Chocolate Strawberry Oatmeal with Egg-whites and Chia seeds

When I read the recipe which adds egg whites to oatmeal, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to try it, but when I did try it I was a happy customer. It doesn’t taste like eggs which I was afraid it would be, and it kept me filled for a longer time. I also loved the fluffy, thick, pudding-like texture of oatmeal with egg-whites. And of course strawberries with chocolate is the ultimate dessert combination! Go ahead and enjoy this super breakfast-dessert which won’t make your inner systems groan!

Ingredients:

Milk: 1 cup
Instant oats: 3 tbsp
Cocoa powder: 1 tsp – 1 tbsp (adjust according to taste)
Chia seeds: 1 tsp (you may use more, up to 1 tbsp)
Cinnamon powder: 1/2 tsp
Egg-white: of one egg
Vanilla extract: 1/2 tsp
Banana: half, mashed *optional
Strawberries: 2-3 cut up
Almonds: 1 tbsp

Method:

Bring the milk to a boil. Add oats, chia seeds, cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla extract, lower heat and let simmer until oats are softened up. Add banana if using and cook for a few minutes. When oats have thickened up, add egg white and quickly whisk until its melted in. Cover with a lid for five minutes. Top with strawberries and almonds and serve. (To adjust sweetness you can add some honey or maple syrup. I felt it was a little less sweet so I drizzled some honey on top.)

Recipe modified from Skinnyms.

Chocolate Oatmeal with Bananas

As usual, I was craving something sweet and chocolate is the best option, so I made this yummy oatmeal!

Ingredients:
Water 3/4 cup
cocoa powder 2 tablespoon
banana mashed 1
Instant oats 2-3 tablespoons
dates 2-3
milk (of choice) 1/4 cup
banana sliced 1
almonds/nuts silvered 2-3 tablespoon

Method:

Boil together water, oats, cocoa powder, mashed banana and dates till thick. Remove from heat and whisk in milk. Taste and add honey or other sweetener as desired. Top with sliced bananas and almonds/nuts. If required drizzle honey. Yummy chocolate oatmeal is ready.

 

Dates…

…I can’t live without them!

I can have them for snack, dessert, breakfast, dinner…anything! And they always come to rescue when my blood pressure is going low. My favourite are dates with a glass of cold milk. Almond stuffed chocolate covered dates would be number one favourite if they weren’t so expensive and difficult to make.

These dates pictured here have half an almond stuffed in them and are covered in sesame seeds, I’m sad that there are so little of them left. But I love all kinds of dates, except the fresh yellow ones I guess! Other ways I love to eat them are in a Date Smoothie, Fruit Salad, Brownie Bites, Date Maamouls, and well, just pop them in =D

What’s your favourite way to eat dates?

 

Quick Single Serving Brownies

I was having a really bad chocolate craving, but I was so busy I didn’t have time to bake a whole chocolate cake. To be honest, I was also so dead tired that I didn’t feel like moving a bone let alone make and bake a cake.

So I looked through some single serving desserts, found this for One Minute Chocolate Cake, doubled the recipe to make “my own single serving”, and did a few other modifications, and here you have it. I felt it was more like a fudgy-cakey brownie in texture than a cake, so I call it my Quick Best Brownies!

The Bubbly Batter

Fresh out of the oven Brownie

I over-baked it a bit, so I got a crunchy base

Wanna have a bite?

 

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch baking soda
2 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons cold milk of choice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Method: Combine the dry ingredients and whisk well. Make a small well in between and add the milk and vanilla. Carefully add the apple cider into the milk and quickly stir everything together. Pour the batter in a small greased ramekin or mug, and bake for 10-15 minutes (or microwave 30-40 seconds).

P.S. This is an extra large single serving, which I shared with my siblings too, cut the recipe in half if you want a regular single serving.

The recipe was inspired by One Minute Chocolate Cake in a Mug on Chocolate Covered Katie.com

A Little Indulgence!

A slice of brown bread with peanut butter, and chopped/grated milk chocolate, and a glass of chilled milk – Desserty Breakfast! Alhamdulillah!

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَطْعَمَنَا وَسَقَانَا وَجَعَلَنَا ْمُسْلِمِينَ

Beetroot Smoothie

From Green Smoothie I have transitioned to Pink Smoothie! I find it really hard to consume beetroot, and looking at their nutritional value I realized I had to find a way. Hence, the Pink Smoothie was invented. Just add a small piece of beetroot to your regular smoothie, it is quite tasteless and does not change the taste of the smoothie at all.

Sparkling Fruit Cups

I can’t believe I missed posting this super-easy super-delicious and super-quick recipe!

Just cut up some fresh fruits very finely, I did 2 bananas, 2 mangoes, one apple and approx 1/4 cup grapes. Then use any jelly flavor and prepare it as usual, just use a little less water. Let it cool a bit, but don’t let it set. Line a cupcake tray with plastic wrap (so that they come out easily) then fill them with the mixed fruits to the top. Using a spoon pour the jelly over the fruits until the cups are filled and fruits are covered, make sure the fruits are flattened otherwise your cups will be wobbly. Then just chill until set, and take them out when serving. These can also be made in ramekins or small glass bowls as individual servings.

I used the Tropical Sunset (Orange Pineapple) flavored jelly and the flavors blended really well. It was very refreshing and light. Next time I would like to try this with fresh fruit juice and gelatin instead of a packaged jelly which would make it 100% healthy dessert!

Banana Chocolate Pudding

What started as the banana soft serve ice-cream, ended up being a pudding! After making the superb-ly delicious Mango Ice cream, I decided to try the banana soft serve which seemed very popular with health blog writers on the internet. So I froze some bananas, blended them up, added some peanut butter and cocoa powder; but I didn’t like the end result so much. It was too rich tasting and more like a pudding than ice cream, good for a quick sugar-free chocolate fix. And well, it doesn’t look so good in the picture either!

Sugar-free Mango Ice cream

This ice cream is literally sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free…just about everything artificially added. It’s pure fruit bliss!

Simply peel and chop mangoes, freeze them well, and blend them up in your food processor. And here you go, the easiest, yummiest, coolest, sweetest ice cream in your hands. Dig your spoon in! I’m craving one right now, too bad the mango season has come to an end.

P.S. Mine was a little soft because I don’t have a very powerful blender and had to add a little milk to help with the blending.

Home-made Almond milk

After a lot of hesitation, I finally decided to try making some almond milk. I blended one cup soaked almonds with skin on, in about 4 cups of water with a little vanilla.

I drank it raw, and made some tea with it for my mother who can’t drink dairy milk.

I can’t say that I became an instant fan of it. I just love milk and to be honest it didn’t come close to real milk, but maybe in a few more times I’ll start loving it. The flavors and texture weren’t blended, it seems as if I was drinking water, almond milk and vanilla milk at the same time and they weren’t mixing up. However the after-taste was really good. It tasted a bit like…Kulfi milk! I guess I need to try it a few more times, maybe try some other flavors.