Good old Oatmeal

We've been having a few chilly mornings, and I've just been craving hot food for breakfast, like coffee cake. Unfortunately, I don't always have the time or caloric allowance to eat coffee cake as much as I like so I kind of rediscovered oatmeal again. Here's my current mix:

It's regular oatmeal drizzled with honey, sprinkled with cinnamon, slivered almonds, chopped walnuts and a healthy splash of soy creamer.

I'm kind of in that stage where I'll eat this for days straight and already looking forward to eating tomorrow morning. Any other hot breakfast suggestions?

Vegan Coffee Cake

Post-Thanksgiving on a chilly morning, I was still in comfort food mode and was craving coffee cake and hot coffee.  When I was a kid, my favorite coffee cake memory was making it using the Aunt Jemima Coffee Cake mix.  I remember adding an egg and milk to the mix in the bag and you mashed it together in the bag and then poured it in the included aluminum tray.  It came with a waxed paper envelope of crumb topping that you topped the mix with and it baked perfect.  I loved it--there were never leftovers.  I found an enticing recipe for vegan coffee cake on Poppytalk blog and gave it a go:

I decided to make it without the optional berries, and it was just what I wanted.  It reminded me of the classic Aunt Jemima coffee cake and was perfect on a chilly morning with hot coffee.  I'm definitely making this again!

Gluten-free Vegan Pumpkin Pie

For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to make a vegan pumpkin pie and found this great and fairly easy recipe:  Pumpkin Pie with Gluten-free Pecan Crust.  One note:  though this recipe is gluten-free, it isn't nut-free so it's not acceptable for those with nut allergies, unless you switch out the crust with a gluten-free, nut-free one.

I loved the crust while I was making it.  You know how cookie dough is great in it's dough form, sometimes better than it's finished cookie form?  The crust was like this--I could have eaten the crust dough straight.  It was a great mix of nutty, sweet, and salty.  These elements became much more subtle after baking it with the pumpkin filling.  Overall the consensus was that regardless that this pie was vegan and gluten-free, this pie was a delicious.  I recommend it as a great change-up at your next Thanksgiving buffet!

Maple "Butter" Bars

I've been testing out recipes that me and my nephew (with specific allergies) can enjoy together and this one from Flying Apron's Gluten-Free & Vegan Baking Book caught my eye. It's supposed to be like shortbread which I love. I really wish this book had more pictures of their recipes, so I knew if these look right.  Since I don't have a mixer, I mixed it by hand with a strong fork and I'm wondering if that changes the composition a lot.  I also used a 9x13 pan instead of the 9x12 pan, so I think they're thinner than they're supposed to be:

They are tasty and not overwhelmingly sweet and I certainly enjoy them, but they seem very dense and chewy, rather than crisp which I associate shortbread with.  Also, when I pulled the pan out of the oven, the coconut oil had bloomed to the top and was just sizzling/boiling when I pulled the pan out of the oven, though it eventually settled back down into the cookies as it cooled. Also, the recipe advised to score the cookies while they're hot, but I found this unnecessary and was able to cut them into bars pretty easily.  Hmm, maybe I need to try this out with a mixer sometime and see if it changes things.  Anyone familiar with this recipe and can tell me if I made these right? 

Anyhoo, if you'd like to try making these (it's pretty easy with 5 ingredients)--please let me know how they turned out (especially if you've got a stand-up mixer)!

Maple "Butter" Bars

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Combine 2 3/4 c of brown rice flour and 1/2 tsp salt in a medium bowl.
- In the bowl of a stand-up mixer fixed with paddle attachment, combine 1 c coconut oil (or palm oil), 1 c maple syrup, and 1 tsp vanilla until well mixed. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture a little at a time until well mixed, about 3 minutes.
- Spread batter evenly into a parchment-lined 9x12 pan. Bake until edges harden slightly, about 15 minutes. While dough is hot, score it into 12 pieces with a knife. After it has cooled, slice it the rest of the way through and remove bars from pan.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

After cutting up our Halloween Jack O'Lantern, I saved the seeds, gave a quick rinse to get most of the pumpkin goo off, tossed with olive oil, and spread them out on a baking sheet. Then I sprinkled a little garlic powder and sea salt:

I put the pan in a 300 degree oven. I tossed it a bit after 20 minutes and then roasted for another 35 minutes:

Man these were so good. They came out so crispy and were seasoned just right. So much tastier than the prepared pumpkin seeds in the stores. It's only a bummer that there weren't more pumpkins to get more seeds from.

Definitely better than the candy!

SC Mud Run - Fall edition!

Survived the SC Mud Run AGAIN!

I lucked out with another dynamite team again:

So clean to start!

Theses ladies were go-go-go (I was keeping up but definitely bringing up the rear--looks like I should have done a few more runs) with great spirit and teamwork.  It was a touch chillier than last April, where it didn't quite warm up to the 70s but thankfully, the running warmed us up and the sun came through at good places.

A few things I was pleased with--I managed to get through the "Low Crawl Under Logs" without putting my face under the muddy water so I avoided the major dirty contact lens recovery from my first mud run.  Also, I had a personal goal of doing at least 2 rope transfers on the Tarzans--I did 4.  My memory thought there were only 5 ropes but apparently there are 9.  Next year, my goal is to do all 9.  I also started the Weaver on my own but in the interest of time and keeping things moving, it was quicker to make it a team effort.

The mud pit, still so darn muddy.  The Marines told us to doggy paddle (without kicking) but I felt I was barely moving:

Afterwards was the (second) 15' wall but man, it would have been nice to have less muddy hands and shoes and/or a less muddy wall:

And aaahh, the last obstacle: the fireman carry--which means we're just about done!

We finished with an official time of 1:56:27 and placed 37 (out of 63) in the Corporate division. Pretty darn respectable in my book but I'm just glad we had fun and did really well with the obstacles.

So muddy at the end

Now for some down time before spring when the Mud Run season begins again:

There goes my leg modeling career

Hopefully by then, the cuts and bruises will have healed! Thanks again to my great team!

Getting ready for the SC Mud Run - fall edition

For some reason, my cardio preparation has been a bit lacking for the SC Mud Run next week:

I have run only three times since the Camp Pendleton Mud Run in June and my pace since then is definitely much slower (from a 9:52/mile pace last June to a 10:43/mile pace now).  Granted, the SC Mud Run isn't nearly as running-oriented as the Camp Pendleton one.  And since it's very obstacle-oriented, I've been focusing on tackling and preparing more for the obstacles I remember lacking at the last SC Mud Run--specifically getting over walls and transferring ropes.  Fingers crossed!