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Ginger Oat Cookies

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It’s December, which means it’s time for the holiday baking to begin! I have yet to decorate my room which is kind of sad but last night I baked up some delicious cookies! Baking cookies is so fun and I haven’t done it in a while. I love cutting them out, and decorating them is just so relaxing! These Ginger Oat Cookies are made in one bowl and baked for 15 minutes so that you can get to icing them (my favourite part) in a snap.

I used so many tasty ingredients in this recipe! We’ve got ground walnuts, oat flour, maple syrup, and of course lots of ginger. The result is a golden-brown cookie that is deliciously crumbly and full of oat-y, Christmas-y flavour. And did I mention the chocolate icing?!!!??? It’s probably the easiest icing you’ll ever make- it only consists of cocoa powder, maple syrup, and almond milk. And it’s SO rich and delish! I piped it on to my little ginger-oat men (that’s what I’m calling them lol) and gave them cute faces and outfits:) You can adjust the amount of milk you add to it to make it thicker or thinner, depending if you want to spread it on like frosting, pipe on some details, or flood the whole surface. The chocolate goes so nicely with the warm spices in the cookie.

To start make these festive beauties, I simply mixed together all of my ingredients in a big bowl until it came together to form a nice dough; then I rolled it out, cut out my cookies, and baked them up. Super quick and easy! I cut my cookies into the shape of gingerbread men, but feel free to use any fun holiday-themed cutters:)

I love how healthy these cookies are too. They’re vegan, refined sugar free, and can easily be made gluten free if you use gluten free oats. The oat flour and ground walnuts can either be bought or easily made by throwing either oats or walnuts into a blender, which is what I did. The holidays are definitely about treating yourself, but if you’re looking for something a little lighter or that’s maybe a nice and nutritious Christmas snack, then these are for you.

I hope you enjoy these Ginger Oat Cookies! They’re so tasty and cute:)) I can’t wait to share more of my holiday baking with you guys so make sure to keep checking out my blog!

Ginger Oat Cookies

Serves: Makes about 12 Cookies (I used a cutter that was roughly 4 inches by 3 inches in size)

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Ginger Oat Cookies:

  • 1 cup ground walnuts
  • 2 cups oat flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup

For the Chocolate Icing:

  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 3 1/2-5 tsp almond milk (depending on how thick/thin you’d like your icing)

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix all of the cookie ingredients together in a large bowl. Use your hands to form it into a big ball.
  3. Place the dough on top of a large piece of parchment paper, and cover it with an equally sized piece. Roll it out with a rolling pin so that it’s about 1/4 of an inch thick. Remove the top layer of parchment paper and cut out shapes with cookie cutters, placing the cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
  4. When you run out of room to cut more cookies, collect all of the excess dough into a ball and repeat step 3. Continue to do this until you have used up all of the dough, and you have a pan full of soon-to-be cookies in front of you!
  5. Bake the cookies in the oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove and let cool completely.
  6. To make the icing, mix together the cocoa powder, maple syrup, and 2 tsp of the almond milk in a small bowl. Gradually add more milk until you reach your desired consistency.
  7. Scoop the icing into a piping bag and cut a small hole at the bottom. Use this to pipe decorations on to your cooled cookies.
  8. Let the icing on the cookies harden and proceed to enjoy! These can be stored in the fridge for about 10 days, or frozen and thawed when needed:)

Have a great rest of your week everyone! I’ll see you Friday with another great recipe:)

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

Ginger Spiced Brown Rice

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Hey guys! Hope you all had an awesome weekend and are ready to slay the week ahead🙌 (I’m writing from my phone today so we get emojis👍) Today I have a VERY good brown rice recipe that’s a great base for any of your bowls, or an amazing side on its own. It uses fresh ginger, which is so fragrant and delicious!

All of the steps to make this rice are purposely done to extract maximum flavour👌 You start by frying up the ginger and garlic, and then toasting up the brown rice so it gets a bit browned. Carrot gets added in for sweetness, and then that super tasty curry powder! It adds great colour to this dish as well:) This all gets simmered together in a combo of water and almond milk. It might sound a tad weird but it makes the rice a bit creamier!

After about 25 minutes of cooking, the rice should absorb most of the liquid, but not be completely cooked through. So at this point, you add a bit more milk and simmer for a bit longer. When it’s all cooked and seasoned with a generous amount of salt and pepper, this rice tastes like heaven. Legit.

My advice is to make a huge batch of this and store it in the fridge for meal prep all week. Making a bowl? Use this rice. A salad? Use this rice. A burrito? Use this rice. Snack time? THIS RICE. Honestly it’s so flavourful and reminds me of a better version of Uncle Ben’s. Except way healthier and more tasty. Yep, I said it. I love that this uses brown rice too, because brown rice has more fibre, magnesium, and a bunch of other nutrients than white rice. Delicious and nutritious. What a win-win! You can have your rice and eat it too.

I hope that you enjoy this awesome recipe! Can’t wait to see what you use it as a base/side for.

Ginger Spiced Brown Rice

Serves: 2

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
  • 1 carrot, grated
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 1/2 cup brown rice
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup + 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. In a medium-sized pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add in the garlic and ginger and fry for about 2 minutes, until aromatic.
  2. Next, add in the grated carrot and cumin, and continue to cook for about 3 minutes. Dump in the brown rice and toast for 2 more minutes.
  3. Pour in the water and the 1/4 cup of almond milk. Stir, season generously with salt and pepper, and reduce the heat so that the mixture is at a simmer. Cover and let cook for 25 minutes.
  4. At this point, the liquid should be absorbed, but the rice not cooked all the way through. Add in the 1/2 cup almond milk, stir, cover, and continue to let it simmer for another 15 minutes, until the rice is cooked all the way through (not too hard when you bite into it).
  5. Remove the rice from the heat and adjust with any more seasoning. Serve warm and enjoy!

Have a great week everyone! I have some great holiday baking recipes coming soon so be sure to check them out:)

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

December 2020 Reading List

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We’ve arrived at the final stretch of the year so this month I’m going HARD to finish all the books that I need to for my 2020 Reading Challenge. I slacked a little in November. Right now I’m reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea and it’s a little bit painful, not gonna lie. It’s a great concept and story and everything, but it’s pretty dry! My goal is to finish by the end of this week because I need to start my other books:)))

I’m so glad that I branched out into a bunch of different genres this year though! I feel like up until now I’ve mostly just been reading YA fiction stuff, but I’m actually starting to drift away from those kinds of fantasy books. There are so many cool books out there, from mystery novels to historical fiction to more classic stories, and I feel like I’ve just reached the tip of the iceberg, which is exciting. YA Fiction- especially fantasy- is still very near and dear to my heart, but after a while the summaries on the backs of the books all start to look the same. Last year I remember I was kind of stuck in a rut thinking that I’ve discovered all of the good books there were to be read…. I don’t know how I was so naive but there are SO many good ones out there. If you’re stuck in a book rut try reading something outside of your usual genre! You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.

The books I’m reading this month definitely showcase a lot of variety and I’m really excited to read all of them! I have a shameful confession to make though… I STILL haven’t read the Guinevere deception (insert yikes face emoji here). I think it’s been on my book lists since the summertime, but I actually only bought it about a week ago and was in the midst of Twenty Thousand Leagues already. So I actually need to read it this month. I’m getting it done first.

Otherwise, the two other prompts that I still need to fill in are a book about food, and a book set in Asia. I have two books that both look AMAZING to hit these categories. Let’s get into my list so you can see what I mean!

The Guinevere Deception

I finally got my hands on a copy and I’m reading this first in December! I’ve given a summary like five bajillion times now, but the premise is that Guinevere is called to Camelot to marry King Arthur- only she has a secret identity. She was actually sent by Merlin to be a guardian of the city. It’s up to her to save Camelot from the dangers lurking both outside and within. This should be a nice light, fun read and I’m excited to dig in.

A Cook’s Tour

This is for my book about food and I’m REALLY looking forward to it. It’s by Anthony Bourdain who is absolutely amazing, and basically it chronicles his quest around the globe to find the perfect meal. International cuisine is super interesting to me, and I love trying new things! So this should be a super cool read. Who knows, maybe I’ll get some inspiration for more good blog recipes:)) Next year I’d definitely like to pick up some more books on food, just to learn more about different cuisines and techniques so I can share them with you guys. If you have any interest at all in food I suggest picking up this book, because it looks like a good one.

Shantaram

Ok, this one is a little iffy because it is THICK. And by thick I mean a whopping 933 pages. Which my be the thickest book I’ve ever had my sights on.

