Almond Date Breakfast Smoothie

So, I've literally had this breakfast smoothie almost every morning since the new year began.  It's amazingly delicious and healthy!  You get protein, calcium, vitamins, and a little sweetness too!

Almond Date Breakfast Smoothie
(makes 1 large glass)

1 cup skim milk or vanilla soy milk
1 tablespoon smooth almond butter
1 banana
5-6 pitted dates
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (optional)
6-8 ice cubes
*For added protein I sometimes add a scoop of protein powder, usually vanilla flavored.

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth!  Pour into your glass and enjoy for breakfast or anytime of the day!!

Eggs and Cream: Part 2

Remember when I made my french toast and had some leftover egg and cream mixture??? Well I used the extra stuff to make an individual bread pudding. I filled a ramekin up with small pieces of challah, which was also leftover, and sprinkled some mini chocolate chips that I had in the freezer throughout. I poured the egg mixture over the challah and let it soak up overnight.

Now it's morning and I'm super excited to see if this actually will taste like chocolate chip bread pudding! Before baking the bread pudding sprinkle some sugar on the top. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the bread pudding for about 30-45 minutes until the top is golden brown.

I probably will want to pour some syrup over my bread pudding before digging my fork into it so that it's more on the sweet side! I suggest if you want to make a large bread pudding you can follow the recipe below that I got from Epicurious and adapted it to my liking.

French Toast Bread Pudding

• 12 ounces challah or other egg bread with crust, torn into 3/4-inch pieces
• 7 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups skim milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla bean split down the center with seeds scraped out
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated whole nutmeg

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• Warm maple syrup (for serving)

Butter 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Place bread in dish. Whisk eggs and next 6 ingredients in medium bowl to blend; pour over bread. Using spatula, lightly press down on bread to moisten completely. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of bread. Cover with foil and chill overnight.

Place foil-covered dish in cold oven. Set oven at 350°F and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until pudding is puffed and golden brown, about 35 minutes longer.

Spoon pudding onto plates, sprinkle with toasted nuts, and serve with warm maple syrup. Enjoy!

Eggs and Cream: Part 1

I took home a leftover challah from work on Friday and was thinking what I could do with it. I opened up my fridge and saw that I had eggs, milk, and half and half. I also knew I had some vanilla beans in the pantry. I decided I'd make french toast for breakfast!

You'll see in the recipe below that I added splenda into my egg mixture. I like making the egg mixture sweet, not sure why but I do. If you add real sugar or maple syrup, you'll find that your french toast will have a nice caramelized crust. I ended up having leftover egg mixture and I did not let it go to waste. Stay tuned to see what I ended up using it for!!

Vanilla Bean French Toast

(serves 4 people, 3 slices each)

1 cup skim milk

1/2 cup fat free half and half

5 eggs

1/2 of a vanilla bean with seeds scraped out

1/2 cup sweetener (such as sugar, 6 packets splenda, maple syrup, honey)

12 slices of challah bread

Place first 3 ingredients in a large baking dish or bowl. Whisk together. Add vanilla bean scrapings and vanilla bean to the egg mixture, whisk again until well blended. Add sweetener of choice into the mixture and whisk.

Heat a large frying pan on medium heat. Spray non-stick cooking spray on the pan. Dip slices of challah into egg mixture and let sit 10-15 seconds on each side. Transfer wet challah slices into the pan to cook. Cook each side for about 3 minutes until golden brown. Repeat until all challah slices are dipped and cooked. ENJOY!