Lauren the Baker

As much of a Debutante I am with the stove, I'm even worse with the oven. I used to love baking when I lived with my parents. My mom decorates cake as a hobby/side job, so I had tons of baking tools and recipes at my disposal. I used to bake cupcakes for my boyfriend-at-the-time's family for their birthdays; it's no wonder I was so popular at their house! :)

However, I lost my interest after I got sick of doing the dishes. That's the worst part about baking: tons and tons and tons of dishes.

I also lost interest when I went to college and eventually got an apartment. Once I was buying my own groceries, buying ingredients like powdered sugar, cream cheese, and mass amounts of eggs seemed like such a waste, especially when I was devoting my financial resources toward whole foods and organic produce.

Lately, however, I've been into baking again, but a different kind: healthy baking. Eggless, sugarless, dairyless baking. It's an interesting challenge, but it gives me something different to include in my bento box at school.

When I say healthy baking, I don't mean a cookie with some oatmeal thrown in. I'm so tired of people bastardizing the word "healthy" (I'm looking at you, Pinterest users!). "Healthy" is not reduced-fat cream cheese. "Healthy" is not sugar-free jello. "Healthy" is not apple pie, strawberry ice cream, or banana bread. Including a fruit does not negate the sugar and fat. It's still a dessert. You could say "homemade." You could say "lightened up." You could say, "Made from fresh-picked apples!" But it's not "healthy."

I'm talking about dense and hearty gems concocted from mashed bananas, peanut butter, flax, oatmeal, and other whole ingredients. No sugar. No butter. No egg. No white flour. I look for the most healthful ingredients, and cut out the unnecessary ones. This is what attracts me to vegan recipes so often--the ingredients are typically unprocessed and nutritious. After all, vegan bakers are experts at replacing butter and eggs!

My bakery items are not what most people would consider "dessert," but for my everyday purposes, they're perfect. It's like taking a healthy and nutritious bowl of oatmeal and turning it into a baked good.

Like these banana-oatmeal muffins. Filling, flavorful, and hearty. And to push them over the top, I spread peanut butter on them. :)

I adapted them from this recipe. Although the actual recipe is very respectable, I used flax instead of eggs, and instead of chocolate chips, I went for a more banana-bread-like flavor, so I skipped the chips and added cinnamon instead. Mmm!

If you're also interested in unsweetened (and/or vegan!) baking recipes, check out this blog--she has lots of great healthified takes on classic desserts (although I'm unsure of the Stevia thing, so I avoid that)! I've made the chocolate chip cookies (contains some brown sugar) and breakfast cookies. They were both great!

Choconut oatmeal

One of my favorite things about adopting a more healthful diet is that it taught me to try new foods. My diet used to consist of various combinations of potatoes, ground beef, corn, and Campbell's Condensed Cream of Chicken, with occasional doses of Cheetos, Lucky Charms, and Toaster Strudels. Anything beyond that, I hated. If it didn't taste exactly like something my mom made, I would turn my nose up.

Opening my mind to all foods has really helped me embrace all flavors and textures. Many foods that I hated five years ago have now become some of my favorites.

One food in particular has really captivated me lately: coconut. I had always hated it. I hated german chocolate cake because of the coconut. I hated Samoas because of the coconut. I hated coconut cream pie because of the coconut.

Perhaps it was Malibu (and Pina Coladas) that helped me acquire a taste for it, but I've lately been coconut crazy. I bought some coconut milk yesterday to make this coconut quinoa salad for dinner--which was beyond delicious--and this morning I used it to create this chocolatey coconut oatmeal. Or, as I like to call it, Choconut Oatmeal. :)

Choconut Oatmeal

• 1 c coconut milk
• 1/2 c old-fashioned (rolled) oats
• 1 tbsp. flax or chia (optional)
• 1 tsp. cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp. chocolate or carob chips (I used Nestle dark chocolate)
• shredded coconut (I didn't have this, so I skipped it)

1. Bring coconut milk to a boil. Add oats and flax, and reduce heat to medium. Stir frequently.

2. After several minutes, add the cocoa powder. You could also use chocolate chips here instead, but I wanted to keep the added sugar to a minimum, so I used cocoa powder. It takes a little longer to mix in, though.

