Category Archives: Breakfasts

Egg, Sausage, and Veggies

I wish I had a cutesy name for this dish but I don’t. You may recall me sharing Eggs and Zucchini before and it is still a favorite, but sometimes I want a little more pizazz from my breakfast, so here is what I came up with.

I finely diced a medium zucchini and put it into a frying pan with a little bit of oil.

Zucchini Hash ~ Lifeofjoy.me(It wasn’t quite this much but this picture gives you an idea, since I failed to take step by step pictures the other day. ;) )

I added some finely diced onion and diced mushrooms too. Seasoned with salt and pepper.

When it was nearly as done as I like them, I added about 2 ounces of bulk pork sausage, pinched off in smallish bits.

Then cooked it until it was nicely browned. :)

I scooted it all to the side and added a little more oil (or butter) to the pan and fried one egg.

When the veggies and sausage were done I put them on a plate, added a bit of nutritional yeast, and then topped it all with my fried egg (over easy).

Since I had the sausage, I only had one egg because I’m in that stage of my life when I need to be cautious about how much protein I should be eating to lose weight.

Egg, Sausage, and Veggies

Ingredients

  • medium zucchini
  • slice of onion
  • 2-3 mushroom
  • about 2 ounces sausage
  • egg
  • butter or oil

Instructions

  1. Dice the veggies and add to a skillet with about a teaspoon or so of oil or butter.
  2. Season with salt and pepper, as desired.
  3. Add sausage to the veggies.
  4. When nearly done, clear way to fry the egg.
  5. Serve with the cooked egg on top of the cooked veggies and sausage.
  6. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast, if desired.
https://lifeofjoy.me/egg-sausage-and-veggies/

I hope you enjoy this yummy way to eat some veggies for breakfast.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Breakfast Options

I have a couple of different meals I like to eat for breakfast for the two main fuel types: two for healthy fats and two for healthy carbs. And on Saturdays we like to have pancakes or some other special breakfast. I thought I’d share my norms with you today.

Healthy Carbs

  • Oatmeal: I like to cook my 1/2 cup oats with 1/2 cup of almond milk and a cup of water. Some times I like it like this and other times I add some cocoa powder.
  • Toast: One to two pieces of toast, depending on the size of the bread. I spread a thin layer of peanut junkie butter (about a tablespoon) and then either some strawberry jam, strawberries, 1/2 a medium banana, or other fruit on top.

In the beginning, these didn’t fill me up for long. But once I added the extra 1/2 cup of liquid to the oats it did. If I’m not quite full enough, I add a cup of chocolate milk but I’m usually okay because I have a quart of oolong tea each morning, which is about two big mugs. Oh, my quart of oolong has a scoop collagen in it. :)

Healthy Fats

When I have fats as my fuel source, I try to have vegetables. My main veggie of choice is either zucchini or cauliflower. I like to add onion, green or red pepper, and mushrooms as well.

  • Two Fried Eggs on a bed of diced zucchini sprinkled generously with nutritional yeast.
  • Breakfast Caulirice: the key to this one is to season it well. The recipe I follow uses some miso, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and parsley (and/or other herbs). Mix seasonings with two eggs and then add to chopped up (riced) cooked cauliflower and cook until eggs are done.
  • Bonus meal: I like to add sausage to sauteed veggies. This is wonderful eaten in an on-plan tortilla and a wedge of light laughing cow cheese (if’ I’m watching calories) or cheese of choice. The laughing cow is good because it eliminate my need for mayonnaise and is a lot lower in calories.

 

These are my breakfast go-tos. On Saturdays I usually make oat pancakes and then have a bit leftover for Sunday mornings. This gives me a good mix of breakfast fuels and provides veggies for breakfast easily a few mornings a week. :)

I hope this helps you in your search for healthy breakfasts.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Homemade Low Carb “Bisquick” Biscuits

This makes a delightful “buttermilk” “biscuit” that is low carb. There is even a version that is also low fat, which I will be trying very soon.

I have to say, I wasn’t sure about trying this recipe from Nana’s Little Kitchen because I had to mix up a batch of the “Bisquick” and I wasn’t sure I’d like it. But it can be used for waffles and biscuits and several other things she had directions for on her site.

So, follow along as I show you how simple and quick these are to make.

Start by melting some butter in a ramekin, in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

I seldom use my microwave but have kept it for quick things like this from time to time. A quick 30 seconds and the butter is melted.

Swirl the butter around the ramekin and the pour into the other one to coat, pouring the last of the butter into a small mixing bowl.

Add the baking mix

Add egg and Greek yogurt

And remaining ingredients (baking soda, almond milk, apple cider vinegar, and cream–I used coconut cream because I had some that needed to be used) and stir to combine.

