Chocolate Chip Biscuit Cookies

Soft and pillow-y right out of the oven. Perfectly sweet with the touch of honey, and that buttery biscuit-y bite. These cookies/biscuits are delicious AND addicting. Beware….your children, husband, and you won’t be able to stop once you have a bite.

Biscuits for breakfast anyone? Yes please! 😉

• Servings: 12-14 cookies
• Time: 45 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg *optional
• 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
• 1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it really well.
• Gather your dry ingredients (flour, almond flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg) into a mixing bowl, and mix until combined.
• Add in the honey and egg, and then slowly incorporate the cool melted butter and mix everything together.
• Last, add the semisweet chocolate chips, but reserve a few to top at the end.
• With a cookie scoop or 2 tablespoons drop the biscuit/cookie dough into your prepped baking sheet then top each with the reserved chocolate chips.
• Bake for 12 minutes, then bang the baking sheet on the counter just a little bit so the cookies flatten out a little bit. They will still be a little puffy and that’s okay. They are like buttery biscuit cookies…so good!

*NOTES*

*Store these at room temperature 4 days or in the freezer for a couple months in an airtight bag*

Enjoy!

-Hilda

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Cream Cheese Pastry Braid

This pastry was a total hit.

I used a shortcut puff pastry recipe here and it still involves chilling, folding and rolling, but not as much. You can still see all the layers on this pastry. It’s DIVINE!

You can use store bought puff pastry here to make your life easier! If that’s the case then this will only take roughly about 45 minutes or so to make.

These little pastries are perfect any time of day. I make these for a quick delicious breakfast. It feels like you walked into a bakery when I make these! I hope you give this one a go 🙂

If you like this recipe, make sure to also check out my Breakfast Danish Pastries! You’ll love those too.

For the assembly, this is a guide on how you should roll the dough, cut the slits, and fill. You may add berries if you wish!

Cream Cheese Pastry Braid

• Servings: 4
• Time: 45 minutes-4 hours
• Difficulty: moderate
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Yields: 4 slices

INGREDIENTS:

For the puff pastry:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 1/2 sticks cold butter
• 1/2 cup cold water

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

• 1 egg (for egg wash) + 1 egg yolk room temperature (for filling)
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 3 tablespoons sugar (can substitute honey)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

For the puff pastry:

• Combine the flour, salt and mix. Add the cold butter cut into cubes and distribute throughout the flour mixture. You don’t need to mix it too much.
• Add the cold water then mix everything just until you form your dough. It might be a little sticky.
• Grab a large sheet of plastic wrap and pour the dough mixture on top and press the dough with the plastic wrap to fold it into a tight square.
• Wrap it well then let it chill at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
• Unwrap it and put the dough on a floured surface, then roll it out into a rectangle with a floured rolling pin. Fold it like a newspaper, turn it clock wise then roll it out again. Repeat this process 3-4 times. This allows you to really get those buttery flakey layers.
• Wrap the dough with a large sheet of plastic wrap again and chill it in the refrigerator another 2-4 hours or overnight for the best results.

For the cream cheese filling:

• Combine your egg yolk, softened cream cheese until nice and smooth. Add the sugar, and vanilla extract and mix.
• Set the filling in the refrigerator tightly covered until you’re ready to assemble!

For the assembly:

• As pictured in the diagram above, you will want to roll the dough into a triangle, then cut the slits as evenly as possible. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
• Fill your dough with the cream cheese filling, then fold everything over as if you’re making a braid.
• Place the pastry back in the fridge (or even better- the freezer) to chill at least another 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Take it out of the fridge/freezer and brush with egg wash. Pop it in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and flakey. If you add fresh berries this might take longer since berries tend to release a lot of liquid. Make sure the bottom is also nice and brown.
• Let it cool, then dust with powdered sugar if desired or serve it as is. It’s delicious 🙂

*NOTES*

** You want to chill the pastry right before baking because we want to make sure the dough is as cold as possible and goes into a very hot oven. This will create those flakey layers**

Enjoy!

-Hilda<3

Sticky Crumble Sourdough Coffee Cake

Ahh, this is the kind of coffee cake I’ve always dreamed about eating! Light and moist, not too sweet, and with some texture on the top. It is marvelous!

