for the time-starved or curious culinary adventurer
I’m kind of at a loss for what to call this dish. At its root it’s “sweet rice”, a lightly-sweet breakfast dish my mom used to make occasionally with leftover rice when I was a kid. But it’s a couple steps beyond that, too, because I went on one of those sprees where I start throwing whatever else healthy I can think of into the pot.
Basically it’s an alternative to oatmeal. It’s really filling, easy to make ahead and bring to work, and very healthy as well.
I. Love. Pancakes. Give me a fluffy, whole grain buttermilk pancake and I’m in brunch heaven. Slather it with peanut butter and some syrup? Divine.
To me, pancakes mean a lazy Saturday morning, Sabbath brunch with my family, music in the background, with me flipping pancakes while everyone chows down.
Problem is, I don’t really get pancakes much anymore. It’s just me, so I typically have a lot of strong coffee for weekend breakfast and not much else. However, I went for a run a few Sunday mornings ago, and when I got home I was absolutely ravenous. I mentally ran through my meal options and decided I was craving pancakes, but needed to make them as healthy as possible. So I took my family’s buttermilk pancake recipe, and swapped in mostly whole wheat flour, wheat germ, flaxseed, and some chia seeds for good measure. And it was delicious!
If it hasn’t been obvious from my past 10 or so posts, I’ve been really trying to find good, easy make-ahead breakfasts for weekdays. Part of that is that I’ve been trying to eat even healthier than normal to fit into a bridesmaid dress (and look good in my upcoming trip pictures). The other part is that my work schedule has been so crazy that I feel like normal meals have become non-existent. Enter the mini frittata.
This was very similar to the kind of baked/oven poached eggs I did a few weeks ago. And just as easy.
A couple weeks ago, my CSA box had some little apples in it. Now apples are one of those fruits I can kind of take or leave—I think I ate way too many some years ago taking the “an apple a day” adage too seriously. But they are fairly good for baking, and I wasn’t about to let these go to waste.
Since I’m trying to be really healthy (and fit into a dress next weekend), desserts like pies, crisps, etc. were out. But I’d pinned this muffin recipe a while ago and decided it sounded sufficiently healthy.
My biggest complaint with muffins generally is that they’re usually kind of dry. Oh, sure, maybe they’re fine straight out of the oven. But once they cool they’re a surefire way to choking and getting the hiccups from not being able to swallow. BUT NOT THESE. Seriously, these are like magic moistness muffins.
I had a couple for breakfast all week, and they stayed just as moist and awesome. This might be my favorite muffin recipe ever.
In looking at all my recipes lately, I’ve been on quite an egg kick. Which is weird because, while I don’t hate eggs or anything, I don’t really eat them that often and sometimes they make me a little nauseous. Maybe my sudden interest in eggs has to do with the ravenous protein cravings I’ve been having. Regardless, this recipe caught my eye because it was fast, easy, cute, and added a little something extra to your average egg recipe.
And I love red peppers.
If you’re the kind of person that keeps red peppers on hand, then this recipe is for you. And, it’s totally scalable—it can make one serving or feed a whole family if necessary.
I’ve definitely been on a bread-baking kick lately—though not sure if this one qualifies as an actual “bread”. It’s delicious and moist and fiber-ful and CHOCOLATE. It’s breakfast and dessert. It’s so many things.
And the best thing about this?? It’s surprisingly healthy! No, really.
While there’s some brown sugar in it, and the chocolate chips (though I use at least half dark chocolate chips because I think they taste better), otherwise it’s made with oil and honey and zucchini. You could even try using whole wheat flour, though I haven’t yet myself.
The first time I made it, I thought it was done and pulled it out of the oven too early, so seriously everything but the edges was complete chocolate goo. Which sounds great, but actually was just too much. So don’t be like me. Never be like me. The second time I got it right.
I never understood the big deal about breakfast casseroles until recently. My co-workers love them—of course, that’s because they usually have pig products in them, which I don’t get as excited about. But to me, it always seemed like more work and time to do a casserole than to just make eggs, bacon, and pancakes.
But I was intrigued by this one, partly because it contains my vegetable du jour (mese? annno?), kale. Kale for breakfast? Count me in! Also, I had a crowd to feed last weekend with family in town, and we had made turkey bacon the day before so I swiped a few pieces for the next day’s breakfast. Bam, one step down. I’m that efficient…
From there, it was super easy to put together and put in the oven. I included one of my little tricks for getting egg dishes to cook evenly in the instructions, because it’s saved my life a few times. I live in perpetual fear of accidentally giving all my co-workers or family food poisoning by under-cooking eggs or chicken.
My mom and sisters were in town last weekend, which means I cooked and baked my face off all weekend. It was a great excuse to try a bunch of new recipes and generally stuff ourselves!
On Saturday morning we decided to make some eggs and bacon, and then wanted some kind of bread. We thought about pancakes or waffles, but my mom suggested some kind of scones. Since I didn’t feel up to the effort that pumpkin scones require, I thought it was a great chance to try a new scone recipe.
I had frozen blueberries on-hand, so that worked just fine—blueberry scones it is! While this wasn’t my favorite scone recipe I’ve ever tried, it was a great one to have in the repertoire.
I’m a breakfast proponent. Not because I love eating so early in the morning, but because it’s one of the best things you can do for keeping your blood sugar and energy up all day. Normally I just go for fiber-y cereal or instant oatmeal, or the smoothies I’ve been doing lately, but I found this idea from Pinterest intriguing. I’ve seen several of my co-workers cook up eggs in a pan ahead of time and make a McMuffin-type breakfast when they get to work, but this was a little different—the egg ends up almost poached.
You can make them plain or throw some veggies or cheese in as well. I had some sweet peppers and summer squash leftover from my CSA box last week, so I used those, and threw in some spinach that was about to go bad. I forgot cheese, but would totally put a little on next time.
I posted an awesome pineapple spinach smoothie I’d been trying out for breakfast every day a couple weeks ago. On a few of the smoothie websites I’d read that you should mix it up, not just always do the same fruits and veggies, to get the most out of the nutrients. So I switched up a few of the ingredients for the past week and made this pear, mango, & kale smoothie. Just as good, though I think I prefer the spinach one from a texture standpoint.
What I’ve been doing is making this in the morning, drinking part of it on my way to work, then putting it in the fridge while I have my normal coffee and such. Then I pull it out of the fridge around 10:30 and have breakfast part deux.