Berry Almond Quinoa Porridge

My brother recently took out a big stack of cookbooks we had stashed in a cabinet to find some creative ways to make breakfast and lunch. I think he gave up pretty quickly, as usual, but he never moved them back into the cabinet. Since the stack of books was right in front of me, I rifled through them and was intrigued by the concept of quinoa porridge in The Hungry Student Vegetarian Cookbook. This cookbook was gifted to me by a friend, and the recipes are quite easy and interesting to make.

The next morning, I made it and changed a few things, such as replacing the milk with almond milk, switching the sugar with maple syrup or honey, and changing the toppings.

Banana Açai Smoothie Bowl

Açai has been everywhere on Instagram so when I saw a packet of açai puree at Trader Joe’s, I jumped at the chance to finally make my own açai bowl. First of all, for those of you who wonder what açai is, it’s a berry that comes from Brazil and it contains a lot of antioxidants. I’m not sure about the rest of the claims, such as preventing diseases and weight loss, but açai sure is delicious.

I always thought it was pronounced a-KAY, but it’s not! The real spelling is açai, with a c-cedilla, so that means the ‘c’ is said softly and the ‘i’ is not silent. The correct pronunciation is ah-sah-EE. You’ll thank me in the future when you’re faced with the prospect of ordering something with açai and don’t want to embarrass yourself pronouncing it.

I added 1/2 cup almond milk in my açai bowl, which was a bit too much because it doesn’t have the consistency of scoop-able ice cream, so I revised the recipe and cut the milk down to 1/3 cup to make it thicker.

• Servings: 2
• Time: 10 mins
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

A smooth and delicious bowl of creamy goodness. Made with bananas, blueberries, açai and spinach, this is sure to subside the sweet cravings for the day.
Ingredients:
2 bananas, peeled
1 packet of Trader Joe’s açai puree, put under warm water for 5 seconds
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup spinach, washed
1/3 cup almond milk

Instructions:

1. Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and thick. It should have the consistency of ice cream. Divide smoothie into two bowls and enjoy right away with toppings such as berries, granola and coconut flakes.

Greek Yogurt Healthy-Freddo with Berries

The day I’m done school the weather decides to be blistering hot. Well, blistering hot compared to the rest of the year. It’s 30°C here and I know that might not seem hot in other places, but trust me, here it’s incredible.

I decided to beat the heat by making a cold dessert, and what better than the Italian dessert Semifreddo, which literally means half-cold? I was looking at Elisabeth Prueitt’s cookbook, titled Tartine All Day, and I happened upon the most gorgeous picture of chocolate Semifreddo. I was so hyped to make it until I saw the ingredients and realized I didn’t have half of them and it wasn’t as healthy I would have liked.

Tropical Blueberry Smoothie

I’m going to Hong Kong soon!!! Just one more week of school and then I’m off. I actually can’t wait for all the delicious food and the much warmer weather than we’ve been having over here. Like can you believe it’s snowing in March? I fear this city is adopting Quebec’s weather 😦 .

Weirdly, although it’s really cold outside (well, for me it is because I’m a naturally cold person), I still love making smoothies, yogurt bowls, chocolate banana chia seed pudding and all sorts of cold stuff for breakfast.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffin in a Mug

This is definitely one of the easiest and delicious things I’ve ever made. A muffin in a mug which takes about five minutes to prepare, then one minute to microwave sounds unbelievable, am I right? But it actually works.

It’s healthy, delicious and gluten-free. Plus, there’s blueberries! (Oh and just to put it out there: I love blueberries.)

Since I’m a lazy person, and I just didn’t feel like doing anything today, this is what I made as a snack and I was surprisingly awed by how good it tasted.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

It’s gluten-free! I usually don’t care if it’s gluten-free or not, but I had a gigantic bag of almond flour (purchased, of course, at Costco. Where else would we get big bags of anything and everything?) so I decided to try and experiment with it. I know a few people who have problems with gluten and they literally cannot eat anything with flour, or only in small amounts, which I definitely would hate because I love baked goods!!! There are oats in this, but they do not contain the protein gluten which is found in wheat, barley and rye grain, instead, they contain a protein called avenins so oats are still gluten-free.

Did I forget to mention that these taste incredibly delicious and it’s only sweetened with maple syrup?

I never knew these bars even existed until this summer, when I went camping and someone brought these for dessert. I still can’t believe I never ate these! Like what have I been doing with the first fifteen years of my life?

Blueberry Walnut Applesauce Muffins

The other day, in my Spanish class, I had a discussion with my substitute teacher about food, and more particularly, eating healthy. She made one remark which really interested me. The teacher told me that she wants to enjoy life and all of its perks, such as food, so if she was presented cupcakes, she would go for it, but then she told me that eating one cupcake is not the same as eating three of the same.

This conversation prompted me to think about what is truly healthy eating. I have been thinking about it for a very long time and I have discovered a lot of different opinions.

When there are no fats in the recipe.

When you eat the right amounts of food from all the food groups.

Eating more greens and less meat.

Just eating one cupcake.

Blueberry Bliss Smoothie

So the chia seed pudding at the bottom is completely optional, but it does look nicer and don’t forget, chia seeds are loaded with fibers, Omega-3 fatty acids and proteins. The blueberries give the smoothie that particular bright bluish-red colour naturally. I’ve also seen Spirulina, a blue-green algae, used in smoothies for a light blue look, but I’ve never tried it myself. How did they even turn algae into a powder? Mind blowing.

Really loved how this turned out! This was definitely a pleasant change from my usual avocado and banana smoothies in the morning.

On another note, I’ve been trying to find a project for my Projet Personnel (a very important project!) I’ll have to do next year in school but I keep changing ideas because I keep thinking it’s not good.

Raspberry and Blueberry Chia Pops

Ahhhhh! I am so in love with this. The sweetness of berries and maple syrup with coconut milk and chia seeds all rolled into one popsicle. Then drizzled with melted dark chocolate and coconut flakes and more chia seeds. These pops are a definite yum in my book.

I found these cute little blue popsicles molds in the bottom of a containers drawer and they had little green bear sticks attached to them. I remember my mom using them every once in a while when we were younger and we would always jump up and down in excitement when she took them out of that drawer. My mom stopped making sweet things a while ago, giving us the task instead and we totally forgot about these popsicle molds.

Easy Healthy Chia Waffles

So I have awesome news today: I made these waffles for lunch.

Kidding.

That is still kind of awesome, but what I really wanted to tell you is that I received some exciting news in the mail yesterday (including a book!).

Okay, but before I get there, let me just describe how awesome (or at least to me they were) these waffles are:

Soft on the inside.
Crispy edges.
Healthy.
Lipsmackingly tasty.
Sweet burst of blueberries.
Glistening maple syrup.

Yeah. I inserted healthy in the middle. Because that is partly why the waffle is so good (there’s even no butter, oil or eggs in this but it still tastes good!).

Now the story about the letter in the mail. So yesterday, after I arrived from school (early dismissal!), there was a big package on the counter.