Sweet Potato Muffins

Rain, Rain, go away…

…come again some other day…

…or never. That works too.

Just before you go calling PETA on me, I don’t kick my cats out without flippers and floaties when it’s raining buckets. I tried coaxing her inside, but she just wanted to snooze on her chair listening to the rain, I guess!

Needless to say, yet again Teddie was a no-go. He doesn’t like wearing flippers, and we all know I melt when I get rained on. …or not.

So, Kaia was stuck with me in her house all. day. long.

Poor thing. Yes, that is her chair. Looks cozy, non? I wish “mine” was that cozy. My butt hurts as we speak and I’ve only been sitting in it five minutes. That chair, however, is like melting into a cloud. A soft, pillowy, non-rainy cloud.

After some lemon poppyseed waffles (shoutout to Daniel) I devoted my morning to you all.

…que?! Si! I made my sweet potato cookies again, but made them into muffins. That may come as a disappointment to some, but if you want a cookie, just plop them on a cookie sheet, but don’t say I didn’t warn you that they’re not cookie-like in texture!

The main reason it took me a while to post this was because a. I wanted to make them once more but as muffins, and b. I wasn’t 100% sure of the changes I’d made to the recipe I was adapting from by the time I let a week pass! Only 99% 😉

Strangely, I can’t remember important days or what to get while I’m out to save my soul, but I can remember an ingredients list and their measurements for quite a while.

I’ve had a request for making my recipes printable, but honestly – I am clueless. If anybody knows how I can do that, please give me a heads-up! I know I probably make it a pain with all of the pictures I insert, so for now I’ll just try to make it a point to not put a picture after each instruction because you guys probably know how to stir 😉

Sweet Potato Muffins

Adapted from Moosewood’s “Butternut Cookies”

for 7 medium muffins

• 1 medium-sized sweet potato, yields about 1 c. mashed
• 1 1/2 T. maple syrup (*)
• 3 T. coconut oil
• 1/2 c. almond milk (I used unsweetened vanilla)
• 1 T. milled flaxseed + 3 T. almond milk

• 2/3 c. White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/3 c. quick oats
• 3/4 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt

• 1/4 c. dried cranberries (I used fruit juice sweetened cranberries)
• 1/4 c. chopped walnuts

• 1/4 c. quick oats
• 1/8 c. wheat germ
• 1/2 T. date sugar (or brown sugar or omit)
• honey
• almond milk

1. Poke the sweet potato with a fork or knife, and microwave, about 6 minutes, until baked. While it is baking, work on other parts of le recipe.
2. Sift together the dry ingredients [second list] except for oats into a medium-sized bowl, and then add in the quick oats.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the milled flaxseed with the 3 T. almond milk. Allow it to sit a few minutes before whisking in the maple syrup and 1/2 c. almond milk.
4. In a small bowl or dish, combine the last list – quick oats and wheat germ. This is going to be a streusel-esque topping. Use honey to taste (I didn’t want an awful lot) and if it’s still not crumbly enough, add in a splash of almond milk until it is.
5. Remove the potato from the microwave and once it’s slightly cooled, peel and mash in a bowl until smooth. Add to the flaxseed, maple syrup, and almond milk mixture. Whisk until smooth.
6. Heat your coconut oil for about 30 seconds or until slightly softened, so that you can measure it. Add it to the liquid ingredients. Note that the potato will still need to be pretty warm so that the coconut oil does not clump. Whisk until smooth.
7. Add the liquid to the dry, and fold until combined. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.
8. Oil or spray a muffin tin, and spoon batter into cups until 3/4s full. Smooth tops and crumble on the streusel topping.
9. Bake in a preheated 375* oven for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Let cool ~1 minute in tins before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

* these are not sweet muffins, as you can imagine given that they only use 1 1/2 T. maple syrup. Feel free to add more, but personally I like the subdued sweetness – it makes the coconut oil and sweet potato really shine!

As far as add-ins go, last time – when I made the cookies – I added in sweetened shredded coconut and dark chocolate chips, too. They were really good that way, and you could easily add them, too. Dates would also be nice if you don’t have cranberries, I imagine.

This was the struesel topping. If you can call it that?

