French Toast with Blueberry Sauce

Sunday night dinner.  I had ambitions to make a veggie pot pie but really just got too lazy! Instead we whipped up this easy recipe using some fresh blueberries that I had bought at the store earlier in the day.  It turned out great and, it is always fun to have brinner! 

Servings: 2
Serving Size: 2 pieces and half of the blueberry sauce
Points Plus: 2pp
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Rating: 4 stars – Very Good

Ingredients
1 cup fresh (or frozen) blueberries
½ T. sugar
½ T. lemon zest
½ T. lemon juice
4 pieces low calorie bread
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 T. fat free milk
½ T. vanilla
Cooking spray

Instructions
Put the first four ingredients in a sauce pan and turn heat to low.  Cook for about 8 minutes, until the berries have broken down and the mixture is a soup like consistency (it is super easy to make a low cal berry sauce that is delish by the way!). Spray a griddle pan with cooking spray. Beat your egg, egg whites, milk and vanilla in a shallow bowl. Carefully dip each piece of bread into the egg mixture to coat, and fry for a few minutes on each side until the bread is golden brown.  To serve, place two pieces of French toast on a plate and top each with ½ of the blueberry mixture, which will be about 1/3 cup.  You could also top with 2 T. fat free cool whip for no additional points plus.

Tip
You could try this with any type of frozen or fresh fruit that you like. Blueberries will breakdown to a great ‘saucy’ consistency, but any fruit will be delish!

Banana Bread Bites

Portion control is REALLY important to being successful!  This recipe is perfect for helping you practice good portion control.  I took a tradtional banana bread and sliced it like usual, but then cut each slice into perfect, bite-sized pieces!  You could serve this for house guests with some fresh fruit for a healthy, low pp breakfast.

Servings:  16 (Assuming 1 regular loaf cut into 8 slices)
Serving Size: 3 banana bites
Points Plus: 3pp
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook/Bake Time: 55-60 minutes
Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, combine the baking soda, flour and salt making sure it's well combined.  In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar and eggs.  Add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, followed by half of the mashed bananas; stirring until well combined after each addition.  Repeat with the remaining flour and banana mixtures.  Gently fold in the walnuts with a spatula.  Lightly grease a loaf pan with cooking spray.  Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick will come out clean.  Allow the bread to cool on a wire rack.  Cut each slice of banana bread into 6 bite-sized pieces to get the pp value above.

Tip:

This recipe will make one regular sized loaf and 2 mini loaves.  Another good tip for portion control is to freeze half of what you make so you aren't eating the full recipe at one time.  Banana bread freezes really well AND it will save you time next time you have company coming into town!

XOXO Megan

Breakfast Tacos

Saturday morning we decided to come up with a creative breakfast simply by using up what we had in our fridge!  Paul came up with the idea for these breakfast tacos since we had some leftover corn tortillas and an avocado.  This makes for an easy breakfast!

Servings:  2

Size:  2 breakfast tacos

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: n/a

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

3 eggs

4 corn tortillas

½ Tbsp. olive oil

½ avocado, diced

3 Tbsp. salsa

2 oz. shredded cheddar, reduced-fat

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large frying pan, prepared scrambled eggs seasoned with salt and pepper.  In a small skillet, lightly fry/brown the corn tortillas in olive oil.  Dice the avocado.  Assemble the tacos by layering eggs, salsa, and avocado and sprinkle the top with cheese.  Enjoy!

Tip:

You can easily adapt these tacos to whatever you have on hand or any ingredients you really like!  Some people aren’t huge fans of avocado so go ahead and substitute other veggies into your breakfast tacos instead.

XOXO Megan

Mini Bacon and Cheese Quiches

I love mini foods and these mini quiches are so cute!  They are also easy to make and low in pp value (and a WW recipe!).  There are a lot of different varieties you could make with this recipe to serve it at a dinner party as an appetizer.  As bacon and egg quiches, I served this at a brunch party.