I should also mention that I make this cake with sourdough starter discard! YES! no more throwing away your starter discard. If you don’t have sourdough starter “discard” then by all means, sour cream or yogurt would work heavenly here as well! However, I highly recommend the starter discard because I firmly believe that funky, fruity, smelly starter really helped achieve that UMPH in this lovely cake 🙂

About sourdough starter/ starter discard:

If you’re not sure what sourdough starter is- allow me to explain (even though I’m no professional he he). Sourdough starter is simply a combination of warm water, and flour. It is mixed together, then placed in a large enough jar to ferment in the course of about a week. Everyday that week, the starter rises overnight (ferments) and requires “feeding” which means you “throw away” about half of what has risen and then feed it with more warm water and flour. Now, I HATE throwing away food…it hurts…so when I found out there’s actually a way to use that “discard” I was very pleased! And let me tell ya, it’s GOLD :). You can actually use that “discard” to make a lot of delicious baked treats! Pancakes, waffles, pizza, heck…even bread! I used this sourdough starter recipe in case you’re interested in making some of this gold too!

• Servings: 6
• Time: 45 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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Yields 6 slices

INGREDIENTS:

For the sticky crumble:

• 5 tablespoons butter melted
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 packet instant apple cinnamon oatmeal (can sub for 1/3 cup rolled oats or an extra 1/3 cup nuts)
• 1/3 cup pecans or nuts of choice
• For the coffee cake:
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cups white granulated sugar
• 1 cup starter discard (or sour cream/ yogurt)
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 3 tablespoons canola oil

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease your round pan (I used a springform pan but a 9×9 works) with butter and dust with flour (to prevent cake from sticking).

Melt the butter in a small saucepan then add brown sugar, maple syrup, instant oatmeal, and salt. Pour the caramel to the bottom of the buttered pan then sprinkle with nuts. Set it aside while working on the cake batter.

In a medium sized bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add the rest of the ingredients – sugar, starter, egg, melted butter (cooled), and oil. Mix until everything is just combined. The batter will be slightly sticky and thick.

Spoon the batter by spoonfuls on top of the caramel until you’ve spooned it all then spread it evenly with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

Bake it in the oven for 20 -25 minutes until it has set and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let it sit on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.

• Loosen edges of cake with a knife and invert a large platter over the cake. Using hot pads, grasp edges of cake pan and flip over. Remove pan and spoon any topping in pan back onto cake.
• Let cool 5-10 minutes before serving. It’s best eaten the day of but can be left in the fridge for a couple days or the fridge for a couple weeks. Simply pop it in the microwave and heat up 10 seconds or so.

Enjoy!

Hilda

Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins

Behold my favorite muffin recipe to date! Chocolate banana muffins that are moist, rich, and hearty. I must admit, I was a bit hesitant to post this recipe and doubting whether or not this was perfect enough…but I honestly wouldn’t change a thing! It’s perfectly sweet enough to satisfy my sweet tooth, it’s not too light or too dense (it’s in between), and it actually holds me over till the next meal. It honestly kind of has a chocolate graham cracker kind of flavor and I think it’s DIVINE! I love that each ingredient is nice and healthy, and I can top these off with extra yogurt, or peanut butter if I want more decadence.

A couple things to note:

• The sweetness in here comes from the ripe banana (the riper the sweeter) and Sweetleaf stevia but you can add maple syrup if you’d like to make it sweeter! I’d say about 2-3 tablespoons would do just fine.
• Most of the fat in this recipe comes from an avocado! YUP it’s such a mild taste that you won’t even tell it’s there. The chocolate definitely takes over (and i’m all for it). But the avocado in combination with the yogurt just adds the richness you’re looking for in a muffin.
• I also use a blender to mix the dry and the wet ingredients separately then I combine the two together. If you don’t have a blender, I’m almost positive a food processor would also work although I haven’t tried.

I hope you enjoy this recipe 🙂 It’s guilt free!

• Servings: 6-12
• Time: 45 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 scoop whey protein (I used Hammer’s Vanilla Whey)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I love using a dark unsweetened cocoa powder-it’s so rich)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk (any milk will do)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 drops Sweetleaf stevia (optional and can sub 2-3 tablespoons liquid sweetener of choice such as maple syrup)
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1 large ripe avocado

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 6 ct muffin pan (for large muffins) or 12 ct muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Put all of the dry ingredients into the blender and blend until flour consistency (oats through cocoa powder) then place into a large bowl.

