WHOO-HA.

This past weekend my mom and her boyfriend went snowmobiling, and I stayed home, since well, I don't take part in that activity. However, being the end of the week and we do our groceries on Sunday mornings we didn't have much food in the fridge. I was scared to see if I would even be able to find any food for breakfast let alone the whole day. My mom however, being the Saint she is left me $50.00. I was supposed to ask my brother to take me however work called him in early so I was unable to. I then asked my dad and he said he would, but I was really feeling under the weather. I woke up with a really sore neck, nausea, chills, and all around lethargy. I ended calling my dad back and saying that I would just work with what I've got since I really didn't feel up to getting dressed and out of bed.

Cherry Chip Cake Batter Pancakes

Recipe adapted from here

For breakfast I was able to whip something up quite easily. I had really wanted oatmeal, but I am now hooked on mixing banana into my oats since that's what all the recipes I've been following have been doing. The banana gives the oatmeal such a perfect fluff I feel like with out the banana there would be a lack of fluff and a lack of sweet flavour. Then I was going to make a smoothie, but we were all out of fruit, excluding apples, oranges and frozen peaches... and I wasn't in the mood for any of that. I then remembered seeing a recipe for pancakes the other day. However, these aren't just any pancakes. No my friends. This is the heavens gift to the world, or... more like Jessica's gift from How Sweet It Is. Regardless, it's a gift nonetheless, and a perfect gift at that.

This recipe is for pancakes yes, we have already gone over that. But, it's with something I could only dream of having in my pancakes; cake batter! Woooooooo, I can't hear you! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Oh yes, I was so insanely excited when I saw this. I have had a box of cherry chip cake mix sitting in my cupboards for ages. I'm not sure why it's been sitting there forever since I absolutely love them but this was the perfect opportunity to use them. I pretty much followed the recipe except for a couple things. The outcome? Scrumptious. Oh my goodness. I absolutely adored them. I reduced the recipe by more than half since I was only making it for me. I ended up with three cute, but filling pancakes. They were perfect. Cupcake batter flavour + pancake batter density = match made in heaven. I decided to top the pancakes with some healthy plain yoghurt mixed with hazelnut agave nectar sprinkled with cutesy pink and white hearts. It was such a great way to start a sick-feeling morning.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cherry chip cake mix
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 6 tbsp water
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 cups soy milk

Yoghurt Topping:

• 1/4 cup plain yoghurt
• 1 tsp hazelnut agave nectar
• Pink and white heart sprinkles
  

Directions:

In a bowl combine ground flaxseed and water. Let sit for about five minutes until it thickens.

Combine flour, cake mix, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix. Add 1 cup of milk, your flax mixture, vanilla extract and stir until smoothe. You want the batter to look like regular pancake batter; not too thin, not too thick. This will vary greatly on the brand of cake mix you use. Start with 1 cup of milk and add more if needed.

Preheat a skillet on medium heat. Pour batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto skillet and let cook until bubbles form on top, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 minute more. Serve with yoghurt topping and sprinkles.

Tomato Spinach Soup

Recipe adapted from here

Next was time for lunch. The other night I had made a beautiful tomato and spinach soup, thankfully I had some leftover because I’m not quite sure what I would have scraped together. The other night when I had made this I was so overcome with joy. Before this I had only had one other tomato soup, and that was the one I had made in the summer. At the time I really enjoyed that tomato soup. However, after having this one, I would say that that one had nothing on this bad boy. I really enjoyed this soup, it reminded me of when I was younger and my mom would make tomato sauce. She would put the stove on before she went to bed, and would let it simmer all night. With the hours of the tomatoes simmering, by the time we’d awake in the morning the house smelt so ripe and luxurious. I used to love waking up to those warm scents. When I made this all those feelings rushed through me again.

This was chunky, hearty, and overall delightful. We all gobbled this down. With the added homemade bread and cheese it was incredibly pleasurable. I was so glad when I remembered there were leftovers. We never really have many leftovers so today was perfect. However, today I had my soup with a side of cinnamon raisin oatmeal bread oh it was so satisfying.

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 - 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes
• 1 - 14 oz. can of whole tomatoes
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
  
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper8 spinach nuggets - equal to about 2 cups chopped spinach
• 2 tsp oregano
• 3 pieces of bread - toasted
• Parmesan cheese (I used vegan cheese on mine, Parmesan on the others)

Directions:

In a saucepan, saute garlic in olive oil on medium heat for 1 minute - being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the crushed tomatoes. Add the whole tomatoes one at a time, squeezing them into the pan to break them up. Add the juice from the whole tomatoes, as well. Add chicken stock, salt, pepper and sugar. Add the spinach. Cook the soup on medium at a simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve topped with crusty, toasted bread and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Avocado Soft-Serve

Recipe by me.

For dinner I had the last of the frozen tilapia. I had an orange, and then I had some vegetables. There really wasn’t any food so that’s what I had. At this point it was about 6:15 pm, and I still hadn’t done my work out. I really wanted to do my work out but I was worried as to what I was going to eat for my protein. I had no bananas, and I love having my banana soft serve with protein powder, or mixing yoghurt with protein powder but I just wasn’t in the mood for that. What I really was craving was my banana soft serve but as mentioned there were no bananas. I had however remembered that the other I had frozen a large avocado. I was thinking what I could do with that avocado and my protein powder. Seeing as avocados are creamy, and once you process the banana it becomes creamy I figured why not try making avocado soft-serve, there was nothing to lose.

I grabbed my food process, grabbed my ingredients, and set out. This was… I’m not even sure how to describe it. I love my banana soft serve but this seriously gave the banana soft-serve a run for it’s money. It was so creamy, so delicious, and just overall gratifying. Next time I make my work out and I have to choose between avocado or banana soft-serve I’m not sure which one I will pick, maybe I will make a combination as I did with the banana and strawberries. It was incredibly delightful and I definitely recommend making this, plus the colour was simply stunning. The colour didn't really come through well in the picture since I took this at about 7:30 pm but it was a beautiful peppermint-green, ahhhh. This was definitely the highlight of my day... even more so than the pancakes, scrumptious.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 avocado, frozen
• 1 tbsp soy milk
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1/4 cup plain yoghurt
• 2 tsp minced ginger

Directions:

In the bowl of your food processor start with your avocado and soy milk. Once an “ice cream” consistency begins to form add in your ginger, yoghurt and protein powder. Process until well mixed and creamy.

I'm curious what kind of meals do you tend to make when there is "nothing" left in the house to eat?