We had a little miscommunication in our house this week, which resulted in extra roasted squash. 🤣
It sent me in search of creative new uses. Squash for breakfast? Heck, yeah!
These pancakes wowed me. I mean honestly I am not a breakfast person to begin with, but particularly the heavy carb-laden kind.
These pancakes are surprisingly light, and the recipe is easy to remember (or 2x etc. for more than 2 people). A 2:1 ratio on flour to squash keeps them moist and fluffy.
Accessorize per your taste, I used walnuts, vegan butter and syrup. (Will continue experimenting with egg replacement to make these fully vegan).
Win!🏆
Butternut squash pancakes
1 cup flour
1/2cup mashed roasted butternut squash
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp sugar
Mix ingredients and let batter rest while heating pan with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Drop 1/2c batter and cook until bubbles appear. Flip pancakes. Finish cooking another 2-3 minutes on low. Top with walnuts, butter and syrup. Makes 2 servings.
It’s been a wild ride these last 2 months, which I am thankful for because it made the darkest days of winter go by quickly!
The boys both finished up their sports this last week and it’s been a bit emotional to start to feel the end of a life phase. Avery ended his high school hockey career with an impressive 50 point season. We’re now waiting for the scouting/recruiting/tryout process for junior hockey to know where he’ll end up next year.
Avery @ Hockey senior day
I missed senior day for Avery while in Iowa for Alec’s swim championships. It was an exciting weekend for the Lake Forest women to defeat perennial powerhouse Grinnell. Alec swam great, including winning the mile in a school record time and NCAA D3 cut. It’s joyful to watch his hard work payoff!
Alec mile conference champ!
During the hockey season breakfast is often the only meal we eat together and I have found joy in getting up early to prep it, knowing it’s only a few more months of Avery at home and our nest is empty!
While I usually prep “regular” breakfast for him, I have simplified my breakfast routine by using one of the daily featured menu items from our recent Baja wellness vacation. Coconut Chia pudding with granola and fruit is ready ahead and provides enough whole grains and fiber to keep me sated. And yes, while this is a breakfast item, it is great later in the day too!
I kind of think of eating the same healthy breakfast every day like one of the Jedi efficiency hacks people like Mark Zuckerberg tout (he wears the same thing every day).
The one decision that removes 100.
The logic is to not spend brain energy on “easy” decisions so that you can focus on the more challenging ones. It’s also the same approach as the one decision that eliminates 100 decisions. Ie, Opting out of social media means hundreds of notifications eliminated daily.
I mention these efficiency hacks because life is truly a whirlwind right now between family and work, as the new business is getting its legs. I have had to make some choices about where to spend my time. My creative energies have been invested in work vs blogging, and I am ok with that for now even though I miss it and interacting with all of you 😊
Coconut Chia pudding with granola and berries (vegan)
Chef Efrain’s recipe from Prana del Mar.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of chia seeds
500 ml of coconut milk
500 ml of rice milk
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1 pinch of cinnamon
1/2 cup of chopped dry dates (prefer Medjool)
50 ml of coconut cream (the solid part on the top of a coconut milk can)
1/4 cup of dry coconut
1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds
Directions:
– Soak chia seeds in soy and rice milk, stir gently.
– Add vanilla, cinnamon, coconut cream, and dry dates. Cover and store in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight to thicken.
– Make sure your pudding looks thick and the chia seeds have gelled. Sprinkle with dry coconut and pumpkin seeds, granola and berries.
Sitting on the back patio with a cup of coffee early on summer mornings is one of my “recharge” rituals. I love the quiet of the world, with mostly only nature stirring about, and the 70 degrees is perfect.
I have never been a big breakfast eater. In college I remember being weird in that cereal was not a default meal for me. Even before the vegan diet I didn’t enjoy sausage or other heavy rich foods first thing. Brunch time? Maybe. But just a cup of coffee wasn’t all that unusual for me to survive on til midday.
But then you get older and just coffee kind of makes you feel yucko and jittery. So I have really been trying to eat in the morning and in the process expanding my foods.
I have discovered that I like vegetables for breakfast! Typically that’s sautéed zucchini and cherry tomatoes, some bell peppers if I have them and fresh basil. If I need some starch, will put it over quinoa.
Sometimes even a mixed green salad with sautéed sweet potatoes, tomatoes, avocado and nuts (pistachios in this case). It feels a bit odd to have salad in the morning but eh, I am used to being different by now 😉
I also love toasts, with avocado or hummus and topped with radishes or more tomatoes, and dill. A side of fruit salad with mint rounds it out. I make cold press overnight so the coffee is always ready as soon as I am up.
Maybe because it’s first thing in the morning, it’s easier to slow down and take my time to beautify my food too.
There’s something about starting out the day with some solid self-care, both in the enjoyment of nature and healthy food, that is nourishment on many levels.
