Recipe: Zucchini Bread Breakfast Bakes

Hello. My name is Kristy and I am an addict. 

Say what? Yup, you heard me... I'm addicted to breakfast bakes. Seriously, something about eating cake for breakfast has me dreaming up recipe after recipe - to the point where my freezer is now stacked with all different flavours of breakfast bakes. There's the chocolate protein breakfast bake, the banana bread breakfast bake, banana buckwheat breakfast bake, baked banana oatmeal - and then there's these babies.. Zuchini Bread Breakfast Bakes. 

There a few big pluses when it comes to breakfast bakes - they taste amazing, they're portable, freezer friendly, you can make them in advance - oh and did I mention you can eat cake for breakfast and it's totally healthy? That part, is quite satisfying if I do say so myself. 

They're perfect for lazy days, busy mornings and I won't disagree if you want to eat them for lunch or dinner too - you know, brinner? brunch?

I have been eating breakfast bakes almost every morning for the last couple of weeks - because the last thing I want to do after making breakfast and lunch for Jesse and cleaning up all of the dishes, is to make another mess and make breakfast for myself (or truth: I'm just addicted to breakfast bakes). 

I just top them with a dollop of peanut butter, a sprinkling of nuts, yogurt, or a mix of cream cheese and a dash of maple syrup. Perfection. 

Zucchini Bread Breakfast Bakes makes 5 breakfast bakes

Gluten free, low fat, healthy, freezer friendly, clean eating friendly 

1 cup plain flour/gluten free flour/wholemeal flour/buckwheat flour*

1 cup gluten free oats (rolled, quick or oat flour all work)

2 tbsp ground flaxseed or chia seed (optional)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 small banana, mashed** (about 1/2 cup)

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 med/large zucchini, grated 

1/2 cup greek yogurt/plain yogurt

2 tsp vanilla 

Optional: cinnamon/spices of your choice - I usually add about 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 180°C/355°F

In a bowl, mix your flour, oats, flaxseed/chia seed, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices if using. 

In another bowl, mash your banana and mix together with your applesauce, zucchini, yogurt and vanilla. 

Combine your wet and dry ingredients, mixing until combined. 

Divide your mixture into greased/lined ramekins and place into the oven. 

Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until cooked through and golden on top.

Allow to cool before removing from the tins. 

Eat immediately, chill in the fridge or freeze for later. 

Other baking options: 
If you don't have ramekins or would rather not have single serve bakes - feel free to bake them in muffin tins (bake for about 15 mins) or a cake/loaf tin (bake for about 40-50 mins)

*Personally, I love buckwheat flour, so that's what I tend to use.

**If you don't want to use banana, you can switch this for 1/2 cup pumpkin/sweet potato puree or another 1/2 cup of applesauce

So tell me, what's your current food addiction? 

anything you just can't seem to get enough of? 

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Recipe: Beetroot Tzatziki

Why hello there! Oh what a week I've had - things have been busy, busy around here! Jesse is working full time and I'm trying to run KISS Freelance, be the perfect fiance, keep up with wedding things and work on Southern In-Law all at once. But hey, I can't complain - I am as happy as can be with my life as of right now and I'm feeling so blessed and incredibly grateful. I can't tell you how good it feels to have Jesse home - even at 6am when I'm awake making him breakfast and lunch for work (and now I make my Dad lunch too because he started getting jealous ;P)

There's some new additions to the blog with a new design and header and the latest addition... 

The Southern In-Law Newsletter!

This will be a weekly newsletter filled with meal ideas, recipes, wedding updates, links, reader photos and an update on what we've been up to. You can sign up to the newsletter here and the first edition will be posted next Friday!

After nearly a month of being Chobani-less (as my local stores were sold out!) I finally have some - so you have to know I got straight to creating some new recipes!

With Easter and Jesse moving to Australia, we've had quite a few people over and have had a couple of dinner parties and barbeques - so dips were in high demand!

This Beetroot Tzatziki or Beetroot Yogurt Dip is super simple, healthy and oh so delicious! It's perfect eaten with crackers, veggies sticks or bread and if you're a fan of beetroot, you'll love it! Best of all - it's so easy!

