Category: Breakfast

My Kodiak Cake Berry Syrup

I happened to be at Costco on a day when they were giving out samples of Kodiak Cake pancakes. Yum! I really enjoyed trying the Kodiak Cake berry syrups that they had. I even reached to put a bottle of syrup into my cart but after looking at the nutrition label and ingredients I reminded myself that putting that much liquid sugar on my pantry shelf was not going to help my self control any nor was it going to add any nutrition to my kids breakfast. I also realized that I could probably make a healthier version of the syrup anyway. So I put the bottle down and slowly walked away.

We usually don’t use syrup on our pancakes because they simply don’t need any. The moisture and flavor from the ingredients I use in my Protein Pancakes helps them stand alone. But a few weeks after I had tried the syrup at Costco I found an bag of frozen berries in my freezer that had been taken out to thaw and put back in the freezer all juicy. The berries had frozen together into a chunk of berries that I would have had to use an ice pick to separate. I saw this as an opportunity to try and make my own take on Kodiak Cake berry syrup. It turned out exactly how I wanted it and my kids loved it. The best part was that it was quick, easy, and only has 3 ingredients!

berry syrup

photo cred: mom 4 real

INGREDIENTS

  • About 2 cups of fresh or frozen berries (I used strawberries, blueberries, and a few raspberries)
  • 1/4 of honey (or less depending on how much tartness you like)
  • 1/2 t vanilla

I like to have a few chunks of berries in my syrup so I just put my frozen berry goop right into a saucepan with honey and vanilla and brought it to a boil. If you want yours smooth or with few chunks of fruit, try using a food processor or blender to cut up your fruit.

This syrup tasted great fresh and it kept well in the fridge for a few weeks. We even used it a few times for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and as jam on bread.

Even if the amount of carbohydrates or sugars in my syrup was comparable to what you could find at the store, I get peace of mind knowing what ingredients were used, where they came from, and that there were no preservatives in my syrup. And my kids and husband loved it just the same!

*If you want to use raspberries or blackberries in your home made syrup recipe, avoid the seeds by blending your berries in a food processor and then sending them through a strainer before adding them to your sauce pan.*

Greek Yogurt Protein Pancakes

 

Whenever I’m looking to make a healthier version of typically nutrient lacking foods (aka everything baked goods) I turn to Jamie Eason’s recipes. She has some go-to’s that I use often. This is the first time I’ve tried her Pumped up Pancake recipe though and it did not disappoint! Something I really liked about this recipe was how these pancakes held their fluffiness and were more similar to the texture of regular pancakes compared to some other protein pancake recipes I’ve tried. This recipe makes a fair amount of pancakes so I always freeze the leftovers so my kids can pop them in the toaster on a morning we are pressed for time. I adjusted some of the ingredients on this list to fit what I had in my pantry so don’t be afraid to fiddle with it until they taste just how you like them!

pumped-up-protein-pancakes-2

photo from: thecakechica.com

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 cups oat flour (you can make your own oat flour by grinding whole oats in your vitamix or blentec)
  • 3 scoops protein powder. The recipe calls for vanilla protein but you could use any flavor you like, or try collagen protein powder for a pancake that isn’t so sweet.
  • 2 T honey or other sweetener
  • 3/4 t baking soda
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 6 oz plain Greek yogurt- we use the FAGE Greek yogurt because there is no added sugar and its packed with protein!
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 t vanilla extract (because I use 1 t of vanilla regardless of what I’m cooking)
  • 2 eggs or 4 egg whites ( I cant bear to throw away yolks for some reason so I use whole eggs)

Because of some of the thicker ingredients in this recipe you could blend all this up in your blender or you can mix it with a hand mixer. Another thing I love about protein pancakes, especially if you use vanilla protein powder, is that the pancakes stand alone. We don’t even buy syrup at my house because we simply don’t need it! If we want a little something extra on our pancakes our go-to toppings are:

Depending on the type of protein powder, Greek yogurt, and sweetener you use these pancakes will turn out a little differently. Don’t be afraid to fiddle with the recipe until you find the mix that tastes best to you! I hope you give these protein pancakes a try and enjoy this healthy twist on a favorite breakfast.

Grain Lovers Breakfast Ideas

Some breakfast foods that can really be hard for people to avoid are cereal, pancakes, french toast, etc. When you cut out gluten and sugar from your diet these things become a big no-no and they are often times difficult to replace. Some of these breakfast ideas help my family to get some good grains in our diet that are more filling, tasty, and nutritious.

Katie’s Protein Pancakes/Waffles

This pancake recipe is my go-to for pancakes or waffles in the morning. They are more dense than regular pancakes and far more tasty. Don’t be surprised that they don’t taste like regular pancakes, they are definitely different, but I personally enjoy them much more.

Ingredients: Serves about 3 people

  • 1/2 cup whole steel cut oats
  • 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (whichever protein is your favorite)
  • 1/4 t baking soda
  • 1/4 t baking powder
  • pinch of salt

Directions: 

  • Put all ingredients into a blender and blend on high until the consistency is smooth
  • Cook on low-medium heat until pancakes are firm.

Toppings: 

  • Peanut Butter (this is my favorite)
  • Sugar Free Jam/Syrup*
  • Nothing- they taste great plain too

Sugar Free Strawberry Jam Recipe (from my sweet friend Lacey):

Sweet Lacey in my neighborhood knew that Gary wasn’t eating sugar or flour so she sent her boys over with a jar of the most delicious home made strawberry jam one day. It was the perfect amount of sweet and I loved the texture that the Chia seeds added. It is my girls new favorite jam for their protein pancakes and waffles and the best part is there are only 3 ingredients! I plan to test this recipe with raspberries and other fruits too!

Ingredients/Directions:

  • 2 cups fresh strawberries washed and stemmed
    • put into a blender with
  • 2 T chia seeds
  • 1/4 cup raw honey
    • blend until it is as chunky/smooth as you want
    • put into a pan and bring to a light boil + stir for 5 minutes

    • pour into mason jars suitable for fridge or freezer

    • let cool in the jar and either freeze or refrigerate

Home Made Granola Cereal

If you simply cant live your life without some sort of cereal then I suggest you make your own granola that you can eat to satisfy your cravings while actually giving you some sort of nutrition instead of eating empty calories. Even though I do substitute oats for flour in some of my recipes these should still be eaten sparingly and should not dominate your diet in any way. Check your allotted macro levels (go to bodybuilding.com for an easy macro calculator) and makes sure any grains/complex carbs you do eat stay within the healthy limits you have.

Granola is great because you can definitely make it your own and add the things you love to help you truly enjoy your food. To make your own granola you’ll need a few components:

  • Raw Whole Oats- the backbone of your granola
  • Honey/Agave/Maple Syrup – to make it “stick”
  • Flax Seed Meal, Protein Powder or another gluten free “powder” that will act as the “mortar” to bond the honey/agave to the oats/other ingredients and make yummy clumps
  • Yummy add-ins – we like dried blueberries, cranberries, almond slivers, & raw coconut flakes
  • Other flavors- Mexican vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc, & salt to bring our flavors
  • Oil/fat- helps make the granola a bit crispy.. if you’re into that

Ingredients/amounts

  • 4 cups oats
  • 3/4 cup honey/agave
  • 2 cups nuts, seeds, dried berries,
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder and/or 1/3 cup ground flax seed
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1/4 c oil
  • 1 t sea salt
  • 1/2 t cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of any other flavors you like

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet/cake pan with parchment paper. Add all dry ingredients into a bowl, stir.
  2. Add honey, vanilla, oil and stir until the “glue” is evenly coating the dry ingredients.
  3. Pour mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet/pan and cook until the oats turn golden. about 20-25 minutes. Stir the ingredients after about 10 minutes to make sure all sides cook evenly and get crispy. Press the mixture  back into the pan to get it to stick together as it cooks the rest of the way.
  4. Let cool before breaking into pieces & enjoy!

 

Protein Oatmeal

In college, my friend Zach introduced me to quinoa, pre-workout, and protein oatmeal. I loved this simple way protein oatmeal turned a carb loaded breakfast into a power breakfast that incorporates healthy grains, proteins & fats..and its so quick! The protein powder you use will make a big difference in the taste so give a few tries before you make up your mind about it:)

PB Chocolate Protein Oatmeal:

Directions: Prepare oatmeal as usual with oats and water. When oats are cooked (either on the stove or microwave) add the protein powder + peanut butter and possibly a bit more water or milk depending on how thick you like your oatmeal.

Vanilla/Fruity Protein Oatmeal:

  • 1/2 cup Whole Oats
  • 1 cup water/milk
  • 1/2-1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • dried berries, nuts, fruit, cinnamon, or any other add ins you might like

Other Ideas:

  1. Peaches + Cream: Vanilla protein, milk, peaches
  2. Berries + Cream: Vanilla protein, milk, berries
  3. Mexican Hot Chocolate: Chocolate protein, milk, cinnamon
  4. Fruit + Nut: Vanilla protein, fruits, nuts
  5. Try something different and send me your idea!

 

I have so many more ideas to share and they are coming soon! Hopefully these can give you a starting point in your search for breakfast alternatives! Enjoy!

 

 

Meat/Egg lovers Breakfast

Over the years I have had many people ask me what I eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner if I don’t eat flour or sugar. I wanted to share some of them with you here in case you are trying to transition into healthier meals. If there are certain foods you love or hate and want ideas of how to incorporate or avoid those foods let me know so I can add more recipe ideas for you!

Meat Lovers Breakfasts

The easiest way to avoid carbs during breakfast is to stick with eggs and meat. This may not be for everyone but if it is, you know who you are. When I am eating very clean I find that my metabolism gets a boost and I get very hungry come breakfast time. A good hearty breakfast can help hold you off until your next meal and control your eating throughout the day. Here are some common Meat Lover breakfasts we enjoy at my house.

But before we get to meat, lets talk about Eggs- Lots of eggs.

If you hate eggs than let me know and we’ll come up with a solution for you. But eggs are a wonderful source of protein and can be made a plethora of ways.

  • Scrambled*
  • Fried*
  • Poached
  • Boiled
  • Made into an Omelet*
  • Quiche*
  • etc

Depending on your fat allowance for the day you can eat whole eggs or separate the whites from the yolk to increase protein without increasing fat. If I am eating predominantly eggs for a meal I’ll use one whole egg and maybe two egg whites scrambled together with a little bit of my favorite meat.

*Our Favorites

Andersen Omelet

If an omelet is made at our house it usually includes:

  • 4-6 Mushrooms Chopped
  • A handful of Spinach
  • Gary likes to add peppers or onions to his omelets. I prefer just the mushrooms and spinach.
  • Sliced Turkey meat/sausage/or cut up bacon pieces (maybe a 1/4 cup of meat)
    • put into a pan with a bit of olive oil and cook until spinach is wilted and meat + mushrooms are cooked.
  • 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites (Gary likes to add a dash of milk and water to his eggs to make them light and fluffy)
    • mix in a bowl and pour over the veggies and meat
    • cook until eggs are firm enough to flip
  • Add cheese to cooked side (if desired)
  • Salt/Pepper
    • fold in half and enjoy!
  • Top with avocado, salsa, hot sauce, etc

Here’s where I get weird. Instead of eating salsa or cheese on my eggs I’ll usually put a scoop of cottage cheese on top instead. It adds a bunch of protein and helps avoid the taste of dry bland egg in my mouth. Feel free to knock it after you’ve tried it 😉

Favorite Meats

Whenever I make eggs I usually combine them with a meat I’m digging that week. Some of my favorites are:

  • Uncured Bacon
  • Turkey Bacon
  • Low Fat Ground Turkey
  • Ground Sausage
  • Deli Turkey
  • Ham

Cook up a fried egg and slap that on top of any of these meats and I call that a great breakfast.

Andersen Scramble

My house is also the castle of scrambles so we’ll throw a bunch of meat and veggies in a pan, scramble in eggs and maybe some cheese and we’re set. The scramble came about because I suck at perfecting the omelet (while Gary’s omelets look like works of art). I ruin the omelet every time when I try and flip it. It either gets stuck to the bottom of the pan or I turn it too soon to avoid “dry egg” from overcooking it, blah, blah, blah, I gave up. The easiest solution? Mix all that shit together.

Our favorite scramble includes:

  • 1 yam/sweet potato peeled + diced
    • Cook in the pan first with 1 T olive/coconut oil until sweet potato begins to get soft
  • Add 4-6 mushrooms chopped
  • Add 1/4 cup of your favorite meat- ground or cut into bite size pieces
    • Cook the potatoes, mushrooms, meat  & any other veggies until the meat is cooked and potatoes are soft.
  • Next you can either scramble in your egg/egg whites/milk/water mixture or remove the “hash” from heat and fry up some eggs to put on top (my favorite).
  • Top with salt/pepper/salsa/hot sauce/or Katie’s weird low-fat cottage cheese.

