Food: Healthy Dark Choco-Peanut Granola Squares Recipe

Hi everyone!

If you followed my other blog, you would know by now that I'm in Manila (A Chuvaness.com gift to welcome me in Manila!). This is a crazy, hectic, fast-paced city--descriptions of which are the exact opposite of what I would describe my hometown, Davao City. 

Greencross and I have pooled our resources to start getting rooted in this city. We are renting this small and neat condo in Soho Residential Condominiums. He has just landed a job and I dearly hope that I follow suit, too. I have a job that I've set my sights on; I really, really like the job so I'm hoping for the best. I don't have friends here in Manila, yet (except folks from Davao who are also here, thank goodness for them!) but I'm hoping that in the next few months, that'll change, too. I'll take to blogging in the meantime.

This is one of the Late Bloomer blog projects I will start on: "Healthy Hacks", a series of posts dedicated to share with you some quick and healthy recipes that I personally make. This post has been sitting in my drafts for about a month now, as the ingredients were something I bought from Davao in an EcoFair (wah, I need to start sniffing out market fairs here in Mandaluyong)

One of the few things I've observed from my friends living in a condo is that they are resorting to all kinds of canned food or ready-to-eat prepackaged meals. I sincerely doubt that what they are eating is healthy; I hope that it's all not junk, but I'm sure that eating spam and canned sausages for their daily breakfast may possibly skew the health balance in their body. I know that there's a lot of factors involving their choice of food, but if time constraints are a problem, there are so many easy recipes with low prep/cooking time!

On today's Healthy Hacks, we have a healthy variation of granola bars! It's a pretty spiffy, natural snack when you want something that just sits in the refrigerator, waiting to be gobbled on. I love these prepackaged granola bars, which are better as snacks than the usual chips and candies. But the recipe I have is SO MUCH BETTER. (Love your own! Hahah!)

Natural Dark Choco-Peanut Granola Squares (Total Time: 10 mins ; No. of Ingredients: 6 items )

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup rolled oats / granola mix (I used both Revive Granola Mix and Australian Rolled Oats)
• 1 cup natural honey (I used Bio Dynamis wild honey)
• 2 tbsp dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Dark Unsweetened cocoa powder) or;
• 1 piece 100% cacao/tableya (I used one from Aloha Organic Garden and its AMAZING)
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter 
• [Optional garnish: cornflakes, cinnamon, sweetened cocoa powder, peanuts or dried fruits]

Above is the basic setup of your ingredients list. Here's the procedure:

1. On a pot, heat everything except the granola/rolled oats and garnish over medium heat. Do not boil, just ensure that the cocoa/tableya and the peanut butter mixes well with the honey.

2. Take out the pot from the heat and pour into a square mold, or any heat-resistant bowl you have (I used Pyrex glassware) and mix in your granola mix.

3. Mix the granola and honey mixture to ensure everything is coated well. Garnish with cornflakes, like I did. Or choose your own, really. Nuts are really great, and dried fruits as well. My sister likes her granola squares to have lots of cinnamon because peanut butter + chocolate + cinnamon is just her thing :)

Cover the container and refrigerate. This lasts for about a week and a half in the freezer. I usually bring a piece if I go out and not want to have to buy junk. This makes me very full, because of the rolled oats and granola mix. It's also perfect as a protein fix because of the grains, and because of the peanut butter, too! It is chewy but with a little crunch. It's also absolutely great paired with tea!

Just because we don't have a lot of time on our hands or that life is a little hectic shouldn't give us the license to take for granted the only thing keeping us alive and kicking: a healthy functioning body! I'll make sure that despite the many temptations to splurge on food in Manila, I will choose the one that's cheap and healthy! Making my own food is the best place to start.

Thank you for reading!~
Keep healthy!

Food: Drink Yo Tea! Kampai to Skin and Overall Health

I LOVE TEA.

It is calming, steadfast and comforting. This is a post about all my adventures in drinking.

I have been drinking cups and cups of tea in different types and tea sets and situations. You can drink commercialized, pre-packaged or coffeeshop-prepared tea all you want but nothing really beats boiling water and steeping the tea bags yourself.

Sure, there are benefits of drinking tea, we all know that somehow these little packets do a lot of good to the body, but few know that it is excellent for the SKIN. You wouldn't mind a good boost in elasticity and firmness to your skin, would you? But more than that, there is a longer list of benefits when you drink tea everyday!

Tea with Le Kareshi

Aside from the benefits of tea, one of my favorite things is completing the tea prep. Above is my matching tea set. I use this on weekends or when I have people to have tea with. It is a 6-piece pot and cup flowery, spring-love thing and I adore it very much.The porcelain is perfect to keep the liquid scalding and it is very good with light brews!

