Eggs in Bell Pepper Ring

Sick of eating the same old eggs everyday?! This dish is easy and sure to add a little color to your morning with these fun eggs cooked in bell pepper rings. They are an easy brunch dish, too! Garnish with fresh herbs, like basil, dill, chives, if desired.

Total Time: 31 min.
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cooking Time: 21 min.
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
1 large bell pepper, cored, sliced into 6 rings
6 large eggs
Sea salt (or Himalayan salt) and ground black pepper (to taste; optional)

Preparation:
1. Heat large nonstick skillet, lightly coated with spray, over medium-low heat.
2. Place bell pepper rings in skillet. Crack an egg into the center of each ring. Season with salt and pepper if desired; cook for 2 to 4 minutes, or until egg are cooked to desired doneness.

From Beachbody Blog

Homemade Energy Bars

Do you love granola or power bars?! The bulk of prepackaged bars sold at gas stations or convenience stores are loaded with sugar, preservatives, and empty calories. These homemade bars can be made in minutes and contain only good-for-you ingredients like fruit and nuts.

Homemade Energy Bars

Ingredients:
1 cup whole pitted dates (or prunes)
1 cup dried fruit (like apricots, prunes, figs, raisins, cranberries, blueberries, or cherries)
1 cup chopped nuts (or seeds) (like almonds, walnuts, cashews, sesame seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, or sunflower seeds)
2 scoops Shakeology, any flavor

Preparation:
1. Place dates, fruit, and nuts in a food processor. Pulse for 1 to 2 minutes; scrape sides of bowl.
2. Add Shakeology; process for 2 to 3 minutes, or until mixture becomes tiny crumbs that can come together to form a loose ball.
3. Line an 8 x 8-inch pan with cellophane. Press mixture into pan until flat. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Cut into 12 bars. Store in refrigerator.

Calories per serving: 124

Tip: For additional flair add one or more of the following: ½ tsp. rum extract, ½ tsp. cinnamon, 1 Tbsp. raw honey, ½ tsp. vanilla extract, 1–2 oz dark chocolate chips, or 2 tsp. grated fresh ginger. Adding any of these items may change the nutritional information.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Pancakes are a huge hit around this house. My kids loves them, my hubby loves them, heck even I love them. But they aren't exactly the best breakfast food! This morning I was surfing around on MyFitnessPal and spotted an article about 15 different ways to use oatmeal. That's where I found it! Oatmeal pancakes! They sounded awesome so I just had to try them out! Here's the recipe-

Oatmeal Pancakes

Serving size: 4 pancakes (2 1/2 Tbsp of batter per pancake) 

1/4 whole wheat flour 

1 cup quick cooking oats

1 Tbsp sugar (I used a little less!)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. cinnamon (I used a little more)

1/8 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk (I used 2% regular milk)

2 Tbsp. butter, melted (I used 1 1/2 Tbsp.)

1 large egg

(Milk not pictured!)

1. In a bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt) and stir with a whisk. Set aside.

2. In another bowl add the milk and egg and whisk to combine. While whisking the milk&egg mixture, slowly add the melted butter. You don't want to do this too fast as you will end up with cooked egg in your mixture! 

3. Take the oats mixture and add them into the wet ingredients. Stir just until wet. 

4. Over medium heat, coat pan with cooking spray and cook 2 1/2 Tbsp. of batter until the tops are bubbly and the bottoms are lightly brown. Flip them over and cook through. 

Additional Toppings: Maple Syrup OR 1/2 Tbsp. peanut butter and a drizzle of honey. 

These pancakes were so yummy! We didn't have any maple syrup so we used the peanut butter and honey. It was AWESOME!!! The kiddos gobbled them right up! Seriously one of my favorite pancakes! And the best part is they are a little healthier than the original!! 

