As I was flipping through Let Them Eat Vegan the other day (yup, still obsessed), I came across an interesting way to prepare steel cut oats. Dreena’s “Instant Steel Cut Oats” caught my eye because it claimed I could enjoy a hot bowl of steel cut oats in just minutes.

I love steel cut oats, but I don’t make them often unless I prepare my Make-ahead Steel Cut Oatmeal for several breakfasts worth. It takes a bit of planning in the evening (and planning is so not my forte), but the upside is that the recipe will last for at least a few breakfasts. That is, if I can keep myself from spooning it into my mouth all day and night. Outlook not promising.

With this method, you simply blend the steel cut oats into a flour. Yes, you will lose the chewiness of steel cut oats that us fans tend to love, but by grinding them you slash the cooking time by over 80%! I wouldn’t say this method is for all the time (unless of course you prefer a porridge like consistency), but it’s great in a pinch when you want the nutrition of steel cut oats, but don’t have the time.

Here’s how you make them:

1. Grind the steel cut oats and chia seeds in a high-speed blender.

2. Once the oats and chia seeds are ground into a flour, add them into a pot.

3. Add some almond milk (or milk of your choice).

4. Now stir in some mashed and chopped ripe bananas, vanilla, spices, and sweetener for this batch. My goal was to make an ultra gooey banana bread flavour.

5. Heat this mixture for only about 4-5 minutes! You now have virtually instant steel cut oatmeal with all the nutrition that we love, but in a fraction of the time.

Served with walnuts, raisins, maple syrup, and a touch of shaved chocolate…you are left with a crazy gooey oatmeal that reminds me so much of banana bread batter! It’s to die for. This batch makes a few servings and I should also tell you that it tastes absolutely wonderful straight from the fridge, cold, in a vegan overnight oats sort of way. Serving it chilled is perfect for all these warm mornings we are having lately.

Gooey Banana Bread Batter Instant Steel Cut Oatmeal

Just like eating a big bowl of gooey banana bread batter, only better for you! If you like gooey, porridge-like breakfasts, you will go crazy for this one.

Inspired by Let Them Eat Vegan.

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Yield: 3 servings

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup steel cut oats, ground into a flour
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 ripe medium bananas (1 mashed and 1 chopped small)
• 2.5-3 cups almond milk, as needed
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup, divided
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt & dash nutmeg
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp chopped walnuts, toasted if preferred, for garnish
• 2 tbsp raisins, for garnish
• Shaved dark chocolate, to garnish

1. In a high-speed blender, grind the steel cut oats and chia seeds into a flour. Remove and place into a medium-sized pot.

2. Stir in 2.5 cups of the milk and increase the heat to low-medium. Now stir in the mashed banana, the chopped banana, and 1 tbsp of maple syrup. Heat for 4-5 minutes, adding more milk if desired and reducing temperature if necessary.

3. Remove from heat and stir in the cinnamon (to taste), a pinch of salt, vanilla, and dash of nutmeg (optional).

4. Portion into bowls and top with chopped walnuts, raisins, and 1 tsp of pure maple syrup per bowl.

I encourage you to enjoy it cold, especially during warmer mornings, as I think I liked it even better served cold!

Looking for more oatmeal recipes?

Check out the top 5 most popular oatmeal recipes on my blog.

