Pumpkin pie french toast

Gooooood morning!!!

Today is actually a great morning. Ya know why? Because I woke up to some amazing french toast. And, my house smells like pumpkin pie.

Those are two ingredients for a pretty perfect day. The only thing that would make this day better is if it was sunny with a high of some fall weather. Floridians really get the shaft when it comes to the amazingness of fall weather.

Oh well. This french toast is so good that it will make you forget it is still 99 degrees outside and basically still summer.

Ingredients

8 slices cinnamon swirl bread (any bread will work here, I just had some cinnamon bread and thought that would be tasty. GF will work here too!)
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used vanilla soy)
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbl butter (I used Earth Balance)

In a shallow dish, combine milk, eggs, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk until eggs are all broken up and well combined.

Heat a skillet over medium heat and add butter to pan.

Soak bread in pumpkin mixture until the bread is saturated. Allow excess batter to drip off and place into hot pan. Cook on each side for about 3-4 minutes or until browned and egg has cooked. Remove from heat and eat immediately.

Enjoy and happy Sunday!!

Almond Joy oatmeal

Your mornings just got a whole lot better thanks to this. Who would have thought you could basically eat a candy bar for breakfast and it be a healthy and filling way to start the day? Well friends, this recipe is for sure one you will want to save.

Ingredients

1/2 cup light coconut milk (you can use soy, almond, cow’s milk, or water here too)
1/3 cup whole grain oats
2 Tbl slivered almonds
1 Tbl coconut
1 Tbl dark chocolate chips

Bring coconut milk to a boil in a small sauce pan. Stir in oats and cook for one minute. Remove oats from pan and place into a bowl. Top with almonds, coconut, and chocolate chips. You can add more milk at this point if you want it looser.

Enjoy!!

Healthy breakfast banana bread pudding

Bread pudding is no longer just for dessert. This lightened up version uses non-fat milk, only two eggs, and mashed bananas to make it a perfect way to start your day!

If you aren’t into the bananas in this recipe, you could definitely substitute another fruit or just leave out the fruit all together and have a cinnamon spiced bread pudding that would be just as good!

Ingredients

8 sliced of bread (I used a mixture of whole grain and sourdough)
1 cup non-fat milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 banana mashed
walnuts, optional

Cut or tear bread into 1-2 inch pieces. Butter a baking dish and place bread inside.

In a bowl, combine milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, walnuts and mashed banana. Pour over bread. Press down on the bread so that it is submerged in the milk mixture. Allow to sit for an hour. I let mine sit overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Enjoy straight out of the oven, at room temperature, or cold!

Sweet potato pancakes

These are a perfect way to use up some leftover sweet potatoes that you’ve already baked. I had a half of one in the fridge from dinner last night. Cooked sweet potatoes only last a couple of days in the fridge before they start to go bad, so I figured I might as well use it up somehow. Pancakes are the perfect way!

This is a really simple batter and it comes together in minutes. Also, these are incredibly filling. I had just two small ones and I felt really full afterwards. There is not very much sweetener in these pancakes either. If you like yours to be on the sweeter side, by all means add some additional sugar. I wanted to keep these low calorie so I only used a small amount of agave in these.

Ingredients
Serves 3-4

1/2 of a cooked sweet potato, mashed
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbl agave nectar
1 cup non-fat milk
1 egg
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
Non-stick cooking spray

Place all ingredients into a bowl and stir until just combined. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Spray a griddle or large pan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Cook until browned on both sides.

Serve!

I served mine along with this fruit salad. YUM!!

80 calorie protein packed pancakes

If you are searching for a low calorie, filling, tasty breakfast – these are for you. They are really easy to put together and pack 9 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber for each serving. The best part of all? They are only 80 calories each!!

No, this is not too good to be true. Healthy and delicious and you can substitute other fruits in here if you want to switch things up.

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup light vanilla soy milk
2 egg whites
1 small container of Chobani non-fat vanilla greek yogurt
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup blueberries
3 Tbl mashed raspberries
Cooking spray

In a bowl, combine soy milk, egg whites, yogurt, oil, and vanilla. Whisk until combined.

In another bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. Add to wet ingredients and mix until flour is incorporated.

Fold in berries.

Heat a griddle or skillet oven medium low heat and spray with cooking spray. Portion out 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Cook until fully cooked through.

Serve immediately.

***I did NOT use any sugar in these pancakes. I used vanilla yogurt which has some sugar in it, and I like maple syrup over my pancakes so I eliminate the sugar in the pancakes so I can use the syrup.