Breakfast Casserole

32 oz. frozen shredded hash browns
3/4 cups melted butter
Pinch of salt
2 cups cheddar cheese
2 cups jack cheese
3 cups meat (ham, breakfast sausage, or bacon)
1 cup evaporated milk
6 eggs
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt

Grease 9X13 pan. Pour hash browns in pan. Pour melted butter and a little bit of salt over hash browns. Mix. Press in hash browns to form crust. Bake at 425 for 25 min. Fill with layers of cheese and meat. Beat eggs, milk and seasoned salt together well. Pour over potatoes. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

Baked Oatmeal

Another Oatmeal recipe.  This one is really good too, I like how I can make it ahead of time and cook it in the morning.

Ingredients:

2 c. milk

1 c. quick oats

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. oil

2 eggs

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/2 c. raisins or craisins, or both!:)

Mix well. Put in 9 x 13 in. pan and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, until golden brown on top. 

"Food For Tots"

I don't know if I've posted about this cookbook before. I love this book and my aunt is the illustrator of all the cute little pictures inside. Some of my regular favorites include the Mac-n-cheese, Baked Fries, and the Puffy Apple Pancake:

Puffy Apple Pancake (similar to German Pancake)

1/3 cup butter or margarine
2 med. apples
3 Tbl. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
4 EGGS
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
*powdered sugar (optional)

1. Set oven to 425.
2. Put butter into a 9-10 inch frying pan and place in oven until butter is just melted, not browned.
3. While butter is melting, peel and core apples and cut then into thin slices.
4. Remove pan from oven, add sugar and cinnamon to the melted butter and stir in the sliced apples.
5. Return pan to oven for about 3 min.
6. In a blender, whip eggs and milk at high speed for 1 min. Set blender to low speed and slowly add the flour until well blended.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and pour egg batter over the butter and apples.
8. Bake for 20-25 min. or until the pancake is raised and golden brown.
9. Serve immediately and enjoy! Cut in wedges and dust with powdered sugar. Good with a dollop of applesauce and fresh whipped cream too!

Raspberry Stuffed French Toast

Since this is french toast, I think it counts as my recipe for eggs..... right?  Besides cooking with eggs, we like them scrambled with all the fixins, bacon, cheese, diced tomatoes, and peppers. But, here's a french toast we love, and eat on special days, like Easter Sunday!

4 oz. neufchatel cheese, soften (like cream cheese, less fat)

1/2 c. sugar

2 t. vanilla

1 t. cinnamon

2 eggs, plus 2 egg whites

5 cups fat free milk, divided

1 loaf french baguette, cut into about 18 slices

1 pkg (12 oz.) frozen raspberries, divided

1 pkg. (4 serving size) vanilla pudding/instant pudding pie filling

Beat neufchatel cheese, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon with electric mixer until well blended.  Add eggs and egg whites, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Gradually add 2 cups of the milk, beating until well blended

Arrange 9 of the bread slices in a greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Sprinkle with half the raspberries, top with remaining bread slices.  Pour cheese mixture over bread, let stand 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake 40 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, bring remaining 3 cups milk just to boil in saucepan; gradually add dry pudding mix, whisking until well blended.  Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes.  Microwave remaining raspberries until just warm.  Serve toast topped with custard sauce and raspberries.

If you want you can make ahead of time, cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.  When ready to serve, bake uncovered at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Prepare sauce while it is baking.

It is delish, and very Spring appropriate!

Quiche

I love a good quiche. Before I moved out of state, I would host a Christmas Cookie Exchange/Brunch and serve this every year. You can make one large quiche in a pie pan, or mini quiches in mini muffin pans. The minis are great for baby/bridal showers.

1 box rolled pie crusts
6 slices bacon(or 1/2 cup ground spicy sausage)
½ cup diced green onion
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
½ cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
¼ tsp fresh ground pepper
1 cup shredded Swiss or Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Roll out pastry and press into deep dish pie plate.

Cook bacon or sausage till done. Bacon should be crispy. Drain and crumble. Add bacon or sausage to bottom of pie. Add cheese. Add chopped green onion.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream and salt and pepper till very well combined. Pour egg mixture over the toppings until just under the edge of the crust.

