour, cinnamon, and flax. Process until walnut pieces are small.  Move mixture to a shallow bowl.

Pour coconut milk into a shallow bowl.  Drop all apple slices into the coconut milk.  Remove 1 apple slice at a time from the coconut milk [doing this with a spoon works best so the mixture doesn't get too wet] and drop in the walnut mixture.  Place each slice on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden and crispy – mine took 17 minutes

Serve with maple syrup

Blueberry Pumpkin Protein Parfait

Recipe by me

Ingredients/Directions:

• Bottom layer = blueberry bran cereal
• Second layer = 1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin + 1/4 cup plain yoghurt + 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, stirred to combine
• Third layer = fresh blueberries
• Top layer = plantain chips, chopped
• Topped with a dollop of homemade peanut butter

And of course, I wouldn't be snacking on these foods if I weren't sweating at least once a day.

What are some of your typical weekly snacks?

My weekend at a glance.

Happy Monday everyone!
...okay maybe not happy, but hello. Monday's always seem to be the toughest days of the week to get out of bed. This weekend, I stayed up the latest I had in a long time... yes, I've actually been sleeping the past week and a bit. Last night I didn't get to sleep until about 10:30 pm, and the night before it was about 11:30 pm, gasp! This weekend was certainly very productive however. I did the groceries, laundry, hung out with people, bought a new yoga video, lounged in bed, and baked. When I say baked, I more or less mean... I had a one-person party with myself in the kitchen and it was some well-deserved therapy.

I started off my journey with homemade chocolate chips. Okay, okay, all us foodies were certainly at a loss for words when the Nutella chocolate chips hit the blogosphere (can't link since Tastespotting is currently down), then all of our jaws dropped and stomach's cried out when Une-Deux Senses showed us her matcha chocolate chips, well immediately my wheels started turning. That's one thing I absolutely love about being a foody, we always seem to have a huge abundance of supplies available, so if ever we get a craving, an idea, inspiration or anything we can immediately go into the kitchen.

Well, I began with the matcha chip cookies. Oh wow, look at me mom I'm making my own chocolate chips! Yes, I seriously may have shouted that out as she walked by in curiosity as to what I was swirling around onto tinfoil at seven o'clock Saturday morning. These were so fun to make, and the feeling of satisfaction you get from making your own chocolate chips, uh hellloooooo!

I changed the recipe, just by adding some coconut oil, to make the melting process a little quicker, and I have to say, you can never go wrong with anything coconut, so hey I went for it.

Matcha Chocolate Chips

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 tbsp matcha powder (I wanted it to be very in your face matcha!)
• 1 tsp coconut oil

Directions:

Carefully melt the white chocolate chips and coconut oil over a double boiler, make sure not to burn it. Once smooth, whisk in the matcha powder until a smooth consistency forms. Transfer to a piping bag (or Ziploc like I did) and pipe into "chips" onto a piece of foil/wax paper/parchment. Allow to harden completely, about 1 hour or you can speed this up in the freezer.

Chewy Banana Matcha Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe thoroughly adapted from here

Before Jordan left for Korea I had wanted to make him Chocolate Chip Cookies since those are his all time favourite cookies, but instead I made him the Peanut Butter Pillows and the Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies. I had however put a recipe aside that I had wanted to make for vegan chocolate chip cookies, so the other day I had adapted it to fit what I had been craving, and I definitely have to say they were a winner. Yes, they quickly went. This batch made three dozen cookies, and I was left with six at the end of the day. After sitting for a bit the flavours definitely took their course and truly showcased their stuff!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 brown sugar
• 1/2 white sugar
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup vanilla soy milk
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup kamut flour
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cups matcha chips (see above)
• 1/2 cup plantain chips - coarsely chopped
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two large light metal baking sheets.

Mix together sugars, oil, and milk in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, for about 2 minutes, until it resembles smooth caramel. There is a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collide, so it’s important that you don’t get lazy about that step. Mix in the vanilla.

Add 1 cup of the flour, the baking soda and salt. Mix until well incorporated. Mix in the rest of the flour. Fold in the plantain chips and chocolate chips. The dough will be a little stuff so use your hands to really work them in.

