Vegan Overnight Oat Parfaits

I have been eyeing up Angela's VOO Parfait's for awhile now. Finally I tried it. I get it. These. Are. Amazing.

I have tried the regular vegan overnight oats but how BRILLIANT to make them with banana soft serve.
I whipped this baby up quick and devoured it just as quickly.

1/3 Cup Regular Oats

3/4 Cup almond milk

2 T Chia Seeds

1 ripe banana (mashed)

1/4 pure vanilla extract

Mix together in a bowl and refridgerate overnight.

Make banana soft serve, in food processor or blender.

1 banana with a splash of any milk, process until smoove.

Then layer the goodness... and toppings of choice.

Topped with coconut and cocoa nibs.

I would like to eat this everyday.

I hope you try it.

My lovely Kujo... guarding his bone. haha

Nichole

Cherry Banana Soft Serve

Frozen cherries, frozen bananas and an ice cream craving. What's a girl to do???


Whip up some cherry banana soft serve of course.

Into the VITA-MIX went

• 3 frozen bananas
• 2 handfuls frozen pitted cherries
• splash of almond milk
• couple drops of stevia or sweetner of choice

Blend for a few seconds - maybe 10 depending on your blender.

This was so good, tart and sweet at the very sametime.

Here is a strawberry banana version...

With carob chips and bits and pieces of Raw cookie dough bits.

Sweet tooth satisfied. For Now.

:)

Nichole

 

Alaskan Feasting & Refried Black Beans

My birthday was back in August and my dad sent me a large box full of delicious, wild Alaskan seafood. I recieved 2 large salmon filets, 2 smoked salmon filets, 2 large bags of frozen shrimp, and scallops. Thus far I have made honey salmon with aspargus.......

Marinate fish in honey glaze for a couple hours before grilling. This fish turned out fantastic! I also made scallop scampi by cooking the scallops in a white wine, butter, garlic mixture, and topped over pasta. The shrimp have just been boiled and enjoyed with cocktail sauce. I am slowly devouring the whole box of seafood!

One of my favorite foods has got be authentic mexican food. My Grandma is the best at making it. I love love love, did I mention LOVE her refried beans?!?!?!

It is always a treat eating them whatever she prepares along side of them. I recently took some leftover beans home and made Huevos Rancheros for breakfast!

When I am at home I do my best to re-create a vegan pinto refried bean dish. I was completely out of pinto beans, so I decided to use the black beans I had instead.

Vegan Refried Black Beans

• 1 can black beans
• 1 TBSP Earth Balance or other Vegan Butter
• Salt & Pepper to Taste

Bring beans and butter to a boil, remove from heat mash and add salt and pepper to taste.
ENJOY!

I love to put mine into a Ezekial wrap, add avacado, spinach, tomato and jalepenos. It is sooo good and this picture is making my mouth water because I am hungry for lunch right now as well!

If you try it let me know how you like it! Easy way to enjoy some vegan mexican dish at your home!

Nichole

Happy Labor Day!

I hope you are enjoying your family and friends on this glorious non-working Monday. There was a thunderstorm in Milwaukee Monday morning that lasted from 8am-10:30am and it got sunny for awhile and it is supposed to thunderstorm again later today. I love the sun, but sometimes I enjoy a rain day, it's great to clean, light some candles and enjoy the day at home. I picked up some lovely scents from Bath & Body  which I love.  I picked up a few different scents for the Wallflowers but with the fall weather I am loving Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin and..............

Vanilla Caramel... yum.

Thursday night I was a concet I was very eager to go to... LADY GAGA! She played at the Bradley Center on September 2nd. She puts on a fantastic show and it was really neat seeing all the fans that dressed up like her. I mean this is the wildest costume I seen somewhere wear...

and yes someone wore it or, their own homemade version but it was pretty interesting to say none the less. I stayed pretty simple with jean capris, flip flops and a sparkly tube top.

Yep. Right there!

 I wasn't sure how long we would be walking, because of the parking situation.

This picture was taken with my Blackberry. Not too bad hey?

My Aunt Eileen and I, in front of Gaga's bus!

Watch some live video on my youtube page here.

Great concert, she sings totally live and she is so fun to watch. Great outfit changes, never been to a pop show like this, only rock concerts, but it was so much fun!!!!

Moving on...

I made some delicious Nut Butter Parsnip Fries and they were delicious.

Ingredients:

• 
  
  3-5 medium parsnips, cut into fry like strips
• 
  
  1-2 Tbsp almond or other nut butter
• 
  
  2Tbsp peanut butter
• 
  
  1 Tbsp EVOO
• 
  
  1-2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 400F

In a bowl mix together nut butters, olive oil and salt

Toss parsnips in the nut butter mixture and line baking sheet.

