Easy breakfast

Good Sunday morning!! (or afternoon as the case may be!)

Here's what I had for breakfast this morning. Super easy and very satisfying and yummy!!!

Waffle Scramble
*1 whole grain low fat waffle
*1/4 C egg beaters
*1 slice american cheese (i used the weight watchers brand sliced cheese-if you use regular american sliced cheese add 1 extra point to your points total-if you care about that sort of thing)
*1C chopped spinach
*1/4C chopped fresh mushrooms

Cook waffle in toaster. While it's toasting heat the spinach and mushrooms in a skillet until warmed through and the spinach has started to wilt. Add egg beaters and scramble.

Top hot waffle with egg mixture and top with slice of cheese.

Enjoy!!!

WW points: 4

Breakfast Burritos for Freezing

Happy Mother's Day!! I hope each of the mom's out there had a great day!!!


Here's a recipe that might make your life a little easier!!!

Freezer Breakfast Burritos
1 pound breakfast sausage
8 eggs
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
12 flour burrito sized tortillas

Brown the sausage slightly and add eggs. Scramble eggs and finish cooking sausage through. Once cooked it's time to assemble the burritos. Place about 1/4C of filling into middle of burrito. Top with cheese. Fold, making sure you bring in sides so none of the filling leaks out. Once folded wrap in aluminum foil. Once all are assembled, place in ziploc baggie labeled with warming directions.

Thaw completely. Preheat oven to 350 and reheat for about 45 min or microwave 1 minute per burrito.

These were really good!! They are perfect for dinner with a salad and chips or just as a snack. Make a ton of them and just keep them in the freezer for whenever you need a quick lunch or snack!!

Happy Eating! Enjoy!!

Easy cinnamon rolls

My mom use to make these on the weekends and I loved it!! So this morning I got a little crazy and whipped these up. It was so worth it, they are ooey gooey and oh so good!!! Enjoy!

Easy Cinnamon Rolls

* 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
* 3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg, room temperature
* 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
* 1/4 cup butter, softened
* ground cinnamon
* brown sugar

Frosting
powdered sugar and milk, mix until thick and top fresh from the oven rolls!

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the sugar, salt, egg and 1 cup flour; stir well to combine. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
3. Lightly grease an 8x8 inch square baking pan. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Smear the dough with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Go as liberally as you want. I love it extra gooey so I put a ton on it. The more the better as far as I'm concerned! :)
Roll up the dough along the long edge until it forms a roll. Slice the roll into 12-16 equal size pieces and place them in the pan with the cut side up. I got about 11 rolls, but I cut them very large so you may end up with more or less depending on how you cut them.
4. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake rolls until golden brown, about 20 minutes top with frosting.

Homemade Poptarts

Who doesn't love Pop Tarts?????? It's a family favorite around here. We could go through a box in one sitting. Love all the flavors. However, we are trying to scale the ole' grocery bill back a bit and unless I have a killer coupon and there's a killer sale, we just don't get them like we used to. Soooooo I pondered how I could make them on my own. I stumbled upon this recipe and here you go:


Homemade Poptarts

• 1 box refrigerated pie crust-can use the whole thing or just one crust - I just used 1 this time around

• your favorite jam or jelly (I used raspberries preserves)

ICING (completely optional but we prefer the iced poptarts anyway so why not go the whole 9 yards!!!)

• Milk

• a few tsp of Powder Sugar

• Colored jimmies

Unroll each pie crust, roll out on a floured surface and then square them off, cut them into equal size rectangles. I was able to get 5 rectangles and 1 half moon shaped poptart out of my crust. Place about 1 tsp. - 1 tbs. of jam or preserve in the center of a rectangle and spread out, stopping just before the edge.

Place another piece of dough on top and using a fork, crimp the edges together to form a tight seal.

Place all of the pop tarts onto a well greased baking sheet and cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden and crispy. Let them cool before glazing. When the pop tarts are ready to be glazed mix the sugar with enough milk to make a thick glaze, spoon it over the top of each tart and sprinkle with the colored jimmies.

