Jam Stuffed Biscuits

Normally I try to avoid buying processed foods and stick with foods that I can easily pronounce all of the ingredients, but I'm a sucker for a few things that I will buy on occasion. Like Grands biscuits. I can't help it, they're so flaky and delicious. My grocery store recently had them on sale for super cheap, so I bought quite a few. Well, I think I bought three. But that seemed like quite a few. I didn't really know what I was going to do with all of them, so I looked on the Pillsbury website for ideas. I saw this recipe and thought my kids would love it and it would be a quick breakfast. I love quick breakfasts...I'm not not a morning person, but I definitely prefer things to be easy in the morning so we can get out the door and take Boy #1 to school.

Jam Stuffed Biscuits
Source: Pillsbury.com


1 can (16.3 oz) can Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Layers refrigerated biscuits
1/2 cup jam or preserves of your choice
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar

Heat oven to 400°F. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Gently separate each biscuit halfway into 2 layers. Spoon 1 tablespoon jam into center of each biscuit. Pinch edges to seal.

Dip each biscuit into melted butter; dip each in sugar. Place on cookie sheet. Bake 14 to 16 minutes or until golden brown around edges.

*****

These were a huge hit at my house. My kids loved them and so did the husband. I used homemade peach jam inside this biscuits, and it was super tasty. I'd definitely make these again. They were even easy for a school morning!

Maple Chicken and Waffles

Recently I was looking all around my office for a cookbook I wanted to use for meal planning. I couldn't find it anywhere. Then I realized I don't actually own it, I've just always borrowed it from the library and kept it a long time when I've borrowed it. I promptly ordered it right then and there. And since I needed a little more to qualify for free shipping, I figured I'd get Pioneer Woman's new cookbook while I was at it. Let me tell you the bliss of getting two brand new cookbooks in the same package. Heaven!!!

It's a little random how I came to find out about this cookbook. I have an online friend named Kristy. We met on Facebook, which I'll admit is kind of weird for two grown women. I've known her husband since elementary school, and she was also FB friends with someone I grew up going to Sunday school with and a friend from college. Small world, huh? So we became Facebook friends. She has lost over 100 pounds and is completely dedicated to exercise and a healthy lifestyle. She mentioned this cookbook awhile back, so I checked it out. And I loved it! So, thank you, Kristy, for the great recommendation!

My birthday was last month, and one of my gifts was a waffle maker. It's pretty awesome. I'd been dying for an occasion to make waffles and bust out my new toy, but making breakfast like that on a school morning stresses me out, and our Saturdays have been crazy recently with the husband and I both training for a triathlon next month, and Sunday mornings are a bit chaotic, too, because of church. So I was super excited to see this recipe for chicken and waffles and get to use my new toy at dinner time.

Maple Chicken and Waffles
Source: Pretty Delicious by Candice Kumai, Copyright 2011

Chicken:
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup maple syrup, plus more for serving
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp sea salt

Waffles:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 large eggs

To make the chicken: Whisk the buttermilk and 1/4 cup of the maple syrup together in a medium bowl. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and lightly coat the foil with cooking spray.

Stir together the panko, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Remove the chicken from the marinade, letting the excess drip back into the bowl. Place the chicken breasts in the bread crumbs and turn to coat so each side is evenly covered with seasoned panko. Set the chicken on the baking sheet and bake until the coating is golden and crispy and the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Leave the oven on, but reduce the temperature to 250. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, slice crosswise into thin strips.

To make the waffles: Whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Whisk the buttermilk and eggs together in a medium bowl. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture, and stir together until just combined.

Heat a waffle iron according to the manufacturer's instructions. Coat the iron with cooking spray and then add enough batter to fill tghe holes without overflowing once the iron is closed. Cook until gorgeous and browned. As the waffles are made, place them on a baking sheet and place in thed 250 oven to stay warm while you cook the rest.

To serve, stack 1 or 2 waffles on a plate. Criss-cross the chicken strips over the waffles, drizzle with a little of the maple syrup and serve extra on the side.

*****

I had never made chicken and waffles before, and this was pretty easy. I had to rearrange my meal plan because the night I originally planned on making it, I didn't have enough time to thaw the chicken, let it marinate in the buttermilk, and get it cooked. Boy #1 was really disappointed because he was so excited to have this. I'll admit I was disappointed too. When we finally had it, it received rave reviews from my whole family. I'll definitely make this again, and this may end up being my go-to waffle recipe. The only thing I'd change would be to spray the chicken with some nonstick spray before putting it in the oven so it would end up a little browned, but that's purely cosmetic.

Mmmm...waffley goodness!

