Montana Breakfast

Mornings are when I do most of my writing. It works best for my creative flow this way. Naturally, while I am coming to the end of my writing, my family and I are talking about what we should eat for breakfast. After lingering over coffee for a few hours we have usually worked up a healthy appetite. We typically stick with eggs, whole wheat toast, and fruit. 

The other element is summer. During the summer we get lots and lots of house guests, which means lots of cooking, meal planning, dishes, cleaning.. You get the picture. Some mornings we are just worn out and wanting something simple to feed our house guests. 

This is where the Montana Breakfast emerged from. One morning we were all tired of cooking and cleaning and we had baked a pie the day before that no one had left any room for after a large dinner the night before. The pie was left untouched. My mom had pulled it out of the fridge and sat it on the counter and declared, "Montana Breakfast is served!" Ever since that morning, this has become somewhat of a tradition in our household. SOme mornings we do eggs, others we do yogurt with fruit, and still others we do pie.

Because why not? Really, why not? The recipes below for Peach Razzilicious Pie is made with fresh peaches and raspberries from our friends gardens and the Apple Rhubarb Pie is from the garden harvest as well. There is fruit, fiber, and no sugar or fat... Why not start the day off right.. with a piece of pie for your peace of mind. Plus, Cinnamon is a wonder food in that it balances out those nasty spikes in blood sugar! It helps promote even blood sugar to prevent those nasty spikes and falls in energy and blood sugar. And since these don't have any sugar you don't have to worry about that dreaded morning slump.

Try it out.. take these recipes from dessert to breakfast! Have fun with your summer harvest and adapt the recipes depending on what you have from the gardens in your area. And.. our guests love this special treat by the way!

Peach Razzilicious Deep Dish Pie

Basic Pie dough (found in the refrigerator section)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

6 cups pitted and sliced peaches (leave skins on!)

1 cup fresh raspberries

1/2 cup splenda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

3 tablespoons butter (using Smart Balance is what we recommend)

1. Spray a pie pan with vegetable cooking spray and place the prepared pie crust on the bottom of the pan and set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sliced peaches, splenda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and whole wheat flour and mix until all peaches are coated with sugar, spices, and flour. Set aside in the fridge for 10 minutes to allow flavors to marinade.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Pour the peach and raspberry mixture into the pie crust. Place the Smart Balance butter in small amounts on top of the peach and raspberry mixture. Top with the remaining prepared pie crust and crimp the edges with your fingers making sweet pinched edges just like grandma used to make.

5. Bake for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

**Serve warm out of the oven with sugar free vanilla ice cream or whip cream. Enjoy!

Apple Rhubarb Pie

Basic Prepared pie crust (found in the refrigerator section)
2 cups fresh rhubarb; diced
4 cups apples; skin left on and sliced
3/4 cup Splenda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 tbsp. all spice

1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tbsp. whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. milled flax seed

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Spray a pie plate with cooking spray and place one of the pie crusts in the pie plate and set aside.

3. In a large bowl combine the rhubarb, apples, splenda, salt, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, whole wheat flour, and flax. Stir together until the fruit is coated. Then pour the fruit mixture into the pie crust. Top with the other pie crust and crimp the edges together using your fingers. Cut four slits along the top of the crust and sprinkle with additional cinnamon for more blood sugar regulating goodness!

4. Bake pie in the oven for 45-55 minutes. The apples should be slightly bubbling and the crust brown. Serve with sugar free frozen yogurt for an added dose of calcium in the morning!

Mental Health Benefit: This easy breakfast keeps everyone happy and allows your family to have a special l'anguiape to start there day and you as the cook get the morning off! Just use paper plates and you really give yourself a break! Come on! Doesn't that just look delicious! I think so!

Have a wonderful morning and a fabulous breakfast from our kitchen to yours!

~"Too Lovely" Hot Messes in the kitchen