Next, blend all of the wet ingredients (almond milk through avocado) in the blender until smooth, and gently pour it into the dry ingredients bowl and stir until just combined and no flour mixture is unmixed. The key to the perfect muffin is to not over mix :). The batter will be pretty thick and kinda lumpy and that’s perfectly okay!

Evenly distribute the mix into the muffin pan, and let it bake for 18-20 minutes. Insert a toothpick  into the center to test if the muffin is done.

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

I know I say this a lot…but this WILL be the easiest recipe you will ever make. It’s also absolutely delicious!

This is now my go to breakfast in the morning. I personally love a healthy delicious grab and go breakfast on days when I don’t feel like whipping something up from scratch and this is perfect. You can heat this up and serve it…or even eat it cold. It’s delicious both ways!

Baked Blueberry Oatmeal

• Servings: 6
• Time: 45 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
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Yields: 6 Slices

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 banana (half mashed, half sliced)
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1 1/2 cup almond milk (unsweetened is my preference)
• 5 egg whites or (1/2 cup liquid egg whites)
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup *optional
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and grease a baking sheet with nonstick spray or grease with coconut oil/ butter.
• Pour the two cups of uncooked rolled oats evenly at the bottom of the baking sheet. Cut your banana in half and slice that half (if you haven’t already).
• Place the slices on top of the oats, and then aesthetically place all of the blueberries evenly around then set the baking sheet aside.
• In a separate bowl, mash the other half of the banana and add the almond milk, egg whites, maple, vanilla, cinnamon, and baking powder. Beat the ingredients together then pour it directly on top of the baking sheet with fruit/ oats.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until the top is set. Allow it to cool completely, then slice and serve with yogurt, more berries, and a drizzle of nut butter, or maple syrup. Endless topping possibilities 🙂

*Notes*

*These store well in the refrigerator 5 days, you can also individually wrap and freeze/ defrost for up to 2 months*

Enjoy!

Hilda<3

Breakfast Danish Pastries

Pre- egg wash

After they’ve cooled with a light vanilla icing drizzle

Ahh, there’s nothing quite like a delicious buttery pastry to start your morning with a cup of coffee. These pastries are very simple to make! Not much rolling and folding required -but there is some of course ;).

The flavor is absolutely delicious. It’s almost like a cross between a buttery brioche and a croissant. These danishes will rock your world. Feel free to also add your own fillings! It’s such a versatile recipe and there’s a little bit of everything for everyone. Hubby’s personal favorite (and mine) is the cheese danish filling. AHHH!

I made a combination of cheese, lemon curd, and strawberry fillings…all delicious (details in the notes down below). I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! We love pastries for breaky, and really all time of day 😉

• Servings: 16 pastries
• Time: 6-7 hours
• Difficulty: moderate
• Print

 

Yields 16 pastries total

INGREDIENTS:

For the Pastry Dough:

• 1/4 cup (60ml) warm water (between 100-110°F)
• 2 and 1/4 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast (1 standard packet)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup half and half at room temperature (can use whole milk as well)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 14 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
• 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for generously flouring hands, surface, and dough)

For the Filling:

• 2/3 cup filling total * see notes (I used a combination of a Cheese, Strawberry Jam, and Lemon Curd filling)

For the Egg Wash:

• 2 Large Egg Yolks
• 1 Tablespoon milk

For the Vanilla Icing:

• 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons half and half
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

