Carrot Cake Scrambled Eggs

Do you know what American churches don't do enough in my opinion?

DANCE.

The kiddos get to dance. Why don't the adults dance too?

I was a counselor for my church's kid's camp and had a BLAST dancing to music which praised Jesus. It's incredibly natural. David danced. And it's in many of our contemporary worship music lyrics (which we often sing with stoic stances and expressionless faces on Sunday mornings).

I don't have much more to say about that :) So...dance for Jesus!

So I'm becoming a big fan of these "sweet scrambled eggs". Nothing like having your favorite desserts inspire a healthy breakfast. Delicious! This time, carrot cake was my inspiration. And I was quite pleased with the outcome.

Carrot Cake Scrambled Eggs

for one serving:
1 carrot, shredded
1 egg
1/4-1/2 banana (mashedish)
pinch cinnamon
1/8 tsp vanilla
1/8 c almonds (or walnuts, pecans, etc.)

Chop/blend the carrot and almonds significantly (I put this in a mini-food chopper, but it's not necessary). Then combine all ingredients (except frosting ingredients) and whisk together. Scramble as you would any eggs!

"frosting":
1/8 c greek yogurt (plain whole milk)
1 tsp brown sugar
vanilla

Stir together frosting ingredients and spoon onto warm eggs. Enjoy!

Blue-green Scrambled Eggs

I was listening to some "Christian" radio yesterday. I do most days. I'm not one of those people who thinks "Christian music" is the only music that should be listened to. (I'm even putting quotes around it, because the word Christian shouldn't be an adjective, in my opinion, it should be a noun, a person!)

But some of those songs have great lyrics. They are lyrics which really are worshiping the one true God for all that He does, has done, and will do. Not all of the songs, but a good amount of them.

I'm not sure what's worse though: singing along mindlessly to a song which praises and worships the King of Kings, or singing along mindlessly with a song which blatantly puts people down and includes degrading lies. Either way, you might be completely checked out.

Perhaps there is not a "worse" in this situation. Like most things, it might be two wrong areas that we don't want to be in. One side of the spectrum is a bad idea, and the other side is also bad!

It would be good to try to be somewhere...in the middle. Listening to either, but making sure that I don't sing along unless I mean it, and making sure that if I mean it, it is good stuff to be saying.

Hopefully that made sense.

Again...no transition...

Blue green is actually a main color in a lot of languages. Some languages only have 3 color words, or 4. And actually blue-green is kind of common. So these eggs would definitely be describable in most languages of the world. Fun stuff.

Super easy recipe coming up here...

Bleen (blue-green) Eggs

Ingredients (for one or two servings)
1/3 c of slightly thawed frozen blueberries
2 eggs
2 tbs of mashed banana
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla

Scramble eggs and mashed banana. Add remaining ingredients. Then cook in frying pan as you would any normal scrambled eggs. Woot woot! Done.

Enjoy!

Notes:
-as you can tell from the pictures, I put some blueberry jam on toast and enjoyed the combination.
-I might recommend a little sugar if you like it sweeter (that's why I had it with jam). I'm sure it'd be great with a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top!
-I thought these eggs were going to be green...like the Dr. Suess story. Pfft. Sillyness. If you're looking for a natural way to make green eggs to go with your ham (without adding food coloring) try adding just 1 or 2 blueberries...or pureeing them and adding a tsp!

Chickpea dessert tamales!

I'm not going to make you wait for this recipe. You don't have time, because it's good and I think you might enjoy trying it.

I'll just say, I have plenty of "flops" when I make up my own recipes and food combos. But this one, NOT a flop. Just yummyness.

just a peanut butter-banana filled chickpea dessert tamale

Chickpea Dessert Tamale

Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas
3 tbsp oil (i used olive)
1/8 tsp bkg powder
1/2 c. sugar (I used white--this was plenty. Less could be used.)
1/4 c. oats

filling: Banana & peanut butter

Combine all (but filling) ingredients in a food processor and process until there are no chunks.
Spread the paste out on a cut sheet of foil*.

Add topping in the middle.

Wrap the foil around so the edges of the paste will cover the filling (or else you will get an equally delicious tamale, that looks a little sadder...such as the one on the right 2 photos down)

Steam for 20-30 minutes.
Unwrap to see the tasty creations!

Enjoy promptly. I prefer them warm!

Notes:

*I used foil because I did not have any corn husks or banana leaves on hand. I'm sure either of these would provide a more authentic tamale, and may add a good flavor.

-I think these would be delicious with many other fillings such as apples and cinnamon or some sort of chocolate. I will likely try other flavors in the future and will post to share how they turn out.

