Apple Cinnamon Crepes

Crepes are one of my favorite things to make. They're a great weekend breakfast, dessert, or snack.

They can be filled with healthy stuff like fruit (or veggies for a savory crepe) or good stuff like chocolate. When I make them for breakfast I try to be a little healthy and go the fruit route. Sometimes the fruit and the nutella route, but always a little fruit :).

This past Sunday I made apple cinnamon crepes. I used my favorite basic crepe recipe and filled each one with a few spoonfuls of apple pieces coated in cinnamon and sugar.

This recipe makes about 8 large crepes....which is enough for 2-3 people. Or just yourself if you're having a rough morning.

blueberry + vanilla sugar doughnuts

Doughnuts are the best. I cannot find much wrong with sugary, fried, dough.  My husband claims to "not like them" but he's a huge liar because he ate five of these in under ten minutes.. One of his first jobs after arriving in America was working the first shift at Dunkin' Donuts. I think he only lasted a week and developed a supposed aversion to doughnuts/donuts.

Making fried doughnuts can be a bit messy and time consuming, but it is worth it. A fresh, homemade doughnut is such a treat. I recommend not thinking about the future messy kitchen (or cellulite) and just going for it.

blueberry + vanilla sugar doughnuts (makes about two dozen)
-2 cups all purpose flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
-1 egg
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 medium, over ripe banana (mashed)
-1/4 cup milk
-1 cup fresh blueberries
-3/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (for the vanilla sugar coating)
-canola or vegetable oil for frying (3-4 cups is plenty)

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until well combined - about a minute. Add in the egg and mix for another minute. Finally, add in the banana, vanilla extract, and milk and mix until well combined.
3. Next add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure that everything is incorporated. Last, fold in the blueberries. This dough is sticky, so it's helpful to refrigerate it for a few hours before frying.
4. While the dough is in the refrigerator, make the vanilla sugar by mixing a teaspoon of vanilla extract with 3/4 cup white sugar. If you have a vanilla bean, use this instead for a better vanilla flavor. Simply scrape out the inside of the bean and toss with the sugar.
5. After refrigerating the dough for a few hours, flour a work surface. I rolled my dough out on floured parchment paper because I find this helpful for flipping the dough over. Also, the parchment paper helps to cut down on the amount of flour you will have to use.
6. Roll out about a third of the dough at a time and cut with a round cookie or biscuit cutter. If you don't have one of these, use the top of a glass or round lid. The circle I made was about 3" wide. Once you have the circles cut out, cut out the middle with a smaller circle. I used the lid from a bottle of olive oil for the hole of the doughnut.

7. While you are rolling and cutting, have the oil heating over medium-high heat. Use a large pot and allow the oil to heat until small bubbles form along the sides of the pot. You can throw in a small piece of scrap dough to test the heat. The oil will be hot enough when the dough quickly rises to the top. Roll out all the dough (combining the scraps once you have cut the circles) and set the doughnuts aside. If you don't have room to lay out all the cut doughnuts before frying, you can roll, cut, fry, repeat - this is what I did.
8. Before frying the doughnuts, it is helpful to set up each "station." Next to the pot of oil, set a plate lined with paper towels. Next to the plate, put the dish of vanilla sugar (a shallow dish is best for this). Next to that, put a clean plate for the finished product.
9. Begin frying the doughnuts. I cooked three at a time by gently placing them in the hot oil and flipping (with a flat wooden spoon) after about a minute.

10. The doughnuts cook fairly quickly. Each one should take less than two minutes. After removing them from the oil, place on the paper towel lined plate in order to soak up some of the excess oil. While they are still hot, place them on the vanilla sugar plate and coat them with the vanilla sugar. When I finished with all the doughnuts, I fried the doughnut holes. So delicious!

In order to make this recipe go as smoothly as possible, prepare! Once the doughnuts are frying you will need to work fast. 

If blueberries aren't your thing, try substituting strawberries or raspberries or fresh, diced peaches. Yum, peach doughnuts sound pretty amazing - I think that might be my next doughnut project ;).

chia seed pudding - three ways

The past few months I have seen chia seed pudding on just about every blog. I was kind of skeptical because, why mess with pudding? And maybe the texture would be gross? But I am making a huge effort to health up my diet (my eating has been out of order since Christmas....actually since Thanksgiving) and decided to try a healthier option to quell my sweet tooth.