• To make the pastry dough: start by activating your yeast. Mix the warm water, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon of the granulated sugar in a large bowl. Let it sit for 5 minutes (you’ll see bubbles rise to the top and that’s how you know it’s working!)
• Add the remaining sugar, egg, half and half, and salt and set the bowl aside to rest.
• In a food processor place the cold unsalted butter cubes, and the flour and pulse 15-18 times. The butter pieces will be distributed throughout. Be careful not to over pulse. You may also use a pastry cutter if you don’t have a food processor.
• Very gently, fold the flour mixture into the yeasted mixture with a rubber spatula. Fold just until the flour mixture is moistened. Dough will be very sticky and that’s what we want!
• Turn the dough into a surface with a large sheet of plastic wrap and cover it tightly. Place it in the fridge for 4-48 hours.
• Now, we will begin rolling and folding for 3 times total. Apply a generous amount of flour to your surface, and place the sticky dough on top. Flour your rolling pin and begin to form a rectangle with the dough.
• Fold each edge into the middle as if it was a business letter, and then turn it clockwise and roll it out into a 15 inch long rectangle again. Then, fold into thirds again. Turn it clockwise. You’ll repeat rolling and folding 1 more time for a total of 3 times.
• Wrap up the dough and let it sit in the refrigerator again for at least 1 hour.
• Take the dough out of the refrigerator and cut in half (you may freeze one half for later and defrost overnight when ready).
• Line your baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.
• Now, we start putting together our pastries. Place half of the dough into a floured surface and cut into another half, then cut into 4 equal pieces each (8 total pieces of dough).
• Shape the dough into rounds and then make a small well in the center for the dough. Continue doing this for each little dough.
• Fill each dough with 2-3 tablespoons of your filling of choice.
• Make your egg wash by whisking the yolks with the milk, then brushing the sides of the dough with the egg wash.
• You may chill the pastries in the refrigerator while you preheat your oven to 400 degrees F for at least 10 minutes.
• Bake for 22 minutes or until gold and puffy!
• You can make the vanilla icing while they bake and pop it in the fridge until ready to drizzle. Just mix all of the icing ingredients until you get the desired consistency.
• Allow them to cool completely then drizzle with vanilla icing on each pastry if desired.

**Notes**

• For the strawberry filling: mix 1/3 cup strawberry jam, a pinch of nutmeg, and splash of lemon juice into a small sauce pan until bubbly then cool in the fridge to allow it to thicken.
• For the lemon curd filling: you’ll need 2 large egg yolks, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 tablespoon lemon zest, juice of 1 1/2 lemon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons butter. Place egg yolks, granulated sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt into the top pot of your double boiler. Using a whisk until completely blended, then continue to whisk as the curd cooks. It will thicken up and should be about the consistency of hollandaise. Remove from the heat then add butter and continue to whisk (butter will melt). Place in a tight container in the fridge for up to 10 days.
• For the cheese filling (hubby’s favorite): beat one 8 ounce block of full-fat cream cheese that is softened at room temperature in a medium bowl until smooth. Beat in 1 large egg yolk, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract until smooth. Make about 1/2 of this filling if using another filling as well 🙂
• Other fillings: You can use other jams or preserves, pumpkin butter, or Nutella- the possibilities are endless!

Dough recipe adapted by Sally McKenney*

Enjoy!

Hilda ❤

Cherry Turnovers

Be ready to have your house smell like a bakery with these delightful little treats! Who doesn’t love a good cherry pie? And these are to die for. Perfectly buttery and flakey, and not to mention so EASY to make. You can make these ahead, and serve them at your next family get together.

Serve these warm with some vanilla bean ice cream on the side for a decadent dessert or with your morning coffee 😉 Yum!

• Servings: 8
• Time: 1+ hours
• Difficulty: moderate
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Yields 8 Turnovers

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 sheets of puff pastry
• 1 large egg

For the filling*

• 1 1/2 cup unsweetened frozen cherries
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon water
• pinch of nutmeg

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

For The Cherry Filling:

• In a saucepan over medium heat, add cherries, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon and stir until it starts to bubble.
• Seperately mix the corn starch and water until corn starch is dissolved and add it to the cherry mixture.
• Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until mixture has thickened. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. 

For the Turnovers:

• On a lightly floured surface, roll out puff pastry sheets to approximately 12 inch squares. Cut each sheet into four squares.
• Spoon ¼ cup of cherry pie filling onto a corner of each square, avoiding ½ an inch around the edges. Fold the opposite corner of each puff pastry over to cover filling. This will form a triangle.
• Press the edges with a fork to seal. Cut a small vent into the tops of each turnover (or prick with a fork).
• Transfer your turnovers to the pastry sheet by using a flat spatula that is floured for easy non-stick transfer.
• Transfer the sheets into the freezer for at least 20 minutes or cover and freeze overnight.
• When ready to bake-in a small bowl, add the egg and 1 tablespoon of water. Whisk together to create an egg wash. Brush the top and sides of each turnover with egg wash, including the sealed edges.
• Transfer turnovers to parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 19-22 minutes, or until turnovers are golden brown. 

