So I was watching some random old channel the other night and I was too lazy to change the channel and then all of a sudden they had this 5-minute segment of cooking. There was all of a sudden a lady in the kitchen and she was making deviled eggs and I thought to myself that that was nothing new and then she did this crazy awesome thing!! She fried the tops of them!!! And then I immediately thought to myself that I could do the same thing but make it healthier by adding avocado instead of mayo and not using the type of oil she used but lightly browning the tops with bread crumbs and a little olive oil. Let me tell you....this is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Egg time: 25 minutes
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 2-3 minutes

Ingredients:

8 hard boiled eggs
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. parsley
1 ripe avocado, mashed
2 tsp. Dijon Mustard
1/2 lemon, squeezed, just the juice
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs


Instructions:

1. Hard boil eight eggs.

2. When they are done, de-shell them and then cut them in half. Pop out the yolk and place them all in a bowl.

3. In the bowl, with all of the egg yolks, add the remaining of the ingredients EXCEPT the bread crumbs.

4. Mix really well.

5. Spoon the mixture back into the eggs but keep the mixture level with the rest of the egg. Don't get a mound forming.

6. In a bowl add the bread crumbs, then dip mixture side down to get a nice coating on top of the eggs.

7. In a wide pan, add a tiny bit of olive oil and set on medium-low heat. When the pan is ready add the eggs, bread crumbs down for 3-5 minutes.

8. Check to make sure they are browning after 3 minutes and remove any that are done and keep the ones that are not done on for longer.

Now, you can do one of two things..or both I don't care! You can just pop these bad boys in you mouth and enjoy them as is...or you can make it a meal by making some dressing out of the left over stuffing and put over a nice egg salad!

Dressing Ingredients:

Remaining egg mixture
4 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. Dijon Mustard
3 tbsp. milk


Instructions:

1. Just mix it all together!

Let's look at that end result again, shall we?

I love french toast sticks or just french toast in general. But the preparation can get a bit boring sometimes. So I changed it up a little and added some ground up granola to the outside of them and then decided to bake the sticks instead of cooking them on a griddle. They turned out so nice and crispy and warm....mmmmm they just explode in your mouth!

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:

4 slices of your favorite bread, cut into three strips each
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups of your favorite granola, ground to make a little more fine


Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Slice your 4 pieces of bread into three pieces each.

3. Mix together the eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla in a bowl.

4. In a separate bowl add the granola and then with the bottom of a sturdy cup, grind the granola into smaller pieces.

5. Dip the bread slices into the egg mixture and then the granola and then place on a non-stick baking pan or make sure you spray non-stick stray before you place the french toast sticks.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes!

I'm going to keep this pretty short and too the point. To have an awesome day and to feel good you HAVE to eat breakfast. Now that doesn't mean go stuff your face with a donut and call it breakfast, I'm talking about a real, healthy, clean eating breakfast. One that will get your metabolism going and pump your body full of awesome nutrients that it can use to help you get up and get going the whole day.

Here is an awesome breakfast that does not involve any bread at all, low in fat, and full of protein!

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Serves: How ever many you choose to do!

Ingredients:

Portobello Mushrooms
Spinach Leaves
Organic Eggs
Red Bell Pepper
Pepper
Parsley
Cheese (optional)


Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Clean your mushrooms with a damp paper towel and remove the stems. Then if you would like place thin slices of cheese on top. Lastly, top with spinach leaves. Place on a baking sheet in the oven for 10 minutes.

3. While the mushrooms are cooking you can cook the eggs!

4. Slice your bell pepper into rings. Place them in a pan over medium heat. Let the pan get warm for a little bit.

5. When the pan is warm enough, crack your eggs inside the bell pepper rings. (I cannot stand runny eggs so I broke the yolk on two of them and left one runny for my husband)

6. Season with pepper and parsley.

7. Remove the mushrooms from the oven and top them with your eggs. And you have one dang of a healthy and delicious breakfast.

