Month in Review - March 2015

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll remember that I used to do monthly "recaps" of memorable meals and occasionally other activities and photos worth sharing from the month. I haven't done one in a while, but I'm trying to start them again as they're a great way to share food and recipes I've tried and loved from other blogs, cookbooks, or restaurants. Of course I'm late as usual by posting March's recap late into April, but I'm still trying to get used to fitting blogging back in my life!

I also post most of these photos regularly on Instagram if you'd rather follow along there instead of reading these summary posts!

Starting off with breakfasts, I've only just started making overnight oats, which I've seen a million times but have been hesitant to try because of the idea of cold oats. Turns out they're delicious, and make breakfast so easy - just a few minutes of prep the night before means breakfast is ready and waiting in the fridge!  I've made this peanut butter and banana overnight oats recipe (pictured above) a few times now but hope to try other flavours in the future!

I'm also late to the smoothie bowl trend but have hopped on board lately!  I make smoothies all the time and haven't seen the need to eat mine with a spoon before, but topping them with granola, fruit, seeds, nuts, goji berries, etc. makes them even better!  Pictured above was a chocolate coffee protein version that was a bit on the thin side, but I'm getting the hang of it now!

Of course regular smoothies still make a regular appearance in my life.  This was a "Super Boost Smoothie" from Pure Juice Bar which was delicious.

I've been working on a healthy (oil-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free, except for a few chocolate chips ;)) banana bread recipe but haven't gotten it quite right yet.  If I ever do, I'll be sharing it on here!

In not-so-healthy breakfasts, I made these peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes for my fiance as a birthday treat.  Melted peanut butter is one of my favourite pancake toppings!

March dinners included...

This baked whole wheat pasta with ground turkey, mozzarella, mushrooms, and kale (I used spinach this time) is one of my go-to easy and healthy meals that makes great leftovers!

I tried this lifting lemon garlic rice & lentil soup from Happy Healthy Life when I felt a cold coming on.  I ended up using too much lemon so it was a bit overpowering, but otherwise this was a fun twist on soup!

I often make some version of southwestern quinoa and it's always delicious.  Just cook quinoa in vegetable broth, sautee some corn, black beans, onions, garlic, and mushrooms if you have them, and toss it all together with some cheese, salsa, or hot sauce!

This was the veggie burger at one of my fave new restarants, Raw Juice Co - it was delicious!  I need to keep going back here to try everything on their menu!

When out of dinner ideas, a grilled chicken salad is always a good choice, and feta is a must in my opinion.

Finally, I tried out a couple new desserts last month...

We got a delicious jar of chocolate dulce de leche at Christmas so I decided to use some of it up in cookies. I used the same recipe from my raspberry shortbread thumbprint cookies but filled the middle with the dulce de leche and topped them with melted dark chocolate chips.  Easy and tasty!

I also tried these cocoa brownies with peanut butter frosting, which are from Not Without Salt and also appear on Love & Olive Oil, though I followed The Wednesday Chef's method which involves browning the butter first.  At first taste I wasn't blown away by these but everyone I shared them with loved them, and when I had one the next day I liked it a lot better.  The brownie layer is dense and fudgey which is nice for a cocoa brownie and the peanut butter frosting wasn't too sweet, though I did think it was a little too thick so I didn't use all of mine.

That's about it for March, and I guess an April recap isn't too far away now!  Hope you enjoy these posts!