Divide between the two ramekins and bake individually. I let mine go for a minute or just a tad less. I stand there and watch as it cooks and remove when I think it is done.

Yeah, its’ a bit messy. I think I need ramekins that are just a tiny bit larger. :D

Turn out onto a rack to ensure they are not wet.

It has a nice crumb!!!

And here I used it in a breakfast sandwich.

So, head on over to Nana’s Little Kitchen and make this one. She has included a recipe for a single batch of her “bisquick” so that you can try it out (just scroll to the end of her post for FP pancakes).

Nana’s Little Kitchen Bisquick style low carb THM-S biscuits!

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Christmas 2019 Baking

Wow! Yesterday was a busy day. Today we will have Christmas 1. :) It’s so exciting! Brian, Lauren, and Liam will be here shortly and we’ll open presents! :p Then we’ll spend some time with my sister and her family (and we may even pop in and see my parents for a few minutes on our way home).

Yesterday Tiffany and I did a slew of baking. It started off with pies . . . our regular Apple Crumble Pie for the family, followed by an apple pie that is considered a crossover by Trim Healthy Mama eating plan. Then she also made the pecan pie from Cookie Keto with Kristie. And rounded out the pie category with Pumpkin Pecan Slab Pie–this is the third time I’ve made this since Thanksgiving and we love it.

I made the Cinnamon Butter Bundt cake again, along with the smaller one that is nut and flax free for Tiffany.

The breakfast wraps really worked well for Thanksgiving and were delicious, so I’m going to make those again for tomorrow morning. :) I have to make my sourdough pizza dough tonight yet, and put it in the refrigerator for tomorrow’s pizza dinner with family. :) We voted for Christmas dinner and pizza won but if tacos would have been declared up front, it just may have won out. ;)

We’ll be having hamburgers and fries at my sister’s later today. I bought sweet potato fries and some thin burgers and cheese slices. It’ll be a crossover meal but hey, it’s Christmas time and at least it is mostly on-plan. ;) (Unfortunately as I write this, I haven’t yet made the buns to go with this meal . . . so tired . . . mostly because I worked out last night and my shoulder muscles are sore :D . . . and I must get them done before I go to bed.)

Let’s see, I also made four batches of Pay Off Day Candies. I put it all into a 9×13 pan and will cut it into pieces and bag some up to give as gifts. :) People love those candies!

Well, it’s an exciting day around here. I hope you are having fun times this week. :)

Until next time, Merry Christmas Eve,

Michele ºÜº

Breakfast Eggs and Caulirice

When I’m really hungry or feeling the need to eat more veggies, this is one of my favorites. Of course, I never expected to like zucchini or cauliflower for breakfast but I’ve actually come to like it a lot. So I thought I’d share it with you today.

First cook the cauliflower. I let it go a bit too long today but it’s no big deal to me because I like my veggies very well done. ;)

I put as much as I want in my skillet and use my meat chopper to break the cauliflower up into rice size bits.

Add a bit of salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast.

While the flavors meld and heat up (if it was pre-cooked), I cook up a couple of eggs, over easy.

Drizzle a bit of your favorite healthy oil over the caulirice and top with eggs.

If you need to get more veggies in your diet, I hope you’ll give this a try.

Breakfast Eggs and Caulirice

Ingredients

  • Cauliflower, cooked
  • salt
  • pepper
  • nutritional yeast
  • eggs
  • healthy oil

Instructions

  1. Break the cauliflower into rice size pieces and season with salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast.
  2. Drizzle with healthy fat over the heated caulirice.
  3. Cook eggs as desired and serve over caulirice.
https://lifeofjoy.me/breakfast-eggs-and-caulirice/

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Sourdough French Toast

This is something Tiffany has been eating a lot of lately. She just pours a little of this and a little of that into her bowl and soaks her bread in it.

First we slice two pieces of sourdough bread. My poor bread is still very short, maybe one day it will rise and bake properly. :)

Ours is still a bit frozen. :D But this knife does the trick.

Pour some cashew milk (probably about a 1/4 cup) into a container that will hold your bread flat and keep it in contact with the liquid.

(This is the second time she’s made this today, so you can see there is already some of the mixture in the container. ;) )

Next add about two egg whites (about 1/4 cup from a carton of whites). Yes sometimes I need the simplicity of the carton over the frugality of the eggs and separating them myself.

Then a sprinkling of cinnamon and a splash of vanilla.

Then just combine with a fork to ensure the egg whites are broken up a bit and blend with the milk and cinnamon.

Soak the bread in the mixture, flipping to soak both sides.

The put in a heated skillet over medium to medium high heat.

Since our bread was still somewhat frozen, it didn’t absorb as well, so we pour a little more of the mixture on top as it cooks, so that each piece gets its fair share. ;)

Flip and cook on the other side.

