Tag: Recipe

• Coffee Energy Bites

  Posted at 9:46 AM by Brittany, on January 25, 2013

  There is something magical about a morning cup of coffee.

  Not just any cup, a morning cup. The cup that allows for relaxation with the paper, the internet, a book, or with a friend. The cup that allows last nights dinner to be safely excreted from your body. The cup that gives that morning pick me up after a long night of work, school, or llama wrangling.

  

  While I love coffee in its more common form of a liquid, the beans and grounds are becoming a quick favorite of mine when it comes to baking. I made my basura cookies last week, and they didn’t stand a chance lasting more than 2 days. The coffee grounds in these cookies really stole the show. Here’s another favorite with the addition of some coffee grounds.

  Energy bites SHOULD have coffee grounds in them, don’t you think?

  Coffee Ground No Bake Energy Bites 

  

  Ingredients

  • 1 cup dry whole grain oatmeal
  • 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
  • 1.5 tblsp fresh ground “unused” coffee beans *
  • 1/2 cup creamy almond butter *
  • 1/4 cup of honey
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries

  *Notes: Peanut butter also works in place of the almond butter, however both MUST be creamy, and preferably store bought jars. While I love my self ground nut butters, they are much too dry for this recipe. When I say coffee grounds I mean take fresh beans, grind them, and use those grounds in the recipe. DO NOT brew them, and make sure your coffee is FRESH, old coffee will result in minimal coffee flavor. Also, the finer the grind of your coffee beans, the better the texture will be. If your coffee is too coarse you risk developing a cat like sandpaper tongue.

  Directions

  Stir your oatmeal, flaxseed, and coffee granules together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed, then add your almond butter, honey, and vanilla. Once well combined fold in your chocolate chips and cranberries. Stir well!  Let chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.  Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like, I usually make 10-12 balls. Store in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 1 week…if they last that long!

  

  

  Can you see the coffee?

  

  These are some of the best balls I’ve made yet. The addition of fruit, chocolate and coffee made for a flavor explosion. They won’t last a week.

  These pair perfectly with..guess what..a cup of coffee!

  Q: Do you like coffee? If you don’t drink it, do you like anything else coffee related?  Think CHOCOLATE covered coffee beans!

  

  | 268 Comments Tagged Coffee, Recipe, Vegan

• Running Thoughts

  Posted at 9:26 AM by Brittany, on January 21, 2013

  Running longer distances allows for a lot of time with your thoughts. Thoughts about life, thoughts about family, thoughts about food, and most importantly thoughts about cookies. While on a 10 mile run yesterday, I thought about all of these things. My running partner was with me for good conversation, but anytime there was silence my mind was thinking about how excited I was to get to the grocery store destination so I could buy myself a cookie.

  10 miles done and the grocery store was waiting for me to purchase sugar laden treats and guzzle water with blueberries floating inside. If you don’t end your run at the grocery store, you are missing out. While walking the aisles patiently waiting to stumble upon the cranberry orange cookie I had discovered just the day before, I looked at my friend as he muttered the most beautiful words I had heard all day, “let’s make compost cookies.”
  

  Compost cookies were originally founded by a restaurant called Momofuku, but I wanted to make my own version..vegan friendly of course. I used my chocolate chip cookie base, and added the random ingredients to it. It doesn’t feel right to call these compost cookies, and anytime I mentioned the fact that I was tired on this 10mile run my friend would say “basura” which means trash in Spanish  It was the theme of the run, so I present to you..basura cookies.

  Basura Cookies

  

  Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup raw sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup crushed potato chips
  • 1 cup crushed pretzels
  • 2.5 teaspoons fresh ground UN-brewed coffee beans
  • a few splashes of almond milk depending on texture

  Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted coconut oil, brown sugar and raw sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, and applesauce until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips, potato chips, pretzels, and coffee grounds by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
  4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted.

  

  I will run marathons for these cookies. I am savoring one of these as I type this post, they pair perfectly with a cup of coffee. Lets be real though, I haven’t found a cookie that DOESN’T pair well with coffee!

