To start, here are a few tips when first creating overnight oats:

• Do not use instant oats. Soaking them softens them up, and instant will get too soft.
• Choose your favorite milk or whatever you find in your fridge to give your oats that creamy flavor. Play with the amount you use, add less for thicker oats, and a little more if you like them runny.
• Chia seeds will give the final result a pudding-like texture. They are not a necessity, but they are a great source of fiber, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, and trace minerals like zinc and copper. They are also a complete protein, meaning they contain all nine of the essential amino acids our bodies require from our diet, which not all plant sources do.
• Nut butter is a more healthy fat and protein to keep you feeling full longer, A great option if you want your oats more savory.
• Maple syrup or honey can be drizzled on top if you like it sweet but isn’t required.

Overnight Oats 5 Ways

The Base: 

The base is the foundation of your overnight oats. Combine all three, stirring to incorporate in your resealable jar of choice. While you can leave them overnight, they are ready to eat after two hours.

• 1/2 cup Rolled oats
• 2/3 cup Milk
• 1 Tablespoon Chia Seeds

The Toppings:

Toppings are supposed to be fast and easy, so there is no need to follow an exact recipe. You can make it as simple or complicated as you like for your overnight oats.

A ½ cup of your favorite fruit is a great option, but we have also included some ideas if you want to try something new. After mixing the base ingredients, sprinkle the toppings on top, so they don’t get mushy and mix them in when you are ready to eat.

1. Cocoa-nut

• 2 tbs Chopped almonds
• 1/4 cup Shredded or toasted flakes of coconut
• 1 tbs Dark chocolate chips – mini ones are great for this if you can find them!
• Optional sweetener – 1 tsp Maple syrup or honey

2. Banana Bread

• 1/2 Ripe banana, diced or sliced
• 2 tbsp Walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• Optional sweetener – 1 tsp Maple syrup or honey

3. Everybody Loves Parfait

• Substitute ½ of the milk for equal parts Greek or coconut yogurt
• 1/2 cup fresh fruit of your choice, mixed berries are a favorite
• 1/4 cup Granola or Muesli

4. Savory Cheddar

• Substitute ½ of the milk for equal parts plain Greek or coconut yogurt
• ¼ cup Shredded cheddar cheese, or 2 tbs of nutritional yeast for a no-dairy option!)
• 1 tbs fresh chopped chives
• 1 tbs fresh chopped dill
• Dash of salt

5. Strawberry + Nutella

• 1/3 cup Strawberries, chopped
• 1 tbsp Nutella
• 1 tbsp chopped hazelnuts
• Dash of salt

Read more:

• 3 Different Ways to Enjoy Oats for Breakfast
• Oat Milke: Is it Worth Buying? 
• Boost Your Breakfast with This Probiotic Berry Oat Kefir Smoothie

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Culinary Director Malcolm Wood and Executive Chef Lee Man Sing have years of experience and an intense passion for the traditional recipes of home cooking that have lasted throughout time. They draw on Chinese culture and its philosophy of farm-to-table cooking that has been shaped from generation to generation, by one of the largest farming nations in the world. The result is a spectacular dining experience that pays homage to the bravery of families, like those who left Hong Kong to open that first convenience store, who made Chinese food and culture a global phenomenon. Today, patrons from Doha to London crave dim sum and Cantonese cooking. Mott 32 satiates those cravings and delivers it as home cooking should be, in a more rustic and honest way.

Their cooking is a selection of Cantonese, Szechuan and Beijing styles, ingredients and techniques. Their custom-made duck oven and special air-drying duck fridge are central features. The signature Apple Wood Roasted 42 Days Peking Duck is roasted in the traditional Cantonese style.

As part of their farm-to-table philosophy, they believe in bringing the cooking into the restaurant which is why they offer a window directly to the heated excitement of the red-hot woks stations, allowing guests to dine around the duck oven and BBQ kitchen.

Though their food is the star of the show, they have paired an innovative cocktail menu that will intrigue and complement any Mott 32 experience. Their mixologists have meticulously researched Chinese ingredients such osmanthus honey, jasmine tea, ginger, matcha powder, Szechuan pepper, tangerine, shiso, plum, five-spice and goji berry to name but a few; and what they do with them makes their cocktails an awe-inspiring experience.

Joyce Wang and Maximal Concepts are responsible for the design of the restaurant. Joyce is a Hong Kong native architect who has helped spread her city’s reach around the world, most famously with her design of the Cabana Rooms at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles. This past February, Joyce was honoured by Hospitality Design Magazine USA as winner of “Wave of the Future 2014” – an award for designers who are considered accomplished internationally, but young enough to be considered visionary. The design of Mott 32 lifts the industrial elements from New York and pairs them with classic Chinese elements creating an exciting combination that reflects the greater interconnectivity of the East meets West design cultures.

The first Mott 32 to open was located in the Standard Chartered Building, 4-4a Des Voeux Road, right in the heart of Central, Hong Kong. It is 7,500 square feet with 5 private rooms and can accommodate up to 170 diners, at any one time. Mott 32 is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. In 2015, Mott 32 was awarded Hong Kong Top 20 Best Restaurant, Best Interior Design, Best New Restaurant and Best Restaurant of Reader’s Choice Awards by Hong Kong Tatler Awards; World Interior of the Year by INSIDE World Festival of Interiors and Group Restaurant Champion of the Wine by Glass Restaurant Awards by Wine Luxe Magazine.

