Meyer Lemon, Raspberry, Goat Cheese Waffles

I'm currently on a bit of a citrus kick. Our fruit basket is chock-full of various shades of orange, pink and yellow, and I may have already confused a grapefruit and a blood orange for a lemon multiple times this season. All the colors and shades start to blend together until you actually cut the thing open and taste it! Thanks to the kitchn I learned storing lemons in a ziplock bag in the fridge keeps them fresh for a month! I tried it and it works like a gem. Lemon water has been a new obsession of mine as well. And meyer lemon water? Don't even get me started - I could drink gallons of the stuff. It's tangy, sweet, refreshing, and it's supposed to be detoxifying and SUPER good for you. 

If you've never had the chance to try a meyer lemon, they are sort of a delicacy and can be on the pricier side but are well worth it. They are generally softer than a regular lemon, with brighter more orange skins, they produce more juice and best of all their taste is sweeter and softer than regular lemons. They're really a treat. 

There are few combinations I love more than meyer lemon and goat cheese, especially in the winter. They taste amazing in my favorite one pot kale & quinoa dish so I figured why not let them play together in something sweeter. Meyer lemon waffles with sweet raspberries and tangy goat cheese. So so good. And the best part about these waffles? They freeze beautifully, just pop them in the toaster and they taste like they just came off the waffle iron. Happy Sunday. 

Meyer Lemon, Raspberry, Goat Cheese Waffles
Makes 4 large waffles 
adapted from Joy the Baker

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
3 tablespoons coconut sugar (or granulated sugar) 
1 tablespoon meyer lemon zest, (from about 2 large lemons) 
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/3 cup meyer lemon juice (from about 2 large lemons)
1/3 cup greek yogurt, I used 2% Fage
1/2 cup almond milk, regular milk, or water (I used almond)
1 heaping cup fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed slightly 
2.5 oz crumbled goat cheese (about 1/2 cup loosely packed) 

Preheat your waffle iron. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small prep bowl, stir together sugar and zest until the mixture becomes fragrant. Add the sugar mixture to the flour mixture and whisk to combine. 

In a large bowl, mix together butter, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, greek yogurt, and milk. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined, don't over-mix. Pour in raspberries and goat cheese and stir gently, keeping the goat cheese crumbles intact. Dollop the batter into your waffle maker and cook until golden, following manufacture's instructions. 

Notes:

• You could totally use regular lemons if you can't find meyers.
• I have a very un-fancy waffle maker and I know they are all probably a little different, but I found turning up the dial to the highest "most brown" setting worked best. I also sprayed my iron with coconut oil between waffles. 
• These freeze beautifully. Just pop them in the toaster and they taste almost better than they did on day 1. 

Orange Cranberry & Oat Breakfast Muffins {vegan}

I must confess, I've always been a sucker for muffins. I'd choose a sweet, moist, crumbly muffin filled with bursting fruit over a cupcake any day. Don't even get me started on the the muffin top crumbles. I have a collection of muffin tin liners above the microwave with colors and designs for every season. But you see, I have this issue where once I eat one muffin, I eat ALL THE MUFFINS. Like zero self-control. They are just so small and delicious, I swear they call my name, and before I know it my desk is covered in dirty muffin tin liners and I feel super guilty. 

So in attempt to get inspired while scrolling through my favorite food blogs last week, I discovered these cranberry orange muffins. I've never been much of a cranberry fan, but I knew we had a big bag of them left-over from when I made Dark Chocolate Cranberry Crumble Cake last month so I figured I'd give them a try. Knowing my muffin obsession, I attempted to make these a little healthier so I tossed out the 3/4 cups of sugar the recipe called for and poured in a nice 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup (seriously, I put that shit in everything) instead. To make them more suitable for breakfast, I swapped out the all purpose flour and pulsed some oats into flour for added protein and fiber. While I was at it I trader butter for coconut oil and threw in some flax seed to replace the egg because why not make them vegan? How easy was that?! {cue Ina Garten} I added a touch of cinnamon for warmth and to combat the tangy citrus and topped things off with a sweet oat crumble. The results are so so good. 

They make the perfect breakfast muffins that won't leave you feeling guilty. They are bright and zesty (the fresh squeezed OJ does that!) which serves as the perfect pick-me-up for cold winter mornings. They are unbelievably moist and the oat crumble makes them feel like such a treat but somehow still healthy at the same time. Pop these guys in the toaster with a nice smear of butter/earth balance and you will thank me. 

