strawberry apple almond crisp {for one}

It's Saturday! And ya know what that means?

Sleep. 

TWO cups of coffee. {ima rebel.} 

Chillaxing. 

Food Network. 

Peace + quiet. 

BREAKFAST. 

Good breakfasts that are a little fancier than your typical mid-week morning meals. 

WEEEEELL… Maybe not. 

As I've mentioned before, I'm becoming more and more of a morning person. 

And breakfast is definitely my favorite time of the day. 

I love all the possibilities there are for wonderful, healthy, filling breakfasts. 

Oatmeal or eggs are my usual go to breakfasts- something that will keep me full and content until lunchtime. 

In the mornings, I don't really have time to sit over the stovetop flipping pancakes, but THIS. 

I can get behind this.

This breakfast SEEMS like a fancy weekend breakfast, but seriously. 

It's not. It could not be any easier!

All you do is grab a couple ingredients, throw together a simple almond crumble, dump that on a bowl of strawberries and apples, microwave it for a few minutes, and HELLO! 

Breakfast… is seeeeeeerved. 

You can bet your bottom dollar this crisp is going into the breakfast rotation. 

Not only is this crisp delicious and SO easy, BUT it makes a single serving just for YOU to savor, it's gluten-free, AND dairy-free! 

The bomb dot com right there. 

Sit outside on the porch with a cup of coffee, a good book, and your little strawberry almond crisp and your life just got awesome. 

Happy weekend, friends!

strawberry apple almond crisp {single serve, gluten-free, dairy-free}

1/2 large apple, chopped into chunks

3/4 c. strawberries {fresh or frozen; I used frozen and quickly thawed them by running them under some warm water}

4 1/2 tbsp. almond flour

small handful of almonds, roughly chopped

2 tbsp. quick cooking oats

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tbsp. dark brown sugar

1/2 tbsp. soymilk

1/2 tbsp. honey

In a small bowl, combine the oats, almond flour, almonds, cinnamon, and dark brown sugar. Add milk and honey and mix with a fork until a crumble forms. Place apples and strawberries in a microwave safe bowl and top with crumble mixture. Microwave on high heat for 2-3 minutes- time will vary for each microwave.

honey nut oatmeal breakfast cookies

It's no doubt morning is my absolute favorite time of the day. I guess that would make me a, uhh, morning person? Weird.

I'm crazy and am usually in bed by 9:30 every night WHICH means I'm up and ready to conquer the day before 6.

I totally love it.
Being up before the rest of town, no dogs barking {yet}, no cars. Just birds, trees, and breeze.

Every morning, I walk out to the kitchen in my pajamas and turn on the hot water for my first cup of coffee. {… I drink instant. Is that wrong?}

Then I sit down on the couch and start my morning off the right way with some Jesus before things get busy and stressful.

While I was making my coffee this morning, the idea for breakfast cookies came upon me. 

Yah, I know there's like a zillion billion and one recipes for breakfast cookies out there. Not to toot my own horn errrr anything, buuuuuut… Mine are the best. 

The texture of these cookies is more like a muffin than an actual cookie. In fact… you could totally make this dough, throw it in a muffin tin, and you're cool. 

The honey nut flavor in these cookies reminded me of those granola bars I made awhile back. Sweet, nutty, flavorful, and warm.

The best thing about these cookies? They're hearty and healthy enough to eat for breakfast! They're great with your morning coffee and a side of fresh fruit. 

Breakfast just got awesome. 

… AAAAND I just realized this is my third cookie recipe in a row. 

Whoops?

honey nut oatmeal breakfast cookies {gluten-free, dairy-free}

1 banana

1 egg

1/2 c. soymilk

1/4 c. honey

1/2 c. dark brown sugar

2 c. gluten-free all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 c. oats 

1 c. chopped nuts

In a large bowl, combined the banana, egg, and soy milk. Whisk in the honey and dark brown sugar. Add all of the dry ingredients and sir until combined. Scoop dough onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 20-25 minutes. 

puffy peanut butter m&m cookies

Lately, I've found myself in a seriously full-blown photo rut. Let me tell ya. It ain't fun.

Awhile ago, I was in love with how my photography was turning out, but then all of a sudden it was like "dude. whoa. whaaaaat happened."

People always say "you can never get worse. you can only get better."

Well, look at me, guys! Breaking trends and conquering the impossible. Just call me… WONDERFUL-COOKIE-MAKER-WOMAN.

