Breakfast in a Hurry

Just like our mommies always told us, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Studies have shown if you start out eating bad foods for breakfast, or God forbid, no breakfast, then people are more likely to eat fattier foods, as well as, snack more throughout the day.  Breakfast is known to increase productivity, concentration, creativity, and hand-eye coordination.  Eating breakfast is crucial to living healthy!

Any meal should contain protein, dairy, whole wheat, and fruits/vegetables.  With this said, a cup of coffee is not breakfast.  Breakfast should fill you up and not let you crash an hour after you eat.  Also, for most of us, we are staying in bed until the very last second, so breakfast needs to be quick.  This combination make breakfast a difficult meal.

If you are like most people, planning breakfast is the last thing you want to do, especially if your brain hasn't joined your body for the day.  I have several quick breakfast ideas that you just have to throw together and eat it.  It doesn't get much better than that!

Breakfast Crunch

1 cup of Oikos Greek yogurt (fruit on the bottom)

1/3 cup of bluberries

3 large strawberries cut in slices

1/4 cup of granola

Mix all of these ingredients together.  Eat.  Enjoy!  Greek yogurt has so much more protein than regular yogurt, and when you add all of these berries and the whole grain granola, you make this a truly well-rounded breakfast.

Whole Wheat Bagel

1 low calorie, whole wheat bagel or 1/2 regular wheat bagel

1 TBSP peanut butter

Blueberries

Toast the bagel.  Slather it with the peanut butter and sprinkle the berries on top.  This is a great savory breakfast with whole grains of the bagel, protein in the peanut butter, and the blueberries add a lovely sweetness.  You can also substitute the blueberries with any fruit!  Try bananas, strawberries, or even chewy raisins.

One-Eyed Toast

1 large egg

1 slice of wheat toast

thin slathering of butter

pinch of salt and pepper

This recipe is inspired by my dad who knows how to cook approximately 5 things.  Whether as toast or as a ham sandwich like my dad makes it, this is a yummy dish!  Heat a skillet to medium high heat.  Spread a thin layer of butter on either side of your bread.  Cut a hole in the center of your bread.  As you can see, I accidentally cut my hole too big, but it was still delicious!  Lay your bread in the skillet and crack the egg in the hole.  Once the bread starts to toast up, flip it.  When the egg is cooked, remove the toast from the skillet and serve with fruit.  I sprinkled the toast with chopped parsley just for effect...it is not a quick breakfast essential!

If even these recipes are too much to for you to whip up in the morning, other options are getting a whole wheat cereal and cutting up fresh fruit in it.  You could also get some instant oatmeal and mix in some raisins, cinnamon, and honey.

I hope you enjoy this quick dishes, because breakfast really is the best part of waking up!

Buttermilk Chive Biscuits

Lately, Matt and I have gotten into a habit of coming home from school or work, sitting on the couch, and not moving until it is time to go to bed.  We will be so exhausted that we don't want to go anywhere or do anything other than sit and not talk.  

I realize that this not the healthiest way to live.  Everyone needs to be surrounded by those they love and to have uplifting conversations that are not about work, school, and the mundane concerns of day-to-day life.  With this in mind, we have begun entertaining again!  There is nothing that can give your mid-week a boost like spending time with friends you haven't seen in a while.

The food doesn't have to be anything spectacular.  I like to make something comforting and familiar for our guests.  If you create something too fancy, it can make people feel stuffy and uptight.  I wanted to have some of my special girls over for a relaxed dinner of chicken kabobs, grilled sausage and zucchini, roasted potatoes, and these buttermilk chive biscuits.  The biscuits were so yummy and easy!  They make you wanna slap yo' momma...not really, but you know what I mean.  They were really delicious!

The finished product!  Where's my butter??

In a bowl, mix 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 tsp of salt, 1 and 1/2 TBSP of baking powder.  Wisk it together until combined. 

Take 1 stick of cold butter and cut it into small pieces

With your fingers or a food processor, combine the butter with the flour mixture until it reaches a crumbly consistency.

In a measuring cup, add 1 whole egg, half a cup of sour cream with chives, and pour in buttermilk until you reach the 1 cup line.  Stir these ingredients together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Grab a cutting board and lightly flour it.  Dump the dough onto the flouring board and knead as little as possible.  The more you work the dough, the tougher your biscuit will be!  The dough is just like us, the less we work out the softer and squishier we will be :)

Flatten the dough and cut out your biscuits.

Lay your biscuits out on a silpat or a greased cookie sheet.  I like cooking my biscuits close to each other because there are less hard sided-biscuits that way.  

Bake the biscuits in the oven at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  Voila!  A perfect, homey biscuit that will make your guests feel right at home.  So, call up a someone you haven't seen in a while and invite them over.  It will brighten your week and replenish your soul.

