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!!!!!

Simple Simple Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

My boys love pumpkin!!! I woke up early Monday morning to make them  breakfast mostly featuring pumpkin. Here's one and I'll post the other tomorrow!

My husband love this pumpkin pie smoothie


Simple Simple Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Serves 1
1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree (or any squash you have handy)
1/2 cup coconut milk (any milk you want)
1/2 of a banana (frozen for a thicker cool smoothie)
1/4 cup frozen raspberries or any berry (i used this to make it sweeter omit if you want use the sweetener of your choosing)
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin  pie spices
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon flax seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon wheat germ (optional)
I didn't put any sweeteners in this. But you can put a tablespoon (or your taste) of any sweetener you choose. Maple syrup or brown sugar would be awesome in this!

Directions:
Add each ingredient to blenders in the order listed. Blend to your pleasing. Add more or less liquids if desired!

Hope you all 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!!!