Frugal Feeds | Breezy Breakfasts You Can Make Ahead and You'll Just Need A Few Minutes to Serve

These breakfasts look complicated but once you get the hang of them you will see that they are quick, easy and hearty--not to mention a healthy way to start your day!


Breakfast Parfait

Looks like you are serving a sundae and the kids love it.

You will need:
4 wine or parfait glasses ( I also use martini glasses or regular drink glasses)
1 cup rolled whole oats
1/2 cup nuts

2 cups low fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup raw honey
1 cup fruit
4 Tablespoons chocolate chips


In a small saute pan, over medium heat, add your oats. Toast them until they start to show lightly browned. Remove from pan immediately and place in a bowl.
Return pan to hot burner and add nuts. Toast them until they start to show lightly browned. Remove from pan and place in the bowl.
Return pan to hot burner and warm the fruit you are using.
In a separate bowl whisk the honey and yogurt. If you are using fully raw, creamed or solid honey you will want to warm it until it melts before whisking with the yogurt.
Remove pan from burner and turn off stovetop.
In each glass place 1/4 cup honey yogurt, 1/3 cup oat/nut mixture, 1/4 cup fruit and 1 tablespoon chocolate chips.
Serve.


Breakfast Pudding
This is similar to an English pudding. It is a quick and easy way to use up your left over fruits. But you need to make it the night before.

You will need:

1/4 cup raw honey
4 c. bread crumbs
2 cups mashed or pureed fruit

1 cup low fat yogurt
4 Tablespoons raw honey

Warm raw honey over low heat. Stir 1/4 cup honey, bread crumbs and fruit in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and top with an inverted (upside down) dinner plate. Refrigerate overnight. The next morning remove from refrigerator. Remove plastic wrap. Place plate back onto bowl and, holding the bowl and plate together turn the bowl upside down and let it sit this way on the counter for a few minutes. While the pudding is coming out of the bowl mold get a second bowl and whisk your warmed honey and yogurt. You can use maple syrup, agave syrup or stevia for sweetener, instead of honey, to taste. Remove bowl from pudding. It should have released from the bowl by now. If it hasn't turn it back to right-side-up and use a butter knife to loosen the edges. Place the plate back on it and invert it again. Let it sit for a few minutes. Slice into eight pieces. Top with sweetened plain low fat yogurt. Two slices are a serving.



Breakfast Burritos

You'll need:
2 cups water
1/2 cup Black Bean Flour
Garlic Powder
Chili Powder
Cumin
Salt
4 Whole Wheat Burrito Tortillas
4 ounces Low Fat Cheese, shredded
2 Tablespoons low sodium Broth
4 Eggs or egg alternative or tofu



2 cups shredded Lettuce
4 Tablespoons Salsa

In a small pot bring water to a boil and whisk in the black bean flour. Add about 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, chili powder, cumin and salt to taste. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat to low, cover it, and let it simmer.


Warm your tortillas. If you have a microwave place them on a plate and cover with an inverted plate or plastic wrap or use a food safe plastic bag. Warm for 20 seconds and let it stay in the microwave until you are ready to use them. If you don't have a microwave you will want to remove them from their plastic bag and place in a stack on a cookie sheet. Cover the tortillas thoroughly with aluminum foil or a large oven safe pot or pan lid. Let it warm at 250 degrees until you are ready to use them.

Shred your cheese.

Whisk the eggs until they are foamy and fully mixed together. In a skillet, over medium heat, bring the broth to simmer. Add the whisked eggs. Using a silicon spatula, every 30 seconds or so, scrape the eggs from the bottom of the skillet into the center. Allow the runny, uncooked eggs to flow into the area that you have just scraped and then leave it alone for another 30 seconds. Repeat until the eggs are all cooked and not runny at all.

Shred your lettuce.

Assemble the burritos:

Remove tortillas from oven and place on a plate. Remove beans from stove top. Remove eggs from stove top. Arrange the plates/pans/bowls in this order:
Tortillas, Black Beans, Eggs, Shredded Cheese, Shredded Lettuce, Salsa.
Spread 3 Tablespoons black beans on each tortilla. Top with 1/4 cup of scrambled egg. Top with 2 Tablespoons Shredded Cheese. Top with 1/2 cup shredded lettuce. Top with 1 Tablespoon Salsa.

