Egg White Breakfast Sandwich

Egg White Breakfast Sandwich

My (sappy) Back Story

My husband and I are very much equals when it comes to pretty much everything. There are chores he enjoys, there are other chores that I enjoy. And when it comes to our kids we put in equal amounts of time and effort. We have a great relationship, and one important hinge of that relationship is being appreciative of each other, especially when the other makes our day easier. Whether it's something they always do or something they're going out of their way to do, we take notice with appreciation just the same.

Anyways, our toddler and 2 month old woke up insanely early the other day, and while I was getting ready to start my day (get dressed, etc) he had put the baby back to sleep by the time I went to go get her and then let me go back sleep while he got up with our son. Right now, I'm on maternity leave, and his job can run for 12hrs at a time, sometimes longer, and is physically demanding. Him giving up the precious extra moments of sleep he needed was such a nice gesture. I wanted to make the next morning special for him. I let him "sleep in" (a WHOLE extra 30min) and when he got up and rushed to get ready for work, I had a coffee to go and this sandwich wrapped, both ready and waiting for him. We're not huge breakfast eaters because we're always in a rush, so I thought it would be a nice surprise.

Here's my sandwich. It's pretty basic, and I've done variations of it on here before, but it's extremely delicious.

Eggs:

1 cup finely chopped spinach

1/2 cup cheddar cheese (extra fo' my man)

8 Egg Whites

1/4 cup Lactaid Milk (my son has lactose allergies)

Pinches: salt & pepper

Mix and cook on the stove top with heated extra virgin olive oil. 

I cut a mini loaf of bread in half, and split them in two. Toasted then topped with the egg and tomato.

Alana's Review

Ease: 5/5

Taste: 5/5

Comment: I'm not a huge fan of breakfast sandwiches, so when I make it again, I'll probably leave off the bread on mine. Otherwise, amazing. 

Toddler Note: He LOVED it. He ate a whole huge bowl full (just the eggs) and kept going "Mmmm" with each bite.

Eggs in a Basket

Eggs in a Basket

Today I wanted to share with you my favorite breakfast to make. It's quick, easy, and very filling. I first learned to make eggs in a basket my sophomore year of college. My best friend and I were starving one night while staying up late to study for an exam and she suggested we make eggs in a basket, and that was when I got hooked on them. Seriously, I probably ate them every day for two weeks after she showed me how to make them. So yummy! So here is how to make quick and easy eggs in a basket:

Ingredients: Bread (I used white bread from a local bakery but whole wheat would work well also)

Eggs

Black Pepper

Paprika

First spray a skillet with olive oil spray and set to medium heat. Next cut a whole in the middle of the bread. Back in sophomore year we just used a butter knife and cut around the perimeter, but now I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to make a pretty diamond-esque shape. Whatever you use, just be sure not to cut too close to the edges or they'll break and all of the egg will run out. Butter the edges of the bread on both sides (you can omit this step if you want to cut extra calories, I just like doing it so the bread has a buttery crispness to it). Once the pan is warmed, put the bread in and crack an egg in the middle whole you cut out. Be careful not to break the yolk. Now, the next part is up to what you prefer. For true eggs in a basket (the kind I like), you cook it over easy so the yolk is runny and creates a little sauce for everything, but if you don't like runny yolks then you can cook it through. I've overcooked them before and they are still tasty with fully cooked yolks, so just cook to your preference. For over easy, cook for about 2-3 minutes on the first side then flip and cook another 1-2 minutes on the other side. You can tell where the yolks are at in the cooking process if you poke them with the corner of your spatula. If it looks like a waterbed then they're runny. Once they're cooked to your liking on both sides, take them out and sprinkle with black pepper and paprika. Voila!

Ease: 4/5

Taste: 5/5

Comments: As I said above, you can sub whole wheat for the white bread to make this healthier. Also, this isn't a dish to use farm fresh eggs in if you're wanting to make the eggs runny. I'd recommend using pasteurized eggs (the kind you get at the store) versus fresh eggs straight from the chicken. You're safe using pasteurized and eating runny yolks, but farm fresh eggs would be iffy.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

http://amyshealthybaking.com/blog/2015/09/11/clean-eating-classic-cinnamon-rolls/

This morning I decided to make these whole wheat cinnamon rolls. The picture looked delicious and the blogger said her family thought they tasted better than store bought, so it sounded great to an avid cinnamon roll lover like me. They were easy to make, but they took FOREVER to make. I want to eat ASAP while I'm cooking something, so the time it took to make these made me almost go get donuts at my local donut shop...luckily I persevered and distracted myself with TV so I didn't. Finally they were done and out of the oven. I took a bite and.....ehh. They weren't bad, just not the cinnamon rolls I'm used to. I like my cinnamon rolls fluffy, sweet, and covered with icing. I could live with these not having icing, but it's hard to make whole wheat food "fluffy", so these were just dense little cinnamon rolls. They're not the worst, I'll still eat the rest, but I probably won't make these again. I'm afraid the unhealthy food wins this time.

