Great Grains Crunchy Stuffed French Toast

Happy National French Toast Day!

Did you know that my favorite French toast of all time involves cereal? True story. There's a local catering company with a tiny cafe that only serves lunch and brunch, and they make this Crisp French Toast which is coated in corn flakes. It's the greatest thing ever, all crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

This recipe reminded me of that French toast, which made me super excited to try it. Except this French toast is stuffed with bananas and chocolate, so it was almost like it was invented just for me.

This stuffed French toast is a healthier twist on the usual brunch favorite. It's baked and not fried (which is also convenient when serving a crowd), and it's coated in Great Grains Banana Nut Crunch cereal. The cereal not only adds a great crunch, but it's also packed with protein, fiber, and whole grains.

Unfortunately, this French toast didn't quite measure up to my favorite. It was tasty, but my testers all agreed that it was missing something. I think adding some cinnamon and a little extra vanilla could really take it to the next level. Still, nobody was turning down a slice.

(Also, because I am a crazy person, I used fresh baked bread. I had literally baked it that morning. That probably contributed to the problem, since stale bread soaks up liquid better. So, you know, use old bread.)

Great Grains Crunchy Stuffed French Toast
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup fat free milk
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. sale
2 cups Great Grains Banana Nut Crunch
8 slices challah bread, 1/2 inch thick
2 oz. bittersweet baking chocolate, finely chopped
1 large banana, sliced
2 cups sliced strawberries

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Beat eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large shallow dish with wire whisk until well blended; set aside. Place cereal in resealable plastic bag; seal bag. Crush cereal with rolling pin. Dip both sides of the bread slices in egg mixture; place on clean work surface. Sprinkle evenly with chocolate; top with bananas. Dip both sides of remaining 4 bread slices in remaining egg mixture; place over bananas to make four sandwiches. Press together gently. Coat both sides of sandwiches with cereal crumbs; press crumbs firmly into sandwiches to secure.

Place on greased baking sheet.

Bake 20 to 25 min. or until lightly browned. Cut diagonally in half. Serve with the strawberries.

Tips and Suggestions
Substitute: Prepare as directed, using semi-sweet baking chocolate
http://postfoods.com/recipes/crunchy-stuffed-french-toast/?alttemplate=greatgrainsrecipe&brands=1171

*Disclaimer: I was provided with free samples of Great Grains cereal in order to feature this recipe. I received no further compensation. All opinions are, as always, my own.*

Breakfast Burritos

So, remember when I told you about my love of frozen foods? Well, that kind of goes double for breakfast foods. I love breakfast foods, but they always take way too much effort to make for breakfast, you know? I especially love those frozen breakfast burritos with the cheese and the potato and the sausage and the peppers, yuuuuuum.

I'm good though; I very rarely ever buy them because they're pricy and kind of terrible for you, especially the ones with cheese. Those are about 97% sodium.

I was looking through my refrigerator for something to make the other day, and saw scraps from a bunch of other meals. Half of a bell pepper, half of an onion, a package of bacon with only a couple slices left, a small hunk of white cheddar, a couple of potatoes. Then I remembered I had tortillas in the freezer and a new carton of eggs. I had all the fixin's for a breakfast burrito.

Now, these are much better for you than the frozen ones, but are they healthy? Probably not. You can always up the health factor buy skipping the bacon, upping the veggies, and going with egg whites and whole wheat tortillas. Me, I already like the unhealthy stuff, so slightly healthier than that works for me.

And this has got all the good stuff. Eggs and cheese and bacon and peppers and onions, oh my! Super delicious and super satisfying, and totally customizable. Make it with sausage or steak strips. Use your favorite shredded cheese. Add spinach or tomatoes or whatever your little heart desires. These puppies take a little longer to make than the frozen ones, but the effort is totally worth it. Especially when you have leftovers that you can just pop in the toaster oven when needed.

Breakfast Burritos
Yield: 4 burritos

Ingredients 
4 burrito style tortillas
3 strips of bacon, diced
1 medium potato chopped small
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
salt and pepper, to taste
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions
Place the tortillas on a microwave safe plate and heat for a few seconds in the microwave until soft.

In a large, non-stick skillet, cook the bacon over medium high heat until browned and crispy. Add the potato, onion, and bell pepper, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are fork tender. Add the eggs and cook, while stirring, until the eggs are cooked through. Stir in the cheddar and remove from heat.

