Sausage & Egg Breakfast Burrito

This Breakfast Burrito paired with some fruit will get your day started off right with plenty of protein and fiber, and the fact that it's pretty tasty doesn't hurt either :)

The key to our high fiber wraps are the tortillas. These are a new find for us and so far I've only seen them at Costco. Each whole wheat tortilla is only 80 calories and packs 12 grams of fiber! That's nearly half of your recommended daily fiber intake. And unlike many other whole wheat tortillas we've tried these taste good! They remind me of a crepe.

Each Burrito contains:

1 tortilla
2 eggs (scrambled or fried)
1 Morning Star veggie sausage
1 Tablespoon salsa

*I also like to add 1/2 cup of spinach

Directions:

Scramble or fry your eggs and heat your sausage, cutting into small pieces as it cooks.

Lay the eggs in the middle of the tortilla, top with sausage and then salsa. Wrap it up and serve with your favorite fruit!

Irish Soda Bread

This Irish Soda Bread was part of our St. Patrick's Day feast... okay it wasn't really a feast, but dinner was good :) This was my first attempt at making soda bread and although I'm sure I've had it before, it's been a very long time. I have to say I was pleased with how it turned out. Maybe not my first choice in breads, but good for what it is supposed to be. This is a very dense bread and the flavors are strong (good, but strong.) I was joking at dinner saying one piece of the bread was a meal in itself... it really is. Mike says this is what they use in an "Irish Breakfast," they pile all sorts of goodness on top of it. I will probably make this again next year.... but most likely not anytime in-between. Maybe we'll try an Irish Breakfast next year.

I found this recipe here on timesunion.com. I did a few things differently, but stuck to the recipe for the most part. Here was my final recipe: Ingredients:

• 3½ Cups flour
• 4 Teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 Cup sugar
• ½ Teaspoon baking soda
• 8 oz. Raisins, softened (soak in hot water, drain)
• ½ Teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon caraway seeds
• 2 Eggs beaten
• 1 Cup sour cream
• ½ Cup buttermilk
• 3 Tablespoons melted margarine
• Oil for brushing
  

Heat oven to 350 F.

Grease and lightly flour 9x9" pan.

Combine wet ingredients in one bowl (not oil) and dry ingredients in another.

Mix wet and dry ingredients together.

Add to greased, floured 9x9” pan and brush with a little oil.

Cut an “X” in the top.

Bake 50 minutes at 350° F **I covered the top loosely in foil for the last 15 minutes to prevent the top from browning too much.

St. Patrick's Day Green Smoothie!

Use St. Patrick's Day as a chance to get your kids hooked on green smoothies! They are so good for you and tasty! Once they get past the green color (which is easier when you say "It's green for St. Patrick's Day!") they will love them and ask for more!

Remember to use very ripe fruit for the best tasting smoothie!

St. Patrick's Day Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 bananas
2 oranges
1 pear
2 cups fresh baby spinach
2 cups almond milk (or any milk)
1/2 cup yogurt (we use honey Greek)
Ice (if using frozen fruit skip the ice)

Directions:

Place all of your ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add more milk for a thinner smoothie.

And now that they love green smoothies keep some fresh baby spinach and fruit on hand for this healthy and tasty snack!

Orange, Mango, Banana Smoothie

We visit Starbucks at least once a week. I used to laugh at the thought of someone ordering a drink that takes 10 minutes just to order because the name is so long, custom drinks to the extreme. I am now that person... Me and my double tall, one pump, soy white chocolate mocha with no whip. I can't help it, I'm spoiled.

The kids like the Vivianno smoothies; the Orange, Mango, Banana is their favorite.

We've recreated this deliciousness at home to make it cheaper, healthier and tastier because it's made with Love :) I'm drinking one right now... Mmmmmmm. The perfect mid-morning snack.

Having very ripe fruit is essential to a good smoothie; brown spotted bananas, squishy oranges and mangoes are a must!

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

2 very ripe bananas
1 large very ripe orange
2 very ripe mangoes.
1/2 cup yogurt (we used honey Greek)
1 cup almond milk (more or less to achieve desired consistency)
Handful of Ice (unless your fruit is frozen, then you can skip the ice)

Directions:

Throw it all in the blender and blend until smooth. Add more milk to thin it out if needed.