3. When the oatmeal is done, transfer to a bowl and top with chocolate chips, shredded coconut, and another splash of coconut milk. As you can see from my picture, I stirred half of my chips in and then added the other half on top. 

I rarely have oatmeal with no fruit. To compensate, I followed up this beautiful bowl with a gorgeous grapefruit (so much alliteration!). I always aim for 4-6 servings of fruit and vegetables a day.

**You can check out my other oatmeal recipes here, or by clicking the oatmeal tag. You can also find dozens of other oatmeal recipes on my Pinterest board (along with tons of other meatless recipes!). Thanks!

Chili: Unveiled

I've posted about chili many times now. First, I confessed my addiction by whipping up a quick, cheater's version during the hottest days of the summer. Then I used the leftovers to top a veggie burger. Then I made another (botched) batch to stuff an acorn squash.

And now, at last, I have a recipe to share with you--a recipe that I can proudly share because I know it rocks. Half the problem with my previous attempts was not the ingredients at all, but the fact that I didn't let it simmer.

Yes. You HAVE to let it simmer. For HOURS. And if you want it to be even better, you'll let it simmer, and then leave it in the fridge overnight, and FINALLY eat it the following day for lunch. In a mason jar.

But that's only if you love yourself. If you hate yourself, then sure: go ahead and eat it as soon as it's all assembled. But don't say I didn't warn you!

P.S. I used Westbrae Organic Chili Beans in this recipe. I don't normally specify brands, or differentiate between organic and conventional, because I feel like those decisions should be left to the individual cook. However, I love these beans because they are a mix of three different beans (black, kidney, and pinto), without the usual chili gravy. This way, I had total control of my chili's seasoning.

Lauren's 3-Bean and Quinoa Chili

• 1/4 c quinoa
• 1/2 of a white onion, diced (not finely!)
• 1 - 15 oz.can tomato sauce
• 1 - 15 oz. can stewed tomatoes, chopped into quarters
• 1 - 4.5 oz. can chopped green peppers
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. Blackstrap molasses
• small handful of dark chocolate chips
• 1 - 15 oz. can black beans
• 1 - 15 oz. can Westbrae Organic Chili Beans
• salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes

1. In a large pot, cook 1/4 cup of quinoa according to instructions. Remember, it is better to UNDERCOOK your quinoa for this recipe, since you'll be simmering them later (right??).

2. Cook your onions on medium high heat in some olive oil in another pan for several minutes until they are translucent. Stir them frequently.

3. Combine your quinoa and onions to the large pot, and add the tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, chopped green peppers, garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder, molasses, and chocolate chips. Stir. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes.

4. Stir again. Add both cans of beans. If your stove is super hot and your chili is practically boiling, you'll need to turn the heat down to low.

5. Taste. Add salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes (or cayenne pepper) as you deem necessary.

6. You could eat it now. But it won't be special. What you should do is let it simmer for an hour. Or at least half an hour. I even put mine in the fridge afterwards, and reheated it the next day. All of this helps thicken it up and make all the ingredients work together beautifully.

You can eat this plain, or top it with cheese, Greek yogurt, sour cream, chives, or green onions, or serve it with a nice chunk of cornbread. Or, if you're really fancy, you could bake it in a mason jar with cornbread on top. I'm dying to try that sometime.

Meatless Meatball Marinara

Behold! Heaven on bread. Actually, the bread was heaven, too... Heaven on a plate.

It's even better than the Christmas decorations.

Yes, I know I said I was going to make this two days ago, but you know how life goes. So TODAY, I finally got to work.

