Fall seems to be about pumpkin this and pumpkin that and although I love pumpkin and squash in general, sweet potato holds a special place in my foodie heart.
If you haven’t read my breakfast stuffed sweet potato recipe, you should. This is what resulted from the leftover sweet potato and the need for a snack before lunch. I don’t experiment too much in the kitchen because it usually ends up burned or bland…
Recently I have found myself on the search for new breakfast ideas. Especially ones low in carbs, because I can eat carbs all day long but I prefer to time them after my workouts around noon. However, when I do eat carb for breakfast they must be from a good source. Sweet potatoes are a fit girl’s best friend. Packed with vitamins, iron and fiber the sweetness they do contain is natural and won’t spike your blood sugar. Those are my kind of carbs.
Which brings me to these stuffed beauties.
I usually attach memories to scents and music. I still gag when I smell a certain cologne thanks to a jack ass I once dated and we won’t get into music.
Then there is food, now we all have our childhood comfort foods. The food our grandma made, the special occasion dinners, etc.
I have one that I wasn’t expecting. Continue reading “Healthy Pumpkin Roll”
Breakfast is not my strong suit. In the past, I would have much rather slept in and skip into lunch than get up at a reasonable hour and eat breakfast.
The health and weight loss benefits of eating a good breakfast outweighed my laziness: more energy, increased metabolism, more balanced sugar levels, lower cholesterol, better memory… I could go on and on. So now I get up and put something in my belly. Every day. No excuses.
Now, I have a problem with creativity in the kitchen especially in the morning hours. So I have a few morning staples that I rotate and change up so I don’t get bored of eating the same thing all the time.
My most versatile recipe is breakfast oats. I use instant oatmeal but rolled oats are truly best for you since they have no additives. If you aren’t a fan of oatmeal texture, give ‘Coach’s Oats’ a try… They’re steel cut and toasted so they have a much better texture and more flavor than standard oatmeal.
I cook my oats in water to save calories for the stuff I put on top. I don’t sweeten with actual sugar most of the time, but I’ll use organic coconut sugar here and there. Continue reading “Breakfast and Oats”
Last week’s CSA included a strange looking melon I had never seen before. It one of the things I love about the CSA program, getting to know new foods. This melon, I’ve come to find out, was a Galia melon. Its taste is like a cross between a cantaloupe and a honeydew… very sweet! I cut up the melon and ended up with a very large bowl of fruit. After a few days I realized we weren’t going to finish it all so I did what I do with all my fruit in order to preserve it: stuck it in the freezer. Then I came up with a quick and easy smoothie recipe that I can continue to make during the week.
Melon Smoothie Recipe
Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender, enjoy!
Shake or Smoothie? I don’t know what the difference is and if anyone is willing to shed some light on it for me, please do. I really really love my chocolate breakfast shake but I started switching it up with this berry version here and there. I love eating oatmeal in the morning so incorporating it into a breakfast smoothie is a no brainer for me. I was surprised how well berry and oatmeal taste together.
So far every week my CSA has included few zucchini in the box, this week I made the hearty breakfast bread with them.
I mentioned earlier in this week’s CSA post that I’ve been using organic rolled oats for my breakfast shakes.
Continue reading “Mexican Chocolate Breakfast Shake”
I felt a little experimental today after seeing a friends post about a ‘Vegan Apple Pie Shake’. Now, I am not vegan and I don’t think I ever will be, I just love all sorts of food way too much. Life without my mom’s pozole is just not worth living.
Anyway, before my triumph over the fruit flies last week, I had cut up and frozen all of my gala apples. I was planning on using them in my smoothies anyway so it wasn’t a big deal. Hearing about the ‘vegan apple pie shake’ got me searching for recipes. Oddly, all I found were two extremes: super healthy versions and super unhealthy versions (you know, the ones that involve ice cream and an actual piece of apple pie). These days, I’m trying to help my body recover from bringing a child into this world, so the latter isn’t really an option for me. That being said, I decided to come up with my own recipe and it’s definitely on the healthier side but I’ll let you decide.
Apple Pie Shake (makes one serving)
fioraliz.com 