May 2016

I am a creature of habits for many things and I think it runs in the family… I like going to bed not too late and getting up around 7.30 every day (even at the weekends). But regarding my breakfast I sometimes like to vary it a bit. I am not sure if I’m a savoury or sweet breakfast type in the morning. I like coffee, I need it every single day…and when I don’t have it I feel I haven’t had breakfast at all, so you get me, right? (Creature of habits). Have I mentioned that I suffer from insomnia? Now I have. Yes, it is a problem that I’m struggling with and it is not because of the caffeine (I don’t have more than 2 cups of coffee a day: one in the morning and another one at 3pm). So, most of the nights I lay awake in bed and I think about breakfast, and by thinking either I get obsessed with recipes that I haven’t made yet and they seem good for the following morning or I fall asleep and I don’t remember anything of what I was thinking the night before. That’s me.

Not sure when I got obsessed with overnight oats, but I must tell you it is one of the favourites at home and we have it almost every day when I don’t do experiments. Overnight oats are filling and it is a very complete breakfast that one can alternate with fresh fruits, nuts, peanut butter, chocolate, pumpkin…

If you google overnight oats recipes you will find lots of recipes with very fancy pictures (nicer than mine) and it is definitely not a new trend. But as I haven’t posted any of my favourite breakfasts yet I thought it was about time. My recipe I’m sharing here today is a simple bowl of oats with love. So here we are with the recipe:

Note: this recipe makes 2 bowls

Ingredients

-1 large banana (smashed)

-1 tablespoon chia seeds

-1 ½ tablespoon flax seeds

-1 tablespoon peanut butter (optional)

-10 tablespoon rolled oats

-Vanilla soy milk (almond, coconut or dairy milk also works fine)

-mixed unsalted nuts (pecans, cashews, almonds, peanuts…)

-fresh fruits (diced apples, strawberries, blueberries…)

How to make it

Smash the banana and toss the chia and flax seeds. Combine.
Add some milk and stir. Then the rolled oats and combine.
Pour more milk and stir. Add the peanut butter and mix well.
Add some fresh fruits if desired or save them for topping the bowl the next morning.
The consistency of the oatmeal must be not too dry, so be free to pour more milk. This will help the chia seeds make a creamy pudding with the rest of the ingredients.
Prepare two recipients and seal them well and refrigerate them overnight. Hence overnight oats!
The next morning add some more milk and top your bowl with fresh berries, dark chocolate chunks, more nuts…whatever you like.

Enjoy! You will be energized for the whole morning! There is so much you can do in overnight oats 🙂 I do love it!

xoxo Pink Maple

Hi there, how is it going in your lives? I hope everything is good. The time flies, and we can’t hold it :(. I don’t know how spring is where you are, but here it is starting now. Our first flowers have blossomed in our garden and I can see the birds are coming more often and the cats too.

By the way, it has been a while since the last time I posted something here and…

We have to plant tulips from the Netherlands, yes! A couple of weeks ago my husband and I visited Amsterdam and the weather was…sh..! Actually it was better than we expected but it got very cold and we were all day out zigzagging bikers. Have you ever been to Amsterdam? People ride their bikes like crazy, hello? The bikers think they are pedestrians… such a chaos! So here is the thing, we bought 100 bulbs for only 7.95 Euros! But half of them got wet there because it was sh…weather and as a result they got mouldy and we had to throw some away. Now they are planted and hopefully they will say “hi” soon. I can’t wait to see the colours (in the bag was written that they are a colourful mix)… we will wait impatiently.

In Germany there is something in May called “Die Eisheiligen” because apparently the weather can get a bit crazy and be freezing for some time before we really have spring/summer. Why do I even tell you this? I don’t know, but I have learnt a new word in German and I wanted to share it here. Anyway, we’ve been having healthy strawberry smoothies with linseeds lately and I had on my ToBake list strawberry pie… because WHY NOT? We eat strawberries in overnight oats, with yoghurt, dunked in chocolate, and I couldn’t resist making my favourite dessert…so here is the recipe:

(Adapted from Joy the Baker)

Strawberry pie

Ingredients

Pie crust

The same pie crust that I have used in my last apple pies. Check the recipe here.

Filling

-1kg fresh strawberries washed, dried, and sliced in halves

-112g white sugar

-56g light brown sugar

-30g cornstarch

-dash of salt

-2 tablespoons of lemon juice

-1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

-1 egg (egg wash)

-Pink sugar for decoration

How to make it

Prepare the pie crust in advance and refrigerate it.
For the filling: wash and slice the strawberries; add the sugars, salt, ground ginger, cornstarch and lemon juice. Combine it well.
At this point preheat the oven at 200ºC.
The filling will be very juicy. That is what we want.
Prepare your pie form and butter it before placing the pie crust. Remember the pie crust must be chilled before baking.
Pour the filling and weave the pie strips.
Brush the pie with the egg and decorate it or not with sugar.
Bake it for 15 min at 200ºC, then lower it to 180ºC and continue baking for 30 more min.

My filling was all this, mm really good stuff, fresh and seasonal!