Strawberry breakfast biscuits

Strawberry breakfast biscuits: not too sweet, with a scone-like texture, and super easy to make. Try them in strawberry shortcake, too.

Lest you think it's all savory crockpot dinners around Casa de Ninj all the time, I'd like to introduce you to my new favorite baked good: strawberry breakfast biscuits.

(Not that you can't eat them any time of the day that you please. Or multiple times during the day. Trust me, we have.)

Regular readers and makers of my recipes will not be surprised to hear that these are a not-so-sweet biscuit -- not nearly as sweet as a pastry or muffin, with a slightly scone-like texture.

They really let the flavor of fresh, seasonal strawberries shine.

And, of course, they are super easy to make, because that's how I roll -- no mixer, no rolling, no lightly-floured work surface, no biscuit cutters.

White bean avocado toast

Packed with protein to keep you feeling full and energized, white bean and avocado toast is the perfect savory breakfast or easy, light lunch.

It's easy to get into a breakfast rut, especially when you're in hurry, as most of us are each morning. Bless his heart, Mr. Ninj is perfectly content to eat the same egg sandwich or oatmeal smoothie that I put in front of him every morning, but I, on the other hand, need to change things up. And while baked goods like muffins are an awesome grab-and-go option, sometimes I need a savory, not sweet, breakfast.

So I was pretty excited when Pepperidge Farm® asked me to come up with a healthy and delicious recipe featuring toast. Yes, toast, which, when simply buttered and served with a plate of eggs can be a little ho-hum.

But this is not that.

We all love a good slice of avocado toast, whether for a quick breakfast or an afternoon snack. I've elevated it to healthy breakfast status by adding a layer of mashed white beans, loaded with keep-away-the-mid-morning-hungries protein, and topping it all with some veggies.

This, my friends, is a good-for-you, savory breakfast toast that's not only delicious but also has amazing staying power.

Maple date scones

Maple date scones are an easy-to-make, healthier, less-sweet treat for breakfast, dessert or an afternoon snack.

While I like sweet snacks and desserts as much as the next ninja, I generally prefer my baked goods to be a little less on the sweet side.

Which is why I'll choose a scone over a cupcake any day.

(True story: My sister used to love sitting next to me at family birthday celebrations when we were young because I didn't like to eat the frosting. I would eat the cake part of my piece and give the frosting to her -- that's how much I prefer my sweets less sweet!)

And any time I can sweeten a sweet more naturally than simply using refined sugar, I'm all over it.

As their name implies, these maple date scones are sweetened with pure maple syrup, chewy dates and almost no added sugar.

Granola breakfast bread

Banish boring breakfasts by turning granola and cashew milk into a hearty, healthier granola breakfast bread that's super easy to make.

Coming up with different breakfast ideas every morning can get to be drag, am I right? And then qualify that as different breakfast ideas that aren't too rich or too unhealthy (I'm looking at you, cinnamon buns), and it gets harder, especially at holiday time.

I find I often fall back on overnight oatmeal or granola with almond milk,  because both give me a nice shot of protein, are filling and yummy and, best of all, are easy to prepare.

Recently, I got an opportunity to try Silk's new Cashewmilk (Mr. Ninj loves it when food shows up at our front door!), so I immediately used it for breakfast, poured over homemade granola. Good stuff, my peeps, especially since it's creamier than plain skim milk with fewer calories and more calcium to boot (who couldn't use fewer calories and more calcium?). Plus, I loved the mildly nutty flavor and how it complemented the granola.

Which gave me a great idea: why not turn this yummy granola and Cashewmilk combo into a quick bread? Booyah.

Turkey, apple and fennel bread salad

For this easy, healthy post-holiday meal salad, just toss your leftover turkey (or chicken) in a lemony vinaigrette with whole grain bread, crunchy fennel and sweet apples.

So yeah, I'm going there. There's still a week to go until Thanksgiving, but I'm going to start talking about the leftovers.

You're going to thank me, really. Because, when you think about it, planning for leftovers in advance in really quite smart. It means that you can be sure that

1. Your turkey will be large enough to accommodate the awesome turkey sandwiches and dishes you'll be making over the long weekend
2. You will have all the ingredients you need on hand without having to risk a trip to the grocery store on Black Friday (shudder).