Muffin Mix

I've been on a huge muffin kick lately. I found a recipe from an online friend for zucchini, carrot, raisin muffins (recipe coming at some point). I sent her a note saying I was making them, and she told me that she makes muffins every week for her kids to have for breakfast. I thought it was genius! Especially the next day when all I had to do was throw a muffin, some fruit, and some yogurt on a plate for each of my kids. Voila! breakfast was ready. I don't handle breakfast well. I'm not always caffeinated when my kiddos want to eat, and a lot of times there are fights about what they're going to have. But no one fought the muffins! I mentioned this at one of my bible study groups, and my friend Sarah said she had a recipe for an all-purpose muffin mix, that you just mix up a huge batch and keep it in the pantry or freezer and pull from it as needed and mix in all sorts of things to make different kinds of muffins. Genius!! I copied it down immediately and mixed it up the next day. I just used the last of my mix this morning (well, almost...there's maybe 1/2 a cup left in the container I was storing it in) and figured it was high time to type out the recipe so I didn't always have to look for my scrap of paper on which the recipe is written when I want to make these up. I'll have to mix up some more tomorrow--I don't want to be without my mix!

Sarah's Muffin Mix
Source: My friend Sarah (who runs full marathons!)
Yield: 4 batches of muffins

8 cups flour
3 cups sugar
3 T. baking powder
2 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. nutmeg

Combine above ingredients. Store in pantry or freezer up to six months.

For each batch of muffins:

2-3/4 cups muffin mix
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted

Place muffin mix in bowl. Whisk egg, milk, and butter together and stir into dry ingredients. Include whichever mix-ins below (mix any dry ingredients in with mix, wet ingredients or fruit into wet ingredients or at the end). Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-21 minutes.

Add-Ins:
Banana: 1 cup mashed bananas
Cranberry Pecan: 1 cup chopped cranberries, 1/2 cup chopped pecans, 3 T. sugar
Cappuccino: 1 cup mini chocolate chips, 2 t. instant coffee granules
Apple Cheese: 1/2 cup shredded apple, 1/2 cup colby jack cheese
Blueberry: 1 cup blueberries
Carrot Raisin: 3/4 cup shredded carrots, 1/3 cup golden raisins

*****

Sorry if the directions for when to mix in what are vague. I didn't copy that part down because it all seemed self-explanatory to me. For most of the varieties I think I'd mix everything in at the end, except the banana I'd mix in with the wet ingredients, the coffee granules I'd mix in with the dry ingredients. I think that's it.

So far I've made blueberry muffins, chocolate chip muffins, and this morning I made banana chocolate chip. I know, I'm fancy. I think the banana chocolate chip have been our favorite so far. I'm dying to try the apple cheese, but my kids ate all the apples I bought last time at the store. I'm also looking forward to the carrot raisin--I LOVE carrot raisin muffins!

I did make a few substitutions to the mix recipe. I used half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour. I also cut the sugar down to 2.5 cups. Three cups seemed like a lot (I think I figured it out to be about a tablespoon per muffin if your batch made 12 muffins...mine usually made 18-24 though), and plus the day I went to mix it up I only had 2.5 cups of sugar on hand. I figured I'd try it and see how it turned out. Now I think I'll keep it that way. I had meant to add in some ground flax seed to the mix but forgot when I mixed it up and then kept forgetting each time I make a batch.

This was super, super easy and it's so nice to have on hand! I've even made muffins first thing in the morning when I get up to have for breakfast if we were out, and it wasn't time consuming at all. My kids don't even mind waiting a little longer for breakfast knowing they're going to get a tasty warm muffin out of the deal!

If you make these and try any other variations that you love, leave me a comment and let me know what they were!

Hmnmm...apparently in all the batches of muffins I've made, I haven't taken a picture of any of them. Next time!

Strawberry Pancake Topping

I guess this doesn't have to be a pancake topping, but the title "strawberry topping" just seemed weird. We're having it on pancakes, but I imagine it would work for waffles, ice cream, crepes...you name it. I was looking through the breakfast recipes in my cookbook for the week, America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, and thought about making a multigrain pancake recipe I saw, but it would have required me purchasing a lot of ingredients that probably wouldn't get used a whole lot. Okay, really just "no-sugar-added muesli" and I wasn't sure how often I'd use that again or even if any of the stores around me would have it. I mean, I couldn't find leeks the other day...what are my chances of finding "no sugar added muesli?!" I remembered I had a Trader Joe's multigrain pancake mix in my pantry, so I figured there was no point reinventing the wheel when I could just use that. I had already seen the strawberry topping recipe, so I figured I'd make that to go with the pancakes from the mix. we're going to have scrambled eggs and bacon to go along with the pancakes.

