Recipe Alert: Easy Vegan Brownie Overnight Oats

Overnight oats are a revelation to me!  An easy, delicious and nutritious way to enjoy healthy breakfasts without any of the fuss in the morning!  They are filling and packed with protein, good fats and all kinds of yummy stuff.  Eating a breakfast  high in protein will optimise your brain's ability to send messages to the rest of your body, ensuring you wake up properly and stay energised (and full!) until lunchtime.  Follow this delicious recipe and breakfast won't ever be the same again...

I mix all my ingredients together, place it in the fridge at night, and just forget about it until morning.

EASY Vegan Brownie Batter Overnight Oats made with simple, healthy ingredients that can be made in only 5 minutes. Healthy, vegan, gluten free and so yummy.  😍 I love chocolate, so this is my favourite recipe, but you can change up the ingredients, adding fruit, nuts, and spices as you see fit.

Ingredients:

• 1½ cup unsweetened almond milk
• ½ ripe banana, mashed
• 2 Tbsp raw cacao powder
• 1 Tbsp peanut butter, room temperature
• 1 cup gluten free rolled oats
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (recommends: Tao Nutrition)
• ½ tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

Optional toppings: coconut flakes, nibs or peanut pieces

Instructions: 

• In a small bowl, mix together peanut butter and banana.
• Mix in cacao powder, chia seeds, coconut sugar, chocolate protein powder, vanilla, cinnamon and salt until well combined.
• Add in almond milk & oats until they are thoroughly coated.
• Pour oats into tupperware or mason jars.
• Cover and refrigerate overnight until the oats soften and the liquid has been absorbed.
• This dish can be eaten cold, or microwaved for 30-60 seconds for a warm chocolaty breakfast.

Top with favorite toppings and enjoy.
This recipe will make enough for two breakfast portions.


Recipe adapted from: The Edgy Veg

Recipe Alert: Amazing Sweet Potato Brownies

I LOVE both brownies and sweet potatoes... so, in my opinion, this recipe from Deliciously Ella is simply heavenly....it really is 😇💖👌😇

SERVES: 10  /  PREP: 20 Mins  /  COOKING: 50 Mins /  TOTAL: 70 Mins
DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

My original recipe for sweet potato brownies has been so popular over the last few years, so many of you absolutely love them and make them all the time, but I’ve been feeling for a while that there was a way to make them so much better. I wanted something gooier, richer, more chocolaty and all round more indulgent and these are the result of that. I promise you’d never know there was any veg in here at all!







FOR THE BROWNIES:

500g of sweet potatoes (about 2 medium)
12 medjool dates
6 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
100g of ground almonds
2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
a pinch of salt
100g of ground oats
6 tablespoons of raw cacao powder

FOR THE ICING:
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
2 tablespoons of almond butter
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of cacao powder


METHOD:
Start by pre-heating the oven to 180C (fan), then peel the sweet potatoes. Cut them into chunks and place into a steamer for about twenty minutes, until they become really soft.

Once they are perfectly soft and beginning to fall apart remove them and add them to a food processor with the pitted dates.

Put the remaining ingredients into a bowl, before mixing in the sweet potato date combination. Stir well.

Place into a lined baking dish and cook for about forty-five to fifty minutes, until you can pierce the brownie with a fork and bring it out dry. Remove the tray and allow it to cool for about ten minutes – this is really important as it needs this time to stick together!

While the brownies are cooking make the icing by simply melting all the ingredients together and stirring well, then place in the freezer for 15 minutes and then the fridge for 15 to firm up a bit.

Remove the brownies from the tray and leave to cool completely before icing otherwise your icing will melt! Spread the icing on top, cut into squares, dig in and enjoy!

Recipe and Images: Source

An Alphabetic Guide to SUPERFOODS - Cacao (Cocoa)

Superfoods are nature's gift, they're vibrant, nutritionally dense foods that offer us tremendous dietary and healing potential. 

RAW CACAO   

With so many "so called" super foods on the market, one can easily become confused as to which one to eat. Some of these super foods have a bit of a potent taste, and it takes a little bit of time to get used to eating it. There is one super food however that has been eaten by the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans for thousands of years for its healing properties... and that food is raw cacao.

When you think of cacao, your thought immediately turns to chocolate and you are probably wondering how chocolate can be good for you. But the chocolate found in chocolate bars are in fact not the raw form of cacao and it is only when you eat cacao in its raw form that you can derive the benefits from it. Here are only a few benefits of eating raw cacao.

1. Raw cacao is a stimulant and will boost your body's energy level and also make you feel good about yourself. 
2. Although it is a stimulant it also helps to regulate your sleeping patterns. 
3. Eating cacao will reduce the effects of stress and fatigue. 
4. Raw chocolate gives you a sense of well being and euphoria and will reduce depression due to the fact that it stimulates your brain's neurotransmitters. 
5. It will actually strengthen your cardiovascular system in that raw cacao contains flavanols which helps to maintain blood pressure. The flavanols also prevents the build-up of fatty substances which can clog the arteries. 
6. Raw cacao is also a mild aphrodisiac. 
7. Raw cacao has a high sulfur content. Sulfur is also known as the beauty mineral and is necessary to detoxify the liver, gives you a beautifully healthy skin and helps to build strong hair and nails. 
8. The flavanols found in raw cacao work in much the same way as aspirin and blood-thinners in that it helps to prevent the blood platelets from sticking together and forming blood clots causing strokes and heart attacks. 
9. Dark chocolate has appetite suppressant qualities and can actually help you to lose weight. This is the reason why cacao is often included in weight loss products. 
10. Raw cacao will also stimulate your body's immune system.

Cacao is one of the most complex food substances on earth and contains more than 300 chemically identifiable compounds.

Despite all the obvious health benefits of eating raw cacao remember that there is a huge difference between cacao and chocolate. Although they contain cacao, chocolates are made from processed cacao and not the raw version, grocery store chocolates also contain high amounts of sugar and unhealthy fats. Along with all the sugar added to make chocolate sweet, most chocolate only contains about 5 percent of the nutritional value of raw cacao. Dark chocolate on the other hand is made from raw cacao which means a lot of the original nutrients are retained during the process.

This means that if you really want to feel the benefits of cacao, you will need to eat it in its raw form and not in the form of standard chocolate that you buy at the grocery store.


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