See? It's just smart and strategic to talk leftovers the week before the holiday. Yeah, you're welcome.

And if there's any doubt that Thanksgiving is just as much about the leftovers as it is about the cozy family together time spent cramming in lots of yummy food on a Thursday, let me tell you a true story. Years ago, a former co-worker friend of mine attended Thanksgiving dinner at her cousin's house. Bizarrely (because, remember, this is THANKSGIVING, The Official Day of Over Eating), there was not enough food to feed everyone at the table! (I know, right?) According to my friend, if she hadn't been a thoughtful guest and brought a large tossed salad to the dinner, she would have had nothing to eat, as she gave her son her "portion" of turkey so that at least he would have enough to eat.

Oh, but wait, the story gets better.

Slow cooker apple bread pudding

Make these individual apple bread pudding cups right in your slow cooker. With no dairy or refined sugar, they're a perfect on-the-go breakfast this fall.

Oh look: It's still September so The Ninj is still not talking about pumpkin.

Well, at least until next week.

You know I'm devoted to seasonality and September is the best month for apples: crisp, tart, crunchy, sweet ... GGGAAAAHHHH! I love apples! Even writing about them gets me excited to make something from apples.

So I made individual apple bread pudding cups in Mason jars in my slow cooker. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  But before we talk about the recipe, you have to hear the backstory on this one first. 

A friend of mine wanted to make my slow cooker bread pudding for a dinner party but was having a hard time finding a heat-safe loaf pan that would fit in her crockpot (mine is oval-shaped, so it's not an issue for me). That's when it occurred to me that I could put my crazy-hoarder-lady supply of canning jars to good use and make individual bread pudding cups.

OMG. Too stinkin' adorbs. I was practically peeing myself with excitement.

Apple zucchini bread

Enjoy this healthy, delicious apple zucchini bread for breakfast: it's loaded with end-of-summer produce and early-fall fruit, plus it contains no dairy or refined sugar.

You know The Ninj is dedicated to seasonality, and, given that it is still September, that means I'm still not showing you recipes that involve The October P-Word Vegetable. But that doesn't mean that I'm not excited for fall produce, like apples. What it does mean is that I have a bunch of end-of-summer produce overlapping with my beginning-of-fall produce.

That overlap is how I came up with this apple zucchini bread, my homage to September, the month that graciously ushers in fall while kicking summer out the back door.

You're totally going to dig this bread because it's moist, flavorful and super-addictive yet wicked healthy: It's loaded with fiber and it contains no milk, refined sugar or butter.

Whatchootalkinbout, Ninj?

(I can hear you saying that, I really can.)

Let's break that down:

Sweet carrot bread

Enjoy this easy, healthy recipe for sweet carrot bread, a perfect snack or breakfast bread. Serve either plain or lightly toasted and topped with a little crunchy, sea-salted butter.

So let's talk cookbooks. Do you still use them? I do -- well, not really. Or sort of. Let me explain.

I don't buy many cookbooks anymore. Historically, I found that I would wind up liking only about six recipes in each 200-plus page book. And those books take up way, way too much real estate for that kind of return on investment.

The exception to this rule is my collection of Cooking Light recipe annuals. Basically, after getting me to subscribe to the magazine for a year, the crafty marketeers at Cooking Light then convinced me to shell out a bunch of money for a book that contains all the recipes from every issue for that year.

(Yes: I just paid for the same content twice.)

For years, I justified it by congratulating myself on all the bookshelf space I was saving by replacing 10 bulky magazines with one simple book. Until I ended up with 10 books. Fail.

Finally, after much agonizing over how it might mess up my recipe-saving system, I just said no to the annuals.

And?

Honestly, it has worked out fine for me because, once I started this blog, recipe variety had to become my new middle name. I rarely make the same recipe twice anymore (with a few exceptions, of course) because I'm always looking for new, healthy-and-delicious recipes to share with all of you . Because, unlike some other bloggers, I blog about what we actually eat around Casa de Ninj: no special blog-only recipes, just our daily fare.

Naan panzanella salad

Enjoy this quick-to-prepare riff on rustic Italian panzanella salad, with lightly fried naan and a bright lemony dressing -- an easy summery meal salad, perfect for a weeknight dinner or hearty lunch.

It's not quite summer yet, but I've been a summery meal salad kick lately.

Perhaps it's just wishful thinking. Perhaps I'm doing it to appease the weather gods so that they won't throw a late frost at me, just as I'm beginning to get my summer garden planted. (Oh please oh please oh please)

I love meal salads and am always looking for new ideas to make them interesting. Lately I've been throwing savory granola into my salads for a little extra crunch: highly recommended. For this riff on my favorite summer salad, panzanella (Italian bread salad), I've kicked it up with lightly fried naan.

Yes, naan!

I'm a naan junkie. I think the wait staff at my favorite Indian restaurant probably cringes when I arrive for the lunch buffet -- I bet they lose money that day based solely on the amount of naan that I manage to scarf down in one sitting.

Savory sausage bread pudding muffins

Savory sausage bread pudding muffins: a fun riff on the traditional breakfast casserole, perfect for feeding a brunch crowd.

I love it when the stars seem to align -- that is, when my real life dovetails perfectly with my blogging life. How so? Katie of Healthy Seasonal Recipes asked me to take part in her spring entertaining giveaway on the very same day that my BFF sent me a recipe for a savory bread pudding that she thought I would like.

Booyah.

Spring entertaining made me think immediately of Easter brunch and, I swear, there is nothing better (or easier) for feeding a brunch crowd than a breakfast casserole. And it seemed to me that this savory bread pudding was just begging to be made into cute single-serving muffins.

(So, should we be even cuter? Should bread pudding muffins henceforth be known as "puffins"? No, I don't think so either.)

Therefore, you can see why I called it an alignment of the stars. 

In my quest to make my recipes more stealthily healthy, I cut way back on the whole-fat dairy in this bread pudding -- and you won't miss it: it's still rich and filling with lots of cheesy flavor. For a vegetarian version, simply omit the sausage and double up on the amount of bell pepper (a combination of red and green looks smashing).

Banana espresso breakfast muffins (+ a giveaway)

Banana espresso breakfast muffins: a healthy, easy recipe reminiscent of banana bread but with a shot of espresso for a delicious morning pick-me-up.

 You know what's better (and a wee bit healthier) than coffee for breakfast? Coffee in your breakfast. In the form of banana espresso breakfast muffins.

Yeah, I'd call that stealthy. Here's how they happened:

I was excited when Staples asked me if I'd like to try out the Verismo home brewer from Starbucks. One of the biggest pluses is that the brewer comes with a recipe booklet for making many of your favorite Starbucks drinks at home. I mean, how cool is it to just whip up a chai latte or an iced Americano or a caramel latte whenever you want?

It's very cool. And handy.

And easy to use: just pop a coffee pod into the sleek brewer and press a button. There are also milk pods (made of real milk, not "creamer" chemicals) for making the specialty drinks, so there's no separate heating or frothing necessary. And the used pods are collected in a little built-in container which makes clean-up a snap.

Savory sausage and apple bread pudding

Savory sausage and apple bread pudding -- an easy crowd-pleaser, perfect for breakfast, brunch or even dinner.

I'm a huge fan of breakfast casseroles: they're perfect for feeding a group of houseguests and they just seem extra fancy. Very brunchy.

And I also love bread pudding: the dense custard is so hearty and satisfying, whether you're making a sweet pudding for dessert or a less sweet one for breakfast.

So what if you crossed a breakfast casserole with a bread pudding?

You'd end up with this savory sausage and apple bread pudding, which is equally as good for brunch as it is for dinner, depending on the ingredients you choose.

Since I had planned it for brunch, I opted for a sweeter maple sausage, although plain ground pork would well, too. (One of my favorite things about living in Vermont is that you can find local maple sausage just about everywhere.) If you'd prefer to have your bread pudding for dinner, substitute a mild Italian sausage and a really sharp cheddar cheese.

One thing you can't skip is the apple -- whether you like Granny Smith, Macintosh, Honey Crisp or Pink Lady, the apple adds the awesomesauce to this bread pudding recipe.

