Waffles

Breakfast is my favorite meal and I was hungry for redemption from my pancake disaster. My friend Beth from college used to make the best waffles and I needed a waffle fix and the waffle iron she bought me was in desperate need of some use.  Enter Blueberry Waffles I found the recipe on Post Punk Kitchen where I also found a ton of other tasty recipes I will be trying in the coming weeks.  Back to waffles, here's the recipe:

1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice ( I used nutmeg)
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk (or your non dairy milk of choice)
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and allspice into a mixing bowl. Mix in the oats. Make a well in the center and add applesauce, milk, maple syrup, oil and vanilla. Stir till combined.
Let batter rest for about 5 min to thicken. Fold in blueberries. This is where everything turns blue.
Cook in waffle iron according to waffle iron directions. In my little iron I used a heaping 1/4 cup.
Remember to spray between waffles with oil.

Batter

Naked waffles

 

 

 

Ready to eat!

I am happy to report that my waffles were a success, meaning I thought they were delicious. It took some trial and error with the amount of batter to put into the iron and how long to cook them but once I got it down I was a waffle making machine!

Great Grains

Happy February! I just celebrated by 30th birthday! I feel a bit like a brand new person so I am rolling with this new energized feeling.
I found a recipe that I thought was a bit out there and took a chance, prepare yourself for Peanut Butter Quinoa Cookies.
Quinoa in cookies you ask? Or maybe it's what the heck is quinoa? Here are a few benefits of this ancient grain.

• Quinoa is a complete protein, it contains all 9 essential amino acids, who says you need meat?
• Quinoa contains twice as much fiber as other grains, more bang for your buck you could say
• Quinoa is rich in magnesium. Health benefits of magnesium include transmission of nerve impulses, body temperature regulation, detoxification, energy production, and the formation of healthy bones and teeth. All of which I felt I needed after my birthday party in Las Vegas.

Now to the recipe:
2c quinoa cooked and cooled
1/2c natural salted peanut butter
1/3c raw honey
1/2c dried, unsweetened, shredded coconut
1/2c raw cacoa nibs

Cook the quinoa on the stove top, per the instructions on the box. Allow the quinoa to cool.
Preheat oven to 170 degrees
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Flatten tablespoons of the mixture onto parchment paper
Bake for 1 hour

Sadly these were not such a success. They don't stick together like a cookie should. I think more peanut butter would have helped, maybe less quinoa as well. On the plus side, they are totally edible in doughy form and still quite tasty. More coconuty than they are peanut buttery. I can say I tried, baking has never been my strong suit. Let me know if you can get these to turn out right! Till then I'll be eating my globs of yummy.
Update: I added some more peanut butter, a less creamy variety, and I turned them into quinoa balls. Stick with what I know.

Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day!!
Ol' Puxatony Phil didn't see his shadow and today certainly felt like an early spring.  In tribute to the ground dwelling creature I thought I would make a grown in the ground dinner. Well, except the broccoli, but I had limited veggies. This is actually one of my new favorite dinners, I have made it almost every week in January. It's just so simple and it cooks as I do my workout most evenings.
Chop up some potatoes, I like yukon golds but any spud will do
Chop some veggies of your choice broccoli is my fav, but the carrots are delicious. I tried tomatoes one night and those were a little tricky, they needed less time to cook than the rest
Toss in a bowl and pour in some olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil. I think you get it, whatever oil is your preference.
I tossed in a little white wine vinegar on accident one night and that too was a nice twist.
Sprinkle with salt, garlic salt, heck whatever spices you like. I have a real distaste for pepper but I'm sure that would go well.
Heat that oven to 400 degrees and cook for about 15-20 minutes. I start checking on them after 15.

Before on top, cooked on the bottom

In other news I have also discovered an amazing juice and just had to share! Suja juice was at my local Whole Foods giving samples and I was in love at the first taste. They are delicious, pricey but delicious. It's straight juice, no fillers or other not listed ingredients like some of those juices out there. The website is sujajuice.com and I highly recommend a visit. They offer juice cleanses if that is what you fancy, otherwise you can look at all the yummy offerings they have. The perfect solution to juicing, when there is no time for cleaning that juicer.

Fuel is the name of this one