WIAW #14: Creamy Oatmeal + Other Eats

You'd think that by now I'd be sick of oatmeal for breakfast every single morning. Surprisingly enough, though, I haven't tired of it yet. I guess maybe that's because I rarely eat just old-fashioned oats and water. There's usually a serving of fruit-flavored yogurt, applesauce, apple slices or milk mixed in with my usual dish.

But last weekend I went a new route, thanks to Pinterest, and mixed eggs - yes, eggs! - into my oatmeal. (Confession: I spend way too much time on Pinterest in the middle of the night. It helps keep me awake during 3 am-pumping sessions.)

Stuffed French Toast

Lazy weekend mornings when the husband's golfing are for sleeping in with brown dogs. They're for watching bad television the husband would never watch with you and downloading photos you've been letting sit on your camera for far too long.


Mornings like these are for making yourself a good breakfast and topping it with your uncle's homemade maple syrup so when you sit very still in your recliner with you feet up, you can feel the tiny humans in your belly go crazy.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

This morning was anything but our typical Saturday morning. We woke to an unusual January thunderstorm. Instead of drinking coffee and watching the news, we turned on the radio hoping to calm Chance.

The husband cleaned out the linen closet.

And, no, we don't keep dog food in the linen closet. We had to put Chance's breakfast up because he wouldn't eat, but someone else wouldn't stop eating.

It didn't feel like usual morning for me, so I didn't feel like my usual breakfast: egg whites and a protein shake. I've been dreaming for weeks about pancakes, but I hadn't been able to find a recipe that didn't make me feel like I'd be jumping off the carb-conscious wagon.

At least that was the case until this morning.

Guest Blogger: Comfort Potatoes From The Mom Chef

I first started writing this blog mainly because I needed a good excuse to feed the husband new dishes. I was tired of serving the same old, and I wanted him to hop on the healthy wagon with me. Never in my wildest dreams would I start reading so many blogs, bookmarking so very many recipes and truly looking forward to other bloggers' posts.  

Today I'm happy to share the words of one of those bloggers with you. Christiane, aka The Mom Chef, tests out magazine recipes on her hubby and beautiful little girl, always offering up her honest opinion and often with a bit of humor. I can still remember the first post I read of hers about making a blue igloo cake. She cracked me up - and made a pretty impressive dessert that I'd never imagine tackling. I was hooked.

I have a feeling you will be, too.

Country-Style Potatoes - Comfort From Things That Go Bump in the Night

di·chot·o·my: division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups.

I am a dichotomy. I love sunlight. I love Mary Poppins and Brigadoon. Many things make me cry; videos of returning soldiers surprising their children, Lassie being kicked, Folgers commercials. I could never go hunting because I couldn't kill anything. Even spiders are sent out of the house, unsquashed, though I loathe the critters. And I never, I mean never, watch horror movies because they scare the bejeebers out of me.

And yet, that contradictory flipside of me relishes reading the king of horror. Sitting directly behind my desk sit two bookcases. One entire case contains over fifty Stephen King books.  I'm entralled with his writing style and I adore his humor. The fact that he can make me laugh in the midst of scaring my pants off is amazing. In print. 

Bacon & Egg Muffins

A Bacon & Egg Muffin and a Low-Carb "Faux" Waffle. (Don't worry, the black stuff in the muffin is just pepper!)

Before work

Wife: So it looks like we're having breakfast for dinner tonight.

Husband: Does that mean we'll have bacon?

Wife: It can.

Husband: OK, then, we're having breakfast for dinner!

After work

Husband: Bacon and eggs for dinner, bacon and eggs for dinner!

Wife: Well, I wanted to make something like bacon and egg muffins.

Husband: What?

Wife: It's like scrambled eggs, but I'm going to bake them.

Husband: But they'll look like muffins. [hesitates] Alright. Just because I love you. Do whatever floats your boat.

Green With Envy for Good Photogs

Because today consisted of a whole lot of egg whites, leftovers, apples and protein shakes - nothing too interesting, as you can see - I thought I'd give you another look at that Green Goddess Smoothie.

Can you see the green now? Can you?

Green Goddess Smoothie

Still working on the camera settings ... this smoothie is greeeen!

Many o' my childhood mornings were spent at my Mama and Pa's house. I have fond memories of opening up the lower cabinet door directly beneath where Mama's plastic cookie container always sits - full - and swinging out the pullout drawer to grab a prepackaged crumb muffin. Who am I kidding? They came in pairs of two, and you know I always ate both of them.

I've basically always been about breakfast.

But it wasn't until recent years that I started eating what you'd call exceptionally nutritious breakfasts. Crumb muffins, sugary cereals and white bagels with butter were my staples. And boy oh boy did I love Carnation instant breakfast shakes.

