Tag Archives: breakfast

Tasty Tuesday: Sweet Ricotta Bruschetta

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My parents AND siblings came down to see our apartment this weekend. Over the span of Friday and Saturday I had a crazy night with my parents, an awesome last bootcamp workout with new/old friends, and amazing Mexican food/Hot Dogs/dessert eat session with my siblings and Mike.

It so odd to be interacting with them as adults now. With my parents, its like I’ve returned with valid opinions and the ability to handle responsibility. WHAT?! Weird. With my siblings there were always arguments. Put together 4 boisterous, confident, outgoing, smart kids and there’s no way to avoid head butting. However! As we enter adulthood together, we’ve learned each other’s quirks and are actually starting to get along! Siblings as friends, who knew??

Anyway, my parents came over for appetizers before we went out for dinner. I have learned from many mistakes with this, not to shoot too high when it comes to apps. I settled on 1 reach plate (falafel which was a total disaster), rice crackers with this amazing local sauce called Bitchin’ sauce (too easy to mess up), and this Ricotta Bruschetta (great success!). I got the original recipe from Martha Stewart.

Disclaimer: It’s not entirely to my “no cow dairy” rule since each piece has ricotta but it didn’t actually irritate my stomach at all. VICTORY!

This recipe is unbelievably simple. It’s tasty and light and delicious. It’s probably best at breakfast time or when balanced with a different, more savory dinner app. Enjoy!

Sweet Ricotta Bruschetta Continue reading →

Just-Try-It Thursday: Frittata

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This recipe is really flippin’ easy. And cheap! (I got it from an awesome blog I read regularly: Once A Month) I cooked it immediately after my workout and was eating within 20 minutes. It is a pretty basic dish though so I also had a couple of pieces of toast. One with almond butter, one with honey. It would be delicious with roasted potatoes though.

Veggie Frittata (serves 4)

Ingredients

8 eggs – keep the yolks! They’re a healthy fat.

Whatever veggies you have – I used green peppers, mushrooms, garlic, tomatoes, and a bit of spinach. Onions would be really good too.

1/2 cup almond, coconut, or full fat milk

salt and peppa

1. Chop up all the veggie and sauté the hard veggies (peppers, mushrooms, garlic, onions) in a Tbsp of oil. Medium heat for 5 minutes.

2. While they’re cooking, scramble the eggs and milk together. Use a big bowl and a whisk. Don’t stop until the eggs get frothy.

3. Add the soft veggies (tomatoes) to your sauté and spread everything out evenly.

4. Pour on the eggs. And top with any green leaves you have. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Then transfer to the oven to broil for another 5 minutes.

5. Take it out and cut into it! I kept mine covered for a few minutes before eating it and it went from pretty and fluffy to sadly deflated. But it was still delicious!

Let me know how it goes! (< do this by clicking the title of this blog post and entering your message under “penny for your thoughts)

Tasty Tuesday: Sweet Potato Pancakes

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I am a big believer in spending some time on breakfast. One of my favorite things about having a day off or being on vacation is being able to spend time cooking and enjoying breakfast.

A yummy pile of food + a book/newspaper + a good cup of tea or glass of mulled cider + good company = AWESOME MORNING.

This past Sunday, Mike and I enjoyed a new (and now frequent) recipe. I hope to enjoy an equally lovely breakfast every day of this Thanksgiving holiday.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped small

3 eggs

1/2 cup almond butter (or whatever nut butter you have)

1/2 cup milk (unsweetened almond, coconut, whole milk, whatever…)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp sea salt

high heat cooking oil (coconut, grape seed, or sesame oil)

Instructions

Boil sweet potatoes until soft when stabbed with a fork. Start heating pan on Medium during this last step. Drain then add sweet potatoes and all other ingredients to blender. Blend until smooth.

After preheating pan for 5-ish minutes, pour two small pancakes at a time. Flip when the centers start bubbling. Cook on other side for 3-5 minutes.

Stack a pile, add a topping (bananas, sautéed apples, raisins, honey, maple syrup, etc.) and ENJOY!

*this recipe was adapted from Sammie Kennedy.

By the way, thanks to everyone that commented on my post yesterday. Recognizing the amazing qualities of the people around you starts to make you more amazing too! If you want to add to the comments, there’s still time! I’ll be reposting them on all Friday.

What are some of your favorite breakfast traditions?

Sunday Recipe: Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free Pancakes

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Today is a seriously gorgeous day in Peoria. Scattered clouds, beautiful blue sky, about 67°F. AND one of my best friends managed to extend a work trip in the area and we get a whole two days with her! She is leaving very soon and I’m gonna be really sad. It’s so amazing to be around someone who you can sit in comfortable silence with then break the silence with an awesome conversation and easy laugh. I love it and miss it/her a lot.