Nutrition Info:

Serves 3 / Serving Size: 4 pancakes

Per serving: Calories- 263: Total Fat 12g: Saturated Fat 6g: Cholesterol 85mg: Sodium 492mg: Carbohydrate 30g: Fiber 3G: sugar 5g: Protein 10g

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Bananas and chocolate are a match made in heaven so when we had a few too ripe bananas I was instantly wanting muffins! The problem with most muffin recipes is that they are filled with flour, oil, sugar and butter. I came across this recipe from Running with Spoons and decided to give it a try. Not going to lie, the greek yogurt in them scared me but I went for it anyways!! 

They came out GREAT!!! The muffins were moist and not overly sweet. The banana flavor came through nicely and even the kids liked them :) 

Here is the recipe! 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins 

2 ripe bananas

1 cup plain greek yogurt

2 cups rolled oats (old fashioned or quick)

2 eggs

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder

1/2 tsp. Baking soda

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (mini or regular) 

1. Get out your muffin tin and SPRAY the cups. Spray the cups even if you are using paper ones. The lack of oil in these muffins makes them stick to everything!! I made this mistake. Please spray!!! 

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

3. Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. If using a blender you may have to stop it and stir it a few times! 

4. Add chocolate chips and stir. 

5. Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way and sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top if wanted. 

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until center is completely cooked. 

Enjoy!!!

Happy Monday!!

Well today didn't start off that awesome! My alarm never went off or I shut it off in my sleep... either way, I woke up at 7:30!!! Talk about freak out!! 

So I launched out of bed and started packing lunches, making breakfast and getting my oldest ready for school. Today is the start of Diversity Week so today's theme was "Diversity knocks your socks off" so all the kids were supposed to wear crazy socks for the day. 

This is what my girl picked :) She loved being able to wear whatever socks she wanted AND have them on the outside of her leggings!

So after I got my oldest off to school it was time to come home and make some (more) breakfast for my other two. They both decided on oatmeal, which half the time they don't eat after I make it, so I was determined to make it yummy. 

To my surprise they LOVED it!! 

Here is the recipe!

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Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

1/2 cup quick oats

1 cup water

Pinch of salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 quarter of an apple

Drizzle of honey

1. In a sauce pan add the water and a small pinch of salt over med-high heat. 

2. Cut up the quarter of an apple into small pieces. I cut mine into toddler friendly bite sized pieces so they were pretty small! About the size of a pea. 

3. Once the water is boiling add in the oats, apple pieces and cinnamon. Stir to combine.

4. Let the mixture cook for about a minute or until oats are cooked. Remove from heat. 

5. Drizzle a little honey over the top and serve!  

This portion was perfect to split between my two toddlers! 

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Now that breakfast to served and cleaned up, I need to get my sweat on with Max 30- Cardio Challenge! 

Have a happy Monday :) 

Spinach and Onion Scramble

Here is a yummy recipe from the Max 30 nutrition plan! Gotta love an easy and simple breakfast! This one is a keeper for sure!

Spinach and Onion Scramble
1 whole egg
4 egg whites
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 cup chopped onions
Pepper
Salt
1 tsp. Olive oil

-Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat.
-In a bowl scramble the eggs; add a pitch of salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
-Add onions and spinach to hot skillet and cook until onions are soft and spinach is wilted.
-Add eggs and cook until done. 

Enjoy!!!

Yogurt Bowls

Yogurt can be such a great way to get a quick, on the go, breakfast in. Its incredibly versatile and comes in so many different varieties. I love Stony Fields plain yogurt and Chobani Greek yogurt. Both are great and can be used with these recipes!

Walnut and Honey Yogurt Bowl

1 Cup Nonfat plain organic yogurt

1 apple, diced 4

2 tbsp. walnuts, chopped

1 tsp. agave nectar

-Combine ingredients in bowl. Serve 

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Patriotic Yogurt Bowl

1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

¼ cup fresh strawberry slices

¼ cup fresh blueberries

½ TSP. Raw Honey

 -Layer all ingredients (yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, drizzle honey) and ENJOY!