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Category Archives: Breakfast & Brunch


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Treats: Part One! Homemade Protein Bars

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend. Mike and I managed to get quite a bit done and the house is starting to look good! The highlight of my weekend was watching our garden grow.

Seriously, the garden seemed to just come to life overnight. This year, we planted so much stuff (compared to last year’s million tomatoes and pumpkins). We have: sugar snap peas, snow peas, onions, two types of beans from my parents’ garden last year, carrots, radishes, daikon radishes, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, Anaheim chiles, jalapeno peppers, Serrano chiles, lettuce, mustard greens, bok choi, cucumbers, and zucchini. Amazingly enough. everything is coming in! Now I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed that we can keep them alive!

Now, on to my latest favorite baking projects! I have one delicious recipe for Mike and me and one delicious recipe for our dogs! Our house can’t get enough of these treats and we are going through so much peanut butter!

First, the human treats: homemade protein bars! It’s perfect for me to munch on post-run and Mike likes to eat them after… well, he just likes to eat them, no special occasion required 🙂

Want to know what I cooked up for the pups? Check back Friday for the post!

Homemade Protein Bars
3 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup whole sesame seeds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup 100% pure maple syrup
1 cup all natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup chocolate chips of your choice (I used semisweet this time)
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped or nuts of choice
1/2 cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit
  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.
  2. Combine oats, sesame seeds, cinnamon, salt, and brown sugar in a large bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, maple syrup, peanut butter, vanilla extract, and coconut oil until well mixed. 
  4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir to combine. 
  5. Mix in chocolate, nuts, and dried fruit and mix well until all ingredients are evenly distributed. 
  6. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes. 
  7. Let bars cool for 10 minutes in pan before removing and cutting into squares. Arrange onto cookie sheet and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely before wrapping and storing in the fridge. 


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Friday Favorites (& Granola Bars)

Happy Friday everyone! Hope everyone had a fabulous week. While my week was better than usual, I’m still looking forward to the weekend. I’m starting something new – Friday Favorites. Read on for little moments from the week that grabbed me as well as a delicious new recipe!

Favorite blast from the past: school lunch. Yup, that’s right. I started my 1 month school food service rotation this week and they are feeding me lunch!  This is my first rotation to offer me food, so I’m pretty psyched. Some menu items that brought me back to my elementary and middle school days? Pizza dipper, mini corn dogs, and the good ol’ chicken nuggets. Don’t worry, they’ve got some amazing fruit and veggie spreads along with some other healthier options. Also, for the first time in a loooong time (quite possibly years) I’ve had a cup of skim milk every. single. day. My favorite part of eating school lunch? The spork.

image from newsone.com

Favorite  can’t-live-without-it workout equipment: Foam Roller. Best $20 I spent. You can find me rolling around on it for a good half hour after all my runs and cycling workouts.

 image from synergy-athletics.com

Favorite breakfast inspiration: overnight steel cut oatmeal. I’ve been eating old fashioned oatmeal for breakfast day-after-day. I love it, but it’s getting a little… boring. I finally went out last night and bought some steel cut oats and I can’t wait to give this recipe a try!

photo from thebittenword.com

 Favorite kitchen find: olive wood salt keeper. I’m drooling over this. I’ve seen so many salt keepers and I still haven’t snatched one up. Someday…

image from williams-sonoma.com

Favorite jewelry find: “asymmetry” earrings from Paon Blanc. I love big, dangly earrings. I love sparkly things. Check and check. These earrings are perfect.

image from etsy.com/shop/paonblanc

 and finally, my Favorite new holiday: National Granola Bar Day. There will never be a shortage of bizarre “holidays”. Celebrate National Granola Bar Day with me on January 21, 2012 with these delicious, no-added-sugar granola bars!! These granola bars are chock full of goodness – cranberries, bananas, pecans, oats, and flax. They were so easy to whip up and they taste a-maaaaazing.

