Easter is always such a wonderful time of the year. What’s not to love about a whole weekend entirely dedicated to reflection, grace, family and chocolate?
However, regardless of how much I love Easter weekend, it is always one of the most exhausting times of year where balance gets thrown completely out the window. Not enough sleep, not enough down time and most definitely too much chocolate.
In a weird way, sometimes tipping the scales (unfortunately this is both figurative and literal in my case) is actually a really good way to recalibrate. Whilst I enjoyed my Lindt bunnies and Ferraro Rocher eggs, I know my body well enough to know that it is only going to indulge my indulgences for so long.
Recently I have been eating smoothie bowls whenever I get the chance. If you have never heard of them, they are pretty much just a smoothie served in a bowl, topped with granola and all kinds of delicious extras. The Gold Coast have an abundance of amazing smoothie bowls around, which my gorgeous vegan friend and I have been very happy to try out whenever we get the chance.
Unsurprisely, most have been of the peanut butter variety. The best bit about it is that they are so simple that I have the time to make them for breakfast every morning – a luxury that those of you who follow me on Instagram know I have been taking advantage of.
My own version has less sugar and more vegetables than the ones that I usually buy, but it is still that perfect fix for my smoothie bowl cravings. Plus, the majority of it is prepared the night before, so it is pretty much just blend and go in the mornings.
- 1/4 cup oats
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1/2 tbls chia seeds
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1 banana chopped and frozen
- 1/2 zucchini or 1/4 cucumber chopped and frozen
- 1 frozen spinach cube
- Small pinch himalayan pink sea salt
- 2 tbls natural peanut butter
- 2 tsp cacao powder
- 1 tsp flax
- 2 tbls berries
- A few sprigs of mint
- Soak the oats in the boiling water for 10 minutes, then add the extra cold water and chia seeds and stir. Leave for 6 hours or overnight in the fridge.
- In the morning, blend the banana, zucchini or cucumber, spinach and soaked oats mixture in a food processor until smooth. Add 1 tbls of natural peanut butter, cacao, and salt and blend until mixed.
- Place the mixture in a jar or bowl and add extra peanut butter, berries, flax seeds and mint.
- Enjoy.
- You can adapt this to however you would like. If you want it sweeter, add dates, maple syrup or honey. You can blend the mint with the rest of the ingredients if you would like to intensify the minty flavour throughout.
xx Liz
6 Comments
This sounds so good! I always love anything peanut butter flavoured!
How can you not (except if you are allergic, which unfortunately one of my best friend’s partner is)? I bought 2.15kg of peanut butter from my local organic grocer the other day really cheaply. I am so excited. Just about everything has peanut butter in it at the moment. xx
Yum! I love how you snuck some veggies into here, too! 🙂 I’ve been trying to eat more veggies at breakfast recently, but I prefer sweet breakfasts, so that’s a challenge.
I am usually a savoury girl, but this year it’s been all about healthy sweets for me. I live in an area with so many incredible health food cafes catering to just about everyone’s diet. Paleo, vegan, gluten free, sugar free… the list goes on. Smoothie bowls are a massive thing here at the moment given the heat. I have found that frozen zucchini (or cucumber) is such a great way to sneak in vegetables in the morning and still get my sweet smoothie bowl fix. I love adding spinach too. It’s great brain food to get me through the piles of study that I have to do! Oh postgrad life.
xx
What a great recipe, Liz! I love that you’ve combined a smoothie bowl with overnight oats to make this delicious breakfast. Should we call it an overnight smoothie bowl, then? 😛 You’re right that Easter can knock things out of sync a bit. It’s always nice to indulge, but getting back into the swing of healthy eating afterwards is always nice 🙂 I hope you have a fantastic week ahead! x
Thank you so much. I think that the oats make it far more filling. I should definitely call it that.
Same you to Lisa. xx