Egg Nibbles - Quick Breakfast for On-The-Go Families

Breakfast has been so hectic here these days. Seriously – we're talking tears because there was too much cream cheese on a piece of toast, tantrums because there are no more strawberry yogurts, outrage at the mere mention of ​cereal with milk. And when my pancake-loving kids both told me that they didn't want pancakes, I knew we had a big problem. For many months, I've been making pancake batter at night and having it on the ready in a tupperware in my fridge to make quickly for breakfast. We are all pancake lovers here; how awesome is it to have pancakes on a weekday and not have to wait until the weekend? My kids don't even know how good they've had it.
We're all tired and this long winter is making us all cranky. Lately the back and forth about breakfast has added stress to all of our mornings and whatever my kids end up eating is usually packed inside of a paper towel and becomes part of the morning commute.  

So yesterday I took matters into my own hands and made these Egg Nibbles.​

Egg Nibbles

​They're eggs with avocado, spinach, garlic and chick peas, baked into mini muffin cups. That's what I had quickly on hand. They're a perfect travel breakfast and what's more, they're loaded with nutrition and all of the right stuff to get the day off to a great start. But the honest truth is, my kids didn't like them. My daughter gave the sideways thumb (which means she didn't hate them but she wouldn't ask for them either) and my son said he doesn't like to eat things with avocado. True story. 
So why bother writing about it? Well, these things were yummy. And maybe your kids will like them even though mine didn't? My husband and I have been happily popping them for breakfast for the last 2 days. I am planning to play around with the ingredients here... I'd bet there's some winning formula for Egg Nibbles that my kids will both enjoy. And in the meantime, I'll happily take suggestions. 

Egg Nibbles:
6 eggs
1 cup raw, chopped spinach
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/3 cup chick peas, chopped
1 avocado, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, scramble eggs. Add pieces of avocado and put aside. Saute spinach, garlic and chick peas together in a pan on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes and then add to eggs and avocado. Mix well. Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners. Pour egg mixture into each cup. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Makes about 24 Egg Nibbles. 

Try It Tuesday: Pan Roasted Duck Breast!

Our family adventure to the Greenmarket this weekend led us to tasty pear cider, earthy shiitake mushrooms, organic eggs, ginger maple candies and best of all, duck breast. My kids have had chicken, turkey, goose and Cornish hen but somehow never duck. No time like the present! So in honor of Try it Tuesday, the main event last night was duck breast. The kids loved it and tore into it like cavemen! Amazing. In classic form, my "crust"-averse son took off the skin layer on top and my daughter quickly snatched it from his plate. He kept referring to the meat as steak, which my daughter was eager to correct. 

​Pan roasted duck breast to celebrate Try it Tuesday!

Duck tastes luxurious. The meat is tender and full of flavor and a great source of protein, iron and niacin. Bonus: my house smelled pretty great after cooking this meal. I have always been fascinated by the fact that duck is a red meat, not a white meat and by the fact that we eat it medium rare – something we'd never dream of doing with chicken. For more info about duck, click here. The best part of the whole thing is that it was super easy to prepare; it took about 20 minutes from fridge to table. 

Here's how:
​Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Using a knife, crosshatch the fatty layer of skin on top. Season the skin of the duck breast with 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon ground mustard, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper. In a large saute pan, over medium-low heat, add the duck breast, skin side down. Sear for about 5-6 minutes. The fat that's rendered during this process can be used again on another occasion. Here are some great suggestions for what to do with duck fat. Flip the duck breast over and place the pan in the oven. Roast the breast skin side up for about 10 minutes (meat will be medium rare). Remove the pan from the oven and let the meat rest for a few minutes before slicing. 

Applesauce for the GI Monster's Exit

I've heard horror stories among my friends about the flus and various viruses going around this winter. And with Spring right around the corner, I really thought that my family dodged a bullet by not falling prey to any of it. But alas, I was too quick to make that call. That said, when three of the five of us were flattened by the GI bug recently, it wasn't as grim as I feared. 

