Wholesome - But Quick & Easy - Breakfast

First, thank you for humoring me and my very infrequently updated blog. Momming ain't easy and blogging while momming is near impossible; I appreciate your patience and long attention span. Don't give up on me!

Fall Fat Kid Friday: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Another post for my sweet-toothed "fat kids." This one's for the fall-flavor lovers in all of us and uses the veggie of the season to make a sweet, dense and soft pumpkin chocolate chip bread. You can be the star of your bake sale or your husband's breakfast (trust me) with this truly from scratch treat.

Pro Tip: Pour some batter into a ramekin for a taste test serving before slicing the loaves! 

 

Yes, Libby's has provided God knows how much canned pumpkin for the world. I know I ate my fair share as a kid; and loved it. But preparing your own pumpkin puree is so easy and inexpensive that you can certainly do it yourself. And as a bonus, homemade pumpkin puree is better tasting and better for you than canned, you're eliminating any unknown ingredients or fillers (Clean eating fat kid?).

Processing your own pumpkin really only involves four steps:

1. Remove pumpkin top, slice into quarters and remove seeds/pulp. 
2. Bake on a metal sheet pan, flesh side down, at 350 for 45-60 minutes, until tender. 
3. Scoop out cooled flesh into a food processor, puree until smooth. 
4. Place puree in coffee filter or cheesecloth-lined strainer for 8 hours to drain any extra liquid. 

For more detailed instructions with photos, visit Taste of Home's tutorial here.

You can then store it in airtight containers and can freeze for up to a year. We package 2 c. puree (equivalent to 15 oz. commercial can) in  zip-top freezer bags and lay flat to freeze. They're easily thawed in the fridge over night or in cold water (make sure the bags are sealed and haven't cracked) and you can use them for any recipe calling for canned pumpkin - including pasta sauce, ravioli filling, muffins or this splendid bread!

With store-bought or homemade pumpkin puree this recipe is a breeze and makes for a product that looks much more polished and difficult than it really is. From start to finish, your mixer will do most of the work with the exception of some light whisking and folding in the chocolate chips. Which makes for a wonderful opportunity to bring in your mini-chefs. Loaves of bread are wonderful gifts - for any occasion, and they're freezeable - and imagine the pride your child would have giving their teacher or grandparent a loaf of bread they made!

It bakes up into beautiful burnt orange dotted with gooey chocolate pieces and a shiny sugar crust. The batter isn't doughy and is thin, like a cake batter, but makes for hearty slices of bread that are still soft on the tongue.

And the flavor just screams autumn! Pumpkin, despite being the obsession of the middle class - I mean, pumpkin spice lattes even have their own trending hashtag #PSL - is a very subtle flavor. It has a squash-y undertone that is mild and savory but slightly sweet and can be manipulated in so many ways.

But as we all know from pumpkin pie, when paired with the right spices, pumpkin can sing. Warm, spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg which are also "in season" in winter like hard squashes brighten pumpkin's flavors to a whole new level of comfort and deliciousness. So dotting that warm, spicy bread with semisweet (or even dark chocolate) makes for a great contrast and only adds to the texture. I sprinkle on extra raw sugar before baking (a trick I learned from Martha Stewart) to add a crunch to the top, but in this case it also lends a burst of sweetness.

This bread would be a great feature for dessert and coffee, a staple at day-after-Thanksgiving brunch or as a hearty after school snack. You could even get creative with any leftover slices (if you ever have them) - this would be a great base for a bread pudding with vanilla glaze or dipped in eggs and cereal crumbs for freezer-friendly French toast.

I think I'll go cut myself a slice now!


Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from Our Best Bites 

Ingredients: 

3 c all-purpose flour
2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground allspice
1 t baking soda
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 c white sugar
6 oz. container plain or vanilla yogurt
3 eggs, slightly beaten
15 oz. canned pumpkin puree or 1 3/4 c homemade puree
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 t vanilla extract (use 1 1/2 if using plain yogurt)
1 c chocolate chips (plus more for tops of loaves)
raw sugar (for tops of loaves)

Method: 

Preheat oven to 350. Spray two loaf pans with non-stick spray.

