Easy Autumn Breakfasts! French Toasts, Pancakes and Waffles

I told you all last week that I'd post a great Pumpkin French Toast recipe, sorry I couldn't do it. Soooo instead of just one, I have 3 recipes for you!!! I love y'all.

First up: Pumpkin French Toast. I found a pin on the ever so great Pinterest for Pumpkin French toast. How easy is that? Made some for my son's breakfast and he DEVOURED it!



Ingredients
About 4-6 slices if bread- your preference-whole-wheat or white
1/2 cup milk (almond, dairy, soy- i used vanilla soy milk)
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
3 tablespoon of sweetener of choice- (I used maple syrup)
1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spices (or a 1/2 tsp worth of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves)
a pat of butter or coconut oil (for that brown flavorful crust!)
A pinch of salt

Directions:
Allow bread to dry out on a plate overnight.
The next morning, or whenever you make this, mix all ingredients except for the butter/coconut oil and the bread. Pre-heat skillet or griddle to medium heat. One piece of bread at a time, soak the bread in the pumpkin mixture per side until the bread feels slightly spongy. Cook in skillet for about 3 minutes per side. If you're making a lot, preheat oven to about 100C-200F and add the  cooked french toast to a sheet pan or any oven-proof dish. Repeat until you're done! Top with whatever you please! We topped with maple syrup. I also love fruits, or confectioner's sugar!


Next, these are pumpkin pancakes I made using annie eats recipe. I added pecans, and just used 3/4 cup of whole wheat white flour from King Arthur's Flour. HEAVENLY and it freezes quite well!!!



Last but not least, my favorite recipe from this weekend- Sweet Potato Waffles with Homemade Blueberry Glaze!!! YUMMM! Found this recipe from the Mayo Clinic. I Made a few changes to my taste. Enjoyed by all!

Ingredients

For the syrup
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
6 tablespoon honey
Pinch of ground cinnamon

1/3 cup peeled and diced sweet potato, or 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup 1% milk (or any milk of you choice)
2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
Directions

To make the syrup, in a saucepan, combine the blueberries, lemon juice and zest, honey, , and cloves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the berries burst and the juices are slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Frozen berries may take slightly longer to thicken. Set aside and keep warm.

If using sweet potato, bring a small saucepan half full of water to a boil. Add the sweet potato, return to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until very tender, about 10 minutes.  (I roasted a large sweet potato for 45 minutes)  Drain and puree in a food processor or mash with a potato masher until smooth. Set aside. If using pumpkin puree, reserve.

In a small bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, sweet potato puree, coconut oil, egg brown sugar. Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined.

Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 225 F. Preheat a waffle iron. Spoon or ladle about 1/2 cup batter into the waffle iron, depending on the size of the iron. Spread evenly and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the batter thickens, thin with a little soy milk. Transfer the waffle to the baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining batter to make 6 waffles. Serve topped with the syrup.

ENJOY!!!!!

When I am sad I need Bacon.

I hate TDYs. Duh, what spouse wants their other half gone for long periods of time....I know.

Right before these 'business trips', I cry randomly. I feel so depressed that I get incredibly lazy and immobile all of the sudden and it sucks. The good thing for great blogs that I follow is that I am able to read through all your blogs and leave blog post length comments (sorry!). The bad news for me is that I think a certain "Osama Bed Linen"  is hiding in the ever so growing mountains of dirty laundry in my laundry room!! And all of this is right before my husband leaves. 

But you know what dear readers and friends, I usually get through it alive and well. Well, I have to. When he's out the door, reality bitch-slaps me in the face and I have no choice but to get to work! A better schedule is set for the children (and my sanity),even more time is spent at playgrounds and indoor parks, and my cooking creativity goes through the roof! I focus even more on the children's palates which is most certainly a challenge, but it helps me learn new ways to get them to eat a lot healthier. 

My husband's been deployed for weeks and months at a time many times before, but this time, I do not feel so confident. I am utterly terrified. I have been quite depressed for the past 2 weeks, trying to stay brave, but everything brings tears to my eyes. Is that pathetic? Maybe. Normal? I'd like to think so. During the last big deployment, I only had 2 children who were 2, and an infant, and I was terrified then. Fortunately I made it out a stronger person. This time I have 3 children who are 5, 3, and 1! Will I make it out at least alive? Hopefully! If I don't blog or update my Facebook page call me! 

So during times pathetic pessimism (try saying that Sylvester the cat!), I desperately need comfort food. My comfort food of choice tonight? Bacon. Bacon Pancakes to be precise! These are so simple and crazy delicious! Sweet and smoky at its finest!

Bacon Pancakes, like Blueberry Pancakes but only it's Bacon

Ingredients

Use my Pancake recipe

-8  slices of bacon roasted and chopped

Your choice of topping- I used real  Maple Syrup

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F

on a shallow roasting pan (even better one with a rack) place bacon on. 

Pop into the oven for 10-12 minutes or until crisp!

oven crispy!

Crumble or chop/ leave about a tablespoon for garnish if desired.

Spray griddle or skillet with spray or butter, then set heat to medium heat. Scoop out about a 1/2 cup of pancake batter of each pancake on your griddle, and spread into a flat circle gently. Sprinklea handful of bacon on. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until a mass amount of bubbles form over the top. Flip, cook for another 2 minutes. Repeat until batter and bacon is gone!

Drench maple syrup and garnish with leftover bacon (if desired).

That not only helped me feel better, but put a huge smile on my whole family's face and I predict many easy breakfast dinners in the future. Thanks for reading my sad ramblings.

Fluffy Pancakes

I haven't cooked anything since Sunday as my son's been ill in the hospital. So since of fridge is at the brink of emptiness due to no shopping trips and food rapidly going rancid, I decided to go with a quick go-to breakfast. Pancakes! My children's 2nd favorite breakfast after Waffles and slightly nudging French Toast.

This recipe is very easy and you can make any variations you want to.

Fluffy Pancakes
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (I use unbleached)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 t of salt, can be course or table salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 pinches of cinnamon
1 1/4 cups of milk
1 egg
4 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter

Optional- additional salted butter for pan

Directions:
In a large bowl, sift or stir all dry ingredients together. Make a well in the center then set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine all wet ingredients.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and DO NOT OVER-STIR! Will result in flat, tough discs! We want fluffy!

Turn burner or griddle on medium heat. If using, add about a teaspoon of butter to a heated skillet/frying pan/griddle. Pour about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of pancake batter per pancake. Let cook until bubbles cover the surface of the pancakes. Flip over and cook for about a minute or two and repeat until batter is gone!

Enjoy! A big hit in our house :D