My bad habit is binge watching TV so to break this habit, I committed to not turn on my television for the entire month of August. This is a challenge for me but it is possible. A few articles I have researched on breaking bad habits were informative and I want to apply them right away.

One good tip I saw was replacing your bad habit with a good habit. What is your one of your bad habits? What is one good habit you want to get into? Is it reading more, working out, or taking on a new project? Is your bad habit distracting you from these mindful activities to better yourself and get closer to your goal? If yes, how can we change it?

The next step identifying your trigger. When do you do this bad habit? How are you feeling before doing this activity? Stressed? Bored? For me, whenever I am stressed or bored I want to zone out of my state of being and watch someone else’s life for a little bit. This is my band-aid from dealing with these feelings myself. By not watching television to distract myself, I am able to address these feelings head on and deal with them as they come up.

So what to do instead of your bad habit? Ask yourself what else you like to do and write it down on a Post-It. I wrote down five activities I could do for free so whenever I feel like turning on the TV, I could do these things instead. I stuck the Post-It on the television so it is in my sight when I am in the living room. I also deleted the Netflix app on my phone. Whenever I feel the urge to turn on my television, I can look at the list, and pick an activity to do instead. With this method, I hope to change my behaviour when I am bored or stressed. Over the month, I will give you some updates on how this challenge is going, any advice I can give, and what I decided to do with my free time. I hope you can join me. Whatever your bad habit is, you can change it! If you have any tips or tricks for breaking a bad habit, please leave them in the comments section below. I will be delighted to hear from you!

This challenge is inspired by this Sarah’s Scribble comic. I am pretty sure the artist, Sarah Andersen, is depicting my entire life through these comics. I turn into a monster when my wifi goes down, Mark can attest to that. 

Happy Saturday! 

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Crispy Cornmeal Pancakes w/ Blueberry Sauce

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

These pancakes aren't your typical diner pancakes since they are vegan, gluten free, lightly sweetened, and crispy from the addition of cornmeal. They are, what I imagine, a Southern grandma makes on a Sunday morning. The blueberry sauce is simple, quick, and pairs well with the corn-flavour of the pancakes. I added 2 tablespoons of maple syrup to the sauce but if you want it sweeter, add more to taste. I used frozen blueberries for this recipe and if you are using fresh ones, you may have to add an extra splash of water to the sauce. Frozen berries release more liquid when cooked. This recipe serves 10- 5" pancakes and ¾ cup of blueberry sauce.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Ingredients

For the Pancakes

• 1 tablespoon ground golden flax
• 3 tablespoons warm water
• 1 very ripe banana, peeled
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk*
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil + more for greasing the pan
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (yes, a tablespoon)
• ¾ cup gluten free prepared flour (I used Bob Mill’s 1:1 GF flour)
• ¾ cup fine cornmeal
• Pinch of fine grain sea salt

For the Blueberry Sauce

• 1 ¼ cups frozen blueberries, divided
• 2-3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

For the Blueberry Sauce

1. In a small saucepot over medium heat, add 1 cup of blueberries, maple syrup, and water and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Once most of the berries have thawed, mash the mixture with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon.
2. Add the arrowroot powder and stir consistently until thicken slightly. Add the lemon juice and remaining blueberries and stir until the additional berries have thawed. Take off heat until you are about to serve the pancakes.

For the Cornmeal Pancakes

1. While you are making your sauce, preheat oven to 200 degrees and set a wire baking rack over a baking sheet. The pancakes will stay crispier if they are kept warm on a wire rack.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flax and water to create a flax egg; let sit to gel up. Once the flax egg is ready, add the banana and mash with a potato masher or fork until smooth and no large lumps remain.
3. Add the milk, maple syrup and coconut oil. At this time, heat and oil your griddle or skillet over medium heat to cook the pancakes. You want it to be hot before the batter hits it.
4. Add baking powder and whisk until foamy and mixed thoroughly.
5. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until no large lumps remain but a few streaks of flour are ok.
6. Measure out ¼ cup of batter and pour onto the hot skillet; smoothing out the batter with the back of a spoon. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until you see bubbles on the top of the pancake; flip and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes.
7. Transfer pancake to the wire rack in the oven and continue with the rest of the batter, regressing the pan as needed.
8. Once all the pancakes are cooked, reheat the blueberry sauce until warm. Stack the pancakes up and pour on the blueberry sauce. Best served with a large cup of coffee. Enjoy!

