Fluffy Pancakes

Found this recipe on Facebook and had to try it out.

I'm too lazy to type it out so here are the screenshots:

I am the only one who tried them but since I rarely eat pancakes , I can't really comment on the taste. They tasted like a pancake. They were however very fluffy.

Yummy Potato Bacon casserole...

Today I wanted to share with you this YUMMY casserole that I made, for my dayhome kids for lunch! It was pretty easy to make, had it prepped and in the oven during nap time and by noon it was ready to be devoured!

Here is what you will need to whip this up:

4 Cups of frozen hashbrowns
1/2 cup of finely chopped onion
8 strips of cooked bacon, crumbled
1 cup of shredded cheese (use your fave! I used marble in mine!)
1 370ml can of evaporated milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons of seasoning salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Start by cooking up your bacon and while it is frying (or baking, as I did mine!) grease your pan. I used a metal baking pan that measures aprox. 6 x 8 so this recipe makes a fairly large casserole!

Line the bottom of the pan with 1/2 the hashbrowns, 1/2 the onion, 1/2 the bacon & half the cheese. Repeat layers. Combine evaporated milk, egg and seasoning salt and dump over top. Cover with tin foil. Bake at 325 for 55 - 60 mins and uncover, baking for 5 more mins to crisp up the top. Let stand for 10 minutes and DIVE IN!!

This is a very yummy "comfort food" kind of dish. The kids loved it. I loved it. Mister D said it made him giddy. Definately a hit that I will make again!

Apple-Buttermilk Pancakes

Yesterday it was 12 degrees and beautifully sunny outside. Yay, spring!!

Today when we woke up we had 4" of fresh snow and it is very windy. Boo, winter again : (

Crazy Alberta weather.

How do you make a miserable Sunday morning a little bit better? Brad built a fire and I made up a batch of apple-buttermilk pancakes for breakfast. This recipe was first published in the March 2012 Everyday Food and I have included the link for your convenience (and my laziness ;)

 

http://www.marthastewart.com/891847/apple-buttermilk-pancakes

RATINGS:

Heather - 10 - "A great way to start the day"

Brad - 9.5 - "We can have these again anytime"

NOTES:

I used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat and I added 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

Garden Vegetable Omelet

From one of the Pampered Chef cookbooks and also seen here

http://opensourcecook.com/2009/07/31/782/garden-vegetable-omelet

This is another experimental recipe that I tried during Meatless March.  :)   This one was made all the more experimental when combined with the fact that Husband of Cheerios does not believe in eating breakfast for supper.  He is so talented at thwarting my efforts to do this that in the almost-eighteen years that we've been together (OMG - that seems so long when I write it out that way) I think I've managed to do this maybe 5 times...ever!

This happens to be one of those times!

This was AWESOME!!!!  So so so yummy!!  Husband of Cheerios (once he got over the fact that we eating BREAKFAST at suppertime) thought it was fabulous too.  Don't go thinking that the whole family thought it was tremendous though because the kids both gave it 2 thumbs down.  What WERE those icky green spears in the egg?  Mom - you didn't put peppers in this food did you??

Well 2 out of 4 ain't bad.

Polenta and Kale with Poached Egg

I was cruising Pinterest last week and came across this recipe. The picture had me captivated, a beautiful runny poached egg, my dream weekend breakfast BUT polenta for breakfast?? Stirring kale into the polenta??  I had never considered these options. Although it is another couple of months before I can eat runny yolks again I decided to try this one out this morning as I had all the ingredients on hand.

Here is the link to the recipe:

http://www.teaandcookiesblog.com/2011/10/polenta-and-kale-with-poached-egg-for-breakfast.html

RATINGS:

Heather - 8.5 - "A great way to eat veggies with breakfast"

Brad - 7 - "Ok, but not very exciting"

NOTES:

Next time I would make the polenta with at least half (if not all) chicken or vegetable stock instead of water. I find it just gives polenta (and couscous) more flavor that way.

I may have mentioned before that I love tomatoes with eggs. Today I just cut some cherry tomatoes in half and sauteed them in a couple of drops of olive oil then sprinkled with some S & P right before serving. They added some punch to the meal.

