Peach Yogurt Parfait

I have been really enjoying fruit, yogurt, and granola for breakfast lately in various combinations.  Some days I'll toss everything into a bowl and mix it all together.  Other days I'll make it into a parfait by layering all the ingredients.

I even add chia seeds for extra protein, fiber, and omega-3.

What I love about parfaits is you can create different parfait combinations with different flavored yogurts, different granolas, and different fruits. 

Here's how I made this Peach Yogurt Parfait:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup yogurt (I used Silk vanilla soy yogurt)
• 1 peach
• granola (I used this homemade Light Granola)
• 1/2 tablespoon chia seeds

Directions:

1. Stir chia seeds into the yogurt and slice peach into bite sized pieces.
2. Layer the parfait however you want.  I first added peaches, then yogurt, then granola, and repeated.
3. If desired, sprinkle additional chia seeds on top!

This parfait is not just meant for breakfast.  It could make a great afternoon snack or a healthy dessert after dinner!

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Here's another pizza crust recipe.  The texture of this crust is similar to my Quinoa Crust Pizza where it unfortunately is soft in the middle and not crispy.  Even though this crust was tasty (I loved the cauliflower) it was like I was eating vegetables with sauce and cheese similar to mixing all the ingredients in a bowl as a way to eat vegetables since I had to eat this with a fork.

This recipe was adapted from here:

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1/2 cup gf oats
• 3 flax eggs
• seasonings (I used sea salt, nutritional yeast, italian seasoning, and garlic powder)

Directions:

1. Grate up a head of cauliflower in a food processor until tiny rice-sized pieces form.  After grating, put it in a pan on the stove and mix with a spoon over medium-high heat for a few minutes to get some of the moisture out.
2. Put the cauliflower in a large bowl.  Add in oats and flax eggs and stir to combine.  Then mix in the seasonings.
3. Spread on a pizza pan and bake the crust in a 425F oven for 35 minutes. 
4. When crust is baked, add sauce, cheese, and toppings*.  Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.  Allow the pizza to cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

This recipe made one large pizza.

*For my toppings, I shredded up some asparagus.  I got the idea from here.

I'm sure if you cook the crust longer it would eventually get crispier in the middle, though you may have to cut off the burnt crust ends.  Next time, I think I'm going to try to make the crust thicker on the outside and thinner on the inside and see if that helps the middle get crispy and the ends stay softer.

Beet Juice

It's the second Monday in August which means it is week 2 of the Meatless Mondays from A-Z Challenge.  This week is letter B and B is for Beets!  I actually chose a pretty simple recipe for today a juice smoothie that includes beets.

This recipe was adapted from Oh She Glows:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/2 beet
• 1 apple
• 1 orange
• 1 cup kale

I tossed all those ingredients into my juice extractor to create my beet juice.  Unlike the original recipe I added kale and used an orange instead of grapefruit. My juice did not turn out that bright neon pink from the original recipe, but that could be because I added kale and/or didn't make a smoothie but juiced the ingredients. Either way it tasted great!

I also liked this recipe because it's a green juice that's not green.  There called green juices because you add leafy greens, but other vegetables may make different fun colors!

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

I love the combination of peanut butter and bananas so of course when I had 2 black bananas the first thing I thought of making was something that included peanut butter as well.  I love muffins because unlike bread they are already premade into servings.  This makes them a quick easy breakfast or snack to grab and go.

I made quite a few changes to the original recipe since I had 2 bananas that needed to be used so I tried to change some of the ingredients to incorporate that extra moisture.  I also had to decide on a good proportion of gluten free flours instead of the whole wheat flour called for in the original recipe.

This recipe was adapted from VegWeb:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon paking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseeds
• 1/4 cup gluten free all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a muffin pan.
2. Mix together peanut butter, vanilla, bananas, sugar, and milk.
3. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and mix together.
4. Add flaxseeds and mix together.
5. Add all purpose flour and mix.
6. Add 1/4 cup brown rice flour and mix.
7. Add remaining 1/4 cup brown rice flour and mix until everything is well incorporated.
8. Pour batter into muffin liners and bake for about 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean.

