breakfast

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Tue
21 ^st

Pretzel Bread French Toast: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, (and Dessert) OH MY!

Posted by Erin — 1 Comment

I love breakfast foods. So does Brian. So do the kids. We could eat them any time of day, and a lot of times when we are a little indecisive about what to have for dinner, most of the time we pick Breakfast for dinner. Also known as brinner.

We have been grilling a lot this summer. Also, my kids have discovered the joy of putting anything grilled on a pretzel roll. I found a brand that is allergy friendly for them, and now I always have them in the house. So, we have kind of forgotten about our old stand by, brinner. Until recently.

I was kind of getting sick of grilling, and wanted to bring our old friend back for a special ~~dinner~~ brinner.

I made pretzel bread french toast, and it was delicious.

You could have this delicious treat any time of day, and you could even serve it up with a vanilla glaze instead of syrup for dessert and call it bread pudding. That is how good it is!

Pretzel Bread French Toast

Ingredients

1 large pretzel loaf or 6 small pretzel rolls cut into cubes
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray and arrange bread cubes in dish.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.
Pour the egg mixture over the bread mixture and making sure to coat all the bread. You may have stir it a bit.
Cover the baking dish and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but overnight is best.
The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake the French toast for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with maple syrup.

What is your favorite go to dinner? Is it brinner? Do you have a favorite recipe that you always have ingredients for on hand?

Tue
30 ^th

Overnight Oats: How I Was Finally Convinced Chia Seeds are Ok

Posted by Erin — No Comments

This post was compensated with products from NOW Foods, however what I whip up and opinions regarding the products are 100% my own.

I am always willing to try new things. I try not to be picky. Since having children, I am especially conscience of this. I want the kids to know that trying new foods should not be that scary, and they might find something they actually like if they just try.

However, I have always had a problem trying Chia Seeds. For some reason they freak me out. I have a mental block. What is ridiculous, is that they are so tiny and they are so incredibly healthy.

I know what it is, though. When I was a little kid, I got horribly sick one time. I was prescribed a medicine that could only be given to me in a capsule form. I was way too little to be taking capsules as I was used to taking liquid medicines. So, the pediatrician told my parents to break open the capsules and put the medicine in applesauce. Then, I would easily be able to swallow the medicine. I would be fine.

I was not fine.

The texture of the little seed like medicine in the applesauce made me gag. It was terrible. AWFUL! Since then, I have not had applesauce or anything seed like. I know. It was like 30 years ago, and I am still harboring this not even that traumatizing experience.

When I saw we had Chia seeds in our NOW Foods gift bag, I told myself, this was it! The research began, and here we are. I started slowly. At the NOW Foods event we used them as a binding ingredient for the quinoa burgers, and I didn’t even know they were there. Perfect! Next, I started adding them to smoothies. HOORAY!

Then, I made overnight oats combining a few of my favorite flavors, vanilla, strawberry, and banana. This has helped tremendously with my fear of Chia Seeds, and now I think I am over it.

Strawberry Banana Overnight Oats (makes 4 servings)
1 1/3 cup oatmeal
1 1/3 cup milk (you can use almond or dairy)
1 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
2 tsp Ellyndale Organic Vanilla Extract
4 tsp NOW Real Foods Organic Agave Nectar
2 tsp Organic Chia Seeds
1 large banana chopped into small pieces
8 or 10 strawberries cut into small pieces

Get four small glass or plastic containers with tight fitting lids. In each container add: 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup milk, 1/3 cup yogurt, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp agave, 1/2 tsp chia seeds, 1/4 of the sliced banana, and 1/4 of the sliced strawberries.

Put the lids on the containers and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, but overnight is best.

This is the perfect breakfast or snack on the go, while working, or to combat a weird fear of a Chia Seeds.

If you like this post and would like to read more about all things domestic with a touch of humor, become a Home Everyday follower! For blog updates or to see other places I write such as ChicagoNow or Chicago Parent follow Home Everyday on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Tue
02 ^nd

Relaxed and Ready: Cranberry Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel Topping

Posted by Erin — No Comments

I know this sounds insane, but even with the craziness ensuing around me, I find myself pretty calm. Perhaps it is because of the little bit of pre-holiday-planning I took the time to do in November, but I am amazingly laid back for this time of year.

The decorations are all up (except for a few little details). The Christmas cards are started, the baking supplies are bought, I have some Christmas gifts bought, oh and I have enough tape and tissue paper to last me the next 25 Christmases.

With that said, I am able to try some new recipes in the kitchen.

This time of year, I like to make some hot vanilla for the kids when they get off the bus before they start homework. I was wondering what would be a good snack to accompany a hot beverage, and muffins came to mind. Cranberries seemed festive, and adding oatmeal seemed healthy, so I did a little experimenting and came up with these tasty little treats. They are also pretty good to grab on the way out the door for breakfast (Russell had two!)