This made way more polenta than required for 2 servings. I will use the leftovers later this week. Yay; )

Chocolate Chia Overnight Oats

The first time I made overnight oats I HATED them! It made me sad because I love oatmeal (my Mom makes the best cooked oatmeal in the country).

I was determined to try again though. One of the things I didn't like about my first attempt is that is was too runny (you would think my mine was Goldilocks). But I like my oatmeal sticky, so that it sits like an island in an ocean of milk. The other thing that I didn't like is that it was very bland. So I looked around online and someone had added chocolate to theirs. Now that sounds like my kind of goodness.

After some tinkering with quantities, this is the recipe that I came up with.

Heather's Chocolate Chia Overnight Oats

1/3 cup rolled oats (not instant)

1/2 cup chocolate almond milk (or more if  you like your oatmeal runnier)

1 tsp chia seeds (or more if desired)

1 tsp cocoa powder

1 tsp sugar or Splenda

Stir together, cover and place in fridge overnight.

That's it!

It really is that easy.

RATING:

Heather - 10 - "I love it, now to try more overnight oat recipes"

NOTES:

I make 2 or 3 individual servings at a time so that I have enough to spread out over the week.

This makes the perfect amount for me right now. I just found out that I have gestational diabetes and this is only 1 carb made with the almond milk and Splenda. To add a fat option toss on 1 Tbsp toasted slivered almonds. Or to add a protein and a fat stir in 1 Tbsp peanut butter or Nutella.

Savory French Toast BLTC

I stumbled upon this recipe while searching for a different French Toast recipe to forward to my cousin. I love BLT's and I love French Toast so I figured this would be a great combo.

SAVORY FRENCH TOAST BLT

http://www.marthastewart.com/342214/savory-french-toast-blt



RATINGS:

Heather - 9 - "Very yummy, would be better with a runny egg on top"

Brad - 9.5 - "At the top of my French Toast rating system"

NOTES:

I had parsley in the fridge so I substitued that for the chives.

The recipe didn't call for "C" but cheddar makes everything better ; )

Oatmeal Muffins

Friday January 20, 2012

Way too cold outside.

Stuck at home because my car wouldn't start.

Being stuck at home should have been a good thing in bad weather but I had planned on making muffins for a 4-H function the next day with my day off. To do so, I was going to make a trip into town for groceries (I had NO butter and there wasn't even ANY milk in the house). Since going to town was out of the question, I decided to check my freezer and pantry for options. I found some buttermilk neatly packaged in 1 cup portions in the freezer (am I ever glad I did that the last time I had leftover) and a bag of dried cherries from Costco. Now knowing what I had in the house I went to the computer and searched the Epicurious website for recipes and found one that I could make fit with what I had.

OATMEAL MUFFINS

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Oatmeal-Muffins-361819

RATINGS:

Heather - 10 - "Definate keeper"

Brad - 9 - "Good, for a healthy muffin"

4-H Moms - 9.5 - "Can we have the recipe?"

NOTE:

I did make a couple of substitutions. I used almonds instead of pecans and dried cherries instead of blueberries.

Croissant French Toast

Everyone knows that "freshest is bestest" when it comes to croissants. So, what do you do when you bought a package of 8 and only ate 4? Make Croissant French Toast!!

I don't remeber what I was searching when I stubbled upon this recipe on Epicurious.com but I printed it off and held onto it in my "to make" pile of recipes. I am glad that I did.

CROISSANT FRENCH TOASThttp://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Croissant-French-Toast-1857

 

RATINGS:

Heather - 10 - "This is my new favorite French Toast batter"

Brad - 8 - "Too soggy"

Herb & Donna - 10 - "We'll come back again"

NOTES:

This French Toast was a bit soft, but I think that's just the nature of the Croissants. The orange flavor in this fantastic which is why I will use the recipe again and again and again for French Toast in the future.

Denver Omelet Cups

DENVER OMELET CUPS

Everyday Food Magazine Issue #89 (January/February 2012).

Step 1:  Pre-heat oven to 425. Coat 6 nonstick JUMBO muffin cups with 1/2 tsp unsalted butter. In a large microwave-safe bowl melt 4 tsp butter. Add 4 cups frozen hash browns (the shredded kind not the diced), thawed and 2 egg whites; season with coarse salt and ground pepper and mix thoughorly. Place 1/2 cup mixture into each muffin cup, firmly pressing into bottom and up side of each cup. Bake 15 minutes.

