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!
I actually don’t follow any news at all. It is just way to depressing. I rather live my life pretending that the horrible things displayed every day on the news do not happen.
I am exactly like you. I get too depressed when I watch the news. Then I have nightmares and I just don’t need that in my life. I’m usually pretty clueless when it comes to happenings in the world.
Uhhh those overnight oats look absolutely amazing. Like mouth-wateringly good..
That does seem like a less than efficient plan… hmmmm. I hope your race isn’t affected by it.
I don’t get as much news as I should… I listen on the radio on the way to work and catch some stories that are posted on Twitter…
well, I of course will have to try the pb&j BSS VOO!! (now that’s a mouth full) all of the breakfasts I have made from what you have been writing about this past week have been absolutely delish :) I also made Ashley’s breakfast of cherry BSS on top of waffles this morning, SOOO good!
I use ground flax quite a bit in place of.with chia seeds in VOO and hot oats, and they work quite well. whole flax seed just doesn’t seem to do it for me.
I work right inside that super-security zone. It’s crazy! We’ve been fenced in for a week now, and there are police EVERYWHERE (especially right around us, since apparently they’re renting some space from us for a security headquarters). I worked overtime last week so that I won’t have to come in on Friday, but I fully expect the gates to shut down earlier than the predicted 8pm Friday.
PB & J will never ever get old!!! That looks absolutely fantabulous. Yes, it’s a word ;)
I live just outside the security zone, near King station. My condo building has 2 security guards on the front door for 24 hours a day (versus the usual 1) plus 1 additional roaming around the building. I walk my puppy in the park nearby, and have twice now had about 12 police officers come through and do a sweep in all the bushes. It’s crazy, it all makes me feel anxious and like I’m living in some sort of police state. I’m getting out of here for the week-end, I really wish they had just held it elsewhere.
We had a G8 Summit back in 1997 in Denver and it made a mess of downtown and all the surrounding areas because so many roads were closed, businesses were closed, the skyscrapers had to have added security details, etc. Also, 2 years ago the Democractic National Convention was held in Denver, and when Obama was in town they practically closed ALL the roads into downtown. It’s ridiculous. I don’t understand why in this global electronic age we live in today, why these world leaders can’t hold their conferences or whatnot via satellite and teleconferencing. It would ease up the mess these summits create in the city they’re held in, let alone all the waste the incurs with something this big (I’m thinking all of these leaders along with their associates don’t have to fly halfway around the world and create such a huge carbon footprint). It’s crazy. I don’t like politicians (on either side of the ticket) because I think most of them are not interested in what’s good for the people, but what’s really good for their image and pocketbooks.
I was wondering did the banana soft serve have a strong banana flavor?! I love peanut butter but HATE bananas and want to try it!
I was actually wondering the same thing but didn’t ask because I thought I was the only person that hated bananas!
hahah woo go us!!
No you’re not. I can’t stand bananas either. I actually made the VOO with mashed up blackberries once instead of bananas – much better :0)
hmmmm…I want to say NO it didnt have a strong banana flavour….all I remember is the peanut butter bliss! But that could also be because I am just used to the BSS taste. What I would do is probably only use 1/2-3/4 a banana, a bit of almond milk (or whatever kind) and 1-1.5 tbsp PB. Im sure that combo would mask the taste better.
thank you so muchh!!! I will try it with a little almond/soy milkl..I also have peanut powder maybe I willl try that :)
I don’t care for the news on television: it’s so slanted, biased and some of it is SO dumbed down I can’t stand it. I do like reading it though! But still only once a day or so to try and stay on top of things.
PB&J oats is about my favorite thing to eat in the entire world. I used to just mix raw oats with PB&J and eat it. I had to stop because I like it TOO much!
I don’t keep up with the news as much as I should. I don’t watch or read the news … I mostly just hear about things from others.
Those oats look so beautiful!
I’ve used ground flax in my voo and it actually comes out a bit thicker than the chia seeds. Sometimes I get a little creeped out by black balls in my food (I’m new and slightly resistant to the whole real whole foods/ healthy lifestyle) I usually use a little less than 1/2 Tbs of groudn flax and about 1/2 Tbs of chia and it comes out good as long as you do some extra whisk-ing.
Yes, it is going to be a very tense weekend indeed. It has been impossible to even move anywhere for the last couple of days. Honestly, I think it is better (for Torontians) to get out of the town at least for the weekend, to escape from this summit madness.
I love to keep up with the news too! Always have something to talk about with anyone then. I read the Guardian and the Observer (UK) and sometimes the LA Times. My boyfriend reads the NY Times too, so together we send each other interesting stories to do with our own interests etc. Holding a newspaper outside on my lunch breaks is also getting me the start of a good summer glow :)
Is there a viable substitute for the Amazing Grass powder? The note says sweetener….so just use sugar/agave/maple syrup, etc?
Thanks!
Matt
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