The apples I used actually had provenance.  Last week, I attended the funeral of my dad's cousin Anna, who was a larger-than-life, kind, generous woman. She was an avid crafter, quilter and baker, and her love of using apples in her baking earned her the nickname "Apple Annie." As a tribute to their mother, her daughters, my cousins, had a large basket of apples at the funeral and urged everyone who attended to take an apple that day as a way of remembering their mother.

Tiramisu bread

You'll love this tramisu bread -- all the delicious flavors of the classic dessert in a simple quick bread.

Happy Valentine's Day!

OK, I know it's not really Valentine's Day (heck, we haven't even quite reached the end of Detox January), but you are going to feel like it is a holiday all about love with today's post. Why? Two reasons:

1. I am giving you a spectacularly yummy recipe for tiramisu quick bread that is perfect for Valentine's Day. 
2. I've teamed up with some other blogging buddies to give you a chance to win a $500 gift card from Tiffany and Co., which would pretty much be perfect for choosing a Valentine's Day gift! (The giveaway deets follow the recipe below.)

Booyah for Valentine's Day!

Now, before you get all cray cray about the giveaway, let's talk about this tiramisu bread.

ERMERGAHD. This stuff is like candy -- well, if the candy was coffee-mocha-marsala-flavored. Just as with the traditional tiramisu dessert, the key to this recipe is rich mascarpone cheese, which I love because it's not too sweet. Add to that a great mocha-espresso flavor, accented with sweet marsala wine and you've got all the awesomesauce of tiramisu without any of the hard work.

Peanut butter and banana snack cake

Super-easy peanut butter and banana snack cake is perfect for snacking or a quick breakfast.

We're into Week 2 of Detox January 2014 and I'm giving you a recipe for peanut butter and banana snack cake.

Only with The Ninj do the words "cake" and "detox" manage to go well together.

(See? I told you this would be easy!)

Since I'm still on my post-oral-surgery soft food kick, I've been trying to come up with ever-more inventive ways with bananas, as they are filling and a good source of protein. I've been making a version of this snack cake (peanut butter only) for a few years now and realized that, if I took small bites and mixed in some mashed banana, it would definitely be post-surgery worthy -- especially since I have graduated from drinking my meals to chewing them again.

The banana was the perfect addition, lending a bit more moistness and really highlighting the creamy peanut butter flavor. It's a new breakfast favorite around Casa de Ninj.

This cake is also very kid-friendly and would be a nice lunchbox or after-school treat.  And, as with all my favorite recipes, feel free to personalize it; for example, throw in a handful of chopped nuts, if you want to add a little crunchiness, or add a sprinkling of crushed peanuts to the top before baking.

Roasted grape crostini

Enjoy this recipe for roasted grape crostini, an elegant but easy party appetizer.

I have never been a big New Year's Eve kind of person. Oh sure, I used to try to force myself to stay awake and watch Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve until the ball dropped, but I've even given up that pretense: without Dick, it's not really all that rockin'.

But these roasted grape crostini appetizers might make me change my mind this year. Paired with a lovely glass of champagne, I can think of no better way to ring in 2014.

(I seriously cannot believe that 2013 is nearly over -- can you? Where the heck did this year go?)

And, as is the case with most of The Ninj's favorite recipes, these roasted grape crostini are quick and easy to prepare.

Slow cooker bread pudding

Try this overnight slow cooker (crockpot) bread pudding: it makes a delicious and easy breakfast or dessert.

Once again, it's time to ROCK YOUR CROCK!

Regular readers know that one of my criteria for favorite recipes is that they are easy to prepare. Which is why I love slow cooker recipes so much: What could be easier than throwing everything in the crockpot and walking away?

However, if you've browsed through Pinterest much, you know that while many crockpot recipes are easy, they are also just plain gross. Gloppy, beige and full of cream-of-whatevs condensed soup: no thanks. That's not how The Ninj rolls. (Don't forget that you can make homemade cream-of-whatevs soup as a substitute!)

Trust me: this bread pudding is not gross.

