Mama Mondays - Prosperous Pregnancy

Happy Mondays Mamas!!!

I am hoping that we will all love the 4th Monday of the month as much as the others! Why you ask? Because every 4th Monday will be prosperous pregnancy Monday! YAY!!!

Ok so I realize that you may not be jumping for joy right now (especially if your baby belly is gettin bigger ;) these days!), but this is something that is very near and dear to my heart....so get excited!!!

While I was pregnant with my little one, I was also highly stressed and overworked, a plight not unlike most of you! What did I do to combat this? Well, I have already mentioned my top 5 tips, and those helped alot!!! I quickly learned that the way that I ate really affected my day. The days that I tried really hard to follow my eating plan, I felt so much better and had much more energy. The days when I "cheated" and ate differently, I felt crummy. So I decided to get some awesome go-to meals that packed a big punch! I usually make them in big batches and stick some in the freezer, that way I could just pop em in the toaster oven as I rushed out the door to work! 

Something that is important to remember while you are pregnant is that huge shifts in sugar affect your growing baby. You want to try and eat consistently and make sure that you have a great protein source when you eat.

My all time favorite breakfast is Ricotta Pancakes with fruit. (I love them with blueberries, but you can add anything to them!!) These are like a super food!! They pack in only 17 carbs per serving with a huge 12 g of protein!! YES!!! I KNOW!!! And they are so yummy!! Here is what you need:

Makes 2 Servings
3 Tablespoons THRIVE Flour
2 teaspoons THRIVE Sugar (or Stevia)
1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon THRIVE Whole Egg Powder (or 1 egg)
2 Tablespoons Water
1/2 Cup Ricotta Cheese
Blueberries, Strawberries, Bananas, Raspberries, Blackberries, or whatever else you like! (You can rehydrate these or leave them freeze dried)

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, and baking powder. Stir in egg powder, water and ricotta cheese until well blended. Gently fold in blueberries or other fruit.
Pour about 1/4 cup batter onto hot griddle for each pancake. Cook until bubbles form on top, then turn to brown other side.

If you want to do a big batch to have some on hand, you will need:
Makes 14 servings
1 and 1/4 Cups THRIVE Flour
1/4 Cup THRIVE Sugar (or Stevia)
2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Powder
7 Tablespoons THRIVE Whole Egg Powder 14 Tablespoons Water
3 and 1/2 Cup Ricotta Cheese
Blueberries, Strawberries, Bananas, Raspberries, Blackberries, or whatever else you like!

I hope you love them!

Restaurant Style-Fluffy Banana French Toast

I love French Toast, but I'm not so much a fan of soggy bread or of slimy messes. Bleh.  Plus, there is always a debate on which type of bread you need to buy in order to make it thick and delicious.  Would you believe it if I told you that I have found a way to make cheap store brand wheat bread taste amazing as french toast?

I stumbled upon a recipe on Allrecipes.com that I knew I needed to not only make food storage friendly, but also more flavorful.  I think you will all agree that this recipe ROCKS! I know that the batter doesn't look super appealing, but I wanted to post a picture so that way when you are making it and say, oh no what did I do wrong, you'll know its supposed to look that way!

This is a double batch so I made it in a 9x13 pan.

My kids went through piece after piece the first time I made this recipe.  As if that wasn't good enough.... another thing that sets this recipe apart as a stand out recipe is that it freezes or refrigerates well.  Yep, you can be super mom just by having a 'Gimme my Eggo' quickness, but have a healthy filling breakfast rather than store bought waffles.  After making a large batch of these, just get a cookie sheet and lay pieces of French Toast flat on the cookie sheet and freeze them for about an hour.  Stick them in a freezer bag, label and date them and you are all set.  These should last in the freezer for a few months, although I haven't ever been able to get them to last that long because my family goes through these like crazy.  To reheat, just stick them in the toaster, microwave or oven.  They're not fickle.

They can be served with whatever your topping of choice may be. My son prefers "regular brown syrup" with these, but I like to make an easy go-to fruit syrup. Just spreading butter with sprinkled powdered sugar is also a hit.  On special occasions we like to do a fruit syrup, cut up fresh bananas and berries and top it with whipped cream. Yum.

Can you see the texture. Super thick but not soggy.  Perfect.

When we need to eat on the run, I will cut the toast into 3 strips and make little French Toast Dippers and give my kiddos a tiny cup of syrup that into which they can dip the "Dippers".

Enjoy!

Print Full Page Recipe

Print 3x5 or 4x6 Recipe Cards

Restaurant Style: Fluffy Banana French Toast

Ingredients:

2 c Water                                                   

3 T THRIVE Instant Milk                 11/2 t Vanilla

1 c Flour  (I use whole wheat flour)   Pinch of Salt

1/2 c THRIVE Egg Powder              2 T Sugar

1/2 c THRIVE FD Bananas              1 t Cinnamon

16-20 Slices of Bread                     
 2 Dashes of Nutmeg & Clove

Directions:

Crush bananas (or food process) into powder. Empty into an 8x8 dish.  Add remaining dry ingredients (Instant Milk powder, four, egg powder, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, clove, sugar). Whisk powders together then add water in slowly. Add vanilla.  Mix should be THICK! Heat up skillet, spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Dip each side of bread in mix then cook on skillet.

