Blueberry Sweet Potato breakfast casserole - Paleo, Whole30

When I am doing Whole30, I get tired of eating eggs! Who doesn't? Believe it or not, this is what I eat when I am tried of eggs. Even though it has eggs in it, it doesn't taste like an egg dish to me.

Cooking Equipment

12-inch cast iron skillet, seasoned

Ingredients

up to 1/4 cup ghee (if you're not on whole30 you can use butter)

2-3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and dices in half inch cubes

1/2 tsp salt

1 apple, diced

5 large eggs

1 cup canned coconut milk 

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or almonds

1/2 cup blueberries fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. On your stove top, heat half the ghee in the skillet add your sweet potatoes and sprinkle with salt. Cook sweet potatoes until they are almost soft, 7-8 minutes and then add the apple. Cook for 3-4 minutes minutes until the sweet potatoes and the apples are soft. While cooking your apples, warm the coconut milk in the microwave for 15-20 seconds to partially melt it. Beat your eggs slightly with coconut milk. There will be some clumps of coconut milk in the eggs, this is fine as it will melt more when you pour it in the skillet.

Sprinkle nuts and blueberries over the sweet potatoes and then pour the egg mixture. Stir to incorporate with the sweet potatoes. Any clumps of coconut milk should melt, take care to mix it in with the eggs.

Place the skillet in the oven and bake until the eggs are done, 15-20 minutes.

Baked oatmeal - 4 points on WW blue

I absolutely love oatmeal. I eat it for breakfast, sometimes for lunch and often as snacks. I don't even need to put sugar in it if I load it up with fruit, chocolate chips or nuts. However, I often find these delicious additions don't fit well into my daily points when I'm trying to follow weight watchers.

In fact, when I chose my WW plan, I went for blue because oatmeal is zero points on purple and I knew I would over eat it if it didn't have any points attached. I also love sweet potatoes, so that would've been another temptation!

In moderation though, oatmeal can be a great option and this baked oatmeal is further fortified with eggs and applesauce to make it fluffy and filling and only 4 points.

Ingredients

2/3 cup quick oats

2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

2 eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 tsp Lankato granulated monkfruit or other zero calorie sweetener of your choice, optional

1 cup fresh or frozen fruit (such as mixed berries, blueberries, chopped apples, chopped peaches)

1/4 tsp of baking powder

1 generous sprinkle of cinnamon

cooking spray

Cooking equipment: small baking pan, I use a 7" round pan.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray small baking pan with cooking spray. Put fruit in the bottom of the pan. Mix wet ingredients, taking care to whisk the eggs fully. Add dry ingredients and mix well into a wet batter, pour into the pan over the fruit. Bake for 18-22 minutes until the oatmeal is fully set.

Half the pan is 4 points.

You can also double the recipe and make four servings and use a standard 9" round pan to bake it. I tend to each too much when I do this, since I love oatmeal so much.

4 serving double recipe - this one had peaches on the bottom!

On the WW blue plan if you use the recipe builder it's 4 points for one serving and 7 if you eat two servings. Since WW sometimes has weird math, if you put half of the ingredients individually, it's only 3 points. I use the higher recipe builder calculation.

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Streusel French Toast

If you are looking for an easy, seasonal breakfast for Thanksgiving look no further than this pumpkin streusel french toast made in your slow cooker! It's easy and delicious.

The great thing about a slow cooker french toast is you can throw it in early and it cooks while you get anything else you are having ready. I put mine in, cleaned up the house a bit, took a shower and then fried some bacon. Meanwhile it cooked on low in my Crock Pot.

Ingredients:
For French Toast:
Cooking spray
1 loaf of French bread
2 cups of cream
6 eggs
1 small can of pumpkin puree
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
For streusel topping:
1/2 cup of flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
4T of butter (1/2 a stick)
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon

Topping, just needs butter

If using 2 cups of heavy cream is too much for you, I can see how it would be, you can substitute milk. Probably also almond milk or other non-animal milks, though I haven't personally tried this yet.

