go coconuts for vanilla!

Coconut-Vanilla Cake Breakfast Pudding:

 If any of you were wondering what the perks of being a barista were, number one is probably dragging my butt outta bed at 3:30am to sleep-drive (eek) to work so I can make coffee to wake all the other earlybirds up! Anyway, I'm not normally hungry when I first wake up so I have to pack a breakfast, one in which I can prepare and/or eat in my ten minute break and that will keep me full and energized throughout the busy morning. Last night I had a stroke of genius and prepared a delicious, raw, energy bowl of a mix between oatmeal, pudding, and granola. Anyway, it was AMAZING!!! Here's what you do!

Ingredients:

• .75 cups of almond milk
• some sprinkles of shredded coconut flakes (unsweetened and dried)
• .5tsp cinnamon
• .25 cups of buckwheat
• 2tbsp chia seeds
• .25 cups of steel-cut oats
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar (all it is is dehydrated, ground coconut- buy at local natural foods store)
• 1 banana
• thinly sliced almonds (can buy in bulk at a grocery store)
• chopped fruit of choice (I used fresh peaches, strawberries, and banana)

Directions: PREPARE THE NIGHT BEFORE!

1. in a separate container, add some water (doesn't matter how much) to the buckwheat, let it soak overnight!
2. Get another container and mash up .5 of the banana with everything else besides the fruit. So, to clarify, you are mixing up almond milk, coconut flakes and sugar, chia seeds, cinnamon, oats, vanilla, and flax
3. save the other .5 of the banana to slice up the next morning to go on top of your pudding!
4. THE NEXT MORNING: drain buckwheat of water and add the still-crunchy pebbles of it to the pudding, slice up your fruit of choice and throw it into the mix, top with sliced almonds

It's amazing what random ingredients can end up tasting like mixed with others; and I have to say, this is definitely a compatible mixture! Kept me full (oatmeal, buckwheat, and almonds), energized (chia, coconut, and fruit), and gave me a really good wake-up in the middle of a chaotic coffee shop!