Late Night Low Budget Blueberry Mug Bread

If you’re anything like me, January and sometimes February are rough months budget-wise. All of those once a year bills like renter’s insurance pop up right after the holidays putting a bit of a damper on the wallet, social life and pantry. Even my plastic tends to get angry.

The hardest part for me these last few weeks has been trying to stay on my strict diet, through stress eating and insomnia, without constantly raiding the local grocery stores and bodegas like a craving enraged preggo. So today’s recipe is my attempt and a quick, easy and mostly staple ingredient composed snack that saved me a hangry Jill sleep anxiety breakdown at 2am. BONUS: It’s made in a coffee mug and only takes 3 minutes to cook in the microwave!

Thank goodness I freeze fruit that I pick at my parents’ house over the summers for “fresh” fruit during the colder months. Any fresh or frozen berry will work. Or you can nix the fruit. It’s a little flavorless that way but you can always top it with something delicious like jam or more salted honey butter [drool].

I’m interested to hear feedback on this one because I thought it was amazing but due to my altered state of mind I may just be crazy. I also added excessively too many frozen blueberries that it almost didn’t all stick together.

Note: When baking regular blueberry muffins, the blueberries tend to sink to the bottom. In this recipe, they all rose to the top. When baking regular muffins, I have found that dusting the berries in flour keeps them from sinking. Next time I make this I will try it also. If you do so before I do, let me know if it helps!

Ingredients

1/3 Cup almond flour

1 Egg

2 1/2 Tablespoons butter/ghee or coconut oil

1/2 Teaspoon baking powder

1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

1 Heaping tablespoon frozen blueberries

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except egg and blueberries in mug

2. Add egg and mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined and there are no lumps (if you add the cold egg and melted butter/oil a the same time, the oil will congeal)

3. Gently fold in blueberries

4. Try to clean up the sides of your mug if you are a messy stirrer

5. Microwave for 3 minutes on high

When finished cooking, you can eat right away. ORRRRR What I did was wait for it to cool a minute or two before loosening the edges with a knife and flipping the "cake" out of the mug. I then sliced it, toasted the slices for a little more texture and then topped the slices with salted honey butter. Keep in mind that there is no sweetener in the batter so "as is" this makes more of a bread than a muffin or cake. It also makes me feel less guilty about that generous spread of raw honey I dropped on that little blueberry round.

Banana Nut Muffins

I don’t even need to write a story or intro for this one. Banana nut muffins fit for all of the monkeys in your life, created by a goddess (my roommate’s words, not mine, as he grabbed another running out the door). You will not be disappointed. 

Ingredients

1 Cup almond flour

½ Cup coconut flower

1 Teaspoon baking soda

¼ Teaspoon salt

2 Teaspoons cinnamon

3 Eggs, lightly beaten

1 Cup mashed overripe bananas (2-3 medium size bananas)

1 Additional banana (reserved)

3 Tablespoons melted coconut oil

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ Cup melted raw honey

¼ Cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 12 regular size muffin cups or use paper liners

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients until combined

3. Add in all remaining ingredients EXCEPT for the reserved banana and walnuts. Whisk until thoroughly combined

4. Mash reserved banana gently leaving sizable lumps. This has always been the secret to my banana muffins

5. Fold the reserved banana and walnuts into the batter. You don’t want to be able to see all those lumps and bumps of banana nutty goodness (be careful not to use too much banana or your muffins may not set completely)

6. Spoon into your muffin cups filling about ¾ of the way full

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes. The tops should be golden brown and the toothpick test should come out clean

8. Allow to cool as long as you and your monkeys can manage because the smell is simply amazing

Breakfast of Champions

Over the last year, I’ve tried to navigate and embrace this whole alternative diet lifestyle, sometimes not so successfully, but I have learned two main and intertwined lessons:

1.     Depriving myself of certain foods, especially those that I’ve loved and enjoyed most of my life is a recipe for disaster and will only lead to failure. As will denying cravings.

2.     Sometimes cravings are less for a specific food as much as for the learned experience and/or social experience of consuming that food.

For the purpose of this post and recommendation/recipe that follows we'll use cereal as an example. I’ve eaten cereal most of my life for breakfast. I think many can relate unless you had one of those parents that cooked breakfast any time but special occasions. As a child, I preferred the sweet, terrible for you varieties: Captain Crunch, Sugar Smacks, Sugar Pops, Frosted Mini Wheats…you get the idea. Occasionally, my mom would let us have sliced bananas in milk with a sprinkle of sugar. As I got older and more health conscious, this turned into granola and fruit and yogurt and a lot of eggs (on occasion I would treat myself to sliced bananas and peanut butter in milk).

