Cherry's back baby!

Hi folks on this Marvelous Monday! Yeah, okay, Monday's may not be so marvelous... but getting through them is, so you might as well make Monday as great as possible right?

Okay, so maybe I feel a little bad for Monday- he cops a lot of smack, you know?

Any-who, this post isn't about Monday at it's hatred. Nope, it's about one of the relatively new finds of mine in the food department of my life that I expressed much joy about here. Wow, more than 2 months ago- did not think it had been that long!!

Yep, the good ol' cherry!

Now, when I think of cherries, I immediately go to Summer time, usually Christmas time and also ridiculously expensive that you have to beg and lead your mother with  the biggest Bambi eyes in order to get half a kilo to bring home. And Grandma always had ridiculous amounts of em' because she loved you so gosh darn much and didn't seem to register the ridiculous prices. Lot's of cherry-induced stomach aches thanks to Grandma.

So, it's safe to say that for my whole life cherries only entered my diet for around 2 weeks every year. Utterly soul-destroying, I know. What's worse? It took my whole life (up until this year) for me to realise you can buy fresh, frozen cherries that are exactly the same!! And they're PITTED!

Because I only had miniscule amounts of time with cherries, I didn't actually consider how much I loved their flavour, and in no way considered putting them in anything other than straight into my mouth from the bag.

Now that I know I can get a big bag of frozen cherries for around a tenth of the price, all year round? Well, cherries are making an appearance in all sorts of things!

Like steel cut oats topped with peanut butter with a side of banana yoghurt:

In the saucepan went 1/2-2/3 cup steel cut oats with 1/2 banana sliced, a handful of frozen cherries and 1 cup almond milk + 1 cup water- bubbled away for 20-25 mins until absorbed.

And the yoghurt was simply the remaining banana whazzed up with 3 big scoops of greek yoghurt and chucked in the freezer until the oats were ready.

Warm, gooey, rippled through with nut butter and also the beautiful flavour of cherries (also creating the delightful pink colour.)

Cherry oats!

The next day I whipped up some vanilla protein granola:

1/3 heaped cup rolled oats + 1 scoop vanilla protein powder +  1 teaspoon cinnamon + 1 heaped tablespoon nut butter + 1/2 cup almond milk. Almond milk and nut butter heated up together and then rubbed into oat mix and then baked in oven (180 degrees celsius) for around 15 mins.

And yes, there was a smoothie involved to become the foundation of my smoothie bowl. And it was cherry flavoured!

Into the blender went 1 chopped, frozen banana, a handful of frozen cherries, a handful of kale and a handful of spinach, 3 big scoops greek yoghurt and 1/2 cup water- whazzed until smooth.

I think frozen cherries in my smoothies are one of my favourite ways to use the cherries and seriously, if you have never tried a frozen cherry smoothie- drop everything now and do it!

I feel like with most fruits they're either entirely sweet or entirely tart. Cherries seem to have an equal balance of both, making them practically perfect!

And pairing beautifully with rich/ fudgy granola!

I'm sure a bag of frozen cherries will be a regular occurrence in my shopping trolley and I'm just super glad I found them! Although, I really need to pick up some more frozen mango... I think I'm having withdrawal symptoms (i.e. BIG cravings! ;)

So that's my little spiel about cherries over :) Monday's feeling better already, right? ;)

What about you?
Are you a cherry fan? I know quite a few people who can't stand the taste!
Have you ever tried frozen cherries in your cooking/ smoothies?
Favourite frozen fruit you couldn't live without? Of course mine would be banana, but mango and berries and now cherries, are pretty close too!

I hope you all have a great day, make the most of it and eat something delicious! Bye for now friends!! :D