Breakfast Pizza

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before, but we are HUGE breaky people!! My husband is always looking for different breakfast ideas. While googling one day, he found a breakfast pizza. I took the inspiration and made it my own. Very, very good!! This would be a great dish for brunch, or when serving multiple people breakfast. You can easily make it your own with whatever toppings you like. This is what I used.

Ingredients:

• 1 tube refrigerated pizza dough
• 6 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup salsa
• 8 slices of bacon, cut into peices and cooked
• 1 cup cheese

Directions:

1. Roll out dough on a baking sheet. Coat with oil, and bake at 400* for 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, beat eggs and milk. Make scrambled eggs.
3. Top dough with salsa, scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese.
4. Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Broccoli Cheese Sauce

My husband loves cheese sauce for broccoli and cauliflower. I enjoy mine with just a bit of butter and salt, but I decided to make him some sauce. I really enjoyed it. Aiden is also in a phase where he loves to dip anything! So the cheese sauce brought smiles to his little face :)

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour, cook and stir for 1 min.
2. Slowly whisk in milk. Whisk constantly until thickened.
3. Remove from heat, and stir in cheese, salt and pepper until cheese is melted.
4. Serve over veggies.

Granola

Hello Blogging World!!!!
Life has been CRAZY!!! So much has been going on in our little world, I haven't had any time!! A little update: We are expecting our second child in April, and I just recently (at 28 weeks pregnant), had to have my appendix out. Add all that to the holidays just finishing up, renovations, play dates, working, etc, it has been insane!! Thankfully my surgery went well, both baby and myself are healing up nicely! Aiden is going to be a great big brother, he is such a loving, caring, helpful little man :)

Now that I am getting up and eating breakfast so early (5:30), I am finding I can't make it to lunch time without getting hungry! I bought Greek yogurt and fruit so I could make Parfaits to have between breaky and lunch. I decided I would make my own Granola, and I must say, it is delicious and incredibly easy to make. Here it is :) I just made plain granola, however, you can add pretty much whatever you like to add some bulk!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups oats
• Optional: Coconut, Almonds, Raisins, Dried Fruit

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, mix brown sugar, oil, honey, maple syrup and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and add vanilla.
2. Place oats in a large baking dish and pour sugar mixture over. Add in optional ingredients if you wish and stir.
3. Bake at 350* for 10-15 minutes.
4. Stir and cool
5. Store in an air tight container.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Icing

Last week at work we had a ladies pot luck. Both the food and company were great! I love that I have good coworkers.

I didn't have much time to prepare anything. I had the flu the previous week, and Aiden was really sick the beginning of the week. So I turned to one of my favourite treats...Banana Muffins!!!! But I wanted to make them special! What goes great with bananas? Peanut butter and Chocolate of course :)



I'm definitely not a cake decorator!!! Although, I don't think they look that bad :)

 Ingredients:

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• ~ 4 to 7 tbsp of milk, divided
• 3 tbsp peanut butter

Directions:

1. Combine powdered sugar, cocoa, 4 tbsp milk and peanut butter in a large bowl. Beat on low (while scraping the sides frequently) until well combined. Beat in additional milk (1 tbsp at a time) until you reach the desired consistency.

Tomato Pesto Chicken

It's been so long since I have blogged :( My life is just so crazy right now!! Work, Aiden, Pregnancy, Sickness (the whole family has been fighting this never ending sickness...), and now Christmas celebrations. My nights and weekends are spent with my boys, and the last thing I want to do is take time away from them. BUT I have a few minutes right now!!!

A while ago, I made this really easy but super yummy chicken dish. It honestly took no time to prepare, and was very tasty! It has already been a repeat in our house, and I might even say it is my favourite chicken dish right now!


Boursin cheese on top!



Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Pesto
• In a food processor, process 40g fresh basil (stems removed and coarsely chopped), 2 tbsp pine nuts (you can toast them if you want), 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, 2 cloves garlic, Sea Salt and Pepper, and 3 tbsp olive oil until well blended, ensuring you scrape sides a couple of times.
• Tomato, cut into 4 slices
• Cheese (Parmesan, Chedder, or I have even used Boursin - all are equally delicious)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375*F.
2. Place chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Top with 1 tbsp pesto, 1 tomato slice and Parmesan cheese.
3. Bake for 30 minutes (or until fully cooked).

Strawberry Loaf

Hello!!
It has been awhile! This whole working and being a mom thing is hard work! I knew it was going to be challenging but I feel like I have no time for anything! And the time I do have, I want to spend with with my boys (big and little!). I honestly have at least 5 posts waiting to be done! I am off today and tomorrow so hopefully I can find some time to write a couple of them!
I am going to start with this strawberry loaf I made for a friend's housewarming party. It was delicious! A girlfriend got me a strawberry cookbook as a wedding gift, and there are some really good recipes in it. I have never even heard of a strawberry loaf, but it will be a repeat! I have already made it twice!! The bread is so moist, and the cinnamon and strawberry flavours go so well together!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup mashed fresh strawberries (I am sure you could use thawed frozen ones as well)
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 6 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a loaf pan.
2. Heat and stir strawberries in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until boiling. Reduce heat to medium -low and simmer uncovered for 1 minute stirring often. Cool
3. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl.
4. Beat butter and sugar in a bowl. Add eggs individually, beating well after each addition. Stir in water, vanilla and strawberries.
5. Add strawberry mixture to flour, and stir until just moistened. Spread into greased pan.
6. Bake for 60 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Let stand in pan for 10 minutes and remove to a wire rack to cool.

Chicken and Broccoli One Dish

I officially had my first day of working as a mommy. Last week was tough with trail daycare days, but we love our daycare provider and I know Aiden is happy there. Today was a better day. I had a few tears when I left the house this morning, but all in all it was a good day! I really think I am going to enjoy my new job and the balance it will bring to our family life. I use to work in a lab, and I really loved the job and the people, but I did not love the shift work. After having Aiden we decided it would be best if I could find a straight day job. Luckily a position became available at Molson while I was on maternity leave. I applied, and got the job!
I wasn't scheduled to return until August 23, but for training purposes they asked me to come in two weeks early. Thankfully they will be giving me two weeks in lieu (plus my 3 weeks of vacation to use before April 1).

I feel like we will be having easy dinners during the work week so I can spend as much time as possible with my little man. This morning I took a pack of chicken breasts out, I didn't really have a meal in mind, just chicken. I threw together this yummy concoction. We still had time to go for a little bike ride, bath and cuddle time!

Ingredients:

• 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 bunch of broccoli, steams removed and cut into florets
• 1 tbsp lemon dill seasoning
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup cream (half and half)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375*
2. Place chicken in a large baking dish, top with broccoli and season with lemon dill seasoning.
3. Mix mushroom soup, chicken soup, cream and cheese in a bowl. Pour over chicken and broccoli.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked.
5. Serve over rice.