Category: Recipes

Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal

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You know how I posted three recipes for Overnight Oatmeal a couple months back? Well, those are great to make ahead for rushed mornings, but if you have the time to make this Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal, I totally recommend it! In fifteen minutes you can have a bowl of creamy, chocolaty oats topped with seeds and of course, cherries. If you don’t have time to make this during weekdays, it’s a great breakfast to soothe your sweet tooth on the weekends. In short, this recipe hits the spot any day of the week! I used frozen cherries in this to top my oats, but if you don’t have some on hand, any fresh or frozen berry will do. Now let’s make some oatmeal!

Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal

Makes 1 Serving

Cook Time: 5-8 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium sized banana
  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup frozen cherries (or berries of your choice)
  • Your favourite toppings (nuts and seeds, nut and seed butters, dried fruit, etc.)

Directions:

  1. Mash half of the banana in a small pot. Add in the oats, cocoa, and water, and stir until combined.
  2. Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring the oat mixture to a boil.
  3. Turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 5-8 minutes, until desired thickness is reached. Make sure to stir the oats every couple minutes or so to avoid them sticking to the bottom of the pot.
  4. Remove the pot from the heat and pour its contents into a bowl. Top with the frozen cherries and other toppings of your choice. I like to slice the other half of the banana and use it to top the oats.
  5. Enjoy!

This is a healthy and delicious breakfast, and it definitely fills you up and gets you through your day! I hope that you like it and find it easy to make. Thanks for reading!

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked;))

Super Simple Tomato Sauce

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Hello there! I see that you’ve all survived the first week of school-congratulations! Today I’m sharing another freezer friendly lunch recipe: Super Simple Tomato Sauce. One batch of this makes seven or eight servings of sauce, which freezes really well and can be heated up on hectic mornings. I usually eat this over lentil pasta, which takes about six minutes to cook (making it great to make in the morning), but any other pasta works fine too. Here’s the recipe:

Super Simple Tomato Sauce

Makes 7-8 Servings

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbs olive or avocado oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 3 cups spinach, optional
  • 1 small can of mushroom stems and pieces (optional)
  • 2 794ml cans of diced tomatoes
  • 1 6oz can of tomato paste
  • 5-6 fresh basil leaves or 1 1/2 tbs dry basil)
  • 2 tbs fresh oregano leaves (or 1 tbs dry oregano)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

  1. Cook onions and garlic in the oil over medium heat, until the onions are translucent, about 5-6 minutes.
  2. Add in the tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and spinach and mushrooms if using. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes-1 hour.
  3. Once done simmering, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over lentil or whole wheat pasta.
  4. To freeze, wait until the sauce has cooled completely and spoon individual servings into ziplock bags. I recommend putting the frozen sauce in the fridge to defrost the night before you want to heat it up.

 

And there you have it! I apologize for the lack of pictures; as I was making this I didn’t think that I would post about it. If you have any questions, though, leave a comment down below and I’ll be happy to answer them. The spinach and mushrooms are listed as “optional”, but I really think that they enhance the sauce. Anyways, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!

 

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked;))

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

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‘Sup everyone? School has started, and making lunches is a struggle once more. Fun times! In keeping with this theme, my next few posts will be simple lunch recipes that can easily be made and frozen so that you can defrost them during busy mornings. Today we’re making Black Bean Quinoa Burgers, which are delicious, easy, and freezable; important qualities for our purposes. You can whip up a big batch and have burgers for days while your friends glare at you enviously. Sounds great, right? Well, you have to make them first. Let’s do this.

Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

Makes 5-6 burgers

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
  • About 3 cups fresh spinach that has been wilted (not 3 cup of wilted spinach), or 1/4 cup frozen corn, or both, or none
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp chile powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne powder (add more or less to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Couple cracks o’ pepper;))

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F
  2. Pat the black beans dry and dump them into a medium sized bowl. Mash them with a fork (or with your hands) until you can form a bit of a ball with them, but there’s still some whole beans in there.img_9397
  3. Add all the spices, quinoa, wilted spinach or corn if using and mix with your hands until combined.img_9398
  4. Scoop 1/3 cup of the mixture at a time and form it into patties; they should look something like this:img_9400
  5. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for about another 25 minutes.
  6. Cool completely before eating or freezing. Freeze the burgers laying flat in a sealed freezer bag.