Divide the filling equally between between the tortillas. Fold sides and ends of tortilla over filling and roll up. Add the olive oil to the skillet and heat on low. Add the burritos and toast on each side until golden brown. Serve hot.

Recipe by Kim

Cake Batter Muffins

Once upon a time, there was a food blogger who had been invited to a friend's house for brunch. The food blogger didn't want to show up to the brunch empty handed, as she was kinda-sorta a semi-professional amateur of baked goods. But the food blogger happened to not be in much of a mood to bake (or have much in her pantry to bake with). Something simple would be ideal, something easy that didn't take much effort.

The food blogger spotted a jar of Homemade Yellow Cake Mix she had used the week earlier to make Cake Batter Truffles. What could be easier? She'd make cupcakes!

But, the food blogger realized, a cup of the mix was missing for the truffles, and that would throw off the measurements. Plus, she really didn't feel like making frosting. Luckily, this food blogger lived in the era of "cake batter ALL the things" and knew that cake mix could be used for more than just cake. She decided to use the leftover mix as a muffin base instead. She replaced the missing mix with whole wheat flour. She was low on eggs, so she replaced 2 of them with unsweetened applesauce. She became worried that the whole wheat flour and applesauce would make the muffins too dense, so she used buttermilk instead of regular milk. Then she added sprinkles, just for funsies.

These last minute muffins turned out so good that the food blogger resolved to put them on her food blog, but had no time to take photographs of them. It wasn't until many moons later that the food blogger remembered the muffins and whipped them up again, and they were just as good as remembered.

Okay, fairy tales aside, these muffins are in no way, shape, or form healthy. It's pretty much still cake. I tried to healthify them a bit with the whole wheat flour and unsweetened applesauce, and some of the sugar and fat goes away when you remove that cup of mix, but it's not enough to tick the healthy column. These are not New Year's resolution muffins; these are a way to eat cake for breakfast muffins.

Not that I have a problem with cake for breakfast, I'm just putting that out there.

And these are definitely more like cake than muffins. They are soft and moist, but the whole wheat flour gives them a subtle heartiness. They are denser than cake, but not too dense, and they have that great cake batter flavor which is what makes them so darn special.

Plus, they are so dang easy to make. Even making the mix, it took me maybe ten minutes of prep time. If you have the mix premade, it would take no time at all to get to the oven. Easy clean up too, with only one bowl and one whisk to put everything together.

Now, this recipe only works with my homemade yellow cake mix. I don't know how it would translate with a box mix, or another yellow cake mix recipe. My best guess would be to replace the oil with applesauce, the water with buttermilk, and a cup of the mix with whole wheat flour. But again, I haven't tried it, so you shouldn't take that as gospel. (If you try it, let me know!)

Cake Batter Muffins
Yield: 18 muffins

Ingredients
Homemade Yellow Cake Mix (minus 1 cup of mix)
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract 
1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cake mix and whole wheat flour. Mix in the wet ingredients until smooth (some lumps are fine). Fold in the sprinkles.

Line a cupcake tin with paper liners and fill 3/4 of the way with batter. Bake 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before serving.

Note: you can use the leftover mix to make cake batter truffles

Recipe by Kim

Recipes for Little Helpers Round Up

I've always figured that the kid friendliest recipes would be the ones that little hands could help out with. Kids can learn good kitchen etiquette, they get a sense of accomplishment from actually making the food they're going to eat, and Mom or Dad gets some help in the kitchen. Plus, food is fun, so everybody wins. So if you've got a little helper, I've done a round up of some of my recipes that fit this description: easy prep (and easy clean up), minimal use of sharp implements of doom, no mixer necessary, and many of them (with a few exceptions) are even safe for the littlest hands that have trouble staying out of their mouths. (I also had a little too much fun with the new "Comic Book Theme" on Picmonkey. :D)

Obviously, parents are the best judges of what their kids can help with, that should go without saying. I'm just trying to be helpful.

Breakfast

Funky Monkey Oatmeal Muffins

Gluten and egg free, can be made dairy free with the substitution of vegan chocolate hazelnut spread. Little ones can mash the bananas and mix the up the batter.

