Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

*Disclaimer- I have been super lazy when it comes to pictures lately... I promise to get out my "real" camera and focus, change f-stops, and try to be a legit blogger one of these days... I hate to tell you today is not that day SORRY!*

You don't need great pictures to share great food and that's why I am here today. I have finally made a version of Baked oatmeal that I am willing to share... (it took a few times to get a recipe that was blog worthy)

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal


What you need:
Dry ingredients
3 cups oats
1 cup dried unsweetened coconut - feel free to used sweetened
1/2 cup sliced almonds or nut of choice
1tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp ginger
1/2tsp cloves
1/2 nutmeg
1 cup fresh blueberries

Wet Ingredients 
2 Cups almond milk or milk of choice
1 egg white
1 6oz vanilla greek yogurt- any flavor would work
4oz apple sauce
1tsp vanilla
* you can make this vegan super easily by switching out the egg white for a flax egg*


What you do:

 Pre Heat oven to 375
-Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until everything is equally incorporated.
-Pour into a greased casserole dish.
-Once the oatmeal is oven ready sprinkle the top with chia seeds. This will add a little crunch and some extra nutrients. You can't really ever go wrong with chia seeds

-Bake on 375 for 25-30 min or until the top is golden brown.
-Once cool portion out your baked oatmeal for easy breakfasts for the week.

*cooking side note- I do not add sugar to my baked oatmeal so if you are someone who likes sweet oatmeal then before baking mix in some honey, agave, stevia*


When the time comes to eat these wonderful bars of joy get creative...

 I heat mine up and spread on some of my homemade chia jam, sliced fruit and some protein icing.
*mix protein powder and almond milk to a constancy you want and drizzle on top*

Brian and I ate this 3 times this week. It is an easy way to have a home cooked breakfast at 4:30am without having to cook :o)

What is your favorite go to breakfast?

Ciao and easy breakfast,

Alexis

Power Smoothie

I continue to tell the lovely Miss Kasey I am going to join in on the Power Meal meet up on Sundays but I have failed miserably. I blame Vacation brain :o) But I am here now and I am bringing you one of my new favorite kitchen creations.

First I have a few annoucments:
On the blog this week I have some pretty cool things going on so I hope you stop back by...

1. I have a pretty sweet giveaway from a company that turns one of my favorite healthy treats into a drink... I am pretty stoked... sorry you have to stop back by to see what it is.
2. I have been asked to try out the new JCORE fitness program and write reviews throughout my experience. I have recruited my mother and one of my sisters as well to see how the program works for different body tips and fitness levels. I can't wait to let you in on my findings

Hope to see you back this week!

Ok, Ok,  on with the Power Smoothie!

Let's face it, nothing is easier quicker to create than a smoothie. With the crazy heat we have already this early in summer making a smoothie is my favorite way to get a refreshing, nutritious snack/meal in just a few steps.

 

I am not what you call a exact measure-er (yes I know, not a word)when I make a smoothie. I more a search the fridge for delish goodness and dump it all in. I will however try my best to give you some measurements LOL

Creates 2 Servings

 
What you need

1 cup Brewed Green Tea (chilled)

      -I used a green tea bag and an acai tea bag to make a stronger brewed tea with extra antioxidants

1 mango

1cup grapes

1 cup watermelon

1/2cup blue berries

1/4-1/2 cup beets

6oz container plain greek yogurt

2 Tbsp Hydrated Chia seed (you can use plain dried as well) 

1Tbsp Ground flax seed

Handful of spinach

Honey to taste

*As always protein powder is Optional*

 1.Pour chilled tea into blender (tip: I tend to make tea in advanced an always keep it in my fridge, makes prep time a lot easier). Add chia and flax to tea ( putting it towards the bottom makes it easier to blend in with everything)
2. Add Greek yogurt.
3. Chop mango into pieces and add to tea along with all other fruit.
4. Blend. Once everything is nicely incorporated drizzle in Honey while still blending.
5. Add ice if so desired.