Cooking equipment:
Large slow cooker, I use a 6qt oval Crock Pot
Pastry blender (or large fork)

Directions:
Tear or cut bread into 1 inch pieces. Mix eggs, cream, pumpkin puree and spices, with a whisk ensuring that eggs are beaten and well-incorporated. Spray slow cooker crock with cooking spray and add bread pieces, covering them thoroughly with liquid and spice mixture. Stir until all bread pieces are lightly coated. Refrigerate in crock for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Shortly before you begin cooking, you need to prep your streusel topping. I don't suggest doing this the night before but it's pretty quick in the morning, it takes maybe 10 minutes. The butter needs to be close to room temperature, I microwave mine for about 30 seconds to achieve this. When your butter is warmed, add all streusel ingredients to a small mixing bowl and blend with your pastry blender or large fork until they are well mixed.

Just prior to cooking, sprinkle the top of the bread mixture with the streusel topping. Cook in slow cooker on low temperature for 2 to 2.5 hours and serve.

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Skinny yogurt banana bread - Oven or Instant Pot

If you are looking for a moist banana bread, look no further! This might be a light recipe but don't let that fool you into thinking it is anything short of delicious. It makes a good breakfast or a nice dessert.

Adding Greek yogurt not only helps to make this bread extra moist, it adds protein and doesn't give you the sour taste that using sour cream would.

It's also a great way to use up bananas that are past their prime. You can use bananas that have been frozen but you need to thaw them first. I usually zap them in the microwave for 15-20 seconds and they are thawed enough to mash them up

You can make this in your oven or Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. I first made this in my Instant Pot because we had finished the loaf I had made in the oven and I was craving more but my loaf pan was in the dishwasher which was running. It's nice to have options!

Ingredients ready to go

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 of unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup of low fat, plain Greek yogurt
3 overripe bananas
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
cooking spray

If you want a little different variety you can try adding 1 tsp of cinnamon or 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder.

Cooking equipment:
Electric mixer
For baking in the oven you need a loaf baking pan or for the Instant Pot a 7" round cake pan. I use a 3" deep Fat Daddio pan in my 6 quart Instant Pot.

Oven directions:

Batter all mixed up

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mash up bananas in large mixing bowl using a potato masher or large fork. Add all ingredients to mixing bowl and beat on med-low speed until all are fully incorporated, about 3-5 minutes. You may need to use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl to get the flour fully mixed in.

Grease the loaf pan with cooking spray and pour in the batter. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Instant Pot directions:

Place 1 cup of water into the bottom of your Instant Pot. 

Mash up bananas in large mixing bowl using a potato masher or large fork. Add all ingredients to mixing bowl and beat on med-low speed until all are fully incorporated, about 3-5 minutes. You may need to use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl to get the flour fully mixed in.

In the Instant Pot

Grease the 7" round cake pan with cooking spray and pour in the batter. Cover the cake pan with foil and using your trivet, lower it into your Instant Pot. Put your lid on and seal the vent. Press

the cake setting and set for 55 minutes. If you don't have a cake setting you can use high pressure. When the cooking cycle completes, quick release the pressure. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

I calculated this recipe at 150 calories per slice (recipe makes 10 slices) compared to a whopping 420 calories for a slice of Starbucks' banana bread. Wow!

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Banana muffins - 2 points on Weight Watchers

I think I am definitely baking more since starting Weight Watchers! I was holding off before because I was gaining weight and the baked goods were so unhealthy. Now that I'm on the "reasonably healthy baked goods that fit in to my food plan" train, there seems to be no stopping me!

Plus, if I want baked goods now, I have to make them myself it seems like. 

If you have checked out my other Weight Watchers friendly baked goods recipes (pumpkin muffin recipe, blueberry lemon cake recipe), you will notice that I don't use artificial sugars, instead they are only lightly sweetened and rely on fruit and a little brown sugar to get the sweet taste. These banana muffins follow the same plan.

