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

Cranberry Apple Muffins

A couple posts ago I wrote about my painful 11-miler that I ran while in Virginia. Well, unfortunately the pain hasn't left and has concentrated to my right Achilles tendon. When I walk I can feel it rippling (that's the best word I can think of to describe it). If I point and flex my toes the tendon seems to click back and forth. Hmmm. Can't be good. 

Because it hasn't been feeling great, I've been too afraid to run for fear that I'll make it worse. I'm still hopeful that I'll be able to run my half-marathon on Dec. 7th, but we'll have to see what happens with the Achilles. Since Saturday, in order to get in some cardio without putting too much strain on my ankle, I've been walking, swimming and...biking! It's been forever since I've taken my road bike out for a spin and it was so life-giving. I forgot how much I love biking, especially this time of year in Florida. 

While I'm worried that I won't be able to run the third half-marathon that I've tried for, I am thankful that I finally took my bike out of the house. I'm planning on doing a half-ironman in April, so I'd have to start training for the bike soon. Now I'm excited to increase my mileage. 

Like the hot pink shoes? It might be the last color I would choose on my own, but they were the only ones that were available when this model of Nike Frees came out. They've grown on me though.

Enough about injuries and biking. Let's move on to these muffins! My mom used to make these cranberry apple muffins for events where she had to bring a snack and I always hoped that she would make extra so us kids could eat some. When I started getting interested in baking and cooking I asked my mom one day if I could make them for her. It may have been my first time making muffins and I love it...and the results! I'm usually not much of a fruity, baked-goods girl, but these are delicious. 

I had forgotten about them until I saw fresh cranberries at the grocery store a while back. I then remembered that my mom had given me the recipe so I decided to experiment a little and swapped out some of the ingredients so that they'd be vegan. The kitchen smelled amazing as they were baking and I was instantly brought back to my younger years with my first bite. I'll definitely be making these again.

Cranberry Apple Muffins

(Makes 12 servings)

 Ingredients:

· 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

· 1/4 mashed banana plus 2 teaspoons liquid stevia OR 1 cup dry sugar

· 1 flax egg*

· 1 cup coarsely shredded apples

· 1 T. orange zest

· 1/4 cup orange juice

· 2 cups whole wheat flour

· 2 teaspoons baking powder

· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

· 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

· 1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped

· Optional: 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

*To make a flax egg whisk 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water and set aside for five minutes

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin pan and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the apple sauce, mashed banana and liquid stevia together.

3. Add in the flax egg, shredded apple, orange zest and juice.

4. In a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients, from the wheat flour to nutmeg.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.

6. Add in the cranberries and nuts if using and stir until just combined.

7. Divide the batter among 12 muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes.

8. Breathe in that fresh cranberry smell and eat one warm!

 Eat Consciously,

     Faith

Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins

I was obsessed with zucchini bread growing up. Whenever my mom would make it I would get so excited. This week we just had some new neighbors move in, so I thought I'd make some zucchini muffins to bring over so we can introduce ourselves. Hope they like them!

Zucchini Muffins
(Makes 16 muffins)

Adapted from http://www.veggiemealmaker.com/

Ingredients:

3 cups shredded zucchini (I used two medium)
2/3 cups unsweetened applesauce
Equivalent of 2 eggs*
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup natural cane sugar
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup craisins, raisins, or walnuts (optional)

*In a small bowl I whisk together two tablespoons of ground flaxseed with six tablespoons of water. Then let it sit for five minutes. Vegan "eggs"! (for one egg, just half this recipe: one tablespoon of flaxseed and three tablespoons of water)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the shredded zucchini, apple sauce, flax seed eggs, vanilla and sugar until combined and bubbly.

In a different bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients except for the craisins, if using.

Add the dry mixture to the wet, zucchini mixture and stir until combined. Then add in optional ingredients and give everything a final mix.

Fill 16-18 muffin cups and for 20 minutes or until brown and cooked through. Eat up!

(Per Muffin: 135 Cals; Fat: 0.8g; Fiber 3g; Protein 3.5g; Sugar 13g)