Servings:  18

Size:  2 mini quiches

Points Plus: 2pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  20 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

36 wonton wrappers (3 ½ inch squares)

1 small onion

1 cup fat free egg substitute

1 ½ cup evaporated milk

½ cup shredded cheddar, reduced-fat

4 slices turkey bacon, chopped

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat 36 mini muffin pans with cooking spray.  Press wonton wrappers into each mini muffin cup and spray the edges of the wonton wrappers, this will ensure they brown while baking.  In a small skillet, sauté the onion until tender, about 3-5 minutes.  Whisk together the egg, milk, cheese in a glass bowl; stir in the bacon and onion.  Fill the mini muffin cups with approximately 1 Tbsp. of egg filling.  Bake for 20 min.

Tip:

Wonton wrappers can be used for so many different recipes!  They are perfect for making homemade ravioli – Katie is a pro at wonton raviolis. J

XOXO Megan

Green Pepper, Onion & Mushroom Omeletes

Similar to Katie's post yesterday... it is important when you have company to plan out some healthy meals (it will benefit your guests just as much as it does you!).  Last week my family was in town for the 4th of July and I planned a meal of veggie omelets for us to start our day with a healthy, protein-packed breakfast.

Servings:  4

Size:  1 omelet

Points Plus:  5pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time:  15-20 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent

Ingredient List:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 green pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 package sliced mushrooms

8 eggs

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Wash and chop the green pepper and onion.  In a large skillet, heat up the olive oil and add all the veggies.  Sauté the veggies until they are tender, about 5-10 minutes.  Whisk eggs in a small bowl – 2 eggs at a time. In a small sauté pan, pour in your eggs to begin cooking the omelet over medium heat.  Cook the eggs until almost set, and then add your veggie filling.  You will be adding about 1/3 cup of filling.  Once the omelet is filled, fold over in half with a spatula.  Cook for another 30 seconds or so and then remove from the pan and serve immediately with fresh ground pepper and salt.  Repeat this process for your other omelets.

Tip:

Add a little splash of milk to your eggs when whisking – this will make for fluffier omelets!  Also, feel free to sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top of your finished omelet for extra garnish and flavor.

XOXO Megan

Campfire Eggs

Eating healthy while on vacation is more often than not a challenge.  But, what do you do when you are CAMPING and you don't have a kitchen at your disposal??  Planning ahead is the best thing to do, and this easy and healthy breakfast will make it easy to stay on track!

Servings: 1
Size: 2 eggs
Points Plus: 4pp
Level of Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5-10 Minutes
Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredient List:
Tin foil
Beer (or pop) can
2 eggs
Cooking spray
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Build a fire (this is why the recipe is medium in difficulty, I needed a helper for this step). Tear off a square of tin foil and mold it around the bottom of a beer can so that it makes a little cup. Spray the cup with a spritz of cooking spray (or use olive oil in your Misto) and sprinkle in some salt and pepper.  Break your egg into the tin foil cup and place on your fire over medium heat.  Your cook time will depend on the temperature of your fire, so watch the egg closely.  When the egg is white and set it is done (between 5-10 minutes).  Remove from fire and unwrap from tin foil cup and you are done!

Tip:
Toss a piece of bread on your fire and pair with an apple for a healthy camping breakfast!

XOXO - Katie

Breakfast Bento Box

I eat some pretty cray (ie: non-traditional) things for breakfast to keep my foods interesting.  My favorite is almost anything mixed with cottage cheese.  Tomatoes, sliced up hard boiled egg, cucumbers, you name it!  Starbucks makes some pretty delicious bento boxes.  They are a mixture of low point and perfectly portioned snacks all in one box made for mixing and matching.  My fav is the chicken and hummus one, but at over $5 per box I rarely want to splurge for this tasty breakfast.  So, I made my own, and even put it in a rectangular glass container so that it felt special and fancy while I was eating it at work!  This is a spin-off of the chicken and hummus box, but as you can imagine the combinations are endless!

***I realize a normal person might eat this meal for lunch, so feel free to try that too!

Servings: 1
Size: 1 bento box
Points Plus: 5pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 5 minues
Cook Time: 0 minues
Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredient List:
3 little cuties
1 T. hummus
1/2 c. 1% cottage cheese
1 c. raw carrots
1/4 whole wheat pita cut into triangles
1 string cheese

Directions:
You really just measure and package people! Imagine, you can really dip everything together, and then eat the little cuties for dessert!

