French Toast Sticks

I love having pre-made breakfasts ready for Jackson and McKinley.  And I prefer to make these "convenience" items on my own.  I can control the ingredients and the cost.  :)  Now that McKinley has twice the appetite of her brother, we are going through our breakfast foods SO much more quickly.  I really wanted a different option from pancakes and waffles.  I saw on pinterest the idea for French Toast sticks.

I adapted Alton Brown's recipe... cut the edges off, and cut each piece of french toast into 3 strips.  After cooled, I put them in a tupperware container, separating each layer with parchment paper.

I wasnt sure what their reaction would be.. but they LOVED the french toast stick.  McKinley normally eats at least 4.. and Jackson will eat 3-4.  We give Jackson a little container of syrup so he can dip.  McKinley does not get that option yet.  :)

You can use your favorite french toast recipe, but this is what I used.

What you Need:

• 2 cups milk (I used one cup of 2% and one cup of whole milk.. basically I didnt want one of my kids not to have milk.  Alton Brown uses half and half)
• 6 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 loaf of whole wheat bread

What You Do:

- Spray butter flavored non cooking spray on your griddle
- In medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, honey, and salt.
- Dip a slice of bread in the egg mixture, let excess drain off
- Lay the bread on the hot griddle.. flip when golden browned
- Let cool, then cut into strips (I first cut the edges off)

(Note: The original recipe called to melt butter in a skillet and cook the french toast in the butter.  I wanted to keep it a bit more healthy and stuck with the butter flavored cooking spray)
(Note:  I doubled the recipe in order to do a full loaf of bread to freeze, you obviously can cut it down if you are not wanting to freeze the french toast)

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

I had pinned this recipe a LONG time ago, and just got around to making it.  And I am SO glad that I did.  I love having easy/healthy meals around the house for the kids. When McKinley is hungry, you better have something quick or the world quickly comes to a halt.  For instance, when she wakes up in the morning, we know that we can not get her out of bed until her breakfast is on her high chair tray.  Because if we even think about getting her up, letting her play, while we are fixing breakfast.. her feelings get REALLY hurt.

With that being said, this is a perfect recipe for quick dinners.  McKinley eats about five (seriously).. Jackson will eat 3 or 4 and then we serve normally with a fruit and veggie.

I did make a couple of changes from the original recipe that I pinned.  Instead of cooking the nuggets in oil, I baked them.  I sprayed them with a little olive oil cooking spray just so they would brown up a bit more.  I let them cool, put them in a freezer bag.  And when I am ready to reheat, I just cook the desired amount at 350 for 20 minutes.

The great thing about this recipe, is its a really good concept.  If you dont like the idea of having cheese on your nuggets you can leave that out.  The original recipe called to crush up some whole wheat bread for the bread crumbs, I used panko.  It suggested using a few seasonings, I just stuck with garlic powder.  So... add what you like, take away what you dont.

You know your kiddos are eating real chicken this way.  :)

What you Need:

5 chicken breasts (really you can use as many as you want!)
1 egg (if you use more chicken you may need another egg)
1 cup panko (again if you use more chicken you may need to add more of the coating mixture)
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste


What you Do:

1. Chop the chicken into small chunks and sprinkle them with salt and pepper (if desired).
2. Lightly beat the egg in a shallow bowl.
3. In another shallow bowl mix together the breadcrumbs, cheese, and garlic powder with a fork.
4. Now you are ready to bread the chicken. Dip chicken in the egg and then coat in the panko mixture.
5. Arrange on a cookie sheet
6. Lightly spray the nuggets with olive oil cooking spray
7. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes (depending on the thickness of your chicken)
8. You can serve immediately.. or let cool and put in freezer bags to freeze for later.

When Wanting to Reheat:
1.  Take out the serving of nuggets you want, bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

YUMMY!

Italian Sausage Spaghetti Sauce

This is one of my favorites EVER.  I always have some on hand.  I, normally do not put the italian sausage in the sauce.  My only reason is that I want to be able to use the spaghetti sauce for whatever I need it for.  If I choose, I will add italian sausage in at a later time.  But, the flavor of this spaghetti sauce is DELICIOUS.  I make a double batch in my crockpot and then freeze it in individual servings.  It is SO EASY. And SO SO good!!!

What You Need:

1 - 1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage, out of casing- browned (you can omit and just make the sauce without)

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic clove (I used 2)

2 (16 oz) cans chopped tomatos (we use tomato sauce, I dont like chunks of cooked tomatos)

2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste

1 cup water

4 T brown sugar

1 T garlic powder

1 T parsley flakes

1 bay leaf

1 tsp basil

dash of black pepper

dash of cayenne pepper

1 T Creole Seasoning (we used Tonys)

1 T oregano

Brown sausage, onions and garlic.  Drain mixture to remove grease.  Add tomatoes, tomato paste and water. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring sauce to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat to low and let simmer for about an hour.  Serves 10. 

After browning the sausage, onions and garlic, I just dumped everything else in the crockpot, stirred it.  Turned it on low and let it simmer all day.  Fabulous!

Vegetarian Black Bean Enchiladas

Craig's job is having a "Biggest Loser" contest.  He decided he wanted to participate.  And I did too... from afar.  :)  Pinterest  makes finding healthy recipes so easy.  The first one that we tried was a hit.  Not only with Craig and I... but Jackson loved it too.  He called it his "taco cake"??  He also referred to the tortilla as a pancake and said "another pancake please honey"  Because his Honey makes him pancakes.  He's funny.

Anyway, here is the recipe!  I bought whole wheat tortillas that are around 100 calories a piece.  But, we had some leftover big tortillas that I wanted to use up first.. so one serving for us was one "burrito" instead of 2 enchiladas.






Vegetarian Black Bean Enchiladasserves 6


What You Need:

12, 6″ flour tortillas (~100 calories each)
2 cups cooked brown rice
1, 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1, 16 oz bag frozen bell pepper strips, cooked and drained
1 packet taco seasoning
2  1/4 cups medium salsa, divided
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

What you Do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 13×9″ baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and spread 1/2 cup of salsa over the bottom. Lay your tortillas out on a clean work surface.
In a large bowl, mix the rice, beans, peppers, taco seasoning, and 3/4 cup salsa. Divide evenly among the tortillas. Roll each tortilla tightly and place seam side down in the prepared baking dish. You may have to place some of the filled tortillas horizontally to make them fit. Pour the remaining 1 cup salsa evenly over the tops of the rolled tortillas in the baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Serve with hot sauce and sour cream.

Nutrition info for 1/6 of entire recipe (2 enchiladas):
Calories: 501, Fat: 14.9g, Carb: 72.4g, Fiber: 10.2g, Sugars: 5.4g, Protein: 21g