Strawberry Topping
Source: The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, Copyright 2010

4 cups strawberries (about 20 ounces), hulled and sliced thin
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Toss 2 cups of the strawberries, the sugar, and salt together in a large bowl and let sit, stirring occasionally, until the strawberries have released their juice and the sugar has dissolved, about 30 minutes. Transfer the mixture, including all of the liquid, to a small saucepan and stir in the remaining strawberries. Cook over medium heat until the juice has thickened into a sauce, about 6 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice. Let cool 1 hour before serving.

*****

This strawberry sauce was really good. It wasn't super sweet which I really liked. It tasted like strawberries, not syrupy sweet strawberries. I didn't let it cool for an hour because I forgot to factor in that time when I started making it. I figured it didn't need to be cool, though, since we were having it on pancakes. We all really liked it. Actually it made me think of my dad. Growing up when we'd have breakfast for dinner it was a big treat for my dad to make waffles and then we'd have strawberries and whipped cream on them. The strawberry sauce on the pancakes reminded me of that. I'd definitely make this again. There's still some left in my fridge...I kind of wish I had some vanilla ice cream to go with it.

Barefoot Contessa's Hashed Browns

It occurred to me that we hadn't had Biscuits and Vegetarian Sausage Gravy for quite awhile, and I had just bought a box of Morningstar Farms sausage patties at Costco, so I slated it for dinner one night last week. I wanted some potatoes to go with it, so I grabbed a Barefoot Contessa cookbook figuring at least one of her books had to have a hash brown recipe in it. Lo and behold, there was one, in the Family Style cookbook. Super easy with basic ingredients--excellent!!

Barefoot Contessa's Hashed Browns
Copyright, 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All rights reserved.

5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and 1/2-inch diced
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced scallions (white and green parts)

Melt the butter in a large (10 to 12-inch) saute pan. Add the potatoes, onions, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally with a flat spatula, until the potatoes are evenly browned and cooked through. (Allow the potatoes to cook for 5 minutes before turning.) Turn off the heat and add the parsley and scallions. Serve hot.

*****

I only chopped up one onion because I don't like chopping onions, and I thought that one would be enough. I checked the recipe at least five times to make sure it really said five tablespoons of butter because it seemed like a lot.

These were good potatoes, but I think the five tablespoons was a bit too much for my liking. Maybe since I used one less onion I should have scaled it back a bit? I don't know. They were definitely tasty--I LOVE hash browns--but they didn't really ever brown a whole lot because of all the butter. Or at least that's what I'm attributing it to. Definitely easy, definitely good, and definitely something I'll make again--only with less butter next time.

Mango Stuffed French Toast

Somehow I forgot the most important recipe I made on Christmas--our breakfast!! I was looking at recipes on the Rick Bayless website recently and saw this recipe for Mango Stuffed French Toast. Oh man...I wanted to make it right then! I figured I'd save it for Christmas morning. I like to have some kind of breakfast casserole that can be in the oven while we're opening presents. It worked out even more perfectly because there were mangos in my basket from Bountiful Baskets.

Mango Stuffed French Toast
Copyright © 2009 Rick Bayless

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon softened butter for casserole dish
3 mangos (approximately 2 1/2 pounds) peeled and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar (divided use)
12 ounces cream cheese (softened)
12 slices egg bread (challah) sandwich loaf
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half & half
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for garnish
Warm maple or agave syrup

In a very large (12-inch) non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the mango and saute for approximately 10 minutes or until soft. Sprinkle in a 1/4 cup sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, mix the softened cream cheese and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar.

Butter a 13 x 9 casserole dish with 1 tablespoon softened butter. Divide the cream cheese mixture equally between the slices of bread and spread, covering the entire surface. Place 6 of the slices in the bottom of the prepared dish with the tops of the bread facing out. You may need to squeeze the slices together to make them fit. Spoon the cooled mango slices and their syrup evenly over the bread. Press the remaining slices, cream cheese side down, on top of the mango layer.

Whisk together the eggs, half and half, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour the mixture over the top of the stuffed French toast, making sure to cover all the bread with the egg mixture. Wrap tightly and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, remove the baking dish from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until lightly browned and warmed through. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and serve with warm syrup.

*****

I just realized we didn't have any syrup or powdered sugar with ours--we just ate it as is (or as was). This was AMAZING. I have yet to be disappointed by a Rick Bayless recipe. I'm telling you, he's a god among men (but not in a blasphemous way). Jen B. and I are dying to take a trip to Chicago and eat at all three of his restaurants.

