Cookbook: Breakfast for Dinner

Posted on March 13, 2013 by admin

Do you make breakfast for dinner? I love to throw that into the mix and it is such a helpful theme for keeping dinner budget friendly and for keeping dinner varied. I was psyched to see Breakfast for Dinner by Lindsay landis and Taylor Hackbarth. Lindsay writes Love & Olive Oil and wrote Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook.

Besides the beautiful photos, I love that these are different recipes. This is no ‘scrambled-eggs-for-dinner’. These are real dinners, inspired by breakfast. I thought maple glazed meatballs was genius. Habanero-cheddar bread pudding? Yes please! Cornmeal pancakes with beer-braised short ribs also sounded amazing. The sunny side up burgers are a great idea (with a touch of crispy potatoes!) and will definitely be part of my menu planning sometime.

Italian-Style Stuffed French Toast

adapted from Breakfast For Dinner

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves
½ cup whole-milk ricotta
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
3 tbs chopped basil
1 tsp dried oregano
salt & pepper
4 slices french bread
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp garlic powder
1 cup marinara sauce, warmed

Directions:

Mix ricotta, Parmesan, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper.

Cut a pocket into the bread horizontally with a small sharp knife. Cut into the bottom of the bread, starting small and cutting deeper while leaving a ¼ inch intact around the other edges.
Gently stuff ricotta mixture into the bread.

Whisk eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a shallow dish/bowl.

Heat a large skillet or grill pan over medium heat and spray with nonstick spray.
Gently dunk and coat stuffed bread pieces into the egg mix.
Pan fry on each side for about 3 minutes.
Top with marinara to serve.

I loved the flavors. I thought this savory stuffed french toast was great. The original recipe called for sauteed spinach mixed with the ricotta. That would be right up my ally, but I was out of spinach and lots of fresh basil. I left out the spinach, and upped the basil.

Occasionally I crave pancakes, but normally, I’m not seeking sweet for breakfast. This cookbook is perfect for lots of savory options.

I truly love this book and thought it would be a great gift after being a house-guest. Cooking breakfast just seems so do-able and I think anyone would feel comfortable picking out something and whipping it up. Breakfast for dinner is also super fast…like fast enough to help allow you to watch the entire 3-hour Bachelor finale. 3 hours…that’s like a movie! Nope, don’t know who would need to fit those 3 hours into their week. Surely not me 😉

Full 3 Bite Rule Disclosure: My copy of Breakfast For Dinner was completely complimentary but my thoughts, opinions, and words are entirely my own.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Smoothie

Posted on March 1, 2013 by admin

It is almost my birthday and I’ve been trying to eat sensibly in preparation, or in general I guess. Calories don’t count on birthdays. Also since I have to get up uber early on Saturday for a work event, I forsee a dunks bfast sandwich in my future. Weekend wake-ups shouldn’t start with a 6, but then again the actual work event days start with a 3, which is just gross, so this 6 am is peanuts.

Something delicious to start the day is necessary, but healthy to start the day is the norm. I’m still riding out my smoothie obsession for breakfast and getting ready while sipping a smoothie is just somehow relaxing. I liked the banana peanut butter and nutella smoothie I made, but this time I was thinking PB&J!

Ingredients:

6 oz vanilla Greek yogurt (or blueberry yogurt would be good too)
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 tbs reduced fat peanut butter
splash of milk (optional)

Directions:

Assemble & blend!

I like the berries/fruit to be frozen, or semi-frozen so that the smoothie is thicker. Fresh berries would work too, but frozen are also easier to have on hand.

I prefer the taste of reduced fat peanut butter, and why not shave a few calories where you can? I go for chunky but I mooch from Mr. J’s creamy reduced fat pb when making smoothies (shhh!)

This one was good and very flavorful. I don’t know if it was my favorite so far, but a good change up from my normal yogurt-fruit-only smoothies.

Peanut Butter, Banana and Nutella Smoothie

Posted on February 15, 2013 by admin

My go-to breakfast is often a smoothie. I got a pretttty awesome new Nina blender with single serve smoothie attachment. I ran my last one into the ground (circa 2004?). It is still kicking but my new one is freaking amazing.

Smoothies are filling enough when there’s protein (read: Greek yogurt) and several servings of fruit. My key is liquid to make it blend nicely (milk or low-calorie juice). I was craving nutella too, which is a new ingredient for my smoothies.

Ingredients:
¾ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1 small-medium banana, sliced
¼ cup reduced fat peanut butter
2 tbs nutella
¼ cup milk (if needed)

Directions:
Add yogurt and banana into the blender.

Add peanut butter and nutella

Blend until smooth.

Add milk as needed.

I loved this one. It was sweeter than some of my other smoothies. I think the banana with the peanut butter was perfect. It was thinner than I usually make. Freezing the banana chunks or adding ice would have made it more thick/frothy/luscious.

Do you have a favorite smoothie combo?

Sweet Potato and Brussels Sprouts Hash

Posted on January 2, 2013 by admin

Happy New Year! December included a vacation then the whirlwind of the holidays in MA & ME. It was an awesome few weeks but I feel like now it is is major detox time. Time to eat real food and get back to the routine. There were some amazing meals on vacay, Christmases with both families, holiday parties, a cookie swap, some festive beverages etc.

I spotted this easy sweet potato and brussels sprouts hash on Culinary Colleen’s blog. It looked awesome for brunch. I thought it could be an easy and balanced dinner.

Ingredients:
2 small sweet potatoes quartered
2 cups brussels sprouts, trimmed
4 strips of bacon
1 tbs chopped garlic
2 eggs

Directions:
Partially boil the potatoes and cook until the potatoes are halfway cooked.
Steam the brussels sprouts while pan frying the bacon.

Drain the bacon, leaving the pan coated with bacon grease.
Cook potatoes, brussels sprouts, and garlic in the bacon pan.
When potatoes and sprouts are getting gently browned and crisp turn to low and keep warm. Add bacon just before serving.

Pan fry eggs over easy, or poach the eggs.

Serve eggs over the potato and sprout hash.

I liked this. It was super easy. I think I should have dripped in a little liquid smoke, but the bacon gave a great smokiness. I don’t think I’d crave this weekly, but it was a nice change up and was only 1 pot and 1 pan to make. Love that!

Banana Streusel Muffins

Posted on December 3, 2012 by admin

Baking isn’t my forte, but muffins are a good choice for me. Then it can be breakfast and I don’t have cakes and cookies taunting me.
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I got 5 bananas for $0.38 in the discount produce and they screamed banana bread. Between the 5 I cut off some browned spots and had about a total of 3-4 bananas. Pretty good deal!

Banana Streusel Muffins

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup cinnamon or butterscotch chips
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tsp whole wheat flour
2 tsp oatmeal
1 tsp unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a 12-muffin tin with cupcake papers.
Whisk 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour with baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a large bowl.
Mash bananas with a potato masher.
banana_streusel_mush
Mix together mashed bananas, 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter, egg, white sugar, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl. Gently fold banana mixture and cinnamon chips into dry ingredients just until moistened; do not overmix.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling them about 3/4 full.
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Mix brown sugar with 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour and oatmeal in a bowl, stirring until combined; mash 1 tablespoon unsalted butter into the mixture with a fork until streusel topping resembles crumbs.
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Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake muffins in the preheated oven until a toothpick comes out clean or with moist crumbs, about 20 minutes.
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They came out great, but the batter tasted a bit off. What? You think I didn’t lick a spatula? It tasted salty. I was disheartened. I was fearful! I don’t bake often but it didn’t seem right. I baked it anyway. I figured it already was too late so I may as well bake and see what happens.
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They were great when I baked them! I think I may have used a ½ cup of salted butter, instead of unsalted. It turned out A-OK.