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!!!!!

Sweet Potato Oatmeal with Honey Toasted Walnuts

I love love sweet potatoes. You all may have noticed that from my some of my blogposts.
While checking out some healthy recipes out on www.Shape.com, I came across Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal from the Oh She Glows blog. It looked so delicious and beautiful I had to pin on Pinterest to try later.

Speaking of Pinterest- anyone else addicted to that site? I've tried so many crafts and decorating ideas from there. Not mention, the dinner I cooked last night were from pins I found there.

Anyway, back to the oatmeal. I changed a few things about this recipe to make to my own taste and it was great. It takes maybe 15 minutes to put together. However, I would use pecans over walnuts as pecans has a mellower flavor than the robust walnuts. It was still very good and not overly sweet. Perfect. If you don't like sweet potatoes, use canned pumpkin or pureed roasted pumpkin. Hope y'all try this :)


Sweet Potato Oatmeal 
Inspired by Oh She Glows
Serves 3-4 depending on your appetite!

Ingredients
1/3 cup regular oats
1 cup 1% milk
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/3-1/2 cup sweet potatoes (steamed in microwave or roasted)
1 tablespoon flax seeds (optional)

3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon course salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

For toppings:
1/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 tablespoon honey

Pinch of salt
Pinch of cinnamon

Directions:

Wash and dry a sweet potato, then prick all over with a fork. Then microwave uncovered for five minutes. If it's not soft by then, microwave 1 minute, check; if it's not soft, microwave* a minute at a time until it's done. Allow to cool slightly, scoop out the flesh, mash in a bowl until smooth.

*Alternatively, you can roast on 350 F for about an hour. Preferably the night before, you want something quick in the morning!

You can toast the walnuts in a dry skillet for about 5 minutes on medium. Remove from heat and stir in walnuts and honey. If you don't want to toast, just mix in a small bowl!

In the meantime, in a medium sized pot, heat the oats and milk over medium heat until it comes to a low boil. Stir in the sweet potato and flax seeds (if using) . Heat over low-medium heat for about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Add in the salt, sugar, spices, and vanilla, then heat for about 4 minutes more, stirring frequently.  

Add topping and if you want, add a little honey or maple syrup on top.

ENJOY!!!

Sweet Potato Cheesecake Brownies

I love sweet potatoes, brownies, and cheesecake. I've made them all many times on separate occasions, but never together. Last weekend while reading through David Lebovitz's Facebook Fan Page and came across a post where a fan commented about the brownies. I checked out the post and I knew that I had to make them. His photography is absolutely inspiring and hunger-inducing, so this was immediately put on my bake this NOW list.

I wanted the brownies to have a autumn vibe and  I've never even heard of sweet potato cheesecake until I did a bit of research and still there weren't many recipes. Or maybe I am just horrible at Google? Anyway, it's always about the pumpkin. I like pumpkin, but I am a sweet potato girl, for sure! 

Overall, I did not do much tweaking to this recipe at all. Just added the sweet potato, cinnamon, and a wee bit more vanilla. This tasted so good that after the first bite I started breakdancing! When I taste incredible food, humming or dancing is a natural reaction! Guess that's why my husband never takes me out to eat. These moist decadent, squares from heaven has that effect, just warning you :)

Sweet Potato Cheesecake Brownies

Inspired by David Lebovitz

Ingredients

1 lb sweet potato(es)

6 T unsalted butter cut into pieces

4 oz semisweet chocolate 55% to 60% cocoa

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup flour

1 T cocoa powder

1/8 t salt

1 t vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Sweet Potato Cheesecake

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 cup pureed sweet potato

1 egg yolk, room temperature

5 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F or 180C

Wash, dry, then prick sweet potato with a fork. Place in oven and allow to roast for up to an hour or until soften and easily pierced.

Allow to cool, then puree with a potato masher or spoon. Set aside.

Line an 8 inch square pan with foil, but allow at least 1 inch to hang from the sides.

Lightly spray or butter pan, set aside.

Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and beat in 2/3 cup sugar then the eggs.

Mix in the flour mixture, then vanilla and chocolate chips. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.

In a separate bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sweet potato puree, the yolk, 5 tablespoons of sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Distribute the cream cheese mixture in 6 dollops around brownie mixture then take a spatula and swirl the cream cheese into the chocolate batter. Add 2 more dollops if needed.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes checking after 40 minutes. Test with a toothpick through the middle if comes out clean.

Hope you try this or just try David's version in the link above! It's amazing! Gwon' now chilren!