A fun thing I discovered about crockpot cooking is that you can make a lot more dishes in it that you would think if you essentially turn it into an overnight waterbath: Put a Pyrex dish full of your ingredients inside the crock, surround it with water and let it cook overnight. That's how I make my crockpot apple pie oatmeal, which we eat a lot of around Casa de Ninj.

That is also how I made this bread pudding. I figured if the waterbath worked for the oatmeal, why not for bread pudding?

Ehrmergahd, peeps, this is such an amazing breakfast treat. Sure, you can serve it as dessert, but it seems so much more decadent to eat it for breakfast.

Blueberry bread

Blueberry bread -- a sturdy, not-too-sweet bread with a delightfully crunchy top for breakfast for breakfast or snacking. 

Yes, it is September and I am a food blogger -- but The Ninj is not posting about pumpkin.

It seems to me that the "Summer is dead, long live Fall" battle cry happened far, far too early this year. Weeks before Labor Day, I saw Halloween candy for sale in the grocery store, and the number of pumpkin recipes appearing on food blogs is overwhelming.

And, frankly, absurd. I can't imagine anyone has very many pumpkins popping up in the garden quite yet.

What happened to seasonality, people??!!

Which is why The Ninj is making a solemn pledge to stay out of the freakin' pumpkin patch until October, when pumpkins are seasonally appropriate. You have my word.

This is also why I'm sharing a great recipe for blueberry bread today. I'm still harvesting blueberries off my backyard bushes, and I just passed an open Pick-Your-Own blueberry farm yesterday.

Seasonality. Say it with me. Say it to your friends. Write it on your favorite bloggers' Facebook pages.

Banana-zucchini muffins

So, have you used up all your zucchini yet? (Snort)

Yeah, I know: bad joke. Mine is still coming in from the garden and I don't know how many more baggies of shredded zucchini my freezer can hold. I still have one in there from last year, for cripes sake.

But if you also happen to have a past-its-eating-prime banana hanging around, today is your lucky day.

If not for the pathetic banana on the counter, I would likely have made my summer harvest zucchini bread this week. But frugality (read: cheapness) got the better of me: I was determined to use up the banana and the zucchini -- and not by throwing either one into the compost bin. My challenge to myself was to find a way to use them both in one recipe.

Lucky for you, I scored. And scored big.

You know how yummy banana bread is? And you know how much you love zucchini bread? Yeah? Well, now combine them together, add some flax seed meal to make it good for you and -- voila! -- you've got The Ninj's favorite new breakfast: banana-zucchini muffins.

The best thing about these banana-zucchini muffins is that they are incredibly moist, without any added oil -- and not that rubbery, oh-you-clearly-added-applesauce-instead-of-oil-to-make-it-healthy moistness. We enjoy them au naturel (which makes them handily portable), but they are also wicked with a little butter or fruit butter schmeared on them.

And they freeze well, too.

Nutella banana bread

Since I made my own Nutella, I've been looking for new, creative ways to use it -- other than eating it straight from the jar with a new, creative spoon each time.

That, coupled with having three past-their-prime bananas on the kitchen counter, gave rise to this bread.

(And why do overripe bananas always seem to hang out in recipe-perfect groups of three?)

Regular readers know I like my sweet stuff a little on the less sweet side (I'm more of a savory gal, frankly), which is why I'm happy happy HAPPY about this bread. It's a great afternoon snack and, if you don't mind a little chocolate in the morning (Mind? Who am I kidding...), it's a lovely breakfast bread.

Especially toasted and topped with a little schmear of strawberry jam. Yowza.

Pinspiration: Double chocolate cake

This is the second installment of my new feature -- Pinspiration -- in which I make some of the recipes I have pinned in Pinterest and share some love for the original creators.

If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll see that I pin a lot of baked goods recipes. Not a lot of over-the-top baked goods, mostly breads and breakfasty items.

But sometimes you just need chocolate cake, right?

This recipe was actually described as "healthy zucchini brownies." Um, let's just be clear: these are neither brownies nor healthy. But they are less bad for you than many desserts, given the use of whole wheat flour, applesauce and shredded zucchini (just ignore the large amount of sugar and chocolate chips!).

I guess "less-bad-for-you cake" wasn't as good a title.