It’s our second healthy breakfast Friday! Last Friday’s breakfast was all sweet, but today we’re all about the sweet and savory combo breakfast. Do you have a preference of sweet breakfasts or savory breakfasts? I can never decide since I love them both so I love doing these combos, especially with toast. I’m not sure if you’ve seen them on Instagram over the last year, but there’s a new toast in town: sweet potato toast!

Slice a sweet potato into 1/3-inch thick slices before baking them until cooked and crispy. Then you’re ready to top them with whatever you want! One of the reasons these toasts are so great is that you can make a bunch of them ahead of time and then when you’re ready to eat them for breakfast you just reheat the sweet potato toasts in your toaster oven or toaster like regular toast. Genius!

I already knew I liked sweet potatoes for breakfast, but I love having them as toasts because it’s way more fun and there’s so much room for toppings. The savory sweet potato toast is topped with some spinach, a soft boiled egg and Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning. The yolk in the soft boiled egg is the perfect jammy texture and the seasoning adds just the right amount of salt and flavor.

I had never made soft boiled eggs before starting to make them for sweet potato toasts and now I’m hooked! If you’ve never made them before they’re actually very easy and similar to hard boiled eggs. You bring a pot of water to a boil then add the eggs in their shell for six and a half minutes. Carefully place them into an ice water bath for two minutes then peel and eat. Even better, you can make them up to three days ahead of time and just reheat them before eating; more details are in the notes section of the recipe.

Okay, on to the sweet toast! Have you ever had almond butter or peanut butter with sweet potato? If not, you are seriously missing out! Spread on some nut butter then top with strawberries, or your berry of choice. Yum! You can eat these toasts with a fork, but mine were crispy enough to pick them up, toppings and all, and eat them like a regular piece of toast. Enjoy and happy Friday, everyone!

Sweet and Savory Breakfast Sweet Potato Toasts

 

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Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato
• 1 egg
• Everything but the bagel seasoning, for topping
• ⅓ cup spinach or greens
• 1 tablespoon almond butter
• 3 strawberries, stems removed and cut in half

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with nonstick aluminum foil and set aside.
2. Cut off the ends of the sweet potato so that you can stand it up steadily. Carefully cut the sweet potato into ⅓-inch thick slices, which should get you roughly 6 “toasts.” Place on the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, flipping them halfway through.
3. To make the soft boiled egg, bring a small saucepan with enough water to cover an egg to a boil. Once boiling, add the egg in its shell and cook for 6 minutes and 30 seconds. While the egg is boiling, fill a medium bowl with ice and cold water. When the time is up on the egg, carefully remove it from the saucepan and place in the ice water for 2 minutes. After the 2 minutes, remove from the ice water, dry, gently peel and carefully cut in half. Sprinkle everything but the bagel seasoning over top.
4. When the toasts are out of the oven, place 4 of them on a plate. Save the other 2 for later (or eat all 6 now if you’re extra hungry!). Top 2 of them with the spinach and then place 1 half of the soft boiled egg on each spinach toast. For the other 2, divide the peanut butter between them and spread on top. Top with the halved strawberries.

Notes

Sweet potato toasts can be made ahead and then reheated in the toaster or toaster oven.
Soft boiled eggs will keep unpeeled in the fridge for 3 days. When ready to eat, reheat in boiling water for 1 minute then peel or peel then microwave for 15-20 seconds.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

It’s the first Friday of 2019 and we’re celebrating with four new recipes! Here on Lemon & Mocha not only is this January all about healthy recipes, but every Friday is going to feature a healthy breakfast dish. My go-to breakfast is usually a Greek yogurt and some fruit, but it’s not the most filling breakfast and it definitely gets boring after a while. One of my favorite discoveries in 2018 was Birch Benders Protein Pancake Mix. This post is not sponsored; I just wanted to share a product I’ve been loving for a while now.

The mix is packed with 16 grams of protein per serving and every time I have this meal I stay full all the way until lunchtime. The pancakes are fluffy and the best part is you only need to add water to make them! After making them a few times and getting my little routine down, I can get my three pancakes on the table at the same time Matt is just sitting down with his coffee. I typically have them plain and top them with 88 Acres Dark Chocolate Sunflower Seed Butter and fresh berries, but I have been experimenting with the base mix so today I’m sharing my four favorite variations.

First up is pumpkin spice pancakes topped with spiced apples and vanilla yogurt. The apples gently cook down in a small skillet with some ground cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice and are done by the time the pancakes are ready.