Bake in preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until center is set. Let quiche cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack before serving.

I've found that with the meat and cheese, even men will eat this quiche!
Happy Easter!

Gingerbread Pancakes!!

Gingerbread Pancakes

2 c. flour

2 T. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

dash of ground cloves

4 T. molasses

2 T. vegetable oil

2 c. buttermilk

2 eggs lightly beaten

In large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, oil, buttermilk and molasses. Slowly pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir until uniform. Lightly grease griddle over medium hat and cook the pancakes about 3 minutes on each side. Serve with hot maple syrup, applesauce and whipped cream or powdered sugar.

How great do these sound??? Try some.

Blender Wheat Pancakes

I've been meaning to put this up for a while - so Shalee's motivation was great. Here is a great way to use up some of your wheat without needing a wheat grinder:

Blender Wheat Pancakes
1 C milk (translation for powered milk is 3 T. milk and 1 C Water)
1 C wheat kernels (whole and uncooked)
2 Eggs (2 T. powered eggs 1/4 C. Water)
2 T. Oil
2 T. Honey or Sugar
1/2 C + Bisquick (ours were a little runny, so I'm still experimenting with how much is needed to make them the right consistency).

Put milk and wheat kernels in blender.
Blend on highest speed for 4 or 5 minutes or until batter is smooth.
Add eggs, oil, sugar or honey to above batter.
Blend on low.
Pour out batter into pancakes from the actual blender jar (the only thing to wash!) onto the hot greased or Pam prepared griddle.
Cook; flipping pancakes when bubbles pop and create holes.

We actually tried this as waffles and you can use applesauce instead of oil to cut out the fat.

This recipe came from Everyday Food Storage, which has great ideas on using food storage... well...everyday. Check it out at http://everydayfoodstorage.net.

Pumpkin Muffins

Well, I am not sure what my favorite spice is, but these muffins are my favorite muffins...and they have a few spices. I ALWAYS double the recipe because we eat them so fast. Now, I have made the "drizzle" for them and it is great, but I usually only do that now if I am giving them away. I like them as a snack (for me or my kids) without the extra sugar. Plus, isn't this a great way to kick of Fall!? It almost makes me forget what comes after Fall...for like 3.7 seconds.

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can 100% pure pumpkin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Orange Drizzle:
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 4 teaspoons orange juice

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 36 mini-muffin cups with vegetable cooking spray.
2. Bring pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon and cloves to a simmer in a medium saucepan until puree thickens enough to start sticking to pan bottom, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn hot puree into a bowl. Whisk in brown sugar and oil, then slowly beat in eggs.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; whisk into pumpkin mixture until just combined.
4. Divide batter among the muffin cups and bake until golden and cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Let stand a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Mix the drizzle ingredients together and drizzle over warm muffins.

Whenever the 29 oz cans of pumpkin go on sale (like last week at Target or usually during the holidays) I stock WAY up.

Blueberry Muffins

I know a lot of you read the Pioneer Woman's cooking site but I thought I'd put this up here for those that don't or those that may have missed this one. I think these look SO good! I can't wait to try them out!

The Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins

3 cups minus
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
Heavy pinch of salt
Dash of Nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 generous cup plain, unflavored yogurt (throw in extra if you want)
2 cups fresh blueberries
Vanilla Extract
Softened Butter, for muffin tins
Turbinado sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 385 degrees.
In a large bowl sift flour, baking soda, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, cap-full of vanilla, egg, and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and stir to a count of 10. Add blueberries, reserving 1/2 cup, to mixture and stir 3 times. Add mixture to well-buttered muffin pans. Sprinkle remaining berries on top and press down lightly. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over top. (Brown sugar can be used instead.)
Bake 20 to 25 minutes and allow to cool completely.

Yogurt-Blueberry Sauce:
In small saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together 1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries (if using fresh, add 2 tsp water) and 1 tsp sugar. Cook until berries pop and liquid begins to thicken. Dump in heaping 1/4 cup plain yogurt and stir to combine. Drizzle on muffins.

