Cocoa Banana Buckwheat Breakfast Cakes

Chocolate for breakfast without the guilt...need I say more?

Ingredients:

• 1 c. Raw Buckwheat Groats (grind into flour in a coffee grinder/blender)
• 2 Bananas, mashed
• 1 ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1 c. Almond Milk (unsweetened)
• 2 tbsp. Agave Nectar
• ¼ c. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 4 Egg Whites
• 1/3 c. chia seeds, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 ¼ tsp. baking powder
• Flax seeds for sprinkling

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mash bananas and mix with almond milk and vanilla.  Whisk until combined
3. Add buckwheat groats, cocoa powder, baking powder, and chia seeds.
4. Add egg whites, and whisk until combined
5. Spray 3 small oven-safe dishes (I used Pyrex) with coconut oil cooking spray
6. Pour mixture in, sprinkle with chia and flax seeds, and bake for 30 minutes

Blood Orange and Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins

Blood oranges are my current obsession.  My wonderful husband picked some up for me the other day, and I immediately decided I wanted to bake something starring them. The following recipe was adapted from Mountain Mama Cooks.  I changed a few ingredients to increase the nutritional stats and decrease the unhealthy fats.  They came out soft and fluffy, and just the perfect amount of sweet.

Ingredients (makes 12 standard sized muffins):

• 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 tbsp. Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/4 c. Egg Substitute (I use Better n' Eggs)
• 1/2 c. Coconut Oil, melted (cold-pressed, extra virgin!)
• Zest of 2 blood oranges, separated
• 1/2 cup Freshly Squeezed Blood Orange Juice
• 1/4 cup Skim Milk (I used Lactaid this time, but I usually use So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk)
• 1 tbsp. Nonfat, Plain Greek Yogurt
• 2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup Dark Chocolate Chips (I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chips)
• 1 Tbsp Coarse Sugar

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, and salt
• In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, egg substitute, coconut oil, zest from one orange, orange juice, milk, greek yogurt, and vanilla until well combined
• Add flour mixture to egg/sugar mixture and stir until just combined
• Fold in chocolate chips
• Evenly divide the batter in the 12 muffin cups
• In a small dish, combine the coarse sugar with the zest from the other orange, and rub the zest and sugar together in your ingers to release the oils in the zest and mix into the sugar
• Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the zest/sugar mixture
• Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Granola Bars...what could be better?

I've been really into making granola bars lately, and there's pretty much no flavor combo I prefer more than pumpkin and dark chocolate.  I always make sure to stock up on cans of pumpkin puree during off-times of year, as the news seems to always proclaim a potential pumpkin shortage sometime in the future. 

I came across this recipe on Clean Eating Online, and decided to amp up the protein a bit, and decrease the sugar content, and the result was awesome.  I should point out the Tosca Reno is sort of the "mother" of clean eating, and her cookbooks and website are excellent resources to those who are interested in learning more about what clean eating is all about.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/4 c. Old Fashioned Oats
• 1/2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1/2 c. Pumpkin Puree
• 1/2 c. Unsweetened Applesauce
• 1/3 c. Agave Nectar
• 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 c. 85% Cacao Dark Chocolate, chopped
• 1/3 c. Sliced Almonds
• 1/3 c. Raw Pumpkin Seeds
• 3 scoops Vanilla Whey Protein (use a low-sugar variety!  I use MRM)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray and set aside
• Chop the chocolate into small pieces
• In a large bowl, combine oats, spices, and salt together and set aside
• In a medium bowl, whisk pumpkin, applesauce, honey, protein, and vanilla extract until smooth
• Pour over oats and stir until all the oats are coated
• Stir in the dark chocolate, almonds, and pumpkin seeds
• Evenly press into prepared pan
• Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown
• Let cool for 5 minutes and then use a sharp knife to cut into bars
• Let cool completely

I store mine in the fridge because I like the way they taste chilled.