These are surprisingly light in texture, given that they’re potato-based. I love the bites with cranberries! I love cranberries…I cannot wait until cranberries are available in the grocery store. If you ask me, they should not be a seasonal fruit.

I also made some birdseed bars while the muffins were baking. I think my mom’s been enjoying the ginger ones (even though I burnt them!) because there’s only one left! These were cashew-butter based (YUM!) with dried mango!! It was almost dried pineapple – but there was more mango in the bag 😉

Aaaaand what else….

Oh, yes, made some chili. I just followed a recipe in Moosewood’s Cooking for Health. It’s nothing to write home about, but a good basic chili. I didn’t want to spend hours searching for one (there are lots, so it would be easy to do!) so went for the first I saw 😉

I was able to get a lot of homework done while it was simmering away on the stove, too. Joyous.

And, even was able to do horse chores while there was a break in the storm! Which is surprising, because often times it would be Murphy’s Law that it would start torrentially downpouring when I need to go outside 😉

Unfortunately, wet horse poo weighs more than dry in case you were wondering, and really heavy wheel barrels are, not surprisingly, harder to push through mud than lighter ones.

Oh, and I had peanut banana soft serve. I blended a frozen banana with almond milk and peanut flour. Uh, yuhmmmm, I loved it.

But, all that said, I think the real star of the day was dinner.

Or, maybe I should say the star was Angela?!

When I saw Gabriela make her Basil Scalloped Tomatoes and Croutons dish, I had to scope it out, and had to have it for dinner tonight! This dish was adapted from the Smitten Kitchen’s version, who in turn adapted it from Ina Garten.

I made a few changes, too.

• I used fresh oregano in place of the fresh basil (don’t worry, I didn’t use half a cup, though!)
• I added in white kidney beans or cannelini beans, or…whatever they are. I like my meals to have some protein, na’mean?! I couldn’t think of a protein to put on the side and it definitely seemed like a dish that would welcome chick peas or, what I happened to have open, white beans.
• I added in about 1/4 of a red onion, which I coarsely chopped.
• I halved the sugar, and next time would probably just see what it’s like completely omitted. I’m fairly sure it’d still be good – I mean, it’s tomatoes and yummy bread and fresh herbs!! – but I am really interested to see what kind of flavor dynamic the sugar really adds to the tomatoes.
• I used basil oil to brown the bread cubes!

and I think that’s it.

Loffly. Loff her 3-minute vegan parmesan, too! It’s better than parm, if you ask me!

I had this amount x2 + 1/2. I just couldn’t help myself – it is so good!! And my mom is no longer threatening me to use the mass amounts of garden tomatoes we have that are taking over the kitchen and dining area. That first picture you saw? Yeah, that’s hardly even a fraction of them! I think I’ll make this again this weekend to use up the last of them 😛

I felt like such a little Suzie Home-Maker making this…I used my homemade bread, homegrown tomatoes, and homegrown oregano. Does it get any better?!

Why yes, yes it does…because I still have some for lunch tomorrow 😉

…and because this is my homework 😉 ‘Night!

Design my next birdseed bar flavor! What should I make next?!

Do you like chili? If so, what’s your go-to recipe?

Scattered

Lets have a scattered post day, shall we?

Kitchen Experiements

I am all out of muffins, and have been for a couple of days now. This is sad to me. I love having one of my muffins for dessert. And I especially loved the PB Branana Muffins I made recently. It’s also been way too hot to turn on the oven.

I was going to make them again, but then remembered the BSI this week is applesauce. And so I changed my plans a little. Yet still failed to come up with something suitable to enter.

Why?

Well, these muffins taste good. But, there were some glitches in the experimenting. Take, for instance, trying to bake a big loaf (instead of the intentional muffin) in a small toaster oven.

Yes. I went there. But!! I’m still going to post the recipe because I am 99% sure if you are just able to bake them as muffins you would have a much greater success rate.

Quinoa Carrot Muffins

• 1/2 c. almond milk
• 3/4 c. applesauce (unsweetened, all-natural)
• 1 T. milled flaxseed
• 1/3 c. Xagave

• 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 2 T. coconut flour
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• 1/4 t. ginger

• 1 1/4 c. cooked quinoa
• 1 c. shredded carrots
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans
• 2 chopped Turkish figs

• crystallized ginger (optional, for the top)

Whisk together the milk, applesauce, and flax. Allow to sit one minute, and then whisk in agave.

In separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
Add wet to dry, and combine. Do not overmix.
Fold in quinoa, carrots, figs and pecans.

Pour into muffin tins and bake at (I’m guessing here) 350* for 20 minutes. Don’t take my word for it, though. I sprinkled chopped crystallized ginger on top, too.

They are moist and delicious, but my batch is ugly. I figured that would happen. I baked it for about half an hour…took it out…flipped it over in the pan…baked about 20 more minutes…thought it was done…cut into it…was sorta gooey. Cut it into chunks about the size of a muffin, put on the baking sheet that came with the oven, and baked longer. Then they were done 🙂  So, they will certainly be making an appearance again. Except in real muffin form.

The Morning

Everyone was sleeping still when I woke up! And I even slept until 7. Looks like these guys were out late partying.

Maya and ???

Apologies for the poor photography. I didn’t feel like putting shoes on, so shot from the deck 😛

Jiggy. He's alive, I promise.

Kaia was up, though I don’t know how she felt about it:

Really, mom?

And SaBaay always wants to say hello, too:

She looks so mean. She's not.

For a cat, she's doing a pretty good "cow."

I had to take advantage of the pretty fog we had this morning – sorry! Moving on. I was obviously too lazy to change my lens. Work with me here.

The Eats:

Really good waffles. I'd missed them.

Peaches were on sale for $0.68/lb yesterday. Score. Obviously, they will be much loved this week.

Waffles! Except, I’ve been buying the honey flavored Kashi puffed cereal. Very good, as well. For some reason, these waffles were better than usual, maybe for that reason. Or maybe because it’s been a couple of days and I missed them more than I’d realized.

The Toppings:

• earth balance
• ginger preserves
• coconut
• honey roasted cashews
• chunky PB
• Xagave
• chopped nuked peach
• chopped nuked sweet cherries

And yes, I do still let my waffles get soggy before eating them. The juices from the fruit combined with the agave melting into the waffle is just too perfect for words.

Lunch was amaaaaze today.

A tomato sandwich, but not being a mayo person, I made it with a ranch dressing – greek yogurt, garlic salt, pepper, dill, and chives – and pepper goat cheese.

Why yes, yes that is a boatload of smoked sea salt that my snap peas are swimming in. And yes, yes that is fresh lettuce from our garden. Minor gloat.

Fun Fact: I’ve probabbly eaten my body weight x ten in sweet cherries today. I feel like a farmer spitting out chew when I spit the seeds out, because I’m not classy enough to cut them or de-pit them first.

Best snack ever. If I'm home, anyway.

Kashi, oats, trail power, honey roasted peanuts, sunflower seed butter, cherries, almond milk.

I found a kidney bean in my chickpeas when I was making dinner. Random.

I had leftover quinoa, so naturally that had to star in dinner. I made a quick cold quinoa salad with:

• quinoa
• chickpeas
• sliced cherries
• fresh basil
• salt
• pepper
• balsamic vinegar

And let it chill for a while in the fridge. When it was time for dinner, I served it over a bed of lettuce from the garden, snap peas, and red pepper and made a quicky yogurt-dressing by mixing greek yogurt, cranberry-orange jam, dijon mustard, and fresh basil. I thinned it with a splash of almond milk. This was a great combo of flavors, if I may say so myself 😉

The Ponies

My mom tried her hand at momography while I rode Teddie this morning. Teddie was a superstar once again. Mom was a superstar at momography. Which, as you may know, means a work in progress at photography. I’m just grateful to have someone with me though, so I won’t complain! It’s actually difficult to find someone to take good riding pictures because there’s a certain point in the stride that you need to press that button. Otherwise, it’s just not a pretty picture.

And that’s the “pretty point” in the trot. Although I’m mildly embarrassed at how popped my collar is. He’s stepping up nicely, though. And honestly, I’m just glad he’s quieter with the bit at the trot, so I’m still not asking for much.

