I always wanted to have a good reason to name a post like that!
Early Rising Challenge Day 3:
- I was asleep by 11:15pm (in bed at 10:30pm) and naturally rose at 6:15am this morning! I found it very difficult to get into bed at a good time last night because I had work to do. My mind was swirling with thoughts for a long time when my head hit the pillow! Hate that. Any tips for quieting the mind??
- A space heater at my desk is crucial to tolerating the first 30 mins. until the house warms up.
This certainly helped me wake up…
Pumpkin Pie Baked Breakfast Cake
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup almonds
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
- 2 t pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 banana
- 1-1.5 Tbsp agave nectar or maple syrup (to taste)
- 2 t pumpkin pie spice (or a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger)
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 1-2 T scoop Manitoba Harvest Hemp Vanilla Protein Powder (optional)
- 1 and 1/4 cups unsweetened almond, soy, rice, or hemp milk
- Dark Chocolate or cacao nibs (to garnish)
- Graham crackers (to garnish)
Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 4-6 cup (1-1.5 L) casserole dish or three small oven safe dishes. Throw all ingredients except the toppings into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape sides if necessary. Evenly distribute the batter into the dishes and then garnish with chocolate chips, cacao nibs, and/or crushed graham crackers. Pop in the oven for about 35 minutes at 350F or until golden brown and firm. You can refrigerate for 4 days and they apparently freeze well too!
Makes 3 servings. [Breakfast cake is adapted from Ricki’s Breakfast Pudding.]
Tip: These cakes are great right out of the fridge for a quick snack or dessert!
The Manitoba Harvest Vanilla Hemp Protein Powder I used:
This was just a naked pumpkin pie! I think I will put a dollop of soy yogurt on top!
This was garnished with cacao nibs and delicious homemade vegan graham crackers that I whipped up (a new ingredient in my V-day Glo Bar!).
This one was made into a double layer pumpkin pie and I garnished with dark chocolate chips.
The nutritional information for one cake is below:
This nutritional information is for the basic cake (oats, almonds, unsweetened almond milk, spices, vanillas, banana, unsweetened applesauce, pumpkin, sea salt, agave nectar). without any toppings or protein powder.
As you can probably tell, I subbed out half of the nuts for oats in this recipe, as compared to the Baked Cherry Pie recipe. This is a ‘lighter’ version of the baked breakfast cake. Taste wise, I do prefer the original version (with more nuts), but this one was still nice too and it gives you a bit more wiggle room to play around with fun toppings!
The great thing about this recipe is that you can adapt it to how you want it. If you want it sweeter, add more sweetener. If you want it more filling, add some protein powder like I do. More healthy fats? Experiment with different nuts and chia seeds. The sky is the limit!
Earthquake in Haiti
The recent earth quake in Haiti has left approx. 3 million people – a third of Haiti’s population- in desperate need of emergency relief. After watching this video (note: some graphic scenes), I knew I had to contribute in any way possible.
Canadians:
CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada and Oxfam Quebec as well as Save the Children have banded together to form a central hub for donations called The Humanitarian Coalition, which is accepting donations online and by phone.
In the US or the UK? See here for a list of reputable charities that you can donate to.
Updates:
- All of my recipes are updated on my Recipes page, including reader’s favourite breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert recipes!
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I’m baking today for a donation I did for the Alberta Association of Services for Children and Families Conference. If you will be there, keep your eyes peeled for my Glo Bars at the registration table! :)
Make today GREAT!
Awake before the sun is risen, I call for my pen and papers and desk.
– Christopher Smart
You may already do this, but I always write a list of things going through my mind right before bed. I’ve found that on nights where I have not done this, my mind is wild and loud. But when I take 2 minutes just to jot a few things down, it’s so peaceful and much easier to sleep.
My mom always told me to think of a big black box. Then think of all of the sides of the box shrinking and shrinking til the box is just a little spec, and then grow it bigger again. Works for me.
