ISO yummy, healthy breakfast, lunch, and snack ideas/recipes

June

Tue, Aug 18 2015, 1:56 am

I'm home all day, and I'm looking for healthy and filling breakfasts, lunches, and snacks.

There're always eggs, but I'm getting kind of sick of them. I've also been popping popcorn in the microwave a lot, but I'm slowly getting sick of that too.

So this is what I'm looking for:

Very little or no sugar
Unprocessed
If it's dairy, it has to be prepared in microwave or on stove top, as I don't have a dairy oven
Toddler-friendly is a plus
Preferably easy to prepare, but if it's time-intensive, it should store/freeze well
Very yummy and filling
ETA: fruits and vegetables are a no-brainer, but at this point in Shemitta, the produce I have access to is either insanely expensive or horrible quality - and very often it's both.

Any ideas?

June

Tue, Aug 18 2015, 5:54 am

Riff, here's a great gluten-free recipe for mini chocolate muffins that I make often. I don't know if it's considered low-carb or not, but there's protein in it too:

(it's from this blog, so I added my notes in red)

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium/large ripe banana, peeled - I can't find bananas here, so I roast a butternut squash and use the equivalent in cups. Can't tell the difference, because the PB and cocoa cover it up.
1 large egg
heaping 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter - I use B&D natural PB (100% peanuts) with great results
1/3 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
3 tablespoons honey (agave, brown rice syrup, or maple syrup may be substituted) - I use half the amount, and it tastes fine.
1 tablespoon vanilla extract - I often leave it out, with only a small difference in taste
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
heaping 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips + more for sprinkling muffin tops - I use the 66% chocolate chips, but I leave it out altogether when I make them for my toddler's breakfast.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare mini muffin pans by spraying very well with cooking spray or grease the pans; set aside.
To the canister of a blender, add first 8 ingredients, through optional salt, and blend on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
Add heaping 1/2 cup chocolate chips and stir in by hand; don't use the blender because it will pulverize them.
Using a tablespoon or small cookie scoop, drop rounded 1 tablespoon mounds into prepared pans. Each cavity should be filled to a solid 3/4 full.
Sprinkle each muffin with a generous pinch of chocolate chips.
Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the tops are set, domed, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. That's a large range with baking time and I find with medium bananas, there's less batter, the cavities are less full, and 8-9 minutes is about right. With a larger banana or slightly more batter in each muffin cavity, 11-12 minutes is right. For these, I used a large banana and baked 11:30. Due to the mini size and oven variance, watch your muffins closely, and bake until done. Allow muffins to cool in pans for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until they've firmed up and are cool enough to handle. It's normal for muffin tops to be quite domed in oven but flatten as they cool. Muffins will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 months. I find the muffins get softer over time and taste better on days 2-3 after the flavors have married.

I just made a double recipe on Friday and I put in too much squash. I think they're barely edible, but my little girl is eating them just as well as she always does.

coconutbutter

Tue, Aug 18 2015, 7:45 am

June wrote:

For my sweets I often refer to chocolatecoveredkatie.com for recipes. As for snacks if I am craving salty carbs I will make myself homemade baked fries or chips with either potato (you can do sweet potato or even butternut squash, I'm just not such a fan) or zucchini. I also really enjoy chickpeas (you can roast them), yogurt with fruit and nuts, oatmeal, peanut butter and apples or crackers....

coconutbutter

Tue, Aug 18 2015, 3:20 pm

My breakfasts/lunch are usually the following:

-rice cakes with cottage cheese or peanut butter and thinly sliced apples

-Eggs with cottage cheese with israeli salad

-Going to try these tomorrow B'N: http://overtimecook.com/2013/1.....fins/

- Tuna (salad, on rice cakes/crackers/WW bread)

- Tuna patties (shred vegetables like zucchini and carrots)

- In america I often had smoothies though frozen fruit is too expensive currently here for me

- Oatmeal with raisins, apples, and peanut butter (or whatever toppings you prefer...possibilities are endless)

- Pancakes (with yogurt and ground flax to up protein value)

- yogurt with fruit and nuts

-bulgur salad. This is so good. It has bulgur, cucumbers, red pepper, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin.