French Breakfast Puffs

I so love breakfast foods! If I had the time to make breakfast everyday, I would. My whole family gets so excited when we all get to spend time making and eating a hot breakfast together. We love, love, love it!!!

Today's recipe was brought to my attention by one of my roommates in college, Rita. She had told me about a really good muffin recipe that her sister had made from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (which was the only cookbook I owned at the time). And I am a HUGE sucker for muffins. I see them as a cross between a roll and a cupcake - both things I am tickled pink to eat. Anyhow, she found it for me and we made it. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!!! Thanks to Rita, I've been making it since.

Try it out for breakfast tomorrow. You'll be glad you did!

Here's what you'll need:

1/4 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3 C. flour
1 C. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 C. milk
2/3 C. butter or margarine, melted

Combine the 1/4 C. sugar and the 1/2 tsp. cinnamon in a small dish and set aside.

In a bowl, combine the flour, 1 C. sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and butter or margarine. Add to the flour mixture and whisk by hand only until just combined. It will still be lumpy.

Using the Pam baking spray with flour, grease muffin tins or line with paper baking cups and fill until almost full (I like mine nice and big).

(I doubled the recipe for this picture and ended up with 12 regular sized muffins and 6 Jumbo muffins)

Any unused muffin cups, fill halfway with water. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and immediately dip the tops in 4 T. melted butter or margarine and then in the cinnamon sugar. Serve warm.

I like doubling the recipe so that I can put half in the freezer for another time.

Yum, yum, YUM!!!

Quick & Easy Recipes

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have added a label to the right and down below for Quick and Easy recipes. These are for when you need to make dinner QUICK. And just so you know, I totally consider breakfast foods allowable for dinner!

I hope this helps!! Oh, and read on for the recipe I posted today.

Hannah

Beef Taco Skillet

Yet another quick and easy dinner for when you are in a pinch.

Here's what you'll need:

1 lb. ground beef
1 can tomato soup
1 C. salsa
1 can corn, drained
1/2 C. water
4 flour tortillas, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese

Cook beef in a skillet until browned. Pour off the fat. Add soup, salsa, corn, water, tortillas, and 1/2 the cheese. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Top with the remaining cheese and serve.

How easy was that?! Quick and easy - I LOVE 'em!!

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

The first time I tried a Monte Cristo sandwich was when my friend from home/old roommate, Nicole, and I went out to lunch after we both had gotten married. She told me I had to try this sandwich she had found that was so good. So I did, and it was so yummy! I loved the french toast-like exterior and the melted cheese and ham interior. It was served with raspberry jam on the side for dipping, but I wasn't too fond of that, so I just ate it plain and it was good.


Well, I came across a recipe from The Prepared Pantry for a Honey Ham Monte Cristo sandwich. The fond memories of that yummy sandwich with Nicole came flooding back to me. I decided to try it. The result wasn't quite the same, but still good none-the-less, so my hubby and I thought. My kids, not so much. But this really isn't a kids sandwich.


Give it a try and see what you think.


Here's what you'll need:


8 slices of bread
3 eggs
2 T. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. white pepper
8 slices of provolone or Swiss cheese
1/2 lb. thinly sliced deli ham (or you can use half ham and half turkey)
1/4 C. honey
2 T. prepared mustard


Mix the eggs, milk, salt, dry mustard, and white pepper together in a shallow bowl. Make the honey spread by mixing the honey and the prepared mustard. Set aside.


Spread honey mustard onto one or two pieces of bread. Top with ham, then cheese, and more ham.
Heat a griddle. Dip each sandwich lightly into the egg mixture on both sides of the sandwich. Place on the griddle and fry as you would french toast or a grilled cheese sandwich, turning when one side is golden brown.


Serve hot. You can serve it with seedless raspberry jam or honey, which is what I ate mine with. Yum!!

Poppy Seed Bread

Several years ago, I did one of those chain mailing things that asked people to send so many recipes to the two people on the list, then put your name in this spot and mail it to this many people. Well, I really like trying new recipes, so this fun game was just up my alley. So I did just what I was supposed to do. Now if every person participated how they were supposed to, I was supposed to get like 64 recipes. I didn't think I would and I didn't. But I did get some from my sister-in-law, Kasi.

