Feeling the Love Inside & Out

You guys....I've had a really, really great birthday week.

I have received so much birthday love, it's been totally overwhelming! I've received cards in the mail, texts, emails, calls, Facebook messages and lots of lunch and dinner invites.

I've been out to eat ALOT, but other than a couple of meals where I strayed a wee bit, I've completely stuck to my clean eating plan. I've been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to have delicious, clean meals without sacrificing taste & satisfaction!!

Not only have I been conscious about what I eat when out at a restaurant, but I've been playing around in my own kitchen as well. I don't want to completely give up some of my fave foods, so I'm determined to put my personal spin on some old classics to make them clean, healthy and totally delicious!!!

This recipe has been one of my most recent successes. Who doesn't love apple pie this time of year?! I put some of my fave apple pie flavours into a cool and refreshing smoothie and have been enjoying them for breakfast and post-workout snacks all week long. Adding oats to a smoothie, is a great way to give it some 'staying' power, so that you can go a few hours before the hunger beast takes hold. Between the oats and the optional addition of some protein powder, this smoothie is surprisingly filling and will easily tide you over until your next meal.

Clean Apple Pie Smoothie

Serves 1 hungry clean eating machine

1 c unsweetened original almond milk

1/4 c oats

1/4 c water

3/4 c unsweetened applesauce (my recipe works awesome minus the brown sugar)

2 tbsp plain Greek yogourt

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 - 1 tsp stevia

pinch cinnamon

Optional: 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

Soak the oats in the almond milk overnight.

When you're ready to enjoy your smoothie, remove the oat mixture and pour it into your blender. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. I like my smoothies to be silky smooth, so this one needed to be blended and blended because the oats give it a little more texture than your usual fruit smoothie.

  

This is a great breakfast or post-workout snack!

What's your fave fruit to use in a healthy smoothie?

I've definitely had received my share of love this week and now I feel the need to share some love for some great reads from earlier this week. Go check them out and leave some love for some of my fellow bloggers:

~ Jenna got engaged and she has a beautiful  engagement story

~ Kris shares her view on how our choices affect where our lives take us

~ David Kirsch did a great guest post that encourages us to make fitness and wellness a daily ritual

~ Tina had a very special celebration this week

Do you have any great reads I need to see? Link 'em up!  

Enjoy the weekend!

Andrea

xoxo

The Breakfast Cookie

Happy Sunday! Are you enjoying the last few hours of your weekend? I know I am. I'm finally home for good after a very busy weekend and I'm looking forward to putting my feet up and relaxing tonight. The temperatures have dropped quite a bit over the past few days, so I think we'll be cuddling up on the couch and hopefully catching a good flick. The perfect ending to the weekend if you ask me!

I discovered a fabulous breakfast creation last week and I've been dying to share it with you. I'm sure to some of my foodie friends, this breakfast is old news, but to me it's new and it's utterly amazing! I have totally fallen in love with The Breakfast Cookie. I was checking out some new blogs (because I don't follow near enough these days ;-) and I stumbled across The Fitnessista.This girl's rocks! I'm loving her workout ideas and so far this is the only recipe of hers I've tried and it is amazing! 

The Breakfast Cookie
Makes 1 cookie

This is a great make ahead breakfast if you're like me and you're always running late for work. You make your cookie the night before (it only takes a few minutes!) and all you've got to do is eat it up in the morning! This is also one of those breakies that can be customized by using all sorts of mix ins to make it perfectly suited to your taste buds. I have so many combo ideas ~ I think it's safe to say you're going to be seeing The Breakfast Cookie mentioned on my blog alot!!!

1/3 c oats
1 tbsp your fave nut butter (I used White Chocolate Wonderful in this one)
1/2 scoop of protein powder (I used Vega Vanilla Almondilla - you can use anything you like or sub in cocoa powder)
1/3 c milk (I used soy - you can use your fave milk)
Mix ins: I used 1/2 mashed banana and 1 - 2 tbsp coconut

In a small mixing bowl, add your oats, nut butter and protein powder. Stir until mixture is crumbly.

Add your milk and mix until moistened.

Add your mix-ins and stir until well combined.  I used 1/2 a banana and coconut with this one.

Other mix-ins could be chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts, honey if you wanted your cookie to be a little sweeter and cinnamon.

Dump the oat mixture onto a small appetizer-sized plate and flatten.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Presto! When you get up, your cookie is ready and waiting for you.

DELISH! Great fuel to start your morning off on the right foot!
I was a little skeptical about this at first because I'm not into cold oats in the morning, but this was fantastic!!

