I need my iced coffee like a cheerleader needs her pompoms. It’s my redbull. But more than give me wings, it actually gets me out of bed! I wasn’t always a coffee lover. All I needed was a sugar fix to keep me buzzing. Then I had my kid. All those sleepless nights of nursing and diaper duty were physically exhausting. I needed more than a sugar rush to get me going. Iced Coffee became my best friend. I remember my first big girl moment, when I walked into Starbucks and asked for a tall iced coffee. It felt more adult like than asking for tea or lemonade. After awhile I was getting annoyed about the fact that I had to walk out in the morning to get my coffee fix, when I would have preferred to drink it in the early AM before I even got dressed. I am embarrassed to admit the fact it took me two years before I made my own iced coffee. It seemed complicated. Once I actually made it at home, I realized how ridiculously easy it is. Now, I can have my iced coffee just the way I like it. In the early am, in my pjs.

Ingredients:
1 cup
1 straw
1/4 cup of hot water
1 tsp. instant iced coffee
Sugar
Ice
Milk

Directions:
Take your cup, it can be a large coffee mug, a tall glass cup, a takeaway cup, whatever you like to drink your coffee out of. Fill it with about 1/4 cup of boiling hot water. You want just enough water to mix with the instant coffee. I always keep a hot water dispenser plugged in for instant access to boiling water for coffee, tea and cooking. Like this one here, Rosewill Rosewill Electric Dispenser . Once you have hot water in your cup, you are going to add 1 tsp. instant coffee. (that’s the amount I like to use, but add as much as you like) mix it well with the water. This is when the straw comes in handy. Then you are going to add the sugar. You can use white sugar, raw sugar, splenda, or none if you like your coffee straight up. I am a bit of a sugar junkie, so I like mine with two packets of sugar. It’s important to add the sugar now with the hot water, before you add the ice and milk so it can dissolve. Once it’s mixed together, fill up your cup with ice. All the way to the top. Now, you are going to add the milk. Milk, Soy milk, Almond Milk, Coffee Rich, Mocha Mix…whatever you like to drink your coffee with, fill the cup to the top. Mix it all together. (yup, still using that straw) I love watching the colors blend at this point, it starts off white then gets all creamy and mocha like. Drink. Enjoy. Repeat.

Just to break it down for you, so you see how EASY it is!

1. Fill a cup with about 1/4 cup hot water.
2. Add 1 tsp. instant coffee (or more if you like) and mix well.
3. Add sugar and mix well.
4. Fill cup with ice.
5. Add milk and mix well.

Starbucks ain’t got nothing on you now.

~ Recipe submitted by Nina Safar

Whip up this light and tasty dish for brunch! It’s super easy, and won’t leave you feeling greasy. (like all of those latkes did!)

Ingredients:
PAM or 1 tablespoon of olive oil
2-3 eggs
1 teaspoon of fresh dill, chopped
1/4 cup of crumbled feta
3 baby peppers, sliced

Directions:
Lightly grease a frying pan with PAM or some olive oil. Crack the eggs into the pan. Sprinkle the dill on top, the peppers and feta. Allow to cook until eggs are firm.

~ Recipe submitted by Nina Safar

This recipe was inspired by my moms famous cheese blintzes and her delicious noodle kugel. I took the cheese mixture she uses for the blintzes, and combined it with the noodles and apple sauce that she puts in her kugel and bam, I got cheese blintze noodle kugel latkes! That of course, is way too long of a name for a recipe, so I shortened it to cheese blintze latkes.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup of cottage cheese
1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup of apple sauce
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 bag of medium egg noodles, cooked

Directions
Mix the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and apple sauce and mix well. Add the cinnamon and sugar and mix well. Then add the cooked noodles and combine. Heat up a large skillet with some oil and shape the noodle and cheese mixture into patties and cook until golden brown on each side.

