Super Power Breakfast Cookies #breakfastonthego

What's that? A cookie that gives you super powers? It's true, no need to disbelieve. We have been making these protein packed, whole grain cookies almost every very week for a few years now and they remain one of our favorite breakfast and afternoon snacks ever. They come together as quick as waffles or pancakes do and have everything you need to fuel your bod all morning, especially when you pair them with a piece of fresh fruit and a glass of milk!

I'm admittedly and unabashedly most definitely NOT a morning person! Even after 16 years of having a job that requires me to wake up at 5:30 am and even after having 4 children who require every ounce of energy that you don't have at 4 o'clock in the morning.


This means that a bowl of cold cereal would be served every. single. morning at our house during the week if it weren't for brainlessly easy fixes like these cookies. Everyone loves them and they keep me full until I'm able to have a late mid-morning snack at work. I'm happy knowing my kiddos are being fueled through their mornings of quizzes, science reports and P.E. classes. Win-Win.







Mmmmmmmmm, cookies.......... for breakfast.

Another reason I'm so hung up and head over heals for these cookies? They make a great "Grab and Go" afternoon snack. Perfect for those days when we are running all over town, day trips and hiking adventures. Again, we almost always pair a cookie (or two) with a piece of fresh fruit. A banana, apple, orange or grapes make great travel friendly snacks!

Toasted Whole Oats {Coach's Oats}

Super Power Breakfast Cookies

TIME     20 MINUTES        YIELDS     28-20 COOKIES

Ingredients

2 flax eggs (2 T flax meal + 1/4 c water)

1/2 c cooked pumpkin or applesauce or 2 medium ripe bananas (mashed)

1/2 c natural, no sugar added peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch sea salt

1 t pure vanilla extract 

1/4 c maple syrup or honey

1/2 c oat flour (ground from oats in coffee grinder or blender or food processor)

1 c whole grain oats such as Coaches Oats (or 1/2 c unsweetened coconut flakes AND 1/2 c oats)

1/4 c each: walnuts or pecans (chopped); raisins or other dried fruit, and/or dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350˚F. 

In small bowl, combine flax seed & water; let sit while you're preparing the batter. 

Combine wet ingredients in a large bowl & dry ingredients in another bowl.  Add flax eggs to wet ingredients then stir in dry ingredients.

Drop cookies by spoonfuls on lightly greased baking sheet or silpat non-stick baking mat set on top of a cookie sheet (the cookies won’t expand much). Bake 15-17 min or til cookies are slightly golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack. After completely cooled, store in air-tight container to keep fresh for a few days. Refrigerate or freeze for even longer storage time.

recipe adapted from Minimalist Baker

You might also like these healthy breakfast options

Protein Packed Banana Sunflower Cookies

Cottage Cheese Pancakes {GF}

Granola, Quinoa and Fruit Bars

What are your favorite quick and easy "Go To"  breakfast options?

Chunky Monkey {Raw} Honey Almond Butter

No matter how long you've been cooking or baking I'll bet you have a kitchen disaster or two to tell. Now I'm not necessarily talking about kitchen fires, floppy souffles or sliced fingers but the minor yet equally embarrassing flops that you will remember always and share with friends when ever the topic arises.

Mine happens to be the time several years ago I tried to make almond bars for a Christmas party.
You see, and keep in mind I was young and didn't bake much, I thought that when the recipe called for 1 cup of   "Almond Butter"   that meant to take a cup of butter and add almond extract to it and mix...........


There. I've told you, now you too know my shameful secret. No biggie. You've done something like that too right? Humor me.






Fast forward several years and many cookbooks and blog reading later, I not only know what almond butter is but I've discovered how easy and especially economical making your own is! Good almond butter is apparently worth it's weight in gold and I feel a twinge of guilt every time I buy it. My kids love peanut butter but I'm just not a fan and find it too in your face roasted pea nutty.