Blueberry French Toast Bake

Tonight I wanted to do breakfast but we were all getting tired of waffles and pancakes. I knew we hadn't done french toast in a while so I thought we could do this. However.....tonight was opening night for college football and there was a BYU game on tv. I didn't want to spend all night in the kitchen over a hot stove making french toast. So I decided to do a french toast bake. I also happened to have blueberries in the freezer. And here you go!!! Breakfast for dinner and a picnic in the living room watching BYU play Oklahoma.


Blueberry French Toast Bake
1 whole wheat french bread loaf, sliced and stale
8 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
big dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1C blueberries

In bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Cut bread into 1/2 inch slices and spread on bottom of 8×8 baking dish or equivalent.

Pour egg mixture over bread. Let sit for 30 minutes so the bread can soak up the custard.

Preheat oven to 350. Sprinkle with blueberries. Bake 35-40 minutes, until golden brown on top and eggs have cooked through. (Mine cooked about 38 minutes to perfection!!!!)

2 of the 3 having fun watching football!


HAPPY EATING!!!!

Blueberry Muffins

My mom made these all the time while I was growing up. They were always perfect and yummy!! Now I make them for my family and they are a HUGE hit with them. Always makes me think of my mom even though she's on the other side of the country!


Blueberry Muffins
1 1/2 C self rising flour
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C margarine (softened)
1 egg broken into measuring cup and mixed with enough milk to make 1 C
1C fresh or frozen blueberries (barely thawed if frozen)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In medium bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in margarine until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg-milk mixture and stir (DO NOT BEAT) until all is moist. Fold in blueberries. Fill 12 greased muffin tins about 2/3 full (i used some silicone heart shaped baking cups, but use whatever you have). Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove to tacks to cool slightly. Serve warm.


150 calories per muffin (just in case you were curious)

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!

Sausage gravy and biscuits

Breakfast for dinner again last night, but not the same ole' pancakes and eggs. Oh don't get me wrong...eggs were still part of it, but I decided to break out a Paula Deen favorite and made biscuits and gravy. Hope you enjoy!!!!

Sausage Gravy
1 12 ounce tube sausage
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 C milk
freshly ground black pepper
favorite biscuits (you can find a really good recipe here)


In a large skillet brown sausage. Once browned, remove with a slotted spoon and keep drippings in the pan.
Add flour and whisk for about 1 minute. While whisking add milk and bring gravy to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 2 minutes. Add thes ausage back to the pan along with the pepper.
Split biscuits in half and divide them among the plates. Top each biscuit with gravy and serve immediately.

This was pretty good. I think I added too much pepper to mine and I recommend NOT using garlic flavored biscuits. They turned out too salty for my taste, but hey if you like it then go for it! No rules when it comes to the biscuits in this dish.

I served this with cheesy scrambled eggs.

HAPPY EATING!!

Strawberry Oat breakfast bars

We made these for breakfast this morning. Very quick to make and worth every bite!!

Strawberry Oat Breakfast Bars
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1 egg
1C fresh or frozen strawberries (or berry of your choice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 9x9 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together brown sugar and margarine. Beat in egg. Stir mixtures together just until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of pan comes out clean.



These are best served with milk as mine turned out a little dry. But they have a very yummy taste and are quite filling!! You could also omit the berries all together if you wanted. My husband suggested powdered sugar on top after wards. Yummy either way!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!

The Ultimate Smoothie

This was brought to me by my oldest. He loves smoothies and wanted to make this one. So here goes! Enjoy!!

Berry Smoothie
1 8oz container mixed berry yogurt
1/2C orange juice
1 banana, sliced
1C ice
1 C strawberries

Crush ice in blender. Add rest of ingredients and blend for 30 seconds. Pour into cups or glasses and enjoy!!!

These were explosively popular in our house. Perfect for Saturday morning breakfast!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!

Waffles

Now here's something that would be perfect ANYTIME!!!!
I treated myself to a waffle maker about a month ago.

And not a week has gone by that we haven't used it. Today was no different. Normally I've been using a biscuit mix to make them, but today tried a from scratch recipe. They were good, but I think next time i'll add some cinnamon or some other flavor's to it. I found the original recipe on ALLRECIPES.COM

Best Waffles
2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C cornstarch
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 eggs, seperated
2 1/2 C milk
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp veg. oil
2 tbsp sugar

Preheat waffle iron.
In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl mix together egg yolks, milk, vanilla, and veg. oil. Blend into flour mixture to form batter.
In a medium bowl, whip egg whites with sugar until soft peaks form. Fold into the batter.
Spray waffle iron with Pam or lightly brush with oil. Ladle batter in and cook until golden brown.


