Hashbrown Casserole

This is my all time favorite, go-to breakfast casserole recipe. I've never met anyone who didn't love it, and I usually get asked for the recipe. Whenever we have company, I always make this for breakfast and its also a Christmas morning favorite around our house. This is sure to be a crowd pleaser no matter what occasion you choose!



Hashbrown Casserole

• 1 bag frozen, shredded hash browns
• 1 stick light butter/margarine, melted
• 16oz fat free sour cream
• 1 can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
• 2C reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.
Mix all ingredients together and pour into a sprayed 9x13 baking dish.
Bake for 45 mins - 1 hour until top is golden brown.

Upside Down Baked Oatmeal

I came up with this recipe for my friend Jamie when she was in a breakfast slump and bored of her usual oatmeal in a bowl. This is really easy to make and super low in points, which is how I like my breakfasts to be! You can use any fruit you want for this oatmeal, I went with bananas.

This is also an awesome time to put your Capella Flavor Drops to use! I added about ten drops of the French Toast flavor to this batch of oatmeal...heaven! There are two really exciting things about this recipe. Number one is that it freezes beautifully, you can cut up equal portions, individually wrap them in plastic wrap and grab them and go in the mornings! The other exciting fact is that no matter how you slice this thing, the points cannot be beaten. By my ingredient list six servings would be approximately 3 points a piece, and four servings (1/4 of the ENTIRE pan!) would only be about 5 points. If you cut them even smaller at eight servings you're only looking at 2 points! You could even make them into muffins! All very reasonable numbers for your morning meal. Top it with more fresh fruit or fat free cool whip, maybe even a drizzle of sugar free syrup. Yum!

Upside Down Baked Oatmeal

•  2 bananas (or other fruit of your choice)
• 2 c. uncooked oats
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 c. lowfat milk
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 c. Splenda
• 1 t. vanilla extract (or Capella Flavor Drops of your choice!)
• 1 t. ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray.

Slice bananas and arrange in the bottom of the pan.

Combine wet ingredients and then add in dry ingredients. Mix well.

Pour mixture into pan, and bake for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Adapted from:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/breakfast-ideas-phase-2/83187-baked-oatmeal.html
and
http://www.healthyfoodforliving.com/?p=12247

Chocolate Chip Waffles

We've decided to start a new tradition of making waffles on Christmas morning at our house. We always have a special breakfast, but its changed from year to year. This is not to say that we won't be trying new things in years to come, but waffles will be center stage from now on! I think each year we will experiment with different fillings, toppings and additions to our waffles.

This year I decided to test out some chocolate chip waffles before the big day. Can you imagine a Christmas morning breakfast flop? "Honey, you think McDonald's is open?" These waffles were perfect the first time, so I didn't even need to test them out, but since we had a couple convenient snow days around here I thought waffles were the perfect way to start out a snowy day!

The kids loved these, and I didn't mind them all that much either. ;-) I adapted the recipe slightly from one of my favorite blogs, Annie's Eats. I added half white and half semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of mini chips, just for variety. Also, I know this ingredient list is a little longer than you're used to here on the Pie Hole. You can totally just make Bisquick waffles and throw in some chips, and you'll have chocolate chip waffles all the same. I just wanted to go a little extra step for the holiday, but I probably wouldn't do that any other time of the year!


  Chocolate Chip Waffles

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 large egg white, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups milk, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• cooking spray to grease the iron

Directions:
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
Separate the 2 eggs and put all of the egg whites (3 total) in a large bowl.
In a large liquid measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, milk, vanilla and 1/4 cup melted butter.  Whisk the milk mixture into the flour mixture until a batter is formed.  Take care not to over-mix the batter.
Whip the egg whites with an electric mixer until they just begin to hold a loose peak.  Scatter the sugar over the whites and continue beating until they hold a soft peak.  Fold a third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten the base, then fold in the remaining whites.  Gently fold in the chocolate chips.
Preheat a waffle iron to medium high.  Spray with cooking spray.  Pour in enough batter to barely fill each hole of the waffle iron (keeping in mind that the batter will spread once the lid is closed).  Close the iron and cook until crisp and the waffle iron stops steaming, about 5 minutes.  Serve as the waffles come off the iron or transfer to a dish in the oven heated to 200 degrees F.  Repeat with the remaining batter.

http://annies-eats.com/2009/01/05/chocolate-chip-waffles/

Breakfast Pizza

I hate to toot my own horn, but holy crap this pizza is completely amazing! That was considered "tooting" wasn't it? Well, this creation deserves it! All three of my kids scarfed this down, and anyone who has three kids knows that getting them all to enjoy the same meal happens about as often as Halley's Comet.

When I was creating this recipe my hang up was on the "sauce." Traditional pizza uses a marinara sauce, or sometimes alfredo, or even olive oil. But none of those seemed to jive with eggs and bacon. Then a light bulb went off...Velveeta! I actually found a cheese similar to Velveeta in my grocery store (Kroger) called "queso blanco," its a white cheese like Velveeta that's infused with jalapenos. If you can't find something similar to that, regular Velveeta will work just fine, but the queso blanco was out of this world. It added a nice kick, but wasn't too spicy because even my toddler loved it.

You can customize this to your preferences. If you prefer sausage to bacon, use that. If you want to add some sauteed peppers and onions, have at it. The possibilities are endless!

Breakfast Pizza

• 1 mini pizza crust
• 2 eggs, scrambled
• 1 slice turkey bacon
• 1/4C mexican blend shredded cheese
• 1 inch thick slice of Velveeta type cheese (I used a Queso Blanco with Jalapenos)

Directions:
Cut the queso or velveeta into small chunks and microwave until smooth.
Spread on the pizza crust.
Arrange eggs and bacon on top of the pizza.
Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
Bake pizza according to directions on the crust package.

Egg Muffins

You've heard it time and time again..."Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" If you're like me, its also one of the most difficult meals of the day to actually eat. Between getting myself and the kids ready in the mornings, its all I can do to remember to get dressed! These Egg Muffins are the perfect breakfast to make ahead of time and grab in the morning. They can even be frozen! I wrap them in saran wrap individually and grab one to take to work and heat up. Of course, its a muffin so what does that mean? Kid friendly!


One word of advice though, I used a silicone muffin pan for these the first time and realized that an actual muffin tin is a better choice. The ham and/or wonton wrappers get nice and crispy with a tin whereas the silicone makes them a little soggy - still delicious though! I'm going to post the recipe the way I made them, but the possibilites are totally endless here. Some additions that come to mind...bacon, canadian bacon, sausage, peppers, broccoli, asparagus, and on and on and on. Feel free to change/add anything you want and to use any kind of cheese you have on hand. I promise you can't go wrong here.


Egg Muffins

9 servings

Wonton wrappers
Sliced ham
1 carton Egg Beaters
1/2 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 C cooked, drained spinach (fresh or frozen)
1C mushrooms
1t chopped garlic (that pre-chopped kind in the jar is a lifesaver!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

1. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Line the muffin tin with the wonton wrappers and/or the ham. I made 6 with wonton wrappers and 3 with ham. For the wonton wrappers you'll need 2 per cup. Place one along one side of the muffin hole and one on the other (see the first photo below) and press into the tin.

3. Saute mushrooms and garlic using non-stick spray on medium heat until tender.

4. Divide mushrooms and spinach among the cups.

5. Top with about 1T of cheese.

6. Pour egg beaters into each cup, filling to the top. (Optional: You can sprinkle a bit more cheese on the tops if you like!)

7. Bake at 350 for 20 mins. The tops should puff up when they are done.

Wonton wrapper

Ham

Aren't these the cutest things you've ever seen!?

Source: Adapted from http://www.ourbestbites.com/