I am such a dork. I nearly waited until Monday to eat this breakfast just so I could fill this post with references to “Blue Monday.” You know, that song by New Order (and Orgy, which I must confess I liked better.) At least I didn’t wait until January.

That glistening blue blob on the banana (wow that sounds gross, but it’s so aliterative!) is a scoop of blueberry Noosa yogurt. I made the mistake of going to “the big Whole Foods” in my area and came home with a bunch of novelty products I’ve never seen before at “the little Whole Foods.” This yogurt was one of them.

I could not resist those plump little berries!

The yogurt part itself has a great cheesy flavor and texture that I really like. The blueberry stuff didn’t taste too much like blueberries, but it was a nice fruity and sweet contrast to the yogurt.

In other blue news…

I bought nail polish on an impulse yesterday. I am not an impulse shopper. But my blue nails make me happy every time I look at them.

What color always makes you happy?

June 30, 2011 Alayna Discussion 7 comments

Oh yeah, there is nothing better than cake for breakfast.

I’ve had about 8 out-of-season honeycrisp apples in my fridge for a month now because they were sour and not good for eating out of hand. This week I’m vowing to use them up in various baked preparations that will bring out their sweetness.

First use: Emily‘s recipe for cinnamon apple glazed cake squares that was featured on Eat Live Run recently.

I made a ton of substitutions to work with what I had. Apple butter rather than apple sauce, chickpea flour rather than whole wheat pastry flour, a little oil to fill in for not having enough butter, added an extra apple, and used real eggs rather than flax eggs. I also tried baking it in a 9×9 pan instead to make them fluffier, and with 20 extra minutes of baking it worked!

These cake squares are so, so insanely good. I fully intended on making the glaze that goes with them but after trying them naked I decided to leave it alone.

With a hot cup of tea, inspected for quality by Liam, it was a fantastic breakfast.

3 apples down, 5 more to go.

What’s your favorite baked apple recipe?

June 24, 2011 Alayna Discussion 4 comments

Lots to do today. I have a couple of blog changes planned, I hope I can finish some of them so I can actually make the updates today. Very excited.

Breakfast was a gargantuan banana topped with maple Wallaby yogurt and Lovegrown apple walnut granola.

I made a really tasty dinner last night. Normally I suck at making pastas but this one turned out pretty great. Whole wheat tagliatelle with roast turkey, burst tomatoes, and peas.

Yesterday afternoon I roasted two turkey breasts with the skin on to retain juiciness. I just rubbed them with olive oil and salt and put them in the oven on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. When they’d had time to cool, I removed the skin and pulled the turkey apart into shreds with my hands.

To make the sauce, I sauteed 6 large cherry tomatoes and a few cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil. I pricked the tomatoes with a knife so they wouldn’t explode and added about a half cup of prepared tomato sauce and a small dollop of cream cheese. When the tomatoes were blistered and splitting, I crushed them with the back of a spoon and grated over some parmesan. I just tossed in some of the shredded turkey and added boiled pasta and peas for an easy dish.

First task of the day: Photo shoot for a new blog header image! Gotta get it while the lighting’s good.

June 21, 2011 Alayna Discussion 2 comments