I whipped up a basic batch last week and guess what? It's really good! And healthy. And you can add whatever you want as a topping. It makes for a fun breakfast.

After my first attempt, I decided to try it again with a few variations. I tried cinnamon (perfect for breakfast), double chocolate (a perfect dessert when you are trying to not always eat ice cream), and banana (a perfect sweet snack).

Making chia seed pudding is easy. You just mix a few things together and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours to set. You can use any non-dairy milk you like. My favorite is unsweetened coconut milk but unsweetened almond milk would be really good too.

chia seed pudding - three ways

-cinnamon (1/4 cup chia seeds, 1 cup Silk Unsweetened Coconut milk, 1 teaspoon cinnamon)
-double chocolate (1/4 cup chia seeds, 1 1/4 cup Silk Unsweetened Coconut milk, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons honey, chopped dark chocolate - about 1/4 cup)
-banana (1/4 cup chia seeds, 1 cup Silk Unsweetened Coconut milk, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 mashed banana)

Put the ingredients of each in three separate bowls, mix together, cover, and refrigerate for at least four hours before eating. These puddings will last for about a week. The banana version will last just a few days because the banana starts to brown.

I have been eating the "cinnamon" version every morning topped with berries. It is kind of like plain yogurt so you can top it with whatever you might put on plain yogurt.  Also, the chocolate is amazing with a few raspberries on top.

If you're interested in trying this simple recipe, grab some non-dairy milk such as Silk. I have always been pretty grossed out by cow milk but the Silk products taste really good and they're a great way to add more plants to your diet.

Stop by Silk, register, and get a coupon for your next purchase.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

blueberry dutch baby pancake

I love dutch baby pancakes. They are SO simple and quick to make and usually consist of just eggs, a little flour, a little butter, and some fruit. Basically they are like a huge souffle and I love a souffle (you might remember my souffle obsession from last year).

I made one last Saturday with blueberries because that's what I had in my kitchen. Other berries or pears or apples would work well in this recipe. If you want a slightly sweeter version, just add a few tablespoons of honey or powdered sugar to the batter.

I typically see dutch baby recipes made in cast iron skillets. I don't have one so I just used a plain glass pie dish. A cast iron skillet is on my kitchen wish list but I need to get rid of some kitchen items before I bring in any other new things!

blueberry dutch baby pancake (serves about three)
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
powdered sugar (for dusting)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put a 10 inch pie dish (or 10 inch cast iron skillet) in the oven with a tablespoon of butter in it.  The butter will melt while the oven preheats.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk until well combined. Add in the flour, salt and two remaining tablespoons of butter (melt these two tablespoons first) and continue to whisk until the batter is lump free.
3. Remove the heated dish from the oven and swirl around the melted butter until it coats the bottom and the sides and the dish. Pour in the batter and top with blueberries.
4. Bake at 400 degrees for about ten minutes (until puffed and golden), then reduce the heat to 350 and continue to cook for another ten minutes (until the pancake is set).

Remove from the oven and dust with powdered sugar.

I hope you guys all had a great weekend! Mine was spent mostly being productive (cleaning, working, organizing my studio, etc) at home. This dish made for the perfect Saturday morning treat.

apple donut muffins

A few weeks ago, I stopped into Azucar, one of my favorite places in San Diego for a treat. They have the best cookies and scones and coffees and everything.  I am a little addicted to the place.  Anyways, when I was there I saw something called a "donut muffin" and I had to try one. Well, my mind was blown.  Amazing.