We all really liked this. It's definitely a breakfast dish I'd make again. It was easy to put together and tasted awesome. Just thinking about it makes me want it again!

Soggy and gooey, going in the fridge the night before!




Mmmmmm...pan of mango french toast...


See the yummy layers? Man I can't wait to have this again!

Best Buttermilk Pancakes

The husband and I were talking last night about what we should have for our mini date night dinner tonight. Since I lost my meal plan for the week, I couldn't remember what I had slated for it. Seriously, after having two kids, if something isn't written down I have very little chance of remembering it. He said how about brinner (breakfast for dinner)...bacon, eggs, and pancakes. I said it sounded good to me, and there was a recipe in the Cook's Illustrated magazine I just got for buttermilk pancakes that I wanted to try.

Although I honestly feel like I need a nap before embarking on dinner tonight. We left our house this morning at 8:30 and didn't get home until almost 6:00. I had no intention of being gone that long. My cousin is getting married next weekend, and I needed to find a dress for the wedding. We had plans to go shopping with my mom and aunt, then I heard that Target is doing their twice a year huge toy clearance, so instead of leaving at 9:00 like I had originally planned I wanted to leave at 8:30 to swing by Target on the way to my mom's. I cleaned up--I got probably $200 worth of toys for $50. I'm just about set for Christmas for the boy and have some things I can keep on hand for random birthday presents for his friends. My mom, aunt, the boys, and I got to the mall around 10:45 I think it was and didn't emerge until almost 3:00. It's been a long time since I spent that much time in the mall. I got some great deals though. I found a cute dress for my cousin's wedding, and I also got three pairs of Lucky Brand pants (two were $18 each!!), a Lucky Brand shirt, and a Calvin Klein shirt--all five of those things for $120! I was quite pleased with myself. We also got shoes and socks for the boy for the wedding because he's going to be the ring bearer. We got back to my mom's, I fed the baby, the boy and I went swimming, and we headed home...and stopped at another Target. I know. You're exhausted just reading this aren't you? I definitely did my part to help the economy today. And I can't wait to wear my new clothes! ;)

Anyway, pancakes. I'm excited to try this. So far everything from Cook's Illustrated I've made has been fantastic. I really love that magazine...how they explain how they came to the final recipe, what they tried that didn't work, etc. I'm so glad I got a subscription.

Best Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1-2 tsp vegetable oil

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Spray wire rack set inside baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray; place in oven. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a medium bowl. In second medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, and melted butter. Make well in center of dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients; gently stir until just combined (batter should remain lumpy with few streaks of flour). Do not overmix. Allow batter to sit 10 minutes before cooking.

Heat 1 tsp oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Using paper towels, carefully wipe out oil, leaving thin film of oil on bottom and sides of pan. Using 1/4 cup measure, portion batter into pan in 4 places. Cook until edges are set, first side is golden brown, and bubbles on surface are just beginning to break, 2-3 minutes. Using thin, wide spatula, flip pancakes and continue to cook until second side is golden brown, 1-2 minutes longer. Serve pancakes immediately, or transfer to wire rack in preheated oven. Repeat with remaining batter, using remaining oil as necessary.

*****

I'm pretty happy with my usual pancake recipe, but since these are supposedly "the best" I figured they were worth a try. Of course, my usual ones I always have those ingredients on hand, and buttermilk isn't something I normally have in my fridge.

*****

These were pretty good pancakes. I have a tendency to smoosh down pancakes after I flip them, and I think I need to stop so they'll be lighter and fluffier. There was only one left from the whole batch--the husband kept going back for more!

Cheerios Breakfast Cookies

Back in May when I went to San Diego with my mom and my friend Jen B. and our crazy bobo boys, Jen made some really yummy breakfast cookies for the trip. I'd been wanting to make them myself but always forgot to buy Cheerios for them. The boy isn't really a fan of Cheerios, so they aren't a cereal I normally have on hand. I grabbed a box of Trader Joe's Cheerios-equivalent when I was there last time, and yesterday the boy and I finally made these. The dough was really tasty, and I'm not usually a cookie dough eater.

Cheerios Breakfast Cookies
From: recipezaar.com/recipe #142860

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats or quick-cooking oat
1 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups Cheerios toasted oat cereal

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°. Stir together sugar, butter, peanut butter, water, vanilla and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients except cereal. Gently stir in cereal.
2. Drop dough by rounded 1/3 cupfuls 4 inches apart onto ungreased large cookie sheet. Flatten dough to about 1 inch thick.
3. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. Store loosely covered.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved.

