Carrot Cake... for breakfast?

Parents magazine recently had an article about veggies for breakfast, I figured I could give it a shot. One recipe in particular looked easy and I already had the ingredients on hand! If you like carrot cake, this is a must for breakfast!

low fat vanilla yogurt
shredded carrots (i used the small side of my shredder so I actually ended up with more of a carrot pulp)
raisins
walnuts (I didn't have any on hand)
cinnamon

layer (or mix like I did) yogurt, carrots and raisins. top with walnuts and sprinkle with cinnamon! amazing how a low fat, nutritious breakfast can taste like dessert!

Veggie Breakfast Bake

I am trying something new tonight. Not only is it new but it's just off the top of my head :) Keep in mind, this is one of those recipes you can use whatever you have in the fridge for this. Basically, anything that would be good in eggs can be tossed in this dish! I left this recipe pretty open but for those of you who prefer a more rigid recipe, I listed some ideas below!

** Update: This was absolutely loved by my family!

1 dozen eggs (beat and seasoned, I used black pepper and italian seasoning)
about 4-5 cups of chopped veggies
2 cups shredded cheese
1.5 cups of chopped breakfast meat (can be omitted for vegetarian dish)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Saute your veggies in olive oil until they are still slightly crisp but not raw



(not all veggies should go in at the same time, pay attention to which will take longer to cook, leave tomatos uncooked). After veggies are done pour them in a 9x13 greased glass dish. Top with meat. Sprinkle with your cheese.



Pour the eggs over everything in dish. Top with tomatos.



Bake for 45 minutes (or longer) until when egg is set and toothpick SHOULD come out clean!

* Veggies: for this particular bake I used asparagus, broccoli, yellow squash, mushrooms, onion and tomato. Some other ideas would be bell pepper, zuchinni, greenbeans, snow peas... the possibilites are endless!
* Any cheese will work! Cheddar, monterey, swiss, etc. I also sprinkled mine with parmesan and feta.
* Meat: I used ham for this bake but crumbled bacon, smoked sausage and even some breakfast sausage would work.

Sausage, Beans and Rice

This is another super easy meal. We love this recipe around our house, Aidan even requested it for his birthday.

2 boxes of long grain and wild rice (plus seasoning pack)
2 cups boiling water
1 green pepper seeded and diced
1 can cream style corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 polska kielbasa, halved and sliced (or any type of smoked sausage)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a casserole dish, add water to rice and seasoning packets. Stir in cream style corn. Add all other remaining ingredients. Cover with lid or foil and bake at least an hour (check to see that all water is absorbed, if not, continue cooking until it is gone).

* For a lighter version, brown the kielbasa in a pan first and drain grease that cooks off.

Barley Beef Skillet

I got this recipe out of "Healthy Cooking", the magazine. I am going to make it tonight for dinner ( might be tomorrow night if I don't get to the store soon since my meat spoiled).

1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 can (14.5 oz) reduced sodium beef broth
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 small carrots chopped
1 small tomato chopped
2 stalks celery chopped
1 small zuchinni chopped
1 cup uncooked barley
2 tsp italian seasoning

In a large skillet cook beef onion and garlic; drain. Add the broth, tomato sauce and water to beef; bring to boil. Stir in remaining ingredients. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 45-50 mintues or until barley is tender.

*Update- I doubled the barley, doubled the broth and added half a cup of water. I should have also doubled the veggies and will do so next time. This meal was good but seemed to be missing a "wow" factor. However, you can't beat lean meat, veggies and whole grains! Please let me know if you try it!