Combine flour (reserving 1 T), baking soda and powder, salt and spices in small bowl.

Toss chocolate chips in small bowl with 1 T flour; this will prevent them from sinking in the pans.

In a mixing bowl combine sugars and whisk to remove lumps. Add yogurt, eggs, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just wet - do not overmix. Gently stir in chocolate chips and extra flour.

Divide batter between loaf pans and sprinkle with extra chips and raw sugar.  Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes on wire racks then run a knife around the edges and flip loaves onto rack.

To freeze: cool completely then store in freezer-safe bags or vacuum seal. Will last for several months in the freezer. Pull to room temperature or microwave lightly to thaw.

Life-saving Meals: Homemade Frozen Food for the Sick, Shut-in and Overwhelmed

Last week, we welcomed the newest member of our family to the world. Miss Zayleigh, our niece, was born on July 11 and both her and momma are feeling great.

Amanda, Zayleigh and Jordan

But despite her having all her fingers and toes and being quite possibly the calmest, quietest little bundle of joy I've ever seen, we knew her parents were in for a long, exhausting week. And as we discovered while planning our wedding, when you're stressed and tired, the first thing you feel like giving up on is cooking good meals. We certainly ate our fill of take-out, pre-packaged junk in the lead up to our wedding (six months ago, already!?!). So, J and I took a few hours and less than $30 to make a bundle of goodies for the family to eat.

Food gifts can be such a blessing to a family in need. As Deacons at our church, we're constantly asking folks undergoing surgery, loss or hardship if we can set up meal deliveries. And while any donation of food is a great gift, by saving money and time; home cooked meals that the recipients can eat on their own schedule, without guests, are so important.

Our menu for the new parents included:

• French toast sticks (with syrup)
• Mexican black bean casserole
• Spinach lasagna roll ups (with breadsticks)
• Homemade sloppy joe mix (with french fries)
• Millionaire pie 

All of these recipes were simple, relatively inexpensive (including the sides or "add ons") and will be delicious, wholesome meals for their family.

And a hidden benefit of delivering frozen meals, is that most recipes are for two whole portions or are easily doubled. So, if you know you'll have a need for some heat-and-eat meals in the future (for yourselves or others) you can easily make a dish for dinner and have the second portion frozen for later. This is great if you know of someone who will be having surgery soon, has a baby due in the near future or you're preparing for a busy back-to-school month or the beginning of sports season.

Because of the ease of making several portions to freeze at once, we love to cook freezer-friendly meals throughout the year and keep extra portions on hand. For ideas on other freezer meals, click here or visit the "freezer-friendly" label to the right. 

I'll be sharing more on the dishes we made this week (especially my mom's millionaire pie recipe) but for now, I want to share some food delivery tips and dish on the delicious french toast sticks.

Here are some tips for when you prepare and take meals to someone in need:

• All but the french toast sticks were self contained in aluminum foil pans with plastic wrap or foil. It's important to try to limit the dish washing for your recipients; and that age old argument of "Where's that casserole dish I loaned you? You never gave it back!" It's even thoughtful to include a pack of disposable plates, cutlery and napkins in your delivery. 
• All of the dishes we prepared take little more than refrigerator thawing and reheating (except for the pie; nothing to do but eat it!). I think bringing things they can cook on their own schedule is important. They won't feel like they have to eat with or in front of you while you visit and if they have a new baby, for example, their meal schedule may be all out of whack. Bring things that give them some ownership over their meals, and will help make their houses smell good - the French toast certainly does!
• Include precise directions, written on the package, if possible. I wrote any thawing and prep instructions on the pan lids or bags with permanent markers. 
• Plan ahead. For your sanity, and theirs, plan ahead. Make sure you know of any allergies and if you're part of a meal delivery group, communicate - so the family doesn't get five lasagnas in a row. I remember when we've had meals delivered to our family, usually after a death; it's a sweet, but monotonous train of casseroles. Talk with your fellow meal-makers and schedule some variety. 
• This may also be a veering away from one-pot casseroles, but think about the whole meal experience for the family. Try to include sides or add-ons that the family would enjoy with the meal but might not have on hand. And again, try to branch out - step away from bagged salad and cookie dough. 