Pancakes

What a freakin' day. I don't feel bad starting my post like that because I haven't in quite some time, but let me tell you--today is worthy of it! It started off normal enough, other than the boy being up already at 5:47 when the baby woke up to eat. I have no idea how long he had been up, but I was not at all pleased to see him sitting in the hallway at that insanely early time. Between then and when his alarm started at 7:15 he took every toy out of his toy box. We had swim lessons, then when we got home I told him he needed to pick up his room. Now, really it would have only taken him about 15 minutes to put everything back, but he ended up taking 90 minutes to do it. Of course, in that time he threw over a music table toy in the baby's room, spit at me, hit me with toys, threw toys at me, and the capstone was him pouring out almost an entire bottle of his shampoo on the carpet in front of my bedroom. Burt's Bees Shampoo, to top it off, which is not cheap. I was livid. Since then, he's spit at me more, taken a pen out of my room and colored all over his hand, face, and shirt, stolen a pacifier out of the baby's crib, and throw countless fits. The whining and crying...ugh. I want to run away to some where far far away. Dear God, make me a bird so I can fly far...far, far away.

There must be something in the water or air or some chemical in the pool at swim lessons because my friends Jen B. and Laura's kids were acting up today, too. If you read Jen B.'s blog you'll have to agree that something is not right with our kids today.

So, given the day I've had (and that I have a cold on top of everything else), I am really in no mood whatsoever to cook dinner tonight. I had planned on making chicken stir fry, but I think I only have one chicken breast which just won't work for three people. I have a pork chop dish planned for later in the week, but it sounded like more work than I was up to. Since I have no convenience food on hand (the downside of trying not to buy prepared/packaged foods), I was having a tough time coming up with something. Then I thought of pancakes and scrambled eggs and thought I could handle that. Plus clean-up from that will be pretty easy.

Freezer Pancakes

For scrambled eggs I use Egg Beaters and add in a dash of milk, a handful or two of grated cheese, and some Tony Chachere's seasoning. It's actually the husband's recipe...John's Cajun Scrambled Eggs he calls them. At least it will be an easy dinner, and I know there won't be any fights about eating dinner with the boy because he loves pancakes and scrambled eggs.

(By the way, in the course of typing this I was hit repeatedly with a packet of fruit snacks. If we didn't have our Bible Study group here tonight, I think the boy would be in bed by 6:30 at the latest.)

Biscuits and Vegetarian Sausage Gravy

I remembered a box of vegetarian sausage I had in my freezer when I was meal planning for the week and realized we hadn't had this in quite some time. We love having brinner (breakfast for dinner), so I thought it would be perfect. Plus it's really tasty!! I wish I could find Grands biscuits that are a little healthier, but we don't have this very often, so I figured I could splurge a little. And I did compare every single package--Pillsbury and store brand--to find the one that was the most nutritious. If anyone happened to be at the Laveen Safeway last night looking at the canned biscuits and wondered why the nutritional info was facing out on every package, that was why. ;)

Here's the recipe last time I did it--and there's even a picture!!

Biscuits and Vegetarian Sausage Gravy

I bought some hash browns to have along with this, and I might cook some eggs, too. I also have a lot of yummy fruit--blackberries, cantaloupe, strawberries, and apples--so I'm going to mix up a fruit salad as well.

BTW, I think I'm going to start a weight loss blog. I just saw the pictures my mom took on our San Diego trip, and I realize I'm quite the fat ass. Yeah, yeah...I just had a baby and all that...but it was still pretty gross. We have a few big events this summer that I'd like to lose some weight for, and I'm thinking if I blog about it and have some kind of daily accountability like that I might be more successful. But first I need to finish off the package of Double Chocolate Milano cookies in my pantry...I'd hate to see them go to waste. Ha...that explains a lot doesn't it. When I get it up and running I'll share the link here so you can all go along on my weight loss journey with me.

Freezer Pancakes

I offered to make pancakes and freeze them to take along on our trip for breakfast while we're there. I love this pancake recipe, and the boy loves to help me mix up the batter. These are from the cookbook my message board put together.

Freezer Pancakes
1 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/4 cup milk
3 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir until flour is moistened. Heat griddle or pan to medium heat, until drops of water sizzle when dropped on it. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Spoon about 1/4 cup worth of batter for each pancake. Turn when the tops are bubbley and the edges look dry. Cook on other side until golden brown.

To freeze: Let pancakes cool compleely and stack in Ziploc bag either alone or in between sheets of wax paper for easier separation. To reheat, cook in microwave for about 1.5 minutes for every three pancakes.