And what’s even more awesome is that she is gluten and lactose intolerant just like me! So this morning we made gluten free pancakes for all of us. They were SO good. Just sweet enough and dense enough to be like normal pancakes without all the bloating and over-full feeling. And Katie had the awesome idea to use the leftovers for a post-workout snack.

Ingredients:

  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 tablespoons melted butter
  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/3 cups multi-purpose gluten free flour (I keep this around to use as a thickening agent in some recipes)
  • 1/2 tsp stevia powder or 15 drops stevia liquid
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon xantham gum

Instructions:

1) Whisk together the eggs, melted butter, coconut milk, and vanilla.

2) In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir in the egg mixture.

3) Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes (this makes them fluffier). Preheat skillet on medium for the last 5 minutes.

4) Lightly grease it with coconut oil or another high heat oil. Scoop the batter (I use a small glass) into small dollar sized pancakes.

5) Cook pancakes for 1 to 2 minutes, till the tops lose their shine and bottoms are golden brown. Flip and cook for 1 to 2 minutes on the other side.

6) Top it with whatever delicious yummies you can find in your fridge. We used berries and pure maple syrup (not sugar free).
Sunday breakfast is probably one of my favorite meals of the week. YUM.
I hope you’re having wonderfully peaceful Sundays 🙂

Thankful Tuesday: C’mon Roll Out Of Bed!

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Oh man. After my glorious 3 day weekend, it was VERY hard to roll out of bed this morning. So I’m going to do a gratitude post to get me motivated.

I am thankful for the nice, warm, comfy bed that I share with my wonderful boyfriend. I’m so happy that I have the resources and flexibility to wake up, do a spot of yoga and then head into work to meet with my really cool coworker and bosses. I am thankful for the delicious granola-free granola that I’m about to eat (check it out here). And I am so happy I did not wash my car yesterday because the rain is doing it for me today!

^Thank you boyfriend for making the bed this morning!

Is it a slow morning for you too? Tell me about it. Then plant a smile on your face and keep pushing through your day.

Low Grain, High Protein, Gluten Free Breakfast!

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Low Grain, High Protein, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free, and Raw. I realize it sounds pretty gross but I’m telling you, this “granola” is DELICIOUS. When I’m not home to cook, this is what Mike has for dinner. Haha.

I started making this stuff when I started my new goal of less grain/carbs for breakfast and dinner and much higher protein. Granola is my #1 choice for breakfast but I can be kind of picky. That’s why I was so surprised that it is SO GOOD. It’s a twist on another recipe from the awesome book in this post.

Ingredients:

1 cup pepitas, aka pumpkin seeds (they’re really high in protein and so yummy)

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/2 cup brown rice protein, OPTIONAL

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup raw almonds, slivered or sliced

3/4 cup raw walnuts, in pieces

1 cup dried fruit such as raisins or cranberries, or a mix!

1/2 cup GF oats

Instructions:

Grind up pepitas, sunflower seeds, and coconut. I use a tiny food processor I got at Goodwill. You could do it in a blender though, or just leave everything whole. Pour all that into a gallon ziploc bag. Add all other ingredients. Shake it all up. Scoop out 1/2 to 1 cup, pour some almond or coconut milk over it. Enjoy!

This is possibly the easiest all-at-once breakfast I’ve ever made. It takes about 10 minutes to make a batch to last 2 or 3 weeks. And, because it’s so high in protein, it keeps me full for hours.

Another tip, keep the granola in the gallon bag with a 1/2 cup measuring cup in there. This way you can ration your supply saving you money and preventing over indulgence.

 

Smiles are contagious, plant one right on your kisser and keep it there all day 🙂

Yummy Breakfast in 10 minutes

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This morning I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm. So instead of dawdling like I would normally, I made Mike and I a delicious “to-go” breakfast.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

3 potatoes, chopped to home fry size (this leaves enough for leftovers)

1/4 onion, chopped

handful of spinach

splash of milk (I used almond milk)

coconut oil (most other common cooking oil, including olive oil, turns rancid at high heat)

salt and pepper

Instructions:

Heat pan with a little bit of coconut oil. Saute onion and spinach on medium heat until spinach is wilted. While that stuff is cooking, beat together eggs and milk. When spinach has wilted, add eggs, salt, and pepper. Scramble in pan until eggs are cooked. Put the eggs in a Tupperware and cover but don’t bother washing the pan yet (it’s a waste of water).

Heat pan again to high heat with approx. 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. Add chopped potatoes. Fry them in the pan until cooked just a little crunchy on the inside. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and any other spices you think would taste good (I learned to smell the food cooking then smell the spices; if the smells combine well, so will the spices). Add the mostly cooked potatoes to the Tupperware and cover. The moisture in the Tupperware will saturate the potatoes and make them soft when you’re ready to eat them.

It’s yummy to reheat but I try to avoid microwaves because they suck all the nutrients out of the food. So maybe just eat it at your desk when you get to work?

Hope you’re all having happy days!