Oatmeal Chia Pudding

Wow!! This is really good!!! I dislike oatmeal, with a passion, I've said that before, I know. ;) But this, this is really yummy and super bummed I only got ONE bite!!! :/ I mixed this up last night for the kids and was just hoping they would like it, not knowing how it would turn out. But knew they like cold oatmeal so this isn't that different, just added some chia seeds to make it kinda it thick!

Chia pudding is pretty good by itself, but these added ingredients just make it that much better! :D Let me know if you try it, add anything and how you like it! :)

I mixed this up in the Pampered Chef batter bowl...


Oatmeal Chia Pudding

2 cups oats (not instant)
6-8 tablespoons chia seeds (my measurements were used by a soup spoon which is a tablespoon ;))
3 soup laddles of homemade yogurt (or 3 small containers of vanilla yogurt)
Vanilla almond milk (I used Aldis brand)

Put all ingredients in bowl except for milk and stir to combine... I didn't measure the milk but I added it up to the 6 cup line. (I have half a gallon container and I used half of it!)
Stir to combine, cover and place in frig overnight!
Serve with fresh fruit or frozen berries...


You could totally added some cinnamon, cocoa powder (make sure to add pure maple syrup or honey to sweeten it a bit), chocolate chips...

You can really add anything and everything to this! The kids literally gobbled this down and they all were asking for more after they had seconds!! :) will make a bigger batch next time!! I really want to make it again tomorrow but we have to be out of the house by 6 am to head to Children's Hospital in DC to get 2 of my kids hearing aides checked... Maybe Thursday...? ;)

(I cooked each kid an egg to go with...)

Let me know what you think and how you like it! Let me know if you added anything! :)
I didn't add any sugar to this! :)

Egg and Bacon Bagel Sandwiches

Yummy!!!  :)

I had a friend who was moving and so I was supposed to raid their freezer and they had these small skinny bagels...  I knew immediately what I was going to fix with them!  THIS!!  :)

I had leftover blueberry breakfast cookies and fixed these yummy breakfast sandwiches to go with it!  :)

I fried up some bacon and then fried up some eggs in the bacon grease...  yummy...

I just put the egg in the skillet and then took a fork to scramble it a bit, but not too much.  Fried it til it was done, and put it on the bagel that had ketchup on both side!  ;)

Pretty easy!

Toast bagel
Put ketchup on bagel
Fry bacon
Put bacon slices on bagel
Fry egg
Put egg on bagel on top of bacon
EAT!

I'm thinking you can use avocado instead of ketchup...  MMMmmm...

You could make these the night before and wrap in saran wrap and then pop in microwave to heat really fast if you are in a hurry in the morning!

Keep it wrapped in saran wrap and you can even eat it in the car! :)

Enjoy!!!

Mini Frittatas

What a yummy and easy breakfast! And a GREAT way for your kids to get involved in helping out! :)

I'm also thinking this would be a good breakfast after having turkey all day yesterday!  ;)

I wasn't sure if these would turn out in my stone or majorly stick...  But I sprayed it really good, so was hoping it wouldn't stick, and they didn't!  ;)

Again, this is something really easy that either your kids (if old enough) could just about do by themselves, or you can have them help you.  I think having your kids help you in the kitchen is a great way to not only get them involved, but usually kids like to eat what they have made or helped make..  It also helps teach them what they are eating and how healthy it is, etc...  If they are younger, you can talk about where the eggs come from, the milk, etc...

My kids LOVE breaking eggs...  I don't always let them, or like them too.. but that's another story.. ;)

Here are the eggs scrambled with a bit of milk added...

Pour it into your muffin pan...

Add whatever goodies you want to it.  You can add ham, or mushrooms, just make sure whatever you add is chopped small.  I only added about a tablespoon of green peppers and onions to each muffin cup.  Anymore and it would be to full.

Then I put a small amount of cheese on top.

Here they are ready to go in the oven! ;)

And they are done!  Yummo!!!!

I served 2 eggs per kid and a nice big breakfast cookie!  Talk about a packed and ready to tackle the world breakfast!  ;)

Here's a plate for my hubs!  ;)

Mini Frittatas

6 eggs

1/4-1/2 cup milk

seasoning (only if you want)

anything else you would want in your frittatas:

cheese, green pepper, onions, sausage, mushrooms, etc...

Scramble eggs in a bowl and pour in milk.  Grease a muffin pan very well.  Pour in your egg mixture in muffin pan.  I filled up 12 muffin cups with the egg mixture, then I put a tablespoon of green pepper/onion in each cup.  Then put a pinch of shredded cheese on top.  Place in 350 degree oven and bake for 20-30 minutes.  A knife inserted in middle will come out clean if it's done.

