Baked Spinach and Wild Mushroom Omelette

This is a quick and easy and super healthy breakfast. You can mix this in minutes and then let it bake. It is great for a crowd or you can cut it up and save it for your work week breakfasts. I use the frozen veggies from Trader Joe's. They are delicious and affordable... no cutting required :) Happy me.  

I have been trying to eat more vegetables for breakfast. I have not quite gotten there unless it is cooked with eggs and or bacon... but alas, no one is perfect. 

What you need: 

2 teaspoons of olive oil

1 32 oz bag of frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 12oz bag of frozen wild mushroom medley, thawed 

8 eggs

Salt and pepper

What you do: 

1. Cook your veggies: Heat a large saucepan on medium high heat, heat olive oil, and add the veggies. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes to concentrate the flavors and cook off most of the frozen waters... 

2. Crack and mix your eggs: In a large bowl crack and mix up your eggs, season with salt and peppa. 

3. Preheat and prepare: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. In a 9X13 baking dish, spray with nonstick or olive oil. 

4. Make your Omlette: place your cooked veggies, stir over your eggs. Mix in as best you can. 

5. Bake for about 30-40 minutes. Test the center is cooked and the edges pull away from the side. 

6. Serve for breakfast... or cut up and place in your super cool tupperware for a Working Mommy on the Go meal... 

As always, much love, many blessings, and go Mommies!

Moist Zucchini Bread, Gluten and Dairy Free

After a lifetime of being heavy and trying different diets, I think, I hope, I have my fingers crossed I think I found one that works for my body type. Everybody is different, but I have been eating a paleo diet for a little over a month, with an emphasis on local organic vegetables, and I feel great. I haven't lost a ton of weight, only seven pounds, but I feel amazing. My runs are the best they have ever been, my energy level is way high, and I sleep without sleeping pills. It is kind of mind blowing, #mindblown. So, I haven't really been blogging because to be honest, I am still getting the hang of this new way of cooking. But I tried this zucchini bread, and it is pretty awesome. So, here you go... 

What you need: 

1/2 cup coconut flour 
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon  salt
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
4 eggs 
3 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 small to medium zucchini, shredded finely
1 ripe banana, smashed
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 cup pecans or hazelnuts

What you do: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees 

2. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil

3. Mix together all the dry ingredients, and set aside

4. In a standing mixer or another bowl mix together all the wet ingredients including the shredded zucchini and banana. 

5. Mix the dry into the wet ingredients, and stir to combine. 

6. Fold in the nuts

7. Pour into your prepared loaf pan

8. Bake for about 45 minutes, but test it with a toothpick

9. Let cool 

10. Enjoy with outside with coffee for breakfast taking in the last few inhales of sweet Indian Summer 

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy baking!

Easy Cream Biscuits

As far as baking homemade bread, nothing gets easier than cream biscuits. They take no time to stir up, there are only 2 ingredients, and you can make them in your muffin pan so you just drop them and they pop up perfect every time. This is my go to for lazy winter breakfast treat. Serve it with good homemade jelly, or butter, or gravy... yum gravy. 

What you need: 

2 cups of Self-Rising Flour

1 cup of heavy cream 

muffin tin

non-stick spray

What you do: 

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. 
2. Mix the flour and cream together just until it combines
3. Drop dollop fulls into a greased muffin tin
4. Bake for 10 minutes
5. Enjoy, greedily with coffee and pepper jelly 

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy Christmas!

15 minute Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

I made these last night, and I am practically evangelical about them. They are only 2 ingredients, fat free, vegan, easy, fast, a great use of bananas past their prime, and they are delicious. They taste like an oatmeal banana cookie. I am sure you could mold them into any shape and add peanut butter, raisins, or chocolate chips if you wanted...

What you need: 

2 brown bananas

1 cup oats 

What you do: 

1. Preheat the oven 350. 

2. Mash the bananas and mix the oats in. 

3. Scoop on to a parchment lined baking sheet. 

4. Bake 15 minutes. 

5. Enjoy anytime with milk... viola breakfast cookies. 

Hope you try them... they are awesome.

All the best, many blessings, much love, and happy baking. 

Blueberry Oatmeal Bars

My little one calls blueberries, b-berries. He is a great fan of them, and he loves oatmeal as well. I know... strange kid, but my husband also like the combination so I thought these would make a fit and easy breakfast treat. Here is the recipe adapted from day dream kitchen.

What you need:
2 cups of rolled oats
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon of orange zest
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of cold cubed butter

3 cups of fresh blueberries
1/2 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of fresh orange juice
4 teaspoons of cornstarch

What you do:

1. Zest a large orange, and juice save the juice and zest separately. 
2. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan add the blueberries, sugar. Mix the cornstarch and orange juice to form a slurry, whisk any lumps, add to the blueberries and sugar, cook for 5 minutes or so until thick. Set aside to cool. 
3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 
4. In your food processor pulse together the oats, flour, brown sugar, orange zest, salt, and cubed butter. 
5. Place parchment paper in a 8 inch square pan. 
6. Pour half of the oat mixture into the pan and press down with your hands. Pour over the cooled blueberry sauce. Then cover with the oat crumbles. 
7. Bake for about 45 minutes. 
8. Let cool completely, refrigerate and cut into squares. Enjoy for breakfast, snack, or dessert with whipped cream. 

