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

Recently- The Food Front- Rawesome!!

Okidokie, I have definitely noticed I go through phases like there's no tomorrow!

So you know how I was loving on eating my smoothie bowls separated for a while there..
 

 Well apparently now my body wants a proper smoothie bowl... but with raw granola (ie. not oven baked) so:

 I whipped up a delightful smoothie of 1 frozen banana, a large handful of frozen honeydew chunks, a handful of frozen zucchini chunks, a handful of spinach, a handful of kale, 3 big spoons of greek yoghurt and some water to get it all moving!!

And topped it all off with a mix of uncooked cashew butter granola and uncooked peanut butter granola. Steps as follows:
Place a tablespoon of each nut butter into two separate small bowls, place a tablespoon of almond milk in each, microwave for around 20 seconds, add to one of two bowls, each with 1/3 cup oats, sprinkle chia seeds, small handful of no-added-sugar wholegrain cheerios (or other cereal/ crunchy thing you like) and stir to combine!

 Then simply top your smoothie (which has been chilling in the freezer whilst making the granola) with the soft, fudgey raw granola and ENJOY!

 P.S. Adding honeydew to smoothies is a good idea!!

 Very good indeed!

 But when you don't have time to whip up such an extravagant brekky?
Say, you are scheduled in to start work at 6:00am, so are up at 5:00am but still need a little first breakfast to keep you sane?

1 frozen banana:

 + greek yoghurt:

 = Quick easy and delicious!!

And then when break time rolls round- second breakfast!!!

 Yep, I made my raw freezer frudge brownie again (I really don't like cooking things do I?)

To make this delicious bad bowl, simply place 3/4 cup oats, sprinkle chia seeds, 1 scoop of choc protein powder, 1 teaspoon raw cacao powder, dash of cinnamon, 2 dates, 1 heaped tablespoon peanut butter (or any nut butter) 1/3 cup almond milk (add more if required) to a food processor and process to combine (until thick and sticky)- transfer into a small container lined with baking paper, cover and freeze for a few hours or overnight!

 He may not look like the prettiest brownie, but boy, this guy tastes so gooood! Think of the fudgiest, richest, chocolatiest brownie you've ever tasted and I reckon this guy would give it a run for it's money. And it's good for you too! Bonus!!

Brownies for breakfast? Yes, please!

 The take-away from today's post? Steph's current new phase is raw foods. Or that healthy foods can-and do- taste amazing!

You can take your pick ;)

What about you?
What's your favourite frozen fruit to add to smoothies?
Ever tried uncooked granola? Are you a fan?
Ever had brownies for breakfast? The healthy or... less healthy kind?

I hope you all have a fabulous Monday in whatever it is you are doing (I'm heading out to breakfast!!) be brave, take risks and smillleee :) Bye for now friendly freinds!! :D

P.S> Don't forget to eat something delicious!! Thought I had forgotten didn't you? ;P