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There’s Always Time for Pancakes!

Posted on March 13, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Wow! You guys really know how to brighten a girl’s day! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your sweet comments on yesterday’s postage! There is nothing better than the feeling I get after a long day when I settle in for the night and read all of your wonderful comments and shows of support! Seriously, I just can’t quit smiling! 😀 <-see?

Today was a long day FULL of packing! I didn’t feel like I got a lot accomplished yesterday due to spending about an hour shredding documents that had been hiding in the office for over FIVE years! Yeah…I know!

So today, I picked up the slack and went into “supreme packing mode”, but first I made myself a little breakfast…no packing schedule will make me forget about my beloved Pancake Sunday!

Today, I was more in the mood for savory…eggs mostly, so my pancakes were more of a side dish, but not one to be looked over by any means! I used Sarena’s recipe for nutritional yeast waffles only I made them into pancakes instead!

Topped with avocado and served with sauteed kale, 2 perfectly fried eggs, tomatoes, and sweet peppers.

These cheezy cakes topped with buttery avocado was the perfect compliment for this morning’s savory breakfast.

And of course a good shake of some Garlic Gold didn’t hurt!
Love that crunch!

After breakfast (which I enjoyed outside on the back deck…yay for another beautiful morning!), I got to work! I’m a bit ADD when it comes to tasks like cleaning, organizing, and in this case packing. I was all over the house, migrating room to room, collecting like things to pack into the same box.

Something I discovered a couple hours in…

Obviously I have a bit of a thing for candles…ya think? Hey, if the power ever goes out, my house will be the one on the block lit up like the Fourth of July! 😉

The rest of the day was filled with wrapping up all these beauties with my dumpster dive packing paper:

Think I got enough?

I also managed to pack up the majority of my closet (one perk to wearing scrubs Monday-Friday=less laundry), the spare bathroom, and all of the office! Next weekend we will move onto the most daunting task…the KITCHEN…duh, duh, duuuuuuh! 😉

Well, I’m off to bed! It’s definitely going to take me a few days to get used to the time change, but it’s soooooo worth it to have daylight at 6pm!

See you kids tomorrow!

Do you collect or compulsively buy anything in particular?
I honestly didn’t know my candle buying had hit such extremes! Eek! 😉

Posted in Breakfast, Pancake Sunday | Tagged eggs, moving, nutritional yeast, pancakes | 38 Comments

Sprinkle Me Happy!

Posted on March 12, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

How about some

CAKE BATTER OATMEAL?!

How’s that for getting your attention? I have seen SO many different bloggers riding out the cake batter wave lately, that I just had to get in on the action! There’s just something about a recipe that includes “batter” in the name, that immediately triggers a Pavlov response in me!

If you follow me on Twitter, then you’ve already gotten a sneak peek at the my morning bowl of celebratory goodness.

Is it my birthday? No.

Then what’s the special occasion you ask? Let me answer that question with this question: Is there really an occasion needed for indulging in a little childhood-reminiscent sprinkle lovin? I didn’t think so!

WARNING!

A BIB MAY BE NEEDED TO VIEW THE FOLLOWING PICTURES…

Cake Batter Protein Oats

by Heather @ Kiss My Broccoli

Prep Time: 2-5 minutes

Cook Time: 2-4 minutes

Keywords: microwave breakfast oats sprinkles birthday

Ingredients (Serves 1)

1/4 cup rolled oats
1/8 cup oat bran
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
3/4 cup water
1/2 banana, sliced thin
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 tablespoons yellow cake mix
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
handful of sprinkles

Instructions

1. Combine oats, oat bran, milk, and water in a pot over medium-high heat.
2. Once the mixture starts to boil, add banana slices and whisk briskly until banana “melts” into the oats.
3. Add protein powder, cake mix, and vanilla extract and continue cooking until it reaches your desired consistency (1-2 minutes for soupy oats, 3-4 minutes for thick oats).

Then add a few more sprinkles…you know, for good measure!

Special thanks to Mrs. Betty Crocker for helping create this ~~birthday wish~~ bowl!

Little FYI: Not all cake mixes and sprinkles are created equal. Don’t believe me? Check out the ingredient list the next time you’re in the grocery store…a lot of fillers and they even sneak in some partially hydrogenated oils, aka trans (artery clogging) fat.