*****

I add in some vanilla to the batter because I just like the taste it gives the pancakes. Sometimes I add in a tablespoon of ground flax seed. I doubled the recipe this time, and it made a TON of pancakes.

Brooke's Breakfast Casserole

My bestest friend Brooke sent me this recipe for a breakfast casserole over the weekend. The timing was pretty impressive because I had to take food for my MOPS meeting this morning. I was going to do a different casserole, but she said she and her husband LOVED this one, so I figured I'd give it a try. And I had everything on hand for it except hashbrowns--and you know I LOVE when that happens! She found it on a blog she visits to find coupon deals in Boise, but since she sent it to me, I'm dubbing it Brooke's Breakfast Casserole.

Brooke's Breakfast Casserole
1 package Grands biscuits
4-5 cups frozen hashbrowns, thawed
1 package bacon (1 lb?), cooked and chopped
1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
8 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Spread 6 biscuits in the bottom of a 9x13 pan to cover the bottom. Sprinkle hashbrowns over the biscuits. Season with salt and pepper (I used Lawry's Seasoned Salt). Place pan in oven for 10 minutes. Remove pan and top hashbrowns with chopped bacon. Spread cheese over bacon. Beat eggs and pour over top. Bake uncovered for an additional 30 minutes or until eggs are set in the center.

*****

This was really yummy! I had planned to take a picture of it once it came out of the oven, but we had to be getting out the door, so that didn't happen. There was none left to bring home, so I'll just have to make it again sometime so I can get a picture of it. :) It was really tasty, although I think I used too many hashbrowns. I didn't measure them out, just threw some handfuls into the pan. I might increase the number of eggs, too. I had to use mozzarella cheese because I was out of cheddar (okay, I had a block of it but didn't want to have to shred it), but I don't think it made a big difference. Oh, and I cut up the bacon using my kitchen shears before I cooked it. I prefer to do that over cooking it and then cutting it. Bacon is so doggone tasty. It was a good thing I didn't give myself a lot of time between when the bacon was done and I needed to put it in the casserole because I could have easily eaten all of it.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

I had almost a whole container of blueberry pie filling left after the baby shower last weekend, and I hated to see it go to waste. I checked out the website for the brand of pie filling and found some great recipes. It was between this, a blueberry pie with a crumb top, or blueberry snack bars. I printed all three recipes but could only find this one when I wanted to make something today. Darn little hands running off with my important things! I was pretty undecided on which to do, so I guess I should thank the boy for deciding for me.

Blueberry Coffee Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1 (21-oz.) can Comstock® or Wilderness® More Fruit Blueberry Fruit Filling or Topping
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
2. Combine butter or margarine and 1 cup sugar in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and sour cream. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Spread half the batter in the bottom of a greased 7 x 11-inch baking pan. Top with Blueberry Fruit Filling and carefully spread remaining batter over filling.
3. In small bowl, combine ½ cup sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon; sprinkle over top of coffee cake.
4. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool on rack before serving.

*****

When I was mixing it all up I thought it would probably be good with some lemon zest mixed in, but I didn't feel like zesting. I just had a piece, and it's really yummy! Mine kind of fell in the middle...not sure why. It's still tasty though. I don't normally have pie filling on hand, so I probably wouldn't randomly make this again, but it would be good to take to a breakfast of some sort.

(Okay...it's now 8:40 PM, and over half of the coffee cake is gone. The husband is in love with this coffee cake. Granted I've had my fair share, too, but it seems everytime I go into the kitchen, he's cut himself another small piece. So I guess it is a keeper...I'll just have to watch for pie filling to be on sale. I have some cherry pie filling left, I'm wondering if I should make another one with that!)

Blintz Souffle

Now, on to shower food. My friend Jen A. is having her second baby--another boy just like everyone else I know--in March, so I threw a baby shower for her today. It was very fun, if I do say so myself. I was lucky and a lot of our friends offered to bring food to help out, which was a huge lifesaver. It was quite the feast...egg casserole, potato casserole, blueberry muffins, scones, orange cinnamon rolls, Amish friendship bread, fruit with dip, baked brie, and this blintz souffle. All I had to do was this, the brie, and the punch. And clean my house--which was probably the most daunting task but a very much needed one.

I was at my mom's a couple weeks ago, and we were talking about what food to have at the shower. Well, I was talking about it and she was suggesting things. She said that a friend of hers had made this, and it was really good. I'm not usually big on trying out new recipes for the first time on big groups of people, but I trusted my mom.

