The Coconut Granola Bowl Recreation!

I had a craving.

'Hi Steph.'- but no you don't understand, this wasn't just a simple craving for chocolates or lollies, or in my case potatoes.

No, this was a craving for a specific dish I've enjoyed on a couple of occasions in the past few months that I woke up one day and just knew I had to re-create.

What is this magical dish you ask? Why it is the House Paleo Muesli from Voyage Kitchen (an awesomely urban/ hipster joint with funky meal options and awesome vegan/ paleo/ gluten free etc. options too!)

So I woke up with the purpose of producing a deliciously fruity, nutty, coconutt-y granola (set in the freezer) on top of some dollops of plain greek yoghurt, banana slices scattered throughout with a side saucer of almond milk to drizzle on top (just like they give you at the restaurant!)

And so I did.

Steph's Raw Coconut Granola Bowl!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats
Small handful chopped, mixed, dried fruit
Small handful chopped, mixed, raw nuts
1 heaped tablespoon coconut butter (tutorial here/ can be  bought at certain supermarkets)
1/4 cup almond milk/ other milk of choice
Optional- cinnamon (recommend!)
1 sliced banana
1 cup greek yoghurt/ yoghurt of choice- non-dairy etc.
Extra almond milk to serve

Method:
1. Line a plate with baking paper.
2. Place coconut butter and 1/4 cup almond milk in a small bowl and microwave for 30 seconds (making sure it doesn't boil over- alternately heat on stove until warmed and combined)
3. Combine oats, nuts, dried fruits and cinnamon in a bowl and add warm/ hot coconut micture to bowl. Stir to combine
4. Scatter onto plate and pop in freezer for at least 15 minutes to chill and set.

5. Retrieve yoghurt and banana

6. Dollop in yoghurt to bottom of bowl, follow with some delicious granola, banana slices, granola, banana slices etc. Until you get a pretty bowl of absolute deliciousness!

7. Pour over some almond milk and enjoy!

This was without a doubt one of the tastiest brekky's I've had in a long while and truly hit. the. spot in terms of my craving for Voyage's House Paleo Muesli!

Natural sweet, delightfully coconut-y and filling to boot! This is truly a breakfast of champions that does not taste like it is healthy!!

But being filled with all the fibre, nutrients and minerals of wholegrain oats, dired fruits, nuts, coconut, natural yoghurt and banana- where can you go wrong?

I enjoyed this breakfast thoroughly and would highly recommend trying it out if you're after a home-made restaurant style brekky that truly satisfies (without needing to contain eggs, bacon and sausages!)

Sometimes the lighter option turns out to be the most filling, nutritious and delicious meal of them all (especially with a few tweaks from Steph's muesli recipe!)

Grab your bowl, grab a spoon and dig in! (Or else I'll just have to do it for you!!)

Yum.


Your turn:
What's one dish you could really go for right now from a restaurant?
Do you ever try to re-create your favourite restaurant/ cafe meals at home?
Sweet or savoury breakfasts? I think I have and always will be a sweet brekky person. I have tried savoury brekky's in the past but they just don't do it for me. I guess I'm a desserts first kind of person! ;)

I hope you all have a lovely day/ week, smile lots and... eat something dlicious!! Bye for now friendly friends!! :D

Sprialling Out Of Control!

I don't usually have many wants for lots of material objects.
My wants are mainly experiences, fun times, things money can't buy, because that is what means the most to me.

But.

There is one thing I have wanted for a very long time.

I always want kabocha. Spaghetti squash. And whatever other new fandangle nut butter I see popping up on all the American blogs. Those things are sometimes a little out of reach here in Aus (unless I track them down in some far off supermarket and pay mega bucks!), however there is one things that exists both in Australia and America that I have dreamed about owning. (I will be the first to admit that the majority of my happy dreams involve food in some way or another!!)

Yep, one of the things that I have set my heart on owning (you know my top want was the Vitamix!!) is my very own vegetable spiralizer!

And you know what turned up, wrapped in pretty paper, for my birthday this year??

You guessed it!

Hey there, sexy spiralizer!

So, with this guy hanging out in my fridge screaming to be used up...

I scoured the web for a delicious looking zucchini noodle recipe to create lunch for that day and came up with this delightful recipe from Oh My Veggies.

Step 1. Roast up some cherry tomatoes with extra virgin olive oil and dried herbs:

I then toasted up some pine nuts, mixed together the dressing (lemon juice, lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil, garlic) and finally it was time to SPIRALIZE!

I chopped the zucchini in half and set to work spinning on my magical food wheel:

Et voila! Perfect zucchini noodles fit for any pasta dish!

And also a very strange remaining part of zucchini:

If I'm ever in need of a toadstool looking vegetable for a project of some kind, I know what to do!

Cherry tomatoes roasted:

Add to my 'noodles' with the pine nuts and lemon, garlic dressing:

And deliciousness awaited:

In the sun the light green of the zucchini got lost a bit in the pics, but I'm sure you still get the vibe and feel of the freshness and tastiness of this dish:

So light, flavourful and exactly what I was feeling for lunch!

Twirl it up:

And nom it down!

I can't wait to throw all the veg into the spiraliser and make up some random yet utterly delicious 'pasta' dishes!! I'm thinking sweet potato noodles are a must next!

Your turn:
What is one thing you absolutely want right now?
Do you own a spiralizer?
Favourite veg to spiralize?


I hope you all have a fantastic day, be kind to your body, do the things you love, be with those you love and as always; EAT SOMETHING DELICIOUS!! Bye for now friendly 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