Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats

Here is a quick breakfast recipe you can assemble the night before and have it ready for the morning. In fact, you can make it this weekend and have it for a few days this week.

It tastes like pumpkin pie but is a whole lot healthier with all of the benefits of fiber-filled, cholesterol-lowering oats and protein-rich Greek yogurt, And if you cannot imagine pumpkin pie without pecans, simply swap out the walnuts for pecans. No harm done. If it is a bit chilly and you would like warm oats, you can pop the soaked oats in the microwave when you are ready to eat. I just recommend leaving out the walnuts and yogurt until after heating the mixture.

Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups milk of choice, dairy or non-dairy
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/2 -2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon*
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves*
pinch of salt
1 cup Greek yogurt, I used 2% (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Combine everything but yogurt and walnuts in a bowl and stir to mix. You can divide into small jars at this point or just place in a large container with a top. Top with yogurt and chopped walnuts. Enjoy! Serves 3-4.
**The spices can be replaced with 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

What's your favorite way to celebrate fall? I still have not brought out my boots or unpacked my fall sweaters, but I have brought out the canned pumpkin. The thing with canned pumpkin is that a can (or now there is pumpkin in easy-to-open cartons!) can go a long way. You can get creative with adding a little bit of pumpkin to this or that, and it generally turns out pretty tasty. Think pumpkin in your oats, swirl some pumpkin into soup, add a little to curry or a nice stew. In baked goods, pumpkin tends to keep things moist but it also lends a more cakey texture. Pumpkin cookies tend to be fluffier rather than crispier, and cakes with pumpkin tend to have just a lighter crumb.

This quick bread is perfect as a breakfast or as a snack because it is not too heavy or too sweet. I season it with some favorite fall spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice, and I love chocolate chips with pumpkin so could not resist throwing in some semi-sweet chocolate that I chopped from a bar. If milk chocolate is your thing, use that instead. It is a mix and dump sort of bread, but do not let it's ease fool you. It is tasty and will whisk you into fall, even if you are still wearing those flip=flops.

Do you have a favorite pumpkin bread recipe? Or another favorite pumpkin treat?

Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups spelt flour or whole wheat pastry flour (or a mix of wheat and all-purpose)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted, or vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey, preferably local or maple syrup
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup chocolate chunks of chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a loaf pan and line with parchment paper to create a sling that is easy to lift out.

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl (flour through salt). Whisk wet ingredients in another bowl until smooth (eggs through pumpkin puree). Stir dry ingredients into wet until just mixed. Stir in chocolate chunks.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake on middle rack for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs stuck to it. Remove pan from oven and allow bread to cool for 10 minutes in pan. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely on wire rack. Slice and serve. Enjoy! Makes 1 loaf.

Soaked Coconut Oats with Pistachios and Raspberries

Overnight oatmeal, soaked oats, muesli....all of these are more or less the same thing. Take a scoop of rolled oats, add some liquid, maybe a few other treats like nuts, nut butter, seeds, or dried fruit, stir the whole thing together, allow it to sit overnight, and voila! wake up to a yummy morning treat.

These sorts of breakfasts can be a life-saver when you are finding yourself always running a bit late in the morning. Assemble the whole thing in a cute little jar- I am partial to Weck jars because they stack and store so well- and it makes breakfast so fun and glamorous. I have made too many variations of this sort of breakfast to count, but I am finally getting around to featuring one here on the blog.

This one is exceptionally pretty with toasted coconut, bright pistachios, and rosy raspberries. I use homemade coconut milk and homemade almond milk to bind this all together, but nearly any milk (diary or non-dairy) would work. I just love the rich flavor and silky texture that the coconut milk gives- almost like rice pudding. It also makes for a bit more of a filling breakfast. 

If you have never tried overnight oats, give this a try. If you find you would like them a little runnier, add more coconut milk. If you would like them a little stiffer, reduce the amount. Really, it is that simple. I love the chewy texture that large flaked coconut gives to this bowl, but you can use the smaller unsweetened shredded coconut if that is what you have on hand.

And one final note about soaking oats. Whatever fresh fruit you choose to add, do it right before serving. The fruit retains its juiciness and brightness best this way. If using jam, feel free to swirl that right into the oats when you prepare them.

Soaked Coconut Oats with Pistachios and Raspberries

2/3 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup almond milk or other milk of choice
1-2 tablespoons honey, depending on desired level of sweetness (maple syrup if vegan)
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons chopped pistachios (I prefer raw, but unsalted roasted work too)
3 tablespoons flaked or shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted
1/2 cup fresh raspberries, washed and drained

Combine all ingredients except raspberries in a bowl. You can reserve a bit of the coconut and pistachios for garnishing after soaking. Divide the mixture into two jars if you would like single servings or in another lidded container. Place in the refrigerator and allow to sit overnight or for at least 8 hours. Top with raspberries before eating. Enjoy! Serves 2.

Peach and Sour Cream Waffles

I have a habit of reading cookbooks while I eat- especially if I'm eating alone. I always find that I learn something new- no matter how many times I have read the book. Part of this is because I am tuning into certain ingredients depending on the seasons. I have flipped through Deb Perelman's The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook numerous times. Her recipes in the book and on her blog are always honest, and I can trust that they have been well-tested. Her little notes about why she did this and why she did that are so helpful for people like me who like mixing recipes, creating my own concoctions in the kitchen.

