breakfast Archives - Page 5 of 11 -

August 5, 2015

Chocolate Zucchini Coconut Oil Muffins

Things are looking a little different around here today, thanks to the talented Erin and Melissa of Wooden Spoons Kitchen. I am so thankful for them and the opportunity to work with them. They made me feel like more than just another client- they truly cared, they listened, they took time to get to know me, and they patiently worked to develop a design and site which personally reflects me. I could not speak more highly of them and their work. Thank you, Erin and Melissa.

Today I’m celebrating the new site design with these chocolate zucchini muffins. We are right about at the peak of summer squash season and whenever I have more zucchini than I can handle, I’ve been making these muffins. I’m not going to tell you how many batches of these I’ve already made, but I will say that we eat these for breakfast, snacks, and dessert. A combination of whole wheat pastry flour and spelt flour keeps the texture light, they are lightly sweetened with coconut sugar, and the sweet aroma of coconut oil is a nice complement to the chocolate. Studded throughout are pieces of dark chocolate that become melty and oozy when you enjoy them warm. Having loads of shredded zucchini in these muffins qualifies them as healthy enough for breakfast, don’t you think? And adding a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top makes it a most delicious dessert.

April 15, 2015

Carrot Banana Muffins {with honey cream cheese}

Last week’s spring break at home with the kids unintentionally resulted in a lot more baking and a lot less cooking. Not quite sure how it ended up that way, but the days passed by quickly and I have no regrets of how we spent our time together. One of the things my daughter looked forward to most over the break was being able to host a tea party for her grandparents. According to her, it was to be a tea party featuring her scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs are her specialty; she loves to cook them for anyone who will eat them. She has such a sense of accomplishment after she’s cracked her own eggs, whisked in the milk, sprinkled in the salt and pepper, and scrambled it together on the stove. Although it may sound simple, to her it is not, and she is proud of being able to do everything on her own. She couldn’t have been more excited about being able to cook for her grandparents. It gives me great joy to see her taking initiative in bringing others together, to share good company and delicious food .

Along with Evelyn’s scrambled eggs, we served a bowl of fresh berries and arranged a tiered tray of cardamom vanilla breakfast cookies, mini-jars of soaked muesli with chia jam, and these carrot banana muffins. I don’t know what else to say about these muffins besides that they are incredible. They are sweetened almost entirely with dates, only a touch of honey, and made with a spelt and almond flour blend. They are wonderful for breakfast, as a snack, or even as a healthy dessert. The texture is fairly dense, but also very soft and moist. The honey cream cheese is a fun surprise in the middle and makes these taste like carrot cake without all of the added sugars. Carrot cake for breakfast? Oh yes, I can always be on board with that.

Carrot Banana Muffins {with honey cream cheese}

Serves: makes 16 muffins

Ingredients

5 ounces cream cheese
3½ tablespoons honey, divided
1 cup spelt flour
1 cup almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3 large eggs
½ cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1½ cups mashed banana, (about 3-4 ripe bananas)
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup pitted medjool dates, chopped (about 9-10 dates)
2 medium carrots, grated
½ cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and 1½ tablespoons honey until creamy and smooth. (Using a stand or hand mixer here is helpful.) Place in the refrigerator to chill while making the muffin batter.
Preheat oven to 325. Lightly butter a 12-cup muffin tin and 4 cups of an additional muffin tin.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and coconut.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, butter, banana, vinegar, and remaining 2 tablespoons of honey. Stir in the dates. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Gently fold in the chopped walnuts.
Place about 1 slightly heaped tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup. Transfer honey cream cheese to a piping bag. Cut the tip off and pipe a small amount of cream cheese in the middle of each muffin cup, dividing evenly among the 16 muffin cups. Divide the rest of the batter among the muffin cups, gently placing on top of the cream cheese.
Bake 27-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling. These taste delicious both at room temperature or chilled. Store remaining leftover muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes

adapted from Andrew Weil's True Food

March 27, 2015

Pineapple Coconut Chia Shakes

Smoothies are always a welcome treat at breakfast and I like them because they are quick and a great way to load up on nutrients to begin the day. Once in a while I also like to surprise my kids with a smoothie for their afternoon snack while we chat about their school days. When it comes to smoothies, my style is more the “throw random fruits and vegetables into the blender” method rather than the “read and follow a recipe” method. I even have a beautiful smoothie cookbook, but it always seems so much easier to improvise. Despite the lack of measuring, the smoothies somehow always end up tasting fine. This is one combination that we enjoy so much however that I measured everything out just so that I could share it with you. Its flavor is similar to a pina colada minus the rum (since I’m usually making these for the kids) and it’s fun to dream about being at the beach on a sunny tropical island whenever we have these. The chia seeds thicken up the smoothie into more of a “shake” consistency while adding a healthy dose of Omega-3s. Just note that the chia seeds need at least a few hours to soak so this is probably best made the evening before if you’re planning for breakfast.

Pinapple Coconut Chia Shakes

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

2½- 3 cups fresh pineapple chunks
½ banana
1 13.5-ounce can light coconut milk, about 1½ cups
2 tablespoons chia seeds

Instructions

Place the pineapple chunks, banana, and coconut milk into the blender and blend on high until completely smooth and creamy.
Pour half of mixture into a quart size mason jar along with the chia seeds. Close lid and shake until chia seeds are well distributed. Add the rest of the pineapple mixture and shake again. Refrigerate for at least a 3 hours until thoroughly chilled and chia seeds thicken.

Notes

inspired by Amy Chapin's Peach Chia Shake from At Home in the Whole Foods Kitchen