Showing off for my mom. He’s a ham.

This isn’t flattering for either party involved, but he has the cutest face, doe she not? Proud mom here, bear with me.

Practicing our centerline!

As for Maya and yet-to-be-named, they are the sweetest things ever. Especially Maya! Yet-to-be-named is sweet, but sometimes plays “hard to get,” in that she’ll walk away at first but after a minute or two of just letting her think it out she comes over and ends up loving the attention! We took them both out for a little walk down the road in-hand and they did very well, even when Mel and Jiggy charged the fence 😉 My mom took Maya and I yet-to-be-named. We have our favorites I think 😉 Yet-to-be-named reminds me of a female Teddie!

I’m off to find my cell phone, finish a massive load of laundry (when did I become so awful about putting off laundry?!) and if tonight is anything like last night, do a little bit of yoga, too 🙂

So, I’ve blabbed long enough – what was the highlight of your weekend?!

Seitanic

It’s not even 10:00 am and I’ve already eaten breakfast…

No more strawberries...instead, a mapley peach! And iced coffee.

The same base as usual - oatmeal and puffed millet...

...with honey roasted peanuts, sunflower seed butter, dates, maple syrup, and a nuked ripe peach.

…cleaned out the horses…

Someone (Brandi?) asked a while back if I had gauges. I can't remember if I answered - I do!

And two holes in my nose, just for good measure.

…made seitan…

No, this isn't seitan - but it's what I munched on during the process.

…did a yoga download while the seitan was simmering…

…and made muffins.

Round #2 of PB & Banana Bran Muffins!

And put my face on, too. And ordered a girth for my dressage saddle because the one that came with it is a 32″. Mr. Pony needs about a 26″. He may think he’s a big ol’ warmblood, but he’s not.

Of course, by the time this gets posted I’ll have a blog post up, but then it’ll probably be more like 11:00. Oh, well.

Anyways. Wanna talk about seitan?

Oh, okay…

I think seitan is sort of a “six or half-dozen,” scenario. Sure, you can have hot-dog seitan, chicken seitan, etc – but either way, you’re mixing vital wheat gluten and a broth of some sort. I’ve sort of done my own thing from Veganomicon’s Simple Seitan, but I like things sort of basil-y and garlic-y, so I made some swaps. That and I hate soy sauce.

Yes, I used the term hate.

Anyways, here’s what I’m usually eating whenever seitan pops up. It’s my new love. I haven’t even bothered purchasing tempeh lately. (Although – heads-up – Lightlife has a $1.00 off coupon on their website :D)

Dry ingreds

Combine your dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl:

• 1/2 c. vital wheat gluten
• 1 heaping tablsepoon nutritional yeast
• 1/4 t. dried basil

Wet ingreds

Combine your wet ingredients in a separate vessel:

• 1/4 c. vegetable broth
• 2 T. balsamic vinegar
• 1 large or 2 medium cloves of garlic, pressed

Pour wet into dry...

And combine with a wooden spoon.

Stir until mostly combined, and then knead it until strings start to form. Form it into one-two rounds:

I just form one, and cut as necessary.

And prepare your boiling liquid. I just fill a medium-sized saucepan with a can of vegetable broth, adding more water if necessary. You’ll want to have it mostly full, so the seitan is completely covered.

Place the seitan in the liquid, and bring to a boil.

As soon as it starts to boil, reduce the heat to very low, and let simmer, covered, for an hour. Do some yoga but don’t forget to flip it occasionally.

After an hour, remove from heat and uncover. Let it cool off, and then store it with some of the broth in the fridge.

Still reminds me of those rubbery alien-growing toy things. At least it tastes better than I imagine those to.

When I use it for sandwiches, I just slice it and give it a quick pan-fry on both sides in a non-stick pan. Make sure you kinda squeeze a little of the excess broth out first.

As for the muffins? Well, I went through those last ones probably the fastest I’ve ever gone through muffins, with all of my faux strawberry shortcakes. I intended to make them more peanut-buttery than last time but I couldn’t even remember what I did last time to change. So I have the same observations about this batch that I did about the last – needs a bit more maple or agave, and a bit more peanut butter. I’m almost there, though! (…nothing a little peanut butter smeared on top can’t fix 😉 )

Now I’m hoping the storms can hold off long enough that I can play with a cute lil’ guy named Teddie!

