Category: Refined Sugar Free

2 Summer Smoothie Bowls

1 Comment

Smoothie bowls are my ABSOLUTE favourite breakfast! They’re so refreshing, and make me feel like I’m having a treat on vacation somewhere. You can pack a bunch of veggies in there without even noticing, and the topping combos are endless. ENDLESS!

It took me a while to get the perfect smoothie bowl thickness, but I think I’ve finally cracked the code. You want to have the ingredients as cold as possible, and limit the amount of watery fruits that you put in your smoothie. The base of all of my smoothies is a frozen banana, because that’s what makes them thick and creamy. If you don’t like banana you can try using mango, because I’ve found it has a similar effect. The ingredients might take a little while to come together in the blender, but eventually they’ll form a mixture that’s almost like soft serve in texture. Using a tamper is critical here, because you can continually push the ingredients towards the blender blades.

In this post, I’ve included two different recipes for summer smoothie bowls, because I couldn’t decide which one to pick! One has banana, berries, and spinach, and the other has banana, spinach, kale, and watermelon. Yum! My watermelon didn’t get completely frozen, and so the result was a slightly more watery smoothie bowl. Make sure that you leave it in the freezer at least overnight! These recipes are definitely some of my favourites though, because they TASTE LIKE SUMMER and allow you to get some greens in!

Lets talk toppings. Really anything goes when you’re topping your smoothie bowl, but some ideas are more fruit, granola, dates, nut, seeds, and nut butters. I like a few different toppings on my bowl because it keeps things interesting. Some granola recipes that go GREAT on smoothie bowls are my Nutty Granola and Chocolate Coconut Granola. I’ve also been known to top my bowls with a Seedy Energy Square or two….. it’s so good!

I hope that these recipes get you hooked on smoothie bowls!

Berry and Spinach Smoothie Bowl

Serves: 1

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Bowl:

  • 1 frozen banana (sliced)
  • 3/4 cup frozen blueberries
  • 3/4 cup spinach (not packed)
  • 2 tbsp water

For the Toppings:

Directions:

  1. Add all of the smoothie ingredients to a powerful blender and blend on low, using the tamper to push the ingredients down.
  2. Once the ingredients are starting to come together, turn the speed to medium and continue using the tamper. It may seem like you need to add more water, but continue until a thick, soft-serve like mixture forms. This can take a few minutes.
  3. Scoop the smoothie into a bowl and top with the strawberries, granola, and peanut butter.
  4. Enjoy!

Greens and Watermelon Smoothie Bowl

Serves: 1

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Bowl:

  • 1 frozen banana (sliced)
  • 3/4 cup frozen water melon chunks
  • 1/2 cup kale leaves (loosely packed)
  • 1/2 cup spinach (loosely packed)
  • 1 tbsp water

For the Toppings:

Directions:

  1. Add all of the smoothie ingredients to a powerful blender and blend on low, using the tamper to push the ingredients down.
  2. Once the ingredients are starting to come together, turn the speed to medium and continue using the tamper. It may seem like you need to add more water, but continue until a thick, soft-serve like mixture forms. This can take a few minutes.
  3. Scoop the smoothie into a bowl and top with the chopped dates, granola, and peanut butter.
  4. Enjoy!

I know I’ll be enjoying these bowls all summer long! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you Wednesday:))

Yours Truly,

Olivia

Chocolate Dipped Pumpkin Seed Cookies

Leave a comment

So, we have a lot of pumpkin seeds. Like A LOT. We got the 1.2 kilogram bag from Costco. I wanted to make some pumpkin seed butter out of them, because I don’t really like to eat them by themselves. But halfway through the blending process, my vitamix quit on me! This happens sometimes because it’s pretty old, and seeds are a pretty intense thing to blend. So I was like, now what? What can you make out of half-blended pumpkin seeds? It turns out that you can make something pretty fricking amazing.