Beetroot Tzatziki Dip 
low fat, gluten free, clean recipe
~4 raw medium beetroots (I weighed mine once peeled and they were around 400g)
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tsp garlic salt 

Cook your beetroots one of the three following ways; 
Roasted: Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F. Wrap beetroots in foil and bake until tender. Allow to cool and peel.
Boiled: Place beetroots into a pot of water, boiling until tender. Run cooked beetroots under cold water until cool, peel. 
Microwave: Place your beetroot in a microwave safe container, microwaving for 1 minute intervals until beets are tender. Allow to cool and peel.

Once tender, allow beets to cool slightly before pureeing in a food processor with yogurt and garlic salt. 
Chill the dip or serve warm. 

So tell me, what's your favourite kind of dip?

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Recipe: Watermelon Frozen Yogurt Pops

It's no secret - I am obsessed with watermelon. I eat a whole watermelon a week, if not two - all by myself. Say what? I told you... obsessed. 

I'm also obsessed with Summer - and I'm trying to pretend that it's not over. Watermelon, for me, is the ultimate summer food - so why not make it even summerier (yes, that's a word) by making Watermelon Popsicles!

This recipe is super simple with only two ingredients and it can be churned in an icecream maker for Watermelon Frozen Yogurt, or frozen into popsicle molds as I did!

Watermelon Frozen Yogurt Popsicles

makes 6 popsicles or a small batch of frozen yogurt

170g/6 oz Plain Chobani Yogurt

2 cups Seedless Watermelon 

Optional: pinch of salt (it brings out the sweetness) and/or 1 tbsp of sugar (if your watermelon isn't sweet enough)

Puree the yogurt and watermelon in a food processor or blender until smooth.

If making popsicles: Carefully pour into molds, leaving about 0.5cm room from the top.

If making frozen yogurt: Freeze in your ice cream maker, according to the instructions - serve immediately or freeze for 2-3 hours before serving for a firmer frozen yogurt.

And there you have it - so easy I shouldn't even call it a recipe!

So tell me, do you have a favourite summery food?

    

   

Recipe: Moist Vanilla Yogurt Cupcakes (or Muffins! or Cake!)

Moist is a much disliked word for many people - me included. It just sounds all kinds of wrong. I have serious word aversion when it comes to the word moist and italics only makes it grosser.

There's actually quite a funny story as to how these cupcakes ended up named 'Moist Vanilla Yogurt Cupcakes'. You see, I was on the phone to Jesse when I proclaimed "I hate the word moist... I mean.. really hate the word". Jesse thought it was hilarious how I could so hate a word and couldn't understand my problem. "I mean seriously Jesse... think about it... moist muffin - is that not disgusting?" All I could hear was laughter. 

"But here's my problem... what on earth can I use to describe cupcakes without saying.. ahem... you know what I mean.. there's got to be a synonym for that" so Jesse did what he always does when I ask a ridiculously random question or come up with something that no normal person things about - he went to google. 

Google came back with answers and what came next was a flood of giggles and laughter induced tears. 

"Clammy

Damp 

Dampish 

Dank 

Dewy 

Dripping 

Drippy 

Drizzly 

Humid 

Irriguous 

Muggy

Not dry

Oozy 

Rainy 

Soggy

Teary 

Watery" 

I mean really? 

"Come and try my dank muffins" - who in their right mind would want to eat that?! "You know what, Mary Sue... I made these delicious muffins today and they were so clammy!" still not right.."Today's special are the irriguous muffins, ma'am" yuh.. not working. 

Our personal favourite was "not dry" - come on, that is the lamest synonym I have ever heard. So here it is, my not dry moist vanilla yogurt cupcakes/muffins/cakes. 

I used plain 0% Chobani
in these cupcakes but
you can easily use your
favourite yogurt.
2% is my favourite

 This recipe originally started as an idea for yogurt pound cake, but through my random baking style (basically just going with whatever looks right) I created some of the moistest and most delicious cupcakes with a hint of yogurt flavour. 

They work brilliantly with plain greek yogurt (like the Chobani I used), regular plain yogurt or flavoured yogurt - obviously the taste will change slightly with each one, but choose your favourite yogurt and go with it! 

Eat them as is like a muffin, top them with frosting like a cupcake or bake it into a full sized cake - this recipe is totally adaptable! I've also added blueberries and chocolate chips in other batches with equal success! 

Topped with frosting they are the perfect treat to celebrate....
ONE YEAR GLUTEN FREE! Yep, today August 23rd marks ONE YEAR without Gluten! My gluten free-versary?

 Moist Vanilla Yogurt Cupcakes

makes 9 delicious muffins or cupcakes or one small cake

1 1/2C GF flour/GF pancake mix/plain flour/wholewheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2C cane sugar/castor sugar (use up to 3/4C if using plain yogurt and you like a sweeter cake)

3/4C plain Chobani yogurt (or your favourite yogurt)

1C unsweetened applesauce

2 tsp vanilla 

Preheat oven to 180°C/355°F

Prepare muffin/cupcake tins - grease or line with paper cases. 

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. 

In a medium bowl mix sugar, yogurt, applesauce and vanilla and pour into dry ingredients. 

Mix wet and dry ingredients until just combined and pour into tins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer removes clean and the edges pull in from the sides. 

Note: for a cake this will take longer, keep an eye on it and bake until a skewer removes clean and the edges pull in from the sides. 

So tell me, do you dislike the word moist too? 

and are you a cake or frosting person? 

I am actually a cake person, frosting has never interested me much - hence why you see a lot of muffins around here! I just made a quick single serve frosting for these cupcakes (as I froze the rest) by mixing a bit of butter spread/margarine/non dairy spread, cocoa powder and icing sugar - I've also had success using butter and hot chocolate mix! 

    

   

Recipe: Flax Banana Yogurt Muffins (with Chobani!)

 I am a yogurt addict, I eat it at least once daily and never seem to get sick of it. Not only is yogurt good as a snack, dessert or as part of a meal - it's also great in baking! Yogurt makes baked goods really moist and delicious and also adds nutrition (especially protein if you use Chobani) and flavour.

When I saw the apron and oven mitt from Chobani I knew that I had to get baking!

 I spotted the ripening bananas on the fruit stand and knew just what I wanted to bake. Moist, healthy and delicious banana muffins.

What came out of my ideas was what I have affectionately named Flax Cho-nana Muffins. They're the ultimate banana muffin for breakfast and snacks and the recipe can easily be made into a loaf if you prefer! 

These muffins have added nutrition from flaxseed and the protein packed Chobani and they're also low in fat and gluten free!

I have always been a fan of banana anything. Banana bread, cake, fresh bananas, frozen bananas - you name it! I always have banana muffins in the freezer for snacks or dessert or to add to yogurt/cottage cheese bowls for breakfast.

After the cyclones and the price of bananas skyrocketed I was devastated! I would still buy them, despite their ridiculous price and treat them like gold - and if anyone took one of my bananas they were dead meat! 

Thankfully, despite my long long list of food intolerances, I can still eat bananas! There's not a day where I don't eat banana in some shape or form and my fruit stand is barely seen without a banana. 

So it's only natural that I have more than one favourite banana muffin recipe, right? This Flax Cho-nana Muffin recipe also makes a delicious loaf of banana bread - I'm just a muffin girl :P and these are my current favourite healthy, gluten free banana muffins!

Flax Banana Yogurt Muffins or Flax Cho-nana Muffins - GF/low fat/eggless

makes 12 deliciously moist and flavoursome muffins

2 cup GF pancake mix/GF flour/plain flour/wholewheat flour 

1 tsp baking soda 

2.5 tbsp ground flaxseed

3 large bananas, mashed (about 1.5C mashed) 

1/2 cup Chobani plain greek yogurt (will also work with vanilla yogurt/plain yogurt etc)

1/4 cup applesauce 

1/4 -1/2 cup brown sugar (if you don't like things sweet, use 1/4C - for regular tastes use 1/2C)

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180°C/355°F.

Prepare muffins tins (grease or line). 

In a large bowl mix flour, baking soda, ground flaxseed. 

In a medium bowl mash banana and add yogurt, applesauce, sugar and vanilla. Mix together wet ingredients until combined and pour into dry. 

Mix wet and dry ingredients until just combined and pour into muffin cups. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are browned and a skewer inserted removes clean. 

So tell me, are you a muffin/cupcake fan or do you prefer slices of cake or breads?

I'm known as The Muffin Queen when it comes to baking for myself and The Cupcake Queen when it comes to baking for others. I love single serve anythings - they're so much cuter!