P.S. I’m glad everyone enjoyed my last camera post! I know if you’re unfamiliar with photography it’s overwhelming at first – my advice is to just experiment. It will all make sense 🙂 And I didn’t even touch on white balance, lighting, ISO, etc. I think next I’ll talk about white balance – it’s something everyone can benefit from, not necessarily dSLR specific!

P.P.S – Don’t forget about the BSI: Bulghur Wheat Contest!! Get creative! Remember, bulgur is fun to bake with, too :]

Newfound Knowledge

Ack – my weekend has flown by! Aren’t I always saying that, though? I hope everyone got the chance to do what they needed and wanted to do.

I once again had a day where I was so busy that as I write this, I hardly remember the thoughts and feelings I had this morning! Well, except for the thought and feeling of “Figgy Oats. End of story.” I also remember that I made a really big blooper (as usual). But first – thanks to everyone who gave me the baking powder lesson! I figured it had something to do with that – but as mentioned, I don’t know much about food science. It is interesting, though! And I wanted to put to use my newfound knowledge, and again waited to add the baking powder last.

Well, they look innocent enough, you must be thinking…so what’s the blooper?

Well, I forgot the flax egg. Good one, Jess. I’m surprised they still worked. Honestly, confusion only set in when I was wondering why the batter seemed so “loose,” and also was a little disappointed that adding the baking soda last didn’t work and make them as cakey as last time.

Strangely, they still worked and tasted amaze. I topped them with some earth balance, a “melted” mashed banana with some more chopped dried figs, walnuts, and unsalted almond butter. I tried a little bit of this almond butter from the co-op…and I am just not a fan of raw, unsalted almond butter plain. It’s not so bad on waffles or in oats or (as you’ll see shortly) muffins – but I think I have more deserving jars to spend money on.

Jump on in, the Rain Forest Nut is great!

It was sort of another gloomy morning so I almost passed on going to the barn to see Teddie today, but after going grocery shopping and it still only being shortly after 9:00, my mom and I decided we had nothing better to do. The weather looked like it was getting better, and I really did want to get in a good work with him after yesterday.

While shopping, I noticed how much more inexpensive it is to not eat meat. My mom spent $20 on some bread, meat, eggs, fruit anda couple veggies. I spent the same on a boatload of fruit and veg, refrigerated aisle goods, and a couple of grain & beans. We still share everything, just a neat comparison. And not to mention a can of beans at less than $1 is way more inexpensive. And dried beans even moreso! What can I say, I prefer convenience and BPA.

We left shortly afterwards for the barn, and once we got home checked how our garden is doing.

I’ve got some plum tomatoes starting, and the spaghetti squash seeds that I planted are actually growing like crazy! I wasn’t sure they would, since they were just seeds from a squash I ate. Not sure why they wouldn’t, I guess. Other things from seeds (spinach, corn, lettuce, zucchini) are also growing pretty well. We even picked some buttercrisp lettuce leaves for use in lunch.

My mom had hardboiled some eggs when we were just killing a bit of time before going to see Mr. Pony, and offered one up to me. I passed initially, but when I saw her making egg salad my indecision as to what to have for lunch went away, and I followed suit. I mashed together:

• 1 hardboiled egg
• spoonful of greek yogurt
• dijonnaise
• chopped sundried tomatoes
• fresh garden chives
• garlic salt
• pepper

and put it atop some of the garden lettuce and a slice of tomato, of course between a slice of toasted whole grain bread. (The new loaf with sesame seeds! Yum!)

And a lil’ bit of plain greek yog with strawberry-banana flax oil, agave, banana chips, and walnuts.

And then the baking extravaganza set in!

I made banana-fig sun/almond butter bran muffins first. I love having muffins after dinner or for a night-time snack. They are so handy to bake and then freeze for anytime use!

