Healthy, Dairy Free Pancakes

Pancakes are my most favouritest things in the world. Besides of course muffins... And peanut butter... And cashew butter... Goodness, I really need to narrow down the list! Often, store-bought mixes, delicious as they are, aren't very filling and contain plenty of sugar, as well as artificial ingredients (ie., preservatives). I wanted to create a pancake recipe that would still be delicious, but without all the unnecessary junk. I have very high standards when it comes to pancakes, because my dad is a pancake master. Therefor, I am used to his ridiculously delicious pancakes! Anyways, I shall move on to the recipe...

How delish do these look? Picture courtesy of flickr.

Ingredients 
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 packets stevia of choice
1/16 tsp salt
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 flax egg (1/2 tbsp flax, 1 1/2 tbsp water)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp earth balance (or other buttery spread)
1 tbsp water

Place a greased pan on your stove or griddle at medium heat. In a small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix lightly, as overmixing can cause gumminess (Yuck!). Pour batter onto pan in circles. You will end up with about 4 large pancakes. Lastly, enjoy! Drench in syrup, yoghurt, fruit, jam, whatever you want! Get creative with it.

That's all for today! Hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I did. If you have any requests, or suggestions, simply let me know in the comments!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Long time, no talk! I can't even begin to say how busy I have been these last few weeks, so we're just not even going to bother with that! Anyways, these muffins are delicious. A perfect treat for Canadian Thanksgiving (today). These are super easy to make, and do not have that awful metal pumpkin aftertaste. With just a hint of pumpkin, these will please even the pumpkin haters. And of course for the chocolate lovers... Chocolate chips! Myself, I am a pumpkin lover and a chocolate lover, so pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are ideal for me! Now, I'm sure you're probably wondering where the recipe is, so, I will share it...

Ingredients
2 cups oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup coconut sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup applesauce 
3 tbsp coconut oil
1 dropper vanilla liquid stevia
1/2 cup pumpkin 
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In a smaller, separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients. Pour the wet into the dry to combine. Stir in the chocolate chips. Do not over-mix, or you will end up with gummy, dense muffins. Once combined, disperse batter evenly amongst 12 greased or lined muffin cups. Place the tin in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before eating. Lastly, enjoy!

Question of the day: Do you like pumpkin pie?
I know some people absolutely hate it, but personally, I absolutely love it! I look forward to pumpkin pie every Thanksgiving. The yummy, cheesecakey texture and delicious pumpkiny taste. Incredible!

That's all for today! Hope you enjoy these muffins if you try them out. Happy Thanksgiving to all of us Canadians. I plan on stuffing my face plate with pumpkin pie :)

Banana Muffins w/ Raspberry Honey Frosting

So, let's cut to the chase. Frosting, made out of nuts? What? If my grandma knew, I think she'd faint (she doesn't believe in the no butter, no sugar stuff). But it does work. And plus, it tastes delicious! Oh, and the banana muffins? Yum! You see, I got this idea for banana walnut muffins the other day. There used to be this incredible muffin place in the local mall, but unfortunately, it closed. I may or may not have shed a tear or 2. Yes, it was that good. Anyways, this place had the bestest-ever banana walnut muffins, so I thought I would try to recreate a healthier version. I'm sure the ones at the muffins place were loaded with sugar, butter and a whole ton  of other junk! One does have to live a little though :) On to the golden recipes...

Ingredients
Muffins:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup raw coconut sugar (or reduce almond milk, and use agave)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tsp baking powder
3 bananas (2 mashed, 1 chopped)
1 1/4 cups almond milk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients, beginning with dry, and adding wet last. Disperse prepared batter evenly into a greased or lined muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a fork/toothpick comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins.

Frosting:
1 cup nuts (I used 1/2 cup walnuts & 1/2 cup pecans)
5 tbsp raspberry jam (I used Smucker's no sugar added)
3 tbsp honey

In a cereal bowl filled with hot water, soak the nuts for 2 hours. Once soft, combine all ingredients in a food processing device (ie., blender or food processor). Process until smooth consistency is reached. Once done, frost cooled muffins to your desire. Makes 1 cup of frosting.

Question of the day: What's you're favourite recipe website?
Mine is Chocolate Covered Katie. Her recipes are so awesome, and I've only ever had 1 fail me. Some favourites include Mint Chocolate Fudge Pie, Secret Peanut Butter Cookies, Single Lady cupcakes, and her Cookie Dough Dip! Also many, many more :)

That's all for today! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Until next time!