These were really good!! Perfect for just about anytime you have the craving!! You know you are on to something when the kiddies prefer these to mac n cheese for lunch!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!

anytime sandiwch

I saw this particular recipe on Paula Deen's show the other day and thought it would be really easy and super yum! I grew up eating fried egg sandwiches. Whenever my parents would get home late and mom didn't want to cook-it was breakfast or egg sandwiches. A lot of the time we would fry up bologna to go with it. This time bacon is used and let's face it....everything is better with bacon! Even cooked the eggs in a bit of the bacon fat. Mmmmm...... happy!!!! So it's not terribly healthy for you,but really good!! Enjoy!

Fried Egg, Bacon and Avocado Sandwiches
2 slices of bread, toasted
1 egg, fried however you like it
2 pieces of bacon
sliced tomato
lettuce
slices of avocado

build your sandwich however you like it. With mayo or mustard (my 5 year old wanted ketchup on it......). Eat and enjoy. These were really good. Even the kids liked them!! This is great for a fast and easy lunch or dinner. Even a breakfast on the go!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!

White Chocolate Chunk Muffins

I've had this recipe in the reserves for a long time. I've never used it and decided today was the day to use it. So I whipped up these little gems for family night. We've already "tested" a few of them. Beware.....they are addicting and you WILL need a glass of milk to go with them. But the chocolate really comes through and the buttermilk in them really gives it a zing!! These are really good!!!!

White Chocolate Chunk Muffins
2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 1/2 C chopped white chocolate chunks or chips
1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 C buttermilk
6 tbsp butter, melted
2 eggs. beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or paper line muffin pan.
Mix dry ingredients together. Combine buttermilk, butter, eggs, and vanilla in a small bowl until blended. Add to dry mixture. Spoon evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full. Bake 16-18 minutes. Cool in pans on wire racks 5 minutes and remove from pans. Cool completely.

These made 30 muffins for me, but may make more or less depending on the size of your muffin pan. Enjoy!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!

So I have to apologize now for being a slacker the past few days. No real reason, just been lazy about posting. I have been cooking however, I just haven't been apt to posting them. So I beg for your forgiveness. Here's a few things I've done over the course of a few days!

Apple Pie Pancakes

Pancake mix
1 can apple pie filling

Mix pancake mix according to directions. Add half can of pie filling. Mix and cook to desired taste. Top with syrup and the rest of the filling as desired.

These are super easy and my kids ate these up.


Sunday we had our missionaries over for dinner. Since you never know what other folks like to eat, a casserole was the way to go. This particular casserole was full of flavor and very filling.

Sausage-Corn Casserole
1 1/2 pounds ground sausage
1 bag frozen peppers and onions
1 1/2 C milk
3tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cans creamed style corn
1 bag egg noodles, cooked and drained
1/4 C sharp cheddar cheese
tortilla chips crunched, for topping

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cook sausage, peppers and onions until sausage is cooked through and veggies are tender.

In a large sauce pan, melt butter with flour, salt and pepper. Gradually add the milk. Bring to a boil: cook and stir for about 2 minutes until thickened. Stir in corn. Add noodles and corn mixture to sausage mixture. Fold in the cheese.

Transfer to a greased 13X9in baking pan.

Top with crushed tortilla chips. Bake for 3-40 minutes uncovered. I baked this for 40 minutes and it was perfect!


And then of course there is nothing better than dessert, especially when that desert is chocolate and peanut butter in ANYTHING!!! Here are some brownies that will delight you!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies
2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
1/2 C butter
2 eggs
1C sugar
1/2 C all purpose flour

FILLING:
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1/2 C peanut butter (creamy or crunchy, whatever you like best)
1/4 C butter, softened
2-3 tbsp half and half cream or milk

GLAZE: (I did not use the glaze-ran out of time)
1 square (1 ounce) semisweet baking chocolate
1 tbsp butter


In a small saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat. set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add flour and melted chocolate. Stir well.

Pour into a greased 9 in baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool.