This book fills in my “set in Asia” prompt, but if its looking like I’m not going to finish it, I may have to jump ship. Although usually if I really like a book, I zoom through it, so I might not have an issue. We’ll see! Anyways, this book is about an Australian convict who flees in India and begins to live in the slums of Bombay. He eventually joins the mafia, whose leader becomes his mentor. This book encapsulates a huge range of human experiences and seems like it deals with some pretty deep stuff so I’ll have to put my thinking cap on. But I like books that talk about humanity and have a deeper message, so hopefully I like this one so much that I can finish it in a week!

Those are the books that I’m planning on ending off the year with! I now recognize how important it is for me to finish Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea ASAP because I have waaaaayyy more reading to do than I anticipated. Hope you guys have an amazing weekend! Gotta go read:))

Chickpea Shakshuka

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Hey there! I have a really fun and awesome recipe for you guys today! Even though you may not have heard of it, Shakshuka is SO GOOD. It’s a middle eastern dish that combines a warming tomato stew with poached eggs, and is the perfect addition to your breakfast spread. I added some chickpeas to mine for some extra protein and fibre. This recipe is super easy to follow and comes together in less than an hour, because the faster this deliciousness gets into your mouth, the better.

I’ve seen shakshuka on a bunch of cooking shows and featured in the occasional Pinterest post, so I thought, why not try it out? I began by frying up onions and garlic. What a shocker! I find it interesting how so many different cultures use garlic and onions in their food. Making tomato sauce? Garlic and onions. Curry? Garlic and onions. Shakshuka? GARLIC AND ONIONS BABY. I am not complaining because the smell of frying onions is out of this world. After I got that aromatic veg all sauteed up, I threw in some amazing spices, tomatoes, tomato paste, chickpeas, and lots of salt and pepper. Those ingredients all get to know each other very well in the pan while you continue on with your morning routine. I did some stretching:)

Personally, I am an egg lover, and so this is next part was my favourite. After stirring up the stew, I cracked four eggs DIRECTLY into there, brought it to a nice heavy simmer, covered, and let them poach. This is a critical moment because you want that yolk to be nice and runny. I appreciate a good hard boiled egg, but this is not the time. So set your timers because it will be very disappointing is you overcook these. I will personally be disappointed in you.

Once those eggs are done, you’re done! Step back! That’s all! I just took these off the heat, removed the lid so that the eggs don’t keep steaming, and I want to say that I dug in right then and there but no, I took the whole pan down to the fridge in our basement to preserve it for when the lighting was better, so I could take a good picture. Do you see the sacrifices that I make for you guys? Annnnnyways, when I finally got around to eating this, I scooped myself a big bowl, warmed it up, and topped it with fresh chives, parsley flakes, and avocado because you’ve gotta go big or go home. And let me tell you, this is AMAZING. It’s so full of flavour from all those spices, and then the chickpeas give you some texture, and that runny yolk is just perfection. This is such a great fall/winter breakfast, because it’s so cozy! Traditionally it is a breakfast dish, but I would be very happy to eat this any time of day.

Make sure that you try this out! I can’t wait to make it again for my family on a weekend.

Chickpea Shakshuka

Serves: 2-4

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium sized white onion, diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon (trust me)
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp red chilli flakes
  • 2 tsp parsley flakes (plus more for garnish)
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes
  • 1 can of tomato paste
  • 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 4 eggs
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Chopped chives, for garnish (optional)
  • 1 avocado for serving, sliced (optional)

Directions:

  1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, deep pan or skillet. Add in the onions and cook for around 4 minutes, until they’re just translucent. Next add in the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
  2. Add the all of the spices and herbs to the pan and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, until they’re somewhat browned and nice and fragrant.
  3. Dump the tomatoes, tomato paste, and paprika into the pan. Season generously with salt and pepper, give everything a good stir, then lower the heat to a slow simmer. Cover the pan and let cook for 30 minutes.
  4. Remove the lid from the pan, stir everything again and make sure the stew is level across the top. Crack the 4 eggs directly into the pan, in a kind of square pattern so that they’re not too close to each other. Bring the stew back up to a faster simmer, cover again, and let the eggs poach for EXACTLY 5 minutes.
  5. Remove then pan from the heat and take the lid off. serve immediately and garnish with more parsley flakes, chopped chives, or avocado.
  6. Enjoy!