They also freeze beautifully so you can keep them in the chiller and take one out when you want a semi healthy dessert, just pop it in the microwave for a minute. 

As always, much love, many blessings, happy baking. 

Apple Cinnamon French Toast

So normally we make pancakes for Freddy on Fridays... but it recently occurred to us, us being Dave and I, that Freddy's French Toast Fridays had a certain ring to it! Also, it allows me to indulge in my love alliteration. But I digress... so Apple cinnamon French toast, this is yet another recipe born of things in the fridge. We had stale bread, we always have too many eggs, milk, and a jar of apple pie filling from Trader Joe's... Voila 5 minute breakfast is born. I'll tell you how I made it.

What you need
2 eggs
a splash of whole milk (maybe like 1/3 of a cup)
stale-ish bread (I cut three relatively large slices into strips so Freddy can eat them easily)
a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar (1/2 a teaspoon)
a dash of vanilla (1 teaspoon)
butter, oil, or cooking spray
decorations of your choosing: we used, apple cinnamon pie filling, whipped cream, and cinnamon sugar but any fruit, syrup, or cream will do...


What you do
1. Mix together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon sugar in a bowl.
2. Dip the bread, allow to soak for a little bit, until you are sure that mixture has soaked to the middle
3. Heat a non-stick skillet on medium high heat, coat with butter, oil, or spray
4. Cook the french toast on both sides until crispy and lightly golden brown. If your bread is thick, cover the pan with aluminum foil when it is toasting on the first side. The steam will cook the custard mixture on the inside of the thick bread.
5. Let cool, decorate with deliciousness, serve to your little one, and watch your husband steal from your baby... i.e. make more...

Hope you have a happy Friday!

Much love, many blessings, and happy cooking!

Honey Bread Minis

Did you know the Honey Bee species is endangered? http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wildtv/endangered.html. Well, to do our part, we supported the http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/ and for Christmas I requested and received wonderful raw and natural honeys. But once you have, as I have, horded all your honey, what to do with it. This sweet golden elixir uses are countless, but what to do? You can only put so much in your tea and toast with cheese. Unlike the beloved children's character Pooh I cannot stomach it off of my fingers.

For this recipe I used a German Rap Seed Honey a raw wild flower honey, which was a pale yellow creamy color with a strong floral scent but a delicate and almost tongue-tingling taste. It was a Christmas gift from my dear friend Kristine. The wild flower honey complimented the ginger in this recipe perfectly, but any wonderful version of the bees' elixir will do.

Honey Bread Minis

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of ginger

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 cup of honey

1 cup of milk

1 egg lightly beaten

Heat your oven to 375 degrees F

Spray your muffin tin or silicone of choice. Usually I am big proponent of the old fashioned metal muffin tins, but this recipe benefits from silicone because the top and bottom of the muffins are more so evenly cooked.

Add all of the ingredients into your standing mixer and let it go low and slow for about 10 minutes, so the gluten develops and the honey has had a chance to be infused with the spices and blossom in flavor. A little trick to measuring honey, always use an oil/butter spray on your measuring cup and the honey will just slide out perfectly. I do that with anything super sticky, works great with peanut butter.

Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes and let cool.

Serve with butter, jam, or as I like a compound butter made of butter, cream cheese, blueberries and a little sugar. Lemon curd would also be divine if you were serving this with a good strong tea.

As always much love, many blessings, and happy baking.

I will leave you with my favorite Winnie the Pooh, exercise song. Very appropriate for a woman on Weight Watchers.

Up-Down From "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh"

Composed by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

Up - Down - Up

When I up, down, touch the ground it puts me in the mood

Up, down, touch the ground in the mood for food

I am stout, round and I have found speaking poundage-wise

I improve my appetite when I exercise

Oh, yes, I'm rumbly in my tumbly

Time for something sweet I am short, fat, and proud of that and so with all my might

I up, down, up-down to my appetite's delight

While I up, down, touch the ground I think of things to chew

With a hefty, happy appetite I'm a hefty, happy Pooh

With a hefty, happy appetite he's a hefty, happy Pooh

Easy, fast, delicious blueberry muffin recipe

You can never underestimate the power of a fresh baked breakfast. When you can do it in 20 minutes or less, you should. So here goes…

Makes nine plump muffins, or 12 skinny ones.

