healthy laps

Just another Sunday over here in Boston!  Lots of time spent in the kitchen trying out new things!

My first creation of the day was a breakfast cookie that I had been dying to try.  They are all the rage with food bloggers out there, so I decided to try it out.  I kind of did a combination of the cookies I have seen on my favorite blogs, so here is goes.

The cookie is actually a perfect breakfast with ample fat, protein and carbs in the mix.  You mix all of the ingredients together, put the mixture onto a plate to form a cookie shape, and pop it in the microwave.

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup oatmeal (I used rolled oats)
• 1 tablespoon nut butter of choice (I used banana raisin!)
• 1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Mix (or protein powder)
• 1/8 cup Almond Milk (regular milk would work as well)
• 1/2 mashed banana
• small handful raisins

Directions:

1. Mix oatmeal, protein powder and nut butter of choice together in a small bowl until it creates a clumpy mix.
2. Stir in almond butter and mashed banana until well combined.
3. Add in mix-ins of choice! I chose raisins here to work with the banana raisin PB that I chose, but other great mix-ins would work as well.
4. Put mixture onto small plate and form into cookie shape.
5. Pop in microwave for 4 minutes, or until it springs back like a fresh baked cookie! 🙂
6. Top with whatever you want: more nut butter, banana, jam, etc.
7. Enjoy!

This process didn’t take any longer than a regular bowl of oats!  It was a nice change to my normal breakfast.  I felt like I was eating something completely sinful, but it wasn’t!

Cookie formed before cooking

And, after being cooked!

And, with my toppings of choice – scoop of banana PB, 1/2 banana and sprinkle of raisins!

Next up, I whipped up another batch of nut butter.

While eating my chocolate almond butter this week, I found it to become drier as the week went on.  I was not sure if this was just due to it being more natural or not, but today I figured out that it was due to the fact that I had used my small food processor!  The large one is much more powerful, and turned my hazelnuts and pecans into a smooth and creamy nut butter!

Nut butter is so easy to make!  Just throw all of your ingredients into the food processor and blend.  Keep blending until they become smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes.

Today, I used hazelnuts and pecans.  I roasted them for 2 minutes, and then let them cool before blending because I had read that they blend easier this way.  They definitely did, but by toasting them you do lose some of the nutrients.

Chocolate Cinnamon Pecan Hazelnut Butter

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts
• 1 tablespoon cacao powder
• 1 tablespoon cacao nibs
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

• Toast hazelnuts and pecans for 2 minutes, let cool.

• Add nuts to food processor and blend until all chopped.

• Add cacao powder, nibs, honey and cinnamon and blend.

• Blend until creates a smooth and creamy nut butter.

This came out much better than my almond butter!  It tastes great, with just a hint of spice from the cinnamon!

I have my yogurt maker going right now…it should take about 9-10 hours!  I’ll be back with a post for that once it is done and I can try some. 🙂

Filed under: Eating Laps, Recipes | Tagged: baking, Eating Laps, homemade, honey, nut butter, nuts, oatmeal, peanut butter, Recipes |