Running Mama Cooks

I use my crockpot all the time for dinner, but never really thought about using it to make breakfast. But why not? 8 hours overnight and voila! breakfast is ready! Sounds good, right?! I came across a blog called Weelicious and she had a "how to" video for making crockpot oatmeal. I love steel cut oats, but don't make it as often as I should because it is time consuming to do on the stove.

This was the perfect solution. I started my crockpot at 11pm right before going to bed and it was perfect by 7am. I happened to be up at 5 after feeding the baby, so I gave it a good stir and added a cut up banana for the last 2 hours.

Overnight Oatmeal
Recipe slightly adapted from Weelicious

Ingredients:

1 cup steel cut oats
2 cups water
2 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 banana, cut into chunks (optional)

Directions:

Add water and milk to crockpot. Stir in oats, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg. Cook on low for 8 hours. Add banana or any other fruits or nuts towards the end of the cooking time. Serve with a little brown sugar or splenda.
***UPDATE I have been enjoying this for several days after making it. I usually reheat the oats with a splash of fat free half and half, then sweetening it with blue agave. Great breakfast!

I think Gina from Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes is my new best friend. The last thing I wanted to do is give up Sunday pancakes while on a diet! I quickly found what I was looking for on skinnytaste.com. Banana pancakes are my favorite and these looked perfect. And only 4 points plus for 2 pancakes (with the nuts, 3 points without), not bad!

They were light and fluffy. I put a teeny bit of butter and light syrup and didn't feel like I missed out at all.

Banana Nut Pancakes
Recipe from Gina's Weight Watchers Recipes

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 large banana, very ripe, mashed
1 cup 1% milk
3 large egg whites
2 tsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp chopped walnuts (optional)
butter flavor cooking spray

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine milk, egg white and mashed bananas in a bowl and mix until smooth. Combine wet ingredients with the dry and mix well with a spoon until there are no more dry spots. Don't over-mix.

Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Spray oil to lightly coat and pour 1/4 cup of pancake batter. When the pancake starts to bubble and the edges begin to set, flip the pancakes. Repeat with the remainder of the batter.

These were a new addition to Christmas morning this year and they were really great! It makes a dense, cake-like waffle with great gingerbread flavor.

We also had Papa's breakfast casserole, fruit, monkey bread, coffee and mimosas.

Gingerbread Waffles
Recipe from Rachael Ray

Instructions:

3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, eyeball it
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter, plus some to butter the iron
Syrup, whipped cream or fresh fruits for topping, to pass at table

Directions:

Preheat waffle iron.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. In a medium bowl, beat eggs and brown sugar until fluffy, then beat in pumpkin, milk, molasses and melted butter. Stir the wet into dry until just moist. Do not overstir the waffle batter. Brush the iron with a little melted butter and cook 4 waffles, 4 sections each. Serve with toppings of choice.

Breakfast is served!

place settings

Santa came!!

Pumpkin french toast? Why not!! I have leftover pumpkin in the fridge so I thought Id put it to good use this morning. Came out great!

I didn't really measure anything, so this won't be a real "recipe." Just mix one egg, a splash of milk, a scoop of pumpkin, dash of vanilla and a generous amount of pumpkin pie spice together. Dip bread into the mixture coating it and cook in a pan with a little bit of melted butter.

Pumpkin is one of my all time favorite flavors. I was anxious to use the canned pumpkin I bought earlier this week so I looked up a bunch of recipes to find a pumpkin pancake for this morning. This one looked good and it didn't disappoint. I liked that it used mostly whole wheat flour. They were dense but not too heavy and very tasty. I cut the recipe in half because they were just for Cecily and me, and it worked out fine.

2. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and blend together with a wooden spoon until just combined. Lumps are ok, just make sure all the flour on the bottom of the bowl is mixed in. If batter seems too thick to pour, you can gently stir in a little more buttermilk.

Almost every week lately I have been making a big batch of Steel Cut Oats to have for breakfast every morning. I have been getting a little tired of my usual apple craison combination. I saw this recipe on Apple A Day and used it for my inspiration. Of course I had to have a little sample this afternoon and it was great! Good fuel for my workout classes tonight!

Cherry Vanilla Steel Cut Oats
Recipe inspired by from Apple A Day

Makes approx 4 cups of oatmeal

4 cups water
1 cup steel cut oats
1/2 cup dried cherries
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
Splash milk per serving
1 tsp Rhubarb Strawberry preserves per serving

Directions:

Bring water to a boil. Stir in oats and cherries. Reduce heat to low and simmer,stirring often. After about 20 minutes (and oatmeal starting to come together), stir in cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Continue to simmer until water is absorbed, approx 30 minutes total.

When serving, add a splash of milk and stir in Tastefully Simple Rhubarb Strawberry preserves.

Get Tastefully Simple Rhubarb Strawberry and other great products here

This was the perfect breakfast for a rainy Sunday. It was the first time I've made pancakes from scratch, and they were awesome. The sour cream and banana made such a smooth, velvety texture.

Now I can't get Jack Johnson's song "Banana Pancakes" out of my head!

Banana Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
2 extra-large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Unsalted butter
2 ripe bananas, mashed, plus extra for serving
Pure maple syrup

Directions:

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and banana. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Ladle the pancake batter into the pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Sprinkle chocolate chips on each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with sliced bananas, butter and maple syrup.

ZACH'S RATING - ****

One of my favorite things to have for breakfast is oatmeal. Up until now, I have always used instant oatmeal, but am interested in branching out to healthier ways to prepare this healthy breakfast.

The other day I decided to try to make overnight oatmeal using my crockpot. It was a complete fail. It burned on the sides and was overcooked and unappetising. Since I had already purchased steel cut oats, I wanted to learn how to make them the regular way. Can't be that hard, right? I watched this video on you tube and gave it a shot.

I boiled three cups of water and added one cup of steel cut oats. I had some sliced almonds on hand so I threw in a handful of those along with half of a golden delicious apple, cut into chunks. I decided a sprinkle of cinnamon and about a tsp of brown sugar was a good idea as well. I turned the heat down to medium low and hoped for the best.

Monkey bread is one of our Christmas morning traditions. This year I made it first thing so we could snack on it while opening presents. It is easy to make and so good!

Monkey Bread

3 pkgs Pillsbury biscuits
3/4 cup sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar

Cut each biscuit into quarters. Mix sugar and cinnamon, shake in a zip lock bag. Add cut biscuits and shake until coated. Pile into well greased bundt pan. Combine butter and brown sugar in a pan and bring to a boil. Pour over biscuits.

Bake 35 minutes at 350

My Christmas morning table all set

It's Christmas morning!! Santa came and after opening all our gifts we sit down for a big Christmas breakfast with Mom, Dad, Cecily, Mimi, Ganky, Grammie, Papa and Jilly.


I made Paula Deen's French Toast Casserole (It's Paula Deen, how could it be bad?!). I made it last night and had to just add the praline topping and bake. Papa made his Breakfast Casserole that was delicious as always. We also had some fruit and bread. Amazingly enough, we still had an appetite after munching on Monkey Bread earlier in the morning!



Paula Deen's Baked French Toast Casserole




It was really good, but be warned, its very rich!! Here is Papa's breakfast casserole. Delicious and on the lighter side, made with egg beaters and turkey sausage.