And if it’s too warm where you are to enjoy a hot bowl of oats, you can try one of my 12 Vegan Overnight Oats parfait recipes which are great on warmer mornings.

~~~

Well, we’re on the cusp of the Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada. Yippee. I don’t know about you guys, but our weather forecast is calling for sunshine all weekend and highs of 26C! Absolutely crazy and unexpected for this time of the year. We’re heading up to the in-laws to spend the entire weekend playing outdoors. I’ll be Instagraming a bit and I might even do a quick blog recap if I get a chance. Cheers to the weekend!

After a 1 week break from workouts, I finally felt like I had enough energy to get back into exercise yesterday. My body was literally craving a run! It was also a good excuse to take a much needed break from unpacking.

For some pre-run fuel, I tried out a Vega snack bar that I had in my purse since…well, that would be anyone’s guess.

I really enjoyed the Vega Vibrancy Chocolate Bar (top), but I didn’t care much for the chocolate Whole Food Energy bar. Somehow I managed to polish it off over the past week though. 

This is the Vega Chocolate Vibrancy Bar below. It was quite good with a nice chocolate flavour and sprouted buckwheat groats for crunch. It tasted like dessert which is always a plus in my books.

I headed over to the beautiful Lakeshore for my run. This was my first official training run in Oakville. The only other time I think I’ve run in Oakville was the Oakville Labour Day 10km race that I ran in 2010.

It’s such a gorgeous trail, I felt like I was on vacation.

Do I have any readers who run around Lakeshore? I was thinking about starting up a running group at some point. Let me know if that would interest any of you!

I was quite delighted to see a bunch of long staircases throughout my run. That sounds so sick and twisted, I know.

Back in 2007-2008 when we lived in a condo in Toronto, I used to walk 28 flights of stairs every day (it took me about 4 minutes if I remember correctly) as a way to sneak in exercise since my job was so sedentary. I’m a big fan of stairs and will walk them whenever I get a chance.

This one just screams run up me!

I’m seeing some interval stair workouts in my future…

This little guy may seem innocent, but he tried to chase me when I got too close.

Some speed training ensued…bahah.

With all the craziness that’s been going on with the move, I completely forgot about all the races I have coming up back to back- and two of which are 10k’s:

• April 15th: Mercedes-Benz Oakville 10K
• April 22nd: Toronto Yonge Street 10k
• April 28th: 5k Ford Race to end Diabetes in Oakville

I guess I’m going to have to start getting back into a consistent training mode. I haven’t run over 6km in a dog’s age.

For my post-run breakfast, I had a rather GREEN bowl of vegan overnight oats. Much like Green Monsters, you don’t taste the greens in vegan overnight oats (when made with a banana or other sweetener).

A couple years ago, a few blog readers told me to try combining a Green Monster and vegan overnight oats. I thought they were crazy (in a good way, obviously) and finally got the nerve to try it…oh, two years later!

All you do is blend a Green Monster before bed and pour it into a bowl of rolled oats and stir it all up. In the morning you will have a Green Monster/vegan overnight oat hybrid waiting for you in the fridge. I’ve made it with spinach and also with kale and both were delicious. I’m telling you, I was kicking myself for waiting so long to try it out!

Just trust me on this one. Did the Green Monster ever steer you wrong?

I rest my case.

Green Monster Vegan Overnight Oats

Now you can get in a serving of greens (without tasting it!) in your morning bowl of vegan overnight oats. Feel free to add any toppings as you wish: fruit, nut butter, granola, coconut, etc.

Inspired by: lovely blog readers. Also, check out Britt’s and Emilia’s versions too.

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Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 large handful fresh spinach or small handful of kale
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1.5 tbsp chia seeds (necessary for thickening)
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/3 cup regular, rolled oats

1. In a blender, blend together the spinach, banana, chia seeds, and almond milk until smooth.

2. In a cereal bowl, add the oats and then pour the smoothie on top. Stir well until combined.

3. Place in fridge (uncovered is fine) overnight. Give it a good stir in the morning and then enjoy it cold, straight from the fridge. Add desired toppings as you wish such as nut butter, granola, coconut, fruit, etc.

It’s a dreary, rainy Thursday morning, so I can safely assume that you’re probably thinking about the weekend, including the food you want to make.

Am I right or am I right?

Enter pancakes.

Pancakes are quite possibly one of the easiest things to prepare on a weekend. Any food that can be prepared successfully while half asleep is a winner in my books. I made these a couple weekends ago when I was feeling bored of my usual pancakes and I’ve since made 4 batches. They are not only gluten-free and vegan, but they hold together perfectly and taste incredible, even plain.

I recommend making a double batch and wrapping up the leftovers for snacks. Have you ever had a pancake burrito? Just spread a bit of jam and nut butter onto the pancake and roll it up. Instant pancake burrito on the go! Or you can sandwich two together and make a pancake sandwich.

Pancakes are much easier than spilling a bag of espresso beans while making Homemade Bailey’s. The worst part of it was I hadn’t even opened the Jameson yet, so I have no excuse.

Thankfully, Sketchie managed to knock about 476 beans under the fridge, saving me a lot of clean up time.

He’s great like that.

Vegan & Gluten-Free Vanilla Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

Light, fluffy, with chunks of banana and juicy blueberries, these pancakes taste so good they can be enjoyed plain. Be sure to use raw buckwheat groats (and not toasted buckwheat/Kasha) as the raw buckwheat has a much more mild and pleasant flavour. I buy my buckwheat groats from Upaya Naturals. I tried subbing the rice flour for oat flour and the pancakes completely stuck to the pan, so I would advise against that substitution. As always, if you’d like the pancakes strictly gluten-free, be sure to check all labels before using.

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Yield: 6 (4-inch) pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup raw buckwheat groats (not kasha), ground into a flour