Almond butter however is in my opinion mild, creamy and a perfect addition to apples or on a sandwich with bananas and honey. Yum!

So I've seen my blog friends like The Fit House Wife and  Naturally Ella  posting creamy and beautiful recipes for home made almond butter and I new I had to make it part of my life.

Turns out that not everything goes according to plan on your first try. Ever in my case. While this almond butter was a really delicious and a hit with the whole fam, it wasn't as creamy as I wanted it to be. I think maybe I tried adding too much almonds into my Vita Mix at one time. The tips I've heard from around the web discouraged using a Vita Mix at all to make almond butter but I was an eager new owner of a shiny new Vita Mix and the guy at Costco told me it could do absolutely anything, so I went for it!

I'm going to take Jen's advice over at The Fit House Wife  and try adding less at a time and maybe freezing the almonds to avoid them heating up so much like they did this time.

First, you need to soak your raw,  unsalted  almonds for 4-6 hours in purified water. This makes them easier to digest by removing the tannic acid, an enzyme inhibitor in the skin. 

If you have a food processor use it, otherwise give it a go in your quality blender like a Vita Mix or Blendtec. Again, use less almonds than I did, start with 1 cup of frozen almonds.

Starting on low speed and quickly going up to high speed blend for 2-3 minutes. DO NOT ADD WATER!

This will be scary. It won't look like it will blend into a butter, but it will. First it will look like almond meal, then a paste, then butter. 

After about 3 minutes on high speed.

Add honey and salt AFTER it's to the consistency you want.

Since it wasn't as creamy as I dreamed of I'm just going to call it "Chunky Almond Butter" lookin' at the glass half full my friends.  It was still delicious and the bit-O-honey made this a perfect afternoon, post-work out/after school  treat.

Spread it on toast, spoon it on your green apples or just dip your spoon in the jar and enjoy!

To make it official Chunky Monkey Honey Almond Butter, slice some bananas and drizzle a bit more honey over the top.

You Will Need: 

1 cup frozen Raw, Unsalted almonds (preferably Organic)2 teaspoons salt (I use Pink Himalayan)1/4 cup Raw Local honey  (buying local helps fight common allergies!)Optional:  1 teaspoon cinnamon

What kitchen disasters have you had?

Almond Butter and Banana Pancakes: Simple and Decadent in every way

First off, I have a funny, albeit slightly embarrassing story to tell you about my first experience with Almond butter.

I've always loved cooking and all it entails. For me it is a creative outlet. Chopping, sauteing, deglazing ect. are all de-stressors for me. I love that it is an expression of art in a lot of ways and that you can really change and experiment with the ingredients to create a flavor that is just right for your mood or tastes. Baking however, IMHO is another story. Yes, you can change the ingredients a little for the most part, exchanging one flour for another or a bit of applesauce for some of the butter, but really you usually need to be pretty exact to get a result that was worth your efforts ie. 'A Big Fat Mess' at my house.

Anyway, waaay back when I was just a novice little baker (errhegmmm, a few short years ago), I had some recipe that called for Almond Butter. In my mind, I was thinking it was just regular butter flavored with almonds and so I thought, I can just make my own and save a trip to the store...........

And so, I proceeded to take a cup of butter from the fridge and poured a few teaspoons of almond extract into it and creamed it up into my cookies. I told you, embarrassing.

It wasn't long before 2 and 2 clicked together and I realized that I had created the butteriest, greasiest, most disgusting cookies ever. Pooor cookies. Poor me. So while this was at the time very frustrating and humbling, I did end up discovering what in fact Almond Butter actually was. Goober, I know.

Speaking of what a goober I am, I am probably one of the only people in America who does not like peanut butter. *gasp! 

Never liked PBandJ's or apples with peanut butter as a kid. As a health conscience adult I've tried to like peanut butter, at least with apples or in recipes but it's just not my fav. I do however L.O.V.E. Almond Butter. Go figure.  Almond Butter has a very mild and less 'toasty' taste compared to peanut butter and is very decadent and naturally sweet.

