Making overnight oats with yogurt is my favorite way to make this creamy breakfast bowl. I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe of mine that I have been making for years!

Want more breakfast recipes? CLICK HERE for my free breakfast recipe ebook!

Did you know that Bircher Muesli is actually the proper name for soaked and fermented oats? I learned this from a British friend of mine. Also, the proper way to make this gut-boosting bowl is with whole milk dairy yogurt. I like to make mine with Straus Whole Milk Yogurt or Redwood Hill Farm Goat Milk Yogurt. Soaked and fermented oats with yogurt give you a probiotic boost in the morning on an empty stomach, to give you energy and get things moving for the day. These are wonderful for your digestion as well. If you want to make the most delicious bowl of oats there is, here's how you can DO IT.

Ingredients:
(serves 2)

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup and 2 tbsp. filtered water (you can also eyeball and add water until it is about 1/2 inch above the oats)

2 big spoonfuls of whole milk yogurt

1 tbsp. sunflower seeds

1 tbsp. pumpkin seeds

2 tbsp. shredded coconut

1 tbsp. raisins (optional)

Method:

Mix everything together in a bowl. Cover with a plate and leave out on your counter overnight. I keep my next to my stove for a little warmth, bacteria loves warmer climates. You want the good bacteria from the yogurt to do it's work! You don’t get this magical effect when you make overnight oats with nut milk. The fermentation happens because of the cultures in the yogurt. If you refrigerate you also aren't providing an environment for fermentation. Also if you heat your oats after soaking in yogurt, you will kill any bacteria that has grown. These are meant to be eaten at room temperature!

Overnight Oats, aka Bircher Muesli, is a great breakfast to enjoy any day of the week. Top with honey and fruit of your choice. When I first began my health journey, this was my go to breakfast. I also love it because it keeps me regular :)

ENJOY!

If you know me by now, you know that smoothies are my freaking jam. Especially in the morning after a work out. There is nothing more tasty and refreshing than a protein smoothie for recovery after moving your body.

This is hands down my favorite post-work out + recovery smoothie. I love using collagen peptides for protein in my smoothies, not only because it supports good digestion and enhances your immune system but also because it aids in the growth and repair of tissues, tendons, joints and muscles.

So, what’s the secret? Amino acids. Collagen peptides protein powder contains multiple chains of amino acids, including Glutamine which is a key amino acid for healing and cellular turnover and repair. I have linked below to a few of my favorite collagen protein powders.

(I get a v small kick back if you buy through these links, and appreciate the support as always!) 

Ancient Nutrition Multi Collagen
Primal Kitchen Collagen Fuel
Further Food Collagen (women-owned!)

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened nut milk of choice, I like cashew milk
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 big handful of spinach
1 tbsp. almond or cashew butter
1/4 avocado
2 scoops collagen (or equivalent to 20g)

Method:
Add everything to a high-speed blender and blend until combined and creamy. I use a Vitamix and have been loving it five years strong! It has been the best kitchen investment I have ever made, I use it every day and it makes the creamiest smoothies EVER.

Want to get 5 more of my favorite smoothie recipes? Click here to download for free!

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When I was younger and my grandparents would come to visit, we would pick them up from the airport and stop at the Marie Callendar’s restaurant which right off of the freeway. Although the location doesn’t exist anymore, and neither do my Marie Callendar carvings, the warm and fuzzy memories have remained. They had a refrigerated rotating pie stand on display right when you walked in the door, showcasing all the featured pies. I had two favorites - the Chocolate Cream and most definitely the Double Cream Blueberry Pie.

I’ve taken my childhood pleasure and recreated it into the most delicious breakfast treat - blueberry cream pie french toast! The outcome was absolute heaven, like angels dancing on my tongue. I kid you not, this healthy french toast is other worldly. Get your booty to the kitchen and make immediately!

I also have 12 more healthy breakfast ideas I’m sharing with your in my free Favorite Breakfast Recipe Ebook, so I don’t leave you hanging after enjoying this tasty and healthy breakfast recipe.

Ready to make this mind blowing blueberry french toast?!! Of course you are… you were already drooling just looking at the photo. You know what’s up. So here is how you can DO IT.

Ingredients
(serves 1)
2 pieces sprouted wheat bread
2 eggs
splash of unsweetened nut milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 
a few shakes of cinnamon 
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1-2 tbsp. maple syrup 
1 tbsp. melted coconut butter

Method 

Whisk the eggs, nut milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Dip each piece of toast on both sides until the egg mixture is fully saturated. Cook on a non-stick skillet for 3-4 minutes on both sides. While the french toast cooks place the blueberries and maple syrup in a sauce pan. Heat until the maple syrup starts to bubble and turn heat to medium-low until the blueberries soften. Mash half the blueberry compote with a fork. Place french toast on a plate, top with blueberries and drizzle with the melted coconut butter.  DIVE IN AND ENJOY!!

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Think twice before you order your next green juice with added fruits.  Apples, pineapples, grapefruit, orange… they may make your juice taste sweeter, and cut the taste of the veggies, but juicing removes the fiber and all of its benefits. So what does that actually mean? And, are green juices good for you?

The short answer is yes, the green juice benefits are great for you and provide vitamins and nutrients from the vegetables for energy, good digestion and also boost our immune system. What is not so good for you are green juices with added fruit.  Juices made with fruit are stripped of their fiber content, causing the sugar in fruits (such as added apple, orange, pineapple, etc.) to be absorbed faster into your system and therefore spiking blood sugar levels. This can change your cravings throughout the day as insulin is released from your pancreas to lower blood sugar levels and in the meantime can change what your hunger hormones are telling you for satiety. For example, have a veggie and fruit juice by itself and you might be hungry an hour later. Or crave more sugar later in the day.

Really this means that drinking fruit juice without the fiber, can have the same impact on your system as eating white table sugar.

This is because fruit contains fructose, just as honey, maple syrup and white table sugar do. So, what’s the difference? FIBER. Fruit contains fiber, while other sources of sugar do not. When you eat fruit in its whole form, you get the benefits of the fiber – which helps to break down the sugars (fructose) for slower absorption.  Meaning, as your system digests fruit in its whole form it has to break down the fiber first, slowing the absorption of sugar into you blood. Thus curbing cravings and keeping you more satiated.

 Fruit contains both soluble and insoluble fiber.  Soluble fiber stabilizes blood sugar, slows absorption and reduces cholesterol. Your small intestine absorbs the nutrients and fructose for energy and the insoluble fiber drops down into your large intestine where it pushes waste through your digestive tract, making digestion quicker and helps with more regular bowel movements.

Here’s my advice, when buying your daily green juice keep it just veggies with no fruit.  Eat your fruit whole or blend it into a smoothie so you get the benefits of the fiber. And if you are craving a big glass of orange juice, or a pineapple and veggie juice, have it with a snack that contains fiber or use it as a base for your smoothie and add in ground flax or chia seeds. Your health will thank you!

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