Tag: breakfast

Posted in Baked goods, Baking, Bread, breakfast, Food, Uncategorized

Easy Breakfast Sausage Balls

Posted on by lmc

While looking through one of my older cookbooks last week, I stumbled across a recipe for a breakfast sausage ball that would make for a welcome addition to my brunch menu. I had the few required ingredients on hand and I was in the mood to try something new.
Talk about an easy recipe… 3 ingredients are combined with an optional dash of water to moisten the mix. Adding a side of scrambled eggs, coffee, orange juice and fresh fruit rounded out the meal. This is a plentiful recipe. If you make the full recipe, you’ll have extras to warm up for weekday quick fixes. I throw them in the microwave for 10-20 seconds and they are ready to eat. They freeze well too. A win-win for my busy family!

I’ve include the original recipe link below… along with the adjusted recipe that I am using instead.

Easy Breakfast Sausage Balls

4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
3 cups baking mix
1 (1 lb) package ground sausage

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 °F. Spray a baking sheet with vegetable oil cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients in a large glass bowl. Mix well with your fingers. The mixture will be very crumbly.

Form into 1 inch balls, squeezing the mixture so it holds together, then rolling it between the palms of your hands to form balls.

Place the balls on the baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. To prevent sticking, move the balls with a spatula halfway through cooking.

Adapted from: https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/sausage-balls/

Posted in Baked goods, Baking, Bread, breakfast, Brunch, Cake, Desserts, Uncategorized

Easy Blueberry Coffee Cake

Posted on by lmc

I have been without a proper kitchen for a number of months as the Corona Virus has ushered in a major kitchen appliance shortage in the US. We started a home remodel in May and everything is complete with the exception of a fridge, wall oven, cooktop, microwave and dishwasher. Ugh, this has been a bit of a pain.
Full disclosure, I have a second kitchen in my home and I’ve been using it to make quick and easy recipes. Most have a shortcut that I use so that I don’t have to pull out too many ingredients (many ingredients have been packed away in boxes from the original kitchen demo.)
I have to credit https://vintagerecipetin.com/blueberry-coffee-cake/ for this adapted recipe as I wanted to make a Sunday morning coffee cake with ingredients that I had on hand. This one included simple ingredients that made for a moist and delicious breakfast cake. I made a few changes to make the process even easier and to add a bit more flavor. I set up a small coffee bar and let everyone dig in while I pulled the rest of the meal together.

Easy Blueberry Coffee Cake

For the streusel:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

For the batter:
15.25 oz. white or yellow cake mix
3 eggs
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup oil
3 cups blueberries

Optional drizzle:
1 cup powdered sugar combined with 1 tablespoon of milk. Thin with extra milk, if needed.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13” pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a small bowl add the streusel ingredients. Mix with a fork until combined; set aside.
In a larger bowl add the cake mix, cream cheese, eggs, water, extracts and oil. Mix together with a hand mixer until smooth; fold in blueberries. Sprinkle streusel evenly over batter.
Place in the oven on the center rack. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake. Place on a cooling rack; cool. Drizzle with powdered sugar and water mixture. Serve warm or room temperature.

Posted in Baked goods, Baking, breakfast, Brunch, eggs, Uncategorized

Easy Ham and Cheese Quiche

Posted on by lmc

I love using up ingredients from the fridge when pulling together a last minute breakfast. This quiche is one of my favorite go-to breakfast items because it’s so simple and delicious.
Actually, it a great lunch or dinner entree, as well. Just add a light salad and enjoy!

