Breakfast, Makeover Monday Meals

Makeover Monday Meal-Have a blue-berry Monday morning

 

 

Whether you have them at home or at your favorite diner, it can be said that pancakes are the ultimate weekend breakfast. Something magical happens when they’re hot off the griddle and topped with butter and syrup. It sets the tone for a great day ahead.

However, enjoying pancakes doesn’t have to be limited to the weekend. This recipe from Mom on Timeout takes 22 minutes, therefore making it doable even on the busiest mornings.

Moreover, instead of buying frozen pancakes, you can put any leftover pancakes into a freezer storage bag for another day. If you add your family’s favorite fruit topping, it’s your own Rooty Tooty fresh and fruity pancakes at home.

 

 

Fluffy Pancakes by Mom on Timeout adapted by Still A Chick Lit

 

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (gluten-free all-purpose flour, 1 to 1 gluten-free baking blend, white rice, brown rice, or sorghum flour plus 2 tablespoons xanthan gum)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp granulated sugar (Swerve sweetener, Splenda granulated, coconut, turbinado, or raw cane sugar, pulsed fine)

2 cups buttermilk (dairy: whole buttermilk, light or low-fat buttermilk) (non-dairy: 2 cups of unsweetened almond, rice, soy, oat, or light coconut milk mixed with 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice. Stir together and let sit for 5 minutes.)

2 large eggs lightly beaten (1/3 plus 1 tablespoon Aquafaba, ½ cup silken tofu pureed with ¼ teaspoon baking soda, ground, 2 untoasted flaxseed or chia seed eggs**, vegan egg replacer, or liquid egg replacer= 2 eggs)

1 tsp vanilla extract optional

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled (unsalted vegan butter)

¾ cup fresh blueberries

Instructions

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Whisk in the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract just until combined. Some small lumps are okay. Do not overmix.

Let pancake batter rest for 10 minutes.

Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium-high heat.

Spray with non-stick cooking spray OR brush with butter or oil.

Ladle 1/3 – 1/2 cup batter onto the griddle then sprinkle blueberries over each pancake. When small bubbles begin to appear, flip the pancake to continue cooking on the opposite side until golden brown. Serve with syrup, butter, or your favorite fruit compote or syrup.

 

Notes:

** To make a vegan egg-  mix 2 tablespoons of flaxseed or chia seeds with 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon of cold water. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes before using it.

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Adaptable Recipes, Breakfast, Makeover Monday Meals

Makeover Monday Meal- Breakfast and Snack Edition

 

Breakfast cereals have long been a big business. They’re a quick and easy way to enjoy a good breakfast on busy mornings. There are a number of delicious granola brands on shelves to choose from, but there’s something special about making your own. Not only can you make it any way you like, but it’s also economical and the recipe is fairly simple.

The best part is, granola isn’t limited to your breakfast bowl, it makes a great topping on yogurt or you can dress it up to top a fancy yogurt parfait.

I did love granola as a kid. Now, instead of buying granola, I’ve found it’s easier and more economical to make it.  This way It allows me to make it my own. I hope this recipe will inspire you to do the same.

This recipe is based on a mash-up of Ina Garten and Catherine Fulvio’s homemade granola recipes.

Homemade Cinnamon Granola

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

½ cup quinoa

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1 cup desiccated coconut, unsweetened

3/4 cup vegetable oil

½ cup liquid raw cane sugar or clover honey (liquid monk fruit sweetener)

1 cup raisins, soaked for 1 hour

1 cup dried cranberries

Cinnamon or Vietnamese Cinnamon (your taste)

 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Whisk the oil and liquid raw cane sugar together in a small bowl. Toss the oats, quinoa, cinnamon, and coconut together in a large bowl.  Pour the liquids over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated. Pour onto a 13 by 18 by 1-inch sheet pan. Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the mixture turns a nice, even, golden brown, about 40 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees, then add the soaked raisins, toss with a spatula and continue to bake for an additional 15 minutes.  Remove the granola from the oven and allow it to cool, stirring occasionally. Add dried cranberries.  Store the cooled granola in an airtight container.

You can also add cashews, almonds, walnuts, or pecans, along with other dried fruits like cherries, figs, or apricots.

 

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Adaptable Recipes, Food Glorious Food

Sunday Special- Biscuits for Brunch

Biscuits made brunch better

 

There is nothing like brunch on a Sunday morning. It’s easy to pull together with fresh fruit, coffee, tea, Mimosas, and Bloody Marys. A trip to your local bakery can round it out with assorted pastries and rolls.

However, there’s no need to rush out to the store for a family brunch with eggs, bacon, sausage, and buttermilk biscuits that are a snap to make with ingredients you likely have on hand.

We like the Gimme Some Oven blog and found this recipe for buttermilk biscuits we think you will enjoy.  We’ve adapted the recipe to accommodate vegan, vegetarian, gluten-sensitivities, and low sugar diets.

Buttermilk Biscuits recipe by Gimme Some Oven adapted by Still A Chick Lit

prep time: 30 MINS

 

cook time: 10 MINS

 

total time: 40 MINS

 

yield: 8 TO 10 BISCUITS

 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (284 grams) (gluten-free all-purpose flour,  1 to 1 gluten-free baking blend, sorghum, sweet rice, or brown rice flour)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon light brown sugar (Swerve light brown sugar substitute, organic light brown sugar)

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon  baking soda

6 tablespoons (85 grams) very cold unsalted butter*, diced into 1/2-inch cubes (vegan unsalted butter)

1 cup cold buttermilk (dairy: low-fat, light, or whole-fat buttermilk, do not use non-fat buttermilk) (to make non-dairy buttermilk: 1 cup almond, rice, soy, or light coconut milk plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar mixed together. Let sit for five minutes before using)

optional toppings: extra melted butter

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix the dry ingredients: Combine the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.  Stir or whisk briefly to combine.

