If I Dream It...

I don't know why - but I've been craving pancakes a lot lately. So this weekend I finally set to taking the time to take care of that craving :) Now I don't generally think healthy when I think pancakes - but I didn't want something too bad for me. So I figured - wheat pancakes. I mixed together some wheat flour, coconut flour, ground flax seed, and baking powder and I had the base for my pancakes ready. To finish the batter I mixed together some milk, salt, and maple syrup. Maple just sounded good and out of my usual sweeteners it is surprisingly the lowest in sugar content. Then I tossed in some blueberries and decided to make a blueberry syrup to go with them :) And just because it sounded good I added coconut flakes to top it all off..... Mmmmm YUM! In case anyone else finds this interesting -- here's the sugar / calorie break out for the 3 options I looked at for my syrup... clover honey: 1 Tbl = 16g sugar and 60 cals blue agave: ...

I don't know why - but the other day I started craving pudding. It's a sweet treat that I have always enjoyed but rarely have any more. One, I never want much of it and two, while I do enjoy my sweets - I am trying to eat more healthy sweets and less processed sugars. I have gotten better with this at breakfast - I've been having fruit smoothies every day for breakfast with about a tablespoon of agave nectar for sweetener upon occasion and have loved every one (though I do wish I had a better blender that actually blended in the seeds). The simplest, and one of the best is frozen pineapple chunks with coconut milk and a little agave. This reminds me of a pina colada and is just totally yummy :) I have no measurements as I blend in the cup I drink from. It's about 1 1/2 cups of fruit though and usually enough liquid to cover it. Milks make it thicker and juices/water thinner. Upon occasion I add chia seeds as well. Yes, I know it looks odd - but it's good! I...

Ok, I know it's not morning - but it's a morning related post so even though I'm sharing it late, it's a morning kind of post :) I've been seriously slacking with updates too, sorry about that... It's not that I haven't been trying new things, just simply that I haven't been taking the time to write them out... shame on me, I know. Anyways, I recently tried something that came out wonderfully good - so I had to stop and take the time to write it out to share with you :) even if I am sharing it a little late...  You may know this already, but I love breakfast food, however, I certainly don't make it often... I am not a morning person so waking up early enough to make breakfast is just not a high priority in my book... however, the other day - when I just couldn't sleep in any more (I couldn't sleep period - I was awake at 4), I decided to get up and make breakfast for my hubby. And I must admit, I think we were both quite pleasantly surp...

I may have said this before - but I'm not much of a breakfast person... not because I don't like it. Honestly, some of my favorite dishes are breakfast items... but I just don't usually take the time for it. I choose to sleep as late as possible and then have to get up and go... oddly even on the weekends I don't really make the time for it... and that's just usually because by the time I'm hungry it's time for lunch. But anyways, while I don't often make time for breakfast... when I do have it easily at hand, I do eat it. So I've learned it's best for me if make it ahead of time and then have it for the week ahead so that I can grab it and head out the door.  With breakfast in mind, I made a strudel awhile ago... and with portable, grab-and-go in mind I made individual strudels. Both recipes, while very similar, are a little different. Not because one way is better than the other - but because I had slightly different ingredients at hand...

Well it's been a long time since I've tried a new flavor of breakfast cookie... almost a year to be exact... but here it finally is. Another yummy treat perfect for a grab and go breakfast or a quick snack. Inspired from my earlier post  tropical breakfast cookie , here's a new flavor combination... Cranberry Cherry :) These oat cookies can be any flavor you like really... Just change the dried fruit and the cup of fruit puree. Start by mixing all the dry ingredients together Then add in your wet ingredients Mix to combine (looks much more normal now doesn't it?) Shape cookies And bake :) Cranberry Cherry Breakfast Cookies 1 1/2   Cup Oatmeal 1 Cup Unsweetened Shredded Coconut 1/4 Cup Flax Seed (fine milled) 1/2 tsp Sea Salt 3/4 Cup Almonds (chopped) 1/3      Cup    Dried Cranberries 1/3      Cup    Dried Che...