Tip:
Add an egg or 1 T. of peanut butter to increase the protein (and the pp value). As mentioned, the possibilities are endless, but this cute breakfast keeps me full all morning and also makes me feel like I am going to the local coffee shop to pick up a quick start to my day!

XOXO - Katie

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Everyone needs a signature dish!  What is a signature dish you might ask?  Well it is recipe that you can make quickly and is something you can make well.  And it really becomes your signature dish when people come to know and remember you for this particular recipe!

This delicious breakfast cake might very well be my own signature dish.  It is SO good!  The cake’s consistency is moist, yet light and fluffy all rolled into one.  It’s kind of cross between a muffin and a coffee cake.  I came across this recipe on Pinterest and tried it out for a weekend visit from my family.  Soon after this visit, this recipe quickly became one of our favorites!

Servings:  12

Size:  1/12 of an 8x8 pan

Points Plus: 6pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Bake Time: 35-45 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent

Ingredient List:

½ cup unsalted butter

2 tsp. lemon zest

¾ cup sugar (+ 2 Tbsp. to sprinkle on top of cake)

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour (reserve ¼ cup to toss the blueberries in)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 cups blueberries, fresh berries

½ cup buttermilk

Cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  In a large bowl, mix together the butter, lemon zest and ¾ cup sugar with a mixer until the texture is light and fluffy.  Add the egg, vanilla and beat until well mixed through.  Wash the blueberries and lightly pat dry with a paper towel.  In a cereal bowl, toss the blueberries in ¼ cup of flour (this helps the blueberries to stay whole and got get smashed and bleed into the rest of the cake).  Whisk together the remaining flour (1 ¾ cups), baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl.  Add half of flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, mix well.  Next add ¼ cup of buttermilk to the batter.  Repeat these steps with the remaining flour mixture and buttermilk.  Using a technique of alternating your dry ingredients with buttermilk allows for easier mixing for your cake batter.  Once the batter is mixed well, use a large spatula to gently fold in the blueberries.  You will likely have leftover flour from the ¼ cup you used to toss the berries – you don’t need to add all of it into the batter.  Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray.  Spread batter evenly into the pan.  The batter consistency will be quite thick.  Sprinkle 2 Tbsp. of sugar on top of the cake.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.  Use a toothpick to check to see if it comes out clean.  Depending on your oven, it may need to bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Tip:

Use this lemon zester I told you about last week to make zesting the lemon a breeze!

This recipe can EASILY be doubled and made in a 9x13 pan instead of the 8x8!  If you are serving this for a brunch I would recommend going with the doubled version since people will want seconds.

XOXO Megan

Chocolate Chip Scones

Scones are one of my favorite breakfast foods!  A warm scone and cup of coffee is perfect for a Saturday morning.  Here’s a great recipe I found on Skinnytaste for a lightened up version of chocolate chip scones.  The recipes calls for two kinds of flour – if you choose to just use all-purpose flour know that the pp value will increase. 

Servings:  12

Size:  1 scone

Points Plus: 5pp

Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  20 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

¾ cup cold buttermilk

¼ cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. chilled butter (it must be cold), cut into small pieces

¾ cup chocolate chips

Cooking spray

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1 ½ tsp. sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°.  Combine the buttermilk, ¼ cup sugar, vanilla and egg in a bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.  Cut in chilled butter with a pastry blender, or you could use a fork, until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Gently fold in chocolate chips.  Add the milk mixture, stirring until just moist.

Place dough on a floured surface and knead lightly four times with floured hands.  Form dough into a 9-inch circle on the baking sheet, about a ¾ inch thick.  Using a knife, cut dough into 12 wedges (make sure your cuts going all the way through to form 12 scones). Brush egg white over the top of the scones and sprinkle evenly with sugar.  Bake until golden, about 18-20 minutes depending on your oven.  Serve as warm scones with coffee!

Tip:

Cutting in the chilled butter into your flour mixture takes patience!  Keep at it and your dough will soon resemble the crumbly, coarse texture that is needed for scones. 

XOXO Megan

Donut Kabobs

Looking for something FUN to serve at your next brunch?  Donut kabobs are a perfect little treat.  I served these for Easter brunch this year and they were a hit with my family.  These are great to serve at either a wedding or baby shower too.  Easy entertaining!

