6 minute egg

great morning smoothie for a non-smoothie gal

I know a lot of people LOVE smoothies these days, but I just don't crave them. I rarely want to drink my breakfast and I rarely want fruit or something fruity sweet. 

BUT, what I do love, is second breakfast. :) 

While I was pregnant last year, I could indulge a bit in second breakfast. Now, I have to be a little more mindful of what I consume. Solution: a rich, healthy, FAST smoothie. 

Great Morning Smoothie

2 handfuls of organic kale, rinsed and chopped (I buy it pre-chopped at Trader Joe's sometimes-so fast)

1/2 cup organic frozen mango chunks

1/3 cup organic frozen blueberries

2 TBSP chia seeds, ground

1 TBSP flax oil

1/2 c. + organic almond milk, unsweetened

Optional: daily fish oil serving and daily probiotics serving. *I take liquid fish oil and powdered probiotics, recommended by my naturopath. I LOVE that I can just throw these in my smoothie now.

Put all of the above in the blender and blend until smooth, adding more almond milk (and shaking the heck out of your blender) as needed. We don't have a fancy blender (yet).

I think it's the flax oil and the almond milk that make this smoothie so rich. It's not too sweet/fruity, but, in my opinion, it doesn't taste too green either. Yum! Plus, you're getting a great serving of superfood kale, healthy oils, seeds and antioxidants from the berries. Mmmm. I've had this at least 5 times over the last week and a half. They keep me from eating that (second) bagel or bowl of cereal.

Bonus: Sienna loves mangos now! You can see her here mastering the art of the mesh feeder. We're still learning how not to paint the table top with it (why we switched from blueberries to mango).

I hope you enjoy one of these as much as I do! You can add in any powdered vitamins/supplements you may take. Some days I will add some hemp protein or other powdered protein. Wow. I sound way more healthy than I probably am, but this is a start, no?

more donuts. yes, more donuts.

Another amazing find from the gals at A Beautiful Mess...grapefruit donuts!! Emma is a genius. This combines two of my favorite breakfast foods! I had to try it.

My recipe was a combination of Emma's (which are fried, traditional donuts...didn't want to get addicted to fried/homemade donuts!) and the baked French donut recipe that I've been making. Here's what I did. (And here, again, is a link to the donut pan I LOVE!)

BAKED GRAPEFRUIT DONUTS

FOR DONUTS:

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups flour (I did half cake flour and half almond flour, to add a little protein - I like finely ground, Honeyville Almond Flour for all of my baking)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/8 cup milk (I used almond milk, but any will do - coconut might upset the flavor though)
• 1/8 cup grapefruit juice
• 1 tbsp grapefruit zest

FOR GLAZE:

• 2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup grapefruit juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat donut pan generously with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg; mix well.
3. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk and grapefruit juice. Mix in grapefruit zest.
4. Fill donut tins half full. Bake 15-20 minutes. Take out of pan immediately and cool on a rack. (I like to use a tiny spatula and coax them out!)
5. While donuts cool, whisk together ingredients for the glaze, making sure to whisk until smooth and slightly thick, with no clumps of sugar. 
6. Place a cookie sheet covered with wax paper under the rack. Making sure donuts are completely cooled, dip them in the glaze and replace on rack. Let glaze set for a few minutes before dipping a second or third time, if you wish. Due to the porous nature of these donuts (because they are cake-y and baked, they will soak up the glaze quite a bit. Dip as many times as you like, keeping this in mind).
7. Makes 6 super yummy, tart, fruity donuts.

New Year's celebration recipes

I thought I'd share a few things I'm making to help ring in 2013. Seeing as we have a low-key celebration planned, I'm getting super excited about the food (even more than usual!) We're not making anything fancy, but still yummy things are in store...

Tonight I'm taking these easy Peanut Butter Cookies to my friend's house. She's serving us brats, olives, cheese and crackers and a little wine, so I needed to add something sweet to the menu.

Tomorrow morning, we're having these at Chez Jansen, along with crispy bacon and fancy coffees with frothy almond milk, thanks to my new milk frother! I found this donut pan and am excited to put it to use! Hope you have a delicious celebration, too! 

Weekly round up and newest breakfast addiction

Baked eggs breakfast, a photo by elletrain on Flickr.

Hello again! I have quite a few things to share with you today.

Pictured above is my latest favorite breakfast...baked eggs! My friend Becky over at The Root Cellar's Garden mentioned baked eggs a while ago and I was intrigued! It's the perfect dish for my lovely little mini-cocottes.

You pretty much just start with butter and maybe a little milk or cream (or almond milk in my case!), heat that in the cocottes under the broiler for a few minutes.

Add any ingredients you like ...ie. this morning I had a little spinach sauteéd with garlic I put in the bottom of each one.

Then crack an egg on top and sprinkle a little salt.

Put them back under the broiler for 5-7 minutes until the egg white is almost cooked.

Pull them out and put the cover on to keep warm and finish cooking the egg while you set the table, etc.

You could do this in ramekins if you don't have these little dishes. Mmm. They are so good! Kind of like a soft boiled egg, but easier to eat. You do have to watch them a little as they cook. Don't overcook the top of the eggs as they will be tough. You could put any kind of sauteéd veggie on the bottom...or potatoes, etc. Next time I'm going to try sweet potatoes and goat cheese, maybe with some thyme. Mmmm! Try them please.

Here, now, is a round up of photos from the last week.

Finished a new hat. Yarn: Berocco Flicker. Pattern from Knitty Flitty.



The cuteness never ends with this pup. She turned on the iPad when she put her head on it...priceless.



My new, most favoritest shirt ever. "Lettuce. Turnip. The beet." From Etsy.



Started my china collection :) From Horse & Hound.



And finally some drawings I did in the ol' watercolor journal. Our neighborhood Part I & II.






I have been a busy body this week. Today has included logo design, making carnitas for dinner, exploding chicken broth, and a bit of laundry. What have you been up to?

getting settled

So we have been in Portland for over a week now. We are really enjoying it here, exploring our neighborhood, attending many street festivals, discovering great eating spots and breweries. I'm also enjoying (mostly) getting the house together. And even though we still don't have 1/3 of our stuff (ugh, moving companies) our kitchen is becoming one of my favorite spots already.

We bought a simple kitchen table at Ikea last week as there was a perfect spot under the window for a little breakfast nook. We have been eating most of our meals here family style, which we never used to do, and it has become really special and fun. No more eating in front of the TV for now at least. I love it :) We've also been taking daily walks after dinner, which is another habit I'm glad we're getting into.

Pictured above is my breakfast from this morning. I had most of these pieces already from Anthropologie, Pier 1 and elsewhere. I recently bought the table cloth and the egg cup on Etsy. I'm loving that I have a proper, separate kitchen here so I can decorate it like a kitchen. I LOVE Dutch and Northern European pottery and patterns. They're so bright and cheery for a kitchen but are still interesting and artistic. My favorite new purchase besides the egg cup is the egg topper! SO great if you enjoy soft-boiled eggs as I do. I recently discovered them and you MUST have an egg cup to enjoy one properly and the egg topper makes it loads easier to remove the top. Ah the simple pleasures of a great breakfast. What are your favorite dishes/routines for breakfast?