My mom bought too many bags of grapes last week! Within the past few days, I have been eating frozen grapes, raisins, and plain grapes in an attempt to make a dent in the four bags sitting in my refrigerator. On my quest to getting rid of all of the fruit, I discovered this recipe for pickled grapes. Yummy, right? Absolutely. After making a few changes to the recipe, I had a small jar of pickled grapes. They have a sweet taste with a kick coming from the vinegar. I like to eat mine with scrambled eggs. It may sound strange, but pickled food with eggs is delicious!

• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup mixture of red and black grapes and cranberries
• 2 tsps honey
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• pinch of fine sea salt

1. Wash the cranberries and grapes. Pull the grapes from their stems. Slice the fruits in half. Pour them in a small glass container. 
2. Pour the vinegar, water, honey, and salt in a saucepan. Bring everything to a boil. Remove from heat and pour the liquid into the jar. If the fruits are not entirely submerged in liquid, add just enough water to cover them. Add in the cinnamon stick and mustard seeds, then allow the liquid to cool. Chill overnight and consume within a week.

(via fromgymtoslim)

I can’t believe that I had enough time in the morning to prepare breakfast! This is the second day in the row. Well, if you are a fan of rice pudding like me, then you will love this recipe.

• 2 1/4 cups brown rice, cooked
• 1 3/4 cups unsweetened soymilk
• 5 tbsps dates, pitted and chopped (7 dates for me)
• 1 tsp cinnamon

1. Pour all of the ingredients into a pot.
2. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer for 35-50 minutes. Stir often. When the mixture becomes rich and creamy, remove from heat. Allow it to rest for about 10 minutes. During this time, the mixture will thicken up some more. Scoop out contents for serving, then refrigerate the rest.

If you haven’t baked a banana before, then you are in for a treat! It is pure goodness, especially with cinnamon, honey, and almonds. 

• 1 small banana
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp almonds, chopped

1. Preheat toaster oven to 350F.
2. Make a slit in the middle of the peel. Be careful not to pierce the banana inside.
3. Cut the banana into thirds, then remove the pieces from the peel.
4. Sprinkle 1/4 cinnamon and drizzle 1/4 tsp honey into the peel.
5. Coat the banana pieces with the rest the of the cinnamon.
6. Put the pieces pack into the peel.
7. Drizzle the rest of the honey into the sides of the peel.
8. Stuff the almonds into the peel.
9. Wrap the banana in aluminum foil.
10. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

I tried ZICO coconut water for the first time a few days ago and gave it a thumbs up. Even though the drink was not as good as fresh coconut juice, I still enjoyed it. Well, an idea popped into my head yesterday. What if I were to add coconut juice to my oatmeal? I gave it a shot this morning and I did not have any regrets. The oats had a hint of coconut juice flavor. Combine that with cinnamon and nectarine and you get an unbelievable breakfast.

• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp ZICO coconut water
• 1/4 cup diced yellow nectarine
• 1 tsp ground flaxseeds
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat toaster oven to 375F.
2. Pour the oats, cinnamon, flaxseeds and coconut water in a bowl. Let it sit for a few minutes.
3. Add the diced nectarine to the bowl and mix well.
4. Pour everything including leftover coconut juice into a ramekin and bake for 8-10 minutes. 

I woke up my taste buds this morning with this baked oat bran that was ridiculously moist and sweet. 

• 1 medium sized banana
• 1/3 cup oat bran
• 1 tsp ground flaxseeds
• 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Cut a few banana slices to be used for the topping and set aside.
3. Mash the rest of the banana, but leave a couple of chunks behind.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
5. Pour the mixture into a bowl and arrange the banana slices on top.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes. 
7. Remove from oven and let it cool slightly. Serve warm.

One of my all-time favorite snacks is a baked sweet potato smeared on top of Triscuit crackers, then sprinkled with ground cinnamon. Unlike a cream cheese spread, which is often high in fat, I don’t feel so bad for piling on the sweet potato! So delicious and nutritious.

