Another morning, another VOO!
Today was PB + J Vegan overnight oats. I don’t know about you, but I have loved the PB and J combo since I was a little girl. It never gets old.
Peanut Butter & Jam Vegan Overnight Oats
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1.25 cup almond milk
- 1/4 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Amazing Meal Powder (or sweetener)
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Peanut Butter Banana Soft Serve– for layering (1 tbsp peanut butter + 1 frozen banana, processed)
- Jam- for layering (I made my homemade cherry jam)
Directions: Mix dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Add wet ingredients and whisk. Place in fridge overnight or for 1-2 hours depending on how soon you need to FEED the VOO monsta! Layer the PB Soft Serve, jam, and the VOO in a glass and top with cacao nibs and cherries, or whatever tickles your fancy.
I made my homemade cherry jam for layering and made a thick layer of it in the middle.
Peanut Butter Banana Soft Serve is AMAZING!!! Thank you to all of you who suggested it…it truly is like some sort of peanut butter ice cream! Crazy.
I actually used whole flax seeds in replacement for the chia seeds in this batch because I didn’t have any chia nearby so I just threw the flax seeds in. You can see the flax seeds floating in the top of the dish. I did not like whole flax in the VOO…it made it really slimy (more slimier than usual!). I’m sure ground flax would be a much better consistency. However, I was surprised that the flax seed did seem to make it thick similar to the chia seeds. It was a different texture, but still quite thick. I will still be using chia seeds and I will probably also try ground flax too. I think ground flax would work much better than whole flax.
This was deeeeeeeeeeeeelish. Of course.
G20 Summit
As you have probably heard all over the news, the G20 Summit is this weekend in Toronto. In preparation for the summit, the government has poured over $1-billion into security provisions. Yes, $1-Billion with a BEE! :ermm:
The police have created a Yellow Zone or Security Zone surrounding the Metro Convention Centre where the meetings will take place. This week they will be putting up a huge $5.5 million fence around the perimeter of the security zone.
Eric works very close to the security zone and he said all week there have been tons of police on ATV’s, horseback, on bikes…just covering the city. There will be an estimated 10,000 uniformed officers and 1,000 private security guards around the area.
Each building has one or more security guards in front of each entrance. The police have also been going into parking garages and checking cars for bombs. It seems like it is going to be a pretty tense weekend in the city and many people fear for some type of attack during the summit.
All of this preparation for the summit has left many of us asking why the government didn’t hold the summit in a remote area of Canada (there are many to choose from!) where they would not have to protect millions of people as they have to in the downtown core of Toronto. It just seems like they are putting citizens at unwarranted risk, and spending a ton of tax payer’s money in the process.
Many workplaces downtown Toronto have asked their employees to work from home this week due to safety concerns. There are protests going on this week and traffic headaches as a result.
The 5-miler race that I want to run is tonight downtown Toronto along Lakeshore (West of the Security Zone though), so hopefully I won’t incur too much traffic when I drive into Toronto for the race, although they did warn us about delays. The weather channel has Southern Ontario under a severe thunderstorm watch, so if that is the case I won’t be making the drive into the city at all. I am just going to play it by ear and decide later this afternoon I guess.
Today’s questions: Do you keep up on local, national, and/or world news? Where do you go to get your news? Have you been following the G20-Summit news?
I am a huge news junkie…every day in the bakery I listen to my favourite talk radio station called Newstalk 1010 in Toronto and I get caught up on local and non-local news while I work. Eric always teases me because I listen to it everyday and I am always talking about it! I also check a few newspapers online like the Globe and Mail, Huffington Post, and occasionally the National Post.
Have a great day!
Oh, yes!! I follow CNN, MSN and Yahoo news on-line while I work during the day. I cannot stand being ignorant of what’s hapening.
Although, I do admit to having read 0 about the gulf oil spill, mainly because I truly cannot tolerate the horrible photos of the animals.
I know what you mean…I was following the oil spill at the beginning and it got to be so upsetting to read about.
My sister said things are crazy in Toronto right now. My mom went up on the train yesterday; she had to go a few days earlier than she planned due to the summit and rerouting of trains. My brother-in-law works downtown and may not be able to go in on Friday. He (like other small business owners) is pretty pissed about the impact this will have on his business.
I’m also a news junkie. It’s one reason I finally got a BlackBerry: We were no longer able to use the Internet at work, and I hate not knowing what’s going on in the world! (That and for blog reading, of course!)
Those VOO look especially delicious! I love cherries so much so I am sure it was delicious with the jam and pb soft serve too.
News-wise I mostly read the NY Times (print when I visit my family and online other times). I do read other sources online sometimes but we don’t watch tv at all..so I rarely watch news on it. I love NPR though.