After doing Bikram yoga, if I really can’t quiet my mind, I try to do Savasana – the dead mans pose. You pretty much focus on not moving any muscle and your breathing. I tend to turn off my mind pretty quickly that way :) Good luck!
pumpkin pie for breakfast = heaven. what a great idea! thanks for sharing the recipe :)
I’ll share with you how I quiet my mind at night. It might sound silly but it REALLY WORKS for me! I get comfortable in my bed and tell myself that before I can move to get a glass of water, read or check email I have to count to 500. I don’t force myself to count slowly because I find that to be stressful! I often count really fast, but I think this is good because it kind of burns off mental energy. It keeps my mind occupied instead of thinking about a million other things. Usually I don’t even reach 500 and if I do I’m much too relaxed to do anything. If I do let myself get a drink or something after 500, I get right back and tell myself to count to 1000 this time. but what I think is key is burning off that mental energy. I really just count as fast as my mind wants, I don’t force myself to slow down. Eventually it gets to boring that I relax.
Another method I use is I breathe in for a count of 5 and out for a count of 5 and do this 5 times. Then I repeat for a count of 6, then 7 and then 8. Then I go down: breathe for a count of 8 five times again, then for a count of 7, 6 and so on.
I try to count backwards from 100 while visualizing every number…..works sometimes, but other times I just can’t get my mind to stop churning!
Establishing a bedtime ritual will probably help. I know you are a fan of tea so i would definitely utilize some chamomile or Sleepy Time tea. And wow, how funny to read the counting backwards thing. My Daddy taught me that when i was very small.
I too jot down things on my mind. This is especially helpful when the things on my mind are ‘to do’. Knowing they are written down and won’t be forgotten help to calm my mind. I also write in my grateful journal, just one-liners of 3 things I am grateful for that day. This gives my mind a little perspective before I go to sleep!
I don’t do any work in bed so that when I hit the bed I associate it with sleep. It also helps if you can’t see the alarm clock or any glowing gadgets while you’re in bed–it seems like a tiny change, but it makes a real difference.
This looks so delicious!!! Oh wow I can’t wait to make it!!!
Angela, you have inspired me to begin an early rising challenge of my own! I usually get out of bed right before work and then work-out at night. This morning I woke up bright and early to hit the gym and it was amazing!! So accomplished before 9AM. Thank you!!
I quiet my mind by just counting breaths. It’s monotonous, but it also forces me to block out everything else going on in my mind.
That cake looks DELICIOUS!!! YUM. :)
Thanks for the Haiti info…it’s so important to spread the word when you have so many readers!
The cake looks really great! You are so creative with your breakfasts. I need a bit of that creativity with mine!
My morning routine is really ridiculous… every morning my alarms is set for 6:30. When it goes off I wake up, turn it off and then tell myself, “I’m going to lay here for a few minutes to visualize my day”…then I wake up an hour later and have to bust ass to get out the door on time. EVERY DAY this happens. hahahaha. Perhaps I need to partake in your morning challenge… I’ll lay here and visualize it for a few minutes…
When my mind is going a mile a minute and it’s hard to sleep this is what I do………….count backwards from 400! I have never gotten to 1, although sometimes I think I will. It really works.
That looks really good. To help my mind from going everywhere I fall asleep with the TV on low volume so it doesn’t keep me up just provides a light distraction, and then I set the sleep timer so I don’t waste electricity. If I don’t do this I will never fall asleep.
Give me some of that cake!! It looks so yummy!
It is so devastating what has happened in Haiti :( I definitely want to donate in some way to help them out
I wake up at 5:30 in order to make it to the gym (a 15 minute walk away) by 6:30. I only started getting up to exercise BEFORE work about a month ago but I’m LOVING it.
for resting the mind 4/7/8 breathing
deep breath thru nose for a count of 4
hold for 7
long exhale out thru mouth for count of 8
repeat 4-6 times focusing on breath
this helps for relaxing :-)
Seriously, the breakfast cakes just keep looking better and better! and I find that if I write a little bit before I head to bed it helps get everything that’s swirling around in the old noggin onto paper (or computer) and out of my head. :)