Cherry Baked Oatmeal

Did you miss me? I'm sorry I skipped several days of blogging, but I have a confession to make: this is going to be kind of a new norm.  I never want to be that blogger who fades out and you never know what happened to them. But my posts are going to be spaced a bit farther apart. My goal is to post once a week. 

Why?

Blogging has kind of gone from being a huge passion to a huge chore.

Why?

I love the concept of blogging, don't get me wrong, I love all of you and getting creative with what I post and all that jazz. But here's the thing: I do EVERYTHING-- taking photos, editing them, and writing the posts all on a Kindle Fire. And said Kindle only has a front facing camera. Yeah. It's been tough and at this point, I don't have the extra money to invest in a quality camera.

So things will be almost normal around here. I'll just be posting less often.

So anyway, here's a recipe for A single serve oatmeal, using the most beautiful, fflavorful fruit in the world.

Cherry Baked Oatmeal

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 tsp. Baking powder

1/3 cup milk

1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract

1 banana, mashed

12 cherries, pitted and chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350°Fahrenheit. Grease a single serving ramkin.

2. In a small bowl, combine the oats and baking powder. Stir in milk, vanilla, and banana.

3. Fold in cherries. If you'd like, save some and place them on to of the oat mixture after pouring the batter into the ramkin.

4. Bake for about 28-30 minutes, or until center no longer is very wet.

Enjoy!

<3 Danielle

How to be Gluten Free Naturally

With so many people being gluten free these days, companies are beginning to catch on and create g.f. packaged foods, full of junk that does not belong in the human body.

Now I'm not vegan, paleo, or anything like that, I'm just gluten free and mostly dairy free, but I still believe it is important to feed our bodies whole, real foods. It might be easier to pick up a package of granola bars off the shelf of the grocery store, but in the long run? Your body will thank you for choosing an apple and peanut butter, or something like that instead.

So below, I'm going to list some gluten free foods that are just naturally g.f. please note that I am not a doctor or certified nutritionist, and I'm not recommending that anyone go gluten free. This is for the many people who are gluten free, but would like to remove packaged foods from their diet.

Milk.                    
Yoghurt

Cheese

Butter

Fruit

Vegetables

Rice

Potatoes

Corn

Quinoa

Certified G.F. Oats

Eggs

Chicken

Beef

Pork

Lamb

Salmon

Tilapia

Codfish

Shellfish

Catfish

Vinegar

Coconut oil

Olive oil

Honey

Agave

Maple syrup

Cocoa powder

Nut butters

Nuts

Coffee

Tea

Please note also that you should always double check each item listed here to see if it really is g.f. because sometimes there can be a glutenful product in a place you least expect it.

Hope this has helped you! This is not EVERYTHING that's g.f., So be sure to explore your options around you!

<3 Danielle

Mango Sorbet

This is summer in a bowl. I mean really this and summer have so much in common:

They are bright and cheery

They make me happy

They are both things I always look forward to

They make you forget your worries and cares

They go by really fast. 

And I mean fast. One bite of this and I started shoveling it in my face as fast as my spoon could travel. It's so silky and sweet, and its only one ingredient. One. Just one. Yeah.

I am always skeptical of recipes advertised as one ingredient, because a lot of the time it's some kind of processed packaged product.
But not this. This is about as fresh as you can get! And even fresher if you have access to mango trees (if this is the case, I'm so jealous)!

Mango Sorbet
1 mango

1. Peel and cube the mango. Find out how to cut a mango like a pro here.
2. Freeze the cubes until solid.
3. Process until smooth in a food processor. Enjoy immediately.

I hope you love it as much as I do!

<3 Danielle

How to Cut Mango Like a Pro

Mangos are by far my favourite fruit. Yeah, I probably eat more bananas than any other fruit, but to be given the choice between a banana or a mango, the mango would win hands down.

Unfortunately, much of my life wasted away without the knowledge of how incredible this silky, sweet, juicy perfection is. Why was this?

When I was a kid, my mom never bought mangos. She said they were too much work for not much fruit.

I didn't care too much then, because I had no idea what I was missing out on. But then, one night everything changed. I was probably in seventh grade, and I was over at a friend's house. She cut up mango and offered me a piece. My mom's mango- free reign was beginning it's downfall.

I begged for her to invest in some mangoes, and she gave in. Then came the errors many make:

1) it was under ripe when we cut into it.

2) we attempted to cube their flesh of the fruit while it was still in it's skin

3) we tried to remove the fruit from the skin with a spoon

She stopped buying mango after that.

Years later, I gave them another approach, and this time, I won the battle with the mango. And the rest is history. So for all you mango fearers, here's the secret to success in your match against the tricky mango:

This is the best method, in my opinion, to get the most bang for your buck. Cause mangos are expensive. And I am cheap. 

Also, you're probably not going to want to use a peeler that you got for fifty cents at the dollar store, by the way. Believe me, investing in a good quality peeler will be worth it, not only for mangos, but also potatoes, apples, etc.

So enjoy your mango!

~Danielle