Step 2:  Meanwhile, in a small nonstick skillet, melt 1/2 tsp butter over medium. Add 1/2 small red onion (diced small), 1 small red bell pepper (diced small) and 4 ounces ham steak (diced small). Cook stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Divide mixture evenly among cups and top with with 3/4 cup cheddar (grated). Bake 2 minutes. Remove from oven and crack 1 large egg into each cup. Season with salt and pepper and bake until whites are set but yolks are still runny, 8 to 10 minutes. With a small offset spatula, remove cups from pan and serve immediatley.

Heather, Brad, Herb & Donna - 10 - "Everything good about breakfast in one cup"

NOTES:

To save time I prepped my ham and veggies the night before.

So that I don't have to stress out about getting the eggs cracked quickly and without breaking the yolks, I crack them ahead of time into little individual glass prep bowls (Dollarama find ;) and then I can just quickly dump them into the cups.

I ended up cooking the eggs an extra 5 minutes so that the yolks were done. Once baby is here I can go back to runny yolks.

 RATINGS:

Chocolate Scones

eat well

LOSE WEIGHT

That certainly got my attention at the grocery store magazine rack. Sounded like a good idea so I picked it up and did a quick flip through and there were enough enticing pictures to get me to purchase it. I do have say though that I do buy a lot of the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications books. They have such great pictures and I am a sucker for cook books with pictures.

CHOCOLATE SCONES

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp cold butter, cut into chunks

3/4 cup light sour cream

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks

In a medium bowl combine flours, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center; set aside.

In a separate medium bowl combine sour cream and egg white. Stir in 3/4 cup of the chocolate chunks. Add to flour mixture all at once. Using a fork, stir until just moistened.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 - 12 strokes, or until dough is nearly smooth. Pat into a 10-inch circle. Cut into 12 wedges. (I only cut it into 8)

Place wedges 1 inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 18 to 20 minutes or just until edges are starting to brown.

Meanwhile, melt remaining chocolate. Drizzle over warm scones.

RATINGS:

Heather - 9 - "I like chocolate and oats together"

Brad, Herb & Donna - 9 - "Yum"

NOTES:

I hate recipes that don't tell you that a quantity will need to be divided. I know that I should just read the recipe better, but I want easy to follow.

These were a bit dry. I think that they were baked too long. In the future I would increase the heat and decrease the time (more like the rest of my scone recipes). That said, I will definitely add these into the rotation.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

This recipe is another Pinterest find. I don't know how many times it has been repinned in total but I am sure the number is high. In the seven short weeks since I pinned it, I have seen it being pinned at least twice a week. When you go to her website there are 170 comments on it! I figured that with that kind of response, how can you go wrong? The only thing "wrong" with this recipe is that it is too good.

SOPAPILLA CHEESECAKE

Heather, Brad, Herb, Donna - 10 - "Fantastic"

NOTES:

For some reason I thought that this kind of looked like a stuffed french toast so I made this for breakfast. While it is, kind of, it is very rich and really a dessert. But I have labelled it as both since that is how I made it.

I did use her tip and use only 2 rolls of dough, but put it in an 8x10 pan instead.

Tastes best when cooled completely to room temperature.

RATINGS:Direct link to the recipe: http://myellowumbrella.blogspot.com/2010/10/sopapilla-cheesecake.html

Sausage Brunch Dish

 As adapted from Company's Coming Rookies

375g sausage meat - we used bacon & sausage
500ml/2 cups mozza cheese grated - we used cheddar
3/4 cup milk
onion salt 1/4 tsp
235g (8 rolls/tube) crescent rolls
4 large eggs
1 sm. red or green pepper, diced
1/8 tsp pepper

scramble fry sausage meat in fry pan on med high 5-7 min until no longer pink. Drain. Unroll & press crescent rolls together to form crust in greased 9x13" pan. Sprinkle sausage meat on top. Scatter cheese over meat. Beat eggs in bowl til frothy. Add milk, green pepper & spices. Mix. Pour over cheese. Bake, uncovered in 425F for 15-20 min until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serves 6

This WAS tasty but both DH and I agreed that it wasn't as tasty as some other breakfast casseroles that we've tried.  Mr Picky was quite glad that we did not plan on keeping this recipe.  Miss Almost Vegetarian was too busy eating it to give a review.