Is it too early to be thinking of Thanksgiving? Well, I know what I am making this year! This sweet potato ice cream blew me away. As always, I asked my parents for their opinion of it and they agreed with me. It was a winner. In my first bite, I could taste the wonderful sweet potato and spices. The only thing I would change for next time is reducing the amount of sugar to 1/4 cup. The ice cream was a little bit too sweet for me.

• 2.5 cups cottage cheese
• 1 cup unsweetened soymilk
• 1.25 cups sweet potato puree (canned or fresh)
• 1/3 cup cane sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tsps ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup toasted and chopped pecans

1. Put the cottage cheese through a strainer to remove any excess liquid. It is fine if there is some leftover liquid. Take the cottage cheese and puree it. The mixture should be smooth.
2. Pour the mixture into a bowl and set aside.
3. Add the sweet potato puree into the same bowl.
4. Pour the soymilk into a pan and bring to a simmer. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, honey and cane sugar, then stir until the honey and sugar are dissolved.
5. Remove the liquid mixture from the heat and pour it into the bowl with the cottage cheese and sweet potato puree. 
6. Stir until the mixture becomes pretty thick.
7. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for several hours until well chilled.
8. Remove the freezer bowl, which should have been sitting in the freezer for at least 6 hours, and place it on the machine.
9. Pour the liquid mixture and churn for 20-25 minutes. During the last five minutes of the churning process, pour in the pecans. You can serve immediately or scoop the contents into a container and freeze for a couple more hours. The ice cream is best eaten as soon as possible because it will freeze to a solid due to the not so typical ice cream ingredients. Otherwise, you can just wait for the ice cream for about 30 minutes or so for the ice cream to melt.

**These directions are for a Cuisinart ice cream machine.**

The nectarine and green apple chips sprinkled with cinnamon turned out fantastic in the dehydrator! Although they are not as crisp as potato chips or my oven baked apple chips, they still have good flavor. I initially thought the apple chips were going to be the better than the nectarine ones, but I was wrong. The nectarine chips dominated the apple chips! I still prefer juicy nectarines, but I will make chips out of them when they are about to spoil.

I was passing by the bakery in Sprouts when these muffins caught my eye. The two words that stopped me in my tracks were flourless muffins. Is it even possible to make muffins without flour? Curiosity got the best of me and I flipped to the back to see what strange ingredients would be listed on the label. To my surprise, I found none. I was met with words such as unsweetened applesauce, skim milk, apples, and pure raisin juice. As the label states, there is not any refined sugar, flour, or trans fat. So what did these muffins have instead of flour? Oat bran! Since I love using oat bran in my pancakes, I thought the muffins should taste pretty good. My eyes slowly made their way to the nutrition facts and my jaw dropped. One muffin has 120 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 6 grams of protein. Many muffins are loaded with calories, fat, an sugar, so I was surprised to see such low numbers. Can you imagine a muffin that is good for you? Well, these ones sure fit the bill! After I came home and put away my groceries, I could finally sit down and enjoy a muffin. It was love at first bite. Let’s get this straight. This muffin is not going to taste like a usual one. It has neither a buttery nor sugary taste. Instead, the muffin has a subtle hint of apples and cinnamon. It is light, yet filling because it contains fiber. Contradiction right? In addition, the muffin has a pretty moist texture, which surprised me since it lacks butter. Overall, the flourless muffins are a great product. If you are not a fan of apples and cinnamon, then there are two other flavors: walnut raisin and blueberry. I have yet to try those, but I am sure they will be just as good as the apples and cinnamon These muffins are perfect for a quick breakfast or snack. Thank you Dee McCaffrey for making a guilt free food!

Overnight oats are the best! For breakfast, I had some made with oats, soymilk, Greek yogurt, cinnamon, chia seeds, almonds, and blueberries. As always, they were creamy and satisfying. 

I just spent an hour in Costco. It is so easy to lose track of time once you step into the warehouse where an array of products at large discounts await to be put into your shopping cart. Anyway, I spotted this monstrosity as I was passing by the bakery. One chocolate swirl slice has 310 calories and 15 grams of fat. Yikes! I was sad to see only a few of these containers left. People really need to read food labels.