Meal Prep- Breakfast Quiche Muffins

Growing up my Nana made the BEST quiche and if there was ever a brunch party I looked forward to that delicious egg-pie-thing that I knew would be served. Obviously this quiche had pie crust in the bottom and became off limits when I started paying attention to the amount of flour I ate. But I found a solution, quiche muffins!

Things to love about quiche muffins:

  1. East to meal prep and have on hand for on the go breakfasts
  2. No Crust
  3. So versatile! Quiche muffins can be different every time and will help use up whatever leftover meat/veggies you have in your fridge
  4. Fun for kids to help make and eat. Great for little people portions too

Ingredients: 
Spinach/Kale, Mushrooms, Favorite Meat, Favorite Cheese, Eggs, Milk/Cream, Salt/Pepper

Directions:

  • Get a regular sized muffin tin and either grease it with butter or fill with muffin wrappers.
  • Begin filling with the veggies. fill about 1/3 of the cup with pre-cooked veggies. Some of our go-to’s are
    • spinach/kale
    • mushrooms
    • peppers
  • Add meat (if you are a meat lover…which you should be if you are still reading this post). Fill the cups another 1/3 of the way with Pre-cooked meat. This is best for quiche because you’ve been able to remove excess moisture and grease before adding it to the muffins.
    • Crumbled bacon
    • Ground Sausage
    • Diced Ham Steak
    • Chopped Deli Meat
    • etc
  • Add Cheese – fill the rest of the cup with shredded cheese. Use your favorite cheese. If I am trying to cut back on fat I’ll use low-fat mozzarella cheese or maybe not even add cheese. Some delicious/flavorful cheeses are
    • Swiss
    • Smoked Guda
    • Sharp Cheddar
    • Pepper Jack if you like a bit of a kick
  • Eggs- Your egg mixture will change depending on your fat allowance. Anyone doing keto can dump the cream or whole milk into their eggs and be just fine. Those of you trying to cut out some fat, I suggest using a low fat milk (dont use fat free milk, you might as well just add sugar water and it wont add any creaminess).
    • Depending on how full your 12 cups are you probably only need 4-6 eggs. If you want to cut out more fat then you can sub egg whites for some of the yolks. But the consistency will definitely be better if you just use the whole egg.
    • Add 1/4 teaspoon and 1/4-1/2 teaspoon pepper
    • Add a 1/4-1/2 cup cream/Milk to your eggs and beat until the consistency is smooth.
    • Fill each cup up to the top with your egg mixtur & put in the oven

* Bake at 375 degrees for 30 min-1 hour…once the muffins are firm to the touch you’ll know they are ready to come out. The amount of fat/water in each batch will alter baking time. Let muffins cool completely before wrapping/covering and putting in the refrigerator. These should be good for about a week:)

What about Hash Browns?

If you grew up like Gary and Me you are probably used to having some sort of carb or starch with your breakfast. That can be a hard habit to shake! The easiest way to change your eating habits is to substitute what you are used to for something healthier. The Hash brown substitutes we use are:

  • Sweet potatoes or yams instead of white potatoes
    • Peel uncooked potatoes and use a cheese grater to make your own hash browns. Cook them in a bit of oil just like you would with regular hash browns and carry on as usual.
  • Spaghetti Squash
    • Yep, here is a weird Katie thing again. Go ahead and knock it after you’ve tried it. Spaghetti squash is such a simple substitute for regular hash browns and tastes SO good! So much more flavor.
    • The easiest way to incorporate this food is to plan a bit in advance. The night before, cut the spaghetti squash in half, gut the seeds, cover in a bit of oil + bake at 400 degrees until soft. Eat one half for dinner the night before and then refrigerate the rest for hash browns the next morning.
    • Scoop the squash out the next morning and “fry” them up in a bit of oil or butter the way you would usually make hash browns. They taste delicious if you get them a bit crispy too.

Did I forget something? Let me know if there are other Meat Lover breakfast you like that I can add to this list! And share any of your own variations of quiche muffins, favorite omelets, or scrambles that you love! Enjoy!