For 3 inch cookies, roll the dough into about ping pong ball size balls. Flatten them out in your hands to about 2 1/2 inches. They will spread just a bit. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes – no more than 9 – until they are just a little browned around the edges. I usually get 16 out of these so I do two rounds of eight cookies. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

For 2 dozen two inch cookies roll dough into walnut sized balls and flatten to about 1 1/2 inches and bake for only six minutes.

White Chocolate Blueberry Lavender Oatmeal Cookies

With half a bag of white chocolate chips left my wheels were still turning. What kind did I end up making? Well it was between making Rolo or lavender chips, and I had decided on lavender. I remembered one of my favourite cookies from last summer: White Chocolate Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies and I also remembered how much lavender, white chocolate and blueberries go together, so I figured hey, white chocolate + lavender = good chocolate combination. So that is what I did. For this I used Angela's recipe for The Ultimate Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and adapted it quite thoroughly to meet my desires. I have to say considering one of my friends pretty much ate half the batch himself, that they were a success, even my mom's boyfriends eight year old grandson (holy tongue-twister) thoroughly enjoyed them... I have to say I was quite impressed that he liked the lavender. So here is what I did:

For the Lavender Chocolate Chips (same recipe as the matcha chips except...)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 tbsp lavender - pressed into a fine dust with your pestle and mortar
  
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• Purple food colouring - optional
  

For the White Chocolate Blueberry Lavender Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups regular oats, divided
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1/4 cup spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 tbsp soy milk
• 3 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 cup coconut flakes
• 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
  
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup lavender chips
  

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, coconut flakes and oats. In a small bowl add the coconut oil and microwave for 20 seconds to soften (if necessary). In the same bowl, stir in the maple syrup, soy milk, and vanilla. Mix until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Fold in the lavender chocolate chips and blueberries. Take about 2 tbsp of dough, make a ball, and then flatten with fingers. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F and no longer. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes before placing onto a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes. Makes about 16 large cookies.

Chinese Chews

Recipe taken/adapted from my aunt's church recipe book?

Next on my list was something that I had at my aunts house over the Christmas break and devoured many, many pieces in one sitting. I've made these a couple of times since but they never last long enough to take a picture, no I'm serious. These are so, so, so, soooooooooo good. Honestly, that doesn't even begin to describe just how tasty these actually are. I love them, and if I could without any consequences I would eat these all day everyday, but realistically I cannot... for the sake of my pants, and my health, but I really do wish I could.

I decided to try making them vegan, and I have to say I certainly succeeded. I will post the vegan version with the non-vegan ingredients in brackets. These are definitely something you should try, because trust me you will not regret it... unless, you decide to eat them all day and your pants... suddenly shrink, oops. If that does happen, don't come knocking on my door, blame my aunt!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup dates
• 1/2 cup walnuts (or any other nuts)
  
• 1/4 cup apple sauce + 1/4 Earth Balance butter (melted) - (1/2 cup non-vegan butter)
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp flax seed + 3 tbsp water - (1 egg)

Directions:

In a small bowl mix together your flax egg and let sit until it thickens a few minutes. When your flax egg is ready cream all ingredients together with your hands. Bake 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. Let cool about 3/4 hour and cut into squares. May be sprinkled with icing sugar (these are already sweet enough for me from the dates/brown sugar that I omit this).

Vegan Blackstrap Molasses Cookies - do not have pictures uploaded yet

Recipe taken from here

Next was a batch of molasses cookies. Oh man, I've quickly realized that no matter what time of year it is, regardless if it's Christmas or not, it is always time for molasses cookies. The smell for one simply invites you in for a bite of a cookie with a big warm glass of tea. Secondly, the flavours wrap you up in their warmth. Third, well, their molasses cookies, they remind you of Christmas, therefore no matter how grumpy or sad you are you can't help but feel a bit better when you bite into one of these bad boys. Loved, loved, loved... although I really don't think you can go wrong with molasses cookies now can you?

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar - more for rolling
  
• 1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3 tbsp vanilla soy milk
  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F

In a bowl mix sugar, molasses, oil, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix in flours, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Place rounded tbsp of cookie dough in sugar until well coated then place 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Flatten slightly and bake for 12 minutes.