Bake for 30-40 minutes and 45 minutes for a crispier fry.

These fries were amazing!!!!!! I could not stop eating until they were gone. ENTIRELY.

Make these fries and be amazed recipe from Oh She Glows.

Nichole

Working My @ss Off!!!

I have been extremely busy at work lately. I work at a local bank and with interest rates at an all time low, I am just swamped with refinances. Hopefully the market will start to get better and house prices will start to climb up again.

I have been looking at possibly purchasing another home myself. I already own a duplex and I am thinking another 2 unit might be a good investment in this market. Besides I wouldn't mind getting out of the area that I am currently living in. I am on a busy street, so it's very loud and I am looking for something a little more peaceful. I love the city but it will still only be a short drive away.

I recently made Angela's Basil Scalloped Tomatoes and Croutons, I did enjoy this dish, however the raw sugar I used didn't seem to go to well. I also used cherry tomatoes instead of grape. I do plan on making my own croutons for salads sometime soon as well. Because the Ezekial bread was so good toasted in the pan like that.

Pretty isnt it?

With fall right around the corner I am looking forward to getting in the kitchen more and making more "made from scratch" meals. I am talking soups, breads, desserts...... all of it.

I am sad to see summer go, we really had some great weather in Milwaukee this summer, nothing too humid, but after sitting in a cold office working all day, I have to admit the humidity is a nice change and I enjoy it, for a little while anyway.

I hope to keep the summer glow into the fall months for sure.

Nichole

Birthday Week, Celebrations & Sushi

Hope everyone is enjoying the last of the warm summer days, wherever you are! We have a nice warm week of 80+ degree weather in Wisconsin and I am looking forward to enjoying it!

It was my birthday last Monday and I had a great time celebrating with friends! I went out for sushi on my birthday to one of my favorite sushi restaurants, Wasabi. I love this place for 2 reasons, they have BROWN rice and they are the only sushi restaurant in Wisconsin (or so they claim) that has FRESH wasabi. I love the chopped up wasabi root instead of the paste, if you haven't tried it and it is offered you should definately go for it!

Brown rice (almost resembles chocolate)

See the fresh wasabi in the back of the salmon & avacado rolls?? YUM.

Green Tea ice cream and birthday candle? Fabulous!!

I have never tried Green Tea Ice Cream, but I did love it! It had a very unique flavor.

Looking at all these sushi pictures is making me want to eat more this week too! I think I just might have too :)

After dinner I went to Cafe Hollander in Wauwatosa, to enjoy some drinks. They have a gigantic beer menu full of Belgium beers. I enjoyed a beer sampler.

My favorite was on the far left (Gulden Draak)

Gulden Draak is a dark brown Triple Ale, which makes it an exception amonth the Belgain Triples. It balances a natural malt toffee-like sweetness with a mellow hoppiness.

I also enjoyed some more sushi on Friday night ( I am surprised I am not all sushi'ed out by now)!

Transformer Roll and some other cooked roll, first time getting "grilled rolls" & I have to say that I was NOT impressed. I guess I am a raw kinda brown rice roll girl!!!!

I definately like the roll on the left more, the one on the right I think it was called the Volcano Roll did not have any rice in it at all, and it was definately lacking.

All this sushi talk, I think I need to go eat more!!!!

Nichole

Busy Summer of 10'

Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been so long since my last post, I miss blogging. I have a lot of pictures on my camera that I need to upload to show you some of the awesome eats I have made lately, such as Basil Scalloped Tomatos with Croutons, Raw Cookie Dough Balls (Vegan), Vegan "Lara Balls", Eggplant Parmesean and many more! :)

First off back in July (I can't believe it's almost the end of August), I celebrated a good friend of mine (my brother's girlfriend) Lindsay Carron's 21st birthday. We bar hopped around Milwaukee, starting at a favorite of mine, Blu at the Pfister Hotel. Blu has amazing views of Milwaukee, it is located on the top floor of the Pfister.

We enjoyed some very strong martini's, I thought the Blu Heat Martini was very unique so I gave it a try. We sipped these fun drinks...

Premium Tequila shaken with Blue Agave Nectar, Spanish Liquor 43,

 Fresh Lime & Jalepeno Pepper

I just love that little jalepeno floating in there, seems so odd but it actually was good!

We went to a couple other places as well, The Garage, & Suite.

I am so excited to celebrate my birthday coming up on August 23rd (Monday!) I am not sure what I want to do yet, I am thinking a booze cruise on Lake Michigan. Sounds fun hey?

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer, fall is right around the corner!

Nichole