Easy Veggie Breakfasts

Almost all the time breakfast is a meal of sweetness, from oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins to pancakes with syrup and yogurt parfaits with fruit. None of those are bad breakfasts, but breakfast is also a really great (and over-looked) time to start getting those veggies into your day!

You don't have to just toss some veggies into an omelet - although that is Amazing!!

• The Best Breakfast Sandwich  was posted over at Eat Well Utah. You can add lots of delicious veggies to an egg breakfast sandwich

• Mashed Avocado Toast with Veggies -  This new food craze isn't going anywhere anytime soon. With a healthy whole grain bread and some imagination, the sky is the limit (or perhaps the garden is the limit - Hahaha!). Huffington Post wrote a whole article on 16 ways to get all crazy with this basic idea. Get breakfast crazy, People!

• Veggie Breakfast Tacos - There isn't anything that you can't put in a tortilla and not find delicious. Be sure you are adding a whole bunch of veggies with those eggs and lean meats. Yummly has a whole slew of vegetarian breakfast tacos if you are wanting to be inspired.

• Healthy Breakfast Burritos - Anything  you can put in a taco, you can put in a burrito - to make it wildly healthy, instead of a tortilla use a leaf or lettuce or kale. 

• Breakfast Pita Pizza - A whole wheat pizza is a great start to assembling any meal. Add a little cheese and all the veggies of your choice - melt away (in a pan or the microwave) and you're done! For my pita pizzas I prefer to dip in the sauce than to put in inside the pita. You could have BBQ Chicken, Egg with Siracha, Veggies and yogurt sauce. You are only limited by your imagination - and the time you have left in the morning. Here is a recipe for an amazing one from Veggie Girl.

• Sauteed Vegetables Bagel Breakfast Sandwich - The recipe can be found over at Mountain Mama Cooks . Sure, this recipe may call for butter and oil, but research shows that adding fat in moderation to your veggies can help absorb their nutrients better. Plus, it makes them taste even more amazing! Reap all the vitamin C and lycopene of the summer squash and tomatoes with this bagel breakfast—and if bagels are just too heavy for your taste, we’re guessing these veggies would taste good on just about anything else.

• Mexican Breakfast Pasta - This recipe is from Living Well Kitchen, If pizza for breakfast is a thing, why can’t pasta be too? Switch up your morning carbs with a serving of spaghetti (make it whole-wheat for extra fiber) and black beans sautéed in a skillet with a generous few servings of diced veggies. The eggs cracked over the top give the whole thing a protein upgrade along with that breakfast-y vibe.

• Put Those Veggies in a Hash -  When you are mixing up your breakfast hash toss a few veggies in and then toss in a few more. 
• Here is an amazing recipe for a Sweet Potato Hash from Blissful Basil. 
• And one from Inspired Recipes for Hash with Spinach and Carrots. 
• A Roasted Vegetable Skillet that is so good, you'll want to make it for dinner too. 
• Ham & Veggie Breakfast Hash 

Breakfast doesn't always have to be sweet and it doesn't always have to be expected. If you love it, you can eat it for breakfast - what a great way to start the morning... with a whole lot of Good for You and a little rebellion. 

French Dip Pinwheels with Caramelized Onions

Who doesn't love hot roast beef and melty cheese with a dippy savory sauce? 

That's right, exactly nobody. 

This recipe is basically about assembling really common ingredients in a new way. 

If you don't want to make the dough, you can use frozen rolls or even dough in a tube.

But the pizza crust is so easy to make and tastes so much better, that I highly recommend that you do it. 

Ingredients:

1 Prepared recipe of Pizza Dough (there are two copies of this recipe One Here and One Here) 

    ** This is the same Food Sense recipe, but you get two different sets of instructions on how to make it. 

Filling:

5 ounces deli roast beef

8-10 slices provolone cheese

Caramelized Onions:

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)

1 clove garlic, minced

Au Jus:

2 cups beef stock (I like using low-sodium)

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons soy sauce

2 beef bullion cubes, optional but adds great flavor

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Roll out your dough into a long rectangle. Leave 1″ at either and and cover with a layer of roast beef and a layer of cheese.

Begin at one side and roll the dough up, when you get it all rolled up pinch the end to seal. 

Slice into equal size rolls and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 15-22 minutes, depending on size, until the dough is cooked through.

While the rolls are baking, make the caramelized onions and au jus. 

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook about 3-4 minutes, until semi-translucent, then add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Season with salt and pepper and cook longer until they reach your desired level of "doneness".  I like mine really cooked down, so that's what you see here. 

In a separate small saucepan heat the beef stock, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and bullion cubes, if using. Bring to a boil and cook for 4-5 minutes boiling (or until the bullion is dissolved). 

Taste carefully because it will be very hot, and add salt and pepper as desired.

Serve hot rolls with the au jus and onions.  

Pizza Bagels perfect for freezing

I don't know if you could be a kid growing up in the 90's and not think that Bagel Bites were the ultimate in freezer food. I can still sing the commercial by heart, and it has been in my head all weekend. It's painful, thankfully, making these, is absolutely not, in any way.  I had almost 30 of them made in under 30 minutes. And that includes cooking time and making the sauce. 

Ingredients:

2 packages of bagels (6 count each)

1 lb brick mozzarella cheese - shredded

Homemade Pizza Sauce -  Here is the link to the recipe. 

Ingredients

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce 

1/2 teaspoon dried basil or  oregano

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt 

1/8 teaspoon black pepper 

 pinch of sugar (optional) 

Directions

Mix the tomato sauce, basil, garlic salt, and pepper in a small bowl.

Pizza Toppings of your choice - We went with just pepperoni here. 

Instructions:

Spread a tablespoon of pizza sauce on each bagel half.

Arrange pepperoni then sprinkle with cheese.

Place bagel pizzas on a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 5-10 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

To Freeze:

Wrap each bagel in a small sheet of freezer paper, and then wrap again tightly in a layer of plastic wrap. 

I store all my individually wrapped bagels together in a large freezer bag that I labeled. I don't label each one. 

To ReHeat:

Bake pizza bagels at 375 for 10-12 minutes until the cheese melts in a preheated oven or toaster oven.

Frozen pizza bagels aren't going to take much longer to heat than fresh made, unfrozen bagels. There is no need to thaw unless you want to.

The microwave leaves the bagels more flexible and much softer, but we are all going to do it. So... 

45 seconds to a minute in the microwave and then let sit for another minute. If you had a lot of sauce of them, it can be hot. 

Quick and Easy Thai Chicken Pizza

Believe it or not, this pizza came together in less than 20 minutes and that includes cooking time. 

I am sure there are a lot of Thai Chicken Pizza recipes out there that involve a lot of work on the dough and complicated peanut sauces, but this recipe is not one of them. I made it for lunch twice last week and it made my whole day better, taking those few minutes to make some special and delicious for myself for lunch. 

We had pizza night on Sunday night and I made a huge batch of dough. I had some that I was to tired and everyone was too full to cook into pizzas and so I decided to try and bake it and freeze it for make later pizza crusts. 

If you want my No Fail Pizza Crust Recipe - You can find it Here. (and There..) 

Just follow the recipe for my pizza crust and bake it plain, but only for 1/2 of the time. Then let it cool and then put in a freezer bag and pop it into the freezer.  I had enough dough to make 2, so I put them both in the same bag together. 

When I was ready to bake them, I got them out of the freezer first thing and let them defrost on my counter top while I prepared my sauce and pizza toppings. It worked perfectly. I am going to plan on always doing this on pizza night. I can think of so many ways to make a quick pizza. 

Ingredients:

Crust:
One of my Pre-Baked No Fail Pizza Crusts.

Sauce:
½ cup hoisin sauce
½ cup peanut butter
2 inches fresh ginger

approx. 2 Tbsp sriracha hot sauce (optional)

Toppings:
1 can chicken breast
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 small red onion
1 bunch fresh cilantro

Optional Toppings: 
sliced red bell pepper
bean sprouts - I used these
julienne carrots - and these

Instructions:

While you are waiting for your crust to come to room temperature, begin your sauce.

Prepare the peanut sauce. Combine the hoisin sauce, peanut butter, and ½ tsp of sriracha sauce in a bowl. Peel the ginger and grate it straight into the bowl. Add about ⅓ cup of hot water and whisk until smooth. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chop the chicken into small pieces and transfer to a bowl. Add enough sauce to coat the chicken. Thinly slice the red onion.

Spread the peanut sauce over each piece of pizza crust. Top with shredded cheese, a handful of the chicken, your veggies of choice, and red onion.

Place the pizzas on a perforated pizza pan, pizza stone or directly on the oven rack and cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly (about 10 minutes). 

When the pizzas come out of the oven, top with fresh cilantro leaves and enjoy!

Corn, Chard and Green Onion Flat Bread

One of the best things about cooking foods in the season (in this case, in the summer) is that basic ingredients can be put together very simply and turn out incredibly delicious. 

This is just a quick pizza crust, corn, onions and chard tossed together, but the fact that each of the ingredients is fresh and at the peak of their season makes them taste amazing together. 

About 1 1/2 pounds pizza dough (Here is my recipe that makes amazing crust!) But I have a local bakery that sells pizza crust for 1.50$ each, and I bought these. 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 large bunch green onions, sliced - both white and all the way to the top of the green stems (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1 12-ounce bundle chard or about 6 cups (6 ounces) of leaves, cut into 1/2-inch ribbons

1/2 teaspoon table salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup fresh corn kernels (cut from 1 to 2 medium ears corn)

1/2 cup feta cheese, cold

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese or Italian cheese mix

Trim the ends off your onions and wash them well.  Cut them crosswise into 1/2-inch slices.

Husk your corn and remove the silk, then take the ears and cut the kernels off the cob. 

Do the same with your chard ribbons, but you can leave the leaves on towels until they’re nearly fully dry, while you cook the corn and onions.

Heat your oven to 450 degrees.

Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add butter and oil and once they’re fully melted and a bit sizzly, add the onion slices. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid and cook onions for 1 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Raise heat back to medium, add the chard ribbons and cook until they wilt, about 4 minutes. Season mixture with salt and freshly ground black pepper, adding more if needed. 

Finally, add your corn kernels, cooking them with the corn and chard for just another minute.

Roll or stretch half your dough into a rectangle shape, my circle is a dead give away that I bought my crust. and arrange it on the prepared sheet. 

Divide the cheese amounts evenly and sprinkle half of the mozzarella cheese onto each of the crusts. 

Spread half the char-corn-chard mixture on it. 

Then sprinkle it with half the feta cheese, crumbled into small bits.

 Bake flatbread in oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until the edges of the bread begin to brown slightly.

To serve, slide each flatbread onto a cutting board and cut into pieces. Serve immediately.

Whole Wheat Mini Pizzas

Is pizza night coming up at your house?




Here is my fantastic recipe for homemade pizza sauce - yum!!

BBQ Chicken Pizza - Create a Pizza

I have heard about BBQ chicken pizza and often wondered.. what's the fuss all about. 

Famous last words!!  Hello, this stuff is amazing, why don't them mention somewhere in that description about the red onion and the cilantro. I would have been all over that. 

If you are feeling adventurous, Pizza is an easy way to get brave and try crazy stuff - there is pretty much no bad pizza. 

Food $ense has a great blue print  for Pizza making. Create a Pizza

The dough is my basic Food $ense tested recipe. 

Ingredients: 
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 (20 oz) bottle of BBQ sauce
Olive oil, for drizzling
Salt, for sprinkling
1 (16 oz) block Mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly
1/2 whole red onion, cut in half and sliced very thin
Chopped cilantro, to taste

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Salt chicken breasts on both sides, then place in an ovenproof dish. Pour BBQ sauce over the breasts and turn them over to coat. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is done. Remove from oven and cut into a fine dice. Set aside.  ** or just use Left Over Chicken from the day before! **

Roll/stretch out one pizza crust. Lay it on a sheet pan drizzled with olive oil. Drizzle a little olive oil on the crust, then sprinkle on a little salt.

Spoon a couple of tablespoons of extra BBQ sauce on the crust and spread it evenly. Top sauce with half the sliced mozzarella. Sprinkle on half the diced chicken and thinly sliced red onion. 

Sprinkle again with a little salt, then bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle on plenty of chopped cilantro. 

Cut into squares and serve immediately. 

No Fail Pizza Crust

In the world of food - Pizza lovers can get pretty darn passionate. No Judging here, I am certainly one of those people. There are the NY pizza lovers and the Chicago Style pizza lovers, the crust lovers and those who would rather die than have to eat that "bread" all around the edge with no sauce or cheese on it. 

There are thin crust lovers and deep dish fans, people who fold their pizza in half and (shudder!!) people who eat their pizza with a fork. 

We have been known to eat a few pizzas around our house from time to time - believe it or not - making a quick pizza at home can be even faster than the 5$ take-out pizzas that are so popular. (That seems shocking, but it actually is true)

Here is a fantastic article from Cooking It's a Snap that breaks it all down. I was actually surprised to find that homemade pizza was still "cheaper" than the hot n' ready. Plus - I know I must be getting crazy in my Food $ense old age, but the chemicals that I imagine must be in that stuff are just about more than I can take.

**Here is the basic recipe that Faith used on her website.
Pizza crust:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon canola oil

**Here is the recipe that Food $ense publishes
Homemade Pizza Dough

1 TB dry active yeast
1 TB honey
1 cup warm (105-115 degrees) water
1/4 tsp salt
2 TB olive oil
2 to 4 cups All Purpose Flour or Half A/P Flour and Half Whole wheat flour

**Kerry's Successful Feeding her children of not Yucky Homemade Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
2 c. very warm water (110 degrees)
3 tsp. salt.
4 TBS. honey
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
4 1/2 C. flour - Depending on whether this is just feed the kids or family pizza night my mix varies
3 tsp. instant yeast
1/2 c. olive oil, divided in the bowls to grease as they rise.

Holy Greasy... Pepperoni and Cheese Heaven...  YUM!!

Instructions:
Place all ingredients in a mixer except oil.
Mix on high for 8 minutes.
Divide dough into 3 sections for thin crust or 2 sections for thick.
Place each dough in a separate bowl greased each with 1/4 c. oil.
Let rise about 20-30 minutes.

!! Attention - Here are the Secrets!!

Dump the contents of a bowl onto parchment paper and very lightly, use two fingers to spread out to desired size. 


You must resist the urge to:

Knead it like bread - pizza crust is Not bread
Add more flour - pizza crust does Not need more flour
Toss it in the air - you are not a professional pizza tosser - you are most likely not even an amateur pizza tosser
Become impatient - You pizza will repay your patience with ooey gooey cheesey love.

Push it with your palms or knuckles or elbows - you do Not need to subdue your pizza dough

Top with sauce, cheese & toppings.
Transfer entire pizza (including parchment paper) onto preheated pizza stone.
Bake in oven on the preheated pizza stone at 500 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Remove and let cool 10 minutes before cutting.

Taco Pizza - Create a Pizza

 Does your family have a few specific meals that you only make when a certain someone isn't going to be home? For example, we make Taco Pizza on nights when Dad isn't going to be home for dinner. He doesn't like it when we mix the beans and the meat (and I LOVE it!), So we make taco pizza when he isn't going to make it home for dinner.

Ingredients

1 can refried beans

1 packet taco seasoning

1 1/2 C browned ground beef, drained well

cheddar cheese, shredded

taco chips

3/4 C salsa

1 prepared pizza crust (preferably deep dish)

Your favorite Taco Toppings

Instructions:

First, brown your ground beef - if you need to drain the fat from it. 

In the same skillet or saucepan, combine ground beef, taco seasoning, refried beans, and salsa. 

Stir until heated through. 

Spread into pizza crust. Top with crunched taco chips. 

Top with a good bit of cheddar cheese. 

While your pizza is in the oven, chop your taco toppings. We had lettuce, tomatoes and green onions. Sour cream too, but we didn't need to "chop" that. 

 Bake at 350 until cheese is melted and crust is browned. Remove from oven

Top with favorite taco toppings!