Tag Archives: protein

Swiss & Lox on Toast

 

As you may know, I am a huge fan of salmon, especially smoked salmon in the form of lox. Lox is amazing on bagels and toast, or crackers, or pasta. Salmon is known as a great source of lean protein, and omega-3 fatty acids.

This is a great, quick breakfast or snack, or even light lunch option. Look for sales especially, as I got this 4 oz pack of salmon for only $1.50, and the cheese for less than $1.  The salmon I bought was pre-seasoned with black pepper and dill and who know what other goodies, but you can use whatever kind you like. You can also use any kind of spreadable cheese here, and fresh herbs if you have em.

Ingredients:

  • 1 ounce lox
  • 1 tbsp swiss cheese
  • 1 slice wheat bread
  • Optional: squeeze of lemon juice

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Step 1: Spread 1 tbsp of your cheese on the bread, toasted or not.

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Step 2: Top with a heap of lox. If desired, squirt on some lemon or lime juice, a sprinkle of sea salt, or fresh diced herbs. Enjoy!

 

Bacon & Egg Breakfast Biscuits

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We all have heard how breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Yet busy mornings, waking up late, or a lack of energy in the a.m. can stymie any attempts to be culinarily courageous before noon. This recipe is an easy weekend project which can make a few dozen little bacon-wrapped breakfast packages you can store and re-heat for a quick breakfast on the go all week long. If you can keep yourself from eating them all at once.
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Ingredients:
1 pound bacon 
1 1/2 dozen eggs
2 packages biscuits
Shredded cheese (optional)

Step 1: Line some muffin tins with a strip of bacon.

Curl it around so the bacon makes a little cup.

Step 2: Crack an egg into each bacon cup. Cover with the biscuits. Add cheese if you want.

Step 3: Bake at 350 for ~40 minutes, until egg is cooked fully and biscuit is crispy and golden brown.

 

 

 

 

These little biscuits are absolutely perfect. The biscuits are buttery and crispy, the bacon is of course bacon, and it all comes together for a handheld protein powerhouse. The bacon does make it a little greasy so beware of that.

 How do you get breakfast on busy mornings?

 

Homemade granola bars + Make your own vanilla extract

As a simple on-the-go breakfast, post-workout snack, or get-you-through-the-afternoon munchie, I love granola bars! Endlessly varied in terms of type of nuts, berries, chocolate, flavors in them, they are always in my pantry in multitudes.

Usually I buy whatever is on sale, say $1-2 for a box. I have a rotation and favorites, but am not brand loyal by any means. But even at $1 for a box of 6, it can get expensive. So I figured, I already have lots of different types of nuts and dried fruits, and oats. It can’t be hard to make my own.

After googling a bit, I found this recipe for home made granola bars, which is close to what I had on hand. But I didn’t want the chocolate part (shocking, I know!) because I’d be storing them in my book bag and gym bag and don’t want to deal with melty chocolate all over my workout shoes or laptop. So as usual, I took the framework of the recipe and made it my own with what was on hand and the pan size I was working with. The results were splendid!

Ingredients:
3 cups oats
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1/4 cup smashed pistachios (I shelled them, put them in a ziplock baggie and smashed them up with a spoon. For reals.)
1/2 cup smashed up candied peanut halves (also ziplock pulverized)
1/4 cup chia seeds (bought a few months ago and had no idea what to do with them… perfect.)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Step 1: Mash up the nuts, then mix together oats, dried fruit, nuts, seeds and olive oil. Stir to coat well, then bake in a flat oven safe pan at 350 for about 10 minutes, to make everything brown and toasty.

Step 2: In a pan over medium heat, stir together butter, brown sugar, honey and vanilla. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Pour over the granola mixture, and stir well to coat everything. Bake at 300 for 25-30 minutes, until warm and brown. Remove from the oven and let cool or stick in the refrigerator for a little while. Cut into bars the size you like.

I used a 9×13 pan, and as such I got 16 bars. They are very soft, so I put them in the fridge for about an hour before I cut them up.

I individually wrapped each bar in a plastic baggie, and am storing them in my pantry. They are delicious! The honey makes it so sweet, I don’t think you’d need chocolate anyway. Probably could even have done without the extra brown sugar.

I love these because I can use whatever dried fruits or nuts/seeds I have available. The next batch will include dried apricots and plums. You better believe sometime into the fall I will be making some bars with pumpkin seeds in them! I think I’m going to try experimenting with peanut butter in the honey instead of just butter too.

These are vegetarian, and could easily be made vegan as well. If you go easy on the oil/honey they are quite healthy and filling. And very inexpensive! Buy whatever fruits/nuts/seeds you like on sale, oats are cheap in bulk. This batch probably cost me $5 total?


Speaking of  inexpensive baking, did you know you can make your own vanilla extract from just vanilla beans and vodka? Seriously, that’s it.

A bottle of vodka on sale was about $7, the beans were a bit pricey at $4 for 2. But that’s $11 for about a gallon of vanilla that I can use pretty much forever. If I invested a bit more I could even jar it myself and give it as gifts or sell some. When you get low you just add more vodka and maybe after a year another bean or two. Jackpot.

Healthy & hearty turkey bacon breakfast sandwich

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This week Meijer had a sale on turkey bacon for $1.99 and whole wheat english muffins for $1. These are 2 of my favorite things, because they make an amazing breakfast sandwich in about the time it would take you to drive through somewhere, and much cheaper. Plus it tastes amazing!
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Ingredients:
1 english muffin (preferably 100% whole wheat)
1 egg
2 slices turkey bacon
1 slice cheese
Ketchup (if you like it, I do)
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Step 1: Slice the turkey bacon in half. Fry the 4 pieces about 4 minutes, turning once. They should be slightly browned on both sides.

Step 2: Cook the egg. If you like the yolk runny, flip it and take it off heat sooner. I like my yolk cooked through, about 2 minutes.

Step 3: Layer the hot egg, cheese, and bacon onto the muffin, top with a squirt of ketchup and the top of muffin, enjoy!

 You can of course use other breakfast meats like a sausage patty or ham. Or get rid of the meat and use avocado, hummus, tomato, or other veggies for a vegetarian/vegan option.
Nutritional Info
  • Servings Per Recipe: 1
  • Calories: 317.7
  • Total Fat: 15.5 g
  • Cholesterol: 214.7 mg
  • Sodium: 770.3 mg
  • Total Carbs: 27.0 g
  • Dietary Fiber: 4.4 g
  • Protein: 18.7 g