Peanut butter banana oatmeal

A.k.a. "creamy, gooey, comforting oatmeal that's perfect on a cold morning"

I'm battling a cold and the semester is plugging along and there's snow in the forecast (finally!). That means it's time to bring back the hot breakfasts. I've been eating a lot of hot quinoa lately with a spoon of almond butter and it's been a nice way to get the day going. This morning I woke up and decided I wanted something more exciting so I went on one of my favorite blogs "Oh She Glows" and found this recipe. It's a single serving recipe but very, very filling and you can probably share it with a friend with some sliced fruit on the side. Or if you're really hungry like I was you can just about finish it up by yourself. You might not even be hungry later for elevenses or "smoko". As you can tell, I'm getting ready for our upcoming trip to New Zealand:)

Here's a link to the original recipe.

Ingredients:
1 very ripe banana, roughly chopped
1 tsp non-dairy butter or coconut oil (I used Earth Balance)
1/2 Tbs natural peanut butter
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2-1 tsp chia seed (or ground flax)
1 cup almond milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8-14 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
toppings: heaping 1/2 Tbs peanut butter, nuts, cinnamon, pure maple syrup

1. In a medium-sized pot over medium heat, cook the banana and non-dairy butter or oil for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Stir in 1/2 Tbs peanut butter, add the oats, chia, milk, spices and a pinch of salt. Whisk/stir well until combined.

3. Bring to a low boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, stirring often for 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

4. Scoop into a bowl and top with peanut butter, nuts, cinnamon and maple syrup. I used crunchy peanut butter so I didn't add any nuts because there was already a nice crunch in the mix.

On another note- yesterday was Estes' first birthday!!! We got her a new collar and she spent the day doing what every 1-year old dog does- she slept and played with her new toys.

Grandma in PA sent her this sweet card:

She kept me company while I was reading:

We've been busy lately and trying to get outside as much as possible. Last weekend we went snowshoeing and it was beautiful:

Blueberry oat bars

What a crazy past few weeks! I was so busy staring at my computer screen and writing, writing, writing, as the semester wound down that the last thing I wanted to do was get back on here to write something else. I'm very happy to report that I've successfully finished my first semester of my program! I'm enjoying this short and much needed break by visiting with friends and family, baking stuff for the freezer, working on a knitting project, reading the Hobbit, and basically just hanging out with Estes in my pjs.

Today I left the house to pick up some groceries and something exciting happened - blueberries were on sale at Sprouts! Four packs for $5! This was hard to pass up, even though I know blueberries aren't in season. Of course I bought them and then came home to browse the web for good blueberry recipes.  I quickly found this one and decided to make it this afternoon. I like the use of oats in the recipe because it's something that would be really good for breakfast as well as for snack or dessert. Michael and I have been trying to eat more oatmeal for breakfast and sometimes the regular bowl of oats just doesn't cut it, I get bored. This morning for example, I made Dreena Burton's "Breakfast Cookies" from Let them Eat Vegan! and they definitely covered the wholesome oatmeal breakfast I was looking for but with the shape and taste of a cookie. Yum! I'm also trying to do more oat things or less flour things so I can pass along recipes to my gluten free friends! I like these blueberry bars because there is no flour, just oats and ground up oats. If you're gluten-free just make sure the oats are certified gluten-free. Anyways, here is the link to the original recipe, from FatFree Vegan Kitchen. The nutritional facts won't stay the same for my version because I added and took away things - I tweaked the recipe based on the ingredients I had and didn't have at the house.

Ingredients:
1 pint blueberries
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs cornstarch, mixed with enough water to make a smooth paste
3 cups oatmeal (regular, not instant), separated
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 pack apple sauce
3 Tbs olive oil (or oil of your choice - I really like the taste of olive oil in some sweet recipes. Give it a try!)
1 tsp lemon zest
6 more Tbs agave nectar
6 Tbs water
1 more tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Oil an 8x8-inch baking pan (I think mine was 9x9 because the batter was a little bit of a stretch to fit in the pan but it worked out anyways).