Then serve with desired toppings. I usually use a bit of on plan syrup and/or a bit of sugar free jelly. Tiffany likes to add some sugar free chocolate chips and sugar free syrup. :)

Scrambled Eggs ala pizza ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Pizza Eggs

I love pizza! I love the flavors of pizza and am glad to have it most any way I can get it. :D

I’ve been eating eggs most every morning and thus am happy to have some variety in those eggs. So one day last week I decided to put some of my favorite pizza flavors into my eggs. Now I must admit that I got my first attempts at this recipe from this website. It was good but I’m not one that cooks on low very well. ;) Plus Tiffany only likes her eggs scrambled. So, I modified it a bit.

I started by sautéing some onions and mushrooms.

diced onions ~ Lifeofjoy.me
cooked onions and mushrooms ~ Lifeofjoy.me

I like mine done well, but you can cook yours to your liking. I beat most of the eggs slightly to blend the white with the yolk. Pour the beaten eggs in or crack them on top of the cooked veggies and then add any cooked meat you like. I added some cut up pepperoni and I had just cooked up some sausage, so I added some of that too.

Pizza Eggs ~ Lifeofjoy.me

When I made this last week, I didn’t have any tomato sauce or tomato paste and it was a bit dry and didn’t quite have the right flavor. I suggest you add a couple tablespoons of tomato sauce but I didn’t have any again, so I opened a can of tomato paste and spread about a teaspoon around. It probably would have been better if I had thinned it down a bit with some water to spread a bit more easily.

Pizza Eggs ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Flip and cook as I desired. Oh, sprinkle a little cheese on it when you flip it and put a lid on the pan so that the cheese will melt. It doesn’t have to have cheese if you are dairy-free thought, as it will still be delicious. Really, include whatever toppings you like on pizza.

Eating pizza eggs ~ Lifeofjoy.me

I had one egg scrambled and one egg over medium. It was delicious both ways. Tiffany likes her eggs very very well done and she liked the scrambled ones. We hope you like them too. (I’ve got to find a new recipe plugin . . . but this recipe isn’t really a recipe, so just add your favorite toppings to your eggs and enjoy. :) )

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Breakfast pancake sandwiches ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Pancake Sausage Egg Sandwiches

Breakfast sandwiches made from pancakes, egg, and sausage (inspired by McGriddles)


This is a little bit involved but very easy. You start by making a batch of my maple chips.

Maple Butter Bits ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Then make a batch of pancake batter. I use the bring on da buttah pancakes (family batch). Add the maple butter chips.


add maple chips ~ lifeofjoy.me

Now, I put this in two muffin top pans. If you don’t have muffin top pans, you could just pour it into a jelly roll plan and cut it into squares when you are done. Square breakfast sandwiches taste as good as round ones. ;)


Muffin top pancakes ~ Lifeofjoy.me

While this is baking (375º for about 10-15 minutes), take a roll of sausage, make into twelve patties, and cook on the stove.

Then when the pancakes are done and have cooled down enough to get them out of the pan, pour the beaten eggs (8) into the pan and bake for about 10 minutes.


baked pancake muffin tops ~ Lifeofjoy.me
See those dark bits? That is the yumminess of the maple butter chips.
bake scrambled eggs ~ lifeofjoy.me

Assemble: one pancake, one egg, one sausage, and another pancake.

sandwich assembly ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Then wrap the ones you aren’t ready to eat, in foil and store either in the refrigerator or freezer. Heat in a oven or toaster oven when ready to eat. If you are going to microwave them, wrap them in parchment or butcher paper.


wrap in foil ~ Lifeofjoy.me

I hope you enjoy them like we do.

Until next time, God bless

Michele ºÜº

Vegetable Scrambled Eggs ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Veggie Scramble

Use whatever veggies you have on hand and make this delicious scrambled egg breakfast dish.

Eating vegetables at every meal is a very healthy thing. :) It is also a great idea when trying to lose weight. I’m in a season where I am pushing to lose some weight. If I just do what I have always done, I will stay what I have always been. I am carrying way too much weight on this little five foot frame of mine and I need to lose some weight. That is going to mean cutting back somewhere.

Now it does not mean I will have to live there forever but in order to get where I want to be, sacrifices must be made. I am choosing to eat smaller portions and include more veggies in my day. This summer I have been part of a group online that has been focusing on getting healthier this summer. One of the goals has been to eat veggies with each meal. I am here to tell you, that is not easy to do. I mean, what veggies taste right with  pancakes? Well, thanks to this challenge, I decided to eat a small salad before some pancakes for lunch this past Sunday. It was good because we were waiting for the pancakes to cook and I was very hungry, so the leftover salad from pizza night was a good decision. Another time, I ate some green pepper before eating pancakes for dinner. :D Yeah, my family has a thing for pancakes. ;)

The “recipe” I’m sharing today is one of those veggie breakfast ideas. Basically, take your favorite veggies or whatever you happen to have on hand, sauté them, add in the egg and cook to desired doneness.

