Eat Well, Feel Well: #chchchchiadonut

Chia Donuts!

One of my favourite go to snacks without the guilt ;).  I recently started my practicum placement at a lovely facility and I wanted to essentially kill two birds with one stone.  Have an excuse to bake more healthy creations and blog about it; now I can give it to people rather then finishing it all myself.

This lovely recipe is from the Oh She Glows book!

Yields 6

For the Donuts:

3/4 cup Oat Flour (I ground up rolled oats in the food processor)

1/2 cup Chia Seeds

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Fine-Grain Sea Salt

1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/3 cup Maple Syrup or other liquid sweetener

1/3 cup Almond Milk (any milk; I used Coconut Milk)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 300F.  Lightly grease a donut pan with some baking spray.  Set aside.

I was making 3 separate batches because I only had one donut pan :(.  

In a large bowl, combine oat flour, chia seeds, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Add your maple syrup, milk and vanilla and stir until well combined.  The batter will be runny, that is just fine!

Spoon the batter into the donut pan, filling each to the top.

Bake for 20-22 minutes until firm to the touch.  You can also use the toothpick test.

Cashew Cream:

*So if you want to drizzle it on I would use 1/2 cup of cashews that were soaked over night (or if you're in a time crunch, soak them in boiling water for 2 hours) and blend it with 1/4 cup of water and you can get the nice lines.

However, I was not sure who would like it or not so I made a more solid Cashew Cream that they could spread on top themselves!

3/4 cup Soaked Cashews

Approx 2/3 cup Water (gradually add until it's at your desired consistency)

1 Tbsp Coconut Oil

Blend everything together!  This made a lot so I would probably half this next time!

|They were a hit!  Hope you give these little guys a try.

Enjoy!

Eat Well, Learn Well, Feel Well: #bakedpancakes

Baked Pumpkin Pancakes

It's Friday!!  It was a beautiful morning and I had the hugest craving for pancakes, not just any pancakes.  Pumpkin!  So I was on Detoxinista's website and found these lovely pancakes that were baked!  I was so intrigued, I had to try them.

Recipe from Detoxinista

Serves 1

1/4 cup almond butter

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice*

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp honey

*I did not have pumpkin pie spice (a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, allsplice, and ginger), so I used a pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of cloves and a pinch of nutmeg.

Preheat your oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix until smooth.  Use a 1/4 cup to scoop the batter on the parchment lined baking sheet.  This made 3 pancakes for me.

Bake for 10-12 minutes (mine were in for 10), until the pancakes are fluffy and golden brown.  The awesome thing about these is that you do not need any excess oil and you don't need to flip them either!

Serve with maple syrup, fruits and peanut butter!

Out of the oven.

All dressed up!

Fluffy, soft and moist.  A taste of Autumn in my mouth on this lovely Spring day.

Enjoy!

Eat Well, Feel Well, Learn Well: #blacksesamematcha

Black Sesame Matcha Mug Cake!
(Experiment)

After dinner last night, I had a HUGE I mean HUGE craving for a cake of some sort.  However, I did not want to eat any more eggs just because I'm pretty sure I had about 6 yesterday......

I decided to experiment and make a "Chia Egg" to replace it.  Usually when I'm looking at recipes, people are using flax eggs which I have yet to use, but I may try that next time.

Recipe

1/2 Banana, mashed

1 Chia Egg (1 tbsp Ground up Chia seeds mixed with 3 Tbsp of water mixed together and let it sit for 15 minutes in the fridge)

3 Tbsp Whole Wheat Spelt Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Matcha

1/2 Tbsp Ground Black Sesame

2 Tbsp Almond Milk

2 Tbsp Greek Yogurt

Combine everything into a mug that was sprayed with some oil.  Microwave for 2 minutes and then invert onto a plate and serve!  So simple!

I put more greek yogurt on top along with a fresh fig and a drizzle of honey.

All that goodness!

Them Benefits!

The benefits from chia seeds can be seen from my past post!

Black Sesame benefits in a nut shell.  Anti aging sorcery, increases skin and bone health, heart healthy, helps you poo poo, and acts as a lactation aid for the new mamas,  More info on this amazing seed here!

Spelt flour is easier to digest due to it's high solubility to water, which is great for those who have a wheat intolerance.  Also, it is a more soluble fibre which aids in lowering blood cholesterol and controlling blood sugar levels.  So much more information here.

Notes: not as poofy as I would have like it to be.  Also, the texture is definitely more on the gel like side, which I did not mind because it reminded me of some Asian desserts.  I'll probably try it with flax seed next time and see if there's any difference there.

Enjoy!

Eat Well, Feel Well, Learn Well: #avobananatime

Avocado Banana Bread

The craving for banana bread was strong yesterday and as I scrolled through my Instagram feed, I found this lovely healthier alternative!

Recipe adapted from @fithealthyrecipes

1/2 cup Coconut Flour

1/2 cup Whole Wheat Spelt Flour

1/2 cup Oat Flour (ground up rolled oats)

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1 large Egg

1 cup Banana mashed (2 large or 2.5 regular sized)

1 Avocado, mashed

1/4 cup Honey

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat your oven to 350F and grease a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine your dry ingredients (flours, baking soda and salt). 

In a medium bowl, combine the egg, mashed up banana and avocado, honey and vanilla.  

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir until combined.

Pour the batter into the pan and top with dairy free chocolate chips (optional).

Bake for 45-50 minutes (I'm going to check it at 40 min next time), or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

The wet and dry ingredients.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet.

Finish mixing with a spatula to avoid over mixing and fold until combined.

Chocolate chips!

Fresh out of the oven.

I really enjoyed this and after doing the calculations, each slice was about 180 calories vs a 400 something calorie slice of banana bread from Starbucks >=O.  This is of course had more nutritional value.

At first, my Mom was unsure of the taste because she claimed that she kept tasting baking soda, whereas I did not.  Maybe it was a bad batch of baking soda (old?).  However, after it cooled, my Mom said that baking soda taste disappeared.

Garnished all fancy.

Enjoy!