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp almond milk
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 medium ripe banana, diced
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped (optional)
• 1/2 cup blueberries (optional)

1. Preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.

2. In a blender, blend the buckwheat groats on high speed until a fine flour forms. Place into a large bowl. Now whisk in the rest of the dry ingredients (rice flour, cornstarch, baking powder).

3. Pour in the almond milk, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Whisk the batter until no clumps remain.

4. Fold in the diced banana and scraped vanilla bean. If using fresh blueberries, mix them in now.

5. Lightly grease skillet. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter onto the preheated skillet. If using frozen blueberries, sprinkle on a heaping tablespoon of blueberries. Cook until many bubbles appear and then flip and cook for another couple minutes. Repeat for the other pancakes.

Note: If using frozen blueberries, pour batter onto skillet first and then top with blueberries to prevent bleeding. I also tried subbing the rice flour for oat flour and the pancakes completely stuck to the pan, so I would advise against that substitution.

As I mentioned these hold together very well, especially considering they are vegan and gluten-free. You know they are ready to flip, when a lot of bubbles start appearing.

A couple pancake tricks:

1)  If you are using frozen blueberries like I was, sprinkle the blueberries directly onto the pancakes (like above) rather than mixing into the batter. This will prevent bleeding.

2) The best pancake tip I ever learned is to preheat the skillet completely before adding on the pancake batter. You know how people say the first pancake never turns out? Well, this is usually because it’s not preheated enough. The first thing I do is turn on the burner to medium heat and preheat my skillet, before I even start prepping the ingredients. Not sure it’s ready? Drop a tiny bit of water on it. When it sizzles, it’s ready.

Before you know it, you’ll have incredibly wholesome pancakes you can feel good about eating. Just be sure to make leftovers so you can whip up those pancake burritos for a yummy snack.

Set your clock forward on Saturday night.

Sleep late.

Make these pancakes.

Enjoy!

I like to think there are a few different types of “breakfast people”:

• Those who prefer sweet breakfasts.
• Those who prefer savoury breakfasts.
• Those who enjoy a mixture of the two.

I think I’m somewhere in the middle, so I guess I would say #3. What about you?

While I don’t enjoy super sweet breakfast recipes, I don’t mind a bit of sweetness in the morning such as in a Vegan Overnight Oat Parfait or Green Monster. Sometimes, I also crave savoury things for breakfast and can’t fathom eating anything sweet in the morning. It really just depends on my mood. Last weekend, I woke up starving with a strange craving for a veggie burger, so I cooked one on the skillet and enjoyed it in an English muffin with hummus and salsa. Was it ever good. Eric thought I was crazy, but it turned out to be a great breakfast. I also love savoury oatmeal from time to time too.

Today’s recipe is a savoury breakfast recipe (or make that breakfast, lunch, or dinner…), after receiving quite a few requests from all of you savoury breakfast fans. I agree, there are more sweet breakfast recipes on the blog, but I will try to do some more savoury breakfasts too.

Given my recent discovery that I enjoy tofu, I decided to make my first tofu scramble and wrap it up in a burrito.

I’ve seen tofu scrambles all over the veg blog world and everyone always seems to have their favourite version. For my first attempt, I just threw together a scramble based on the ingredients I had in my fridge. That is the beauty of them. Tofu scrambles are very versatile, so if you don’t have the exact ingredients in this recipe you can just improvise. I guess time will tell if this is my favourite version or simply the first of many experiments!

High Protein Vegan Breakfast Burrito

This burrito is a great way to change up your normal breakfast routine. Best of all, it makes 4 servings so you can store the leftover scramble in the fridge and simply heat and go for a quick breakfast all week long. Feel free to play around with the ingredients and seasonings depending on what you have in your fridge. Don’t like tofu? Try swapping it out for black beans or chickpeas! Nutritional info is below.

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Yield: Four (3/4 cup) servings

Ingredients:

• 1 package extra-firm tofu, rinsed and pressed
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 cups diced sweet onion (about 1 medium)
• 1 cup diced potato (~115 grams or half a medium potato)
• 1.5 cups sliced crimini mushrooms (150 grams or about 9 mushrooms)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast 
• 3-4 tbsp minced fresh basil
• 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
• 1-1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt (or to taste) + black pepper
• For garnish: chopped pineapple, salsa, Daiya cheese, green onion, Herbamare…or whatever you like!

1. Press tofu: Rinse the tofu with water and place a couple kitchen towels on the counter. Wrap the tofu with another towel, place another towel on top, and finally place several heavy cookbooks on top. Let sit for at least 20 minutes to soak out the water. Alternatively, you can use a tofu press if you have one.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet with 1 tsp oil over medium heat. Sauté garlic and onion for a few minutes over medium heat. Add in the diced potato and mushrooms and sauté for 12 minutes, reducing heat if necessary and stirring frequently so it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

3. Remove tofu from towels and dice on chopping board. You want the tofu very small (see picture below). Now, reduce heat to low and stir in the nutritional yeast, tofu, fresh herbs, lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Continue cooking on low until potato is cooked through, only a few more minutes, if necessary.

4. Add 3/4 cup of the mixture on a large tortilla wrap, spoon on salsa, and top with Daiya cheese and chopped green onion if desired.

Approx Nutritional Info (per 3/4 cup, without wrap or garnishes): 183 kcals, 5 g fat (1 g sat fat), 331 mg sodium, 22 g carbs, 6 g fibre, 6 g sugar, 17 g protein.

