welcome to September

I’m so sorry.

But I just had to do it.

I woke up chilled this morning + saw this can peaking out at me in the cupboard.

Comfort In a Can, is what I like to call this.

creamy.

dreamy.

spiced, pumpkin oats.

Drowning in a pool of coconut butter + Peanut Butter Crunch Butter and a sprinkle of sucanat.  

Basic Pumpkin Oats

• 1/2c rolled oats
• 3/4c unsweetened almond milk
• 3/4c water
• 1/2 banana, sliced thinly
• 1/3c pumpkin puree
• 1/2t vanilla
• 3/4t cinnamon
• 1/8-1/4t ginger
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1t honey/sucanat/maple syrup [opt]

1. In a pot, heat oats + milk + water over medium heat until a low boil.
2. Stir + reduce heat to simmer, adding the sliced banana + spices.
3. Cook for 6-10min, until thickened to your liking, stirring ever minute or so.
4. In the last 1-2min of cooking, stir in pumpkin + vanilla. 
5. Add toppings.

*Feel free to stir in a 1/2-1 serving of protein powder when you remove them from the heat.  Add more milk, if it thickens too much.

*No protein powder?  Whisk in 1 large egg, or 2 egg whites in the last 2-3min of cook time.  Let sit to cook + thicken then stir.

*Also feel free to sub in 1/3c steel cut oats, or 1/3c rolled + 2T Scottish oats instead.  Cook time will be longer, especially for the steel cut.

…

It happened.

And I’m so glad it did.

Ashley

peaches n’ cream oats

It’s been awhile since I’ve served up breakfast around here.  It’s about time that changed.  If you didn’t know, I’m a wee bit excited that Colorado peaches are finally in their prime season.  They showed up a few weeks ago, but they are finally super sweet + super large.

I’m not one who loves warm fruit, which I’ve told you before.  However, once in awhile there are exceptions.

Peaches n’ Cream oats, are one of those exceptions.  Also from last summer, Peachy Keen Protein Oats.



The trick is stirring in a little yogurt + waiting until the very end to plunk in your peaches.  Topping with a few splashes of cold milk, makes things even creamier.



Seasonal oatmeal is so much fun.  Or maybe I am just a huge oatmeal nerd.  I can’t deny being hooked on oats.  And speaking of seasonal oats…I’m in no rush for fall, but I may have to crack open a can of pumpkin pretty soon!

Peaches n’ Cream Oatmeal

• 1/2c rolled oats [or 3T Scottish Oats + 4T rolled oats]


• 1/2 banana, sliced thinly


• 1/2t vanilla


• 1/2-1t cinnamon


• 1/4c plain yogurt [or non-dairy yogurt]


• 3/4c unsweetened vanilla almond milk


• 3/4c water


• 1/2 scoop Raw protein [opt]


• 1/2-1 peach, cubed

1. In a pan over medium heat, stir to combine oats, milk, water, banana + cinnamon.


2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, stirring occasionally for ~8-10min.


3. Stir in the yogurt and cook 2-3min longer, until it reaches desired consistency.


4. 1min before being done, stir in vanilla + protein powder, if using.


5. Turn off the heat + gently stir in peaches.


6. Pour in a bowl + top with nut butter/almonds/flax/more peaches/coconut/etc + a few splashes of milk.

Peachy.

Creamy.

Summery love.

All wrapped up in a bowl.



If oats don’t happen to be your thing, whip up a quick batch of popped amaranth and add fresh peaches to that.  Or follow this Strawberries + Banana Cream Cereal recipe, subbing peaches for strawberries.  Mmm, that might be on the menu for tomorrow.

Ashley

three must-makes for the weekend

It’s Friiiiidaaay!! 

And guess what I have for you today? 

2 meals, red sauce, no new recipes + sub-par photos

Excited?

You should be, because these are two must make meals + the sauce is my favorite! 

First.  Gina’s breakfast cookie.  Good lordy, did I love this!  I’m only a few years late in trying this out, but it’s going to become a regular in my breakfast routine!

ingredients I used:

• oats
• peanut butter
• coconut oil
• cinnamon
• Raw Protein 
• almond milk
• mashed banana

Instead of using 1T peanut butter, I used 2t pnut butter + 1t coconut oil.  I wanted it to harden from refrigerating the coconut oil.  The peanut butter I used was extra drippy, so the texture was pretty soft.  But in a completely fantastic way.  Like a raw oatmeal cookie, with super soft oats, from soaking overnight.

I topped it with toasted coconut + mashed blackberries.

If you like oatmeal or overnight oats, you will love this.  The next time I make it [uhh, tomorrow!], I’m going to amp it up a bit. 

1/2c oats, instead of 1/3c : full scoop of protein powder : etc.  I tend to do best when I eat around a 500-550 cal breakfast.

I was too excited to dig in, so I didn’t grab my tripod, hence the sub-par photos. heh

Thanks Gina!!

For dinner tonight, I invited Kelsey over, for vegan lasagna.

Originally, I was going to make lasagna roll-ups.  Where you spread the filling mixture on par-cooked lasagna noodles, then roll them up, cover in sauce + cook.   I’ve done this before, but never with GF lasagna noodles.

I used this brand, which are perfect for lasagna.  Doughy, with a good bite and not slimy at all.

However, par-cooking them, and trying to roll filling inside, did not work so well.  Gluten-free noodles are quite fragile and they broke apart as I took them out of the large pot of water.  I did succeed in not having the noodles all stick together though!  Just use parchment in between each layer of noodles. 

Since I’m on a homemade, money saving plan right now, I made my own sauce.  I really should always make my own sauce.  It takes about 30-45min to finish cooking, but it’s really only about 8min on on-hand time. 

I make the red sauce a little different every time.  Today I used fresh basil, rosemary, + thyme, with dried oregano, garlic, and everything else in the recipe list.  It may have been my favorite batch yet.  I can eat this by the spoonful!

Yes, you can buy an organic pasta sauce for $3-4, but I’ve yet to find one that is thick + nicely flavored.  I hate runny sauce, and I also refuse to spend $8 on a good jar of sauce. 

A few things to know:

• the longer you cook the sauce, the thicker it will become
• if you want a smooth consistency, stick it in your blender or use an immersion blender
• if you want to turn it into pizza sauce, drain all of the tomato liquid, instead of just part of it
• ALWAYS double this recipe…trust me!

This sauce will cost you $2 for a 28oz can of tomatoes + $.99 for tomato paste + then it basically uses common herbs you most likely have on hand.

Chu-ching.

So, for the vegan filling, I used Jenna’s recipe for Stuffed Shells.  The only thing I added was 1/4c fresh parsley and I blended the spinach into the mixture.  I meant to just mix it in, but before I knew it, I dumped the spinach into the food processor + turned it on.

It turned quite green. hehe

The filling was perfect.  The texture was exactly like ricotta!

The flavors were simple, but spot on.  You would never know it was tofu!

Kitchen lit photos…my favorite. 

I just had to show you how it turned out!!

Notice anything?

There is no pool of liquid sitting under the lasagna.  I am not a fan of runny, wet lasagna and this was super thick + creamy.   

I was quite pleased!! Should have doubled it + frozen half for sure.  The gluten free noodles were fabulous.  Definitely couldn’t tell!

The photos might not be the greatest, but the food was fantastic.

So fantastic that you should put both on the menu for this weekend.  And the red sauce.  Don’t forget about the red sauce!!

Ashley