Meet Monique
Girl behind the blog. Ambitious by nature. Passionate about pancakes, life, and laughter. Here to inspire you.
Food Photography
Popular Posts
Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing {vegan & gluten-free} 
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies {flourless, no butter} 
Nutella-Stuffed Brown Butter + Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies {my favorite cookie ever} 
Healthy Chicken Chickpea Chopped Salad 
Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies with Sea Salt {vegan, gluten-free & healthy} 
Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies 
Kale, Edamame, and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette 
Best Ever Vegan Avocado Chocolate Birthday Cake with Vegan Chocolate Ganache 
Vegan Detox Green Monster Smoothie {with kale, strawberry, cucumber, & banana} 
Strawberry Coconut Chia Seed Banana Bread
Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies with Sea Salt {vegan, gluten-free & healthy}
Have you ever spent so much time or energy on something, only to realize it wasn’t even worth it?
It’s kind of like when you bake a cake and absolutely hate the end result. Or when you date someone for too long only to end up being disappointed or hurt. Sometimes it can even be when you listen to entire Taylor Swift songs.
Anyway, the point is, even though you’ve had to live through things that seemed pointless and time-consuming, you learned from them. You realize that sometimes you can’t trust those Martha Stewart recipes, and that the person you dated actually taught you a lot about what you want in a future relationship. Oh and that Taylor Swift song? Absolutely change the station and never purchase another one of her songs off iTunes again. Harsh Monday realities coming at you.
Oh but these blondies? Amazing bites of peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bliss. No regrets. They’re just SO worth it!
Now don’t think I’ve gone all weird on you because I put chickpeas in a blondie without any flour or butter.
Nevermind, clearly I’m a little bit weird. After all I am obsessed with Zac Efron.
Dark Chocolate Covered Coconut Almond Granola Bars
I bet you’re hungry. I mean, it’s been a week since I’ve given you a recipe!
I’m not back from vacation just yet so I’m going to keep this short and sweet; I have to enjoy my last day in the sunshine!
Before I go, we must discuss these granola bars. They’re simple, delicious, and full of good-for-you ingredients and healthy fats to keep you satisfied. Plus they are incredibly easy to make!
First we toast the coconut, oats, and almonds in the oven.
Then simply mix honey, almond butter, a little coconut oil, vanilla and cinnamon in a saucepan to heat thoroughly. The wet ingredients are then added to the dry mixture and then tossed to combine. Easy!
Thursday Giveaway: The Good Bean
If you’ve been reading Ambitious Kitchen for a while, you already know that I’m completely addicted to grocery shopping. It’s just a thing I do when I’m stressed, or even when I need a little creative outlet. It’s simple: I pace the aisles back and forth, looking at different ingredients and coming up with recipe ideas in my head. And of course, I’m always on the look out for fun new products to tell you guys about, especially if they’re healthy! Or if they have brown butter. Hehe.
This past week The Good Bean company contacted me to see if I’d like some samples of their product and do a giveaway. I usually don’t turn down free food, so of course I said yes!
The Good Bean makes roasted chickpea snacks and Fruit & No-Nut Bars. They’re gluten-free and non-GMO, one serving of their chickpea snacks has as much fiber as 2 cups of broccoli, as much protein as an egg, as much folate as 3 cups of spinach, and they are freaking delicious! Their chickpea snacks come in four different flavors: sea salt, cracked pepper, smokey chili & lime, and sweet cinnamon. My favorite were the the sea salt and sweet cinnamon flavors. I found myself munching on the snacks on my way to the gym. They’re also perfect for topping on salads or even sprinkling on your greek yogurt in the morning!
The Fruit & NO-NUT Bars (made with chickpeas instead of nuts) were by far my favorite. Each bar has 40-60% less fat than the leading Fruit & Nut Bars. They have three varieties: apricot coconut, fruit & seeds trail mix, and chocolate berry. The chocolate berry bar is amazing, and they’re actually filling! The reason the bars aren’t photographed is because I ate them all. Seriously like ripped them open and devoured them. Sometimes I have no self control.
Honey Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
I’m getting to the point today. This bread is downright sensational. My goodness, I’m in love with it! I baked two loaves this weekend, and now sincerely hold the believe that it’s a little bit magical.
Honey Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. Doesn’t the name just scream ‘devour me’? The flavor combination is unique: a perfectly moist interior with a touch of sweetness from the honey with the bits of chocolate. Trust me, it cannot be matched.
Most of my banana bread recipes are healthy, use minimal sugar, no butter/oil, and focus on substitutes. I wanted this bread to fall under that category as well; however, I had never experimented with whole wheat flour in banana bread, nor unrefined sweeteners so I figured I would try something new.
The result? A gorgeous, perfectly moist bread with a golden brown crust! And not to mention, it’s now my new go-to banana bread. I just can’t get enough of this gem.
Healthy Whole Grain Carrot Coconut Morning Glory Muffins
The past week my diet has consisted of chicken noodle soup, saltine crackers, hot chocolate, and popcorn. I was stuck in bed battling a terrible cold; and I think I ate about three giant bags of cough drops. At one point I even went to the grocery store in my pajamas because I was too lazy to change. I don’t know it was weird, I felt like if I didn’t have ginger ale my life would end or something. Clearly my fever made me a tiny delusional and a whole lot of dramatic.
