Breakfast

Coconut Quinoa Porridge

This post is brought to you by Bare Snacks, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

Quinoa porridge cooked in coconut milk with cinnamon and maple syrup. Ready in 15 minutes on the stovetop for a quick breakfast alternative to oatmeal!

I can’t sleep if it’s hot.

Every night before I got to sleep I bump down the number on my Nest thermostat to 69 degrees.

Yep, even in the fall and winter.

I love dosing off to sleep cocooned in cozy cotton sheets and comforter with the cool air current whirling around my face.

The next morning I break the stillness by stretching into pajama pants and long sleeves and take the descent downstairs.

My place doesn’t regulate temperature very efficiently, so there’s a noticeable ten degree temp drop each time you run down a flight of stairs.

So if it’s cold upstairs, it’s colder downstairs, and frigid in the basement.

Hot breakfasts on the main level are necessary as I stand in wool socks and wait for the sun to warm the wooden floor boards.

This Coconut Quinoa Porridge simultaneously warms and fuels you for the day ahead.

It’s ready in just 15 minutes for a quick breakfast alternative to oatmeal!

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1-Bowl Orange Cranberry Bread

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1-bowl orange cranberry bread bursting with cranberries and citrus. Naturally sweetened, oil-free, and gluten-free. Perfect for a festive breakfast or snack!

Does anyone else burn their tongue like *all* the time?

Last night I burned my tongue on some seriously good chili and today I’m paying the price of being *so* impatient.

I could barely taste my matcha this morning as I sat on the couch to journal, running my tasteless tongue over my teeth in remorse.

Let’s hope I have some taste buds left to enjoy this 1-Bowl Orange Cranberry Bread that’s new on the blog today!

This zesty festive loaf is perfectly sweet and tart with fresh squeezed citrus and whole cranberries.

It comes together in one bowl in under one hour for a delicious breakfast, dessert, or snack.

Not only does it pack some powerful antioxidants and vitamin C, but it does so while being a total stunner.

Bright red cranberries and flecks of orange make for a beautiful bread that’s almost too pretty to eat.

Almost.

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Sautéed Apple Pie Yogurt Bowl

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This post is brought to you by Bare Snacks, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

Easy blueprint breakfast yogurt bowl with warm berries, sautéed apples, yogurt favorite granola, nut butter, and baked apple chips for crunch!

I still remember the first time I *really* meditated.

It was a Friday night and I decided to stay after my normal vinyasa flow for the later meditation class.

Sitting cr0ss-legged, I tried not to fidget, alternating small micro-movements in my fingers and toes to prevent my phalanges from falling asleep.

I focused on the guided words of the instructor and my breath, anything to prevent my mind from an internal laundry list loop.

Afterwards, I blinked my eyes open, certain only ten or so minutes had passed since I closed them.

When I realized it had been a full thirty minutes I was astonished.

I conveyed this to a fellow yogi practicing beside me and he smiled knowingly and said, “That’s how you know you’re meditating.”

“Hmm,” I said, still sitting.

I stretched, assessing the waking world beyond my mat with bleary eyes, feeling as though I was returning from a really special place I didn’t know existed.

Guys, I miss that place.

Lately my meditation practice has been sorely lacking.

I’m the first to admit that I click the “X” out of my virtual pre-recorded yoga before the savasana party even begins.

But I’m trying to get back into it, practicing quieting my mind in the AM before making a big bowl of yogurt for breakfast.

This Sautéed Apple Pie Yogurt Bowl is apple pie in yogurt form with sautéed apples, almond milk yogurt, and a crispy apple chip flourish.

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Grain-Free Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies

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Grain-free sweet potato breakfast cookies made with baked sweet potato, almond flour, and SunButter. Perfect for an easy grab and go fall breakfast!

Do you ever moments where you completely forget we’re in the middle of a pandemic?

Usually the knowledge is acutely present in the forefront of my consciousness, but every now and then I completely forget.

It mostly happens when I’m outdoors, mask-free, soaking in the sunshine, walking and laughing with M.

Guys, those moments are the best.

It also happens when I’m writing– sharing content Instagram by means of a virtual connection that I was accustomed to far before it was the new normal.

