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Healthy

    Food & DIY

    Berry, Almond and Chocolate Overnight Oats

    My goal this year is to get back on track with my health and develop/relearn better habits.  I used to be the type of person that woke up at 6 A.M. in the morning to workout and I always made time to eat a healthy breakfast. I’m not quite sure what triggered me to change that routine last year, but at some point in time I did. This change eventually took a toll on my body and, last year, I was sick more often than I had ever been before. Although I hope to eventually be able to wake up early enough to workout and eat breakfast at home, I know that I don’t have that discipline to do that right now.  One of the changes that has helped me get back on track–at least when it comes to eating breakfast in the morning–is preparing breakfast that I can take with me to work. Overnight oats have been a great addition to my diet because they make for an easy and delicious on-the-go breakfast, and I like that it’s easy to experiment with different ingredients and proportions. Today I’m sharing one of my favorite overnight oats combinations:

     

    Berry, Almond and Chocolate Overnight Oats
    Ingredients
    3/4 cup of dried oats
    1/2-3/4 cup of mixed berries (I used blueberries, blackberries and raspberries)
    A handful of sliced almonds
    A handful of chocolate chips
    1/2 cup to 3/4 cups of almond milk
    1 Tbsp of agave syrup (optional)
    To prepare this overnight oats recipe, simply pour all the dry ingredients into a half-pint mason jar, top off the jar with almond milk and agave syrup, and then store the mixture in the fridge overnight. Then simply grab the mason jar from the fridge on your way out the door in the morning. I really wasn’t kidding when I said this is an easy breakfast to prepare! You can enjoy overnight oats warm or at room temperature, but I like to eat this particular recipe when it’s cold. You don’t want the berries to get too pruny by popping them in the microwave.
    I hope that you enjoy this recipe. Now that I have a bit more time, I’m going really make an effort to include more recipe and DIY posts. Please let me know if there is anything in particular that you would like to see on the blog. As always, thank you for reading and have an amazing rest of the week!
    xoxo,
    Helen

     

    Food & DIY

    Kale, Red Quinoa and Fruit Salad

    Lately I’ve been trying to make more of an effort to eat more salads, since I’m trying to be more health-conscious and actually eat my vegetables. Over the weekend, I had the grand idea of making a salad of several ingredients that I was craving. The result was a delicious kale, quinoa and fruit salad. Being that these days I seem to have a huge sweet tooth, I loved that this salad kind of tasted like dessert. It was even a big hit with my family, and they don’t usually enjoy eating salads. I mean, who doesn’t want to get on board with eating healthy dessert salad? I know that I do!
    KALE, QUINOA AND FRUIT SALAD
    INGREDIENTS
    (MAKES 6-7 SERVINGS)
    SALAD:
    5-6 cups of chopped kale
    1 cup of uncooked red quinoa (about 3 cups prepared)
    1 cup of chopped walnuts
    2 cups of grapes cut in half
    2 cups of chopped strawberries
    1/2 cup of crumbled Feta cheese (optional)
    3 cups of shredded chicken (optional)
    RED WINE AND BASIL VINAIGRETTE
    1/3 cup of olive oil
    1/2 cup of red wine vinegar
    1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil
    1 garlic clove
    1 tsp of sugar
    1 tsp of salt
    —–
    Directions.
    Rinse 1 cup of quinoa in cold water. Then, in a small pot mix 1 cup of quinoa with two cups of water. Once the water starts to boil, bring down the temperature to low, cover the pot and let the quinoa simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring it occasionally. You can also add a pinch of salt and pepper to the red quinoa for taste. Once the quinoa is cooked, rinse it again in cold water in order to cool it down.
    In a large salad bowl, mix the quinoa, chopped kale, grapes, walnuts and strawberries. You can also add Feta cheese and shredded chicken if you want to make your salad more filling.
    To make the vinaigrette, blend the olive oil, red wine vinegar, fresh basil, garlic, sugar and salt. Pour the vinaigrette and toss the salad, and then you’re ready to serve.
    —–
    I have to say that putting this post together this weekend was so much fun. I know that I keep saying this, but I really do want to invest more time working on recipes and D.I.Y. tutorials. It puts me in such a good mood when I have the opportunity to be creative. Since I obviously don’t take my own outfit photos for this blog, it was also so much fun to have the opportunity to be behind the camera and come up with unique ways to stage everything.
    I hope that you enjoy making this recipe as much as I did. I’d love to hear how how you like it once you try it out. Have an amazing rest of the week!
    xoxo,
    Helen Grace