Hiya, love boats! What's new in your world? I'm writing these here words at 9:38pm on Tuesday evening and I'm hoping to squeeze in two episodes of The Crown before bed so let's hop to it!
Breakfast:
I've been loving big oatmeal bowls. Sometimes I'll make old-fashioned oats and other times we'll make steel-cut. I usually stir in chia seeds and top it with banana, warmed frozen blueberries, peanut butter, and mulberries.
I'm back into working out regularly so an hour after this bowl I was hangry for a banana and peanut butter. And then crackers and hummus. My hunger SKYROCKETS when I'm working out regularly. Anyone else? Gotta feed the beast!
I made these yummy banana pancakes topped with banana, berries, peanut butter, and maple syrup. They're a little denser/heartier since they're made with oats but super yummy! I cooked mine in coconut oil.
P.S. I get asked a lot which oils I cook with and when. I keep three oils in the pantry: extra virgin olive oil (I get a huge one at Costco), avocado oil (also from Costco), and coconut oil. I use olive oil for flavor in things like salad dressings or at the end of a soup and for lower heat cooking since it has a low smoke point of 320 degrees. When oils smoke, the fats go rancid and they oxidize. No bueno!
For sautéing at higher heat, roasting, and in baking when it calls for liquid oil, I use avocado oil because it has a very high smoke point of 520 degrees and is neutral in flavor (similar to canola or grapeseed oil). It also has a stellar nutrition profile. I go through more avocado oil than any other oil.
I use coconut oil the least out of all three. I usually get the organic unrefined kind that retains the coconut flavor, which I like. It has a mid level smoke point of 350 degrees, which is 100 degrees lower than the smoke point of refined coconut oil (which doesn't have the coconut flavor). I bake with it and use it in recipes where I want to impart the coconut flavor. I also blend it into things like hot chocolate, turmeric lattes, and coffee for added creaminess.
Back to the eats! Sprouted wheat bagel with Sunbutter, banana, cinnamon, and sea salt on one half and chive cream cheese, everything bagel seasoning, and arugula on the other.
Smoothie bowl with blueberries, banana, spirulina, spinach, vanilla protein, ginger, and hemp seeds topped with Kashi cinnamon cereal, cacao nibs, and the last bit of almond butter I had left.
Lunch/Dinner:
The yummiest vegetable soup with crusty bread! I'll be posting the recipe next week.
Cream of Broccoli Soup with nooch added (and avocado toast on the side!).
The most stellar loaded veggie curry with lentils (thank God for Kroger who now sells canned lentils). Check out this Instagram post for the "recipe!"
A kale salad with beets, carrots walnuts, and a lemon parsley vin topped with a bunch of tuna kraut from Alchemy.
Pesto pizza + mushroom pizza from Harvest.
Random mix of scrambled eggs cooked in coconut oil, roasted sweet potatoes, toast with chive cream cheese (times two), avocado with lemon, and sautéed broccoli.
The best thing I made last week was an arugula pesto I threw together with a ton of arugula, a handful of walnuts, two cloves of garlic, plenty of olive oil, water, lemon juice, and salt. I mixed it with Banza's yummy new cavatappi pasta and stirred in sautéed mushrooms and spinach from our local CSA. It was insanely good! I've been on this kick of not measuring a damn thing so I'll have to measure next time so you can make it at home. I froze the leftover pesto in an ice cube tray and then transferred the cubes to a baggie so I can have pesto in a flash next time!
Snacks/Dessert:
My Salted Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bites straight out of the freezer with chilly almond milk. Insanely good.
A matcha strawberry donut that I plucked off the plater post-photograph. One of my favorite Alchemy donut flavors yet!
Natalie got me this Divine raspberry dark chocolate bar and I legit ate half the bar on my way home from work.
Double Chocolate Pretzel Brownie Bites that I microwaved and had with Nada Moo vanilla ice cream.
Homemade hot chocolate that I'm obsessed with. Click here for the recipe!
