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Oats They're What's for Breakfast

Avocado Mango Black Bean Salad

Above is a picture of a salad that Esther and I enjoyed for lunch a few weeks ago.

It had never crossed my mind to put mango in a salad, but we went over to a friends house a few weeks ago, and they had put mango in a salad with avocado as well.

We both loved it, and decided we needed to make that salad again at home with those two ingredients!

To add some protein, I added black beans, and for extra flavor, I topped it off with a Cumin/Lemon Olive Oil dressing. Yum!

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Here is a salad were the base is not lettuce! It was a nice change of pace at lunch for Hannah and I last week. We both love tahini so that's why we dolloped a little on top, if you prefer to leave it out I would recommend a good olive oil and garlic dressing for a little more moisture! It was a really quick lunch to put together once the quinoa was cooked, we left it warm but you could make it ahead of time and use it cold. Also one last side note, the tomatoes and kale were freshly picked from our garden!!!!Our Mom has a amazing green thumb:-) It's such a blessing to have fresh produce right in our back yard.

^{Genesis 1:11-12}

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Serves:1

1/4c. dry quinoa, cooked

3 leaves of fresh kale, de-ribbed chopped and steamed till al dente

1/4 c. cooked garbanzo beans

4 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

5 kalamata olives, sliced in half

1 1/2 tsp. tahini paste ( Made from Sesame seeds)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Place cooked quinoa in a pile on plate, top with kale and garbanzo beans. Scatter tomatoes nicely over the top. Drop tahini in a nice looking 'drop' on top!

In rememberance of D-day I made this lovely dessert!

Normandy Apple Tart

1 batch of sweet tart dough enough for a 9 inch pan, partially cooked (about 8 min. )and cooled

For the filling:

2-21/2 cups of pear or applesauce

For the topping:

2 medium granny smith apples

1 egg, beaten with ½ tsp. water for egg wash

First make your tart dough and cool it all the way through. Next pour apple/pear sauce into crust till it reaches almost to the top of the crust. Peel and core apples for topping. Cut each apple into 4 pieces, and then slice into 7 thin sections. Arrange the slices in slightly overlapping concentric circles on the applesauce, starting at the edge and laying them down so their tips are against the crust. After finishing laying the apples, brush with egg wash. Bake at 400 for 50 min. Don’t worry if the apples burn a little! Cool and serve with whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream

Bizarre Love Triangle Brownies GF

Bizarre Love Triangle Brownies:

Coconut Crust, Black Bean Brownies & Macadamia Glaze

Coconut Crust:

• 4 cups fresh coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup butter, soften/coconut oil
• 3/4 cup Earth Circle Organics coconut sugar/organic cane sugar
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut out parchment paper for a 9x13 baking pan and lightly grease it with coconut oil. Mix all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Pour into prepared pan and spread the mixture evenly around the pan. Press lightly, but firmly. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. Do not overbake it! Pull crust out of the oven and let it cool a bit while making the brownie batter. If the crust puffs up a little, take a knife and poke slightly to allow hot air to escape. Leave the oven at 350 F for the brownies.

Note: If you opt to use dried coconut flakes. Add 1/3 cup of butter or coconut oil into the mixture.

Black Bean Brownies:

• 4 cups cooked black beans
• 7 eggs
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cup Earth Circle Organics coconut sugar/organic can sugar
• 1/2 cup butter/coconut oil
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2 Tbsp. vanilla
• 2 Tbsp. instant coffee opt.
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Rinse out black beans with water and let it drain completely. Pour into your blender or food processor and blend for a couple minutes. Add in eggs, cocoa powder, vanilla, instant coffee & sea salt. Melt and briskly stir the coconut sugar, butter and coconut oil together over low heat. Add in with the rest of the ingredients. Blend till smooth. The batter should be thick, but slightly soupy.

Pour the mixture over the coconut crust evenly. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, or until the brownies are set. But don't overbake! Use a knife to test the brownies... it should come out clean.