Notes

*Measure the milk and let sit out of the refrigerator while you prepare the sauce. Refridgerator cold milk will solidify the melted coconut oil.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 10 Calories: 155 Fat: 4g Saturated fat: 2g Unsaturated fat: 1g Carbohydrates: 29g Sugar: 9g Sodium: 19mg Fiber: 2g Protein: 2g

3.3.3077

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Chia seeds are considered a super food since these seeds pack a serious nutritional punch. For every ounce of chia seeds, you get 11 grams of fibre to keep your tummy happy, keeps your brain healthy with all those all important Omega-3 fatty acids and has 4.4 grams of protein. This heart-healthy seed is so beneficial to your body and a great staple in any diet. I constantly keep chia seeds in my pantry and add it to mostly smoothies, breakfast pudding and if I am in a crazy rush I even add it to my water bottle with a bit of lemon juice or this drink. Chia seed pudding is great to layer in a Mason jar with frozen fruit and topped with some raw buckwheat grouts and refrigerate until you are ready to go. Since chia seeds are a tad on the pricey side, I usually make a little pudding parfait for breakfast verses just straight up chia pudding.

I tried making blended carob pudding with banana as the sweetener but turns out I am not a fan of carob. It looks like chocolate but certainly does not taste like it. Scratch that ingredient off my pantry stock list. I just like chocolate too much to try to replace it with anything else. However, carob is good for those people who may be sensitive to or avoiding caffeine since it is naturally caffeine-free. 

Mark who is indifferent to chocolate, say what??, asked me to make him a non-chocolate version. First thing first, do not blend a non-chocolate (or any dark coloured) pudding since it turns into a grey mess. Ok now that we have established that we can go to the recipe. Other than chocolate desserts, lemon is my second favourite flavour, especially the creaminess of lemon bars. This recipe can be made without the soaked cashews but they do add a lot of creaminess to this pudding so I highly recommend it.

I had this snack with frozen blueberries on top before my first ballet class! It kept me feeling energized and light, ready to take on all the French dance moves and positions. Turns out you can sweat a LOT by just bending and stretching. I thought I was the worst one in the class but every woman in the change room of the studio also made the same remark about their performance. It was the very first class ever and apparently we thought we would all be professional ballerinas after a mere hour and a half class? If only it were that simple. I had a great time and felt really accomplished that I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. I am very much looking forward to next week’s class. Special thanks to my mother who purchased the class for me as a birthday present (as well as the beautiful bracelet that I am wearing in my A Champagne Birthday photo shoot by Holly Bowman.)

 Anything you want to try out? Something that maybe you tried once before but gave up? Perhaps a class you always felt too embarrassed to take? What would it take for you to push yourself out of your comfort zone and really give it your all? Leave any comments or positive messages to other readers below! Or your own story on overcoming your fear of looking silly and really immersed yourself in your passion.

The post Raspberry-Lemon Chia Seed Pudding appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

 Welcome to another Staple Sunday! So far I have posted the One-Ingredient Roasted Almond Butter (can you guess what the ingredient is?) and Basic Cashew Cream {10 ways}. This week is Homemade Almond Milk Step-by-Step. If you have never made your own milk you are in for a real treat! Milk as a treat? YES! I may not know how to milk a cow (and frankly why would I want to?) but I sure can milk a nut! Feel free to giggle.

Making your own nut milk is very easy and you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry: almonds, vanilla, salt and a sweetener of choice, I used maple syrup but agave, brown rice syrup, dates or stevia would work (I can’t eat anything with stevia since it gives me a wicked headache, has anyone else had this problem?). So why bother to make it yourself when now there are so many great dairy-free options? Homemade almond milk is about a zillion times better than store bought. You may have a Kristen Wiig moment in Bridemaids because damn this stuff is good.

I like to soak my almonds overnight but if you forgot to 2 hours should be good. After soaking them, drain, rinse and add them to your blender. Put in some earplugs because we are going turbo! I am not too sure how this recipe would fare in a non heavy-duty blender. If you don’t have one, it is still possible but you might not yield as much milk.

A nut milk bag (more giggles!) is needed to squeeze out all the delicious milk from the mixture after it is blended.

Wtf is a nut milk bag? It is generally a medium sized drawstring bag made of different kinds of finely woven material. Mine is made of hemp but I have seen others made up of cotton, nylon or linen. I got my bag from The Big Carrot in Toronto but check any well-stocked health food store for their selection.

“Oh the blender woke you up? Sorry sweetie! Well, since you are awake can you be my hand model?” Thanks Mark! 

This milk is lightly sweetened but if you like sweeter milk just add more sweetener of choice but I think it is pretty amazing all on its own.  Milking my own almonds made me feel like a little homegrown country gal except in my high-rise apartment in Toronto.

13 recipes down, 7 more to go……

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