Pumpkin Pancakes

The sweet potato pancakes were such a hit with Drew, that I decided to try pumpkin pancakes.  I'm starting to really enjoy making pancakes on the weekend, and it's really nice to have a stash in the freezer for weekday breakfasts.  These are freezer-friendly too.  Just flash freeze on a foiled lined pan (spray first), then toss them in a Ziploc baggie.

These were just as easy (easier) as the sweet potato pancakes, but I still think Drew likes the sweet potato ones better.  He ate 1.5 pancakes the day I made them.  I also tried one (without syrup or any toppings).  I thought it was good, but I too think the sweet potato pancakes are better.  If I make these again, I may add chocolate chips :) the last thing anyone needs in their breakfast!

Pumpkin Pancakes*
Makes ~30 pancakes

Ingredients
1 - 15 oz can pumpkin puree
1.5 c flour
3.5 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 eggs
1 c milk
4 T butter, melted

Method
In a small bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder.  In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, milk and butter together.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and combine.  Pour ~1/3 cup of batter onto a heated (medium) griddle.  Cook ~3 to 4 minutes each side or until browned.

*This is the same recipe as the sweet potato pancakes.  Substitute the pumpkin puree for ~2 large sweet potatoes that have been peeled, baked and mashed.

Oatmeal Cookies

I wanted to try oatmeal cookies since my toddler didn't eat the oatmeal breakfast bars.  Recently, we ate dinner at a buffet, and he ate an oatmeal cookie.  I thought for sure he'd like these cookies, but again he took one bite and that was enough.  Go figure.  I even added chocolate chips to them, but that didn't fool him.  If I make this recipe again, I'll probably leave the chocolate chips out because they seemed too much for the batter (too many add-ins, not enough batter).

Anyway, I think the cookies are good.  They aren't very sweet though so I've found that I've eaten quite a few of them thinking they are "healthy."  And if you asked me if I have been eating them for breakfast this week, I'd have to reply, "I can neither deny nor confirm that," which is my typical response to Brian when he asks me something that I don't want to answer :) (and he already knows the answer anyway usually).

Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Cranberries and Chocolate Chips
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes ~24 small cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c flour
1 egg
1/3 vegetable oil
1 t baking powder
1 t vanilla
2/3 c brown sugar
1/2 c rolled oats
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/4 c chocolate chips

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 350F.  Combine flours and baking powder and set aside.  Beat egg with sugar, oil and vanilla.  Add flour mixture to wet mixture.  Add oats, cranberries, and chocolate chips.  Mix to combine.  Dough will be very sticky.  Roll into balls and place on un-greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Rotate cooking sheet half way through cooking time.

I rolled about 6 cookies into balls.  The dough was so sticky that I could barely move my fingers after that so I cleaned up and just used spoons to place the dough.  As you can see in the picture, the cookies in front started out as balls - they are nice and round.  The ones in the back were just spooned onto the sheet hence their jagged edges.  But they taste the same.

French Toast Sticks

This was my second attempt at French Toast Sticks.  I like to have different breakfast options ready to go because I send breakfast to daycare.  The first attempt at french toast sticks didn't turn out so well, but these were much better!

The first time I tried baking them.  I wasn't able to flip the sticks half way through the cooking time as the recipe indicated so one side ended up burning some.  This time I decided to cook the sticks how I normally would - on the griddle.  I also added some jarred peaches in hopes of making them a little sweet since I don't serve them with syrup for my boy.

Verdict: Attempt two was a success.  My toddler only ate about 1 stick (or less), but that's more than he ate from the first batch.  His favorite breakfast is still the sweet potato pancakes (and maybe a bagel with cream cheese).  I also thought they tasted better than the first time around.

