Sunday, March 25, 2012

Current Breakfast

I (finally) bought a Vitamix a few weeks ago. I think I've used it every day since! My standard breakfast has become a fruit and veggie smoothie with an oat bar. I was inspired by this recipe, but it has morphed into my own, so here goes my current version!

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

1-1/2 c GF oatmeal
1/4 c almond flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c pecans, chopped and toasted for 5 minutes
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt (kosher)
1 egg (or flax egg - 1 tbsp flax meal mixed with 3 tbsp water and refrigerated for 15 minutes)
1-1/4 c liquid (typically a mixture 1 c almond milk and 1/4 c orange juice)

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together the dry ingredients and then add in the wet ingredients. Pour into a greased 9"x9" pan. Bake for 40 minutes. I like to cut this into 6 squares and then it's a great breakfast with my smoothie!

Ideas for the future include lemon poppy seed, strawberry, apple spice, etc.

Week of March 26th

Monday: Cuban-style black beans with rice
Tuesday: Spinach & Chickpea Curry with rice
Wednesday: Chicken nuggets, tater tots, broccoli
Thursday: Soccattata
Friday: Spinach Rice Gratin
Saturday: Pizza with this crust

Friday, March 16, 2012

Soccattata

Weird name, huh? Let me explain... it's a cross between socca (chickpea flatbread) and frittata (the baked egg casserole thing) and it's delicious. So delicious, in fact, that my husband ate it as a leftover the first time and said, "I don't know what it is, but it's delicious" and ate two servings!

The recipe originally comes from here and here, but this is my version. I prep it all the night before, but that's just how my life works. There's no reason why you couldn't make it all at once.

olive oil
1/2 medium to large onion
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes (the multicolored pint is my favorite)
~2 cups cut (chiffonade) spinach
1 tsp minced sun-dried tomatoes in oil
1 c chickpea flour
1-1/2 c water
salt
pepper
spices (basil and oregano?)

The night before:
1. Caramelize onion (saute in olive oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low and let cook for about 30 minutes without stirring.)
2. Once the onions have caramelized, turn the heat back up and add the cherry tomatoes and spinach. Cook until the spinach has wilted. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes. Let cool a bit and then transfer to a bowl and pop it into the fridge.
3. Stir together the chickpea flour, water, salt, and spices in a bowl with a lid. Leave on the counter!

40 minutes before serving:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Spray a glass pie pan with some oil and spread the veggies in the pan.
3. Give the batter a good shake to mix it up and pour it over the veggies in the pan. You may consider dotting it with some goat cheese.
4. Pop it in the oven and wait for 22-25 minutes. Cut into wedges.

I served it plain, but I think next time it would be good with a simple salad of greens, pumpkin seeds, and a vinaigrette (maybe honey mustard?)