Serve with breakfast cookies, or toast, or whatever else you want to serve it with!  ;)

My kids GOBBLED these down, and LOVED that fact that I gave them a COOKIE with their eggs! (these cookies had NO sugar in them...)

Pumpkin Oatmeal

This is really good!  I know, I think I start alot of my posts out like that, but it's the truth!  :)

It's PUMPKIN season, so of course it's good!  :)  I actually had some canned pumpkin from last year, so I used that.  Yes, it was still good!  ;)

I added pumpkin, raisins, walnuts and a pumpkin pie spice to this oatmeal!  My kids ALLLLL asked for seconds!!!!  :)  I also used steel cut oats, so it took a bit longer to cook, but you can EASILY use regular oats, or quick cooking oats...  ;)

Pumpkin Oatmeal

1 cup steel cut oats

2-3 cups water

Pumpkin puree

pumpkin pie spice

raisins

walnuts


Cut steel cut oats until they are done.  Mine took almost 25 minutes....  I then took a whole can of pumpkin, (the small can, not the HUGE can!  ;)) the pumpkin pie spice, raisins and walnuts, stir until combined and warm.  Serve nice and hot!  If you want it to be a bit sweeter, add some honey or pure maple syrup.  You could add brown sugar if you want.  But I try to serve it to my kids without the sweetener.  I also ate this with out any sweetener, and it was good!  The pumpkin wasn't too overwhelming either.  So if you aren't a HUGE pumpkin fan, you would like this!  :)

Bring your oats to a boil and then back down to a simmer, cover with a lid and simmer until done.

Here it is ready to add everything!  :)

Raisins, pumpkin puree, walnuts, and pumpkin pie spice

All done and ready to eat...  This may not be the best picture, but it REALLY is good!  :)

Creamed Eggs

I got this recipe from one of my Amish Cookbooks...  When I first wrote it down on my calendar to make, I thought it would be really good, but then I was looking at the ingredients and how to make it, then I thought, oh no, the kids aren't going to eat this...  BUT, they DID!!!!  They all ate 2 slices of bread with the creamed eggs on top!

It was really good!  It was a nice filling breakfast on a cold morning! 

Creamed Eggs

6 hard boiled eggs

6 tablespoons butter (I used coconut oil)

6 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Dash of pepper

3 cups milk

Bread, toasted

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, add the flour, salt and pepper.  Stir until well blended. Slowly add the milk stirring constantly.  Cook until smooth. Chop the hard-boiled eggs and stir them into the sauce.  Serve on hot toast.

(this was taken from The Amish Cook by Elizabeth Coblentz)

 Flour in the coconut oil

 Stir until smooth

 Add milk

 Add chopped eggs

 Dump all the eggs in

 Stir it all up

 Yah, you like my toast don't ya?  I got this toaster YEARS ago from my parents, one side has Winnie the Pooh and the other Tigger!  ;)  anyways, get your toast ready....

 Put a nice big spoonful or two of the creamed eggs on top of the toast

Cut up and enjoy!!!  :)

Quinoa Porridge

I honestly wasn't too sure about this.  I haven't been rinsing my quinoa like all the recipes say you are supposed too.  But this time I did, and I'm not gonna lie, I really did notice a difference!  So from here on out, I'll be taking the time to rinse those little tiny things!  ;)

I just took a coffee filter and placed it inside a strainer, then poured in how much qunioa I wanted in the strainer.   Then put it under the faucet to rinse it.  Pretty easy!  ;)

The kids really liked this!  My lil man didn't gobble it down like his older sisters and brother did, but he did eat some of it!  ;)  I ate a small bowl and liked it!

You could put anything in this porridge!  I used cinnamon, an apple and raisins and chopped walnuts.

This is actually pretty easy too!  The health benefits of quinoa are just awesome!  :)

Rinsed the qunioa, placed it in my water, brought it to a boil, then put the lid on and simmered it for 15 minutes.  The whole time I was in and out of the shower, perfect timing!  :)  Once the 15 minutes were up, I poured in the goodies, then about 1 cup of milk.  Let it simmer for a few more minutes, and viola, it's done!  :)  If you wanted it to be sweet, you could add a bit of pure maple syrup or honey.  i did not add any of that and I was able to eat it!  So that tells you something!  ;)

You could add fresh peaches, strawberries, blueberries, or you could do applesauce and cinnamon, really, anything goes!  ;)


Qunioa Porridge

1 cup rinsed quinoa
2 cups water
1 - 1 1/2 cups milk
and any "toppings" you want....  apples, cinnamon, chopped walnuts, raisins, cranberries, any other dried fruit or any other fresh fruit

Bring the qunioa and water to a boil, uncovered, once boiling, turn down heat to a simmer and simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes.  If the water hasn't absorbed completely, that's ok...  ;)  Add your toppings and milk and simmer until desired porridge consistency!

