Healthy French Toast Casserole.

For my sister in law's Bridal shower, her Aunt made an amazing French Toast Casserole, I ate the leftovers all week.  But I knew there was tons of fat in that version so I came up with this healthier option, which is still full of flavor, but not as much cream cheese.

Mix, 1 stick melted butter with 1/2 cup coconut sugar, tons of cinnamon, some nutmeg, 5 eggs and 1 1/2 almond milk.  

In a 9x13 pan place torn up slices of bread to fill the bottom, place pecan chunks on top of that layer then add another layer of bread.  Cover all the bread evenly with the egg & milk mixture.

Allow to sit for an hour to as long as over night.

Bake at 350* F for 30 minutes, if you'd like it cooked a little more maybe 35-40 minutes.

{I reheat ours during the week so I don't mind if it isn't fully cooked through}

It's actually sweet enough, you don't even need maple syrup!

Enjoy easy breakfast for a few days!

-Jenn

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Granola Bars!

These guys were inspired by the recipe and blog here.

I used 2ish cups of a coconut almond granola (in the bulk section)
1/2 cup dried pineapple chunks
1/2 cup dried cranberries

4 tablespoons butter (but 2 would have been enough)
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F

Mix dry ingredients together.  Melt butter, honey, and brown sugar together in medium saucepan on low-ish heat.  Once melted mix the dry ingredients into the pan and mix well, then pour into parchment lined baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Let cool for 30 minutes, cut, but do not remove!  place in fridge and allow to set up.  once COOLED you can break them apart on their cut marks.

Ready for the road.

SO EASY!

Banana Nut Muffins (with chocolate chips!)

What you'll need:

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup white unbleached flour
• 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 2 overripe bananas
• 1 /2cup brown sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 duck egg (yes, I said duck, we got them at the farmers market and they're perfect for baking they're very fluffy!)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
• Optional top with *chocolate chips* to taste - this is the more desserty option :)

What you'll do with it:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter 1 muffin tins. This recipe make 1 dozen muffins

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Mash 1 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together for a about 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway. Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.  Top with chocolate chips if desired.

Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before turning the muffins out. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Original recipe from here

Happy Baking!

Quiche

I literally lived off of this while in France.  Granted it was only for 4 days, but it was all I ate for 4 days.
Here's how we make it:

Start with farm fresh eggs available at your local farmer's market

Shred a cup or 2 of cheese

Pour over sauteed spinach and onions

add egg and milk mixture, top with cheese

bake

eat.

Ingredients:
bunch of fresh ORGANIC spinach
1 white organic onion
1 1/2 cup organic cheese (your choice) we used cheddar and pecorino
1 tomato
2 pie organic crusts
dozen organic, free range, vegetarian fed, farm fresh eggs
Organic creme or whole milk
Avocado oil

Directions:
Saute chopped onion and spinach in a splash of avocado oil. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  In medium mixing bowl, mix 5 eggs and a splash of creme.  Bake pie crusts for 5 minutes.  Slice tomato, shred cheese.  Remove pie crusts from oven, split spinach mixture between 2 pie crusts pour egg an milk mixture into ONE (1!) pie crust, mix another batch of the 5 eggs, splash of milk combo, and pour into OTHER pie crust.  Top both with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.  Add tomato slice, bake for 10 more minutes or until cheese is brown.  Remove from oven, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.  Devour.

Seriously, I ate 3/4 of the quiche pie last night, and I almost ate the last 1/4 but I had SOME self control.  I know breastfeeding burns calories, but I seriously  haven't eaten that much ever!

Baked Pie-less Apples

On a cloudy Sunday morning in Phoenix, I decided to have a fancy breakfast with my husband and these Pie-less apples are the result.  My sister made something similar once before, but I just sort of winged this one.

What you'll need:
Apple
Strudel Mixture (3/4 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 cup brown sugar, oatmeal.  mix then add 1/2 cup butter)

What you'll do:
Cut apple in half, and remove core.  sprinkle with as much of the strudel mixture as you'd like and save the rest in your fridge for another apple pie-less morning.  (The mix I used was left over from when I made apple pie 2 weeks ago, which is what the measurements above are actually for) put in toaster oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Waffles pictured from the recipe here.

Buckwheat Banana Pancakes and Bird's Nest Dinner

You might know me and my love for breakfast for dinner, and if you don't now you do! It's seriously my favorite EVER. Here is our dinner combo. from this week, I'm tagging it as "breakfast" because that's what it really is, but please feel free to enjoy this meal anytime of the day. The recipes below are not my own creations. They come from the Vegetarian Times Magazine. As always, we've tweaked them ever so slightly.

