Summer is here, and I mean really here. This year Seattle has seen several days in the 90s even before the 4th of July weekend – which often times is when summer officially starts in Seattle. It is super warm and I have a recipe here that is perfect for the summer days – a cool and refreshing breakfast that is both filling and nutritious. To be honest, I am never a big fan of having something cold for breakfast. I even warm my milk slightly for cereal and never use it straight out of the fridge. The only exception to this is yogurt and my granola parfait with yogurt – until I discovered overnight oats.

In case you don’t know what overnight oats is, it is a no cook method of eating oats, and you can flavor it any way you want. You just add all the ingredients into a jar, stir to combine and set it in the fridge overnight, and voila you have creamy yummy oats that you can grab on the go. I have used here one of my most favorite flavor combinations: orange and cranberry. You can just use milk, yogurt and a bit of vanilla. I have added chia seeds and hemp seeds to make it more nutritious and filling.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup milk(substitute with almond milk if you want to make it vegan)
1/3 cup greek yogurt
1/3 cup oats(rolled oats is typically used, I’ve used steel cut oats)
1/2 tbsp chia seeds
1/2 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp sweetened dried cranberries
1 tbsp toasted sliced almonds

Method:
Whisk together the orange juice, yogurt, and milk. Stir in the oats, chia seeds, hemp seeds and cranberries. Place in a mason jar or a clean glass pyrex bowl. Place overnight in the fridge. Remove, top with sliced almonds and thin with more milk/juice as needed.

Verdict: This is by far the easiest breakfast that you can ever fix yourself. You can make several individual serving portions and store them in mason jars to grab as you go to school/work etc. And the flavor combinations are endless!

The post Orange Cranberry Almond Overnight Oats first appeared on Denny's Recipes.

Blogging Marathon #43: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Smoothies
Dish: Date Chocolate Hemp Smoothie

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#43

For day 3 of the theme smoothies, I have a smoothie that can double as breakfast or as dessert. And you donâ€t have to feel guilty about having this smoothie because it is chock full of nutrients – iron from the dates, protein from the hemp(note to self: the health benefits of hemp seeds as a separate post) and to make it all desserty(yep, thatâ€s a word ), there is chocolate and vanilla. This recipe is sweetened naturally from the dates and with the addition of agave nectar. Also, there are the usual suspects of milk and yogurt. If you are allergic to dairy, feel free to use almond milk in its place and you will be just fine.

Ingredients:
2 dates, pitted and chopped(preferably medjool dates)
2 tbsp hulled hemp seeds
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup of plain non fat greek yogurt
3/4 cup of milk
1 – 2 tbsp agave nectar (depending on how sweet the dates are)

Method:
Place all the ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. If you use a high speed blender the dates and hemp seeds should puree just fine. If not, let the hemp seeds and dates soak in there for about 10 minutes or so before blending.

Verdict: This tastes so creamy and chocolatey, the dates add a nice sweetness to the smoothie. This very much reminds me of chocolate milk – except there is no added sugar and it is way more nutritious. When making this for my breakfast, I usually put all the ingredients in a blender the previous night and put the blender in the fridge. In the morning before going to work, I just blend and sip. So simple and so delicious!

The post Date Chocolate Hemp Smoothie first appeared on Denny's Recipes.

Blogging Marathon #42: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Healthy Snack box Recipes for Kids
Dish: Whole Wheat Banana Hemp Chia Seed Muffins

Following up yesterday’s healthy cookie for the kid’s snack box. I have a healthy muffin today. The muffins is made with whole what flour and uses not one but two of the very recent health raves – Chia and Hemp Seeds. You can refer my post on the Health Benefits of chia seeds here. I am planning to write a similar post on Hemp seeds which has long been overdue. But as an introduction – Hemp Hearts are shelled hemp seeds that are a great source of protein, essential fats and vitamins. 4 tbsp of hemp seeds yields more protein than eating 5 eggs. It provides energy and vital nutrients and especially good if given to kids.

The best way to provide this to kids is by mixing it up in their oatmeal, conceal it in smoothies etc.But I had a few ripe bananas on hand, and my kid always loves banana bread, so I decided to bake the hemp seeds into a delicious and moist muffin for my kid, and not only the little one, but all of us loved it, and it was gone in a day.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#42

Ingredients:
Makes 6 muffins
1/2 cup + 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
2 bananas mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 cup + 2 tsp hemp hearts
1/4 cup chopped almonds

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 6 cup muffin tin with muffin liners.
Whisk the dry ingredients: whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, salt in a bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients: melted butter, brown sugar, egg, egg white, mashed bananas and vanilla extract together in another bowl. You can use an electric hand held mixer to mix the wet ingredients. Using a spatula, add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Don’t mix too much or the muffins will become tough. Finally add in the chia seeds, 1/4 cup of hemp hearts and the chopped almonds. Scoop this batter into the prepared muffin liners, filling 3/4th of the way. Sprinkle with the 2 tsp hemp hearts on the top.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean. It is ok if the top is cracked a bit. It happened for me too.

Verdict: These muffins were sweet and moist and filled with nutty, seedy goodness. The topping with hemp hearts gave a nice crunch on the top of the muffin. These can also be made into little mini muffins which would be perfect for the kids snack box. I am planning to try that the next time I make this.

The post Whole wheat Banana Hemp Chia Seed Muffins first appeared on Denny's Recipes.