Saving the world… One fat, wrinkly cookie at a time.

Haaaaardy haaar… haaar… har.

Dear people.

If you every find yourself in the same rut as me- walking around the entire house looking for a room with good lighting and even resorting to taking pictures ONAFREAKINGBED- well maybe that part's just me- but anyways. I was saaaaaaaaying.

If you ever have issues with light, go outside. It works MA.GIC.

For these cookies, uhh… I took a hundred and fifty nine photos. Yes, 1-5-9. Hashtag- foodbloggerprobs.

The first hundred and eight I took inside, uploaded them to the computer, edited them, uploaded them to my blogpost, decided I hated their stinking guts, deleted them, and then proceeded to whine a little bit like a three year old.

Then I manned up, trotted outside, and took fifty one more. 

When I was taking pictures outside, my dog came with, hoping I'd find his chubby little face so irresistible {which I do.} and give him human food{which I didn't.}. HA. Suckaaaah. He got no cookies, but sat by the table, stared at the plate of cookies, and licked his lips over. and over. and over. and over again. 

Well. I'm still not in love with these photos, but they did turn out better than the first hundred and eight. 

It's been a long day, I have packing to do for a little weekend trip with our missions team, I have studying to do, it's 3:30 and I'm still in my pajamas, and I probably should go for a run. 

So no more picture taking for me! An hour and a half for five pictures is good, thanks. 

Oh yah, and cookies! I made some. They're fat and wrinkly just how I like 'em. 

Like I said, we're going away on a little "retreat" with our team and I'm so excited to have some time away and do some relaxing. And sleeping. 

My mom said I could bake something to bring along and I figured why the heck not make some cookies. 

Puffy, chewy peanut butter cookies studded with some crunchy peanut M&M's. 

Do you need anymore convincing? 

I think not. 

Excuse me while I go run off all those "taste-tests."

puffy peanut butter m&m cookies

1/2 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. dark brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cornstarch
1 1/4 c. peanut m&ms

In a large bowl, combine butter, peanut butter, and eggs. Stir in sugars until smooth. Add flours, baking soda, salt, and cornstarch. Mix until combined. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. When you're ready to bake the cookies, reheat oven to 375ºF and grease a cookie sheet. Roll chilled cookie dough into balls about 1 1/2 tablespoons each. Press down with your palm or a spoon. Press 4-5 m&ms on top of each cookie. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool and remove to a wire rack.

white chocolate chunk pretzel cookies

When it comes to blogging, one of the biggest issues I have is posting. Call me Captain General. Wait, what? Ugh. No, I mean, how often to post. I have to admit, peer pressure still exists in the blogging world. {grr.} 

Every day, I see bloggers have posts going up, filled to the brim with beautiful pictures and drool-worthy, time-tested recipes. Quality over quantity is a big thing, and it's something I'm definitely kicking myself in the butt about lately. *ninja butt kick* 

I feel pressured to be posting every time I whip something out of the oven, when really, if the recipe COULD be better, it'd probably be better not to post it at all. When you lovely people visit my blog, do I want you to see a whole BUNCH of awesome recipes maybe only posted once a week, or crappy posts posted every day with a good one thrown in to the mix every once in awhile? 

So I'm just forewarning you, I think I am going to be posting a little less. I feel like that with all my healthy eats, they're taking over the blog {"The health-nuts are coming, the health-nuts are coming!"} and they definitely get less hype than anything else. Sure, this IS my blog and I can post whatever the heck I want, but if it's not improving my blog in anyway, I think I'll leave it out. 

Of course, that doesn't mean I'm not going to be making healthy recipes. I just won't be posting them as much if ever unless they're going to blow your pants off. {Just kidding! For the love of bunnies, please keep your pants on!}

Long story short. I need to not post recipes that really aren't that great or when the pictures don't turn out good. Because I want to keep this blog AAAAALL about beautiful, happy, scrum-diddly umptious food. Sorry, I guess that was a lot of unnecessary boredom.

Boringness aside… 

COOKIES!!

Gosh dang it, it's been way too long since I've made a batch of cookies and just left them alone without making them all healthified-like. {Speaking of healthified!!! REMEMBER THOSE GF MUFFINS I MADE? I MADE A BETTER VERSION!!!!!!} {SHOULD I POST THEM!!!!?} {TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!!!!}{SORRY ABOUT ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!}

Where was I? Oh, cookies! Derr. 

These are full on, butter packed, flavor packed, fat packed cookies that will make your tummy happy. Not your hips. But your tummy. I promise you.

