(!)
a walk in the park, an awesome cardio and bodyweight workout, lots of delicious food making, and mug upon mug of tasty single origin coffee drinking ensued. hurray for impromptu days off! especially when they start off with things like this:
...and wind down with things like this:
i'm all, why not share the goods? so here you go, guys. thanks to my surprise saturday downtime, we're going back to back with a proper double feature. and just because i love pumpkin so, so much (and because i still had half a can leftover from the other day) i decided to kick things off with these yummy little pumpkin pattycakes with creamy peanut butter yogurt icing. half pancake, half warm pie filling, all around awesome topped with creamy fluffy goodness. booya!
breakfast pumpkin pattycake with peanut butter yogurt icing
makes one pattycake
for the pattycake:
- 1 TS rolled oats or quick oats
- 1 TS unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 TS flaxmeal
- 1/4 cup unsweetened 100% pumpkin puree
- 1 TS raisins
- 1/4 apple finely diced
- 1 ts honey or agave
- 1/4 ts vanilla extract
- 1/4 ts cinnamon
- dash of nutmeg
- pinch of sea salt
throw all your ingredients into a bowl and mix into a mushy mash of sorts. at this point, you have a choice to make. if you'd like something a little more on the creamy side (more like a warm custard), add a little more pumpkin or 1 TS of unsweetened applesauce to the mix. if you'd like something a little denser and more like a desserty version of a latke in consistency, add another TS or so of oats. or you can just try it the way it is and tweak it in the future if you'd like. the recipe above is kind of a nice middle ground. not too mushy, not too dense. just keep in mind that these are not pancakes in any sort of traditional sense...they're much more like thick pie filling or an undercooked cookie in consistency: soft, warm, and delicate. mmm.
heat a pan (nonstick definitely helps) with a little oil or cooking spray on medium low and empty the pumpkin mash into the pan. form it into a patty with a fork and let it brown a bit on one side before carefully flipping it with a spatula and reshaping it back into patty form. these often will come apart while you cook them. it's just the nature of the beast. just mush them back together with your fork or spatula and you're in good shape. cook and reshape on either side until starting to brown
once thoroughly warmed to your liking, shovel onto a plate and get your icing ready.
for the peanut butter yogurt icing:
- about 1/3 ripe banana
- 1-2 ts unsweetened peanut butter
- around 1 TS greek yogurt
break the banana into chunks. melt the peanut butter over the banana in the microwave for up to 30 seconds. mush them both together into a gooey jam. mix in the greek yogurt and add a dash of cinnamon or a little touch of sweetener if you'd like. i find that this is plenty sweet on its own from the banana, but you might like it more so. dollop on top of your pattycake and add raisins, fruit, walnuts, or whatever you'd like!
if you'd like something a little less creamy to try with these, they're also really awesome with this honey nut streusel business, which is just as easy to make as the icing. yay!
just take a small handful of peanuts (i think i used 1 TS or 2) with about 1 ts of sunflower seeds and grind into a coarse meal. i just use an automatic coffee grinder that i've set aside for things like this and it works great. just make sure you clean it out really well both before and after if you have used it for coffee in the past and/or plan to use it for coffee in the future.
empty the meal into a bowl, add 1 ts of honey, maple syrup, or agave, 1 ts of oats, a sprinkle of cinnamon and i like to add a dash of fenugreek as well. mix it together until crumbly. that's it!
now, fast forward to dinner: italian spiced socca pizza. i've been meaning to try this out for a while now. i've made socca several times before in the past and experimented with different flavors and toppings and have always had really amazing outcomes. socca pizza was an idea that practically made itself...i've really just been waiting for an opportunity to throw this bad boy together. i'm so glad it finally all worked out tonight. this will definitely be happening again. i mean really, how can you go wrong with pizza?
first, i should probably explain what socca is if you don't know already. socca (also called farinata) is a gluten free mediterranean flat bread made with garbanzo bean flour that is often served with different spices cooked into it. i believe traditionally it's made with salt, rosemary and savory herbs, but i've made this with cocoa or used juice in place of water in the past for a lightly sweet socca and love, love, loved it. it's texture is light, and almost like a thick crepe with a sort of creamy center because of the garbanzo bean flour. it's incredibly diverse, crazy adaptable, really healthy, and excellent for clearing out your fridge. there's really no end to what you can serve socca with or how you can flavor it. it's super quick and easy too! i've seen a lot of different recipes floating around with different proportions, temps, and cook times, but i generally follow one basic one and adapt it as i see fit. here's what i'm currently using:
basic socca
- 1 heaping cup garbanzo bean flour
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 to 1 ts sea salt
- 1 TS olive oil
- 1 TS unsweetened applesauce
whisk all the ingredients together and pour into a 9 inch pan that's been sprayed with cooking spray or lightly greased. bake in the oven at 375-400 for about 30 minutes or until the top is dry and starting to crackle. you can take it out and gently flip it at this point and cook for another 10 minutes if you'd like to brown both sides, or you can just leave it on one side. again, totally adaptable to whatever you're going for. for this round, i added some garlic powder, rosemary, oregano, and basil to my batter before pouring it into the pan and just cooked it on one side for 30 minutes at 375. then for the pizza parts, i just added some fresh tomato slices, mushrooms, chopped spinach, black olives, artichokes, a little fresh parsley, fat free feta, and nutritional yeast and threw it back in the oven for another 12 minutes until the tomatoes were soft and the cheese was warm. i spread a little bit of hummus and greek yogurt on mine as i ate it, too, and that turned into a pretty fancy feast...very mediterranean and very satisfying. this was soooo yummy and fresh tasting. super delicious pizza without all the grease and heftiness. hell. yes.
all in all, i'd say this was a pretty perfect ending to what ended up being a pretty awesome day. i hope everyone else had an awesome saturday, too! feel free to carry the awesome into sunday by breaking out either of these recipes for some weekend wiles tomorrow. or, for bonus points, why not both? pancakes and pizza in one day? you better believe it...
double feature, baby. that's just how we roll.