For filling, beat sugar, peanut butter and butter in a mixing bowl. Stir in cream until mixture achieves a spreading consistency. Spread over cooled brownies;cover and refrigerate until firm.

For glaze, melt chocolate and butter in saucepan, stirring until smooth. drizzle over the filling. Chill before cutting. Store in refrigerator.


These were so good that I can't even describe it. The gooey mix of peanut butter and the richness of the chocolate were so mouthwatering yummy. Too bad they are all gone or i'd be eating one right now!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!

My oldest has a birthday on New Year's Eve. 11:10pm to be exact. So his birthday is always a big production. Too bad he's never been able to stay up to ring in the new year. This time he zonked out at 11:30pm. Just missed it. Oh well.

I asked him what he wanted for his birthday breakfast and he wanted Spaceman Eggs. It's basically a rendition of toad in the hole. But they were yummy and everyone enjoyed them and he even enjoyed helping make them, which in my book was the best part.

Spaceman Eggs
1-2 slices of bread per person
1 egg per slice of bread
gingerbread man cookie cutter
1-2 tbsp butter

Take the cookie cutter and cut the shape out of the bread (the cut out part would be really fun for sandwiches later in the day or bread crumbs).
Place a bit of butter in the pan and melt. Place bread in the pan and toast on one side. Flip the bread and add the egg to the cut out part of the bread. Cook until the egg is done. If you like sunny side up eggs it will only take a couple of minutes. We didn't so we basically stirred up the egg before adding it to the toast. Either way is fine, just depends on how you like it.

Eat and enjoy. This is a great kids breakfast and perfect for letting little hands help out. My oldest really loved being able to make his birthday breakfast.

Refrigerator Butter Crescent Rolls & cinnamon rolls

Happy post Thanksgiving. I hope each of you had a great time!! For the first time it was just us this year. No other family around. It was really quiet!!
We had a yummy dinner and some super yummy rolls. My mom made these every year as I was growing up. They always came out perfect and so yummy that if she ever didn't make them, there was mutiny within the ranks. So I decided to make them this year and they didn't disappoint! To make them even better, you can also make cinnamon rolls out of part of the dough. Super Yum!!

Refrigerator Butter Crescent Rolls
2 tbsp yeast
2 C lukewarm water
1 C butter or margarine, melted
1 C + 2 tbsp sugar
6 beaten eggs
1 1/2 tsp salt
9 C flour

Mix yeast with 2 tbsp sugar and warm water. Let proof for about 5 minutes.
Add melted butter, sugar and eggs. Mix well. Sift flour and salt. Mix well and let rise for 2 hours.
Stir down and put in fridge overnight. Keep a damp cloth over dough. Keep it damp. If dough rises too much, punch it down. Dough will be sticky.

The next morning, divide dough into 4ths (this is where I keep one of the quarters out for cinnamon rolls) . DOUGH DOES NOT NEED TO BE KNEADED. Roll into circle size of pie and spread butter on it. Cut into 12 pieces. Roll up starting with wide edge. Place on buttered cookie sheet. Let rolls rise 1 1/2 hours. Bake 10 min. at 400 degrees.
These come out so super yummy!! You can place the cooked rolls in the freezer if you have too many leftovers. Otherwise you'll be eating these for days! But I don't think you'll mind! If you don't make cinnamon rolls this recipe will make 4 dozen rolls.

As I mentioned earlier, this also makes superb homemade cinnamon rolls. At the point where you have rolled out the dough, spread butter on it. Then top with sugar and cinnamon. Use whatever you like. I didn't measure when I made these. Then roll up. Cut and place in a baking pan sprayed with cooking spray. Then let sit for 1 1/2 hours to rise. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, checking them after 15 minutes. Once cooked top with a glaze made with powdered sugar and milk.

HAPPY EATING!!!!

Canadian Benny's

Happy Monday! Hope you are having a good start to the week. The hubbie had the day off as part of Veteran's day (and tomorrow too! Yippee!). Working for the military has it's perks!
Anyway for dinner I wanted something simple and fun. I have EXPRESS LANE MEALS by Rachael Ray and found this masterpiece. Uber yummy!! Of course in my usual fashion I did tweak it with what we had and what the family prefers.

