Breakfast of Champions (and Princesses)

But first. Some pictures from my home state of New Jersey, taken by my brother. They are striking to me, but then again I don’t have cable TV and have minimal time to surf the internet. Maybe it’s also because I know what the “before” photos looked like. My dad and brother are lucky because their homes are intact and the town is not underwater. Still. My heart breaks looking at these. I’m not just thinking of my family, but all the lives and livelihoods ravaged by the storm.

A former beach club parking lot in Sea Bright, New Jersey

Ocean Avenue, a normally busy main street in Sea Bright, New Jersey.

So it’s kind of weird now to post about breakfast, but I’m going to because it would be too depressing to keep posting pictures of the storm’s damage, and if you want more of that there is this thing called cable TV (that most normal people have).

First my breakfast, then the one I made for my husband which is not just breakfast, but a thing he will eat pretty much any time of the day, all day, every day, if he could.

So mine is a smoothie. I know, super original. I don’t even have a cool blender to talk about. If I did maybe I’d make smoothies more often. Or maybe not, because I think the problem is I hate doing dishes. Making smoothies is great in theory, but it’s messy. Have you seen a Cuisinart food processor? It’s enormous. Anyway. A few weeks ago, in the height of my pumpkin frenzy, I made an awesome smoothie that I would like to share with you now.

Here’s the deal, though. There are no precise measurements because the beauty of a smoothie is you plop and dollop stuff in, give it a whirl, taste, and then season to your liking. You really can’t go wrong. (Unless you’re me, and you taste the smoothie and wonder why it’s not sweet enough and then curse yourself because you already rinsed the Cuisinart, but realized you forgot to add the banana, which is sitting in a soggy brown pile in the microwave after being frozen for months and then heated to near boiling. So you dump the whole thing back in, adding the sloppy banana and whirl it up and then pour it into your husband’s prized Don Ho retro glass. You take a sip. Ah, totally worth it.)

Pumpkin Chocolate Smoothie

I know it’s possible to take a good shot of a smoothie. This is not it.

Ingredients, as follows. Method, mix, taste, mix, enjoy.

Pumpkin puree – one or two heaping tablespoons
Plain yogurt – a couple of plops with a big spoon (I like Fage Greek yogurt best)
Milk – a splash or two
Gluten free oats – a few shakes for health and some texture, but probably not necessary
Banana – please DO NOT forget this
Chocolate hazelnut butter – a generous dollop (I love Justin’s)
Dash of pumpkin spices – which I forgot, but would’ve been nice

My husband looked both disgusted and confused by my breakfast. Perhaps because he also hates doing the dishes. Or maybe because I left Little Guy fussing in his high chair to take “arty” pictures of a smoothie out on our patio. Who knows. Anyway, he’s just lucky that I love him enough to make him HIS favorite breakfast. Gluten Free on a Shoestring’s amazingly delicious Chewy Granola Bars.

Mine do NOT look like hers. However they are good. Really good. My picture does not do them justice, but hey, I’m just a girl with a camera. And not a very good one.

I could have cut, stacked and “posed” them but I didn’t. I just ate them.

Even princesses need coffee.

The recipe is not hard by any means, but it does require a lot of steps. Ever since Little Guy learned to crawl and then stand, it’s been hard to do pretty much anything. Once he starts walking I may never write again.

You’d think all those toys would keep him out of trouble for a little while.

You’d be wrong.

Yes, that’s cat food, and yes, he’s tried it.

When my husband complained that I ate the last (tiny!) piece a few days later I snorted in distain. I deserved that piece, for crying out loud. Do you see what I’m up against?

Now, finally, Halloween. A post is in the works (in my brain) about getting through the holiday GF style, but until then, here’s my Sleeping Beauty.

The irony is she doesn’t like to sleep, but that doesn’t stop her from looking adorable. Here. Not so much at 2 am.

And Little Guy, who missed his chance to be the cutest lion cub ever because of a certain gigantic storm, but enjoyed strolling with his big sister en route to trick-or-treating.

Before getting VERY sleepy. (But don’t think he likes sleeping, either. This is just one reason why we’re never having any more kids.)

I’m happy to have shared this post at the Gluten-Free Friday’s link up party hosted by Vegetarian Mama, Eat.Live.Make, and Gluten Freed R.D.!  Click the links to find more great GF recipes.