Hellooooo! I’m alive, I’m alive! Did you think after my 10-year blogiversary post that I decided to take a 10-year break? lol. It’s been a busy month with a lot of fun events going down. I just returned from WXN’s Canada’s Most Powerful Women celebrations, and I’m still riding the high of winning an award in the Entrepreneur category and meeting so many incredible people. So many happy tears this week. It felt (and feels) absolutely surreal. I’m super inspired by these amazing Canadian women to keep going forward, doing my part to give back, and creating meaningful change in this world. I’m grateful to you all who support me and what I do…truly, thank you.
Here’s a snippet of the interview I did with WXN (the rest is found on their website):
“SUCCESS all comes back to love. Do I feel love deep in my soul for what Iām doing? Are my kids and my husband happy and loved? Am I taking time to enjoy the process rather than allowing perfectionist thinking to take hold? My definition of success has grown so much since starting the blog, writing my two cookbooks, and becoming a mother. Today, success is knowing that I have the power to push through challenges while taking the time I need for myself to balance and stay healthy. After struggling with illness this past year, one of my biggest wake-up calls was realizing that itās okay to take a break even if that means letting go of a professional goal for the time being.”
As an introvert, big social events tend to tucker me out (anyone else?!), and I find myself looking forward to my first day without any commitments (aside from, umm, two hyper toddlers, I suppose…). This creamy 3-ingredient steel-cut oatmeal recipe is the one Iāve been making once or twice weekly since fall hit. It may sound strange, but I find it calming in a way. I just love that I can throw a few ingredients in my Instant Pot, stir it up, and walk away until itās done cooking! No stirring or watching…woot, woot. Iāll often throw it on and then get ready for the day or feed the kids and come back to a hot pot of oats. Itās a good feeling…a darn good feeling!
Donāt worry if you donāt have an Instant Pot because I also provide a stovetop version belowāyour oatmeal will turn out the same either way, but the stovetop version just requires monitoring and stirring as it cooks.
This time of year I love to top a hot bowl with toasted walnuts, chopped dates or raisins, cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup, and seasonal fruit like pear or pomegranate. So cozy! Walnuts or pecans with maple syrup, cinnamon, and peanut butter is another dreamy combo.
Before I go, a quick note that we’ll be participating in Giving Tuesday this coming Tuesday November 27, 2018. Here’s a bit about the cause:
“GivingTuesday is a global movement for giving and volunteering, taking place each year after Black Friday. The āOpening day of the giving season,ā itās a time when charities, companies and individuals join together and rally for favourite causes. In the same way that retailers take part in Black Friday, the giving community comes together for GivingTuesday.”
This coming Tuesday, we’ll be donating 100% of that day’s OSG recipe app proceeds to Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank as our way to take part. I hope you’ll consider participating in #GivingTuesday too!
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4.9 from 15 reviews |
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My goal was to create the creamiest bowl of steel-cut oats using just a few ingredients...and this is it! This luxuriously chewy steel-cut oatmeal is the perfect base for all of your favourite topping combinations. I love adding pure maple syrup, cinnamon, seasonal fruit, toasted walnuts, and chopped dates or raisins. It doesnāt get much cozier on a cool fall or winter morning! Iāve also provided cooking instructions using both the stovetop and Instant Pot (I prefer the Instant Pot method as it's so easy). For the Instant Pot method, please see the Tip section.
INSTANT POT METHOD:
You can also make pre-portioned servings so all you have to do is dump it in a pot in the morning and quickly heat it up with a splash of milk!
They are four and a half and almost three. My babies are potty trained, can buckle their own car seats, and clear their plates from the table. The crib will be passed to a friend next month and Iāve...
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Well, I finally did itāfeast your eyes on these grain-free, nut-free vegan chocolate chunk beauties!! Whew. Nicole and I, along with a couple bonus mama testers (shout-out to Cynthia and Jen!), teamed up to test about 25 batches of cookies these past few weeks! High fives all around. I couldnāt do it without these amazing ladies.
Over the years Iāve been asked so many times to develop grain-free vegan cookies…and nut-free vegan cookies…and grain- AND nut-free vegan cookies! Haha. So you know what I did? I created grain-free and nut-free vegan cookies. It wasnāt easy, but the journey was rather delicious. These cookies have actually been in the making for a couple years as I went back to an old grain-free cookie recipe that I started developing and then forgot about. Score!
This recipe uses cassava flour, which is a grain- and gluten-free flour made from yuca with good binding properties and a neutral flavour. I wanted so badly to share a swap for the cassava flour (as I know itās not a common ingredient), but Iām just not quite there yetāalthough I have been experimenting with arrowroot starch as an option! Stay tuned. So today, instead of a flour swap, I thought Iād share some other allergy-friendly OSG cookie recipes that might suit your needs in the list below. Iāve also included suggestions for where to find cassava flour within the recipe itself.
If you donāt have cassava flour on hand and still want to make some cookies (of course you do!), here are some of my nut- or grain-free vegan choco chip cookie options:
Nut-free vegan cookies:
Grain-free vegan cookies:
Gluten-free vegan cookies:
Any faves out there? Iād like to think thereās something for everyone. :)
Let baking season begin in 3…2…1ā¦GO!
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4.9 from 8 reviews |
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Iāve had so many requests for a grain- and nut-free version of my popular vegan chocolate chip cookies and Iām so happy to have one to share at long last. These delicate cookies are light as air and use sunflower seeds (both in butter and ground form) to create a rich and ānuttyā cookie. Sometimes sunflower seeds can lend a bitter flavour, but these cookies have a mellow and pleasant taste! I also use cassava flour, which is a grain- and gluten-free flour made from dried yuca. Iāve found it has good binding properties and a neutral flavour for baking. You can purchase it on Amazon or find it in some health food stores. Itās very important to follow the instructions exactly as written as these cookies are sensitive to even small changes. This recipe is adapted from my Jumbo Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
* The sunflower seed butter should be 100% sunflower seeds without any added sugars or oils. I use Organic SunButter. Be sure to stir the sunflower seed butter before measuring and avoid using the dry/hard butter at the bottom of the jar. If using thicker seed butter, the cookies wonāt spread as much when baking.
** If your coconut oil is hard as rock, you can melt it over very low heat and then cool before using. Avoid using warm coconut oil as itāll melt the chocolate chips.
*** Cassava flour can be a bit tricky to locate. Your best bet is to buy from an online retailer (such as this one on Amazon) or a natural food store.
**** To make ground chia seed, add seeds to a high-speed blender or coffee grinder and blend/grind on high until a flour forms. An equal amount of ground flaxseed also works in place of chia, but it will yield a thicker cookie. I prefer using ground chia. Leftover ground seeds can be stored in the freezer in an airtight freezer bag for future use.