The Farmhouse

As you may know from my previous blog post, Matt and I recently returned from a trip to South Carolina.  On our way home, Matt suggested finding a place to stop in Atlanta for lunch.  I browsed through many, many reviews and stumbled upon a restaurant called The Farmhouse.  The name intrigued me and the 5-star rating sealed my decision.  This restaurant is in Palmetto, GA where I have never been and barely heard of.  Let me preface this with, I have never been so out of my element trying to find this place.  It is a good ways off the beaten path so to speak.  Our GPS said we had arrived at our destination and we were basically in the middle of a field.  But, we kept on going and after another mile or so we found it!

We knew nothing about The Farmhouse, but it is associated with a quaint Inn called Serenbe.  It was nothing short of idyllic.

We pulled up the Oak-lined drive and knew we were at a very special place because it was packed with cars.  It was obvious that it was a place loved by the locals.

In the reviews, we read that everything served here is farm fresh and made from whole foods.  No GMOs here!

We were seated in the sun room that looked over their garden and main swimming pool.  It was classic and comforting at the same time.  There was no stuffiness here.  All of the help staff were so friendly and made us feel right at home.

We immediately received these chive scones to start off the meal.  They were served with a creamy butter that was absolutely to die for.

I have a life-long love affair with fried green tomatoes.  Every new restaurant I go to, I have to try those tangy lil guys.  They were so great here: crunchy exterior, firm tomato interior, with the creamy, sweet remoulade sauce.  Perfect combination!

The menu changes constantly due to the changing seasons.  It only had two choices for an entree the day we were there.  You could get either the fried trout or the fried chicken.  Now, I did say that these were whole foods... not healthy foods.  Matt got the fried trout.  It had a crunchy cornmeal crust and was served with maple glazed carrots, rice pilaf, and cole slaw.  It was very yummy!

As yummy as the trout was, it did not compare to this big hunkin' piece of fried chicken that I got.  It was absolutely fantastic.  One of the best pieces of chicken I have ever had in my life!  

The chicken was so moist and flavorful.  I have absolutely no idea what the main ingredient in this breading was.  When I asked the waitress, she said it was the one recipe the chef never gives out.  She doesn't even let her helpers bread the chicken.  Super top secret recipe!  I officially do not like secrets...

After our lunch, we decided to tour the farm grounds.  We walked out of the sun room and found this outdoor fireplace nook.  It makes you want to snuggle up with your sweetie in front of a roaring fire.

To the left of the fireplace was the entrance to their garden.  It was huge!  I have not seen anything like it.    All of the produce was impeccably taken care of, so much so that the food almost looked fake.

And then came the animals:

This was such a wonderful experience, and I am thankful that Matt and me were able to visit.  We are definitely going back and spending a few days.  If you ever want to escape the hustle and bustle, The Inn at Serenbe would be a beautiful place to escape to.

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

South Carolina or Bust

If you know anything about my husband, you will know that weddings are not his favorite thing.  So when we got the invitation in the mail and saw the ceremony was in South Carolina, you can guess the answer I expected to receive.  But he said, without giving it a second thought, "We are going."  It was a wedding invitation to our dear friend, Jordan Harris', wedding.  He and Matt became friends in college when they were in the same service club, and he also did a fantastic job singing in our wedding.

Jordan met his super cute wife while they were camp counselors at a Christian camp in Texas, and they are absolutely adorable together.  We are so excited to have been there for their big day and wish them a lifetime of happiness as they open this new chapter in their lives.

You could tell that Katie and Jordan had thought about every detail.  The minute we arrived at the hotel, we received a gift bag with some yummies and a map of the city with pamphlets of the attractions of the city.

When we made it into town, we were starving.  All we had to do was walk out of our hotel and take a stroll down main street.  With our map in hand, we searched for a brick oven pizza place that Jordan and Katie had mentioned was Katie's dad's favorite pizza place in the city.  Believe it or not, this plate was completely empty when I was finished. And, yes, Matt had his own pizza.  I am not ashamed!

On Main Street, they had all of these statues that were of famous people to the area.

They had a sweet, little ice skating rink.  This looked like a city favorite!

There was a beautiful city park that was along the river with waterfalls and large grassy areas.  I am so jealous!  

The entire city was so active.  Everyone was running, biking, or dog walking.  It was so refreshing!  I can no longer use the cold weather as an excuse...

They had this amazing cable bridge that ran over the river.  Now, not many things do get to me, but heights is one of them.  I walked across the bridge, but I made Matty take most of the pictures.  He is so brave!

This is what I call wedding food!  When I asked for the steak, I didn't realize it would be so massive.  It was delish!

It was so good to see our sweet friend and meet his beautiful bride.  They were giddy with delight throughout the entire ceremony, and I almost melted when I saw Jordan's face as Katie walked down the aisle.  It was truly a precious moment.

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels.

Isaiah 61:10