Even in my meat-eating days, I've only had a meatball marina sub once. It was last April, right after I temporarily switched to a high-calorie diet. My friend Natalie and I decided to meet for lunch at Subway. I had always gotten the same sub (turkey), but I realized suddenly that this was an excellent opportunity to carelessly pile on the calories. Eagerly, I went on the Subway website and checked out the nutritional information. I scanned the chart for the highest calorie sandwiches. Bam! Meatball marinara. At the time, it was second only to the Big Philly Cheesesteak (although they have since added more in the 500-calorie range).

Oh man. It was pretty good. I am a little skeptical about Subway, due to the high sodium, controversial ingredients in their "fresh" bread, and that AWFUL smell of the restaurants that just CLINGS to your clothes for hours, but this sub was delicious. In a wrong, sick way.

I'm not sure how I got the idea to recreate this sandwich. I've been wanting to incorporate more lentils into my diet, so I was thinking of making meatballs again. And this idea came to me. I was planning on just using regular bread, or perhaps "Thin Buns" (I love those things), but then something better stumbled into my hands. My boss randomly makes Italian-herb baguettes from time to time, and on Tuesday, he had a loaf for me.

He said to me, "When you leave tonight, you can take one of those loaves."

I pursed my lips thoughtfully and replied, "Hmm....maybe!"

To which he replied with a smile, "Oh no, that wasn't a request. That was an order. You're taking one of those loaves." ;)

And then I realized this bread would be perfect for my sandwich. So after weeks of considering this recipe, I finally put it into execution.

The meatballs are adapted from my favorite veggie burger recipe, Jennifer Perillo's lentil burgers. I have raved about these before. They rock, and they're so versatile! When I made this batch, I didn't even shape any of them into patties; I put them all in balls. Some were used for this sandwich, some will be used for pasta, and others will be crumbled up for other things (pasta, chili, etc.). Love this stuff.

Lauren's Lentil Balls

Adapted from lentil burgers from In Jennie's Kitchen

• 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. water
• 1 tbsp. oil
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup oat bran (OR breadcrumbs)
• 1 tsp. sage
• 1 tsp. fennel
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Cook the onions in a tablespoon or two of oil over medium high heat until translucent. Remove from heat. (I did this step while my lentils were simmering).

Transfer lentils to a large bowl. Mash or puree with a stick/immersion blender (or do this in your food processor). DON'T puree it all the way! I keep around half of them whole.

In a small bowl, mix water, oil, and baking powder. This is the replacement for the egg (which I never seem to have on hand these days; I guess you could say I've taken on a vegan-inclined diet when cooking at home). So alternatively, you could just use an egg. :) Add the mixture, OR a lightly beaten egg, to the lentils.

Add the onion and oat bran. Mix. Add sage, fennel, black pepper, and salt. Mix again.

Shape into your preferred shape. The possibilities are endless! In fact, I bet if you added more spices (cayenne!!), they would transform into some fantastic breakfast sausages. :)

Refrigerate them for an hour or two (or longer!) before frying in a little oil on all sides.

For the meatball marina sandwich:

After the meatballs were browned on all sides, I added the marina to the pan. As it turns out, this was a terrible idea. Hot pan + cold sauce = sizzle, splatter, and hiss. Duh! (Proof that I'm still a kitchen debutante.) Try heating up the marina separately before adding!

I cut off a 5-inch chunk of the baguette and sliced it in half. I toasted it slightly on our Pizzazz. :)

And then I assembled it all. :) And DANG. It tasted SO GOOD. I actually felt a sense of loss when I had finished it all. I will definitely be using the remains of my baguette to repeat this meal!

Recipe: Butternut Squash & Pear Bisque

My semester is slowwwwwwly crawling to a close. I'm not really sure if any length of a Christmas break would be enough to recover from this whirlwind! I have several papers to compose this weekend, but I purchased a squash and pear this week specifically for this awesome-looking recipe, so I took some time off homework to hit up my kitchen.

