The Perfect Sugar-Free Oatmeal Recipe - with green apple, blueberry, cashew and yogurt!!

Trust me. I know better than anyone that oatmeal is boring. When I was doing my part-time finance master I fed myself enough oatmeal for dinner that I thought I would never touch it again for the rest of my life.

Well, never say never.

I now have an awesome way to transform regular oatmeal into something really exciting. And this is the magic ingredient.

Here is all you need:

• a green apple
• half a cup of plain yogurt
• a cup of milk (you can use soy milk but I think milk tastes a lot better)
• 1/4 cup of blueberry
• a handful of cashew nuts
• 1/4 cup of instant oatmeal
• honey and vanilla extract are optional

 Step 1 - Transform the texture of your instant oatmeal  

I believe one of the reasons why people don't like oatmeal is its texture. It's extremely dry if you don't give it enough time to soak up the water. But if you give it too much time, it will end up being really thick and slimy.

The trick here is, soak 1/4 cup of oatmeal in 1/4 cup of milk the night before and pop it into the fridge. By doing so you will let the oatmeal absorb just enough milk to become soft. We will later add in more milk for a thinner and smoother consistency. 

 Step 2 - Chop, Chop and Chop  

Did I mention I am obsessed with chopping fruits and veggies? One of my favorite morning activities is to chop things lol. Chop a green apple anyway you like. There is no right way to do it, just make sure you are not making apple puree. You want the apple to remain crispy and fresh to compliment the creamy oatmeal. 

If you haven't already realized, the blue background of my pictures, is in fact my chopping board...LOL

 Step 3 - and Chop Chop Chop  

Now it's time to chop some nuts. You can use any nuts you like. But I prefer cashew nuts because they are sweet and go well with fruits and yogurt. 

Don't try to put the nuts in a food processor, they will just lose the texture and flavor altogether. You just need them to be coarsely chopped. You want them to be crunchy so you can taste them.

 Step 4 - Mix them all!!  

Toss the yogurt, blueberry, green apple, cashew nuts, soaked oatmeal and the remaining 3/4 cup of milk into a large bowl and mix them using a spoon (not mixer, not blender). If you happen to have vanilla extract at home, add a few drops and it will do magic. Sprinkle flaxseeds on top to finish. 

If you don't have a sweet tooth, this fruity oatmeal mix is already perfect to serve. Since the fruits are not blended, you will be able to taste their natural sweetness. Otherwise you can also drizzle honey on top. 

This is by far the best oatmeal I have ever had. You will be amazed by how the green apple adds texture and flavor to plain oatmeal. The result is crispy, crunchy, smooth, creamy, sweet and fresh. Don't forget it's SUGAR-FREE, very nutritious and really fun to make too!

I hope you all enjoy it :)

XOXO

  Nutritional Information :  

Protein     19 g

Fat           11 g
Carb         70 g
Sugar       36 g (naturally from fruits, milk and yogurt. Low GI)  
Calories   397 kcal

Sugar-Free Gluten-Free Blueberry Yogurt Cashew Smoothie

 

I have been having the chocolate smoothie almost the whole week. There is no reason not to make myself a new smoothie today since it's Saturday! Yay!!

There are lots of blueberry yogurt smoothie recipes around. Of course! everybody knows yogurt goes really well with berries: strawberry, blueberry, raspberry... you name it. But there is one problem with it: both (natural, plain) yogurt and berries are sour. When you put them together, especially without adding sugar (or honey), you can imagine it will taste REALLY sour. So, besides blueberry, I put a banana as well. I don't normally put 2 fruits together because there can be too much sugar, even if it's from fruits. But, 1.  it's still better than putting refined sugar and, 2.  it's SATURDAY!  :)

My formula for healthy smoothies goes like this 

a) protein:  this time it's from yogurt  

b) anti-oxidant: blueberry!

c) healthy fats: cashew

d) as much as possible, minimize sugar 

e) limit the number of ingredients to not more than 5, because there is no point tossing everything in and tastes like nothing

I picked cashew for 2 reasons  1.  it's creamy with a natural sweetness, which can help balance out the sourness of yogurt and blueberry and,  2. it matches the colour of the other ingredients... yes I am serious, I am obsessed with colours ... : P

One important point to note is, you will have to get unsalted cashew that is not roasted, but steamed. And make sure you don't get raw, unprocessed cashew, it is TOXIC! I soaked the cashew in water overnight to make it softer and easier to blend.  

I sprinkle chia seed instead of flax seed on top to finish because, again, for the colour. I want it to look pastel blue/ lilac. The result is creamy, sweet and sour, just like the frozen yogurt you get in town but of course 10 times healthier.

You can add ice cubes to this smoothie too and I guess it will taste even more like frozen yogurt. Yum Yum Yum...

  Ingredients :  

1 medium sized banana

1 cup of blueberry (or other berries like raspberry and strawberry)

A cup of plain, unsweetened yogurt

A handful of cashew nuts, soaked in water overnight

Around 100 ml of soy milk (milk, almond milk... or anything you like. Ice cubes are optional)

  Nutritional Facts :  

Protein     15 g

Fat           11 g
Carb         51 g
Sugar       34 g * 
Calories   356 kcal

*half of this actually comes from lactose, which naturally exists in plain yogurt. It has no fructose by composition and has only half the GI of glucose. Unless you're lactose intolerant, I think it's alright to have lactose in your diets, especially from yogurt.