Low Fat Granola Bars with Bananas, Cranberries, and Pecans
recipe from Cookin Canuk via Prevention RD 

3 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup pecans, roughly chopped
3 large, ripe bananas
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons ground flax seed (or flax meal)
1/2 teaspoon salt

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Line a 9×13 baking sheet with parchment paper, with about 1 inch of parchment paper overlapping the sides.
  3. Spread out the oats and chopped pecans on a baking sheet. Place in the oven until they are lightly toasted, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
  4. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas with the back of a fork. Stir in applesauce until combined.
  5. Transfer the oats and pecans to a large bowl and stir in dried cranberries, ground flax seed (flax meal), cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
  6. Stir the banana mixture into the oat mixture until well combined and starting to clump together. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and press down evenly.
  7. Bake until the bars are golden brown and starting to separate from sides of the pan, about 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
  8. Use the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan. Let cool to room temperature, then cut into 15 bars. Serve or store in an airtight container.


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Fueling the Run with Cranberry Orange Bread

Born to run? Not me. Picked last in gym class? Spent afternoons after school in math club? That’s more like it. So, why did I choose running as my sport? To be quite honest, it’s because it is one of the few sports that don’t involve an object flying at your face. Yeah, I lack hand-eye coordination. Big time.

I was scarred for life when I played soccer in elementary school. Tennis lessons in middle school? Horrifying. To this day, I stay away from soccer, volleyball, tennis, kickball and any other sport that involves a fast-flying ball.

I started to run my junior year in college to prepare for a family vacation to the Boundary Waters. I decided to use the ever so popular Couch to 5K program as my training guide. I’m not going to lie, doing day 1 of week 1 was almost too much for me and I wanted to quit halfway through.  But, I pushed through it. Two days later, I pushed through another workout. Rinse and repeat until I could (gasp!) run for 30 minutes straight. Boundary Waters went off without a hitch. Unfortunately, having nothing to work towards after the trip, I stopped running.

I didn’t start running again until my younger sister talked me into running a 15K with her. I have no idea how she convinced me, but it turns out that my promise would change my life.  I spent that winter painfully, slooooowly running (a more accurate word would probably be shuffling) that winter, gradually working my way up to 1 mile, then 2, 3… when I finally hit 5 miles, I felt like I had conquered the world.

I trained as hard as I could and in November of 2011, I ran my very first race at the age of 24. Completing the 15k was probably one of the most proudest moments of my life. I had done what I thought was impossible: I was a runner. I ran a 5 mile Turkey Trot a few weeks later and knew I was hooked.

My sister (R) and me after the Hot Chocolate 15K in Chicago

Mike and me after the 5 mile Turkey Trot

I am now looking forward to another 15K in February and then a half marathon in May. I may not be fast, graceful, or have an athlete’s body, but I am a runner.

The best part? Running fueled a new interest in nutrition. I had a degree in dietetics, but never knew what I wanted to do with it until I started running. I realized how I felt after I ate certain foods. I found out my perfect pre-run (Greek yogurt and a small banana) and post-run (most recently cranberry orange bread) foods. Running urged me to continue my schooling, and that’s where I am now – working through a dietetic internship with a new passion for nutrition!

If you made it through this long-winded post (quite possibly my longest ever), I am amazed. As a thank you, I will offer you the recipe to my new favorite post-workout food – cranberry orange bread!

I have made the bread two ways now – one as written on allrecipes.com and the other with the changes published below. I prefer the recipe below – it’s a bit denser and not-so-sweet. Adding in whole wheat flour and reducing the amount of butter and sugar are an added health benefit, too!

Cranberry Orange Bread

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large orange, zested (about 1 heaping tablespoon)
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup orange juice

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest. Stir in cranberries and walnuts. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, cream together butter, applesauce, and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and orange juice. Stir in flour mixture, mixing until just moistened.
  4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 55 – 65 minutes, or until bread is golden brown and springs back when lightly touched. Let stand 15 minutes and then turn out onto cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com


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Apple Streusel Bars

Mike and I went apple picking with my family a few weeks ago and we went home with a 10+ pound bag of apples. I ate as many as I could (I think I averaged 2 a day). My new favorite snack? Apples with vanilla yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon. YUM. There is such thing as too much of a good thing, though. I decided to bake something before I started to hate apples.

