Fabulous Finds: Healthy and Delicious Breakfast Recipes

Lately I’ve been in a breakfast funk. It seems oatmeal and peanut butter slathered toast just don’t belong in warmer temperatures.

Fortunately for me and my breakfast slump, Ricki Heller of Diet, Dessert N Dogs fame recently shared her third e-book.

Thank goodness because I needed some ideas and inspiration!

Ricki’s e-book, aptly called Good Morning Breakfasts Without Gluten, Sugar, Eggs, or Dairy , is jam-packed (pardon the pun) with amazing recipes and information.

If you know Ricki – and I’m sure you do by now – you know just how incredibly talented she is. All of her recipes are ACD friendly (free of sugar, gluten, eggs, dairy, and anything that encourages yeast to grow), but they’re still perfectly delicious and incredibly nutritious.

After a thorough examination of Ricki’s new e-book, I decided to try three recipes:

• Fluffy Pancakes
• Sausage Patties
• Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Seriously. Look at those pancakes! They were fluffy and delicious. The kids and I gobbled them up for breakfast. Ricki also shares her recipe for berry coulis, alas my little munchkins are fairly strict maple syrup lovers so we stuck with the familiar!

Next up I made the Sausage Patties for dinner one night (we regularly have breakfast for dinner, don’t you?). These vegan patties were so easy and so good. I made a few changes based on what I had on hand. That’s one of the great things about Ricki’s recipes. They’re easily adaptable.

I was in the mood for a muffin (if you know me, you know I love a good muffin). Well, look at this muffin! I love lemon and blueberries together. I don’t use stevia in my baking, but that’s okay because she includes a note about how much agave to use instead.

And because I couldn’t leave you without a recipe, here’s Ricki’s recipe for Lemon Blueberry Muffins.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

1/4 cup (60 ml) tahini (sesame paste), or use cashew butter if you’re not a sesame fan
1/4 cup (60 ml) sunflower or other light-tasting oil, preferably organic (I used coconut oil)
1/2 cup (120 ml) unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp (10 ml) finely ground chia seeds
1 cup (240 ml) unsweetened soy or almond milk
25-35 drops stevia, to your taste (the muffins will taste a bit less sweet once baked), or 1/4 cup (60 ml) agave nectar*
1 tsp (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
1 tsp (5 ml) pure lemon extract or 2 tsp (10 ml) lemon flavoring (flavoring is less intense)
finely grated zest of 2 medium or large lemons
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup (120 ml) dried blueberries (I used frozen)
1/2 cup (120 ml) amaranth flour (I used millet flour because Callum can’t tolerate amaranth)
1/2 cup (120 ml) brown rice flour
2 Tbsp (30 ml) coconut flour
1/4 cup (60 ml) garbanzo-fava flour or chickpea flour
1 Tbsp (15 ml) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) baking soda
1/4 tsp (1 ml) fine sea salt

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, or grease with coconut oil.

In a large bowl, whisk together the tahini and oil until smooth. Add the applesauce and stir well to combine, then whisk in the chia seeds. Add the milk, stevia/agave, vanilla, lemon flavoring, lemon zest and vinegar, and stir until well combined. Gently stir in the blueberries to coat them.

In a medium bowl, sift together the amaranth flour (or millet), brown rice flour, coconut flour, garbanzo-fava flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the dry ingredients over the wet and stir just until combined.

Using a large scoop or a 1/3 cup (80 ml) measuring cup, scoop generously and fill muffins tins very full. Bake in preheated oven 30-35 minutes, rotating pan around halfway through, until very well browned on top and a center muffin tests done. Allow to cool 5 minutes before removing from pan to cool completely.

Makes 12-14 large muffins or 12 large muffins and about 6 minis. May be frozen.

* You can replace the stevia with 1/4-1/3 cup (60-80 ml) agave nectar if you like, but reduce the milk by 2-3 Tbsp (30-45 ml) if you do.

Here’s some of the recipes from Ricki’s e-book that I still want to try:

• Cranberry Smoothie
• Grab and Go Breakfast Bars
• Socca Roll ups
• Almond Butter and Jelly Casserole
• Sweet Potato Spread

Guess what?

Ricki and I are giving away two copies of her e-book. Two lucky winners will get 57 pages of recipes, pictures, tips, and information. You won’t be disappointed.

To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment below telling us what your favorite breakfast food is.

Contest closes Sunday, June 12th at midnight (EST). Two winners will be drawn through Random.Org.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Winners will be announced next week so make sure you check back!