Make Your Own Instant Oatmeal Packets

by Melissa Jagears

I am a cereal eater and cereal costs way too much! So I ventured into making instant oatmeal packets for myself, they are super easy to make too! I bought some little tupperware containers to place them in,so they are ready for me to add milk to and pop in the microwave in the morning.

Instant Oatmeal Base

3 cups instant oats
salt
add-ins

Blend or food process 1 cup of oats until powdery. Take snack sized ziplocs or small containers (makes about 8 packets) and put in each 1/4 cup instant oats, 2 T powdered instant oats and one shake of salt from the salt shaker.

Put in add-ins for each packet for the flavor you desire.

Spice - 1 T brown sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, dash of nutmeg
(For a Maple and brown sugar, add a glug of Maple syrup to this one after it's been microwaved.)
Banana Nut - 1 T brown sugar, 1 T chopped nuts, 1 T chopped dehydrated bananas
Fruit and Cream - 1 T sugar, 1 T chopped dehydrated fruit, 1 T powdered cream
Apple Cinnamon - 1 T brown sugar, 2 T chopped dehydrated apples, 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Pumpkin Spice - 1 T brown sugar, 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Cinnamon Bun - 1T powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and either 2T creamer or microwave with some half and half in exchange for some of the milk.

To make to eat, put mix and 3/4 cup milk in bowl and stir. Heat for about 2 min. in microwave. (My hubby doesn't think these taste well with plain water, so at work he puts in 2 spoons of creamer.)

Recipe ~ Breakfast Muffins Anytime

by Cherilyn David




Definitely read the whole recipe before you start.
Definitely make it your own and add and subtract for personality!

Ingredients:

In a pan on medium heat:

3/4c diced onion
1tsp capers
1/4c red wine
1/4c butter or margarine
1tsp minced garlic
(add water to steam as needed while cooking)

In a bowl:

2 eggs
1/2c egg whites
1/2c chopped fresh spinach
1/4c milk
1/4c diced scallions
1/2c water

In another bowl:

1 1/2c flour
1 1/2tsp baking powder
1/4c powdered sugar
1tsp salt
1tsp pepper

Misc:

frozen shredded hash browns
shredded cheese of your choosing
sliced fresh mushrooms

Watching your pan... spray/grease a 12-count muffin pan. Sprinkle just a layer of shredded hash browns at each cup bottom. Then place 2 or 3 mushrooms atop that.

*You could then layer chopped spinach on top of that INSTEAD of adding spinach to your egg bowl, your choice.

So you have a wet (egg) bowl and a dry (flour) bowl essentially. First focus on just sauteing your onion, caper mixture and then add that to your 'wet' bowl. Add flour mixture (dry) while whisking, until mixed well, not quite a dough consistency.

Now you just have your bowl of everything, your waiting muffin pan and your grated cheese nearby. Right?

Spoon mixture into muffin pan, should fill each cup over hash browns and mushrooms.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and then start checking. Bake a couple more minutes and check again, do this again and again until almost done. Top with cheese, turn off oven and leave in for another couple minutes.

An oven safe bowl of water in the oven will create steam to keep muffins moist and help melt cheese.

A variety of sauces go great with this!!

Plan B: Lots of room for variety here. Any vegetables would be a great addition, avocado garnish, add some cheese to pre-bake mixture, meat?? The options are limitless.

Inside joke: My first try at these I accidentally mistook my powdered sugar for flour. They came out more like spinach-egg-potato-mushroom donuts, but still a hit!! That's when I added a little powdered sugar to the recipe!! :)

Recipe: French Nickel Toast

by Cherilyn David


*Read entire recipe before starting. Watch for Plan B and other tips.

French Nickel Toast

My recipe names are goofy, but I love them. This is a spin on french toast, using pumpernickel bread. Yum! Pumpernickel bread has a bite to it, which makes this recipe one of those sweet/sour concoctions. If you absolutely hate pumpernickel, feel free to substitute.

Ingredients

Pumpernickel bread (2 slices per eater)

Bread Batter:
egg whites(amount varies, read on…)
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Burnt Sugar extract
milk (after all ingredients, about 1/4 amount of milk) i.e. Bowl is half full of egg whites and flavor, fill up to 3/4 with milk.

