Cherry, Peach and Quinoa Breakfast Bowls

Hey guys! I’ve been pretty much eating the same things for breakfast during the time we’ve had to stay at home. I either have a smoothie bowl- which are awesome and my favourite- or just a big plate of fruit with some but butter- also very good. But today I had some leftover quinoa so I thought I’d experiment.

Quinoa is a super healthy; it’s a whole grain, contains some protein, and has all 9 essential amino acids. So it’s a great way to start your day! This recipe uses precooked quinoa, for when you have some leftovers and maybe not a lot of time in the morning. I’m starting summer school soon so this may come in handy.

To make these bowls, I cooked the quinoa in some almond milk and allspice, along side some peaches and cherries; two of my favourite summer fruits! The cherries turn everything a nice pink colour, and when you get a little bite of everything it tastes like a fruit pie😍😍😍

Hope you enjoy these Cherry, Peach and Quinoa Breakfast Bowls!

Cherry, Peach and Quinoa Breakfast Bowls

Serves: 1

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1/2 cup almond milk, or whichever milk you desire
  • 1 peach
  • 6 cherries, pitted and cut in half
  • 1/8 tsp allspice

Directions:

  1. In a small pot, combine the quinoa, almond milk, allspice, 4 of the sliced cherries, and 1/2 of the peach, diced.
  2. Bring the mixture to a simmer and let cook for about 5 minutes, until the fruit is soft.
  3. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl, and top with the reaming cherries and the other half of the peach, sliced.
  4. Enjoy!

Have a great day and I’ll see you tomorrow for my last post of the month!☺️

Yours Truly,

Olivia

Easy Tofu Scramble

‘Sup people? I’ve been meaning to make a tofu scramble for a while, and this afternoon I finally got down to it. I still love a good old egg scramble, don’t get me wrong. But if you want something plant-based, tofu is a great egg substitute. This Easy Tofu Scramble is awesome in wraps or bowls, on toast, or by itself. It’s also perfect for every time of day- breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Tofu is actually really easy to cook, and in this recipe I just drained it and proceeded to fry it up. But if you’re a first time tofu eater and want to know a little more about it, you can check out my post Soy Marinated Tofu, where I explain what it is and share another awesome recipe as well. To liven up this scramble a bit, I added some tomatoes and green onions, as well as paprika and garlic powder. Tofu can be a bit bland, so you want to make sure you add a lot of flavour.

Lastly, have lots of fun customising this scramble! If you want to add more veggies and different spices feel free to. Tofu is such a great blank canvas! Enjoy this recipe;))

Easy Tofu Scramble

Serves: 1

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 85g of Extra Firm Tofu
  • 1/2 a tomato, diced
  • 1 green onion or chive, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add in the tomato, green onion, and tofu.
  2. Break up the tofu with a wooden spoon, until it resembles scrambled eggs. Cook for about a minute.
  3. Add in the garlic powder. paprika, salt and pepper and cook for additional two minutes, stirring often.
  4. Remove from the heat and enjoy!

Hope you like this recipe! Have a great weekend;)

Yours Truly,

Olivia

Creamy Avocado Balsamic Dressing

Hi there! Today I have a delicious and creamy dressing recipe for you guys. It may not be a looker but it’s sure packed with flavour and goes great with any salad combo! I used some delicious fresh basil from my plant (throwback to last year when I did Herb Month) and it adds so much!

This dressing takes five minutes to whip up, and has all of the taste of a balsamic dressing, but is much creamier and has that extra basil in there. It’s the consistency of a good ranch dressing. I like it because oftentimes I’ll make vinaigrettes, and it’s nice to have something more unctuous. Isn’t that a great word? When something is unctuous you know you want to eat it.

For lunch lately I’ve just been roasting a bunch of veggies (including sweet potatoes, of course) and tossing them with some lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and a sick dressing like this one. It just ties everything together and still tastes so light and fresh! Some other things you could slap this on would be sandwiches, wraps, and bowls. It’s so good! Here’s the recipe;))

Creamy Avocado and Balsamic Dressing

Serves: 4

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 a ripe avocado
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 4 small leaves of fresh basil, chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp water
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Mash the avocado very well in a small bowl. You want as few lumps as possible.
  2. Whisk in the rest of the ingredients, then serves in salads, wraps, bowls or sandwiches.

Hope you like this dressing! It’s great for summer;))

Yours Truly,

MyDayIsBooked

Tuna and Avocado Poke Bowls

I’m so excited about this recipe! You don’t even know. Obviously with the pandemic going on I haven’t been eating out as much, and yesterday I was just craving something different. Something that made me feel like I’m at a restaurant somewhere. The ingredients that I had on hand didn’t seem very restaurant-quality (canned tuna isn’t exactly a star protein), but I came up with something that HIT. THE. SPOT.

