Features, Recipes

5 Easy Brunch Recipes that use Yogurt

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Breakfast is arguably my favorite meal of the day, and lunch, well, I love that too.  Brunch, though?  I just don’t get it.  Seriously, I need to know–is it breakfast or is it lunch?  Do you eat eggs Benedict or do you eat egg salad?  Pancakes or paninis?  Brunch is a big fat grey area, and I don’t like it one bit.  I’m just one of those people.  In fact, I’m morally opposed to breakfast for dinner.

Don’t stone me.

Despite my aversion, this weekend I stepped out of my comfort zone and invited some friends over for a yogurt-inspired brunch.

Take a look at the spread!

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When preparing the brunch menu, my goal was to cook up a variety of tasty nibblets that incorporated Activia yogurt (since I had some Foodbuzz freebies to use).  Heavy emphasis on tasty, of course.

The mainstay of our meal was my Western Sausage Crustless Quiche:

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My Favs, Recipes

Cinnamon Pecan Yogurt Coffee Cake

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When I go to coffee shops I like to play a game called “if I could eat any of these baked goods, which three would I choose.”  I’ve no doubt drooled over thousands of cases of baked goods over the years, analyzed the contents, and debated each variety of glistening pastry and chocolate loaded what-have-you’s.  Meanwhile, each bagel beckons me to slather it with cream cheese and take it to a private spot in the corner.  I don’t mind when I have to wait in line for my cup o’ joe—it’s more quality time I get to spend at the case.  More time to ensure I’ve got my line up just right.  It’s important to consider how each choice can impact future selections because, as with any team, it’s important to have balance.  One item with chocolate, one savory treat to balance out the sweets, and one coffee cake.

Always a coffee cake.

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Truth be told, I rarely end up ordering anything from the case (for fear of sugar induced comas or caloric catastrophes) but should the day come when I order not one but three carb loaded delicacies simply knowing that I have a plan of attack is almost as comforting as that steaming hot bagel would be.

Almost.

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Recipes

Yogurt Biscuits & NASCAR

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My dad is a huge NASCAR fan.

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Don’t judge.

When I moved to Charlotte, I made my dad a promise:  if he (hater of all things urban) made the trek down to the Queen City, I (the darling bribing daughter) would take him to the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the NASCAR racing experience.  Honestly, the thought of my dear dad whipping around the racetrack at speeds of over 150 miles per hour was borderline gut-wrenching, but I figured if seeing his daughter wasn’t incentive enough to come to Charlotte, surely NASCAR would get him here.

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Recipes

Spinach Caprese Quesadilla

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While at work yesterday, my mind kept drifting to dinner–but nothing was sounding good to me.  Since I have an abundance of tomatoes and basil (thank you backyard garden for your fruitfulness 🙂 ) I decided to do something caprese inspired. 

Caprese is one of my all-time favorite Italian dishes, and it typically consists of tomato, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.

Before diving into to the caprese, I got to work on some brussel sprouts.  I halved 10 brussel sprouts, trimmed down any rough ends of the stem, and then made a small slit down the core of each sprout half.  I read that making this little slit on the rougher part of the sprout helps to ensure even cooking.  I put the sprouts on a cookie sheet that was liberally sprayed with cooking spray, then seasoned them with S&P, and gave them a good toss before throwing them into a 415 degree oven for 17 minutes.

Brussel sprouts!

Now onto the caprese!  First, I sliced up 1 roma tomato and 1 Sargento light mozzarella string cheese and put them into a bowl:

Then, I drizzled the tomato and mozzarella with 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar and a 1/2 tsp olive oil and sprinkled with some salt and pepper.  Next I added 3 sliced up fresh basil leaves and tossed everything to coat.

Meanwhile, I topped a Mama Lupe’s Low Carb tortilla with some fresh spinach and topped with the tomato mozzarella mixture:

I topped this off with a second Mama Lupe’s low carb tortilla, then I popped this baby onto the George foreman grill for about 5 minutes (until the tortilla was crisp and the cheese was melty):

None of these pictures do the quesadilla justice!  If you like caprese, you will love this:

I’m hoping I get some tips on taking pictures of food indoors at the Healthy Living Summit!  I can never seem to get indoor pictures quite right!

By the way, if you love caprese too check out the recipe I tried for hot caprese! I also added a “rating” scale to my recipe page :mrgreen:

Stats on dinner:  325 calories, 43g carbs, 12g fat, 20g protein, 14g fiber

 

A few hours after dinner, it was time for my night time snack.  I was craving a green monster smoothie, so I put the following into the blender:

  • 1/4 cup Stonyfield Farms Fat Free Yogurt
  • 1/2 cup Almond Breeze unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 2 cups spinach
  • 1/2 cup fresh frozen strawberries
  • 1/2 cup fresh frozen blueberries
  • 1 packet Truvia
  • 1 ice cube

Green Monster:

This guy was so much GREENER in person than in these photos… my camera was being stubborn last night!

Stats on the green monster:  119 calories, 24g carbs, 2g fat, 8g protein, 6g fiber

 

Question:  what’s your favorite “healthified” Italian dish?

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What I ate

A whole day of FOOD

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Guess who forgot her camera cord at home today???  That’s right, one fervent-frazzled-foodie 😀

That’s ok, now I get to take my time with this lovely Thursday post, rather than rushing through a lunch-time blog session!

Today should have marked Day #1, Week #6 of my interval training plan… But unfortunately during my run in Charlotte Tuesday morning I started to have some knee pain 🙁

I haven’t had any problems throughout my entire interval plan.  I think the pain was probably caused by having to run on the sidewalks in the city in combination with the TON of walking we did on vacation. 

