Quick Breakfast Recipe

My husband in all his cuteness for the past several mornings has gotten up craving cereal.  We try to avoid cereal in general due to the thousands of ingredients, processed junk, HFCS, other sugars, etc.  There are a few that we would recommend, but geez-they are just so expensive.  One of our favorites is Ezekiel cereal, but it just isn't worth the money in my opinion except when it is on sale so recently we have been making our homemade muesli.  I don't know about you, but my husband and I are both the kind of people that wake up really hungry and need to eat almost immediately.  I love muesli because you can throw it together quickly and it has very little sugar and a lot of nutritional benefits!  You can add in or take out pretty much anything you want-there is a lot of room to be creative here...

Homemade Muesli:

3 cups of old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cut almonds

1/4 cup raisons

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Mix it all together and eat it hot or cold with some almond milk (or your choice of milk).

Other ideas:  You can toast it up in the oven for a few minutes with some honey or maple syrup; add cinnamon; add in your favorite dried fruits, nuts, etc.; mash up a banana to add an element of fresh as well

Muesli tends to taste better when it has soaked in the liquid for a bit, but I eat it right away!  :)  Thanks mom for the recipe and idea.

Sangria Pie

Alright, alright.  I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there and confess that this isn't a healthy recipe.  Do I feel guilty?  Heck no!  What is a well balanced diet without a few special indulgences by the name of 'sangria pie' every now and then?  So now that we are all on the same page,  I would like to give enormous amounts of credit to a man by the name of Christopher Dean, also known as my sister's boyfriend.  He created this recipe and though not a formal, official chef- he is going to be a great one someday.  Now I don't drink cocktails or sugary drinks ever really, but Sangria is my exception.

My sister and Chris (aka the Beam Dean team)  came to visit me here in sunny Florida.  We went to Disney, grilled out, saw beautiful beaches, and took tons of pictures.  However, one of the things I most remember is the Sangria Pie.  It's amazing how food accounts for so many memories that I remember most. So here it goes; The recipe for Sangria Pie (ish, as best as I can remember):


Pick two or three fruits- I picked strawberries, blackberries, and peaches

Cut up the fruit into halves, or quarters depending on the size of the fruit.

Fill a tea pitcher with two bottles of a sweet white wine.  I used white, but you can also make it red wine sangria by using a sweet red wine instead.

You can stop and use only wine and fruit, or you can add triple sec, orange liquor, or another fruity liquor.  Start with a cup and add more to taste.

Add the fruit into the pitcher, stir, and soak for about 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Strain out the wine soaked fruit and refrigerate the liquid.  Drink a glass of Sangria to celebrate!

Add honey, brown sugar, or white sugar to your liking.  I used honey and brown sugar-just enough to coat the fruit.

Add the fruit mixture into a pie crust (first poking a fork into the bottom of the crust).  I used a store bought crust, but you can make one yourself, which I encourage!

Add an additional pie crust on top of the mixture and use your fingers to adhere the top crust to the bottom crust.

Brush butter on the covering crust and sprinkle with a tiny bit of sugar.  Make a few slits on the top and put in the oven for about 30-45 minutes, checking on it every now and then.  Cook time will vary depending on the pie crust cook times which you will find accompanied by either the recipe or the box (for store bought).

Allow to cool, cut a slice, and enjoy with a glass of your homemade Sangria!

I found that the more it sat the more the flavors absorbed and the fruit softened.  It is also awesome with vanilla ice cream on top!

I hope everyone enjoys this recipe.  It is worth a taste for a dinner party dessert or something to be shared with others!