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Cookies for Breakfast

Posted on January 6, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

How’s everyone faring this first week of the new year? Me? I can’t wait until tomorrow is over so that I can wake up, turn over, and not see the numbers 5, 0, and 0 on my alarm clock!

So after my perfect plate of breakfast bliss (man, I’m a sucker for alliteration) on Monday (thanks again Chelsea for the awesome recipe!), I vowed to make the rest of the week’s morning meals using the “Gem-bras-nibble-few” approach! Confused? Just click my newly coined acronym and all will be revealed! 😉

Tuesday was a fantastic bowl of Overnight Pumpkin Oats and for the last two days, I have experimented with the Breakfast Cookie! Who knew cookies for breakfast could be so filling AND healthy?

Pumpkin & Cranberry Pecan Breakfast Cookie: (serves 1)
Inspired by Gina aka “The Fitnessista”

1/3 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon almond butter
1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
1/8 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/8 cup pumpkin puree
1/8 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon chopped pecans
cinnamon

1. Combine oats, almond butter, and protein with a fork until it forms a crumbly mixture.
2. Combine with milk and stir.
3. Stir in pumpkin, cranberries, pecans and a dash of cinnamon.
4. Spread on a small plate and form into a cookie shape.
5. Refrigerate overnight and devour in the morning!

Cinna-Raisin PBB Breakfast Cookie: (serves 1)

1/3 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon salted peanut butter
1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein
1/2 banana, sliced thin
1/8 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/8 cup raisins
1 tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut
cinnamon

Same steps as above, but after making your crumbly mixture, mash the banana slices into it before adding the milk.

The concept behind these “cookies” is similar to the overnight oats only with less moisture in the ingredients so that it can keep a cookie-like shape. It still stays pretty soft so I ate mine with a spoon, but according to Gina, you can pop it in the freezer for 10 minutes to get it to harden more.

I was totally craving a yogurt parfait for my after work snack today. I’m all out of yogurt, but I did have a liiiiiiiitle bit of pumpkin kefir left!

What’s in the Bowl?

1/2 cup Lifeway Pumpkin Kefir
Toasted wheat germ
Barbara’s Cinnamon Puffins
Quaker Oat Squares
Kashi Go Lean

The amount of cereal looks like a lot in the pic, but was only about 1/2 cup total. I ate this at 4:45 with a cup of decaf coffee made with my new Xpress SmartCups and I am just now (4 hours later) starting to get a little hungry. I forgot how well kefir fills my belly! Love that stuff…too bad that was the last of the pumpkin flavor! 🙁

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe I may go find myself a little snacky snack and cuddle up with this little mailbox treasure for the rest of the night!

Posted in Breakfast | Tagged bananas, coconut, cranberries, kefir, nut butter, oats, pumpkin | 11 Comments

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Posted on January 5, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Have you ever had one of those days where you just can’t seem to get ahead…everything seems to go the opposite of how you want it and it takes literally FOREVER for the day to end? Well, that is how my day went today. My 8 hour shift today felt more like 18 hours! Sometimes I have days like this and can take it in stride..today, it took everything in me to just make it to 3:00p.

When I got home, I really just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for the rest of the night, but as I started to relax and unwind a bit, I realized what I really needed was some foodie comfort for my hungry belly.

Warm Apple Crumble with PB Sauce

This definitely hit the spot and soothed my worn out mind and body.

Warm Apple Crumble with PB Sauce:

1 medium-sized apple, cored and diced
cinnamon
1-2 tablespoons granola
1 1/2 tablespoons peanut flour
1 1/2 tablespoons water

1. Place diced apples in a pot with about 1 inch of water in the bottom, sprinkle with cinnamon, cover and steam for about 8 minutes or until apples are tender.
2. Pour cinnamon apples into a bowl and top with granola.
3. Mix equal parts of peanut flour and water and whisk until smooth. Pour over apples and granola.
4. Let the warm, crunchy, melty goodness ease away the stress of the day.

After this “Good for the Soul Bowl” and a little Dexter eye-candy (I am currently catching myself up on Dexter via Netflix live-streaming), I was feeling a little better.

Rather than stay on the couch and hold on to the day’s troubles, I decided (with a big mental “push” to just get up, change, and take out the rest of my frustrations on a workout for Team HEAB. Not sure if I took out the frustrations of my day or if Lindsey took out her frustrations on me, but after a good 30 minute sweat sesh, I was finally feeling like my normal self again.

Earlier today, I came across 3 little words that instantly made my mouth begin to water…Buffalo Chicken Wontons! It seems Liz over at Blog is the New Black just happened to know I had a package of wonton wrappers that ~~were expired~~ desperately needed to be used and could use a bit of inspiration. Being that I did not have any wing sauce-or any hot sauce for that matter…how did THAT happen?-I had to do a little thinking. Luckily, I after clearing my head with an awesome workout, an idea came to me rather quickly. Remember the Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce I found at Whole Foods over the weekend? Well, it made its debut tonight!