There are quite a bit of ingredients, but it's all just measuring and mixing, which keeps the recipe very simple.  Plus, you only use one bowl so there is minimal clean-up!

I cannot wait until I have some more black bananas so I can make these muffins again! They were really tasty!  Plus they can be eaten in several different ways:

Topped with peanut butter!

 

In a yogurt bowl for breakfast!

This was made with Silk vanilla soy yogurt, half a sliced banana, half a crumbled peanut butter banana muffin, and topped with a spoonful of almond butter!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Yesterday I posted a recipe for baked tempeh.  Along with the baked tempeh I had also made my baked asparagus and had baked sweet potato fries for dinner last Sunday.  I guess I was in a baked dinner mood : p

If your in the mood for a baked dinner, this meal was very easy to put together.  Now that the baked tempeh and baked asparagus are up on this blog, I'll include the baked sweet potato fries!

This recipe was adapted from Engine 2:

Ingredients:

• 2 sweet potatoes
• Optional: seasonings (like sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, nutritional yeast, etc.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Wash the sweet potatotes then cut into fries or coin rounds.  You can cut them thin or thick depending on your preference.
3. Line a baking sheet with foil (easier clean up) and spray with cooking spray. 
4. Place fries in a single layer and add seasonings if desired.  Cover the fries with foil and bake  for 15 minutes.
5. Remove foil, turn fries, and continue to cook for 10-15 more minutes. (Cooking time may vary depending on the thickness of your fries.)

Baked Tempeh

Normally when I eat tempeh I cook it in a pan on the stove top with some veggies like butternut squash or like a stir fry.  I don't know why I never thought about baking it before, especially since it was so easy, but here is a great recipe that I will be making again!

This recipe was adapted from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz:

Ingredients:

• 1 package tempeh
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons tamari
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 teaspoons minced garlic

Directions:

1. Mix together all marinade ingredients.
2. Slice the tempeh into bite sized pieces and place in the marinade.  Cover and put in the fridge for at least one hour.
3. Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly spray a baking sheet with oil ( I recommend laying a piece of foil over the baking sheet and spraying that for easier clean up.)
4. Place the tempeh slices in a single layer and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, flipping once halfway through baking time and spooning extra marinade on top after flipping.

I really liked how easy this was and it gave the tempeh a great flavor.  However, unlike tofu the marinade only really covers the outside of the tempeh and doesn't soak inside.  I think next time I may try poking the tempeh with a fork before marinating to help the flavors soak inside the tempeh more.  It might even help to make smaller pieces so there is less middle that doesn't get marinated.

Rice Pudding

It's National Rice Pudding Day!  Guess I know what I'm having for dessert tonight.

This recipe was adapted from Happy Herbivore:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup brown rice, uncooked
• 2 cups almond milk
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsp pure maple syrup, or to taste (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium sauce pan, combine rice with 1 cup almond milk and bring to a boil over high heat.
2. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and continue to cook until the rice is cooked and absorbs all the milk.
3. Whisk remaining 1 cup of almond milk with cornstarch until well combined and add to the cooked rice.  Add raisins.
4. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium.  Continue to cook until the pudding thickens up, stirring constantly. (This will keep it from sticking and burning to the pan.) If the pudding becomes too thick, add more almond milk.
5. Add maple syrup (or other sweetener, if desired) and cinnamon.
6. Remove from heat and allow pudding to cool before transferring to the fridge.

I had to add more almond milk to my pudding since the rice took forever to cook and the pudding was getting too thick.  Even though I added more almond milk when cooking, the pudding became really thick after having been in the fridge all day.

I tasted this rice pudding cold and I actually preferred it warm so to make it creamier I added some almond milk and heated it in the microwave for about 45 seconds.  Perfect!  You can also just eat this right after cooking it on the stove if you prefer it warm and don't want it to get thick in the fridge.