Yummy and easy!  You could make this the nite before and just heat up in the morning for a fast breakfast!
Let me know if you try it and what combo of toppings you use!  :)

 Quinoa before the boil...

 Quinoa after the boil and simmer for 15 minutes

 All toppings in the pot, I left the skin on the apples... not only is it pretty, but there is many health benefits to leaving the skin on!  ;)

 Toppings and milk added

 All stirred up, needs to simmer for a bit...

I probably shouldn't have let it cook as long, but with little kids fighting in the morning, I kinda had to let it cook a bit longer...  I could've added a bit more milk, but they were ready to eat!  ;)

Eggs in the Nest

Growing up my mom would make these!  LOVED them, but I was the one picky one that did NOT like "snot" in my egg!  It HAD to be cooked all the way through!  Something about snotty eggs, eww....  Oh wait, I take that back, my dad didn't like snotty eggs either!  ;)

I also remember my mom making these and if the egg broke, she would say, it's OK, I'll eat this one!  Very RARELY did she break one, but on the occasion that she did, she took the one with the cooked egg yolk.  It's no fun when the egg yolk is cooked hard, you can't dip your bread in it!  ;)

These are VERY easy to make!  My kids GOBBLE them down!  There are other names for it, but this is what I remember my mom calling it eggs in a nest!  :)  (it really should be egg not eggs....  ;))

Here I served it one nite for dinner with some hash browns.  I had a bag of hash browns in my freezer, so I just dumped some sea salt and Old Bay seasoning on it!  YUMMY!!!!  :oP

 Up close pic of the egg in the nest! ;)

Here it is, look at that yummy egg yolk!!!  We would eat it all, then take that piece of bread that was toasted in the pan, and scoop up all that yummy leftover egg yolk!

I don't season the kids eggs, but for my hubs and I, I add some SPIKE, I'm thinking Old Bay might even be good?

There really is no "recipe" for this, so I'll just tell you what you need below!


Egss in the Nest

One egg person
One piece of bread per egg
Salt, pepper, spike, or any other seasoning you like
Coconut oil or butter

Take one piece of bread and use either a small cookie cutter (shape of your choice!  :)) or a small cup and cut out the middle.
Here's where you can do it 2 ways. This last time I just put some coconut oil in the pan, and then threw the bread in and then cracked the egg in the middle.
My mom (and I in times past) would butter the bread, I totally omitted that step, obviously, to save time.  I was being lazy and I wanted to see if it really made a difference.  I didn't notice a difference at all. So the choice is up to you which way you want to go!  Just make sure if you don't butter the bread, to put coconut oil or butter in your pan before each egg you make!  Or it will stick!

Ok, so chose one option, place bread in pan, then crack egg in the hole, season if you desire, cook for a bit, then flip.
I usually cook all the kids eggs in the nest first, then I go back and cook/toast their little pieces of bread.
Then I make mine and my hubs eggs.  ;)

Viola!  You are done!  How easy is that?  Super good, super easy, and can be made for breakfast, lunch OR dinner!  Score!!!  :D

For Valentines Day I used a heart cookie cutter to cut out the middle!  The kids LOVED that!  :)

Let me know what you think!  Have you ever had these before?  Do you call them something different?

Corn Confetti Eggs

Ok, here it is!  Just like I promised, and on time!  Someone should get me a medal!  ;)  Just kidding...

These are easy, and a good breakfast!  The muffins were actually really good, but I don't remember where the recipe is for the muffins, will have to do some digging.. ;)

But when I find it, I will post it!  ;)

There really isn't a recipe for these.

I just had some leftover filling from the Corn Confetti Quesadillas, so I decided to try something.  I knew I wanted to fix eggs for the kids for breakfast, but I didn't just want the plain ole plain old ones.  I also had just given them the eggs in a flour tortilla, so I didn't want to do that again...

Light bulb went off as I was looking in my frig for things to use.  Ah-ha, leftovers with eggs... Works for me!  So I scrambled 9 eggs (that's just for the 4 kids... :\), poured that into a skillet, then dumped in the leftover corn confetti and added a bit of cheddar cheese.  I probably had anywhere from 1/2 - 3/4 cup of the filling left over.

I stired it around until they were done, added a muffin, and fixed them a smoothie.  We called it a good day! And a good filling, nutrious breakfast!  :)

So really the "recipe" is left over corn confetti filling, how many eggs you need, a skillet and some coconut oil.  Mix it all together, until the eggs are cooked, then serve with fresh fruit, muffins and/or smoothies!

You can EASILY make this into a lunch, or even brinner, which we call breakfast for dinner!  ;)

Feed back is ALWAYS welcome!!  :)



Banana, Apple, Orange Smoothie

Well, it's been another 2 weeks, so yet, here comes another round of new recipes and menus! ;)

I know, I am so far behind...

