Blackberry Almond Quinoa {Gluten Free}

February 1, 2014February 1, 20145 Comments

A few days ago, I purchased some delicious looking blackberries at the grocery store. Honestly, any type of berries makes my mouth water – but blackberries especially.

In addition to raw turnips, I used to pick them out in the garden of my grandparents’ Texas home. And, boy – did they taste sweet after being out in the sun. Yum.

This no fuss breakfast {or snack} will leave your tummy full and happy. Not to mention, the cinnamon will give your metabolism a kick start to the day.

You will need: 1 cup of uncooked quinoa, 2 tbsp. cinnamon, 1 little grocery store container of blackberries, ½ cup almonds and 1/4 cup agave nectar.

First, cook the quinoa. Bring 2 cups of water to boil on the stove and add in 1 cup of quinoa.

Let this cook for about 10-15 minutes. You want all the water to be mostly gone and absorbed into the yummy, healthy seeds. The quinoa should look almost clear to the naked eye.

Let the quinoa cool in a bowl off the stove {for about 5 minutes.} Dump the cinnamon into the quinoa mixture – stir. I diced my almonds on my own {because I only had whole almonds.} Place about ½ cup of almonds into a food processor and pulse. But, not too long – because it will turn into butter.

Pour the almond crunch into the bowl and stir. Then drizzle about ¼ cup of agave nectar to create a beautiful sweet taste.

Lastly, add in the berries and gently mix them into the bowl. Now enjoy and serve. This makes enough for a few days. So, breakfast is taken care of for half the work week. Good deal!

Honey Cinnamon French Toast {Gluten Free}

January 26, 2014January 26, 2014Leave a comment

One of the many things that I loved when I was a kid was the gooey sugary taste of French Toast.

My mom would buy the little sticks and pour hot syrup over them in the morning. There honestly was nothing better than that.

In fact, my mouth still waters thinking of sinking my teeth into this savory breakfast.

However, now that I am gluten free, French Toast is harder to come by. You can smell it in a little café – yet cannot indulge and this is quite sad. But not to worry – it is so simple to make gluten free French Toast.

Just make your kitchen into your little bistro. So, if you are missing that delicious taste of the golden toast pieces, follow this recipe.

You will need: 1 cage free egg, 2 pieces of gluten free toast {I use Udi’s bread}, 2 tbsp. of cinnamon, honey, sugar free syrup.

Crack your egg open and dump the inside into a bowl. Whisk up the egg and dip one piece on toast in the bowl. Make sure both sides are covered with the egg mixture.

Sprinkle cinnamon all over the piece of toast and drizzle just a little bit of honey over both sides. This adds a little bit more sweetness. Yum.

Place a pan on the oven – and make sure it’s warm before you set your egg covered piece of toast on it. Cook both sides of the piece of toast. Make sure it’s pretty toasty before you take it off. You want the egg to be soaked into the bread and the toast to look slightly brown.

Do this same process for your other pieces of bread. Place the toast on a plate and drizzle sugar-free syrup on top and enjoy!

You can too have French Toast with a gluten free twist!

Coffee Cake {Gluten Free}

January 20, 2014September 12, 2014Leave a comment

Had a sweet craving this morning and, while sipping my coffee, really wanted to have some crumbly moist coffee cake.

However, as you gluten free foodies know – making delicious dishes like this are a little bit harder to make sans gluten.

Fortunately I found a wonderfully delightful recipe on Good Life Eats. I will be making this sweet coffee cake again and again.

Slightly modified the recipe to my taste – here is what I used below. Yum – you will for sure eat more than one piece this morning.

You will need: 1 ¼ cup almond flour (I used blanched almond meal), ¼ cup oat flour (if you don’t have this handy, grind up oats in the food processor), 2 tbsp. coconut flour, a dash of salt, 2 tbsp. cinnamon, 1/3 cup brown sugar, ¼ cup vegetable oil, ½ tsp. baking soda, ½ tsp. baking powder, 2 cage free eggs, 1 cap full vanilla extract and ½ cup skim milk.

I also made a sweet frosting to drizzle over the top of the hot cake.

