Peanut Luna Cashew Coffee

Considering how much I love peanut sauce, I seriously wonder why it has taken me so long to make it homemade. Well, I finally did.



I used a recipe swell vegan gave me, but of course I didn't have all the ingredients and kicked myself a little for still making peanut sauce without them. But I could tell from what I made that the recipe is worth it, so I'm going to Whole Foods in a few minutes to stock up so I can have the real thing for dinner. Yay!

Right now in lifecycle nutrition we're doing group presentations, and I won a prize for answering one of the presenter's quiz questions. The prize was my favorite Luna bar (Blueberry Yogurt - it's one of the Luna Sunrise ones), and it didn't take me long to figure out what to do with it.

And thus I present: Luna Oatmeal!



For this I only used half of the bar. I broke the half into little cubes with the help of my knife and just stirred it into my oatmeal. This is such a great little idea of mine, in my own humble opinion, because you can enhance the flavor of your oatmeal by adding (half of) any Luna or Clif bar of your choice. For oatmeal this week I have been preparing quick oats in water, mashing in sliced banana pieces after cooking, stirring in some ground flaxseed, and eating it all up with some fresh ground unsalted peanut butter! I'm in love with Whole Foods' grind-it-yourself right now, and because I've gotten so used to almond butter, going back to peanut butter for a few days has been especially refreshing and fun because it has distinct, strong flavor when it's fresh ground!

And cinnamon coffee cake muffins, inspired by my childhood love for coffee cake.



They'd serve it at day care all the time, so just the smell of it is a comfort food in my book. I used a recipe from Adventures in (Vegan) Cooking and reduced the sugar by half with no ill effects. In fact, they were amazing! The recipe for the streusel topping makes a ton, and I only made half of that, too. If you're a coffee cake lover, I'd say make 'em muffin style. (They cook so much quicker.)

And for good measure, Dreena's Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies with cashews!



I make this recipe all the time, and this is the first time I used whole grain spelt. They still taste great - I didn't even notice a difference and I usually use "refined" spelt. A friend who tasted them told me the added cashews make for a great salty/sweet combo (there is no salt on the cashews, but there is sea salt in the recipe). Mmm!