~ Recipe submitted by Nina Safar

It’s Father’s Day which means, A. I got the morning shift so my hub could sleep in and B. I surprised him with this delicious Sunday Brunch. Wishing all the Daddy’s, Papa’s, Tatah’s & Abba’s a Happy Father’s Day!

French Toast served with scrambled eggs and eggs over easy.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
8 egg whites
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
2 cups chopped spinach, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup low fat shredded cheese, cheddar or mozzarella
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sauté onions until golden. Add garlic and spinach and cook on low flame until heated through. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the spinach mixture to the bowl and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in the cheese and mix together. Spray two 6 cup capacity cupcake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Pour the batter into the muffin pans. Cook for about 20 – 25 minutes or until slightly brown on top.

~ Recipe submitted by Nina Safar

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 slices of toasted whole wheat bread

Directions:
Crack an egg into a small bowl or cup. Fill a pot with a few inches of water. Bring to the point of almost boiling (if it has started to boil, lower heat so it is no longer boiling). At this point, slowly pour the egg into the water (using a slotted spoon gently bring the whites closer to the yolk – this will help it hold together). Turn off
the heat and cover the pot. Allow it it sit for 4 minutes so the whites can cook. Lift the egg out using a slotted spoon. Serve over buttered toast or a fresh garden salad.

~ Recipe submitted by Nina Safar

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 egg whites
A small bunch of cilantro
1 red pepper, diced
2 tablespoons crumbled Feta cheese

Directions:
Whisk the eggs in a bowl, then pour them in a frying pan. Once the eggs have become slightly firm, add the feta cheese, cilantro, and red pepper going down one side. Once the eggs are firm, flip over in half, forming a half moon. Allow it to cook for an additional minute or so before removing from flame. As mentioned above, I often serve this in wraps with salsa and sliced avocado and it’s fantastically simple and flavorful!

~ Recipe submitted by Nina Safar

Ingredients for Crepe Batter:
18 eggs
3 cups of water
3 cups of potato starch

Ingredients for Cheese Batter:
4 containers of cottage cheese
3 eggs
3/4 cup of sugar

Directions:
Mix the Crepe batter ingredients together. Pour 1/3 cup of batter into a frying pan and cook the crepe until solid. Then flip it out of the frying pan onto a plate. Once you have cooked all the crepes, mix together the cheese batter ingredients in a large bowl. Fill the center with some of the cheese mixture, and fold over the sides to form a blintze. Repeat until all blintzes are formed. Heat up a frying pan and cook the blintzes. Serve with jam or sour cream.

~ Recipe submitted by Nina Safar

Ingredients:
2 challah rolls, sliced into 1 inch thick slices
1 cup of milk
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Combine the milk, eggs, vanilla and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Dip the challah slices into the batter and fry in a heated greased frying pan. I use pam but you could also use butter, margarine or some oil to heat the pan. After several minutes flip to the other side and cook until slightly browned. Serve with confectionary on top and syrup on the side.

- Recipe submitted by Nina Safar

I’m married with a kid yet most Sunday mornings you will still find me at my moms eating breakfast.I’ll drop everything to run over and have a bite of her light and fluffy pancakes dripping with sweet syrup. Last winter my brother called me to let me know my mom was making her famous pancakes and I ran over. It was during a huge blizzard! I was still in my pjs when I got the call, thinking with the crazy weather I would be home all day. I threw on clothes, slipped into my rain boots and got there 10 minutes after he had called. One bite of those light and fluffy pancakes was worth every minute of walking in the freezing snow! These are so good, I don’t just have them in the A.M., last night I served them for dinner with fruit, chocolate chips and syrup. Breakfast for dinner doesn’t get any better than that!

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil
3 tsp bp
1 3/4 cups milk
2 eggs

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix in the milk, eggs & oil until well combined and smooth. Heat a lightly oiled skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop the pancake batter onto the griddle. When pancake is golden brown, flip to cook other side. Brown both sides and serve hot with syrup, fruit, whipped cream or a light dusting of confectionery sugar.

~ Recipe submitted by Nina Safar