Super Easy Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:

• Pizza crust (I used store brand personal size pizzas)
• this could be anything from pita bread, naan, homemade crust, store bought
• Cream Cheese
• Eggs
• Bacon
• Shredded cheese

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. Put slices of bacon on a cooling rack over a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Bake bacon for 18 minutes or until crispy.
4. Take bacon out and drain on paper towels.
5. Turn the oven up to 425 degrees.
6. While bacon is cooking, scramble the eggs (I used 8 eggs for 3 individual size pizzas)
7. Spread the pizza crust with cream cheese
8. Put the eggs on the cream cheese, followed by the meat (bacon, ham, ground beef, sausage)
9. Sprinkle on the cheese
10. Bake for 10 minutes or until crust is tan and cheese is melted 

Notes & Tips:

Nothing fancy to this, but man it was good. Mat and I topped ours with hot sauce, because really what are eggs without hot sauce?  Totally customizable. Use anything you'd like. You can even whip up some sausage gravy and spread it on the crust before you put the eggs on. YUM!

Lentil, Mushroom & Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

Recipe adapted from: thekitchn.com

Ingredients:

- 5 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
- 1 cup brown or green lentils, washed and picked over
- 3/4 cup dry steel cut oats, gluten free
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound mushrooms, divided
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3/4 cup low-sodium vegetable stock
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning  
Preparation:
 
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Prick each sweet potato several times with a fork and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until very soft to the touch. Set aside to cool.

In a medium pot, combine the lentils, oats, bay leaf and salt with 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil and lower heat. Simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until lentils are soft but not mushy, stirring occasionally to keep the oats from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Discard bay leaf and drain mixture into a colander.

While the lentils and oats are cooking, finely chop half of the mushrooms and set aside. Cut the remaining mushrooms into quarters. Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the quartered mushrooms and a pinch of salt and cook until browned and soft. Add the chopped mushrooms, onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and translucent. Lower heat to medium and add the lentil and oat mixture, followed by the vegetable stock, wine, tomato paste, soy sauce, paprika, and parsley. Taste and add salt if needed. Simmer mixture for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add a few grinds of black pepper.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Peel sweet potatoes with your hands and place in a medium bowl. Use a fork to mash them into a smooth paste and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Evenly spread the lentil mixture into a 9x13-inch baking dish. (For thicker layers, use a 9x9-inch pan.) Spoon the sweet potato mixture on top and smooth with a spatula. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling at the edges.

Notes & Tips:
This is Gluten Free, Vegetarian and  from what I know it's Vegan too. I made this to take to a friend who is feeling under the weather, who is a gluten free eater. So I divided this into 2 round aluminum disposable baking dishes (I think they were the 9 inch ones). You could always add ground beef if you'd like to make it a meat dish. Mat and I try to eat meatless one meal a week so this was ours. I used my Tupperware Quick Chef Pro to chop all of the veggies. So quick and easy! This recipe can also be made in advance (just keep the filling and roasted sweet potato mash separate) until you're ready to assemble and bake. The original recipe also says it can be frozen unbaked (just bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees after thawing)!

Stuffed Cabbage

Recipe Adapted From:
Pennies On A Platter - Pinterest

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 medium head (about 2 pounds) green cabbage
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup cooked rice (white or brown)
1/4 cup raisins (I use golden)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 can (16 ounces) tomato sauce
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 teaspoon paprika
sour cream, for serving (optional)

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13- by 9-inch pan with cooking spray or oil.

In a medium skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Using a small, sharp knife, cut in a circle all around the stem of the cabbage and remove the core. Place the cabbage in the boiling water. After about 2 minutes an outside leaf will come loose--pull it off and out of the water using tongs. After another minute the next leaf will come loose. Remove and repeat until you have 8 to 10 leaves. Pat the leaves dry with paper towels. Cut out the thick part of the rib from the bottom of each leaf, but don't cut more than a third of the way into the leaf.

In a mixing bowl, combine the beef, cooled onion, rice, raisins, and salt. With the stem side of the cabbage leaf facing you, place a scant 1/3 cup of the beef mixture in the center of each cabbage leaf. Fold the bottom edge over the mixture and then fold the sides over and roll into a tidy packet. Place the cabbage rolls, seam side down, in the prepared baking dish.

In a bowl, mix together the tomato sauce, broth, and paprika. Pour evenly over the cabbage rolls. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Optional: Serve the cabbage rolls with a big dollop of sour cream.

Notes & Tips:
So I was a little intimidated to make these since they look kind of difficult, but seriously they were so easy to make and really really good. I used crushed tomatoes instead of tomato sauce so there was some texture to the sauce. Mat told me this one was a keeper!

Ramen Noodle Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
4 Packages Chicken Ramen Noodles
2 Chicken Seasoning Packets
1 Package "Good Seasonings" Italian Dressing Mix
3 Cups Cooked Chicken Breast
1 Cup Frozen Peas, defrosted
3/4 Cup Shredded Carrots
1/2 Medium Bell Pepper (any color) Diced

Preparation:

Cook Ramen noodles according to package. Drain noodles and rinse in cold water. Sprinkle with 2 of the chicken seasoning packages from Ramen package. In small bowl prepare the Italian dressing according to package directions. Pour over noodles. Dice chicken (or shred, whichever you prefer). Add peas, carrots and bell pepper. Mix everything in large bowl and put in fridge for at least an hour.

Notes & Tips:

This is a great salad to take to picnics or pot lucks. If you leave out the chicken it would make a good side dish. Also, if you don't have the dressing mix you can just use 1/2 cup Italian dressing.

Ham-Filled Puffy Omelet

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• Dash salt and black pepper
• 3 beaten egg yokes
• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1/4 cup feta cheese
• 1/2 cup sliced cooked ham
• 1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Italian blend (or herb of your choice)

Preparation:
Preheat oven 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl beat egg whites, salt and pepper with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until stiff peaks form (tips stand up straight). Fold in yokes until all dark yellow is incoporated.

Coat a large oven-proof skillet with cooking spray. Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Spread egg mixture in skillet. Cook about 3 minutes or just until bottom is golden. Bake in a 350 degree oven 3 minutes or until dry on top and edges are light brown.

Loosen the omelet from the sides of the skillet with a metal spatula. Make a shallow cut slightly off center across the omelet. Sprinkles cheese over larger sid. Top with ham and seasoning. Fold smaller side of omelet over larger side. Cut omelet in half.

Notes & Tips:
There are TONS of variations for this recipe, just swap out the meat or cheese for something else. Also, this a super light meal, if you're looking for something a little heartier serve this with hashbrowns or pancakes. Tonight I served this with toast and jelly.

12/19/13 - UPDATE: I made this tonight with shredded chicken, Parmesan Cheese and bacon filling. Very yummy. I served this tonight with pancakes and sausage.


Nutrition Facts:2 servings
183 calories, 11g fat, 504mg sodium, 2g carbs, 0g fiber