....and yes, my cookie is on a Christmas plate ;-) I love this dish set and I rarely ever pack them away after the holidays! We have a really nice set of everyday dishes that haven't seen the light of day in 18 months ;-)

What would be your #1 mix in for a breakfast cookie?
Best thing you did this weekend - please share :-)!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,

Andrea

Strawberry Blueberry Oat Muffins

Isn't funny how the weekends fly by so fast when the weekdays drag by so slowly?!? I can't believe the weekend is already halfway over ~ I was so busy cleaning up dog poop in my backyard (I can't even begin to describe the amount of doggie doo that has been uncovered  now that the snow has vanished) and cleaning off muddy dog paws, that this day just flew by! Oh, and I can't forget that I met with a trainer and got a weight program set up at the gym. I am so excited to see the results over the next few months!

I'm on my own tonight and I'm planning on an early morning trip to the gym, so I thought I would spend some time tonight making a delicious and healthy breakfast that both Derek & I can enjoy.

I bought a huge container of strawberries at the grocery store last weekend for the awesome price of $2.50. I couldn't pass them up! I've munched away on them this week, but I still had a bunch left and they were starting to look a little sad & wilted. I haven't had much bread in the past 3 weeks and it is something I've been craving since I started the cleanse. I did splurge and buy wheat-free, gluten-free brown rice tortillas, but I couldn't bring myself to pay between $6 & $7 for a loaf of bread. Now that I'm done the cleanse I wanted to find a delicious and healthy recipe to satisfy my craving and this recipe certainly fits the bill.

Strawberry Blueberry Oat Muffins
Adapted from Strawberry Oat Muffins by Healthy Food for Living

1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c oats
1/4 c wheat germ
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 heaping tsp cinnamon
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c strawberries, pureed
1/2 c almond milk (any type of milk would work)
1/2 c maple syrup
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg (a chia or flax egg would probably work)
1/2 c strawberries, finely chopped
1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

Heat oven to 350. Prepare a pan of 12 muffin cups.

Combine first 7 ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl.

Add the next 7 ingredients into a larger mixing bowl and combine.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Fold in the strawberries & blueberries.

Pour the muffin batter equally between the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 16 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean after being inserted into one of the muffins. Cool on a wire rack.

At this point, it might be hard not to try one, but trust me those blueberries are packing some serious heat and we don't want any burnt tongues now, do we??

Serve your muffins and enjoy. Tastes best (in my humble opinion) when smothered with delicious Earth Balance and served with a side of fresh fruit.

These muffins are delicious. They're not too sweet and having muffins full of fresh berries in mid-March is just completely awesome if you ask me!!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend so far! Tomorrow I have absolutely NO plans after I hit the gym in the morning - that is so rare & so wonderful. I am looking forward to a great day!!

Do you have a favourite muffin that you just love to bake?

What is your definition of the perfect Sunday?

Andrea



Rustic Chocolate Chunk Banana Oat Cake with Cashew Butter Sauce

I first discovered the world of food blogging when I stumbled across Angela Liddon's blog, Oh She Glows. She is one of my favourite bloggers and I check out her posts on a daily basis. She has a lot of insight about life and chasing your dreams and she also has some really fabulous vegan recipes. You should check her out!

This morning I decided to make her Rustic Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze. This recipe is fantastic. I followed Angela's recipe making only a couple of substitutions: I didn't have any nuts, so I added slices of banana and dark chocolate chunks to the cake and I used cashew butter instead of peanut butter in the glaze. The cake was phenomenal! My mom is quickly learning that I have to take 100 pictures during every cooking venture, so rather than reiterate Ang's recipe, I am going to share my photos of making this scrumptious breakie:

I have an over-abundance of bananas taking up space in my freezer - what better way to use them up than a banana cake...especially one that includes some chocolate!

Making oats into an oat flour is so easy.

Blend the dry ingredients. 

Add wet ingredients to dry & mix well. 

Add the goodies - chunky bananas & dark chocolate chunks. 

Pour batter into a greased 8'x8' pie plate. 

There are no eggs in this recipe, so you or your kids can lick this bowl clean...er, I don't have kids, so I guess I'll have to do it myself ;-)

Be patient - my cake was perfect after 25 minutes of baking. 

Wow!

Now for the cashew butter banana sauce...start whisking

Keep whisking - you want the sauce to be nice & smooth!

Doesn't that look delicious - & it's so easy!! 

The finished product - this cake was SCRUMPTIOUS!! 

Let's just say, my piece did not last very long.

I make a mess when I'm baking...where are my cleaner elves when I need them?? 



I hope those cleaner elves show up soon because my mom & I are off to watch The King's Speech this afternoon. I'm super excited about checking out this Oscar nominated flick ~ I'll let you know what I think.

I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday - if you live in Southwestern Ontario, watch out for that wind ~ I'd hate for any of my friends to get blown away today - it's crazy out there!!

Andrea