wild blueberry + pomegranate oatmeal breakfast bars

I realize that I've been lacking in the breakfast department recently, and I promise I'll make up for it. You see, my lack of breakfast recipes recently is probably a reflection of my breakfast routine which, albeit (mostly) healthy, can get a little mundane. 

You know that during the week, I don't get too creative with breakfast for myself. I usually just make a green smoothie and call it a morning.

There are some days that the smoothie holds me over until lunch, and there are some days I need a little something in-between. Those days, my stomach starts to growl at 10:45am on the dot. It usually happens when I am running around doing a million things, so I succumb to buying some sort of sugary pastry because it is the easiest and most accessible thing.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good pastry once in a while, but if I am going to indulge I want to be leisurely hanging out with the New York Times in one hand and a perfectly made latte in the other. Not rushing around with the pastry shoved in my purse sneaking bites every once in a while just to hold me over until lunch.

I really needed to chill out on the mid-morning purse pastry eating habit of mine so I decided to come up with something - on the healthier side - that I can make and keep around for a mid-morning snack. But not just something healthy, I wanted something I would really enjoy eating.

Granola was out. I am not a huge granola fan, I mean, I will eat it if it is the only thing around but I don't really enjoy it. I do love oatmeal, nuts, and berries, but if I needed something to grab on the go, the oatmeal would have to be baked in the oven instead of on the stove. 

Baked oatmeal bars were the winner. An on the go type breakfast food, or a mid-morning snack. Heck, you can even eat these for dessert with some ice cream if you like.  

I know that my busy, on the go friends appreciate breakfast recipes like this. 

 

These bars are loaded with healthy goodies. They are gluten-free (as long as you use gluten-free oats) and they can be made vegan omitting the egg. Chia seeds, cinnamon, oats, blueberries and pomegranates are all super ingredients loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. A little bonus added into the morning routine.

Click to read more ...

baked apples with pomegranates + pistachios

I just found out yesterday that I am cooking + hosting Thanksgiving this year. Despite the last minute notice (ahh .. panic!), I could not be more excited. 

For the past few years, we have gone out to eat for Thanksgiving with the whole family. It may sound weird, especially for someone who cooks for a living, but we loved it. We would get all dressed up and have an absolutely stunning meal, and after hours of feasting we could simply get up from the table and go home. No mess, no dishes, we would get all of the fun and none of the responsibility. It had become our new favorite family tradition.

But, to be honest, a small part of me missed cooking for Thanksgiving. It's obvious I love to cook, but Thanksgiving is the opportunity to cook one of the most special meals of the year. It's the chance for me to wake up super early to prep, to set a beautiful table, and go overboard on dessert. It's the excuse for me to cook way more food than we could ever eat and not feel like I overdid it.

So when Michael called me up yesterday to tell me that we could not get a reservation at the place we've been going to for the past three years, I got really excited. 

I really should be menu planning and shopping right now, but before I go off and do that I wanted to share these apples with you. I actually came up with this recipe for a weekly series I am doing for The Conversation, but I really wanted to share these here as well because I think these baked apples will definitely make an excellent (+ healthy) addition to the Thanksgiving dessert table ... in between all the pies and cookies, of course. 

To get the recipe for baked apples with pomegranates + pistachios ... click here.