I love eating these between two pieces of sprouted grain bread with some sliced pickles, tomatoes, spinach, and a little bit of pesto, bet heck, they’d be great in a bun or a wrap with veggies and tzatziki. MMMMMMM! Hopefully these burgers help you out in a pinch, or just give you something great to munch on. Stay tuned for more freezable school lunch recipes coming soon!

Yours truly, MyDayIsBooked;))

Nutty Apple Crumble

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Hey guys! I for one love a good apple crumble, and with fall coming up (ewww), I thought that this would be the perfect time for this post. This crumble turned out great, and I ended up using peanut butter instead of the recommended coconut oil (surprise surprise), which makes it unique. But you can totally use coconut oil if you prefer. Almonds give a nice crunch, and using oat flour instead of regular flour makes it healthier.  Scroll down for the recipe.;)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

  • 4 Gala Apples, peeled and sliced
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup oat flour (make by grinding oats in your blender)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 1/4 cup melted natural peanut butter (or sub melted coconut oil)
  • 1/4 tsp salt (omit if you’re using salted peanut butter)
  • 1/4 cup whole almonds
  • Drizzle of honey (optional)

 

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. Mix together the oats, oat flour, cinnamon, allspice, salt and almonds in a medium sized bowl.img_9245
  3. Add in the peanut butter (or coconut oil) and mix until combined. You may need to get in there with your hands to get rid of chunks of peanut butter or oil.
  4. Place the peeled and sliced apples in a parchment lined baking dish.img_9246
  5. Sprinkle the oat mixture over the apples evenly.
  6. Place the crisp in the oven for about 40 minutes, until the apples are soft.
  7. After 40 minutes in the oven, take out the crisp and drizzle a little but of honey on it. Place it back in the oven for another 5 minutes. (If you’re not using honey, just bake it for a full 45 minutes;)).
  8. Remove the crisp from the oven and enjoy with ice-cream, peanut butter, or more honey. Or all of the above!b50d553f-1135-4d82-b8c7-dd4d3cdd468c-1340-0000004593f2a867_file

Boom! Simple, easy, healthy and delicious! I hope that you enjoy my version of this classic fall dish!

 

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked;)))

 

Balsamic Roasted Veggie and Quinoa Salad

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‘Sup people! One of my favourite things to do is come up with new recipes; I just love being creative and experimenting with different ingredients. Today my experiments paid off, because this salad turned out great! Chickpeas, sweet potato and cauliflower are the main components, with a few fresh cucumbers in there as well. I’m usually not a huge fan of balsamic vinegar, but together with rosemary, quinoa and roasted veggies, it’s waaaay better. Plus, there’s no greens in this salad, which is a nice change! I kept my salad vegetarian, but you could totally add some grilled chicken on top to make it a heartier meal. Here’s the recipe for my Balsamic Roasted Veggie and Quinoa Salad:

Ingredients:

Makes 4 servings

For the Roasted Veggies:

  • 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
  • 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 cup cauliflower florets, washed
  • 1 tbsp avocado or olive oil
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • A bit of pepper
  • 1/2 tbsp rosemary leaves

For the Quinoa:

  • 1 cup quinoa, cooked
  • 1 cup cucumber, diced
  • 2 sprigs of green onion, chopped

For the Vinaigrette:

  • 1/4 cup avocado or olive oil
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp Salt

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
  2. Mix all of the roasted veggie ingredients in a large bowl, until the veggies are covered in oil and vinegar.
  3. Spread out the veggies on a sheet pan covered with parchment and bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are soft.
  4. While the veggies are baking, cook the quinoa and cut up the onion and cucumber. Mix it all in the bowl the you want to serve the salad in.
  5. Prepare the vinaigrette, mixing the oil and vinegar until combined.
  6. Once the veggies are ready, mix them in with the quinoa mixture. Pour in the vinaigrette and toss the salad.
  7. Enjoy!!

 

I hope that you like this quick recipe. the sweet potato and balsamic work really well together, and the fresh cucumber sort of brightens everything up. Thanks for checking out this post, and stay tuned for a crafty tutorial coming soon!!

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked;))