The team at Mott 32 has started to expand their influence even further, opening a location in Vancouver, Canada, with concrete plans to expand to Las Vegas in December, and after that, Bangkok!

Read More: 

• The Most Instagrammable Restaurants in the World

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Vendors are coming from around the world to feed Toronto’s vegans and vegan curious.  Poutine from Quebec, Poké bowls from the west coast, a food truck from Switzerland, wings from Chicago and tacos from Toronto are just a few of the amazing options to come.

Grab your tickets and we will see you there for good music, great food and kind company.

Fort York, Garrison Commons on August 11^th & 12^th, 2018, 11:00am-7:00pm.

Tickets are currently $15 for Saturday, $10 for Sunday, or $20 for a weekend pass.

The post Vegandale Food & Drink Festival Returns to Toronto! appeared first on Food Health & Parenting Tips.

I have a very unsteady relationship with veggie burgers and usually, I leave them unfinished, which is unheard of for me, and walk away disappointed. The last I had was in the Cineplex VIP, and yes, I am aware I should not be expecting a world-class meal from a movie theatre, but it was even worse than expected. The patty was dry and crumbly and tasted like quinoa.

Most of the time vegan burgers taste nothing like meat at all, they are just in the same shape, and it seems all of these brands and restaurants are trying to get by on nostalgia alone. Even worse are the places that bring you a giant portobello mushroom cap on a bun and call that a burger. It’s all you can do to keep from flipping the table.

You can see why I was hesitant when I walked into A&W yesterday at my friend Claire’s request, and why I said no when she asked if I was sure I didn’t want to try their new Beyond Meat Burger. My other friend Ashley had made the same choice and we sat down to watch Claire’s reaction. Her eyes widened at her first bite and she insisted we try it.

I held the burger up to my mouth and was shocked that it smelled exactly like a real burger. After the three of us had tried it, the scene played out similarly to When Harry Met Sally, but this time it actually was the food.

Ashley and I clambered over to the line and told the cashier, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

The Beyond Meat Burger is the closest thing to real meat that I have tasted and each person I have spoken to has had great things to say about it.

It avoids the typical dryness of a meatless patty by using sunflower, canola, and coconut oils. It even somehow manages to get the texture pretty close to the real thing without using soy or gluten. The patty also boasts 22g of protein and a range of B vitamins including B12 which can be hard to get on a vegan diet. That being said, there are a few issues to be aware of.

First, the Beyond Meat Burger patty is cooked on the same grill as beef, bacon and eggs. This may not matter to everyone, but it is an unfortunate deal-breaker for many. Second, the burger is served with mayo when ordered as is, which contains eggs.

The third issue I had was with A&W’s practices themselves when I ordered the burger. I was asked if I wanted to upgrade to the Beyond Cheese, and when I asked if it was vegan the woman said yes with a slightly off-kilter nod and a bit of inflection at the end as if it was a question. I thought this was a bit odd, but I got the Beyond Cheese. I have since learned that the cheese I was served was not vegan. And when we asked if the Beyond Meat Burger was vegan, we were also told it was, even though there is mayo on it. I’m chalking this up to the fact that the product is so new, and the employees were just not properly informed. The burger is advertised as 100% plant-based and it seems the employees were under the same impression we were, that this applied to the entire burger and not just the patty.

My point; buyer beware. As a well-informed consumer, the Beyond Meat Burger can be vegan if you ask for no mayo, as long as you don’t mind the shared grill. I applaud A&W’s attempt to offer an option for vegans and vegetarians and I hope more fast-food chains take up the torch.

The post A&W’s Beyond Meat Burger is Beyond Belief appeared first on Food Health & Parenting Tips.

You may have heard of Daiya, the self-proclaimed “deliciously dairy-free” brand that imitates cheese and cheesy products. They will always be my first vegan love and my savior every Friday when my family orders pizza from Pizza Nova, allowing me to participate in hoovering my own personal pie. But, and I say this without judgement or hate, their products are reminiscent of craft singles and the sticky shredded cheese on bagel bites. I still missed the creamy but slightly sharp goat cheese on top of my spinach salad, and the buttery brie I stacked high on soft, fresh baguette.

Enter Margaret Coons, the Western University grad and founder of Nuts for Cheese, a cashew-based cheese handcrafted in southern Ontario that is not only deliciously dairy-free, sorry Daiya, but gluten-free, organic, and worthy of any charcuterie board. The ingredients list is beautifully short, also certifying it guilt-free.

Photo courtesy of nutsforcheese.com

They currently offer 5 different flavours with the promise of more to come in early 2019. I recommend the “un-brie-lievable,” which is, dare I say, unbelievable; and if I’m being completely honest all over my keyboard as I have eaten more than half of the wedge in the past 20 minutes. It is half way between a goat cheese and a brie, but very mild. Nuts for Cheese is easily found across Ontario and Quebec, carried by Sobeys, Pusateri’s and Whole Foods to name a few. Check out their website for more details on where to buy!

*UPDATE* I’ve eaten all of it. Buy two.

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