Creamy Peach Smoothie

Summer is in full force! Can we say HEAT WAVE! It seriously is so hot, which is why I love, love, love to whip up something to cool me off. Unfortunately most cool treats are high in processed sugars and calories. So how to we combat this....SMOOTHIE!!!

I love fresh peach it is so perfect in the summer with it's smooth flavor. I designed this smoothie to go along with my plan to lose the baby weight. I loved the result and so did my little people, they thought they were getting quite the treat.

The wonderful thing about the creamy peach smoothie is it is so simple and has very little ingredients to it.

If you want a wonderful, smooth, creamy, guiltless treat to survive this heat wave this is it. This smoothie would be the perfect smoothie pop for the kids...or you!

Creamy Peach Smoothie

1 chopped fresh peach

2 bananas

1 T greek yogurt

1 tsp honey or stevia

1/8-1/4 cup almond milk (depending on how you thick you like it)

a large handful of ice

Add peach to the blender, then a layer of ice, add bananas, then another layer of ice, add remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth. At least 90 seconds. Enjoy frozen as a popsicle or just drink the smooth, cool smoothie!

What are your favorite summer tricky treats?

Welcome Back Green Smoothie

Hello All

I hope you forgive me for my looooong absence. We welcomed our third baby just a few weeks ago. I had a tough pregnancy so I decided I needed to cut something back so I could function and take care of my other two little people so I took a break from the blog!

But- our third little is here! He is an angel and I am excited to be back to inventing some fun healthy food. 

I have had some thoughts as I've been continuing to do research on what I believe is the healthiest way to eat. I have thought about this a lot in these last few weeks especially as I've been concocting my plan of attack on how to drop the baby poundage. 

I continue to believe that an 80%-90% plant based diet is the healthiest. These are nature's foods for our bodies. They are chuck full of so many nutrients and low calories so we can eat our fill without counting calories (which is totally exhausting in my opinion!) I, however, believe that having small amounts of animal products is not going to kill us. I feel fine giving my little people eggs, yogurt, and lean meats. We continue to cut out red meat it tastes disgusting to me at this point unless it's a good old home cooked hamburger at a fourth of July barbecue...am I right people, there isn't much better :). 

We don't eat a lot of pork either. We stick to lean poultry. 

However I feel most protein should come from plant products and grains for example:

Black Beans

Quinoa

Broccoli

Nuts and Legumes

So many people worry about the fat content in nuts, just remember that you are putting healthy fats into your body. Instead of worrying about fat count...worry about types of fat! Now do I suggest grabbing a spoon and eating half a jar of peanut butter, no. However a handful of almonds or a spoon of peanut butter is a great way to get some protein and healthy fats into your system. 

So my plan of attack for weight loss (I invite anyone to join in this plan with me and we can all give each other suggestions and help each other...support is key)

I begin my day with a huge Green Smoothie! (I am nursing so I do need more calories so I also might add some peanut butter or oatmeal with my smoothie)

For lunch I stick to plants, a large salad with beans and nuts on top and low fat/low cal dressing

Then for dinner I have been preparing the lean meats with fruits and veggies for the whole family to eat. 

So far I've been losing healthy weight loss and I'm on my third week post baby, I've been dropping about 2-2.5 pounds a week (well not counting the huge amount of water weight) and I have to report I truly feel that this style of eating is helping me function when I am seriously sleep deprived and have two wild munchkins to entertain all day on top of baby! 

So anyways I wanted to post a yummy green smoothie recipe that is chuck full of goodness, but low fat! This green smoothie by the way is not green...it doesn't have to be green to be considered a green smoothie, most of mine turn a disgusting brown color!

Energy Lovin' Green Smoothie

3 HUGE handfuls of spinach, kale or collard greens (or all of them)

1 cup frozen berries

1 1/2 Banana

1/2 apple, chopped

Water 

Add spinach to blender. Add water to help blend spinach. Blend until pureed, about 90 seconds. Add banana, then berries, then chopped apple. Blend until completely incorporated and smooth. About another 90 seconds. Serve chilled! This has incredible amounts of fiber and nutrients to help you get through your morning! I pour mine in a bottle and carry it with  me, for my nearly hands off breakfast! Good with kids!

Enjoy

What are your favorite healthy breakfast recipes? What is your plan of attack for getting your ideal body weight?

Vegan Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

Oh man do you ever wake up just craving some syrupy goodness? Today I did, it wasn't the pancakes I was craving it was my boysenberry syrup I bought a little while ago! I grew up on that stuff and I adore it...no it is not sugar free, but my pancakes were!

