What’s the matter Dakota?? Am I making so much noise in the kitchen that you can’t get your beauty rest? Ruff life.

So, after teasing you with my loaf of bread yesterday, here it is! Well, the beginning of it! I bought some active dry yeast in bulk at this awesome local store, Natural Grocers [they’re in some Western States]. It’s the puffiest active dry yeast ever!! The yeast in the packets never gets this foamy.

I have been eyeing up Ashley’s recipe for Red Quinoa bread for months now. Whole Foods was out of red quinoa, but white will work just fine. The red quinoa makes the bread so much prettier though!

This bread was a little tricky, but it turned out fabulously! I made a few small changes, based on preferences. They are as follows:

3T Greek yogurt instead of grainy mustard [I hate mustard!!]
1/2c ground pepitas + 2T ground hemp seeds instead of 1/2c chopped walnuts [not a fan of nuts in sandwich type breads]
brown rice syrup instead of agave nectar
1c whole wheat pastry flour instead of 1c whole wheat bread flour [didn’t have any]

In hindsight, if you don’t like mustard, you could just leave it out. I don’t think there is a need to add the Greek yogurt. I was afraid of the loaf being dry, but I ended up having to add about 1c extra flour.

I followed Ashley’s directions exactly, so there is no point in my reposting the steps. I only had to wait 1 hour for the dough to rise the first time though. It doubled if not more, in 1 quick hour. Whoa. I swear this yeast is magical!!

I pounded the dough down to release the air, and gave it another knead or 2. I then tore off a decent size chunk to cook in a mini loaf pan. I knew since I added a whole extra cup of flour, there would be more dough.

I put a tea towel over the pans and waited. I swear I could SEE the towel growing. Would you just LOOK at this loaf!!!!!!!!!

I threw it in the oven to bake, and also burnt my arm. Awesome.

While baking, I grabbed a glass of milk. I don’t drink much cow’s milk anymore. Not for any reason in particular really. I’ve always been able to tolerate dairy with no problems. I’ve just been experimenting with all of the other non-dairy milks, that I don’t drink much real milk anymore. In Colorado, you can get delicious local milk. Cheap, delicious local milk. AND, you get a refund for bringing the bottle back. I have been buying 1-2%. The flavor is just so amazing. It’s much creamier than milks I’ve had in the past too!

So there, now you know, I’m not always slugging hemp + almond milk. I like cow’s milk too!

And then the bread was done. You know that mini loaf was gone by the time I took these photos, right? Yep. Well, it was done baking sooner, sooooo…it got consumed.

It even has the cute bread shape at the top, like store bought loaves. That was pure luck!

I loved the softness of this bread. The crust was thick and hearty. I loved the small crunchy pieces from the pepitas and hemp seeds. It slices easily and is very dense. The only problem I’m having is since it has been sitting around a few days, it’s falling apart easily after being cut. I know I messed things up a bit with the Greek yogurt addition and then having to add flour. It was also a bit bland, due to the Greek yogurt substitution + more flour as well. Definitely a problem on my end! Ashley’s version, with the mustard, probably gives it a nice little kick of flavor.

Chris liked it but didn’t love it. I loved it. I definitely want to revisit this recipe, but I’m going to try out many other recipes first. I’m having so much fun baking bread!!

My bread slicing skills are amateur at best.

What did I have for breakfast this morning? Come on….you know what I had!!

Another butternut squash smoothie!! This time with freshly cooked butternut squash. I made a butternut soup the night before [coming soon] and had some leftover. This one tasted even better with the fresh squash.

You know I really like something for breakfast if I made it more than 1 day in a row and forgo my oats. Honestly, I would make this again tomorrow, if I wasn’t out of squash.

Thick!

I actually measured out my ingredients today. I never do this with smoothies!

Butternut Banana Smoothie [original recipe from Gena]

1c cooked butternut squash
3/4c milk
1/2 frozen banana
1t vanilla extract
1t cinnamon
1/4t ginger
few shakes of nutmeg
2T vanilla hemp protein powder
1t maca [optional]

I haven’t been using ice in my smoothies because our ice tastes bad! Water tastes fine, but ice tastes bad. The banana made it cold enough though!

With a side of toast. I cute a super thick slice and went for 2 different toppings. HEAB has been raving about avocado + jam lately, so I thought I would give it a go. You all know, I can’t make toast without slapping some PB on one side!!

Can you believe I once tried the South Beach Diet!!!??? I live for carbs. How dare I do that to myself!

I liked it, but didn’t love it. Just not in the mood for avocado in the AM unless it’s in a smoothie! ;) Still good though. She has also been talking about avocado + peanut butter + banana, which sounds more up my alley. However, I’m out of bananas. Terrible, I know.