Monkey Bread, With Whole Wheat Flour & Love

It drives me insane when a writer uses an exclamation point in place of a question mark. Everyone should know a sentence no longer makes any sense if it's supposed to have question mark but it instead is finished off with an exclamation point.

It is unnecessary to yell. You're asking a question.

It gets under my skin. I am the wife who went to college for words, the husband told everyone on Facebook after he beat me at Words With Friends for the third time. So, there you have it: The misuse of the exclamation point drives me batty.

It is true I sometimes write in incomplete sentences, though I scold everyone at work for doing it. And I sometimes struggle with when to use a semicolon. (My solution? Avoid the semicolon. Write around it. Do whatever you have to do to get out of using one.)

It also makes me a bit crazy when I've had a regular ol' breakfast, a salad for lunch and (hot!) leftovers for dinner, and I'm left with not a whole lot to blog about. I guess that leaves me no choice but to rewind to Christmas Eve when the husband talked me into making him monkey bread for breakfast.

Egg-in-a-Hole Breakfast

Staying in bed until after the husband gets out of the shower, putting on my p.j. pants and the tan wool sweater Momma made me that I pair with just about everything, drinking coffee with my glasses on and cooking the husband breakfast makes for a good morning. 

That's not at all what I did this morning, but it's exactly what I did last Friday when I burned up my last PTO day of the year. I woke up slowly and played a little Words With Friends without feeling like I should be packing lunches instead. 

I did what I wanted. 

But the best part of all? Making sure the husband started his day off right, even if it meant flipping him up a breakfast that made him lift his eyebrows. His look said it all.

Egg-in-a-what are you going to make me eat?

Minty Coffee-Infused Protein Shake

Camera phone = bad photos

My good friend, truth be told best friend from grad school, A, and I took our capstone lunch breaks on the lawn of our very expensive private college. There was a serious heat wave (at least for the Northeast) that summer, and we'd sit under the biggest tree we could find, even if it meant fighting off tent caterpillars the enter hour we were out there. (If you don't know about tent caterpillars, you aren't missing much; I will spare you the details.)

We ate light lunches we packed from home: turkey sandwiches, fruit, caffeine, simple stuff. Sometimes A would crack me up and bring just a 99-cent bag of chips and a coke. She'd often finish her "meal" by telling me: "Alright. I'm going to turn the bag up now."

That was her way of saying her flavored corn chips were so dang good she was going to tilt her had back and get every last crumb she could.

I miss those special moments, A.

Water Bagels Make the Husband Happy

I reward the husband with food. It's a bad habit, I know, and probably one I should break before we open this house up to any little people, but it works. Food treats make the husband happy, and they make me happy. And, for that, I doubt I'll be able to stop anytime soon.

The husband has been super spectacular lately. I, obviously, always think he's the bee's knees, but he has really stepped up lately. I think he's vying for the Husband of the Year Award. Or maybe he's hoping Santa's watching. Either way, his good behavior has earned him multiple food rewards in the last week.

A Tasty Answer: Chicken Cordon Bleu Breakfast in Vegas

I mentioned this fabulous breakfast to the husband and told him that I wanted to make it for him, but, apparently, he has no interest in eating chicken for breakfast. That's right: This tasty little bit is lightly breaded chicken rolled with ham, topped with a poached egg, some yummy sauce that I couldn't quite put my finger on and a slice of crispy bacon. 

How can you look at that little breakfast bite and tell me it's too early in the morning for chicken? I know I'm drooling.

So, as much as I want to re-create this in my own kitchen and share my experience, it doesn't look like this will be happening anytime soon. Maybe the husband will hit the golf course this weekend and I'll attempt to make this wonderful dish for myself, but we'll just have to wait and see. Until then, I thought I should at least share with you the fabulous protein-filled ingredients. Maybe one of you will be inspired and spontaneous enough to eat chicken before noon.

A Tasty Tease: Breakfast in Vegas

There's a quick look at one of the fabulous meals I enjoyed last weekend with my girlfriends in Vegas. Man, I could really go for one of those little bites this morning as I sit in the airport drinking mediocre coffee. Actually, I consider that little dish such a fond breakfast memory I'm wondering if I can re-create it for the husband sometime soon.


So, what do you think is in that little bite? Your hint: It's filled with protein.

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Low-Carb Waffles

High-Protein, Low-Carb Waffles

You know that feeling you get in the back of your throat after you've just eaten so much bread so quickly that you're about to get the hiccups and know you're going to need some peanut butter? No? Are you telling me you've never eaten bread so fast you've gotten that hiccups or that you don't cure hiccups with peanut butter?

Oh, well. Let's not start that debate.

Let me just tell you that these waffles were a long time coming. I tried them with three egg whites, which resulted in a volcano of a waffle erupting all over our kitchen countertop. I tried adding water, which made the waffle iron sizzle and steam - and make very crispy, airy waffles.

Finally I stuck with two egg whites, skipped the water and ended up with waffles.