The next day I decided to try my own donut muffins.  I looked around online and put together a recipe that is a slightly dense muffin.  After baking you roll the mini muffin in melted butter and cinnamon-sugar.  You can make this recipe in a traditional sized muffin pan but I love the mini's.  The denser texture combined with the butter-cinnamon-sugar coating gives these little muffins the perfect donut taste.  SO good.

apple donut muffins (makes about 30 mini muffins)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup cider
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 medium apple - peeled and grated
2 teaspoons cinnamon + 1/4 cup sugar + 4 tablespoons melted butter (for after baking)

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a mini muffin pan.
2. In a larger bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and brown sugar).  Set aside.  In a different bowl, mix the 3 tablespoons of melted butter, cider, egg, vanilla extract, and the grated apple.
3. Combine the wet and dry ingredient and spoon into the muffin pan.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Remove the muffins from the pan and dunk first in the bowl of melted butter, then in the bowl of cinnamon-sugar.
5. Set the coated muffins on a plate to cool.  I found that these muffins tasted more "donut like" when they had cooled for about 15 minutes.  When they were piping hot, the texture was more muffin-esque. Try it, you'll see what I mean :).  Also, depending on how buttery and sugary you want your muffins to be, you might need more than the amounts of cinnamon, sugar, and butter that I recommended for the topping.

apple-cinnamon-sugar pancakes

I made these last weekend and they're my new favorite pancake.  Super easy, quick, and perfect for Fall.  

apple-cinnamon-sugar pancakes (this recipe will make about 12 pancakes)

-1 cup of four

-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-1 egg

-3/4 cup of milk

-1 apple (grated with a cheese grater)

-2 tablespoons of melted butter (cooled)

-cinnamon and sugar (for dusting the pancakes)

1. In a bowl, whisk together all the flour, baking soda, and salt.  

2. Stir in the remaining ingredients (except the cinnamon and sugar for dusting).

3. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and rub with butter or spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour 1/4 cup of the pancake batter in the pan (I did three pancakes at a time).  Wait for bubbles to form, flip, and cook for another minute.  Remove from pan and repeat until all the batter is gone.

4. Fill a small bowl with 1/4 cup white sugar and cinnamon (I used about two teaspoons).  Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the pancakes.  This cinnamon-sugar coating gives the pancakes the nicest, sweetest crunch.  It's so perfect.

Enjoy!

mini monkey bread

To me, monkey bread is a total 1980s dessert. I think this is because the first time I had it was in the 80s. I was maybe in kindergarten?  I don't remember but for some reason, I was sent home with a little book of recipes and a recipe for monkey bread was in the book.

This recipe is so sweet and buttery and not a health food at all. It's also incredibly easy.  If I made it when I was five....you can easily make it now.  It's a hard one to screw up ;).

I used a mini bundt pan because I just thought it was so much cuter than an average bundt pan, but either will work.  You can even make this in a square baking dish or muffin tin.

mini monkey bread
-one package of store bought biscuits (if you are using a standard sized bundt pan, you can make this with two packages of store bought biscuits)
-3/4 cup sugar
-a few teaspoons of cinnamon (use more or less depending on how cinnamon-ey you want the bread)
-a stick of butter, melted

1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pull the biscuits apart and cut each in quarters.  I used whole wheat biscuits but it doesn't matter. Whatever kind you use, they will just end up tasting like delicious pieces of butter, cinnamon, and sugar.

3. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl and toss in the biscuit pieces until well coated.  Press the sugar coated biscuit pieces in the bundt or mini bundt pan.  If you use the mini one, only put in about three pieces.  I over stuffed a few of them and there wasn't enough room for the butter to coat each piece.  

4. Pour melted butter over the top and bake for about 30 minutes.  If you do minis, 30 minutes is enough time.  A whole cake will likely take about ten minutes longer.  You will know this recipe is done when the biscuit pieces have puffed up and are golden brown.  This dessert is best served warm.

You have been warned - these little guys are addicting.  I ate at least five of them.  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for cinnamon-sugar :).

simple homemade berry jam

I made this suuuuper simple berry jam over the weekend as a waffle topping.  This recipe is more like a guide - you can use any berries you have on hand.  Right now is the season for berries - they are so sweet you don't need to add in any extra sugar....unless, of course you want extra sugar, which is fine.

Yesterday I bought a bunch of perfect raspberries and strawberries and plan on whipping up another batch of this jam today.

berry jam
-3 cups of berries {for this one I used strawberries and blueberries}
-a tablespoon of lemon juice
-a few tablespoons of honey {if you want it extra sweet}

Put all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 30-45 minutes. The fruit will reduce and the mixture will become thick and syrupy.  

