Stuffed French Toast(Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana)

This is a recipe that I found in Eating Well When You're Expecting. I initially made it only for my husband since I had no real appetite in the beginning of my pregnancy. I sincerely had never heard of stuffed french toast and usually just made it the traditional dip - the- bread -in- the -egg and drop- it -in- the- pan -way. This morning I decided to due a few variations on the recipe. The recipe I had incorporate raspberry preserves and fresh banana. I had no preserves on hand, so I made one batch with just bananas, and a second with peanut butter, chocolate and banana. You can use any kind of peanut butter and I used Ghiardelli Chocolate Chunks (60% Bittersweet Cocoa) for the chocolate part. As for the bread, you can use whatever type you have handy. This particular morning, I used Maier's Italian bread. The slices are pretty small, about the size of a Wonder Bread slice. Just remember to adjust ingredient sizes in accordance to the size of the bread you use. I used about 10 chunks of chocolate on the bread, but perhaps should have used less. The bread does have a tendency to get soggy, so watch how much chocolate you use. The banana only variation was perfect for breakfast and even better with some syrup. The peanut butter, chocolate, and banana variation was VERY rich. Extremely good, but heavy for breakfast. I could see this being eaten as a dessert, served with some fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Stuffed French Toast ( 1 serving) Banana Raspberry Variation
2 slices of bread
1 TBSP of butter
1 Egg
1-2 TSP of raspberry or strawberry preserves
1/2 -3/4 of sliced banana
1 -2 TBSP olive oil

Oil and heat pan on medium heat. Scramble the egg in a bowl. Butter 1 piece of bread on the inside. Spread 1 - 2 TSP. of preserves on bread. Top with banana slices and top with the other piece of bread. Coat the sandwich with the egg, making sure it is completely covered, especially on the sides. Cook in pan until both sides are browned and filling is warm.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Variation
2 slices of bread
1 egg
1 TBSP of butter
1 TBSP of peanut butter (any kind)
10-14 chocolate chips of chunks (see above for recommendations)
1/2 -3/4 of 1 banana
1 TBSP of olive oil

Follow the same directions as above, substituting peanut butter and chocolate chips for the preserves.

Blue Berry Muffin Sunday AKA 'The Stuffed Muff-Cake'

Today, I felt the need to make something somewhat healthy. I had some fresh blueberries (a new summer favorite of mine) in the fridge and I figured it would be a great morning for low fat muffins. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with the results. I did change the recipe a bit (naturally). I didn't have yogurt in the house, so I decided to get creative and substituted whole milk. Due to this, I had to add a little more flour to thicken the batter. I will include the original low fat recipe & add in the changes I made. I also added a little extra fruit. Why not?
The verdict: Pretty darn good! More like a muff-cake than a straight up muffin. The extra fruit filled the middle like a stuffed cupcake. The outer layer was soft and spongy, not as dry and crumby as a muffin usually is. All in all, the recipe gets a thumbs up!

Low Fat Blueberry Muffins
1 1/2 cups of flour ( I used extra, maybe about 1/4 to 1/2 cup - just eyeball it and bring it to a consistency you'd like)
3/4 cup of sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup non fat or low fat yogurt ( I subbed whole milk since I did not have yogurt)
2/3 cup of skim milk
1/2 cup fresh blueberries (I used more- made sure there were 3-4 berries in each - put them in the middle if you can move them around)

Combine dry ingredients and slowly add milk until blended. Fill in greased muffin pan or lined muffin pan, about 3/4 of the way. Bake at 400 degrees for 18 minutes or until brown.
You can serve warm - the fruit is messy, but it was so yummy! Probably even better with some Light Cool Whip or ice cream on top. Makes 12 muffins.

Breakfast at Pillsbury's

It is simply amazing the gems you can find on the back of a Pillsbury wrapper. I was looking for some plain old pizza dough when I came across Crescent Recipe Creations. Curious, I inspected the tube to see if they had recipes to match the scrumptious picture on the labels and luckily, they did. Behold....the amazing Bacon-Cheese Tartlet!

Here's the recipe, but I must warn you, the dough was kind of a pain to work with....don't fret if you can't get the dough to stretch over the muffin pan grooves. I kept strecthing it over and it kept shrinking back. It made no difference! My husband ate 6 of them and refused to share with the kiddies.

Bacon and Cheese Tartlets

1 can Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations

1/3 cup shredded cheese - Swiss, Cheddar - whatever you love!

1/4 cooked chopped bacon ( I subbed turkey bacon)

1 TBSP chopped onion

1 Egg

3 TBSP whipping/heavy cream

Cut the dough into 12 square and gently press into mini muffin pan cups, shaping up and over the edges. Whip the cream with the egg. Spoon cheese into cups. Top with bacon and onions. Add a TBSP of egg mix to each cup. Add left over bacon and onions. Bake in oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Remove and let cook for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

I fully intend to play around with this recipe to make it more low fat. I did not add cheese to mine, as I am not a cheese person. I subbed turkey bacon for regular full fat. I am going to try plain egg whites to see how it comes out, maybe subbing bacon with Morning Star forms sausage patties, crumbled. I also want to try and make pizza bites, using mozzarella and fresh tomato. Ahh, the possibilities!