Alec and I recently visited Seattle and Tacoma for a tour of a few colleges. I have always loved the area, in fact it’s where Matt & I honeymooned. The culture and people feel a lot like Minnesota–friendly, outdoorsy and full of an appreciation for art and sense of place.
We had less than 48 hours so we didn’t do much other than visiting the campuses in Tacoma and downtown Seattle. I was quite surprised by how different the two cities are–again, it felt like Minneapolis vs St. Paul. Tacoma is definitely a “big” town that feels small. Lots of local stores, independently owned, beautiful art throughout the city (a glass museum that I wished we’d had time to visit). Of course, gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier and Puget Sound. Alec was annoyed by the number of times I said “Look another rainbow!” It does rain A LOT, but at least it’s not snow 😉
The area is known for its coffee and beer, and actually a growing winemaking and craft distilling (whiskey primarily) community. I hope I get to go back soon for more grownup sampling. We stuck to coffee and what goes great with coffee? Breakfast foods! Some food highlights:
Breakfast biscuits with spicy remoulade at Biscuit Bitch (who could resist a name like that!)
Chocolate sandcastle donut, a chocolate cinnamon sugar combo. I’d go back to try salted caramel.
Bacon cheddar waffle at Red Elm Cafe in Tacoma. The 2 sisters who recently opened this charming spot were so friendly I wanted to hang out all day.
I’m very grateful Alec gives me excuses to travel and eat! 😊
It’s good to have talented artist friends! I first met Gina Sekelsky 20 years ago when she created our wedding invitation. Since then, she’s done all of our holiday cards, baby announcements and personal stationery. She makes the world beautiful (check out her Etsy shop, lettergirl).
She’s also multi-talented! We love her overnight french toast, it’s easy and looks fancy, just the thing to impress brunch guests. It perfectly captures her elegant but simple style. I love that some of the pieces get crunchy on one side and others stay soft. A compromise for those who prefer one texture over the other. I used french bread but whatever you have on hand works.
Just look at this gorgeous handwriting (hers, mine is illegible!):
And all of our holiday cards displayed make me smile:
Rhubarb is weird. It’s stringy, pungently sour and funny colored, I mean is magenta rhubarb sweeter than green?
My mother-in-law was thrilled to unload a couple pounds of the stuff on me, and gosh darnit I got nostalgic remembering childhood desserts that appeared singularly in Spring. Someone always had rhubarb to give away.
In fact, I ran into a woman at the grocery store who was distraught that she had to actually break down and buy it. She remembered fondly her grandmother’s rhubarb custard pie, but like many a hearty Minnesotan she couldn’t give me ingredients, she just “knew” how to do it. Hmmmmm. Evasively Suspicious.
(For those of you unfamiliar with just how seriously we take our baked goods here, I have one thing to say: Minnesota State Fair ala Marjorie Johnson.)
In today’s vernacular what my dairy farm grandmother did in using what she had on hand is called “locally in season”. This recipe was inspired by that thinking.
The boys were skeptical that any amount of sugar would make mushy stringy celery taste good. Mixing it with strawberries and cream won them over.
Maybe that’s cheating just a bit, but Grandma would have approved, and the cream certainly would have come straight from the barn.
Strawberry rhubarb swirl scones
Make the swirl first by mixing 1c chopped strawberries with 1c rhubarb, 1/3c sugar and 2 tbsp lemon juice. Simmer til soft over low heat (about 10 min), mash until smooth. Cool. You can also use this as a topping for pound cake, ice cream, etc.
Combine by hand:
4c flour
3/4c sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2tsp salt
Add in 2 2/3c heavy cream and 1/2tsp almond extract. Do not overmix, dough should barely hold together. Swirl in strawberry rhubarb mixture. Form into mounds (makes 12 hearty portions). Bake at 425 for 12 min–use parchment or these may stick to your cookie sheet.
Oranges in the backyard of our SoCal vacation rental inspired this easy breakfast. While fresh juice helps, so does good crusty day-old bread. Goes well with a mimosa poolside too! 🙂
Orange French Toast
2lb crusty Italian bread, sliced into 1″ thick pieces
4 eggs
1 1/2cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
Zest and juice of one orange
1/4c sugar
Mix ingredients and coat bread, soak bread for approximately 30 min. (Depending on how big the loaf or how dry the bread, you’ll need to adjust milk/egg ratio). The bread should be wet but not soggy. Saute in butter 2-3 min per side. Serve with fruit, butter and syrup.
I am seriously tired of zucchini. And I mean, I really do generally like it. But after several weeks of eating it every week, I was thrilled to find this recipe to ahem, cover up some of that green vegetable taste. I have made these Chocolate Zucchini Muffins twice now. The first batch was met with suspicion. The second was requested. And the full dozen was gone the same day.
The recipe has quite a few ingredients, but most things you should have in your cupboard (I used the Silk vanilla soy creamer and mini chocolate chips seemed to work better). This recipe reinforces a life truth: Chocolate makes everything better.
The Hungry Boys 