Chocolate, Coconut & Raspberry Overnight Oats | A make ahead breakfast recipe

HAPPY NEW YEAR, I know I'm a little late to the party, but sometimes I find myself rebelling against expect expectations.

Expectations that I should write a gift guide or a special holiday post, that I should write a year in review post or share with the world some reasonably attainable new years resolution. I actually enjoy reading those posts, but one of the things I've realized in the past year, is that I want to be able to write about what I want, when I want without the societal pressure to perform as a blogger.

When I try and conform to whatever it is that my mind thinks a blogger should be, writing becomes work and although many people consider their blog a job, and for a while I thought I might too, for now,I want my blog to be a place for solace and peace and relaxation.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know, I have been very slowly under taking the #100happydays challenge and it was pointed out to me very early on, that FOOD and my children have been the primary focal point. Combined with many requests to share my recipes, today, I'm going to do just that.

I LOVE breakfast; I get up early every day so that before I leave for work at 6:30am I have time to eat a nutritious and filling breakfast and feed my family the same. I am a huge fan of eggs, either on toast or in a tortilla and I regularly eat them multiple days a week.

But sometimes, its nice to change things up and when I posted the photo above of some chocolate coconut and raspberry overnight oats I had made, I discovered I wasn't the only one who wanted a creamy, delicious and quick breakfast on hand.  I've refined the recipe a little bit since I first made it and actually prefer to use the smaller 250ml jars rather than the large 500ml ones seen in the photo above and the recipe below makes five 250ml jars which means if you don't share you will have enough for your entire work week. 

Chocolate, Coconut & Raspberry Overnight Oats

(gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free)

yield: five 250ml jars

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups plain yogurt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup + 5 Tbsp shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup (raw) cocoa powder
• 3 Tbsp chia seeds
• 3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1-1/4 cup gluten-free rolled oats
• 1 cup frozen raspberries

Directions:

• Mix together everything except the oats, frozen raspberries and 5 Tbsp of coconut. 
• Once well blended, add in the oats and still until combined. The mix will seem a little loose and runny.
• Spoon yogurt mix into jars until they are approximately 1/3 full.
• Divide frozen berries among the jars, sprinkling 1 tbsp of coconut on top of the berries in each jar.
• Spoon remaining yogurt mix over the berries and coconut, dividing evenly among jars.
• Refrigerate a minimum of 3 hours.
• Enjoy the deliciousness!

Note: Feel free to mix up the ingredients and add-ins to suit your tastes and of course what you have on hand.

We had a Crack'n Win Chinese New Year with Kinder Surprise | #kindermom

As a #Kindermom I love seeing the delight on my boys faces when I pull out a Kinder Egg as a special treat or reward and watching my boys share them with others just fills me with pride. I know sharing is supposed to be an inherent trait, but in reality, sometimes its just hard to share all the goodness that is a Kinder Egg.

By a strange twist of circumstances, my boys and I found ourselves in Vancouver for Chinese New Year this past week. Although we were exhausted from the four hour drive from Kamloops, both boys were getting over the flu and Simba proceeded to be carsick all over me as soon as we arrived, we had a great time.

We ate good food and exchanged lucky money and THIS time when everyone pulled out treats (most of which are not safe for Bolt to eat), I pulled out two boxes of #peanutfree Kinder Surprise Eggs and sent my boys to do the rounds. It's amazing how easily Kinder Surprise can cross age gaps; the little ones love them, the teenage girls loved them and the adults, well we happily devoured ours too.

And as we all enjoyed our full tummies and sugar buzzes, we immediately had entertainment for the rapidly fading children. They loved their little animals, cars, puzzles, spirographs and bracelets and suddenly spending another half an hour together seemed totally feasible.

And the three teenage girls in attendance were the ones most excited about the Kinder Crack'nWin Campaign. All the specially marked Crack'n Win Kinder surprises have a PIN that can be entered onto the Kinder Website for a chance to win some great prizes.  There's a Fiat 500 POP!, two family trips to Orlando, over 27,000 family movie nights and 201,000 free Kinder Treats all up to grabs.

Maybe its your turn to be lucky.
Have you entered a PIN to see if you're a winner yet?