You can use over-ripe bananas from the freezer in this recipe. I used one from the freezer and one from my counter. If you are using frozen ones, thaw them out first. You can microwave them a little it you don't have time to wait for them to thaw (15-20 seconds).

I have also used almond extract in these muffins to give them a nutty flavor without using high-point nuts in the recipe. You can use vanilla extract if you prefer but they won't have the nutty taste.

Ingredients:
2 medium, very ripe bananas
1 cup self-rising flour
1 egg
1/3 cup unpacked brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

You will also need:
Cupcake liners, I suggest silicone liners when cooking without oil.
Cupcake pan 
Hand mixer, I use my kitchen aid hand mixer.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 cupcake pan with liners. In a large mixing bowl, put all ingredients in the bowl and beat with the hand mixer until well mixed. Take care to ensure the bananas are mashed up and mixed in well.  If you have a good hand mixer, you don't need to mash the bananas in advance.

Fill each liner 3/4 full, diving the batter among the 12 liners.

Bake at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffin comes out clean.

The recipe makes 12 banana muffins, that are 2 points each on Weight Watchers Freestyle.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase from one of these links this blog may receive a small commission, thank you for your support. This blog is not affiliated with Weight Watchers in any way. Points were calculated in May 2018 using the WW freestyle program.

Almond milk crepes - 1 point on Weight Watchers

Have you developed an irrational craving for pancakes since you started Weight Watchers? No? Just me then?

Crepes are a very WW friendly option to help stave off your cravings. This dairy-free crepe recipe  is only 1 point per serving and there are many options to stuff your crepes with zero or low-point fillings. Such as:

• Eggs + bell pepper + tomato
• Eggs + mushrooms
• Eggs + reduced fat cheese (points for cheese)
• Eggs + 99% fat free deli turkey
• Eggs + tomato + avocado (points for avocado)
• Reduced fat cheese (points for cheese)
• 99% fat free deli turkey + reduced fat cheese (points for cheese)
• Bananas + Powdered peanut butter such as PBFit (1 point/serving of PBFit)
• Strawberries + Greek yougrt
• Strawberries + light whipped cream (points for whipped cream)

2 points - crepe with eggs, veggies and reduced fat feta

If you really must have a pancake and have a few more points to spare, check out my recipe for high protein peanut butter pancakes using powdered peanut butter.

Batter ingredients:
3/4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/4 tsp of table salt
Non-stick cooking spray
* if you are making only sweet crepes, add 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

Directions:
Whisk together all ingredients to form a thin batter. I suggest using a hand mixer to ensure there are no clumps of flour. It should be thinner than pancake batter, if it's too thick, you can add a little more almond milk or water.

Preheat a round, non-stick skillet to medium-high heat. On my stove, I use temperature setting 7 of 10. Give the pan a quick spray of cooking spray and pour about a 1/3 of a cup of batter in the pan. You will want to spread the batter out by swirling the pan or there is such a thing as a crepe spreader.

Not quite ready to flip....if you use a spreader it will be easier to make it more round.

Allow the crepe to cook until lightly brown, about 2-3 minutes and then flip it over. Cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Top with your preferred toppings, or eat plain!

Recipe makes 6-8 crepes.

Nice light brown!

Mine don't look as pretty as the ones sold on the streets of Paris but they still taste good!

2 points - crepe with banana and a drizzle made from PBFit

This recipe was adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe for Whole Wheat Crepes to be dairy-free. This blog is not affiliated with Weight Watchers in any way. Point values were checked in April 2018 under the Freestyle program. This post may contain affiliate links, if you make a purchase from one of these links this blog may receive a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Blueberry lemon cake - 3 WW pts

Summer is coming! This great cake has all the summer flavors you crave and less guilt.

Even though I'm trying to eat healthy, sometimes I still feel like baking. I mean I want to eat the baked goods too but sometimes you really just feel like baking. Just me?

So I decided I would bake something to take to my friends house. That would kill the urge and I'd only eat 1-2 pieces.

Even though it was for non-WW people, I baked it WW style and planned to warn them that it was healthy.