  Q: What do you think about on long runs/bike rides/swims/hikes? 

  

  | 83 Comments Tagged Cookies, Recipe, Running, Vegan

• Car Talk

  Posted at 9:59 AM by Brittany, on December 3, 2012

  My ‘hood’ has had a few car break-ins over the last couple months. I decided to prepare myself should this happen to me. Once you have a break-in you are no longer a neighborhood..you are simply a “hood.” This is my car bag.

  

  Inside the bag is: My licence, registration, insurance, GPS, wallet, and KEYS. Most important part of this car bag is the keys. This way I cannot drive off without all these driving essentials. Plus this gave me a perfect excuse to use the bag I got from this race. I bring the bag inside after I come home and hang it on my door to grab as I go.

  Now if anyone decides they want to mess with my car, the best they are getting are some spare tampons and a name tag from Trader Joe’s. Suckerrss!! Speaking of cars..check out my G-ride. This one’s for you dad..

  

  What’s wrong with this picture. OHH, there’s a missing hubcap! I might have shed a small tear once I saw this for the first time. I suspect this was stolen when the theives were made they couldn’t get through my G-force protection layer on my car. Or maybe it flew off while I was speeding driving the speed limit on the freeway. Either way I am too cheap to go buy new ones, so for now I will be the classy driver with a missing hubcap.

  I made this recipe yesterday and it was a bomb. For those of you that are too lazy to click the link, it was pumpkin banana bread. I don’t know where I went wrong, but it was more like pumpkin banana mush. It tastes ok, but it’s definitely not “bread.”

  I found a half marathon I want to run in February. That’s pretty self explanatory.

  On that note I will leave you all with my biggest Christmas wish.

  

  Q: Do you take any precautions to ensure you don’t get your car stuff stolen?? YOU SHOULD!! 

  

  | 60 Comments Tagged Cats, Random, Recipe, Running

• Vegan Pumpkin Pie

  Posted at 12:44 PM by Brittany, on November 25, 2012

  A few of you (5 to be exact) asked for the pumpkin pie recipe I made a few days ago! I sadly have no idea where this recipe came from, and since I made some alterations of my own I think it’s safe to post it!

  Vegan Pumpkin Pie

  

  Ingredients:

  For the crust

  • 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 4-8 tablespoons almond milk (vanilla)

  For the filling

  • 1 (15oz) can of pumpkin (I ended up adding more as the taste testing went on before baking, not much maybe another half of a cup)
  • 15 oz firm silken tofu
  • 3/4 cup raw sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon (and then some!)
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves

  

  Directions:

  For the crust

  Preheat oven to 400F and get your pie plate out. In a large bowl sift mix together the flour and salt. Add in the oil slowly bit by bit stirring with a fork until it’s all added in. The flour should resemble coarse sand. Sprinkle in the almond milk 2 tblsp at a time and mix with your hands until you form a solid dough. Be sure not to over work the dough. Form the dough into a ball and set on a piece of wax paper. Place another sheet of wax paper ontop and toll out the dough until it’s in a wide enough circle to fit your pie plate.

  The directions then say to poke all over the dough with a fork, and bake for 12-15 min before adding the filling. I did not do this step. I actually didn’t see this part until right now as I type this..oops. The pie turned out fine, but you may choose to include this step.

  For the filling

  Empty silken tofu into your blender of food processor, I used my blender. Blend until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until everything is combined well. Pour the filling into the pie pan lined with your crust and bake at 375F for one hour, or until a toothpick comes out smooth.

  

  I did have a piece right as it came out of the oven, and found that this texture holds up better when it’s cooled overnight or for a few hours. Once left in the fridge for the night, it solidified enough to be an exact replica of non vegan pumpkin pies. The tofu blends in well to the myriad of other flavors and adds some great protein to accompany the fiber from the pumpkin. Who said eating pie was bad!?

  

  Q: Have you ever made a dessert using tofu? Would you?

  

  | 45 Comments Tagged Dessert, Pumpkin, Recipe, Vegan

• Black Bean Blender

  Posted at 9:51 AM by Brittany, on November 12, 2012

  What would you guess this pile of slop was meant to make?