Set aside and let it cool in the pan completely while making the macadamia glaze. For quicker results, put them in the fridge.

Note: You can use 2 cans of black beans instead of making it fresh and use instant grain coffee substitute instead of instant coffee.

Macadamia Glaze:

• 2 cups macadamia nuts, soaked & dehydrated
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup Earth Circle Organics coconut sugar/organic cane sugar

Store macadamia nuts in the freezer for at least a couple hours. Pour into food processor or blender and give it a whirl till it starts to clump together into a ball. While it is still going, pour in coconut oil. It should look runny. Turn off motor and add vanilla & coconut sugar. Blend it till completely smooth (several minutes). If you want it sweeter... add more coconut sugar. Pour the glaze into a seal tight jar.

Note: you do not have to soak & dehydrate the nuts, but you'll be missing out the benefits and improved flavor from this nourishing technique.

Cut and serve these bizarre, melt-in-your-mouth brownies drizzled with Macadamia glaze.

17 Brain Boosting Foods!

1. Beef, extra lean: High in iron, a mineral that improves memory, alertness and attention span.

2. Beets: Contains phenylalanine, an amino acid that helps relay signals from one brain cell to another.

3. Blueberries: Excellent source of antioxidants and “anthocyanins,” compounds thought to help protect brain cells from toxins, improves use of glucose in the brain, and promotes communication between brain cells.

4. Broccoli: Packed with antioxidants and phytonutrients that help protect brain tissue from toxins.

5. Carrots: High in beta carotene and other natural substances that help protect brain tissue from toxins.

6. Chicken: High in tyrosine, an amino acid required for the production of the alertness chemicals dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine. When your brain is producing these, you think and react more quickly, and feel more motivated, attentive and mentally energetic.

7. Citrus fruits: Contain vitamin C and other antioxidants that help maintain sharp memory and help brain cells resist damage.

8. Edamame: Contains phenylalanine, an amino acid that helps relay signals from one brain cell to another.

9. Eggs: High in the B vitamin choline, which helps with memory.

10. Egg whites: High in protein, which can improve alertness by increasing levels of norepinephrine, which helps keep your brain at its sharpest.

11. Hot chilies: Contains the fiery-tasting chemical capsaicin. Capsaicin stimulates circulation, aids digestion, opens your nasal passages and, even better, sends a feeling of euphoria straight to your brain.

12. Legumes: Provide glucose to fuel the brain, and the fiber they contain slows the absorption of glucose, helping to maintain stable levels of energy and support alertness and concentration overtime.

13. Pork: Loaded with vitamin B1, which protects myelin, a fatty substance that helps facilitate communication among cells.

14. Romaine lettuce: High in folate, a B vitamin important for memory and nerve cell health.

15. Spinach: Packed with iron, which is involved memory, concentration, and mental functioning.

16. Tuna: Full of omega-3 fatty acids, which help build and maintain myelin.

17. Yogurt: A probiotic food that has been found in many studies to boost mental alertness.

Mexican Salad with Tangy Cumin Dressing

Around lunch time at our house you can almost always find Hannah and I eating a salad of some sort. Lately I have been trying to be a little more creative with the ingredients we have on hand, so upon realizing all the fresh produce we had within our reach from our garden and in our fridge, I decided to give your 'traditional' Mexican Salad a new twist! I hope there a few brave souls out there who will be willing to try this new version of Mexican fare:-)

Fresh Mexican Salad
1/2 A head Romaine lettuce, chopped and washed
1/3 c. cooked black beans
1/4 avocado, thinly sliced
4 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1/4 bell pepper, sliced
1-2 T. dressing(recipe below)

Pile lettuce neatly on plate. Top with beans, and arrange peppers, avocado and tomatoes in a orderly fashion. Drizzle with tangy dressing. Enjoy this refreshing salad with a cup of ice cold water!

Tangy Cumin Dressing
Serves 4-8
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried mexican oregano
Mix together and serve over lettuce.