This cake is light and summery. You could almost eat it for breakfast with a side of yogurt! It's not overly sweet, with about half the amount of sugar of similar cakes. I avoid artificial sugars, if you want it sweeter you could add some stevia or drizzle some honey on top.

Ingredients
2 large eggs
1/2 brown sugar
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups self-rising flour
1 Tb lemon juice (approximately the juice of half a large lemon)
16 oz frozen blueberries, thawed
1 Tb corn starch


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9-inch square cake pan.

Whisk eggs with sugar until it's light in color and thick. I use the whisk attachment on my Kitchenaid stand mixer.

Fluffy egg sugar

Add yogurt, applesauce, vanilla and salt and whisk on low speed until mixed thoroughly. Add flour and whisk until incorporated fully. Add the lemon juice and stir well until fully combined.

Rinse thawed blueberries thoroughly. Pat dry with a paper towel and toss with corn starch until no white remains from the corn starch.

See the white corn starch? Keep mixing!

Pour half of the batter into the greased cake pan and top with half of the blueberries. Add the remaining batter and top with remaining blueberries.

Bake at 375 for 38-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cut into 12 servings, each piece is 3 points on WW freestyle or 2 pieces for 7 points.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase from one of these links this blog may receive a small commission, thank you for your support. This blog is not affiliated with Weight Watchers in any way. Points were calculated in April 2018 using the WW freestyle program.

Apple muffins - 2 points on weight watchers

These apple muffins make a great snack when you craving the carbs but trying to behave. They are not very sweet, which is why I'm calling them "muffins" but they could easily be a cupcake if you wanted to toss some frosting on them. They have a moist bread-y texture and are great fresh from the oven or if you microwave them for about 10 seconds.

They are only 2 points each for a full-sized muffin on Weight Watchers freestyle!

This recipe grew out of the two-ingredient dough (1 part self-rising flour and 1 part fat free Greek yogurt) that is all over Weight Watchers circles. I was using that to make bagels one Sunday and thought, "what else can I do with this?" A few test batches later and these apple muffins were born.

After a little tweaking, my official taste tester (also known as my husband) pronounced them delicious.

If you leave out the sugar, or use a point-free sugar substitute you can actually get the recipe down to 1 point each, however, I prefer to use real sugar when possible. I made a sugar-free batch and honestly, they're not bad but I'll take the extra point for the sugar.

I am using brown sugar because it's fewer points than white! I seriously sat with the recipe builder and looked at how much sugar I could use before the points went up.

Yum! Brown sugar.

They stick to the paper cupcake liners a little bit at the bottom, I would recommend using silicone liners if possible.

Ingredients
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup fat free Greek yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 eggs
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup unpacked brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 small/medium apple, cored and diced into small pieces

Ready to mix!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients until thoroughly blended. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners (ideally silicone ones) and place 1/4 cup of batter in each liner. Bake in preheated oven for 17-20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins. Each muffin is 2 points on Weight Watchers freestyle. Muffins can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week.

If you like these, try my 2 point pumpkin muffins, they also don't have any artificial sugar.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase from one of these links this blog may receive a small commission, thank you for your support. This blog is not affiliated with Weight Watchers in any way. Points were calculated in April 2018 using the WW freestyle program. 

High protein peanut butter pancakes - 2 smart points each

Sometimes you just want some carbs for breakfast? Right?

These pancakes satisfy the carb cravings while sneaking in protein. They are Weight Watchers friendly and the whole recipe is only 8 points on WW Freestyle. Even if you eat them all, that's not too bad!

To keep the points low, I cook them in my cast iron skillet. I give a quick spray of cooking spray beginning and don't need to use any additional oil.

They get the peanut butter flavor from using powdered peanut butter, I like PBFit. When it's mixed it tastes very similar to peanut butter in my opinion. I also mix it up to have with celery as a low-fat snack. Even my dog loves it! The PBFit  also adds extra protein to these pancakes.

