Breakfast Fridays! On the menu: Dairy-free, Egg-free Banana French Toast

At our house, we have a tradition we like to call "“Breakfast Fridays.”  That’s where we have breakfast food for dinner and my darling son gets to stay up late with daddy watching TV and eating snacks until they both fall asleep on the couch. LOL. He looks forward to this bonding time with his dad every week.  And it gives mommy some much needed “me time” on a Friday night to catch up on my Netflix, blog, or finish reading that novel on my nightstand that I keep telling myself I’m going to finish.

Well, this past Friday we had Dairy-free/ Egg-free Banana French toast. Wait? You can make French toast without eggs?  Yes!!!! You can!  And I’m gonna show you how.

Dairy-free/Egg-free Banana French Toast-makes about 4 slices

Ingredients:

• “safe” bread (I just used 4 slices of a "safe" whole wheat sandwich bread)
• ¼ cup of banana puree ( I mashed mine with a fork, but you can totally use a blender)
• ¼ cup non-dairy milk (we use Almond milk in our house)
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together the banana puree, non-dairy milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in a dish flat and wide enough for dipping the bread. Coat each side of a piece of bread by dipping into the mixture.  Now, be careful with this process. Dip one side, then flip the bread immediately to dip the other side.  Don’t allow the bread to sit in the mixture.  If you do, it will be a soggy mess and just won’t cook up right.  Next, brown each side of the bread slices in a medium-high skillet. About 3 minutes per side.  Flip them over a few times while they're browning to prevent burning on either side.

Next transfer the slices to a 400 degree oven to finish cooking. Bake about 10 mins., flipping halfway through.

I topped ours with some powdered sugar, sliced strawberries and bananas, and warm maple syrup.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m glad football season is back for a ton of reasons, but one of the Top 3 is that I now have someone to give these baked goods to! My baking slows down severely in the offseason because I can’t afford to have piles of cookies, bars, and cakes all over my kitchen. There are now a bunch of hungry offensive lineman eager to help me out with all the extra treats.

This is a recipe that I am constantly tweaking. It can take adjustments and additions so I love to play around with it. This combo is my favorite right now!

Ingredients 

1/2 cup rolled oats, chopped
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
8 oz. cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
2 eggs
3 cups miniature chocolate chips
1-1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Prepare oats and walnuts. Use a blender/or food processor to pulse the rolled oats till they are roughly chopped. This gives you a chewier cookie.
2. Cream together butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Mix in the eggs one at a time, until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon). Stir into wet ingredients till dough forms. Gently fold in the oats, walnuts, chocolate chips.
4. Chill the dough overnight. BE PATIENT!*
5. Bake cookies at 325 degrees for 15-18 minutes. You are looking for barely brown edges and cracked tops.
6. Let cool, Enjoy!
7. *It’s easiest to scoop the dough onto plates covered with wax paper before you refrigerate the dough. Scooping cold dough is not fun.

TIPS

Get creative with your add-ins! Try coconut flakes, pecans, dried cranberries, or butterscotch chips. 

Dairy-free, Egg-free Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Cookies & Cream Frosting

Chocolate should be a food group, don’t you think? I mean c’mon! Everything’s better with chocolate on it!  Okay, maybe not everything…but you’ve got to admit, a little chocolate does make things better.  At least for me it does.  I’m a bit of what some would call a choco-holic.  I admit…it’s a problem.  I love chocolate cake.  And I love chocolate cookies.  Seriously, I go through a package of Oreos in a few days! It’s my guilty pleasure.  At night I look forward to my crunchy, sweet 10 o’clock snack while hubby and I catch up on Netflix.

This recipe is the perfect marriage of chocolate cake and chocolate cookie.  The chocolate cake is just a boxed cake mix, but, it's allergy-friendly.  And the cookies are Oreos.  Which by the way are milk and egg-free!  Score!  And don’t fret…I realize I’ve got to balance out all that chocolate going on.  So, I do this with a dairy-free cream cheese frosting which adds just a hint of tang.  BTW, I really have to give props to Daiya for their cream "cheese"; it's allergy-friendly and actually tastes great.

Try this recipe!  These little gems are seriously good and you'll love them, whether you're a fellow choco-holic or not.