First the Buckwheat banana Pancakes:

What you'll need:

1 cup organic buckwheat flour

1 cup organic regular flour

2 bananas

juice of a fresh lemon -ours weren't ripe enough yet :(

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 and 1/3 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp organic maple syrup and more for surving

2 cups almond milk (organic when available)

2 tbsp canola oil

1 egg (cage free, vegetarian fed)

pecans

What you'll do with it:

Mix 2 cups almond milk with lemon juice in mixing bowl, let stand for 5 minutes. Combine flours, baking powder, pinch of salt (optional) and baking soda in a larger bowl. Whisk egg into almond milk mixture, add oil and maple syrup. stir flour mixture into "milk" mixture and fold in sliced bananas. use coconut oil spray to coat the griddle, heat over medium heat. Add pancake mix to griddle and cook pancakes, (when bubbling flip and cook about 2 minutes longer). Top with pecans and serve with Organic Maple Syrup.

Bird's Nest:

What you'll need, individual measurements:

1 egg (free range, vegetarian fed)

1 slice of toast

1 slice of organic tomato

herbs to taste (dried basil, salt, pepper)

1 ramekin (I bought mine at World Market 4 for $2.99)

Cheese of your choice

What you'll do with it:

Using a rolling pin, roll the bread flat, stuff into ramekin to create nest form. Drop one whole egg into the bread nest, top with herbs and cheese and finally add the slice of tomato. bake in the oven (or toaster oven) at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minute and remove from ramekin if desired. Serve Warm, yoke may be gooey.

Enjoy!

Hot Pockets! (sing to musical jingle)

Otherwise known as really, really fattening, bad for you, pockets of warm cheesy-ness.

Well, we made our own gourmet version last night. This recipe was inspired by Rachel Ray's Everyday Meals Magazine September 2010, page 114.

We changed it a bit, so I don't feel bad publishing it.

What you'll need:
*2 sheets Puff Pastry (we got ours at Whole Foods, no added sugar and no trans fat!)
*Some cheddar or your choice of cheese (shredded to about 1 and 1/2 cups)
*6 or 7 eggs (1 for painting on edges of pastry and 5-6 for scrambling)
*1 small or 1/2 large organic zucchini (shredded like the cheese)
*1 tomato cut into 3 slices and then cut in half (6 moon like shapes total)
*Olive Oil
*Baking sheet
*You will also need a food safe paint brush, or you can use your fingers...

Thaw puff pastry!

Prepare all the food first. It will make your life so much easier. Shred the cheese and zucchini, cut the tomato, crack the egg and place in bowl for painting later.
Pour olive oil over the bottom of your baking sheet. Strain and squeeze zucchini to remove excess moisture.
Divide the puff pastry into 1/3s, so you will have 3 bottom pastries and 3 top pastries (easy if yours comes pre-folded like mine). Paint edges of 3 pastries with egg (see images below).
Start Scrambling the 5-6 eggs while you pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Divide eggs into 1/3 for each pastry, place that 1/3 eggs on each 1/3 pastry and then add zucchini to each third. And then, add cheese. And then, add 2 tomato moons to each third.
Repaint edges with more egg. Stretch top thirds of puff pastry to fit over the pile of egg-veggie mixture. Close by pressing with a fork. Brush top of pastry with more egg. Add remaining cheese (if you have any) to the top of the pastry about 1/2 way through baking.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until puff pastry has puffed (and crisped) or follow the directions on your puff pastry packaging.

Hope my directions were clear, I do better with photos anyway, so here's the same thing through images, starting with the puff pastry I used:

French Toast Sticks!

Basic French Toast is super simple and surprisingly even the pickiest of eaters (see: my nephews) will eat it.

Ingredients (you might be surprised by one of these):
Eggs (for a batch of 8 slices I used 4 organic, free range, veggie fed eggs)
Splash (or 1/4 cup) of Almond Milk (but any milk will be fine)
Splash (or 1/4 cup) of Orange Juice (weird? but delicious)
Tiny splash of Vanilla Extract (I'd say a teaspoon)
Bread of your choice
Butter for the pan.
Organic Maple Syrup for topping
Peanut Butter (optional, delicious, protein based topping)



I mix the eggs, milk, o.j., and vanilla in a bowl. Pre-heat the cast iron skillet to medium heat. Add a small scoop of butter (I find it works better than oil, but coconut oil spray might work just as well) and let that melt. While the butter is melting dip the slice of bread in the egg mixture, flip to make sure you cover both sides completely with the mixture. Add it to the skillet and wait a few moments, flip and cook both sides evenly. I usually flip back and forth on both sides 2x just to make sure they're done, but once they've browned up they're ready! Set aside on a plate, cover with tin foil until all are done.



Once complete, I cut these slices into 1 inch thick strips, for dunk-ability purposes (I found the boys use less syrup if pre-poured in a small ramekin than if they were gifted the opportunity to pour it directly on to their toasts). I filled up a small ramekin with organic pure maple syrup. This stuff is scrumptious and not too bad for you. There's no high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils. In fact, the only ingredient is "Organic pure maple syrup," which is what you want to look for when buying groceries- minimal ingredients and no fillers, preferably organic and better if you can buy it from someone local (unfortunately, Maple Syrup doesn't naturally occur in the desert).

I served the boys' French Toast Sticks with organic strawberries and low-fat whipped cream (without hydrogenated oil- available at whole foods). I think you can see from the image below they enjoy their breakfast. I ate mine topped with peanut butter and syrup and it was delicious, as always.