Today I used some diced onion, (heat the pan and some of your favorite oil–I used some bacon fat)

cook onions ~ Lifeofjoy.meAdded some diced mushrooms,

sautéing diced onions and mushrooms ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen they are nearly as done as you like them, add in the spinach, which I chop into thin strips. We like our onions and mushrooms very well done but our spinach barely cooked at all.

Added spinach ~ Lifeofjoy.meMeanwhile, slightly beat the eggs, so there is no solid white part left and add them to the pan.

Added beaten eggs to sautéd veggies ~ Lifeofjoy.meCook as desired, adding salt and pepper, as desired as well.

Tiffany is very particular about her eggs. She did not even used to like eggs but now she is okay with them as long as they are well done. I have a friend who likes his the complete opposite of Tiffany, he likes his just done and zero browning at all. Tiffany likes hers nice and golden. So, all that to say, cook it how you desire or as the THM authors would say, “own it.”

Scrambled veggies ~ Lifeofjoy.meCooked this way, these are a deep S THM meal. We added a touch more bacon fat on top of our eggs on our plates but would have been great with a drizzle of MCT oil as well.

Scrambled Eggs and Veggies ~ Lifeofjoy.meIt was delicious! I hope you like it too.

Veggie Scramble

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • a couple of slices of onion, diced
  • a mushroom or two, diced
  • about a cup of spinach, sliced
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • choice of fat (coconut oil, bacon fat, butter, etc.)

Instructions

  1. Melt about a teaspoon or so of fat in a skillet.
  2. Add onions and mushrooms. Sauté until nearly caramelized or however you prefer them.
  3. Add spinach.
  4. Beat eggs slightly and add to veggies.
  5. Cook until they are done to your liking.
  6. Serve with a smidgen more fat on top.

https://lifeofjoy.me/veggie-scramble/

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº

Breakfast THM-S Round-Up (not egg focused)

There are some people that either don’t like eggs or can’t eat eggs, which makes having a THM-S (healthy fats) for breakfast a bit more difficult, at least at first look. So, I thought I’d round up some of those yummy S breakfast ideas.

  • We like to cook up some sausage with onions, mushrooms, and peppers. Sometimes we add some egg but this is not necessary. You can also add other non-starchy veggies like zucchini, spinach, or even radish.
  • We love pancakes and make them many different ways for all fuel types. Now these usually have eggs or egg whites.
  • We also love Baked Bacon!!! Yum Yum! This can be enjoyed all by itself or you can add a muffin (remember to keep it a THM-S muffin, so you don’t have a crossover, unless that is what you are needing to have). You could also do turkey bacon, it just isn’t as yummy. ;)

 

From the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook there are:

Single Serve Recipes-

  • bring on da buttah pancakes pg 262
  • welcome back waffles pg 263
  • chocolate waffles with strawberries pg 265
  • french toast in a bowl pg 266
  • many muffin pg 275-279

Multi-Serve Recipes-

  • DONUTS pg 268-260
  • various muffins

From Trim Healthy Table there are:

Single Serve-

  • chocolate chip pancakes pg 341*
  • cinnamon sugar toast (special bread) pg 358
  • wwbb french toast pg 360

Family Serve-

  • no-bake breakfast cheesecakes pg 334
  • blender freezer waffles pg 336
  • cinnamon pecan baked pancakes pg 338*
  • sausage and cheese breakfast biscuits pg 360
  • various muffins and cakes
  • cinnamon butter bundt cake pg 380*
  • cini-minis pg 436
  • beauty blend cereal pg 509
  • can-do cereal pg 347
  • pint jar chia pg 352
  • cream of treat hot porridge pg 353

*favorite meals

If you can do it, there are a number of shakes that you could drink for breakfast. We are not ones that like to drink our breakfast.

I also LOVE leftovers, so any S dinner you had can be eaten for an S breakfast the next morning.

If you like yogurt, some Greek yogurt with some nuts, berries, and such would be good. If you need to be cautious about dairy, try no gurt (Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook pg 342-343)

If you like(d) to eat protein bars for breakfast, you could try:

Trim Healthy Table-

  • happy bites pg 427
  • chocolate chip peanut butter cookie bars pg 429 (be sure to add some collagen to your coffee or tea for the extra protein you need)
  • chocolate berry boost bars pg 431

I hope this gives you enough ideas to give you some help with having nice healthy fats for breakfast. :)

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº