Almond Pancake

I’m still [more or less] in the midst of unpacking everything, so cooking hasn’t been happening anywhere as often as I’d like. (That coupled with illness and an actual set schedule for the first time in 2 years takes some getting used to! I got spoiled with the whole mostly-not-mandatory-attendance thing.)

In my laziest moments, it’s invariably either my rice cooker or my crockpot that ends up coming to the rescue. Today, it’s my rice cooker. :] You may have seen this idea on lifehacker at some point in time. I’ve been meaning to expand on the whole rice cooker cake idea for a while now, so what better time to start than now? This is not in plural form because one giant pancake is probably more than enough. :O

(Chocolate Banana) Almond Pancake

Ingredients:
-Namaste Foods gluten-free pancake/waffle mix (it was on manager’s special for $2 at Kroger!)
-2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
-2 eggs
-3 tbsp almond powder*
-1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
*obtained from an Asian market (ingredients: almond powder, almond oil, cornstarch, sugar)

Instructions:
1) Mix everything together until no longer lumpy.
2) Cook in rice cooker for ~45 minutes! (I set it to the “cake” function on mine.)
3) Top with desired toppings (honey, maple syrup, fresh fruit, etc.) and serve.

For the record, I used a chocolate bourbon sauce + sliced bananas to top mine. Those pretty much cancelled out any almond-ness I could’ve tasted, but you can still smell its essence! :]

…It’s pretty much a cake!

(Also linked up on this week’s Delicious Dish Tuesday! Button is on the sidebar! :)

Recipe ReDux: Citrus Chia Pudding

A Spirited ReDux: From plain Jane vanilla extract to fancy-pants elderflower liqueur, we like to keep a little liquor in the kitchen. Show us how you like to cook, bake or mix-it-up with spirits, extracts and other alcohols. A splash of vodka makes summer sauces shine – and liqueurs brighten desserts: What’s your healthy recipe with spirit?

I’m about 1/3 of the way through with moving to a neighboring state right now, so all my kitchen utensils, ingredients, etc. are partially here and partially there. I’ve actually been surviving on fruit, smoothies, free lunches from orientation (+ leftovers from said orientation lunches), and protein bars for the past 1.5 weeks, because…not only am I in the middle of a move–I also happened to lose my wallet somewhere in the mess, so I have no credit cards/debit cards to speak of (they’re in transit, I hope)! Yayyy… My new location actually has my bank in the state! There’s only 1 branch (which is still an improvement from none), but it’s 5 hours away, so clearly, I’m not going there. Life has been interesting.

Before all of this happened, I had these grand aspirations to unearth the super awesome vanilla extract I obtained from my medical service trip to the Dominican Republic, but that’s…somewhere in the basement(?) at the moment. (Using the shaoxing cooking wine I managed to find at the local(!) Asian market was also a thought, but I’m not sure that counts as a liquor since it’s wine? …Can you tell that I don’t drink?)

Anyway, this is what I came up with yesterday night when I finally got back to location #1. This is more on the tart side of the spectrum, so feel free to sweeten with honey, agave nectar, maple syrup…whatever your choice of sweetener happens to be! :]

Citrus Chia Pudding

Ingredients:
-1/4 cup chia seeds
-2/3 cup orange juice
-1/2 tsp orange extract
-1/2 tsp pineapple extract
-fresh or frozen fruit, diced (optional; I used cherries + blueberries)

Instructions:
1) Pour chia seeds into a cup or bowl.
2) Stir together the orange juice, orange and pineapple extracts. Pour over chia seeds and stir well. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least wait for it to soak for ~30 minutes!).
3) Top with fruit and mix!

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Copycat Orange Berry Blitz

Jamba Juice and I go way back. My favorite female cousin introduced me to the place when I was about 12-13 and treated both me and my brother to whatever we wanted there. The two of us have extremely similar tastes in food, which rears its ugly head most often at sushi buffets, because without fail, one of us will pick up pile on pieces of sushi onto our plate in the exact order that the other would’ve taken them. It’s a good thing he’s one of my best friends. :O But back to my derailed story, we both ended up picking Orange Zinger (now known as Orange Berry Blitz and also no longer on the menu, although if you ask, they usually know how to make it).

It was love at first cup, and although I’ve since tried a bunch of the other flavors, Orange Berry Blitz will always be my favorite.

This is, of course, before I moved to a land where it doesn’t exist (alright, fine, the closest one is 107.22 miles away–yes, I really did just check) and also stopped being able to afford $5+ drinks (I miss when they were ~$3.50; those were the days!). As with most things in life, I’ve learned to make do with what I have.

Whilst boards-studying earlier this month, I was making a smoothie for myself. As per usual, I was trying to use up ingredients in the fridge, and bam! A wayyyy cheaper and healthier version of my favorite drink was born. It was a happy accident, and now that I’ve found the ingredients for the real thing, it makes sense why the taste is so similar. :] I threw in protein powder (think of it as one of their protein “boosts”!), but that’s entirely up to you.

I unfortunately didn’t think to take a picture of the first one I made (well, I did, but more on that later, I guess), so that first one actually came out looking way more similar than the one I actually took a picture of (the pineapple-mango-strawberry ratio in the bag I used wasn’t entirely even). This makes a gigantic cup! (I poured it into a mason jar so it’d look a little more presentable.)

Copycat Orange Berry Blitz

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 cups Private Selection Tropical Smoothie Blend (Kroger’s fancy way of saying pineapples, mangos + strawberries)
-1/2 cup frozen blueberries
-1/2 cup Fage Greek yogurt
-1 cup orange juice
-1 scoop unflavored protein powder

Instructions:
1) Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth!

Peppermint Patty, that’s not for you!

This is why I couldn’t really showcase the first one I made. :/ This is all that was left by the time I thought about taking a picture.

Chocolate Cherry Protein Shake

I made this after Tetris-ing a whole lot of boxes/bags and the like into a car and a moving van. (The guys were moving all my stuff to Kentucky for me because I was stuck in Lewisburg studying, so I figured the least I could do would be to help them stuff everything in.)

Chocolate Cherry Protein Shake

Ingredients:
-3/4 cup Homestead Creamery chocolate milk (any type of chocolate milk would do)
-1/2 cup frozen kale
-1/4 cup frozen cherries
-1 scoop unflavored protein powder (you could probably use chocolate)
-1 banana

Instructions:
1) Add all ingredients into a blender and mix until smooth!

Can you tell that I played Tetris as a child? This is basically what happens when you try to combine the refrigerators of two foodies. :x

Strawberry Chia Pudding

If you’re reading this post, please direct some positive thoughts/energy in my direction and/or pray for me today! I need all the positivity I can get for the test I’m taking! <3

Since real-life me is stuck at a prometric testing center taking an 8-hour test, virtual-me will be sharing a super simple + quick chia “pudding” recipe with you! :] I’ll be including a review of the Homestead Creamery milk soon, but for now, enjoy!

Strawberry Chia Pudding

Ingredients:
~6 oz. Homestead Creamery strawberry milk
-3 tbsp chia seeds
-2 tbsp hemp seeds

Instructions:
1) Pour milk into a mason jar (or some kind of container, preferably with a lid).
2) Scoop in chia seeds and hemp seeds.
3) Let sit for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
4) Mix and consume!