Sarah's Review 

Ease: 2/5

Taste:2/5

Protein Pancakes

Protein Pancakes

I'm a huge fan of pancakes, they're my favorite breakfast bread behind french toast. I used to make my pancakes from a box mix, but it has a lot of additives which aren't very clean. They also aren't usually super filling, I have to stuff myself in order to get full, so I wanted to make a pancake that will be more filling (which in turn means less pancakes I need to eat and most importantly less syrup). Here's how I made them:

1 1/3 cup 100% whole grain oats

3 tbsp whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup water

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Grind the oats, flour, and baking powder in a food processor until oats are fine. Remove to a separate bowl, then add all of the wet ingredients to the food processor and blend until smooth. Add this to the bowl flour and oats and whisk everything together. Spray a skillet on medium heat with olive oil spray, and drop 1/4 cup batter to make each pancake. Flip when the bottom brown. Serve with pure maple syrup and fruit.

These pancakes were super filling, I struggled on the last few bites. They are denser than normal pancakes, but they have a lovely cinnamon flavor and I love the hearty wheat taste. These are a great way to start off your day without the mid-morning hunger setting in!

Sarah's Review

Ease: 4/5

Taste: 5/5

Chocolate Chip Scones

Chocolate Chip Scones

Recipe: http://amyshealthybaking.com/blog/2015/05/05/clean-chocolate-chip-scones

This morning I wanted a special treat for breakfast, so I decided to try my hand at making scones. Not just normal, fruity scones, CHOCOLATE CHIP scones. Can you tell I'm a chocoholic? I found a clean eating recipe on Pinterest and figured I'd give it a shot. They were pretty easy to make, although they were a bit smaller than I was imagining they'd turn out. The scone dough itself isn't a sweet one which provided a yummy contrast with the sweet milk chocolate. (I know, still not using dark, but I have to get rid of these chocolate chips on hand!) The only thing I'd recommend is baking these at 400 degrees instead of 425 like the recipe suggests. I baked them at 425 for 17 minutes (the shortest amount of time the recipe said) and they came out very browned and some of the chocolate chips on top had scorched. They still tasted good after I scraped off the burnt chocolate, but scones aren't meant to be as brown as they turned out so next time I'll turn down the temperature and watch them more closely. Otherwise, a tasty recipe to make!

Sarah's Review

Ease: 3/5

Taste: 4/5

Product Review: Back to Nature Chocolate Delight Granola

Alana's Product Review: Back to Nature Chocolate Delight Granola

After all the fruit I stuck in my yogurt last week, I was looking for a change. Enter the above granola. Now... I'm not going to lie, I chose this one because it was on sale, but I'm glad I did.  It was delicious. Serving size is half a cup, but I used 1/4 cup and it was perfect. I put this in nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt. Not too sweet which is what I was afraid of; I'm not a huge fan of chocolate for breakfast (weirdo, I know). But it pretty delicious, I kind of want to eat some more!

Bottom Line: Yummy, I recommend.


The content of this post is the opinion of the blogger and no compensation was received for this review.

Breakfast Repeat

Many times when we don't post, we're either remaking a simple meal or we are eating leftovers that are exactly the same with no add-ons.  This morning that is the case for me. I made the eggs described in this post: http://sofresheatclean.blogspot.com/2016/02/cinnamon-fried-bananas-with-almonds.html?m=1

In the previously posted recipe I only used olive oil,  spinach, egg whites, and salsa (no milk, no butter). Today I did the same thing, but this time I knew I'd be sharing with my son so I did 7 eggs, 2 of which the yolks were used also, my son likes the yolks. Anyways it looked exactly the same as the one in the old post (old pic also posted below), but you could definitely taste the yolk. My son LOVED it. Me, not so much. I much prefer only the egg white, but seeing as how he loves breakfast time and I don't really care for breakfast (don't ask me why!) I'd rather make something he'd enjoy! 

Anyways, that was my morning meal! Now I need an embarrassing amount of coffee. Being the mom of two kids under the age of 2.5yrs (one who is under 2 months old!), there's no hope of sleeping past 6:30am. Today, they decided 6am was better, but boy does that extra 30 min make a difference! *yawn!* I think mana will be joining in on naptime today!

