Lemon Chia Loaf

This delicious and moist loaf will be a perfect start to your day. You can serve this for breakfast with a dollop of vanilla greek yogurt or call your friends over and serve this with a nice cup of coffee or tea.

Lemon Chia Loaf

1 1/2 cups    all-purpose flour
1/4 cup        almond flour
1/4 cup        chia seeds
1 tsp            baking powder
1/2               tsp salt
1 cup           granulated sugar
1 cup           plain yogurt
3 large         eggs
1/3 cup        vegetable oil
2 tbsp.         lemon zest
2 tbsp.         lemon juice
1 tsp            vanilla (I used limoncello liquor) for that extra lemony flavor

Mix together flour, almond meal, chia seeds, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Whisk the sugar, yogurt, eggs, oil, lemon zest, juice and vanilla until well blended. Incorporate the flour mixture and blend well.

Scrape batter into a greased 8x4 inch loaf pan.

Bake in preheated 325 degrees oven for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

A delicious and healthy alternative to the pound cake.

Lemon Blueberry Breakfast Parfait

Healthy eating has become a lifestyle in our home. The children and I try our best to eat healthy all week. For breakfast I have been making this parfait made with cottage cheese. Before you cringe, I must say this is so delicious! Nordica (Gaylea) has introduced creamed flavored cottage cheese! I'm not a fan of cottage cheese but I do enjoy this!

1 (113g) container of plain smooth cottage cheese
1 (113g) container of smooth cottage cheese in lemon
10 unsalted almonds
1/3 blueberries

I incorporated the plain and lemon flavored cottage cheese so it's not as sweet. Layer the cottage cheese, almonds and blueberries for a delicious, healthy breakfast. If you're in a rush, create this parfait in a mason jar so you can pack and go.

I love this especially in the morning. The lemon refreshes and cleanses your mouth.

Enjoy!

Dinner In a Hurry

Last night it was a "ME" night. I had a class to attend and needed to eat something quickly. I found this flatbread at the grocery store that I absolutely love! It's called artisan thin pizza crust by Stonefire. This pack that I purchased is a pack of 2 stone oven baked crust. It's good to have on hand for nights like last night.

 

 

I wanted something light to dress the pizza with. So I spread the bread with a pesto sauce, placed oven roasted chicken pieces, sliced bocconcini and sliced cherry tomato.

 

Baked the personalized pizza on a preheated pizza stone at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.

And there you have it! A delicious personalized pizza in less than 1/2 hour. This pizza for me is quite big so I tend to eat about half of it. You can serve this for dinner for your family with a soup and salad.

 

 

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This is my all time favorite banana bread recipe It's the best and easiest you will ever make! I usually freeze my ripe bananas in baggies to save for banana bread.

3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
4 tsp baking powder
4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3 shots rum (optional)
7-8 bananas

Preheat oven to 325. Butter two loaf pans, Mix all dry ingredients together. Mix eggs, oil and bananas together. Combine the flour mixture with the banana mixture and pour into pans. Bake for 1 hour or until inserted toothpick comes out clean, let cool, enjoy!

A great lunch box snack!

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Kitty Chronicles

As mentioned in my previous post, our cat Tiffany has been a true blessing to our family. She has brought in so much happiness and joy into our hearts. When we brought her home from the shelter, we all made a decision that she would become an indoor cat. Our property backs onto natural green space with a lot of wild animals. The odds of her being preyed upon was very high. We didn't want to take that chance. But we have windows! She's constantly staring out the window making these really weird noises. She sounds like a goat! She trembles and has little mini fits.

When we check in on her we see that those pesky birds are teasing the shit out of her! OMG! Not to mention those bratty squirrels!

We have to pull her away from the window and calm her down. Our little chickita is being teased by the neighborhood animals! Our poor baby!

But that's life and we will only love her more!

Until next time! xo

Sunday's Best

Well when I was growing up,  Sundays were a big deal in my family. It was family day. We celebrated Family Day every Sunday. It was a time of rest. The time to spend with the family and the day that my mother would treat us with homemade pasta! Nothing beats homemade pasta. It does take a little time to make but if you slot some time once a week I think your family deserves it. One of my favorite dishes is gnocchi.  I'm sharing with you my mother's recipe. My mother and I have tweaked it a little bit to add a bit of sweet potato in it as a healthy alternative. If you don't like sweet potato use all potato.

Nonna Lidia's Sweet Potato Gnocchi


3 potatoes
1 small sweet potato
Both combined weighing about 2 pounds. If you do not like sweet potato then use all potato

1 Egg
1 tsp salt
3 cups all purpose flour

Boil the potatoes in salted water until fully cooked, remove from heat. Drain water from pot and carefully peel the skin from the potato. Rinse the potato and place in bowl. Place potato in ricer into another bowl.

Once the potatoes have gone through the ricer, add 1 tsp. salt and the egg.

Stir until incorporated.

Place the flour on a clean working surface. Add the potato mixture on the flour mixture and slowly incorporate the potato mixture with the flour until a soft dough forms.

slowly add the flour until soft dough forms

 

 

 

Add more flour if needed as you knead the dough..

The dough should be nice and smooth.

Now it's ready to cut the gnocchi into strips.

Roll into a 1/2" rope.

Cut on the diagonal (about 3/4")

Place a clean tea towel on a baking sheet and sprinkle with flour.

Place the gnocchi on the baking sheet and lightly sprinkle with flour.

On your stove, boil salted water. We add about half a tsp of salt to the water. Once the water has boiled, drop the gnocchi into the water. Stir gently. Once all the gnocchi has popped to the surface, remove the gnocchi with a drainable spoon and place onto your serving platter.

Add your favorite tomato sauce and gently incorporate.

Serve with parmesan cheese.

Approx 6 servings.