Banana Split for Breakfast

If you're a regular follower of my blog, you know that I have been on a health journey for the past nine months or so. Actually, longer than that. For about eight months before the proactive portion of the journey started, I was feeling a multitude of symptoms that my regular doctors weren't able to accurately diagnose or cure - even their symptom treatment did not work. After many months of suffering, I eventually sought help of a different sort: holistic/integrative healing. I got my blood tested and the results were surprising, yet uber helpful. For the first time in months I had some real answers and felt empowered to take control of my health.

From there, I began changing my lifestyle. I've made many changes over the past nine months that have improved my life, but the thing I started with was adjusting my diet. According to my holistic doc, I needed to pump up the protein, cut out all simple carbohydrates, stick to low glycemic fruits & veggies, and basically get a lot more nutrition & iron into my diet via green veggies and supplements for stuff it's difficult for vegetarians to get from food (i.e. zinc, B12). I always thought that being a vegetarian ipso facto made you healthy. Wrong. Being a vegetarian can be an extremely healthy way of living - if you go about it in a conscious way, ensuring you are getting adequate protein, along with the essential vitamins and minerals we, as humans, need to live. For the 19 years I had been a vegetarian to that point, I was doing none of that. And my body was telling me it was time for things to change!

To get started, I did some research and discovered one of my now favorite resources - Kris Carr, cancer thriver! She has a great book that explains how you need to balance out the pH within your body so that it functions correctly, and the best way to go about this is to eat a mostly raw, varied, plant-based diet. Her teachings make sense to me, so I went with it. One of the first changes I made was to my breakfast. I used to make or buy fruit laden smoothies (sugar/sugar/and more sugar) every morning, or stop at the deli on the way into work and grab an egg/cheese/bagel breakfast sami (cooked/dairy/carb). Anyway, I was at a loss as to what to eat for breakfast because I needed to eat something that was vegan, raw, nutritious, and low on the glycemic index - kind of a tall order! I came across this recipe on Pinterest and I swear, it was my savior! I've been making a version of this recipe at least twice a week for nine months now and I never get sick of it! In fact, I am excited every single day to eat breakfast because it is SO tasty and filling!

I had to switch up the chia pudding recipe for myself because I'm avoiding most grains (so no oats), so I'm sharing with you my time and tummy tested version. I love the raw raspberry jam in this recipe, but I have experimented with creating my own fruit additions, so I wanted to share one of those with you. I like the raw jams, but every now and then I treat myself with a higher glycemic cooked version. And the other thing I love about this recipe, besides the fact that it's delicious, is it's so versatile, you can pretty much add whatever fixin's you want. My go-to favorites are raw pumpkin seeds (for iron) and ground flax (for omega-3 & fiber). I generally use raw almonds, but toasted hazelnuts went really well with this recipe. And for an extra protein kick, I've been adding a plant-based protein powder. This is really a power-house breakfast and a great start to your day, whether you're vegetarian, vegan, plant-strong, or a regular ol' omnivore.

I'm so excited to share this truly life changing recipe with you today! Let's get jammin'!

Chia Seed Pudding
Servings: 4
Prep time: 5 minutes + setting up overnight
Cooking time: n/a

Ingredients:
1/3 cup chia seeds
1/3 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
1 teaspoon (alcohol free) vanilla extract
1 dropper liquid Stevia
1 1/2 cup almond milk, unsweetened

Add the chia seeds, shredded coconut, vanilla, and Stevia to a jar with a tight fitting lid. I love mason jars for this!

Stir.

Pour in the almond milk.

Stir, making sure the chia seeds are evenly distributed through the milk and not settling at the bottom.

Place the lid on the jar, close it, and put it in the fridge to set up overnight or for at least 8 hours.

In the morning, you should have a nice, thick chia seed pudding. Ta da!

Blueberry Compote
Servings: 5
Prep time: 3 minutes + cooling for 2 hours if you want cold
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 12 ounce bag frozen blueberries
2 teaspoons powdered Stevia
4 1-inch by 1/4-inch wide lemon rind peels

Place a small pot on the stove over medium-high heat.

Add all of the ingredients to the pot and stir.

Cover the pot with a lid and let it cook for about 15 minutes, stirring regularly.

Once the blueberries have reduced and become liquidy, turn the heat to low and remove the lid.

Allow the blueberries to simmer over low heat for an additional 15 minutes until a thick jam-like substance is created.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the compote to a small mason jar with a lid.

Add the jar to the fridge and let cool for at least two hours before using if you want to serve it cold. Otherwise, it would be delectible served warm drizzled over some vanilla ice cream!

Banana Split for Breakfast
Servings: 1
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1/3 cup almond milk
3/4 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used PlantFusion)
1 whole ripe banana, peeled
1 rounded tablespoon/scoop chia seed pudding (recipe above)
1 rounded tablespoon raw almond butter
3 rounded teaspoons blueberry compote (recipe above)
1 handful hazelnuts, chopped
1 handful raw pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon flax meal

Start by toasting the hazelnuts. Place a small pan on the stove over medium-high heat. Add the hazelnuts and let them toast while you prepare the rest of the dish, stirring occasionally. Remove them from the pan when you can start to smell them toasting - about five minutes.

Next, prepare what I like to call protein powder pudding. Place the almond milk & vanilla protein powder in a small bowl and stir until a pudding-like substance is formed. Set aside.

Lay the banana on your serving plate and use a sharp knife to slice the banana down the center length-wise. Make sure to not cut all the way through - leave the bottom attached. Use your fingers to gently pull apart the center of the banana, making a resting place for the rest of the ingredients.

Use a large teaspoon to scoop the protein powder pudding from the bowl and place it in a rounded mound on one end of the banana.

Next, do the same with the almond butter, and place it on the opposite end of the banana from where the protein powder mound is.

Last, do the same with the chia seed pudding, but place that in the center between the protein powder pudding and the almond butter.

Using a teaspoon, scoop a some of the blueberry compote onto the almond butter, and spread it down the center evenly. You'll most likely need to repeat this two more times to cover the length of the banana from the almond butter to the protein powder pudding.

Sprinkle the top & the plate with the flax meal first, then the pumpkin seeds and chopped hazelnuts.

You're ready to serve!

How delicious and indulgent does this look?!

Salute!

*Note: you can eat it like this by cutting it up with a fork and knife, or you can cut it up and place it in a bowl to mix together. Either way, it's delish!

[And one of only the PEONIES just because!]