Just before Christmas I bought a new recipe box which is bigger than my old box.  Over the next few months I will be trying out a number of old recipes to see if we still like them before deciding if they get to graduate to the new recipe box.  Unfortunately while this recipe was good - it wasn't awesome so it will not get made again.

Maple Walnut Scones

Maple sugar is another one of the items that I picked up at Galloway's Fine Foods when in Vancouver this summer. A couple of weeks ago I set it out on the counter to remind myself to make something with it. I did some online searching but only found a couple of recipes that use this ingredient specifically, which was pretty disappointing. Along the way I did read that it is about twice as sweet as regular sugar so I figured I would find a recipe and just substitute. So I used my Everyday Food app and looked up scone recipes. One of the recipes that came up was Cranberry Scones (Dec 2003 issue) which I have made before. It looked like a good one to use. The recipe below is the recipe with my substitutions. There is a link at the end of the post for the original one.

Maple Walnut Scones
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
3 tablespoons maple sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for topping
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup half-and-half, plus 1 tablespoon for topping

(today I used whole milk because I had some leftover from another recipe)
1/2 cup walnuts

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a food processor bowl add flour, maple sugar, baking powder and salt. Pulse to combine. Add butter and walnuts. Pulse again to cut butter and walnuts into small pieces. Add milk and pulse until just combined.

2.On a lightly floured surface, knead dough gently, 5 to 10 times. Pat into a 1-inch-thick round. Brush top with remaining tablespoon milk; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon maple sugar. Cut into 8 wedges; place on a baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

NOTES:

Link to original Cranberry Scones recipe
http://www.marthastewart.com/338474/cranberry-scones

RATINGS:
Heather - 10 - "Delicious"
Brad - 9.5 - "This is now the best scones you have ever made"
Herb and Donna (my in-laws) - 9.5 - "Really good"

Pumpkin-Seed Muffins

I bought a BIG can of pumpkin puree last week as I was in charge of dessert for our Thanksgiving meal. I ended up with some leftover so for breakfast this morning I decided to make myself a batch of muffins. I had to dig wayyyyyy back in my Everyday Food Magazines to find this recipe. It is from issue #16, October 2004 in the "have you tried?" section.

PUMPKIN-SEED MUFFINS

1/2 cup raw green pumpkin seeds (pepitas)*

1 1/3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup packed light-brown sugar**

1 cup pumpkin puree

6 Tbsp melted butter

2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Spread seeds in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until puffed and browned, about 10 minutes. Set aside. Raise oven heat to 375.

In large bowl mix together flour, baking powder, allspice and salt. Reserve 3 Tbsp seeds for topping; mix remaining seeds into flour mixture. In a medium bowl whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin puree, butter and eggs. Add to dry ingredients; mix until JUST incorporated.

Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Divide batter among cups (the Pampered Chef large scoop is PERFECT for this); sprinkle with reserved seeds. Bake until muffins are lightly browned, 25-30 minutes.

RATINGS:

Heather -10 - "I don't even like pumpkin but these are good"

Brad - ? - "Unrated at this point since he isn't home from work yet to try them"

NOTES:

* I didn't toast the pumpkin seeds. The ones for inside I just tossed in raw and the ones for on top I used the Brown Sugar Spice Pumpkin Seeds I made last week.

** I didn't have any light brown sugar, I used it all up this weekend, so I used 1/2 white and 1/2 dark brown and it worked fine.

Holiday Monday Family Breakfast

It is always a toss up for me, sweet or savory breakfast? Most of the time I choose savory but for a holiday family meal sweet is a nice change of pace. A couple of years ago I got the Pancakes & Waffles book by Lou Seibert Pappas as a birthday gift from my sister so I pulled it out searching for the perfect waffle to make this morning. We planned on making stewed pears so I picked Sweet-Spicy Buckwheat Waffles to go with them.

SWEET-SPICY BUCKWHEAT WAFFLES

1 1/3 cups flour

2/3 cup buckwheat flour (I like buckwheat flour)

2 tbsp packed dark brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cardamon (I love cardamon, it is my favorite spice)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground cloves (I was out! I can't believe it! So I just skipped it. It's now on my shopping list)

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs, separated

1 3/4 cups milk

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup canola oil

Preheat waffle iron (always important). In one bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. In another bowls whisk, egg yolks, milk, molasses and oil together. In a small bowl beat egg whites until soft glossy peaks form. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in egg whites. Bake until golden brown.