Pancakes warm my soul! I love the flavors and I adore the rich taste of any syrup really poured over the top of fluffy, hot pancakes. What makes me feel better is when I get the same comfort food with no oil and no sugar (apart from the chocolate chips of course :) ) I love watching the kids gobble delicious nutritious food up and ask for more...this morning in particular we had to make a whole new batch--I couldn't keep up with the demand!

I'm very satisfied with my end result this morning. I found these little babies here and I tweaked it just a little bit to make them oil free and a little more holiday spice! Delicious. I didn't even use that many chocolate chips, but they sure melted when I added them to the skillet and it made them quite homely looking! Even though they looked ugly they were very delicious. 

If you want a fast, healthy, satisfying breakfast for your whole family...you have got to try these

Oh and by the way...this only takes one bowl for mixing except a small bowl for the flax egg...pretty sweet.

Vegan Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

1 ripe banana

1 flax/chia egg (1 T ground flax +1 tsp chia seed +3 T water)

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c steel cut oats (or any oats)

1 T applesauce

3 T almond milk

1 T almond butter- melted down a little

3 T semi sweet chocolate chips or raisins

Mix flax egg and set aside for 5 minutes in a small bowl. Mash banana and baking powder together. Add flax egg, applesauce, almond milk, almond butter, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together well. Add flour and oats, combine until well coated. Fold in chocolate chips. Heat skillet and pour 1/4 c of batter onto skillet. Cook about 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown. You may want to double this recipe...it only yields about 5-6 small pancakes...

seriously I could eat that by myself :)

*use gluten free flour and gluten free oats for a gluten free option

Enjoy

You may find that you have helpers that want to assist in making breakfast!!! Courtesy of my 18 month old!

Trying New Things, And Delicious Collard Greens

Do you know about the kid face? The face that is a mix between fear and disgust? When your child looks up at you and is mentally saying 

 "You can't be serious! You really want me to eat that?"

That is the face my daughter gave me last night when I placed a side of collard greens on her plate!

We have never had collard greens before! Last night we hadn't had basically anything that I served before. 

Last night was a night of trying new things. I decided I wanted to try collard greens. If I'm going to eat plant based I better branch out and eat more than spinach and romaine lettuce or my meals may get a little bit boring. I tried the greens raw in a salad before, and well they were very bitter. So I decided to saute them with some flavor.

We also tried Quinoa pasta for the first time! I loved it, it didn't taste any different to me, but it is a little bit lower in carbohydrates so that was a fantastic find it is also gluten free! The box also gave some awesome sounding recipes that I can't wait to try out!

We also tried Boca ground crumbles in our sauce in place of ground beef. Boca is soy based, but didn't taste like soy. Really I find it is a great ground beef replacement. I think the lentil meatballs are healthier since I'm sure the Boca crumbles have sodium in them, but if the lentils don't do it for you, this is another alternative!

Back to my daughter story about the greens. Well she kept saying her lettuce was wet, that was funny. My son didn't even give them a chance unfortunately, and try reasoning with and 18 month old. It's not the easiest thing. But, my daughter was required to try at least one bite. It was an enjoyable moment. 

I watched the face. It was a face for about 5 minutes trying to figure out if she liked it or not. Then she distracted herself as most 3 year old's do, and she swallowed it.  I asked her if she liked it and she said she did, so success in my mind!

I think these make a beautiful side dish. It is a nice way to add some extra greens into your diet. It uses some oil, maybe you like them raw which is probably better, but I used very little oil and liked the end result.  It is bright and colorful and for the holidays I keep thinking Thanksgiving! Awesome!

Collard Greens

1 Bunch of collard greens

2 tsp coconut oil

1/2 c sun dried tomatoes

1/2 onion

1 garlic clove shredded

1/4 c sunflower nuts

Heat oil in large skillet. Add collard greens with onion, garlic, and tomatoes. Heat for 15 minutes, mixing occasionally to make sure the greens are wilting and coated. Add sunflower nuts. Mix and heat another 5 minutes until the greens are very wilted and onions are cooked and browned. Enjoy! You can top these with your favorite dressing if you'd like or vinegar. I thought they were great without it. 

Add any nut in place of sunflower nuts. I think pine nuts, or almond slivers would be great.

Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal

Cold Cereal in the morning can get pretty boring, and it isn't the healthiest choice out there. I'm not perfect and you can find me many mornings placing cold cereal in front of my kids. I try to have healthier breakfasts, but I leave for work at 6 am most of the time...not a whole lot of time to make great breakfasts. 

My son has been on a picky cycle for awhile, I've been having a difficult time getting him to eat dinner, lunch, basically anything besides fruit. I'm happy with fruit, but I know he needs his vegetables, beans, and healthy fats. He's still my little guy and his brain is still busy learning and growing. So I sat and thought I need to give him something besides bananas for breakfast...that's all he eats! I wanted to either do avocado green smoothies or oatmeal...well my daughter voted oatmeal~ so here we are. I added some Adam's Natural Peanut butter, if you guys haven't tried natural peanut butter please do! The flavor is amazing and the price isn't that much different! We were sold from day one! Well anyways then I garnished the oatmeal with a few mini dark chocolate chips just to get the kids excited! And what do we have! Oatmeal that is like a peanut butter cup!