Banana Chocolate Chip Mug Cake

Dairy, gluten, and refined sugar free, this can be mixed right in the mug it's cooked in, and kids can watch it rise in the microwave. (Note: the mug can be very hot right out of the microwave)

Poppin' Pebbles Berry Almond Muffins

One bowl, egg free muffins that include kid-friendly cereal

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Peanut butter, banana, oats, and applesauce make them good for breakfast. Sugar makes them cookies. (Gluten and dairy free)

Peach Crumble Cups

A homemade graham cracker crust is filled with canned peaches (peach pie filling also works) and topped with crisp mix (Egg free)

Lunch and Dinner

How to Make Pasta in the Microwave

Great for a quick meal or a snack when making a whole pot of pasta isn't feasible. Older kids can learn to do this by themselves, and it's way better than Easy Mac. (Note: the bowl will be very hot straight out of the microwave.)

Individual Cheater's Meatloaf

Kids can mix up this 5 ingredient meatloaf with their hands (always a fun time), and then shape it for the muffin tins

Pepperoni Pizza Waffles

It's pizza and a waffle all in one. Pancake mix makes the batter a breeze to put together, and using the waffle iron means it cooks fast. It's a meal in itself or a fun alternative to breadsticks. (Egg free)

Homemade Uncrustables

I loved Uncrustables as a kid, and it never occurred to me that I could make my own. Kids can make their own flavor combinations, and use pastry cutters to cut them into fun shapes. Plus, they can be adapted for different dietary needs (gluten free bread, nut free butter, etc.)

Dessert

Peanut Butter Blondies

If kids are willing to sacrifice their Halloween candy, they can help make these blondies. The batter takes a little extra arm strength to whip up, but they can handle it.

Busy Day S'mores Cake

I have a friend who makes this chocolate cake with her toddler's help (she even subs in grated zucchini for some of the oil), and uses the opportunity to talk about science (baking soda plus vinegar equals SCIENCE) and shapes. My addition was to use toasted marshmallows instead of frosting. (Egg and dairy free, vegan without the marshmallows)

Chocolate Pudding Brownies

I got this recipe originally from my middle school home ec class. Melted butter and instant pudding mix make these brownies super simple, and my public school curriculum agrees this is a good recipe for kids to make.

Frozen Nutella-Covered Bananas

This barely counts as a recipe, and even the littlest can get involved by adding sprinkles or chopped nuts before they go in the freezer. (Gluten and egg free, use dairy free chocolate hazelnut spread for vegan)

Zucchini Brownies

The hardest part is shredding the zucchini. Bonus, it's a good way to sneak in some veggies (vegan)

Banana Crunch Parfait

So, my interwebz has been on the fritz lately, which is why this wasn't posted last week. Sorry, lovelies.

Anywhozzle, did you know that September is National Whole Grain Month? It is. I'm not exactly the world's healthiest eater, but I usually try to incorporate a lot of whole grains in my diet. Why whole grains? As the name implies, they use the whole grain which means it has more nutritional value, rather than refined grains which have most of the nutrition processed out. Whole grains are good sources of fiber, which helps fill you up and keep you from over eating, but are also a good source of other nutrients like magnesium. For those of you that don't suffer from migraines, you might not know that migraines can sometimes be caused by a magnesium deficiency. So if a carb that's already better for me nutritionally might help prevent me from having migraines, you bet your booty that I'm going to try and eat that one more.

To celebrate National Whole Grain Month, I made these magnesium-rich Banana Crunch Parfaits (bananas and yogurt are also good sources of magnesium. Word) with Great Grains Banana Nut Crunch Cereal. I got a chance to try Great Grains cereal for the first time, and let me tell you-- holy crunch, Batman! The cereal was at like granola-levels of crunchiness, which was awesome. It wasn't quite sweet enough for me, but mixed with the sweet ingredients of the parfait, it worked great. I've been eating the Vanilla Graham flavor for breakfast, and I'm loving it.

As for the parfaits themselves, they're an awesome, quick breakfast. I even liked the honey drizzle on top as that extra sweet kick, even though I'm not usually a fan of honey. The only change I would make would be to use fresh strawberries instead of the canned pineapple, since I found the pineapple to be a little jarring, both in flavor and texture. I think the strawberries would just go better-- and who doesn't like strawberries and bananas together, amiright?