I loosely followed a recipe I made up a while back (the almond butter & jam bran muffins) but changed it way up. It’s interesting to see how I would have made something like this a while back, and what I would do now. I was skeptical of these hot out of the oven, but when I tried one cooled with some fig jam, they really impressed me! Next time I’d add a bit more nut butter and maple syrup, though. Will have to do up a recipe post then!

And yes, I utilized my newfound knowledge and added the baking powder last.

Butter bean cutlets were next on the list, to use up the last of my butter beans. And who am I kidding – they’re delicious and so easy and convenient to have ready-made!

And last up were more granola bars! My mom and I already finished the last ones. Well, almost – there’s one left. But still – goes to show how hot they were, right?! I think I perfected the date-maple ratio and timing – these turned out perfectly moist, although I don’t think I pressed these ones down quite as firmly, since they seem a little more fragile. I also used apricots instead of figs, macadamia nuts rather than walnuts, and added a little more wheat germ, some chia seeds, and used the puffed millet I picked up the other night.

Another round of winners! If you haven’t yet, give Mae’s original recipe a peek! I think I’ll probably have to try it as-is soon, I just love using dates in granola bars 🙂

After cleaning up the last of my baking messes, reading some blogs, and playing with the horses a bit, it was time for dinner, where I finally put the wheat berries I picked up a while ago to use.

The verdict? Love! They’re so chewy and fun! Brandi is always inspiring me with her wheat berry salads, but I went a bit astray and took inspiration from a Whole Foods recipe for a Wheat Berry Waldorf salad.

Simply  prepped the wheatberries, and then added in half a chopped gala, golden raisins, cinnamon, dried parsely, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, spoonful of greek yogurt, drizzle of honey, and cracked black pepper. I chose to serve it over some romaine with some chopped walnuts with some pan-fried BBQ seitan. Dee-rish! And I’m glad I had the sturdy romaine leaves to wrap it up in – it posed to be relatively tricky to eat, otherwise!

The apple-BBQ sauce that I have and brushed the seitan with ended up being a great match, too. And I think this may be my best seitan yet 😉

On an unrelated note, why is everyone googling healthy exposures + ___________? I hope it’s all the same person, how else would someone know the name “healthy exposures”??!

Sure, not a ton of hits – but random and sudden, nonetheless. Usually my google hits are random things about smelling like celery and burnt butter.

___________________________________________

The Teddie Chronicles – week one complete!

I’m so glad I ended up going out today because Mr. Pony was wonderful! I’m also glad my mom came along – she sort of gives me the push I need to just do something. Case in point – I wasn’t planning on riding, but her response was “Yes ya are.” heh. It’s a good thing. Teddie was in a much better mood, and I could tell right off the bat. Came running up to me, and stood quietly for being tacked and lunged perfectly. It’s nice to have a horse that is a gentleman on the lunge and doesn’t pull or run around like crazy. Actually, and I quote “We are not out for a leisurely stroll in the park, trot on, please!” followed by asking my mom to deliver the lunge whip. That was all the motivation he needed.

It’s amazing how horses only need to know you have a whip or crop to be that much more willing to oblige! (don’t worry, whips/crops aren’t meant for beating a horse into submission, anyways. At least  not anywhere I go.)

I hopped on and just walked around for a few minutes before hopping off. Still taking it slow, I know, I know! Oh well. He was good and I was happy, so he’s earned tomorrow off from work. This is probably more work than he’s done in the past 6 months total, I don’t want to sour him.

Something funny my mom said to him while she was holding him: “Stop! You’re like a two year old child throwing a tantrum because I took away your binkie!”

He loves having something to mouth/chew on – which we’re obviously trying to get him out of the habit of. He’s much better when he’s working in hand than the beginning of the week, but just standing for grooming and tacking he’s still got a lot of lip action.

Oh, ponies.

Commonalities

Seems to be that I’ve been on a roll lately. With what, you ask? Well, closely examine last night’s meal and this morning’s banana figgy oats. What do they have in common? If you ask me, I’d say they both lack in the visual department. Luckily, the other thing they have in common is that they don’t lack in the taste department.

After practically dreaming about the combination of melted mashed banana with maple syrup and sunbutter ever since having it Sunday  morning, I knew I’d have to do the melted banana and sunbutter with hot oats. And that, I did.