~~~

This baby packs in the protein. Add a wrap and it’s easily over 22 grams of protein per burrito.

I added 3/4 cup of the scramble to a large wrap, spooned on about 3 tbsp of salsa…

Topped with green onion and a sprinkle of Herbamare:

And wrapped it all up!

Eric and I actually had this for dinner last night as I was anxious to test it on him. I thought he was going to absolutely hate it, but to my surprise, he loved it. I think it lasted about 1 minute before it disappeared from his plate. It was also delicious served with some leftover Vegan Caesar Cocktail and pineapple.

Not a tofu fan?

Try swapping it out for black beans or chickpeas. Gently mash some of them up in the skillet (but leave some whole for texture). I’m sure that would be really tasty too!

Also, my sweet side can’t help but wonder what a sweet scramble would taste like wrapped up…crêpe style. I’ve been experimenting with some crêpe recipes lately, so I just may have to add a sweet scramble to the list…

Blog Stuff

My apologies for the blog being down yesterday morning. I’ve had several outages with my host lately despite the blog being on its own private server, so I’m really not sure what’s up. Hopefully the issue is now resolved or I may have to punch the computer screen in the face. hah…ok not really. Well, maybe.

Remember the chia seed crackers that we ate at Chocolatree Café just before hiking up 0.6 miles of rocky mountainside?

Here they are in all their glory.

We kicked some major mountain booty that day and I’d like to think the chia seed crackers had something to do with it. After all, the Aztecs and Mayans used chia seeds (known as a “running food”) for hundreds of years to fuel their long journeys!  (source)

As soon as I got home, I knew I had to bust out a version of these in my own kitchen. I was “running” on 3 hours of sleep thanks to a 4am wake-up call and the chocolate I was inhaling wasn’t making me feel any better. The chia crackers came to my rescue!

Endurance Crackers

These Endurance Crackers are extremely light and crispy while providing long-lasting energy. They are also vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, sugar-free, and oil-free to boot! Feel free to change up the seasonings and spices as you wish. Nutritional info follows.

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Inspired by Chocolatree Café.

Yield: 22 large crackers

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chia seeds*
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup pepita seeds (or pumpkin seeds)
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 cup water
• 1 large garlic clove, finely grated
• 1 tsp grated sweet onion
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• Herbamare & kelp granules, to taste (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix the seeds together. In a small bowl, mix the water, grated garlic, and grated onion. Whisk well. Pour the water mixture onto the seeds and stir until thick and combined. Season with salt, and optional Herbamare and Kelp granules, to taste. Add spices or fresh herbs if you wish.

3. Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet with the back of a spoon until it’s less than 1/4 inch thick. Not to worry if a couple parts become too thin, you can just patch them up.

4. Bake at 325F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, slice into crackers, carefully flip onto other side with a spatula. Bake for another 30 minutes, watching closely after about 25 minutes. The bottoms will be lightly golden in colour. Allow to cool completely on the pan. Store in a container or plastic baggy.

Note: See the bottom of this post for where you can purchase chia seeds.

Nutritional Info: (per cracker, makes 22 large crackers): 77 kcals, 6 grams fat, 4 grams carbs, 0 grams sugar, 3 grams fibre, 3 gram protein.

The nutritional stats are impressive, eh?

As I reached for my garlic powder, I thought why not use fresh garlic instead? My mom recently shared a trick with me for mincing garlic: just use a fine grater instead of chopping it. I used my Microplane and it was the perfect consistency for these crackers. Just be careful you don’t saw off the end of your nail like I almost did.

10 seconds flat for fresh garlic!

I also used the same method with the sweet onion.

After grating, I whisked the garlic and onion in a glass with the water (note: I ended up using a full cup of water instead of the 1/2 cup shown here).

Pour the water mixture into the seed mixture and stir well. It will be thick and gel-like in consistency.

Now season as you wish.