The recipe makes 4 medium-sized pancakes, using 1/3 cup batter for each. I split the recipe with my husband and we have two. I top mine with a low fat berry cream and he puts as much butter and syrup on his as he likes. His are a little less WW friendly :)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Krusteaz Protein Butermilk pancake mix
4 Tbsp of PBFit powdered peanut butter
1 egg
2/3 cup of water
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
Cooking spray

Directions:
Turn on oven to medium-high temperature and heat up your cast iron skillet. When the pan is heated, turn the heat down to medium. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients.

Spray skillet with cooking spray. Pour 1/3 cup of batter into the middle of the heated skillet. After the top of the pancake begins to look cooked (approximately 2-3 minutes) using a large spatula, flip the pancake over to continue cooking (approximately 2 additional minutes).  Repeat until the batter is used.

Makes 4 pancakes. Each pancake is 2 points on WW freestyle and it's 8 points for the whole recipe.

Top as desired, I suggest this one point berry cream topping!

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase from one of these links this blog will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support. This blog is not affiliated with weight watchers in any way. Point values were checked in April 2018 for the WW Freestyle program.

Low fat berry cream topping - 1 WW point

This berry cream makes an excellent low-fat topping for pancakes. It saves me from smothering them with syrup! Try it on my high protein peanut butter pancakes. The best part is that it's only 1 point per 1/2 cup serving and 4 points for the whole recipe on Weight Watchers Freestyle program.

It can also be used as a healthy dip for fruit for a point-friendly snack. I haven't tried on ice cream yet but I can see it being used as sundae topping too.

I like that it's naturally sweetened by the fruit but if you want to toss in a little Stevia I won't judge. However it's sweet enough from the fruit for me.

I blend it up in my mini food processor in just a few minutes. In fact, you can do it in between flipping your pancakes.

Ingredients
4 oz fat free cream cheese
1/4 cup fat free greek yogurt
1/2 cup mixed frozen berries

Add all ingredients to a mini food processer and pulse for 2-3 minutes. Makes about 2 cups. 1/2 cup is 1 point on Weight Watchers freestyle. It can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days.

The post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase from one of these links I may receive a small commission. Thank you for your support. This blog is not affiliate with Weight Watchers in any way. Point counts were checked in April 2018 under the Weight Watchers Freestyle program.

Make the starbucks sous vide egg bites without a mold!

I kept seeing people rave about these egg bites in the Instant Pot and I wanted to try them but I was reluctant to buy a special mold to make something I had never tried before. So I set out to make them in my 7in Fat Daddio pan that I bought for PIP recipes.

Since the "bite" is more like a loaf, I had to tinker a little bit with the cooking time. My first experiment looked like this.....hardly a success!

However, after I flipped it back into the pan and cooked it the rest of the way in my oven it was also delicious. The eggs were velvety smooth.

This one looks better right? Here is how you can do it yourself. This was made in a 7in pan, if you use a different size pan it might impact your cook time a little bit.

This recipe was based off of the recipe from foodie and wine that uses the silicone molds.

Ingredients:

5 Large Eggs
4oz of cooked crumbled bacon or I like to use pancetta because it comes already in cubes
1 ½ cups of cheese
4oz cream cheese
¼ cup heavy cream
Salt to taste*

*Note I did not use any additional salt because I was already using pancetta it's quite salty.

Directions: Cook the meat and if you are using bacon, crumble it. Put the eggs, cream cheese, shredded cheese, cream and salt into a blender and blend until fully mixed, about 45 seconds.

I use my Epica smoothie blender and it works great.

Breakfast smoothie anyone?

Put your pancetta in the bottom into a a lightly greased 7in pan and pour the blended egg mixture on top.

Cover the pan with foil. Pour one cup of water into the bottom of your Instant pot and using your trivet, lower the pan into the pot. The pan will be on top of the trivet.

Set your IP to steam for 14 minutes. Quick release the steam. You can cut slices and eat it from the pan, or you can flip it out on to a plate. It easily releases from my Fat Daddio pan. Full-sized bite!

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