Ps. Any requests? Just let me know. My goal is to please my readers!

Cake Batter Oatmeal Squares

Cake batter... Cookie dough. How have I not gotten salmonella yet? Because, my desserts don't contain eggs! They're vegan friendly, and can be gluten-free. Anyways, this recipe is awesomely delicious! And the best part; tastes like cake batter... Especially the actual batter ;) Please do not omit the sprinkles. You'll break my heart. Moving on to the recipe!

Ingredients
2 cups oats
1/4 cup cashew butter
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup agave
1 tbsp sprinkles
1/2 tsp vanilla or butter extract
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup almond milk (or water or other milk of choice)

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine all ingredients, saving the sprinkles for last (so the colour doesn't bleed). Pour batter into an 8x8 pan. Next, place pan in the oven for 20-25 mins. Lastly, enjoy!

Question of the day: What's you're all time favourite recipe?
Besides my banana bread and granola bars, my go-to, favourite recipe is Chocolate Covered Katie's black bean brownies. They never fail me, with their dense, decadent, gooey chocolatey-ness! Perfect sweetness, and no bean aftertaste whatsoever.

Photo from Chocolate Covered Katie

Single Serving Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Raise your hand if you've ever made cookies just so you could eat the dough!
*raises hands* *and feet*
Needless to say, we've all done it. Let's face it; nothing is better than cookie dough! Except when you have a bowl to yourself for only 250 calories. Yummy, chocolatey, oatmealey cookie dough. All. For. You. Unless you decide to share, in which case I may imply that you're off your rocker! You know what would take this totally over the top? Warming it up for 30 seconds in the microwave. Warm cookie dough? Oh my goodness. I have to admit, when I came up with this idea, I felt like Einstein! And no, I don't mean to toot my own horn or anything :) But, really, it's going to be super awkward if someone has already done this. That's OK, I'll just give them a congratulatory plaque that says "Baking Einstein"! On & upwards...

Ingredients
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 tbsp coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
2 tbsp water
1/8 tsp baking powder (for taste)
1 tbsp chocolate chips

In a regular bowl, combine all ingredients, making sure to add chocolate chips last. Grab a spoon, dig in, and enjoy!

Question of the day: What's your favourite kind of cookie?
Besides, of course, peanut butter chocolate chip & oatmeal chocolate chip, mine would be the snicker doodles from Whole Foods. Those things are incredibly addictive & delicious! If you have never had one, well then you are missing out. But don't blame me if you can't stop at just one ;)

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you thought of it, or if you have any changes to make. Until next time!

Healthy Peanut Butter Granola Bars

These took me ages to perfect. No joke. I probably went through 3 jars of peanut butter and several chocolate chips. But, every time I would tweak the recipe, they would just crumble. Then, finally, these turned out perfectly! I was so happy (as were my parent's credit cards ;). Super filling, these bars make the ultimate snack. If, for some reason, you have a problem with peanut butter (ie., allergic, because who in the world could possibly hate peanut butter??), simply sub a nut-ter butter! If you cannot have nuts at all, try golden pea butter. I have made these with golden pea butter, and didn't notice much of a difference. By the way, please, please, please do not try to sub the agave with dry sweetener. They will crumble. I promise, as I found out the hard way! Anyway, moving on to the recipe...

Ingredients
2 cups oats
2 cups cereal (I used 1 cup Kamut puffs & 1 cup Nature's Path Multigrain Flakes)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp agave (or honey, or pure maple syrup- not the Aunt Jemima kind, please!)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Foley's Unsweetened)
3 tbsp coconut oil

In a larger bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In a separate, smaller bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Pour wet into dry. Lastly, add the chocolate chips. Place into a medium-large sized pan and refrigerate overnight., or until firm. Cut into 16 bars and enjoy!

Question of the day: What's your favourite kind or brand of granola bars?
Mine is either the above recipe, or Kashi's Peanut Peanut Butter bars. Yes, you read that correctly, double peanut! By the way, I recently found out, that apparently peanuts are not nuts. They are considered a legume! Isn't that odd?

Anyways, that's all for today! Hope you enjoy this recipe! Let me know what you thought and be sure to answer today's question, as well!

Healthy + Vegan Double Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Peanut Butter Frosting

Cupcakes...

That taste like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups...

That are healthy?

I know what you're thinking. No. Way. Jose! Yes. Way. Jose! These are delish. Decadent, dense, and chocolatey. Double the chocolate, in fact. Because, double the chocolate = double the fun! Oh, and you can't forget the perfectly whipped peanut butter tower frosting on top. I'm sure you're waiting for the recipe, so I'll just have to share it then.