I used Stonyfield Farm Greek yogurt for extra protein, and got an eminently satisfying breakfast. You could make them as a healthy snack, or even a healthy alternative to dessert, if you're into that sort of thing. They do need to be eaten immediately, so the cereal doesn't get soggy. But trust me, you won't have a problem doing that. I didn't have parfait cups, so I made one giant parfait instead of 6 little ones and I may or may not have eaten the whole thing in one sitting. It's okay because it's healthy, right?

Banana Crunch Parfait
Yield: 6 parfaits

Ingredients
1 cup low fat vanilla yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
1 medium banana, sliced
1 (20 oz.) can pineapple chunks in juice, drained
1 cup Great Grains Banana Nut Crunch Cereal
1 cup honey

Directions
Spoon half of the yogurt into 6 parfait glasses. Layer with half of the banana slices, pineapple chunks, and cereal. Repeat the layers, and drizzle the honey on top.

*Disclaimer: I received free samples of Post Great Grains cereal in order to feature this recipe. I was under no obligation to review if I so chose, and I receive no further compensation from this post. All opinions are, as always, my own*

PB&J (with Bananas) Smoothie

Hey guys! So, the floor guy is coming to refinish the floors tomorrow, and that'll take 3 or 4 days, so after that, I can finally move in. I still got painting to do, but that can wait until I'm actually in the house. In the meantime, I'm in a kind of limbo. Half my stuff is packed away, half of it still needs to be packed. I have a maze of boxes. I want to buy things but I can't really buy things until I can put them in the house and I can't do that until the floors are done.

I did buy a rug and some pyrex at an estate sale, so there's that. (Except the rug cleaning place hasn't called me back. Seriously. Do you not want my business?)

Anyway, the long and short of it is, I kind of unpacked my blender just to make this smoothie.

To be fair, it wasn't premeditated. I already had some frozen banana in the freezer. We already had a big tub of strawberry yogurt in the refrigerator that didn't really look like it was getting eaten. So I was like, oh, I'll make a strawberry banana smoothie. And then I added peanut butter to it because peanut butter. So it became a peanut butter and jelly (with banana, because bananas are cool) smoothie.

And I liked it, because really, what's not to like? So I made it again, this time taking measurements instead of dumping things willy-nilly into the blender so I could blog it, and here we are

The peanut butter and strawberry flavors are definitely the most prominent; though you can taste the banana, it's there mainly for texture. And between the banana, the peanut butter, and the yogurt, this sucker is filling, which makes it a great option for breakfast. It's probably the healthiest thing I've ever put on this blog, and I-- butter and sugar and cream loving I-- made it for dessert. O.o

This smoothie, make it. Dessert, breakfast, snack, anytime. It's thick and creamy and sweet and cold and has peanut butter. It's exactly what every smoothie should be.

PB&J Smoothie
Yield: 1 smoothie

Ingredients
1 small banana, chopped and frozen
1/2 cup strawberry yogurt (I used Stonyfield Farm Smooth & Creamy)
1/4 cup lowfat (skim) milk
1-2 heaping tbsp. peanut butter (I used White Chocolate Wonderful)*
Splash of vanilla extract (optional)**

Directions
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

*I didn't really measure the peanut butter. I just took a big spoonful and plopped it in there. You can never have too much peanut butter
**Or replace the skim milk with vanilla soy or almond milk

Recipe by Kim

Cinnamon Breakfast Squares

You guys know what I need right now? Energy. I think I taped and spackled at least 30 cracks in my walls so far, and I keep finding more. I've only had time to prime one room, and don't even get me started on the sheer amount of cleaning the sellers left me with. Seriously, they were nasty.

So when I got the chance to try the new Cinnamon Crunch Morning Energy flavor of Honey Bunches of Oats, I held out my bowl like I was Oliver Twist. It's been the perfect way to start my mornings. Not too sweet (which I love in a cereal), super cinnamon-y, and I love the little cinnamon clusters. They're my favorite part. Plus lots of protein to keep me going when I'm upside down and backwards spackling a crack in the doorway arch.

I also got a chance to try these Cinnamon Breakfast Squares. These guys smell like French toast when they're baking up, it's fantastic. They didn't come out quite like I had expected, though. I think that I was expecting them to be cake-ier or at least crunchy, but they actually came out a little eggy. They actually reminded me almost of a really thick crepe with a sort of cinnamon streusel on top.