Dip bread slices in batter, in a dish they can easliy be covered in, until well saturated. Place carefully by spatula in an already warm non-stick pan. Cook like french toast or grilled cheee, flipping two or three times until golden brown, a few minutes on each side.

Serve warm and top as desired.

butter, for cooking and topping, as desired
olive oil or cooking spray
powdered sugar, for topping as desired

Homemade Cranberry Syrup

half stick butter/margarine
quarter cup cranberries (dry or fresh)
half cup sugar
quarter cup water

Heat not quite to bowling and maintain that heat, stirring often
(sugar can be added for desired consistency, cranberries can be added or subtracted to preference)

Plan B: Hate cracking eggs? Buy your egg whites in a carton. Hate wasting the yolks? Put each with a dab of sugar in an ice tray and freeze. Then throw cubes in a ziploc for future use.

Vegetarian Eggs Benedict

by Cherilyn David


Cherilyn’s recipes always include a trick or tip, sometimes new and exciting, sometimes a simple task, that may not be simple to everyone. Cherilyn’s recipes also always include a ‘plan B’… that is substitutions or short cuts to make the dish easier, faster or both!! :) I don’t just list ingredients and instructions. To me, a recipe is a story and I tell the why and what for and mention whatever comes to mind!

*Always read an entire recipe before beginning.

Vegetarian Spinach Eggs Benedict
Ingredients:

4 eggs
Hollandaise Sauce mix
Milk, water, butter (depending on the mix)
4 slices whole wheat bread
1 cup chopped baby spinach
8 slices of large or medium portabella tops
(1 mushroom is more than enough)
½ cup chopped scallions
Butter (optional)

Black pepper

Avocado garnish



Obviously this dish has been turned Vegetarian, due to the missing Canadian bacon or ham. The good news is, it’s full of healthy stuff, to try and offset the fact that it is generally a rich, less than perfect choice on the road to a smaller waistline. Not to worry, just don’t have it every day!
This is one of those dishes where you have several balls in the air, but they come together quickly. You’ll want to have your toaster handy. A cookie cutter or a glass with about a 4-inch rim. I find wine glasses to be great as they seem to be thin and sharp. This is for cutting a circle out of our wheat toast. (Healthier than English muffins.)

You want to start your Hollandaise on low, pretty much right away. Throw a mini whisk in there and just whip now and then and it will stay smooth and hot.

Your mushrooms and spinach need very little cooking to reduce and warm up, so they can share a small pan on low as well, not mixed, just spinach on one side and mushrooms on the other.

Now you have two pans going. Throw your toast in the toaster. Whip your sauce.
If you have an egg poacher, great, but totally not necessary.
How to poach an egg: Poached eggs are simply cooked in water. A poaching pan keeps the egg together, but that can be done on its own as well. Get some water, just a couple inches worth, to a rolling boil. As you crack each egg open it slowly into the water. This keeps it together, since the egg cooks almost instantly, then just floats in the water, waiting to be removed. Use a slotted spoon to remove when ready, depending on how well you like the yolks done. This can be done one at a time or all in one pan if you’re pan is big enough and you are quick enough. :)

This is the tricky part, in between eggs, you’re turning your mushrooms and spinach, maybe a whip or two to your sauce and toast is popping up. Cut circles and plate two each. If you want butter on your toast, now would be the time. Next pile some spinach on each wheat round. If you’re worried your spinach isn’t too done, the egg on top will fix that!

Turn all the burners off.

So… wheat round, spinach, egg, mushroom slices, Hollandaise, scallions on top! I pepper the eggs before topping. Hollandaise is very rich and wonderful, so you may let your eaters salt on their own.

If all this multi-tasking makes you crazy, don’t do it. You can cook everything one at a time, eggs last. It just may not stay quite as hot, but eleven seconds in the microwave will fix that. Cooking should be FUN, first and foremost. Don’t do anything that stresses you out… especially in the morning.

I serve mine with avocado on the side, because at my house, there is always room for some avocado.

PLAN ‘B’
The good news is, you can substitute anything here! If you don’t like spinach or mushrooms, add something else. The key is bread, egg and Hollandaise. They do make whole wheat English muffins. Some tasty ideas are sun-dried tomatoes or zucchini. If you need it a little heartier, add a layer of hash browns and top with shredded cheese! Enjoy!