2. In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, agave nectar and juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, stir in the vanilla and cornstarch mixture. Continue to stair as the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Put 1 1/2 cups of the oatmeal into a food processor and grind it to a fine powder. Pour into a medium-sized mixing bowl and add the remaining oatmeal, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Mix well. Stir in the apple sauce, olive oil, agave nectar, water and vanilla, and mix well.

4. Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing well to cover the  bottom of the pan. Spoon the blueberry filling over the batter, and cover the blueberries with the remaining batter. I did this with spoonful drops of the batter that I spread as I went so it stayed on top of the blueberry layer.

The white in this picture is the sun shining in from the west. Another sunny day in Colorado:)

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.

You can enjoy these for teatime or for breakfast and they would also make a delicious dessert with some vanilla ice cream!

Hot millet and quinoa cereal

I've been intrigued with millet lately. I love it in bread and have been experimenting with it in soups and other things. It's really yummy as a hot breakfast cereal and the quinoa here adds another interesting texture and flavor. The recipe was inspired by my google search which turned up this site. I tweaked it a bit to suit my tastes and then halved the amounts so I could eat it by myself for breakfast. I was pretty hungry and prepping for a run this morning and could just barely finish the two servings. But, I also added a banana to the mix so that probably didn't help things. This would be great with some chopped nuts or dried fruit or different kinds of sweeteners.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup millet
1/8 cup quinoa
1 1/4 cup water
splash of soy milk
splash of maple syrup
1 banana, smashed
cinnamon, to taste

1. Rinse the quinoa and millet and place in a small saucepan with the water and maybe a dash of salt.

2. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for about 25-30 minutes. Add more water if it looks dry and cook longer if there's still water in the pan.

3. Add desired toppings and enjoy!

Peanut butter and banana toast

This is a super easy and very filling breakfast (or lunch or snack). My cousin made something similar to it last year when we were all in Florida and it inspired me to make this version. I was prepping for a big jog (woo! I'm running again!) and wanted a good breakfast in me.

Ingredients:

2 pieces toast (I used Ezekial brand)
1 banana
1-2 Tbs peanut butter
honey
cinnamon

Make your toast. Spread peanut butter evenly over each slice. Then, thinly slice the banana on top of the peanut butter. Drizzle honey and sprinkle cinnamon on top.

So easy. I have a few other posts up my sleeves but have been having trouble getting them up because of our lovely little puppy and her crazy schedule. Right now she's sleeping on the stairs so I thought I'd get a quick post in. More to come!

On a running note- for you locals, there's a 5K at Grimm Brothers Brewery in Loveland on July 4th. Free pint after the race! Michael and I are running in it! This will be my first race post knee injury so I'm excited and glad that so far the running has been going well. If this goes well we'll see about the 10K I have on my wish list for the end of July...

My first tofu scramble

I've been wanting to make a tofu scramble for a long time and tonight was finally my night! It came up on our menu because we're going to Moab with some friends soon and are planning on making tofu scrambles for breakfast and I wanted to do some test runs before bringing the recipe there. This one is definitely a keeper. I've been to some breakfast places and ordered tofu scrambles before and all they do is crumble tofu (unseasoned) into a scramble of veggies. Not too exciting. I like this recipe because it has a lot of spices for flavor and nutritional yeast to give it a more eggy/cheesy texture and taste. For those of you who love scrambled eggs and are leery about tofu- still give this a try but it might not do it for you, unless you're trying to cut out eggs from your diet. If you're like me and never loved scrambled eggs but liked them then you might love this recipe. OK so anyways, this comes from the Post Punk Kitchen blog site. It's a great base for whatever add-ins you'd like to use. I added onions, red pepper, spinach and some fake bacon bits.

