Pumpkin Pie Baked Oats

You might know by now, based on my recent posts, that I have a bit of a problem (read: addiction) to baked oats.  I have to say, though, that with all the things out there in the universe that I can be addicted to, baked oats is probably a good thing.  Benefits:  it keeps my blood sugar stable for hours, it fuels my workouts and my busy days and I feel like I'm eating a treat most days (mini non-dairy chocolate chips...a tablespoon is like heaven.)

These Pumpkin Pie Baked Oats are one of the best I've ever made.  Seriously.  And, because I didn't make pumpkin pie yesterday for Thanksgiving, these totally filled that sad, little hole in my heart.  The best part - they are super easy to make!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup gluten free rolled oats, pulsed in food processor (I use Trader Joe's)
3/4 to 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
3T pumpkin puree (I used organic) *not pumpkin pie filling*
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1T mini non-dairy chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Pulse the oats in a food processor to grind them down a bit, but not too much.  I do larger batches of this each week and store it in an airtight container in my fridge so that I can alleviate this step each time I make oats during the week.  In a bowl mix the oats and coconut milk. Add the spices and stir.  Last, add the pumpkin puree to combine.  Transfer to an oven-safe crock or bowl and bake for 25 minutes.

This was such a nice treat and didn't feel like a breakfast at all.  Win!  Try it - it's REALLY good!

Peanut Butter, Banana, Chocolate Baked Oats, Oh My!

Peanut Butter, Banana, Chocolate Baked Oats

Here's another recipe for my Baked Oats!  I made it a little differently today so I thought I'd share what I did with the oats before I mixed & baked them.

Recipe:
~ 1/2 cup gluten free oats
~ 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
~ dash cinnamon
~ pinch Himalayan sea salt
~ 1T chia seeds
~ 3/4 small banana
~ 1.5T peanut butter
~ 1.5T mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients except banana & peanut butter in a bowl.  Pour into an oven safe bowl.  Slice the banana and layer the slices into the oat mixture.  Add the dollop of peanut butter right in the middle of the mixture.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Let cool for about ten minutes before eating.

I like my oats to be somewhat smooth, so I ground them in the food processor.  I do this in big batches (maybe 3-4 cups) and store them in an airtight container in the fridge.   Pulsing the oats in the food processor doesn't make them into a flour (although it's easy to grind them into a flour for something like a mug cake) but rather gives a finer texture in the baked oats when they're ready to eat.

My favorite brand of gluten free rolled oats

Here's what the oats look like in the bag

Here's the oats after pulsing in the food processor

Blueberry Chia Baked Oats - Easy Breakfast Bowl

As promised, or rather, as I committed to myself...I made my oats for breakfast today!  I'm working on more balanced breakfasts in place of a grab and go Larabar.  I do love my Larabars, don't get me wrong.  But, I need to reserve them for an occasional treat, not breakfast every day.  My commitment is to make time to eat a healthy, balanced breakfast every day, even if I am in a rush.

Today's baked oats were good.  I will tweak them next time because I made them too watery today.  Sometimes eyeballing the ingredients doesn't always pan out!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup gluten free Rolled Oats
• 1 cup coconut milk (start with 3/4 cup and add more if needed)
• 1T chia seeds
• 1/3 cup frozen organic blueberries (no need to thaw)
• pinch of sea salt
• dash of cinnamon
• optional: 1T mini chocolate chips (I added them today - Enjoy Life brand mini non-dairy chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix all ingredients in oven-safe bowl.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on how much milk you used.  I needed the whole 30 minutes today.  Let it cool for a bit before eating.

When I stirred the oats before baking, they turned blue!

YUM!!

Baked Quinoa Flakes - Gluten Free, Vegan Breakfast

Baked Quinoa Flakes Breakfast Bowl

Gluten Free & Vegan Breakfast

Baked Quinoa Flakes Breakfast Bowl

It's finally that time of year when I want warmer breakfasts.  Too cold to have a shake first thing in the morning, I have been being super lazy and having some kind of bar in the morning, and usually not until around 10 or 10:30.  Gasp!!  I know, right??  The girl who encourages people to eat within an hour of waking - a good, balanced meal that will stabilize blood sugar for the whole morning.  Yeah, I surely have NOT been taking my own advice.  And I *feel* it.  It's not a great feeling.

Therefore - it's baked oats season, friends!!  I am committing to having a balanced breakfast every morning going forward.  I know that it will set me up for a good nutritional day, AND will also keep my mood more stable without those emotional dips that go hand-in-hand with blood sugar dips.

Back to my pantry raid this morning.  I searched all over for my gluten free rolled oats from Trader Joe's and - AHHHHHH - there were NONE!  Yikes, add that to the list, ASAP.  I did, however, find a box of Ancient Harvest quinoa flakes hiding in there with my other gluten free pastas and such.  I figured, hey, it's a hot cereal like oats, so WHEEEE let's do it!

You might know enough about me to know that I create recipes all the time...but I rarely measure anything.  I'm big on eyeballing my ingredients.  Therefore, the following is an approximation.  My advice is to make it according to how I have it noted, then adjust as necessary.  It will most definitely thicken during baking time, so it needs to look watery when you put it in the oven.  I didn't take pictures during my prep today, but you can check my Baked Oats recipe for step by step pictures where it shows what the bowl looks like when it goes into the oven.

Baked Quinoa Flakes Breakfast Bowl:

• 1/3 cup quinoa flakes
• 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla coconut milk (or water, your choice!)
• dash of sea salt
• generous pinch of cinnamon
• 3 strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• 1T natural peanut butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Whisk quinoa flakes, coconut milk, salt & cinnamon in a bowl.  Add to a non-stick ceramic crock or bowl.  Layer in the bananas and strawberries.  Add the peanut butter in the center (it gets gooey and it's perfect to get a little bit with each bite!)  Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned and firm.  Let it cool a bit before serving.  It WILL be super hot!

If you make this, leave me a comment and tell me what you substituted to make it your own!

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Very Veggie Scramble with Sweet Potatoes Recipe

Very Veggie Scramble with Sweet Potatoes

I like making my Very Veggie Scramble because, well, I'm still not a big fan of eggs and this scramble is great for masking the eggy flavor.  Whatever works, right??

I grabbed the handful of veggies I had on hand for today's scramble.  This time of year it's easy to find prepped sweet potatoes at most grocery stores.  Sometimes I pick these up when I know I can use them quickly and easily in my recipes.  Today was a good day for it because my kids are all home from school.  I couldn't spend too much time doing prep work in the kitchen.

Very Veggie Scramble:

• 2 cage-free eggs
• 1/3 cup chopped bell pepper (I used orange - opt for Organic)
• 1/2 cup chopped white mushrooms
• 1/3 cup chopped vidalia onion
• 1/2 cup chopped broccoli
• 1/2 cup chopped baby spinach (opt for Organic)
• 1T coconut oil
• Spices (I used garlic salt, cumin & Mexican Fiesta seasoning)
• Optional: goat cheese, chopped avocado, chili sauce

Beat eggs in a bowl with your spices, then add all veggies.  Mix to coat veggies evenly.  In a shallow pan over medium heat, add coconut oil and let it warm.  Add your veggie & egg mixture and scramble it until your desired doneness.  I like mine to brown up, so I cook it for several minutes.  Serve hot, sprinkled with goat cheese, avocado, chili sauce or whatever floats your Very Veggie Scramble boat!  I added goat cheese to mine.

Pan Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes:

• 1 and 1/2 cups cubed sweet potato, peeled.  (I bought mine pre-prepped)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1T coconut oil
• Spices to your liking (optional - I did not use any)

Heat a shallow pan over medium heat and add coconut oil.  Once it melts, add the sweet potato and onion.  Stir to coat evenly and allow it to cook for ten minutes or so.  I covered mine during cooking so it would cook a bit faster.

All veggies - washed, cut & ready to go!

I love this Artisana coconut oil!

Opt for cage-free eggs (and local!) whenever possible

My favorite spices - I use them in everything

I have WAY more veggies than egg in this scramble.

KK approved!

She liked the goat cheese and mushrooms the most

Very Veggie Scramble with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Zucchini Noodles with Avocado Cream Sauce

Here's part 2 of my two-part blog post tonight:  Zucchini Noodles with Avocado Cream Sauce.  My earlier post was for Shredded Chicken Stuffed Green Peppers.  I served these zucchini noodles with the stuffed peppers tonight and they were heavenly!  A great pairing if you ask me.

A friend had posted on Facebook last week that she purchased a spiral cutter for veggies, to make noodles and such.  I have been wanting one for quite some time - well over a year now...so I jumped at the opportunity to get this Paderno spiral slicer on Amazon.  It arrived today and while I had already decided to make my stuffed peppers, how could I not use my brand new kitchen tool?  Just happens I picked up three organic zucchini this morning.

