{From my Kitchen}Easy and Healthy Breakfast Food Ideas!!

OK, I have to admit~~~I LOVE to eat and I have 3 little people and 1 big person (and 3 dogs) who also love to eat :)

People are always asking me for food ideas and recipes. I really only use recipes when I bake, otherwise, I just cook like my mother and Grandmother did---a pinch of this, a smidge of that and cook it until it is done, LOL:) I really have wanted to put more food blog posts, but wasn't sure if you all are interested in them or not. Then, I got a specific request from a close friend and decided to go ahead and put together a few photos and ideas for you all. Since I have so many, I will split them up into separate blog posts to make it easier to reference.

I know how hard it is to get healthy meals on the table every single day. I must admit, I do love to cook (and I love to eat even more:), but I prefer to spend my time with my children, so it is a delicate balance. Hopefully, you will find some things that spark your imagination and get you excited to try new things in your kitchen, too! I sure hope you do! If you have any questions about how I prepare things, please do not hesitate to ask. I am eager to share, but again, I do not use exact measurements on food, so translating it to a recipe will be difficult for me.

As you will see, I pretty much rotate the same basic things over the weeks. Our family basically eats, fresh fruits and vegetables, chicken, fish, turkey and typically whole wheat breads and pastas. I usually buy the same things every week or so except when I venture out to try a new recipe/meal idea. I try to keep things pretty simple. It helps me, it helps my husband (who is our primary grocery shopper:) and it has helped our girls to develop their palates so they actually love eating a variety of healthy foods!

 Here is the Bible Verse we use as our primary focus on eating.

Breakfast Ideas:

Fort the most part, we eat the same things for breakfast daily. Organic oatmeal, turkey bacon/sausage, fruit, yogurt and granola. Sometimes we will fancy it up with eggs and a bread item.

 These are really simple to make. We call them egg muffins, lol. Simply scramble some eggs, add a touch of water or milk (we use organic rice milk) and throw in whatever fillings you like (we use spinach). Top with a very small amount of shredded cheese when they are almost done cooking. Bake in the oven on 375 for 12-15 minutes or so.

 I made a special breakfast with french toast kabobs for the girls. They loved them:)

 We always buy a ton of fresh fruits and veggies every week-usually twice per week.

 Here are the whole wheat bagels we made. They are a bit time-consuming, but are wonderful!!!!!

I blogged about them here. You can find the recipe there, too:)

 On special occasions, like Valentine's Day, you can cut up the fruits etc in heart shapes. I use cookie cutters a lot of times to make healthy foods a little more exciting!

 I made a heart shaped egg "muffin" for Valentine's Day.

This is my famous "egg toast". The girls LOVE it. It is so simple to make. I just cut out a bit of the bread, beat 1 egg in a bowl, put the bread in a hot skillet sprayed with Pam spray and pour the egg inside of the hole in the bread. I sprinkle cheese on it and cook it and then toast the cut-out)heart in this example) piece of bread and put some all-fruit jam on it.

Here are some yummy pumpkin muffins I made. I typically try to find a low-fat recipe and add in some golden raisins and/or chopped walnuts. 

Here is the recipe I used for these---they turned out GREAT!

 Some wonderful zucchini muffins I made.

Here is the recipe for the muffins.

We make yogurt parfaits all.the.time! They are quick, easy, healthy, pretty and FUN! Just toss some yogurt, fresh fruit and granola in a cup or bowl, easy peezy!!

 Flower shaped egg toast.

 Usually about once per week, we have "Brinner" where we cook breakfast foods for dinner. The girls absolutely LOVE this and it has become a regular tradition in our family.

 I have several different pans to make the pancakes into fun shapes--flowers, animals, etc. The hearts I make freehand. They are really simple to make, Just put the batter into a V-shape in the hot skillet and they puff up like a heart.

In the summer time, fruit salad is a staple in our house!! I cut up a huge batch of fruit twice per week and we eat it every single day!

I like to make things up in big batches so we can eat quickly and also so we can pack healthy foods to take with us wherever we go--it keeps us from eating out and from making poor food choices when we are away from home and hungry.

We also LOVE to make fruit smoothies!!
We also make Breakfast Pizza on the weekends---I will see if I can find the pictures for that!

I hope you have enjoyed some fun breakfast ideas! We look forward to sharing more food fun with you soon:)

Blessings,

Aria:)

You've GOT to try this! {From my kitchen}

  Our family LOVES bagels, but it is very hard to find any "healthy" options out there. Even if we can find them at the health food stores, they usually go bad very quickly and we end up wasting a lot of money!
So, we decided to try to make our own bagels. Now, I am NOT much of a baker. A cooker, yes. A baker, not so much. I wasn't sure how this was even going to turn out, but I figured I would only have time and a few ingredients to lose.

 I always buy Organic Rice Milk, and wasn't sure how it would work for the bagels.

 Kneading the dough. My little photographer, Elle, gets credit for this photo:)

 Now, we just have to wait for the dough to double in size. {insert Jeopardy music here}

 I formed the bagels and put them on a flour-dusted pan to rest. Covered them with a towel so they didn't dry out.

 Dropped them into a pot of boiling water. Once they floated to the top, they are ready to be baked.

 We decided to make a few variations. Some with cinnamon/sugar sprinkled on top, some with raisins and some just plain old whole wheat.

 Baked them in the oven and put them on wire racks to cool down a bit.

 Oh, my.................they were sooooooo good!! I will never buy bagels again!! Well, I will, but they will never taste like my very own. These were a bit time-consuming to me, but well worth it!

Let me know if you try these! You won't be sorry:)

This is how they looked toasted the next morning.

Seriously, you have GOT to try this!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the butter, sugar, salt and egg yolk; mix well. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. *I put mine in the microwave where I had melted the butter and it was perfect!* Punch dough down. Shape into 12 balls. Push thumb through centers to form a 1-in. hole. Place on a floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes; flatten. In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Drop bagels, one at a time, into boiling water. When bagels float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon and place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. *I also lightly dusted my pan with corn meal so they wouldn't stick on the bottom.* Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Blessings, 

Aria:)

Valentine's Strawberry Bread!!

Strawberry Cream Bread!!

While looking for some new and interesting Australia Day food recipes, I came across this recipe for Strawberries and Cream Bread! We LOVE strawberries and thought it would be perfect to pair with our family's new Valentine's tradition. It turned out so yummy and delightful!! I always try to bake smaller loaves so that we can share them with our neighbors and friends, but these might not last long enough to share:)

It is a MUST try recipe:) Definitely a treat for our little sweeties!

Give it a try and let us know how you liked it:)

 

Here is the recipe--be sure to following it exactly! (I used low fat sour cream and it turned out GREAT!). 

Blessings, 

Aria:)