 Confession: This is not the exact smoothie but another recreation of the same one. I failed and didn't take a picture before I drank it all LOL

Brian and I were big fans of this drink and have since made this smoothie along with other variations of it. 

I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday! 

Ciao and Smoothie Love

Alexis

Mock Peanut Butter Cookies

There is nothing more in this world that I love more than Peanut Butter... well in the food world at least. I have been seeing all these recipes for Mock Cookie dough floating around the web and I got an idea. Why not make my own version of Peanut Butter Cookie dough but actually turn them into cookies... hmmm

So that is exactly what I did and boy oh boy was it a great decision

 

What you need
2 cups of Chickpeas rinsed well
5 Tbsp Honey ( you can sub another sweetener to make Vegan)
8 Tbsp Peanut Butter (you can sub PB powder to cut calories)
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Ground Flax
Chocolate (or filling) of choice I used white chocolate (1 serving per bag)

What You Do

 Combine all ingredients except chocolate pieces in a blender or food processor and combine well. Mix in chocolate pieces. At this point you can leave it as a dip and enjoy as is.
If you want to make cookies: Preheat oven to 350 and bake for aprox. 15 min or until desired done-ness. I prefer softer cookies. The cookies will continue to firm up after they are pulled out of the oven as well.

We stored the cookies in the fridge and enjoyed them for a few nights... they were super yummy.

What are your favorite cookies?

Ciao and Happy Baking

Alexis

Gluten Free Protein Pancakes

I am a huge fan of Protein Pancakes.. so much so that we eat them about 2 times a week to help fuel us through our days.I have made countless different versions pumpkin, sweet potato, plain (all found here) I have made carrot raisin and most recently Peanut Butter apple.. yum. I even made a more traditional pancake using flour like normal people do lol.

Well, needless to say, Sunday I woke up and really wanted Protein Pancakes but after opening the fridge I realized I had no Eggs. It was Sunday shopping day after all, but it still made me a sad sad girl. After staring in my pantry and fridge for what seemed like an eternity, (which in actuality was probably 3 min) I decided to make some GF protein pancakes (with the option of being vegan with just a small tweek) which I had everything I needed to make this a success... or at least I hoped it would be successful!

What You Need
Dry

1/2 cup Almond Meal
1 Serving of Protein (you can use vegan protein)
4 Tbsp Ground Flax seed
1/2 Cup Granola (Check Out Love Grown Foods for GF version )
Wet
12 Tbsp water
4oz Cottage cheese (you would need Vegan Cottage cheese to make it a complete vegan breakfast)
4Tbsp Almond Milk (or milk of choice)

What You Do
1. In a Med. sized bowl combine Flax and water to make a "Flax Egg"
2. Combine all other ingredients into bowl and mix well.
3. Heat pan on med heat and spoon batter onto oiled pan. Cook until brown and then flip (about 2-3 min)
4. Top with your favorite topping. I use my homemade jarred Chia jam.

Brian decided to sleep in Sunday and was pleasantly surprised to wake up to breakfast and coffee done... Well I may have gone in the room 10 times to get him to wake up, but once up he was happy LOL. I am not what you would call a "sleeper" haha.

He LOVED THEM! Score one for me! I hope You enjoy too!

Ciao and Pancake Love

Alexis

Summer Sorrows and Friday Favorites!

I have to say, I love that being a teacher brings me a 2 month vacation every year. That being said, it is not all its cracked up to be. I hear the typical " must be nice to have two months off" or "hey at least you get a summer vacation" all the time and even from my siblings that are not teachers. Here is what people don't understand. Yes I get 2 months off from work but this also means I DO NOT get paid for 2 months... so unless you are good with your money during your 10 months of work you will struggle hard core over summer break.

That being said... I AM BORED!!! haha Brian owns his own company so he is still working and I am at home alone all day. I am so used to working that having nothing to do during the day is foreign to me and I have a hard time filling the hours of the day. After I wake up and make breakfast, and workout I am pretty much done with my to-do list tehe.