  

  If I told you which setting I used would that help?

  

  What if I told you what was in the blender? Bananas, maple syrup, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, salt, oats, and black beans..yes..BEANS. What if I told you this combination made the silkiest brownies I have ever had? Would a picture help?

  

  Black Bean Brownies

  • 1 15oz can of black beans drained and rinsed (I used these ones because they are unsalted)
  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup raw sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup oats
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

  Preheat your oven to 350. Grease your 8in pan. Combine all of your ingredients into a blender or a food processor and blend until smooth. Add chocolate chips and stir with a spoon. DO not blend the chips. Pour batter into your pan and bake for 30 min or until a toothpick comes out clean! SO easy! I also added a super secret ingredient for extra OOMPH..

  

  Instant coffee for extra flavor! Seriously, these brownies are SO silky. They don’t have the texture of regular brownies, but boy are they good!! High in protein, and high in fiber..I’m sold. Lets just look at that picture one last time.

  

  Swoon ❤

  Q: What’s your favorite bean recipe? Link it to me! Beans beans the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot! I LOVE BEANS!

  

  | 57 Comments Tagged Brownies, Recipe, Vegan

• Love

  Posted at 8:09 AM by Brittany, on October 15, 2012

  Lately there have been a few things I have been loving. First and foremost would have to be my fall walks. I have been going on quiet a few walks the past few weeks, some with a partner and some alone.

  

  I don’t know what it is about the blog world, but I have never “met” so many people who love fall just as much as I do. It must be an unspoken rule that to blog you must love the season of pumpkins and crisp air.

  I went for a longer walk into town and back a couple days ago, and the walk was about 2.5 hrs. Nothing crazy, just another walk. The next day..I felt like I was hit by a bus. I can run 13 miles in 2.5 hrs and feel fine the next day, but walk for 2.5 hours and feel like I just gave birth out of my hips?? I have no other explanation other than I haven’t been eating/drinking enough. My appetite has been off so I haven’t been eating much, but there is no excuse for the water consumption.

  In an attempt to help with my energy levels I made myself a batch of the most amazing balls. I have been loving these for weeks, it’s damn near an addiction at this point. Please do yourself a favor and make these today. It takes 20 minutes of your time, and will “money back guarantee” balance your serotonin levels. I’d like to thank Gimmie Some Oven for this amazing recipe. For a coffee kick version of these click here.

  No Bake Energy Bites 

  

  • 1 cup dry oatmeal
  • 2/3 cup coconut flakes
  • 1/2 cup almond butter
  • 1/2 cup ground flax-seed or wheat germ (both turn out equally delish)
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I tried Crasins too and they were great)
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1tsp vanilla

  *Note: Peanut butter also works in place of the almond butter, however both need to be creamy, and preferably store bought jars. While I love my self ground nut butters, they are much too dry for this recipe. If you must use fresh nut butters, try adding a little bit of coconut oil to ensure the end result isn’t too dry. Otherwise the bites won’t stick together!

  Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed.  Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour.  Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. Store in an airtight container and keep in the fridge up to 1 week..if they last that long!

  

  If you’re lucky, the last ball you roll will end up having twice the amount of chocolate chips. I am saving that one in the top right corner for last! These are great as bites on the go, but I have been eating them as a dessert as well. SO good.

  Sometimes if I am feeling really wild, I will make these with both chocolate chips AND crasins. Best of both worlds!

  

  Q: What’s your favorite no bake recipe??

  

  | 51 Comments Tagged Fall, Recipe, Running, Vegan

• Pumpkin Lentil Soup

  Posted at 6:09 PM by Brittany, on September 24, 2012

  The first pumpkin of the season has been consumed by my face.

  

  TJ’s pie pumpkin, whopping price of $1.99. This happens to be the same price as the canned pumpkin. Why buy a can when you can use the real thing? This pumpkin was sliced, diced, chopped, emptied, and eaten like it was my job. I was able to get three uses from this bad boy.