I've listed a Nutritional Comparison Chart below, based on a 2,000 calorie a day diet in case your interested. Both peanut and almond butter are good for you and pretty similar except that Almond Butter has slightly less carbs and saturated fat and quite a bit more Calcium, Iron and Vitamin E.

2 tbsp. Peanut Butter      2 tbsp. Almond Butter

                            Calories                     190                               190

                           Total Fat (g)                 16                                 16

                          Saturated Fat (g)            2                                  1.5

                           Carbs (g)                      7                                    6

                            Fiber (g)                      3                                    4

                           Protein (g)                    8                                    7

                           Calcium                       1%                                  8%

                            Iron                             3%                                 6%

                           Vitamin E                    14%                                40%

                           Folate                           6%                                  6%

Choose baking powder that is aluminum free!

Almond Butter and Banana Pancakes

SERVES 4-6    TIME  15 MINUTES
Ingredients


1 cup Whole Wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder  (*without the aluminum additive!)
1/2 teaspoon salt  (*preferably iodized)
1/2 cup creamy Almond Butter  (preferably Organic)
2 tablespoons sugar  (preferably Organic/Raw)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg   (preferably free range)
1 cup milk + 2 tablespoons milk   (*preferably Organic or w/out rHsbt hormone)
2-3 ripe bananas  (don't need to be Organic ;)
tablespoon of butter for griddle.



Directions

In large bowl mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, sugar and oil until smooth. Beat in egg, then milk. Add 1 chopped banana.

Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until blended.

Lightly coat griddle or skillet with butter and heat it over medium heat.
Drop batter onto the griddle and cook until tiny bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake, then flip and cook a few minutes more. 

*Careful, these burn easily. I suggest making small pancakes so they won't be undercooked in the middle before they burn.
 
Serve with pure maple syrup and top with sliced bananas and a glass of ice cold chocolate milk!  My 16 year old likes these with jam on top.

 

Take a Hike!

Yesterday we went on a nice hike in the White Tank Mts. in the far west valley.  I love Arizona, especially in the winter months when the weather is just perfect. Some times I wish for snow and boots and pretty fur coats but then I remember how lucky we are to be able to go on a beautiful hike and have a picnic in January!

These are some pics I snapped on the short "Water Fall Trail"

Not much of a waterfall, more like a trickle, but we Zonies will gather round and stare at a trickle of water in the dry desert when we get the chance. ;)

This is the desert through my 'eyes'.

Did you know that the Sonoran Desert is the only place Saguaros grow naturally?

Cholla cacti also are native to the Arizona desert and a small part of California. There are over 20 species and are sometimes called ' Jumping Cactus' since the needles will jump off the plant if you get to close!

Crazy Zonies standing around staring at the "Water Fall"  Don't strain your eyes, it's only a trickle.

No, it's not really snowing... Photoshop. It was very cold out, much colder than usual and there is snow on the mountains in the background, can you see it?

Aren't those snow capped mountains a beautiful site in the desert? I Love it!






We needed a nice hot bowl of flavourful soup to warm us up!
This soup is part of the detox diet from Whole Living.
Not sauteing the veggies and using lots of in season, lightly cooked veggies make this soup
healthy and hearty.
Free Range Chicken adds healthy protein and flavor, feel free to skip it if you'd like, the almond
butter is a good source of protein.
Almond butter makes this soup so very decadent and is an excellent source of
 healthy monounsaturated fat, essential for heart health and controlling blood sugar.
.

Photo and recipe from Whole Living

Please excuse me, I try to always do my own pics but time and light quality were against me in a
big way last night! The recipe calls for collards of which I used along with Bok Choy I need to use up.

I'm sending this over to Fresh Friday's at La Bella Vita for her wonderful healthy life style blog hop.