In an earlier post, I did a meal that took simple ingredients and turned them into a yummy meal that took about 15 minutes to put together. Check it out here! I love those kinds of meals. Effortless, affordable, nutritious, and good! This meal is right along those lines. It uses ingredients you almost always buy at the grocery store or that are very common in your house, it uses cheap ingredients (but they are still healthy!) and is crazy good. So without further ado, here is the recipe for some delicious sandwiches.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Yields: 12 sandwiches or 6 people

Ingredients:

Inside the sandwiches:
1 dozen pre-made rolls (Hawaiian Rolls are the best or your local grocery store homemade rolls)
1/2 medium onion
A half to three quarters of a pound of sliced Oven Chicken Breast lunch meat
Sliced pepper jack cheese
Bunch of Spinach

Mustard-Poppy Seed Dressing:
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tbsp. prepared yellow mustard
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
4 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. poppy seeds
dash of pepper


Instructions:

1. To make the dressing, just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Stir really well. Set aside.

2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Also, get out a baking pan. Mine was a 9x13.

3. Cut the onion in half. Then make small slices along the half to get half-circles of onion strips.

4. In a pan on medium heat, add a little bit of olive oil and then add the onions. Cook the onions, continually stirring for 5 minutes until they are golden brown. Remove from heat.

5. Take your dozen rolls and cut them in half horizontally.

6. Spread a generous amount of your Mustard-Poppy Seed dressing on the bottom half of the rolls.

7. Add a nice layer of your sliced Chicken Breast meat.

8. Then cover with spinach leaves.

9. On top of the spinach leaves, add your slices of pepper jack cheese.

10. Lastly, top with your cooked onions.

11. Put the tops of the rolls back on the sandwiches. Note: I was not smart and loaded up the sandwiches and put them together before I transferred them to the baking pan. It would have been wiser to put the bottom half of the rolls in the pan before I loaded them up with all the ingredients. haha hopefully you read this before you make the same mistake I did!

12. Lastly, brush or spoon a generous amount of the Mustard-Poppy Seed dressing on top of the rolls.

13. Pop in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes with foil on top, and then 10 minutes without the foil.

Okay here is my little lecture on why restaurants are naughty and why we fall into their trap. Appetizers are lovely. They hit the spot when you are craving something crunchy or salty or cheesy. They also trick us into thinking they are healthy. Let's look at some numbers:

At the Cheesecake Factory I have always enjoyed their Avocado Egg Rolls. I think this would be a smart order because it has avocado and other vegetables in it. One order has 6 pieces and it is suppose to serve 2-4 people. This is not including dipping sauces.

960 calories
1130 mg 49% sodium

At Outback Steakhouse, the Bloomin' Onion is a popular item. People think that it is not too bad because it is an onion, a vegetable, and it was only deep fried for a second. One onion is suppose to serve 6. This is not including dipping sauces.

1948 calories
1440 calories from fat
4085 mg. 170% sodium

The last example goes back to the Cheesecake Factory and their Fire Roasted Fresh Artichoke. Again another vegetable. It is suppose to serve 2-4 people.

1030 calories
760 mg. 34% sodium

Now, I did not do this to make people feel bad or to discourage them to not enjoy one of these amazing appetizers every once in a while. But just to make you be aware. Maybe plan ahead. It takes 5 minutes on your phone to look up a restaurants nutritional facts and they will tell you exactly what each item has in it.

Cool Fact: Mozzarella Sticks are far more better to eat than any of those options above! Who would have thought?!


Now back to my post. I have recreated Spinach Bites or Spinach Rolls, whatever you choose to call them, and tried to cut back on certain ingredients and replace others to try to bring that calorie count down but still keeping their delicious taste because duh...that's why we love them!

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Yields: about 8 spinach pies

Ingredients:

1 box Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed
1 package (10 oz) frozen spinach, thawed
4 tbsp. sour cream
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese


Instructions:

1. Heat a skillet on medium heat. And preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Add the teaspoon of garlic and let cook for about 1-2 minutes in the warm skillet.

3. Then add the thawed spinach and cook for about 3 minutes until all of the spinach is warm.

4. In a bowl combine the sour cream, lemon pepper, and cheese. Then add the spinach mixture.

5. Mix really well.

6. The pastry puff sheets come in long rows so cut each row in half. Sorry I forgot to take a picture. But make sure your pastry puff is completely thawed. It takes about 40 minutes when taken directly from the freezer.

7. Place each square of pastry puff in a cup cake pan. Then place a spoonful of the spinach mixture inside.

8. Place the cupcake pan(s) in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Watch so they don't burn but the edges will turn a nice brown color.