I'm in the works of putting together a "class" to help you put together your own 2 week menu, to fit your lifestyle and your tastes! ;) I don't have everything put together just yet, but once I figure most of it out, I will post a date or a few dates and we will go from there! :)

Those of you who are out of town, I am working on that problem, so we will be able to include you as well! :)

Here's a SUPER easy and SUPER delish smoothie!
I don't have any pics to go with this, but it is really good!

Banana, Orange and Apple Smoothie

2 banana's
2 apples (cored and cut in half)
2 oranges (peeled and in half)

Place all fruit in a blender or vita mix and blend. You can add ice before blending and it will be thicker.

Pour into glasses and enjoy!!! :)

This makes enough for my 4 kids, not a huge tall glass, but a good size one! ;)

Orange Bread

So... I didn't make our breakfast last nite, but since I was up at the crack of dawn, no wait, scratch that, BEFORE the crack of dawn, I just made it this morning! This orange bread was sooo good!!! The only downfall of this was that i only have 3, nope, scratch that, 2 slices left! We had this with an orange, strawberry, and banana smoothie! It was soooo good!

It was really easy to make, seriously only took about 10 minutes to throw together! It took right at an hour to bake, but the smell was intoxicating! The kids woke up to the smell of fresh bread and could NOT wait to get their hands on a piece, or two, or three! ;)

I really am trying to do better to make some hot for the kids for breakfast, plus a smoothie. Nothing wrong with cold cereal, but something hot and homemade fills them up more and gets them through the day a bit better!


Blend the orange juice, milk, coconut oil and egg in bowl...


Add all other dry ingredients plus the orange peel... (save the orange, either eat it with the bread, of finish peeling it and throw it in your smoothie for the morning! ;))


Stir it all up!


Pour in loaf pan and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar... and bake!


All done, boy did it smell GOOD!! SOOOO wish this was a scratch and sniff picture! You'd be running to your kitchen to make up a loaf right now! ;)





The top, sooo good! I think I liked the top part the best! ;)


Orange Bread

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cooking oil (I used coconut oil)
1 egg beaten

Top of bread you will need:
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine orange juice, milk, oil and egg in a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth. Add both flours, sugar, orange peel and baking powder. Stir until well moistened. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon.
Bake 60-05 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

*This is soooo good! I got it from my MCC, More with Less. It calls for 3/4 cup sugar, but I only put in 1/2 and it was just fine! :) also calls for cooking oil, and I substituted coconut oil. A for sure make again!!! ;)

Scrambled Eggs with Cheddar, Avocado and Sauteed Onions

I wanted to make something for my kids this morning for breakfast, other than cold cereal.

I had not been feeling so hot the last few days... Ok, I'm gonna take that one back, it's been since Wednesday of last week that I fixed them a nice hot yummy meal. I woke up Wednesday with a really bad head-ache, which was basically a migraine, then by Thursday, I was toast. To top things off, my hubs was gone, so, that never helps things! My oldest daughter loves to help in the kitchen, and her way of helping is getting some cereal out and getting the milk for all the kids. Don't get me wrong, it's GREAT! And I soooooo appreciated her help! But I knew it was time to make something for them. I am still so very tired, but this is pretty easy to make!

I was also itching to use my fresh farm eggs that I got Saturday at the Farmer's Market. PERFECT opportunity to use them! Well, half of them anyways! ;)

Let me just say one thing. Farm fresh eggs are THE best! And I am not joking on that one! They are soooo much bigger, fresher (well duh!), yellower, they are just way better!



One avocado mashed and ready (I am going to apologize for the pics, they are dark... I was in a hurry to get this up, so I didn't take the time to go through all of them and lighten them up! ;))


My lil man helping to break an egg!


My oldest really concentrating on her egg breaking! ;)


Saute some onions in some coconut oil


Here are my yummy farm fresh eggs!!!


I whisked the eggs, then added the cheese


Pour your eggs and cheese right over the onions


Cook and stir so they will be scrambled! yummy!


Turn off heat, add your mashed avocado


And viola! Yummy!!!



Scrambled Eggs with Cheddar, Avocado and Sauteed Onions

1 avocado
1 small onion, chopped
6 eggs
1/2 - 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Take your avocado and mash up in a small bowl, set aside.
Place a little bit of coconut oil in a skillet big enough to hold your eggs. Saute the onions until tender. While onion is cooking, break eggs in bowl and whisk. Add your cheese and stir. (You can add some salt and pepper here if you would like).
Add your eggs to the skillet and cook until desired tenderness. Keep stirring to get the scrambled eggs! ;)
Turn off heat and add mashed up avocado. Stir to combine and serve hot!

*You could also dice your avocado and stir it in gently to your cooked eggs.
Add a splash of hot sauce, or red pepper flakes if you want it a bit more spicy. Or you could add a hot cheese instead of a cheddar cheese.