Sweet and salty is one of my faaaaaavorite flavaaah combaaaahnahhhtions and these cookies are stuffed with all kindsa good things that are sure to satisfy any sweet and salty cravings. 

Dark brown sugar makes them super chewy and soft. Then I added white chocolate chunks and pretzels because white chocolate and pretzels go together like… dark chocolate and pretzels! MMM.

On another totally random, unrelated, and irrelevant note… I'm super happy because I found a new place to take good pictures! Awhile ago, we got rid of our white oven which was the perfect place for me to take my food pictures. The new oven just wasn't the same, but I've found a new place on the counter where I can take decent pictures without them looking like they were taken in a dark dungeon way down under the ocean. {What.}

So there's that.

Thanks for listening to me babble. I believe your face needs a cookie or ten. 

white chocolate chunk pretzel cookies

1 c. butter, softened

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. dark brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 3/4 c. AP flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. sea salt

1 c. white chocolate chunks {or white chocolate chips}

3/4 c. pretzels, coarsely chopped {plus more for topping; optional}

Preheat oven to 375ºF. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, eggs, sugars, and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Mix until combined. Fold in white chocolate chunks and chopped pretzels. Scoop cookie dough into balls about 1-1 1/2 tablespoons each and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until cookies or golden brown and slightly underdone in the middle. Let cool before removing to a wire rack. 

buttermilk biscuits with honey cinnamon butter

These last few weeks have been quite the doozy. All those assignments in my dashboard, papers to be written, tests to be taken, and books to be read are driving me {literally} crazy. I feel like there's SO much to get done, but I just can't do it no matter how hard I try. I'm like a little engine that is trudging forward with every ounce of energy left {not much}, spittering, sputtering, and spattering, bumping along, running out of steam, and doing my best to just get to my destination. Which would be 10th grade. I'm supposed to be done in about a week, but those assignments are piling up and I'm falling behind. I keep telling myself "It's ok." I mean, I can only do my best. That's literally all I can do. 

This morning, I was studying and it felt like my brain just shut off. I was so tired. So ready to be done. I got changed out of my pajamas and was out the door for a run in 5 minutes flat. It just feels good to run because I can go and I can go fast unlike my schoolwork. I decided to leave the earphones at home so I could really clear my mind without hearing "Heyyyyyyyyy… sexaaaaay ladayyyyyyy." in the background of my thoughts. For half the run, I was praying that I would just slow down. That God would bring me a sense of peace and calmness. {and productivity. ha.} It felt SO good. When I got home, I got back on the computer and did my work the best that I could because THAT is what matters. Not how much I did or how I fast I went. I just did my best. 

If you haven't left by now, you really deserve a treat for sticking beside me like butter on biscuits. Buttermilk biscuits actually. With whipped honey cinnamon butter. SOSTINKINGGOOOOOD GAHHH. 

buttermilk biscuits with honey cinnamon butter 

biscuit recipe from here 

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the board
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt or 1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold
1 cup buttermilk (approx), plus more for brushing

honey cinnamon butter

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. honey

Preheat your oven to 450°F. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, or in the bowl of a food processor.
Cut the butter into chunks and cut into the flour until it resembles course meal. If using a food processor, just pulse a few times until this consistency is achieved. Add the buttermilk and mix JUST until combined. If it appears on the dry side, add a bit more buttermilk. It should be very wet. Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Gently, gently PAT (do NOT roll with a rolling pin) the dough out until it's about 1/2" thick. Fold the dough about 5 times, gently press the dough down to a 1 inch thick. Use a round cutter to cut into rounds. You can gently knead the scraps together and make a few more, but they will not be anywhere near as good as the first ones. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet- if you like soft sides, put them touching each other. If you like"crusty" sides, put them about 1 inch apart- these will not rise as high as the biscuits put close together. Brush with buttermilk. Bake for about 10-12 minutes- the biscuits will be a beautiful light golden brown on top and bottom. While biscuits are baking, prepare honey cinnamon butter by whipping butter, cinnamon, and honey with a handheld mixer until fluffy. Set aside. Once biscuits are finished baking, top with warm honey cinnamon butter.

gluten-free banana bread muffins

Today, was one of those days. I woke up knowing I had SO much stuff to work on, and that is never a good start to any day. I skipped my workout which didn't help either. Since it's the end of the school year for me {2.MORE.WEEKS.}, I'm jamming as much as I can into every single day. Exhibit A) Today, I did a science test, an english quiz, a geography quiz, 2 science lessons, an english lesson, a geography lesson, 2 bible lessons, about 5 algebra lessons, and read a couple of chapters of my book for English. I didn't even finish everything I need to, but when your clock reads 4 o'clock and you've been working since 6:30, I think it's a sign to shut the computer and go talk about muffins instead. On the computer. AHHMEHHLIFE.