GF Coconut Banana Blueberry Pancakes

This past weekend I (Esther) decided to try out a new recipe for pancakes, and as you know since we are off gluten they would have to be gluten free:-) This recipe caught my eye the other day when I saw them on Joy the Bakers Blog, I knew that I would have to make them sometime very soon. The original recipe called for the batter to be cooked in a waffle iron. Though as you know with a family of 7 and only 1 waffle iron it was going to be to time consuming a task on a Sunday morning to accomplish! After thinking about it I thought that it could not hurt to try and see if they would work as pancakes, and sure enough they did and some amazing pancakes they they turned out to be! The recipe calls for coconut flour which is basically you guessed.... extremely finely ground coconut,do not try and blend up some of the dried coconut you have in your pantry as it will not work( Hannah and I have tried this before, it doesn't work:-). You will need to buy this flour at your local health food store.

Gluten Free Coconut Pancakes

1/3 cup sweetened or unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted

4 tablespoons melted coconut oil,

6 large eggs

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup coconut flour

2 tablespoon mashed bananas

Toppings:

Sliced banana

Fresh Blueberries

Almond Butter

Maple syrup

Unsweetened coconut flakes

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200 degrees F.

Place coconut on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 6 minutes. Keep an eye on the coconut, it browns and burns quickly.

Remove toasted coconut from the oven and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together coconut oil, eggs, agave nectar, vanilla extract, and mashed bananas. Whisk until well incorporated.

In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, salt, and baking soda. Work the mixture with your fingers to ensure that the coconut flour doesn’t have any lumps in to.

Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mixture will begin to thicken as you whisk. Add the toasted, shredded coconut and whisk to incorporate. Allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes while you plug in and preheat your griddle. Drop the batter by 1/4 cup fulls on hot griddle that has been greased with coconut oil. Bake about 2-3 min. on first side, flip and cook another minute or so, the 2nd side cooks faster so watch it closely! Put in oven to keep warm while you finish the rest of the batter. When ready to serve dab the top of each hotcake with a little almond butter, slice extra banana and sprinkle blueberries on top. Last of all drizzle with a little maple syrup. Enjoy this absolutely amazing pancakes!

New Poll on side bar!

Homemade Rees' Cups!

A few weeks ago, Esther and I held a tea party at our house for a few of the young girls, and their mothers, that attend our church. While we were planning the menu for that special day, a friend sent us a recipe for homemade rees cups! They looked so cute and petite, we just had to add them to the tea menu. If you would like to indulge yourself on a rees, but don't want to feel guilty;-) Then give this recipe a try, its sure to fulfil any chocolate pb, cravings you have!

Homemade, Healthier Peanut Butter Cups

If you use another nut butter, you may need to add more honey. Peanuts are naturally sweet. For that matter, this is definitely a “to your own taste” recipe! And you can easily adjust the sweeter to satisfy you.

3/4 cup of peanut butter, toasted and salted (or use nut butter of your choice)
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla (if you are making this gluten free, make sure to use gluten free vanilla)
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1/3 cup of chopped soaked and dehydrated nuts, or toasted (I used a mixture of chopped almonds and pumpkin seeds) *
4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
2-4 tablespoons honey *
1-In a small bowl combine the peanut butter, coconut oil, vanilla, first two tablespoons honey, and nuts. Mix until well combined.

2-Drop by the heaping teaspoon into mini cupcake pans. Place in freezer.

3-Chop chocolate into small pieces and place in the top of a double broiler (or, like I do, in a heat proof bowl that fits on top of a pot you have). Mix in the honey. Bring about two inches of water to a boil in the pot and place the bowl on top. Watch the chocolate carefully so that it doesn’t burn, stirring gently while the chocolate melts. When there are just a few chunks left in the chocolate, take off of the heat and allow it to melt completely.

4-Drop by the teaspoon over the peanut butter mixture and place back into the freezer. Freeze for 20 minutes. Take out, and using a butter knife pop them out. Keep in the freezer or refrigerator and enjoy!

