Make Ahead Breakfasts That Will Change Your Day

1. Introduction: Hi, I'm Laura Keogh. I'm Ceri Marsh. We're Sweet Potato Chronicles. We're two fashion editors turned food bloggers, who love to get people into the kitchen so you can take charge of your health through food. A lot of people think that they're too busy for breakfast, but breakfast food is the best food. There's nothing like it for firing up your body and your mind for a really productive day. By making your own breakfast in the easy ways that we're going to show you in this course, you're going to save so much money that you're probably spending right now at cafes every day. In this class, we're going to set you up for breakfast success by letting you in on a little secret to stop making breakfast in the morning. Instead, we're going to help you get organized and give you some healthy and delicious recipes that you can make ahead to make your mornings easier. This class is perfect for professionals, for students, for families, anyone who needs to fuel themselves up for a great day. 2. Project Description: In this course, we want you to cook along with us, as we're making five delicious make-ahead breakfast. We want to meet you too. Take a minute, say hello, and introduce yourselves. Then you could also upload a shot of what your current breakfast game is. We hope that you'll cook along with us, be sure to take a picture of every recipe that you make and share it with us here. 3. What You Need : You really don't need a lot of cooking experience to take this class. All you need is some basic kitchen items. And it's really the kind of thing that you probably already have in your kitchen like bowls, measuring cups and measuring spoons, a baking sheet, muffin tins. And then on the appliances you really need a blender and a slow cooker, and if you don't already own a slow cooker, it's a really great investment, especially if you're someone who struggles to find time to cook. Then you're just going to need some easy storage to keep your recipes in once they're done. Tupperware, mason jars even just re-purpose a jelly jar makes a great container. And remember what we talked about. The real secret to this whole class is to find time either on the weekend or the night before to make your meals ahead. 4. Overnight Oats: In this lesson, we're going to share with you one of our favorite make ahead recipes, overnight oats. The brilliance of this recipe is that there's no cooking involved at all. You just whip everything together in a bowl, get it in the fridge and the oats setup overnight. Okay. Let's get started. I've already got half a cup of Greek-style yogurt in a medium-sized mixing bowl here. You can feel free to use any yogurt that you have on hand. We like using Greek-style yogurt because we love the protein that it adds to the recipe. The next thing we're going to add into the Greek yogurt, is one cup of milk. Now, I have coconut milk here, but you can use any milk that you prefer at home. For instance, it could be soy milk, it could be cow's milk, it could be almond milk, and you can even use a combination of those milks. For instance, maybe a half a cup of almond milk and a half a cup of coconut milk. What you want to remember is that you need one cup of liquid. Ceri do you mind adding one cup of oats? Not at all. We love oats in the morning because they really stabilize your blood sugar. You're not going to get that spiking crash that you'd get from a doughnut or a straw-buff muffin. Next we're going to add a quarter cup of shape dried coconut. Now I'm just going to add one tablespoon of chia seeds. To finish off the recipe, we're going to add one teaspoon of cinnamon, a half a teaspoon of vanilla extract, a teaspoon of maple syrup, and then we're going to grate about a pinch of fresh nutmeg in. Now that we have all of our ingredients in a bowl, we're going to whisk it up. I'm just going to give it a stir until all the ingredients are nicely combined and already my kitchen smells full of cinnamon. Now that it's mixed, we just have to put it into some jars. We've got two jelly jars here. This makes two breakfasts. So all we have to do is spin it into the jar and get it into the fridge. Then you just pull it out of the refrigerator in the morning and here's the best part; you get to add some fun toppings. For instance, we have a mixture of dried and fresh fruit. We've got some hemp seeds or you could even use some nuts and you just sprinkle them on top of your oats and grab your spoon and you're ready to go. After trying this recipe for overnight oats, be sure to take a picture of it and share it with us. 5. Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies: In this lesson, we're making breakfast cookies. Yeah, that's right, you heard me correctly. We're making cookies for breakfast and there's nothing better than a recipe you can make ahead on the weekend that will last you all week long. This recipe is so easy. Let's get started. We're going to use a cup of oats, a cup and a quarter of whole wheat flour. You could use regular flour, but we like whole wheat. You are going to use a little bit of baking powder, cinnamon for flavor and a little pinch of salt. Then I'm just going to whisk that together while Laura gets going on the wet ingredients. I'm going to add one egg to a bowl. I'm also going to add a half a cup of maple syrup, two tablespoons of coconut oil that's been melted. If you don't have coconut oil, you could also use butter. Then finally, I'm going to add a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Now just pour the wet ingredients onto the dry. Okay, enough, we've got to stir. Then I'm going to add grated carrot. I used two medium-sized carrots. I love the added sweetness the carrot gives the cookie. Of course, it makes it healthy. If you've got time, it's ideal to chill this batter for about a half