Ingredients:

Spice blend:
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried thyme, crushed with your fingers
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
3 Tbs water

2 Tbs olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used 5)
1 lb extra-firm tofu, drained
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
fresh black pepper to taste
(+any other add-ons)

1. Stir the spice blend together in a small cup. Add water and mix then set aside.

2. Preheat a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat. Sauté the garlic (and onion if using) in olive oil for about 4 minutes. Here is when I sautéed the chopped red pepper, followed by the spinach.

Here's what little Estes was doing while I was cooking:)

3. Break the tofu apart into bite sized pieces and sauté for about 10 minutes, using a spatula to stir often. Get under the tofu when you are stirring, scrape the bottom and don't let it stick to the pan, that is where the good, crispy stuff is. The tofu should get browned on at least one side, but you don't need to be too precise about it. The water should cook out of it and not collect too much at the bottom of the ban. If that is happening, turn the heat up and let the water evaporate.

Before spice blend.

After spice blend.

4. Add the spice blend and mix to incorporate. Add the nutritional yeast and fresh black pepper. Cook for about 5 more minutes. Serve warm.

We ate this for dinner but it would make an excellent breakfast choice too, of course!

Banana walnut waffles

If you couldn't already tell from my last two posts, we've had a surplus of over-ripe bananas in our house. Michael and I both really love banana nut muffins and so I was browsing through some breakfasty recipes  in my cookbooks and found this one for banana nut waffles. Perfect, because we still have a bunch of bananas to use up soon. There are two left- maybe I'll throw together some banana bread to stick in the freezer. Anyways, the recipe comes from Veganomicon and I just changed a few parts of it to suit my tastes.

Ingredients:

2 c almond milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 average-sized bananas
3 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c all-purpose unbleached white flour
3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup walnuts, chopped finely

1. Preheat your waffle iron. Pour the milk and vinegar into a measuring cup and set aside to curdle.

2. Mash the bananas very well in a large mixing bowl. Add the milk mixture, oil, syrup and vanilla and stir.

3. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Use a fork to combine. Do not overmix, just mix until there are minimal lumps left. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

4. Spray the cooking surfaces of your waffle iron with nonstick cooking spray and cook the waffles according to manufacturer's directions.

Keep waffles warm in the oven!

Serve these with strawberries or other fresh fruit and lots of maple syrup. This is a perfect weekend breakfast dish that can carry over through the week- waffles freeze really well! Just pop them in the toaster and voilà, fresh waffles during the week.

Before.

After.

Chai coconut breakfast cake

I recently discovered a new vegan blog and have been bookmarking lots of recipes from the site. This is one I made this weekend- coconut chai breakfast cake from Fat Free Vegan's blog. Lots of yummy and healthy-looking recipes here! This cake is pretty tasty and is perfect for something to go along with your afternoon tea or to enjoy for breakfast.

Ingredients:

1 cup strong chai tea (use 2 teabags and let them sit in the water until it cools)

1/3 cup uncooked quick (not instant) oatmeal

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger 

3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup coconut sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar)

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup coconut flakes, 2 Tbs reserved

1. Prepare the chai ahead of time. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan, or a rectangle pan like I had.

2. Combine the dry ingredients (oatmeal through sugar) in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the chai, applesauce, vinegar, extracts and all but 2 Tbs of the coconut. Mix well and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

3. Sprinkle with the reserved coconut and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This cake goes really well with your favorite cup of tea- it need not be chai!

Carrot spice muffins

Another Oh She Glows favorite of mine! These muffins are made with no oils and are full of yummy and good-for-you carrots. I made a batch last week and meant to blog about them but then I ate them all and got really busy and time kind of flew away from me. I made them again today, this time fixing what I did wrong last time and here they are. Angela got the recipe from Fat Free Vegan and I kind of did a combo of both versions, sticking to only the non-white sugar sweeteners. The first time I made them with vegan white sugar (did you know some white sugar is processed with animal bone char?!) the first time and they were lovely but since I recently purchased coconut sugar and have been meaning to experiment with that I went for it. The coconut sugar is so tasty here! It has a brown sugar kind of flavor and really makes this batch of muffins better than the last (even though the last was blog-worthy!).

