Breakfast Bars... kind of

Another reason why I love Mondays... I have the whole morning and early afternoon free. This gives me time to play around in my kitchen and create what ideas and recipes I think up in my head. As you know, I love all things sweet. For breakfast I usually try and stick with veggies. Just ask my boss. She always makes fun of me (in a joking way of course) for bringing my steamed kale to the kitchen in the mornings. I always feel better starting out my day eating that way but sometimes I just want something sweet for breakfast. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with that, as long as it's prepared using wholesome ingredients and no sugar. Thank you stevia and yacon once again for making this possible. This morning I attempted to make no bake breakfast bars I had been thinking about. 

Cinnamon Carob Almond Breakfast Bars

They didn't come out exactly how I imagined... Revisions will be made for these.  Being a bit on the crumbly side they made a great topping for my yogurt. Here is the recipe if anyone would like to try them out. Modifications or suggestions are always welcome : )

1/2 cup blanched almond flour

2 Tablespoons ground flax

1 Tablespoon chia seeds

2 Tablespoons almond butter

2 Tablespoons cinnamon flaxseed oil*

15 drops stevia

1 teaspoon yacon syrup

1/8 cup unsweetened carob chips

In a bowl combine almond flour, flax, and chia seeds. Mix in almond butter.  The mixture will start to get crumbly. Add in remaining ingredients except for carob chips. Once the mixture turns into a ball of dough you can add in carob chips. 

*I use Barleans cinnamon flax oil. This stuff is amazing in smoothies. If you just have regular flax oil, add in 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon... I think that would work just fine.

Place on cutting board and form into a rectangle "bar" shape.

I placed in the fridge to let sit. This was only for about 5 minutes because I was so hungry. This recipe does contains a lot of fat from the nut flour, butter, seeds, and flax oil so you don't need much. This recipe yields 4 servings.

Happy Monday everyone! Enjoy your week.

Breakfast

Happy Monday! I love Mondays because I get to sleep in and spend my morning in bed drinking tea and catching up on writing. Once my appetite set in I had to get out from under my cozy blankets and make my way to the kitchen. Now I'm back in bed working on this. I swear my whole day won't be this lazy. I always feel like I'm craving something in particular in the mornings but once I see what I have to work with, I create something entirely different. This morning I made steamed apples with cinnamon, almond butter, Greek yogurt mixed with flax seeds, and topped with chopped apple peel. There were a lot of different textures in this dish but that's what makes food so interesting.

Bamboo steamers are probably my favorite thing to cook with. I use them at least once a day. Chinatown is a good place to find them.

I have to share this photo. On Friday we had a really busy day in the kitchen. I was filling our syrah cupcakes with fudge and as I pulled away the pastry bag this little face was smiling back at me. It  happened completely by chance and totally made my day. It's definitely a reflection of how I feel when I'm there. Having a job that you love and enjoy is the best feeling in the world.

No Peanut Pad Thai

For anyone who has peanut allergies and loves Pad Thai this recipe is for you. Even though it doesn't contain all the authentic Pad Thai ingredients, the sauce reminds me so much of it. Every time I make this, which is frequently, I always change it up a bit. I'll use different veggies depending on what I find at the farmers market. I'll make vegetarian versions and some non-vegetarian. Sometimes I'll even omit the rice noodles and use spinach or kale instead. For today's batch I started out by cooking my brown rice pad thai noodles according to the box directions. In a separate pan I sautéed a clove of garlic, (minced) and 1/4 of a yellow onion, (chopped). I threw in some sliced zucchini and broccoli and cooked them until tender. I love my food spicy so I added red chili flakes. I also added some leftover cooked chicken. Now it's time for the sauce. I'm not the type to use exact measurements so my advice would be to play around with the next three ingredients to get the consistency you like. For the sauce you will need creamy almond butter, a little water, and gochujang sauce. I use the Annie Chun's brand. It's a Korean sweet and spicy sauce that you can use on pretty much anything. It's delicious. I put a few squirts of the gochujang sauce in the pan followed by a spoonful of almond butter. I'll add a few splashes of water to get a creamy consistency. I let that cook for a few minutes and then add my brown rice noodles. Mix everything together and topped with sesame seeds.

First Post, First Meal

The other day I heard someone say "let food be your canvas". One of my favorite things about food is just being able to create so many different combinations and concoctions. I have had a few flops here and there but each time is a learning process for me. I'm not too big on exact measurements when cooking. It's all about what feels right. 

As this is my first blog post, I thought I should base it around the first thing I ate this morning. I was craving eggs so I made a poached egg with sliced onion, micro greens, and almond butter on Julian Bakery spelt multigrain bread. This bread is wheat and yeast free and it's pretty tasty. The key with these kind of breads is to toast them... a lot. I love my bread very toasted and crunchy. It was a little messy when the yolk broke but as long as you have a napkin you are fine : )