an hour so that the dough doesn't spread too much in the oven. If not, just carry on and get your oven heated to 350 degrees. Laura, can you spoon a tablespoon of butter on a lined sheet? Sure. For every cookie. Give them a little space in between each cookie. Bake for 15 minutes and they'll be ready to go. This recipe yields 24 bite-size spicy delicious cookies. If you keep them in an airtight container on the counter, they'll last three days, up to one month in the freezer. Cookie? Please. We hope that you try this recipe and don't forget to take a picture and upload it here. 6. Chocolate Avocado Chia Pudding: In this lesson, we're going to make another overnight breakfast. This is a chia pudding. Now chia is really having a moment. You may have seen some of these on Pinterest or Instagram. Chia is a superfood, it's packed with fiber, and protein, and minerals like magnesium and calcium. To get started, I've got my blender out, and inside it, I've already cut in two avocados and one banana. Then we're just going to add a quarter cup of chia seeds, a quarter cup of cocoa powder, a teaspoon of cinnamon, and then, two tablespoons of maple syrup. Then we're going to leave the whole puddy of these in the blender, and we want to do it until all the ingredients are combined. Now that we have all the ingredients combined, we're just going to put it into two containers that we can pop into the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, you're going to wake to a chocolatey creamy treat. 7. Mini Broccoli & Cheese Frittata: In today's lesson, we'll be making mini broccoli and cheddar frittatas. These little babies are easy to make up on the weekend. Then you pop them in the freezer and you can pull one out the night before, so it has time to thaw, so you have it in the morning for breakfast. It's also a really delicious dinner. If you wanted to make it for dinner, and then have a leftover, so breakfast, you'd be laughing. Absolutely. Let's get right into the recipe. I sauteed one shallot in a medium pan over medium heat until it became translucent. Then I chopped up a big head of broccoli, about three or four cups into really small florets, and added that, and sauteed it until it was crisp, tender. So we'll just get that egg mixture going. I have five eggs that I've cracked into this bowl and three-fourths cup of milk. We're going to whisk them up so that they're nicely combined. I'm just going to add about a teaspoon of salt and about a quarter of a teaspoon pepper. Before I had my cheeses, I'm just going to get one teaspoon of Dijon mustard into the bowl and mix it up. Now, that the Dijon has been combined into the eggs, we're going to add a half a cup of cheddar cheese and a quarter of a cup of fresh shaved parmesan cheese. Now, we're going to get our broccoli and shallot mixture into the egg. Great, I'll just stir it in and then once I have it combined, I'll give it to you and you can pop it into our muffin tins. You just want make sure you have all the egg mixture thoroughly coating the broccoli. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees while you're finishing up. Then you're going to use a measuring cup to scoop your egg and broccoli mixture right into a lightly prepared muffin tin. Depending on the size of your muffin tin, this will make about six great little for frittatas. These mini frittata are good enough to serve to guests, but if it's just for you, the best way to store them is in an air-tight container in the freezer. They'll be really nice for about a week. Make sure you try this easy and healthy recipe and be sure to upload pics of it when you do. Thanks so much. 8. Slow Cooker Banana Coconut Oats: In this lesson, we're going to show you a new way to use a slow cooker for breakfast. We have a lot of slow cooker oat recipes on our site, but this is one of our favorite. It's got a caramelized banana topping, almond, coconut flavors. It's so delicious. In our slow cooker, I'm going to add one and a quarter cups of oats, and then we're going to put in the banana. This is just one banana that's been sliced up. Then I also have two tablespoons of shaved dried coconut, and two tablespoons of chia seeds. Next I have a half a teaspoon of ground ginger and one teaspoon of ground cinnamon, then I'm going to add one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Then after that, one nice healthy pinch of salt. Carrie's going to help me with the rest of the ingredients. Two tablespoons of brown sugar. Right. This is what's going to give it that caramelized deliciousness. Three quarter cup of water. Okay. That will help us cut down these oats. A half almond milk but you could of course use regular milk or soy, whatever you like. Or coconut even. Except, here's a can of coconut milk. I know, but I personally love a lot of coconut milk and can never get enough of it. Once you have all the ingredients in your slow cooker, you just want to give it a stir. You're just going to close the lid and set your slow cooker to low for eight hours and go to bed while that slow cooker is making your breakfast. When you wake up, your whole home is going to smell like sweet and spicy banana goodness. 9. Thank you!: The most important part about breakfast is to plan to make it. Each week before your grocery shop, take a little time to think about what you would like to have in the mornings. Then cover a little time in your schedule either on the weekend or the night before, to do some of your prep. Making your own healthy breakfast is going to save you so much money. You're going to have great energy all morning. We think you're going to find that it's not so hard to weave it into your existing schedule. If you haven't already done it, don't forget to upload your shots of your breakfast, and let us know how you liked each recipe. Thanks so much for taking the class. See you next time.