Breakfast around our house is a chance to fuel our crew for the day. We like to include protein, whole grains and fruit. Two to three of the mornings we eat granola that we buy from a food co-op, so there isn’t added sugar, coloring or preservatives. Since we only order twice a year, we keep the extras stored in the freezer. We have one egg morning with fresh fruit, Saturdays are pancakes and Sunday is brunch.

The pancakes are made from scratch, filled with grains, oats, fiber and protein. We make a double batch, so we have enough left for two breakfast during the week. During the weekdays we reheat the pancakes in the toaster, spread them with peanut butter, top with a spoonful of unsweetened applesauce and a drizzle of syrup.

Depending on the season and occasion we will add chocolate chips, blueberries, raisins, walnuts or bananas. My favorite banana-walnut! Thought I would share our tried and true recipe with you. In addition we add a couple of scoops of plant based protein powder.

Oatmeal Pancakes

2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Oats
1 Tbs. and 1 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tsps. Baking Soda
2 tsps. Salt
3 Cups Milk
1 Tbs. and 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Oil
4 Eggs

Mix dry ingredients first. Then add milk, vanilla, oil and eggs. Mix well. Scoop onto frying pan, add banana slices and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

A simple, patriotic and healthy snack while celebrating the 4th of July holiday. A sweet treat without the extra sugar that ice cream brings. Plus, an easy way to sneak in some fruit and protein. The kids love the idea of eating out of a waffle cone even if there isn’t ice cream inside of it.

Ingredients

Blueberries
Strawberries sliced
Vanilla Greek Yogurt
Waffle Cones

Recipe

Drop a few blueberries into the bottom of the waffle cone and spoon some yogurt over it. Continue to layer with blueberries and yogurt finishing with sliced strawberries and a few blueberries on top.

Have a great 4th of July!!

Summer has certainly arrived. This past weekend we felt the 95 degrees heat plus humidity, which gave the kids a good reason to have a water fight with their cousins and me a good reason to make this delicious ice cream dessert.

As a child my parents would treat us to Dairy Queen. We would get our ice cream to go and then drive around town. We usually ordered cones, but once in awhile we got to splurge with a blizzard or peanut buster parfait. This simple yet scrumptious ice cream treat is a Dairy Queen variation of the buster bar. Recipe credit goes to my mom who shares our love of ice cream!

Ingredients

Crust:
1 package/pound Oreo cookies, crushed
1/2 cup butter, melted

Filling:
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream
2 cups powdered sugar
1 small can evaporated milk
2/3 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
Spanish peanuts

Recipe

Crush the oreo cookies. I like to put them in a blender on chop, which gets them very fine. Combine the cookies with melted butter. Mix well. Pat into a 9×13 pan. Freeze until firm.

Cover crust with softened ice cream and freeze overnight.

Mix together powdered sugar, evaporated milk, chocolate chips and butter. Stir and boil a few minutes. Remove from the burner and allow to cool, while continuing to stir occasionally. Once cooled spread over the ice cream. Top with peanuts. Freeze several hours before serving.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we tried something new this year to combat cold and flu season, Elderberry Syrup. Knock on wood, so far it has been amazingly effective. With the flu running rampant at both school and work we have somehow managed to dodge the plague.

I was previously buying the syrup, but it is a little spendy and we go through it quickly with five of us taking it daily and doubling the dose when the slightest sniffle comes on. So I decided to be a bit crunchy and make our own homemade syrup.

The berries can be ordered from amazon, Elder Larry and Frontier seem to be the best priced. They are dried so they have a long shelf life. I found a few recipes online and modified it slightly for taste. My first run through didn’t turn out so well. Rookie mistakes, do not boil the water too long, do not mash the berries excessively and make sure to use a wire mesh strainer.

A friend wanted to know how I remember to give the syrup to my kiddos every day, they do a really good job of reminding me and not letting me forget. Needless to say they like the taste, with the honey making it a little sweet.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup whole dried elderberries
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp dried cloves
• 1 cup raw honey

Recipe:

1. Pour water, elderberries, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 45 minutes. You want the liquid to reduce by half.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Pour berries and liquid through a mesh strainer into a bowl.
5. Carefully mash the berries to get the rest of the juice out, making sure to not over mash them.
6. Let cool slightly. Add the honey and stir well.