You want to do this quickly because you don't want your tortillas to begin to cool or they will not fold well.

How to fold the burrito. Fold bottom quarter of tortilla toward the center, over the filling. Fold top quarter of tortilla toward the center, over the filling. Pull left third of tortilla over the filling and tuck it or crease it where the edge of the filling is. Lastly roll the entire burrito over so that the left third is now wrapped into the right third and the seams are all on the bottom touching the plate. Let them sit for twenty seconds or so to have the tortilla cool and mold itself to the filling before picking it up.

If you make these burritos without the lettuce you can freeze them by wrapping in plastic wrap and placing in a freezer bag. When you have the time you can make 16 of them and freeze 12 for those days when you don't have time.

Breakfast Burritos for a Crowd

Half a gallon (8 cups) water
2 cups Black Bean Flour
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Salt
16 Whole Wheat Burrito Tortillas
1 pound Low Fat Cheese, shredded
1/2 cups low sodium Broth

16 Eggs, egg alternatives  or crumbled tofu

16 Tablespoons Salsa
2 cups lettuce, shredded

Prepare as in standard recipe except do not add the lettuce to the ones you will freeze.

Reheat in the microwave in its plastic wrap. For reheating int the oven remove all of the plastic and place on a cookie sheet. Cover with aluminum foil. Reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes-or until thoroughly heated.


Next time we will recap the immense number of recipes you can create from this blog so far.

Frugal Feeds | 15 Ways with Bread Crumbs

Continuing on the theme for the week, lets now talk about Bread Crumbs.

Bread crumbs are great extenders in so many dishes!

2 slices of whole grain bread will give you about 1 cup of dried bread crumbs. Because of weight differences in the type of bread you use and how dry your crumbs are, this number is an average from my experience--but modify as needed.

Going with the 2 slices=1 cup theory, you will want 1/2 cup of crumbs per person for a serving. That means that if you are doing a crumb topping for a casserole you would use 2 cups for 4 servings.

Meat Extenders. Any time that you have a little less meat than you need for a dish, add up to 1/2 cup crumbs per desired pound of meat plus 1/3 cup of liquid. For example, if you needed 4 servings (1 pound) of ground beef for a dish, but had about 3/4 pound of meat you can add that 1/2 cup of crumbs plus 1/3 cup of any of the following broth, wine, tomato sauce, 2% milk, vegetable juice, barbecue sauce or 1/2 cup of sauteed vegetables such as mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant or any other moist vegetable.

This works also to intentionally use less meat. Less meat consumed saves money, so if you are buying ground beef at $1.75 a pound and bread at $1.00 a pound, then you save over .17 cents per serving, or .68 cents per meal, or somewhere over $400.00 a year.


Lets take a basic list of ingredients and change it a few times over:

3/4 # 95% Lean Ground beef or turkey
1/2 c. Bread Crumbs
1/3-1/2 c. Liquid or vegetable

Method

Extended Meat Dishes--

Mexican Style Meat Extender: 95% Lean Ground beef, bread crumbs, salsa (or canned diced tomatoes and peppers)--add to tacos or burritos

Stroganoff Style Meat Extender: 95% Lean Ground beef, bread crumbs, mushrooms--add to whole grain egg noodles with a white sauce (add onions and parsley for Stroganoff)

Italian Style Meat Extender: 95% Lean Ground beef, bread crumbs, peppers and onions--add to whole grain pasta with a tomato sauce

American Style Meat Extender: 95% Lean Ground beef, bread crumbs, broth--add to brown rice with vegetables and/or cheese

SOS Style Meat Extender: 95% Lean Ground beef, bread crumbs, 2% milk, white sauce--add to lightly buttered toast for SOS

Casserole Style Meat Extender: 95% Lean Ground beef or lean ground turkey, bread crumbs, red or white wine--add to casserole, top with additional seasoned crumbs also

Sloppy Joes Style Meat Extender: 95% Lean Ground beef, bread crumbs, bbq sauce and ketchup--add to toasted buns for Sloppy Joes.

