TWOOOO RECIPES! :D

Hidy ho friendly friends and happy Friday!
It is currently the end of the school week, about mid-afternoon, sun beginning to set (you know it's coming into winter when it gets dark this quickly in Aus!) and my mind is simply done, hence why I'm blogging when there is homework that could potentially be done right now-ish... but you know what, sometimes we all just need a break. Sometimes we gotta be kind to our bodies and our minds (I'm always going on about treating your body as a temple in terms of food and exercise but this also refers just as much to our mental state!)

So yes. I have chosen you guys over my much-loved, anticipated and eager-to-complete homework. Yep. You can thank me later.

Anyways onto the post!

On to the food!

Yes, this is in fact a food blog and thus I would like to gift you with some pictures of food that will leave you hungry, drooling and basically just needing a little snack to make it through. And if not... then you must have just eaten and I respect you just a little bit more :)

Today (because I was feeling bad for not posting in a while... ahh gotta love year 12 life) I have for you not one... not two... no it is two. I have TWO delightful breakfast recipes for you guys and not only that, they offer so much more than just a recipe... one of them is a Lazy-Sunday-I-Got-plenty-Of-Time-To-Make-Breakfast breakfast and the other one is a Quickest-Ever-Throw-Together-Meal-Evvveerrr breakfast so you have two great options for two completely different mornings!

Ok, enough talking (boy I can blabber on!) onto the fooooood

 What is that a picture of, you ask?

 Why it is a big plate of cold, fudgey, creamy avocado choc fudge bites with a side of cherry fro-yo. Oh yes.

Ohhh yes.

 To make these bad boys I literally popped:
Ingredients:
1/2 an avocado
3/4 cup rolled oats (I probably put in a bit more because I made quite a lot!!)
1 scoop choc protein powder (sub in with a teaspoon or two of raw cacao powder)
2 dates
1 laarrggee spoon of nut butter (I used peanut butter)
A little splash of water to get it all moving

Method:
.... all the ingredients into the Vitamix and whazzed until smooth and combined.
Then I formed them into bites, placed on a parchment lined plate and popped in the freezer for atleast 30 minutes... Then I died of deliciousness:

 I don't think I'll ever be able to get across how fudge-y and creamy these bites were... so you're just going to have to go right ahead and make them yourself- I promise you will not be disappointed!

 And the cherry fro-yo? Well you all know by now- handful of frozen cherries + 3 scoops greek yoghurt- whazzed until smooth and popped in the freezer to harden slightly! Perfect partner to the rich, dense brownie bites :) :D

Gah! I want this again!!

Alrighty- moving right along to the easy-peasy-throw-together-in-5-minutes breakfast! Because sometimes we just don't got the time in the morning for luxurious pancakes, or steel cut oats or delicious, creamy, fudge-y, dense, delicious fudge bites (yep, I need these in my life again very soon!)

Breakfast Papaya Boat:

 Again, I have no words. So instead I have a recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 papaya
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
small handful dried fruit
small handful raw, chopped nuts
3 big scoops greek yoghurt
1/2 cup almond milk
1 large tablespoon of coconut butter
2 tablespoon almond milk

Method:
Place oats, dried fruit, cinnamon and nuts in a bowl, stir in the greek yoghurt and almond milk and leave in the fridge overnight (or at least 30 minutes to an hour).
The next morning, place the coconut butter and almond milk in a small bowl/ saucepan and heat up (bowl in microwave for around 15 seconds) until melted and combined. Stir into soaked overnight oats.
Retrieve your half a papaya breakfast boats and scoop in the oats and.. nope that's it you're done!

 Cold, creamy, sweet, juicy- all the flavours, textures and deliciousness in one breakfast!

 Happy, happy days.
And whipped together in the morning with a little night-before prep in approximately 5 minutes- even happier happy happy days :)

Nom.

And there you go.

You're welcome.

And now I'm hungry again. *sigh* thanks Steph!

Your turn:
What's your favourite lengthy-throw-together breakfast?
What's your favourite quick-throw-together breakfast? Cereal doesn't count! (I'm not against cereal- love the crunchy delight- but it's just a bit toooo quick)
Sweet or savoury breakfast? I'm all about them sweet, dessert breakfasts!

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday- do something fun, fun, fun because it's FRIDAY FUNDAY! Yep it's a universally recognised thing! Eat something delicious and I will see you next time for whatever crazy, throw-together post I come up with for next time! Yay! Bye for now friends!! :D

Frozen Overnight Oats!

Yesterday I had an almost empty jar of almond butter hanging out in my fridge.
In Steph land that equates to one thing. Filling it with something and enjoying the last few scrapes of nut butter to its full potential.

In the past this could have been warm oats, cold oats, torn up muffins, layered parfaits and the good ol' overnight oat saviour.

The brekky that comes to the rescue when one has limited time to even think about breakfast, let alone create something. Pour, mix, lid and leave the night before and voila! Next morning; a delicious, nutritious and filling breakfast awaits!

 Choc Overnight Oats

 PB & J Oats

 Rich, Dark Choc OIAJ

So when I wanted to use up my almost empty jar of almond butter, I decided overnight oats were the way to go. However I kind of wanted to shake things up a little. So I chucked them in the freezer for the night rather than the mainstream fridge idea :P.