I found the recipe on Pinterest, the best site ever. The recipe looked good, but it involved onions (which I hate buying for no explainable reason), cream (I prefer to avoid dairy), chicken stock (...yeah), and curry seasoning (I should probably buy some of this...someday...but not today). So I decided to take the general idea and apply it to my standard creamy soup template.

I was really pleased with the result. After the first taste, I couldn't really taste the pear, and it tasted like my regular butternut squash soup. Had all my work been a waste? But then I sat down with a bowl and tried again. Woah. Suddenly I noticed the subtle sweetness. It wasn't a burst of PEAR, but an enhanced level of the squash's sweetness. Because I'm a poor college student who generally opts for simplicity, I rarely experience this kind of flavor depth in my kitchen.

Would I make this again? Yes.
Would I make it for others? Absolutely.

Butternut Squash & Pear Bisque
Inspired by this recipe by Memories in the Baking

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1 pear (Anjou or Bartlett), peeled and chopped
• 1 clove minced garlic (OR half an onion, chopped)
• 3 cups vegetable broth (or more or less, depending on how thick you want it!)
• salt
• pepper
• any other spices (I, of course, suggest cayenne pepper!)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Slice that beautiful squash in half lengthwise.

3. Remove seeds and set aside.

4. Chop the squash into quarters, cut off the skin, and dice the squash into 1- or 2-inch chunks. The smaller you cut them, the faster it will roast! :) Put your squash cubes on a baking sheet with tin foil and nonstick cooking spray. Place in oven.

5. If you don't want to keep your seeds, set your timer to 40 minutes, toss your seeds in the trash, and skip to step 8. If you want to keep the squash seeds to use for garnish or snacking, set the timer for 30 minutes.

6. This part sucks. There's no sugar-coating it. Clean off your seeds. There's no easy way of doing it. Get rid of all those stupid, slimy, orange strings. Rinse them off in a colander.

7. Drizzle your clean seeds with a little olive oil, and sprinkle them with salt and whatever else you want (cayenne pepper!!). You can bake them plain, but that's boring. When your 30-minute timer goes off, make a little room on your baking sheet, add the seeds in a single layer, lower the temperature on your oven to 325 degrees, and reset the timer to 15 minutes.

8. Remove from oven and let cool. And don't forget to turn off your oven. ;)

9. Heat your garlic (or onion) in a large saucepan in about a tablespoon of oil. I actually have a jar of minced garlic (which is why I prefer using garlic instead of buying an onion!), so I don't have to cook this down very much. If you are using an actual garlic clove or onion, then cook this for several minutes like you normally would.

Love this stuff.

10. Carefully add the stock. If your saucepan is really hot, it might sizzle, smoke, and splatter when the liquid hits your cookware. In other words, don't have your saucepan on too hot, and/or lift the pot off the stove for a second as you add in the first cup.

11. Add your butternut squash and pear.

12. Puree! Either use an immersion/stick blender, or dump the contents into a blender or food processor (and add it back to the saucepan afterwards). This is a good time to assess the thickness. I added another 1/4 cup of broth.

13. Add salt, pepper, cayenne, curry, or whatever you want! Start small and keep adding until you like it.

14. Garnish each bowl with your roasted squash seeds.  Serve with bread. May I recommend Irish soda bread? :)

With a Christmas tree in the background, just for good measure.

Creamy Winter Squash Soup for One

I will never stop loving soup. Ever. First of all, it's cheap. It's cheap to make, and it's cheap to buy at restaurants. So if you're ever spending two weeks in Ireland and you don't want to blow all your money on fresh salmon or shepherd's pie, check out the soup of the day! ;) Those tasty soups accounted for practically half of my meals on the Emerald Isle. Because soup + Irish soda bread = perfection.

Today, I had a mixture of roasted acorn and butternut squash to use up. I saved a handful of the butternut squash that I bought for this fantastic pasta recipe I made yesterday--I will share this recipe later (it was fantastic!).