I used a mixture of Herbamare, kelp granules, and kosher salt for maximum flavour, but you can really play around with the seasonings any way you like! Add some spices too if you wish. Taste and adjust if necessary.

This picture hates me, clearly.

Spread onto your baking sheet lined with parchment (or a non-stick mat, but you will have to bake them a bit longer). You want to spread the mixture as thin as possible.

After baking for 30 minutes at 325F, remove from the oven and slice crackers with a pizza slicer.

I did a large diamond shape. You can do any size and shape you want, depending on how much ninja power you are looking for!

With a spatula, carefully flip the crackers and bake for another 30 minutes until toasty and golden on the bottom. Mmm.

My new favourite cracker, easily.

Not only are they vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, soy-free, nut-free, and sugar free, but they can be made raw if you dehydrate them.

After cooling, they are crispy, chewy, and basically mind blowing ninja fuel perfect for dipping into hummus. Eric said they taste better than the ones at Chocolatree, but he may be biased. I couldn’t get over how light and crispy they are!

The question is: Whose butt do you want to kick this week?

Your boss, tough assignment, killer workout, or midterm exam?

Go make a list of things to butt kick.

Eat these crackers.

Kick some butt, ninja style.

It’s like bird food, but waaaaay better.

Do you ever see a tired bird?

I rest my case.

~~

Many of you ask where you can buy chia seeds. I buy my chia seeds from Canadian online retailer superseeds.ca. I’m still working on the 50 pound bulk order that I ordered for my bakery! If you are looking for an online retailer in the US, try www.chiaseedsdirect.com. I’ve found both of these businesses to have very competitive prices. You can also purchase chia seeds from bulk food stores like Bulk Barn here in Canada or in natural food stores! Update: More readers also told me Costco sells them (in the supplement section) and even Winners and Homesense! Who knew?

There are fancy squares and then there are not-so-fancy squares.

These are the not-so-fancy squares. In fact, they are downright boring, but the beauty is you can dress them up anyway you like. Just like a basic bowl of oatmeal, these squares can be changed up on a whim.

My goal was to make a basic everyday oatmeal square for on-the-go breakfasts or snack attacks. They aren’t super sweet or bursting with chocolate and fancy mix-ins, although, you could make them that way if you wanted too! Filled with flax, chia, and whole grains, it’s functional food at its finest. The nutritional stats are also impressive packing in 7 grams of fibre and 6 grams of protein per large square.

Despite eating half the batch, I actually made these for Eric (remember that guy who loathes oatmeal?). He’s been insanely busy with his new role at work and now spends the better part of his days trapped in meetings without any healthy food on hand.

His options in meetings are usually the following: 1) cookies the size of his face, 2)  pizza, or 3) a muffin the size of his butt (which is cute and perfectly rounded).

While it’s true that he loathes traditional oatmeal, if I bake it up in a square he’s all over it. And by all over it, I mean he needed to slather Earth Balance all over the square before deeming it perfect. Like I said, these can be dressed up any way you want…

On The Glow Basic Oatmeal Squares

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Think of this oatmeal square as basic baked oatmeal that can be dressed up any way you like. Each large square contains a tablespoon of flax and a teaspoon of chia seeds as well as 7 grams of fibre and 6 grams of protein. Feel free to add in nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, and other mix-ins as you desire. Just be careful about frozen fruit. When I made a trial with frozen blueberries they became quite soggy. Use fresh blueberries and you should be fine.

Yield: 9 large squares

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups regular rolled oats (not instant oats), divided
• 3 tbsp chia seed
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1.5 cups almond milk (or other milk)
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
• 2 tbsp nut or seed butter
• 1 banana, chopped small
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• Dry sweetener, to taste if you want them a bit sweeter

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8 inch square pan with two pieces of parchment paper.

2. In a blender or food processor, blend/process 1 cup of the oats until a flour forms. Or you can just use 1 cup of oat flour.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: oat flour, 1.5 cups rolled oats, chia, flax, baking powder, salt, cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: milk, syrup, nut/seed butter, banana, vanilla until no clumps remain. Add wet to dry and stir until combined. Add dry sweetener to taste if desired. Fold in any nuts or dried fruit that you desire.

4. Pour mixture into prepared pan and smooth out. Bake for 35-40 minutes until lightly golden along edge and it springs back slowly when touched. I baked them for 40 minutes, but baking time may vary. Place pan on cooling rack for 10 minutes, carefully remove, and cool on rack before slicing.

Nutritional Info: (per square, makes 9 squares): 228 kcals, 9 grams fat, 110 mg sodium, 33 grams carbs, 7 grams fibre, 13 grams sugar, 6 grams protein.