I want to say that while I will totally make raw zucchini noodles (recipes forthcoming), I decided to steam them tonight.  I liked the consistency, but I did really need to drain them.  Zucchini retain a lot of water!

Ingredients:
1 large zucchini
pinch Himalayan sea salt
1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
1T coconut oil
2 avocados
1/2 lemon
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 tsp taco or Mexican seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder

I used my spiral cutter to make the zucchini noodles.  I did cut the zucchini in half crosswise to make sure it would stay securely on the cutter (pic 1).  It worked perfectly (pic 2). Toss zucchini noodles with a pinch of sea salt and steam for about 12 minutes.  Remove from steamer and drain well to remove excess water (pic 7).

In blender, add avocados, coconut milk, juice from 1/2 lemon and seasonings.  Blend until desired consistency, adding more coconut milk if you'd like (pic 4).  *Note - I only used half of this sauce for the noodles.  Set the sauce aside and heat a small pan on medium heat.  Add the coconut oil and red peppers.  Sauté for 3-5 minutes (pic 6).  Toss drained noodles, red pepper & sauce together - serve warm.

These noodles can be served with my Shredded Chicken Stuffed Peppers or any other protein dish.  Enjoy!!

1. Half of a raw zucchini, ready for spiral cutting

2. Raw zucchini noodles, before steaming

3. Avocado Cream Sauce ingredients

4. Blended sauce

6. Red peppers, sautéed in coconut oil

7. zucchini noodles, steamed & drained 

8. Serve with Shredded Chicken Stuffed Peppers

Vegan Walnut "Meat" Tacos in Lettuce Wraps with Cashew Cheese Sauce

Vegan Walnut "Meat" Tacos in Lettuce Wraps with Cashew Cheese Sauce

When my friend Heather recently posted in our Meat Free May Facebook group that she made some fantastic tacos using walnuts for the "meat", I will admit - I was a little skeptical.  I did some online searches and found that there are a ton on recipes for walnut "meat" filling, so I decided that if so many people have blogged about this, perhaps I should give it a try.  Not that I didn't believe Heather when she said these were amazing!  After all, her little boy has started stealing her green smoothies.  She must be creating some good stuff in her kitchen.  I digress...

I opted to make mine just a little differently, but they were still pretty similar.  I did not soak my walnuts and I used Bragg's Liquid Aminos.  If you don't know about this product, please go get a bottle and start using it right now!!  I use it almost daily whether in recipes or just on sautéed  kale.  It's loaded with amino acids and is free of preservatives and salt.

Taco filling:
1.5 cups raw walnuts
1 cup diced mushrooms
coconut oil
2T Trader Joe's taco seasoning
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1T Bragg's Liquid Aminos

Saute mushrooms in about a tablespoon of coconut oil until browned.  Remove from heat.  Add walnuts and seasonings to food processor and *pulse* until crumbly.  If you over-process, you'll end up with nut butter and that would be better for a sandwich.  When the walnuts are crumbly and the spices incorporated, add the mushrooms and stir until mixed.  Done - honestly, that's it.

I opted to serve mine in romaine boats with tomato, purple cabbage and "cashew cheeze" sauce which can be found at the bottom (under the pictures) of THIS blog post from last week.

Josh liked it too - and that's always a bonus!

Walnuts pulsed in food processor with spices

Close-up view of the walnuts

Cashew "Cheeze" Sauce

Sauteed mushrooms

Walnuts mixed with mushrooms

Simple - there's no need to have a dozen ingredients to make a taco!

And you can eat more with less guilt!

Black Bean & Rice Veggie Enchiladas with Collard Wraps and Cashew Cheeze

Black Bean & Brown Rice Veggie Enchiladas with Collard Wraps, Cashew Cheeze and Tomatillo Avocado salsa

Vegan, Vegetarian, Meat-free, Plant Based, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Black Bean, Rice & Veggie Enchilada with Collard Greens, Cashew Cheeze and Tomatillo Avocado Salsa

If my recent recipes haven't sparked your interest yet, please let this one be the one you try.  Holy YUM, this recipe was amazing!!  Because I cannot have gluten, I opted to use collard greens to wrap my enchiladas.  What an awesome way to get more greens into my meal...without missing the tortillas at all.  I used up a lot of veggies that I had on hand, but you can tweak this - as with any recipe - according to your liking and what you have at home.

