I want chocolate.  I want chocolate, was my first thought when I walked in to the kitchen this morning.  I had already prepared some overnight oats.  Last night before bed I put 1/3 of a cup of oats, 1 cup of almond milk and 1 tbsp of chia seeds in a jug and left them soaking overnight.  This morning I tipped the overnight oats in to my blender, along with a frozen banana and a tbsp of Carley’s raw chocolate with hemp seeds.  It still wasn’t chocolatey enough so I added 1 level tbsp cocoa powder.  I served it in a glass with 1 tbsp coconut on top.

It was thick and soft and smooth.  The coconut sat on top, adding a chewy sweetness to each bite as I slowly ate this glass of deliciousness with a spoon.  How can something full of natural ingredients taste so amazingly good?  It tasted just like a chocolate ice cream pudding.  I could eat this every day.  So could Harvey who couldn’t believe his luck, being allowed a “pudding” for breakfast.

It looks decadent and sinful but all it contains is unsweetened almond milk, oats, chia seeds, a banana, raw chocolate and hemp seed spread, cocoa powder with coconut on top.  This is almost the same ingredients as a recent post called Brilliant Banana Breakfast.  The only difference is that previously I had time to layer it so it looked better but this was really quick and to be honest, it tasted the same.

It was a blustery day so tennis was more challenging than normal.  I couldn’t make my normal group but had been invited to join a different group of players so I did.  It was great fun and with a lot less chatting than my usual Tuesday drills, I ran around a lot more and was really hungry by lunch time.

A blog I really enjoy called Kath Eats had made a lentil and kale soup last night and I was inspired to do the same today.  The chicken carcass from Sunday was in the fridge so I made a stock with it.  I put the bones in a saucepan with a chopped up carrot, a quartered onion, salt and some peppercorns.  Covered it in water, brought it to the boil and left it simmering for about an hour to an hour and a half.  I strained the bones and was left with a litre of golden stock which I used to make the soup with.

Lentil and Kale Soup

Ingredients

• 1 litre of stock
• 1 cup of red lentils (about 180 g)
• 100 g curly kale, chopped
• ½ tsp sweet smoked paprika
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp Greek yogurt (optional)
• Parmesan cheese, finely grated (optional)

Method

1. Heat the stock in a saucepan.
2. Add the lentils and boil for 10 minutes.
3. Add the kale and paprika and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Season according to taste.
5. Pour in to a serving bowl and serve with a spoonful of Greek yogurt and parmesan cheese.

As you can see, this soup was so easy to make it hardly classifies as cooking.  In a simple soup like this I think having a good stock is important.  It tasted wonderful and the yogurt and Parmesan really enhanced it.  The soup tasted warming, comforting and nourishing.  The cold tangy yogurt was a lovely contrast to the smoky paprika and the cheese was, well, cheesey and gorgeous.

Yummy!  More please.

Supper was a quick and easy stir fry: spring onions, chestnut mushrooms, spinach and mange tout, fried in sesame oil with some oyster sauce, served with prawns and brown rice.  Unremarkable but it did the job.  I had mine with hot pepper sauce – hence the orange sauce.

I wish I had a chocolate pudding for afters.