Moment of truth for me, this was not my favorite oatmeal. I prefer more fruity oatmeal flavor, but and a big but, the people I wanted to down this....DEVOURED IT! They loved it. My son actually ate his entire bowl without flinging it all over the floor! I was so excited...do you want to know what else...later that day he actually ate an entire hummus wrap from the tasty hummus I made! He was on a role yesterday...hopefully today is the same! 

Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal

2 c oats

2 1/4 c water

2 -3 T natural peanut butter

dark chocolate chips for garnish

Cook oats in a sauces pan with water until water is absorbed and the oats are tender and moist. Fold in peanut butter so it is swirled throughout oatmeal. Top with chocolate chips! Enjoy

for gluten free, make sure you use gluten free oats!

Healthy Waffle Trifle

Breakfast for dinner is a favorite meal from time to time! Why not shake up the dinner table with breakfast! This meal doesn't consist of sausage, hash browns, bacon or eggs! This is filling, fruity, sweet, gluten free, and full of fiber and protein! And you want to the know the absolute best part? Kids devour this! No problem. My kids couldn't get enough. Ever since I discovered the recipe for the whole grain blender waffles I've been wanting to try this, I found this remake of the waffles from wholefoodmommies, they never let me down! I was so pleased, I only made a few tweaks to the whipped topping.

I had originally planned to make waffle fruit pizzas, which I still plan to do, but unfortunately the first few waffles I ruined somehow. Really how is that possible it's not that hard to watch them on the waffle iron. Anyways, I ended up following the original trifle idea and it was wonderful. We are using these for "Y" day, yes I skipped "X" I mean really, that's a hard one. We're calling these "Yummy" Waffles! Okay, it works. I have a great "Z" meal planned....and yes it really does start with "Z"!

 I do think the pizzas would be fun though! After I put this together I thought "This is so pretty!" This is a perfect brunch or shower dish! No one even needs to know it's GOOD for them! Go ahead, be the talk of your next get together with this beauty!

Healthy Waffle Trifle

Waffles

 2 C water

1 T honey

1 C oats

1/4 C millet or corn meal

1/4 C ground flax seed

1/4 C raw almonds or cashews

1 T cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

 

Combine all ingredients to the blender and blend on high until it is well combined. Pour generous amount to waffle iron. The waffles should be a dark brown, then they are done. 

 

Whipped Topping

 12 oz silken tofu

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 C maple syrup

1/2 C non-dairy milk

1 tsp vanilla

 

Combine everything to the blender and blend until it is well mixed. 

 

Tear small pieces of waffle and spread onto the bottom of a trifle dish or bowl. Add desired fruit in a layer. I used mango, strawberries, and grapes. But any type of fruit would be awesome. Top fruit layer with whipped topping and repeat for two or three layers! Serve chilled. Enjoy

* If you'd like a vegan option take out the honey from the waffles and use 2-3 dates or agave

Vegan Strawberry Cobbler

Okay here is my promised, not forgotten "U" day! Alphabet days is coming to close. I switched up "V" day and today because I was so anxious to share the Rumbi Salad. This is also a stretch for the letter "U", I'm going to pretend to call it strawberry upside down cake, but really it's a cobbler...it's no big deal!

Have you ever sat in your quiet house, if you have kids, after the kids go to sleep and just had a craving for something sinfully delicious to enjoy while escaping into your favorite TV show? Introducing this cobbler! That is exactly what I experienced last night! I needed something sweet, but healthy so I could sit and soak up the drama of Army Wives....okay yes I love Lifetime shows, it's not a problem!!!! This was such a fast prep work I couldn't believe it, and the end result fit my need. This will not be as sweet as traditional cobblers, however the upside is you can eat two servings without so much guilt! I'm all for that. This would be delicious with some vegan ice cream snuggled right next to it, melting all over the place with the warm cobbler!

I'm going to try this cobbler in our dutch oven soon and see how the end result turns out. You can use any fruit you'd like. I was going to use peaches, but Derek requested that I didn't, he just isn't a peach fan that crazy guy! So I pulled out the strawberries. It was wonderful too. Please excuse the pictures, it was dark outside and my house lighting is just the pits, it looked amazing and tastes even better!

Vegan Strawberry Cobbler

Crust

3/4 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C coconut sugar (optional)

1/4 C agave

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

5/8 C almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

Filling

4 C chopped strawberries frozen or fresh

1/8 C  coconut sugar

1 T chia seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place all the filling ingredients in a 9x9 baking dish and place them in the oven to heat while you mix the crust ingredients.

 Pull baking dish out of the oven and pour crust mixture over the top.

 You can sprinkle top with raw cane sugar if you'd like but that is optional. Bake for 30 minutes until crust is baked all the way through! Serve warm! Enjoy

Peach Crumble Muffins

Muffins are such a fun breakfast to make. You can make them super bad for you, or you can add wholesome ingredients and make them a welcome guest to your stomach!

My friend from work handed me a delicious looking bag of fresh peaches from her tree yesterday! Some of them didn't make them home, I ate them! Some of them barely made it in the front door, the kids ate them! Others are being saved for peach soft serve, they will be eaten! But this morning a select few were made into a delicious peachy crumble muffin! I didn't look at a recipe for these muffins, this is all me. I was very happy how well the sweetness in these muffins complimented the grains so much! I'm happy to serve them to my family, even though my crazy husband doesn't really like peaches, how can that be?

He ate them though and said they were good, he added they weren't his favorite like the zucchini muffins, but they were good. For someone who doesn't like peaches, that makes me perfectly happy!

All the grains rolled and snuggled next to the sweet peaches and syrup call for one great start to the morning! Feel good about your food without sacrificing taste! It's a wonderful feeling!

Peach Crumble Muffins

2 C whole wheat flour

1/2 C cooked quinoa 

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 T cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Wet 

1/4 C maple syrup (or agave)

1 tsp vanilla

1 C almond milk

1/4 C applesauce

1 tsp cider vinegar

1 1/2 C chopped peaches

1 Flax-Chia egg (1 T ground flaxseed, 1 tsp Chia seed + 3-4 T water)

Crumble Topping

1/2 T coconut oil

1/8 C coconut Sugar

1 T cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make flax-chia egg and set aside into small bowl. Combine all dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Mix remaining wet ingredients with flax egg and add to dry ingredients. Fold ingredients together well. Spoon batter into muffin tins. Add crumble ingredients to a small skillet, mix together until all the oil is melted and absorbed into the sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle topping over the top of the batter. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving! Enjoy

Baked Apple Spice Mug

I've already kissed summer good-bye in my mind and I'm wishfully dreaming of the holidays. The smells, the tastes, the fun! I love spice smells, it makes me want want to grab my sweater, curl up with a book and drink a hot beverage! Then I bring myself back to reality and remind myself it's still 100 degrees outside and my AC is on! 

Well....I'll still take the hot beverage, just with my shorts and t-shirt on! 

I actually developed a little bit of a sore throat today and was wanting something soothing for it. I didn't just want hot water and lemon though, that just wasn't enough. So I went back into dreamland and thought spiced baked apples would be amazing! This drink was not whipped up in 5 minutes, but I had my thoughts toward my goal and I went for it. It paid off!

First my house smelled absolutely amazing! My kids had no idea what was in the oven but they said waiting patiently for it to be removed. They knew it had to be some rich, tasty, treat! 

Second, it really wasn't that hard, I just had to wait for the apples to bake! 

If you are like me and your ready to bring some fall into the house, go ahead and whip this up. Who cares if your kids are outside running through the sprinklers....I don't!

Baked Apple Spice Mug

  

1 apple, peeled and chopped

1 T cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

a mug full of almond milk!

Preheat oven to 375. Place the apple into a small baking dish sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves over the apples. Bake for 20 minutes or until the apples are the tenderness you'd like. If you'd like them in small chucks you can always blend them after they are baked, just blend them with the milk. 

Heat milk in microwave for about 90 seconds. Add spiced apples to the mug and stir so the spices combine with the milk. Sprinkle top with cinnamon. 

*if you'd like to have more a tea like drink do half and half with the water and milk.

 

Silken Protein Shake

Is anyone not really a huge breakfast eater? I know sometimes I'd rather have a nice smoothie or something instead of something larger. In the blazing summer it's always nice to cool down with something cold and silky in your mouth! If you leave this in the refrigerator for a few hours it turns into a pudding! So you could make fruit parfaits or something for breakfast. I found this recipe here

I have a slight confession, I was terrified to try this! As some of you might be! The way it turned out....well it tasted like a peanut butter, chocolate protein shake! Ah, sigh of relief. My kids wanted it as a dessert they thought it was so tasty, (my little mad did get really frustrated with the slowness of a straw, we moved on to a spoon :)

I've taken a challenge through this blog to do things your afraid of during august. Oh this is so small, just trying something that sounds yuck to me. It's all about the principle behind it though. I'm learning through this lifestyle to branch out, try new things, go against social norms at times. It's increased my confidence to try new things as well as dig up old passions that I have let just kind of fizzle out!

One of those dreams and passions was to always be a published author. I'm finding that is a passion or desire for a lot of people! Well over the last few weeks my husband and I have been working on a project together. An eBOOK! We've designed a fun book on living a healthy lifestyle while living with a tighter wallet! I am so excited to launch this. I find myself just writing all my passion about healthy living into those pages and I can't wait to share them with a larger audience! It's going to a rip roaring party on here on launch day, it's still a few weeks away, we're still learning about all the marketing and things like that!

Anyways, this month if you'd like to share in her challenge. Step out of the box and do something you've pushed way back in your mind that you've always wanted to do or do something your afraid of! Even if it's as simple as trying a new ingredient in a recipe!

Silken Protein Shake

19 oz of silken tofu

4 T cocoa powder

3-4 T agave

2 heaping T of peanut butter

3-4 frozen bananas

Combine all ingredients into high powered blender. Blend on high for about 2 minutes until everything is combined! Refrigerate left overs. Enjoy

           

Carrot Muffins

This morning was a good day for muffins. I'm tired of my kids eating so much cold cereal, so I've set a goal to make some different breakfasts to shake it up a bit. I didn't know what type of muffin to do, then I saw I had a bag of shredded carrots and thought, yeah that would be good. I decided to make carrot muffins. I did a quick search here and found a good sounding recipe. I did change some things around. I really liked how they turned out, my son ate 1 1/2, but my daughter was not thrilled to see carrots in her muffins. It did turn into a battle. I had to do the typical lines..."You need to eat one bite before you get down, just try them you'll like them, you can pull the carrots out." Things like that. It probably was my fault I didn't cut up or shred the long shredded carrots at all. I know if they were hidden better it wouldn't have wigged her out so much. I don't know what the deal is though she loves carrots. Hmmm... oh well I guess it's just one of those things.

These were pretty simple to make, but next time I will make the carrot chunks A LOT smaller. I didn't mind it, but I guess I can see why kids get weirded out when they see big stringy vegetables poking out of their breakfast :)

Carrot Muffins

2 C whole grain flour (I used spelt)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 C coconut sugar

1/2 C ground flaxseed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C applesauce

2 C finely shredded carrots, very fine :)

1/4 C raw honey

1/2 C almond milk

1 T apple cider vinegar

1/3 C semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients into medium bowl. Mix carrots, honey, milk, vinegar, and applesauce in small bowl. Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into greased muffin tip so they are 3/4 full. Bake for 18 minutes, until tops are golden. Enjoy!

Whole Grain Blender Waffels (Gluten Free)

Good Morning!!!!!!! It's Saturday and there is no where else for me to go this morning except lounging around eating AMAZING food with my sweet little family! The weekends are when I usually try and make a larger breakfast, obviously because I have more time in the mornings!

A few days ago my husband told me he was craving some big, syrupy, waffles or pancakes...I think he wanted a lot of butter included in that too :) well I couldn't help him with the butter but I could help him with the big, syrupy waffles!!!! I found these tasty little things here and I only changed one ingredient since I didn't have any concentrate juice and I was out of dates! So what did I add....honey. Super simple but I think they tasted wonderful, they're gluten free so I think that's saying something!

Whenever we'd stay over at my parents house and we had pancakes or waffles my mom always had her "special" pancakes or waffles that were gluten free! We never tried them, since they were sure to be nasty (even though she just loves them) well if they taste like these gluten free waffles I think I may just battle it out over the gluten free "special" waffles with my mom :)!  These are quick and easy and ready in a matter of minutes. You throw everything all at once into your blender (you need a high powered one, I've got some links for blenders at the bottom) and a minute later you have your waffle batter! These are wonderful served with either maple syrup or my strawberry syrup that you can find here Easy Peasy!

Whole Grain Blender Waffles

2 C water

1 T honey

1 C oats

1/4 C millet or corn meal (I used corn meal)

1/4 C ground flax seed

1/4 C raw cashews

1 T cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

Place all ingredients into blender and blend on high for one minute or until everything is very smooth and blended together.

 Pour batter into a heated waffle iron. They are done when they are very brown and slightly crispy on the outside! Serve warm with fresh or frozen fruit on top!! Enjoy!

Strawberry Sweet Bread w/ Strawberry Glaze

Are you ready to get your grain on? This sweet bread was marvelous, but it is full of yummy grains, and a surprise ingredient....quinoa! Yes, cooked quinoa! I have never used quinoa in a baking before. I've seen the quinoa flour and pasta, however I've never thought to use cooked quinoa.

This recipe is a combination of many searches and mashing them all together to satisfy my tastes! I found some ideas at ohsheglows.com, poorgirleatswell.com, and my best friend google!  I knew a few things I wanted, I wanted it to be egg less, healthy (obviously), I wanted a glaze and I wanted a berry or fruit. I couldn't decide between strawberries or cherries for awhile, finally I decided on the strawberries (I do think cherries would be great in this too, with a cherry glaze...maybe some chocolate chips....light bulb!!!! Cherry chocolate chip bread!!! To be continued...)

Well after I had compiled a list of ingredients I stumbled upon the idea of adding cooked quinoa to your baking, since apparently it adds moisture, more healthy grains, and flavor! Hmmmm, well the purpose of my blog is to think outside the box when feeding ourselves and our families healthy. So I decided to try it. Whenever I make up a recipe I get very unorganized in my baking, maybe I should do a post on how to simplify baking and cooking so clean up is easier...it will say..."Don't bake like ME!"

 

As I was starting the process of making the bread, I had those negative thoughts come into my head, just like with the veggie kabobs, I kept thinking, your taking a risk with just mashing together multiple recipes, you just finished doing a budget post and now here you are going to waste all your food!

Well I'm here to tell you when the negativity bug comes knocking, punch him! A lot of times when we have just a basic idea in mind, sometimes that is when we create our tastiest creations! I will admit I've never been awesome at glazes, they never seem to get really thick for me and they tend to absorb into baked good a lot, not that it hurts the flavor it just doesn't look as pretty. I let things cool and everything so if anyone has any tips let me know! This bread turned out really tasty! I really enjoy things where you can taste the health of it, but it still has an enjoyable sweetness to it! And this had it all for me. The glaze made some bites taste almost like a doughnut...I mean that is awesome right! It was a pretty pink color, so as soon as I saw it I thought, 'what a nice Valentine's Day Bread' and it would be, but we'll enjoy it in July as well :)  Okay enough chit chat, on to the recipe! Enjoy this, just save some for everyone at your house :)

Strawberry Sweet Bread w/ Strawberry Glaze

2 C flour (I used whole grain Spelt Flour)

1 C quinoa, cooked

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 T ground flax seed

2 T raw cane sugar (optional)

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

3/4 C almond milk (or any non-dairy milk)

1 C strawberries

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/4 C agave 

1/4 C raw honey (you can also use maple syrup)

1/3 C oil (I used olive oil)

Glaze

1/2 C confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

4 frozen strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook quinoa completely. Set aside to cool. Combine almond milk, vinegar, agave, honey, almond extract, vanilla, and oil to a small bowl. Set aside while you combine the dry ingredients. Add all dry ingredients, except strawberries, and including quinoa to a large bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well until blended, add strawberries. Be careful not over mix the Spelt flour, it's a delicate flour. Pour dough into a bread pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until completely cooked through. Remove and let cool on a cooling rack. After bread has cooled slightly, begin to assemble glaze. Add sugar to a small bowl. Make sure strawberries are thawed (I actually microwaved mine for a minute to make them mushy) Smash out as much juice as you can and pour it into the sugar, try and keep as many chunks out as possible, I ended up with about 4-5 T of liquid. And after awhile I had even more, that I didn't use, so if you want a lot, keep mushing them! Pour glaze over the top of the bread! Enjoy

*Question for everyone, I've noticed there is a debate whether or not honey is vegan. I know it's made from Bees so I guess in that sense I see how it isn't, but I would love others opinions, I'm not sure if I should call things that use honey vegan?

"Lazy Lime" Breakfast Smoothie

It's the letter "L" today, I'm not sure if I'm going to do a letter tomorrow, I'm having a tough time finding time to do alphabet day on the weekends so it might just be a Monday-Friday deal :) Today is my "Lazy Lime breakfast smoothie! I have never really been able to take a lovely picture of a smoothie, this one is no different I'm afraid. It was much greener than the picture lets on and more appetizing to look at! I'm working on my photography skills guys :)

 I call it lazy because you really can't beat the speed and ease of a smoothie, and everyone in my family drinks one, so no need to try and make a huge breakfast for everyone! It's lazy, but oh so healthy! I had never used lime in my smoothies before, I liked the subtle hint of lime. If you want more lime taste you might want to throw some zest into yours!

The great thing about smoothies is how many nutrients you can back into them or proteins and all you really taste is a super yummy drink! I used to feel that I needed yogurt in my smoothies at all times, but now I am totally satisfied just stuffing it full of bananas, fruit, and I use almond milk a lot in my smoothies! I always add Chia seeds, and Flax seeds to my smoothies to get the calcium and omega 3's.

P.S. I may start a rumor that there may be a giveaway on here soon....just sayin' :)

Lazy Lime Smoothie

1 fresh banana

1/2 frozen banana

1/2 C frozen strawberries

1/2 C frozen blueberries

2 limes, juiced

2-3 large handfuls of spinach

1 T ground flax seed

2 T Chia seeds

Oats, for top (optional)

1/4 C water

1/4 C almond milk

Combine all ingredients, apart from oats, to blender. Blend on high until completely smooth! About 90 seconds. Add oats and fresh lime zest to the top if you'd like!!! Sleep in, be lazy, it's a weekend :)

Honey Oat Muffins

I feel like the last few days we've been on the go and I haven't been able to stick to my typical eating routine. I haven't been bad with my food choices, at the baby shower the other day I had no desserts and only had my couscous salad and a green salad, I went to a movie last night with my husband, I did have some sips of his root beer, but that's it! Even after trying to be really good on the go, the up and down eating schedules and not having typical small meals throughout the day has sent my stomach for a loop and my energy levels down, I've been craving whole natural foods today, so for snacks I indulged on nectarines and super bars, for lunch I had an awesome spinach salad with chia seeds and today for my family I made these Honey Oat muffins! They are full of yummy healthy ingredients, they taste like naturally sweetened, so they aren't quite as sweet as my zucchini muffins or blueberry muffins, I used agave in those these have raw honey, but I needed just some overall good health food!

I am happy that it has come to this point with me, that a couple sips of root beer or some missed veggie servings really cause a change in my energy and feeling good!! That must mean somethings going right with the way we eat! It just is more proof to me that our bodies really do want natural, wholesome foods, they don't throw a fit when I eat those, but if I go without you bet this body is going to have something to say.

I'm glad these muffins turned out, I wanted to make them for "H" day for my family but I also wanted to make them vegan! I decided to see if I could master making muffins from my own mind without eggs, you know I think I did it! I think I should have taken them out a little bit sooner, but they still tasted great!

Honey Oat Muffins

1 3/4 C whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)

1/4 C ground flax seed

3/4 C oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 - 3/4 C honey (depending on desired sweetness)

1 C almond milk

1 T apple cider vinegar

1/4 C applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine almond milk and vinegar in small bowl and set aside. Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl. Mix vanilla, almond extract, applesauce and honey with almond milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add wet ingredients. Fold everything together so that it is well mixed. Pour dough into paper muffin liners or grease muffin tin with coconut oil and pour dough in. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Let cool for 10 minutes.

 Optional- you can sprinkle some raw cane sugar on top before you bake just for an extra sweet taste. Also add nuts or raisins if you'd like! Enjoy

Tootie Fruity Freeze Cups

It was a nice hot day today, so after dinner I wanted to make a treat that would cool us down. It still is "F" day for our alphabet days and we are honoring fruit today, so what more could I do than a delicious fruit cup. I wasn't sure how they would turn out, since I just invented them today :) Well, I invented the filling, for the crust I used the berry pie crust and just put in a cupcake pan instead of a pie dish! It worked out really great, they actually popped out easily, that's the part I was most worried about do you know what else is great, they are gluten free and vegan, what do ya know! 


*I also think if you want to do a revamp of the berry pie you could put it in cups like these and have mini berry pies!!!!

 I did a banana filling, and after you pop it in the freezer for a couple hours it comes out much like a banana Popsicle in a crust...Next time I think I'm going to puree all the fruit and turn the whole thing into a fruit freeze instead of topping it with the fresh fruit, not that it wasn't good, I just want to shake it up! Go ahead and play around with it, it's quite simple to make, it just needs time to set up, make it your own! Enjoy

Tootie Fruity Freeze Cups

1 recipe of berry pie graham pie crust (link above)

1 fresh banana

1 frozen banana

1/3 C agave or raw honey

2 T fruit jam (optional)

1/3 C almond milk, or any non-dairy milk

2 T cornstarch

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

cut fresh fruit

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pie crust according to directions. Smash crust into cupcake pan. Bake for about 8 minutes. Watch closely, these are smaller so they will burn much faster! Set aside to cool slightly. Add frozen banana and almond milk to blender and blend until broken up and blended slightly. Add fresh banana, agave, jam, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend until very smooth and no banana chunks. Add contents of blender to a small saucepan, heat over med heat, add cornstarch and cinnamon, whisking constantly, until it seems quite thick. Pour banana mixture into the crust cups and put in the freezer for about 2 hours to set up. Remove from freezer and top with any fresh fruit you'd like. I used raspberries and nectarines! If you don't like it so frozen, take it out earlier so it more of a soft banana filling! 

*Just so you are aware, the filling thaws quickly. So if you have left overs cover and store in the freezer.

