Tag: breakfast

Breakfast These Days *** Pumpkin Muffins – Dairy Free, Grain Free, Paleo***

My girls wake up early.  For us, 6am is sleeping in. Not only do they wake up early, they wake up HUNGRY! Unfortunately my older daughter has my quirk of only wanting to eat if something sounds like the perfect food at a given time. I will often skip eating if we don’t have exactly what I want, and so will my daughter. Also unfortunate is she has my tendency to get hangry. If she doesn’t eat within 15 minutes of waking she turns into, well, it isn’t pretty. To make it more difficult, she goes through phases eating the same thing day after day, until one day, that will no longer be acceptable. We just when through a tough couple of weeks where nothing sounded good to her, so getting her breakfast was a challenge. Then I remembered these little gems and we have been on easy street again.

This are paleo muffins packed with yummy ingredients that scream fall. They taste quite similar to pumpkin pie; bursting with warm baking spices, and hints of pumpkin. As far as nutrition goes I’m fairly picky about what my girls eat, and I’m ok with these. They have no grains and use almond flour instead, which is nice as they won’t eat a lot of nuts on the daily. It also has pumpkin so we get the touch of vegetables that makes me smile.

Pumpkin Muffins – Dairy Free, Grain Free, Paleo

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups almond flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup neutral oil (coconut oil is good, but melt it first)
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line a mini muffin pan with 24 muffin liners.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (almond flour through salt).
  3. In a separate medium bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (eggs through vanilla).
  4. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir just until combined.
  5. Pour the batter evenly into the muffin liners, filling each liner until almost completely full. You’ll likely have enough batter for two large muffins, or a second batch of 6 little guys.
  6. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  7. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  8. These need to cool for at least an hour before serving, both because of taste and texture.
  9. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

 

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Zucchini Date Oatmeal – vegan and gluten free

I haven’t written a post about oatmeal in a while. I’m sure you have been dying for a new version of oatmeal the whole time. This should do the trick. This is a favorite of both by girls and they love to help make it. They can both eat dates while I chop, then my 3 year old helps me shred the zucchini. They take turns dumping in the ingredients, and impatiently wait as it cooks, and cools enough for them to eat. We rarely eat this for breakfast, but often make it for our mid-morning snack, or lunch. The girls also like it cold and room temperature so it is a stable in our snack bag. This oatmeal is sweet, cinnamony, and filled with vegetables! Everything you could ask for in an oatmeal. If you are serving it to a green vegetable averse person you can peel the zucchini before shredding.

 

Zucchini Date Oatmeal

Ingredients

  • 2 medjool dates, pitted and finely chopped
  • 1 cup shredded zucchini, one small
  • 11/4 cups water
  • pinch of salt
  • heaping 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 2 TBL hemp seeds (optional)
  • cinnamon to taste (optional)

Instructions

  1. In a small saucepan combine dates, zucchini, water, and salt. Cover and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
  2. Once boiling stir in the rolled oats, hemp seeds, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring frequently until the water is absorbed and the oatmeal is the consistency you prefer.
  3. Serve warm.

 

Chocolate Overnight Oats with Chia Seeds

Chocolate Overnight Oats with Chia Seeds
Chocolate Overnight Oats with Chia Seeds

Never underestimate the power of chocolate. My lovely 3 year old, who has had chocolate only a handful of times but was not only willing to try this, but begging for a bite; and she kept eating. This is a fun treat, super easy to throw together the night before, and perfect for a quick breakfast, or in our case, a mid-morning snack. The toppings you use are totally up to you and what you have in your pantry. I love some sort of tart fruit, I usually use frozen raspberries, and the extra crunch of the almonds and coconut. Wolfie loved the bananas and Fox loved the coconut and freeze dried strawberries.

Chocolate Overnight Oats with Chia Seeds

Makes 2 large servings

Ingredients

  • 2 cups non-dairy milk
  • 3 TBL pure maple syrup
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 2 TBL cocoa powder – I used a mixture of dutch and natural
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup chia seeds
  • Toppings of choice, this time I used: 1/2 a banana, sliced, 1 TBL sliced almonds, 2 TBL coconut chips, 2 TBL freeze dried strawberries, and a few chocolate chips. Other ideas are nut butter, coco nibs, frozen fruit, fresh fruit, other chopped nuts, whatevs.

Instructions

  1. Whisk together the milk, maple syrup, vanilla, almond, and cocoa powder in a bowl that has a lid.
  2. Stir in oats and chia seeds, cover, and refrigerate overnight, at least 6 hours.
  3. If you’re using frozen fruit you can toss it on top the night before and it will be thawed and lovely when you get to it in the morning.
  4. In the morning top with anything you desire.

 

Banana Zucchini Baked Oatmeal Muffins

Banana Zucchini Baked Oatmeal Muffins
Banana Zucchini Baked Oatmeal Muffins

Are you suffering from an overabundance of zucchini? I’m here to help. These delightful oatmeal muffins are the perfect healthy make ahead breakfast or snack that sneak in a some zucchini. They are perfect cold from the refrigerator, reheated, hot from the oven, and they even freeze well! This is also a wonderful place to get a few more veggies into my lovely daughter. She loved these, even sneaking them off the cooling rack as soon as they came out of the oven. With no added sugar, and filled with fruit, vegetables, and whole grains I was perfectly happy to let her “sneak”.

Banana Zucchini Oatmeal Muffins

Adapted from www.hummusapien.com

Makes 12 servings

 Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp ground flaxseed or chia seeds + 6 tbsp water (alternatively, you can use 2 eggs)
  • 2 medium to large over-ripe bananas
  • 2 small zucchini, grated (don’t squeeze water out)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray or grease with coconut oil.
  2. Place flax and water in small bowl. Stir and set aside to “gel.”
  3. Place bananas in a large bowl and mash with a fork. Add grated zucchini, vanilla extract, and flax mixture, stirring to combine.
  4. Add oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, Stir until just combined.
  5. Spoon mixture into muffin cups, filling nearly to the top.
  6. Bake for 18-22 minutes until golden brown and dry on top.
  7. Store cooled oatmeal cups in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. These freeze well, too!

Vegan Blueberry Muffins

So my blueberry bushes have been growing more blueberries than I thought four bushes could grow. Granted I have never seen a giant blueberry bush before, but still… In our last harvest they were looking a little peaked so I had to use them quickly. I added some to pancakes, made these delicious vegan blueberry muffins, and froze the rest for future deliciousness. You could really use any fruit in this recipe, I have used strawberries in the past and loved them. A very good impressive vegan muffin. You could never tell they are vegan.

Ingredients

Vegan Blueberry Muffin
  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • ½ cup Sugar
  • ¼ Teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • ¾ Cup nondairy milk
  • 1/3 Cup Canola Oil
  • 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1 Cup Fresh or Frozen  blueberries
  • 1 Teaspoon Almond Extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grease muffin tins.
  2. Mix together your dry ingredients (Flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda.)
  3. Gently stir in milk, oil, and vanilla but be careful not to over-mix. A few lumps are okay!
  4. Fold in your thawed blueberries.
  5. Pour batter into muffin tins, ¾ of the way to the top.
  6. Slide your filled tins into the oven and cook for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
  7. Fresh out of the oven they are still young and impressionable, so don’t try to remove them immediately or you will end up with smushed, dented muffins! Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes inside their cooking vessel. Enjoy with someone you love.