Mixed Berry Baked Breakfast Cobbler with Greek Yogurt Topping

The Mixed Berry Baked Breakfast Cobbler is one of my all time favorite breakfast bulk recipes because in a lot of ways it's almost like dessert for breakfast.  Over the last year I have coordinated a lot of Challenge Groups around Clean Eating in combination with the 21-Day Fix portion control macronutrient counts in mind.  This has led to a lot of research on Clean Eating recipes, and how to modify their ingredients to appropriately meet particular macro counts with each serving.  I came across the idea for this recipe from The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook, but totally revamped it so it could be applied to the 21-Day Fix portion control plan.

This meal is a great way to start breakfast, for several different reasons. First off, it has carbs, fruits, and proteins, which means that your going to feel satiated longer, have sustained energy over time, and you'll reach a large amount of marcros in one swoop. Secondly, this recipe is on the sweet side, so if you're someone who misses sweets while you're trying to eat clean, this recipe will help you satisfy some of those cravings.

Mixed Berry Baked Breakfast Cobbler

1 Protein, 1 Fruit, 1 Carb, 1 Seed

(Makes 4 Servings)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats
• 1 cup 1% Milk
• ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup Slivered Almonds
• 1 ½ cup Fresh Strawberries, sliced
• 1 ½ cup Fresh Blueberries
• 1 large MacIntosh Apple, unpeeled, grated
• 4 packets Stevia

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 9 x 9 baking dish with non-stick spray.

2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. If you are preparing this the night before, don’t add the liquid ingredients such as milk and grated apple until the morning.

3. Place mixture in baking dish and bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

GREEK YOGURT TOPPING

(1 Serving)

• ¾ cup Plain Fat-Free Greek Yogurt
• ½ tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 packet Stevia

Mix all ingredients together and top cobbler with your yogurt mix.

A few things to note about this recipe; if you're someone who prefers to use agave, maple syrup, or cane sugar, you're more than welcome to.  I would suggest using about 2 tablespoons of any of those in place of the Stevia. Also, you can control how sweet you want the recipe.  I'm someone who really enjoys sweet food, so I put 1 Stevia per serving of oatmeal, as well as the yogurt topping, but feel free to decrease the sweetener to your taste.  Lastly, the Greek Yogurt Topping recipe is for one serving, so if you want to bulk it in order to have enough for each serving, you need to quadruple the recipe.  I prefer to make it fresh every time I heat up the oatmeal bake, but if you're more successful being totally prepped, you should just plan on making enough for each serving of oatmeal bake. I feel like this is an amazing recipe, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Maria

FROZEN GREEK YOGURT BLUEBERRY POPS

I'MMMM BAAACCKKK!!!  I have been missing for such a lengthy amount of time because I took on Personal Training almost full-time, and I'm learning how to adjust my schedule accordingly.  Well, that and I've taken on the third job of the summer: working on my epic tan which requires true dedication and a lot of SPF reapplying.  It's not easy...it's really not...

So, with summer in full force, and what is now the THIRD week of ridiculous humidity and heat, I think it's important to post something a little more refreshing, and easy to make, that is still healthy and low-fat.  I found this recipe while flipping through Real Simple Magazine by the pool (I told you I've been working hard), and was totally pumped to see how simple and easy it could be to make frozen pops with Greek yogurt.  I have seen suggestions and advertisements for many different brands of these in several different health magazines, but I have an issue with spending that much money, and usually there's some sort of preservative in order to keep the product through shipping, and so I have stayed away from purchasing them.   This recipe is stupid easy, tastes amazing, and can be modified with any fruit that you prefer, so mix it up and try different flavors and sweeteners!!!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup Non-fat Greek Yogurt

- 1 1/2 cup of Blueberries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries,etc.)

- 2 tbsp. Honey (agave nectar, maple syrup)

Directions:

1. In one bowl whisk the Greek yogurt and 1 tbsp. of honey.

2. In a separate bowl mash the blueberries and the remaining 1 tbsp. of honey.

3. In a 8-section pop tray layer yogurt, then fruit, and repeat until each each pop is full.

4. Take a toothpick or skewer and mix the Greek yogurt and fruit together to give it a swirled effect.

5. Freeze for at least 3 hours, or up to 3 days.

A word to the wise when removing your pops from the tray.  If you aren't eating them all at once, you should run warm water around the single pop you want to remove, and it will pop right out.  I originally tried to let them sit out to defrost a little, but then the inside got too warm as well, and the stick kept coming out.  Also, if you don't have a pop tray, you can always use small cups and pop sticks to make them.  High protein, low-fat, TOTALLY amazing and delicious!  

Blueberry Crisp 

As blueberries are a Superfood, and my husband loves them, and I love desserts, I'm always trying to find new ways to incorporate them in a new way.  This recipe came from my knowledge of crisps, combined with a crumble topping from another recipe I found in The Best Life Diet Cookbook. I was also craving a little treat for the topping, and so I made a quickie frozen yogurt, which fresh out of the freezer was great, but is still a recipe that I'm working on.  It worked out alright this time, but it's not something that I would try again without further research.

Ingredients:
Blueberry Base:
1 pint Blueberries, fresh
1/2 Lemon, zested
1/2 Lemon, juiced
1 tbsp. Stevia
Crumble Topping:
1/2 c. Oats
1 tbsp. Honey
2 tbsp. Walnuts
Pinch of Salt
1 tbsp. Unsweetened Soy milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the blueberry base.  Divide evenly among four ramekins.

In a food processor combine all ingredients for the crumble topping.  Divide the topping among the four ramekins. 

