Hello! I’m Freya. :) I pretty much blog about veganism, nutrition and leading an all round healthy lifestyle. You’ll normally find me in the kitchen with vegan cupcake mix around my mouth... I won’t tell if you won’t? I say “awesome!” a lot, and I’m trying to be as happy and self confident as I can be, taking each day as it comes. Oh – and have you met my boyfriends? They’re called hummus and peanut butter. I’m not joking. I’m not (that) scary, I promise! Just say hello if you don’t believe me. :D I love being nice. I love Hamish&Andy. And I especially love you, you beautiful thing. ;) ♥
Pre-exam fuel! (14 1/2 hours of exams down, 3 1/2 left!)
GF banana oatmeal (with a few dark choc chips stirred in) topped with more ‘nana, more dark chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and flax.
You have to have chocolate chips on your oatmeal before an exam. It’s the law. Maybe.
Plenty of cereals are packed with processed crap, so why not make your own? It’s gluten free, raw, sugar free, has 40% of your dietary fibre and 12g protein. It has nutritional stats to boast about, but from natural sources! :D
I used:
- 1/4 cup GF oats;
- 1 tbsp raw buckwheat;
- 1 tbsp chia seeds;
- 1 tbsp chopped almonds;
- 1 tbsp sunflower seeds;
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds.
Other mixes: You can use whatever seeds/nuts you have, more oats in place of buckwheat and I’m sure flax would work in place of chia seeds if you don’t have them. Raisins or dried cranberries would be lovely, too!
Soak everything in lots of water and drain it off in the morning, so it’ll look a little something like this:
Then top it with whatever you like! I whizzed up a frozen banana to create banana soft serve, added a few shakes of cinnamon, some almond milk and fresh pineapple. Dee-lish.
And that’s it! I love oatmeal but I don’t necessarily want something so stodgy and warming as it gets closer to summer. This makes a great, healthy, natural alternative! :)
21DC - Meal 1, Day 5.
Cocoa banana oatmeal, topped with more ‘nana, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cacao nibs and almond butter.
(1/3 cup GF oats, 2/3 cup almond milk, 1/3 cup water, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tbsp flax, 1 tsp agave, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 a banana finely chopped and a drop or two of almond extract.)
Banana and blueberry oatmeal topped with pumpkin seeds and almond butter. :)
(GF oats, almond milk, vanilla, flax, cinnamon, blueberries, ‘nana, a date and toppings.)
Gluten free ‘carrot cake’ oatmeal, topped with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, crushed walnuts, coconut and maple syrup.
The focus on my camera is shot to bits. :( For some reason it’s been acting up, and this was the only photo I managed to capture that wasn’t one big blur. Eh, whataya gonna do.
This was made using gf oats, almond milk, vanilla, a chopped date, finely shredded carrot, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, lemon juice and flax. It was pretty tasty but I didn’t check measurements this time, so it wasn’t as tasty as it could have been. The original recipe can be found here! It’s a pretty old post, haha.
Oatmeal, plain and simple.
I wasn’t feeling fancy today so went with a standard bowl of warm, comforting oatmeal (gf oats, almond milk, flax), threw in some cinnamon and topped with ‘nana, pumpkin seeds and a teeny tiny amount of brown sugar. Job done.
“Apple Pie” Oatmeal with peanut butter and pumpkin seeds. :)
- I grated half an apple really finely and added it to 1/3 cup gluten free oats, 2/3 cup almond milk and 1/3 cup water, then added a chopped date for sweetness with cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg.
- At the last minute I threw in some flax, then topped it with the remaining half an apple, pumpkin seeds and a tsp of peanut butter. Yum!
Easter Sunday breakfast - chocolate banana cinnamon oatmeal topped with pumpkin seeds, walnuts, cacao nibs and more cinnamon.
(1/3 cup gluten free oats, 2/3 cup almond milk, 1/3 cup water, a few drops of vanilla, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 banana, 2/3 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tsp flax.)
I also had some chocolate, as my Ma - sorry, I mean the Easter Bunny- bought me a dairy free, gluten free dark chocolate Easter egg. No one in my family could tell it was vegan! It’s yum yum double scrum. :D
Gluten free chocolate banana oatmeal with crushed walnuts, pumpkin seeds and cacao nibs.
I used the same technique as in the post yesterday about breakfast quinoa - aka mush the banana and cocoa powder separately and add it at the last minute, and it makes it so much more creamy and delicious! It may be messier but it’s totally worth it. :D
PB&BJ oatmeal topped with more ‘nana, blackberries, sunflower seeds and peanut butter.