*Notes:

*Make sure your puff pastry sheets are thawed before using but still cold as this will yield a beautiful pastry.

*You can use a can of cherry pie filling in place of making the cherry filling!

Pumpkin Berry Baked Oatmeal

I don’t know about you, but it’s still pumpkin season to me! Fall is so not over yet, and I’m still celebrating with this delicious, cozy, super fluffy baked oatmeal. Yum!

I’ve gotta admit, sometimes I don’t feel like making oatmeal from scratch in the morning and it’s SO NICE having breakfast ready. This is a heat up and serve kind of breakfast (although let’s be honest…I don’t heat this up…it’s delicious as is).

I hope you enjoy this simple, healthy fall breakfast delight. I make a batch every week because my taste buds still want all the spice and everything nice this season has to offer 🙂 Serve it warm or cold with your favorite nut butter, yogurt, and a drizzle of maple syrup if desired.

• Servings: 8
• Time: 1 hour
• Difficulty: easy
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Yields 8 Slices

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon spice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 large ripe mashed banana
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 cup frozen raspberries (you can use fresh)

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8×8 dish with nonstick spray or butter.
• Mix the dry ingredients together- rolled oats, spices, baking powder, salt in a medium bowl then set aside.
• In a separate bowl mash a large ripe banana, and add the milk, pumpkin puree, vanilla, oil, egg whites.
• Whisk everything together until it’s combined into a creamy mixture then add it to the bowl with the dry ingredients.
• Fold everything together until just combined then add the raspberries and fold again. Careful not to over mix and mash the raspberries 🙂
• Pour the baked oatmeal mixture to the baking pan.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes or until it’s nice and golden brown and let it cool for at least 15 minutes.

*Note- you can serve it warm but it will crumble a little bit. I find it best to slice it when it’s cool, and refrigerate until ready to eat. I also like to store these in the freezer- I just wrap each individual slice in plastic wrap and then put it in the refrigerator the night before.

Enjoy!

-Hilda ❤

Grapefruit Poppy Seed Loaf

This is bread is just delicious. It has such a nice flavorful zing from the grapefruit but it isn’t bitter. It’s summer in one bite- a delightful summer that is!

The glaze is a must! It’s perfect on it’s own but the glaze kicks it up a notch. Give this one a go! My husband loves it so much he asked for more after the loaf was finished. Ha!

• Servings: 5
• Time: 45 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Yields 6 slices

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 1/3 cup greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1 tablespoon grated grapefruit zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• juice of 1 1/2 grapefruit

For the glaze

• Juice of 1/2 grapefruit + zest (optional but extra yummy!)
• 1/2 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, and egg white one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in yogurt, poppy seeds, grapefruit zest and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture.
• Transfer to a small greased loaf pan. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix grapefruit juice and powdered sugar to make the glaze.
• Remove bread from oven. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Drizzle grapefruit glaze over bread and slice or chill in the refrigerator.

*Note: this bread can keep well in the fridge for 5-6 days. If you want a thicker glaze, you can add more powdered sugar, or extra juice or water to thin it out.

I hope you enjoy this lovely summer recipe!

Cheers ❤

Hilda

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Meal Prepping!

I’ve meal prepped for just about 6 years, and found that it helps keep me motivated to stick to my healthy eating habits throughout the week. It doesn’t have to be complicated! Even cutting up some vegetables, and fruits makes the world of a difference. I find that it really saves so much time since as for me- I’m busy working from home all week.

I felt that this was the perfect opportunity to share different ways that you could meal prep at home. The beautiful thing here is that you can customize this whichever way you’d like.

A couple of tips to help you get started (not required but highly recommended):

1. Create a grocery list of the food you’ll need. This helps minimize waste.
2. Make sure you have plenty of clean, air tight containers or zip lock bags
3. Once you have all your ingredients create a quick strategy such as cooking/ baking what ever takes the longest to cook first. That way we use time wisely.
4. Make sure you have plenty of storage in the fridge or freezer. I have a tiny fridge/freezer so I have to make sure I make plenty of space.

Meal prepping in bulk:

This method of meal prepping is my current FAVORITE. Why? because it takes no time at all and it still allows me to eat what I want- just with healthier choices. If I feel like making a salad, I throw it all together. If I feel like eating a sandwich, I throw it all together in my sandwich, pasta, etc. You catch my drift, right? It’s so easy.

1. GRILLED VEGETABLES: asparagus, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant etc.
   • The char these veggies get from the grill gives them so much flavor in bowls, sautes, scrambles, soups, salads, and pizzas. I like to slice em up, coat them with some olive oil, season with salt and pepper, then throw them on the grill for about 6-8 minutes until they get nice grill marks. I then transfer them into my airtight container and they keep well in the fridge 4-5 days.
2. ROASTED VEGETABLES: potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli.
   • I drizzle some olive oil, top potatoes with salt & pepper, and roast them in the oven at 450 for about 30 minutes. Broccoli is seasoned the same, but takes about 15-20 minutes (keep an eye on those).
3. GRILLED CHICKEN
   • I like to marinate the chicken breast overnight with lemon, minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of mustard, salt, pepper, olive oil. If I don’t have time to marinate overnight, I marinate at least 30 minutes then I grill them up about 8 minutes per side or until the temperature reaches about 165 degrees F.
4. FRESH FRUIT: sliced strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries
   • A great way to clean your berries is by putting all of them in a big bowl, covering them with cold water and 1 tsp or so of apple cider vinegar or white distilled vinegar (not too much) and letting them sit for up to 5 minutes. No more – or else they’ll get soggy. Drain them, dry them up with a cloth or paper towel just a little bit, then transfer them into an airtight container and put them in the fridge.
   • It makes it so easy to just grab these clean berries, put them in cereal, oatmeal, or just as a quick snack!
5. FRESH VEGETABLES: cut celery, cucumber, carrots
   • I typically just cut the ends off of celery hearts, peel cucumbers and slice them into coins or strips, and rinse them along with the celery and baby carrots and place in airtight containers and put them in the fridge.
   • They make such a great snack with hummus, or guacamole!
6. BAKED GOODS: Healthy muffins, donuts, snack balls/bars
   • I make baked goods every week, or every couple weeks to make sure I satisfy my sweet tooth 🙂 I have a few recipes on the blog you can check out!
   • They are excellent for a snack, dessert, or breakfast.
7. GRAINS/LEGUMES: cooked quinoa, brown rice, black beans, lentils, chickpeas
   • Cooked grains are amazing in burrito bowls, buddha bowls, or in a saute. I even add them to salads to add a bit of satiety.
   • Cauliflower rice is also an amazing alternative even though it’s not considered a grain/legume but rather…a veggie!
8. SAUCES/DIPS/SPREADS: guacamole, tahini sauce, pesto, peanut sauce, hummus
   • Store bought hummus is excellent, but sometimes I like to switch it up and make my own sauces like my avocado sauce. I put this on everything! This is a great way to add flavor to your veggies, or dishes.
9. EGGS: Hard boiled eggs, frittatas, egg muffins
   • I find eggs to be such an essential source of protein! To make perfectly hard boil eggs, fill your pot with water and leave about 3 inches of space, bring the water to a boil, then carefully place the eggs into the pot and boil on high for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat, drain the eggs, and run them in cold water or an ice bath until cool enough to peel. Peel them up, then store them in airtight containers. It’s an amazing snack, breakfast, or amazing in my tuna salad recipe!
   • Check out my this Kale Frittata you can make ahead and store in the fridge 4-5 days! Just warm up in the microwave or oven until it’s warm and delicious.
   • Egg muffins are also delicious for a quick grab and go breakfast! Just spray muffin tins with cooking oil, beat eggs with some milk, and pour into muffin tins, sprinkle cooked bacon, turkey, or sausage, and cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 16-20 minutes and ta-da! Let them cool, then store them in the fridge 4-5 days.

I hope you found these meal prep ideas super helpful! Sometimes I do more, sometimes I do less. This just gives you an idea of how much you can do for the week ahead. It saves so much time, and you’re able to customize the meals as much as you want.

Cheers!

-Hilda ❤