Strawberry Cinnamon Swirl Cheesecake Oatmeal

Some people dread grocery shopping, and some people love it.

I’ve always been part of the second team.

Even when I was a little kid, I never minded tagging along with my mom to the grocery store. These trips usually came with the promise of picking a fun, impulse snack that never would have been purchased otherwise. I got to fill the cart with iconic snack foods like rainbow-sprinkle Dunkaroos, Nesquik cereal, and chocolate ice cream!

Now that I push the cart solo, I still get excited at the prospect of finding a new favourite food every time. Now,I’m aware that this reaction might be a little bit sad, but I prefer to think of it as fulfilling my foodie detective duties for the blog (it’s all for you lovely people!). In particular, I love Loblaws Superstores – they’re completely overwhelming and I always end up buying more than I intended to, but they also have some pretty cool stuff.

Take, for example, my discovery of Western Creamery Pressed Cottage Cheese. I found this item in the refrigerated dairy section, and I was immediately intrigued. This product is not like wet, creamy cottage cheese – it’s dry, pressed cottage cheese, and the texture is like a cross between cream cheese and feta cheese.

The other notable point about this product is its nutritional value. The ingredients are as follows: organic milk, bacterial culture, microbial enzymes. That’s it! Nothing creepy to decipher on the label. This particular brand is 110 calories for a ½ cup serving, with only 1% of your daily sodium intake (I find this appealing because many wet cottage cheese brands are pretty in high sodium content). The brand I bought was $5.99 for 500g, which isn’t cheap – but I consider it to be a fun ingredient to have around on occasion!

The dry cottage cheese has a nice crumbly texture and a mild taste, making it a versatile ingredient – I like it crumbled on top of salads and pasta, but I also like it in sweet recipes, like my “cream cheese” oatmeal recipe below. Give it a try, you might just like it!

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake Overnight Oats

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup water or milk of choice

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

3-4 tbsp dry pressed cottage cheese (I used this brand)

Sweetener, to taste (I used stevia extract)

1/3 cup strawberries, chopped (or sub other berries or fruit)

Mix together all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover bowl and transfer to the fridge. Let sit for at least a few hours or overnight to thicken, and enjoy! Alternatively, you could enjoy this as hot oatmeal.

You could also try some fun variations by adding peanut butter, banana, or cocoa powder. I also like to reserve some of the cottage cheese to crumble on top!

Made any cool foodie discoveries lately? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook!

Stay cheesy,

Andie & Erica

Sweet Potato Pudding

As a little kid, I was never a huge fan of chocolate pudding. That hasn’t changed, and I can’t even recall the last time I had one of those little plastic pudding cups. I guess I’ve always just seen pudding as unfortunately…gloopy, for lack of a better word.

Based on my pudding aversion, I wasn’t initially intrigued when I came across a vegan chocolate pudding recipe on the Fo Reals Life blog. The pictures aren’t the most enticing for me either (it’s hard to make pudding look cute), but when I saw the ingredients, I knew I had to give it a try.

See, this pudding recipe is different, because the star of the show is our lovable, starchy friend: the sweet potato.

You may be thinking, but I don’t want to eat sweet potato pudding – that sounds weird. If you’ve read this blog before, however, you may recall that we like to make sneakily healthy desserts with wacky ingredients – like chickpea cookie dough dip, egg white oatmeal, and banana ice cream. As I’ve said before, you might as well be adventurous and try a crazy recipe, because you never know when it will become your new favourite!

I made the original recipe from the Fo Reals Life blog, but I think it might be a bit too “potato-y” for some people’s tastes. With that challenge at hand, I’ve made a few other variations for you to try – see which one you like best!

Sweet Potato Chocolate Pudding: 3 Ways!

Version 1: Original Sweet Potato Pudding

(recipe from Fo Reals Life, with small adaptations)

1 cup of sweet potato, cooked and mashed (skin can be on or off – I left it on)

½ cup unsweetened almond milk

¼ tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ tsp vanilla extract

Sweetener, to taste (I used pure stevia powder; you can also try pitted dates or maple syrup, but be mindful that these will change the consistency of the pudding)

Blend all ingredients together in a blender or a food processor until smooth; add additional milk for consistency as necessary. Chill in the fridge until cold.

Version 2: Sweet Potato & Greek Yogurt Pudding

1 cup of sweet potato, cooked and mashed (skin can be on or off – I left it on)

½-3/4 cup of plain, 0% Greek yogurt

½ cup unsweetened almond milk

¼ tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

½ tsp vanilla extract

Sweetener, to taste (I used pure stevia powder; you can also try pitted dates or maple syrup, but be mindful that these will change the consistency of the pudding.)

Blend all ingredients together in a blender or a food processor until smooth; add additional milk for consistency as necessary. Chill in the fridge until cold. You may want to add additional sweetener to taste, as the Greek yogurt will yield a tangy taste.

Version 3: Sweet Potato & Banana Pudding

1 cup of sweet potato, cooked and mashed (skin can be on or off – I left it on)

1 medium banana, coined

½ cup unsweetened almond milk

¼ tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ tsp vanilla extract

Sweetener, to taste (I used pure stevia powder; you can also try pitted dates or maple syrup, but be mindful that these will change the consistency of the pudding)

Blend all ingredients together in a blender or a food processor until smooth; add additional milk for consistency as necessary. Chill in the fridge until cold.

The final verdict? I think the banana version was my favourite, because it added a nice extra sweetness to the pudding and took away some of the “potato-y” texture as well. I think that I especially like this recipe because it is a lot thicker like the chickpea cookie dough dip recipe, and not at all like the storebought pudding cups I’m not so fond of!

Are you brave enough to try potato pudding? You might just love it! 😀

Until next time,

Andie & Erica