In this instance, you ~can have your cake and eat it too! It’s a healthified, filling, vegan, gluten free, soy free, refined sugar free version of your standard PBJ. I always have banana slices with my PBJ, so it’s a PB&BJ. :D
- I used 1/3 cup gluten free oats, 2/3 cup almond milk and 1/3 cup of water as the base.
- Then I chopped up some blackberries, about a 1/3 cup worth (blackberry jam is my favourite, but if you prefer strawberry or raspberry, go for that!) and threw them in.
- Lastly I chopped up a few pieces of ‘nana and threw that in for some sweetness with a drizzle of agave and some flax (optional) and stirred over the heat until thick, topped with 4 slices of ‘nana, 4 blackberries, 1/2 tbsp sunflower seeds and a heaped tsp of smooth PB.
It was delicious. You can alter this in many ways - e.g. non gluten free oats, using almond butter, omitting the banana, using maple syrup instead of agave, or chia instead of flax. It’s easily adaptable! The berries are key, though. Primarily for flavour, but come on, who doesn’t want pink oatmeal? ;D
Gluten free oatmeal topped with banana, cinnamon, pumpkin seeds and cacao nibs.
-GF oats, almond milk, flax, vanilla, drop or two of agave.
As of this week, and for all of April, I’m going gluten free and and heavily limiting my intake of sugars other than those naturally occurring in fruit. I’ll tell you why in the next vlog, which will be tomorrow or the day after! :)
Creamy banana oatmeal (oats, ‘nana, almond milk, flax) topped with more ‘nana, crushed pecans, pumpkin seeds and a few pieces of “Raw Chocolate Nut Pie” sprinkled on top.
Because of the coconut oil in the ‘pie’, when I stirred the oatmeal up, it melted and make a yummy chocolate swirl. :D
Banana oatmeal with more ‘nana, crushed walnuts, pumpkin seeds and cacao nibs.
(1/3 cup oats, 2/3 cup almond milk, 1/3 cup water, 1 tsp flax, dash of vanilla, 1/2 finely sliced ‘nana.)
Oh how I’ve missed you, oatmeal.
When I’m bored, I bake. When I’m not bored, I bake. When I’m procrastinating heavily and trying to avoid the art coursework that’s shouting at me, I bake.
Basically, I bake a lot. It’s one of the view things I actually ~love to do. Another thing I love doing is eating. I ate two of these straight out of the oven, and waited like a good girl for a few more minutes until eating a third. It’s great how baking and eating work together… anyway, I digress!
These come in at 118 calories a cookie, are pretty low in sugar (only 3.8g, many cookies are 10g+), and are vegan, obviously. :) Makes 27!
Adapted from whisksandwhimsey. (aka, I made them healthier.)
What you will need;
- 1 cup pecans and 3/4 cup walnuts, or all walnuts;
- 2 cups rolled oats, divided;
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 1/4 cup wholewheat;
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar;
- 1 tsp baking soda;
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon;
- 2 1/2 tbsp coconut oil and 2 tsp apple sauce; (Vegan butter might work?)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup and 1/4 cup agave;
- 4 tbsp almond milk;
- 2 tsp vanilla extract;
- 2/3 cup dried cranberries.
1. Heat the oven to 350F, and line a baking tray with parchment paper, placing the nuts on the tray and baking for 10 minutes. Whilst they are toasting, stir together 1 cup of the oats, the flours, brown sugar, baking soda and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. Allow the nuts to cool for a few minutes, then pulse in a food processor until finely ground. Don’t pulse too much, or a nut butter will start to form! Add the dry ingredients from before and process for 20-30 seconds until well mixed.
3. Add the coconut oil to a small glass bowl/jug and microwave for 20 seconds to soften, then add all the wet ingredients, give a stir to combine and add to the food processor, processing until the dough comes together and is well mixed. Stir in the remaining 1 cup of oats and and cranberries by hand.
4. Using the lined tray from before and another lined tray, portion out roughly a heaping tbsp per cookie, rolling in to a ball then flattening with a fork on the tray. These won’t spread out very much at all, so press quite hard as this will be the shape of the cookie when baked.
5. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F and allow to cool for 2 minutes on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack.
They’ll be firm on the outside but soft on the inside, just how a cookie should be. My omni Ma and brother both had 2 and loved them! They’re not good for a ‘vegan cookie’, they’re good, full stop.
My Ma didn’t believe these were vegan, but they really are 100% cruelty free and environmentally friendly. Use all organic ingredients and it’s even better! :D
