Vegan Dessert - Choclate Mousse W Banana & Granola

Chocolate mousse made with frozen bananas blended with celery and topped with banana and raisin granola.

This yummy dessert was made with x4 large bananas, a large handful of celery and topped with half a small banana and generous helping of raisin granola.

Vegan Breakfast - ´Popeye Meets Papaya´ - Choclate Oats W Papaya & Spinach

You´ll have to take my word for it when I say that this strange combination is delicious!

The colour palette is vibrant and uplifting!

Chocolate oats with mashed banana, fresh papay and new zealand spinach.

At first glance it looks like a savoury dish but it´s all sweet. The choclate oats has mashed banana blended in, the papaya is super sweet and juicy and the new zealand spinach is fresh, crisp and has a mild flavour that compliments the choclate oats and sweet papaya.

This is super quick and easy to prepare. I really do love simple breakfasts!

Add greens to breakfast is a great way to get additional nutrients wihtout having to always have salads.

Looks crazy mixed together but the appearance doesn´t diminish the amazing flavours in any way shape or form!

Below are ome nutritional benefits then as always some more food porn pics!

Vegan Breakfast - Banana Boat - Pineapple Oats W Blueberry Mix

A simple super yummy breakfast made of overnights oats which were soaked in freshly blended pineapply juice (incuding pulp) x1 large banana and a sprinkling of cranberry, blueberry and nut mix.

The bananas was super swee. As Costa Rican fruits are so sweet I find that I don`t need to add any sweetner of any kind to my breakfasts or desserts, I let the sweetness of the fruits act as the sugar.

The pineapple that I used to soak the oats in was more than sweet enough and the banana and dried fruit added extra sweetness.

A healthy nourishing and satisfying breakfast that kept me going till late afternoon.

More food porn pics and some nutritional information.

Vegan Dessert - 'Chocolate Popeye' - Bananas, Spinach & Cacao Dessert

Chocolate pudding for dinner, this was another one of my dessert for dinner evenings!

What might not be obvious to see is that there is spinach in there! Yep I threw a handful of spinaach into the mix. 

What I love about this is that you can't taste the spinach! Aso it blends into the background and you have strain to see the green flecks.

The great thing about ripe bananas is that they are so sweet that you dont need any sweetener of any kind. They provide a nice creamy thickness too, the best of both worlds.

To make this scrummy dessert you will need:

○Bananas x4

○New Zealand spinach or regular spinach x1 handful

○Cacoa powder x1 tablespoon

○Granola with raisins

○Ginger

As always I like to look at the nutritional benefits of ingredients used.

One last look at the chocolatey yumminess!

Vegan Breakfast Dinner - Vegan 'Yoghurt' - Bananas & Granola

The above picture is a banana breakfast dinner.

Let me explain the breakfast dinner thing, I was having a raw week for WC 12th February and fancied something sweet and not savoury for dinner and so the above happened! 

Bananas for dinner are possible because of the high level of saiety that they provide.

 so we most of us know how versatile bananas are and I personally love their versatility.

Below are some of the ways bananas can be used for delicious breakfast or in this case dinner options!

• You can blend them with lots if water to make a creamy smoothie
• Freeze then blend them to make `ice cream` affectionately referred to by vegans as nice cream
• Blend with just a little water to make a 'vegan yoghurt´as shown on this page

In the picture above I've added granola and some peanut and raisin mix to make my dinner. So I basically had a 'yoghurt' for dinner and suprisingly it was very filling and satisfying without the heavy feeling!

The `yoghurt`is made up of x4 very large ripe bananas and generous helping of granola, raisins and peanuts.

A look at some nutritional benefits of the ingredients used.

Costa Rican Thrift Shop Haul - San Jose - Dress Haul

If you love thrift shops and shopping for second hand clothes then you will absolutely love San Jose. Its chock full of second hand clothing and thrift stores!

I visited the Ropa Americana on the corner of Calle 12 in San Jose and bought 4 dresses for 5,100 colones which is really good value! 

This works out at approximately $9 which is just over $2 per dress or just over £6 which is just £1 per dress!

There are many second hand shop located on and around Calle 12.

The area is busy but not too hectic, the shop itself wasn´t too busy which is just how I like it!

Enough people in the store to not feel weird but still able t take my time and enjoy browsing without having to fight to see whats on the rails or wait for the fitting rooms.

I appreciate that I went on a thursday and so I´m not sure it´s cometely different on the weekend!

The shop is large with clothes grouped together by type e,g trousers, dresses, tops, jackets etc. I found the racks quite easy to look through, not overpacked so easy to pull out items and put them back.

The colourful blue and yellow floral print dress on the far right was brand new and has clearly never been worn,  the others were in excellent condition and appear to me have only been worn twice at most!

 I love all the dresses equally. The all flattering the first two have a similar cut to each other as do the last two. 

The first two have elasticated waists and although the last two don`t they are cut in a way that there is plenty of room for a few extra pounds of weight gain!

The first two dresses on the right are 100% cotton and so breathable!

As you can see the dress is very 

flattering, apologies for the awkward restroom picture!

Love this dress, so comfortbale, its only downside is that its unlined and so a little see through but that was easily fixed by wearing a vest and leggings underneath.

The first dress in the picture below was the cheapest at 900 colones.

Great dresses that can be worn on their own or over leggings, jeggings o r jeans and cardigans to layer up for colder days. on colder days in San jose I`ve done just that and added a thick scarf and a hat.

I´m impressed with the collection becuase they are all of such a nice quality in terms of fabrics and style. In a boutique I would have paid at least four times the total for just one dress!

 

A few weeks later I spotted another branch of the same outlet on the opposite side of the road a few blocks up. The prices were even cheaper and I got 6 dresses for 2,250 Colones!! This works out at £3 ( per dress) or $4 (per dress)

Entrance below, I can see why I missed it initially!

A fabulous selection of dresses!

Not the most glamourous entrance or shopping experience but thats the beauty of thrift shopping, its basically a treasure hunt!

Such a nice variety of colours a style that I can wear everyday or for various occassions. These dresses can be smartened up with jackets or cardigans for work or worn to weddings with the right jewellery and heels. I have been wearing them as everyday dresses with funky trainers and jewellery.

4 of the dresses were only 250 colones each! Which works out at approximately  $0.50 or £0.32 each!!!!

As you can see from the photo below nice dresses for a bargain price of 250 colones each! I full appreciate that these prices may go up but I was so happy to get these prices when I visited.

A wide choice of colours, styles, lengths and fabric textures.

They are all kneelength or slightly longer than kneelength as I like modestly styled dresses.

A nice mixture of colours, prints and textures, all flattering styles and very comfortable!

Close up of prints. The check dress is more casual whereas the black and red floral print dress is more flormal and would be great for weddings and dinner parties.

The stripy one in the picture is one of my favourites as it as a lovely colourful stripes and the fabric is super soft to the touch!

Some of the dresses where from the rack below which is double that of the other rack at 500 colones but still ridicously good value!

They are very lightweight and fold away easily and don{t take up much space in a suitcase so ideal for travelling and for holidays. if you are ever in San Jose and you love a good bargain then visting the thrift shops especially the ones on Calle 12 is a must!

I'm currently a size 8 and what I like about this shop is there were plenty of small sizes!

I will update this post when I have pictures of myself wearing the dresses.