buttery crunch

Rushed mornings, can still be delicious mornings.  You can have a “from scratch” breakfast, that will hold you over for hours, within minutes!  We’ve been on the go so much, I don’t know when the last time was that a buckwheat bake made it on my plate for breakfast.

Today I was rushed, but still managed to squeak this out of the kitchen.

I have a pretty large list of microwave buckwheat bake recipes, that are great when you’re running short on time.  You can veganize it with a flax egg, or use 1 real egg, and the original recipe is gluten free.  It’s a win-win for everyone.  For this recipe, I didn’t even mess with the flax egg, and I was out of real eggs.  All I did was add 1.5T ground flax meal to the mix.  No egg or “egg” needed, apparently!

Strawberry Banana Buckwheat Bake

• 1/4c raw buckwheat flour [ground in a blender from raw buckwheat groats, not “toasted” or “Kasha”]
• 1T raw buckwheat groats
• 3T milk of choice
• 1.5T ground flax meal
• 1/4t baking powder
• 1t vanilla extract
• 1/2t cinnamon
• 3 large strawberries, chopped
• 1/2 banana
• 1T chia seeds

1. In a bowl, mash the banana until egg-like.
2. Add in milk + vanilla extract.
3. Mix in flour, groats, flax, cinnamon, chia seeds + baking powder until just combined.
4. Stir in strawberries.
5. Grease a microwave safe bowl/mug and cook for about 1.5-2min, until cooked through.  Cook time varies, depending on the size of your dish.

Topped with a little maple syrup + peanut butter.

Doughy, fruity, slightly sweet.  Delish.

I know this sounds crazy, but I’m getting a little sick of peanut butter.  I just haven’t switched it up in way too long.  I shouldn’t say sick of, but maybe a little bored with.  Yes, that’s it!  Bored with my butter.

The food processor had to be broken out today.

I roasted almonds until lightly brown and ground them, until smooth + buttery.  This took a full 15min.  At this point, no other ingredients had been added.

I took out a 1/2c scoop of the plain almond butter + scraped it into a bowl.

I will give you 5 guesses as to what happened next!

Dead giveaway, huh?

I mashed in sucanat + cinnamon, took a spoonful straight to my mouth, and felt my eyes roll into the back of my head.

Nut buttery crunch!  Typically, I add any sweetener or flavors while the nuts are spinning or when they’re roasting.  However, I added this little mixture after the nut butter was cooled.  The crunch from the sucanat is addicting.  I’m just warning you now. 

The only thing I’ll be dreaming about tonight is topping this on hot, crispy toast. 

Cinnamon Crunch Almond Butter

• 1/2c plain roasted almond butter [drippy!]
• 4t sucanat
• 3/4t cinnamon

1. Mix the sucanat + cinnamon together.
2. In a small bowl mash everything together.  The almond butter will thicken but still should be spreadable.

*If you don’t have sucanat, you can use pure cane sugar.  Although, sucanat adds a deep caramel flavor that is pretty amazing!

*You can roast the almonds on a baking sheet, at 300* for about 30+min, until golden brown.  Stir every 10min.  Or, you can toast them in a large pan on the stove, over med/low heat.  Stir frequently for about 10min until golden brown.  Process in your food process, scraping the bowl often, until buttery + smooth.

Time to get my dream on.

Ashley

scrambled cereal

I had a weird breakfast craving yesterday.  My taste buds were asking for popped amaranth and a banana scramble.  So I thought, why not combine the two?

I popped about 5T amaranth, which turns into a huge serving of delicious, puffy cereal.  Then, I cooked up a banana scramble, topped it on the cereal, added peanut butter, and poured on the milk.

Craving satisfied.  I loved eating the puffy cereal, with bites of the banana scramble along with it.  Not familiar with the banana scramble?  I haven’t made them in awhile, but check out my recipe page [under breakfast] for a handful of variations.

Before heading down to Denver, for Brewgrass [beer + bluegrass music], I prepped a lunch to-go!  It’s pretty easy to find veggie options almost anywhere we go to eat and even at festivals.  However, veggie + gluten free is not always easy.  I have to think ahead even more so now.

Salad to go:

• 4c spinach
• plain cooked millet [from friday night dinner]
• 1 large carrot
• 1 delicious pickle
• feta cheese
• hemp oil/balsamic/apple cider vinegar
• pepper

I packed this in my purse for the 2nd half of lunch.  Although I don’t buy pre-packaged bars often, these are a favorite.  I caught them on sale for $1/piece when I was home in Ohio. 