Thank God.

Not-Yo-Momma's Apple Bread (Or Is It?)

Husband, via text, Friday at 4 pm: Want to make a coffee cake tonight for me to bring to work?
Wife: U know it
Husband: Yup. Best wife ever

I tell you that not so you can puke on your keyboard at our newlywedness. I tell you that so you know why I had to bake after work yesterday. You heard him. The husband really twisted my arm.

All the way home I debated as to whether I should make the boys at the quarry another coffee cake or if I should switch things up a little and make a cinnamon Bundt cake. Decisions, decisions.

Then I walked in the door and saw the husband had brought home a bag full of apples.

"Can you make apple bread?" He asked a bit tentatively. 

I just looked at him.

High-Protein, Low-Carb "Pancakes"

High-Protein, Low-Carb "Pancakes"

Wife: People who see me eat lunch probably think I'm so weird.

Husband, pointing to himself: You mean like this guy?

That was us yesterday discussing my recent brown-bag specials, which have consisted of turkey and cheese roll-ups and chicken salad made with Greek yogurt. I don't eat a lot of carbs - doctor's orders.

So even though the husband wasn't home this morning when I was eating breakfast, I could picture him in his usual spot across the table from me, saying the exact same thing he said to me yesterday afternoon:

Whatever makes you happy, honey.

Well, some might consider this a strange breakfast, but these "pancakes" made me verrrry happy this morning.

High-Protein, Low-Carb Pancakes

Inspired by This Guy

1/2 cup liquid egg whites

1 scoop 100% whey protein powder (I used vanilla)

a dash of apple pie spice

cooking spray

spray butter

Combine the egg whites, protein powder and spice in a shaker and shake for two minutes. The mixture will thicken and begin to look like batter.

Heat a griddle over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Pour the "batter" onto the griddle. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until small bubbles begin to form. Flip. Cook on the other side.

Continue making "pancakes" until all of the batter is gone. Top with butter spray or your favorite syrup or fruit. Next time, I might even use a little Greek yogurt and see how that tastes.

Enjoy!

Serves 1

207 calories, 2.5 g fat, 5.7 g carbs, 0 g fiber, 38 g protein

Egg Sandwiches So Easy College Kids Can Make 'Em

5-Minute Egg Sandwich

I spent years and years not eating eggs. I can't even tell you what made me start eating eggs, but I think my college roommate K. Marie may have helped inspire my love of eggs. They made the perfect college breakfast. We made many an evening last until the wee hours of the morning. After we rose, when most of the world was gearing up for lunch, we'd hit up the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet - and that included mounds of scrambled eggs. 

There were plenty of mornings I swore those eggs had healing powers. I won't get into the details now, but I'll say that sometimes you just need a good shot of protein in the morning; it was during those three and a half years I spent in undergrad that I learned eggs sometimes have just what it is that you need most. 

My (Banana) Muffin Man

I eat a lot of fruit. No joke. On any given day, I'll eat an apple, blueberries or cranberries, pineapple chunks or an orange, and I almost always eat a banana. I love bananas. So it's odd that we've had so many overripe bananas in our kitchen lately. But the last thing I was going to do was throw them into the compost. 

Gimme Some of that Banana Bread, Honey

It was 95 degrees here today - an unseasonably warm, muggy, sunny, run-from-the-car-to-the-air-conditioned-house day for us. But I've had overripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter just calling my name for days. So despite the humidity, and the fact that I thought the husband was really going to fight me on heating up the kitchen, I had to bake tonight. Yes, I had to bake tonight.

For those of you who didn't go to high school with me, I'm the Banana Bread Queen. For years, I enjoyed whipping up baked goods for my friends' birthdays, and banana bread was an easy and delicious choice. But the truth is I haven't really been making a lot of banana breads in recent years. (I know, I made one back in November, but I really don't make them that often anymore.) 

Basically, I always want to eat the whole loaf. 

Banana Smoothie

Banana Smoothie From Health

The wife, packing her lunch before work: Ah, man!

The husband comes into the kitchen, worried the wife is actually having some sort of emergency: What happened?

The wife: I just dropped a cranberry in my tea!

The husband, laughing: Well, why are you making your trail mix over your tea? You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?

I have to admit, the husband had a point. I'm constantly doing things that result in him saying, "You knew that was going to happen." (And before it was the husband, the stepdaddy was the one who always had to point this out to me.) I'll spoon food from a serving dish to my plate only to slop it all over the dinner table. I've been known to wear a white shirt while eating spaghetti and gravy. And I've spent more than one January 1 on the couch with a glass of ginger ale - and I mean one glass - all day.

It's not always pretty, but there's probably no changing me at this point, which means the husband just has to shake his head and laugh. And I have to stubbornly accept the fact that he was right. So I was completely prepared for that to be the case yesterday morning when I was whipping up my breakfast.