Healthy Banana Pancakes

These pancakes are gluten free and dairy free and SO good! Do I dare say I might like them even better then your good ol regular flapjack?? My kids agree!  Not only are they good, they are really easy to make; almost just as quick as the pre-made pancake mix.

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*4 Eggs

*2 Bananas

*1 c. Oats

*1/2 c. Apple Sauce

2 t. Vanilla

1 t. Cinnamon

Blend oats in a blender until they are ground. Add other ingredients. Blend until mixed well. Cook on buttered griddle or skillet.

Pumpkin Pie French Toast

I'm aware its the wrong season for pumpkin pie but this recipe was a forgotten gem that can't wait until fall to be posted! 

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• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 c. Milk
• 1/4 c. Pumpkin puree
• 1/4 t. Vanilla
• 1/2 . Cinnamon
• 1/4 t. Ginger
• 1/8 t. Cloves
• 1/8 t. Nutmeg
• 2 T. Brown Sugar
• Bread
 

Mix the ingredients in a flat bowl for easy dipping. Heat pan over medium heat. Dip the bread into the mixture on both sides and grill in a pan until lightly golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side.

French Toast Waffles

Sounds weird but they really are tasty! Give it a try!

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• 1 c. Vanilla Cocoanut Milk
• 3 lrg. Eggs
• 1 tsp Maple syrup (or go clean and use agave instead)
• 1/2 t. Vanilla Extract
• 1/2t. Ground Cinnamon
• 1 t. finely grated Orange rind (the best part!!)
• 6-10 slices Whole Wheat Bread

Spray waffle iron with non stick spray and preheat.  Whisk together coconut milk, eggs, syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and orange rind. Dip bread into egg mixture and cook 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. 

Blueberry Quinoa Pancakes

These pancakes are SO good and SO filling! They are so yummy that I wanted to never stop eating but so filling that I had to stop after one measly pancake. Weak, I know.

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• 3 c. cooked Red Quinoa
• 3 c. All-purpose Flour
• 2 T. Baking Powder
• 6 Lrg. Eggs
• 1 c. Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 1/3 c. Skim Milk
• 1 Lemon, squeezed
• 1 T. Brown Sugar
• 1 T. Vanilla Extract
• 1 bag Frozen Blueberries
• 1/3 c. Water

In a large bowl, mix together quinoa, flour and baking powder. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, milk, brown sugar, until smooth.  Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir to combine.

Add vanilla, lemon juice, and water. Mix again.  Rinse frozen blueberries under water drain. Next gently fold in blueberries.

Lightly coat a skillet or pancake griddle with butter or cooking spray and heat over medium.  Drop batter by 1/4 c. onto skillet.  Cook until bubbles on top and flip. Cook until golden brown both sides. 

Recipe makes 12-14 pancakes.

Strawberry Cream Cheese French Toast

Filling:

• 1 c. sliced fresh strawberries
• 2 T. sugar
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened

For the toast:

• Bread
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 c. milk
• 2 T. melted butter
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/4 c. all purpose flour
• 1/4 t. ground cinnamon
•  1/4 t. salt

To make the filling, combine the sliced strawberries and sugar in medium sized bowl.  Mix well and set aside to macerate for about 15 minutes.  Stir in the cream cheese until well blended.

In a shallow baking dish or pie plate, whisk together the egg and milk.  Whisk in the melted butter and vanilla.  Stir in the flour, cinnamon and salt; whisk until smooth.  Spread cream cheese mixture between two pieces of bread like you are making a sandwich.  Dip the sandwich into the egg mixture completely coating both sides.  Place onto an already warmed skillet and cook until golden brown on each side. Serve with maple syrup and powdered sugar.

Nutella Stuffed French Toast

Ok, so it's not truly "stuffed" french toast but it's close, easy, and it's good.

• Whole Wheat Bread
• Eggs (I did 2 large eggs for 3 sandwiches)
• Nutella
• Cinnamon
• Vanilla
• Milk

In a bowl whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon until smooth and well mixed. Take two slices of bread and spread a thick layer of Nutella on one of the slices. Put bread together like a sandwich and evenly coat both sides of sandwich with egg mixture. Place on already warmed griddle or frying pan cooking each side for a few minutes a piece.

Really, it's that simple. I highly recommend it!

Breakfast Pizza

• 1 8 oz can refrigerated crescent roll dough
• Cooking spray
• 1 c. frozen shredded hash browns, thawed
• 12 oz. sausage
• 1 c. shredded cheese
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/8 t. pepper
• 4-5 eggs
• 2 T. shredded Parmesan cheese

Roll out crescent roll dough making a 12 in. pizza crust.  Place dough on a pizza pan coated with cooking spray.  

Brown sausage over medium-high heat cooking thoroughly. Drain.

Top prepared dough with hash browns, sausage and cheese. Combine eggs, milk, salt and pepper stirring with a whisk. Pour carefully over pizza. Top with Parmesan cheese.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until crust is browned.