We headed to Denver and had a blast with our friends, who we haven’t seen in way too long.  We’ve been so busy this spring with the house, we haven’t made it to Denver nearly as much as we would have liked.  [Denver is about 1 hour south.]

Ann + me + Ali

We ended the night with a fire in the backyard, hanging out with Peter + Michelle.  Such an enjoyable Saturday!

Today I have my first real photography gig!  I’m excited + nervous, but can’t wait to get this business rolling.  June + July are pretty busy for us, with the Telluride music festival next week and an out of town wedding the weekend after that.  Our third wedding anniversary is June 21st and my birthday is July 3rd.  Natalie [my sis in law] is due July 10th and my parents will be in town July 19th!  There are also a lot of house things on our to-do list as well! Despite the busyness [which I’m used to!] I’m hoping to really get things up and running in July! 

Be on the lookout tomorrow for a new series on the blog tomorrow!

Off to enjoy the weather and then head to Boulder for some photography. :)

Ashley

bananas!

Look what I made for breakfast!!  It’s been weeks since a buckwheat bake has come out of the oven.  It was so nice to reunite with one of my favorites.

I filled this bake with a whole banana and topped it with melted pb + almond milk, honey, and blueberries.  I love melting nut butter + milk together because you get so much more sauce and it’s nice and drippy.

Banana Buckwheat Bake

• 1/4c raw buckwheat flour [ground from raw groats, not Kasha]
• 1T raw buckwheat groats
• 1T chia seeds
• 1/2t vanilla
• 1/2t cinnamon
• 3T almond milk
• 1 banana
• 1 flax egg [1T ground flax + 2T warm water, whisked] <—fresh ground flax works best!
• 1/4t baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350* + grease a small baking dish. [~4-5” diameter 1-2” deep, or 3 muffin tins, or 2-3 ramekins]
2. Mix flax egg + let sit for 5min, until thick and gelled.
3. In a small bowl mash the banana, until egg-like.
4. Whisk in almond milk + vanilla.
5. Mix in flour, groats, chia seeds, cinnamon + baking powder until just combined.
6. Stir in flax egg until combined.
7. Pour into greased dish, spread evenly, and bake for 35-40min, until a toothpick comes out almost clean.

*Add 2t maple syrup or honey, if you want this a little sweeter.  Also feel free to add in 2T chopped nuts.

The result is a gooey, banana, breakfast cake!  The PB + honey + blueberries put this over the top!

After breakfast, Kelsey picked me up for a morning excursion.

To Costco!  She needed to stock up the fridge + pantry, since they just moved here a few days ago.

I was playing paparazzi in Costco.  It was amusing.  For us at least.

Costco is much more fun when you’re not by yourself.

I learned how Kelsey picks out coffee…

I’m pretty pumped about this organic cheese.  One of the workers says it sells like crazy.  This will definitely be packed in our cooler for the Telluride festival.  It’s a 5 day event, and while you could eat every meal from a vendor cart, that gets quite old.  I also don’t plan on finding too many veggie + gluten free meals.  Although I do know it should be pretty a pretty veg-friendly place.  We’re going to make a food plan tomorrow and then start preparing!

Loaded UP!

Sad face after getting yelled at by the worker at the check out.  Apparently, goofing around with cameras and not unloading your cart quickly enough, does not go over well.

What did I buy?

• organic cheeeeeeeese
• toilet paper
• toothbrushes
• apples [great for music festival snacking!]
• organic spinach

While supporting the big box stores, is not my favorite thing in the world, we balanced it out on our way home by stopping at the local food co-op.  I was out of my farm fresh eggs, which is always a major problemo.

Problemo solved.  I also picked up some delicious, fluffy, local organic kale.

I enjoyed 3 eggs cooked with the pour, poke + spread method [the best!], a buttered piece of Udi’s GF toast [also local and delish!], sauteed kale with Colorado mushrooms, garlic + salt. 

Farm fresh eggs have much better flavor and cook up fluffier.  The best part is, the dozen only cost $3.29!  Typically around here, fresh eggs are about $4.50-5.50.  Still worth it in my book, since I don’t spend money on meat!

Today, we’re headed down to Denver for the S. Pearl Street Brewgrass Festival.  It’s a gorgeous day out, so I think first, I’m headed out for some dog walking.

Catch you tomorrow!

Ashley