Breakfast – Page 2

Belgian Waffles

November 15, 2019~ Breakfast, The Platefull Blog

I love to make a big breakfast on the weekends for my boys. It’s just a nice, slow way to start our weekend and they look forward to it every week. Their normal request is pancakes, but they love waffles too. (Super different, right?). Anytime we have waffles, they want a mountain of whipped cream. You’re only a kid once, right?! I normally serve my Oat Protein Waffles, but every now and then I make these as a special treat. They aren’t exactly healthy, but they sure are good!

You’ll start by mixing the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls and whipping the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Then you’ll combine the wet and dry ingredients in the larger mixing bowl.

Fold in the egg whites.

Heat and oil your waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions. I have the Cuisinart Griddler, which I heat to 400 degrees.

Cook the waffles about 5 minutes, or until they are light golden brown. Serve topped with strawberries and whipped cream. Other ideas for toppings are berries, bananas, caramel sauce, or chocolate chips. You could also go for the traditional butter and syrup. 🙂

Belgian Waffles

Author: Sarah

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs, separated

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 cup butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and baking powder. With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside. In another mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks, whole milk, and vanilla. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter, while whisking. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Gently fold in the egg whites.

Cook in a waffle iron that has been sprayed with cooking spray, according to manufacturer’s directions. In the Cuisinart Griddler, with the waffle plates clipped in, preheat to 400 degrees and cook the waffles for 5-6 minutes, until light golden brown.

Mixed Berry Acai Bowl

November 4, 2019~ Breakfast, The Platefull Blog

I created this Mixed Berry Acai Bowl after trying multiple recipes where the açaí part of the bowl came out to liquified. I was in the middle of a Whole 30 and desperate for something for breakfast that wasn’t eggs! This bowl has a thick base and you can top it any way you like. To keep it Whole 30 compliant, I chose unsweetened shredded coconut, strawberries, blueberries, and sliced almonds. Sometimes I add bananas, raspberries, mini chocolate chips, my favorite granola, or a drizzle of honey. I have a Vitamix and have to say, I’ve not tested this recipe in a regular blender. It definitely puts the Vitamix to work (and me!), but the thick base is totally worth all of the scraping, stopping, and starting. If you wanted to make the base a little easier to blend, you could add a little apple juice, coconut milk, or coconut water. The base just won’t be as thick, but it will still taste delicious!

Mixed Berry Acai Bowl

Author: Sarah
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 bowl 1x

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

1 frozen açaí packet

1 cup frozen mixed berries

For topping (choose what you like)

Strawberries

Blueberries

Raspberries

Bananas

Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

Sliced Almonds

Granola

Mini Chocolate Chips

Honey

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Place the frozen açaí packet under warm running water until you can break it into pieces (still in the packet). Then, cut the packet open and empty into the blender. Add the frozen mixed berries. For my Vitamix, I turn it to the Smoothie setting and let it run, using the tool to push things back down. Once you’ve blended for a bit, you will need to use a spatula to keep pushing the contents down and running the blender until it is well blended. This will take some work!

Once the açaí mixture is blended well, scrape it into a bowl. Top with any toppings you like and serve immediately.

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

October 22, 2019~ Baking, Breakfast, The Platefull Blog

On the weekends, we love to make breakfast from scratch. During the week, it’s nothing fancy, but when Saturday morning rolls around, you’ll find me in the kitchen, making muffins, pancakes, eggs, or biscuits. It’s become a tradition in our house and the boys look forward to weekend breakfasts. They usually request pancakes, but anytime I can convince them to stray from their favorite, I make these muffins. They are like a big, fluffy bakery muffin with a crumb topping.

Here’s a couple tips for making these muffins: Let your butter come to room temperature before making the crumb topping. It will mix in to the sugar and flour much more easily. The crumb topping will still seem dry, but don’t worry – sprinkle it on anyway. The batter for these muffins is thick. If it’s so thick that you can’t get the dry ingredients mixed in, add 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp milk. You shouldn’t need any more than that. Here’s a picture of the batter after it’s mixed. You can get an idea of how thick it is by looking at the back of the spoon.

I hope you make these muffins and love them as much as we do!

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

Author: Sarah
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 12 muffins

Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the muffins

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup extra light olive oil (or vegetable oil)

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

2 cups fresh blueberries

For the crumb topping

1/2 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease muffin tin well or line with muffin liners. Lightly spray the top of the muffin pan with cooking spray so that the crumb topping doesn’t stick.

In a large bowl, use a fork to combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. In another bowl, mix the extra light olive oil, milk, eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix with the flour mixture, just until flour is moistened, being careful not to over mix. Gently fold in the blueberries. Fill the muffin cups right to the top.

To make crumb topping

Combine brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. Mix with a fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

October 19, 2019~ Breakfast, The Platefull Blog

Who doesn’t love apple pie for breakfast?! This has the flavors and warmth of apple pie, but is a much healthier option. It’s the perfect breakfast for these cold mornings and ready in under 10 minutes! Side note – these apples are amazing over vanilla ice cream, topped with warm caramel sauce. Or just as a snack on their own!