Now on to the French toast.

I love French toast, but we rarely eat it at home because 1. we rarely have a lot of bread readily available, and 2. y'all already know that I hate mornings and I especially hate cooking in the morning. But this solves all of my problems.

First, French toast can be made with almost any bread and one of the tips of this recipe is to save your bread ends, leftover hot dog buns (why 10 buns but only 8 dogs?!?!) etc. in the freezer and then make French toast sticks when you've saved enough. Also, discount bread is pretty easy to find. Our Wal Mart has a "old bread" cart in the bakery for the discounted goodies that are a few days past their prime. I was able to score two huge loaves of fluffy French bread (so this is French French toast, thank you) for only 70 cents each! And a local bakery has a "happy hour" on their last work day where everything's half-priced. That's inexpensive, locally sourced bread! Win!

Secondly, these sticks don't require any thawing time and can be popped straight from the freezer into the oven and cooked in around 15 minutes. So, if you throw them in the oven, you'd have time to get ready while they cooked on their own. And, because I miscalculated my snooze button again (don't tell J), I was able to do a test; turns out they travel well too! I put them in a tupperware, drizzled on the syrup and ate them on the road - no more dangerous than a McMuffin (but more flavorful and budget friendly).

Too often, I think French toast can be soggy, flaccid sticks that soak up syrup like a sponge and aren't of a particularly pleasing texture. But with the crunchy cereal coating(and the crust of the bread I used), these sticks are crispy and stand up to the syrup. I used our Ninja food processor to pulse the cereal to get some very fine pieces and some larger chunks; you can customize your crunch-level with how finely you grind the coating.

The flavor is pretty classic, warm cinnamon and vanilla pair so well with fluffy bread and syrup. It reminds me of being a kid and waking up on a Saturday morning to someone already cooking. If only I could watch cartoons at work. And you could really go anywhere in customizing the flavor, too. Adding some pumpkin pie spice or cloves and nutmeg would make this even more autumnal. Or you can use different cereals. I ran out of cornflakes in my second batch, so I used crushed rice Chex and Special K honey and granola. I recommend straying away from the super-sweet cereals, or pairing them with a more simple flavor, since you're bound to douse this in syrup anyway.

I've really enjoyed these sticks for an elaborate-feeling, but utterly easy breakfast; and hope you do too! I know a little momma who claims they're a "life saver"!

Freezer-Friendly French Toast Sticks
Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients: (Note: I did a recipe-and-a-half to do a whole loaf of French bread)

6 slices day old bread (ideally in thick slices)
4 eggs
1 c milk (any kind - I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
2 T sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 - 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 c+ ground cornflakes (or other cereals), plus more as needed

Method:

Cut each piece of bread into thirds to make sticks.

In a large casserole dish, whisk eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon until well mixed. Place bread in the dish and allow to rest for 45-60 seconds. Flip the bread to coat other side.

Dip each piece into crushed cereal, coating all sides.

Place on large greased baking sheet. When completed, place baking sheet into the freezer for at least 45 minutes or until bread is firm and partially frozen. Transfer to a labeled freezer bag or airtight container in the freezer. (I would suggest using within 2-3 months to avoid freezer burn.)

To prepare frozen sticks:

Preheat oven to 425. Place desired amount of sticks on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for approximately 8 minutes, flip and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and hot.