The first trial I made was with frozen blueberries (above). Unfortunately they made the bars quite soggy (although tasty). Fresh blueberries would probably be a better option, so I will try that in the summer when they are in season. Sadly, that is a long time away…as I sit here watching a snow storm outside my window!

For the second batch, I left out the blueberries to see if I could get the consistency a bit better.

[Notice my hand writing is getting a bit neater? Ok not really, but I’m happy to say I now keep all my recipe trials in one notebook. No more scattered pages all over the house!]

Anywho, mix the dry ingredients together: ground flax, cinnamon, oats + oat flour (I ground up 1 cup of oats), chia seed, baking powder, and a touch of salt.

Then the wet ingredients: pure maple syrup, almond milk, vanilla, nut/seed butter, and a chopped banana. Feel free to use another milk, nut/seed butter, and liquid sweetener if desired.

Whisk together in another bowl, making sure to break up the nut/seed butter.

Add the wet to dry and mix well.

I planned on adding chocolate, but discovered that I was all out. How does that even happen?

Pour into an 8 inch square pan lined with two pieces of parchment paper.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, cool, and enjoy! I baked them for 40, but I have a feeling that baking time will vary depending on the brand of oats used. I’ve found that some rolled oats absorb more liquid than others. Just watch it closely after 35 minutes. When it slowly springs back up when you press it, it should be good to go.

These are very soft and fluffy with tiny bites of banana throughout. We found that they are a bit plain on their own, but I still managed to eat 3 in a row just to be sure. I like to slice the square in half and make a jam & sunflower seed butter sandwich.

Note to self: restock chocolate chip supply stat.

Have a wonderful Friday!

My theory is if I drink a lot of smoothies, spring will magically appear. 

So far, outlook not good…(although today was the first dusting of snow we’ve had practically all winter!). This is why I haven’t changed my blog header to a winter theme yet…I need more snow!

This smoothie was made up of frozen blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries (~1 cup) along with almond milk (1.25 cups), chia seeds (2 tbsp), and half a frozen banana.

Followed by a frozen girl.

To warm up, I did this quick at-home power workout using a jump rope and my own body weight for resistance exercises. Kicking it old school!

I did 3 sets of the following exercises:

• 1 minute jumping jacks
• 2 minutes jump rope
• 15 lunges on each leg
• 1 minute jump rope
• 2 sets of 15 squats
• 1 set of 15 push-ups (standard, kneeling, or combo)
• 2 minutes jumping rope
• 1 minute bicycle crunches

I did 3 sets and then some light stretching at the end. The workout took me 35 minutes and went by pretty quick! I also used this stopwatch timer on the internet too.

A few tips:

• Feel free to take rest breaks as needed
• You will hate me for making the jump rope after the lunges (don’t say I didn’t warn you!)
• Only got 10 minutes? Just do 1 set for a quick total body workout
• Want to make it more challenging? Add some hand weights, water bottles, cans, etc
• Want more cardio? Tack on a mile run before and/or after the workout
• Feel free to change up the ab exercises at the end
• Always consult a professional before beginning a new fitness regime

Rosy cheeks ensued! I love interval workouts.

You know, old school moves never get old…especially jumping rope! I don’t know how I used to do that for hours and hours as a child. Must have been all that penny candy I was stuffing my face with. Do you remember how much candy $1 used to buy? 100 PIECES. That $5 allowance went pretty far back in the day.

Chocolate.

PMS.

Mood swings.

Cravings.

Sore boobs.

Tearing up over random TV shows (example: Redemption Inc).

Chocolate.

Uncontrollable yawning.

Random anger.

Healthier chocolate pudding.

I am a woman, hear me roar!

This is the pudding I make when I feel like inhaling a bag of chocolate chips.

It lets me return to my normal self, at least for now…

My chocolate cravings are satisfied and I feel like a million bucks, minus the sore boobs, mood swings, and yawning of course.

I wouldn’t say that it’s for everyone though; if you aren’t into soaked chia seeds (and their slim-factor) you might not like this pudding. You could try adding rolled oats for a chewier texture and do more of a vegan overnight oats recipe if that floats your boat. I added in a couple tablespoons of oats at the last minute.

Top it with a bit of shaved dark chocolate on top…and it’s pretty much my favourite snack going. I also love it heated up with a spoonful of coconut cream stirred in! Want to thicken it up? Mash in a banana just before serving.

Healthy Chocolate Chia Pudding

I make this pudding when I want something indulgent tasting, but don’t feel like eating a ton of sugar. It satisfies and energizes me while letting me get on with my day. I love mixing carob powder and cocoa powder for a more complex chocolate flavour. The carob powder also adds a natural sweetness that I love. If you don’t have carob, I suggest using a bit more cocoa powder and sweetener since it will be less sweet without the carob. Serve cold or heated up!