  

  Coconut oil and sea salt pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds happen to contain a variety of minerals, vitamins, protein, fiber, and are low in carbohydrates. Ideal snack for my vegan diet.

  Half the pumpkin was saved for the next mornings breakfast, pumpkin pancakes.

  

  Early morning shadows

  I have missed my pumpkin pancakes. I do prefer canned pumpkin for pancakes because it’s much creamier than fresh pumpkin. My favorite part of this pumpkin was the deliciously spicy soup it was initially purchased for.

  

  Pumpkin Lentil Soup

  • 1 small red onion
  • 1 small cayenne pepper (or if you don’t like spice, a mild pepper works too)
  • 1tsp cumin
  • 1/2 pie pumpkin
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup red split lentils (I used the ones from TJ’s)

  –The first thing I did was cut the raw pumpkin in half (actually Manfriend did, I’m a wimp) and bake the halves at 350 until the pumpkin was pliable. When the pumpkin was done I set it to the side and started getting the other ingredients ready.

  –Dice up the onion and pepper into a pan to saute. Add the cumin and cook until the onions turn translucent. Once these are done you can then add the vegetable broth, water, pumpkin and lentils (make sure your pan/pot is big enough.) The lentils need a few minutes to cook. Once the lentils are done to your liking, pour the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth.

  This is the perfect fall soup. I knew I had to start the first day of fall the right way with pumpkin, pumpkin, and more pumpkin. I even tried my first pumpkin spice latte (soy) from Starbs! I hope to find plenty more fall inspired recipes over the next few months!

  Q: Favorite ingredient that reminds you of fall? Pumpkin…and cinnamon. 

  

  | 32 Comments Tagged Fall, Pumpkin, Recipe, TJ's

• Lean Green Machine

  Posted at 10:10 AM by Brittany, on August 25, 2012

  Green is my favorite color. It’s a neutral color, and doesn’t imply that I am manly nor girly. I tend to migrate towards green foods, possibly because I like the color and because of the nutrients in them. I had a green themed evening the other night and it all started with these.

  

  These crisps, are unreal. I hadn’t had them in years and I decided…it was time. They are SOSsososSO good. Don’t believe me?

  

  I think this photo speaks for itself. Three servings in the bag obviously means you have three times the opportunity to eat them within 20 minutes.

  Dinner for the night was all green as well. I cooked my asparagus in this stuff, which happens to be a new to me item.

  

  The oil itself was clear, and didn’t have much of a flavor. I liked it because it allowed the asparagus to really POP with its natural flavor. Cool stuff this oil. I then put my Blendtec to use for the first time making something other than a smoothie.

  

  This is my poisonous sludge. Touch it and you will die.

  

  Wheat gnocchi with vegan pesto, brussels, and asparagus.

  Vegan Pesto

  • 2 cups of spinach
  • 6 large basil leaves (or more!)
  • 2 small/medium cloves of garlic
  • 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1/2 cup of cashews
  • salt & pepper to taste!

  Combine all ingredients into a food processor (I used my blender) and combine until you get a desired consistency! I added water to mine to thin it out.

  This stuff was great, a fun new sauce to spice up my pastaaaaas.

  On a completely unrelated note, this is what my front porch looks like.

  

  No green..but LOTS of fall colors. I am so FrrEaKinN excited!! I LOVE FALL!!

  Q: Are you ready for fall!? YESS!! CORN MAZE, pumpkin patch, hot tea, snogging, squash, cool temp running, winter clothes! 

  

  | 34 Comments Tagged Fall, Recipe

• Summer Salad On A Wild Night

  Posted at 7:41 AM by Brittany, on August 19, 2012

  I know all of you people suffering the 100+ degree weather wan’t to shove my face with a cookie to shut me up, but the heat in Washington has been zapping me! My energy is lower, my appetite is lower, and my motivation to “cook” is lowweerr than low. Fortunately for me, I know someone else that is suffering from the 90+ degrees. He has provided me with a wonderful summer recipe! Stolen Adapted from here, this fruity protein goodness is refreshing and filing.