Cheese Sausage Strata

• 1 1/2 lbs. pork sausage
• 9 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 c. milk
• 9 slices bread, cubed
• 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 1/2 t. ground mustard

In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.  Add the eggs, milk, bread, cheese, bacon, and mustard.  Transfer to a greased shallow 3 qt. baking dish.  Cover and refrigerate over night.  

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until a knife inserted near the corner comes out clean.  Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. 

Yield: 12 servings

Things I loved about this dish:

~So simple. 

~ Only dirty three dishes

~Make the night before then throw it in the oven the next morning for a yummy, effortless breakfast.

~ Leftovers!

Homemade Biscuits and Gravy

• 1/4 lb.  Pork Sausage
• 2 T. Butter
• 2-3 T. All Purpose Flour
• 1/4 t. Salt
• 1/8 t. Pepper
• 1 1/4-1 1/3 c. Milk
• Warm biscuits

In a skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add butter and heat until melted.  Add the flour, salt and pepper; cook and stir until blended.

Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Serve over biscuits.

 Yield: 2-4 servings.

This recipe is beyond easy and takes only about 15 minutes to make.  Due to me usually being too hungry and impatient to make homemade biscuits in the morning, I usually stick with good ole Bisquick or the ones right out of the can.  The tasty gravy compensates. Whenever I make these for guests we literally have a bunch of "plate lickers". It's that good.

German Pancakes

I've heard these called all kinds of different things such as Puff Up Pancakes but German Pancakes is what we call them in my family.

• 6 eggs
• 1 c. flour
• 1 c. milk
• 1/2 t. salt
• dash of vanilla extract

Mix ingredients together in blender.  Melt 6 T. butter in oblong pan. Be careful not to burn.  Pour egg mixture into pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. 

My favorite way to eat these is just to drizzle maple syrup over it.  They are also tasty with syrup and powdered sugar, or berries, or jam. You decided.

If you want to mix it up a little try these renditions:

• Try adding fruit to the egg mixture and pour in the pan making fruity German Pancakes (blueberries are always good)
• Try adding ham and cheese to the egg mixture and pour into the pan.
• Adding bacon is tasty as well

Bacon Pancakes

My husband is an avid bacon lover to say the least. I got this idea from Pinterest a few weeks ago, ran it by him; he decided it was a must try. So we did.

• Bacon
• Pancake batter

Begin by cooking one side of the bacon. Once the one side is browned, turn it over. Pour pancake batter over the top of the bacon. Continue cooking until both the bacon and pancake are fully cooked. Tastes great with your favorite syrup. It's as simple as that!

I might add, bacon pancakes don't make for the most beautiful pancakes you will ever see, but they are surprisingly pretty good.

If you are a bacon lover or live with a bacon lover, give this a try. You will be loved.

Baked French Toast Fritters With Apples & Bananas

• 8 slices whole-wheat bread
• 1/4 c. creamy peanut butter (or other nut butter)
• 1 apple, rinsed, peeled, cored and sliced into 8 rings
• 2 banana, peeled and cut into about 12 thin slices each

Batter:

• 3 T. egg substitute or 1 egg white
• 1/4 t. ground cinnamon
• 1 T. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. fat free evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.   Place a large baking sheet in the oven to preheat for about 10 minutes.

Assemble fritter as sandwich, with 1/2 T. of peanut butter on each slice of bread, and two apple slices and six banana slices in the middle of each sandwich.

Combine ingredients for the batter and mix well.

Spray a nonstick baking sheet with cooking spray.

Dip both sides of each fritter in the batter and place fritters on preheated baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes on each side, or until both sides are browned.

Classic Eggs Benedict

• 1 t. White Vinegar
• cold eggs
• English muffins, split and toasted
• Canadian bacon, warmed

In a skillet with high sides, bring 2-3 inches of water and vinegar to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer gently.  For each egg, break the cold eggs into a custard cup or saucer.  Hold the dish close to the water surface, slip the egg into the water. {This is called poaching an egg}

 Cook 4 eggs at a time, uncovered, for 3-5 minutes or until the whites are completely set and the yolks begin to thicken.  With a slotted spoon, remove each egg. Repeat with remaining eggs.

 Top the toasted English muffin and warmed Canadian Bacon with the poached egg.

Top with Hollandaise Sauce. 

Hollandaise Sauce:

• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 c. water
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. cold butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 1/8 t. salt
• 1/8 t. paprika
• dash of salt

In a small heavy sauce pan or double boiler, whisk together the egg yolks, water and lemon juice.  Cook and stir over low heat until mixture begins to thicken, bubbles around edges and reaches 160 degrees, about 20 minutes.  

Add butter to yolk mixture, one piece at a time, whisking after each addition until butter is melted.  Remove from the heat; stir in the paprika, salt and pepper.  Serve immediately.

{Tip: for a quick fix, a simple Hollandaise Sauce mix packet works great as well}

Bon Appetite!