I only had one cup's worth of squash, so it was just enough for one serving. Obviously, you can double/triple/quadruple to fit your needs. 

Creamy Winter Squash Soup for One

Adapted from SimplyCooking's blueprint for creamy, pureed soups.

• oil
• 1/4 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 and 1/4 cup vegetable stock
• 1 cup of acorn and/or butternut squash, diced and roasted
• salt
• cayenne pepper (optional)

1. Heat 1 tbsp. (I used a little less) of olive oil in a medium-size saucepan. 

2. Add 1/4 tsp. minced garlic (or about 1/2 a clove). I am not a huge garlic fan. If you are, consider doubling this.

3. After a minute or so, add 1 and 1/4 cup of vegetable stock/broth. You can alter this amount depending on how thick/thin you like your soups.

4. When it begins to simmer, add 1 cup of roasted, diced squash (mine was 3/4 butternut and 1/4 acorn. I recommend butternut because it has a silkier consistency). Reduce heat to medium and cook until the squash is tender or warmed through.

5. Use an immersion blender (or transfer contents to a blender or food processor) and puree away!

6. Stir in a pinch of sea salt, and if you'd like a kick of heat, cayenne pepper. Remember: start small and keep adding until it suits your palette. You can always add more!

Pizza. Y'know, the healthier kind.

How's THIS for gorgeous?

This recipe was a huge risk for me. I've never even TASTED butternut squash, let alone worked with it. I've never sauteed kale, or done anything with it besides bake them into chips. I've never made a successful pizza crust. I've tried and failed twice. 

But this was glorious, and it all came together so unbelievably well. I tried a different crust recipe, and it was perfection. And the yeast worked! The dough "doubled in size" like it's supposed to. That's always where my crust usually fails. It also fails when I cook it. It would be too thick, and it would never get "crusty" enough. It would just be like...bread.

And the pizza itself...wow. I didn't know what a pizza with very minimal cheese would taste like, but this blew my mind. It didn't taste like something I made. It felt...better than me. Like it came from a restaurant or something.

To say I'm proud would be an understatement. :)

Three-bean and quinoa chili (with avocado!)

Well, folks. I did it. It's October 1st, which means I've successfully completed one month without meat.

So now what? Do I keep going? It's certainly a lot to consider. The fact that I don't feel like "celebrating" my completed goal with a giant burger is a pretty good sign that maybe vegetarianism is for me.

The creativity of meatless meals excites me. I love how it gets me to try new foods.

I love how I save money by not buying meat.

I love how my body feels.

I love networking with other vegetarians.

I love having a more sustainable diet.

I love not supporting the disgusting meat industry with their horrendous feedlots/CAFOs.

And I especially love the feeling I get when I declare, "I am a vegetarian." The first time, it was a little scary; I felt judged. But since then, I've embraced it. It feels like a part of my identity now. Even when my BFF Tiffany interjects, "YOU'RE NOT A REAL VEGETARIAN."

I'm not sure I could give that up. But I'll update you on my decision later.

Last Saturday, I tried making chili with quinoa. Fail. Ultimate fail. I made a much larger batch than usual, but I didn't adjust the amount of beans to keep it proportionate. It tasted like bad tomato soup with quinoa and an occasional bean.

But the wonderful thing about cooking is that you can often revamp the leftovers into something better. So instead of my bad chili with pinto beans and quinoa, I added both red AND black beans. Instant improvement. And then, the next time, I garnished it with avocado. Just wonderful.

This is one of the first times I've been proud enough of my concoction that I actually considered sharing the recipe. But then I realized there was no recipe. ;) So maybe next time, I'll actually write down what I'm doing so I can share it. Because I've really gotten good at this chili thing.

Soup It Up!

So.