The next morning, I had a frozen, sweet, delicious treat to devour and savour, especially good after a run/ workout when oats give you the energy and recovery you need and the frozen-ness gives you the cooling off factor!

So, without further a do- THE RECIPE!

Frozen Vanilla Protein Overnight Oats:

Ingredients:
Optional- 1 almost empty jar of nut butter (just place in any jar/ bowl if you don't have one like this)
1/4-1/2 cup oats (depending on size of jar- fill jar to half)
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2 banana, mashed
1/2 cup-1 cup almond milk (again, fill until reaching top of jar)

Method:
1. Find jar:

2. Mash banana:

3. Add oats, protein powder and banana to jar:

4. Fill to brim with almond milk and stir:

5.Place lid on top and pop in freezer overnight:

6. Freeze rest of banana to make frozen cherry fro-yo (or whatever type of fro-yo if you so desire!)

1/2 a frozen banana + handful of frozen cherries + 3 big spoons of greek yoghurt- whazzed until smooth:

7. Remove frozen oats from freezer at least 30 minutes prior to eating (I had to heat slightly in a small amount of simmering water in a saucepan) just to soften it a touch.

8. Then I would recommend getting a butter knife and separating it all up into frozen chunks to enable easier eating:

9. And enjoy you're froze breakfast!

I can't profess enough how tasty this breakfast was- and the fact that it was frozen forced me to slow my eating down a little and enjoy the flavours even more (as breakfast follows an 8 hour+ time frame of not eating, I get a little ravenous when eating brekky!!)

So good!

The oats give it a fudgey texture and mouth feel and the banana gives it that slight ice cream taste!
Full of healthy, nutritious ingredients, yet tasting like a truly decadent dessert- my favourite kind of breakfast :D.

Frozen cherry yoghurt- always a winner!

Combine the two and you have quite the combo!

Happy, happy days :)

Until ofcourse, you don't chunk up your frozen oats enough and end up breaking your spoon...

 Well, I'll know for next time! And yes, there will definitely be a next time! I can't wait to try out all the different flavour combos!!

Your turn:
What's your favourite thing to put in an almost empty jar of nut butter?
Favourite overnight oat recipe?
Ever freeze your breakfasts?

I hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful day, eat something utterly delicious and SMILE! Bye for now friendly friends!!:D

An Oat Bar Recipe... Without Oats!!

Hi friends, happy whatever day of the week it is because I'm too frazzled to even remember!

But thankfully, I have enough brain power to type up a recipe (probably not to create one, what with hot elements and cooking etc.- so lucky for me I cooked this up on the weekend!!) and so get ready because...

This 'granola bar' recipe is oat free, sugar free, wheat free, dairy free, ancient grain filled, extremely delicious, filling, protein filled and quite simple to prep together for a make-ahead brekkie/ snack!

The majority of my make-ahead, convenient recipes are as a result of me requiring a make-ahead breakfast to grab running out the door for a few hours later.. and this recipe is no different!

I had a pre-brekky of plain greek yoghurt mixed with frozen banana slices (so yum!) an then grabbed my frozen granola bar wrapped in foil to enjoy approximately 3-4 hours later for second breakfast!

 Pic

Now, I'm not usually a fan of eating plain quinoa or plain buckwheat on their own, like my usual obsession with plain brown rice. Instead I seem to cook them into delicious, sweet breakfast (enter rich chocolate buckwheat 'porridge'.)

So when I needed a bake and then freeze-ahead recipe (ok, it didn't have to be bake, but the chocolate fudge brownie was getting a little old- though still so, so tasty!!) but wasn't really feeling the oats (I think I'd had oats about every day for the past week!) so instead I rummaged through my pantry shelf and pulled out some quinoa and buckwheat groats. Let's cook!

Quinoa and Buckwheat, nutty, cinnamon-y, coconut-y 'granola' bars!
Ingredients:
2 heaped tablespoons quinoa
2 heaped tablespoons buckwheat groats (add more if you're a hungry beast like me!)
1 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
sprinkle of chia seeds
small handful chopped mixed raw nuts
2 dates, chopped
1- 2 teaspoons coconut oil

Method:
1. Preaheat oven to 180 degrees celsius, line a mini loaf tin with baking paper (or alternately line a ramekin)

2. Rinse quinoa and place in saucepan with buckwheat, cinnamon and  almond milk in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until absorbed (add some extra water if liquid absorbs and quinoa and buckwheat are still crunchy!)

3. Stir in chia seeds, nuts and dates
4. Pour into mini loaf tin or ramekin, flatten with a spoon/ hands and place in oven for 20-30 mins until golden brown

5. Leave to cool and then cover in foil/ gladwrap and pop in the freezer overnight or until whenever required.

And this is me enjoying my oat-free granola bar during my break at work:

 NOM :)

It may not look like the most vibrantly coloured meal- but boy did it taste good and leave me energised and full for hours!!

All in all, this is such a great, healthy, filling, nutrient dense recipe that I reckon all of you should make when you're in a time-jam and need some awesome food to positively fly through your day!

Your turn:
Are you a fan of granola bars?
Do you make your own homemade versions? What do you put in yours?
Favourite way to use quinoa/ buckwheat?? I'm keen for some more ideas!!

Alrighty! I hope you all have a fabulous rest of your day/ week, nourish your body, love your body! Smile lots, love more and as always; Eat something delicious!! Bye for now friends! :D