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

Freezing in the Summer!

Hello, hello everyone!

First and most importantly... have you realised yet that Christmas is next week!?! WHAT!! I only sort of "realised" yesterday when my sister told me. Next week. Wow.
Luckily for me I got all my Christmas shopping (and also bought a whole new bed spread/ pillow mix for my room as well!) done yesterday, so I'm all set and ready to go and can simply focus my energy on what stunning dessert to create this year!

Now, secondly- onto the post!

Funny title, huh? Well, I promise you that the 30 degrees celsius plus days have not in fact left me freezing at all. What I'm referring to is taking advantage of the freezer (the considerably cooler box-y thing right by the fridge;) by freezer all manner of items.

I have this theory you see. I believe that freezing almost anything (there are some exceptions) takes that particular foods awesome-ness to a whole new level.

Exhibit A: Cream

Exhibit B: Frozen grapes

Exhibit C: Frozen banana

Exhibit D: Yoghurt

And that list goes on and on (you all already know my indisputable love for frozen peas)
 So it comes as no surprise that my freezer (well my designated shelf on the freezer) is chock-ablock full of food! This ranges from bread (both homemade and bought) to rolls, to various cut up fruits (think rockmelon, mango, honey dew, cherries, berries etc.) to veggies (beans, peas, corn, avocado, zucchini, spinach) to pre-prepared dinners, veggie patties, tofu and more!

I also love how I can prepare a delicious breakfast the night before, freeze it and enjoy something insanely delicious the next day with little to no preparation. For example this raw, high protein, filled-with-fibre, choc fudge brownie bar:

 Into a processor went 1/2 cup rolled oats, 2 tablespoons oat bran, 4 dates, 1 scoop choc protein powder, 1 teaspoon raw cacao powder, 1 teaspoon chia seeds, a dash of cinnamon, 1 super large scoop of peanut butter :) and enough almond milk to make a sticky glob :)

Then pressed down into a mini loaf tin lined with baking paper and popped in the freezer to freeze overnight!

 Popped out and wrapped in foil making an easy grab-and-go breakfast for a super busy day starting at 5:30am (where I had some fruit and yoghurt) and inhaled this glorious bar at around 9:15am for second breakfast!

 Seriously, it may not look like much, but this guy tasted goooood!

 Then I must have caught the freezing bug because when I came home from grocery shopping the other day I had these two fabulous guys:

 That needed to be cut up and stored away somewhere that would both prolong their life span and also raise their glorious tastiness that much more!

 By the way, that was one of the best tasting rock melons I've ever had!!

 Leftover halves were simply wrapped in glad wrap to be enjoyed fresh during the week!

 Scoop, cut, wrap, done!

 And then I realised I had a heck of a lot more perfectly ripe produce that needed freezing (think apricots, bananas, avocado, mango etc.) and this was the after math:

 Felt quite accomplished!

What about you:
Are you also of the freezer?
Favourite fruit/ veg to freeze?
Ultimate freezing hack you swear by?

I hope you all have great rest of your day! Eat something extremely delicious and I will be back next time with some more of the stuff we all love so dearly. FOOOD!! Bye for now friendly friends! :D

Sunday smoothie bowls and links :)

Hello friends!! And a big happy Sunday to you all!

I know I've been a little less present than usual on the blog lately, but things have been B.U.S.Y. (End of the year is crammed with so much stuff, am I right?). So I'll continue to pop in when I can (things should calm down a bit by the second half of this week)! In the mean time, I will leave you with some pics of my food (because that's what we do here!) and some lovely links to get you through a bored/ can't be bothered doing anything section of your day (we all have them!).

Say hello to breakfast!!

 Deliciously vibrant green smoothie (banana, big handful frozen mango, greek yoghurt, spinach, water)

Topped with some mixed nut butter and peanut butter granola (with cheerios!!)

And utterly devoured:

 Nom.

And that was breakfast!

Now I'm curious, what did you have for brekky? Comment below!

Now onto the links from the week!


Food:

Vegan Beast Burger & Cucumber Dill Salad 

Paleo Peppermint Chocolate No-Bake Bites

Thanksgiving Vegan Mini Pot Pie Jars

23 Healthier Versions Of Your Favorite Holiday Treats

Snickerdoodle Vegan Overnight Oats {Gluten Free + 6 Ingredients}

Fiesta Sweet Potato Nachos

Fitness:

Voices in My Head

3 Brutal Truths No One Tells You About Being A Fitness Instructor

Dorm Friendly Workouts Every Student Should do

Exercise is Not Punishment for Eating and You Do Not Have to Earn Your Food.

9 Ways to Make Fitness a Priority

Health:

The Health and Fitness Trends You'll Be Following in 2016

12 Signs Your Unrealistic Diet Is Making You Unhappy

7 Easy Ways To Eat Healthier This Week

Happiness:

21 Genius Ways To Eat Peanut Butter And Jelly

12 Insanely Easy DIY Christmas Treats That’ll Spread Some Holiday Cheer



That's all from me today folks, I hope you all have a fabulous, restful and rejuvenating Sunday, do something you love and eat something delicious!! Bye for now! :D