Next up, we have lemon pancakes! I love lemon so it wasn’t long before I added some lemon zest and juice to this mix to bring out my favorite flavor, which also happens to be delicious with fresh berries.

Blueberry pancakes topped with warmed berries are one of my favorite variations. The berries get slightly cooked down with a little maple syrup and ground cinnamon. I put blueberries in my pancakes, but you could use any berry you prefer.

Last, but definitely not least, we have peanut butter chocolate pancakes. Look how fluffy these got! Don’t forget the drizzle of peanut butter and mini chocolate chips on these because it definitely makes them. Which one do you think you’ll try first?

I’ve found the best price for this pancake mix to be Amazon or Target, but you can also find them on the Birch Benders website, Whole Foods, Wegmans and probably lots of other grocery stores. If you don’t have the Birch Benders Protein Pancake Mix, you could always use the variations below as inspiration to experiment with your favorite pancake mix.

Extra Tips:

• Do not over-mix the batter. Over-mixing any pancake or waffle batter makes them lose their fluffiness.
• Do not put too much water in the batter. For each of the recipes below, the batter should be thick and scoop-able, not liquid and runny. If it’s too runny, add a little more mix and use less water next time.
• I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out 1/2 cup of the pancake mix; it fits more easily into the bag of mix and then I have it ready to use for the water I need to add. I stir the batter with my regular sized Wilton batter spoon then use that same spoon to scoop it into the pan to cook them. Side note: I love the Wilton batter spoons for pancakes, cupcakes and muffins!
• I use a tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal in my pancakes because they add some omega-3s and fiber. If you want to skip the flaxseed meal, just add slightly less water.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes with Spiced Apples

 

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Yield: 1 serving, 3 medium pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 apple, cored and small diced
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, divided
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup Birch Benders Protein Pancake Mix
• ⅓ cup pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon golden flaxseed meal
• ¼ cup nonfat vanilla yogurt

Directions

1. Spray a small skillet with coconut oil spray (or other oil spray of choice) and heat over medium-low heat. Once hot, add the diced apples. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice and the ground cinnamon over top. Let cook until soft, about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat when done.
2. While the apples are cooking, prepare the pancakes. In a bowl, lightly mix together the remaining ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, the pancake mix, pumpkin puree, water and flaxseed meal. Make sure to add one tablespoon of the water last to make sure it needs it. The dough should not be runny, but instead thick.
3. Spray a medium skillet with coconut oil spray and heat over medium-high heat (I put the dial on my gas stove between medium-high and medium). Scoop the batter into the pan to make 3 pancakes, trying to not let them touch. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then flip and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Top with the vanilla yogurt and the apples.

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Lemon Pancakes

 

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Yield: 1 serving, 3 medium pancakes

Ingredients

• ½ cup Birch Benders Protein Pancake Mix
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon golden flaxseed meal
• Zest from ½ a lemon, plus more for topping
• Berries, for topping

Directions

1. In a bowl, lightly mix together the pancake mix, water, lemon juice, flaxseed meal and lemon zest. The dough should not be runny, but instead thick.
2. Spray a medium skillet with coconut oil spray and heat over medium-high heat (I put the dial on my gas stove between medium-high and medium). Scoop the batter into the pan to make 3 pancakes, trying to not let them touch. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then flip and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Top with the berries and more lemon zest, if desired.

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Blueberry Pancakes with Warmed Berries

 

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Yield: 1 serving, 3 medium pancakes

Ingredients

• ¾ cup fresh berries
• ½ teaspoon pure maple syrup
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup Birch Benders Protein Pancake Mix
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon golden flaxseed meal
• 3 tablespoons blueberries
• ¼ cup nonfat vanilla yogurt

Directions

1. Heat the fresh berries, maple syrup and cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Let cook until berries start to lightly burst, about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat when done.
2. While the berries are cooking, prepare the pancakes. In a bowl, lightly mix together the pancake mix, water and flaxseed meal. Make sure to add one tablespoon of the water last to make sure it needs it. The dough should not be runny, but instead thick.
3. Spray a medium skillet with coconut oil spray and heat over medium-high heat (I put the dial on my gas stove between medium-high and medium). Scoop the batter into the pan to make 3 pancakes, trying to not let them touch. Place a tablespoon of blueberries on top of each pancake. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then flip and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Top with the vanilla yogurt and the cooked berries.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Pancakes

 

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Yield: 1 serving, 3 medium pancakes

Ingredients

• ½ cup Birch Benders Protein Pancake Mix
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon golden flaxseed meal
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter, plus more for topping
• Mini chocolate chips, for topping

Directions

1. In a bowl, lightly mix together the pancake mix, water, flaxseed meal, cocoa powder and peanut butter. The dough should not be runny, but instead thick.
2. Spray a medium skillet with coconut oil spray and heat over medium-high heat (I put the dial on my gas stove between medium-high and medium). Scoop the batter into the pan to make 3 pancakes, trying to not let them touch. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then flip and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Top with the mini chocolate chips and a drizzle of peanut butter.

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Lauren Uncategorized 4 Comments

Does anyone else think this year flew by? Here we are, already looking at the December muffins! As I mentioned in my October Apple Pumpkin Muffins post I decided not to make the Food Network Magazine’s December muffins, which were candied cherry muffins. I might try those muffins at some point in the future because they sound good, but with all the cookies and fudge I was making this holiday season I wanted something a little lighter on the sugar. Instead, I decided to bake these Healthy Gingerbread Muffins from Ambitious Kitchen.

They are free of refined sugar and instead use maple syrup and molasses as the sweeteners. There’s a few other healthy swaps in this recipe, such as using whole wheat flour, nonfat plain Greek yogurt and olive oil instead of butter. These are a great breakfast muffin, especially since they’re studded with tasty chopped walnuts and chocolate chips. Matt and I enjoyed these muffins, but they are definitely “healthier” muffins.

Without the refined sugar they are noticeably less sweet than muffins I’ve posted already this year and they have a less moist texture that you get from using whole wheat flour and minimal fat when baking. The best way I can describe them is that if you already don’t eat a lot of sugar or full fat foods then their “healthiness” won’t be that noticeable to you, but if you are in full Christmas cookie mood you could whip them up in January to jump-start your sugar detox. Like most of the muffins I posted this year, they freeze well, so for now ours are in the freezer to pop out whenever we need a quick and healthy breakfast.

It definitely is interesting how your body adjusts to the sugars you are eating. Over the summer I was eating very little processed sugar. I made some “healthy” chocolate brownies and thought they tasted amazing. I froze a bunch of them and recently tried one, mid-holiday cookies-for-every-meal mode, and thought they tasted horrible! Do any of you have a refined sugar free lifestyle or have you ever “quit” sugar before?

Healthy Gingerbread Muffins

 

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Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1½ cups whole wheat pastry flour, see note
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup milk (any fat percentage or almond milk)
• ⅓ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• ¼ cup blackstrap molasses
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg, beaten
• ½ cup chocolate chips, optional
• ⅓ cup chopped walnuts, optional
• Coarse sugar, optional for sprinkling on top

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners and spray the inside of the liners with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Add the milk, yogurt, maple syrup, molasses, olive oil, vanilla and beaten egg. Stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts, if using.
3. Evenly divide the batter among the prepared paper liners. The batter should fill each liner ½ way up. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with coarse sugar. Bake the muffins for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a couple crumbs. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, them remove to a wire cooling rack to completely cool.

Notes

If you don’t have whole wheat pastry flour, take 1½ cups whole wheat flour then remove 1½ tablespoons of it. Add in 1½ tablespoons of cornstarch and sift together.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

November already? I’m here to sweeten your Friday with these Double Chocolate Pecan Muffins! Another monthly muffin post, except there’s something different about this one. This is not the Food Network Magazine’s November muffin recipe. Theirs was a corn chestnut muffin that Matt and I could not get excited about so I made these Double Chocolate Pecan Muffins instead!

I used the base from February’s Double Chocolate Salted Caramel Muffins since they were extra chocolatey and moist. Then I add some cinnamon and brown sugar spiced pecans to the top that you can whip together in a small mixing bowl. The inspiration for these November muffins came from my love of chocolate pecan pie – see recipe for Mini Molten Chocolate Pecan Pies – but way easier and perfect for eating for breakfast.

There’s a few things I miss about college, but one of the biggest is their dining hall food – is that weird? Every once and a while Boston College would have slices of the most amazing chocolate pecan pie in to-go boxes and I always had to get it, and maybe a second one for my mini fridge. As you know I have a hard time parting with chocolate treats and I begrudgingly shared these muffins, but I’m glad I did because everyone really liked them! Also, because then I would have eaten them all so basically a win-win all around.

