I eat the same breakfast almost every day (2 pieces toast with peanut butter). In an effort to be more adventurous when it comes to the first meal of the day, I'm consciously making an effort to try some new things in the next month or two. First up is this spinach-banana smoothie from Oh She Glows.
This smoothie was pretty good. I usually have all the ingredients on hand (almond milk, banana, spinach, chia, almond or peanut butter) so this is a smoothie I could make regularly.
A few notes:
- I used almond butter (instead of peanut butter)
- I skipped on adding protein powder
For Canadian Thanksgiving, I wanted to find a pumpkin cheesecake recipe to try. I've made cheesecake many times before but I've always tended to gravitate towards a lime or chocolate version.
This recipe is from allrecipes.ca. Not too many ingredients and only 2 packages of cream cheese (my requirements!). This cheesecake was pretty good. The pumpkin flavour was subtle. Perhaps I could have increased the cinnamon and nutmeg as suggested by some reviewers of this recipe. I enjoyed the gingersnap crust too but next time I'll omit the chopped pecans, I don't think they added anything.
Overall, a nice cheesecake!
I was in the mood to make something with pumpkin - I tried this recipe from Ambitious Kitchen. This bread was yummy! Definitely on the "make again" list. In fact, I will probably use the rest of the pumpkin from the can to make another loaf!
A few notes
- I used slightly less honey and chocolate chips (probably 1/4 cup honey and a heaping 1/4 cup chocolate chips)
- My batter seemed quite dense when mixed so I had a feeling it wouldn't take 50 minutes to bake in the oven. I checked the bread at 40 minutes and it was ready.
This recipe is from Ruffles & Truffles. Only a few ingredients, and minimal prep work to assemble this dish. I especially enjoyed the vinaigrette, more than I thought I would!
A few notes:
- After I prepared the zucchini noodles, I let them sit in a bowl while the sweet potatoes were baking. Before tossing in the vinaigrette I drained off the accumulated water.
- I used this julienne peeler
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| Basil Vinaigrette |
This recipe from Damn Delicious is a "copycat recipe" inspired by a salad at Whole Foods. I've never tried this salad before but the combination of ingredients (mango, red pepper, coconut, raisins, red onion, lime, cilantro) looked interesting to me so thought I should give it a try.
This salad was light and fresh tasting, and had a unique flavour. I will definitely be making it again!
A few notes:
- I didn't add mangos. Sold out at 2 grocery stores. Who knows, maybe it would have made the salad even better! If anything, it may have made the salad too sweet for me - I felt the raisins and coconut had enough of a subtle sweetness.
- The orange in the picture is an orange bell pepper as I only had half a red bell pepper
- I toasted the sliced almonds
- Not stated in the recipe but I seasoned (to taste) with salt and pepper
I bought a bunch of colourful bell peppers and needed to find a recipe for them - I found this great recipe from Damn Delicious. This dish was beautiful and delicious - there is something about preparing and eating lovely looking food… So, I'm posting some extra pictures!
I think this would be a great side dish if you're having company over and wanted to impress them.
A few notes:
- I excluded the green chilies and pepper jack cheese
- I didn't exactly measure any of the ingredients that went into the quinoa mixture, I think that is what is great about this recipe as you can tweak it to how you like it!
- 1 cup dry quinoa yields approximately 3 cups cooked
- I happened to have celery in my fridge so I diced a stalk and threw it in
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| Just out of the oven! |
Thanks to Colleen for directing me to this recipe. These cookies were tasty and moist, quick to prepare and I was happy to use up some frozen bananas in my freezer! I also liked that sweetness could be adjusted extremely easily.
A few notes
- Colleen suggested not to skimp out on the chocolate as that is really the only sweetener in these cookies (aside from the bananas and unsweetened coconut). I used about 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (rather than 1/2 chocolate bar as per the original recipe) and thought this amount was adequate.
- I used 4 (instead of 3) bananas. I think this made my batter wetter so I ended up baking the cookies for closer to 18 minutes
- I used a blend of large flake and quick oats
- It was unclear in the recipe how many cookies this recipe yielded. I made about 24 cookies that were about 2 inches in diameter. These cookies don't flatten when baking so shape them on the baking sheet exactly how you want them
- I couldn't really taste the unsweetened shredded coconut so I might increase the amount when I make these again