My only criteria was that it had to be something I’ve never made before. So, caramel apples, apple pie, baked apples, applesauce,  and apple cupcakes were all out. I finally stumbled across a recipe for apple streusel bars over at Our Best Bites. They looked pretty darn tasty and the recipe was simple, too. Simple is a must because I find myself with so little time to cook and bake now with the internship…

These bars are perfect for breakfast, dessert or even a snack. Mike likes them warmed up a bit in the microwave before he eats them. No microwave? A toaster oven or even a hair dryer might work 😉

Apple Streusel Bars

For the pastry:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg, beaten

For the filling:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups sliced, peeled baking apples

For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon almond extract

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. For the crust: combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter until pea-sized crumbs form. Gently mix in beaten egg. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Gently pat about 2/3 of the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish.
  3. For the filling: combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Toss with apples. Spread apples on to prepared crust. Sprinkle reserved crust mixture over apples evenly. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. When cooked, allow to cool completely.
  4. For the glaze: whisk together powdered sugar, almond extract and milk. Place glaze into a zip-top bag and cut off a small portion of one of the corners. Drizzle glaze over cooled pastry and allow to harden. Cut into bars and serve.


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Peach Cake

I bought 3 peaches with the intention of making a dessert of some sort. I had no idea what dessert I wanted to make; all I knew is that those peaches looked good. And I needed them.

They sat in fridge while I looked and looked for a recipe that sounded good. A few days later, I paged across a Fresh Peach Cake recipe in Food Network Magazine. Bingo. This cake was awesome – moist and not-too-sweet with a perfect crunchy topping. I’ll definitely be making this one again!!

Fresh Peach Cake
adapted from Food Network Magazine, June 2011

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large ripe peaches
1/2 cup chopped pecans

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan.
  2. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Dunk peaches into boiling water for 20 seconds. Remove and plunge into ice water. Slip skins off peaches. Remove pit and slice into 1/4″ slices.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fit with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 1 cup sugar for 3 – 5 minutes on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy.
  4. With mixer on low,  add eggs one at a time. Mix in sour cream, yogurt and vanilla and beat until smooth.
  5. In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients slowly to batter with mixer on low. Mix until just combined.
  6. In small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
  7. Spread half the batter into prepared pan. Top with half the peaches. Sprinkle with 2/3 of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Spread remaining batter on top of peaches. Arrange remaining peaches on top and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar and the pecans.
  8. Bake for 45 – 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
  9. Serve warm or at room temperature.


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Strawberry Smoothie

For the first time in my life, I made a smoothie without any ice or frozen fruit. Why? We didn’t have any. I did however, have some very ripe strawberries that I needed to use up. I threw this together and it was light and refreshing, even though it wasn’t ice-cold. Feel free to use frozen fruit or toss in some ice to up the chill factor.

Strawberry Smoothie
serves 2 

1 large ripe banana, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and halved
3/4 cup skim milk
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt

  1. Place all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately.


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Banana Bread

I dislike bananas. A lot.  The texture of them makes me sick to my stomach. On the rare occasion that I do buy them, they usually just sit until they’re disgustingly brown. What to do? Make banana bread, of course! I’m a huge fan of little or no fat in my cooking and I’ve been making an attempt to use more whole wheat flour as well. I guess I’m finally admitting it – I’m a nutrition freak. I guess my schooling taught me well! In the past I’ve tried posting recipes that the “average” person would like, but it’s taking way too much effort to make meals that I know aren’t good for me. Better eating means better running, and it requires so little effort! Trust me, the foods tastes just as good as the full-fat, full-sugar versions.

I recently had a discussion with a friend about how frustrating it can be to cook (and bake) with whole wheat flour. I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers, and hoped this bread wouldn’t come out super dense, gummy, or brick-like. I’m glad to say that it actually tastes pretty darn good!!

Healthier Banana Bread

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups over-ripe banana, mashed (about 3 large bananas)
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup chocolate chips and/or chopped walnuts, optional

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour an 8.5″x4.5″ loaf pan or 8 mini loaf pans.
  2. In medium bowl, mix together applesauce and brown sugar until well combined.
  3. Beat in eggs and then bananas. Add flours, baking soda, chocolate chips and walnuts, mixing by hand until just combined.*
  4. Pour batter into loaf pan, or divide evenly into mini loaf pans.
  5. Bake for 1 hour (large loaf) or minutes (mini loaf pans), or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes before removing to cooling rack.
*If you have a good eye, you’ll see that I didn’t mix in my toppings. Since I decided to make both the nut and the chocolate and because I’m a lazy bum and didn’t want to wash any extra dishes, I cheated. I put half the batter in the pan, topped it with a sprinkle of nuts or chocolate chips, put another layer of batter on, and then finished it off with some more nuts or chocolate!


