Thanks to our love for cooking, our kitchen is the room that has required the most thought and effort in relation to our radical downsizing efforts. While we’ve always made a conscious effort to avoid unnecessary kitchen gadgets, we delighted in keeping a well-stocked pantry full of staples as well as random new ingredients we stumbled upon.
Aside from spices, our most prolific collection by far was of flours. Ancient grain blends, millet, buckwheat, brown & white rice, all purpose gluten free blends, almond, chickpea, potato, coconut – we had it all…and probably more that I’m forgetting.
To help with our downsizing cause, I put my love affair with oatmeal on hold. I’ve been making quick breads for breakfast for the past several weeks. We’ve been using and loving recipes from Chocolate Covered Katie’s website. She has tons of unique ideas that I would never have thought of on my own such as chai banana, pineapple and chocolate coconut banana.
Chai Banana 
Chocolate Coconut Banana
I’ve made substitutions as needed to keep the recipes free of gluten. I’ve also taken liberties such as using an entire 16 oz bag of frozen pineapple in the pineapple bread (I pulsed it in the Ninja) and an entire can of pumpkin merely to use each up. In both cases, I omitted the banana.
I’ve found Katie’s recipes to be quite forgiving. They are full of flavor. I like the breads slightly undercooked for extra moisture and ooey gooey goodness. I laughed when I read she had the same preference in one of her blog entries. Since the recipes are vegan, there is no need to worry about salmonella…or “the chicken disease” as I called it as a kid. As an added bonus, you can even preview the breads by licking the batter from the spoon.
I’ve really enjoyed getting nudged back into baking and switching up breakfast. To round out the bread and further assist with cleaning out the pantry, we’ve been enjoying it with nut butter as well as a side of fresh or frozen fruit.
These recipes are definitely worth firing up the oven in (almost) summer. Even in Florida. Though, I must add that Katie has some incredibly simple, delicious and even nutritious unbaked dessert recipes.