Fast forward to the present and I find myself craving cereal in the morning. The thing is, I was never really a huge fan of cereal or granola to begin with. It was more of a quick and easy meal in the morning that I’ve always had. It was a learned experience that my mind and body attribute to morning and morning meals. I was craving that quick, easy meal. I was craving the crunchy, salty, sweet in cold milk. I was craving a daily habit that had more recently been lost.

So, rather than deny myself the foods (or experiences) that I crave, I modify to reflect my new lifestyle similar to when I phased out the sweeter morning rituals with healthier granola so many years ago. Basically what it comes down to is nuts and seeds and even some fresh fruit. If you need the sweeter, feel free to add a drizzle of maple syrup or raw honey. It’s even easy to mix up a bigger batch so that you can just pour a bowl each morning and not have to worry about each bag of nuts and seeds. One of the biggest bonuses for me though is that when I’m eating too slowly or distracted by the news or emails or shiny objects, my breakfast doesn’t get soggy! Below are a few of my favorite combinations but feel free to experiment with your favorite mixes. Enjoy!

Concoction A

Handful of Blueberries

5-7 sliced strawberries

1/3 cup pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1/3 cup crushed walnuts

2 tablespoons chia seeds

1 tablespoon maple syrup

Cover with your choice of milk. I usually go for almond or cashew milk.

Concoction B

1 medium banana sliced

5-6 Strawberries sliced

handful of blueberries

¼ cup green pumpkin seeds

2 tablespoons chia seeds

2 heaping tablespoons sunflower seed butter (okay let’s be honest it’s probably closer to 3 but it tastes like peanut butter and it is one of my epic food weaknesses)

Just add milk

Concoction C

1-2 medium bananas sliced

¼ cup raw almonds

¼ cup crushed walnuts

¼ cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

2 tablespoons green pumpkin seeds

2 tablespoons chia seeds

1 tablespoon melted raw honey

And then the milk although this one is quite delicious without it

ALL DAY EVERYDAY PANCAKES

The first time I made these pancakes it was with great trepidation. I've never been a huge pancake fan. I'm much more of a french toast gal if that is some sort of glaring insight into my personality and soul. I had tried to make those three ingredient banana pancakes a few days prior that ended in tears and burnt pancakes. Tears because the smoke was burning my eyes. Cue epiphany. I found a grain free pancake recipe on WellnessMama and thus began a brilliant and delicious series of food experiments, this being by far the best so far. So good that my southern, grain and dairy eating roommate couldn't get enough of them let alone sit down to eat them, or even leave the kitchen for that matter, lest the dog get any scraps or overdone morsels of goodness over him. Breakfast pancakes were a hands down success.

A few weeks, and many batches of pancakes for multiple taste testers later, I found myself with a craving. A friend had been talking about chicken and waffles and waffles and chicken and my stomach took my brain and ran off to the land of all foods I love but can no longer eat.

As a random side note, you'll learn this more and more about me if you follow my food adventures, I have intense cravings like a pregnant woman. I've had them all my life and the only way to make them go away is to feed the beast. Sometimes they're weird. Sometimes they're delicious. Sometimes it's just something my body needed. But when the beast beckons, I typically find a way to oblige. 

Anyway, back to chicken and waffles. I was racking my brain to come up with something equally as delicious but within the realm of my dietary restraints. Enter crispy skinned, curried chicken thighs with pumpkin pancakes. It was like a delicious ethnic tour on one plate ending in a deluge of maple syrup. The "all day everyday" pancakes were effectively named as the anytime go to. I'll give you my curry chicken recipe in a future post. Until then, enjoy and please share and let me know what you think!

INGREDIENTS

5 eggs

1 cup of organic canned pumpkin puree

½ cup coconut flour [you may need a bit extra if your mix isn’t thick enough]

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp cinnamon

¼ Cup melted butter or coconut oil

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp raw honey or maple syrup

¼ tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Yields 2-3 servings

1. Grease a cast iron skillet with coconut oil or butter and warm to med-low heat (about 10 minutes)

2. Mix all ingredients thoroughly and let sit 5-10 minutes to thicken while your pan heats up

3. Use a ¼ cup measure to spoon pancakes onto cooking surface. They’re a bit thicker than typical pancake batter so you may need to spread them out a bit to get a good shape and even thickness. Great time to practice your Mickey and Minnie.

4. Cook approximately 2 minutes per side until it is easy to flip over. They'll bubble a bit when they're ready. These do take a little longer than "regular" pancakes, so don't rush them!

5. Top with butter, fruit, maple syrup, or anything else you like.

**Don't worry if the first few aren't perfect. Someone long ago told me that, "pancakes are like men; there's no shame in throwing the first few away." I have no idea where that came from but it's oh so true. HOWEVER, assuming they're not charcoal patties, the ugly ones taste just as good.