For even more fun, throw it into popsicle molds and freeze!

Oatmeal & Yogurt Pancakes

This is a really great recipe because it's so easy to make different flavors and it's healthier than a box mix. Use any flavor yogurt you have on hand, blueberry would be great and you could also add extra fresh or frozen blueberries! These are very filling!

Oatmeal & Yogurt Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups oats (ground to a flour like consistency)
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 cup yogurt
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and brown both sides on a heated skillet, cook through. Serve with fruit preserves or syrup.

Oatmeal Pie

How many different ways can you eat oatmeal? I don't know, but I'm determined to find out :) This recipe was adapted from the book Simply in Season by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert. What they call "Baked Oatmeal" we re-named "Oatmeal Pie" because when I handed Michael a bowl of this and he was expecting just oatmeal he was a little skeptical. "What kind of oatmeal is it?" he asked. "It doesn't look like oatmeal." Well it's Oatmeal..... uhhhh (come on super Mommy be brilliant here) Pie! It's Oatmeal Pie." And with that he got a huge smile on his face, hopped up in his chair and said "Yum! I Love pie!."

After my alterations here is the recipe we ended up with -

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup (or more) raisins
2 ripe bananas (mashed)
1/2 cup brown sugar (reserve about 2 Tablespoons for the top)
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 Tablespoons oil
1 egg (beaten)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F and grease a 8x8" pan.

Mix all of the ingredients together (dry in one bowl, wet in another and then all together).

Smooth into prepared pan and sprinkle with reserved brown sugar.

Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes.

Serve warm.

Banana & Chocolate Ice Cream Treats

Playing off of the Breakfast Ice Cream I just posted about I wanted some other fun ways and combinations to eat this healthy treat. Banana and chocolate? Absolutely. I was going to actually mix the chocolate and some peanut butter, but I didn't have any peanut butter so that nummy combination will have to wait for another day.


Ingredients:

4 very ripe bananas (make sure they have brown spots covering the peel, this is when they are at their sweetest!)
2-4 Tablespoons yogurt (I used honey greek yogurt, but use any yogurt of your choice)
Nutella

Directions:

Cover muffin tins with liners (about 20 small or 10 regular), it would probably work fine with no liners but I haven't tried. You could also use those cute silicone ice cube trays in fun shapes!

Mix bananas and yogurt in a blender

Pour banana mixture into each muffin cup (fill them all the way)

Cover and freeze overnight.

Unwrap frozen tarts and put on a serving plate. Top each with some Nutella. As you can see I need to work on my topping technique so it doesn't look like someone pooed on my tart....

You can put them either way on the plate, I tried both and I'm not sure which way looks better, what do you think? Muffin or upside down muffin?




Enjoy!

Some ways I will experiment with this recipe:

Add some peanut butter into the banana mixture before freezing and then top with Nutella.

Mix peanut butter in with the nutella.

Use different fruits and corresponding toppings:

Strawberry (or any berry) with a little whipped cream on top?
Apple with a caramel or peanut butter topping?
Mango and.....

Ice Cream for Breakfast

Okay, technically more like frozen yogurt, but who doesn't love the sound of ice cream for breakfast? This has more protein & fiber with less sugar than most breakfast cereals! And to save 50 calories and 3 grams of sugar eat it in a bowl instead. Or to go the other direction, throw some colorful sugar sprinkles on top and watch those little faces light up! Perfect for breakfast, as a snack or dessert.

I'll get a picture up soon....

This came about because I had a pack of sugar cones to use up. I bought them to make the Cub Scout Camping Cake. We rarely have ice cream cones at home, it's really something we go out and do. The last thing I need in the house is a carton of ice cream, it wouldn't even make it into the cone before meeting it's fate.

If I have too much fruit that is really ripe and I know we can't eat it before it turns, I chop it up and freeze it for smoothies.... or this recipe :)

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped frozen fruit of your choice
2 Tablespoons honey greek yogurt
1 sugar cone

Directions:

Put fruit and yogurt in your blender and blend until smooth. Hold on, it's rough going at the start :)

You can scoop it into your cone with a spoon or put it into a plastic bag, cut the corner and squezze it into your cone all pretty like.

