cooking ala mel

healthy recipes and the occasional craft

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Carrot Cake Pancakes (Gluten Free)

First, let’s start with some news. You may have noticed something different around here (or not, because I often wouldn’t notice it either). Cooking ala Mel is no longer a .blogspot address. I finally took the plunge and registered the domain name! The new site is now http://cookingalamel.com. If you happen to go to the old URL, don’t worry, it will redirect you! 🙂 Now, onto some goodness.

The other day, I was hopping from blog to blog, drooling over new recipes, and I happened upon a new-to-me blog, Cannella Vita.  I was immediately drawn in by the lovely photos.  As soon as I saw the carrot cake pancakes and talk of a carrot cake Lara bar recipe, I was immediately in the kitchen to make my own gluten free version of the carrot cake pancakes and a carrot cake quinoa bar (which will be posted soon).  I love getting inspired and finding a new blog to read in the process!  If you haven’t yet, definitely go check out Erica’s blog.  It’s a good one!

These pancakes were such a nice change from my usual cinnamon and nut butter toasts.  I’ve been trying to mix it up more with my breakfasts, and it’s definitely interesting to see what actually keeps me feeling full until the next time I eat.  Paired with some fruit, these pancakes kept me going until my next snack (which is only about 3 hours, haha).  This recipe lasted me three days of breakfasts – I kept the leftovers in the fridge and just heated them up.

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Pretzel Rolls, improved

It’s time to take a slight break from quinoa bars.  Not for long, I can assure you – I’ve already got another one lined up – not chocolate yet, unfortunately.. but that just means there will be at least one more after the one coming up!  If you haven’t noticed already, I’m quite enamored with my quinoa bars.  But anyway.  BREAK from quinoa bars.  Pretzel rolls.  Yeasty, delicious pretzel rolls.

Now, I’ve made pretzel rolls before, but they didn’t quite rise enough for my liking.  I have pretty high expectations when it comes to pretzel rolls, since the only time I ever have them are when Alex and I go to our favorite restaurant in Buffalo, Black & Blue Steak & Crab.  It’s fancy, so you can imagine that we don’t get there quite as often as my pretzel roll loving self would like.  So of course, if I’m taking the time to make them at home, they better be pretty darn close to what I get at that restaurant!

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Banana Nut Quinoa Bars

I’ve got another tasty quinoa bar recipe for you today!  I am so excited about making different flavor variations for these bars; they’re so perfect for on-the-go snacking.  I’ve been keeping them in the freezer and just tossing them in my bag whenever I go to work or out somewhere, so they’re usually thawed and perfect but he time I want them!  The cherry quinoa bars were lifesavers when I went hiking this weekend with some friends at the Niagara River gorge.  We ended up doing one of the trails, Devil’s Hole, hiked back up all the stairs, stopped to take a slight break to munch on a bar, then went back down and did the other trail, Whirlpool.  We stopped to cool our feet off in shallows of the river where the rapids splash up on the rocks and split the last bar between the three of us before heading back up the many stairs. [Read more…]