Mix it up!  I like to add coconut extra instead of vanilla and it is FANTASTIC! Instead of putting cinnamon in the mix, many times I will leave it out, then sprinkle it onto the individual pieces of toast as they are cooking on the skillet.

Don't have food storage, but you want to give it a try?

Print Full Page Original Recipe

Print 3x5 or 4x6 Original Recipe Card

Original Recipe:

1/4 c flour                  1/2 t cinnamon

1 c milk                      1 t vanilla

1 pinch salt                 1 T sugar

3 eggs                        12 slices of bread

Slowly whisk milk into flour in a mixing bowl.  Whisk in remaining ingredients until smooth.  Mix before dipping each slice of bread.

The way I did it:

1 banana, mashed       1 T sugar

1/4 c flour                   1 t coconut extract

1 c milk                      1 dash nutmeg

1 pinch salt                 1 dash cloves

3 eggs                        12 slices of bread

           cinnamon shaker

Mash banana in an 8x8 mixing dish. Slowly whisk milk into flour in a mixing bowl.  Whisk in remaining ingredients except cinnamon until smooth.  Add ingredients to banana in 8x8 mixing dishes.  Mix before dipping each slice of bread. While cooking on skillet, sprinkle each individual piece of toast with cinnamon.

Have you been thinking about joining the Q Club?  For the month of April, I will be sending each person who signs up with a $100 Q a free THRIVE Cookbook which retails for$24.99 or can be bought at a factory direct price for $14.95 on my website.

To check out our April Specials, click here.  If you are a Q Club member, make sure to log in so you get the additional discounts.

Instant Pancakes in a Platter

Pancakes in a Platter Full Page
Pancakes in a Platter 3x5 or 4x6

 

Instant Pancakes are a quick variation of doing breakfast for a family on the go. Each bowl is an individual person’s portion similar to if you had made instant oatmeal.  These are a quick replacer for a long prep time if you’d like something besides cold cereal and are in a hurry.  They have become my family’s new favorite.

Original Instant Pancakes
10 T THRIVE Instant Pancake Mix (1/2 c plus 2T)
5 T Water

Measure ingredients into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 70-95 seconds, depending on microwave wattage. It should be spongey but not sticky to the touch.

Fruit Pancakes
2-3 T FD THRIVE fruit (Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Crushed Bananas)
3 T Water
10 T THRIVE Instant Pancake Mix (This is the same as ½ c plus 2T of mix)
3 ½ T Water

Measure FD fruit and 3 T water into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 20 seconds.  Add 10 T of pancake mix and remaining water and mix thoroughly with a fork.  Microwave on high for 70-95 seconds.  (Some fruits are a little more moist when the water is mixed and need a little more time to cook) Also, Microwave wattage may vary.

Optional: Sprinkle some additional dried fruit or nuts for more flavor and texture. Yum!

I am still experimenting with more combinations so if you have some you've tried, I'd love for you to comment and I'll add them on for other readers. Some yummy combo yet to come...peaches 'n cream, apples and cinnamon, blackberry...the possibilities are endless.

Tiffany Daumueller
Director at Shelf Reliance
ShelfRelianceMom@gmail.com
575-621-0274



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Classic Banana Bread Recipe

We were asked to bring recipes to exchange at the Ignite Convention being held in Salt Lake, so I decided I would bring a Banana Bread Recipe.  I don't know if most of you are like me, but I love adding bananas to muffins, pancakes, breads and many other things. They allow for sweetness that you don't have to feel guilty about!  What would food storage be without a banana bread recipe?  I'm so happy that THRIVE has wonderful reyhydratable bananas which I know hold up to my standards for baking :)  This recipe was adapted from the Cooking Light website, but I just had to make it THRIVE friendly.

Classic Banana Bread

3 c warm water                      1 c sugar

1 ¾ c THRIVE banana slices ¼ c THRIVE butter powder

2 c all-purpose flour              2 ½ T THRIVE egg powder

3/4 t baking soda                   1/3 c yogurt or sour cream

1/2 t salt                                  1 t vanilla

Cooking spray                         2-3 T brown sugar

Place banana slices and warm water in a bowl as set aside.  Once bananas are rehydrated, save the liquid as you drain them.  Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar, butter, egg powder and ½ c of reserved water in a large bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle brown sugar on top. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Note: I haven’t made this with THRIVE powder sour cream yet, but I can’t wait to try it out!  I would also recommend the chocolate swirl recipe.

To order any of the above ingredients, just go to www.shelfreliancemom.shelfreliance.com . Thanks!