I love breakfast food - but I rarely take the time to eat it. I've been working on getting better at that during the week. And today, I took the time to put something together. I thought they were pretty filling - I could only eat one. But the good news is they reheat well - so they're also good to make over the weekend and have a grab-and-go breakfast during the week. The only difference is the yolk is more likely to be fully cooked or at least mostly cooked when you reheat it. I also tried two drinks - one I prepped the day before, but both super simple and yummy! I woke up early today and had been thinking of options for breakfast. I wanted something different, but not something that was too much work as I had a lot to do already. I came up with a few yummy thoughts, but unfortunately, as I thought of each and got up to look for the ingredients I wanted, I was disappointed to find out that I was missing at least one thing. So I kept thinking... and it hit me - breakfast ...

Fall is quickly approaching and the crock-pot has been on my brain... hence the back to back crock-pot recipes :) It's my best friend and for some reason it always gets more use as it gets colder :) I'm always looking for new recipes to try and the thought of waking up for breakfast is just as nice as the thought of coming home to dinner. I've never braved breakfast before though. I have found a few that said they could be done overnight, but they recommended less time so it didn't get mushy... so really, it may not be the best overnight breakfast.. However, after seeing several crock-pot oatmeal/porridge recipes I figured it was high time I tried it. I didn't brave the overnight version - I didn't even make the full one (just in case I didn't like it, I didn't want to be stuck with 4 - 5 more servings)... plus it gave the excuse to use the mini crock-pot I got last year that I've never used yet. It's a dip one that came with the bigger one...

Well, sadly I've not been very good at posting my gluten free days any sooner than before. Part of it, other than just being busy, is I've not been making much of anything. Just fruits and veggies that I don't do anything with are rather boring all in all. So they just don't make the cut. And that's really all I've been up to. Day 11 was fruits and veggies at work. A burrito bowl (no tortilla) at lunch from Chipotle as I was running around at lunch and had to have food. And a plain baked potato for dinner since we were still running around. Day 12 was an egg and peach for breakfast - spaced by my drive in so they didn't seem as odd a combo as they sound :) Sadly I skipped lunch as things were just too crazy and I didn't want to be late. I munched at my desk of the few gluten free things I had with me (a few of the apricot coconut and cranberry cherry nut balls) and some dry gluten free cereal. For dinner we went out to a Mexican restaurant that offer...

So I'm past the half way point for one week and I have so many ideas in my head and figuring out the order to do them is tough! That said, I still had the tortillas on my brain when I woke up. So I tried one with a breakfast burrito. While I was quite happy with the flavor - I had two things against me... 1. The tortilla couldn't roll tight enough and it cracked making a BIG mess... I warmed it 30 seconds this time too, so apparently there's still a learning curve. 2. I mashed my banana figuring that'd be easier than worrying about chunks of banana falling out... boy was I wrong! It was way too soft and once the bottom of my burrito cracked, banana started leaking. So going forward I am thinking mixing all the extra ingredients into the peanut butter and then just adding sliced bananas and wrapping it up. Oh well - we live we learn :) If you're interested in trying it, I'll tell you what I did and then tell you what I recommend right after. 1           ...

So originally I thought I would be sure to do something crafty first... but lets face it, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen... I have never been a big breakfast person, but I'm trying to eat healthier and they say breakfast is very important. So I wanted to find a grab-and-go type breakfast option (or snack). I've been making oatmeal at my desk so the first thing that came to my mind was oatmeal cookies - a healthy kind. So I set my mind to figuring out a tropical oatmeal cookie - something that wouldn't be too sweet and would be at least kind of filling... and the Tropical Breakfast Cookie was born. It took some extra chopping since I only had whole almonds and decided on tropical dried fruits (pineapple, papaya, and mango -- yummy!). But other than that it was very easy. You could probably by sliced almonds and bite sized dried fruit to make it easier. In addition to being pretty easy to put together - it only requires one bowl, a blender, and a cookie s...