Chocolate espresso nice cream

 

Hello beautiful people,

It’s Friday. Finally Friday! The day most of us look forward to all week… In all honesty, as much as I love Fridays, Sunday is my favourite day of the week. Maybe because growing up, Sunday meant time spent in the kitchen with my mom and often times my grand-mother (which meant a lot of fresh bread, cookies and cakes being made!). It also meant family dinners and football. Although I don’t cook with my mom nearly as much as I would want to anymore, I still spend a fair amount of time in the kitchen, with football games playing on tv in the background and most often, my son, husband and dog, close by, to taste test. So in a way, Sundays have kept that same childhood family feeling.

But we are Friday today and for many people, that usually means the beginning of a lot of decadent, rich food and unstructured meals for the next couple of days. Myself included, I find it harder to eat healthy and on time on weekends. I don’t want to have to rush to make and eat breakfast. I usually have a much bigger breakfast, since it’s my favourite meal of the day, and so lunch becomes more about grabbing whatever is available in the fridge and can be eaten as I go about my busy day of chores. And when my hectic day is finally over, I do feel like I deserve to reward myself with a nice dinner that consists of a little more then roasted vegetables, lentils and brown rice…

I know how you feel. I feel the same. Every Friday. Every weekend. But here’s the thing: I have goals! Health and fitness goals. And as much as I love food and as crazy as my days get and as much as I feel good about treating myself to an entire weekend of fried gnocchis, pizza, burgers, fries, coconut ice cream and brownies, I know it’s only delaying me reaching my goals. So what to do?!?

Well first off, I don’t believe in depriving myself of any good food. I also don’t believe some foods are bad and others are good. I do believe in having a great meal over the weekend and yes, I do see it as a reward and I don’t see anything wrong with that. There’s a lot of talk about not rewarding yourself with food because it creates a negative association to food. You should reward yourself with a spa day, a new pair of running shoes or whatever other non-food related thing one may want.

But I love food. And a lot of my life revolves around food. So yes, when I’ve had a hard week, I want a good meal with my husband or my friends or both, that I can look forward to. But here’s another little important thing: my reward meal is not a weekend long meal! It’s one meal…ok maybe two meals. That’s it. And the rest of the weekend, I make sure I eat well and have plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables handy, healthy homemade granola to grab on the go, bags of nuts and dried fruits I keep in my purse and a full bottle of water with lemon juice. Those naughty meals are what keep me wanting to eat healthy so I can feel good about having that reward meal. I also know that if I eat crappy all weekend, I’m going to feel crappy come Monday morning and that no longer feels like a reward, it feels like punishment!

This is where treats like this Chocolate Espresso Nice Cream come in handy. It’s full of good for you food, it makes a great quick & easy breakfast or a nice snack to hold you over until dinner and it’s just decadent tasting enough to satisfy your naughty cravings.

Hope you guys enjoy it and leave a comment to let me know what your favourite reward meal is and how you handle your weekend cravings!

 

xx

Chocolate espresso nice cream
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 2 portions
This makes a great breakfast and espresso gives you that little boost of extra energy. If you don’t want the caffeine, make it with decaf espresso. Serve it with some chocolate shavings on top and maybe even a little vegan whipped cream if you feel really naughty…
Ingredients
  • 4 frozen bananas
  • 1 14 oz can butter beans
  • 1/2 cup espresso, chilled
  • 1 oz semi-sweet dark chocolate, roughly chopped (extra for serving)
  • 2 drops liquid Stevia (optional – if you like your nice cream really sweet)
Instructions
  1. Take out your food processor and add the grating disc. Insert the frozen bananas in the feeder and grate away on high.
  2. Once all bananas are grated, take the grating disc out and switch to the s-shape blade.
  3. Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and turn on high until you reach an ice cream like consistency.
  4. Serve with extra chocolate shavings.

 

Protein Packed Pumpkin Spiced Nice Cream

 

Hello beautiful people,

I can’t believe we’re Friday already. The week has just flown, right by me. Part of me is excited, read relieved, that the weekend is just around the corner, mainly because the 3 hours a day commute to work has taken a toll on me this week (read my previous post here). Part of me wishes there were less items left on my “weekday” to-do list. Because yes, there is a “weekday” to-do list and a “weekend” to-do list. The difference between the two resides mostly in what I can get accomplished when my son is with me, i.e. groceries and what I can’t get accomplished with him, i.e. getting a good workout in at the gym.

Admittedly, these days, most of my workouts are done at home, as is my yoga practice. Although I try to get to the gym at least once a week so I can happily lift heavy things and make it to an Ashtanga yoga class, it’s not always possible. So home workouts have been my saving grace. I don’t have really heavy weights to lift at home, but lucky me has a very handy husband who crafted me a beautiful wooden plyobox, inspired by Rogue crossfit gear.

My home workouts are geared more towards full body weight workouts that can be done within 30 mins but still get my heart pumping and my muscles sore. I also put a lot of emphasis on my core, as it is still weak from pregnancy and it helps with my challenging Ashtanga practice. With early morning workouts and a demanding work schedule, it’s no surprise that my body needs all the nutrients it can get. And as I explained on my About me page, I always need to make sure I have enough protein in my diet. It’s what keeps me energized, satisfied and functioning well.

So with that in mind, I’ve created a protein packed nice cream. For those of you who don’t know what nice cream is, it’s actually a frothy, creamy, dreamy concoction made of frozen bananas and whatever else you fancy, that tastes just like ice cream but is the nicer version as it contains no animal products. I love nice cream and since it’s healthy and good for you, why not have it for breakfast! But I needed to find a way to incorporate protein in it to feed my muscles after my workouts. So after a few attempts, I’ve found the perfect secret ingredient: butter beans! Butter beans or lima beans, are packed with protein (8 grams of protein per 100 grams), have a nice smooth texture and a very subtle taste that can’t be distinguished when blended with frozen bananas. Winner!

I hope you guys enjoy this recipe and that it keeps your muscles fuelled up! Let me know if you want me to share some of my workouts with you.

 

xx

Protein Packed Pumpkin Spiced Nice Cream
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 1 portion
This nice cream is really easy to make, is packed with protein and has a nice subtle pumpkin spice flavour. To make sure I always have frozen bananas on hand, I stock up when they go on sale, slice a bunch of them up and individually freeze the slices on a pan in the freezer before transferring them to a closed lid freezer safe container. Also, if pumpkin spice isn’t your thing, don’t be shy to experiment with other spices like ginger or just add some vanilla extract.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups frozen banana, sliced
  • 1 14 oz can butter beans
  • 1/2 cup mylk (my new obsession is Ripples unsweetened pea mylk)
  • 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice mix
  • 2 drops liquid Stevia (optional – if you like your nice cream really sweet)
Instructions
  1. Rinse the canned beans.
  2. Put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until you reach a smooth, creamy texture. And voilà!