Overnight Oats

     When I need to leave the house in a rush to get to work in the morning, I make myself a batch of overnight oats the evening before. This simple but tasty recipe has at least one serving from all the food groups, which is much healthier than my usual: buttered toast. Plus it's incredibly easy. 
     I make my overnight oats with ground flaxseed, which is a good source of essential omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and fiber. All the more reason to add flax to your diet!
     Below, I've included my favourite preparation for overnight oats, but the possibilities are endless. I love blueberry oats, but I've also used dried dates, raspberries, strawberries and apple in place of the blueberries.

Serves: 1 (or 2 depending on how much you can eat for breakfast. I eat it all...)

Ingredients

1/2 cup of oats, I use half large flakes and half quick oats
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 banana 
1 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (omit if using vanilla flavoured milk) or 1 tbsp coconut milk
1/2 tbsp - 1 tbsp agave, maple syrup or honey
1 heaping tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup chopped almonds or other nuts
1/3-1/2 cup blueberries or other berries or chopped fruit

Having my oats poolside,
while I prepare for a long day at work.

Preparation

In a small jar, combine oats and ground flax seed.
Add half of a banana and mash into the oat-flax mixture. The other half of the banana can be used in a second batch or eaten in the morning with the oats.
Next add the wet ingredients to the jar, including the milk, vanilla extract or coconut milk and sweetener of choice, as well as the shredded coconut and nuts. 
Screw on a lid and shake well to combine, making sure there are no ingredients sticking to the walls of the jar.
Finally, add in your fruit and mix gently, either with a fork or by shaking it.
Refrigerate overnight and enjoy in the morning!
Can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.

Fresh Blueberry Muffins

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted. You'd think that I'd have more free time during the summer, but I've been working so much that I have even less time to cook than I did during the school year. On my last day off, I whipped up a tasty batch of blueberry muffins with some banana to change them up a bit. 

They turned out great! They were super moist from the banana and super tasty from everything else we put in them. And not to brag or anything, but they are good for you too: each muffin is packed with fruit and contains only about 3% of your daily fat and sodium.

Feel like a little nutrition lesson? 

One Tim Hortons classic Blueberry Muffin has 570mg of sodium, which is 38% of the sodium you need in a day, based on your Adequate Intake. 570mg of sodium equates to a 1/4 tsp of salt - that's in every muffin. I used that much salt in my entire batch of muffins! So one of my muffins has just less than 3% of your daily sodium. Now, I'm using Adequate Intake because that is the ideal value that you should be basing your diet on. But Nutritional Facts tables, like the one on your cereal box, base their percent daily value on the Upper Tolerable Intake Level (UL), which is the maximum daily intake.The UL for sodium is 2000mg; the Adequate Intake is 1500mg. This means that if you follow the Nutritional Facts tables, you could be consuming a lot more sodium than you need.

A Nutritional Facts table would tell you that your Tim's Blueberry Muffin only has 28% of your daily sodium, when in fact is has 38%. This is a problem. In Canada, over 85% of males and about 75% of females have sodium intakes above the UL, putting them at a higher risk of high blood pressure, hypertension, heart disease, obesity and cancer -  they don't include those warnings on Tim Hortons muffins, but maybe they should.  When in doubt, cut the sodium out. 

Speaking of which, here's my recipe:

Bake at: 375°F

Makes: 12-16 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups fresh blueberries, washed (~1 pint)
1 tbsp flour

1 ripe banana, mashed
1 tbsp ground flax seed with 2 tbsp water
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp baking soda

1 cup white four 
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup soymilk or other milk

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Wash blueberries, then toss in 1 tbsp of flour to coat and set aside. 
In a medium mixing bowl, mash the banana then add the ground flax and water and let the mixture sit for a couple of minutes while you measure out the rest of the ingredients. Next add the vegetable oil, sugar, vanilla, vinegar and baking soda to the banana-flax mixture and mix well.
Mix the dry ingredients together, then add this to the wet mixture and fold it in gently.
Incorporate the soy milk into the mixture until smooth, then add the blueberries.
Grease a metal muffin tray, or use muffin cups or a silicone muffin tray. Evenly distribute the batter in the muffin tins.
Bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes.

Great for breakfast or a snack!