French Toast Sticks
Makes 30 sticks

Ingredients:
10 pieces of bread, cut into thirds
5 eggs
~1/2 c milk
4 oz peaches (baby food)
1 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon sugar

Method:
Beat eggs with fork, add milk, vanilla, cinnamon sugar and peaches.  Stir to combine.  Soak bread in batter and place on heated griddle (about medium heat).  Cook on each side ~3 minutes or until golden brown.

To freeze:
Allow sticks to cool.  Line baking sheet with foil, spray with Pam.  Layer sticks on foil.  Flash freeze for 1-2 hours.  Remove from pan and place in Ziploc baggie.

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

This recipe is the first one that I've made post foot surgery.  It's an easy recipe, but it took a toll on me, and I know I need a little bit more time before trying much more baking or cooking!

I've made this recipe once before.  The first time I made half the batch plain thinking that my toddler would eat it (nope) and the other half was for me but I didn't include the chocolate chips.  This time I made the entire batch the same way with all the add-ins.

I really like this recipe.  It's fairly easy to make and it's delicious! It's also adaptable (plain or any add-ins you want!).  This makes a really good breakfast to go.  However, my toddler took one bite and spit it out.  A texture thing maybe?  I'm convinced there wasn't a chocolate chip in that bite.

Adapted from Big Girls Small Kitchen

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
Makes 32 squares

Ingredients:
2 c oats
1 c whole wheat flour
1/4 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 1/2 c milk (I used skim)
1/4 c peanut butter
1/4 c canola oil
1 egg
3 T brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 c chocolate chips
1/2 c walnuts, chopped
1/2 c dried cranberries (I diced these since I thought my son would be eating it).

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 375F.  Mix the oats, flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl.  Beat oil, peanut butter, vanilla, and sugar together in medium bowl.  Beat in egg.  Add milk and stir.  Add nuts, dried cranberries.  Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients.  Stir to incorporate.  Add chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into 2 greased loaf pans (9x3 or similar).  Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

When done, use knife to separate bar from pan.  Let cool on rack.  Store in refrigerator.

Blueberry Wheat Pancakes

Recently I have been making breakfast on the weekend.  Usually when I make pancakes, I opt for sweet potato pancakes.  My 1-yr old loves them!  And I feel they are somewhat healthy and a good way to sneak a vegetable into his diet.  (Something I try to do wherever I can!)

In an attempt to change it up, I decided to make blueberry pancakes.  When I make pancakes, I make a big batch and freeze a bunch.  Pancakes are easy to freeze and they still taste good out of the freezer!

I decided to try Money Saving Mom's recipe for Chocolate Chip Whole Wheat pancakes, but I decided to substitute the chocolate chips for blueberries.

This recipe was good, and we all liked the pancakes!  I think the whole wheat made them a little chewier than a white pancake (and the sweet potato pancake), but they were still edible.  My son definitely prefers the sweet potato pancake, but he eat these also!

Broccoli Rice Casserole

Another meal that we made for the freezer during our freezer cooking marathon session was Broccoli Rice Chicken Casserole.  I got the recipe from MoneySavingMom:

http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/05/4-weeks-to-fill-your-freezer-chicken-broccoli-rice-casserole-day-14.html

The only change we made was adding some onions.  We had some extras from the other recipes.

This recipe was super easy to throw to together and freeze.  We used a rice cooker to cook the rice and just threw the ingredients in the bag and mixed it (kinda) in the bag.  Then in the freezer!

Verdict:  Super easy to make and freeze.  So far this is my favorite from the freezer dish as well.  It reheated nicely and was delicious.  I think this will make the rotation in the future for freezer meals.  I also want to possibly freeze this recipe in muffin tins to use for potato toppings!

Guest Post!

Check out my guest post over on Money Saving Mom:

http://moneysavingmom.com/2013/03/9-tips-to-simplify-freezer-cooking.html

I'm not sure if you've seen this blog before, but it's definitely one of my favorites!  There are good deal, and coupon alerts plus recipes, freezer cooking, meal planning!  There's a little bit of everything and it's updated often!

Check it out!