The nutrition facts are using one cone with apple as the fruit, but use whatever fruit you have or love! Mango, banana, berries, pear, orange......

	Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe 1 Serving Amount Per Serving Calories 118.2 Total Fat 0.7 g Saturated Fat 0.1 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 25.7 mg Potassium 204.3 mg Total Carbohydrate 23.9 g Dietary Fiber 3.1 g Sugars 3.9 g Protein 5.5 g Vitamin A 1.2 % Vitamin B-12 3.3 % Vitamin B-6 3.4 % Vitamin C 10.5 % Vitamin D 0.0 % Vitamin E 2.1 % Calcium 7.5 % Copper 2.7 % Folate 2.6 % Iron 1.9 % Magnesium 3.0 % Manganese 3.6 % Niacin 1.3 % Pantothenic Acid 2.9 % Phosphorus 7.8 % Riboflavin 8.4 % Selenium 0.7 % Thiamin 3.2 % Zinc 0.5 % *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Oatmeal Muffins Your Way

I wanted something similar to eating a bowl of oatmeal, but without the mush... I'm not big on mush for breakfast. We all know oatmeal with a little fruit is a healthy breakfast so I was determined to come up with a fun way to eat it. Muffins. I love muffins. But many muffins can be worse for you than a donut as far as calories, fat and sugar are concerned!

These muffins were so perfect in my mind as I lay there trying to sleep, but unable to because of the NyQuil I knew I shouldn't have taken because it always keeps me up. Lucky me they turned out just as perfect the next morning.

Base muffin ingredients:

* 1 cup Oats
* 1/4 cup Almonds
* 1/4 cup Flax Seed Meal (ground flax)
* 1/4 cup flour
* 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
* 1/2 teaspoon Salt
* 3/4 cup Milk (1%)
* 1 Egg
* 1/4 cup Canola Oil
* 1/4 cup Applesauce, unsweetened
* 1 Banana (very ripe)
* 2 teaspoons Cinnamon

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F and grease 24 mini muffin tins or 12 regular.

Mix oil, applesauce, banana, milk and egg in a large bowl.

Put dry ingredients in your food processor and grind to a fine powder.

Fold dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fill muffin tins to the top with batter.

*For the regular muffin tins you can fill them half way, add some of the topping (I'll describe in a minute) and then top with remaining batter and topping. The nutrition information below is for the base muffin recipe (12 regular muffins) and does not include the toppings.

12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		121.8
Total Fat		7.4 g
	Saturated Fat	0.9 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	2.6 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	4.0 g
Cholesterol		18.5 mg
Sodium		106.8 mg
Potassium		155.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate		15.9 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.8 g
	Sugars	2.6 g
Protein		3.2 g

Vitamin A	1.3 %
Vitamin B-12	1.8 %
Vitamin B-6	4.5 %
Vitamin C	1.8 %
Vitamin D	2.5 %
Vitamin E	8.2 %
Calcium	8.6 %
Copper	6.1 %
Folate	4.3 %
Iron	7.1 %
Magnesium	8.6 %
Manganese	39.6 %
Niacin	2.2 %
Pantothenic Acid	3.3 %
Phosphorus	12.1 %
Riboflavin	6.4 %
Selenium	4.1 %
Thiamin	9.0 %
Zinc	4.9 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

The toppings here are what make these muffins what they are. Think about what you like to top your oatmeal with and go from there. These are some of the toppings we tried:

Apple Cinnamon Brown Sugar:

1 Tablespoon butter (melted)
1 apple (chopped into small pieces)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix melted butter into apples and cover well. Mix cinnamon and brown sugar together and then toss with apples.

Top each muffin with some goodness :)

Banana Brown sugar Cinnamon:

1 banana (sliced)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix cinnamon and brown sugar together. Toss in banana slices and coat well.

Top each muffin with some goodness :) This was our favorite version.

Top with Blueberries as they are or any berries for that matter.

We also mixed in some dried cranberries with the apples.

Raisins and brown sugar would also be great!

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

The options are endless! What a fun way to eat your oatmeal in the morning or as a snack! Compared to the almost 450 calories and over 30 grams of sugar in a regular muffin these under 150 calorie with less than 2 grams of sugar muffins are the way to go. Thank you NyQuil.