Southwest Breakfast Plate

German Pancakes

We've had German pancakes just a handful of times at family breakfasts when we used to live in Utah, and thought they were fantastic. Jeff's sister-in-law raved about how simple they were to make and how much her kids loved them. For some reason we didn't try making them ourselves until just a few weeks ago...and we are hooked! They literally take 3 minutes to put together and 20 minutes to bake in the oven. And there's no butter or sugar...so its a basic foundation that you can serve with whatever fits your fancy. We like to top ours with blueberries, strawberries, sautéed apples with cinnamon, sliced almonds, maple syrup or applesauce. This recipe makes one 9x13 pan and if we must confess...the four of us can eat it all in one sitting. We'll give the kids most of the credit for that one. 

Ingredients:

• 6 large eggs 
• 1 cup [whole wheat or white] flour 
• 1 cup low-fat milk (we use 1%) 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• non-stick cooking spray or oil to coat pan 
• Toppings: blueberries, strawberries, sautéed apples with cinnamon, sliced almonds, maple syrup or applesauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°. Place first four ingredients in a blender; process just until smooth.

Pour batter into greased 9x13 baking dish 

Bake uncovered until puffy and golden brown, about 20 minutes 

Remove from oven, serve hot with toppings of choice

Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes

These have become our favorite "special" breakfast to have for Saturday mornings, General Conference weekend or any other day where we want a fun treat to start the day with. The fresh lemon and nutty poppy seeds combined with pure maple syrup is a combination hard to beat. We love topping the pancakes with diced strawberries and chopped walnuts. For something a little more tame in the sugar department, you can top it with applesauce or puréed strawberries. 

Ingredients: 

DRY
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

WET
• 1 cup buttermilk*
• zest of two lemons
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
• 3 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup poppy seeds 

Instructions

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients.
2. In a separate bowl, blend the wet ingredients together and fold in the poppy seeds.
3. Add the wet to the dry and mix just until combined, don't over mix, you want your pancakes to be fluffy! Lumps are fine.
4. Cook on a lightly greased griddle until lightly golden on both sides.
5. Serve hot with maple syrup.

*don't have buttermilk? No worries! Add 1 T white vinegar to 1 cup milk, stir, let sit for 5-10 minutes and voila! Makeshift buttermilk. 

Find the original post here. 

Pumpkin Baked French Toast

If you're a fan of pumpkin, then you need to make this French toast bake before the season is over! Or just make it year round because it's that good. I found this recipe from the minimalist baker, who is one of my favorite resources for simple, wholesome recipes. This is our fun weekend brunch dish and is super easy to prepare. You put it together the night before, pop it in the oven in the morning and wait for your house to fill with the aroma of pumpkin goodness. 

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 - 7 1/2 cups (~225 g) 1-inch bread cubes (depending on type of bread)*
• 7 large eggs
• 2 cups (480 ml) milk (any kind)*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup (87 g) pumpkin butter (or 1/2 cup pumpkin puree)*
• 3-4 Tbsp (41-55 g) brown sugar for topping
• optional: Nuts, like pecan or walnuts

Instructions

1. Cut any kind of bread into 1-inch cubes - I recommend a crusty, whole grain variety, but sandwich bread will work, too. Just use enough slice to fill a lightly greased 9x13-inch baking dish quite full.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, pumpkin butter and pie spice until well combined. Pour over bread and push down with a spoon or your hands until it's all soaked and mostly covered. Cover with saran wrap or lid and refrigerate overnight.
3. In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C), uncover and top with brown sugar, additional pumpkin pie spice and nuts (optional). Bake for 35-45 minutes or golden brown and no longer wet.
4. Serve immediately with maple syrup, honey or agave nectar. Store leftovers in the refrigerator covered for up to a couple days.

Notes

*For the bread cubes, just use as much bread as it takes to fill the bottom of your dish generously, plus up about 1 to 1.5 inches. If you've added too much to soak up the liquid, just remove some. And if it looks too wet, add some more bread.
*I used 2%, but use skim or low-fat for a lighter recipe. Alternatively, use non-dairy such as soy or almond.
*I HIGHLY recommend using pumpkin butter, as it has a concentrated pumpkin flavor and is much sweeter than puree. But if using puree instead of butter, it's important to compensate the flavor by adding a bit more puree, pumpkin pie spice, and a little agave nectar, brown sugar or maple syrup to the batter. Otherwise, it will lack that delicious fall, pumpkin flavor you're going for.

Smoothie Bowls

There is no one way to make a smoothie bowl, so get creative. Try different combinations of frozen fruits combined with almond milk, coconut milk, orange juice, etc and top with fresh fruits, cocao nibs (make sure it is truly pure cacao nibs without any sweetener to be whole30 compliant), unsweetened coconut, walnuts/almonds and anything else that fits your fancy. Pictured below is my go-to combination for smoothies. I happened to have raspberries on hand, but you can use kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries...you get the idea.

Ingredients:

Smoothie
Handful of frozen mixed berries
Handful of frozen banana chunks (I just buy a bunch of bananas and break them into chunks to freeze for smoothies)
Unsweetened almond milk

Toppings
Raw almonds
Banana slices
Cocao nibs
Raspberries
Unsweetened shredded coconut
Chia seeds

I usually blend up my smoothie, pour it into a bowl and let it set up in the freezer for a few minutes so it's thick enough to eat with a spoon. Then top it with whatever you have on hand. Have fun experimenting with different combinations for the smoothie and toppings. It's a refreshing treat or a fun breakfast. 

Southwestern Breakfast Bowl

I rediscovered sweet potatoes (and potatoes in general) during our Whole30 last year and was reminded of how much I love them! They are super versatile and so delicious. To mix up breakfast dishes, I tried this southwestern breakfast bowl  and have incorporated it into our regular meal lineup. It's a great breakfast, but also makes a super easy and nutritious dinner as well. As with all recipes, I usually get the general idea of what ingredients to use but will swap things around or leave things out that I don't have or prefer. Think of it as a basic outline that you can tweak to make your own.

Ingredients:

1 medium potato
1/2 a medium onion
1 red pepper
2 slices of bacon (sugar free for whole30) or 2 links Aidells apple + chicken sausage
2 tbsp olive oil

1 egg

spices (below is a list of ideas to combine)1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin

freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)

optional: hot sauce

Directions:

1. Peel and chop your potato into bite size pieces. Saute in prepared pan for 15-20 on low-medium heat 
2. While your potato cooking, chop up your onion, red pepper and sausage. 
3. Add olive oil, onion, red pepper, and bacon into pan with potatoes. Fry until onions are golden and bacon is cooked (not crispy)
4. Add spices/seasoning
5. Mix everything in the pan well until potatoes begin to get golden, crispy edges.
6. Put potatoes/veggies/meat into your bowl and set aside.
7. In the same pan, crack your egg and let egg whites cook before flipping it to other side for a nice fried egg. Pierce the yolk if you like it firm, keep it intact if you like it runny. 
8. Remove from pan and place on top of your breakfast bowl.
9. Top with fresh cracked pepper (and hot sauce if you wish!)

*I usually substitute bacon with Aidell's Apple and Chicken sausages. We would buy the big pack from Costco and loved adding them into dishes for a little more substance. They are really delicious in this dish, and just about anything else too. 

Egg Bake

I made this every week during our Whole30 and have continued to make one regularly. I buy the five dozen carton of eggs from Costco which is a crazy good deal and helps you feel less guilty for using up a lot of eggs at one time. This is a great way to mix up breakfast and get in some veggies (and use up whatever you have left in your fridge at the end of the week). It's perfect for a quick breakfast on the go. Just bake it at the beginning of the week (or whenever you want...) and cut it up into portions, stick it in the fridge and reheat whenever you need a healthy, filling breakfast. Check out the original post for more photos and tips on making this egg bake. 

Ingredients:

• Five generous servings of vegetables -- diced (I like onion, pepper, spinach, zucchini and broccoli)
• Two links of Aidells Chicken Apple Sausage* -- cut into thin, round slices
• Ten large eggs
• 4 tablespoons of ghee/butter or olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

**Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Dice all vegetables into small pieces -- thoroughly thaw and strain all frozen vegetables
3. Coat the bottom of a 9×12 clear glass baking dish with 1 tablespoon ghee/butter or olive oil 
4. Prepare pan with ghee/butter or olive oil
5. Sautee vegetables for 10 minutes, season with salt and pepper to taste
6. Add chicken apple sausage and sauté for 5 minutes
7. In a large bowl, crack and beat the 10 eggs.
8. Add sautéed vegetables to raw eggs and stir to combine.
9. Pour egg/vegetable mixture into greased baking dish.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until casserole turns golden on the edges.

*Make sure you use the big links of Aidells chicken apple sausage -- the smaller ones are not Whole30 compliant!

** I would just sauté all of the vegetables in a pan until they were tender, mix them with the eggs and pour into the 9x13 pan. Also, I diced the sausage into smaller quarters so there was a better chance of getting more in each little egg bake square ;) 

Original recipe found here.