To see the detailed instructions the the pictures click here: Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins

Overnight French Toast

So, I have just found this delicious treat for a scrumptious breakfast, or we like to have it for dinner! and even though I missed the breakfast week of posting, this does have eggs in it :)
Melt together over medium heat until dissolved:
1/2 c. butter, 1c. brown sugar, 2 T. corn syrup
Pour into 12x18 pan (jelly roll pan, or as I know it- big cookie sheet)
Then, get either a loaf of French bread or a loaf of Texas Toast. (cut the french bread into really thick slices) Place the bread into the pan.
Mix 5 eggs, 1 1/2 c. half and half (or sweetend condensed milk), 1/2 tsp. salt, 1tsp. vanilla
Spoon over top of bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (or, make it in the morning, and eat it for dinner).
Bake at 350 for 30 min. uncovered. Flip over when out of oven and serve with your favorite syrup
This is DELICIOUS!!

Breakfast Casserole

I think every time I post a recipe I say how much I love it. I'm pretty sure I just love food in general, so I'll stop saying that.... here's a good recipe though! My sister taught me to keep all the ends of my bread (we don't eat those for some wierd reason) in my fridge to use for stuff like this, or to feed to ducks, or to make frech toast with. So, I think I'll start doing that, I usually just chuck the ends, but now I'll just shove them in the back of my fridge for awhile :)

Egg and Sausage Casserole
1 doz. Eggs
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
2 c. milk (1 ½ c. w/ eggs; ½ c. with soup.)
1 lb. Sausage
¾ t. dry mustard
½ medium onion
1 can mushroom soup
salt & pepper
sliced bread (cut off crusts then butter and cube.)

Place buttered bread cubes in 9 x 13 pan. (Use enough to cover pan.) Brown sausage and onion in saucepan. Pour on top of bread cubes. Sprinkle w/ grated cheese. Beat eggs w/1 ½ c. milk. Add dry mustard and salt and pepper. Pour over cheese. Cover and let sit in refrigerator overnight. Mix soup w/1/2 c. milk . Pour over casserole. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours

Buttermilk Syrup

Our easy meals (besides going out or ordering pizza) usually end being grilled sandwiches or spaghetti. Chicken Bundles and Tortilla Casserole are also pretty fast. But since I've already posted recipes for those then our other fall back dinner is pancakes! My kids LOVE pancakes so this is always a hit even if it's for dinner instead of breakfast. And I usually cook some bacon to go with it.
But here's the BEST part of our pancakes! Buttermilk Syrup! And I've always been a box pancake mix with store bought syrup mom before but then my mom gave me this recipe and it is SO SO SO SO good! And it's good for more than just pancakes! I think it would be good as a fruit dip or on ice cream! Yum... and it's easy to make! So here it is:

Buttermilk Syrup
1 stick butter
1/2 C buttermilk (or make your own by adding 1/2 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to 1/2 C milk)
1 C sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
Melt butter in saucepan. Add milk and sugar and stir to a boil. Remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla. It will be runny at first but let it cool for a little bit and it will thicken. Make sure to lick the spoon!!!

Crepes

I love crepes! You can put almost anything you like in them and they are fabulous. I love this particular filling, but fruit and whipped cream is just delightful.

CREPES:

4 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour (I used wheat last time and they were just as good)
2 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter

Mix eggs and salt. Alternate adding flour and milk a little at a time while whisking (electric mixer is fine too.) until smooth. Beat in melted butter. Refrigerate batter for 1 hour before making crepes.

FILLING:

3 cups strawberries
1/3 cup suger
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Slice berries, add sugar and set aside. In blender, whip cottage cheese until smooth. Then stir in sour cream and powdered sugar.

Pecan Rolls

Wow, great breakfast recipes! Keep them coming!! And if anyone has a request for an ingredient of the week let me know!! I try to think of easy ones but I never know what will be.

Here's my breakfast recipe. These are SOO good but since you have to fill up a Bundt pan I usually only make them when there are a lot of people to feed.
And even though they are called Pecan Rolls you can definitely leave out the pecans and they are great that way too!

Pecan Rolls

Ingredients:
1 ¾ cup pecans
½ small pkg butterscotch pudding
½ cup brown sugar
1 bag Rhodes frozen rolls (24 count)- I typically only use around 18-20
½ cup melted butter
1 T cinnamon

Butter a Bundt pan well. Spread pecans on bottom. Place rolls on top (all 24 may not fit). Sprinkle pudding on top of rolls. Combine butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and drizzle over rolls. Spray tin foil with Pam and place over Bundt pan. Cover with a dish towel and leave overnight. Bake when risen. Turn upside-down onto cake pan or serving plate to serve.