Hope you guys love this recipe! It’s one of my faves. Come back on Friday for my December Reading List!

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))

December 2020 Bullet Journal Set-Up

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Hey there! This post has been postponed a couple of times but I’m glad that I’m finally getting it up! It’s my last set-up of the year which is both crazy and a little sad. For me this year kind of zoomed by, and while it was really weird and I’m excited for 2021, I still made some good memories in 2020. It was a good year in my bullet journal too!

My bullet journaling style went through a big progression this year:) I did some straight up doodle-y themes, but I also branched out and went with a lot more drawing and colouring! I did tons of experimentation and found a bunch of layouts that I really like. I’m sad to leave my olive green journal because I love the colour so much, but I’m going to leave you guys to speculate about what colour I’ll be getting next year:) I’m brainstorming ideas for my 2021 set-up already though, and I’m super excited for it! That’ll go up at the end of the month.

Setting up my spreads for December was a bit of a struggle, to be honest. I found a great theme which is near and dear to my heart- The Sound of Music! I watch this movie with my mom every Christmas and there’s a lot you can do with it drawing-wise, so I thought that it would work perfectly. For some reason I just couldn’t really transfer my ideas on to paper though. I didn’t want to do a ton of drawing because it can be time consuming, but I didn’t really know how to otherwise fill up the page. So this theme isn’t one of my best, although I have a few cute pages and I really love the concept. That darn bullet journaler’s block just got in the way I guess!

It’s all good though. I think you’ll enjoy my fun drawings and the advent calendar that I included again! I’ll explain more about how that works later in the post. Hope you enjoy my last set-up of 2020!

For my title page I did end up doing a lot of drawing/colouring, but I’m not mad about it because I think it turned out really nicely. I was inspired by one of the beginning scenes in the movie, which is also one of the cover photos for the DVD. I drew a mountain scene from Austria, and then Maria singing in the field. I did my title in yellow which I don’t think I’ve ever done, and my quote is directly from one of the songs in the movie. Super cute!

Here’s where I kind of ran into my dilemma. I didn’t want to draw out a whole scene again because it takes so long, but I didn’t know what else to draw! I ended up going with some Edelweiss, which is a mountain flower and the tile of a song in The Sound of Music. I drew a flower, wrote some lyrics from the song, and that was that. I can’t really decide if I like this full page calendar layout or the smaller, half page one, but I went with a full pager this month. Also I got new Tombow fudenoske brush pens recently and I’m kind of “breaking them in”, so I feel like my calligraphy wasn’t that nice. I don’t know I just wasn’t really feeling it with this one but they can’t all be great I guess! (I’ve wanted to use the laughing face emoji like 50 times in this post but I can’t because I’m writing it on a laptop.)

One of my favourite spreads of the month for sure! In the movie they have a puppet show with goats and goat herders, so I tried to recreate that for my trackers. Although I just drew a goat puppet because I can’t draw people, even in puppet form. (See, another good opportunity for the laughing face emoji). I did some theatre curtains, a mountainous background, and a cute lil’ goat puppet. You can’t really see but I have all my habits written out on the side, as well as space to record my mood and productivity, and my workouts.

I also feel kind of meh about this spread, but it is what it is! I was going for the pattern on the play clothes that Maria makes for all of the Von Trapp kids, and it turned out alright. I balanced out the green with yellow font, and then highlighted every other line so I can differentiate them more easily. Just a simple spread to write down the things I’m grateful for, and to plan blog posts:)

We’ve arrived at my advent calendar! I love it:) I made 25 little pockets by cutting out rectangles of white paper and sticking then down on 3 sides with my roll-on glue tape thing. I drew a bunch of things from the “My Favourite Things” song on them, and they’re super cute! I then wrote down 25 things to do on other little pieces of paper, mixed them up, and put them in the pockets randomly so I don’t know what I’m doing on which day. This year I included acts of kindness in there, like doing an extra chore or cooking for my brother, and some of my favourite things, like having a smoothie bowl for lunch or having a good stretch. I completed this page by writing out some of the favourite things in cursive on brown paper, and also including a title:)

And finally my first weekly of the month. By the time I got to this spread I was pretty tired and I rushed it a bit, but it’s still cute! I just divided the page into five sections, and drew some mountains on the opposite side, with a to-do list.

There’s my December Set-Up! Stay tuned for my 2021 set-up coming later this month:)

Yours Truly,

Olivia:))