Breakfast Cookies: Oatmeal-Chocolate-Cranberry-Pecan Cookies

It's that time of year when I start channeling Betty Crocker and do a couple all night cookie baking marathons.  This year it looks like there's going to be at least seven types of cookies, so somewhere around thirty dozen cookies.  I've done five of them so far and I thought I would share one of them with you guys.  I stumbled upon the combination a few years ago when I was playing around with an oatmeal cookie recipe.  Cranberries can be rather tart (like in my Cranberry Nut Pie), but it's balanced out nicely with the cookie and chocolate.  I call these Breakfast Cookies because they're great for a grab and go when you're in a hurry.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups softened butter
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup white sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butter together. Add the flour, eggs, baking powder and soda, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, pecans, and dried cranberries. The dough is going to be very stiff.
Drop by rounded teaspoons on to cookie sheets and bake for 12 minutes or until the cookies start to brown. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Nutritional Info
• Servings Per Recipe: 60
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 160.2
• Total Fat: 7.2 g
• Cholesterol: 18.6 mg
• Sodium: 33.9 mg
• Total Carbs: 25.7 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.2 g
• Protein: 1.8

Tomato Bacon Quiche

Since the husband has to work night shift this week, we're going to have breakfast for dinner (or lunch, or brunch, or whenever he decides to eat).  I personally love quiches and frittatas because they are so easy, just mix some stuff together and bake it.  I bet you could even mix the stuff the night before and just pour it in the pie shell and bake it the next morning.  They also reheat pretty well, which is always a plus when there's only two of us in the house. 

Ingredients

4 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 scallions, sliced
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 frozen pie shell

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together eggs, egg whites, milk, salt, cayenne pepper, chili powder, onion powder and garlic powder. Add bacon, scallions, tomatoes, and cheese to bowl, stir together. Pour filling into frozen pie shell. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes, or until the filling it puffed and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes.

 

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 8
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 259.4

• Total Fat: 16.2 g
• Cholesterol: 122.8 mg
• Sodium: 377.5 mg
• Total Carbs: 15.7 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.3 g
• Protein: 12.5 g

 

 

Green Smoothies

Sometimes the hardest meal to get my husband to eat is breakfast. Part of it is that he doesn't have much time in the morning, so whatever he eats needs to be either quick or portable. I started making smoothies for myself awhile ago and then I heard about green smoothies. It was all over from there, not only are they packed with good for you stuff like calcium, iron and vitamin c. Plus you can alter them to your own taste, changing the fruits to suit your tastes (or whatever is in your fridge). If you like them thicker you can use frozen fruit. For us, I use fresh so it's easier to drink them from the to go cup the hubby has. I suggest putting either the liquid or the fruit pierces closest to the blender blades and the spinach the furthest away, it blends a lot easier that way.

Tropical Yogurt Smoothie

Ingredients

1 container greek yogurt with honey

1/2 scoop of vanilla protein powder

1/2 cup mango chunks

2 clementines, peeled and seeds removed

1 cup fresh spinach

Directions

Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth.

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 1
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 313.9

• Total Fat: 0.6 g
• Cholesterol: 25.0 mg
• Sodium: 145.7 mg
• Total Carbs: 59.1 g
• Dietary Fiber: 5.2 g
• Protein: 21.9 g
  

 

 

Peach Berry Smoothie (No Yogurt)

 

Ingredients

2 peaches, chopped into small pieces
6 oz fresh raspberries
2 cups fresh spinach
1 scoop vanillla protein powder
1/2 cup water

Directions

Layer the ingredients in a blender, raspberries closest to the blender blade, peaches next, then spinach. Mix the protein powder and water together and pour over everything. Blend until smooth.
 
Nutritional Info
• Servings Per Recipe: 2
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 140.7
• Total Fat: 1.2 g
• Cholesterol: 20.0 mg
• Sodium: 123.7 mg
• Total Carbs: 25.8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 9.9 g
• Protein: 9.8 g
 

Tropical Smoothie (No Yogurt)

Ingredients

1 mango, peeled and diced
1 orange, peeled with seeds removed
3 kiwi, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup diced pineapple
2 cups fresh spinach
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2 cup water

Directions

Mix the protein powder into the water. Layer the rest of the ingredients in a blender, starting with the pineapple and mango, then the orange and kiwi, with the spinach the furtherest from the blade. Pour the protein powder and water over everything. Blend until smooth.

Nutritional Info
• Servings Per Recipe: 2
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 265.5
• Total Fat: 1.8 g
• Cholesterol: 20.0 mg
• Sodium: 132.1 mg
• Total Carbs: 57.7 g
• Dietary Fiber: 10.8 g
• Protein: 11.1 g



Creamed Asparagus and Ham

I don't know about you, but I love having breakfast for dinner.  Especially on those lazy days that you didn't want to get out of your pj's.  Plus you can have the leftovers the next morning.  This is great over whole wheat toast, which is pretty impressive for me to say since I don't like whole wheat toast like I said the other day.  I didn't include the toast in the calorie count because it can vary.

Ingredients

2 cups asparagus, fresh, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 table spoon cornstarch
1 1/2 cups 1% milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1 1/2 cup cooked ham, cubed
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

 

Directions

Steam the asparagus until tender, set aside. In a sauce pan, mix cornstarch with two tablespoons milk (before turning on the heat). Add butter, garlic salt and remaining milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Add parsley, ham, cheese and asparagus, cook until cheese is melted and ham is warm. Serve over toast or biscuits.

 

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 6
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 201.6

• Total Fat: 12.2 g
• Cholesterol: 49.3 mg
• Sodium: 740.8 mg
• Total Carbs: 6.8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.0 g
• Protein: 16.7 g