Adapted from Repair and Recover Chia Pudding

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Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/4 cup to 1 & 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, as needed to thin out
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp carob flour/powder (I buy it at Bulk Barn)
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• Shaved chocolate for garnish (optional)

1. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients (starting with 1 & 1/4 cup almond milk) until the clumps are gone. Place in fridge for 1-2 hours, until thick or overnight. Stir well, add more milk if desired to achieve the thickness you desire, and serve chilled. Alternatively you can heat in the microwave and serve it warm. It’s nice with a spoonful of coconut cream mixed in or a mashed banana too.

Nutritional Info: (per serving, without shaved chocolate): 197 kcals, 12 grams fat (healthy fat from chia/almond), 26 grams carbs, 15 grams fibre, 9 grams sugar, 8 grams protein.

Also try Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding Parfait.

This morning, I enjoyed heated-up chocolate pudding and a breakfast cookie.

I should be a lot nicer today.

Well, I didn’t end up making the Itty Bitty Carrot Cake Cookies, but I did end up making an off-spring!

Meet the carrot cake cookie in breakfast form. I cut down the oil (using applesauce to replace some of it) and amped up the protein, fibre, and healthy fats naturally using ground flax.

In my first version, I used protein powder instead of flax, but the texture was weird and the flavour was off. Ground flax all the way!

I also left them chunky instead of flattening them down. Much better.

The cookies are lightly sweet, with a lovely carrot cake flavour and the texture of a muffin top. I added in a full cup of grated carrots and a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger for a boost of nutrition and an authentic carrot cake flavour. Ginger also aids in digestion as an added bonus.

Eric summed them up nicely, “If I was looking for a healthy cookie, I would be happy with these. If I wanted a regular unhealthy dessert cookie, I might be a bit disappointed. But they are perfect for breakfast or a snack and I like that they taste like a muffin.”

I’m not sure I can add anything to that, so I’ll just give you the recipe! Nutritional info follows.

Oh Mega Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies

Like a healthy breakfast muffin in carrot cake cookie form. Coconut oil, maple syrup, and fresh ginger work well to create a nice carrot cake flavour, however if you are without those ingredients you can try subbing in another light tasting oil of your choice, other liquid sweetener, and ground ginger (maybe 1/4 tsp?).

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Adapted from Itty Bitty Carrot Cake Cookies, which was adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

Yield: 13 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
• 3/4 cup ground flax
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup regular rolled oats
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1 cup lightly packed shredded carrots (use finest grate)
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (other liquid sweeteners should work)
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

1. Preheat the oven to 325F and toast the pecans for 10-11 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the batter. In a large bowl, mix together the flax, flour, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and raisins.

2. Grate the carrots and ginger using the finest grate. In a smaller bowl, melt the coconut oil in the microwave for about 45-60 seconds. You want the oil hot so it doesn’t clump up when adding the cold wet ingredients. Now add in the maple syrup, carrots, applesauce, grated ginger, and vanilla. Stir well.

3. Remove pecans from the oven and add to the dry ingredients. Increase oven temp to 350F. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. The dough will be very sticky, so not to worry.

4. With a spoon, scoop about 13 cookies onto a lined baking sheet. They don’t spread much so you can put them an inch apart. Bake for 14-15 minutes at 350F and allow to cool on baking sheet.

Nutritional info (Per cookie, makes 13 cookies): 186 kcals, 9 grams fat, 24 grams carbs, 5 grams fibre, 10 grams sugar, 4 grams protein. You also get 620 mg Omega-6 and 31 mg Omega-3 fatty acids per cookie thanks to all the flax!

Just a word of caution- the dough is very sticky so don’t be alarmed when you mix it up. It’s easiest to just scoop the dough with a spoon and drop it onto the baking sheet.

They are a lovely cookie for an on-the-go breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack. And like Eric says, keep in mind that it’s a healthier cookie and you won’t be disappointed.

Breakfast this morning was a lovely Green Monster with a side of cookie.

Superfood Green Monster

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This Green Monster packs in superfoods like blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, chia seeds, and spinach! For more Green Monster recipes, visit the Green Monster Movement.

Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 large handful spinach
• 1 cup + 2-3 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/4 cup frozen mixed berries
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 scoop Garden of Life Raw Protein powder, or other powder
• Ice, if preferred

1. Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. Add ice if desired.

Nutritional Info (serves 1): 349 kcals, 14 grams fat, 39 grams carbs, 21 grams fibre, 12 grams sugar, 27 grams protein.