-This recipe should make about 8 good sized tamales at ~220 cal a piece (this includes the pb & banana)

Chai Almond Panocakelet

One thing I've recently learned, is that cooking doesn't really have rules.

So it kind of does. More like...laws of nature. You can't put sugar on pepperoni and expect it to taste like crackers. That would be ridiculous.

And there are ways which people have learned to cook certain things so that they turn out tasting really great. But those aren't really rules either. You don't have to follow the recipe, do you?

I'm not saying you shouldn't follow the recipe. I'm just saying...there's no rules that say you have to, if you're just cooking to cook.

This is why I sometimes read cookbooks more like regular books. I mean I read them. I don't sit down and pop one open and make it. If I want to make something, I like to read a couple of recipes for it. Do my research. Think about it. Then I make it, or I wait.

I like learning about the ingredients. I like knowing what egg does when you combine it with milk. Or what vinegar does when you combine it with baking soda (other than make a marvelous volcano!).

That's why I like baking. Because it's basically chemistry, but I'm not following any formulas or doing any difficult math. And I get to eat the finished product!

It's like experimenting. In my kitchen. With food. What could be more fun?

It's so great.

So this is something that I wanted to make this morning. Something between an omelet and a pancake. So kind of like a crepe. But bigger. It probably has a name, and correlates with some recipe somewhere. But I'm going to call it a panocakelet. Because I can. Say it aloud with me, "PANOCAKELET!"

Doesn't it sound yummy? I'll tell you how I made it.

Chai Almond Panocakelet

Ingredients (one serving)
for panocakelet batter:
1 egg
1 tsp flour
1/8 cup almond milk

pinch baking soda
pinch salt
1 tsp chai powder (I used green tea chai powder)

add-in: 1/8 cup of sliced almonds (I used raw, unsalted)

for "chai sauce":
Mix 1 tsp chai powder with small drops of almond milk until desired consistency is reached.
(I added nut butter as a thickener/to get the texture I wanted.)
You can make it into more of a frosting by adding powdered sugar, butter, and/or cream cheese.

Gather the ingredients, mix all batter ingredients.

Pour the panocakelet batter in a greased pan which has been warmed to medium-high heat. Flip when the bottom appears to be done (lift it up to check).

Then fill it with sliced almonds and chai...sauce!

It's a delicious eggy pancake. Panocakelet. Mmm. Enjoy!

Everything (bagel) Pancakes

I've purchased bagels before.

At the grocery store, and at a bakery. The bagels at the grocery store tend to be on the drier side and overall not that impressive. At the bakery, they were great, but a bit overpriced (especially with cream cheese!) and not the healthiest breakfast option either...depending on the type you chose.

I've made bagels before.

Don't get me wrong, they turned out amazingly. They were delicious. But I remember them taking a little bit of time. Time that I don't usually have in the morning.

This is not a really bagel, it's a pancake. Technically. But maybe you could call it a panbagel if you so desired. (Now I'm thinking I should've made it into a ring shape!)

One of my favorite bagels is an everything bagel. That's why this turned out to be a wonderful and delicious breakfast side! It's extremely quick, and tastes spot-on. Not to mention, it's made with whole grain flour, and it's a savory pancake, so you can have some fruit or juice along with it without overloading on sugar in the morning.

Everything (bagel) Pancakes

Makes 1 serving: one large pancake (double it if you're sharing or very hungry!)

Pancake ingredients
4 tbs flour (oat&w.w. combo)
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/4 c. milk
1/3 tsp oil (and some for pan)
pinch of flax seed

Topping
poppy seeds
sesame seeds
1/4-1/8 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp minced onion
salt

Directions
Mix pancake ingredients. Pour onto hot pan at medium-high heat. Sprinkle poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic and onion on the uncooked side of the pancake, then flip when it starts to bubble a bit. Check it to see if it is browning, and if it's done, plate it and salt to taste (if you have coarse salt, this will be more like a bagel!).

Notes:
-garlic and onion powders can most likely be replaced for the minced kind. If using dried/powdered, I would suggest either adding it to the batter or adding it after cooked, so it doesn't get burnt.
-for an even more bagel-y taste, top with some whipped cream cheese (and for pretty-ness, put more poppy and sesame seeds on top!)

Strawberry Cupcake with Lemon Poppy Seed Frosting

Hahahaha. I'll tell you a secret. The microwave can make instant baked goods. For one person!

(Imagine the laughter above as being slightly mischievous)

This was so fun to make because it took less than 5 minutes. It didn't make a lot of messy dishes, I didn't have to wait on the oven, and there's LEMON. I believe I mentioned (yesterday) how much I enjoy lemon.