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Cherry Coffee Cake

I set out looking for dishes I could make for Easter brunch. I found this one in one of the old cookbooks and couldn’t resist. I opted to use frozen tart cherries instead of blueberries though, since that’s what we had on hand. The cherries were picked by my in-laws during the summer and I thought that they would be perfect in coffee cake!

Here’s a snapshot of the original recipe:

Here’s the recipe with my modifications:

Cherry Coffee Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups tart cherries, pitted
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon sugar

For the topping:
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temperature

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 13×9 pan with nonstick spray.
  2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl.
  3. In medium bowl, cream butter until smooth. Gradually add sugar and continue creaming until fluffy. Add egg, beating well.
  4. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, mixing after each addition until just smooth.
  5. In small bowl, combine cherries, 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon sugar. Gently fold in cherries to batter.
  6. Spread batter into greased pan.
  7. To make topping: combine all dry ingredients and cut in butter until mixture in crumbly.*
  8. Sprinkle topping evenly over coffee cake and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes and enjoy!!
*I couldn’t find my pastry cutter and I never quite mastered the technique of cutting with a forks and/or knives, so I just used my fingers. I rubbed the butter into the dry ingredients until they became crumbly. It was pretty quick and easy!


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Chocolate Walnut Biscotti

My mom requested one thing from me for Christmas – biscotti. I didn’t make it (oops). She requested one thing from me for her birthday – biscotti. I made it 🙂

I used a different recipe this time, one without any butter. When I first started mixing everything together, I was unsure if it would turn out. I mean, the only ‘glue’ in the recipe are the eggs. To my surprise, the ingredients came together beautifully. You will want to arm yourself with a lot of flour though, and I mean a lot. Flour your surfaces when you roll out the biscotti very, very thoroughly. This is one sticky dough. I floured my hands well and the dough still stuck. Don’t worry, the results are completely worth it. These had the perfect snap and they’re great with coffee! *

Chocolate Walnut Biscotti
adapted from joyofbaking.com

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts, chopped

  1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
  2. In a food processor, blend chocolate and brown sugar together until chocolate is very fine.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, coffee granules, baking soda and salt.
  4. In a large bowl, beat eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer until combined, about 30 seconds.
  5. Add in dry ingredients and beat until a stiff dough forms. Stir in walnuts.
  6. Generously flour work surface and hands. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a log about 10 inches long and 3 inches wide. Place onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, about 3 – 4 inches apart.
  7. Bake for 35 minutes, or until firm to touch. Remove from oven and let cook in pan for 10 minutes.
  8. Using a long spatula, move logs to cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the dough into slices 3/4-inch thick on the diagonal.
  9. Arrange slices cut side down and bake for 15 minutes. Turn slices over and bake an additional 15 minutes.
  10. Remove from oven and let cool completely before storing in an air-tight container.

*Ok, you got me. I’m not a coffee drinker. But, Mike says that they tasted pretty darn good with it. Me? I ate it plain. And I liked it.


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Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

I’m not a huge chocolate fan, but fruity desserts are some of my favorites. And there’s nothing like some oatmeal in a dessert to make it seem a little healthier…

If only, right??

These bars were a hit – the first pan disappeared in just a little over a day. They are definitely in my “keep” recipe pile.

Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
from allrecipes.com

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup instant oatmeal
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup raspberry jam

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 8 inch square pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
  2. Combine brown sugar, flour, baking soda, and oatmeal. Rub in butter with your fingers until crumbly. Press  3/4 of mixture into bottom of pan.
  3. Warm jam up slightly in microwave. Spread over crumb layer in pan. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture on top, gently pressing into the jam.
  4. Bake for 35 minutes in oven, or until lightly browned. Let cool before cutting into squares.