*To toast the nuts, place in a dry pan over medium-high heat. Stir almost continually until they are starting to brown. Take off of the heat.

Del Sisters note: We did not use nuts in our recipe, and they were good anyway!

Also, we would cut down the amount of coconut oil for the PB filling to 2T. instead of 1/4c.

Next time we might double the filling but keep the chocolate amount the same. I personally think that the recipe does not have a very prominent peanut butter flavor....so doubling the filling would fix that problem!

What's your favorite flavor?

Today I'm making ice cream! The flavors I decided on were French Vanilla and Peach. We also made a dairy free "ice cream" that is peppermint chocolate, will see how it turns out:-).

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream, and have you ever made ice cream from scratch?

Other things we have made today are, Coconut Flax Granola,Raw granola,Protein Bars and Raw Brownies. We also picked a large laundry basket full of swiss chard, washed, cut and steamed it. All in under 2 hours!

Great Recipe!

Not much cooking going on around our house lately, just the usual everyday kind of stuff, though we have found this really tasty healthy brownie recipe from Green Kitchen Stories! We modified it a little by leaving out the Chai tea and using almonds and walnuts instead of hazelnuts. Try them for a guilt free pick me up for your next afternoon snack or an after dinner treat!

How daring are you?

Lately Hannah and I have been experimenting with green smoothies. I have only gone a little wild once, that's when I decided to put in a rather large amount of swiss chard:-) I just thought that if a little was good why not add just a little more....right?!?! This morning I made us a very delicious concoction consisting of 11/2 bananas, 1cup strawberries, 4 kale leaves, 2 very small swiss chard leaves, and 2 cups almond milk, this does serve 2. Oh, and just for a side note, all our greens are coming straight from our Mom's garden!!!!

( Because of having this smoothie for breakfast we were not able to capture a picture of this awesomely green concoction......sorry:-)

So my dear readers, are any of you the adventuresome type? Do you like to add those extra greens to your morning smoothies???If so, please do share we always love to try new things!

Monkey Bars

Monkey Bars

Ingredients:

• 5 T. coconut oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 large mashed bananas
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/3-1/2 cup oat flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 and spray 8″ square pan or 11×7 pan
• Melt coconut oil over medium heat along with honey and stir with whisk. Remove from heat and let cool while doing the next step
• In a large bowl, mash bananas, add the beaten eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla. Add the slightly cooled oil and honey mixture
• Add oat flour and w/w flour and salt. For less moist bars, add more oats.
• Bake for 25-35 minutes until they don’t jiggle in the middle anymore and turn slightly brown around the edges
• Allow to cool and then melt chocolate chips and spread on top.

Basil Pesto and Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken

With summer on its way we decided to post a recipe that requires using the grill! This recipe is very easy to change, so if you don't like pesto skip it and add something else, also try changing the cheese. Some of our next experiments will be with swiss, brie, gouda, and cheddar.....just get creative, don't be shy! If you don't care for bacon, just don't use it:-) It won't be as flavorful, but it still will be good!

Basil Pesto

Mozzarella Cheese

Sliced Bacon

Chicken Breasts

Toothpicks

Pound chicken breasts with meat mallet till chicken breast is even in thickness. Spread pesto on chicken breast, sprinkle with cheese. Roll breast and secure with toothpicks, warp bacon on and make sure to place extra toothpicks to hold it onto the chicken. Grill on medium heat till cooked through.

Saturday Morning Donuts!