“Disclosure: I’m part of the Kinder® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own”

'A Joy to Share' with Kinder and the Children's Miracle Network | #Kindermom

To say life has been busy lately, would be an understatement. Life has been hectic, exciting and full of change, so much so, that I almost forgot to let you know about an exciting campaign that Kinder has embarked on to help us remember to think of others this holiday season.

But I digress, over the past month and a half, we have packed box after box and through the process we've taken the time to explain to Bolt and Simba that we don't need to keep everything.  We explained that they could donate some of their toys for other children to enjoy and they seemed to take pride in placing their old toys in the donate box.  They did get a little crazy at one point and started putting EVERYTHING in the box, only to fish it back out the next day.

In this materialistic world we live in, its important to take the time to teach our children to think of others and I'm excited to tell you about a very fun and easy way to donate $1 to the Children's Miracle Network, from the comfort of your own home, with the help of your children.

Can it get any better than that?

Kinder® has partnered with the Children's Miracle Network's 'A Joy To Share Program'.  Head over to the 'A Joy To Share' on Facebook and they will donate $1 to the Children's Miracle Network when you create a digital greeting card. The program is super easy to use, you can click through options to choose your background, character, greeting and message and of course you can sign it with your own name.  

A Joy to Share is a fun way to teach your kids about giving and you end up with a card to share with all your friends and family.

And if you're looking for delicious morsels for your children's stocking, be sure and check out the Kinder holiday goodies. It's been such a challenge to keep from busting open that giant egg, I do have two children and there's an odd number of treats, no one would ever know!

“Disclosure: I’m part of the Kinder® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own”

Kinder® Surprise® Marvel Superhero and Disney Princess Collection

This year, Bolt is dressing up as Batman for Halloween. A last minute choice, but his alter ego has been slowly developing over the past year and I'm excited to see him embrace it. He asked me for a batman cape close to a year ago, but after I made it, he barely wore it, or even looked at it, for months. I'm not sure what happened, but one day he came home and asked for his cape.

I saw his imagination begin to blossom as he ventured into pretend play.

He WAS Batman.

And in the past few weeks, he's worn his cape to daycare, more than once.

In a home with two sons, Superheroes are quite certainly in my future, and having boys that aspire to both greatness and altruism seems pretty awesome if you ask me.

This year I have the opportunity to be a #KinderMom, which means I get to share Kinder Surprise with my friends and family, and tell you all about it.

Kinder Suprise are Gluten-Free and Peanut-Free so they are safe for us to have in our home; for those of you wondering, they do contain soy and dairy.

Kinder Surprise is celebrating Superheroes, and Princess, everywhere with their Marvel Heroes and Disney Princess Limited Toy Collections. Two out of every three eggs contains a Superhero or Disney Princess. Of course no kid is happy when they are the one without the Superhero and the kids weren't keen on the flying jelly either, but it certainly keeps things exciting.

Much to my boys delight, we shared Kinder Surprises at daycare and I shared them all over my office and let me assure you the adults were just as excited as the kids. it Those with families took them home for their kids and those without were eager to discover their toy. In fact, I've promised one particular co-worker that I'll share my Ariel.

Curious about the toys? You can check them all out and vote for your favourites on Facebook, then come back and tell us who you voted for. Around here, we like Spider man and Ariel.

Disclosure: I’m part of the KINDER® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own.

Chocolate Zucchini Flax Muffins

I recently realized I hadn't posted a recipe in ages, and for that I apologize. I promise you I'm always gluten-free baking and these days, I have no shortage of helpers.

I found this recipe for zucchini flax muffins and using it as a base I was amazed at the soft fluffly muffins I created. In my mind, zucchini and chocolate go hand in hand so I adapted the recipe just a little bit more until I had a recipe that that's so good I've had more than one person tell me they never would have known it was gluten-free.

These muffins come together quickly, they are soft, springy and delightful in your mouth and I promise you even if you have an energy-filled two year old helping you out every step of the way, they will still be delicious!

