Overnight Gingerbread Oat Waffles Recipe

Finally getting around to posting the recipe for these amazing waffles. I wanted to have the batter ready so I looked up recipes for overnight waffles. I thought of adding pumpkin spice which is just (ground nutmeg+allspice+cinnamon+ginger) to the mix to make it taste like gingerbread cookies. Next time I will try adding molasses to the mix. I personally like adding whole wheat flour because the kids don't like the consistency of just oat flour waffles. I find they don't eat as much. Plus I find it dense and I wasn't sure if it would rise if I just used oat flour. So I did half oat flour and half whole wheat flour. Oat flour is basically ground oats. I make my own by grinding it in the coffee grinder. So much cheaper. Chocolate dipped fruits are optional but kids love fancy breakfasts. These waffles are crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. The original recipe I saw had 1/2 cup of butter but I switched it to greek yogurt and still added a little bit of melted butter. You can omit the butter if you are watching calories but it does add a lot of flavour. And I added cornstarch to make the waffles crispy. That ingredient can also be omitted.

Overnight Gingerbread Oat Waffles Recipe

Ingredients
2 cups almond milk (or milk of choice)
1 packet yeast
1/2 warm water
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 tbsp. melted butter
1 tsp sweeter of choice I used Splenda
1 cup oat flour
1 cup whole wheat
2 eggs
1 tbsp. pumpkin spice
2 tbsp. hemp hearts (optional)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp. cornstarch

Directions
1)Start by mixing warm water, sweetener and yeast in a bowl.
2)Wait for 10 minutes for yeast to bubble. Add yogurt, melted butter, flours, pumpkin spice, cornstarch, salt. Mix everything.
3)Let rise overnight in the fridge.
4)In the morning, the batter would have risen add whisked eggs, hemp hearts, and baking soda.
5)Spray waffle iron and pour enough batter 3/4 of the way. This batter rises so be prepared for overflow.
6)Enjoy with your favorite syrup and toppings.

Makes 7 waffles.

Easy Red Lentil Dhal Recipe

Most people don't know that I am part Sri Lankan. The cultural aspect of being Sri Lankan that I most relate to is the food. I am not going to lie, Sri Lankan food is hard to make in my opinion. Well, not entirely hard but I just can't get my food to taste like how my mom makes it. So I give up and just ask her to cook for me lol. But even when I ask her for a recipe, she can't tell me because its a little bit of this and a little bit of that, taste and then add a little more of this and a little more of that. So this Red Lentil Dhal Recipe is one thing that I actually perfected. But you can definitely add a little bit more spice according to your taste. We eat this with naan or rice. Just recently, my daughter wanted to bring this to school but she didn't want it to be messy so I made a naan stuffed with dhal. She was one happy girl.

First of is choosing the right red lentils. I buy mine from the Asian grocery store. A bag was on sale for $3 for a 2lb bag. I probably won't go through an entire bag for months. There is no need to soak these lentils, they are easy to cook. I use about 1 cup of red lentils and I rinse it under cold water a couple of times. Now it is ready for cooking. For the spices, if you don't plan to make this all the time, go buy your spices at the Bulk Barn. You can get just the right amount and pay pennies. Pandan leaves and curry leaves can also be bought at the Asian grocery store. You can omit the leaves if difficult to find. But I buy mine and they are about $2 a pack of fresh leaves and I keep them in the freezer for future recipes.

Easy Red Lentil Dhal Recipe

Ingredients
1 cup red lentils
2 cups water
2 tbsp. olive oil or ghee
1 cup coconut milk
1 tomato
2 garlic gloves
1 tbsp. ginger minced
1 small onion
1 tbsp. turmeric
2 tbsp. curry powder
1/2 tbsp. ground coriander
1/2 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
3 whole cloves
2 cardamom pods
3 inch pandan leaf
5-8 curry leaves
1 tbsp. curry paste (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1)Combine lentils, pandan leaf and water in a pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
2)In a separate pan, heat oil. Add onions, garlic, ginger and all the spices. Heat the spices to make it more flavourful otherwise you can skip this step and just add everything to your pot.
3)Add your heated spices to your lentils and stir. Add coconut milk and tomato. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper.
4)Remove from heat and enjoy.

To make the naan/pita bread. I followed the instructions from this youtube video. This is a really good technique that I have used to make our naan/pita/pizza bread. The only difference is, I used whole wheat flour and sometimes even add oat flour.

To make my naan stuffed with dhal. You simply roll out the naan very thinly and carefully place a dollop of dhal. Fold in close and carefully place in a heated pan. Gently flip when one side is brown.

Spicy Masala Shrimp and Sweet Potato on Tofu Recipe

Time to update the blog! I didn't intend this blog to be full of recipes but that's how it's looking right now. I love food and a big part of my weight loss is food. Most of my meals this year is vegetarian or gluten free. I'm just trying to test out what works for me but whatever it is, it is full of flavour.  I get ideas for our meals from Pinterest and books. This recipe is from a tofu book. However I completely made it my own because I was missing key ingredients. But in the end, the tofu turned out delicious.

Spicy Masala Shrimp and Sweet Potato on Tofu Recipe

Ingredients
1 block of firm tofu (pressed so there's not much moisture)
5 large cleaned shrimps no skin
1/2 cup sweet potato mash
1 tbsp. Pataks Masala Curry Paste
1/4 cup of cilantro
3 garlic gloves
nori seaweed sheets
salt and pepper

Directions
1)In a blender combine shrimp, sweet potato, masala paste, cilantro, garlic. Make a paste out of all the ingredients. Add pinch of salt and pepper.
2)Slice tofu into 1/4 inch thickness rectangles.
3)Apply paste to one side of tofu and cover with a nori sheet
4)Heat some oil in a pan and placing nori side down, pan fry. Flip carefully and fry other side.
5)Enjoy with noodles, rice, in a sandwich or by itself.

Honey Whole Wheat Oatmeal Loaf with Blueberry Chia Jam Recipe

It is really hard for me to find bread that is multigrain or whole wheat that doesn't contain flax. Unfortunately 10 years ago, I discovered I was allergic to flax seeds. And there ended my dreams of benefitting from this super food. Now, flax seeds is added to a lot of foods especially breads. Well, I thought, I have a good mixer and I can bake so why not try my hand at an oatmeal loaf. This recipe is all about the process. Just like my other loaf recipe, it needs the second rise so that the bread is airy.
I ate this with my homemade blueberry chia jam. Recipe is added at the bottom.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Loaf Recipe

Ingredients
3 cups flour blend (1 whole wheat and 2 oat flour or vise versa)
1 1/4 warm water
3/4 tsp yeast
1/4 honey
1/4 oil
2 tbsp. hemp hearts
1 tsp salt

Directions
1)Mix warm water, honey, yeast and 1 cup of flour in a mixing bowl.
2)Let stand for 10 minutes until yeast is activated
3)Use dough hook and add rest of ingredients into bowl. I added the flour a little at a time and watch and see the consistency. You might need to add less or more flour depending on your dough. When the dough separates from the bowl it is done. Place in a nice warm place for 1 hr.
4)When hour is done, punch down the dough and shape into a loaf or buns. Leave dough for 2 hours more.
5)Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. If you want, brush top of bread with a little milk and sprinkle some oatmeal.
6)Bake for 18-22 minutes. Rotate half way though. If you make a large loaf you might have to keep in the oven longer. But smaller buns, cut the time by 5 minutes.

Enjoy with some blueberry chia jam.

Blueberry Chia Jam Recipe

Ingredients
1 cup blueberries
2 tbsp. chia seeds
2 tbsp. honey
1/4 water

Directions
1)Combine all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for another 10 minutes.
2)Mash the blueberries and remove from heat.
3)Let cool before placing in a glass jar. Jam will thicken.

Gluten Free Cornbread Pancakes Mcgriddle Recipe

When I was pregnant with my son, I saw a commercial from the notorious giant fast food place for the Mcgriddle. A sweet syrup infused pancake sandwich with egg,cheese and sausage. I made my husband take me there for breakfast the next day. I'm not going to lie, it is so damn good. Back then, pregnant I didn't even care about how much calories one of those sandwiches were. I didn't care about the trans fats that is probably injected into it to make it taste so heavenly. But now I care. I hadn't had one since that day but my friend Kristin has reminded me of how good it taste so I told her I will try to recreate it. This is just the cornbread pancake recipe, add a sausage and egg to make it a Mcgriddle. But I guarantee you, it's good and guilt free this time around.

Gluten Free Cornbread Pancakes Mcgriddle Recipe

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 almond milk (add more if needed)
1 beaten egg
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp. hemp hearts
1 tbsp. chia gel
1 tbsp. maple syrup/honey/sweetener of choice

Directions
1)Combine all dry ingredients.
2)Add egg,vanilla,milk,sweetener into dry ingredients.
3)Heat griddle with some coconut oil and pour pancake batter. When you see bubbles on one side, flip and cook the other side.
4)Fry an egg. In between each pancake place an egg, cheese or sausage to make your Mcgriddle.
5)Add more syrup if needed. Enjoy Makes 5 Mcgriddles.

Creamy Chocolate Quinoa Porridge Recipe

Hi again! Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been posting everyday meal ideas on Instagram and Facebook but haven't been updating the blog. Home life is busy, the weekends are busy, life is busy. Sigh! But I wanted to update with the quinoa porridge recipe because it is really good. I saw the book at the library and I think I might have to go get my own copy of  The Quinoa Revolution. Page after page of recipes that don't require too much ingredients and very easy to make.
I decided on trying this breakfast recipe and boy is this a winner. Creamy and delicious.

Creamy Chocolate Quinoa Porridge Recipe

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of milk (your choice, I used Coconut Almond milk)
1/2 cup of quinoa
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 large egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp. of maple syrup or sweeter of choice

Directions
1)Combine milk,quinoa and cocoa in a saucepan and cook on medium heat then reduce to simmer about 20 minutes.
2)Whisk egg whites and vanilla in a small bowl. Temper the egg whites by adding a little bit of the hot quinoa mixture. Do this a couple of times. Then pour egg whites into quinoa mixture.
3)Remove from heat and serve with maple syrup or sweeter of choice.