Note the hot tea in the background to warm me up!

[Mason glass was picked up in November while visiting Fish’s Eddy in NYC]

I thought I would pass along a couple fun vegan links for you today…

1. Check out the PPK’s Vegan Top 100 of 2011 list

2. VegNews Top 10 Vegan trends of 2011

3. I also wanted to point out that I added some social media icons on the right hand sidebar of my page for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Email Subscribe, and RSS! Sorry it took me so long…I’m a bit slow with figuring out these things! In case anyone else is interested, I used this WordPress Social Media Widget.

Have a great day!

It’s the day after the American Thanksgiving and I’m sure the last thing anyone wants is an energy bar.

However, it’s also Black Friday in the US and I figured maybe you could use some energy after all! There is very little that could pull me out of bed at midnight to enter long, cold line ups for hours on end, but these bars could just about do it.

I actually whipped up these bars because we’re leaving on a vacation tomorrow. I always like to bring some type of energy bar with me when I go away and stash a couple in my purse when we’re out walking around. If I find myself without any vegan options, I have a bar that will hold me over until my next meal.

I’ve never made an energy bar quite like this before. I added protein powder to rev up the protein in these bars, making sure they would give me sustainable energy when out and about. I wasn’t really sure what they would taste like with 1/2 cup of protein powder, but I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome!

I made two batches, on the left, using 1/4 cup protein powder and on the right, using 1/2 cup protein powder.

The bars using 1/2 cup protein powder were a bit more dense and the batter was drier, but otherwise I didn’t notice much of a difference taste-wise. Eric tried the bar on the left and he said he couldn’t even detect the protein powder at all. My suggestion is to use a very mild-tasting protein powder. I loved using Garden of Life Brown Rice Protein Powder as it has a fairly neutral taste and it’s not sweetened. Just make sure whichever protein powder you use, it tastes good because you will taste it in the bars if it has an “off” flavour. Of course, you could also skip the protein powder all together if you prefer.

If you cut 10 bars out of the batch, each bar has about 8 grams of protein when using protein powder such as this one below (17 grams protein per scoop).

These no-bake bars take just 5 minutes to throw together…love that.

I added a very THIN layer of melted chocolate on top of the bars and then chilled them in the freezer for 10 mins.

I also made these nut-free, using the amazing Sunbutter sunflower seed butter! I found it at Whole Foods and it’s almost an exact knock-off of Trader Joe’s sunflower seed butter (or maybe TJ’s is a knock-off of this stuff!). Either way, it’s amazing stuff. If you haven’t tried lightly sweetened sunflower seed butter, you really must. It’s ultra drippy and smooth.

Feel free to use any kind of seed or nut butter you prefer, but if it’s not very drippy you will probably have to add a bit more syrup. I also tried the bars (batch #2) using almond butter and it was also good, but I still preferred the sunflower seed butter.

A couple weeks ago, I bought this new Holly Nog (vegan egg nog) that I picked up at Loblaws. It’s just 60 calories per serving and has a simple ingredient list. I’m really impressed by the flavour of this nog…it’s amazing! The only thing it’s lacking is a really creamy texture, but for 60 calories a serving I figured I could work with it to make it into the nog I dreamed it would be…

(click to enlarge)

I blended a half cup of Holly nog, 1/2 cup almond breeze, a frozen banana, nutmeg, and cinnamon and I was absolutely blown away by the outcome. It was exactly the texture I was looking for with the wonderful nog flavour that I love so much!

This is what a picture looks like when the drink is SO good, I can’t even wait to snap the photo!

I can’t control myself around this stuff. A proper photoshoot will likely never happen. This is as good as it gets.

Oh wait, I just remembered I did take a photo of it a couple weeks ago! Here it is…before guzzling!

Creamy Holly Nog Smoothie

Yield: 1 serving

• 1/2 cup Holly nog (or try coconut milk nog)
• 1/2 cup almond breeze
• 1 peeled and frozen banana
• 1/4-1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (to taste)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, or to taste

1. Blend and enjoy!

~~~

Updates:

In case some of you didn’t see all my crazy updates/messages/panic attack yesterday, I found a discrepancy in my gluten-free pie crust recipe (thanks to Jesica for letting me know!). I said to pre-bake the crust at 350F and 425F, when it should be 350F and NOT 425F. Please accept my apology! I felt so horrible all day yesterday. The recipe is now updated to reflect 350F. I will be quadruple-checking my recipes from now on…

I’ll be back this weekend with photo clues of where we are travelling…I’m excited to see if some of you will be able to guess it right away. I might have to make it challenging.

Up, up, and away…