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 like the Globe and Mail over the NP, although the NP seems a bit dumbed-down.
…NP’s also more right-wing than my own views.
(what does that say about conservatives, eh?)
We had the G20 in Pittsburgh a few months ago. My husband also works in town close to where it was, and it was just a nightmare, security and everything. I am not a news junkie but I do like to know whats happening – I get most of mine from websites. We don’t get a newspaper because neither of us has time to read it!
The PB&J combo just NEVER gets old… and I SO have to try the pb soft serve!
Wow, that’s intense! I get most of my new from all sorts of websites. I love morning talk radio too :-)
Your breakfasts always look so delicious, it’s amazing, where do you come up with all these combos? :)
I can’t wait to try and make this
oh my, how i love VOO! i’m making the pb&j version asap too!
Why that sounds intense and I agree with you about having it in a remote area.
on flax seeds, i read that if u don’t grind them your body is unable to absorb any of nutrients because of the tough outer shell. thought you’d want to know….and confirm for yourself if its just crazy talk.
The G-20 was in Pittsburgh in the fall and I work and live near that area. There was lots of security, but I have to say it was fairly anticlimactic based on what they thought would happen and what did. I worked from home the first day and decided to go in the next and the city was a ghost town. Fastest commute I had all year, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the chaos. It might be different for your city, but I think so many people avoided the downtown area that if you did have to go it wasn’t bad at all!
Also I’ve been reading for awhile, but never post. Just want to say love the blog and I send it to anyone I know who is vegan or vegetarian when they need some new food ideas!
Wow, that is crazy…what a hassle! I can see why people would be pissed off about it.
I’m not a huge news junkie, but I do usually watch CNN at the gym.
The Globe & Mail website is my homepage! Ha!
Living in Toronto this G20 has been a HUGE pain and I have several friends who work downtown, one at Queen’s Park itself and it’s crazy! My one friends law office was told to dress in street clothes all week so that they’d “blend in” with the protestors as she works in a bank tower. I agree with you, this was needless, how much land does Canada have that we had to have it smack dab in the middle of Toronto wasting BILLIONS of dollars?!
Thankfully I have to leave the city this weekend for a wedding, I don’t want to be here at all!
LOVE your breakfast! I did a version of your chocolate VOO today – SO goood!!! And with banana soft serve…thankyou to introducing me to such an AMAZING thing!
I don’t really follow the G20 stuff – I read a national newspaper to get the world news, but that isn’t something in particular that I follow :s it sounds intense though!
Currently living outside my home country, I read a fair amount of news sites from there, from where my dad grew up, and from my current residence, the USA. I love it b/c I can keep up with things that are going on at home and not feel too left out (what happened before the internet??). Though my dad is great at sending clippings from my hometown newspaper. I also like NPR (they have a great iPhone app where you can read and/or listen to their reports). One thing I do notice is the timing and initial content of a major event. If something happens in the US and I read about it in a home country newspaper, there’s usually a difference in facts and when they are reported. Sometimes I read about something (usually minor) in a home newspaper, that I already read about 2 days ago on a US based site. It’s great that we have a lot of choice, but even with my fave sites I’m learning not to take things at face value.
I was not aware of the G20 summit, but just got off 36 hours of straight international and domestic travel, and am a bit out of it, so that’s my excuse! :) Thanks for keeping me updated . . maybe you should be running an OSG newswire! :)
Hi! :)
I’m Helena from Portugal. I follow your blog everyday but I never commented, you’re an inspiration for someone like me who wants to live healthily, really!
Today I made your 50 cent Hummus (I also add nutmeg, it was great) and I would like to know for how many days can I keep it in the fridge?
I made it with 260g (about 1,5 cup) of chickpeas, so I have hummus for like 15 times and as I am the only person in my house that eats these type of things (aka healthily) (I’m 20 so I still live with my parents), do you know any recipe that can integrate hummus in a way that my parents cannot really tell it is there?
Hi Ange,
My husband and I were just in Toronto this weekend for a baseball game and it was CRAZY downtown. Driving into Toronto was a mess as well as driving out of Toronto. Fortunately we walked everywhere we went, but the traffic and crowds were unbelievable. I’m from a small town and was blown away by the busyness of the city. It was interesting to see them preparing for the G20 Summit. By the time we left, they had most of the fences up and there were police everywhere. I agree with you that they should have chosen a more secluded area for the summit.
mmmm..this combo looks great!
I just tried your vegan overnight oats and your soft serve :) it was amazing !! check out my blog for pix :)
Love seeing my hard earned money wasted on this G20. Really with all the technology we have they could Skype from there offices. Save us all money and time. Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, 680 news, CP24 and City TV are my go to news sites. Love seeing who puts up news the fastest.
I listen to the morning news on television feed via internet each morning, even though much of it is not good :(
I love Huffington Post, it’s my homepage! :)
Great idea – have the G20 in a remote area!
That is absolutely nuts! Stay safe this weekend!!!
I use to listen to CFRB 1010 all the time!!! I wonder if I can get it online?
:)
Yup you can listen live here! http://www.newstalk1010.com/player/player
some of their comments crack me up.
I always use ground flax seed in my VOO since chia seeds are a little bit expensive for me and I stock ground flax seed for other things anyway. It does get really thick, and the flax doesn’t float to the top. This week has been the week of pumpkin pie voo.
Thanks for verifying about the ground flax! Will try this soon :) I know what you mean about chia seeds being $$$ thankfully I buy chia seeds by the 50 pound pails so it works out to being cheaper haha.