It’s November and everyone is thinking about Thanksgiving! I love Thanksgiving because I get to spend time with family and friends and just have a good time. There’s running, food and football, what else could be better? It’s just a great time to be thankful for all the great things in life.
I am usually responsible for the Thanksgiving meal which is very fun for me. The not so fun part is coordinating everyone’s taste buds. Mashed potatoes vs. sweet potatoes. Turkey vs. ham. Potato salad vs. mac and cheese. Apple pie vs. pumpkin pie vs sweet potato pie. It’s all kind of hard to get together.
I’m not really a pie girl so it’s easy for me to stay away from stuff like that, but it’s Thanksgiving so I do allow myself to have a little something. In the past I have made trifles for Willie and I but this year I wanted to do something different. That is why I tried to bread pudding experiement.
Truth moment: I wanted to add pumpkin in my recipe but Willie isn’t a fan so I left it out. Feel free to add it to your dish though. This isn’t your normal bread pudding, I did some swaps to make it more dietary friendly for myself. Instead of white bread or french bread, I used whole wheat double fiber bread. I didn’t use all the sugar and substituted with Splenda when I needed to do so. I also used skim milk (but I would have used almond milk or cahew milk) instead of using whole milk.
- 4 large Eggland’s Best Eggs, beaten
- 2 cups skim milk (almond or cashew milk work too)
- 1 cup crushed pinneaple
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 10 slices, whole wheat bread, stale and cubed. To stale bread, leave in a loosely covered bowl overnight.
- 1 cup granulated Splenda
- 1/8 cup Splenda brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- Maple syrup (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8 or 9×9 pan. I used good ole cooking spray.
- Mix Eggland’s Best Eggs, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and milk in a bowl.
- Add vanilla and crushed pinneapples to the mixture.
- Pour over cubed bread crumbs and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Mix brown sugar and pecans together in a bowl.
- Pour bread mixture in the prepared pan. Sprinkle pecans and brown sugar mixture over the top of the bread mixture.
- Bake 35 – 45 minutes or until set.
- Remove from oven.
- Serve warm with maple syrup if desired.
And if you’re looking for something yummy for Thanksgiving breakfast, why not give some pumpkin pancakes a go. We’ll be up running the Turkey Trot 10K so it’s really great to carb up with Thanksgiving pancakes before going to run. For some reason, Willie doesn’t have a problem eating the pumpkin pancakes. There’s might be a consipiracy going on, what do you think?
1 large Eggland’s Best Egg
1/4c yogurt (I used a vanilla greek yogurt)
1/8c unsweetened applesauce
1/4c pumpkin
1/4c whole wheat flour (or your choice of flour)
1/4 tsp. each: pumpkin pie spice, stevia, baking soda, baking powder and salt (if you want it)
cooking spray
What you do to make these pancakes:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2. Then add all the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix well but not too much.
3. Spray a skillet or use a griddle pan. We have an electric griddle so that is what we use.
4. I put a 1/4 – 1/3c of batter down in the hot pan and wait for the edges to bubble. No bubbles, no flip. Wait until it bubbles around the edges and flip those suckers over.
5. The cook pretty fast so keep a watchful eye on them. Spray the pan between each new pancake and continue until the batter is gone.
It’s almost that time for the Thanksgiving meal. Thanksgiving comes once a year, so practice moderation and don’t beat yourself up for wanting to enjoy the day. Don’t stress about it, but don’t eat the whole cow either. Don’t let the Thanksgiving meal be a stress to you or your diet. Also, don’t forget to check out more great recipes for your holiday season.
What is that one thing that you must have on your table?
This post is sponsored by FitFluential on behalf of Eggland’s Best.