As it turns out, being a senior English Education major in her final semester before student teaching is extremely stressful. When I'm not in class, I'm tutoring. When I'm not tutoring, I'm observing or giving lessons in nearby high schools. When I'm not doing that, I'm giving mock lessons in my labs. When I'm not in lab, I'm waitressing at the pizzeria. When I'm not waitressing, I'm doing homework. And when I'm not doing homework, I'm sleeping.

Or eating.

I might have taken on a little too much this fall. But that's okay, because I've had plenty of soup to keep me warm and cozy and sane.

Since the beginning of the school year, I have made three different soups (not counting chili). All thanks to this baby:

My immersion blender is seriously the most used appliance in my kitchen. It's almost frustrating that it's never clean when I need it, because I often use it multiple times a day. Smoothies, soup, pasta sauces, etc.

Potato Corn Chowder

I essentially made a pureed potato soup, and then cut the corn off the cob and added it in. Only four ingredients: onion, vegetable broth, potatoes, and corn. Everything but the broth came from the farmers market! Vegan, local, and organic. Just the way I like it.

Potato Soup

I used the leftovers from the other soup. And garnished it with fresh rosemary growing from the pail on my balcony. :) Three ingredients: onion, broth, potatoes.

Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

I've never actually had squash before. Or at least acorn squash. Admittedly, I had to ask Google how to roast a squash. But the experience was a positive one! I ended up eating spoonfuls of it before dumping it in the soup. 

So I've done the whole pureed soup thing. Now I'm going to try my hand at hearty, chunky soups. With lots of beans.

Lunch: Meatless Chili Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

My dream come true: owning a camera that can capture steam rising from hot food.

My other dream come true: this lunch. Wowza. Jennie Perillo's lentil burgers + my meatless chili + oven baked sweet potato fries = heaven.

I wish I would have had a darker backdrop to capture the steam better, but at the time I was too eager to eat. :) So I was taking those pictures as fast as I possibly could!

Do you eat breakfast? I do.

I've become so accustomed to preparing elaborate breakfasts for myself that I often forget my peers usually just eat a bowl of Frosted Flakes or some Hot Fudge Sundae Pop Tarts. Or, even more likely, they eat nothing at all.

Which is a shame. Besides all the health benefits of breakfast, I can't imagine having one less meal every day. I plan meals hours ahead of time. I think about them. And count down toward them. And drool over the thought of them. I already only get three a day; I couldn't possibly settle for two.

And breakfast has slowly become my favorite meal of the day. I used to think of breakfast food as sugary cereal, white flour pancakes, and frosting-covered rolls. All of which made me MISERABLE. As someone who suffers from IBS, nothing makes me more bloated and crampy than traditional breakfast food.

Then I discovered oatmeal. I originally tried it as an attempt to include more soluble fiber in my diet (because of the IBS thing). I started with the instant packets, and eventually weaned myself onto preparing my own on the stove with old-fashioned rolled oats. Which I recommend to everyone. Because seriously, what's more appetizing to you: "maple and brown sugar oatmeal," or "oats cooked in almond milk with banana, raisins, cinnamon, and almonds"? I choose the latter.

But I've become obsessed with breakfast. Omelettes, toast, smoothies, whole wheat pancakes/waffles, muesli, any sort of porridge, egg sandwiches, etc. I find that being excited for breakfast helps me get up early, which is why I never sleep past 9.

And since I know many people who find breakfast a pain to prepare, I decided to log my efforts for a week, just for fun. :)

Rules for my breakfasts:
1. At least one serving of fruits or vegetables must be included.
2. Be diverse (ex: don't overdo grains, like having oatmeal with toast).
3. The entire breakfast must reach at least 400 calories, which is usually done by pairing two things (ex: oatmeal and smoothie, eggs and toast, etc.).
4. Some good form of protein should be present (peanut butter, eggs, almonds).
5. No meat.
6. Keep dairy to a minimum (dairy is an IBS trigger). I use almond milk for everything, but when I use cheese, I use it sparingly.