Excerpts of "Tea Benefits" from TeaMuse.com

Aging
In a recent experiment carried out jointly by researchers from the US, Taiwan and Japan, mice which were fed tea displayed fewer signs of aging than mice that were fed water.

Bone Strength
Compared with nonhabitual tea drinkers, tea regulars had higher bone mineral densities, even after exercise and calcium-which strengthen bones-were taken into account. 

Cancer
A compound called EGCG, a powerful antioxidant in tea, inhibited an enzyme that cancer cells need in order to grow. The cancer cells that couldn't grow big enough to divide self-destructed.

Cholesterol
Levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol dropped 10 percent among the test subjects who drank tea. Vegetarian Times, Jan 2003

Weight Loss
Recent evidence shows that in the battle of fat loss, green tea may be superior to plain caffeine. According to a new study, green tea appears to accelerate calorie burning - including fat calories. Researchers suggest compounds in green tea called flavonoids may change how the body uses a hormone called norepinephrine, which then speeds the rate calories are burned. Joe Weider's Muscle & Fitness, April 2000

Tea is certainly something, isn't it?! I feel so relaxed when I drink it, even when I drink it at night and I finish a pot for myself, I somehow sleep very well! Because I work two jobs, there are also those stressful days... To combat it with a flourish, I use my Giovanni Valentino set to drink my tea with!:

Berry Tea: A whole day when I was working on pretty much EVERYTHING.

Milk Tea: When I stayed up very late to finish some workload and I was terribly lonely...

The Valentino is a beautiful blue china with blue flowers with gold lining. Nothing really cheers me up when this little thing is filled with tea! It's SOOOO pretty. I feel prettier when I drink from this. It makes me feel like I'm a princess (well, clearly I'm not but the tea cup looks like it's used only for royalty!) or I'm a character in one of my favorite shows, Downton Abbey. :D

Finished some stressful work just in time for the last drop of Earl Grey! Winding down with books...

Chilled apple, Barquillos and weak Milk Tea for DINNER, foo'!

 Tea is the second most drunk liquid in the WHOLE PLANET EARTH. So you don't have to feel "Oh I drink tea, I'm such a hipster." Wrong! Hipster drink is warm ginger ale. Tea makes you belong to the world as millions of people drink it every minute. Even in sickness, tea makes you feel better faster!

Playing around with a Nendoroid Miku when I was sick

Some of my boxes of tea that I like: My favorite is Yellow Label (when I have a lot of things on my mind) and Earl Grey (when I need that certain sophistication and the feeling that I can take over the world)... Fruit-infused teas are usually only prepared as requested by others, but I like them also!

Yellow Label (Hirameki), White tea (Strawberry and Vanilla Infused), Earl Grey, Wild Berry Herbal

One of my good friends gave me a packet of pure love: Rotbusch Tee in Vanilla. HOLY CRAP IT WAS SOO GOOD. WHAT. But I can't find it anywhhhheeerrrreeeee....

Sometimes when I can't be at home to fix myself a pot, I rely in various booths and establishments for my daily cup!

good old Hirameki Cup

Yellow Tea!

Random cold tea... This was Oolong, I think

Obviously a fruit-infused type...

I usually drink my tea straight/plain except when I am deeply depressed that I need milk in it. Fresh milk from the carton seems good enough, it makes the tea smell like a freshly-washed pillow and you just want to sleep in it.

I'm glad that malls and shops are offering a wider variety of tea nowadays, and even people are into the Bubble Tea craze. Still, I'd rather prefer to fix my own, but the world is so on-the-go...

Are you drinking tea? Tell me your fave! Keep healthy!

Bright, Orange and Pulpy: Minute Maid!

Do you love oranges?

Because gosh, I sure do. :) In fact, I just ate one last night!
Greencross* bought like 4 oranges to share with our friends, but we might have gobbled it all by ourselves. Maybe. Don't tell them.

Another thing I LOVE is Orange Juice! But I hate powered ones with a passion. They're just too fake for my taste. I hate the powder that gets on the counter when you pour it into a jar, and the icky way some powder are left at the bottom of the pitcher no matter how many stirs you make.

Luckily, bottled orange juice was invented.



I just drank a bottle of Minute Maid Pulpy. They say it’s got ‘no preservatives added’. Aw, c’mon…It’s bottled juice. Is that even possible? So I thought maybe... I will still give it a try. I may be just one of those that will try a healthier alternative to the usual softdrinks. To my surprise it tastes exactly like a fresh orange squeeze! It's cold, it's refreshing and it tastes fantastic!