French Toast Dunkers

Good Morning and Happy "F" day! I have a few fun things planned for this day, I am focusing on fruit today, since fruit is an amazing thing in this world, so beneficial and tasty! So some fun facts about fruit:

-Fruits are excellent sources of fiber and simple sugars, but remain very low in calories...so eat up

- Fruits contain provide lots of soluble dietary fiber, so it helps ward off too many fats, but also helps in digestion... and prevents getting plugged up if you know what I mean

- Fruits are full of anti-oxidants, they can help our bodies prevent diseases, cancers, and help our bodies immune systems fight against these ailments!

-Fruits with a blue or deep purple pigment, acai, blueberries, black grapes, have been known to help prevent cancer, premature aging, and also may linked to dementia/Alzheimer's prevention

-Fruits have so many vitamins and minerals that they promote cell regeneration...which turns into slower aging!!!! 

Did you know fruits did all these things? We all know they are healthy, but these are just some of the reasons why they are healthy. I think we should have more than the standard food pyramid servings! I really try and tie them into every meal, and many snacks!!!!

Okay so now onto breakfast...I decided to make French Toast Dunkers with berry puree as a dipping sauce, I thought they turned out really great, my kids loved them too. If you don't want to do the berry puree then use maple syrup! I liked these since they were super quick, and not quite as messy with my kids believe it or not, whenever I give them pancakes or waffles with syrup it always gets all over them and my chairs, counters you name it. These, however, seemed to be a much easier clean up...which I vote for.  If you'd like a vegan recipe for french toast, check out this recipe right here...it was also a huge hit!

French Toast Dunkers

3 slices whole wheat or whole grain bread

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

Slice the bread into 1/2 inch strips. Combine egg whites, cinnamon, and vanilla to small bowl and whisk until mixed very well. Lightly grease skillet with coconut oil. Heat skillet to med. heat. Dip strips of bread into egg mixture until both sides are coated. Let excess drip off. Place strips on the skillet and cook until both sides are brown, about  a minute or two on each side! Serve with berry puree dipping sauce or maple syrup, Enjoy

Berry Puree

2 c fresh berries

3 T maple syrup

1 T raw cane sugar (optional)

Place all ingredients into blender and blend until completely pureed. Serve as is. 

Energizing Overnight Oats

Well for "E" day in the alphabet days I decided to have breakfast waiting for us in the morning, with "Energizing" overnight oats...okay okay, I'm stretching the "E" a little bit, but I was going to make an egg white omelet, but I want to save my veggies for a pasta salad I'm making for a baby shower, and we are going to be super busy around dinner, which I had planned something like eggplant parmesean or enchiladas, but those will just have to wait!

So the idea for overnight oats came from ohsheglows.com she has a lot of overnight oat recipes, but how to make this "Energizing" overnight oats and why! Well I don't know about you, but my kids wake me up super early, my husband gets home super late sometimes so he wakes me up, not on purpose, then my kids wake me up looking for breakfast...and last night and this morning I knew would be no different and since we're on the go today there is no time for any R&R, so instead of feeling weak and possibly getting a caffeinated beverage I decided to start the day out right with some natural sources of energy! So the specific things added for energy:
 Raspberries, these little babies are chuck full of natural energizers through all the vitamin C these berries contain and good carbohydrates! One cup of raspberries provides 50% of your daily vitamin C intake for only about 50 calories! It also gives you 14 g of carbohydrates! So you can feel awake from the get go!

Bananas, again bananas are an excellent source of good carbs and vitamin C but also potassium which can help regulate your blood sugars, if your like me sometimes I get spikes if I'm not eating the way I should and go into dizzy, shaky spells! Bananas provide us with 30 g of carbs in a single banana, 15 % of our vitamin C intake, and 13% of our potassium intake!

Chia seeds, chia seeds are full of the omega 3 fatty acids which provide a whole list of benefits for our bodies, but also providing energy to our muscles and organs!

Almond Milk, the almond is a great source of protein which provides the energy our bodies need! Combined with the almonds from the super bars this breakfast is full of proteins. Almonds are known at times to have more protein than some meats, but with the good fats included!

So there is a lesson on some foods that can give you the natural pick me up without turning to refined sugars and caffeine! Now onto breakfast...I need to top these with something crunchy, so I used some left over super bars from yesterday. They are really soft in the morning, so if you don't like that texture add something crunchy and it's just like cold cereal to me!

Energizing Overnight Oats

1 1/2 c of raspberries

2 c oats

2 c almond milk

2 T chia seeds

1 tsp ground flax seed

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp almond extract or vanilla

1 banana chopped, (add in the morning)

1 cup granola (add in the morning)

Combine all ingredients except banana and granola, into a dish. Mix together and put in the fridge overnight, or over 3 hours. In the morning top with banana and granola! That's it, enjoy! Add anything else you'd like, fruit, nuts, make it your own!

*Gluten Free option use gluten free oats