French Toast Attack!

One of my favorite restaurants in GR has always been Electric Cheetah. Since going vegan however, I've found a lot of their dishes I have to pass on since they contain cheese & other dairy. I haven't been to EC in a while, but my in-laws were in town this weekend and wanted to hit up EC for brunch.

Auggie in the Cheetah Chair

I was reminded how much I love their "Donkey Kong Toast"...and their Ze Fronch Toast...basically,  french toast in general. And we all know traditional french toast is not vegan friendly. Hey, that sounds like a challenge to me!

I did a little googling and miraculously had all ingredients on hand (including over-ripe bananas!) to recreate the Donkey Kong Toast. It is french toast using banana nut bread. Brilliant! I topped it off with sliced strawberries (I used up all the bananas) and chopped walnuts. Yummy!

Banana Bread
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/2c brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
~ 4 ripe bananas (I only had 2.5 and this still worked out)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a small bowl, combine milk and apple cider vinegar, set aside for a few minutes
2. In a larger bowl, mix flower, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, salt & cinammon
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, along with the vanilla and the bananas. Mix until combined, but do not overwork the batter
4. Pour into a greased loaf pan and cook for 45-60 minutes (check every 5 minutes or so to prevent burning)

Allow banana bread to cool completely (I used the refrigerator, I was impatient). Slice into 8 pieces


French Toast Batter
3/4c almond milk
1/4 c flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp cornstarch

Cooking up the french toast!

1. Combine all ingredients in a shallow container.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of earth balance (non-dairy butter) in a large pan on medium heat
3. Dunk a slice of bread in the batter, making sure to cover all sides and let the milk soak in a bit. This will prevent your french toast from being dry
4. Put slice of bread in the pan and let cook about 1 minute each side (4 sides total). Repeat if you want your french toast a bit more done.

Note - because this is banana bread, it will look a little darker than normal. It still tastes great!

Great Any-day Brunch!

♥L

Nut Butter Waffles

I'm normally a smoothie-for-breakfast kind of girl, but sometimes (especially in the winter) I just want something a little warmer, hearter even. Not that smoothies don't keep me full, but sometimes I guess I just want to chew my food!

I take part in a vegan freezer exchange with a small group women. I was planning on making my black bean burgers this month, but someone else mentioned they were making black bean falafel, so I decided to make waffles instead!

I'm all about quick breakfasts in the morning - probably why I rely on smoothies so much. These waffles are easy enough to make in a big batch, you can freeze them, and then either toast them or microwave them in the morning while you are rushing out the door!

I used almond butter (crunchy) this time around, but I have also had luck with peanut butter (crunchy). This recipe comes from Isa's "Vegan Brunch" and as she mentions, the batter is pretty forgiving! It is also THICK so don't try to thin it out - you may end up with waffle breakage!

These are great topped with some Earth Balance & Maple syrup, or with bananas & chocolate chips! I didn't have any chocolate chips on hand, so I made a quick chocolate drizzle sauce using some left over Christmas chocolate :)

PB Waffles

3/4c chunky nut butter
3 Tbsp maple syrup
3 Tbsp canola oil
2c non-dairy milk
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 c AP flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix nut butter, syrup and oil together well.

Mix milk & cornstarch in a separate bowl, until cornstarch is well dissolved. Add, along with vanilla, to nut butter mixture

Add remaining ingredients and mix until batter is smooth. Be careful not to overmix.

This yielded 6 square waffles for me! Enjoy!

L ♥

Experimenting in the Kitchen

I took some vacation time this week from work since I had a few more days to use before the end of the year. With my extra free time I've been able to sleep in, go to the gym with Jon (a nice change from going by myself) and do something I love - experiment in the kitchen!

Being a vegetarian since early college, and more recently a vegan, I can't tell you how many times I've heard "so where do you get your protein?" Depending on my mood you'll get a sarcastic or informative answer! Truth is, I have no issues getting enough protein from my diet, because I eat a variety of whole foods. Yes, protein makes up a lower % of my calories as opposed to protein or carb percentages, but I promise I am in no danger of a protein deficiency!

When I am working out and trying to build muscle, I will include a protein smoothie into my eating plan. Sometimes though I would love to EAT my protein and not DRINK it...especially in the cooler, winter months. Enter the protein waffle. I first heard of these through Jon, who gets a powder mix for waffles from an bodybuilding store, adds water, and boom - protein waffle. I've also seen other people on Instagram make protein waffles/pancakes, but had never tried myself.

If you know me, you know I bake from scratch. The same applies to waffles/pancakes - I haven't used an Aunt Jemima mix in years. So I just had to figure out how to tweak my own recipe in order to get the right consistency of the batter with the inclusion of my vegan protein powder. My final inspiration came from the blog The Guiltless Life.

Ta-Da!

This was a chocolate chip protein waffle with a peanut butter sauce & bananas. Yum! I found the waffle to be a little sweet (I think from the Stevia) and I had to use a lot more almond milk than what TGL calls for. Next time I think I will omit the Stevia and this should be perfect! I used Vega Sport Vanilla protein powder as my protein of choice - vanilla goes with anything!

Jon and I rented some movies to watch over the long weekend so I thought I would make a snack for us to enjoy while we watched. Remember this post? I love the mix of sweet - salty - crunchy but the marshmallows were a little overwhelming to me. Smaller marshmallows or bigger chunks of chocolate may balance the mix better, but I thought I would try a rice krispie treat concept this time around.

Mega RK Treat!

I think my balance of marshmallow to other ingredients was still unbalanced, but it was a step in the right direction. The cinnamon flavor from the cinnamon toast crunch really pops in this mix! A great evening/movie snack. I ended up rolling the mix into a log and cutting into individual pieces for grab-and-go convenience.

Today my plans include taking advantage of the mild weather we are having here and going for my long run OUTSIDE!! I can't believe it's December 1st and we are getting into the 50s today. Also, I have some black beans left over from Thanksgiving cooking so I'm going to try to make some homemade burgers from those to eat tonight & also freeze for later. I will post on how that experiment goes later!

Stay Positive,
L♥

Sunday Brunch

Tofu scramble, spicy southern home fries, and bacon. I've been trying to add more 'greens' in my diet. The fake bacon is attempt at clearing out my freezer before I move. I like it slightly more than I like the real stuff (which is not at all).

After brunch, I ate a brownie. From Picnic & Pantry, a great place right next to Melt, my favorite restaurant in all of Cincy.