Ingredients
Cupcakes:
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup Mimi Cream Healthy Top (or sub for regular whip cream, or cool whip, or Truwhip)
1/2 cup agave
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup carob or chocolate chips (I used carob chips)

Peanut Butter Frosting:
2 cups Mimi Cream Healthy Top
1/2 cup peanut butter (or more, or less depending on desired peanut butter flavor)

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, whip *Healthy Top as per instructions on the box. Reserve 1/2 cup for cupcakes, and 2 cups for frosting. Set aside the rest and use however you would like. In another (or the same) bowl, combine all ingredients, starting with dry, making sure to add the chocolate/carob chips last. Pour batter evenly into cupcake tin. Bake for 20-30 mins.
Wash out the batter bowl (or get another one), and combine the 2 frosting ingredients. Once cupcakes are removed from oven, let cool 10-15 minutes, then frost to your liking. Lastly, enjoy!

*Instead of using Healthy Top, you could use coconut milk whip cream, real whip cream, Cool Whip, Truewhip, etc.

Hope you guys enjoy this recipe. Apologies, for this weeks lack of posts. I will try really hard to stick to my every 2nd day rule.

Chocolate Cream Pie w/ a Hint of Coconut

Ohmygosh! This is probably my best recipe to date. If you're trying to introduce "regular" people to healthy desserts, make this. Now. Seriously. Oh, what's that? You need a recipe. Here you go...

Ingredients 
Pie Filling
1 can full fat coconut milk (leave in the fridge overnight to harden & pour out excess coconut liquid next day)
1/4 package silken tofu 
1/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 cup sweetener (I used raw coconut sugar)
1 tablespoon cashew butter

Almond Crust
3 cups almond meal
Enough water to make a cookie dough type texture

In a food processor, combine all pie ingredients. If it is quite thick, add a touch of water. Next combine almond meal and water to form pie crust. Press crust into pie pan. Pour pie mixture onto crust and freeze until texture is firm, but not frozen. Time will vary, depending on your freezer. Once firm, remove from freezer and cut into 10 equal slices.

That's all for this delicious recipe! All you have to do now, is enjoy the pie. I don't really need to say anything in this post, because the pie really speaks for itself. Yes, it's that good. I, unfortunately, don't have any pictures to share, as it was gone too fast! Let me know what you think in the comments below. Until next time!

Foods We Avoid That Are Good for Us

Today, I wanted to discuss some foods that we are taught to avoid, but that are actually good for us. The media has given so many nutritious foods a bad rap! We are so influenced by the media, that one does not stop to think if the information it is giving is true or false. 

#1: Eggs- Yes, they have cholesterol, but that doesn't make them bad! There are 2 types of cholesterol. LDL (Low density lipoprotein), which is the bad guy, and HDL (high density lipoprotein), which is the good guy. Eggs happen to contain HDL cholesterol, protein, omega 3's and healthy fats, making them an awesome meal choice.

#2: Peanut butter- Food is going to have fats, that's just how it works! What matters, though, is the type of fat in the food. Peanut butter contains mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats (aka "healthy" fats). Besides healthy fats, peanut butter also contains protein. So, put down the magazine and pick up the peanut butter!

#3: Pasta- It's okay to have carbs. There is no need to completely cut carbs out from your diet! Pasta (as long as it's whole wheat) is an awesome choice. It's filling and will give you quick energy. Not only will it provide you with energy, it also contains fiber, protein, and a multitude of vitamins. 

#4: Chocolate- Chocolate is not bad for you! As long as it is high quality and low or no sugar. It contains healthy fats, antioxidants and can help to improve heart health. And no, teens, chocolate will not give you acne. Sugar will. If you cannot find low sugar chocolate bars/chips, simply make your own. Chocolate Covered Katie has an awesome, super easy recipe here.

Question of the day: What's you favourite "unhealthy" food?
Mine has to be the warm gingerbread cake with gingerbread glaze that my grandma makes at Christmas time. Omygosh, it's seriously like the best stuff in the entire world. Words cannot even describe how good the cake and glaze are. Maybe I'll try to healthify it one day...

That's it for today! If you have anything to add, please feel free to comment down below. 

