Jaffa Breakfast Jar

Earl Grey tea, the perfect tea blend of bergamot orange, has always been a favourite to pick me up during those sluggish Winter mornings or warm Summer afternoons. It's a very soothing tea for me and I love the subtleness of the sweet citrus flavours.

One rainy Spring however, I thought, why not combine this distinct flavour with some cacao/chocolate? Because you know chocolate tastes amazing with anything pretty much. 

And ta-da, another weird clean creation by yours truly, somewhat reminding me those Jaffa lollies I used to buy from the supermarket as a kid - you know those round little confectionery balls with a soft chocolate centre and hard red orange-flavoured casing? If in doubt, ask Google.

I've come to enjoy the somewhat bitterness/blandness of tea so the Earl Grey will be quite evident in this recipe, making it less sweet and creamy as ordinary chia pudding. To help you if you're a particularly sweet sweet tooth though, feel free to add in extra sweetener (when serving) to suit your tastebuds, substitute some of the chilled tea with extra milk or maybe even chuck in some mandarin/orange pieces with it to soak overnight!

Earl Grey Chocolate Chia Pudding
Serves: 2 

Ingredients
1 cup brewed and chilled Earl Grey tea
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup chia seeds
2 tablespoons cacao powder
2 tablespoons maple syrup/honey

Method
1. Combine tea, milk and chia seeds together in a jar, before adding in cacao and maple syrup/honey.
2. Cover and refrigerate overnight but stir every 20 minutes for the hour so that the chia seeds don't clump up.

Good morning and good day!

Transformation Tuesday + PB&J SORBET - AKA The Majin Buu

Some of you guys probably would have seen this post yesterday on Instagram but I'll do some explaining any-hoo.

I absolutely love being in the kitchen. Nothing gets me more than trying to think of new ways to incorporate super foods into my life. I find it so fun experimenting with different tastes and combinations and it's always such a sense of accomplishment to me when my finished 'product' comes out a success. 

But you know because I am always in the kitchen I do tend to get really messy ... and lazy ... Bottom line is: I love cooking but I HATE cleaning. Hate it.

And as a result my kitchen bench is usually a pig sty full of different jars, half opened packets and packaging everywhere. (As you can see above). Oh and I absolutely hate those packages that quinoa, chia seeds, flour etc always come in because you actually have to CAREFULLY reseal them every-time or they lose their quality - #aintnobodygottimefodat.

I finally decided it was time for a makeover so yesterday (hence Transformation Tuesday) I invested in some beautiful pint-sized mason jars - you know, those things that everyone is so into these days because they're so cute and perfect and fun-sized yet 'sah indie'. After an hour or too this was my result:

What do you think?!

I think next time I'll buy some bigger sized mason jars to store more inside, but hey look how neat my bench is now! The near-impossible was possible. I now have so much more space to work with and don't have to worry about annoying paper packages everywhere. I swear I could just stay in my kitchen all day gazing at my kitchen bench with all its prettyfulness - breakfast, lunch and dinner times just got way more exciting. 

Is it weird that while so many girls my age spend money on clothes to look good and things to decorate their rooms with, I instead spend my money on ways to neaten my kitchen? You could say that I do spend money on looking good too .. through food to nourish my body :)

Okay now enough with today's rant and to today's clean creation.

This one's pretty similar to acai bowls and my previous blueberry froyo post but is more like sorbet because it requires less liquid and without the protein powder content. 

Even though I call it PB+J there actually is no jam in it (I know, I breathe dishonesty) but the blended berries do give a similar taste to jam anyway right right right? You get what I mean. And the peanut butter just goes well with anything so it's a given that these two combo's go together like a house on fire.

Oh and do try use coconut milk if you can, the lauric acid in it makes it just that much better. 

It was so pink + thick + chunky (+ it's so FLUFFFFFFFY) it was just a big ball of goodness - hence the title 'Majin Buu'  (for all you awesome kids who, like me, was raised watching Dragon Ball Z haha).

This snapshot could have been so much better but fear got the better of me when I was taking photos. I rushed to take it as soon as I finished blending/decorating because I didn't want it to melt in todays warm weather before it was too late :(
#firstworldproblems

PB+J Sorbet
Serves 1
Ingredients
Just over 1 cup frozen strawberries (any other frozen berry is fine also)
1/4 cup coconut or almond milk
1 heaped tablespoon peanut butter or PB2
1 teaspoon acai/berry powder (optional)

Method
Blend, blend and blend! Make sure you do so thoroughly and get into all the nooks and crannies :)
Dig in before it melts!

Lots of love,

The Gluttonous Nutritionist

Vanilla Protein & Cacao Shortbread Bars

DOUBLE DECKER (more like double delicious) VANILLA PROTEIN + CACAO SHORTBREAD

Tastes like: Heaven. But seriously, the classic vanilla and chocolate combination can never go wrong! With these, the bittersweet cacao really complemented the coconutty-vanilla layer. These are also quite dense and flavoursome so you'll find that eating just one small portion is enough to satisfy your afternoon sugar cravings. 

Apologies for the poor photo quality from my instagram, if I ever get around to making another batch of these I'll be sure to take a much better photo.

Ingredients

Shortbread base:

1 cup vanilla protein powder 

4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

2 tablespoons honey

Cacao base:

1/2 cup cacao powder

1/2 cup chocolate protein powder (or replace with cacao powder)

4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

2 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon peanut butter (I used chocolate PB2)

Note: If you're having trouble combining the dry ingredients with the wet, adjust quantities as needed (i.e add extra drops of coconut oil/honey etc) until you get a dough-like consistency that you can work with.

Method

1. Line a rectangular dish with baking paper. Combine shortbread base ingredients in a bowl and press into the dish. Pop into the freezer.

2. Melt the cacao/chocolate protein powder with the coconut oil and stir together. Add the honey and peanut butter, ensuring the mixture is completely smooth.

3. Depending on the consistency of your cacao mixture, press or pour this over the shortbread base. (Try to work quickly because once the cacao mixture hits the cold edges of the rectangular dish it hardens almost instantaneously).

4. Refrigerate for at least an hour before slicing!