One of the recipes she sent me was for a Poppy Seed Bundt Cake. It sounded really easy and I thought I'd try it. It was very easy and sooooooooooooooo good!! Now-a-days, I usually make the recipe into loaves rather than a bundt cake. But either way you make it, it's really great! So to my sister-in-law, Kasi, who thinks she can't cook, thank you for this great recipe. We love it!!!!

Here's what you'll need:

1 yellow cake mix
1 (3 1/4 oz) pkg. French Vanilla pudding mix, dry
4 eggs
1 C. sour cream
1/2 C. water
1/2 C. butter
1 tsp. almond flavoring/extract
1 1/2 - 2 T. poppy seeds

Mix everything together. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes in a bundt pan or 2 loaf pans for 45-50 minutes or 8 mini loaf pans for 25-30 minutes. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

And here's a little trick for you. If you use a towel or paper towel and wipe down the top inch of your sprayed pans, removing the non-stick spray, you'll get a loaf with a pretty rounded top. Not like these ones that turned out pretty flat. = )


These loaves are always so flavorful and moist. Like I said, we LOVE them!!

Herb Roasted Pork

Today's recipe comes from allrecipes. We had just had our pig butchered and so I had LOTS of pork in my freezer and I wanted to try something new. So I hopped on their trusty website and found this recipe. We tried it out and fell in love! It makes a soooooooooo delicious, juicy, flavorful pork roast with an incredible sauce to boot. I LOVE it!!!! And it's nice enough to serve for company too.

Here's what you'll need:

2 tsp. rubbed sage
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed OR 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 (5 lb) pork roast

Sauce:
1 C. brown sugar
2 T. cornstarch
1/2 C. vinegar
1/2 C. water
1/4 C. soy sauce

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a small bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. Rub all over the roast. Place roast in a roasting pan. Cover loosely and bake for 2 1/2 - 3 hours or until your roast reaches and internal temperature of 150 degrees.

For the sauce: Combine sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to bubble and thicken slightly. Brush roast with the glaze 3-4 times during the last 30 minutes of cooking time. Pour remaining glaze over roast and serve. Or reserve the remaining glaze to drizzle over the sliced roast, like I did here. And drizzle a little more over some mashed potatoes or rice. Then keep some glaze to dunk everything in while you're eating. It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!!

This recipe freezes beautifully!  To freeze, place cooked, cut up pork roast in a gallon freezer bag and pour cooled sauce over all.  Shake and turn the bag until the pork is well coated with the sauce.  Freeze.

To serve:  Thaw and heat through.

Breakfast Burritos

My next door neighbor, Cortney, made our family dinner after I had our third baby. She made us a breakfast casserole that we ate as breakfast burritos. We LOVED it!! When I was asked to make our neighborhood's cookbook, I called Cortney and told her to include the recipe she made for us so I could have it. She did and we love to make and eat it!!! THANK YOU CORTNEY!!!!!!!!!!

Here's what you'll need:

3 C. cooked sausage or ham

1 pkg. frozen hash browns

3 C. grated cheese

1 can cream of mushroom soup

8-9 eggs

Mix hash browns, cheese, soup, and meat together. Spread out in 2 9x13 inch pans (or one bigger pan, like a big roasting pan). Beat eggs together and pour over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of pan you use, or until cooked through. Remove from oven and give it a good stir. Place in tortilla shells and top with Tabasco sauce or salsa and devour!

Very simple and very good!!

Hot Dogs with Mashed Potatoes and Cheese

I am so bad about having a variety of choices for lunch. Almost everyday, the options are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or macaroni and cheese. Whenever I venture out and really make something for the kids, I am so proud of myself. Today's recipe was one of those times I ventured. It's something I grew up on and it's so easy. I don't know why I don't make it more often. My poor kids.

Here's what you'll need:

Hot dogs
Mashed potatoes
Cheese

Make some mashed potatoes. Since I make these for my kids, they don't care if I use the instant mashed potatoes. So that's what I use. Or if you have some left over from dinner the night before, use them.

Slice your hot dogs in half lengthwise.

Top with mashed potatoes and top the taters with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve with ketchup to dip in.

Make 'em! You're kids will be so happy!!

