Choco-Banana Overnight Oats

Prepare to be jealous! Or envious… Or hungry, at least!

I mean seriously, check this out. THIS is what I had for breakfast this morning.

Oh me, oh my, oh yum! Be still my heart…

Wait, wait, wait… there’s more!

Oh yum!!!!!! This was U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-Y good! I want some MOOOOORE!!!!

This is another one of those dishes that I would just love to eat until the end of time. I would want to eat nothing but that for the rest of my life. I mean, the whole time I was eating, I couldn’t help but think this is way too good, there is no way it can be healthy. How can this be? Healthy food CANNOT be this good…

Well, apparently, it can!

What’s that you say? You would like to eat some of that too? And, of course, in order to do that, you would need a recipe! Well, it will be my pleasure to share the love!

Please, do yourself a favor and try it…you can thank me later 😉

Oh, and speaking of thanks… I would really like to thank Kris here, over at Young Married Chic, because I got the inspiration for this baby while visiting her site after she had made this wonderful entry about my blueberry cobbler oatmeal. 😀

You’ll see that this one is very similar to my previous overnight oats recipe, but it’s like 2 million times as good!

Hey, and it’s got carob on it! CAROOOOB! God I love that stuff!

Alright, enough talk. Here goes…

Ingredients
(1 serving)

• ½ ripe banana, thinly sliced
• ½ cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tbsp bulgur wheat
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp millet
• 1 tbsp buckwheat groats
• 1 tbsp extra dark pure cocoa powder
• 1 cup boiling water

• 2 tbsp chocolate flavored protein powder
• ¼ cup milk (I use unsweetened soy)
• A dozen carob chips to garnish

Instructions

The previous night

• Bring water to a boil. Meanwhile, in a plastic container with a fitting lid, mix all ingredients except for protein powder and milk. Add boiling water, stir until well combined. Put the lid on and refrigerate overnight (or at least 4 hours)

In the morning

• Stir in protein powder. Transfer to serving bowl and add milk.
• Garnish with a few carob chips, slices of banana or coconut shavings (like I did), if desired.
• Sit back and prepare to visit heaven!

Look at that… chocolate milk!!

OK, one last picture.Viewed from heaven…

More Power Walnut, Carob and Banana Bread

I love banana bread! Not only does it taste amazingly good, but it’s also a very efficient way to use up those super ripe bananas that you inevitably end up with week after week. Well, if you’re like me, that is, and buy bananas every week but only eat them when they are a beautiful bright yellow and then completely lose interest in them as soon as they start to develop the tiniest of brown spots… although I have gotten much better and now eat my bananas a lot riper than I used to, because I know they are in fact better for me when they are good and ripe. But still, I must end up throwing at least one, if not two per week in the freezer to use in smoothies or banana bread, mini loaves or muffins.

Up until now, I’ve always used the same recipe, but this week, I decided to play with the Pumpkin, Rasberry and Buckwheat Loaves recipe and to turn it into a More Power Walnut, Carob and Banana Bread.

Basically all I did is replace the pumpkin puree with banana puree. It took 3 bananas to make the required cup and a half.

Of course, I left the cinnamon, ginger and all spice out of the equation. Oh, and I added 100g of carob chips, which ended up being an enormous waste of time, since they all sunk right to the bottom, and I think they also decided to gang up and have a little party right in the middle of the loaf!

I mean, look how sad! All you can see in the picture is a mere dark spot, a lonely chip that got lost or something… I guess when I get more towards the other end of the bread, I will get a mega dose of crazy happy carob chips all bunched up together!

They’re probably having a good laugh right now at this great prank that they pulled on me.

Maybe next time I will use a little bit less milk to make the batter a tad on the firmer side, that way, the carob chips won’t get to sink that much. Still, the loaf has a very good texture as it is, so you can feel free to go ahead and use that exact recipe.

If you are the kind of person who loves their toasts in the morning, this makes for an absolutely gorgeous breakfast. Just cut a couple of slices and pop them in the toaster, then spread some good all natural peanut or almond butter on them.

Of course, this would also make an excellent afternoon snack!

INGREDIENTS
(for one large banana bread)

WET

• ¾ cup buttermilk
• ¾ cup soy milk
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup egg whites
• 1½ cup banana puree
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

DRY

• 120g vanilla flavored whey protein powder
• 1½ cup buckwheat flour
• 1/3 cup black chia seeds
• 2 tsp baking powder

ADD-INS

• 100g carob chips (entirely NOT necessary!)
• 75g walnuts, chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425F and line loaf pan with parchment paper
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix wet ingredients together and whisk until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients and whisk until well combined. Add wet ingredients and stir until well incorporated. Fold in carob chips and nuts. Mix to combine, no more.
4. Pour batter into loaf pan. Put them in the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 375.
5. Cook for 40-45min until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan then cool completely on a cooling rack.
7. Store in the refrigerator in an air tight container for up to a week

Raspberry Oatmeal Protein Pancakes

IT’S THE WEEKEND!!! 😀

Could you think of anything better than pancakes to eat on a lazy weekend morning?

Pancakes, to me, are like the ultimate decadent breakfast food. They are a treat that I used to indulge in only on very rare occasions, because, well, let’s face it, pancakes, as we know them, have absolutely nothing healthy about them. They are, for the most part, made of white flour and most people tend to eat them literally drenched in syrup.

I recently discovered this recipe for pancakes that aren’t just “less bad” or “better for you” than the standard version. Those pancakes are actually SUPER HEALTHY! For real! You could have them every single day of the week if you wanted to!

They are made with, believe it or not, nothing but rolled oats, egg whites and low fat cottage cheese! And the best part is, YES, they are incredibly good! Flavorwise as well as texturewise.

But you don’t have to take my word for it, you can try them for yourself. You’ll see, they are absolutely super easy and quick to prepare!

I’m pretty sure this one will become a favorite of yours, as it has for me!

I used raspberry here, but really, you could use whatever fruit you want… blueberries, strawberries, mango, pineapple, kiwi? why not! Let your imagination run wild, go nuts!

Oh, and ps… if you have some of that raspberry sauce leftover, it goes superbly well with the Pumpkin Raspberry Buckwheat Loaves

Ingredients
(serves 1)

Pancakes

• ½ cup Rolled Oats
• ½ cup 1% Cottage Cheese
• ½ cup Egg Whites
• ¼ tsp Baking Powder
• ¼ tsp Cinnamon
• ¼ cup frozen (or fresh) raspberries

Raspberry Sauce

• ¾ cup frozen (or fresh) raspberries
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Instructions

For the raspberry sauce: In a small saucepan, cook raspberries, water, lemon juice, chia seeds and agave nectar over low heat, stirring occasionally, until raspberries “melt” and sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. When sauce is ready, set aside to cool for about 5 minutes and puree in a food processor*.

For the pancakes:  Simply mix all the ingredients, except raspberries, in a food processor* and blend until nice and smooth. Remove the blades and delicately fold in the raspberries.

Coat a non-stick pan with cooking spray and heat it over medium heat. When the pan is hot enought, cook your pancakes one at a time until set and golden, about 1-2 minutes per side. I like to divide my batter into 3 small pancakes, but you may choose to make one large, 2 medium or 3 small pancakes, whatever works for you.

Transfer pancakes to serving plate and garnish with a dollop of plain yogurt and fresh raspberries if desired.

Serve with raspberry sauce.

* A Magic Bullet works wonders for this recipe…