Anyways, yesterday, my family was gone for the day, so I decided to have a friend over to bake with! I'm going to be honest, I really don't like baking with people. Ever since I was little, I've always loved being in the kitchen alone. Cooking and baking is my stress-reliever. Having people around just doesn't help. I remember going to a friend's house when I was little and baking cookies and we got in a fight over who was going to mix the batter. From then on, let's just say I'm a WHISKINGPOWERHUNGRYBEAST. Just kidding. {?}

 We had a blast baking and chatting and singing and dancing  and stuffing our throats with muffins. Ah, what fun. I did the math to see how many calories are in each muffin, and according to my calculations {I'm stroking my imaginary beard. LOOK, GUYS!}, they're about 80 cals each. Yes, this is real life. Turns out, using GF flour is the way to go. It smashes all those calories and says "You're not the boss of me!" … Kinda like me in the kitchen! ha. Along with the muffins, I made some gluten free brownies. They were awesome, but I have some work to do before I post a recipe :)

I was so happy with how these muffins turned out! I was worried when I read that gluten-free baked goods can sometimes have a weird gummy texture and odd flavors. Seriously, the night before the day I planned to make these, I had nightmares that they turned out like little hockey pucks. Yum. these muffins tasted exactly like my regular banana muffins and had a great texture. They didn't turn out gummy at all, but were super dense and moist. AND for like a quarter of the calories which means you can eat three and that's a breakfast under 250 calories! WIN!

gluten-free banana bread muffins

4 ripe bananas, mashed

1 c. plain yogurt

3/4 c. dark brown sugar 

2 tbsp. honey

2 tsp. vanilla

1 large egg {at room temperature}

1 c. favorite gluten-free flour {The stuff I found at the store was a mix of corn flour, brown rice flour, tapioca flour, and xanthan gum}

1/2 c. almond meal {or almond flour. Mine was pretty coarsely ground so there were some chunks.}

1 c. gluten free oats

1 1/4 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400ºF. In a large bowl, combine bananas, yogurt, egg, honey, vanilla, and brown sugar. Stir in flour, almond meal, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Scoop batter into a greased muffin tin and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool a couple minutes before removing from pan with a knife to a wire rack. 

peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough bars

Let us sing for joy. I made something packed with peanut butter, chocolate, sugar, butter, and calories. 

Good gracious, things such as this make my heart go pitter-patter. Yah, it's been awhile since I baked something not healthy. I mean, hey, healthy sweets are good every once in awhile. But everything in moderation, amiright? 

Of course, since my tastebuds haven't felt the presence of sugar in awhile due to the diet, I'm gonna be honest. I OD'd it on these. 

Totally, full-on, stuffed my face, couldn't stop, over did it. 

It's funny because I haven't cheated with dairy or gluten at all {I haven't had BREAD in weeks. Truth.}, but I have allowed sugar which is the thing I need to cut out the most. That probably made no sense, but just act like you understand, ok? 

Anyways. I ate a lot of these last night. They made me happy. And hyper. And I think you should make them. I'm happy we had company over that I was able to send them home with. Ooooootherwise, I would have eaten the whole dang pan by myself. Seriously, there might be something illegal in there. 

These bars literally taste like straight up peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough. HEA.VEN.LY. For shizzle. 

The good thing is, you can eat it all straight from the bowl if that's what your little heart desires. It's safe to eat- no flour {because raw flour tastes icky} or egg. Press into a pan, cover it in chocolate, roll it into balls, eat it with a spoon, do what you wish.

peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough bars

1/2 c. butter, softened

3/4 c. peanut butter

2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 c. dark brown sugar

2 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 c. chocolate chips + 1 more cup for topping if desired

In a large bowl, whisk together butter, peanut butter, vanilla, and brown sugar. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined. Fold in chocolate chips and press into a greased pan {mine was small- like 5x6, but you could use a bigger pan for thinner bars} If desired, melt 1 c. chocolate chips and pour on top. Chill in refrigerator for 2+ hours and cut into squares.