DISCLAIMER: None of my classes start before 10, so no, I'm not in a hurry these mornings. However, I worked at 8 AM all summer, and I still got up early enough to prepare these same breakfasts.

Monday

Broccoli and cheddar omelette; banana, peach, and almond smoothie

My smoothies are rarely any color besides green. Unfortunately, I'm not stocked in spinach at the moment. This meal took me quite a while to prepare--nearly half an hour. My breakfasts rarely take more than fifteen minutes to put together, but the steaming of the broccoli and pealing the peaches were quite time-consuming.

Also, my smoothies are always vegan. I use frozen bananas to get that creamy texture. You're aware that blended, frozen bananas have the same consistency as soft-serve ice cream, right? RIGHT?! I buy giant bags of overripe bananas for $.99 at my local grocery store, and then I slice them up and store them in the freezer. Super cost effective.

Tuesday

Muesli with fresh peaches and almond milk; toast with peanut butter and jelly

I fell in love with muesli when I was in Ireland. I had never had it before then. Europe has a fantastic brand called "Alpen," and I ate it every single morning over there, except once, when it wasn't provided (darn you, Shannon Court Hotel!). Over here, I've struggled to find a brand that compares. Right now, I'm settling for Bob's Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli. It's okay. But it's certainly not Alpen.

This breakfast took me about ten minutes to prepare, most of which (once again) went to pealing the peach.

Wednesday

Chocolate-peanut butter-banana smoothie; oatmeal with peaches

This is my most typical breakfast: smoothie and oatmeal. It may be a stretch to call my banana ice cream a smoothie, but at the end of the day, it's frozen blended fruit--a smoothie. I made it super thick this morning so it would actually be the consistency of ice cream instead of an actual smoothie. And the source of the chocolate comes from a splash of Silk's Dark Chocolate Almond Milk. Just enough to add a hint of chocolate and help liquify the mixture. Oh, and the oatmeal... Fantastic. :)

This breakfast took about ten minutes to prepare. I did not peal the peach this time. ;)

Thursday

Oatmeal-banana pancakes with spiced peaches and granola

Are you ready for this? Forty minutes. Yes, I spent forty minutes preparing this little beauty. But:

1. It was worth it.
2. It was time consuming only because I had to grill an entire batch of pancakes, meaning I'll have leftovers! Another morning, all I'll have to do is reheat that puppy. :) So time spent now is time saved later.
3. I don't have class until 3 today. So I'm in absolutely no hurry. ;)

The pancakes are vegan, which I love because I can eat the raw batter without fear (no eggs!). I encourage you to check out the recipe; it contains no refined flours or sugars, and it will make your house smell like banana bread. I almost always use vegan recipes for pancakes and waffles, simply so I don't use up my precious eggs as fast (and so I can lick the batter from the spoon...).

The spiced peaches...mmm. I wanted to do something resembling a peach compote, but all the recipes I looked at included a truckload of sugar. What? They're peaches. They don't need sugar! So I just chopped up the peaches and heated them up in a saucepan with cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg, and I let all of it simmer until the juice thickened, as if I were making a reduction sauce. It worked beautifully. And it was plenty sweet.

Friday

Egg sandwich on multigrain thin bun; banana-peach-almond smoothie

Say hello to my new camera! I spent more time photographing my food than I did preparing it, which was only 10-15 minutes. I used to make this sandwich with a slice of American cheese, but I'm trying to eliminate that particular cheese from my diet. I've been ignoring how processed it is for a long time, but I'm finally forcing myself to accept the fact that it needs to go. :)

So that's five days of breakfasts in my life! Two things stick out as unusual:

1. All the peaches! This week has been quite a luxury.
2. None of my smoothies are green. My smoothies are almost always green. I really need to get to the store and buy some spinach.

Looking over these pictures make me smile. My brother told me once last week that I use more dishes preparing breakfast than he does over the course of the whole day. I denied it at the time...but I knew deep down that he was absolutely correct. ;)

Buon appetito!

Homesick.