  Quinoa Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

  

  • 1 cup dry quinoa (after this is cooked it expands to more than a cup)
  • 1.5 cups blueberries
  • 1.5 cups sliced strawberries
  • 1.5 cups chopped mango

  For the dressing:

  • Juice one large lime
  • 3 tablespoons of honey
  • 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh mint

  Cook the quinoa and let it cool. Once cool, combine quinoa, blueberries, strawberries and mango in a large bowl.

  To make the dressing: whisk the lime juice, honey, and mint together until combined. Once dressing is combined, pour over the salad and enjoy!

  

  This was very light, and perfect for a hot day.

  Friday night I decided to be wild. I can’t remember the last time I got wild on a Friday night. I went to the store, and I left with this.

  

  I went in for socks and hair ties, and left with so much more. This giant book of dino’s was a whopping $1.00. The crayons were $0.50. If you do the math that’s $1.50 for one wild night. I colored a self portrait of my pillow pet.

  

  

  This gorgeous portrait can be yours for the generous price of $0.25.

  Correction: My friend has purchased this picture in exchange for cookies. Sorry.

  Q: When’s the last time you colored?

  

  | 30 Comments Tagged Adventure, Coloring Book, Recipe, Vegetarian

• Good Eats

  Posted at 12:41 PM by Brittany, on July 30, 2012

  It’s a shame I wasn’t more attentive in my 11th grade food science class. We routinely watched Alton Brown on Good Eats, yet I was always working on other homework, goofing off with my friends, or making chewbacca noises in the corner. These days Good Eats comes on, and I am alert with pen and paper ready to take notes on a new science related food project. This post has nothing to do with Alton, or with his show, but it does have to do with some VERY good eats.

  After my 8K last Saturday, I went to the farmers market to check out the goods. I’ve been to plenty of farmers markets, but I had never purchased any of the items being sold..until now. I immediately focused in on the giant fanning leaves that the Egyptians used for their royalty. I also noticed the bowel color changers in a bundle of 4.

  

  That would be giant swiss chard leaves, and beets..which well..change the color of your bowels. It’s hard to tell the size of these leaves from the photo, so allow me to compare my stub hand for a size reference.

  

  Seriously..huge leaves. Both of these items were $3 each, there was no way I was leaving without them. I knew right away what I wanted for dinner that night. It ended up being so delicious that I had the same dinner two nights in a row.

  

  

  Beans and rice, all wrapped up in the chard taco! This was SO good, and SO easy. Despite the deliciousness of this meal, it is definitely not first date worthy. Be prepared to make a giant mess.

  

  The bundle of leaves came with 8 giant fans, and they were gone in two days. I hope the farmers market by my house has these because I need more. I’m twitching at the thought of them. The second night I had these, I paired them with a random kitchen creation. Who likes jalapeno poppers? If you’re like me..you can easily throw away 20 poppers in one sitting. Sadly enough..this was a common trend throughout my youth. It’s no wonder I was a chunky child. These days I don’t find myself eating poppers all that much, especially now that I eat a vegan diet. Enter idea: vegan cornbread popper muffin..things.

  

  This was crazy easy. I used Bobs red mill corn meal mix, and followed the recipe on the bag to make the cornbread. Cut up a few jalapenos stuffed with vegan cream cheese, and baked them until they were brown! If you’re not vegan, make em with regular cream cheese!! They turned out great!

  

  And that..is what I call good eats!

  Q: Tell me something GREAT you ate recently?!

  

  | 37 Comments Tagged Farmers Market, New food, Recipe

• 

• 

• Search for:
• BRITTANY- Self proclaimed minimalistic nomad striving to maintain a balanced, healthy life with good food, long hikes, deep connections, exploration, and lots of potatoes.

• If this blog does not meet your standards, please lower your standards.

• Contact: blissfulbritt@yahoo.com

• ¿Quieres Más?

  Like my witty attitude and delightful charm? Enter your
  e-mail below for the party to come straight to your inbox!

  Email Address:

  Follow the adventure

  Join 4,726 other subscribers
• 

•