SOOOOO... I have been cleaning and organizing but this is not good for the ADD in me. I continuously start in one room, lose focus, and move on to the next room. Needless to say my house looks like a bomb exploded because I have started cleaning every room and have yet to finish any of them... anyone else have this problem?

This brings me to my favorite thing this week. I do have A LOT of free time so I get bored and try new things, which has brought me to creating my all time FAVORITE pita chips. I love them so much that I have eaten them just about everyday. They are super simple, healthy, and best of all DELISH!!!!

So my favorite product of the week is Pita Chips. I wouldn't be able to make then so quickly if it weren't for this guy ------------------>
I am completely obsessed with Joesph's Flax Oat Bran Pitas! We use these in our house for everything! Breakfast wraps, sandwiches, they even sell a Lavash bread which we use for our flat breads. What is even better is that Publix started selling them so now I can have them whenever I want LOL. I came up with making them into pita over the weekend when we had our simple cookout with my mom. We were having Ceviche and I wanted something to scoop up the goodness. So I made these... and it has been down hill from there. HAHA




So then this week they have been made 3-4 times all thetime coming up with new ways to use them, I am starting to get creative with the toppings :o)

 Dinner: Grilled Turkey Burgers with Grilled Pineapple and a side of pita and guac.

 Snack: Good ol' Pita and Guac

Lunch: shredded chicken breast, fresh avocado and pita. 

The lunch was by far my favorite. It was AMAZING!!! The best part is the pitas are only 60 cal. each so even with a serving of quac. you are still sitting below a 200cal snack. Its a winner in my book. 

How to make them... 

1 pita sliced into little triangles

lightly brush with coconut oil or Extra virgin Olive Oil

sprinkle with a little salt (or any seasoning you want) 

Bake on 350 for 8 min. Any longer and they will be WAY TO WELL DONE. They are thin so they don't need much time.  

Can't get any easier than this. So I hope you give it a try. I will probably having a replay of the lunch version of my favorite again today :o)

Well I have gone on long enough so I will let you go with one question... 

What is your favorite super easy snack/meal to make?

Ciao and Pita love

Alexis 

Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potato

I pretty much love this little guy right here...

The taste and versatility of sweet potatoes are as great as the nutritional value one of these hold.

*Insert Science here: 

Sweet Potatoes are a great source of vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, copper, iron, manganese, potassium and dietary fiber. They also contain as much beta-carotene as carrots.

                                         - beta-carotene has many health benefits such as cancer prevention, heart                                             disease, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis

Carotenoids, which come in the form of beta-carotene are associated with stabilizing blood sugar and lowering insulin resistance. Last but not least Sweet Potatoes contain antioxidants that help remove free radicals from the body, protecting cells from damage and repairing damaged cells.

*Science Lesson over

Knowing all of this just makes loving these little guys even better. I have been making tons of stuff with sweet potatoes lately: Sweet Potato Protein Pancakes, Sweet Potato Salad, Sweet Potato Chips just to name a few. I would say we have been seeing this little guy at our dinner table at least 2 nights a week in one way or another. 

I have also done many different stuffed potato recipes, 1 2 3 4 but this is by far my favorite so far.

Today, however, I bring you the stuffed sweet potato. He came around on a lazy, not wanting to cook, evening and has been back once a week for the past month so I decided finally to share this super simple, super delish recipe with you.

 What You Need

Sweet Potatoes (however many you are making)

goat cheese

avocado

black beans 

salsa 

Chobani 0% plain greek yogurt. 

(For 2 potatoes I used: half an avocado about 7oz of black beans which is half of a typical can, and between 2-3 tbsp both salsa and greek yogurt)

What You Do

1. Cook sweet potato, You can either bake or do it the lazy way like I did and microwave it.

2. Heat black beans, cut avocado into like size pieces. 

3. Mix 1tbsp salsa with 1tbsp greek yogurt to make greek salsa. Make as much as you need for the amount of potatoes as you make. 