Blissful Berry Cereal Bowl

Of course I didn't spend my whole weekend in the kitchen only baking. No, no, of course not. For starters... I kept my breakfasts' incredibly simple. The past few days along with my smoothies I've been eating this delicious cereal... I seriously think I may have converted to the dark side of cereal eating (that is if gobbled down before ANY sign of soggy-ness comes into play). I am in absolute lust at the moment with this seriously quick and simple meal. This takes no time at all (... well other than letting your sugar sit on the fruit, but if you do this early right before starting to get ready in the morning by the time you go eat your breakfast it's ready!). What I like about this is that yes, your milk changes colours, but you know it's not from artificial sugars and dyes, no it's natural sugars and colours seeping from the fruits, so you can feel like a little kid in all glory staring at the milk change colours and feel good about it at the same time.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of frozen fruit (or fresh if you have an abundance on hand)
• 3/4 cup strawberry soy milk (or vanilla, chocolate, etc...)
• 1 cup of kamut puffs
  
• Handful of almonds
• 1 tsp sugar
• Agave or anything else to sweeten if you'd like (my bowl was sweet enough from the flavoured milk + sugar.

Directions:

In a bowl allow mix together your fruit and sugar, allow to sit for 15-3o minutes. In your cereal bowl, add your kamut puffs, top with cold milk. Add your berries on top, then sprinkle your almonds or other desired nuts. Munch away!

Fieldberry Yoghurt Parfait

I'm really on a berry thing lately... so for my snacks I've been eating this delicious concoction:
1 cup of frozen berries + 3/4 cup Greek yoghurt + 1/8 tsp cardamom + 1/2 tsp cinnamon + 1 tsp good quality maple syrup ... allow to sit for a while in your fridge for the berries to defrost and allow their juices to release... once done, mix until you have a gorgeous purple colour and enjoy. Also nice, to top it with Bran Bar's, yummy!

Coconut Lime Rice

Recipe taken from here

Yesterday for lunch I decided to treat myself to something... that was simply full of empty, empty carbs but full of crazy, delicious, satisfying goodness. I had planned on making this last week, then had sushi, or salads or other things. I figured, being a weekend and all ... I can treat myself to something full of... nothing, so that is what I did. I loved this. It was seriously sinful. The flavours of the coconut, lime and cinnamon are definitely a match made in heaven and lead me to want to make cookies with those ingredients! This would be perfect with some steamed veggies, or even a pina colada ;) especially on a warm summer day, deeeee-lish.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp Earth Balance butter
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups Basmati rice, washed and drained well
• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 limes, juice from 1 lime and grated zest of the other lime
• 1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes

Directions:

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add brown sugar and salt, stirring until dissolved. Increase heat to high, add rice and stir until rice is evenly coated. Add coconut milk and water, stirring until combined. Squeeze one of the limes into the mixture then throw the squeezed lime into the rice. Add cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil and cover pot. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Remove pot from heat but do not open lid. Let sit for 10 minutes.

While rice is cooking, toast the coconut by spreading onto a rimmed sheet pan. Toast in a 350°F oven, stirring frequently, until the coconut is an even brown color, about 10 minutes.

Remove lime and cinnamon stick before serving. To serve, sprinkle rice with lime zest and toasted coconut.

*Note: all of this was done in my rice cooker, but I figured I would put the real directions down.

Holy moly, what did you whip up this weekend?

Complete and utter perfection...

A few years ago my hobby was scrapbooking. Oh how I loved to scrapbook. Just like now with baking and cooking I spent my free time looking at scrapbooking blogs, I imagined the new layouts I was going to make, which pictures were going to go with those layouts, which colours, what new products I was planning on buying at Michaels when the 50% off one item deal came in, I imagined it all. I loved to scrapbook, but then I went to university and that love had to cease because my studies became important. However, as my health started to spiral down this allowed me to develop a new hobby, baking and cooking, it was a bittersweet turn of events.

Soon my thoughts became wrapped around baking and cooking. I wanted to try new foods, new recipes, new combinations, new everything. I wanted to come up with stuff myself, however it seemed as though everything was already invented (what a fool I was). I often thought this about scrapbooking too, so I'd sit on those blogs save hundreds of layouts a night and replicate a couple before going and to bed and right after waking up in the morning. About 80% of the time I copied and that tiny little 20% of the time is when I came up with things myself.