Canadian Benny's
4 tbsp butter
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 scallions, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp parsley
3/4 C heavy cream
bread (1-2 slices per person, adults got 2 slices, kiddies got 1 each)
canadian bacon
10 med eggs
8 ounces cheese of choice, shredded (we used asiago-because I had some leftover from last
nights dinner)

Melt 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add tomatoes and scallions. Season with salt, pepper, garlic and parsley. Saute for 2 minutes. Add heavy cream and reduce for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick to the pan.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place bread on cookie sheet and toast in oven for about 8 minutes.

In large pan, melt 2 tbsp butter. Beat eggs together with a pinch of salt and pepper. Pour eggs into pan and scramble them.

To assemble sandwiches: place toast on plate. Top with eggs, then canadian bacon, then cheese and top with sauce. The heat from the sauce will melt the cheese.



This sauce would also be sssssooooo good over some pasta. Really versatile. I hope you enjoy it. This is perfect for breakfast, lunch, brunch, or dinner, or really whenever you are hungry!

We also got a brief Polish lesson from the hubbie so I will end my post with

SMACHNEGO!!!! HAPPY EATING!!!!

Kielbasa Hash

Happy Sunday! Today I wanted to try something a little different. All in keeping with the hubby's birthday I cooked up some kielbasa and added it to a hash. We placed the eggs on the top and enjoyed it. Hope you are having a great weekend and if you have tomorrow off, I wish you a fun day!

Kielbasa Hash
3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
4 large red potatoes, diced
1 pound kielbasa sausage, diced (I used the beef)
1 (16 ounce) package frozen pepper and onion stir-fry blend
1 (16 ounce) package frozen whole kernel corn
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and black pepper to taste
6 eggs (optional)

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the potatoes and kielbasa, and cook until the kielbasa is browned, and the potatoes are nearly tender, about 10 minutes. Add the frozen pepper mix and corn; season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is hot and the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes more.
2. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, crack in the eggs, and cook to your desired degree of doneness, about 1 1/2 minutes per side for over-medium.
   

Coffee Cake

I first saw this recipe at the Picky Palate website. It looked so good I just had to try it. So tonight after our family night activities we dove into this. I made a few changes to the recipe but otherwise it's the same. (Thanks Jenny!)

As you can see mine bubbled over the struessel topping a little.

Nothing a little powdered sugar can't cure!

Beth's Starbuck's Coffee Cake

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix (plus ingredients on back of box)
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
1/4 C powdered Milk
1 tsp vanilla


2 Sticks cold salted butter
2 1/4 Cups flour
1 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 ¾ Cups sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
Powdered sugar (for dusting)

PREHEAT oven to 350.

PREPARE cake mix in large bowl according to directions on box. Spray 9X13 pan with non-stick spray. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until center is just barely set.

WHILE cakes are baking, prepare crumb topping. In large bowl of electric mixer combine, butter, flour, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla until all crumbly.

IMMEDIATELY after cake is removed from oven, break crumb topping into marble size pieces with fingers, sprinkling over top. Put back in oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes (topping will begin to look a little less wet/raw). Let cool fully then dust with powdered sugar, using a sieve.

CUT into squares and serve.

I used 2 loaf pans instead of the 9X13 and had to cook it a little longer. Otherwise nothing changed. I hope you enjoy it-Thanks again Jenny for posting this!

PB & J Biscuit Puffs

Happy Saturday night! I hope you've had a grand day. Our family was extremely lazy today! But I guess everyone deserves one of those every now and then!
Tonight we had breakfast for dinner. I tried a new recipe instead of the same ole pancakes. You can find it here. Thanks to Stephanie for a GREAT idea. I tweaked ours a little because the bananas we had weren't quite ripe.


2 C flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 C peanut butter
1/2 C shortening
3/4 C milk
jam of choice (I used grape)

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add shortening and peanut butter and mix until mixture is crumbly looking. Add milk (may need to add more depending on how dry it is). Put mixture on a lightly floured board and knead a few times. Cut into 12 pieces and place in a muffin pan. Feel free to use liners (I did-one less pan to wash). Top with small amount of jam. Bake for about 15 minutes. Don't let them get too brown. I served these with loaded scrambled eggs and hash browns. It was a yummy dinner and something different.
I hope you enjoy them!!