Back at Thanksgiving our Mom took us out for the "Black Friday Sales", one of our stops was at Bed, Bath and Beyond! Upon browsing the cooking/baking section we came across these donut pans. Our little siblings LOVE donuts but we don't buy or make them that often because it involves that dreaded process of FRYING;-) When we saw these pans for baked donuts we could not resist, we just HAD to buy them. Upon buying new kitchen tools you sometimes forget that you bought them, well that's what happened to us, we made donuts the day we got the pans but had not made any since!!! Last Friday evening Hannah announced that she was going to make donuts for our Saturday morning breakfast. This time around upon making them we used a different recipe. If you like pumpkin and you have a donut pan that you always forget to use, and might have forgot that you bought it like we did , try this recipe out;-)

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Yield: 12 donuts

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoon milk
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• cinnamon sugar for dusting
• melted butter for dunking in before coating in cinnamon sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray two 6-count donut pans with non-stick cooking spray (or alternatively spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray). Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon in a small bowl. In a stand mixer or medium sized bowl and hand mixer cream together the brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs, milk, butter and vanilla extract on medium speed until the butter is well incorporated.

2. With your mixer on medium low speed, slowly add the dry sifted ingredients to the wet mixture. Mix until just barely combined. Do not over-mix.

3. Scoop pumpkin batter into a large Ziploc bag, pushing batter down towards one end of the bag. Snip the end of the bag with scissors and fill each donut mold with the batter. Be sure to wipe any excess batter that may have gotten around the edge of the mold or on the center "hole".

4. Bake for 6 – 8 minutes or until the exterior springs back when touched. Remove from pan and dunk in melted butter then in your cinnamon sugar!

It's a BUG!

In my last post I mentioned that it was our little sister Kathryn's 8th birthday. Upon her request I (Esther) made her this very cute lady-bug cake. It was such fun to create and not to complicated to put together! I thought it was just too cute not to post a picture of:-)

What could be more special then this for breakfast???

Last week Kathryn lost a tooth, so for a special surprise we made her a very special breakfast. Crepes, Strawberry Nutella stuffed crepes to be exact! A little sweet for breakfast but would could be more fitting for such a sweet little sister!?!? Upon arriving at the table she had a rather sleepy look upon her face but after describing what we were making her they quickly opened and she eagerly waited for her breakfast. I think she liked them very much because she requested them for her birthday breakfast tomorrow! This was my first time making them, it was fun after the first few odd shaped ones......they tasted great but looked a little lopsided:-) By the time I had finished using the batter I had finally gotten the hang of it and they actually were round shaped! Since making them once I think tomorrow should be much easier when making them for her birthday breakfast. The only thing that is missing is fresh whipped cream, I think it could use some to cut back the sweetness a bit. But that's just my preference!

Sweet Breakfast or Dessert Crepes

Ingredients:

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/3 cups milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, melted butter, flour, sugar, and salt until smooth. Heat a medium-sized skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Grease pan with a small amount of butter or oil. Using a serving spoon or small ladle, spoon about 4 tablespoons crepe batter into hot pan, tilting the pan so that bottom surface is evenly coated. Cook over medium heat, 1 to 2 minutes on a side, or until golden brown. Serve immediately; store leftovers in air-tight container. Makes about eight Crêpes.

Sliced strawberries and Nutella for stuffing!

The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.

-Johannes Sebastian Bach-

The perfect afternoon snack!

So what do you make yourself after you get back from your sweaty afternoon workout? A smoothie of course!!! What could be more refreshing?!?! This smoothie recipe I came up with about a week ago has all the right ingredients to make sure you are fueling your muscles after winding down from your workout. After trying this recipe you will not want to go back to your original smoothie because this one is so much more creamy then any other you could imagine, the secret ingredient.......cottage cheese, that's right you read me right, cottage cheese! For me cottage cheese is something that is not on my favorite "foods" list but I was needing to eat it because of the extra protein content, after eating it plain a few times I had this brilliant idea, why not put it in a smoothie just like you would yogurt? There both dairy products right, so why not? After pouring it into my cup I a little hesitantly gave it a try, to my surprise it was so creamy, it almost tasted like a frosty and no I'm not joking! Just make sure to blend it well so you don't get those cottage type chunks:-) Enjoy!



Blackberry Peach Smoothie
Serves:1

1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/2-3/4 cup frozen blackberries
1/2 frozen peach
1/2-3/4 cup water
Put all ingredients into blender and blend on high till very smooth, about 1 minute.