Filling:
1-16 ounce carton small curd cottage cheese
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp sugar
1-8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

Batter:
1-1/2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup orange juice
6 eggs
1/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cherry and blueberry pie filling

Grease a 9x13 pan. Beat all filling ingredients until well blended. Set aside. LIghtly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In blender or food processor with metal blade, place the sour cream, orange juice, eggs, margarine, flour, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon. Blend until smooth, scraping sides often. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Drop filling evenly over batter; spread carefully and evenly. FIlling will mix slightly with the batter. Cover; refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake, uncovered 50-60 minutes or until puffed and light, golden brown. Serve topped with pie fillings. Yields 8-12 servings.

*****

I mixed it all together last night and then threw it in the oven this morning. Mine baked for close to an hour. I was pretty disappointed last night that I over-estimated the size of my food processor AFTER I got half the ingredients in it and realized it was too small. You know how I hate doing extra dishes. I broke out my blender instead.

This ended up being pretty good. Although I'll admit I didn't really taste it as much as I should have since I was mostly interested in the baked brie. There's less than half the pan left, so it was received pretty well. I'll have to try more once I'm ready for sweets again. I have a ton of the pie filling left, so I may have to look up cherry or blueberry pie recipes. There's more of the blueberry left than the cherry, and I do have a pie crust in the freezer. Hmmmm...a project for tomorrow!

Breakfast Casserole

Merry Christmas everyone!!! Here I promised to get back to blogging and haven't posted anything. what can I say...I've been busy caring for a newborn and toddler and having my in-laws in town. I figured I'd start with the egg casserole I made for breakfast this morning and work my way back from there as I have time. My in-laws go home tomorrow morning, so then I'll for sure have to get back to cooking. And doing dishes. And picking up toys. And all the other household things they've been doing for us while they've been here. Sigh.

I hope everyone's having a nice Christmas! We're heading to my mom's for dinner, and I'm off the hook for taking anything except my brood and presents. My husband calls it "Second Christmas" with my family because there's an insane amount of gifts...especially for the boy. He's the only great-grandchild (well, he and the baby now) for my two grandmas, the only grandkid for my parents, and my aunt & uncle and our family friend that celebrates with us don't have grandkids either, so my kids are surrogate grandkids for all of them. You can imagine the gift insanity. We had a great Christmas morning at our house; Santa brought the boy roller skates, which he loves. He took a twirl around the block in them...sort of. They're "learn to skate" skates, so one of the wheels stays locked so he can walk in them and get the hang of it. he looked so cute in his skates, helmet, and knee pads! My entire downstairs looks like a Toys R Us puked in it. The husband and I got each other GPS so that wasn't too exciting since we already knew what it was. I bought myself a Coach purse recently and had the store wrap it so I could put it under the tree. Oh, and my in-laws got me a fantastic cookbook. I've probably mentioned how I love cookbooks that are from churches or moms groups or whatever group where people submit their own recipes. I figure every recipe is good because no one is going to go to the trouble of submitting something that sucks. My mother-in-law is a teacher at a Christian school, and she gave me a cookbook the school put together. I'm chomping at the bit to read through it and get cooking!

On that note (since I want to be reading my cookbook), here's the breakfast casserole we had. I've made it before, so it's really nothing exciting.

Weekend Brunch Casserole
1 pound Bob Evans or Owens® Original Recipe Sausage Roll
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
8 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Crumble and cook sausage in medium skillet over medium heat until browned. Drain.

Line bottom of greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish with crescent roll dough, firmly pressing perforations to seal. Sprinkle with sausage. Combine remaining ingredients in medium bowl until blended; pour over sausage.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into squares; serve hot. Refrigerate leftovers.

*****

I've found if you use Eggbeaters instead of real eggs, the cooking time is 5-10 minutes longer for whatever reason.

and with that, I'm off to read! Merry Christmas to all!

Brinner

I had absolutely no desire to make for dinner tonight what I had originally planned, so I found myself scurrying for something else around 3:00 this afternoon. I got tired of trying to find something and decided to just make pancakes, hashbrowns, and scrambled eggs. Who doesn't like breakfast for dinner?! I did, however, look up a real pancake recipe instead of using the mix I normally go to when the boy wants pancakes for breakfast.

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

*****

The only thing I changed was I added in a teaspoon of vanilla. I like the flavor it adds to pancake mix. They were really yummy...way better than my usual boxed mix. If I'm feeling up to it at some point, I may mix up all the dry ingredients and keep those bagged up and on hand for when we want pancakes.

French Toast Souffle

I figured I'd update my blog as I'm waiting for dinner to finish cooking. Sigh. More on that later. I spent pretty much all day cleaning my house because my awesome mom took the boy for the day. Of course, I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped since I kept getting out of breath. Darn pregnancy and being out of shape. Oh well, at least the upstairs of my house is something like 80% awesomely clean.