Or when I’m scurrying around the kitchen, throwing plants in pans to make dinner.

Let’s do more things that make us forget about the precariousness of the current age.

Or we could also make cookies.

These Grain-Free Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies are perfect for a make ahead fall breakfast.

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Berry Baked Oatmeal

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Easy baked oatmeal bursting with berries made totally oil-free, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free. Meal prep a pan and reheat for easy breakfast!

How do you structure and measure your days, friends?

Every morning before jumping into work I make a list of my top three priorities for the day.

These “impact tasks”, we’ll call them, are the things that I know move life forward even if absolutely *nothing* else gets done.

I am what I’ve heard referred to as a time optimist, which sounds like a positive thing but is actually kind of a curse.

I *always* think I can do more in 24 hours than is actually humanly possible.

So, lately I’ve been working on lowering my expectations for myself.

And choosing impact tasks that are meaningful but not necessarily ground-breaking and grueling.

Sometimes something as simple as calling a friend back or finding time for a 60 minute yoga class drastically shifts my perspective and trajectory of the day.

Or meal prepping a delicious baked oatmeal for the week!

This Berry Baked Oatmeal is sure to meet all of your breakfast expectations.

And, yes, you should probably add it to your top three impact tasks of the day.

It’s made in less than an hour for a naturally sweet breakfast that’s popping with berries, oatmeal, and nuts, for a nutritious start to your day.

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Chocolate Almond Butter Granola

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Chocolate almond butter granola with oats, nuts, and cacao. Sweetened with maple syrup and chocolate chunks. Chunky, chocolate-y, and perfect for topping!

There’s a running joke in my house that if something doesn’t have chocolate in it, it won’t get eaten.

Which is partially true.

The banana bread loaves that come out of the oven clustered with chocolate chunks definitely goes faster than those that don’t sport dark chocolate spots.

Then there’s my favorite store bought Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola which is absolutely delicious and *highly* addictive.

You’ve been warned.

Naturally I grab for the big granola hunks with the chocolate chips, first, because those are the best.

Wouldn’t you?

Well, last week, M peered into the resealable ‘nola bag and asked deadpan if I had eaten all of the chocolate out of the granola mix *again*.

Er, guilty.

Since then, we’ve established that said granola is mine to do as I please.

Which means eating all of the chocolate first, because there’s no wrong way to eat a bag of granola.

Can I get a witness?

Naturally I wanted to try to recreate a highly addictive granola of my own, but make it oil-free with as much dark chocolate as I want.

This Chocolate Almond Butter Granola is so good, I might even save a bit for you.

Let’s bake some homemade granola!

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Sweet Potato Spice Granola

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

This post is brought to you by Safeway, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

Sweet potato spice granola made oil-free with creamy almond butter and lightly sweetened with maple syrup. Gluten-free with a grain-free option!

Last weekend I embarked on an epic bike ride to the store on the purple bike I’ve had since I was 16.

Without many pandemic plans, we decided it would be quite an adventure to bike to pick up our essentials instead of driving.

It sounded easy enough; bike there and back with purchased items in tow.

So naturally, I shrugged off the idea of bringing water or snacks or anything sensible like that.

And then what started out as what Google maps projected to be a 29 minutes bike ride turned into a 2+ hour workout there and back.

I didn’t really realize this, guys, but there are virtually no bike paths on the route I took.

Instead, we were forced to navigate through neighborhoods, sidewalks, and the dreaded main road, where aggressive drivers honked and sped around us like our two wheels had personally offended them.

“This is the most action my bike has seen in over a decade,” I huffed and puffed, pedaling in the rear.

We rode over hard over grass, gravel, asphalt, and cement.

And then there was that lovely muddy patch that back-splashed all over my bare calves.

Sexy.

When we finally made it to the store for item pick up, I ended up dashing inside for a bottle of water and a power bar.

I wish I’d had a bag of homemade granola with me.

Like this Sweet Potato Spice Granola that’s simple and sweet, made gluten-free with hearty oats and nuts and naturally sweetened with maple syrup and sweet potato!

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Fig Newton Breakfast Bars

By Flora & Vino 2 Comments

6-ingredient breakfast bars with hearty oats, plant-based protein and fresh figs! Gluten-free, oil-free, and naturally sweetened with dates and maple syrup.

Ever since I moved into my townhome as a renter, things have been, well, falling apart.

The first offender was the dishwasher, that, to be honest, never really cleaned dishes very well from the beginning.

Then there was the great dryer debacle of 2020 where, for the span of three months, I hung all of my clothing to dry on a flimsy hang dry rack.

Crunchy towels and jeans are not fun, friends.

The doorbell stopped working after about a month so I’ve grown accustomed to listen intently for persistent knocks.

I’ve also cohabited with a mouse, a swarm of ants, and a lot of web-making spiders.

I joked to my parents on the phone a few weeks back that the only thing that hasn’t gone wrong yet was the AC.

I spoke too soon.

This past Saturday morning I woke up to a stuffy hot home with temperatures on a steady upward incline.

My Nest thermostat didn’t respond to all of my prodding and pushing on the dial so I diagnosed the AC– *gasp*– BROKEN.

Luckily, we’ve had several days in the low 80’s and mid-70’s here in Virginia, making it possible for me to have the windows down and the ceiling fans on.

So the past few days I’ve been limiting my oven use to stay cool.

Luckily, I made Fig Newton Breakfast Bars when the AC was still kicking.

These 6-ingredient breakfast bars are dense, chewy, and naturally sweet with fresh figs and dried fruit!

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Paleo Chocolate Chip Waffles

By Flora & Vino 6 Comments

Paleo chocolate chip waffles made with almond flour, cacao powder, canned coconut milk, and dark chocolate chunks. Serve with maple syrup for breakfast!

I’ve always been what I like to call “sleep in defective”.

In high school I would wait impatiently on the weekends for my boyfriend and friends to wake up.

I was itching to text them before noon, knowing full well I wouldn’t receive a response until lunchtime or past.

As an adult, the early morning trend continued and serves me well to keep me in my professional workweek routine.

The consistency of the workweek cascades into the weekend so I pretty much always wake up at the same time.

Even when I’m (occasionally) out until the wee hours of the morning, I wake up before my iPhone reads 8:00 AM in glowing white light.

So imagine my surprise when this week I woke up one day at 9 AM!

Yes, I know, I was shocked, too, and did a double and triple take on the time.

Lately I’ve been leaning into stolen hours of sleep, lazy mornings, and sweet languid breakfasts.

I have the perfect sweet breakfast for you to make on a lazy morning.

These Paleo Chocolate Chip Waffles are made with almond flour, cacao powder, and plenty of dark chocolate chunks for a fun breakfast.

Whether you sleep in until noon or catch the sunrise, these waffles are easy to make to sweeten your AM!

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Cranberry Almond Breakfast Cookies

By Flora & Vino 5 Comments

Breakfast cookies made with oatmeal, SunButter, dried cranberries, and slivered almonds. Bake them in advance and grab for an easy nutritious breakfast!

It’s been stupid hot here in Virginia for the past few weeks.

Every day the forecast threatens 100 degrees with a chance of thunderstorms that fail to break the blanket of heat.

My daily power walks have become more of a mosey as I try to keep cool but still see the great outdoors.

So, how are you doing?

I know it’s been a while since I posted so I wanted to check in.

I’ve been OK.

Content on the blog has taken a bit of a backseat as I focus on new projects and big picture goals.

(More to come on this soon!)

And then there’s the ever present backdrop of life in a post-quarantine but not post-pandemic world.

Honestly, I have no idea how to navigate this new normal and not much desire to try.

So, instead, I stay home and make Cranberry Almond Breakfast Cookies.

Won’t you join me?

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Coconut Quinoa Porridge

1-Bowl Orange Cranberry Bread

Sautéed Apple Pie Yogurt Bowl

Grain-Free Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies

Berry Baked Oatmeal

Chocolate Almond Butter Granola

Sweet Potato Spice Granola

Fig Newton Breakfast Bars

Paleo Chocolate Chip Waffles

Cranberry Almond Breakfast Cookies

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