The combinations are endless already. But don't just think of ground beef here though, think of ground lean turkey, chicken, fish, lamb, buffalo, and even veggies and cheese.

Lean Meat Solution: Ground turkey breast is notorious for being very dry and tasteless but add seasoned breadcrumbs and some moisture and it suddenly becomes delicious. Same is true of lean ground buffalo or beef. Crumbs with some egg also help hold together lots of little bits of things into lumps of things that taste really great! They hold moisture, flavor and hold it together. But don't add too much or it will taste more like meatloaf.

Meat Cakes--
Basically, if you have 3/4 pound of cooked meat bits, you can add 1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs, 1/4 cup of liquid, 1/2 cup of vegetables and one beaten egg. Mix well. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Using a #20 disher, dish out 8-12 patties. Flatten with the bottom of a cup. Cover and chill for at least one hour. Lightly butter a second cookie sheet, or use a non-stick cookie sheet. Invert and place on top of first sheet and then, holding pans together, invert and remove the parchment paper. Or, simply transfer meat cakes with a thin, flat spatula to the buttered cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes, or until golden brown and heated through. Serve immediately and allow unused servings to cool in refrigerator. Place four patties each into three freezer bags. Write the date and name of the patties on the freezer bag and freeze for up to three months.

This is the basic recipe behind crab cakes, fish cakes, meat loaf and seasoned sausage patties. You can add herbs, spices or low-fat cheeses to change the flavors. Play around with different vegetables, different types of crumbs, use bbq sauce, tartar sauce, citrus juices, tomato juice, vegetable juice, gravies, sauces, etc...
Its your dish. Play around with it and make it unique to you.

Cheese Straws

1 cup bread crumbs, Pinch of cayenne, 1/2 cup grated cheese, 1/4 cup milk, 2/3 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Mix all together. Roll it out fairly thin, about a 1/4 inch thick. Cut into strips about 6 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Place on cookie sheet. Bake 20 minutes in moderate oven. 


Crumbs don't need to just be a small component to a dish though. They can be the dish. Here are some super simple ways to use up a bunch of crumbs quickly, and sweetly--

Pancakes--To the traditional custard:

(2 Eggs, beaten, 1 cup 2% Milk, 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar, 1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract)

add another 1/2 c. 2% milk
1 c. crumbs
1 c. whole grain flour
4 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt.

If crumbs are very dry you may want this to rest for 20 minutes before cooking. Pour by 1/4 cupfuls onto a moderately hot, lightly buttered, griddle. When edges of pancakes have dry bubbles, flip them and cook until they no longer send out any steam. Serve as usual pancakes.


Fridge pudding--This is not a blanc mange or a creamy pudding but more similar to a very moist bread pudding or English pudding. It is a super easy and breezy way to go through that bucket of fresh picked berries in the Fall.

Take 4 c. bread crumbs and mix with 2 cups pureed berries pureed and sweetened to taste with honey. Pour into a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Invert onto a plate. Slice. Serve with maple, honey or stevia sweetened plain yogurt. Simple and delicious!

Pie Crusts--

Pie Crusts Sweet Version--2 cups bread crumbs, 1/2 a cup of liquid coconut oil (warm briefly in a small pan on the stovetop or in a bowl in the microwave), 1/4 cup brown sugar or ground dates. Press into pie plate with the bottom of a glass. Use for fruit pies. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. To prepare for cream pies fill pie pan shield with dried beans then bake. Allow to cool thoroughly before putting the beans back into the pantry. Fill, chill and serve.

Pie Crusts Savory Version--2 cups bread crumbs, 1/2 c. nut butter (almond, cashew and pecan work well), 2 Tablespoons herbs. Press into pie plate with the bottom of a glass. Or, reduce the nut butter and add low fat cheese. Use for quiches, shepherds pie or top with unbaked biscuits for pot pies. Bake according to recipe or at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.


Crumb Topping For Desserts--
Combine 2 Tablespoons ground nuts with 2 Tablespoons brown sugar, 1/3 c. crumbs, 2 Tablespoons whole grain flour, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the remaining ingredients until all is the texture of crumbs. Top cakes, pies, bars and muffins with this before baking.