Now, don't get me wrong, they were actually really tasty. Sort of like a crepe-y, French toast-y hybrid, which is better than it sounds. And when it's breakfast, it's okay if it's a little eggy. The recipe recommends topping it with a dollop of Greek yogurt, honey, summer berries, and cinnamon or nutmeg. I liked them best with syrup and a good dusting of cinnamon sugar. And since strawberries are grown locally in my town, that's obviously the way I go when it comes to berries. (I'm not a huge fan of yogurt though, so I skipped it. It's a textural thing. If I'm not legitimately craving it, it makes me gag)

I made these for Mother's Day breakfast, and they were a big hit. My mom loved them, and that's really all that matters.

Cinnamon Breakfast Squares with Yogurt and Berries
Yield: 6 squares

Ingredients
1 cup Honey Bunches of Oats Morning Energy Cinnamon Crunch cereal
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup nonfat (skim) milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 container (6 oz) Greek yogurt, any flavor
3 cups fresh berries, or fruit of choice
Honey or pancake syrup, for drizzling
Cinnamon or nutmeg, for sprinkling (I used cinnamon sugar)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8x8" square pan.

In a mixing bowl, mix the cereal, flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt together using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, lightly crushing the cereal as you stir.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and vanilla together until well blended. Combine with the dry ingredients.

Pour the batter (it will be thin) into the prepared pan, and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the bars are set when the middle is lightly pressed. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

To serve: cut the bars into 6 equal pieces. Top with yogurt, surround with berries. Drizzle with honey or syrup, and dust with cinnamon or nutmeg. Serve immediately.

*Disclaimer: I was provided with free samples of Honey Bunches of Oats Morning Energy so that I could try this recipe. I am under no obligation to give a positive review, nor do I receive any further compensation for this post. All opinions are, as always, my own.*

Funky Monkey Oatmeal Muffins

I've been experimenting a lot lately with some of the more common gluten free flour substitutes. I'm still not one of those bakers with all sorts of weirdy flours laying around the house, but I usually have one or two gluten free varieties on hand, whether it be almond meal, coconut flour, or a big jar of oats.

Gluten free flours do tend to be on the pricier side, and since I'm a wheat lovin' girl without any intolerances or allergies, (except for a blue food coloring intolerance. It makes my tummy unhappy. Which makes it very difficult when I want to make something Tardis blue. But I digress...) it's not really worth it for me to stock a whole mess of flours that I'd rarely use and wouldn't even begin to know how to start.

However, that big jar o' oats is inexpensive, gluten free, (just make sure to use certified gluten free if you have an intolerance or are baking for someone who does) happens to be a healthy whole grain, and when ground up, usually works pretty well as a flour substitute.

Now, my food processor is small and inexpensive, and I'm not all that chuffed about getting a fine grind anyway, so my muffins had a distinct oatmeal-y texture. I actually liked them better after they sat for a while. They set up a little bit more, the oatmeal texture kind of mellowed a bit, and the different flavors were more noticeable. And you can't go wrong with the combination of bananas and chocolate hazelnut spread. I mean, come on now. That's some good stuff.

I also added chocolate chips because, duh, chocolate, but they're actually not necessary. And they're actually pretty good for you. Not totally good for you, but no butter, low in sugar, only whole grains, includes fruit. When I plugged them into my handy dandy calorie calculator, I got about 136 calories per muffin without the chocolate chips. (Again, I wouldn't take that as gospel, but it's a good point of reference.) (If you're wondering, the calorie calculator I like to use is here.)

Healthy, gluten free muffins, using an inexpensive wheat flour substitute, chock full of bananas and chocolate hazelnutty goodness? I'm sold.

Funky Monkey Oatmeal Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 eggs

½ tsp. salt

¼ cup packed brown sugar

2 small ripe bananas, mashed

⅓ cup chocolate hazelnut spread (Nutella, or I used Rigoni di Asiago's Nocciolata spread)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2½ cups oat flour*
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and salt until light and foamy. Mix in the brown sugar until well dissolved. Add the bananas, chocolate hazelnut spread, and vanilla extract and mix until well incorporated. Fold in the oat flour, baking powder, and chocolate chips, if using.

Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners and divide the batter equally between each. Bake 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Allow to cool completely on wire racks before serving.

*To make oat flour, just pulse uncooked oats in a food processor until it looks like flour. The finer the grind, the less of an oaty texture for the muffin. Make sure to use certified gluten free oats if that's an issue.

Recipe by Kim