For the frosting you will need: 1/3 cup cream cheese, 1/3 cup powder sugar and ½ cup milk.

Basically, all I did was first combine all the flours together and mix these up with a large fork. I also did not have any oat flour on hand. So, just poured ½ cup of oats into a food processor and made my own. Problem solved!

Add in the salt to your multiple gluten free flour mixture – then the cinnamon and brown sugar. Also put in the baking soda and powder. Stir these together good with the large fork.

Now add in the wet ingredients. Dump in the oil and eggs and stir. Lastly add in the vanilla and milk. Then, you will need to mix all this together into a nice little mixture.

Spray a 8X8 pan with non-stick cooking spray and pour in your yummy mixture. To add to the sugary taste, I created a topping of a little brown sugar and cinnamon that I sprinkled over the top of the cake.

Place this in the oven {heated to 375} for around 25 minutes.

To make the powder sugar frosting, I combined all the ingredients in the food processor and pulsed until the mixture looked creamy. Add more powder sugar, if you think it’s not sweet enough.

Pour your powder sugar frosting on top of the warm cake {I drizzled it with a spoon} – and enjoy!

Oatmeal Pancakes {Gluten Free}

October 7, 2013September 12, 2014Leave a comment

Pancakes warm your soul. I think I should trademark that as a quote. I love experimenting with various recipes to find the perfect gluten free pancake. I think I might have discovered it. These pancakes were not only filling – they were wholesome.

I felt like I was on a farm, sitting at the wooden, crude table with a glass of milk and silky bonnet on – eating breakfast before having to milk the cow!

These were fresh and mouthwatering good. I can’t remember the last time I had wheat – but honestly, I would choose these sweet pancakes over Ihop any day of the week or weekend!

You will need: 2 cups gluten-free rolled oats, 1/2 cup gluten free vanilla whey protein powder, 2 tsp. baking powder, ¼ tsp. baking soda, ¼ tsp. sea salt, 4 tbsp. coconut oil melted, 2 cage free egg, 3 tbsp. agave nectar, and 1 cup skim milk (or almond, coconut, soy).

These are simple and easy to make. In one mixing bowl, place all the dry ingredients – oats, whey protein powder, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt. Gently sift this mixture together.

In a separate bowl, add all the wet ingredients. Crack in the eggs, melted coconut oil, agave nectar and skim milk. Mix this up pretty well. Pour the dry mixture in with the wet and stir it up.

This will create your batter. On a frying pan – grease it with coconut oil (just a tablespoon). And spoon out the pancake mix (like you would with regular batter!) Flip for perfection – so it’s gold on both sides.

Bonus: to keep the pancakes warm, heat your oven to about 200 and line a cookie sheet with foil. After each pancake is done on the skillet – place them in the warm oven – and serve hot with a little light syrup!

Healthy Avocado Toast

September 21, 2013September 21, 2013Leave a comment

I love Saturday mornings. First of all – no work (sometimes) and a quiet morning just drinking coffee and watching TV {OK, I will try to throw a workout in there!}

There is nothing better than not having an agenda, lounging in yoga clothes, watching Food Network and making a quick, yummy breakfast.

My sister – the awesome blogger for The Veggie Girl – introduced me to this quick, simple breakfast that has become one of my favorites.

It basically has one ingredient and takes no time at all to make in the morning. It’s healthy and fills you up for hours!

All you need is a toaster, one small avocado, gluten free bread, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Yep, that’s all. And, of course, if you are not gluten free – you can substitute the gluten free bread for some healthy maybe Ezekiel 4:9 bread.

First of all, cut the avocado and hollow out the insides. Place the insides of the avocado in a bowl and mash it up with a fork. I don’t have a toaster, but the broil option on my stove is a lifesaver. I just set two pieces of bread in the oven and heat them for about 3 minutes.

Then spread the avocado mixture on your toast, sprinkle it with a salt and pepper and squirt a little lemon juice over the toast. Now, you have a filling, healthy Saturday morning breakfast! Complete with a warm cup of coffee.

PS: I will post later this afternoon on how to make a $1 pocket square. Stay tuned!