The other day, while eating lunch, I stumbled upon her Peach and Sour Cream Pancakes recipe in her cookbook. Armed with fresh peaches from the farmers' market, I had an incredible desire to test out this magical sounding combination. Peaches and cream and peaches and yogurt have been done before, but I knew Deb was on to something with combining the rich, but lightly tangy sour cream with peaches. You could think of sour cream as behaving like buttermilk, which you often see in pancake and waffle batter, but the extra body it gives the batter a silky smoothness and pillowy texture that is unreal.

Instead of making pancakes like Deb did, however, I made waffles. My waffle iron has been staring at me for a while and only getting sadder and sadder with each day of neglect. Plus, I was in the mood for a crispy outside, and little wedges I could eat as a snack. I modified ingredients to reflect my change from pancake to waffle and substituted all-purpose flour for oat flour and spelt flour, but I kept many of the basic pancake/ waffle ingredients the same. I also diced up some peaches to add to the batter so you could get a little bit of summer in every bite. Topped with a drizzle of REAL maple syrup and some sliced peaches, these made for one delicious August breakfast.

Peach and Sour Cream Waffles

1/2 cup oat flour*
1/2 cup spelt flour*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 cup whole milk sour cream
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for waffle iron
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ripe peach, halved with pit removed

Preheat your waffle iron.

In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flours through baking soda). In another bowl, whisk egg, sour cream, maple syrup, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and vanilla extract. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry and stir just until combined.

Dice half of the peach and stir into the batter. Slice the remaining half in thin slices.

Make sure waffle iron is well-greased and hot. I used a little butter to do this, making sure it sizzled when I rubbed it over the griddle. Add about 1/3- 1/2 cup of batter to the center of the waffle iron, add a few peach slices to the top if you wish, and carefully close. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until done. Remove waffle to cooling rack. Repeat with remaining batter, greasing waffle iron as needed.

Serve waffles warm with maple syrup and fresh peach slices. Alternatively, you can cut into wedges and eat as delicious snacks. Makes about 4 whole waffles.

*You can use unbleached all-purpose, whole wheat, or a mix of unbleached all-purpose and whole wheat flour instead of oat flour and spelt flour.

Yogurt and Honey Filled Raspberries with Mango

Berries are not the hardiest of fruits, so it is a bit tricky trying to eat them before they get overripe and then turn furry. A nifty trick that I read about and recently tried was plunging my berries in a mix of white vinegar and water. The logic is that the vinegar kills any bacteria or mold spores that linger on the berries' surface. I was skeptical at first, thinking my berries would take on a vinegary taste, but not only do they just taste of sweet summer, they are still mold free after now what is 6 days in the refrigerator. In my mind, the little extra time is worth having berries for days in the fridge, so it will be something I continue to do. Ideally, I would be able to get fresh berries every few days and consume them in time, but that is just not my reality. So for berries that last:

• Fill a bowl with a mixture of 1 part white vinegar to 3 parts cold water
• Plunge whole berries in bowl (if using strawberries, hull first)
• Carefully mix berries around and allow to sit in the mixture for 10 minutes
• Rinse berries with cold water
• Carefully drain berries and spin in a salad spinner basket lined with a paper towel, and spin gently. If you do not have a salad spinner, try to allow berries to dry as much as possible with a paper towel.
• Place berries in a single layer in a paper-towel lined container. You can stack the berries, placing a paper towel layer in between, but be mindful of how much weight is on the bottom layer.
• Store in the fridge and enjoy for days!

This is a bright little fruit plate that hits sweet, tart, creamy, and a little nutty notes. Hardly a recipe, however, I thought it was worth sharing because it is a beautiful and simple take on a fruit salad. It is sunshine in a bowl. I filled the raspberries with a mix of honey and Greek yogurt, but whipped cream, whipped coconut cream (if vegan), or even a mascarpone or ricotta mix would be delicious. I also love how the green pistachios contrast with the reds and yellows, but almost any nut would do. Vegan and do not use honey? Use maple syrup or agave instead as your sweetener!

To fill the raspberries, I use a plastic sandwich bag and snip the corner off just a bit. Nothing fancy, and it is more than enough to get the job done. If you are making this for a get-together, this step can be done a few hours in advance and the raspberries stored carefully in the refrigerator.

Yogurt and Honey Filled Raspberries with Mango

1 cup of fresh raspberries, washed and dried
1/2 fresh ripe mango, peeled and cut into thin slivers
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (or coconut yogurt, whipped cream, or mascarpone/ ricotta mixture)
2 teaspoons local honey (or maple syrup or agave if vegan)
2 tablespoons roughly chopped shelled pistachios

Mix the yogurt and honey in a small bowl until thoroughly combined. Fill a plastic sandwich bag with yogurt or other filling of choice. Squeeze the yogurt towards one corner. Snip the corner off. Pipe the filling into the raspberries until just beyond the top. You may have leftover filling depending on how large your raspberries are. Arrange the mango slices and raspberries on a plate. Sprinkle raspberries with pistachios and serve. Makes one plate, enough for 1 or 2 people.