Time to #lovealot with Aldi

Valentine's day is nearly here, good job I'm reminding you right!! Some of you (like my husband) may think that is just another day but there are many of us including myself that like to be romanced and this doesn't necessarily mean spending a lot of money. A simple gesture such as a card, a small bunch of flowers or even breakfast in bed go along way to show that you care.

Now as you know Aldi are the store that always want to save us money so I was challenged to come up with a recipe that was both reasonably price and showed off that I do indeed #lovealot

Well seen as my lovely husband tends to "forget" about Valentine's day, I decided to come up with a dish that was more suited for me. I am currently dieting but I do like a treat every so often and this simple meal that I've devised can be eaten as an indulgent breakfast or a yummy pudding. It also coincides with another day just around the corner, pancake day.

I have based this on my recipe for banana and oat pancakes but to make it that little bit sweeter because love is sweet yes? I have added coconut whipped cream and frozen strawberries dipped in dark chocolate.

Ingredients

For the pancakes :

* 2 egg whites
* 70g oats
* 1 banana mashed
* 1tsp of vanilla essence

For the coconut whipped cream :

* 1 can of coconut milk
* 1 tsp of honey
* 1 tsp vanilla essence

For the strawberries

* 1 small punnet of strawberries
* 150g dark chocolate

Preparation

The strawberries ideally need to be prepared the day before. 

* Prepare a pan with baking paper.

* Melt the chocolate in the microwave.

* Dip the end of each strawberry into the chocolate and place carefully on the pan.

* Leave in the freezer overnight until ready to serve.

The coconut whipped cream is a fairly simple task.

* Turn the can upside down and open. Pour the milk into a separate bowl as you may want to use this for something else later on.

* In a larger bowl spoon out the rest of the cans contents, whip for around 3 minutes until it becomes fluffy.

* Add the vanilla essence and honey and whip for a further minute or two.

The pancake recipe makes around 4 pancakes and this is the serving for one person, double the amounts to make it for two.

* Mash up the banana in a bowl.

* Add in the oats, egg whites and vanilla essence and stir.

* Blend together with a hand blender.

* Heat up a frying pan and cover in fry lite. Add a quarter of your mixture to the pan, cook for around a minute on each side.

* Repeat until all the mixture is gone.

* Now to make this Valentine's themed I have cut my pancakes into heart shapes using cookie cutters.

Now for the fun part. 

Stack up the pancakes putting a layer of coconut whipped cream between each pancake. And for that extra indulgence grate some dark chocolate over the top or like me shake some heart shaped chocolate sprinkles over the top. Serve with the chocolate covered strawberries.

You can of course serve the pancakes individually and with the cream to the side if this is something you'd prefer.

All that is left to do is eat!!

All the ingredients to make this dish cost less than £10 altogether and will last atleast a week so a real bargain treat, spending a little and loving a lot.

Happy Valentine's everyone.

xxxx