I made the cashew cheeze sauce based on a recipe by Melissa Costello of Karma Chow.  If you don't have her cookbook The Karma Chow Ultimate Cookbook, please consider purchasing it.  I absolutely LOVE her recipes!  Having done her vegan cleanse in early 2011, I learned so many nutritional tips but I also connected with some pretty amazing people.  She's definitely one of the people who inspired me to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Onto my recipe!!  Minus, the cashew cheeze, this is a Fit & Healthy Mommy original recipe so please link to my blog or Facebook page should you recreate or share my recipe.  As always, please comment here or post on my Facebook page to let me know if you make one of my recipes and what you thought about it.  Tag me on Instagram @FitHealthyMommy & #FitHealthyMommy and if you're doing my Meat Free May Challenge, tag #MeatFreeMay.  Thank you!!  

Ingredients for the enchiladas:
6-8 large collard green leaves
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 can salt free organic black beans, divided
1/2 cup diced yellow squash
1/2 cup diced zucchini
3/4 cup diced mushrooms
3-4 kale leaves, chopped small, stems removed
1 tsp Himalayan sea salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
3T chili sauce, divided
coconut oil
1 recipe cashew cheeze sauce (at the bottom of this page)

Ingredients for Tomatillo Avocado salsa:
3 tomatillos, diced
2 avocados, diced
1/3 cup red onion, diced
coconut oil
chili sauce to your liking

In deep, wide pan, boil a few cups of water.  While waiting for the water to boil, lay each collard leaf flat.  Take a sharp knife and slice the woody stem at an angle, gently, to flatten the leaf for easier rolling.  Lay the leaves flat in the pan of water for a minute to soften.  They will turn bright green.  I did 2 or 3 leaves at a time so they wouldn't stick together.  Place to the side and make the filling.  Pulse the cooked brown rice and 2/3 of the can of black beans, cumin, salt & garlic powder in food processor.  Place mixture into a large mixing bowl.  In saute pan, add coconut oil then add mushrooms, zucchini and squash.  Cook until slightly browned.  Add the veggies to the rice mixture.  Add in the kale and rest of the whole black beans that you reserved and mix until combined.

To make the salsa, simply add the diced tomatillos & red onion to a little bit of coconut oil in a small saute pan.  Cook for just a few minutes until veggies soften then add chili sauce.  I added about a tablespoon.  Place this mixture in a small bowl and add diced avocado.  Stir together.  That's it!

Prepare a 9x13 baking pan.  I use nonstick foil for easy clean up.  Lay one collard leaf on a cutting board and spoon some of the rice & bean mixture onto the leaf.  Fold up the two sides then roll the leaf.  Please rolled leaf seam-side down in the baking dish.  Complete these steps with all of the leaves.

Pour the cashew cheeze sauce over the rolled enchiladas and top with the tomatillo avocado salsa.  Bake at 425 for about 25 minutes or until it's done.  These reheat very well when using leftovers.  Don't microwave them!!  Toss them back into a 425 oven for 10-15 minutes until heated through.

I used Eden Organic salt-free beans, and pre-cooked organic brown rice

Some of my faves!  I just found this Organicville gluten free chili sauce - SO GOOD!

Kale from my garden

Tomatillos

Collard Green leaves, before adding to the boiling water

Chopped veggies & kale

Tomatillos &  red onion for the salsa

Zucchini, squash & mushrooms sauteing in coconut oil

Brown rice, beans & veggies

I HEART AVOCADOS!!!

Tomatillo Avocado Salsa

Ready to make the enchiladas!

Fold the two sides, then roll up

Seam side down in the pan

Add cashew cheese sauce over top the rolled leaves then top with the salsa

Fresh from the oven - doesn't it look amazing??

So many veggies - this is definitely a clean, healthy meat-free meal!

YUM!!!

Cashew Cheeze Sauce (based on Karma Chow's recipe)
approx 2 cups raw, unsalted cashews
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chili sauce or powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt

Soak cashews in water for 4+ hours.  I soaked mine for about 6 hours.  Drain and add to food processor with rest of the ingredients.  Add enough water to just cover the cashews.  Cover and pulse or run processor until smooth & creamy.  I used my Vitamix and it turned out AMAZING!  Watch the consistency and determine if you want to add more water to this out the sauce.  Also, taste it!!  You might find that you want more nutritional yeast or more spice.  It's all to you and your taste buds!

Cashew Cheeze Sauce after mixing in my Vitamix