3.13.2015

Fab Friday Five - BREAKFAST EDITION

I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything all week.  I meant to, really...but, oh well!

Who doesn't LOVE breakfast?!  I just love breakfast...especially cereal and bagels!  I even have an entire Pinterest board devoted to nothing but breakfast.  I'm not a big fan of heavy breakfasts that have been cooked in a lot of grease that leave you feeling like you need a nap afterwards...so no Waffle House for me, please!  But I do love a nice small stack of pancakes with some eggs... or something of the hash or breakfast sausage variety.  And of course, I could eat cereal all day, every day.  It has two of my favorite things:  milk + cereal.  What a great pair!  So here's some items for you to whip up for breakfast this weekend!  Enjoy :)

Kielbasa, Pepper, Onion and Potato Hash - sub sweet potatoes and it's paleo!
Kielbasa, pepper, and onion potato hash >> recipe here

Look at those beautiful colors!  I've read a lot of places (and heard on NUMEROUS cooking shows) that we eat with our eyes first.  I fully believe that.  I just love food that looks like it's going to be delicious.  And for me, in order to look delicious, it's got to be beautiful in nature...the color, the cuts, the garnish...just stunning.  This pan, for sure, meets those standards!  It's sausage (you could use turkey sausage or chicken sausage for a healthier option), potatoes (or sweet potatoes if you prefer), bell peppers, and onions all cut up into little bite-sized pieces.  Then it's all sauteed up in some oil (coconut oil if you're looking for a healthy, non-greasy feel) and then devour.  MMM!
**Fun fact:  coconut oil is a solid--not a liquid like most other oils, has no flavor, and has no smell.  So cooking with it will NOT make your food taste like coconut**

Apple-Pomegranate Breakfast Crisp (Grain and Gluten-Free!) -- www.PerrysPlate.com
Apple Pomegranate Breakfast Bake >> recipe here
Another colorful one!  I know it's not pomegranate season anymore, so you might need to save this one for next winter, but look at this!  It's like apple strudel with pomegranate!  I've fallen in love with the pomegranate flavor, and actually bought one, but then I got too chicken to try to open it and ended up throwing it out when it got soft.  But oh man, this looks super tasty!


Cheese blintzes with blueberry sauce
recipe >> here
So I just know that Dave is scrolling through this post and is probably spitting milk out of his mouth from his cereal right this second as he's seeing this bad boy.  Here's the thing:  I don't like change, and I especially don't like change when it is involving a plan that I've made and I have no control over the change.  I make a Christmas morning breakfast (of course I've only done it twice now, but that's besides the point).  For the first time, Dave's family was able to come up for Christmas this year for the first time to celebrate with us...and that was very exciting for us, especially Aria.  Dave really (REAAAAALLY) wanted his mom to bring blintzes (basically, it's a filled crepe).  At first, I was excited to try them...he kept talking about cheese filled ones, and blueberry and cheese filled ones, and I thought they sounded tasty.  But as Christmas got closer, I got overwhelmed and decided that I didn't want these blintzes at my house for Christmas breakfast.  It was really stupid, in fact...I was upset, first, that my menu was changing, but I was most upset that it was Christmas and blintzes were Jewish food and had no place on Christmas morning.  Like I said...stupid.  I'm not even religious, yet I was pitching a fit over what was and was not acceptable cuisine to be served on baby Jesus' birthday! Anywho....Dave's mom brought a TON of these things (not enough blueberry and cheese, I might add) and they were DELISH!  Of course, her's were a little different from this picture in that the blueberries were mixed in with the cheese inside the blintz as opposed to be being a sauce served on top.  And naturally, when I decide to muster the courage to make these, I'll use his mom's recipe (a family recipe) instead of the one listed here....but, it's true, these little suckers taste PHENOMENAL and I secretly can't wait until I get in the mood to fry up the few packages she left in the freezer for us!

Strawberry Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes - Creme de la Crumb
Strawberry Lemon Poppyseed pancakes >> recipe here
Another beauty.  I don't like lemon, but I do like lemon poppy seed muffins...and I feel like these pancakes are going to be that, but in pancake form.  They look so light and fresh, not like a regular heavy pancake.  And I do LOVE strawberry syrup on my pancakes.  The only thing I would do differently, I think I would leave the strawberries out of the batter and just put them on top.  And I wouldn't use strawberry syrup...I would just use the juice from the strawberries that have been covered in sugar (and I mean COVERED).  This looks like a lovely spring breakfast!

Raspberry Jam Overnight Oats >> recipe here
A couple of years ago my dear friend Cherie (check her out over at Waiting on Wildflowers) posted a recipe for overnight oats to her blog.  I don't remember what her exact ingredients were, but it made me take a moment to look up some other overnight oats recipes and to really learn more about them.  Let me tell you:  if you love oatmeal, you'll love overnight oats!  There are a TON of recipes out there for all different kinds of flavor combinations.  The one above I have not tried yet, but it does look scrumptious!  Here's what you do:  In a sealable container (mason jar, tupperware, fancy bowl with lid, whatever), combine your ingredients before you go to bed and stick them in the fridge.  In the morning, pull them out, open the lid, and eat.  This is a cold oatmeal...so no need to heat it up!  All you need is oats (I like to use Quaker old fashion rolled oats...steel cut oats have a weird texture to me that I don't care for), a lot or a little of milk...whichever your preference (I like about 1/2 C. whole milk because I'm from the dairyland, but you can use almond milk or soy or goat or whatever), some tasty things to mix in (my favorite is a generous helping of peanut butter, a whole sliced banana, and chocolate chips), some extra healthy things if you want (like chia seeds and ground flax seeds for an added boost of iron or a scoop of protein powder), and possibly sweetener like honey or agave if you used an unsweetened milk.  You don't have to stir them up in the container before refrigerating (but you can if you want).  It's super easy to whip up at night and EXTRA easy to snatch out of the fridge in the morning and take with you to work.  Just get a spoon, pop the top, and enjoy :)

Enjoy your breakfast and have a great weekend y'all!

No comments:

Post a Comment