Dairy-free,Egg-free Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Cookies & Cream Frosting-makes about 15 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake Batter:

• 1 box “allergy-friendly” Chocolate Cake Mix ( we use Cherrybrook Kitchen)

Cookies & Cream Frosting:

• 6oz. dairy-free “cream cheese”
• ½ cup vegan butter
• 3 cups of confectioner’s sugar
• ½ cup crushed Oreo cookies

Prepare cake mix according to package. I use Cherrybrook Kitchen cake mixes because they’re allergy friendly, and don’t contain milk or egg.  Pour batter into lined cupcake pan and bake according to instructions.  Let cool.

To make the frosting, simply beat the vegan butter and dairy-free cream cheese together. Add in sugar 1 cup at a time, and continue to beat until fully incorporated. Gently fold in crushed Oreos.

Top each cupcake with a generous amount of frosting and finish it off with a cookie.  Enjoy!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I don’t bake too often anymore. There is nothing worse than delicious little baked goods sitting around tempting you all day. I can’t help but pop in the kitchen and snag a muffin/cookie/ slice of cake every chance I get. These muffins were worth the temptation though. They are the perfect morning treat. I love to wake up to sunshine flooding into my kitchen and these bright, kind of tart, not-too- sweet muffins sitting in a basket on my counter. PS: The basket of muffins help distract people from the dishes in the sink!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp poppy seeds
8 tbsp of unsalted butter, melted
1 C sugar

2 eggs
2/3 C plain greek yogurt ( 1 single serve container)
1 tsp vanilla extract
the zest and juice from 1 lemon

For the Glaze

3 tbsp of lemon juice
1 C of powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line the muffin pan (I used these silicone liners from Amazon—http://amzn.to/1OOfs9y) or coat with nonstick baking spray.
2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest. Combine until sugar is slightly wet and fragrant.
3. Whisk in all the dry ingredients except for the poppy seeds.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the greek yogurt, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix gently until combined. Stir in the poppy seeds.
6. Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups.
7. Bake for 16- 20 minutes. Transfer muffins to cooling rack before adding glaze.
8. TO MAKE GLAZE: place powdered sugar in a bowl. Add lemon juice until it’s a consistency you like. I prefer a thin glaze that drips off the spoon.

TIPS:

The instructions are a little involved but don’t look for shortcuts; they’re worth the time.

I have tried several lemon poppy seed muffin recipes and I find that the less mixing and whipping of the ingredients the better.

Add some blueberries for a nice twist!

Lemon Parmesan Crusted Cod; a Whole Foods "score!"

I have to be weary when I send my husband to the grocery store alone. Not because he forgets things or buys junk food; he is very likely to pick up an item that sounds good and just propose I whip it up real quick… Well a recent trip to Whole Foods returned a couple gorgeous pieces of Atlantic Cod. I don’t cook a ton of fish, but when I do…

For an easy and healthy lunch, I whipped up lemon parmesan crusted Atlantic Cod, leftover grilled asparagus, cauliflower mash, and some sautéed spinach. It got his seal of approval and took less than 30 minutes to prepare.

The fish is light, fresh, and is perfect for hot summer days or if you're just trying to lean up in time for the summer!

Ingredients

2 pieces of meaty white fish

1/2 C of grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon of lemon zest

1/4 tsp pepper

fresh parsley, minced

olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil.
2. Mix grated parmesan cheese, lemon zest, and pepper in a shallow dish.
3. lightly drizzle the fish with olive oil. Just enough so that the parmesan mixture adheres.
4. Coat each side of the fish with mixture.
5. Bake for 12- 15 minutes. Fish will be white and flaky.
6. Top with chopped parsley and a squeeze of fresh lemon.
7. enjoy!

TIPS

I always purchase either whole pieces of parmesan cheese or the shredded variety. To get grated parmesan cheese, all you have to do it pulse it in a blender.

For the cauliflower mash, boil a head of cauliflower till fork tender. Drain. Add 1 tablespoon of butter. Use an immersion blender, or a food processor to pulse till smooth. If too chunky, add more butter or a little milk. Season just like you would mashed potatoes!

The crust for the fish is something I have also done on a chicken breast. To lessen the amount of parmesan cheese, add a 1/4 c of whole wheat panko crumbs and bake for longer.