Category Archives: bake

pumpkin muffins

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happy saturday friends!

aren’t saturdays mornings just so perfect for pancake breakfasts and baking?

i did neither.
{i do have a recipe to share though}

but i did learn that turkey avocado wraps should be saved for lunch as opposed to eating them first thing in the morning.

it’s just not breakfast-y enough for me. and its kind of awkward with coffee.

coffee would have probably been paired better with these…

pumpkin muffins
{makes 12} 

- 1 cup whole wheat pasty flour OR unbleached all purpose
- 1/2 cup almond flour (i used bobs red mill)
- 1 T baking powder
 - 1 T cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 t sea salt
- 1 heaping cup pumpkin puree
- 4 T coconut oil, melted
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 egg, room temp
- 1/2 cup agave OR sweetener of choice**
- 1 T vanilla extract

preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Sift dry ingredients into one bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a second bowl. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet. I mixed in 1/3 at a time.
Evenly divide batter into 12 muffin cups. 
Bake for 25 mins or until toothpick comes out clean
{i moved mine to bottom rack for last 10 minutes}

**these muffins have just a hint of sweetness.

i enjoyed mine crumbled on top of greek yogurt and chia pudding.
{this was a week or so ago when I was still in my chia phase. i’ve moved on now.}

i realize, for someone who claims to not like pumpkin that much, i’ve kind of been eating a lot of it lately.

case in point: this happened yesterday.

pumpkiny smoothie
{1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup greek yogurt, 1 frozen banana, 1/3 cup pumpkin, 5 ice cubes, 1 T pumpkin pie spice}

and i can’t say i didn’t like it.

when theres an open can of pumpkin in the fridge i just have to find ways to incorporate it.

i also tried mixing it into my scrambled egg whites yesterday…and i can tell you – that was definitely not a keeper.
blech.

are you a fan of pumpkin? how do you use up leftover pumpkin?

‘Stuffed’ Once More

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Happy Mothers day to all you fabulous mothers out there, including mine!!  I didn’t get to spend the day with my momma today since she’s out of town, but we’ll celebrate when she gets back :) .  I plan on baking something fun and momma-ish.  I have no idea what, but I’ll think of something sweet and delicious that just screams out momma.

Still on a ‘stuffed‘ roll since yesterday, I started my lovely day with a stuffed buckwheat bake.  I  followed Kath’s recipe, this time making sure to halve the ingredients for 1 serving, and took out the cocoa powder and maple syrup, and subbed unsweetened berry applesauce for the banana.  Than I poured half of the batter into a ramekin, added 1.5 teaspoons of low fat cottage cheese, spread it out a little, and added a dollop of sunflower seed butter, then topped it with the remaining batter.  I started with 1 min 30 seconds in the micro, but the batter was still gooey so I added 15 seconds, and than another 15 seconds for a total of 2 mins.  The cottage cheese bubbled up and ran down the sides so I suggest putting a plate under the ramekin.  But it made for an even more doughy bake than usual.  Score! :P    I know you’re probably thinking that may just be the oddest combo ever.  But don’t knock it til you try it!  Although I do have to admit I have some pretty different taste buds than many people…

I topped the bake off with strawberry banana soft serve (1/2 frozen banana, 2 frozen strawberries, and a tiny slash of almond milk processed in the vita mix).

Isn’t the pink just so suiting for mothers day?  I felt like it was missing something though…

There!  Some toasted coconut…Much better.

What a breakfast.  The contrast of the cold soft serve with the warm bake was just fantastic!  It was the perfect start to my glorious day.

It powered me through my paper and before I knew it, it was lunch time.  I was feeling sushi today and that is exactly what I had.  Some brown rice salmon avocado sushi from Whole Foods.  My fave.

Followed up with some of Barbara’s newest puffin cereal, peanut butter and chocolate, for dessert.  YUM.

And you know what else made my day so glorious?? I finished and submitted my last paper and presentation of the semester.  I’m officially FREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!  Well, for two weeks.  But I’m going enjoy these two weeks like no other.

To celebrate finishing the semester I broke out the food processor and whipped up a batch of cashew butter (my current fave :) )  and some chocolate chip cookie dough balls by the brilliant Angela of Oh She Glow’s.

These dough balls were perfect in my leftover strawberry soft serve which I had after my Pei Wei dinner.

Btw, did you know that you can get your protein steamed at Pei Wei?  I use to hardly ever eat there before because their foods were so heavy on the sauces and everything was basically fried.  They now offer the option to get your protein ‘stock velveted’ where they swap out the oil and cook it in a stock.  I love spicy foods and always get the ‘Pei Wei spicy’ with shrimp and brown rice.  I ask for my shrimp to be steamed and for the sauce to be on the side.  It may seem like it would be tasteless, but it is the opposite.  The shrimp is really sweet and I can dip it in the sauce if I feel like it.  That way the rice and shrimp are not literally swimming in the sauce and you can save over 250 calories.  Its a win win.

I’m off to enjoy my first night of post finals freedom!  I sense a mini spoonful or two of cashew butter in my near future ;)  Toodles!

Just Can’t Live Without Ya

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Due to some mis-reading of the buckwheat bake recipe yesterday, breakfast today was an exact repeat.  But no complaints here :) .  In fact, todays breakfast bake turned out even better than yesterdays.  I had, by accident, made two servings of the buckwheat bake yesterday morning and with no one to share the second serving with I decided to just cover it with saran wrap and leave it in the refrigerator for today.  So todays breakfast came together in a matter of minutes.  I transferred the dough from my saran-wrap covered bowl to a greased ramekin and microwaved for 1 min 30 seconds.  The dough had actually firmed up quite a bit overnight, but it just made for an even more doughy texture that I so very much enjoyed this morning with a nice steaming hot cup of joe.

See?  Exactly the same as yesterday.  Even down to the strawberries.

_________________________________

As I was taking a snack break earlier today and reading up on some blogs, I came across Averie’s post and realized what a serious case of the munchies I’ve been having lately.  I don’t know whats gotten into me, but I can’t stop snacking, especially after dinner.  I think I need to work on my self control.  Pronto.  But it got me thinking about what I can’t seem to go a day without eating.

Last month it was smoothies and juices from my vita mix.  This month its been cereal and granola with strawberries and bananas.

I may or may not have run out of bowls and had to jam everything into a small bowl…

I had pretty much the exact same thing yesterday expect in a larger bowl.  (And I was either severely dehydrated and needed all sorts of drinks or I was sitting there doing some intense paper writing for wayy too long.)

I just can’t seem to get enough of this cereal and fruit goodness.   But i realized the one thing I truly CANNOT live without is my beloved almond milk.  I go through cartons like its going out of fashion bad.  I used to drink unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, but I recently discovered unsweetened pure almond by Silk.

This stuff is off-the-chain-good.  It’s creamier than almond breeze but somehow 5 calories less per serving.  …Not that the 5 calories is what got me to make the switch.  It was just the creamier and fuller texture (is that the right word? – it just seems odd to say texture when referencing milk) that got me hooked.  So much that I gave up my beloved vanilla flavor that I oh so love.

You know what?  A nice cold glass of almond milk sounds pretty good right now.  I think that’ll be the perfect end to my evening.  Especially now that I have one less essay to worry about.  I finished my 12 page paper a couple hours ago!  Just one more paper and one more exam to go!!  Catch ya later oaties :)