Meal Plan Monday: Breakfast!

One aspect of my meal planning that has been seriously lacking is Breakfast! I've always glazed over breakfast, here are some of our breakfast made easy ideas.

First I LOVE to make and eat these Granola Bars it's Ina Garten's recipe and they're delicious.

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dates, apricots, and cranberries and stir well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. (we use a mini loaf pan lined with parchment paper) Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature.

• Making an extra large batch of  pancakes on the weekend and then freezing them and re-heating them in the toaster like frozen waffles works fantastically. Freezing Waffles also works great haha
• Fresh Fruit and cottage cheese, so simple! 

• Breakfast Casserole- we make this on the weekend and it's soooo good! It works great if you have overnight guests, you can assemble it the night before and pop it into the oven when you wake up, get ready while it's cooking and eat it when your ready :)

Ingredients:

• 4 slices Bacon
• 12oz-16oz Bacon or Sausage Cooked and Drained
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk
• 4 slices white bread
• 1tsp dried mustard (we use a tsp of regular Frenches mustard and a  dash of Cayenne).

Directions:

• Grease a 9x13 pan. Tear up 4 slices of bread and place in the bottom of the pan. Top with bacon or sausage, sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Mix eggs, milk and mustard together pour over casserole.
• Bake at 350 for 35 min :)

• Muffins are always good but maybe not everyday, Muffins are just donuts in disguise haha Muffins also freeze well, if you want to make a big batch and pull one out in the morning. Oatmeal Muffins would be okay everyday, in fact this week I'm trying out a jam filled muffin recipe, I'll let you know how it goes :)
• OATMEAL-Lee has oatmeal in the mornings and uses honey to sweeten it! Our naturopath highly recommended it as Lee has cholesterol issues in his family! Oatmeal can significantly reduce your levels of Bad Cholesterol. 
• And I never underestimate how good a bowl of rice krispies and a cut up banana can be. As far as cereal goes, a good rule of thumb is that your cereal should have less then 10grams of sugar per serving! LOVE CRUNCH is my new favorite cereal! It has 10 grams of sugar per serving and that includes the little chunks of chocolate in it . . . . YUM. It also super great in Yogurt!!