Spooning up Christmas Spirit
Even though I'm still stuck (for two more days only!) in college for finals week, my mind and taste buds have definitely skated off into a Winter wonderland. With limited ingredients (and money) on hand, though, this college celiac has kept festive eating simple. Simply delicious!
First off, cause I'm all about banana ice cream even as I'm shivering with every mouthful, here's the recipe for my Avocado Peppermint Nana cream that has me screaming, "Santa Claus!"
For the bananas on banana nice cream, check out this post. Start by loading up your magic maker (whether that be a Nutribullet, food processor or any other high speed blender) with my basic nice cream recipe.
1 TBSP chia seeds (ground if smoother texture is desired)
2 TBSP coconut flour (if want really thick)
Optional extra veggies (beets, celery, broccoli, zucchini, squash, etc) - about half as much of these as fruit to keep the smoothie sweet!
Enough milk/liquid to allow blender to work (I prefer canned coconut milk - the creaminess is out of this world!)
One heaping handful (or more if tolerant) of greens
To keep this ice cream Christmas-tized, I up the green factor by adding 1/4 to 1/2 an avocado, an extra handful of greens and lots of green-colored veggies (my favorites lately are celery, cucumber, and frozen squash and zucchini). Then, to get that candy-cane flavor everyone craves, sprinkle in a few drops of peppermint or mint extract.
**Also found at http://www.runningwithspoons.com/2014/12/21/link-love-1221/
First off, cause I'm all about banana ice cream even as I'm shivering with every mouthful, here's the recipe for my Avocado Peppermint Nana cream that has me screaming, "Santa Claus!"
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| Getting in the Christmas spirit! |
1 TBSP chia seeds (ground if smoother texture is desired)
2 TBSP coconut flour (if want really thick)
Optional extra veggies (beets, celery, broccoli, zucchini, squash, etc) - about half as much of these as fruit to keep the smoothie sweet!
Enough milk/liquid to allow blender to work (I prefer canned coconut milk - the creaminess is out of this world!)
One heaping handful (or more if tolerant) of greens
Handful of frozen fruit (chopped bananas, apples, peaches, pears, berries, grapes, etc)
To keep this ice cream Christmas-tized, I up the green factor by adding 1/4 to 1/2 an avocado, an extra handful of greens and lots of green-colored veggies (my favorites lately are celery, cucumber, and frozen squash and zucchini). Then, to get that candy-cane flavor everyone craves, sprinkle in a few drops of peppermint or mint extract.
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| Talk about a bowl full of Christmas! |
I'm present crushing hard on SweetLeaf's peppermint mocha liquid stevia, but anything you have on hand will do! To wrap up this edible present, sprinkle on some diced up strawberries and pomegranate seeds! The yummiest red and green Christmas treat I've ever tasted!
If you aren't brave (or suicidal) enough to eat a cold breakfast on a frigid morning, then gingerbread oats is the best substitute there is! As I shared in a previous post, right now I'm happily riding the buckwheat and rice flake train. I mentioned before the recipe for pumpkin pie oats:
2 TBSP buckwheat flakes
2 TBSP rice flakes
1/2 mashed banana
1-2 TBSP chia seeds for extra thickness and satiety
1/2-1 tsp of pumpkin spice
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| Gingerbread oats before my Linguistics final! |
To blast into cookiedom, add 1/2 tsp of cacao powder, (optional) maca powder, and an extra sprinkle of nutmeg and cinnamon. A huge spoonful of nutbutter on top never hurts either!
To finish off a delicious trio, combine the two in a heaven-reaching parfait! Just cook the 2 TBSPs of oatmeal with 1 TBSP of chia seeds and half a mashed banana in a microwave-safe jar for 1 minute. Then, put it in the freezer to cool while whipping up the nana ice cream. Stack, wrap and enjoy!
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| This morning's delicious parfait! |
Finals can quickly make these weeks an "oh no!" versus "ho ho ho!" but with a delicious and festive meal in my belly, I can really see the Christmas lights at the ends of the tunnel!
**Also found at http://www.runningwithspoons.com/2014/12/21/link-love-1221/
What's your favorite festive breakfast? Smoothie or oats or neither? Comment below!
I don't know if it's "festive" enough, but I like this one:
ReplyDelete1. Make some "granola"*.
2. Take a handful of gold raisins, editing out stuff that doesn't look like something you'd want to eat.
3. Add about a half a cup (more if you're hungry) of the granola.
4. Add enough plain or lightly flavored yogurt to thoroughly moisten the cereal, and stir to get all the cereal moistened.
5. Chop about six dried apricots into four to six pieces each (raisin size or a bit larger) and sprinkle over the cereal/yogurt mixture.
6. Enjoy
*Granola
Many years ago, granola was a simple mixture of rolled oats and a few other flakes and meals. It might be sweetened a little, but not necessarily. It wasn't anything like the sugar-bomb-in-a-spoon that most commercial granola now is. If you can tolerate oats, they form the basis of the mixture. Here's my latest version, everything gluten free, of course:
4 cups rolled oats (Bob's Red Mill (BRM) or Montana Gluten Free are both good; there are several brands of GF rolled oats available)
1 cup Ancient Harvest quinoa flakes (the only brand of quinoa flakes that I know of)
1 cup oat bran (I used BRM)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup finely shredded coconut (called coconut powder in Indian markets)
1/4 cup flax seed meal (again, BRM is good, either regular or golden)
1/4 teff flour (yet again, BRM, but I don't think that makes a difference)
1 1/4 cup milk, heated to 140F more or less
Mix the dry ingredients, add the heated milk, and mix thoroughly.
Bake in a shallow pan at low heat (250F to 300F) for an hour and a half or so, stirring every half hour or so, breaking up any large clumps. Let dry until any small clumps are dry. Store in a cool, dry place.
If you're really a slave to your sweet tooth, you can add some sort of sweetener to the dry ingredients or milk before mixing. (I think the mixture is nice just on it's own, no sugary stuff necessary. And when you add the raisins and some other dried or fresh fruit, nothing more is needed.)
It certainly sounds festive enough for me! You must've known that granola - of every shape, type and flavor - is my ultimate weakness! I've never heard of adding milk to it, but when I make a batch at home this week, I'm definitely going to try it out! This recipe of yours definitely has my drooling - thanks so much for sharing, like always :)
DeleteFrozen veggies in smoothies are that secret key!
ReplyDeleteRight now any hot cereal is a wonderful thing! Oats, quinoa flakes, buckwheat!
Definitely! And I agree with you on the hot ceral - my smoothie addiction is so bad, though, that I usually just combine the two!
DeleteI featured you for a Blogger Recognition Award. I even wrote about why I chose you. Check it out here: http://elisecohenho.com/blogger-recognition-award/
ReplyDeleteThank YOU so much Elise! That really means a lot about me! Look out for a thank you and a link back to you in a blog post later this week <3
DeleteI think that this would be a recipe that I would like to try.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely super tasty!
Delete