Banana Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

I have a friend named Kolette. She's one of my exercise buddies and she's a fantastic cook! When the two of us get together, you know we're going to be talking about food. One day, she told me how much her family loves her banana bar recipe. So I looked it up in our neighborhood cookbook and gave it a whirl. And guess what, she was right. They were wonderful, very moist, tender, and so tasty!

Then I remembered a recipe my mother-in-law gave me for browned butter frosting and thought it would be a perfect pairing of flavors. I whipped it up and slathered it on my banana bars and then I was in Heaven!!! Oh my, let me tell you how good it was! The frosting has kind of a toffee flavor to it, I think, and it was soooooooooooo perfect for the banana bars.

There are two ways you can make this recipe. Either bake the bars in a 9x13 inch pan for thicker bars or in a large, rimmed cookie sheet, doubling the frosting recipe, for thinner bars. Either way, they are so very good. You must, MUST try them.

Here's what you'll need:

Banana Bars

1/2 C. butter, softened

1 1/2 C. sugar

2 eggs

1 C. sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

2 C. flour

1 tsp. soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 medium ripe bananas, mashed

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and bananas. Follow with dry ingredients. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan or a large, rimmed cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow bars to cool.

Browned Butter Frosting

1/3 C. butter

3 C. powdered sugar

3 T. cream (or milk)

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Brown butter in a saucepan over medium heat until delicate brown in color.

Remove from the heat and add everything else. Combine well.

Frost cooled bars.

If you make your bars in a cookie sheet, make sure to double this frosting recipe.

Be careful, they disappear quickly!!!

Speedy Stroganoff

I love recipes that you can throw together in no time at all! That's how this recipe is today - quick, easy, and yummy. My whole family loves this one!

Here's what you'll need:

1 lb. ground beef
2 T. dried, chopped onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 C. sour cream

Cook the ground beef with salt and pepper and the dried, chopped onion. Then add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Serve over cooked egg noodles, tri-color noodles, or baked potatoes.

See how easy that was?! It's great for one of those nights where you've been so busy that you haven't had a chance to work on dinner until 20 minutes before it needs to be served. Try it out!

Dark Chocolate Covered Heart-Shaped Brownies

Yesterday, the kids and I started working on Valentine goodies for their teachers. I wanted something easy, cute, and yummy, so I made a variation to what we did last year for Valentine's day. The changes? Using dark chocolate and covering them with a thin frosting. Oooooooooh boy, they're GOOD!!!

I have my sister-in-law, Shannon, to thank for converting me to the dark side, of chocolate that is. It's a new love of mine!

Here's what you'll need:

Cookie Sheet Brownies

3 C. sugar
6 eggs
3 1/2 C. flour
3 1/2 cubes margarine (I used to make this with butter, but found that margarine is better in this recipe)
1 C. dark cocoa
1/2 C. corn syrup
1 T. vanilla

Dump everything together and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured large, rimmed cookie sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. When cool, cut with a heart-shaped cookie cutter (mine was a mini one). Place on a cooling rack. Put the heart filled rack on top of either wax paper or aluminum foil. Drizzle each brownie heart with frosting. Place in the fridge to set the frosting. Scrape the frosting underneath the cooling rack and put it back into your frosting bowl to reuse.

Dark Chocolate Frosting

4 heaping T. dark cocoa powder
1 3/4 cubes butter
8 T. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. powdered sugar

Melt the butter in a large, microwavable bowl. Add the cocoa powder and stir well. Then add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Whisk together until smooth.
You'll want this quite runny, so I put my frosting in the microwave for about 15 seconds on High to melt it a little. Then with a spoon, I poured some frosting on top of each of the brownie hearts until they were mostly covered, if not completely.

Try this out; they are oh, so yummy and so adorable!!

Or if you don't want to worry about the frosting, then just dust them with powdered sugar.

Multi-Grain Bread

I look up to my aunt, Janell, in so many ways. She has the most fun personality, she is absolutely beautiful, and SHE CAN COOK!! Today's recipe came from her.

I hosted a family reunion at my home last year and as a hostess gift, Janell gave me the ingredients that I would need to make this bread. She even ground the flour for me! Did I not tell you how amazing she is?!