Easy Ham and Cheese Quiche

1 refrigerated pie crust
7 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup cooked ham chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
3 tablespoons green onions, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll pie crust and press into a greased 9″ pie plate, crimping the top edges, if needed.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, hot sauce and pepper. Sprinkle ham, cheese, and (optional) green onions into the pie crust and pour the egg mixture over top. Bake for 40-43 minutes until the center is completely set. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Posted in Baked goods, Baking, Bread, breakfast, Cake, Uncategorized

Oven Baked Maple Pancakes

Posted on by lmc

On Saturdays, I usually make a big homemade breakfast for all those that may have returned home for the weekend. While it’s usually just my hubby and I, when the kids travel home for a few days, I enjoy the time we have catching up around the breakfast table.
When making pancakes, I usually use my old standby recipe, Oatmeal Pancakes, and stand at the stovetop griddle pouring individual mounds until I’ve cooked all of the batter into round-shaped cakes. Alternatively, this recipe is a lifesaver as I can mix up a batch of batter, pour it into a baking dish, and throw it into the oven while working on all of the other items that will need to be prepped and cooked.
During the late winter/early spring, we tap our trees to make our own delicious maple syrup. Our family loves its rich flavor and I use a healthy dose for this convenient recipe.

Oven Baked Maple Pancakes

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter
½ cup maple syrup
1 ½ cups pancake baking mix
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt butter. Stir in 1/2 cup brown sugar and the maple syrup until completely combined. Pour into greased 13X9” baking pan.

Mix remaining ingredients in a medium bowl, until well blended. Carefully pour over syrup mixture.

Bake uncovered 25-30 minutes or until top springs back when touched in center. Cut into 3-inch squares; turn each square upside down onto plate. Serve immediately.

Posted in Baking, Bread, breakfast, Brunch, Food, Uncategorized

Banana Nutter Butter Pancakes

Posted on by lmc

We recently spent a week in Walt Disney World for their Annual Marathon Weekend and festivities. Record high temperatures made for a tough course. My daughter looked so relieved when she finally crossed the finish line. We are quite lucky as our Disney Vacation Club membership has allowed us to visit “the mouse” quite often over the last twenty-something years. We usually only travel down when attendance is low and crowds are at a minimum. In my mind, this is the only way to really enjoy all that WDW has to offer.

One of our new favorite dining spots is the Kona Café, located in the Polynesian Hotel and Resort. The restaurant is known for its Tonga Toast and Macadamia Nut Pancakes entrees.

This morning, I wanted to duplicate the pancake recipe but didn’t have the correct ingredients. I opted for a basic banana nut recipe as I have a freezer full of overly ripe bananas that I wanted to use. You’ll love this delicious and easy recipe. We top the pancakes with a dollop of butter and our very own maple syrup.

Banana Nutter Butter Pancakes

2 cups flour

1 cup finely chopped walnuts

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups milk

4 overripe bananas, mashed

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Mix flour, walnuts, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl; make a well in the center. Next, whisk in eggs, milk, bananas, melted butter, and vanilla extract; stir until just combined.

Heat a lightly buttered skillet over medium-high heat. Drop batter into the skillet. Cook until bubbles form and the edges are firm, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on the other side, 1 to 2 minutes more.

Posted in Food, Gardening

Harvesting Honey

Posted on by lmc

Today we had the pleasure of experiencing our first honey harvest. Our bees have been busy visiting fields of clover and Queen Anne’s Lace over the past several weeks. After watching hours of video focused on harvesting honey and rendering beeswax, we finally took a leap of faith and carefully extracted the liquid gold produced by our very own bees.

Here’s a step by step look at the process:

We carefully swept the bees off of the short, capped honey frames to prepare for extraction.

We set up the extractor and a screened sieve to remove the honey and filter out the wax and other unwanted items. A clean and organized area is imperative. We had buckets of soapy water with sanitizer and tarped surfaces in the extraction area.

After the extractor does its work (we have a hand crank version), the gate can be opened to pour unfiltered honey into a clean, food-safe bucket. The sieve and filter will take out the impurities.

We cleaned and sanitized our honey containers prior to setting up our bottling station.

The filtered honey is ready for bottling. We used 12 and 16 ounce jars. We wanted to try a mixture of plastic and glass jars.