Ingredients:
Dry:
1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup natural sugar (again, I used coconut sugar)
1 Tbs ground flax seed
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt

Wet and mix-ins:
1/3 cup agave nectar (or maple syrup- add 2 Tbs)
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup soy vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (about 3 medium carrots)
1/2 cup raisins, soaked in water and drained (I omitted these because Michael and I aren't fans of raisins in baked goods
1/3 cup chopped and toasted walnuts (the toasting step is key!)

1. Toast the walnuts on a baking sheet for about 8 minutes at 300ºF. Remove and set aside. Pre-heat oven to 375ºF and line a muffin pan with liners. If using maple syrup instead of agave, pre-heat oven to 400ºF.

2. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (agave nectar, applesauce, yogurt, water and vanilla). Add the wet to the dry and mix until just incorporated. The batter might be a bit thick.

3. Fold in the carrots, raisins (if using) and walnuts. Scoop batter into the muffin liners, filling batter to the top. Bake for about 18 minutes (but check after 15 to be sure they're not overcooked) until a toothpick or knife comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes.

These freeze really well- I froze all but 4 of the ones I made today (this recipe makes 12 muffins). I plan on eating them throughout the week for breakfast with my green smoothie!

Rice pancake with vegetable mélange

This simple dish is so nourishing and grounding and tasty for vegans and non-vegans alike. I've been getting more into macrobiotic dishes and this is one of them! The recipe comes from Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet which is a fantastic book especially for those deciding whether or note to go vegan. Liz and I made a few of the dishes in here during her visit and everything was fantastic. The original recipe is for rice waffles but we made them as pancakes and they were really yummy and wonderful left over and eaten as sweet pancakes. I'll post about that later.

Ingredients:

Pancakes:
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup water
1 Tbs mellow miso mixed with 3 Tbs water

Vegetable mélange
sesame oil
1 cup half-moon onion slices
1 cup seitan, thinly sliced
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 tsp soy sauce
2 cups broccoli florets
2 tsp dark sesame oil
sliced black olives (original recipes says optional, but I say they are NOT optional, as the dish really comes together with the olives)

1. Stir together the rice, flour, miso and 1 cup of water in a large mixing bowl. Heat a nonstick pan and coat lightly with oil. Pour in about 1/2 cup of batter and cook until browned, flipping as each side cooks. Transfer the cooked pancake to a plate to keep warm, and repeat with the remaining batter.

2. While the pancakes cook, heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté for 2 mints. Add the seitan to the skillet and sauté for 1 minute longer. Arrange the carrots on top of the seitan and onions and add 3 Tbs of water to the pan. Cover and simmer for 7 minutes. adding more water if the pan gets too dry. Add the soy sauce and broccoli to the pan and simmer 3 minutes longer. Stir to combine the ingredients and remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the sesame oil.

3. Arrange a pancake on each serving plate and top each one with a heap of sautéed veggies and seitan. Sprinkle with olives and serve warm. Also try topping with toasted sesame seeds mashed with sea salt. Yum!!

Try leftover pancakes the next day with sweet maple syrup. A delicious and nutritious breakfast!

Fig and pear pop-tarts

I don't know why I was craving pop-tarts all of a sudden today but I was, so I googled some vegan pop-tart recipes. They're a lot easier to make than I thought! I opted out of the frosting on mine because I don't love frosting, but please feel free to make it and try it on top. I used fruit-sweetened fig and pear jam- 3 of each. I got the recipe from here and only altered a few things. The recipe makes 6 pop-tarts.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) Earth Balance
1/4 cup cold plain almond milk

For the filling:
your favorite jam- I used 2 kinds: pear and fig

For the frosting:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 heaping Tbs jam
1 Tbs almond milk, plus more as needed

1. Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat and set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter or your hands, cut in the soy margarine until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the almond milk gradually, mixing until the dough just comes together and is neither sticky nor crumbly and dry.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until 1/8" thick into a large rectangle. Using a lightly floured pizza cutter, cut the dough into 12 equal rectangles. Using a lightly floured spatula, transfer 6 of the rectangles to the prepared sheet. Spoon about 2-3 Tbs of the jam to the middle of the rectangles, leaving about 1/4" border around the preserves. Place the remaining rectangles on top and gently pinch the edges, crimping until sealed. (You can dab a bit of water on the corners if this helps.) Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Transfer the pan to a wire cooling rack and allow the tarts to cool for 10-15 minutes before icing.

There's one missing because I ate it... :)

4. Meanwhile, make the icing. In a mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer, combine the powdered sugar, preserves and almond milk, blending until smooth and adding soy milk as necessary. After the tarts have cooled for 10-15 minutes, ice the tops with the icing and allow to cool completely. Freeze and then re-toast pastries in the toaster when ready to enjoy, or just enjoy at room temperature! These do not come with microwave directions like regular pop-tarts do;)

Chickpeas and nut butter

I'm sitting around the house this morning, doing some blogging and listening to recordings from an amazing food conference that happened this weekend, the Conscious Food Summit. It's free and full of great information without being preachy. If there's one thing most people can't tolerate, it's preachy vegans. Anyways, feel free to check it out. I got hungry for my morning snack as I was listening and I remembered that I have tons of chickpeas in the fridge (from a big batch I soaked and cooked on Saturday night). On Oh She Glows (yes, this one again!) there's a great recipe for a quick, filling snack with chickpeas "Chick P's and P.B.". I tweaked the recipe a bit based on what I have on hand in our kitchen. It was pretty tasty and definitely a good snack idea to have in the repertoire. This recipe makes one serving.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (if canned, rinse and drained)
1 heaping Tbs nut butter (I used almond)
1/2 tsp agave nectar (or maple syrup)

Mix the nut butter and sweetener in a bowl and add the cooked chickpeas. Mix until evenly coated. Enjoy as is or with a piece of toast or soft bread.

Granola

My mom just sent me this recipe. I had no idea my parents were making their own granola! Michael told me that this means they're just as hippy as I am haha. I guess the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree! This recipe came from a magazine in our local dentist's office- not sure which one so if anyone can find out so I can give proper credit, let me know!

This recipe is really easy and yes, it does contain honey which is a hot topic issue among vegans. Without getting into it, I eat honey and enjoy it but I stick to local honey and not the "honey" stuff that's coming as far away as China. Local honey is supposed to help with local allergies. I'm not a doctor so don't quote me on it. I see honey as a natural sweetener that is a much better choice than white sugar. That being said, feel free to use agave nectar (use less than what's called for) or maple syrup. I'd like to try this next time with maple syrup but it's so expensive.

Ingredients:

4 cups regular oatmeal (not quick or instant) a GREAT way to use up a 9 lb box of oatmeal
1/2 cup wheatgerm
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 cup almonds, chopped
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup honey or syrup
2 Tbs canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
*1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped (not too fine)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (my mom uses raisins)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350ºF. Spray cookie sheet with cooking oil (I use a 13x9 inch pan and grease lightly with cooking oil).

2. Mix all ingredients except dried fruit. Place in the pan.

3. Bake 30-35 minutes (stirring every 10 minutes) until lightly brown. Remove from oven and cool.

4. Add dried fruit. Store in sealed container in cool place. Keeps for about 3 weeks.

This is a terrible picture but it is browned and our house smells really yummy!

Feel free to use this as a base for granola and play around with different spices or additions. I bet shredded coconut or some cocoa powder or chocolate chips would be lovely. It's pretty sweet but I haven't had granola in awhile so maybe all granola is pretty sweet. When I have granola with milk for breakfast I usually sprinkle on a few plain oats just to make it less sweet.

*I used dates as I didn't have any apricots or cranberries on hand.