So I know the microwave thing is likely not so much of a "secret" to you at this point in your life.

I mean there's mug cakes, mug cookies, etc.

And I know this is nothing I made up. But today, I really enjoyed it. Mainly because I've tried this with cookies before and totally failed. They (the ones that didn't burn) tasted like...dry biscuits. No thanks.

But this is a winner! Also, I know I already mentioned this, but there's LEMON. Mmm.

This is the cupcake all dressed up with lemon poppy seed stuff (or schtuff as my mother would say).

And here's the cupcake before I added any frosting or anything

Looking plain. Perhaps a bit sad.

Healthy Strawberry Cupcake/Muffin

(recipe inspired by/adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie)

Ingredients for one muffin:

2 1/2 tbs flour (I used white/ww combo)

2 tbs milk

1 tbs chopped (~1 whole) strawberries

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tbs mashed banana (or oil, applesauce, etc.)

(a small amount of sugar(1-2 tsp) would probably be appreciated by most people)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients. Pour into ramekin or small microwavable dish (grease this first). Microwave for 45-60 seconds, depending on your microwave. Let cool.

Mix a 1/4 tsp of milk with about 1-2 tbs of yesterday's lemon poppy seed dip and use it as frosting for this delicious...cuffin. Muffcake? 

Then eat it!

By the way, what's the difference between a cupcake and a muffin? Is a cupcake simply a muffin that is frosted? 

Either way, this muffcake is definitely healthy enough for breakfast!

Pineapple Bars

I wanted to make some healthy lemon bars. So I set off to work right away. However, I quickly learned that I haven't made enough regular lemon bars in my life to make a healthy recipe...without using another recipe as a guide.

So they turned out...really bad. They kind of tasted a lot like nothing, with a really bad texture. Probably closer to quiche than to lemon bars, if you ask me. Except quiche is good.

Oh well. Gotta have some failures here and there, right? They encourage humility. Failures are good!

Plus...that particular failure helped lead me to this particular success!

Actually, the failed "lemon" bars were a lot more photogenic (just goes to show you can't judge food by it's appearance). They had a more solid consistency (like quiche) and were a bit thicker. But these pineapple bars may be gooey and floppy, but since when does gooey and floppy taste bad?

Last I checked, brownies were gooey. Those are delicious. And pancakes are floppy. Those are also delicious.

Anyway, these pineapple bars popped into mind when I saw a pineapple sitting on the counter as I was making the nasty lemon bars. I thought about the acidity of the pineapple and the bright yellow color and thought it would make a tasty bar like this! As I was making them, I realized that there's room for improvement. But maybe they'll give you an idea to kickstart some ingenious creativity.

I made a "healthy" version, so there's minimal fat and no added sugar (apart from powdered on top). And mine are fairly small. Feel free to take this where you want to! I'm sure it would also be good with the traditional lemon bar crust and a thicker, more sugary topping. 

Personally, I'll stick with mine. I can have 2 for under 150 calories! That makes them taste better in my mind :)

Healthy Pineapple Bars

yield: 8 servings

Crust:

1/4 cup oats

1/4 cup flour (I used oat flour, but wheat would be good too)

1 tbs unsweetened shredded coconut 

1/4 c plain greek yogurt

2 tsp coconut oil

1 tsp ripe mashed banana

1/4 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

Custard:

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1 egg

1/2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp flour

1/8 tsp vinegar

pinch backing powder

powdered sugar for dusting on top (about 2 tbsp)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine ingredients for crust and mix well. Smooth the crust dough into the pan so that it covers the bottom (I used a bread pan for these, because the recipe is about 1/2-1/3 the size of a normal recipe). Cook crust for 5-6 minutes.

For the custard, beat pineapple juice, egg, and vinegar. Combine cornstarch, flour, and baking powder, then add to the liquid ingredients. Beat well. When the crust is finished, pour custard mixture on top and bake for 10-15 minutes. The top will start to crack when it is ready.

Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting. I preferred these after they chilled in the fridge for an hour or two (the textures of both the crust and the custard seemed better). Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving, since it may soak up in the custard. Enjoy!

Variations/Notes

If you'd like to change some things, here are a few recommendations!

For more of a pina-colada bar:

 -replace some (maybe 1/2) of the greek yogurt with more coconut oil, and add more coconut shreds.

For a sweeter bar:

 -add 1-2 tsp honey or sugar to the crust

 -add 2-3 tsp honey or sugar to the custard

For a thicker bar:

 -double the custard amount

 -consider adding a second egg or just a yolk