I was reading something the other day that mentioned that September is Better Breakfast Month.  This made me very happy because I love breakfast.  If you look on the sidebar and see that we have a category for Breakfast, go ahead and click on it.  You will find that there are many posts there about breakfast, otherwise known as the most important meal of the day. 
     Today, for Friday Faves, we are going to run with this breakfast topic.  But, I decided I needed to clarify something with my girls.  I asked them, do they mean better tasting breakfast, or better for you.  They answered "Both"!   So, today there will be two categories for Better Breakfasts: Just Delicious and Good For You + Delicious! 

Let's start with Good For You + Delicious:

• Maddy needs to write a post about the seasoned potato wedges that she makes herself for breakfast.  They are just so good.  Sometimes I ask her to make them for me when I need fries.  But, they make a great breakfast as well.
• Skinny Ms posted about 7 breakfasts to make in the crockpot.  The one that caught my eye was the Slow Cooker Banana Pecan French Toast!  I would love to wake up to that.  French toast is one of my all time favorite breakfasts and making it in this healthy way is a plus. 
• Lindsey posted about Banana Pancakes that were a big hit with her family!  
• Alicia and I have posted about some delicious Smoothies that always hit the spot. 
• And, don't forget the Sprouted Wheat Blender Waffles I posted about last year.  They are a great way to use your wheat and when it is sprouted, the waffles are so much lighter. 

     When it comes to healthy breakfasts, I really do like oatmeal during the winter months.  But, I see a lot of recipes lately for overnight oats that you can just grab and eat in the morning.  The idea of cold oatmeal, not cooked, just does not sound appetizing to me.  I like it hot with brown sugar or honey. 

Just Delicious:

• As I mentioned before, I love French Toast.  One of my all time favorites on the blog is the post I wrote about Pumpkin-Gingerbread French Toast with Lemon Sauce.  It is so, so, so good and a perfect holiday breakfast! And, the Lemon Sauce is great on so many things.   
• We have tons of pancake recipes that if you haven't tried them, you are really missing out!   Such as Chunky Apple Pancakes with Creamy Red Hot Syrup. 

• Lemon Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

• Peach Pancakes with Peach Sauce

• Of course, we can't forget Biscuits and Gravy with Bacon! That is my husband's fave! 
• Hopefully you didn't miss Alicia's most recent post of Belgium Liege Waffles. 

     If you get the chance to sit down and have breakfast with your family a few times this month, I hope our Breakfast Category will give you some fun ideas.  I forgot to mention Root Beer Pancakes! That one is fun and easy!  I have a lot of memories centered around breakfast with my family.  I think it is a shame that in this fast paced world, hardly anyone sits around the table and eats breakfast together anymore.  Most school children are eating at school instead of at home with their families.  I am not sure that those are "Better Breakfasts."  I think that what truly makes a better breakfast is the time around the table with family, eating something delicious yet still healthy, spending time connecting as the day begins and sending our children out for the day with an encouraging, loving word.  I know that it is hard with jobs and busy lives, but maybe even just on a Saturday morning we can keep this tradition alive! 

Here is how I like to cook breakfast! 

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Living in the desert is particularly depressing when September rolls around and the highs are still hitting 110. In other parts of the world temperatures are cooling, leaves are changing colors, and people are pulling out scarves and long sleeved shirts to wear to keep them warm.

At this time of year, I envy those people. That is when I need pumpkin things the most. As you may recall, we now have a several years supply of canned pumpkin. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. Well, since we also have a little one running around (okay crawling around for now, but it won't be long until those little feet are running) and I buy bananas much more frequently now.

However, I personally have never been a huge banana eater. I usually forget I have them until they are perfect for banana bread. So, since our little BP is the main banana eater in the house, we still end up with plenty of banana bread ready bananas.

Well, presto, my pumpkin needs combined with our leftover banana to make this tasty, moist, pumpkin banana bread!

As you well know, pumpkin bread is amazing on it's own, as is banana bread. However, with the pumpkin and banana bread powers combined, this pumpkin banana bread is unstoppable! You will be too, when it comes to eating it!

As I devoured my loaf I pretended it was 65 degrees outside instead of 105. It was a great escape from reality.

I better go make more because the high tomorow is supposed to be 107.

​Happy baking!

Here are some of my favorite items to use while making this recipe!

Pumpkin Banana Bread

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Alicia back again with another international recipe. This month we're making food from Belgium. And today I'm sharing with you how to make the most tasty waffles. Liège waffles are yeast waffles from Belgium that have sugar pearls in them that melt when you cook them. This makes the waffles have delicious pockets of sweetness in them. You don't need syrup with these. And they're good plain too. But I made some whipped cream to eat with them. They're also good with fruit like strawberries or blueberries.

The problem is that sugar pearls are hard to come by in the states. But I think I came up with a good solution. I decided to take sugar cubes and break them up. Not into dust, but into chunks. If the sugar is too small it will just incorporate into the dough. But the chunks won't, and will leave little pockets of caramelized sugar. It's the most delicious waffle ever.

Another issue is I didn't have ground almonds as some recipes I saw called for. I substituted with ground flax. But I'm sure you can use either one or leave it out completely.

These aren't waffles you can just whip up last minute, you have to let the dough rise 3 times. But you can freeze the dough and pull them out later to make. These are special occasion waffles for sure. But well worth the work!

Liège Waffles

I used just my regular Cuisinart waffle maker, not a specific Belgium Waffle maker. I like it because it has temperature controls. That's important in this recipe because you don't want to burn the sugar. Heat the iron all the way up. Put the dough in. And then turn the temperature down to low. The waffles come out perfect! I'll link to my same model below. Growing up my mom had a stovetop waffle maker which was fun and made delicious waffles which I will also link to below.

​You've got to make these! You won't regret it. Let us know if you do in the comments and what you think!