So while my mom was here visiting me after I had my baby (yes, this is one of those recipes that I've had waiting on my computer to be posted), we decided to make it. I wasn't quite sure of what to expect since most multi-grain breads are really heavy and dry, but I knew that if this recipe was from Janell, it probably wouldn't turn out like that. And, yep, I was right. It was light and tender and even a little sweet. It smelled terrific while baking and tasted just as good to eat!

There are some steps to this recipe. It's not quite as easy as my Potato Bread, but it's much healthier and so delicious. So try it out!

Here's what you'll need:

1/4 C. sesame seeds
1/4 C. millet
1/8 C. flaxseed
1/4 C. sunflower seeds
1 C. 9 grain (or 7 grain or 11 grain or whatever number of grain you want)
3 C. very hot water

1/4 C. oil
3 T. molasses
1/4 C. honey
1 (heaping) T. instant yeast (My mom uses 3 leveled T. instant yeast, so take your pick or anywhere in between)

1/2 C. gluten
1 T. dough enhancer
1 T. salt
1 C. whole wheat flour

4-5 C. additional whole wheat flour

Combine the first 5 ingredients (the seeds) and let them soak in the very hot water for 15 minutes. Then combine the oil, molasses, honey, and instant yeast and add it to the soaked seeds and water. To this mixture, add the gluten, dough enhancer, salt, and 1 C. whole wheat flour; mix well for 1 minute. Then add 4-5 more cups of whole wheat flour, enough until the sides of the bowl are clean. Mix with a Bosch on speed 2 (medium speed) for 8 minutes with a dough hook.

As I've explained before about using a Bosch mixer versus any other stand mixer, with a Bosch, you only have to let the dough rise once when it is formed into loaves. If you are using any other type of stand mixer, you will have to let it rise until doubled before you shape the dough into loaves and then let rise again after they are shaped.

**Just a note, if you are thinking about investing in a stand mixer, go with a Bosch**

Once the loaves have risen for an hour, bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.


And voila! You get a very tender, very delicious, and very nutritious multi-grain bread. Enjoy!!

Orange Julius

My friend, Alicia, is a great cook! I am always so excited to try anything that she makes because I know it'll be good. Well, today's recipe is hers. And it's TERRIFIC!!!

Now, I've never been to Orange Julius before, but apparently it tastes just like their orange julius. All I have to say is that my four-year-old DEVOURED this stuff! I liked how easy it was to make, how yummy it tasted, and that it's relatively good for you.

Here's what you'll need:

1/2 can frozen orange juice concentrate (I went with the pulp free)
1 C. milk
1 C. water
1/2 C. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 - 1 1/2 trays of ice cubes (12-18 cubes)

Blend all ingredients into a blender until smooth and enjoy!

See, I told you it was easy! Now just try it for yourself and see how yummy it is!!

Twix Bars

I LOVE Twix candy bars! They've been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. When my exercising friends recommended this recipe to me (yes, almost every time we get together to exercise, we talk about food - ironic, I know, but I love it!), I knew I had to try it!!

It's a very simple recipe, just like the candy bar itself - a shortbread crust, caramel center, and topped with chocolate. The only tricky part about it is the caramel. You make a simple, homemade caramel. What's tricky about it is not letting it scorch. Mine did a smidgen, but it was still divine! So, try it out!!

Here's what you'll need:

1 C. butter
1/2 C. sugar
2 C. flour

1 C. butter
1 C. brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 C. corn syrup

1 1/2 C. chocolate chips
2 T. shortening

Mix and press the first three ingredients in a 9x13 inch pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until light brown. (I think I did mine for 18 minutes.)

In a medium sized saucepan, mix together the butter, brown sugar, condensed milk, and corn syrup.

Slowly bring to a boil then boil for 5 minutes. VERY IMPORTANT: You MUST stir it constantly or else it will scorch and it takes about 20 minutes to get the caramel mixture to boil. So working on the caramel takes a good thirty minutes.

Okay, moving on... Pour caramel over the crust (it doesn't have to be cooled).

In a microwavable bowl, melt the chocolate chips and the shortening. Stir until smooth. Then pour over the caramel layer and use a spatula to carefully spread, covering all of the caramel. Now this is the hardest part - allow to chill. Yep, that's right, you have to wait for it to set up before you can try it. TORTURE!! But when it's cool, cut that baby up and share the love!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!! Just ask my sister-in-law, Valerie. She even asked for the recipe! : )