When I woke up this morning, I was still feeling a little pain in my knee.  I think I’m going to forgo running outside for a week before attempting to pick up on my intervals again.  Hopefully that will be sufficient time for me to get right back on track.  Until then, I’ll stick to the low-impact elliptical. 

Can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already!  Love short workweeks–even if it has been a hectic one.  You can always gauge my level of overwhelmsion at work by the cleanliness of my desk.  Case in point, today  my desk looked like it might try to swallow me whole at any moment:

Breakfast #1

Leftover’s from the scramble I made Tuesday night:

This was tasty, but I was really craving some eggins with turkey sausage.  Think I’ll have to pull some of my Jennie O’s out of the freezer tonight!

Stats on B#1:  141 calories, 13g carbs, 1g fat, 19g protein, 3g fiber

Breakfast #2

Long-awaited return of OVERNIGHT OATS!  Missed these guys so much on vacation!  I actually contemplated packing OO supplies to take on  my vacation, but once I saw the exorbitant amount of food I packed I decided against it.  I also nixed bringing the immersion blender and almond milk to make smoothies… haha 🙂

Last night, I mixed up:

  • 1/2 cup uncooked quick oats
  • 1/2 cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • sprinkling of cinnamon

This morning, I topped the overnight oats with fresh strawberries and blueberries:

GLORIOUS!

Speaking of overnight oats, I get a whole lot  of questions on how to make these.  If you’re intrigued, check out my Overnight Oats Addition to the Foodie Q&A Page.  Also check out the recipe page for some ideas on what to put in your overnight oats!

Stats on B#2:  200 calories, 36g carbs, 5g fat, 6g protein, 6g fiber

Lunch

While making last night’s dinner, I threw and extra chicken breast on the grill for my lunch today.  I was feeling a little saucy 😉 so I decided to make up some healthified buffalo chicken.

This time, I used the following:

Lucky for me, this mixture made enough for 2 wraps so I saved the other half for tomorrow.  I put the buffalo chicken on a Mama Lupe’s low carb tortilla:

Then topped with some tomato and onion:

I was super excited for lunch ALL day today… couldn’t wait to devour this spicy treat.

Last time I made this buffalo chicken salad, I used a lot less sauce.  I think I prefer it extra saucy 🙂

On the side, I had a jumbo salad with romaine, tomato, onion, banana pepper, green pepper, and 2 tbsp Ken’s Steakhouse lite Italian Romano dressing:

Stats on Wrap & Salad:  302 calories, 34g carbs, 9g fat, 28g protein, 10g fiber

Dinner

While trying to decide what to make for dinner, I came across a bag of calabacita veggies in the freezer:

This reminded me of my shrimp quesadillas, which sounded likes a fabulous idea for dinner. 

Here’s what went into the quesadillas:

First I carefully sliced a Joseph’s low-carb tortilla in half, then I topped it with a quarter of the bag of steamed calabacita veggies, a thinly sliced light mini baybel cheese round, and three large grilled shrimp that I had seasoned with lime juice, S&P, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes:

I put the other half of the pita on top of my masterpiece and grilled on the george foreman for 4 minutes until the cheese was melty and the pita was crispy.  Then I topped with 2 tbsp Breakstone’s Fat Free sour cream, 1/2 a plum tomato, 1/4 cup red onion, and some banana peppers:

I love it when a meal is healthy and tastes AMAZING like this one did.  Look how yummy:

On the side, I had 1 cup each of roasted broccoli and cauliflower:

These veggies were seasoned with Black pepper, garlic salt, and onion powder.  I placed them on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and gave them a good toss before roasting in a 415 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Y-U-M.

Next time I make quesadillas I think I’ll sub in some pinto beans for the shrimp and make a vegetarian quesadilla with TONS and TONS of veggies…. mmm can’t wait! 🙂

Stats on the quesadilla & fixins:  296 calories, 34g carbs, 6g fat, 24g protein, 69g fiber

Stats on the roasted veggies:  55 calories, 11g carbs, 0g fat, 4g protein, 5g fiber

All together now:  351 calories, 45g carbs, 6g fat, 30g protein, 11g fiber

Late-Night Snack

Post-dinner snack tonight was a delicious fruit smoothie.  I put the following into the blender:

  • 1/4 cup plain Stonyfield Farms Fat-Free Yogurt
  • 1/4 cup Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
  • 1 packet truvia
  • 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1 cup spinach
  • 1/4 cup frozen blackberries
  • 1/2 cup ice cubes

 Blueberry bliss:

How can healthy foods taste so darn good??  Still baffles me!

All together now:  101 calories, 23g carbs, 1g fat, 6g protein, 5g fiber

Special Surprise

As you may recall, the BF was out of the country for work on my birthday, and the day after he returned, we headed to Charlotte/Charleston.  On vacation, he told me my present was “too big” to bring to Charleston, so I’d have to wait til we got home.  He also expressed some worries that I wasn’t going to like the gift…  Uh oh…  😯  

All I really wanted for my birthday was a night out in Charleston and a cupcake — (which I got several times over on vaca!), so I wasn’t too worried about the gift.

Last night was THE NIGHT.  I sat down with two nicely wrapped presents.  I was super excited to open them, albeit slightly apprehensive.

Here’s what was in the packages:

If you are like me, you’re probably wondering what the heck I’d use two travel guides to New Orleans for.  Maybe you are quicker at gathering the facts than me…. but for those who aren’t:  WE’RE GOING TO NEW ORLEANS IN OCTOBER!!!!  How awesome is that?!?!?  Flights and hotel are already booked!  Now all I have to do is research all the best places to eat 😀

 

QUESTION:  What’s the best surprise and/or birthday present you have ever received?

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