Alana's Review

Ease:5/5

Taste: 3.5/5 // toddler's review: 5/5

Comments: egg whites only please! 

Banana Pancakes

Banana Pancakes, breakfast

Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/20334/banana-pancakes-i/

This morning I made banana pancakes according to the above recipe....sort of. It was early morning, I hadn't had my coffee yet, and instead of reading the directions which say to mix the dry and wet ingredients separately, I just dumped everything into the bowl and whisked it all together before I read that part. So mine may or may not have come out differently than they were supposed to,  I'll let you know next time I make them. 

Now, I usually make my pancakes by melting butter in the pan and pouring the batter on top of that.  Do NOT do that with this recipe or you'll end up with the accordion-like beauties below.  Definitely spray your pan before you pour the batter in,  I used olive oil spray.

Sarah's Review

Ease: 4/5

Taste: 4/5

Comments: On their own these pancakes aren't super flavorful, so I would highly recommend adding additional flavors on top or in the batter. A dash of cinnamon, a mixing of walnuts, or a topping of chocolate chips like I did. Dark chocolate chips would have been delicious, but I only had milk chocolate on hand. I would also add a dash of vanilla extract to the batter next time to give it a little more flavor.

Yogurt 2.0

Yogurt 2.0

Lite Vanilla Greek Yogurt, 1 tbsp of Honey, half an orange, 1 kiwi 

Alana's Review

Ease: 5/5

Yum: 3/5

Notes: At first I thought my yogurt from the first post needed more fruit, but I wasn't too impressed with this. It tasted good, but it was a little unsatisfying and a little "unfilling". I think I might have put too much honey, it was a little too sweet and next time I am going to use some granola. 

Iced Caramel Latte

Isn't this the most beautiful sight you've ever seen!? Well, it is almost fully healthy/clean!

When we were researching which diet/eating program we wanted to attempt, we went through quite a few until we found one that allowed us coffee (read as: as much coffee as we wanted). We are not counting calories, so it does give us a little more freedom in the amount of coffee we drink a day. But from the research I've done so far, espresso is A-OK!

Iced Caramel Latte

Incl: 2 shots of Espresso,  1cup unsweetened almond milk, caramel syrup, and absolutely no added/additional sugar #winning, all over ice.

Alana's Review

Ease: 5/5

Yum: 5/5

Suggestion:The caramel syrup was definitely not on my "allowed" list, but I'm looking into substitutes. So this is a work in progress!

Side note... I gave this a 5/5 on taste, it is as about as delicious as a healthy cup of coffee can get.. BUT it's still not the decadent White Chocolate Vanilla Mocha (with extra vanilla), I usually get from Starbucks. However, it is a good sub, and it's much cheaper since I can make this at home!

I should also mention that I definitely dislike almond milk and soymilk as a beverage by themselves, but I have used both in coffee, and to be completely honest, I actually prefer it over the creamers and regular (2% milk).

Cinnamon Fried Bananas with Almonds // Spinach & Egg White Scramble with Salsa

 Cinnamon Fried Bananas with Almonds

(Bananas from: http://www.dizzybusyandhungry.com/pan-fried-cinnamon-bananas/)
Cinnamon fried bananas from the link, with half a tbsp chopped unsalted almonds with 2% milk.
While not exactly super "healthy", it is clean! Only 1/3 of the sugar/cinnamon mixture was used, and sugar in the raw was subbed in.

Sarah's Review

Ease: 4.5/5

Yum: 4.5/5

Suggestion:Use skim milk in place of 2% to take it up a healthy notch.

Spinach & Egg White Scramble with Salsa

Chopped fresh spinach, 1/4 tbsp olive oil, egg whites, store bought salsa

Alana's Review

Ease: 5/5

Yum: 5/5

Suggestion:Use homemade salsa instead*

*While the store bought salsa qualified as clean eating (all ingredients are 'pronounceable'), it of course would be even better with home made

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that my toddler wanted a taste of this and as he walked away chewing it, he was "Mmmmm"ing all the way back to his play area, then promptly returned for 2nds, 3rds, and so on. 2/17/16

Yogurt // Omelette

 Lite Vanilla Greek Yogurt, 1/2 tsp of Honey, half an orange.

Alana's Review

Ease: 5/5

Yum: 3.5/5

Suggestion: Higher orange to yogurt ratio

Spinach and Portobello Mushrooms on Egg White
Omelette (with salt, pepper, parsley, garlic, olive oil spray) 

Sarah's Review

Ease: 4/5

Yum: 4/5

Suggestion: Add more flavor to the spinach and mushroom