Chocolate Zucchini Flax Muffins
(gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free)

adapted from Zucchini, Banana and Flaxseed Muffins by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cup gluten-free flour mix (I'm in LOVE with this one)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder divided 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 cup grated zucchini (~1 large)
• 1/3 cup ripe banana
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line or grease muffin tins.
2. In a small bowl mash the banana, mix with 1 tsp of baking powder and set aside.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the gluten-free flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, flaxseed, baking soda, the other tsp of baking powder and salt.
4. In a medium bowl whisk together the banana baking soda mixture, zucchini, coconut milk, egg and vanilla.
5. Gently stir the wet mixture into the dry being careful not to overmix.
6. Scoop muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes until top is firm and springs back from a light touch.
7. Cool completely on a wire rack and enjoy!

Yield: 15 muffins

Makes 30 mini-muffins, bake for 13-15 minutes.

Update: I accidently ommitted the flax from the recipe, but it has now been updated with the correct quantities. My apologies. a :) 08 April 2013

Angry Bird Costume and a Peanut-Free Halloween

This is the first year the boy understands what Halloween and trick or treating really means. In fact, at three and a half, its probably the first year that he's even understood the word 'candy'. That means that this year is going to be way more fun, involve way more sugar and probably involve just as many, if not more, catastrophic meltdowns.

Without asking for his opinion, inspired by Pinterest (of course), I decided to make the boy an Angry Birds costume, based on a sweatshirt that I've made it him before. The idea being that it would have a similar feel and fit in the hopes that he would be eager to wear it. I just finished it today and now that its stuffed, its doesn't exactly resemble his other sweatshirt, but I did get him to put it on, for at least a moment.

Getting him to wear his costume however, is the least of my worries.  Much higher on my priority list is watching out for peanuts and potential peanut contamination. I have this fear that the boy is going to grab a candy out of his bag, somehow get it open and eat something delicious and equally deadly like a peanut butter cup before an adult can stop him.

Fortunately, the good folks at Nestle sent me one of their Red Peanut Free boxes of Halloween sized candy that I can allow my boy to eat without worrying. I've already purchased a second box that I'll be using for 'tradsies' with the boy when we sort through his candy; although not dairy free, the red box includes Aero bars, which are a safe treat for those of us living the gluten-free life.

Thanks to Yummy Mummy Club Founder Erica Ehm, Vancouver mom's everywhere will be making Halloween safe for allergic kids. If you're purchasing peanut-free treats, place the box in your window and let Mom's like me know that your treats are safe for their special little person!

Baking Soothes My Soul: Oat Fudge Bar Recipe | gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free

From the time I was in grade 5 right through my high school years you could almost always find me baking cookies on a Friday afternoon.  I rarely ate them, but I loved making them.  Baking is cathartic for me, I think the creativity clears me both emotionally and physically.  After my last few weeks taking care of a sick family, the urge to bake was strong.

In fact I even made oatmeal raisin cookies using whole wheat flour when I was visiting at my mom's house. Since I couldn't enjoy them, I still felt the need to bake something delicious.  And since I'm so tired, exhausted and craving chocolate, I opted to bake some ooey gooey gluten-free goodness.

These oat fudge bars are an adaptation from one of my favourite cookie and bars cookbooks and are in no way healthy, unless of course you count the fact that they contain oats.  They take a little bit of time to make because you have to make your own dairy-free sweetened condensed milk but its totally worth the effort; if your family tolerates dairy, feel free to substitute a can and speed things up.  This recipe make a huge 9x13 pan and I suspect that you could easily halve the recipe and bake it in an 8x8 pan.  Personally, I've just been eating a bit every time I walk by the pan and they don't seem to be getting stale any faster than I can eat them.

Be forewarned, these bars are delicious, addictive and not-so-good for you.  I hope you like them as much as I do.