STEWED PEARS

Peel pears and remove seeds. Cut into large chunks. Place in pot and add just enough water to be seen. Cook until almost soft. Add sugar to taste (not much is required when the pears are this good already). Cook 2 minutes more.

RATINGS:
Heather - 9.5 - "The pears and this waffle were a great match"
Bryce - 9 - "Great combo"
Brad - 8.5 - "These are good" Heather says to Brad "Try the pears ON the waffles"
Brad - 9 - "The waffles ARE better with the pears" Heather says to Brad "You should listen to me more often"
Erin - 8.5 - "I don't really like waffles"
Mom - 8.5 - "I like plain waffles better"
Chelsi - 8 - " Not a fan of pears"

NOTE:
I made 2 separate batches of waffles, one regular and one with Kinikinik All-Purpose Celiac Flour. The batters looked really different when mixed up and they had different textures when baked. I liked the gluten free ones better.

Zucchini and Banana Muffins

Score another good recipe for using up zucchini! I think I mention my love of muffins every time I post another muffin recipe, but I do really love muffins for breakfast. This recipe is from Everyday Food Magazine Issue #85 under the heading HEALTHY START. It doesn't use oil or butter so they are lower in fat than other recipes.

ZUCCHINI BANANA MUFFINS

1 3/4 cups flour (I used 1 1/4 c white flour, 1/4 cup buckwheat flour and 1/4 cup graham flour)

1 cup lightly packed light-brown sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups grated zucchini

1/3 cup mashed ripe banana

3/4 cup whole milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add zucchini and banana and stir to combine. In a small bowl, whisk together milk, egg and vanilla. add milk mixture to to flour mixture and stir to combine (do not over mix).

Divide mixture among muffin cups (I used muffin top pans). Bake at 350, about 20 - 25 minutes (17 for muffin tops).

RATINGS:

Heather - 10 - "Super moist"

Brad - 9.5 - "Nice blend of banana and zucchini"

Ham and Egg Crepe Squares

Brad parents spent July 23rd and 24th at our place helping us work on the house and yard. I wanted to make something special for breakfast so I flipped through my last few Everyday Food magazines and found this recipe.

http://www.marthastewart.com/335091/ham-and-egg-crepe-squares

I have to admit, I didn't use their crepe recipe. I should have. I used one that I have and decided to get creative and use masa harina (corn flour) instead of white flour. It tasted good but I think that is why I had big trouble folding the crepes. I had to put a toothpick in every corner to hold them together which required another set of hands to help assemble. Another reason may have been that I made the crepess the night before but I have refrigerated them (regular crepes)before without incident.

RATINGS:

Heather - 8.5 - "I will make again for guests with regular crepes"

Brad - 8 - "Good"

Brad's Parents - 8.5 - "A nice fancy breakfast"

Vanilla Date Breakfast Smoothie

I felt like having a smoothie for breakfast this morning so I went online to find a new and interesting one to try. I searched the Martha Stewart website and found this one. I figured it would be a great way to use up the dates I have in the fridge.

VANILLA DATE BREAKFAST SMOOTHIE

1 cup yogurt

1 cup milk

1 cup dates

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups ice cubes

Whiz together in the blender. Enjoy!

RATINGS:
Heather -8 - "Good flavor and texture"
Brad - 8 - "I like it"

Orange Poppy Scones

The newest issue of Everyday Food, full of delicious spring recipes, arrived in the mail this week. This recipe made it to the top of my list.

Orange-Poppy Scones

2 1/2 cups floured

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold butter

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tbsp orange zest

1/4 cup orange juice

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds

2 tbsp buttermilk

In food processor pulse flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter and pulse again. Add buttermilk, orange zest, orange juice, egg yolk and poppy seeds. Pulse until just combined. Turn out on lightly floured surface and knead several times. Pat into desired shape and cut into pieces. Place on parchment lined sheets. Brush tops with buttermilk and sprinkle with course sugar. Bake at 400 for 15-17 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

RATINGS:

Heather - 10- "These are great"

Brad - 9 - "On the top of my scone list"