Place the ramekins on a baking sheets, and bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on browning of the topping. When the topping looks crisp, an blueberries are bubbling through, remove and let cool for 5 minutes.  Top blueberry crisp with Fat-free Greek yogurt, or a frozen yogurt of your choice.  

I promise that this treat will satiate any desire to have a sweet snack.  This is great as well because with dividing the mixture among four ramekins, you have two more servings for whenever you decide you want a sweet snack.  When I came up with this recipe, my husband exclaimed that this was, "The best dessert you've ever made", which is starting to hold less and less weight, since he says this with every new dessert that I create.  We'll see how it stands up as time progresses!

Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes with Blueberry Compote and Vanilla Yogurt-Cream Cheese Topping

A mouthful of a title?  Yes.  A mouthful of blueberries?  Most definitely.  I actually just made these this morning, and despite the fact that I have about five other recipes that I need to post about before this, I really shouldn't be jumping the gun to share this one, but it was so good I couldn't resist.  I also didn't want to forget how I made it before I could get to writing about it.  

My husband and I religiously watch Bobby Flay's Throwdown on Food Network, and recently saw an episode on blueberry pancakes, at which point my husband exclaimed, "You haven't made pancakes in a long time.  You should make blueberry pancakes."  The reality was, I hadn't picked up pancake mix in ages, and the last time I had made pancakes, I had done it by scratch.  Well, his suggestion was I all I needed to get me to pick up the Anson Mills Buckwheat Pancake mix, and start brainstorming my next creation.  

Sometimes I make something so delicious, it's like I can't even believe that it has happened.  This was one of those moments.

Ingredients:
Anson Mills Pancake Mix (6-8 pancake serving)
1/2 c. Fresh blueberries
3 tsp. Cinnamon
3/4 c. Frozen blueberries
1/2 Lemon, juiced
1/2 Lemon, zested
1/8 c. Water
3 tbsp. Stevia
2 tbsp. Non-fat Greek yogurt
2 tbsp. Fat-free cream cheese, at room temp.
1 tsp. Vanilla extract

To make pancakes, prepare the batter to package instructions (for this you will need egg, milk, and oil, so don't think that you have all the ingredients here.  Make sure to check whatever pancake mixture you buy, and see what you need to execute the pancakes).  When the batter is prepared, fold in the fresh blueberries, and 1 tsp. of cinnamon.  Preheat your pan to medium, and pour batter onto sprayed pan, letting cook on one side until bubbles form in the batter, and then flip and cook for an additional 2 minutes on that side.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, put 1 tsp. cinnamon, frozen blueberries, lemon juice and zest, water and 2 tbsp. of Stevia, and bring to a slow boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, and allow to cook down until thickened, stirring regularly to make sure the fruit doesn't burn, and the mixture cooks evenly.  This should take about 10-15 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tbsp. Stevia, 1 tsp. cinnamon, yogurt, cream cheese, and vanilla extract.

To build, place your pancakes on the plate, put a dollop of the yogurt-cream cheese mixture and then cover with the blueberry compote.  In order to keep everything fresh and tasting like it's just built, I would make your yogurt-cream cheese mixture ahead of time, and allow your compote to be cooking while you're getting your pancake batter ready, and cooking.

What I enjoy about the compote mixture, is you can refrigerate it if you have extra, and use it as a jam on toast, or to top other breakfast options.  You can also make your own fruit-on-the-bottom yogurts if you would prefer something fresher than what you pick up in your grocery store.  On top of that, I have left sugar-free maple syrup in the past, and this is such a great way to feel like you're getting your syrupy fix on, without all the fillers and unnatural flavorings.

Give the recipe a try, and you'll never go back to IHOP again for their blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup.  This is 10 times fresher, better tasting, and probably has half the carbs and calories, and shhh...you're kids will never know it's a healthier version!

The Protein Pancake:  It's Limitless Awesomeness

Right now, I am walking a thin line in regards to nutrition, and where Protein powder fits in.  I know it's advantages, however, I also know that it's definitely not a whole food.  How do I know this?  The twenty-five ingredients that are listed on every single protein powder container, whether it's "natural" or not.  Some days though, I want a protein pancake.  I don't want to chug down a protein shake, haphazardly enjoying the semi-sweetness and it's mix with tasteless water.  I want the advantages of using a protein powder, with the texture of food.  For the love of food, I just want something to chew!!!  Anyway, that's where this, and several other protein pancake recipes came from.  I'm not sure where I initially got the first recipe, it may have been Oxygen Magazine, but I've modified several different times, to fit whatever food craving mood I'm in.  

For this particular recipe, I started with one scoop of vanilla protein powder, three egg whites, and a heaping tablespoon of Fat Free Greek Yogurt.  I whisk it all together until it forms a pancake batter texture.  I then pour it in a sprayed pre-heated 9 in. pan, cook one side, and then flip, and cook the other.  A little warning though, it will still be lose on top when you go to flip it, so be careful you don't fling batter all over your stove.  

For the topping I just took a quarter cup of frozen blueberries, two tablespoons of water, and a tablespoon of Stevia and heated thoroughly in a saucepan.  I mashed it all up to make a Blueberry Syrup, and then enjoyed with a dollop of FF Greek Yogurt on top.  

Modifying the Recipe

Sometimes I use chocolate protein powder, and put bananas in the batter, then cook the pancake.  I usually eat that recipe dry.  On a side note, I used to use Sugar Free Pancake Syrup, until I became super crazy about reading labels, and then decided, I'd rather eat it with nothing at all, or make my own fruit sauces.  You make whatever choice works best for you and your lifestyle!

Below is a Strawberry Shortcake version I've made with vanilla protein powder, a splash of vanilla extract and fresh diced strawberries thrown directly into the batter.