I always noticed however that every time I replicated no matter how beautiful those pages were they just weren't as beautiful as the original. I notice this with food too. You can make something taste so amazing, flawless but the original will pretty much beat it because, well it's the original. You can adapt those flavours and fit them to your desires and that can make it amazing for you, but there's just that little tinge in your heart that's missing because you didn't come up with that recipe first.

Now, I am not saying I came up with this recipe, because I'm sure somewhere out there there is something similar to this but I came up with something fantastic that I needed to share. Lately I've been craving Rice Krispies like there is no tomorrow, but vegan Sam kicked in. I've known since a young age what gelatin is made from, however, after seeing what it is in writing just... did something different to the brain. Even this weekend when I went to the Bulk Barn I skipped past my favourite candies... it was difficult but I did so. I've been trying to look for vegan marshmallow recipes online but can't seem to find any (I'm going to attempt some soon using pectin we shall see) because there is no way I am spending $10.00 on six little marshmallow squares, it ain't happening.

With this I decided that I needed to come up with something that was going to hit the spot just as a piece of Rice Krispy square would, well I found something that ran hundreds of miles past, jumped and slam dunked in one swoop. What I created is perfect, in my eyes at least. We shall see what my fellow workers thing but I don't think I will find any complaints. I made half of the batch vegan and half vegetarian (since I had Reece's chipits and peanut butter fudge chipits that I wanted to get rid of to lessen my non-vegan baked goods so I figured I'd throw 'em in).

To start I adapted my original homemade peanut butter recipe... I changed it into something heavenly. Cinnamon raisin peanut butter.

Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter

Recipe by me

• 3 cups of peanuts
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 1/2 tbsp EVOO
• Dash of salt
• 1 heaping tsp of cinnamon
• Disregarded sugar

Processed, put to the side.

Peanut Butter Cococnut Kamut Puff Krispies

Recipe by me

This is where the goodness comes in. Look away Rice Krispies because you are soon going to be replaced by a healthier version of yourself but thanks for lighting the path!

Melted 1 1/2 tbsp coconut oil + 2 cups of the above peanut butter on low heat.
Mixed in 1/2 cup maple syrup, stirred until everything was well mixed.
Turned off the heat and added 4 1/2 cups of Kamut puffs, mixed well.
Dumped 1/4 of the recipe into a non-buttered pan. <-- vegan version (then I topped this with flaked coconut and Peanut Butter and Jam Truffles.
For the vegetarian version I added 1 1/4 cup of Reeces chipits.
Mixed well, added to the pan.
Topped with peanut butter fudge chipits and coconut.
Allowed it to sit for 20 minutes.
Cut in and had the biggest food orgasm of life. That's right I said it... it really was that good.

Do I still feel the need to eat a Rice Krispy marshmallow square? Absolutely not! I had never tried kamut or Kamut Puffs before for that matter, however I saw it on the weekend and picked them up, glad I did because it turned out to be a fantastic idea.

HOWEVER, don't stop at just the bars, no no no! DO NOT throw out the crumbs, whatever you do! Gather those crumbs and put them in a big bowl of milk... I feel a trend of me beginning to like cereal because of all the good things I've been creating lately. Top it with a banana and maybe even another little drizzle of maple syrup and you have veg Reeces Pieces cereal with all natural ingredients!

Or try this!

Peanut Butter Cococnut Kamut Puff Krispies Fruity Parfait

Recipe by me

This was delicious, oh goodness, definitely one of the best parfaits I've ever had. I seriously felt like I was doing something bad eating something this delicious for breakfast. I mean seriously, it felt like I was eating a big bag of goodies but no I was not.

For starters I took ~ 1 tbsp coconut oil, mixed it with 1 tsp of raspberry agave nectar and a scant of water, mixed it until smooth
Took raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, mixed them into the creamy agave mixture.
Mixed well, microwaved for about a minute (wanted a sort of compote feel)

Took a tall glass.
Started with the "crumbs" of the Peanut Butter Coconut Kamut Puff Krispies, topped with tropical yoghurt, then topped it with fruit. Repeat, and ended with the fruit and added their juices.

This was perfection. Complete and utter perfection...

I can't wait to have this for breakfast tomorrow morning!