1 cup of flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder (powder not soda)
½ teaspoon of regular ol’ salt (did you know that salary means salt money)
1 egg or 2 egg whites
¼ cup of melted butta or ½ a stick
1 cup milk (skim if you are watching it)
½ cup of sugar bowl sugar
1 cup of blueberries dusted in some flour

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375

2. Pam up your muffin tin

3. Sift together all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and let it hang out until you are ready. I use a piece of parchment or roller’s mat to easily pour into your mixer bowl.

4. In your standing mixer throw in all of your wets save the blue berries. So the eggs, butter, milk, and sugar. (Sugar melts, so it is treated like a liquid.)

5. Once mixed, add all the dry ingredients at once. This is called the muffin mixing method. Don’t over mix, when it looks completely mixed and fluffy stop.

6. By hand fold in the blue berries.

7. Spoon into buttered muffin tin. I don’t use cupcake liners, because well, they aren’t cupcakes, and I love the brown soft crust that appears from a dark pan and direct contact.

Voila, delicious, light, and easy, and low cal should you choose. On the planet Weightwatchers, the low cal version with egg whites and skim milk is 2 points for a plump muffin. Keep the chubby in the muffins and not in the pants.

I will try and procure my soon to be mother in law’s Blue Berry Bread recipe next. It is quite delectable.

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy baking.

Quick Apple Cherry Scones

Scones… a baking precipice I have not yet surmounted. Nonetheless, I persevere, attempting to find the ellusive great classic recipe for scones. This recipe is not it, but it is still pretty darn tooting good, even for one less enchanted with our British cousin to the muffin. Please don’t be intimidated this entire process took less than 30 minutes.

1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 sticks or (1.5 cups) of chilly butter, cut in with a food processor or a pastry cutter
1 cup buttermilk (you may need a splash more if the dough is too dry)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 large Granny Smith apple
½ cup of dried cherries (soaked in hot water or the liqueur of your choice)
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle

Crank your oven to 375 degrees F.
Peel, core, chop the apples (I zipped it in food processor to make them super tiny).
Soak the dried cherries in warm water or as I did, left over sherry. Remember to drain before adding.

Mix up all of the dry ingredients, it’s done in a second if you do a quick blitz food processor or you can always do it by hand. Then cut in the butter, again easier in the food processor, but sometimes I rather enjoy the nostalgic feeling of using a pastry cutter. Add the buttermilk until just mixed. Fold in the apples and the drained cherries. Then I used an ice cream scooper and muffin tin, but feel free just to drop 2 tablespoons on a greased cookie sheet.

Then brush with heavy cream and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over top.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and your home smells of morning deliciousness. Serve warm with butter or apple butter.

Voila delicious, easy, quick scones. It had to be quick I’m working on two proposals this week. But what is a week without baking, even if it is a 78-hour work-week.

Much love and happy baking… and don’t work too hard.

Mama's Brown Sugar and Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Come over here and give mama some suga... brown sugar.

Can you blame me, a girl needs a little suga. So while contemplating of deliciousness to bake up for the office, I came across a Zingerman's Gourmet Food Catalogue.

Tangent about my love affair with Zingerman's: Which by the way, if you are ever blessed enough to pass through Ann Arbor, MI, or incredibly blessed enough to live there you know what I mean. Delectables from every corner and nook in the world, a phenomenal bakery that rivals those of Europe and a deli with so much meat it would make Jewish butcher blush. Their Colossal Rubens on Marbled Rye... nuff said. Don't get me wrong University of Michigan maybe the best educational institution in the world, the football games at the Big House, awesome. But I would move their for Zingerman's, alone.

OK I'm back from my mental vacation... Yes, sour cream cake came to mind but what is in a cake without sugar? So this is what the gnomes in my kitchen decided on:

For the cake:

1 stick plus 2 teaspoons butter
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar (i always buy in small quantities and open a new box)
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pour salt (not sea salt)
1 cup sour cream (full fat, none of this fancying about with skim milk bit)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (leave the imitation's for desperate house wives)

For the crumble middle and topping:

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Use a cooking spray to slick up a bunt pan or i am sure any oven-proof dish will do.

In my red hot, oh so sexy Kitchenade, aka my love, with the beater attachment: cream together the butter ("its so creamy its like butta") and brown sugar until light and airy. Add the eggs 1 at a time. Add the sour cream and vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Then add the flour. Finally just as everything is coming together, add the baking powder. Pour about half the batter into the prepared baking dish of choice, spreading out to the edges of the creamy goodness.

In a separate bowl make the cinnamon and brown sugar topping, mix with a fork the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter, and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle about half of the topping over the cake.

Then add the other half of the batter spreading with a spoonula to cover. Sprinkle all of the left over topping. And put the whole pan of sweet bliss in the oven. (Now you can lick the spoon, this batter, well lets just say i didn't want to bake it.)

Bake until golden brown and set, 35 to 40 minutes. Use the toothpick trick to make sure its done. Take the tasty cake out of the oven and let it cool on wire rack.

There you have it, a happy set of tribal leaders at the office and a day of peace and quiet for writing.

Much love and happy baking.