Matcha Green Tea Waffles [Recipe]: Super easy!

I finally tried making waffles! Waffles are one of my favourites - either for breakfast, afternoon snack, or dessert! Recipe below!

Ingredients

I used the Hamilton Beach Waffle Maker. It's very easy to use, and extremely easy to clean as well. Put in batter, flip, wait, flip, done!

Matcha Green Tea Waffles

Ingredients: 

1 egg

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup milk (I used Flax Delight)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp matcha powder
2 tbsp sugar
Topped with: Raspberries + Nestle Chocolate Syrup

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, mix together sifted flour, baking powder, matcha powder, and sugar thoroughly.

2. Make a hole in the middle and crack in the egg and pour in milk. Mix it until you get a smooth batter.

3. Depending on your waffle maker, you may want to butter the inside. Heat up the waffle maker and when ready, place 2 scoops of batter in the centre. Close the lid, wait for a minute, flip it over, and wait another 2 minutes. The waffle should be crispy on the outside, while soft in the inside.

4. Serve with chocolate syrup (or maple syrup) with fruits of your choice.

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Creamy Avocado Almost-Pesto Pasta: Simple & Yummy

Creamy Avocado Almost-Pesto Pasta

I love pasta with creamy sauce. I'm constantly trying to make my meals healthier, nutritious, and of course, easier with less prep time, which means that the food would be ready in no time! Now, this dish has all three of those elements plus more (that being extremely satisfying and yummy).

Here's what you'll need (for two):

Pasta for two (any type will be great) - I used spaghetti

A clove of garlic

Avocado

Half a lemon

Basil leaves

Salt & pepper 

Here's what I did: 

1. Boil pasta in salt water. 

2. Dice garlic into very tiny pieces.

diced garlic

3. Mash Avocado with a fork. Mix in garlic, squeeze in lemon juice, and stir in some basil leaves, depending on how much you like. I put in about 2 tablespoons of basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper.

Creamy avocado sauce

4. Mix avocado sauce with drained pasta. Sprinkle on some lemon zest if you wish.

Enjoy!

This was absolutely guilt-free as avocado is a superfood and contain all the 18 essential amino acids, rich in omega-3, high content of good fats, and the list goes on! So why use cream when you can have creamy avocado pasta? 

Each person is different so tweak the amount of ingredients to your tongue's liking and make yourself happy! =) 

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Banana chocolate oatmeal

Steel oats take a much longer time to cook as compared to quick oats but it's worth it. I love the chewy texture that it brings to my bowl of oatmeal. After the steel oats are done cooking, I am at the point where I am quite hungry and I just want to be able to eat spoonfuls of it. So, I add some milk (from the fridge) at the end so my bowl of oatmeal will be at the perfect temperature to eat. Perfect way to cool down a bowl while making it creamier and yummier.

Banana chocolate oatmeal

Half cup of steel oats in over a cup of boiling water for 20 minutes. Add milk, bananas, and chocolate syrup.

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Banana Walnut Crumb Muffins [recipe]

 I love muffins, but muffins are definitely not my forte when it comes to baking. Mine has never turned out to be like the store-bought soft and moist muffins. However, I''m stubborn (and wanted a muffin) so I decided to give it a go again. 

Banana crumb muffins

I would say that these turned out relatively successful. They were soft and moist, and had a crumbly crunchy top. The inside of these muffins reminded me of banana bread and I'm still unable to tell the difference between them.

Here's what you'll need (for a dozen):

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• an egg
• 1/3 cup oil (I used grapeseed oil)

• 1.5 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

     Topping

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp softened butter
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Here's what I did:

1. Wet: Mash 3 ripe bananas, add in 1/4 cup of white sugar, 1 egg, and 1/3 cup grapeseed oil.

2. Dry: Mix together all the dry ingredients: 1.5 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla extract.

3. Topping: Mix together 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tbsp softened butter, 1/4 cup chopped walnuts. Mix thoroughly.

4. Pour the wet into the dry and fold them together. Don't over-mix. After buttering the muffin pan, carefully pour the batter into 12 muffin cups. If you're using muffin paper cups, skip the buttering.

Muffin batter, ready to go into the oven.

5. After the oven reaches 375°F, place the tray in the center of the oven and let it bake for ~5 minutes. Take it out and place toppings on to the half-baked muffins. 

Toppings on muffins, ready for the oven again

6. Place tray back into the oven for another 13-15 minutes (until golden brown). Sorry for the blurry picture as I wanted them back in the oven AFAP (as fast as possible).

Fresh out of the oven!

Sit back and enjoy your fresh muffins, perhaps with a cup of tea. They will still be soft and moist the next couple days too. 

Banana walnut crumb muffins with tea

Though I was pleased with this batch, I'm constantly looking for improvements/tips for better muffins. Here is what I think I'd do next time: 

- Add walnuts to the batter.

- Make bigger ones so they look more like muffins. 

I adapted this recipe from the one on allrecipes.com by Lisa Kreft. I made a few changes/additions to the recipe. My family and I don't like extreme sweet things, so a major change is omitting some sugar. Nevertheless, I thought the sweetness was at a perfect level. Be sure to go gentle on the sugar when you also have ripe bananas because those are your natural sugar source already!

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Green Goodness

Some of you may already know, green is my favourite colour. Besides green pens and green walls in my room, I also like the "smell of green". Let me elaborate. One time when I went camping, I woke up to the fresh smell of crispy green leaves and trees. I was surrounded by nature's colour - green. That was my kind of paradise.

I also love matcha, green tea, green veggies and best of all, green smoothies. They're great for breakfast, as a snack, after workouts, for your sweet tooth, or simply for you to enjoy on a sunny day, like today. I basically just pop whatever I have in the fridge into the blender, taste it, and then adjust accordingly. 

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Start off each morning with a smile

...Or a drooling smile.

Aunt Jemima's pancakes

I love pancakes. 

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Fruit Sandwich

According to Health Canada, we need ~8 servings of fruits per day. I find myself constantly struggling to include more fruits into my daily diet. I usually find myself too full after a meal to eat more fruits. So I thought, why not include them in my meal? Here is a fruit sandwich I made with what I had at home. 

Fruit sandwich

Banana, apple slices, avocado, and peanut butter on whole wheat bread. Great for breakfast or lunch! Yum :)

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Happy Valentine's Day

On transit today, I saw so many guys and girls holding flowers and roses, and my heart felt so warm. I still remember in elementary school where we would get the class list so that we don't miss anyone when writing valentine cards! Valentine's Day is such a great day for busy people to just take a moment to express their feelings for their loved ones. Or simply a perfect excuse to have your favourite dessert! Why stress over giving gifts when we do so on so many other occasions already? Plus, I think time is the most precious gift anyone can offer. So I hope you all had some time to spend with your loved ones!

Ok, on to where my heart is - food. Have I mentioned that I love breakfast food? Well, oatmeal is just one of my favourite things to have in the morning. I like my oatmeals simple, yet yummy (ie. getting to enjoy it without having to consume extra calories). Afterall, oatmeal is supposed to be healthy! I have really learned to savour the texture and taste of oatmeal the way it is. In other words, I've grown to love it the way it is. ;);)

steel cut oats x quick oats with blueberries

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