Raspberries for Breakfast

The late season crop of raspberries are coming in and I've been having fun creating very tasty uses for them.

For a potluck at work, I made a raspberry crumb cake.  I started with this recipe and made substitutions based on what I had available.  Changes I made to the recipe are:

- I substituted raspberries and peaches for half of the rhubarb in the recipe because I wanted to feature raspberries from my garden, but didn't have enough to replace all of the rhubarb.  I also had a lovely, fragrant peach that I thought would make a nice addition to the mix.

 - I used yogurt instead of sour cream and raw sugar for both the regular and brown sugar because that's what I keep in my cupboards

- I replaced the butter in the cake batter with grated zucchini to make the recipe just a tiny bit healthier, but used butter in the crumbs to make sure they had that rich, buttery texture that is so delightful.  It is crumb cake after all!

Another recipe I made is an easy breakfast parfait inspired by a recipe for overnight oat parfaits.  This makes an easy breakfast, snack or lunch on the go.

Overnight Oat and Chia Seed Pudding

1 cup of whole oats

2 Tbsp chia seeds

1 1/2 cups of milk (I used almond)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

3-4 large dates, pitted and chopped

Sweetener of choice (maple syrup, agave nectar, stevia or honey work well) (optional)

Put all the ingredients except the sweetener in a quart mason jar or bowl with lid.  Stir well, cover and put in the refrigerator overnight or at least 4 hours.  The pudding should be thick like a cooked oatmeal after sitting.  Add sweetener to taste if desired.  Serve topped with fruit, nuts or yogurt.  

Makes 2-3 servings as a cereal or approximately 4-5 parfaits depending on how many layers you have.

To make the parfaits

Take tall glasses, dessert dishes or canning jars and layer any of the following:

- overnight oat and chia pudding

- yogurt

- nut butter

- jam or preserves

- fresh fruit

- nuts

- granola

- cocoa nibs

- nutella (yum!)

- let your imagination run wild

To make the parfait pictured above,  I used 12 oz jelly jars and layered:  oat and chia seed pudding, yogurt, raspberry jam, fresh raspberries and I had a couple of tablespoons of peach preserves left that went into 2 of parfaits.  Out of the recipe above, I was able to make 4 parfaits and my husband ate a small bowl of the pudding by itself for a treat.  I made up all the parfaits and put them in the refrigerator so I could pull out one at a time as I run out the door in the mornings on the way to work.  

If you give this recipe a try, leave a comment below to let me know what fun combinations you created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Summer harvest still life