Sides | Slow Roasted Tomatoes

This recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen

Cherry, grape or small Roma tomatoes
Whole gloves of garlic, unpeeled
Olive oil
Herbs such as thyme or rosemary (optional)

Preheat oven to 225°F. Halve each cherry or grape tomato crosswise, or Roma tomato lengthwise and arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet along with the cloves of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, just enough to make the tomatoes glisten. Sprinkle herbs on, if you are using them, and salt and pepper, though go easily on these because the finished product will be so flavorful you’ll need very little to help it along.

Bake the tomatoes in the oven for about three hours. You want the tomatoes to be shriveled and dry, but with a little juice left inside–this could take more or less time depending on the size of your tomatoes.

Either use them right away or let them cool, cover them with some extra olive oil and keep them in the fridge for the best summer condiment, ever. And for snacking.

*We roasted these tomatoes to put in our panini. It was sooo yummy! Our panini went like this: Country bread, a spread of pesto, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil leaves and roasted tomatoes. DIVINE! 

Breakfast | Whole Grain Buttermilk Pancakes

We do breakfast for dinner at our house at least once a week. 

Buttermilk pancakes are the BEST pancakes hands down. 

(well they come in a close tie next to my pumpkin griddle cakes)

To spice things up a bit for the kiddos we use pancake molds. 

Trust me, when pancakes look this cute - kids can't resist them!

One plate of ABC's - One plate of 123's

And just like that they are all gobbled up!

Whole Grain Buttermilk Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup oats (what ever kind you have on hand)

1/3 cup fine ground yellow cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs

2 tablespoons real butter, melted

2 tablespoons molasses

Mix first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl, set aside. In a large bowl whisk buttermilk, eggs, melted butter and molasses. Add dry ingredients; mix just until blended. Heat griddle and brush with butter. Drop 1/4 cup batter onto griddle for each pancake. Cook until brown. Serve with pure maple syrup, almond butter, fruit... what ever your little heart desires. ENJOY!

Did you know you could substitute buttermilk with greek yogurt? I didn't until tonight when I realized we didn't have 2 cups of buttermilk in the fridge. My best friend google told me about the substitute. We swapped a cup of buttermilk for a cup of yogurt. The pancakes turned out fabulous! 

Dessert | Sweet Chia Squares

In the mood for a yummy crunchy peanut buttery cookie type thingy? 

If your mouth said yes, look no further. 

I used crispy brown rice cereal that I purchased at Whole Foods, the box was in the cereal department, it was the 365 brand. My son thought I poured this bowl for him to eat... luckily he didn't eat it all before I could take a picture of it! He sure thought it was funny I was taking a picture of his breakfast.

Brown Rice Syrup reminds me of honey, but the taste is a bit different, almost has a light carmel taste.

Cha cha cha chia!

Who knew chia was more fun to eat than watch grow on a clay head?!

You can read all about the amazing-ness of chia right here go check it out. 

All that chia info will blow your mind and make you want to sink your teeth into the healthy seed.

Sweet Chia Squares

1 cup peanut butter (no added oils or sugar)

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup brown rice syrup

2-3 tablespoons chia seed

4 cups brown rice cereal

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Mix peanut butter, honey and syrup together. Add in chia seed and rice cereal. 

Press down into a square pan. Top with shredded coconut. Once mixture has set, cut into squares. 

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These bars remind me of rice crispy treats. In my opinion this recipe has too much honey, so I substituted half of the honey with maple syrup and I thought it was much better. It's up to you! Try them out and let me know what you think!