Eat on toast, waffles, pancakes, ice cream, etc.  The leftovers will last for a few weeks in the refrigerator.

a week of smoothies

Every single day I drink at least one smoothie.  I love them.  They are so easy and refreshing and can easily be packed with fruit and veggies and other good for you stuff.

I get in smoothie ruts {hellooooo strawberry-banana} and wanted to mix it up a bit, so I created several new smoothie recipes....or combos.  These aren't so much "recipes" as they are various combinations.

My favorite smoothie components are some sort of "milk" {unsweetened vanilla almond and unsweetened coconut are the two I use}, fruit, spinach or kale, and maybe a splash of juice or protein powder or chia seeds or flax meal.

I have found that it's kind of hard to make a gross smoothie.  Some I don't love, but they are all pretty good.

My newest favorite is the watermelon-coconut.  It's even better if the watermelon is frozen - so refreshing on a warm day.

All of these smoothies are around 150 calories each will make two 8-ish ounce servings.  You can use frozen or fresh fruit {Trader Joe's has the best frozen fruit} and if your blender needs help, add a little water.

Mango-Melon

-1/2 of a mango {peeled, chopped}

-1 cup chopped cantaloupe

-2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla coconut milk

-1/4 cup orange juice

-1/2 a banana

-2 tablespoons chia seeds

-ice and water for blending {if needed}

Mixed Berry {serves 2}

-1/2 a banana

-1/2 cup mixed berries {I used the frozen "berry medley" from Trader Joe's}

-1 handful of kale or spinach

-3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

-ice and water for blending {if needed}

Pineapple-Orange-Spinach

-1 orange {peeled and sliced}

-1/4 cup pineapple

-1/2 a banana

-a large handful of fresh spinach

-3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla coconut milk

-ice and water for blending {if needed}

Peach Pie

-2 peaches, diced

-1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

-1 scoop vanilla protein powder

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-2 tablespoons chia seeds

-ice and water for blending {if needed}

Watermelon-Coconut

-2 cups watermelon

-1/2 cup coconut water

-1 banana

-1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla coconut milk

-ice and water for blending {if needed}

Green Love

-1 kiwi {peeled and sliced}

-a large handful of fresh kale

-1 a banana

-a splash of orange juice {about 1/4 cup}

-1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla coconut milk

-ice and water for blending {if needed}

Strawberry Vanilla

-1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries

-1 scoop vanilla protein powder

-3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

-1/2 a banana

-ice and water for blending {if needed}

Smoothies for days!  Do you have any favorite smoothie combinations?

Mixed Berry Yogurt Scones

I have never been a huge fan of scones.  Typically I find them to be dry and flavorless and just overall *blah*.  A total waste of calories and carbs.  


I have felt this way for years until a few weeks ago when I had a scone from Azucar.  


{Side note: If you ever find yourself in San Diego, you must visit Azucar.  It's a seriously amazing Cuban style bakery.}


I am not sure why I ordered a scone at Azucar...I guess I thought it would be "healthier" than my usual double chocolate or mojito cookie.  I had never tasted a scone like this and for the first time said, "I think I like scones."  


This is big news people.  I don't usually like foods I had previously written off.  I am really growing up - right before your eyes.


I adapted my recipe for Mixed Berry Yogurt Scones from this one on Annie Eats {which was adapted from Cooking Light}.  


If you're a fellow scone-hater like me, try this recipe.  It is so delicious and full of berry flavor.  I want to make them again and again with all sorts of fruit combinations.

Mixed Berry Yogurt Scones {makes 12}
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mixed berries {I used frozen and thawed them in the microwave}
3 tablespoons melted butter
zest from one lemon
the juice from one lemon
one egg white
6 ounces non-fat or low-fat yogurt...any flavor {I used low fat greek strawberry yogurt}


1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients with a whisk {both flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt}.
3. In another bowl, mix together the egg white, melted butter {make sure it isn't too hot}, the yogurt, the lemon zest, and the lemon juice.  Add in the berries and fold all the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
4. Lightly flour a clean surface and gently kneed the dough on the surface until all comes together.  Form into a disc and cut into 12 equal portions.
5. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray and bake scones at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!