No shocker here, but I'm still obsessed with all things cinnamon, so today I have a delicious cinnamony snack/breakfast/dessert recipe to share! Lately cinnamon rolls and breads have been calling me. I ordered a gooey cinnamon roll a month or so ago while working at a coffee shop to satisfy my craving, but it's stuck around. So what did I do my friends? Came up with a healthier version of cinnamon roll bread, of course! This bread is a more nutritious play on the typical white flour, butter, and refined sugar-filled cinnamon swirl breads we all know and love. Instead, we've got an oat + whole wheat flour base. Apple sauce, a flaxseed egg, and coconut oil are added into the mix in place of butter, eggs and vegetable oil. Instead of an excess of sugar, pure maple syrup ... [Read More]
snacks
Peppermint Matcha Hot Chocolate {vegan}
Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it! I hope that you're having a wonderful end to your year. I'm popping in to share an easy recipe that's perfect for wintertime - one that I've made at least half a dozen times in the past few months. Matcha green tea powder is packed with antioxidants, but it can be too green tasting for some people. Hell, I like matcha and I don't even like it strong! But what I love about this recipe is that it pairs matcha with peppermint extract, and the two blend so well together. Peppermint extract is strong and it kind of mellows out the matcha. In the end, what you'll taste is a chocolatey, pepperminty drink with a hint of matcha that's perfect for pepping you up on chilly days. Since I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk for this recipe, it's also a ... [Read More]
Pumpkin Apple Cider Bread {dairy free with gf option}
It seems like every year when autumn hits, I get a serious baking itch and I start baking like crazy. Anyone else do the same thing? I especially get into the quintessential fall baking ingredients - including pumpkin, apple, cinnamon and nutmeg. I feel like I can't get enough! I mean, is there anything that smells better than all of those delicious flavors baking in the kitchen? Playing around in the kitchen with my favorite sweet fall ingredients is precisely how this recipe was born. I'm not normally a juice drinker, but I bought apple cider a few times this season after trying some at a local orchard and remembering that apple cider is in fact delicious. This recipe puts a twist on pumpkin bread by including apple cider and diced apple in the batter. I also made ... [Read More]
Raspberry Lemon Protein Muffins
Hi friends! Have you been experiencing a heatwave in your neck of the woods? It has been hot and also unusually humid here in the San Diego area, and while I know that many of you have no sympathy for Southern Californians complaining about weather since we have it so good overall, let me tell you... having no air conditioning is not fun when a heatwave rolls around! I wouldn't mind it being hot out if I had some coolness to retreat to inside. Yup, you heard me right! My house has no air conditioning. This concept is pretty foreign to most Americans, but living near the coast in San Diego usually equates to cool breezes and mild temperatures. I don't think anyone in my neighborhood has A/C, and it's pretty manageable except for the couple weeks out of the year when it's over 90 degrees - ... [Read More]
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Protein Oat Cookies {vegan + gf}
These healthy cookies are made with oats, peanut butter, banana, and cocoa powder, sweetened with monk fruit, and include chocolate protein powder for a protein boost. Ideal for breakfast, dessert, or anything in between! Have you guys ever seen photos of people's meal prep for the week that includes 5 containers of the same bland thing for each meal? If you've worked your butt off for a bikini competition and ate that way to get there, good on ya, but that looks like a bit of a nightmare to me. I like food too much, and I like diversity in my eats too much. Sure, I have my favorite smoothies and my go-to dinner recipes, but I certainly don't eat them on the daily. In general, monotonous, robotic living scares the hell out of me. No thank you, I don't want to do the same thing every ... [Read More]
Baked Strawberry Donuts with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting {vegan}
Healthier than your typical fried donuts, these vegan baked donuts use fresh strawberries, oats & cashew butter in the batter, & are topped with a strawberry cream cheese frosting! I haven't shared a sweet tooth recipe with you in a solid six weeks. The madness! Truth be told, I've been doing a lot of experimenting in the kitchen with new snack & dessert recipes, but many of them have been freelance projects. But today I'm back with a very delicious donut recipe... my very first donut recipe on the blog! Over the holidays, my hubby's grandmom & mom gave us a gift card to Stonewall Kitchen, and I went ahead & purchased something I'd been meaning to nab for awhile... a donut pan! I've been playing around with my first batches of homemade donuts, & ... [Read More]