I’m more of a celebrity news junkie (E! News anyone?) but in the morning I always watch the Today Show while eating breakfast…just to “catch up” with the world.
sometimes i am…but i’d rather read blogs and be inspired…:)
My sister is heading into TO today to do some condo shopping for a week, hopefully she doesnt have too many issues. Good luck on your race :)
I am definitely a news junkie. I always have CBC Radio 1 going in the background. My sister was a journalist for a time and my parents have always been huge advocates of education and awareness about world/social issues, so the news (NYTimes, The Guardian, etc) is a very regular part of everyday life for us! I also second Claire’s mention of NPR. I love “Wait wait don’t tell me” and I do catch Charlie Rose for great, current interviews whenever possible.
As for the summit, I just hope that the focus on security detail doesn’t overshadow the action/inaction that results from the summit itself.
I do watch the news and try to keep up on it, but my husband usually watches and reads EVERYTHING in the morning so if I ever want to know what’s going on, I just ask him!
I wish my body could handle and digest flax and chia seeds! They seem to make your VOO better and pretty! But I have had too many painful experiences with both that I’m staying away!
I can’t believe I still haven’t tried banana soft serve. I do have a freezer full of bananas…
I used to live in DC and worked in the “hot zone”, right across the street from the White House. The motorcades would go right past my office window everyday. If you got caught outside the building when the president’s motorcade was coming/going, you had to freeze! Can’t even walk down the sidewalk when it’s going past.
I’m an NPR junkie. I get teased for that too :)
Holy cow! Talk about inconvenient for residents :)
Hey Angela!
Just wanted to let you know that I use ground flaxseed in my VOO and it is incredible! It really thickens them up and adds a nutty flavour :)
Thank you for all the great posts and recipes! I really enjoy your website :)
-Sam
The ground flax meal works SO well. I made scottish overnight oats the other day with 1T of the ground flax and whoa, was it thick! Definitely obsessed with the peanut butter banana soft serve too! Dang those photos of the VOO are good!! Can I come over for a lesson!? I have natural light in my house, where I take all of my b-fast photos…but forget to actually go OUTside! They always turn out even better!
As Toronto news is so readily avaiable I enjoy listening to the local Oshawa country radio station. They offer a lot of Eastern Durham news on the radio. However because of a certain someone close to me’s involvement in the G20, as of this AM I am no longer even listening to the radio news. No news for me during the G20. Any music is coming in from my Ipod. I am in a current state of News Oblivion until at least the 29th. Not even checking out anything from the Internet say yahoo. Nadda.
So this has nothing to do with your post today but thought that this would make you smile…I go to a spin class on Tuesdays and my spin instructor tells us half way through every class, “You are stronger than you think.” and each and every time it makes me think of you and push!
Hi Angela,
As I read your post I am currently in my office tower in the middle of Toronto’s downtown core. Its been quite a day so far. I usually take the subway to my office but the subway was shut down due to a “suspicious package”that was found at one of the subway stations. So instead I walked to work through the “fortress” that has become the downtown core. High fences, security and police EVERYWHERE!! We now have to show ID and our pass cards before we are allowed in the building. Let’s hope I get out of here in one piece today :)
I’m a news addict! I listen to NPR constantly, my boyfriend kinda hates it. And I feel bad for him a little bit because if he tries to bring up a subject to discuss in a “did you hear about this?” sort of way, I always HAVE and know MORE about it than he does so he’s never got the upper hand! lol
I’m a news junkie too…before I go to work I have to watch the morning news and check out the weather channel. I usually read my local newspaper and also the Globe and Mail or Toronto Star every day as well. If I don’t, I feel like I might miss something!
As someone who lives and works in downtown Toronto, I am despising this whole G20 thing, which is basically a billion dollar photo op where the leaders will stand around, talk a bit, and generally solve nothing…bah.
IMAGINE, what other things that money could have been used for…don’t get me started on that “fake lake” business :-)
Oh, and I finally had VOO for the first time this morning with raspberry puree, agave syrup, tons of cinnamon, fresh blueberries, ground flax (no slime) and a huge glob of almond butter and it was the SHIZZY. Thank you for brining VOO into my life! Haha..
I’ve never tried flaxseed OR chia seeds! :( I suspect they’d be expensive though, here in China, and probably only available in health stores :( Ah well, I can always use yogurt? :P
Being a teenager, I’m probably one of the majority – I’m pretty much clueless about world news. I want to change that, though… would you have any ideas for a “training” program to “get to know” the world? ;)
Wei-Wei
lol, I grew up with my parents constantly listening to NewsTalk 1010 and I definitely have a secret love for it now! My boyfriend thinks I am a big dork.
I work at the University of Toronto and the school is basically locked down for the next 4 days (access cards that normally work on weekends will not work and you need special permission to access buildings). It’s pretty frustrating because we are not even close to the actual convention site but we are right next to the official protest site. I have access because my research is time sensitive so we will see how crazy things are!