It’s also fitting to be posting these for the November Muffins since Diane’s birthday is later this month and my stepmom loves chocolate pecan pie – big emphasis on the chocolate! I hope you all love these muffins! I don’t like the sound of December’s muffin either so I have something in the works for that one, too. Think savory like March’s Irish Cheddar, Bacon and Potato Muffins – yum!

Did any of you make the Food Network Magazine’s November muffins? What did you think? Also, don’t forget to turn back your clocks this weekend. Fun fact – Japan hasn’t observed daylight savings time since 1951, but they are considered adopting it for the 2020 Olympic Games. Okay, that’s all I have for you today, happy Friday, friends!

Double Chocolate Pecan Muffins

 

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Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• ¾ cup chopped pecans
• ½ tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Pinch of salt
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine the chopped pecans, melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and pinch of salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
4. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the milk and vegetable oil then whisk until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
5. Evenly pour the batter into the prepared paper liners. Each muffin cup should be filled ⅔ to the top. Bake for 2 minutes then remove the muffin pan from the oven and working quickly, spoon some of the pecan mixture into the center of each muffin. Return the pan to the oven. Continue to bake for 16-20 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out with just a crumb or two.
6. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes then move the muffins to a cooling rack until completely cooled.

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 Recipe from January/February 2018 issue of Food Network Magazine.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

Yes, this is real life. We’ve taken a layer of cheesecake and stuffed it inside pumpkin bread. Not just plain cheesecake, but cookie butter cheesecake. This, my friends, is the one baked good you need to make this fall. And then again in the winter. And maybe even this spring and summer because you won’t have gotten enough of it yet.

The pumpkin bread on its own is the best pumpkin bread I’ve ever had. It’s moist, well spiced and packed with pumpkin flavor. A lot of pumpkin bread recipes end up being bland and too light on pumpkin flavor so I love that I found my perfect go-to recipe. It also has just the right amount of sweetness for me since I definitely have a sweet tooth.

If that wasn’t good enough on its own, there’s that cookie butter cheesecake swirled throughout the bread! I like the typical pumpkin and cream cheese pairing, but to me the plain cream cheese tends to overpower the pumpkin sometimes since its slight sourness is in such contrast with the warmly spiced pumpkin. I thought the brown sugar and cinnamon spices of the cookie butter would complement the pumpkin really well. And they do!

The cookie butter might even make it taste a little too good. I usually share all the treats that I make, but this was one I had a tough time parting with. I gave away two slices and the rest got cut up, wrapped and put into the freezer. Although I’m not sure why I bothered freezing it since it will most likely be gone by the time I even post this recipe. [Update: it’s most definitely all gone].

If you’ve never bought cookie butter, you can find it in a lot of stores now. I buy the Lotus Biscoff brand, which you can find on Amazon here, and Trader Joe’s has their own brand that’s pretty good as well. Already obsessed with cookie butter? Make my Lemon Cookie Butter Cheesecake Parfaits pronto! Maybe even swapping the lemon curd for some pumpkin puree? Okay, I think I just found a recipe to post for next fall!

Cookie Butter Cheesecake Stuffed Pumpkin Bread

 

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Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients

for the cookie butter cheesecake swirl

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup cookie butter
• ¼ cup plain yogurt (any fat percentage, Greek or regular)
• 1 large egg

for the pumpkin bread

• 1⅓ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

for the cookie butter cheesecake swirl

1. Beat the cream cheese and granulated sugar in a large bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add the cookie butter, yogurt and egg to the bowl and beat until combined. Set aside.

for the pumpkin bread

1. Make sure your oven rack is positioned in the bottom third of your oven then preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5” loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, add the sugar and pumpkin puree. Whisk to combine then whisk in the oil, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and egg. Add in the flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
4. Scoop out and reserve 1 cup of the pumpkin batter. Pour the remaining batter into the prepared baking pan and spread it evenly. Use a spoon to scoop the cookie butter cheesecake mixture onto the pumpkin batter in the pan. Take the reserved 1 cup of pumpkin batter and pour it in a line down the center of the pan. Using a knife, swirl the batter and cheesecake layer by inserting the tip of the knife into the batter and dragging/swirling it about 5 times.
5. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the top of the loaf is cracked and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack for 30 minutes then carefully invert onto a plate or another cooling rack before flipping upright. Let cool completely. This will take at least another 1½ hours. Dust with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

Notes

You can substitute sour cream for the yogurt.

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Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission for my referral. This does not affect the retail cost of the item. Thank you for supporting Lemon & Mocha!

Lauren Uncategorized 4 Comments