Pumpkin & Salted Caramel Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Don't you just love irony?  Today I totally diverged from our very healthy breakfast routine and made these pumpkin & salted caramel cinnamon roll pancakes.  Today the book "The 21-Day Sugar Detox" that I requested from the library a couple months ago finally arrived.  This totally confirmed that I need read this!  Anyway, back to the pancake review.  We made a double batch and had leftovers.  These are as delicious and sweet as they sound, yum, yum!  My kiddos all liked them.  Certainly something to try for a special breakfast this Fall.  Mine did not turn out as pretty as the author's, but we were curling hair for picture day intermittently while making breakfast.  :)

Zoodles & Meat Sauce

I'm still getting tomatoes out of my garden.  Tonight I used some Roma tomatoes to make this garden fresh tomato sauce.  Then I fried 1 lb of ground beef.  After the beef was browned, I sauted the zucchini noodles with it for just a couple minutes.  I transferred this to a large serving bowl and then topped with the very hot sauce.  Placing a lid on top and waiting a few minutes helped to heat the zoodles and cook them a bit more.  We topped ours with some spicy garlic salt, hot sauce and extra basil.
  
My daughter made this simple salad of spinach, strawberries, celery and pine nuts.  It is dressed with this dressing.
 

Italian Dressing

I made this Italian Dressing recipe tonight.  It was good!  I put it on a salad of butter lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, red pepper and pine nuts.  When I mix it up it made just enough to fill a jelly jar.
 
Here it is with the rest of supper.



 
Salad, baked red potato, steamed broccoli and a sirloin marinaded in the best steak marinade in existence!

Italian Style Stuffed Peppers

So, I haven't tried a new recipe for awhile.  I have so many ingredients in my garden right now, I broke this trend by making these Italian Style Stuffed Peppers.  My family all enjoyed these.  They were quick and easy to put together.  In the published cookbook the spinach is listed as optional, so I omitted it.  I think it would be great in them.  We sprinkled ours with some fresh Parmesan cheese.  I doubled the recipe and ended up with this pan full:

 

And then a few of these for my children who will not eat the pepper:

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Here is another winning pancake option at our house.  Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes from the inventive Elana.  I made these in my Vitamix and the batter was very creamy.  The pancakes had a very nice fluffy texture.  3/4 of the kiddos like them and my hubby loved these.  He rarely eats breakfast with us during the week, so he likes having things to reheat.  There were plenty leftover for him to eat them again for a couple days.  I made a double batch because it looks like it will not make very many.  We did have something else with our breakfast, but I'm thinking a single batch may be enough for 4 adults or 6-8 children. 

This plate full is less than 1 batch.

School Morning Breakfast Ideas

School eating can be tricky.  Last year all the kiddos ate home packed lunches every day.  We cut way back on stomach aches and hunger.  This year they want to pack lunches every day again.  To be clear, I am not trying to be down on our district's lunches for the sake of complaining.  Most of the items are reheat items and we are very sensitive to food additives and preservatives.  Lunch always includes milk, which they all are sensitive to, and the alternative is a juice box.  The extra sugar from the juice in the middle of the day is not a daily habit we want to promote.  It is also difficult with all their orthodontic work and no time to brush teeth afterward.  My kiddos have also complained they do not get enough to eat or do not have time to eat what they want.

This year I'm going to make a special effort to sent them off to school with a good breakfast.  We sat down and discussed what breakfast items they all like and will happily eat (no being a short order cook when I'm pregnant and homeschooling a couple!)  We came up with 6 items that I plan to rotate through.  I think this will be enough variety we will not tire of them and then I may switch it up on the weekends.  Please send me any of your favorite breakfast recipes or any recipes you would like for me to do a test run of to renaeats@gmail.com.

Here's our line-up:
Paleo Waffles (These can be make the night before and put in the fridge or freezer)
Fried Eggs with Toast (Everyone can choose what their toast is made from according to their diet.  Organic whole wheat, paleo bread, GF bread, etc)
Paleo Crepes with Berries
Turkey & Zucchini Frittata
Chia Pudding and Applegate Farms Turkey Bacon
Pumpkin Pancakes

Here's to a successful first week of school for us and a year of learning, growth and making great childhood memories!

Peacha Pie

I made this tart/pie this weekend.  I did not take a picture as we had company.  It looked a lot like the picture on the recipe, except mine had more fruit.  Probably just a variation of peach size.  It is not overly sweet, but sweet enough.  It had good flavor.  I felt that the crust was a bit soggy.  Next time I may bake mine a little longer or cool the creamy layer more before spreading.  We ate the leftover with breakfast the next day, yum!