Apple Pie Oatmeal

Author: Sarah

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

2 packets plain, unsweetened instant oatmeal

1 Tbsp extra light olive oil

1 apple, peeled and diced

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

In a small pan over medium heat, put 1 Tbsp of extra light olive oil and the diced apples. Cook, stirring frequently, until the apple is softened, about 7 minutes. Sprinkle with cinnamon and stir in the vanilla, until all is well mixed. While the apples are cooking, prepare the oatmeal packets according to instructions. When the oatmeal is cooked, top with the apple mixture and sprinkle with chopped pecans. Serve while still warm.

My Morning Routine

October 8, 2019~ Breakfast, Drinks, The Platefull Blog

A few months ago, I really started thinking about how I could start my day in a way that gave me energy and motivated me to get out of bed in the morning. I had fallen into a pattern of hitting snooze so many times that I rolled out of bed right before my kids. One of the pitfalls of working from home is that there’s really no motivation to look presentable each day, thus my rolling out of bed at the last minute and working in sweatpants everyday wasn’t a problem. But, it actually was a problem. You see, I recently finished reading Girl, Stop Apologizing and it was like a huge wake up call to me that I wasn’t making time to work on my goals. I wasn’t making time to take care of myself. I certainly wasn’t making myself a priority. From the second my feet hit the ground in the morning to the second I went to bed at night, I was doing things at full speed, for other people. As I walked through the steps in the book, I began to piece together what an energizing morning routine would look like for me. Here’s how it’s come together:

5:00 Wake up, drink a glass of cold water while I make my coffee. Then I spend the next hour drinking my coffee and working on my one primary goal.

6:00 I belong to The Balanced Life Online, which provides a calendar of Pilates workouts Monday-Friday. MWF workouts are about 15 minutes, while T-Th are more like 30 minutes. At 6 AM, I do my pilates workout for the day.

6:15/6:30 I head to my favorite comfy chair to do 10 minutes of meditation through Headspace. Then I write in my gratitude journal, following the #last90days methodology.

6:45 Pack school lunch for my Kindergartner, set out backpacks, shoes, coats, etc.

7:00 Get my kids up (if they aren’t up already). Get them ready for school.

7:10-7:20/7:30 The boys watch a show and have a glass of milk, while we snuggle. I have thought so many times about doing away with this part of the morning routine, but these morning snuggles start the day off right for all of us and are truly one of the things I’m most grateful for each day!

7:30 My husband takes the boys to school and I get myself dressed and ready for the day, while listening to my favorite playlist or podcast.

8:00 Make my favorite green smoothie and sit down at my desk to check email and begin my work day.

So, that was a really long post to get to the point….which is that this green smoothie is a rock solid part of my morning routine! It’s smooth and delicious, and easy to make thanks to my freezer smoothie packs. Once in a while I get crazy and swap out the smoothie for an oatmeal bowl or acai bowl (look for those recipes soon!), but it’s rare that I don’t start my day with this smoothie! And I haven’t gotten sick of it yet. 🙂

Morning Green Smoothie

Author: Sarah

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup spinach

1/3 cup avocado

1/2 banana

1/3 cup frozen pineapple cubes

1/3 cup frozen mango chunks

1 tsp matcha powder

1/2 cup coconut water

1/3 cup coconut milk

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

*Note: For this recipe, I use frozen avocado chunks from Costco. I pre-assemble smoothie packs by combining the frozen avocado, pineapple, and mango, along with half a banana that I have peeled and sliced into individual smoothie portions and freezing. Each morning, I dump a smoothie pack and the remaining ingredients in my Vitamix blender.

To mix the smoothie: Combine all ingredients in a blender. I use a Vitamix and blend on the smoothie setting. If the smoothie looks too thick, I add a little coconut water.

Perfect Pancakes

September 28, 2019~ Breakfast, The Platefull Blog

About a year ago, my brother came to visit and made the most amazing pancakes for breakfast. It has forever ruined my children. No longer is boxed pancake mix acceptable to them. But at 7:30 AM on a Saturday, I had no desire to be separating eggs and whipping egg whites. (If you have the patience and time for that, you must try this recipe!). I knew I needed to find a way to make perfectly fluffy pancakes, without the hassle. That’s how this recipe came about.

A fun way to serve pancakes if you have guests is to set out berries, chocolate chips, crumbled cooked bacon, butter, and syrup for a build-your-own pancake bar. Seeing as how my kids prefer eating chocolate at 7:30 in the morning, I take the easy way out and put a small dish of chocolate chips on their plates with a puddle of syrup. Either way, these pancakes taste great!

Perfect Pancakes

Author: Sarah

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon granulated white sugar

3 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Melt the butter in the microwave and let cool slightly. In the meantime, whisk the egg and milk. Slowly stream the melted butter into the egg/milk mixture, while constantly whisking. Add the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt and stir with a fork until well combined and the big lumps are gone. Let the batter stand for 10 minutes.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium low heat. Add 1/2 Tablespoon butter and melt in the pan, swirling to coat the bottom. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour batter into the pan to form a pancake. Cook until the top side is bubbly, then flip to cook through on the other side.

Serve with butter and syrup (or your favorite pancake toppings) fresh out of the pan!