I’ve found that the gluten-free mixes are the most legit with only a handful of ingredients.

Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix
Ingredients: Rice Flour, Sugar, Potato Starch, Leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate), Xanthan Gum, Salt

Everything in moderation is key…so don’t think I’m telling you that you HAVE to go out and by special ingredients for this. Use what you have on hand, but just know that there ARE alternatives out there! Besides, this is FAR too tasty to wait until the next trip to the store! 😉

So now that you have an opened box of cake mix, what in the world do you do with the rest? Well, besides making more bowls of cake batter oats, why not try a few of Jessica’s recipes:

Cake Batter Pancakes
Cake Batter Crispy Treats
Cake Batter Chocolate Bark (Love!), or even
Cake Batter Cinnamon Rolls

And while you’re at it, how about whipping up Katie’s Cake Batter Milkshake?

Ha! Now I have that song in my head!

What’s your favorite cake flavor?
I LOVE anything with almond extract in it!

Icing or no icing?
Usually I’m a plain cake kind of gal, unless it’s a cool whip type icing…then I’m ALL over it! I have been known to eat that stuff straight out of the container! Haha!

Posted in Breakfast, Vegan, Vegetarian | Tagged bananas, coconut butter, oat bran, oats | 61 Comments

Packing It In

Posted on March 11, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hello my favorite foodies! Can I get a T.G.I.F up in here?!

With my super early work schedule this week and meetings for various things involving the new Casa de Broccoli, I have to say this week has really flown by! Did it go by quickly for you? Any exciting plans for this weekend?

Move Day is officially two weeks away (eek!), so I guess now would be a good time to start packing, huh? I actually don’t mind packing…it can be somewhat therapeutic, if you will, especially with the right tunes to get your booty shaking. C’mon, don’t tell me you’ve never used a tape gun as a microphone!

Though, I will say:

PACKING > UNPACKING!

I don’t know what it is, but I hate unpacking boxes and trying to figure out where everything goes! It seems like it takes me forever! Am I alone on this one?

This morning…or I guess I should say last night…I practiced some packing skills on a waning jar of MaraNatha dark chocolate almond butter for some OOIAJ (overnight oats in a jar)!

Check out that marbley goodness!

What’s in the Jar:

1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup non-fat plain yogurt
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
about 1 1/2 tablespoons dark chocolate almond butter leftover in jar

This jar was PACKED full! All of the mix didn’t actually fit in the jar, so I had a couple of spoonfuls as a breakfast “appetizer”! 😉

Topped with one chopped TJ’s semi-sweet chocolate disc

Nanner that wouldn’t fit and a Cuppa 1/2 Caff Joe!

After breakfast, my belly was the one that was PACKED full! I didn’t get hungry again for almost 5 hours…I swear overnight oats fill me up more so than cooked ones!

When I got home from work today, I went straight home (first time all week that’s happened). And guess what! The sun was out! There hasn’t been anything but gray skies around here in over a week! Needless to say, I took the opportunity to soak up some good ol’ vitamin D and went for a light jog around the neighborhood which I followed by a leg workout that took me a few minutes to throw together. It actually kicked my butt pretty good…like seriously, my butt is going to be crying tomorrow!

Dinner tonight wasn’t necessary intended to be breakfasty, but for some reason, I cannot resist the urge to grab the cinnamon any time pumpkin is involved!

A Taste of Fall Quinoa Breakfast Bowl: (serves 1)

1/2 cup cooked quinoa (cook according to package instructions)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins
1 small apple, diced
1 oz walnuts, toasted*

1. After the quinoa has cooked, stir in pumpkin puree, almond milk, and cinnamon.
2. Cook over medium heat until thickened a bit and heated through.
3. Stir in raisins, apples, and walnuts.
4. Enjoy!

* To toast walnuts: Place in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring or shaking constantly for 5-7 minutes or until fragrant. Toasting nuts brings out a deeper more concentrated flavor.

I know, I know, it’s almost Spring and I’m posting a Fall-type recipe, but I just couldn’t help but think of falling leaves and cool breezes while savoring this creamy bowl of goodness! The contrast of the warm pumpkin mixture with the cool crunch of the apples and the toasty walnuts was absolutely perfect!