I didn’t believe it the first time I heard it’s got no preservatives added. So I read the ingredients (even the fine print) and everything checked out! It really has NO PRESERVATIVES ADDED! That means it doesn’t have ingredients that may turn out to be allergens, or worse...carcinogens! Whew! Now that’s healthy goodness that tastes so good, I may just change my mind as to how I view bottled juices. For once I have found a natural home made fruit juice taste with no preservatives and no unhealthy carbonated ingredients!


So okay, it’s got no preservatives added. That’s really good, right? Not just because it doesn’t have those icky, harmful ingredients, but it also means... that it's the perfect drink when you're craving for something sweet to guzzle down.

So far anyone who still has a hard time believing that Minute Maid has got no preservatives added - meaning it's THAT natural, it's almost like it's plucked straight from the tree, it's just as Mother Nature wanted your orange juice to be, it's got nothing but the good stuff yes, none of those potentially toxic stuff that can harm your brain, kidneys, heart; cause tumors aargh- the list of preservatives' bad effects just go on!!! Anyway, just to prove a point on just how good Minute Maid Pulpy is 'cause it's got NO PRESERVATIVES ADDED, I'm gonna quit drinking my usual soda drinks. I swear. I'm HUGE on sodas and pop drinks, but I know with Minute Maid, the transition will be easy peasy.

Feels good to know about the real pulpy deal, right? C’mon show me a smile on the comment box, and you might win yourself a Really Pulpy Deal! (That’s a chance to win a Minute Maid gift pack simply by commenting. Sweet! C'mon you just might be picked as the lucky 'commentor'!)

Love,

Aicha! :)

P.S. I love munching on the orange pulps, tasting the sweetness, and enjoying the tangy, fruity taste... It's like everything you love about oranges is in here!

Learn more about the Minute Maid contest here!

Healthy Food Choices

"If you have health, you probably will be happy, and if you have health and happiness, you have all the wealth you need, even if it is not all you want."

- Elbert Hubbard

Health and beauty almost always go hand in hand. Eating right is always paired with any beauty regiment you can find. It's not enough that you're taking care of your skin from the outside. Our diet affects not only what's inside the body, but it reflects on our physical appearance especially on our skin, eyes, hair and even on your nails.

I always force myself to go eat well because I'm a bad eater. I love love love junkfood and fatty food rich in bad cholesterol, high sodium, loaded with sugar and the like. I'm a huge carnivore, too! So much that I don't even LIKE vegetables. I abhor the icky slimy ones the most. I can only swallow corn, soft potatoes, finely chopped carrots, and some stray malunggay in my tinola. Hehe. I eat meat for breakfast, lunch, dinner. My snacks, well, are plain horrible too. I know that. But I can't stop munching happily on Lays, piattos, chippy, cornix, cream-o, moby, richie, gahhh~ I even love those little bags that you can get for 1-peso! But inside, I really am worried about the consequences of my bad eating habits.

I just discovered the magic of granola bars! So each week I buy a different box of granola and has done so for 3 weeks already. I finished my last bar yesterday and I would like to share what I discovered!

Nature's Path Organic Chewy Granola Bars with Dark Chocolate Chips (PHP 200/ Robinsons Grocery)
This is the first one that I bought and I must say that even tasting granola bars for the first time, it is absolutely delectable. This 6-piece pack is perfect for a chocolate addict like me. The granola both tastes wonderful and earthy and smells like sweet honey; it's very chewy and I love it! I want more!



I also really love this sample pack of Nature's Path EnviroKidz Orgainc Crispy Rice in Fruity Burst because it is fruity. Hmm, how to describe the flavor: It's like you’re eating honeyed rice crispies with tiny Fruitella chewy candies inside!



Quaker Oats Quaker Chewy Chocolate Granola with Smores (PHP 190 / SM Grocery)
I can't believe this isn't junk food! Haha! This 10-piece pack is an awesome treat for those who like chocolate and smores. Even the smell of the granola is testament to its yummy sweetness; I love crunching on the chips and the smores. Compared to the Nature's Path Granola, this is more brittle, and it's thinner but longer.




Health Valley Organic Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars (PHP 180 / Healthy Options)
Healthy Granola, check. Honey coating, check. Chocolate chips inside, check, Chocolate drizzle, check. Chocolate chip toppings, check!
Oh Yeahhhh! What I love most about this 5-piece pack is that it is absolutely DELICIOUSSSSSSSSS!

THE ONE-GIRL JURY PROCLAIMS:

Health Valley Organic Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars is the WINNER!

Let's Eat Healthy! -Aicha


P.S. I have 2 new granola bars to taste! YAAAAAAAAAY!



Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Fruit and Nut
(P22 Per Bar / Robinsons)



Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars Oats n Honey
(P 22 Per Bar / Robinsons)