Serve with powdered sugar, syrup and/or sliced fruit.

Easy & Delicious Overnight Oats

Breakfast and I are frenemies.

I love the idea of starting the day off with a beautiful meal that energizes me and keeps me going until lunchtime. On days when I don't eat breakfast, I'm dragging through the morning at work and usually overeat the rest of the day.

However, I don't like the idea of getting up earlier to cook or eating so early that I'm starving by 10:00 a.m.

The best breakfasts for me are ones that I can prep ahead of time, require little or no effort in the morning and are portable so that I can eat them at my desk on my own schedule.

For about a year-and-a-half, I was keeping Special K cereal and soy milk at work and eating a tiny bowl each morning; in the last few months, I was trying to make powder/almond milk meal replacement drinks. But what I've realized is that if my morning meal isn't something worthwhile, or homemade instead of out of a box or a can, I make it less of a priority and am more likely to not make time to eat, much less enjoy it.

So I've been thrilled by the breakfasts we started making with our clean eating detox. These meals were homemade but not difficult or time consuming. The dishes that required a.m. cooking were still quick, like omelets or fried egg hashes, but more times than not they were prepped and/or cooked ahead of time for great grab-and-go breakfasts. One of my favorites was the strawberry overnight oats and I've started experimenting with the recipe to include other flavor profiles and textures.

This week, I stumbled across a great recipe for cinnamon overnight oats with bananas, peanut butter, pecans and maple syrup - and it was stellar!

Overnight oats are made the night before (at least 8 hours) with a variety of oats and/or seeds with some liquid or dairy products - milk (dairy, almond or soy) or yogurt (we've only tried Greek) - and some seasonings and occasionally, mix ins like fruit or nuts. It looks like a watery mess when you make it, but the liquid is absorbed so fully and the oats plump up beautifully and the seeds soften, too. In the morning, your jar is filled with something that actually looks like traditional oatmeal, not the goop you left there last night.

You can eat the oats straight from the fridge, like a parfait, or you can microwave it for 30+ seconds to get it warm. I'll admit it feels very strange to eat oatmeal that isn't piping hot and warming you all the way through, but it's actually delicious, especially in the summer when it's hot all day and every day. This recipe was a great blend of both - the oats stay cold, but you heat up the toppings and swirl them into the oatmeal. And that requires hardly any effort - I packed all the components in separate containers and only had to stir them together when I got to work.

When I looked at the recipe I worried that it could be sickeningly sweet - with bananas, peanut butter AND maple syrup? I just knew I'd be choking down the diabetes-in-a-jar. However, the way you mix the ingredients, the oats are actually very simply flavored. They aren't sweet at all and the dominant flavor is the spiciness of the cinnamon. The toppings - which are portioned perfectly - add just the right amount of sweetness and nuttiness and a great mixture of textures (and temperatures). Swirling everything together makes for perfect bites with crunch, the mouthfeel of oats, creamy bananas and peanut butter and a sticky, silky maple syrup.

And one of the best, and most surprising, things about this breakfast is just how filling it is. The portion is almost too much, and having double proteins the fullness lasts for hours.

If you're looking for a way to simplify your mornings and improve your first meal of the day, give this a try; I'm confident you won't be disappointed.

Cinnamon Overnight Oats with Bananas, Peanut Butter, Pecans and Maple Syrup

Adapted from Radiant Rachels

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

1/4 c oats
1 T chia seeds
1/2 t cinnamon
3/4 c almond milk (I used unsweetened vanilla)
a splash of vanilla extract
1/2 ripe banana, sliced
1 T natural peanut butter
1 t maple syrup
2 T pecans, toasted

Method:

In a small bowl, combine oats, seeds, cinnamon, milk and vanilla. Stir until cinnamon is mixed in well.

Pour into a pint-sized mason jar or other airtight container and refrigerate overnight (for at least 8 hours).

