Avocado with a Baked Egg

Super simple recipe, but quite a few of my friends requested it!

So, here you have it...

Avocado with a Baked Egg
1 medium-to-large avocado, sliced in half, pit removed
1 small-to-medium egg

Pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F.  Scoop out the avocado pit, and make the space a bit wider.  It really depends on how big your eggs are.  I find small eggs to fit the best in the avocados here in the UK, but the USA definitely has bigger avocados... (go big or go home).

Crack your egg into the middle of the avocado.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes (will vary by oven).

Enjoy heartily.

Sugar Rush

I apologize if this recipe gives any of you early-onset diabetes or, in a slightly less serious case, a raging sugar high.

I'm really only half sorry though, cause these are worth it.

Cue American cinnamon rolls!  These babies don't really exist here.  Sure, there's Cinnabon (the ooey-gooey, heart attack bit of heaven), but in general, most Brits think of the "cinnamon roll" as being more danish-like.  I don't like those flat danishes.  Where's the doughy fun?  Okay, so I do have a dough obsession, but let's be honest - who doesn't?

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

The Dough

• 1/2 cup milk of your choice (I used almond milk, actually)
• 1/6 cup unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons dry active yeast
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 medium eggs

The Filling

• 1/2 cup soft, light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour
• 3 1/2 tablespoons of butter, room temperature

The Icing

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/8 cup butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon milk (add more to make it thinner)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• dash salt

This recipe made about 8 rolls, I think.  I used a 9" round pan.

You can also these babies with a cream cheese icing, if you have that on hand.  Equally delicious.

--

In a small sauce-pan, melt the 1/6 cup butter and 1/2 cup milk over medium heat.  

Remove from heat right as it comes to a boil.  In the mean time, in a medium/large bowl, combine 1.5 cups flour and all of the sugar, salt and yeast.  Combine.  Crack in the two eggs; mix well.  

Pour the now lukewarm milk/butter mixture overtop and mix well.  It will be quite wet at this stage.  Start adding the remaining 1.5 cups of flour into the mixture, half a cup at a time.  When it came to add in the last half cup, I discarded the mixing spoon and dove in with my hands... knead away!  Knead until smooth - about 5 minutes.

Let that dough rest in the bowl for 10 minutes.  In the meantime, make your delightful filling.  Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl, cutting the tablespoons of butter into small pieces.  

Flour your workspace.  Plop the dough onto the surface and begin to punch it into a large rectangle.  I don't do that rolling pin thing... why roll when you have a great excuse to punch things?  Not even a question.

Spread the filling mixture evenly, leaving about an inch of space around the outside of the doughy rectangle.  

Now comes the fun part.  ROLL BABY ROLL.  Make the first roll a very small one, to pinch in the end, and then gently tug/roll until you have one large log.  (I have just realized that "log" might be the most unappetizing word, ever...)

Be smarter than me and actually use a sharp knife to cut the log into segments (you could get 6 large rolls, or about 8 medium rolls).  I couldn't find one and had to opt for a butter knife, which made a lot of the filling go everywhereeeeeeeee.  But that's okay, I just smooshed all of that brown sugary goodness back onto the top of the rolls.  Like a boss.

Place the rolls into a greased 9" round pan, cut-side-up.  

Cover in cling film and place in the fridge overnight.  Now you have to wait.  Probably the longest night of your life.

Alarm goes off.  

Take the cinnamon rolls out of the fridge.  They should've risen a fair bit.  Remove the plastic wrap and place on the counter for about 30 minutes.  I know, I'm pretty much a villain for making you wait so much.

Preheat your oven to 190C/375F.  Bake 'em for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.  While they're baking, mix up your diabetes-inducing icing.  Melt your butter, then stir in the rest of the ingredients, leaving the milk for last.  Keep adding milk until you have your desired consistency.

Remove cinnamon rolls and immediately douse in icing.  Mmmmmmmmm melty goodness.  Eat them now.  Don't wait.  Are you insane?!

You don't want the nutrition information on these.  

Trust me.  

Eat it, enjoy... then go workout.  A lot.

No phones were harmed in the making of this delicacy

Elvis Presley (Protein) Bread

Everyone knows that Elvis Presley's favorite sandwich in the entire world was fried bananas with peanut butter.  It's a classic.  Well, in America, at least.

So, why not make it into a quick-bread and add some protein, for fun?!

Yes, that is my idea of fun.

Elvis Presley Bread
** = optional

Dry Ingredients:

• 240g (~2 cups) all purpose flour

• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• **100g your favorite granola (I recommend nutty, rather than fruity)

• **60g your favorite vanilla protein powder (trec is great); if you don't have this, add another tablespoon of flour, plus a teaspoon of vanilla extract

Wet Ingredients:

• 4 small bananas, mashed

• 300g (1/2 cup) chunky peanut butter

• 135ml (1/3 cup) milk of choice

• 15ml (1/4 cup) oil

• 2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mash bananas with fork and add to mixture.  Add milk, oil and eggs.  Last, plop (I know, very sophisticated) your peanut butter into the mix.  Mix well.

Generously grease your loaf pan.  I think mine is the normal 9x5 pan?  This baby will stick if you let it, so either line your pan with parchment paper, or use oil to coat the sides.  I use some kind of spray oil that boasts only 1 calorie a spray... what are these miracles?!

Right.  Pour mix into the pan.  It should look something like this:

Place in the oven for roughly 45 minutes.  After 45 minutes, if the top is getting too brown, place a little foil "tent" over top and continue cooking.  It should take roughly 60-75 minutes, in total.  You'll know it's done when a fork, inserted into the middle of the bread, comes out with just a few crumbs attached.

Promptly remove and let cool for 15 minutes.  Once it's semi-cool, turn it over and place on a wire rack, or somewhere where it can "breathe" (aka, not gather any condensation on the bottom) and continue to cool down.  Slice into 20 slices, or, if you're a monster of a human, eat the whole thing.  I'm looking at you, Chris.

Calorie Breakdown:

Per slice, if you cut it into 20 slices

Without optional ingredients: 176 calories, 9.3g fat, 1.5g sat fat, 20g carb, 1.6g fibre, 5.8g protein

With optional ingredients: 210 calories, 10g fat, 1.65g sat fat, 21.4g carb, 1.7g fibre, 8.3g protein

Enjoy!  And, bear in mind the sugars & fats coming from this buddy are from honey, banana and peanut butter - hardly equivalent to most banana breads, which boast tons of brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter and margarine.  This one's a surefire winner.

The Oatmeal Secret

After yesterday's stomach fail, I decided to switch up my usual 2/3 -- today, I went non-raw for breakfast, and plan to go raw for lunch and dinner!

KathEats (food blogger) has an ode to oatmeal on her page.. check it out

I did wake up rather late, so I didn't eat breakfast until about 10am, so the raw portions might turn into "early dinner" and "evening snack," but nonetheless!  I decided to go non-raw for breakfast because I had a huge craving for oatmeal.  I have an obsession with oatmeal.  I should probably write it a love song.  Maybe I'll commission my friend Lottie to get on that one, since I'm musically (and creatively)-challenged.  Not sure how many of you have made oatmeal the correct way (ie, on the stove top, not in the microwave, and with non-instant oats), but it's so worth it.  This English porridge crap?  No thanks.

Brie's Perfect Oatmeal

• 40g (or 1/2 cup) rolled, or jumbo, oats

• 1 or 2 egg whites (if you use the liquid carton kind, probably 1/4 cup)

• dash milk

• enough water to cover about an inch above the oats

• 1 tsp vanilla

• dash cinnamon

Bring to low boil.  Keep an eye on it, because oats burn to the bottom of the pan notoriously quick.  Stir vigorously for about 30 seconds once it comes to the boil, then let it rest for about 30 seconds... repeat until desired consistency.  The egg whites are incredible because they 1) add a lot of protein and 2) make your oats insanely fluffy.  Plus, the taste is great.  You'll notice that the above recipe doesn't have any sweetener in it.  That's the way I prefer it, because I tend to add a lot of toppings, most of which are sweet (brown sugar, banana, honey, etc).  If you want to add a sweet ingredient into the cooking process, go ahead; it won't disrupt anything.  A fun twist is cutting super thin slices of banana into the cooking oats before you "whip" or stir them, causing the bananas to emulsify and thicken your oatmeal, as well as add yummy sweetness. 

I hope you can tell that I'm an oatmeal connoisseur.