I love tuna poke- I love raw fish of any kind, really, but getting a big chunk of tuna steak is kind of expensive and it’s not the kind of thing that I just have lying around in my fridge. HOWEVER, I do have a large quantity of canned tuna. I mixed it with mashed avocado, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and ginger to make an amazing mixture that definitely reminds me of delicious poke! Plus I formed it into little balls to serve, which really brought the restaurant vibe!

For the other components of this bowl, I tried to get creative and really have fun. We have some HOMEMADE pickled veggies people! Homemade!! They’re so simple to make and sooooooo tasty! Plus you have some wild rice, which contains tons of good-for-you vitamins, spinach, thinly sliced cucumbers, and a sprinkle of hemp hearts. Delish!

I really hope you give this bowl a try! It’s so fun to make and eat, and makes for a slightly-fancy at home dinner for when you can’t go out. Enjoy!

Tuna and Avocado Poke Bowls

Serves: 2

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Tuna:

  • 1 can of light chunk tuna, drained (I used yellowfin)
  • 1/2 a ripe avocado
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 1/2 rice vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger

For the Pickled Veggies:

  • 1/2 a large carrot, cut in half width-wise and shaved into thin strips with a veggie peeler (see Thai Ribbon Salad)
  • 1/4 of a red onion, sliced very thinly
  • 1 cup white vinegar
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced

For the Bowl:

  • 1/2 cup wild rice
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • A couple of handfuls of spinach
  • 1/2 a cucumber, sliced thinly
  • Hemp hearts or sesame seeds for topping

Directions:

  1. Combine the wild rice with 1 cup of water in a pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 30 minutes, until all of the water has evaporated. Then remove from the heat, fluff with a fork, and let stand for 5-10 minutes.
  2. After the rice starts cooking, mix the vinegar, garlic, and chilli flakes in a small bowl. Add in the shaved carrot and thinly sliced red onion, trying to make sure that most of the veggies are covered by the pickling liquid. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for a least 35 minutes to pickle.
  3. In a medium sized bowl, mash the half avocado and stir in the soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, sesame oil and tuna.
  4. Once the rice is cooked, stir in the rice vinegar. Split the rice up into two serving bowls, and top with the pickled veggies, cucumber, a handful of spinach, half of the tuna mixture each, and some hemp hearts or sesame seeds.
  5. Enjoy!

Hope you’re all having a great week! See you Friday;))

Yours Truly,

Olivia

Stove Top Baked Beans

Hey guys! The weather is finally getting nicer and nicer, and I’m really starting to miss those summer barbecues! While we’re all stuck at home, you can still have a taste of summer time. These Stove-Top Baked Beans bring together caramelized onions, garlic, vinegar, and spices to make the perfect side dish.

I feel like all of my recipes are super versatile right now, because it can be hard to get super specific ingredients. You can use pretty much whatever canned beans you’d like in this recipe. I used black beans and red kidney beans to keep it interesting. Beans are so good man! They’re definitely underrated but are a great source of protein. In this dish, they’re great as a side with another protein, or just with some pita or bread. The recipe below makes a pretty big batch, which you can always halve if you don’t want to make too much. Or double it and freeze some for later- I haven’t tried that yet but I’m sure it would be great for when you’re in a pinch and are craving some beans. And lets be honest, that was me all the time before quarantine started. Now I’m still carving beans but I have more than enough time to make em.

I also caramelized the onions more than usual in these beans, to give them extra flavour. You want them nice and soft and brown. Maple syrup gives this recipe some sweetness, and red wine vinegar cuts through the sugar. The result are some seriously good beans! And since I made them on the stove they take less time to make as well. How can you go wrong? Here’s the recipe.

Stove Top Baked Beans

Serves: 8 as a side (I have a lot of bean eating to do)

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 a medium sized yellow onion, diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp shawarma spice (or use smoked paprika)
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
  • 2 cans of beans, drained and rinsed (I used black and red kidney)
  • 2 tsp pure maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 can crushed tomatoes
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add in the shawarma spice or paprika and cook for an additional 5 minutes, until the onions are soft and caramelized. Add water or more oil if the pot starts drying out.
  2. Put the beans, tomatoes, vinegar, maple syrup, cumin, and cayenne pepper in the pot and stir until combined. Bring the mixture to a simmer and then turn the heat to low.
  3. Cover the beans and let them cook for about 20-30 minutes. Remove from the heat, season liberally with salt and pepper, and enjoy;)

Hope these beans transport you to an awesome summer BBQ!

Yours Truly,

Olivia;))))