Well hello there and welcome to Wednesday! This week I’m on break so have been playing catch-up on all my work from Uni. Which means my days are super exciting. I get to do things like take notes, spend hours photocopying textbooks, and study pictures of brain anatomy wishing I could learn the information by osmosis. But in between shovelling information into my cranium I also find time to do some real fun stuff. Stuff like working out, making yummy food, and trying new things for adventurous april.
Adventurous April was started by Janetha as a way for her to step outside of her comfort zone and try new things. And this girl is awesome because she invited everyone else to do the same! Your adventures can be anything great or small, but it has to be something new for you. So today I’m posting about some of my recent culinary adventures in the kitchen.
1. Breakfast
Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. I could eat breakfast foods all day long if I could! But the sensible part of me tells me I should eat a vegetable or two and maybe a hunk of meat to even out the massive bowls of cereal I would otherwise consume. But when it comes to breakfast I tend to get stuck in a rut. I eat the same thing most days. So I took adventurous april as a sign to step out of my comfort zone and create some new eats like this Banana Berry Oatmeal Soufflé…
Prep Time: 15 mins Cooking Time: 10 mins
Makes 1 large or 2 smaller portions
Ingredients
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 1 tsp vanilla protein powder
- 1 tsp chia seeds
- Spices to taste: ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves & cardamom
- 1.5 tsp maple syrup
- 1 ½ cups boiling water
- ½ medium banana
- ¼ cup berries of choice
- 1 tbsp chopped nuts, and dried fruit (mix of walnuts, almonds, brazils and sultanas)
- 1 whole egg + 2 egg whites (approx ½ cup total)
Method
- Combine first six ingredients in a small saucepan and stir to combine. Cover with lid and set aside for 10 – 15 minutes to soak.
- Meanwhile, place banana in a bowl and mash with a fork. Add berries, nuts, and dried fruit. In a small measuring cup, combine whole egg and egg whites and whisk with a fork to combine.
- After soaking the oats, place them over a medium heat and stir until oats begin to simmer. Add in banana mixture and continue stirring. If mixture is too thick add additional water (I normally add an extra ¼ to ½ cup). Continue to simmer for 3 – 5 minutes.
- When oats have reached your desired consistency, slowly add in the eggs. Whisk continuously for 2 – 3 minutes until oats have fluffed up and are a thick consistency.
- Transfer oats to bowl, garnish with additional berries or nuts if desired, and dig in!
Gather up your ingredients…
Whisk, whisk, whisk!
Grab a large bowl (Note: Our normal cereal bowls don’t accommodate my larger than life portions of oatmeal. I’ve had to resort to using our salad bowl…Don’t judge…)
Grab a spoon and dig in!
To download a printable version of the recipe click here: Banana Berry Oatmeal Soufflé
I’d always been a fan of protein powder with oats, but up until now haven’t added eggs into my oatmeal. I was actually blown away at how delicious this turned out. It was super creamy and thick and I didn’t detect any egg flavour at all.
Some of the new-to-me ingredients in this bowl were ground cardamom and chia seeds. Cardamom is a beautiful wintery spice that pairs well with desserts and stewed fruit, and is wonderfully aromatic. The chia seeds add healthy fats, fibre, and also act as a thickening agent in the oats. I know I’m a little late on the chia seed craze, but I’ve always been a fan of flax. But seeing as this is adventurous april I decided it was time to try something new! All in all this dish was a winner and will definitely be in the breakfast rotation.
2. Dinner
Having busted my breakfast rut, I decided to seek out a new-to-me vegetable I could try for dinner. After perusing the fresh food market I found this gem.
It was small and cute and looked like the perfect portion for my solo dinner that night. When I got home with my baby gem, I googled to find out what this vegetable had to offer and how I should prepare it. I found out that the gem squash is a cross between a small pumpkin and a zucchini, and they are best prepared by steaming on the stovetop.
I headed to the kitchen and gazed into the fridge for inspiration. Since I was flying solo for dinner I did what any logical lazy girl would do: use up the leftovers. I spotted the spaghetti sauce from a few days before and immediately knew what to make – stuffed spaghetti squash!
I got to work deseeding and steaming the squash, and warmed up some of the leftover Low FODMAP spaghetti sauce in the microwave.
After about 12 minutes in the steamer this baby was done. I carefully spooned crammed as much of the sauce as I could into my baby squash, and topped it with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast, salt and pepper.
Stuffed Gem Squash
This meal was so good! The flesh of the gem squash is similar to a spaghetti squash and creates small strands once cooked. It was pleasantly sweet and was the perfect partner to my leftover sauce. Another adventurous april win!
I hope my escapades in the kitchen will inspire you to try something new. Remember it doesn’t have to be anything huge, just something new for you!
Next up on my adventurous april schedule…New to me fitness fun!
Oh wow your kitchen adventures look so good!! Yay for trying new things! And I’ve never heard of a gem squash before, but it sure is cute
New thing I’ve done lately– eating mushrooms and discovering how yummy they are! I’d always been super allergic to them, but at a recent allergist appt I found out I’m not anymore! My tastebuds are happy campers now heehee
Glad to hear your body can tolerate mushies again…they are super yummy!
I always love your recipes, so I’ve tagged you for the Kreativ Blogger Award. If you accept, you get to list some facts about yourself and pass the award along, check out my most recent blog entry for the details…thanks for the food envy:)
Thanks so much! I’ll go and check out your post
The breakfast looks great! And so simple as well. Love it. Keep up the great work. Hope to hear more from you and your healthy recipes!
Thanks! Keep checking back as I’ve got lots of healthy stuff to share in the coming weeks
Thanks! And same for you!
My new to me was making jelly (jam to those in the US) which turned out fab! Not so healthy but i eat in small doses… and hitting the gym 5 days a week for running sessions.
The cereal looks really good, I may have to try it out.
Oooo what kind of jam??? I’ll be hitting the gym tomorrow for a lower body workout…going to be epic. Hope ur workout is equally amazing
Quince jelly (it’s one of my latest posts) and it is scrummy. My workout was really good today, thanks. enjoy yours.
This is such a cute post! I love the title and the photos with the words. You make me happy
Stepping out of my comfort zone makes me happy. Loving this challenge
I also tend to fall into a routine with breakfast; I’ve been having oatmeal every morning…but recently I broke out of that and started having things like toast, egg, avocado. I thought I wouldn’t really be able to like it as much as oatmeal, but when I tried I saw how much I liked the change! Now of course oatmeal will still be a staple, but from now on I wouldn’t mind throwing different things in sometimes
I love the eggs and avo combo as well…it’s another super comforting breakfast combo. Have you got holidays this week as well?
Yes! Hence why my days have been quite lazy lately…should get geared up for the coming week though; an exam coming up toward the end of this month. Eeeeps!
yeah i have exams coming up too! good luck with your studies
Good luck to you too, Sarah!
that oatmeal sounds amazing!!!
It totally is! Let me know if you try it
wow, such a good day. adventurous and nutritious!
What a creative new take on oatmeal! I’ve seen many, many recipes for the average bowl of oats, but this is something completely different. Great idea!
Thanks! I love how the whisked eggs makes it so light and fluffy…plus a good hit of protein to keep you going
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great.
Cheers!
I don’t know who you are but definitely you’re going
to a famous blogger if you aren’t already