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Sharing is Caring!

Posted on November 25, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

Hey guys and happy Monday!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Mine was spent having dinner with friends, cuddling with the man-friend under a warm blanket watching this and that (both of which we really liked), and spending most of the day Saturday at my parents house…indulging in comfort food, cable television, and some good laughs!

Just in case you’ve ever wondered where I get my sense of humor! 😉

After leaving my parents house on Saturday night, the man-friend and I got back and I was BEYOND starving. In lieu of abusing me with citrus fruit, the man-friend set to work on a chicken fried rice dish, but as good as that sounds NOW, I just wasn’t feeling salty and savory. So I pulled out a near-empty peanut butter jar ~~I’d hidden in the back of his pantry~~ I found in his pantry, threw in a cold roasted sweet potato, some Greek yogurt, and fig jam and called it dinner. It was exactly what I wanted and well, exactly what Jay Jay wanted too!

Sharing is caring!

Which brings me to the point of this post: I’ve stumbled over some really great things on the interwebs lately and since my weekend can pretty much be summed up in two paragraphs, instead of a recap post, I thought I’d share some of my favorite links!

Enjoy! 😀

Links that got me thinking:

The Good Life Challenge from Jamie Mendell – Ok, so there really wasn’t much thinking involved with signing up for Jamie’s FREE holiday challenge…weekly challenges designed to help get you through the stress of the holidays (including the fear of gaining weight) with TONS of prizes! Since this is my first holiday season with intuitive eating and I’ve still be struggling some with bingeing, I definitely wanted some support/motivation over the next month and what better way to hold myself accountable AND possibly win some cool prizes?! It started yesterday and will be going on until the new year, BUT you can still sign up!!

Love & Learning to Love: Baring it All from Snack Therapy – A beautifully honest post about loving your body that literally brought me to tears.

Five Ways to Deal with Anxiety from Mrs. Murphy’s Laws of Fitness – A few things to think about to keep our stressors from getting the best of us.

Don’t Feel Sorry via Fitting It All In – Since I’ve been struggling at times to accept the weight I’ve recently gained, this was the PERFECT post for me!

Be Strong Enough to Walk Away via Health Nut Julie – A gentle reminder that some people are just NOT meant to be in our lives.

10 Words You’ve Probably Been Misusing via Hello Giggles – Ado vs Adieu…gah, GUILTY!

Links that got me laughing:

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – Madison shared this one with me…Just wait till you get to the part about her dog! 😆

Nature Talk with Charlotte G via Commitness to Fitness – I swear, Charlotte CEASES to amaze me with her hilarity!

26 Dangerous Symptoms of Being Addicted to Puns – I can’t pick a favorite…they’re all so punny!

Links that got me drooling made my eyes bug out:

34 Insanely Easy Two-Ingredient Recipes – Greek yogurt PIZZA CRUST, ice cream BREAD, egg nog MUFFINS?!…and yeah, clearly I’m carb-obsessed! 😉

Dip Recipe Creations – An ENTIRE site dedicated to one of the things I love the most!

Herbed Turkey Burgers with Goat Cheese and Cranberry Sauce from Hungry Girl Por Vida – Calee linked these in her latest WIAW post and I mean, how could you go wrong with this combo?

Vanilla Cardamom Quinoa Pudding from Coffee & Quinoa – What’s better than rich and creamy rice pudding? Pudding with a protein PUNCH!

Chili Roasted Tofu with Minted Pomegranate Relish from The Sprouted Kitchen- Seriously, does this even NEED an explanation?! 😯

What did you do this weekend?

Any good links you’d like to share?

Posted in Link Love | Tagged family, intuitive eating, weekend | 35 Comments

Chocolate Covered Orange Pancakes

Posted on November 24, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

So remember when I said I WASN’T a chocoholic?

Well, I think I lied.

When I first created these super fluffy pancakes for Meghan during my visit to Cleveland and then again a couple of weeks ago for the man-friend (don’t hate me for holding out on you), I chose to top them with some pure maple syrup. While that was an absolutely delicious combo, I ran into a little…problem?

The cakes were just too darn soft (and FLUFFAAAAAAY!) to snap up pictures before soaking up all that sweet syrupy goodness!

I know. I know. #firstworldproblems 😉

So I got to thinking about flavor combos and substitutions that would save me from having a stack of pancakes advertising “skid marks” annnnnd in about 0.329 seconds, I had a solution…

I seriously thought these were some of the best pancakes I’ve EVER made…then I covered them in chocolate…then I pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming!

Chocolate Covered Orange Pancakes

By: Heather @ Kiss My Broccoli

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Cook Time: 8-10 minutes

Keywords: breakfast pancakes high fiber vegetarian coconut flour whole wheat pastry flour orange juice Pancake Sunday

Ingredients (Serves 1)

For the Pancakes

1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or oat flour)
2 Tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
1/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
Toppings: chocolate sauce and mini chocolate chips*

For the Chocolate Sauce

3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons water (or milk)
3-4 drops NuNaturals orange stevia drops

*or put the chocolate chips IN the batter! 😀

Instructions

1. Heat a non-stick skillet or griddle to medium heat and coat with cooking spray.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and stir with a wire whisk to break up any lumps.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.
4. Add wet to dry and stir until just combined.
5. Spoon batter onto skillet surface, forming 3 small-medium pancakes (batter will be thick).
6. Allow to cook 4-5 minutes on each side, flipping after edges start to crisp (batter will not bubble).
7. While the cakes are cooking, prepare your chocolate sauce by mixing all ingredients and whisking until smooth and creamy.
8. Transfer to a plate and top with chocolate sauce and chocolate chips.

I don’t know what it is about the combination of chocolate and orange, but this plate literally had me stopping every couple of bites just to catch my breath! I loved how the addition of the orange NuStevia in the chocolate sauce only further brought out the orange flavor in the cakes. If you don’t have access to stevia, you can substitute a tablespoon of maple syrup and a 1/4 teaspoon of orange extract for a similar taste.

I swear these would be PERFECT for Thanksgiving morning! With wholesome ingredients, they are incredibly filling without weighing you down…exactly what you need to power through an afternoon of cooking!

Chocolate Covered Orange Pancakes www.kissmybroccoliblog.com

Or through a morning of fighting off crazies at the mall Friday morning! 😉

What dish are you most looking forward to for Thanksgiving?
I must admit, the desserts are not a huge deal for me, but I can’t WAIT to get some of my grandmother’s cornbread dressing…she makes two big pans each year!

Are you shopping during Black Friday this year?
Can I just say that I think it’s totally ridiculous that some stores are opening on Thursday night! Seriously?!

Posted in Pancake Sunday, Recipe, Vegetarian | Tagged chocolate, cocoa, eggs, NuNaturals, orange, Thanksgiving | 43 Comments

Chocolate Glazed Kabocha Donuts

Posted on November 22, 2013 by kissmybroccoli

Once upon a time, in a far away land…

There was born a magical donut.

Ok, so maybe it was more like six donuts, but not all stood accounted for on the day of this illustration…

Because I ated them. 😉

Now I say “magical” donuts because in the days prior to their birth, they were meant to become rich golden PANCAKES 😯 …I know, let’s not speak of such royal disappointments. After realizing that the glass slipper simply would not fit…especially on something which lacked FEET, the Pancake Queen had to make other arrangements.

She gazed into her ~~pantry~~ magic mirror and spotted an army of noblemen. Little did she know that one brave knight would step forward and save her breakfast…

Sir Tagatose (the dude in the back left) from the prosperous Land of NuNaturals offered up his magical sweetness and serenaded the queen with a beautiful song just before professing his undying love and dedication to her.

Where they soon after, mounted his faithful ~~stevia~~ steed and rode off into the sunset!

Oh wait, some pages got stuck together…

Oh ok, here we go: With Sir Tagatose by her side, they turned back to the kitchen and set to work. Surprisingly, they had only just opened the fridge when there was a knock on the door. A crew of woodland creatures had heard of their troubles and was there to help!

After a sudden burst into song and dance, the pan of donuts went into the oven…though not to be confused with an oven that holds a certain wicked witch!

Luckily, the blue birds showed up just in time to ~~miss the eggs that went into the batter~~ decorate. They were rewarded with pink “bird food.” 😉 And with a show of ribbons and sunshine and yet ANOTHER song and dance…

Sprinkles

Breakfast was FINALLY served!

Chocolate Glazed Kabocha Donuts

By: Heather @ Kiss My Broccoli

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: bake breakfast dessert snack dairy-free vegetarian nut-free sugar-free kabocha squash fall

Ingredients (6 Donuts)

For the Donuts

1 1/2 cups oat flour (ground from rolled oats)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3-4 Tablespoons NuNaturals tagatose (or other sweetener that measures like sugar)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
150g (1 cup, packed) pre-roasted cubed kabocha (or other winter squash)
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 large egg
3 large egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Topping

3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon melted coconut oil (optional, but I think it helps set the chocolate)
3-4 drops chocolate-flavored Nunaturals stevia
2-3 Tablespoons water (or almond milk) to thin

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and coat a donut pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a small blender or food processor, blend squash and milk until creamy.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, tagatose, and spices and stir with a wire whisk.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the squash mixture, eggs, and vanilla.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
6. Separate batter evenly in the prepared donut pan and cook for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the donut comes out clean.
7. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Prepare chocolate topping my whisking all ingredients together until creamy.
9. Pour into a shallow dish and dunk the tops of each of the donuts in it before adding sprinkles.
10. Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

The END!

Epilogue: I thought these babies came out perfect the ~~first~~ second time I made them, but when I went back to the kitchen to try another ratio of ingredients, they came out lighter and TWICE as fluffy! Unfortunately, I didn’t get photographic evidence of that since it just happened last night, but trust me, you WANT to make these! And if you don’t have a donut pan, you can always make MUFFINS!

I loved the subtle sweetness of the donut itself, but with the chocolate and sprinkle topping, it was even better! This was my first time working with the tagatose too and I have to say I like it more than xylitol…absolutely NO aftertaste and it measures exactly like regular sugar! And while, I’ve ALWAYS been a fan of any of the NuNaturals liquid stevias, I have to say the chocolate is one of my favorites…unlike the others, it has a thick, rich consistency to it and a little goes a long way!

On the off chance that you don’t think my baking winter squash into donuts is strange(butgood), then either my storytelling talents, or my color-coding sprinkles should do it for ya! 😉 Be sure to check out the other link ups on Sprint 2 The Table!

Disclaimer: I was given these NuNaturals products free of charge, but all of the above opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

Have you ever tried tagatose before?

What’s your favorite kind of donut?