I added some maple syrup to the seeds, pressed em into cookies, and TRIPLE DIPPED them in chocolate. That’s right. TRIPLE. DIPPED. These cookies are legit amazing. They’re so rich and nutty and sweet and just awesome! You only need four ingredients to whip them up, and if you have a really old blender no prob! It only needs to work for about two minutes.

My go-to chocolate dipping sauce is maple syrup, cocoa powder, and coconut oil. Super simple and so good. All you have to do is melt the ingredients together and you’re good. This sauce could also be used for pretty much anything else, like oatmeal, strawberries, other fruits, nice cream; the list goes on and on. On these cookies, it lends another hit of richness that is definitely welcome. If you’re not feeling the chocolate though, you can always omit and just eat the cookies by themselves. HA! That was a joke! DEFINITELY include the chocolate. I don’t know why you clicked on this post if you don’t like chocolate.

That’s my spiel for the day! I really hope you give these cookies a try because they will change your life. For the better.

Chocolate Dipped Pumpkin Seed Cookies

Serves: Makes 10-12 cookies

Total Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups shelled and roasted pumpkin seeds (I used salted)
  • 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • I’m not kidding that’s it

Directions:

  1. In a STRONG blender or food processor, blend the seeds until they start releasing oil but aren’t too loose. You want the mixture to be something you could form a ball with.
  2. Transfer the blended seeds into a bowl and stir in 2 tbsp of the maple syrup.
  3. Scoop the pumpkin seed mixture by heaping tablespoons and form into balls. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet or pan, and press down to make cookies about a centimetre thick.
  4. Place the cookies in the freezer for at least half an hour. You want them to be pretty frozen so that they’re easy to dip.
  5. Make the chocolate sauce right after you pop the cookies in the freezer. Melt together the cocoa powder, coconut oil and maple syrup in a small pot over low heat. Remove from the burner and let stand until the cookies are ready.
  6. After thirty minutes has passed, take out the cookies and dip them one by one halfway into the chocolate mixture, placing them back on the baking sheet. By the time you’ve reached the last cookie, the chocolate on the first cookies should be hardened because of the cold. Dip all of the cookies halfway again, and then once more to ensure optimal coverage.
  7. Place the cookies back in the freezer for another 10 minutes before serving. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Enjoy these little bites of deliciousness!

Yours Truly,

Olivia

Peanut Stir Fry

Leave a comment

Hey there! Stir frys are actually awesome, in case you didn’t know. They’re loaded with veg (one of my favourite things), have a delicious sauce (another one of my faves), and this one has peanut butter (my ALL TIME favourite thing). This stir fry is also pretty much fool-proof and can be served with any type of grain you’d like; rice, brown rice, quinoa, noodles, we’re making it work.

If you really need to, you can also switch out some of the veggies I used as well. Snap peas, red onion, and even cauliflower would work in here. And if you want to add in some cooked chicken or beans for protein then go ahead! What I’m saying is, this stir fry is really versatile and works with pretty much anything.

This sauce is OFF THE HOOK though. You’ve got creamy peanut butter, spicy sriracha, and a little salt from the soy sauce. So good. Enough talk. Let’s get to the stir fry.

Peanut Stir Fry

Serves: 1-2

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Stir Fry:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 a white onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 small red bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 4 small mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/2 a head of broccoli, cut into small florets
  • 1 carrot, sliced
  • Green onion for topping (optional)

For the Sauce:

  • 1 tbsp creamy natural peanut butter
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp sriracha
  • Sprinkle of red chilli flakes
  • 2 tbsp water (or more if you want a thinner sauce)

Directions:

  1. Mix together all of the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add in all of the sliced veggies and cook until they’re tender, about 8-10 minutes. Add water to the pan if it starts to dry out, and stir often to prevent burning.
  3. Once the veggies are soft, add the sauce and cook for another minute. Make sure that all of the vegetables are evenly coated.
  4. Remove the pan from the heat and serve the stir fry with noodles, quinoa, or by itself. Top with sliced green onion.