Anyway I’m getting a little sidetracked here. All I really want to do is bring you healthy whole grain muffins to start your year off right.
These muffins are made with whole wheat flour, coconut flakes, carrots, raisins, and walnuts. I used applesauce instead a bunch of oil to save calories; this also keeps the muffins moist along with the almond milk.
I find these muffins necessary during those mornings when I find myself waking up 15 minutes before work. Usually I individually wrap mine in plastic wrap and freeze them so that all I have to do is pop them in the microwave in the morning.
Low-fat Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
Besides my grocery shopping obsession, I have a couple other little addictions.
One is the internet. Twitter specifically; I just love it! Also now that I’m finally getting an iPhone, (I can’t even talk about it), I’ll probably be bonkers obsessed with Instagram and every app that I’ll more than likely forget what it’s like to function as a real human being. I mean, it’s already tough enough for me to keep up with all of the new blogs I’ve been discovering online lately. My new favorite is A Beautiful Mess, a blog about everything from beauty and fashion, to crafts and photography. You totally need to check it out!
Another favorite is my friend Stephanie’s blog Frest Tart. Her unbelievably gorgeous food photography, recipes, and fun writing style immediately invites you in. Stephanie also photographs Andrew Zimmern’s recipes for Food & Wine Magazine which makes it even more fun to follow what she’s up to! Visit and tell her hello!
Something else that has been taking up a lot of my time lately? Baking! So you’ve probably noticed. Well, let me just inform you now that the sweet recipes will continue to live on this blog. I just can’t stop. I’ve always loved to bake but this is getting out of control. Seriously, did I need to make pumpkin muffins, cookies, AND apple crisp this weekend? Probably not. But you see, somedays I find that there is nothing that I would rather do then bake my heart out; my stress seems to diminish while mixing batter and browning butter. Why yes, I am a weird human being, thank you.
Mmmmm now I’m thinking about brown butter. But wait… these muffins don’t actually have any butter OR oil in them! Whatttt?!?! I know, I must explain.
5 Ways to Get Kids to Eat Better
Today we’re going to talk about a topic that seems to be popping up everywhere: how to get kids to eat healthy. And although, I’m not a parent, I am passionate about the issue and recognize how important it is for children to maintain a healthy, balanced diet in order to promote a positive long-lasting relationship with food.
I could get into the details, and provide you with a million statistics, but really all I’d like to do is to increase your awareness and inspire you to get a little creative with the children in your life. I’d also like to direct you to Lunch Break for Kids, a national fundraiser that highlights ways for parents and kids to come together with chefs and schools to show how simple, good food can make children healthier, as well as build strong family connections.
Below I’ve provided some friendly ideas and suggestions, which are all of course my opinion. I am in no way in expert, I just love kids, so I hope you enjoy. Please feel free to share any tips, ideas, or questions you have in the comments.
1. Breakfast is important: feeding children healthy balanced breakfast is one of the best ways you can start their mornings.
Below are a few fun and healthy breakfast suggestions:
- Make a big batch of pancakes during the week using whole wheat flour or oatmeal to sneak in fiber and provide whole grains. You can also blend in fruit into the pancake such as a banana or even applesauce! Freeze the leftovers and simply reheat in the microwave. Try topping the pancakes with fresh fruit, jam, nut butters, or pure maple syrup. A couple of chocolate chips wont hurt either.
- Muffins are a great way to sneak in fruits and veggies in the morning. Try pumpkin muffins made with less sugar and whole wheat flour or oatmeal. Another tip? Substitute applesauce for some of the sugar and/or oil in the recipe! My Better-for you Banana Muffins are one of my favorites served warm and spread with creamy peanut butter. Kids love them!
- Breakfast quesadillas are another kid favorite. Eggs with a bit of cheese on a whole grain tortilla are delicious, or opt for something a bit more creative with my Peanut butter, Strawberry and Banana Quesadillas!
- In a hurry? I have a ton of healthy breakfast ideas for you to try. Try a whole wheat bagel or a slice of toast topped with peanut butter or another healthy nut butter. Another option is greek yogurt with a bit of low-sugar granola. Or blend a smoothie made with chocolate milk (dark chocolate almond milk is delicious too!), a banana, and yogurt.
2. Get in the kitchen with them: spending time with children in the kitchen is a great way to teach them about the nutrition in food and how it works in each meal.
- Introduce them to new foods and explain how it works in the dish. Children will become even more interested in the food that you have prepared when given the opportunity to participate in the creation of the meal.
- Offer them a chance to be creative by asking them what they think of the ingredients or if they would add anything to the dish if they could.
- Kids have a blast when they’re allowed to sample and smell ingredients, or participate. If you are baking, allow kids to try and crack eggs, roll out dough, mix in the blueberries in the pancake batter or even scoop cupcake batter into the muffins liners. Remember its okay if they make messes; they’re still learning!
- Name food funny names. Laugh with them. Ask them if food resembles anything. Make weird shapes with food. Above all, just have fun!