I've been wanting to have brinner (breakfast for dinner) for quite awhile now, and I found this recipe in a cookbook my mom gave me from a women's club she belonged to when they lived in El Paso. It sounded soooooo good. It's an overnight French toast recipe, but I figured making it in the morning and letting it sit all day would be comparable. I figured wrong. Again, more on that later.

French Toast Souffle
4 ounces butter (that's one stick)
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup maple syrup
12 eggs
3 cups half and half
2 tsp vanilla
1 (9x13) pan of bread/rolls/croissants/etc. torn into pieces
Cinnamon to taste

Melt butter, cream cheese, and syrup in microwave. Whip eggs, half and half, and vanilla together. Tear bread, rolls, croissants, etc. into a 9x13 buttered baking dish, fairly well packed. Pour egg mixture over bread. Pour butter/cream cheese/syrup mixture over. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake in 350-degree oven for 15-20 minutes uncovered. Makes 10 servings.

*****

Doesn't that sound yummy? I made a few modifications in an effort to make it more healthy. I did half eggs and half egg beaters. I also used two cups of half and half (fat free) and one cup of skim milk. Other than that, everything was as called for.

(Note: I'm no longer waiting for it to finish cooking...it's the next day and I was lazy last night and never finished posting this.)

Baked Egg Tchoupitoulas

Today was my friend Laura's baby shower. My friend Jen B. was in charge of food, and I asked if she needed help with anything. She said she needed another egg dish, so I said I'd make this one. We had it for Christmas breakfast last year, and it was really good. It's a lot of work and soooooooooooooo unhealthy, but it was a special occasion. I told the husband as I was finishing it up this morning that the amount of cholesterol in it must be staggering. You'll see why! I found this recipe on a website my mother-in-law sent me from a Lousiana tv station. I had kind of forgotten about it until I thought of this egg dish. I need to check out the list of recipes and see what else is on there.

Baked Egg Tchoupitoulas
2 pats butter or margarine
2 cups French bread, broken into small pieces
1 cup whole milk
8 large eggs
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
4 Tbsp. salted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup fully cooked breakfast sausage links, thinly sliced
3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 lb. Lorraine or baby Swiss, shredded or sliced
10 slices bacon, fried, drained and crumbled
1-1/2 cup soft bread cubes, sauteed in butter

First, grease a 9 X 13-inch (2-quart) baking pan with butter or margarine and set it aside.

Then, almost as if you were making a bread pudding custard, mix the milk with the bread, gently knead it together with your fingers, and set the mixture aside to soak and form a slurry.

In the meantime, whip the eggs gently with a whisk or electric beater. Then stir in the salt, pepper, and butter until they are fully incorporated and gently combine it all with the milk and bread slurry.

Next, pour everything into the pre-greased baking pan and gently swirl into the eggs the sausage pieces and the cheddar so that they are uniformly distributed. Then cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight.

Then when it's time to cook, evenly layer on the bacon, top it with the Swiss cheese slices, and crown it all with the sautéed bread cubes. All that's left is to bake the casserole at 400 degrees on the center rack of the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the eggs have set. When you're ready to eat, just spoon out a generous helping right from the pan and chow down.

Most New Orleanians prefer to serve this breakfast dish with a hot cup of cafe au lait, a chilled glass of milk or orange juice, and a stack of toasted and buttered English muffins.

*****

I received a lot of compliments on it at the shower. It really was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. I left what was remaining for Laura to take home becuase John can't eat this, and I didn't need to eat how much was left on my own.

John had a boys night out tonight, so no dinner at our house. Will had some tortellinis, and I don't know what I'll have. I'm still kind of full from the feast at the shower this morning!

Weekend Brunch Casserole

I have to take breakfast for my MOPS group this morning, so I figured I'd put the recipe here too. It's super easy and really good!

Weekend Brunch Casserole
1 pound Bob Evans or Owens® Original Recipe Sausage Roll
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
4 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Crumble and cook sausage in medium skillet over medium heat until browned. Drain.
Line bottom of greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish with crescent roll dough, firmly pressing perforations to seal. Sprinkle with sausage and cheese. Combine remaining ingredients in medium bowl until blended; pour over sausage.
Bake 15 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into squares; serve hot. Refrigerate leftovers.

*****

I forgot it was mozzarella that goes in it, so I bought some casserole blend of cheese. I don't think it will affect it at all. Oh, and I use at least six eggs. Four didn't seem like enough the first time I mixed this up.