PHBC Day 2! Today was the granola day. I simply mixed 3 tablespoons of granola with some milk and called it breakfast.

Oh, and don’t forget the half peach I found in the refrigerator. It was super sweet!

Granola is sooooo easy to make, and has many uses. You can use it to enhance your oatmeal, eat it during the day as a snack, o simply consume with milk like I did this morning. And like veggie burger, it has a base recipe and you can make your own versions. So don’t be lazy about granola, just make it!

Granola

Ingredients:

• 3 cups oatmeal
• 3/4 cup desired nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, etc.), chopped roughly
• 1/3 cup liquid sweetener (I prefer honey)
• 1/4 cup oil (preferably extra-virgin olive oil or coconut oil)
• optional: 1 tablespoon flax seed
• optional: 2 tablespoons coconut flakes
• optional: 1 tablespoon cocoa nibs
• optional: 1/4 cup dried fruit (raisins, dates, etc.), chopped

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees C (300 degrees F).

Mix the dry ingredients. Add the sweetener and oil, and mix well.

Put the mixture onto a pan with parchment paper.

Bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You can store granola in a jar for up to 1 month (or maybe more).

EDIT: Check this out! It looks amazing, I’m definitely going to try this!

Did you know that when I was a child, I didn’t like to have breakfast? I used to only drink a glass of milk in mornings, and then crave for the entire day. Then when I was a freshman in university, I used to eat fatty pastries every morning with a big cup of sugared tea. Yuck!

But now, I’m older and I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and not only it keeps you full for hours, it is also helps you maintain your healthy weight. I can easily say that when I don’t have breakfast, I tend to binge on any food I can find that day.

So, breakfast is good for us and we have to have it everyday. But it’s not easy huh? For some people, having a breakfast early is not tempting. My sister, for example, cannot have breakfast very early. That is of course not true for me. But I have another problem. Since I like to sleep, and am therefore usually rushing for work in the mornings, I definitely don’t have time to have a decent breakfast. Fortunately, these two breakfast preventive situations have one single solution: “pre-made breakfast”.If you don’t like to have breakfast early, just prepare it in the morning. Or, if you are like me and don’t have time to eat, just prepare it and eat on the way or when you arrive at work. But preparing takes a lot of time too, what if we don’t have time for that? Well, you can make some of the work the night before, and just assemble or cook in the morning. That easy!

Today, I’m starting a weekly challenge: “Pre-made Healthy Breakfast Challenge”, or simply PHBC. For one week, I’m going to have a different healthy breakfast every day, and post it here with recipes. And believe me, they are all too quick to prepare since I’m a lazy person.

And I’ll probably take the photos using Instagram or Hipstamatic. I just don’t have time for taking DSLR photos in the morning!

So, we start with pancakes…

Did you see Katie’s vegan red velvet pancakes? Oh, they are so good! So yesterday, I decided to have them for my next breakfast, and prepared the batter before I sleep. I changed the recipe a little bit, made the batter, put it in a container, put that in the freezer and slept.

When I woke up, I took out the batter, and saw that it was thickened too much. So I added a little bit of milk and cooked the pancakes. Then I spread some rose jam (killer!!!) and my homemade peanut butter on top. I put my pancakes in a container and eat them on my way to work.

Also, I managed to grab the leftovers of my sister’s lactose-free milk:

Day one completed!

Overnight Chocolate Pancakes with Peanut Butter & Rose Jam

adapted from Chocolate-Covered Katie

makes 2 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon oatmeal
• 1 tablespoon flax seed
• 1/2 tablespoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon stevia (or 1 tablespoons honey or any other liquid sweetener)
• optional: 2 teaspoons chocolate nibs

For topping:

• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon jam (I used rose jam but blackberry jam works the best)

Directions

Mix all the ingredients, and store them in the refrigerator overnight.

On the morning, if the batter is too dry, add 1-2 tablespoons milk. Then, cook both sides in a lightly oiled pan for 2-3 minutes.

Spread peanut butter and jam on top.

Put them in a container and take to work!

Woaaa! Long time, no see my dear blog. I don’t know what happened to me, I just want to sleep all the time. I actually made this recipe about a week ago, but I was so lazy to post it. But that’s enough. From now on, I’m focusing on my blog. So, I’ve promised to make some savory recipes, and this is one of them.

For the New Year, I bought myself a lot of cookbooks, and one of them is called “Cooking Light Way to Cook”, and it’s really an interesting one. It’s just the book I’ve ever wanted. All kinds of recipes (from salads to desserts) in a healthier way! And I found the pizza dough recipe from that book.

About the sauce, it is a recipe that I made up myself. It is actually another version of the sauce in my bruschetta pizza recipe. This time, I added some flaxseed in it (I always find something interesting in the kitchen and if appropriate, add use it in my recipes).

Thick Crust Whole-Wheat Pizza

adapted from Cooking Light Way to Cook

1 big or 2 small pizzas

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
• ¾ cup warm water
• 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons honey
• salt
• any other herbs you want

For the sauce:

• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon pepper paste (optional)
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoon water, depending on the thickness
• 2 tablespoons flaxseed
• 1 clove of garlic
• pepper
• salt

For the topping:

• 150 gr. (5.3 oz.) mozzarella, or any kind of cheese that can melt

Directions:

Mix honey, water and yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Knead 2 cups of flour with yeast mixture. Add the remaining flour after 3 minutes.

Coat the dough with some olive oil (not to make it dry) and rest it for about an hour in a warm place.

Using your hands (it doesn’t have to be in a perfect shape), make 2 mini pizzas (or 1 big pizza). The thickness depends on you, but mine was about 1 cm (½-inch) thick.

In a food processor, mix all the ingredients for the sauce and spread it over the top. Be sure to leave some empty space on the edges (I actually made the dough a bit thicker on the edges). Sprinkle the tops with grated cheese.

At this stage, you can wait for 30 minutes to make your pizzas more spongy (that’s what I did). Bake the guys for 10-15 minutes in a preheated oven (250 degrees C – 500 degrees F).