Cut in the butter. Sprinkle the diced butter over the dry ingredient mixture. Use a pastry cutter, two forks, or the food processor to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it is well-mixed and forms pea-sized chunks of butter.

Add the buttermilk. Pour in the cold buttermilk and stir until the dough is just combined.  (Try to avoid over-mixing the dough.)

Form the dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Use your hands to quickly shape the dough into a small rectangle.  Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out evenly until it is about 1/2-inch thick.

Fold the dough. Then fold the dough on top of itself into thirds (like you are folding an envelope, see image above). Rotate the dough 90 degrees.  Then repeat the folding process a second time, rotate, repeat the folding process a third time, rotate.

Cut the dough. Roll the dough out once more into a roughly 10 x 5-inch rectangle.  Then use a 2 to 2.5-inch biscuit cutter to firmly cut the dough into 8 circles, taking care not to twist the biscuit cutter at all when cutting the dough, and arrange the biscuits evenly on the prepared baking sheet.*  If you would like, re-roll the remaining dough scraps and cut out 1 or 2 more biscuits. Do your best not to overwork the dough. If it becomes a little sticky, put it in the freezer for five minutes and continue to roll out the dough and cut out biscuits.

IMPORTANT When cutting out the rounds, cut straight down. Do not twist. If you twist the cutter, you will seal the edges and the biscuits won’t rise up. The steam gets trapped and results in a heavier biscuit.

Heat the oven. Heat the oven to 450°F (232°C).  And transfer the biscuits to your freezer or refrigerator for 15 minutes as the oven heats.

Bake. Once the oven is ready to go, bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes, or until they achieve your desired level of browning on top.  Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack.  Then, if you would like, brush the tops of the biscuits with some melted butter and sprinkle with a pinch of flaky sea salt.

Serve. Serve warm and enjoy!

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Living Your Best Life North of Forty and Fifty Plus

Makeover Monday Meals-Breakfast Edition

Monday gets a bad wrap. It’s the day after Sunday, which is the day most people relax and slow down. So, to get back on track, a lot of us stop to get caffeine and the carbohydrate of our choice to start the day.

In addition to an endless combination of coffees, teas, and drinks, both hot and cold, Starbucks has a blueberry streusel muffin that blueberry lovers can’t resist. if you’re one of them, this recipe by the Copycat blog delivers. Best of all, you can make it the day before, and just bake it off in the morning for a delicious warm treat with your beverage of choice.

This recipe has been adapted for the following dietary lifestyles:

  • Vegan/Vegetarian
  • Gluten-free
  • Low Sugar
  • No-Sugar

Copycat Starbucks Blueberry Streusel Muffins adapted by me

Ingredients

Streusel Topping

3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter (unsalted vegan butter)

2 teaspoons lemon zest

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons sugar (Swerve sweetener, Splenda granulated, monk fruit granulated sweetener, golden sugar, coconut, turbinado, or raw cane sugar, pulsed finely)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (gluten-free all-purpose flour, 1 to 1 gluten-free baking blend, sorghum, millet, sweet rice, or brown rice flour)

Muffin Batter

2 eggs (1/4 cup Aquafaba, ½ cup silken tofu plus ¼ teaspoon baking soda, 2 flaxseed or chia seed eggs, egg replacer, or vegan egg replacer)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (gluten-free all-purpose flour, 1 to 1 gluten-free baking blend, sorghum, millet, sweet rice, or brown rice flour)

1 cup sugar (Swerve sweetener, Splenda granulated, monk fruit granulated sweetener, golden sugar, coconut, turbinado, or raw cane sugar, pulsed finely)

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup milk or buttermilk (dairy milk whole, 2%, or 1%) (low-fat buttermilk, light buttermilk, full-fat buttermilk) (non-dairy: almond, soy, almond, or light coconut milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar mix and let sit for at least five minutes)

3 teaspoons melted unsalted butter (vegan unsalted butter)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 cups blueberries fresh or frozen

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Prepare streusel topping

Mix melted butter, sugar, lemon zest, and flour in a small bowl. Set aside.

Blueberry muffin preparation

Whisk the melted butter, vegetable oil, eggs, and milk (or buttermilk) in a bowl. Whisk until the mixture is uniform.

In another bowl add 2 1/2 cups of flour that you have sifted, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and stir to combine.

Combine the whisked egg mixture and the dry ingredients in a bowl, stir to combine.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of flour over the blueberries, then add the blueberries to the muffin batter, stir only until they are mixed. If you overmix the batter after you add the blueberries the blueberries will burst and turn the batter purple.

Grease muffin tin with non-stick spray.

Fill the muffin tins 2/3 full of batter. Top with streusel mixture.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 and bake for another 10 or 15 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs. Don’t overbake. Cool over a wire rack for ten minutes before inverting the muffins onto the rack.

  • Make-Ahead Instructions: Mix the batter and make the streusel. Refrigerate both, covered overnight. Follow the instructions to bake, but lower the temperature to 350 and bake for 20- 25 minutes, depending on your oven. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs. Do not overbake.
  • The muffins will keep at room temperature lightly covered for up to three days

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