Before serving, microwave banana slices and peanut butter in small microwave safe container for 30 seconds, or until p.butter is warm and almost runny. Pour over oats. Top with pecans and drizzle maple syrup over top.

Breakfast at the Bell

March 27, Taco Bell unveiled their first breakfast menu and new morning hours. They now offer food all day, for all meals - they did create "Fourth Meal." Last week, Taco Bell rolled out this unique menu with possibly one of the wittiest commercials, featuring Ronald McDonald.

Since the debut, I've been begging J to go out for a breakfast Taste Test date. And for a week straight, he grimaced and whined and put me off. But this morning, I won the battle! I guess since we had miserable chores planned - taking an old mattress to the dump, painting and other spring cleaning - he thought that he could start his day out with an equally miserable meal that might make him so ill he could get out of chores.

Boy, was he wrong!

Because we're hella classy, we took the Bell breakfast experience up a notch by going through the drive thru and eating in the Lowe's parking lot.

I hope to try the menu in its entirety (minus the breakfast burrito, J makes the best, why bother?) but we chose to try three stand-out items to start with. Jordan ordered a sausage AM Crunchwrap combo which included two Cinnabon delights, and I ordered a sausage waffle taco.

The crunchwrap - available in bacon, sausage or steak - was the most visually appealing dish and was the best simulation of a tasty daytime menu item. It's filled with scrambled eggs, a sausage patty, hashbrowns, cheese and what J called "a zesty sauce." The traditional crunchwrap is a riff on a deconstructed double taco with hard corn tortillas and taco fillings wrapped in a flour tortilla and grilled. This a.m. version gives a great crunch with a hashbrown "filet" that is only further complimented by the crispness of the grilled flour tortilla. And it's a substantial amount of protein all slammed into one package - a good sized meal that would keep you full. The flavor is great and it's very easy to eat without a mess; for on-the-go breakfast eaters this will give biscuits a run for their money.

In addition to being hilarious-looking, the waffle taco - available in bacon or sausage, was pretty good too. 

Only a few weeks ago, we had wistfully talked about how when we were kids sometimes we'd get to go to McDonalds for pancake platters in the big styrofoam clamshells. We realized that since they got rid of the local PlayPlace and we started driving, going out to eat pancakes fell to the wayside. But this could be a good solution. The waffle itself already has a maple flavor that adds a beautifully matched sweetness to the eggs, sausage and cheese. Sausage and sweet things are made for each other. The sage notes in the sausage patty pair beautifully with sweet points - which is why Southerners love grape jelly on sausage biscuits. I elevated the dramatic dash-side presentation by pouring on a small drizzle of syrup (included) and it was great. Syrup does complicate the simultaneous driving and eating experience, but with a steady hand this is doable, unlike pancakes.  However, this dish isn't nearly as substantial as the crunchwrap and probably wouldn't be filling without a side. 

And speaking of "sides," the Cinnabon delights are mindblowing. Our combo came with two of the warm, sweet puffs; but you can order a dozen on their own - and next time, I will. The premise is a cinnamon roll-flavored beignet, rolled in cinnamon sugar and filled with Cinnabon's cream cheese icing. Wow. They're served warm, so the icing is gooey and thick, the dough is fluffy and the delicious sugar gets everywhere. I'm a churro nut (and Taco Bell makes the best commercial franchise churro) so these are a perfect way for me to get my churro on before noon. I would order the dozen-in-a-cup anytime (do they do that?!). 

Overall, we were both pleasantly surprised - J especially. He even said that despite his skepticism he was very pleased with all of the food. I made sure to take my heartburn medicine and had emergency Tagamet close at hand but my fears were pointless. I enjoyed the flavor of my meal and appreciated the good value. There are only so many ways to eat a biscuit sandwich, so I was pleased with the whimsy and uniqueness of the Taco Bell menu! 

For the price and convenience, I would recommend anyone give the new menu a go!