Servings:  As many as you need

Size:  One kabob

Points Plus: 3 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: n/a

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

Ingredient List:

Donut holes

Strawberries

Blackberries

Skewers

Directions:

Wash the strawberries and blackberries.  Slice the strawberries in half.  Assemble each skewer, alternating each fruit type along with the donut holes.  Feel free to use whatever type of donut hole you prefer – glazed, cinnamon sugar or powdered (I prefer glazed, and they are the least messy J).

Tip:

Just like the fruit kabobs I posted about a month ago, these kabobs can easily fit the color scheme of your party, shower or brunch.  Switch out what fruit you use to match the colors or theme of your gathering!

XOXO Megan

Jalapeño, Sausage & Egg Breakfast Braid

I love to find new breakfast recipes to try out!  I came across this recipe in Cooking Light and tested it out for a summer cabin trip a few years ago.  It’s easy, yet looks pretty impressive, and sounds like it too (breakfast braid sounds kind of fancy to me at least!).  This breakfast dish quickly became a favorite and is a go-to staple if I’m having company and I want to serve something for breakfast or brunch.

Servings:  8

Size:  1/8 of the breakfast braid

Points Plus: 6 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Medium

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time:  15 minutes

Rating: 5 stars – Excellent

Ingredient List:

1 can refrigerated pizza crust dough

Cooking spray

1 Tbsp. olive oil

¼ cup onion, chopped

4 oz. chicken sausage with jalapeños, chopped

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup jalapeño peppers, chopped and seeded

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°. Unroll the pizza dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Shape dough into a 15x10 inch rectangle.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and sausage; cook about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in the eggs, cook another 1-2 minutes or until the eggs set.  Remove from heat.  Sprinkle Monterey Jack cheese lengthwise down the center of the dough, leave about a 2 ½ inch boarder on each side.  Spoon the egg/sausage mixture evenly over the cheese.  Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of the egg mixture; top with jalapeño peppers.  Make 2 inch long diagonal cuts about 1 inch apart on both sides of the dough to within ½ inch of the filling.  Arrange the strips over the filling, alternating sides to make the appearance look like a braid.  Press the ends to seal.  Brush the top of the braid with egg white to ensure a nice browned crust.  Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting into slices.

Tip:

To make the cuts in the pizza dough to form the braid, kitchen scissors work REALLY well!  Simply snip out even strips to make your braid.  The scissors will help the dough for tearing or getting stretched out so you end up with a nice looking braid to serve your company!

XOXO Megan

 

Blueberry Stuffed French Toast

Brunch! I hosted a brunch this past weekend and served this amazing blueberry stuffed french toast.  I originally had this recipe at a bridal shower, and have been thinking about it ever since....(and that was over a year ago).  The egg base if not too sweet and goes SO WELL with the blueberry topping.  When making the topping you cook half of the berries (you could use any fruit!) until they are soft, then add the second half at the end.  This creates two different berry textures which make the dish so much more interesting.  This re-heats up well too, and I am sure the topping would be amazing on ice cream :)

Also, in case you didn't know, making an egg dish that has to sit overnight is so ridiculously wonderful and easy. I made two overnight egg dishes and it took me less than 15 minutes.  Just pop them in the oven in the morning, stress-free entertaining!

Servings: 16
Size: 1/16 of 9X13 inch baking dish
Points Plus: 7pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes!
Cook Time: 1 hour, also must sit overnight
Rating: 5 stars - Very Good


Instructions:
I copied the recipe word for word (except smaller servings), so here you go!

Tip: 
The recipe asks for cubed cream cheese.  I don't really know how you would cube cream cheese unless it was frozen, so I just held it with one hand and broke off tablespoon sized chunks, distributing evenly over the bread mixture. With clean hands of course!

XOXO - Katie

Sausage & Yellow Pepper Breakfast Tacos

These breakfast tacos are not only tasty, but after I made them I realized they have almost EVERY color of the rainbow in them.  They are so pretty!  You can put whatever you have on hand in breakfast tacos (or regular tacos for that matter). For these I choose to use some yellow pepper, mixed greens, spicy sausage and queso fresco and chipotle laughing cow cheese.