Oat Fudge Bars

(gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free)
Adapted from 500 best Cookies, Bars & Squares by Esther Brody 

 BASE Ingredients:

• 3 cups gluten-free oats (quick cooking if you can find them)
• 2.5 cups gluten-free flour mix*
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp xantham gum
• 1 cup shortening + 2 tbsp water
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

TOPPING Ingredients:

• 3 cups rice milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 2 Tbsp shortening
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla 

Directions

1. Mix rice milk and sugar in a medium saucepan and boil, stirring frequently until the liquid is reduced by 1/3. (You should have about 2 cups after reduction).
2. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 9x13 pan.
3. While the milk is reducing, in a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, gluten-free flour mix, baking soda, salt and xantham gum.  Set aside. 
4. In a separate bowl beat the shortening, water and brown sugar until smooth and creamy.  
5. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until well incorporated.  
6. Stir in the vanilla.
7. Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix well.
8. Press 2/3 of the oat mix into the prepared pan.
9. Once your milk has reduced (it will be thin), scoop approximately 1/4 cup into a small bowl.  Add the cornstarch, blending well before mixing back into the hot milk. 
10. Try and allow the mixture to cool slightly before adding the chocolate chips, shortening and salt.  Stir until smooth then mix in the vanilla.  (You can warm the mixture over low heat if your milk isn't already hot.)
11. Pour chocolate over the prepared base.
12. Crumble reserved base over the chocolate layer.
13. Bake 35-45minutes until the edges are golden and the centre appears nearly set.
14. Cool pan completely on a wire rack before cutting into bars.
15. Enjoy.  

Gluten-Free Flour Mix
(adapted from Living Without's 'Mary's All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend')

Ingredients:

• 2 cups brown rice flour
• 2 cups white rice flour
• 1-1/3 cups potato starch
• 1 cup sorghum flour
• 2/3 cup tapioca starch

Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients and mix well.
2. Store in a sealed container or mix right into a large Ziploc bag and use as needed for gluten-free baking.

yield: 7 cups

Ponderosa Cake | Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free Chocolate Banana Cake

To those who attend the University of British Columbia (UBC), Ponderosa Cake is a well-known treat; I however only had the pleasure of tasting this moist, chocolate chip banana cake once in my pre-gluten-free life.  I was at a barbeque and I found myself amazed that this cake, which by ingredients simply sounded like a glorified banana bread, could taste like so much more.

Once I returned home I promptly Googled the recipe and when I first started experimenting with gluten-free recipe adaptations Ponderosa Cake was at the top of the list.  I'm still not exactly sure how this recipe got its name, and I tend to simply call it chocolate banana cake, but regardless, after many iterations, I am confident that I have this recipe ready for gluten-free, dairy-free and soy-free mass consumption.

The last time I made this recipe was at Colin Jack's Celebration of Life; his brother suffers from gluten and dairy in tolerances and I wanted to make sure that there was a treat he could safely enjoy during his time of grief.  I wish that I could share a photo that truly displays the texture and deliciousness of this desert, but instead I have only a snapshot of my Ponderosa Cake taken on this unforgettable day.  But please trust me when I say that this cake, complete with a chocolate chip and brown sugar centre, is absolutley delicious and must be made if you love the combination of banana and chocolate.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free Ponderosa Cake
(Chocolate Banana Cake)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups of mashed ripe bananas (approximately 2 large bananas)
• 1 tsp baking powder  

•  1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

•  1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 tsp xantham gum
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 cup dairy/soy/gluten-free shortening*
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup plain coconut yogurt**

• 3/4 cup of allergen friendly chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F, line (or lightly grease) your baking pan with parchment paper. 
• In a small bowl, mix together bananas and 1 tsp of baking powder.  Set aside. 
• In a small bowl mix together cinnamon and brown sugar.  Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (sorghum through cinnamon). Set aside.
• Cream together the shortening and sugar until well combined.
• Mixing thoroughly between each addition, add the egg, vanilla and finally the banana & baking soda mixture to the wet ingredients.
• Alternate adding the dry mixture and the coconut yogurt to the wet ingredients, ending with the coconut yogurt.  The batter should be fairly thick.
• Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan, sprinkle half of the chocolate chips over the batter then sprinkle half of the cinnamon & brown sugar mixture on top.
• Repeat the batter, chocolate and cinnamon layers with the remaining ingredients.
• Bake for 40-45minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Allow to cool before cutting and serving.
• Enjoy.

yield: One 8x8 cake - this recipe can be doubled for a 9x13 cake

* if you are not concerned with 'soy-free' I recommend Golden Crisco.  For those that can tolerate dairy, I find shortening gives a better texture to the final product than butter.
**Original recipe calls for sour cream, I imagine soy yogurt would also work.