4. Cut open sweet potato and pile high. 

- I gave my amounts for 2 potatoes but you can pile on as much or as little as you want- 

Brian was a little skeptical because he is a "Meat Lover" but by the time he devoured his potato, skin and all, he looked at me and I kid you not said " I didn't even miss the meal" haha I smiled but in my head screamed out SUCCESS!!!!

 I took it up a notch the next time and layered on some Jalapenos just to give it an extra kick. Which is now the only way Brian and I will eat this version of the potato. What can I say, we love our spice!

So weather or not you choose to make this "Mexican" version of this potato or choose other toppings you should definitely try this with your own creative stuffing skills. 

So next time you eat a sweet potato think of all the wonderful health benefits it is providing and enjoy every last bite! 

Ciao and Super Potato

Alexis

Quinoa Black Bean Burgers

For all my vegetarians out there this one is a must try for cookouts this summer!!!



Brian and I picked my mother up from the airport the other day and we decided to have a mini cookout. The weather was actually really nice here in Florida so we even ate outside, which does not happen often in summer here.

So I came up with the veggie burger, home made pita chips and ceviche. I even got the thumbs up from my very hard to please mother when it comes to healthy eats. So I say this was a score.

This guy approves

  This was what was served. They were allowed to have buns haha I however opted for no bun so I could enjoy my pita chipe. I topped the burgers with my Balsamic Onions (ya I made those up haha) to add a sweet tang and man oh man was it a good choice.


Quinoa Black Bean Burgers
What you need:
- 1 can Black Beans (15oz)
- 2 cups cooked Quionoa
- 1 cup shredded carrot
- 2-3oz of goat cheese ( I will probably add more next time)
- 2 egg whites
- 2Tbsp dried parsley (you can use fresh I just hadn't been to the store)
- 1Tbsp dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

What you do:
1. In a food processor mash the black beans into a paste like consistency. Mix in quinoa, spices, carrot, egg, goat cheese.
2. Form into patties and place onto a pan lined with wax paper. Place in freezer for 30 min to let set.
3. Heat oil in skillet over med. heat. Cook about 5 min on each side.
4. Serve any way you want!

This will make 7-8 "burgers" So i wrapped the leftovers in plastic wrap and placed them in the freezer. For a quick go to lunch. Which is exactly what we had the very next day.

 

I know this isn't the prettiest looking dish but it sure was a great lunch in a pinch. Mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts topped with one of the burgers. 

These can easily be made Vegan with Egg substitute or a flax "egg". So try it this summer! Don't feel left out at the next BBQ. 

Maybe you will even have a surprise guest like we did!

Ciao and Cookout time

Alexis

Sweet Potato Salad

In honor of being back from vacation and starting back on my Clean Eating I decided to post one of my favorite recipes right now.

This is an extremely versatile dish. It can be a side, dip or eaten as a full meal.  The possibilities are endless...be creative.

SWEET POTATO SALAD

1 Large Sweet Potato cooked
half a can black beans 
1 avocado
2 ears of corn (if not in season you can use canned)  
*servings 4*

For BBQ Potato salad you will also need
1 Avocado
Goat cheese

What to do:

To bake Sweet Potato: 350 degrees for 40-45min or until tender. To microwave: use a fork to poke holes throught the potato. Place in microwave for 3 min, turn potato and put in for another 3 min. Then chop into like size squares.

For corn (if fresh): bring water to a boil and cook for 5 min.

Heat Black beans. Mix everything together.

I made this initially for some fish tacos we had one evening and we fell in love... it has evolved since then.
To make it into a perfect party side see below....

                                        Fish Taco Night                                 Chicken Wrap

To make this side into a substitute for your traditional potato salad at a party/BBQ side double sweet potatoes per all other ingredients: i.e. take the regular recipe and use 2 potatoes as a opposed to 1. 

When you are ready to serve cut up avocado and mix into salad with goat cheese. No unhealthy Mayo dressing needed!!!!

So next time you are asked to bring a side dish, try this, its so sweet and deish they won't even know they are eating an insane amount of vitamins and nutrients. 

Ciao and healthy potato salad, 

Alexis