Category Archives: breakfast

High Protein Granola Balls

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High Protein Granola Balls 1 - My Daughter and I

So this was our first attempt at making some delicious and nutritious trail food. Since we are leaving on an 8 day backpacking trip in just 66 days (but who’s counting). We thought we’d better get cracking. You can read a bit more about our upcoming trip here.

This recipe was a combination of many recipes we found, along with extra ingredients we had on hand. It turned out great. Calorie and nutrition dense, it seems perfect to schlep around in our packs. However, I think the shape is bad. Next time we will try it in an 8″ square pan and then cut it into packable, smashable squares. This is not a low calorie recipe. It is meant to have maximum calorie/protein/sugar punch in a small package!

High Protein Granola Balls 2 - My Daughter and I

High protein granola balls
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, or any nut butter you have on hand
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut flakes
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
1/3 cup peanut butter chips ( this made the balls pretty sweet)
1/4 cup slivered almonds, chopped a bit
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup dates, chopped
1 – 2 T chia seeds
1 – 2 T wheat germ
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 – 1 tsp cinnamon

Mix peanut butter, honey and vanilla together. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Using a cookie scoop form into balls, using damp hands to form further. Put onto a cookie sheet or plastic container. We put ours into the refrigerator for the time being. Can stay at room temperature. They should keep for about a week.

Cindy

Easter Breakfast Casserole

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easter breakfast casserole 1

Easter is such a great holiday and such a wonderful time of year! We often go to a sunrise church service and by the time we get home, we are all ready for a delicious breakfast. This breakfast casserole is so simple and delicious and we all love it! At Christmas time, this recipe was our most popular post ever and I can understand why.

You mix the casserole up and leave it in the refrigerator overnight and then pop it in the oven the next morning. We serve ours with fruit and either muffins or cinnamon rolls. Listed below are a few of our favorite breakfast sweets. Enjoy your Easter!

easter breakfast casserole 2 edited

 

1./ Blueberry Muffins 2./ Fresh Blackberry & Lemon Cake  3./ Apple Crisp Muffins

easter breakfast line-up

 

Easter Breakfast Casserole

4 cups of shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
10 eggs
8 pieces of cooked bacon,chopped
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/3 milk
4or 5 green onions, chopped
Hot sauce to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of additional shredded cheese for top of casserole

Mix all the ingredients together except the 1/2 cup of cheese. Pour into a greased 9×13″ pan. Top with the shredded cheese. Cover and put into refrigerator overnight. Let sit on counter for 5 to 10 minutes and then bake uncovered at 325* for about 45 minutes or until the eggs are cooked.

Cindy

 

Fresh Blackberry & Lemon Cake

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Fresh Blackberry & Lemon Cake 1 - My Daughter and I

I found some beautiful fresh blackberries on sale at the store the other day. They were so plump and juicy- I needed to make something wonderful out of them. I decided to pair those delectable blackberries with one of my favorite flavors – lemon! I took the fresh apple cake that we posted several months ago, and just modified it a bit. The results were delicious – a keeper recipe for sure!

Fresh Blackberry & Lemon Cake 2 - My Daughter and I

Fresh Blackberry and Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup sour cream, I used light

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 T fresh lemon juice

3 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Zest from 1 lemon

3 cups fresh blackberries, rinsed and drained well

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350*. Generously spray a Bundt pan with nonstick spray, set aside.

In an electric mixer, beat butter, vegetable oil, and sugar until pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Add sour cream, then beat to combine. Add eggs one at a time, beating until combined before adding the next egg. Add vanilla then beat to combine. Finally add the lemon juice and beat to combine.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Remove 2 Tablespoons of flour mixture then toss with the fresh berries in a separate bowl.

Add remaining dry ingredients to wet ingredients in three batches, mixing until just combined before adding the next batch. Gently fold in the fresh blackberries.

Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan and bake for 60 to 65 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Check cake at 20 minutes- if top is turning too brown, place a sheet of non-stick sprayed foil on top. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then run a knife along the inner rim and invert cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For an extra bit of sweetness you could drizzle the cooled cake with a glaze made from powdered sugar, milk and lemon juice. Or you could dust the cake with powdered sugar. We just sliced it and gobbled it up!

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 T lemon juice
2 – 4 T of milk
Mix the powdered sugar, lemon juice and 2 T milk in a small bowl, mix well. Add additional milk by tablespoons until glaze reaches desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Cindy

Spring Citrus Smoothie

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Spring Citrus Smoothie 1 - My Daughter and I

Past Smoothie Posts: Breakfast Smoothie, and Green Breakfast Smoothie

Jordan and I make a smoothie almost every morning for breakfast. Today I felt like I needed to mix things up a bit with today’s smoothie! I had a bunch of strawberries in the refrigerator that I wanted to use up, so this is what I ended up with. The smoothie was bright, citrus-y and delicious! Jordan kept saying that it tasted like a Jamba Juice smoothie- it was so yummy.

Spring Citrus Smoothie
1/4 cup quick oats
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup strawberries
1 banana
1 orange
1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
Juice from 1 lime

Mix all ingredients together in blender and enjoy!

Cindy

Banana Bread

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Banana Bread 1- My Daughter and I

Way back in June, we posted our Best Banana Bread recipe, minus finished product pictures. Some unfortunate circumstances (a.k.a. hungry boys) led to a shocking lack of pictures.

The other day we decided to make a loaf of banana bread and we realized that it would be the perfect time to re-do the post. So here’s the same delicious, amazing recipe with pictures!

Banana Bread 2- My Daughter and I

Banana Bread

2 sticks butter

1 and a 1/2 cups +2 Tablespoons sugar

3 eggs

3-4 mashed ripe bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups + 2 Tablespoons flour

1 teaspoons baking soda

1 and a 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 and a 1/2 cups sour cream

1 cup chopped walnuts or mini chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease and flour bundt pan or two loaf pans.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at at time, beating for a few seconds after each addition. Add mashed bananas and beat. Add vanilla and mix well.

Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl. Add dry ingredients and sour cream alternately to the mixing bowl. Beat well until all combined. Add chopped nuts or mini chocolate chips, if desired.

Pour into bundt pan or loaf pans and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes for bundt pan, and 1 hour for loaf pans, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Invert on a cooling rack and allow bread to cool slightly before slicing and serving.

 

Jordan