Buttery Mango, Coconut & Banana Muffins

First of all, sorry for the lack of posts this week. School starts tomorrow, so life has been enormously busy! Hopefully, I will try to post every 2nd day. Anyways, on to the muffins! Super moist and buttery tropical muffins. Like a smoothie, but better. Yes, I said it. Better than a smoothie. Forgive me :) The mango, banana and coconut flavors really compliment each other. The sweetness of mango and banana balance out undertones of coconut. Gosh, it sounds like I'm talking about a Slatkin & Co. candle! Moving on. Perhaps you could substitute the mango for papaya? Or the ever-classic strawberry banana combo. These are just suggestions, which I haven't personally tried, but if you do, let me know how they turn out! On to the recipe...

Ingredients
3/4 cup fresh or frozen mango, pureed (I used frozen, and found that adding a bit of water really helped to pulverize it better)
3/4 cup mango, chopped (again, I used frozen)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 cup oat bran
1 cup flour
1 banana, chopped into fourths (chop banana in half, then in half again. Next, cut small chunks and voila!)
1 cup liquid (I used 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup water)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp earth balance "butter"
1/2 cup flaked coconut 

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Puree mango in a food processor or high powder blender. Pour puree into mixing bowl and add in the brown sugar. Chop up the other mango into small chunks. Slowly stir in the rest of the ingredients. Disperse batter evenly amongst 12 greased muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until edges or golden. 

Question of the day: Are you excited to go back to school? (And if you're not in school, how about work?)
To be completely honest with you, I'm excited to get back to school. Mostly to see and hang-out with friends (duh!). I'm also excited to get my class schedule. I'm sure a few weeks from now, when I'm bogged down with homework, I'll be saying "Get me outta here!"

On another note, hope you like this recipe. Let me know your opinions, thoughts or requests!  

Banana Almond Muffins

Clearly there's too many bananas in my house... I think I need a banana intervention. But they make everything taste so good! Today I have an awesome banana honey almond muffin recipe. These are healthy, yummy, and perfect for an on-the-go snack. For an autumn twist, you could probably add pumpkin puree instead of banana and pecans instead of almonds. Obviously, I can't vouch for this flavor, as I haven't tried it. Next time I'm at the grocery store, I'll pick up some pumpkin and try it out! On to the recipe...

Ingredients
3/4 cup wheat bran
2 scoops your choice of protein powder
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup almond milk
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp honey (or more, depending on your sweet tooth, or in my case, lack thereof!)
2 tbsp chopped almonds
2 tbsp almond meal/flour
1 packet stevia
1/2 dropper liquid vanilla flavored stevia
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 bananas, lightly mashed (about 1.5 cups)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly mix all ingredients together. Muffins tend to get gummy, or dense if the batter is over-mixed, so make sure not to. Disperse evenly amongst 12 greased or lined muffin tins. Bake for around 25-30 minutes.

Question of the day: What's your favourite flavor?
I would have to say cake batter! I cannot get enough. 2 of my favourite cake batter recipes are Chocolate Covered Katie's "Cake Batter Energy Bars" and her "Cake Batter Milkshake". They are so yummy! 

Picture Courtesy of Chocolate Covered Katie

That's all for today! Hope you guys like this recipe. Let me know in the comments what you think. Also, if you have any questions, shoot them my way! Enjoy your long weekend :)

Grandma's Banana Bread: Healthified

Warm banana bread, fresh out of the oven. Soft centre, crispy outside... Could it get any better? Oh yes it can! This is my version of Grandma's banana bread & it's completely guilt-free. Not to mention delicious! The resident banana bread monster My little brother ate six pieces. Yes, the same brother mentioned here. Again, I conveniently forgot to mention this was healthy... Until he scarfed down the aforementioned 6 pieces. He didn't believe me. Neither did my mum. Nor my dad. I really want to curl up with tea and this banana bread in front of the fireplace. Unfortunately, I can't do that. Because there is no more banana bread left. I guess I'll just have to make some more. Oh, and yes, I just started a sentence with "because". See what two and a half months away from school does to me?

Ingredients 

2 1/4 cups flour (I used whole wheat)

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup coconut sugar 

1/3 cup maple syrup

2 flax eggs (soak 2 tbsp flax in 6 tbsp water for 2 minutes. Equivalent to 2 eggs)

1/2 cup Earth Balance or similar "butter"

1 tsp vanilla

3 bananas, mashed

2 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream together "butter", sugar, maple syrup & flax eggs. Slowly add dry ingredients to mixture & stir to incorporate. Pour into a loaf pan (or you can do muffins) and place in the oven for 45-60 minutes (if making muffins, decrease bake time to around 18-20 minutes). Enjoy!

Question of the day: What's your favourite food?

Mine would probably be peanut butter or cashew butter. They are both addicting. And cashew butter makes stuff taste like cake batter. Yes, you heard me, cake batter. And you can't go wrong with peanut butter. But only the all natural kind. I really don't like the taste of Kraft. It tastes so fake! Peanut butter snob :)

  

YUM!

Hope you like this recipe as much as my family & I did! Let me know in the comments if you make the recipe or have any additions/changes.

Best Healthy/Vegan Peanut Butter Carob Chip Cookies

These. Are. Incredible... And I'm not just being bias. My little brother (who HATES healthy food) ate 4 of these. Four. I didn't tell him they were sugarless though. That's just between me and you :) When no one believed that these were healthy, I knew we had a game-winner on our hands. She shoots, she scores! For example: at 2pm, there were 20 of these. By 4pm that same day, there were 6. I'm gonna stop boasting now and just get to the recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup flour 

1 cup oats

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup agave syrup

2 tbsp milk of choice (I used almond)

1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup carob chips

Preheat oven to 400°F. Stir together all ingredients, starting with dry ingredients & ending with wet. Make sure to put in the carob chips very last. Take a few (or 10, in my case) nibbles, just to make sure it's safe. Form into ball-shapes & place onto cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie with a fork & bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Most importantly, enjoy! 

Question of the day: What's your favourite kind of cookie dough? 

Mine was always the Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough. You know, the kind that comes already made and all you have to do is bake them? My parents always wondered where the cookie dough went. Upon finding out it was me, they always told me I was going to get worms in my belly, but somehow cookie dough still magically disappeared ;)

That's all for today. Hope you like this recipe, & let me know in the comments below if you have any recipe requests or changes you made to this recipe.  

Vegan Hot Chocolate Oatmeal

I know, I know; another oatmeal recipe. You'll forgive me once you try this one out... It takes exactly like hot chocolate. No joke! It gets better though. Not only are these oats completely guilt-free, but they are also vegan. I would recommend using a high quality cocoa powder, such as Hershey's or Ghirardelli. If you want an even greater resemblance to hot chocolate you could use whip cream (vegan or otherwise). Another recommendation, adding cocoa powder to the whip cream... Chocolate whip cream! I personally haven't tried the above variations, so I can't vouch for the flavor. I can, however, vouch for the flavor of the original oatmeal, which is yum-tastic! Let me know if you try any of the variations & how they taste.

Ingredients

1/3 cup oats

1 1/4 cup liquid (I used 1/2 cup almond milk, 3/4 cup water)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp carob chips 

1 tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened 

1.5 tbsp water

stevia, or other sweetener to taste (I used 5 packets Krisda stevia) 

In a small saucepan on high heat, combine the first 3 ingredients (oats, liquid & vanilla). While the oats are cooking, combine carob chips, cocoa powder & water in a small bowl. Stir until thick, saucey consistency is reached. Add in half of your chosen sweetener. When oats are cooked (almost all liquid absorbed) pour into a separate, larger bowl. Stir in the chocolate mixture from earlier, and the remaining half of sweetener. Enjoy! 

Variations:
Peanut butter hot chocolate: Add 1 tbsp of peanut butter

Coconut hot chocolate: Add 1-2 tbsp flaked or shredded coconut 

Strawberry hot chocolate: Add 1/2 cup chopped strawberries

Banana hot chocolate: Add 1/2 banana broken into 2 segments. Chop 1 segment into fourths and mash the other.

Fudgey Brownie Bites

Yummm... Like eating a fluffy chocolate cloud. Fudgey, gooey, chocolatey (is that a word? According to spell check it is) brownie bites. Or buttons. Or mini chocolate dreams. Call them what you want, I call them delicious! I'm sure if you omitted some of the liquid, you could make chocolate brownie cupcakes. I'll tackle those another day. For now, I'll stuff- I mean delicately place- these into my mouth!

Ingredients

1 cup flour of choice (I used white whole wheat)

2 tsp baking powder 

15 packets Stevia (I use either SweetLeaf or Krisda brand)

4 tbsp sugar (I used 2 tbsp coconut sugar + 2 tbsp brown sugar)

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp oil (I used softened coconut oil)

1 cup preferred liquid (I used 1/2 cup almond milk + 1/2 cup water- you may need more or less, if you find yourself with a thicker/thinner batter)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour all ingredients into a bowl (or you can do dry in one bowl, wet in another & pour wet into dry to combine). Stir until a smooth consistency is reached. Place batter into muffin tin & fill about 1/3 full. Cook for 20-25 minutes. They may appear slightly undercooked when you take them out of the oven, but that is what gives you the gooey texture!

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe. Please leave suggestions or recipe requests in the comments... I'm up for turning ANYTHING healthy! (Yes, even Grandma's chocolate chip cookies;)

Today's Brekkie: Gooey Banana Bread Oatmeal

Let's be real here; who in their right mind doesn't like banana bread. I mean really! What's not to like? Besides of course the lengthy cook time. But wait, if you make banana bread oatmeal, who get all the banana flavour in 1/4 of the time. Oh, this isn't an infomercial? Sorry, it's a food blog. Signing off...

Ingredients

1/3 cup oatmeal

1 1/4 cup liquid (I used 1/2 cup almond milk + 3/4 cup water)

1/2 of a ripe or overripe banana, sliced into 2 equal segments

1/4 tsp banana extract

1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

1 tbsp cashew butter

Sweetener, to taste (I used about 3 packets Stevia but you could also use sugar, agave, honey, the possibilities are endless)

Measure out the 1/3 cup oatmeal & 1 1/4 cups liquid and pour into a small saucepan on the second highest heat. Chop up 1 segment of the banana into fourths & mash the other. Place in saucepan. Add the banana & vanilla extracts to the mixture. Cook until creamy texture is reached & almost all liquid is absorbed (it will set up in seconds after removed from the heat). Pour oatmeal into a bowl. Add the cashew butter, as well as the sweetener, & stir to combine. Simple as that!

Hope you all enjoyed this recipe... I sure did! Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Basic, Versatile Buttercream Frosting

I wanted to share my favourite buttercream frosting recipe. It's fluffy, easy, versatile & most importantly, delicious! I'll share, as well, a few of my favourite variations of this recipe. This is a great, classic topping for your favourite cake or cupcake recipe. I wouldn't recommend storing it in the fridge, as the butter will harden the icing. I do, however, strongly recommend storing it in your belly ;)

Ingredients
1 cup soft/room temperature butter
2 cups icing sugar

Cream together butter & icing sugar until a "frosting-like" consistency is reached, about 3 minutes in my KitchenAid stand-up mixer. Time is approximate & may vary depending on brand of mixer, or method used.

Variations
Classic Vanilla Buttercream: Simply add in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract & mix.

Salted Caramel Buttercream: Stir in 4-5 tablespoons Smuckers Caramel Sauce, along with salt, to taste (I find 1/4 teaspoon suffices, but you may want more or less).

Earl Grey Buttercream: Pour in 2-3 opened earl grey tea bags (depending on desired strength) to the frosting until combined.

Frost your cupcakes/cake as you usually would and enjoy!

Pumpkin Protein Bars

For my very first blog post, I wanted to share my favourite go-to recipe for pumpkin protein bars. My favourite part of these bars is their texture; a dense, spongey cake consistency once cooked. Instead of using flour, my recipe uses protein powder. If you prefer, you can use flour. Just know, that I can't vouch for the results if flour is used, as I haven't tried it that way before. I've tried replacing the pumpkin in this with mashed banana before & it was absolutely delicious! Feel free to use whatever you want if you dislike/don't have/can't find pureed pumpkin. Get creative! Let me know in the comments what your favourite pumpkin replacement is...

Ingredients

*Makes 8 bars

-1 Cup Vanilla Whey Protein Powder

-4 Teaspoons Cinnamon

-1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg

-1 Teaspoon baking powder

-Pinch Salt

-Stevia, to taste *Optional (depends on your sweet tooth, I prefer it with 3 packets of Krisda stevia)

-3 Egg Whites

-1/2 Cup Almond Milk

-1 Cup Pumpkin Puree

-1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine vanilla protein powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt & stevia (if using) in a medium size bowl. In a separate bowl (or measuring cup), stir together egg whites & almond milk. Pour egg white/almond milk mixture into dry ingredients. Next, slowly add in pumpkin puree & follow with vanilla. Give the batter a good mix, & transfer into greased/sprayed 8x8 pan. Place the pan in pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.

Serving Size: 1 bar

Servings per recipe: 8

Calories: 70

Total Fat: 1.25g

Sodium: 83.13mg

Total Carbohydrate: 4.25g

Dietary Fiber: 3.35g

Sugars: 0.89g

Protein: 20g