Tag: breakfast

Labneh: Better Than Cream Cheese

I sat here this morning, chewing thoughtfully on a warm double protein English muffin smeared with a thick layer of home made labneh, it’s tart creaminess contrasting with the sweet blackerry-raspberry refrigerator jam dolloped on top.

I only discovered the joy of labneh recently. I’d had it before, it’s used often as a condiment at my favorite restaurant Zahav, and is a staple in the Middle East. It is essentially the regional equivalent of cream cheese, made from straining yogurt until it’s thick and spreadable, somewhere between mascarpone and cream cheese in thickness and texture. It’s loaded with protein, too, and super easy to make at home. The recipe I used is simple:

  • 1 quart full fat Greek yogurt (I used Powerful)
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • Cheesecloth

Just stir the lemon juice and salt into the Greek yogurt, then wrap in layered cheesecloth and set in a colander in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. That’s it! Then it’s ready to eat. Last week I served mine on sesame Ezekiel toast and topped it with ripe persimmon and local honey.

The best part of labneh is it easily transitions from sweet to savory dishes. Traditionally it’s served doused with fruity olive oil and sprinkled with za’atar seasoning, served with warm pita bread. You can use it in a thousand other ways too: mix it with herbs for a dip, inside crepes, on top of pizza crust, the possibilities are endless.

Will you try labneh? You should!

Recipe: Turkey Taco Wake Up Wraps

Sometimes ideas just hit me and I find myself unable to think of anything else until I figure out how to make it work. The thing that triggered me here was breakfast burritos. Man they always look so delicious, but I really can’t swing eating an entire burrito sized tortilla for breakfast: those things can be upwards of 200 calories apiece. I had this vision of fusing the breakfast burrito idea with the Dunkin’ Donuts Wake Up Wrap, something that’s tasty and low calorie not high in sodium and not terribly filling.

Now I love lavash bread, and I had a vision of perfectly square baked eggs on square lavash bread folded neatly in half: as study in symmetry. It very nearly worked out that way, too! Here’s how I did it:

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees then browned my turkey in a large skillet over medium heat before adding 2 tbsp of no salt taco seasoning and 1/3 cup water, simmering it until the turkey was almost dry, then removed it from the heat.

I then used my stick blender to blend up 8 whole eggs into a smooth liquid.

In a baking dish lined with parchment I spread out the turkey, then slowly poured the egg on top so it wouldn’t move the turkey around. I popped that baby in the oven and baked it for 30 minutes.

In the meantime I laid out the lavash bread and divided 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese between them.

Then I drained and rinsed a can of kidney beans and warmed them in a skillet, mashing them with water to make my own refried beans! I simmered them gently until they got nice and thick like a paste. This is important for the portability of the sandwich: you don’t want the beans runny or they’ll just drip out the side of your sandwich.

I cut my eggs into perfect little egg squares just like in my imagination.

Then all I needed to do was put an egg square on top of the cheese, then add a scoop of beans. I folded them all in half and pressed down to squish the beans flat and stick the sandwich together.

If you wanted to eat one right away, like I did, go for it! If not, wrap them all tightly in plastic wrap, and then stick them in a zip top bag. You can freeze these and then pull one out whenever you need breakfast: just remove the plastic wrap then put it in a paper town and microwave at 50% power until warmed through.

I froze half the batch for later and kept some in the fridge for this week. I can see myself snacking on one of these on my way to work, or on a leisurely morning topped with a bit of salsa and sour cream, what about you?!

Turkey Taco Wake Up Wraps

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

An easy breakfast for those mornings you want to grab something and go.

NUTRITION: 347 cals, 16.8g fat, 598.5mg sodium, 21.4g carbs, 32.6g protein.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb lean ground turkey
  • 2 tbsp salt-free taco seasoning & 1/3 cup water
  • 8 large eggs
  • 8 pieces of lavash bread
  • 1 can dark red kidney beans
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a skillet over medium high heat, brown the turkey until no longer pink. Add the taco seasoning and water and simmer until water is absorbed. Remove from heat.
  3. Whisk the eggs thoroughly until smooth.
  4. In a 9 x 13 baking dish lined with parchment paper, spread the turkey evening in the bottom of the pan, then pour the eggs over top, gently so as not to move the turkey around too much. Put into the pre-heated oven and bake for 30 minutes.

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Recipe: Oatmeal Cookie Overnight Oats

So I’ve been sort of obsessed with Halo Top Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream lately, which is funny because if asked I’d never say that one of my favorite cookies was oatmeal raisin. I mean, come on, oatmeal raisin is the joke of the cookie world: people are always claiming to be angry or sad when they think they’re eating a chocolate chip cookie and sink their teeth into an oatmeal raisin.

I’ve never been angry when I accidentally got an oatmeal raisin cookie, but I can say that maybe I’ve been disappointed. But not lately.

Image via The Baking Dietitian

So when I discovered the maxiumum deliciosity of the Halo Top Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream, I suddenly became dedicated to someday make delicious overnight oats that tasted like oatmeal cookie dough but was healthy enough to eat first thing in the morning. So here’s how I did it:

The basics of overnight oats are as simple as old fashioned rolled oats, some sort of milk, and often some sort of yogurt. I used unsweetened vanilla cashew milk and Powerful Greek Whole Milk Vanilla Yogurt for my base, and added raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins and some unflavored pea protein powder to mine for an extra protein punch. Feel free to skip the protein if you like, or use another form of unflavored or vanilla protein powder. The pea protein actually worked out, because the slightly grainy texture of pea protein added to the ‘cookie dough’ vibe for sure!

The recipe itself is simple. Stir everything together really well, cover in plastic wrap and stow in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning all you need to do is divide it between two bowls and serve! Mine was really thick and hearty like cookie dough, but if you prefer it thinner, just stir in a little more cashew milk before serving.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Overnight Protein Oats

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Overnight oats that taste like oatmeal raisin cookie dough.

NUTRITION PER SERVING: 356 cals, 3g fat, 205mg sodium, 51g carbs, 24g protein.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1 oz. raisins
  • 8 oz. whole milk vanilla yogurt (I used Powerful)
  • 4 oz. unsweetened cashew milk
  • 15 grams unflavored pea protein (optional)

Directions

    1. In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients well. 2. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
  1. In the morning, simply spoon into two bowls and enjoy!

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