Favorite Breakfast Smoothies

Mornings are tough. I think everyone develops their own personal routine to make bribing themselves out of bed much easier. Some people eat their oatmeal, some people eat their cereal and most people need their daily medication of coffee or expresso. For me, I almost always need my breakfast smoothie. About a year ago I would have personally informed you with an absolute certainty  that their was absolutely no way I was going to eat blended greens in a drink. However, I read on ohsheglows that blended greens in the morning can be one of the best energy boosters. So very skeptically I began my journey to find the perfect breakfast smoothie to give me a big enough punch in the stomach to wake me up. My first smoothies were tiny bits of spinach with plenty of nut butter and chocolate hemp powder to cover any potential green taste. They were good but not quite the best thing to start off the day with. Finally after much experimentation, I have come up with two smoothies which I am in love with and frequent my breakfast routine the most.

Coconut Kale Smoothie:

I particularly love this on a day where I feel like I may not get the right dose of greens during the day. Afterwards I always feel like I have a nice glow to 🙂

Ingredients:

2 large leaves of green kale shredded

1 cup of unsweetened almond milk

4 dates

1 frozen banana chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 T unsweetened coconut flakes

2 T rolled oats for topping

1 generous T of almond butter for topping

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender. We use a hand blender since we do not yet own a blender like a VitaMix. Pour into bowl. Top with rolled oats and almond butter. Give it a stir. Indulge and WAKE UP 🙂

Cinnamon Almond Cherry Frosty

For those days you feel like gelato for breakfast but know you should attempt to restrain yourself. This is JUST as good I swear! aannnnnd it’s actually healthy, not to mention won’t send you into a sugar coma at 7 Am.

Good Morning World!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (or more) frozen pitted cherries

1 small frozen banana

2 handfuls spinach

2 tsp cinnamon

1 large T of almond butter

3/4 cup or more of unsweetened almond milk (depending how gelato like you want it to be, add more for more smoothie texture)

1 T unsweetened coconut

1-1/2 T hemp seeds for topping

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in blender and blend! Add hemp seeds, and dig in 🙂

Et Voila! Two simple, delicious and healthy breakfasts for you that can be made in less than 5 minutes. Take that mornings 🙂

Love Robin, and Katie

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Pancakes, Pancakes, Pancakes

Inspired by Robin’s pancake binge this morning I wanted to share the breakfast my boyfriend Nolan and I made last week! You’ll soon learn that breakfast foods are a big deal in our home, and we indulge frequently. This is a Vegan Yum Yum recipe, and after altering it a little bit, we had delicious itty bitty blueberry pancakes that we topped with carob chips and walnuts!

1 1/2 cup fortified vanilla almond milk
1 tbsp agave nectar (the recipe calls for sugar, but Robin and I hardly ever have any in the home)
2 tbs oil
1 1/3 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp baking Powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup frozen blueberries

Because I used agave nectar instead of sugar, I found I didn’t need water to thin the batter like suggested in the original recipe.

Combine all the ingredients and preheat oven to 200f, and put a baking sheet on the middle rack. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat for a few minutes. Pour the batter directly into the center of the ungreased heated pan into small disks (trust me, small pancakes just taste better). As you cook the pancakes, put the ones that are done into the oven to keep them warm while you finish up the batter. This is something my dad always did on our big breakfast mornings. It’s so great because you can have a hot breakfast with your loved ones. I find it gives the edges a nice little bump up in the crispiness too. Yum!

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5AM Pancake Party!

When I was little, breakfast was my favorite meal. I can remember countless times where the smell of waffles, crepes, pancakes, french toast or fried eggs would waft up into my bedroom. This would then be followed by my hasty footsteps down the stairs to tame my rumbling beast of a belly.

However then teenager years struck and I slipped into sloth mode; where breakfast was no longer even an option. Katie will testify that there was no point in even trying to get ahold of me before 12. Lately however, my body seems to have gone into energy overdrive, and I’ll be lucky if I can sleep past 5AM. This morning was one of those days where I woke up at 5AM on the dot with the most massive craving for pancakes.

SO I made Strawberry Vanilla Bean Pancakes (gf and vegan)

Adapted from Ohsheglows. I just love her site, so many delectable dishes.

MMMMm 5 am never tasted so good.

1/3 cup Gluten free flour, such as brown rice flour, Bob’s all purpose

1/4 cup almond meal

1/4 shredded, unsweetened coconut flakes

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 pinch salt

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/3 cup warm water

1/2 vanilla bean, scraped

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 T agave

1/2 cup strawberries

1 T coconut oil for pan

Toppings: Strawberries, pecans or almonds, coconut flakes, maple syrup or agave

Directions

Mix'er up

Mix all dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Measure out all wet ingredients. In the mean time heat coconut oil in a pan on medium heat. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Mix until well combined. Use a 1/4 cup to spoon each pancake onto pan. Let cook until the pancake becomes well spotted with bubbles. Flip and cook until desired brown. Serve and decorate! 🙂

Pancakes make 5Am seem so much less revolting don’t you think? Although just between you and I, I would still rather be snug like a bug in my bed still, like Katie 😉

Do you have trouble sleeping in?

Love Robin, and Slumber Katie.

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