Fierce Kitten Breakfast

Entrée:

Smoothie with soy milk, half a banana, some spinach, 1/4 of an avocado and celery.
In a fancy Kriek Lindemans glass (not optional, it has to be a beer glass).

Main: 

Microwave Muffin!

In a mug combine 4 T of oatbran, a sprinkle of salt and a sprinkle of baking powder. Add 2 T of plain yoghurt and 2 T of coconut milk. Stir to combine.
Add an egg(white) and whisk until smooth.
Add ins: chopped almonds and chocolate chips.

Microwave on medium high for 2 to 3 minutes.

I topped mine with some more coconut milk but in order to make an extra fierce breakfast you can also top it with a coconut-peanut butter glaze: microwave one T of peanut butter until melted and whisk in 1 T of coconut milk, smother this on top of the muffin and sprinkle with some grated coconut, simple as that.

This breakfast will make you as fierce as a Mona-kitten chasing a scrunchie!

Love, M.

Tropicality

The sis had her wisdom teeth removed yesterday, I almost fainted, lovely day indeed.But hey, at least we found out Regina Spektor will be performing at Werchter the day we will be going, so that made everything all right again!

Breakfast today was cakelike and it was tropical tasting, an ideal boost  for a day of studying, reading mandatory articles and going for a quick run.  

‘Tropical Microwave Muffin’
makes one big or two small ones 

• 6 T of oatbran
• 4 T of soy milk
• half a container of yoghurt (I used a peach flavoured kind)
• 1 egg
• 1 T of grated coconut
• a handful of almonds,slivered
• a pinch of baking powder and a pinch of salt

Whisk everything together, pour in a big mug or divide over two smaller mugs. Microwave on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.

Love, M.

Breakfast Bakes are Back

It’s great to have access to an oven again so I can experiment with breakfast bakes some more!

This bake was definitely a win.

It was more like a warm muffin because I added some flour besides the usual oats. The top and the sides were nice and crunchy (even a bit cookie-like with a bit of imagination) and the inside was muffin- like: nice and firm but still a bit moist, just as I like them!

‘ Spiced Jelly Breakfast Bake’

• 6 T of oats
• 4 T of whole wheat flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 40 gr of apple sauce
• 1 T strawberry jelly (or any other kind you like)
• loads of cinnamon, a few dashes of nutmeg and a sprinkle of salt
• 6 almonds, chopped
• optional: chocolate chips and peanut butter (the latter for topping)

Preheat oven to 200°C (390 F).
Just mix all of the ingredients together and pour the batter into some greased ramekins. Bake them for about 23 minutes.

I topped it with some peanut butter cause I like the way it all get’s nice and melty. You can also stay more ‘in theme’ and top with some more jelly.
It’s kind of sad I’ve left my mirabelles jelly in Leuven, cause it would have been great to use instead of my mum’s strawberry jelly.

I hereby declare October ‘Breakfast Bake Month’!

I’ll try and make a new breakfast bake every weekend because breakfast bake are real Autumn food and there are so much combinations I haven’t tried yet, I’ll keep you posted.

 

Love, M.

Spicy and Tasty

Today’s snackage featured a muffin that doesn’t really look like a muffin.
I was a bit too generous with the batter I poured into paper (!) muffin cups so it came out kind of flat and breadlike…

it’s very tasty non the less!

I baked a batch of these last Sunday and I’ve been reheating them in the microwave for a minute and topping them with jelly for a snack.

The recipe is based on the healthified lunch box muffins  but with more banana and apple sauce instead of plain yoghurt to get them a bit sweeter without having to add sugar.

‘Spiced Autumn Muffins’
6ish muffins

• one egg
• one and a half ripe banana, mashed
• 30 gr (1/5 a cup) of apple sauce
• 1 T of butter, melted
• 80 gr (2/3 a cup) of whole wheat flour
• 60 gr (1/2 a cup) of oats
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• loads of cinnamon (and I do mean tons of the stuff!)
• a couple of dashes of salt and nutmeg
• a handful of nuts, unchopped
• a handful of pumpkin or sunflower seeds
• a handful of raisins or dried apricots,chopped

Preheat oven to 160°C (320F).
Mix together dry and wet ingredients in two separate bowls. Gently fold dry under wet and pour the mixture into 6 muffin liners. Bake them for 20 minutes.
I left the nuts unchopped and I really liked the fact that there were whole pieces of nuts in the muffins, it gave a lot of texture to them, feel free to chop them up if this suits you better though.

