Easter Brunch

Easter didn't turn out to be everything I had hoped for this year. Bryan and I spent 5 hours in the hospital emergency room with our daughter instead of enjoying time with the family. Thankfully I had planned ahead and made a few casseroles the night before and Easter brunch went off without a hitch. I have made french toast casserole a few times in the past on Easter, but this year I went with Paula Dean's recipe because it just looked too good to resist! I am SO happy that I made it!!! What a treat it was! Definitely not something I'll be making on a regular basis (I did just lose 16 pounds of baby weight!), but it is certainly something I will make again in the future on special occasions.

Our Easter Brunch menu:

French Toast Casserole

Overnight Egg Bake

Pancakes

Bacon

Veggie Frittata

Bagels & Cream Cheese

(see those lovely jalapeno and cheddar bagels?! they were amazing!)

Other menu items not pictured were: Banana Bread, maple sausage, honey ham and deviled eggs.

Here is the recipe for Paula Dean's French Toast Casserole:

• 1 loaf french bread
• 8 large eggs
• 2 cups half and half
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• a dash of salt
• praline topping (see below)

Slice the french bread into 20 slices that are approximately 1 inch each. Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish and arrange the bread in two overlapping rows (I actually used a slightly larger pan and made three rows for mine).

In a large bowl, combine eggs, half and half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Whisk until it is well blended.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread slices and spoon some of the egg in between any overlapping slices so everything is coated. Cover the pan with foil and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Make the praline topping.

• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

I stuck the butter in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds just to take the chill out of it. You do not want to melt it!!

Roughly chop the pecans

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with a spoon, making sure it is blended well. Use a plastic spatula and spread the praline topping over the entire casserole.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the topping is bubbly and the french toast puffs up!

Paula says to serve this with maple syrup, but it was plenty sweet on its own!
Enjoy!

Veggie Frittata

I *love* frittatas! They are so quick and easy, not to mention that you can change out the ingredients to whatever you happen to be in the mood for. It really is a versatile food because you can eat it hot, cold or room temperature and serve it for basically any meal of the day. Can you tell that I'm a fan? ;)

Veggie Frittata

• 8 eggs
• 1/2 a green bell pepper, sliced in thin strips
• 1/2 a red bell pepper, sliced in thin strips
• 4 scallions, chopped in small pieces
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons basil and roasted garlic Chavrie Goat Cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Slice the peppers and chop the scallions. If you prefer to use different veggies, go for it! This is just what I happened to be in the mood for. If you like mushrooms, add them! If you want tomatoes, throw some in! Add what you like and don't over think it.

Whisk the eggs and add all the spices. Set aside.

Heat a non stick and oven proof skillet over a medium high heat with 2 tablespoons of butter. Please, please, please make sure your skillet is oven proof! You don't want to make that mistake. If you have a plastic handle then it is unlikely to be ovenproof. You will not like the smell of melting plastic wafting through your house.

Once the butter is melted, add the peppers and cook for 2-3 minutes. They don't have to be cooked all the way, we just want to give them a head start. When the peppers are close to done, add the scallions and cook for another minute.

Pour the egg mixture over the top of the veggies.

This is where the goat cheese comes into play.

Break up little pieces of the goat cheese in your fingers and dot it all over the top of the frittata. You can use as much or as little as you want.

Cook the frittata for 4-5 minutes over medium heat. Do not stir your eggs or touch them in any way! :) I know it is hard not to, but leave them alone and let the base of your frittata take shape. You will notice that it will start to slightly pull away from the sides around the 4 minute mark. You can gently peek with a rubber spatula to see how the bottom looks. It should be a golden brown color. The top will still have some raw egg, but it won't be a lot. This is when you want to put it in the oven to let the top cook up.

Bake the frittata for 10-12 minutes or until there is no longer any uncooked egg remaining on top. Serve hot or cold! You can even serve it with a little sour cream (even fat free sour cream tastes great with it).

Slide it out of the pan and onto a serving plate

Cut into wedges and serve hot or cold! You can even serve it with a little sour cream (even fat free sour cream tastes great with it).

Enjoy!!

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Banana Stuffed French Toast

Today was a great morning in my house! Giselle was sick yesterday and I was worried I would be up all night tending to her. She woke up this morning fever free and in good spirits. This is also a great Sunday because Isabella is off of school all of next week for spring break :) What better way to surprise her than chocolate in her breakfast!!! This was super fast, easy and a great treat. I hope you are all enjoying your weekend as much as we are.

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Banana Stuffed French Toast

• 2 slices bread of your choice (I used Nature's Pride Whole Wheat)

• 1 tablespoon Chocolate Peanut Butter (I used Peanut Butter & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams)

• 4 slices banana

• 1 teaspoon chocolate chips

• 1 egg, beaten

• cinnamon sugar

• powdered sugar

Start by spreading the chocolate peanut butter in the center of the bread. Try to keep it close to the middle so when we remove the crust you don't lose your filling (you can also make this without taking the crust off).

Put the banana slices on top of the chocolate peanut butter and then top with the chocolate chips.

Put the other slice of bread on top and use a 3 inch biscuit cutter to remove the crust. You can use any cookie cutter you like or leave it whole if you prefer.

Beat the egg in a small dish and sprinkle the egg with the cinnamon sugar.

Dip the french toast on both sides to coat.

In a nonstick skillet melt a little butter (1 teaspoon) over medium heat. Cook the french toast until it is golden on both sides. Top with the powdered sugar.

Enjoy!!!

New Year...New Diet. Poached Eggs for Breakfast and Hommus and Grilled Veggie Wrap For Dinner!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!! This year I promised myself to ditch those last 10-15 pounds of baby weight that I am still carrying around 9 months after having Giselle. In order to accomplish that goal, you will be seeing quite a few healthy meals on my blog! The first month or two I will be paying much closer attention to my diet. I am always a fairly healthy eater, but in order to lose weight and not maintain my weight I will have to be a little more strict. Once I reach my goal weight I will loosen the reigns a little to maintain. I promised myself that I will not ever deny myself if I am hungry and I will eat healthy, filling and delicious foods and still lose weight. I know that is possible. Some of the most incredible foods there are out there are good for you.

This was my dinner.....and it was REALLY healthy and REALLY yummy!

But first lets rewind to this morning. To kick start my morning I jumped on my new treadmill and got 2 miles of good ol' fashion exercise in. By the time I was done I had worked up a nice appetite and had to decide what was for breakfast. I have always been a fan of poached eggs. Eggs Benedict is actually my favorite breakfast food! Since hollandaise sauce is definitely NOT part of my new diet I had to figure out how to eat my eggs. Poaching eggs is not all the much fun when you have to drop the egg in boiling water with vinegar and watch it like crazy to make sure they don't over cook. I've also made some crazy ugly poached eggs using this method. I bought a *very* cool egg poacher the other day at Le Gourmet Chef. You can use it in the microwave or in a skillet with boiling water (always my choice). I was skeptical to say the least. I thought for sure it would overcook my eggs. The first egg was not quite as runny as I wanted it because I had never made an egg in it and wasn't sure exactly how long I needed to cook it. The instructions said 4-5 minutes in the boiling water with the lid on and went a little too close to the 5 minute mark. Next time I will go closer to 4 minutes for perfection :) It was fantastic!!

I threw some red and green bell peppers in a pan with some onions and a tiny drizzle of olive oil and cooked them up.

I served my poached egg on toast with the peppers and onions! Yummy!!

(note the slightly overcooked yolk) That didn't happen the second time :)

For dinner tonight I knew I wanted to load up on veggies. I had tons of fresh veggies in the fridge just begging to be eaten. When I was at the store I found these tortilla wraps that were only 100 calories and had no saturated fat so I couldn't help but try them. I honestly could not tell the difference between those and the other wraps I have bought in the past, so I will continue to buy the 100 calorie/lower fat version!

I cut a zucchini in half crosswise and then made slices. For each wrap you will want about 4 slices of zucchini, 4 slices of red bell pepper and 1 or 2 slices of red onion.

Brush them lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill on each side about 4-5 minutes.

Spread 1 tablespoon of hommus on your tortilla wrap (I used roasted red pepper hummus).

Layer your zucchini, red pepper, onions and some baby spinach.

Fold the sides in, roll it up and slice in half!

This was VERY good!! I almost added some feta cheese, but I was trying to be good :)

Enjoy!!!!!!!!