Enjoy this healthy and delicious meal idea! See you Wednesday;))

Yours Truly,

Olivia

Nutty Granola

1 Comment

Hey guys! I have another granola recipe for you today because as you know, granola is one of my true loves. This one is actually really simple, it only uses one…two…three…four ingredients! Just had to count em up in my head there. Plus you don’t need any oil, unless you count peanut butter as an oil. I count it as spreadable gold.

There are also loooots of nuts in this granola, because who doesn’t love a nutty granola? I used almonds and pecans from a jar of mixed nuts. Why not use all of the mixed nuts, you ask? BECAUSE I”M ALLERGIC TO CASHEWS AND PISTACHIOS AND I’M REALLY MAD ABOUT IT! They make my mouth all itchy which is really inconvenient, because like every vegan cheesecake or creamy pasta sauce recipe ever has cashews in it. (Except for my Creamy Mushroom and Hummus Pasta which is an awesome alternative for my fellow cashew allergen people). But anyways, I love me some almonds and pecans so it’s all good. I know you might be running short on supplies right now, so if you absolutely positively cannot get your hands on almonds and pecans, you can use other nuts or even some seeds if you’re super desperate. I’m sorry, but nuts are just superior to seeds. Like would you rather have some peanut butter or like, pumpkin seed butter? I’ve never actually had pumpkin seed butter but based on my experience with peanut butter I’m going to say that it’s better.

Back to the granola. It’s sweet and nutty and crunchy, and you’ve also got some nice big clusters in there. If you’re not using salted nut butter, you could top it off with a little sea salt at the end for an extra hit of perfection. I will definitely be making this recipe again!

Nutty Granola

Serves: 3-4

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
  • 3/4 cup roughly chopped almonds and pecans (you still want some nice chunks in there)
  • 1/4 cup smooth natural peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix together the nuts and oats in a large bowl. Set aside.
  3. In a small bowl, add in the peanut butter and maple syrup and microwave for about 30-45 seconds, until the peanut butter is nice and melty. Mix together until smooth.
  4. Add the maple syrup and peanut butter mixture into the oats and nuts and stir until everything is evenly coated. Spread the granola out onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.
  5. Remove the granola from the oven and give it a little stir, trying not to break up any clusters that are forming (because lets be honest, those are the best part). Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 5-8 minutes, until the granola is golden brown.
  6. Take out the granola, let cool and enjoy!

Hope you enjoy this nutty granola! See you soon;))

Yours Truly,

MyDayIsBooked;))

Lemon French Toast

1 Comment

Hey there! I’m kind of starting to settle into a rhythm of schoolwork and just hanging out, which usually means that I make some toast or a yogurt bowl for breakfast. But sometimes I’m in the mood for something more fun, which calls for some French Toast! French Toast is so tasty and super simple, and to make it even better I added some lemon to mine. This version is vegan, but if you don’t have any plant milk on hand feel free to just use regular milk. Anyways, what’s really special about this breakfast is the carameliaztion that happens because of the bananas in the batter. Do you call it a batter? I guess it’s more of a dredge or a dip….. I just looked it up- it’s a custard. Yeah, the bananas in the custard give it some nice sugar that’s just DYING to get all brown and crisp. And the lemon just gives it some interest and zing. Some blueberries and maple syrup would be perfect with this French Toast. Give it a try and break up your monotonous breakfast cycle!

Lemon French Toast

Serves: 2

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 slices of sprouted grain bread (or any kind of bread you like)
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1/2 cup of almond milk
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • Zest of half a lemon
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

  1. Mash the banana in a medium sized bowl. Mix in the almond milk, vanilla, lemon juice and zest.
  2. Heat a small pan over medium-low heat. Soak both sides of a piece of bread in the almond milk mixture, making sure that it’s fully coated, but don’t soak it for so long that the middle becomes mushy.
  3. Cook the bread in the pan until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes, and then flip, doing the same on the other side. Check the French Toast every so often to make sure that it doesn’t burn.
  4. Soak and cook the remaining slices of bread, then serve warm with more lemon zest, berries, and maple syrup:)

Enjoy!

Yours Truly,

Olivia;)