Temp- 350 degrees
Bake Time- 30 min

German Pancakes

(from the Dittli's, whom some of you may know)
Super easy and quick:

2 Tbl. butter
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
2 Tbl. sugar

Heat oven to 400 F. Put butter in loaf pan or cake pan and melt in oven. Blend remaining ingredients with a mixer. Pour batter into bubbling hot butter pan. Bake for 25 min. Serve hot with applesauce, fruit, syrup and powdered sugar. For richer pancakes: increase butter a bit and sugar to 1/4 cup.
If you have never made these before, you may be surprised at how BIG it "blows" up on the sides in the oven! Yummy!

Cheese Sausage Strata

Hey there! It's been a while since I've contributed. I guess I don't feel I have much experience to be helpful, so I learn from you guys. I love this blog, it's so great!

Anyway, this recipe is really easy and super good.

1 1/2 lb pork sausage (I didn't have regular sausage so I used maple flavored sausages and took the casings off. It tasted SO good.)
9 eggs, lightly beaten
3 c milk
9 slices bread, cubed
1 1/2 c (6 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 lb sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 1/2 tsp ground mustard

In large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add eggs, milk, bread, cheese, bacon and mustard. Transfer to a greased shallow 3-qt baking dish. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (I didn't refrigerate and it was great)
Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes our clean. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Buttermilk Pancakes

This is my husband's favorite. He won't eat pancakes made from a mix anymore. I don't buy buttermilk though, I make it with just under 1 1/2 cups milk and about 2 tsp white vinegar. The pancakes come out thin and moist, not thick and dry like most packaged mixes.

1 ½ cups buttermilk
1 ¼ cups flour
1 egg
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup oil
¼ cup sugar
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda


1. Combine all ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl with wire whisk till smooth.
2. Pour desired amount on hot greased griddle and cook till set, then flip and cook on other side till golden brown.

Makes about 8-10 pancakes

Brown Sugar Muffins

I know you have already heard from me this week, but these are my favorite muffins. I love to make them with Sunday Roast Beef dinners instead of rolls. (I know it sounds weird, but I love them!) They are also great for brunches!

1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. nuts (optional) (I don't use nuts)
Mix butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with milk. Add nuts. Bake in greased muffin tins or paper cups at 350 degrees for 15 min.

Whole Wheat Pancakes or Waffles

Okay, this doesn't have lots of brown sugar in it, but it has some... and I thought that was weird the first time I made these. You never think that pancake or waffle batter might have brown sugar in it... I didn't anyways. These are delicious we made them Sunday!

Mix with a whisk:
3 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. salt
1 heaping T. baking powder

In a separate bowl combine:
3 heaping T. brown sugar
3 eggs (separate, beat whites until stiff and fold into everything very LAST)
3 c. milk
1 T. vanilla
3 T. oil

FOR WAFFLES: add 2 more eggs and 1 more T. of oil
Mix wet ingredients with beaters, add dry ingredients with a whisk, fold in egg whites, and do not over mix. *sidenote* Here's what I do: 1. put the flour mixture in a big bowl 2. put egg white in a separate bowl and add the yolks right into the flour mixture. 3. beat the whites until stiff 4. add all the other wet ingredients to the big bowl and beat with the beaters 5. fold in the egg whites with a spatula.... This seems to save bowls and it isn't as complicated.

Enjoy - let me know if you have questions!

Tuffies

This is our traditional Christmas morning food! My dad's grandma made these every year for them and now he makes them every year for all of us and when we have our own Christmases I will make them for my family. It's similar to a scone except better! I don't like scones that much and I love these!

Tuffies:
Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet
Take some bread dough (easiest way is Rhodes- thawed and risen)
Stretch and flatten into several 1 in x 2.5 in rectangles
Drop into hot oil until brown on underside, flip with tongs to brown the other side.
Smother in butter and honey or jam and eat!!

Not the best food for you but really yummy!
Merry Christmas!