The base contained:

• 1 T. Wheat Bran, 2 T. Bob’s Grains & Nuts, 3 T. Bob’s Peppy Kernels
• 1/2 c. coffee, 1/2 c. PureAlmond
• 1/2 banana, thinly sliced
• 1 dried fig, chopped
• drizzle maple sryup
• 1 T. chia seeds

And topped with:

• chia-flax icing
• honey roasted peanuts
• TJ’s Sunflower Seed Butter
• and a nuked mashed, melted banana mixed with some chopped dates

…and a drizzle of maple syrup. Oh, how I loved those gobs of salty sunflower seed butter mixed with the sweet, ooey-gooy banana, and the popping of the figgy seeds with each bite.

To round out the meal? Why, Green Mountain’s Southern Pecan, of course. perhaps a random selection for the morning since pecans were otherwise nowhere in site. This flavor seems to be my go-to though, eh?

I’m pretty sure no one wants to see pretty food, anyways. We all know that the ugly food tastes the best, right? right?!

You all had some great suggestions pertaining to packing food while traveling! I don’t think I’ve ever had to pack in preparation for breakfast, so I totally even forgot to think about that! It was great reading everyone’s tips, especially since I’m probably the one who goes on “real” trips the least out of all of us! I just seem to find myself on the road a lot, I guess 😉 Some of the pointers I read that made me think “oh gosh, why didn’t I think of that/include that?” Were:

• Jess mentioned oatmeal packs (they do make reasonable instant oatmeal packs, contrary to popular belief! And if you can’t find any in your area, who says you can’t pack a serving or two in a ziploc bag or resealable container?) as well as portable nut butter packs. Now that’s a good one. And you know what, if you wanted a PB & J, you could just pack some bread and grab some portable nut butter and jam packs!
• Ashley (at Food, Fotos, and Fun – but my computer won’t let me go to your site!) mentioned single-serve applesauce and cold cereal. I have a hunch hotel breakfasts are getting better in offering oatmeal packs & better cold cereals based on reading about other bloggers’ stays – but you never know, right?! And a hearty breakfast is the only way to start any day – especially if it’s one where you’ll be walking around, taking in the sights!
• aaaand, I’m just gonna go ahead and quote Mo because she packed tons of useful tips into an itty bitty comment 🙂 “

"This doesn't necessarily work for someone driving but I like packing granola in a little plastic baggie with a plastic spoon and eating a little when I'm hungry on the road because it's cheaper than buying snack bars. I also always slice up any fruit that has a core, like apples, and place it in a baggie so it's not as messy to eat. Adding a tiny drizzle of lemon juice to the apple makes it not go brown so it's all good. Actually, even the juicier fruits are okay to eat if you pack them in a sturdy container and bring along a fork. Just not good for when you're driving, again. XD
I'm also really big on packing veggies which I've cut into sticks. And like you said, it's a good idea to pack some baked goods. Even things like roasted chickpeas are a great on-the-road snack. :)
Also, bring along a bag for the trash. No one likes sitting in banana peels."

I ran into town today to talk with the barn chicka to iron out the deets of le pony’s arrival. Unfortunately, it won’t be until the first weekend in June 😦 Better late than never, though – right? He needs a rabies shot before he can be brought to the barn, and the vet isn’t going out until the 25th. I don’t blame them for not wanting to travel on Memorial Day – so the next best is the weekend after. Ohhhh well 🙂 We talked for a good long bit – and she even mentioned that a yoga class will be starting up at the barn at 6:00 on Wednesdays!! I am so excited.

That excitement held through my drive home and unsuccessful shopping trip to Rite Aid (I wanted to see if there was a new Clean Eating mag out) because as soon as I got home I did a yoga sculpt from yogadownload.

Well, I actually grabbed a small hunk of bread with almond butter and did laundry first because otherwise I would have to start wearing my mom’s t-shirts and jeans, but that’s besides the point. Dawnelle made my legs shake like no other, and afterwards I put my pumpkin to use and baked pumpkin bran muffins. I winged it, basing it off of my carrot-maple bran muffins. I discovered I must be in another world when typing, because I said that I used 1/3 cup stevia AND 1/3 cup maple syrup. I have never used both stevia and maple syrup. That and 1/3 cup of stevia is an ungodly amount.