Orange Cranberry & Oat Breakfast Muffins 
Adapted from Pastry Affair 
Makes 24 muffins 

For the muffins:
2 flax eggs (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp water + 2 tbsp flax seed meal + 1/4 tsp baking powder) or chicken eggs
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats 
1.5 cups whole wheat pastry 
zest of 2 oranges 
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1 teaspoon salt 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 cup pure maple syrup 
1 cup coconut oil, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.5 cups fresh squeezed orange juice (from about 4 oranges) 
2 heaping cups cranberries (fresh or frozen) 

For the crumble: 
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats 
2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour 
1 tablespoon coconut sugar (or cane sugar)
1/4 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons coconut oil, cold 

Prepare the flax eggs. In a small prep bowl stir flaxseed meal, water, and baking soda together. Let sit for 15-20 minutes while preparing the other ingredients. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Blend oats in a food processor fitted with a blade until it becomes powdery, about 1 minute. Don't worry about getting it as fine as regular flour, it will have more body and chunkiness and that's okay. In a medium bowl, whisk the oat "flour", whole wheat pastry flour, orange zest, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder together. Set aside.

Make the crumble. Whisk the oats, flour, sugar and salt together until combined. Using a fork mix in the coconut oil until mixture becomes wet and crumbly. Refrigerate until right before use. Even 3 minutes in the fridge will help the coconut oil harden up. 

In a large bowl whisk together maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract and flax eggs. The oil will look like it won't incorporate, but just keep whisking, it will. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, one third at a time, whisking to combine. Once incorporated it will be super thick and hard to stir. Pour in the orange juice and whisk until completely incorporated. Stir in the cranberries. Pour into lined muffin tins, top with oat crumble, and cook for 30-35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. 




 

Simple Romaine Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing, Toasted Pepitas, & Crumbled Feta

I'm been a little MIA the last week, feeling both swamped and thankful for the opportunity to teach what felt like was a million classes and privates. For a long time I thought making a living as a yoga teacher wasn't physically possible unless you were one of the lucky few, so for it to become a reality for me over the past couple months I find I almost have to pinch myself. I am so so lucky. 

On top of that I've been applying to grad schools like a mad woman. I think to admit you really want something is the most vulnerable thing in the world. I've been playing around with practicing the art of surrender. It's not going well. 

And it's January! We've been celebrating by purging the apartment of crap. The first weekend of January we cleaned out and organized our bookshelves, kitchen, and side tables, then yesterday we tackled the worst of it - the closet, under the bed, the dresser, and desk. We've filled trash bag after trash bag of donations. I swear we own less today than we did a year or even two years ago. To get rid feels so good. So freeing. Frankly nothing excites me like organization. And don't even get me started on kitchen organization. Having a well organized kitchen makes me more efficient, creative, and I'm not going to lie, really happy. One of my new year's resolutions is to utilize my cookbooks more. I have so many and just don't read them enough. So in attempt to let them take center stage, we're building a giant wooden bookshelf above the kitchen table. My husband is a rockstar and we're hoping to have it up by tomorrow. 

With it being January, I'm sure a lot of you are aiming to eat a little lighter. And if you're like me and have eaten way to much homemade nutella and sugar in the last couple of weeks, today's post is for you. I came home exhausted from a full day of teaching last week, starving for something hearty, healthy, fresh, and FAST. The last thing I wanted was to sit over the stove for an hour. I swear I even thought "too bad you can't pop a frozen salad in the microwave". So I took to my Pinterest board and made a quick and easy "Green Goddess" dressing. I already had all the ingredients in the fridge, it came together in minutes, and craved something light and zesty to go along with it - so I tossed in a bag of romaine, toasted some pepitas and topped it off with crumbled feta. I made a huge batch for both Nate and I, and then ate the entire bowl by myself. Oops. Not only that, I ended up eating this salad for the next four days straight with the extra dressing. If that's not proof it's good I don't know what is. 

I jazzed up the dressing a little by adding avocado, and it's just divine. So creamy, zesty, and fresh. Oh and it's totally healthy with protein and tang from greek yogurt and creaminess from perfectly ripe avocado. Above all else it comes together in about 10 minutes and you probably already have all of the ingredients in your fridge. Enjoy! 

Simple Romaine Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing, Toasted Pepitas, & Crumbled Feta
Adapted from A Couple Cooks  
Serves 2-4 

For the dressing (makes 1 pint): 
2 green onions, diced
1/2 Jalapeño, seeded & diced 
1 medium ripe avocado
1/2 cup greek yogurt (I used 2% Fage) 
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro 
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon honey
3-4 tablespoons lime juice (I used 4)

For the salad: 
9 oz chopped romaine
1/2 cup toasted pepitas*
2.5 oz (scant 1/2 cup) crumbled feta 

Add green onions, and jalapeño to the bowl of a food processor or blender. Pulse until finely minced. Add in avocado, greek yogurt, cilantro, olive oil, salt, honey, and lime and blend until completely smooth. Adjust to taste, adding more lime, honey, and salt if needed. 

Combine romaine, pepitas, and feta in a large bowl. Top with dressing (note: you will have a lot left over), and toss well. 

Notes: 
Even if you buy pre-toasted pepitas, I like to pop them in the toaster for about 3 minutes until warm and fragrant before adding them to the salad.