Protein filled Garbanzo Bean Cakes

I am constantly trying to add protein to my diet. Garbanzo bean flower has 6 grams of protein for every 1/4th cup thus
I decided to invest 4.59 for a bag of Bobs Mill Garbanzo flour and see what i could use it for. 

I have ended up perfecting these garbanzo bean cakes which I have eaten for dinner and lunch. They are really easy to make!

To make them I take 

1/2 a cup of garbanzo bean flour

1cup water

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 tablespoon of oil (olive, coconut etc)

1tablespoon of seasoning (salt paprika cumin etc)  

I mix these all in a bowl and then pour the batter pancake style onto a hot griddle with a little olive oil on them and let each side cook for about 2 minutes and voila they are set!

As for toppings you get to play around with them heres a few ideas: 

The first time i made these I put sauteed kale and roasted butternut squash and a little crumbled goat cheese. 

I also made them with chili oil for a super spicy kick and had them

For lunch. i cut the pancakes up and dipped them in hummus

And most recently I made two very thick pancakes and created a type of sandwich!

I simply filled it with spinach an guacamole and hummus! 

Celebrating Fall with Apple Cider in an Apple

SOOO
This past week one of my best friends and I had our birthday. Yes, it is Strange we have the same birthday. Maybe it is also fate. Also it finally got chilly in the Big apple and its finally apple season and the farmers market is once again filled with local farmers selling apples, and apple cider and apple cider donuts.
And being true foodie fall babies, my friend and I spent a day together cooking and celebrating our birthday and the start of our favorite seasons...fall.
THUS WE HAD *you can insert a drumroll here if you wish

APPLE CIDER IN AN APPLE!!!!
It was sooo easy and fun to do!
we simply bought local apples at the farmers market
and cider.
then we cut out the center of the apples.
-This took the longest time in out preparation. We cut a square around the core and cut that out with a small, but sharp knife then we were lucky to have decently soft apples so that we could use spoons to scrape out the insides. I finished them off by trimming the inside with the knife. It was kind of like taking out the inside of a pumpkin before you carve one except... without goey stringy pumpkin stuff and pumpkin seeds.
also there is the exciting moment when you see there is a star flower in the center of the apple

I always am excited by these little pretty things you find in nature

Finally we filled our little apple mugs with hot apple cider that we heated on the stove and sprinkled on cinnamon and took a sip
:)

 It is so amazing how much the raw fresh apple enhances the flavor of the apple cider itself. Also our apples had a nice tangy-ness to them that contrasted with the sweetness of the cider. AND  the heat of the apple cider made the apple soft inside but crisp on the outside so when we were done we ate the apple and bit into the cup. It was crispy and soft and delicious!!! I felt like my childhood dream of trying the edible teacup in willy wonka and the chocolate factory was finally being full filled (the version with jean wilder. I clearly remember when he sits down drinks and then bites into the crisp yellow teacup thats supposedly a candy flower)

Taking her first sip :)

Kale Kraze

KALE 
its rich in iron. its rich in fiber. its a leafy green. its in season. i got a huge bag of it for 1.99 at trader joes
and ...I had a kale filled week last week!
its also easy to incorporate and fill up a plate.
I ate it steamed
and I ate it raw.
and  it was alll amazingly filling delicious and as I mainly prefer CHEAP and super fast!
 I had kale in multiple forms and here are my two favorites of the week

*Kale Tacos: aka fastest dinner I prepared last week
This was a surprisingly amazing result of a craving for my mothers mexican food and being to broke to buy any mexican food down the street.
 It actually took me about five minutes to make:
I took canned black beans and heated them. I heated tortillas. I took some of my mothers salsa (which is similar to salsa they have in alot of chinese restaurants. Its kind of like a chili paste but I cant give away the recipe :/ its also EXTREMELY spicy) and put the salsa on the tortilla.
I put the beans in the tortillas and added raw kale and chopped tomatoes and  VOILA
 one helll of a tasty meal.

KALE TACOS

 *any salsa would work for these tacos and im sure theyd be even more amazing with more toppings like cheese or if you eat meat...with steak etc.



* Steamed Kale with Sweet Potatoes and Tomatoes
 This was also ridiculously easy to make.

 I boiled 1 diced sweet potato in water until it was soft then I dumped out the water and finished it off in olive oil and salt and added some tomato slices. I have this thing were I love cooked tomatoes the combination of sweet and tangy makes me oh so happy :)
The Kale I simply put in a saucepan with some water and steamed it.
I put both on a plate sprinkled them with salt and then ate on my fire escape 

*Oh and another day I sauteed the sweet potatoes in my mothers salsa and had them with steamed kale which was also amazing :)

ANYWAYS kale is amazing and cheap and these are the cheap yummy meals of the last week
:)

Breakfast for this week:
Gluten free and Vegan Berry Almond Cereal
I experiment in the kitchen constantly.
....mainly because I don't ever really plan what I am cooking exactly so when I grocery shop I buy things; then dream up what I can do with them and whatever I have stocked in my pantry.
So this week I bought only fruits, veggies, nuts and coconut milk. BY THE WAY it was the first time I bought groceries in two weeks and after surviving off frozen vegetables and GF pasta for a week All I want is vegetables...that are not frozen.
Every sunday night I embrace my inner housewife clean, do laundry and then prep my meals for the week.  This saves me time during the week and guarantees I am eating a well balanced meal/enough during the week. Every day I mix up the core of my weeks meal with some different garnishes/spices.

This week for my breakfast I kind of envisioned a breakfast bake....and my experiment led to a some sort of moist granola.
It was simple to put together
I used

• 2 cups Gluten free oats
• 1/3 cup chopped almonds (you can adjust how nutty you want to be)
• 1/3 cup frozen berry cherry blend from traders joes  (aka cherries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries)
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 a tablespoon of coconut oil
• cinnamon to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder 
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar

I simply chopped almonds and then mixed tall the dry ingredients together. I added the coconut oil first and then the milk. The oats absorbed the milk right away.

 I then heated the oven to 325 degrees and popped them in. I checked on the oats often stirring them to make sure they wouldnt burn. After 25 minutes I took them out. The oats were browned but not hard or crunchy like granola...thanks to the coconut oil and milk.

I put them in the fridge overnight in an air tight container and they stayed fresh and soft.

 Andddd then I put some in a bowl and added coconut milk and bananas!!!
It was pretty darn good :)

So even though I didnt get my envisioned breakfast bake....I love the result. And I now realized that I didn't use enough coconut oil because I had it in the fridge where it became a solid rock of white oil. Also I need to add something like peanut butter t make the ingredients stick to make the oats stick together. Luckily next I can continue my experiment