Whilst they were cooking, I made lunch.

I took the other half of my delicious loaf from the farmer’s market out when I got home, so it wasn’t ready for lunch time. I gave my homemade loaf another chance, and it’s actually a lot better than I remembered telling myself it was when there were beautiful seeded multigrain loaves right in front of me and some mighty fine bakers. I mean, if you put enough roasted red peppers, spinach, tempeh, garlic lovers hummus, and local pepper goat cheese between two pieces of slate, it’d taste okay. I only chose slate because I live near a bunch of slate quarries. Maybe marble would work better for you.

I enjoyed this panini with some pumpkin yogurt that I sweetened with a dollop of pumpkin butter and some dried cranberries.

And “apple dippers”!

My mom found these Seneca Apple Crisps yesterday that someone left at school. Sounds weird, but she’s grounds maintenance and when kids leave for the summer, they leave all. sorts. of goodies behind. We actually have a new huge fridge for that reason. But, back to the point – these were in a cutesy little resealable bag (unopened, don’t worry) and brought them home.

I was pretty full so I only had one to try, but they’re pretty good! I could do with a little less canola oil so they taste less “chippy” – but compared to potato chips, these are the bad notes. And the remainder of the bag contributed to some homemade apple pie larabars 🙂

See how I make them in itty bitty balls?! They’re the perfect munchy, I promise! I stole a small one before going on a ride with my mom when she got home. Although, before any of that happened, I had to sample a muffin. I was full, but had to make sure they were up to par, so just sampled a half of a small one fresh out of the oven.

They definitely passed inspection. And in keeping with my common theme, they were ugly, too.

Who says OIAJ is the only way to clean a PB jar?

…but a couple hours and a horseback ride later, I was hangry.

Don't worry, I got those last little bits.

I used up the last itty bitty bit of my Naturally Nutty White Chocolate Coconut PB on half a Dr. Kracker 3 seed. I just wanted a little something to dull my hunger – it was time to start making dinner, not snack!

And make dinner I did! See another commonality, though?

I made Veganomicon’s Quinoa and Chickpea pilaf for my mom and I. I think it may be the first time I followed a recipe to a T, too. Granted, it was pretty simple so that may be a primary contributor as to why. In the mix:

• quinoa
• tomato paste
• onions
• garlic
• cumin, salt, black pepper, basil
• chickpeas

It was delicious! And a major hit – always a bonus. I topped mine with feta and cashews. Unfortunately, I spilled some of the quinoa before it all made it to the pot, so I had a larger dessert than usual, and right away…

…and since there was a camera in my other hand, figured why not document this lovely bowl of So Delicious Chocolate “non-dairy frozen treat,” with shredded coconut, banana chips, and Naturally Nutty Cherry Almond Butter?

…my point exactly.

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Did anybody else catch the bit about pesticides and ADHD in kids? I suppose it should come as no surprise that a new study is pointing fingers at pesticides commonly used on non-organic fruits and veggies as a new cause of ADHD. When you’re using something with the intention to damage nerve connection in the brain of the bugs that feed on it, why wouldn’t it have a similar effect on the people that feed on it? The disruption of these neurotransfers is also linked to ADHD. Past studies were done primarily on farm-workers, yet for some reason, researchers are just now looking at the effects these pesticides have on children. And it is children who are affected most – not so much adults.

Of course, there’s still no direct, official tie between ADHD and pesticides – but it certainly seems feasible, right? I’m sure more studies will be done, but this is the first big one to take place. I’m actually a bit surprised at that fact, however.  This is the sort of story that makes you think – what’s going to be bad 5 years from now? Sure, pesticides have never been good – but I’m fairly certain when I was growing up, organic was far less abundant and talked up.

So! Don’t forget our Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen list, and know that even when not organic, farmer’s market finds tend to be far lower in pesticides.

I just did a quick little blurb – but if you want to read more, you should definitely give the article a peak. It goes beyond just talking about ADHD, and gets into the pesticides aspect of things, too.