Sauce-say Chicken Pockets: (makes 10 little pockets)

3 ounces cooked diced chicken
2 tablespoons red onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
1 tablespoon Vidalia Onion Fig Sauce
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/8 cup crumbled goat cheese
10 pre-packaged wonton wrappers

1. Combine diced chicken, red onion, orange zest, sauce, and pepper in a small bowl.
2. Spoon mixture onto prepared wontons, dividing evenly.
3. Divide cheese and top chicken mixture.
4. Tuck chicken and cheese mixture into wonton wrapper and seal by wetting your finger in a little water and wiping across outer edge of wrapper. Squeeze to seal.
5. Place sealed wontons on a greased baking sheet. Spray the tops of the wontons with more cooking spray.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Photo Tutorial for the reading impaired 😉

The great thing about these is the versatility! You could use just about any cheese/sauce combination out there and they would be fantastic! And who out there doesn’t like food in the shape of little “present” pockets? You could make them as an appetizer, or you could do like me and make dinner out of them!

Served alongside Heather’s Hawaiian Baked Sweet Potatoes! So yummy it was love at first bite! Nom nom nom!

Who had a bad day? Me? No way!

How was your hump day? What is your best way to unwind after a stressful day?

Posted in Entree, Snacks | Tagged apples, cheese, chicken, hospital, peanut butter | 15 Comments

Pumpkin Pie & Pizza Mountains

Posted on January 4, 2011 by kissmybroccoli

Hope everyone is having a good first week back to work/school after all the holiday bustle! And for those of you still on vacation…sleep an extra hour or so for me!

I work rotating shifts at the hospital (M-F 8:00a-4:30p, M-F 6:30a-3:00p, and M-Th 9:00a-7:30p) and this week is my “early week.” Usually, when I work this shift, I try to make breakfast quick and easy. Easy breakfast = more sleep = happy Heather!

Yesterday’s breakfast was a bit of a stretch, especially after my 5 minute hunt through the kitchen cabinets trying to find the peanut flour! I made it to work on time, but I was surely hustlin’! :p

I’ve decided to try a different approach for the rest of this week’s morning meals…the get- more-beauty-rest-and-still-not-be-late-for-work approach, or

The GMBRASNBLFW Approach
“Gem-bras-nibble-few” 😉

Overnight Pumpkin Pie Oats:

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup pumpkin flavored kefir (or vanilla yogurt if you’re not as fortunate as I to have found this gem!)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
splash of vanilla
sweetener of choice (I liked mine without)

1. Mix all ingredients together, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
2. In the morning, rehydrate with milk of choice (I used about 1/4 cup of vanilla almond milk.
3. Stir and top with granola, whipped cream, or nut butter.

Topped with the last of the Pumpkin Molasses Quinoa Granola,
served with 1/2 a nanner and a big ol’ cuppa Joe!

I just recently tried overnight oats for the first time and after realizing how simple it was I’ve wanted to experiment with different flavor combos! This one tasted just like a nice cool slice of creamy pumpkin pie! If I hadn’t wanted to use up the last of the granola, I definitely would have topped my “pie” with whipped cream!

After seeing Little Bookworm’s sandwich earlier today over at Beans Books and Cookies, I knew I had to have some roasted veggies with tonight’s dinner. Instead of making a sandwich though, I decided to get a little creative with some whole wheat pizza dough that I bought at Trader Joe’s.

Roasted Veggie Pizza Mountain: (makes any size pizza you want!)
Inspired by Little Bookworm’s Roasted Vegetable Club Sandwich

Whole wheat pizza crust, pre-made or from scratch
Assortment of roasted vegetables
2 tablespoons of your favorite hummus
Shredded cheese

1. Pre-bake pizza crust according to package. I cooked mine for about 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
2. Take crust out of oven and top with hummus, cheese, veggies, more cheese, and a little Italian seasoning (I love adding this…just gives the pizza a little somethin’ extra).
3. Place back into oven and bake until cheese melts.

Cut pizza dough into fourths

Get out your "rolling-pin" 😉

Roll dough out to desired thickness

Rolled out "mini" pizza crusts

Top pre-baked crust with hummus

Cheese

And pile on the veggies!

: A little more cheese for good measure!

This “pizza mountain” definitely hit the spot! And if you don’t want to make it a pizza, you could always just used a good thick slice of bread and have yourself an open-faced veggie sandwich! I’m freezing the other 3 mini crusts to try other pizza mountains in the future.

Pizza is one of the first things I begin cooking when I was discovering my passion for food. A pizza crust is like a blank canvas to me. I love experimenting with different sauces, toppings, and cheeses. I’m sorry, but you just can’t get the same flavor of a homemade pizza from delivery…you just can’t! And it’s definitely better than paying extra for each additional topping!

Have you ever made homemade pizza before? If yes, what is your favorite combo?
The best pizza I ever made was topped with roasted red pepper Monterey-Jack cheese, roasted red peppers, onions, and shredded chicken!

If not, what’s holding you back?
Before I felt comfortable with experimenting, I used to buy the refrigerated crusts and pre-package pepperoni and then gradually started adding more and different ingredients.