And don’t forget to top them with some Autumn flavoured jelly 

Newest discovery in jelly land: jelly with mirabelles (it’s some kind of plum)
very taste on pb&jelly sandwiches too 🙂

Love, M.

 

Healthified Lunch Box Muffin

These beautiful babies are the result of a fervent search for a more adventurous content for my sister’s lunch box.
I think they would be show stoppers for breakfast as well !

Now, I’m not promoting muffins for lunch, but sometimes a little something special for lunch can be fun and I tried my very best to fabricate healthy ones. A search around the web inspired me to come up with my own healthified muffin version.

‘Healthified Lunch Box Muffin’
for 6 gigantic muffins

Wet ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 35gr (1/4 cup)  apple sauce or yoghurt (I used yoghurt for these ones)
• 1 tablespoon of butter or coconut oil, melted

Dry ingredients:

• 120gr (about a cup) of oats
• 120gr of whole wheat flour
• 1/2t of baking soda
• 1t of baking powder
• dash of salt
• dash of cinnamon
• 20gr of sugar or a tablespoon of honey/agave
  (note: I didn’t use any sugar for this batch and I liked them just the way they were, but if you like to sweeten things up a bit this would do the trick)

Add ins:

• a handful of mixed nuts
• a handful of chocolate chips
• a cup of strawberries (or other berries)

Preheat the oven to 160°c (320F).
In one bowl mix the dry ingredients,mix the wet ingredients in another bowl. Gently put together wet and dry and fold your add ins into the dough. Divide the dough into 6 muffin liners, bake them for 18 to 20 minutes if you like them a bit doughy, 22 minutes if you like them firmer.

If you want them a bit more doughy you can also add some milk to the batter. 

There’s a tragic ending to this glorious story though…
my sister didn’t like them… at all! She thought they were too dense, not sweet enough and overall ‘too healthy’.

But I liked them very much!
For yesterday’s mid-morning snack, I put them in the microwave for about a minute, cut them in half  and  topped one side with jelly and the other with peanut butter, very goooooood!

If you try them feel free to let me know how you feel about them, tips for improvement are always welcome. I’d like to make a muffin that my sister’ll like and still is healthy!

Love, M.

Lazy Thursday Morning

With my classes starting again in a week or two I opted for a lazy morning to celebrate my ‘still having time to do things slowly’ .

No sleeping in for an early bird with my biorhythm though, I enjoyed a nice breakfast and I’m planning to snuggled onto the couch with a blanket, a cup of tea and a book (Tracy Chevalier’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’, it’s good, go read it!) after I finish this post.

Breakfast cooked on the stove, relaxed cooking and comfort food

I have a confession to make about this breakfast though… until an hour ago, I’ve never (never ever) had pumpkin oats (please don’t shoot me now ;)). Pumpkin just isn’t that big in Belgium, we don’t even have canned pumpkin in most of our stores so I had to use pumpkin my mum keeps in the freezer to make pumpkin soup. Posts on pumpkin oats these last couple of days made me realize I’m obviously missing out on something and I’m so glad I tried it!

‘Pumpkin Walnut Oats’

• half a cup of oats
• a cup of soy milk
• half a cup of pumpkin
• cinnamon and a pinch of salt
• chopped walnuts and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar for topping

You can put everything (except your toppings) in a casserole and cook it on the stove (don’t put your fire to high, you want it to simmer and enjoy the relaxing effects of stove cooking) or put it in the microwave for about 2 minutes without the pumpkin, add your pumpkin and a bit more milk after those 2 minutes and put it back in the microwave for another 2 minutes. Top with the sugar and the nuts when it’s done and enjoy!!

 

Yesterday, I baked a batch of healthified muffins (recipe will follow) and I haven’t tried them yet so they would make a perfect mid-morning snack.
My mum has to work till 2, so no lunch for this gal till then and I can’t go without food for 6 whole hours!

Planned mid-morning snack

I’ll keep you posted about those muffins, enjoy your day,
Love, M.