Servings: 2

Size: Two tacos

Points Plus: 7pp

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Rating: 4 starts - Very Good

Ingredient List:

4 eggs

4 corn tortillas

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 yellow pepper

1 scallion

1 garlic clove

1 spicy turkey sausage

1 wedge queso fresco and chipotle laughing cow cheese

1 squirt Sriracha

1 splash of milk

Mixed greens

Salsa

Salt & pepper to taste
Cooking spray OR MISTO of EVOO

Directions:

The timing of this recipe is a little tricky and you have to do stuff fast.  Cutting and prepping everything before you start will make this recipe stress free! Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Chop pepper, scallion and garlic clove. Heat oil in skillet and add chopped veggies, cooking on low heat. (is garlic a veggie??).  Chop turkey sausage into small pieces and add to veggie mixture after about five minutes.  In the meantime, beat four eggs, add a splash of milk, a squirt of Sriracha and salt and pepper to taste.  Spray a second skillet and add eggs, cooking them on very low heat. When your oven is preheated, throw in the tortillas for a few minutes to warm.

To assemble:
Remove tortillas from oven and spread each with a quarter wedge of cheese. Equally distribute eggs and veggie mixture onto each, then top with salsa and lettuce.  Enjoy!

Tip:
Cooking eggs at low heat makes them more fluffy.  Give it a whirl!

XOXO Katie

Egg McMuffins

One of my fiance's favorite things to have for breakfast is our homemade version of egg McMuffins!  Paul is great at making these, so all the credit should be given to him for this recipe (in fact, maybe I should have had him write this as a guest post...).  These are easy to make and a nice balance of carbs and protein for a delicious breakfast sandwich.  Pair these with some fruit and you have a satisfying breakfast meal!

Servings:  2

Size:  One egg sandwich

Points Plus: 6 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: n/a

Cook Time: 5-7 minutes (adjust cooking time based on your preference)

Rating: 3 stars – Good

Ingredient List:

2 English muffins

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. butter spread

Generous salt and pepper seasoning

Optional: 2 oz. reduced fat shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese

Directions:

In a large frying pan, fry two eggs to your preferred level of doneness (I like my eggs very over-hard, while Paul prefers a runny yolk).  Generously salt and pepper each egg before you flip it to cook the other side.  While your eggs are cooking, toast the English muffins.  Lightly butter each English muffin.  Once the egss are done, assemble each McMuffin sandwich and enjoy!

Tip:

If you want to add some reduced fat cheese, add a small amount (1 oz. for each sandwich) to the top of your fried egg when you add assemble the sandwich.  By immediately putting the top of the English muffin on your egg, the cheese will melt and result in a perfectly gooey sandwich.

XOXO Megan

Fruit Kabobs

If you are looking for something fun, super EASY and healthy to bring to a party… let me introduce you to fruit kabobs!  When you’re asked to bring something to a dinner party or book club or any other social event that is centered around food, it’s best to come prepared and bring something that you know is points friendly. This will help you stay in control because you know you have a guaranteed option to snack on.  These fruit kabobs are perfect for any of those occasions!

Servings:  16 skewers

Points Plus: 0 pp

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:  n/a

Rating: 3 stars – Good

Ingredient List:

Toothpicks or kabob skewers (depending on what size you want to make)

2 bananas

Large bunch of green grapes

1 Pineapple

3 kiwi

Directions:

Wash the green grapes and take off the stems.  Cut up the pineapple into small, bite-size pieces.  Peel the kiwi and banana and cut into slices.  Assemble each skewer, alternating types of fruit.  Display on a plate

 Tip:

The picture above shows some fruit kabobs I made for the Packer SUPERBOWL party a few years ago (GO PACK GO!!!).  There are so many options though – you could make 4^th of July kabobs with blueberries, strawberries and raspberries; Luau themed kabobs with pineapple, mango and strawberries; or you can just pick fruits that go well with the color scheme of your party! If you do decide to make these ahead of time for a wedding or baby shower, make sure you save fruits that will brown easily for the day of prep (things like bananas, apples etc) so your kabobs look nice and fresh for your party spread.

XOXO Megan