We were able to bottle 12- 12 ounce, 12- 16 ounce, and 2- 4 ounce jars. What a delight to get so much honey from just 8 short frames.

I order a few different labels from Amazon to finish off the process. I think I’ll order a set of more personally printed labels for next year.

Now, it’s time to render the filtered wax to make our own beeswax blocks for future projects.

Posted in Baked goods, Baking, Bread, breakfast

Fresh Blueberry and Cream Cheese Breakfast Braid

Posted on by lmc

Nearly every Saturday, I peer into my over crowded refrigerator to see what left-over ingredients I can pull together to make a few quick weekend meals. This past Saturday, I wanted to make a warm coffee cake for the breakfast table. As I poked around the fridge and rummaged through various containers, I found all the ingredients needed to make this delicious, fruit-filled braid. If you’re looking for a quick baked treat, this is the one for you.

Fresh Blueberry and Cream Cheese Breakfast Braid

1 package crescent dough sheet

1 pint blueberries

8 ounces package of cream cheese, softened

¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon flour

2 teaspoons lemon juice

¼ cup milk

¼ teaspoon almond extract

½ cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. On a slightly floured surface, carefully roll out the crescent dough into a thin, rectangular sheet. In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar until smooth and creamy.

Spread the cream cheese mixture onto the center of the crescent roll sheet. Leaving about an inch and a half of dough on either side of the mixture. In a separate bowl, toss the blueberries with the tablespoon of flour, lemon zest, and teaspoon of sugar. Carefully spread the blueberries over the cream cheese mixture.

To prepare the dough, make diagonal cuts into the dough from the exterior and cut about 1 ½” into the center on the long ends of the dough. Make roughly 8-10 cuts on each side. Pull the strips of dough over the top the blueberries, alternating sides. Transfer to a cookie sheet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

While it is cooling, whisk together milk, almond extract, and powdered sugar to create a glaze.

When the blueberry braid has slightly cooled, drizzle the glaze over the top and serve.

Posted in Baked goods, Baking, Bread, breakfast, Brunch

Cherry Jubilee Scones

Posted on by lmc

I just love when the kids return home for the weekend. After graduating, they seem to have settled into different parts of the United States. This weekend, our town held their annual spring run making this a great kickoff to one of my favorite seasons.

Friday evening, after a long week of work, I was disappointed in myself as I hadn’t had the opportunity to plan a few meals and gather some groceries. This morning, as my pack of runners was out enjoying the spring race, I jumped into action and scoured the freezer, fridge, and pantry. To my surprise, I actually had the fixings for a great mid-morning breakfast. My pantry was chocked with items that I had unknowingly pushed to the back of the shelf over the course of many weeks. A tall container of old fashioned oats, an unopened package of dried “cherries jubilee” and some turbinado sugar sat on the shelf. I quickly opened my baker’s cabinet and scooped up the flour, sugar, almond extract, and leavenings. I remembered a blueberry scone recipe that I had so I rummaged through my blog of past posts and tweeted the recipe to make it work. To round out the breakfast, I found a bag of frozen hash browns, a pound of bacon, a carton of eggs. Opening the carton, there were only three… Grabbing my phone, I quickly sent a text to the group requesting they stop by a mini-mart to purchase two cartons of eggs. Scurrying around the kitchen, I completed each dish. I would then quickly cook the scrambled eggs as everyone showered after returning home. Laying everything out on the kitchen counter, plates were filled and tummies were satisfied.

What a delight… the scones were a hit… everyone enjoyed the meal as they slathered a good dose of butter on the warm scones and gobbled them up. Before they disappeared, I set aside a few for a Sunday visit with extended family. I’m sure I’ll be making these again.

…Great memories shared as we welcome the first days of spring!

Cherry Jubilee Scones

1 1/2 cups whole oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

6 tablespoons butter, cubed

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Combine oatmeal, flours, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Use a pastry cutter or two forks and cut in the butter with the flour mixture until crumbly and well blended. Stir milk and extract into the flour mixture until just combined. Lightly fold in the pecans and cherries. On a lightly floured surface, collect the dough into a ball and pat into a large circle about 1″ thick. Sprinkle with a teaspoon of turbinado sugar (optional). Cut into 8 wedges, and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven until lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes.

Posted in Baked goods, Baking, breakfast, Brunch, eggs, Food

Farmhouse Breakfast Squares

Posted on by lmc

During the Christmas holiday, I assembled quite a few casseroles to feed the army of family members that were home for the holidays. Many of these recipes had their fair share of carbohydrates nestled throughout. I, on the other hand, try to watch my carb intake as I always seem to have severe migraines when I consume refined sugar and loads of carbs. This recipe is quite simple to assemble and chocked with flavor. A bit of Frank’s hot sauce added to the egg mixture is a welcome addition to the recipe. A few teaspoons add a hint of flavor. If you like a spicy egg dish, feel free to kick up the heat by doubling or tripling the sauce. One other trick, try to seed and core the tomatoes before dicing them. This helps eliminate a soupy casserole.

The serving sized squares are compact and great as leftovers. Super for breakfast lunch or dinner. Serve along side a cup of yogurt with granola, a field greens salad, or a few hash browned potatoes.

Farm House Breakfast Squares

1 pound breakfast sausage

12 large eggs

½ cup heavy cream or half & half

1 ½ cups cheddar cheese

2 teaspoons hot sauce

1 medium green pepper, diced

½ cup onion, chopped finely

1 medium tomato, seeded and cored

In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook the breakfast sausage for about 10 minutes, breaking apart with a spatula, until fully browned. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13×9” baking dish, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half & half, and hot sauce. Add the pepper, onion, tomato, and cheese; whisk thoroughly. If desired, set aside a few veggies and a bit of cheese for garnish.

Pour the egg mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle cooked sausage evenly over egg mixture distributing all ingredients. Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes or until center is set. Cool slightly and cut into serving sized squares.

Optional: Garnish with a bit of cheese and leftover chopped veggies. Salt/pepper to taste.

Posted in Baked goods, Baking, Bread, breakfast, Casserole, eggs

Sausage and Broccoli Quiche

Posted on by lmc

I’m not sure how many of you use your library card on a regular basis, but if you do, your bound to find an endless array of options when borrowing items these days. One of my favorite library options is the online platform set up so that I can borrow books, movies, music, or magazines on my iPad. Recently, I borrowed the winter edition of the Taste of Home magazine (one of my all-time favorite magazines). One of the ads within the holiday edition depicted a festive page with a recipe for Sausage Quiche. I quickly bookmarked the page and added the required ingredients to my grocery list.

When I first made this simple recipe, I used a 2-quart, round baking dish that was quite deep. I followed the recipe exactly as written. When I served the quiche to my family, we thought the original recipe was a bit bland. When making another for a New Year’s breakfast, I added a bit of hot sauce and some broccoli. I also used my deep-dish pie pan.

This isn’t just for breakfast… I found my children grabbing a slice and munching on it cold. I also wrapped a wedge in cellophane and popped it into my husband’s lunch to be heated later. Served warm for brunch is also a great way to enjoy this dish. Happy New Year, Everyone.

Sausage and Broccoli Quiche

1 lb. package ground pork sausage, browned

½ cup onions, minced

1 cup broccoli, cooked and chopped

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup half and half

2 tablespoons hot sauce

1 cup all-purpose baking mix

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place sausage in lightly greased 9” round, deep-dish pie plate (2 qt. baking dish); top with broccoli, onions and cheese.

Beat eggs, milk, half-and-half, hot sauce and baking mix with wire whisk until well blended. Pour over cheese.

Bake 30-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Cut into wedges.

If you don’t have a 2-quart baking dish, you can substitute a 13×9” pan and bake for 20–25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

I’ve pasted the link for the original recipe below:

https://www.jimmydean.com/recipes/breakfast/sausage-quiche