Cranberry Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel Topping (makes 24 regular sized muffins)

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups coarsely chopped cranberries

For Streusel Topping
1 cup oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 stick unsalted butter melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line muffin tin with paper liners or grease with nonstick spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.

In a mixer bowl with paddle attachment, on medium speed mix together sugar, eggs, and oil. Turn mixer to low, add milk and vanilla. Then, with the mixer on low speed add flour mixture very slowly and only mix for a few seconds. It is ok if mixture is lumpy and you can still see flour. Turn off mixer.

Using a spatula, fold in cranberries.

Next, in a medium bowl, mix together streusel topping ingredients and set aside.

Using an ice cream scoop spoon muffin batter into muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full. Then, using a teaspoon, add streusel mixture.

Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool and enjoy.

Wed
31 ^st

Quaker Oats Keep Us Going All Summer Long

Posted by Erin — 6 Comments

I am thrilled to be writing a sponsored post on behalf of Quaker and their amazing line of breakfast foods.While I was
compensated for this post by Quaker, the opinions are my own.

This summer has been pretty active. Between soccer, ballet,
swimming, baseball, and all of the other fun activities that summer entails, I
am always trying to think of new and creative breakfasts that will keep us full
until lunch.

I have
been eating Quaker oatmeal for a long time, so I was thrilled to be a part of
their ongoing commitment to fueling active and healthy families. Also, because
I have three little soccer fans in my house, I was excited to learn about
Quaker’s ongoing partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS) club, The Chicago
Fire. As part of the partnership, Quaker serves as the title sponsor of
the Chicago Fire Juniors, the club’s youth player development program that
supports more than 10,000 soccer kids and families in Chicago and nationally.

On
August 9 through August 11, Quaker and The Chicago Fire will team up to host
The Quaker Invitational, which brings together hundreds of Chicago Fire Juniors
teams from around the country for a weekend of soccer, community and fun.
The two winning youth teams will earn a chance to play on The
Chicago Fire’s home field, Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL on Sunday, August 11,
and each player in the tournament will receive a free game ticket to attend the
Chicago Fire vs. Montreal Impact MLS game at Toyota Park on Saturday, August
10.

Luckily, I only have to feed my family of five, and I cannot
even imagine fueling all of those active little bodies that will be at Toyota
Park. However, I think I have come up with the perfect summer breakfast using Quaker
Oatmeal that does not involve hot cereal. Let’s face it, in the summer, cold is
where it’s at.

Brian and I will often eat a Quaker Chewy Granola bar for
breakfast as we chase the kids out the door to an activity. The kids on the
other hand, enjoy smoothies and love anything with yogurt. I like making them
parfaits, but, often times I have to leave out the granola because of their
food allergies. This is when I came up with the awesome idea to make my own nut
free granola with my favorite Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal.

Erin’s Nut Free Granola with Quaker Oats

3 Cups Quaker Old Fashioned Oats

1 ½ Cups Rice Cereal (I used Rice Chex)

1 Cup dried berries

2 Tbs milled flax seeds

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup pure maple syrup

¼ cup honey

2 Tbs vegetable oil

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, mix together oats, cereal, and berries and
until well combined. Add brown sugar, syrup, honey, oil, vanilla, and salt and
fold together gently.

Put on a greased baking sheet, and bake for 20-24 minutes
stirring occasionally (about every 6 minutes). Remove from oven, and let cool
before serving.

This recipe is great, and it would be great with a little milk poured over it as a cereal or as an afternoon snack in the car. So far though, we have already made yogurt and
berry parfaits.

There almost as many things to do with Quaker Oats as there
are activities to do in the summer. Almost!

Check out my other recipes using oatmeal HERE and
HERE.

For more information about Quaker and their partnership with
Chicago Fire, click HERE.

If you would like to read more recipes or enjoy gardening, DIY, Cooking, Baking or all other things domestic you can check me out on Facebook or become a follower of Home Everyday here.

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Tue
29 ^th

Breakfast for One: Banana, Berry, and Almond Oatmeal

Posted by Erin — 2 Comments

Out of the five of us, only two of us like oatmeal. Russell and I sometimes enjoy it together in the morning, but when given the option of yogurt or oatmeal, Russell usually picks yogurt. This means I am often enjoying oatmeal alone, and because of this, I am experimenting with very healthy and tasty variations.

As I have mentioned before, when I cook I kind of throw things together. Then, I often have to make the dish again to factor in measurements so that I can share it with you. This is one of those recipes that was so easy and so delicious, I didn’t mind making it over again. In fact, I have eaten it for breakfast the past few mornings after workouts. It is so healthy, but you won’t even know it. It is that delicious!

Banana Berry and Almond Oatmeal

1/2 cup Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal
1 cup water
1 Tbs almond butter
1 small banana mashed
1/2 cup various berries (I used strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries)
Pinch of salt

In a microwave safe bowl, combine oats, water, and salt.

Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Carefully remove oatmeal from microwave and stir in almond butter and banana. Finally, top with berries.

What is your favorite quick cooking breakfast?

Linking up at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading.