Recipe: Pumpkin Pancakes

Happy fall! ESPN is hosting College GameDay at Notre Dame today, football is in the air, and I am making a lot of pumpkin food today. I can't wait.

I started with these great pumpkin pancakes with some sugar free syrup. Yum!

Yield: About 10 pancakes, 2 pancakes per serving for nutrition purposes

Ingredients: 
1 c all purpose flour
1/4 c packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp canola oil
1 c 2% milk
1/3 c canned pumpkin
1 tbsp vanilla extract


Preparation:
1. Whisk all the dry ingredients together - flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.
2. Stir the wet ingredients together - egg, oil, milk, pumpkin, and vanilla extract.
3. Slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and let the batter sit for five minutes.
4. Heat a skillet with nonstick cooking spray on medium heat. Drop the batter in 1/4 cups onto the skillet, cook until bubbles start forming on the top of the pancake. Flip with a spatula and cook another minute to minute and a half.

I refrigerate these or freeze them and pull them out when I need a treat in the morning. Top them with sugar-free syrup or some powdered sugar!

Weekend Brunch: Breakfast Burritos

Good morning! I woke up craving Whataburger taquitos (SO good). Instead of going through the drive thru, I made some healthier breakfast burritos. For less than the calories of one Whataburger taquito (450 calories, 28 grams of fat), I got to eat two yummy egg, sausage, and cheese burritos.

Yield: 2 burritos per serving

Ingredients:
2 whole wheat tortillas
1/4 cup egg beaters
1 slice low fat cheddar cheese
4 turkey sausage links
4 tbsp chunky salsa

Preparation:
1. Cook egg beaters in a skillet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray over high heat; stir constantly until done.
2. Heat turkey sausage links in microwave according to package instructions.
3. Heat tortillas in microwave for 15 seconds.
4. Split eggs, sausage, cheese, and salsa evenly between the tortillas. Roll up and secure with a toothpick.

I also cut up half of a grapefruit and half of a tangelo and topped it with 1/4 tsp of sugar for a quick citrus salad. Delicious!

Starbucks Addiction: Chai Tea Latte at Home for Under a Dollar

So in my previous Starbucks post, I talked about how I love the chai tea lattes but that I can make them at home very easily and they taste exactly the same as at Starbucks. Now, I know what you might be thinking, because I was skeptical too, but they really do taste EXACTLY like Starbucks version. For under one dollar compared to their $3 and change. Seriously.

Since this isn't really a recipe (hey, at least it's better than the Food Network's "recipes" for Dark Chocolate as a Snack and Late Night Bacon) I'm going to vary from my usual format. You will need:

- A box of Tazo Chai Tea Concentrate, they sell them in a few different types like decaf, organic, etc. (I get mine at Target for about $4 and it has 8 servings)

- Milk, I use 2% because it works best with the foam that we're going to make

- Frother, more on this later

- Dash of cinnamon to make it pretty and smell amazing


First, heat up 2 tablespoons of milk for the foam. Use the mug that is going to hold your latte. Heat up the milk for about 20-30 seconds until warm. Now here is the fun part! Use a frother (mine is an Aerolatte similar to this one, I got it for $10-15 on Amazon). Put the frother tip into the milk, making sure that it is completely covered by the liquid, and press and hold the on button. Move the frother around the bottom of the mug for about 30-45 seconds until a nice stiff foam forms. Make sure the frother is off before you lift it out of the foam. If you don't have the frother completely covered by the liquid while it's on, you will get sprayed with hot milk. Just trust me on this one.

This is how thick the foam should be. 

Mix 1 part of the tea concentrate with 1 part milk in a microwave safe mug or measuring cup. I use 1/2 cup of each to fill a normal sized mug, but use however much you want to drink. Heat it up in the microwave for about a minute and a half, depending on your microwave's strength. The key here is do not let it boil! I like to heat mine up at 20 second intervals after the first minute to make sure it reaches a good temperature.

I use a glass measuring cup so it's easy to pour.

Now we're going to combine the foam and the latte! This is why you want to make the foam in the mug that you want to use to drink; pour the chai and milk combination carefully into the mug with the foam, but do so in a way that the chai goes underneath the foam. If you pour it straight over the foam, it will not hold up, and all that hard work with the frother will be for nothing!

Pour slowly so as not to disturb the foam.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and congratulate yourself on saving $3!

PS: Don't you just love this mug?

The concentrate is great because you can just keep it in your fridge and make a chai latte whenever you want! For an iced chai, just combine 1 part of the concentrate and 1 part milk (again, 1/2 cup and 1/2 cup is the standard serving size) over ice, shake, and enjoy!

Asparagus, Fried Egg, and Parmesan with Rosemary

My breakfasts rarely contain any form of vegetables (I don't count potatoes) since I gravitate toward eggs, meats, and breads or grains. I love asparagus and never thought about having it for breakfast, so this was a great recipe to get in some veggies early in my day. 

As written, this is a super low carb recipe, but you could easily add an english muffin underneath it or throw some bacon on top to make it really tasty. It does take a while, so this is definitely a weekend breakfast for me -- I'm too lazy on the weekdays!


Yield: 2 servings (but easily can be made for however many people you need)

Ingredients:
2 eggs
Fresh asparagus, about 16 spears
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Rosemary, 2-3 sprigs
Parmesan cheese, shredded, 2 tbsp
Cooking spray
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line the asparagus spears in a shallow baking pan (a pie plate works great). Drizzle olive oil lightly on the asparagus, shaking the pan to coat. Break apart the rosemary springs and place on top of the asparagus.

3. Roast in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, or when the tips of the stalks start to brown.

4. Using a nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray (or you can use butter or extra virgin olive oil to coat the pan). Crack the eggs in the pan carefully without breaking the yolk. Cook the eggs over medium heat for 2-3 minutes until the whites are solid. Carefully flip the egg over and cook for another minute, then remove from heat.

5. Place the roasted asparagus on a plate and lay the egg on top. Finish with cheese, salt and pepper to taste (use sea salt and fresh ground pepper for an extra special flavor). Serve immediately.