I was the first to feel under the weather and was sick for 24 hours. Three days later, my husband got it. Again, 24 hours. And three days after that, it sucked to get the call from the school nurse to come pick up my child who had just hurled everywhere. ​Ugh. The thing is, even if you change the towels every two days, use a powerful cleaner on doorknobs and are hyper vigilant about hand washing, germs happen. And you never can tell who will pick up whatever is going around and who will be able to slough it off. 

​Homemade chunky apple-mango sauce

What's a mom to do? Well, when I'm feeling anxious, I like to tidy and to chop. ​I guess it's a pretty good thing because my refrigerator now has containers of fresh produce peeled, cut and ready to go for whatever I decide to prepare. Once my daughter was able to keep food down (24 hours later), I was happy to be able to provide her with freshly made applesauce (part of the BRAT diet).  While I love to peel and chop apples, I always need to start with much more than I need because I nosh along the way. 

The homemade applesauce really hit the spot - my kids like it chunky, which means less cooking time. I've added some fresh mango (high in vitamin C)  to the apples for an extra bit of flavor as well as some cinnamon and juice of half a Meyer lemon. Note to self: always make three times as much of this stuff. It flies out of the bowls. 

​Homemade Applesauce with Mango
6 apples, peeled and chopped
1 mango, peeled and chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon

Put all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook on medium heat until the fruit begins to soften. Lower the heat and simmer until fruit is cooked to desired texture. ​

Coloring Outside the Recipe Lines

I read recipes all the time. Sometimes I follow them to a T. Sometimes I don't. When I don't follow a recipe it's typically either because I need to make dietary adaptations (I am dairy free now and nut and fish free always) or because I don't have a certain ingredient in the house but have already come too far to turn back.

Today I discovered Lilyshop and had an absolute blast perusing the cooking section on her blog where I saw this recipe for Best Ever Oatmeal Bars. The recipe looked great! So great, in fact, that my son and I got started right away whipping this up.  I love that Jessie Jane, the site's founder, found it on a sheet of paper at an antique store. But alas! I didn't have shredded coconut. And I can't eat butter. So I've adapted this recipe and am so pleased with how it turned out that I had to share right away. I omitted the white sugar completely from the original recipe and replaced with a very ripe banana. I add flax meal to everything baked these days so that's in my recipe as well. 

Enormous thanks to Jessie Jane. I haven't colored inside the lines with her recipe but it's absolutely thanks to her that I've come up with it. My kids *LOVED* this. Looking forward to many more discoveries on Lilyshop! 

Lilyshop Oatmeal Bars (adapted recipe)

Oatmeal Bars (Adapted) 

Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut oil 
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 very ripe banana
1 tablespoon flax meal
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups quick cooking rolled oats
1/4 cup oat milk

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

2. Add all ingredients and mix well. 

3. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan.

5. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 min. 

6. Let cool, cut into bars and serve. YUM. 

Off-Label Breakfast Usage

Oatmeal with Peeled Snacks Cinnamon Crunch

We're in an oatmeal phase chez moi. Specifically we are digging quick cooking rolled oats and we like it dry and lumpy as opposed to smooth and creamy (I realize that some folks think this is nuts.) I use just enough water to cover the oats, stir twice and it cooks in minutes. I'm so happy about this phase because making just one breakfast makes mornings a tad easier. Everyone eats the same thing with minor differences: My husband and I like it with cinnamon and nutmeg, my daughter likes it with a splash of agave and fresh apple slices; my son likes it with a dash of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of maple syrup and fruit on the side. He gets particularly excited to pour his own cinnamon. It's heart health month and according to health magazine, oatmeal is one of the top ten best foods for a healthy heart and is said to lower LDL cholesterol. Besides that, it's loaded omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, potassium and folate. An awesome way to start the day.  

This morning I went a little off the beaten path. I stirred a handful of Peeled Snacks Cinnamon Crunch into the oatmeal (after it had finished cooking) and reserved a few to adorn the top. Cinnamon Crunch is one of the three Apple Clusters snacks that Peeled Snacks describes as "diced organic apple pieces, rolled into tasty clusters for a new crunchy snack bursting with natural flavor." Great texture without refined sugar and a fun, non-traditional addition to our morning. My son, initially outraged that there was no maple syrup on his oatmeal, quickly became excited by this crunchy addition to his breakfast.