Experimenting with Breakfast Foods!

I'm one of those weird people that absolutely loves mornings. Sometimes I'll go to bed super early, just so I can wake up before the sun and the rest of humanity. If I could, I would wake up at 5 or 5:30 every morning. Mornings are when I'm most productive and my mind is most alert. I can crank out a ton of work before Brett even wakes up. 

Another major reason I love mornings is because I love breakfast. I could easily eat breakfast food three times a day. Lately I've been cooking and baking up a storm and so sometimes, due to the overflow of breakfast-like foods in our house, I just have to eat breakfast for lunch...or dinner. It's rough. Like these Lemon Poppy Seed and Yogurt Pancakes. Brett and I were working from home the other day and around lunchtime I began craving something lemon and poppy seed flavored. So...

...these pancakes made with Homemade Non-Dairy Yogurt were created. Brett and I loved them!

One of the main reasons I've been cooking and baking a ton is because I've decided that, when I have time, I want to get to the point where I can make most of our staple foods at home from scratch. Brett and I are planning to move overseas next year and I feel like I should get the basics down pat now so that if we don't have access to certain foods overseas I can just make them myself! Mainly, non-dairy foods like yogurt and almond milk have been on the top of my list to learn how to make. Other things are Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, wheat thin crackers, tortillas and granola. 

Homemade Almond Milk

It's been so fun to learn more about the science behind the foods I love to eat and experiment making them myself...especially when those foods are breakfast foods!

So today I'm going to share with you "What-I-Made-And-Ate-For-Breakfast" and also some of the staple foods that I hope I can still make for Brett and me when we live overseas.

One of those staple foods just happens to be yogurt! I never knew making yogurt was possible a couple of weeks ago. I just thought it fell from the sky into our groceries stores. But seriously, I love yogurt, but non-dairy yogurt is so expensive and probably not as accessible overseas so I've been determined to learn to make it myself. And guess what? It's not hard!

I can make this whole quart of almond milk yogurt using a crockpot and it cost about two bucks! I'm going to keep experimenting with it until I can get a thicker consistency, but I still love it and have been eating it everyday and even using it to bake with.

Homemade Non-Dairy Yogurt with grapes, banana, strawberries and homemade granola!

Homemade granola sweetened with applesauce, agave nectar and cinnamon.

Still working on perfecting this!

Overnight oats with 1/2 cup Homemade Non-Dairy Yogurt, 1 mashed, overripe banana, 

1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 2 teaspoons chia seeds and a splash of almond milk

I even used used my homemade yogurt in these fiberlicious Pumpkin Bran Muffins! Brett and I loved these and have been eating them daily for the past week.

 For our one year anniversary I made these amazing Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Candied Pecans (Recipe coming soon!). I usually don't call recipes I create myself amazing, but these really were to die for. Brett gave me a high five after the first bite. Success! It's definitely going to be a new family tradition to make these on special occasions.

And of course coffee. I've been trying to find the perfect ratio for making iced coffee concentrate and I just came across this recipe yesterday. Pour 1 cup of coffee grounds into a pitcher and then pour in 4 cups of water. Stir and let it sit overnight in the fridge. In the morning, pour the mixture through a coffee filter into a clean container (I filtered mine right into our coffee pot!) Now you have the perfect iced coffee concentrate! Mix 1 parts concentrate with equal parts water and there you have it!

This is the coffee grounds and water mixture before I strained it.

Don't worry, it doesn't turn out gritty like that!

Well there you have it: my experiments and breakfast foods from the past week! 

What foods do you try to make at home from scratch?

Do you have a recipe for making homemade yogurt?

Also check out Jenn's blog to see what other people are creating!

Eat Consciously,

Faith