Cheater Breakfast Omelette

I love a good omelette, but let’s face it, rarely do I feel like taking the time to make one.  So, I’ve come up with an easy way.  Chop your green peppers, onions, mushrooms, bacon, ham, etc. up and place them in a freezer ziploc bag, with the right amount you would need for your morning omelette.  When you decide you want an omelette, pull them out for a quick and yummy breakfast.

Ingredients:
2 egg white
1 whole egg
peppers
mushrooms
onions
bacon
ham
pepper jack cheese
swiss cheese
etc.

In a frying pan, melt 1 TBSP. of butter.  Place all your veggies and meat in the omelette and saute to your desired crispness, seasoning with salt and pepper.  Crack your eggs in a bowl, eliminating two of the yolks.  Whip with a little milk until smooth and then pour over your veggies.  Cover pan and cook on low to medium heat until done to desired level.  I like them cooked all the way through.  Then add whatever kind of cheese to the top.  Slant your pan and slide the omelette off onto the plate, folding the omelette in half as you go.

Yum!

Bran Cereal Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups raisin bran cereal, crushed in blender

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup vegetable oil

 1 egg

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup white flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 heaping tsp. cinnamon

• Heat oven to 400°F. Grease bottoms only of 12 regular-size muffin cups with shortening, spray with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups. Lightly spray paper baking cups with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, stir crushed cereal, buttermilk and vanilla until well mixed. Beat in oil and egg with fork until blended. 
  In another medium bowl, stir remaining ingredients until well mixed; stir into cereal mixture just until moistened. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
  Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. If baked in greased pan, let stand 5 minutes in pan, then remove from pan to cooling rack. If baked in paper baking cups, immediately remove from pan to cooling rack. Serve with butter.

International Pancake Day!

February 21st this year was International Pancake Day.  I always like to have a little fun with food holidays, so we planned a pancake dinner.  I tried quite a few different pancake recipes, including granola pancakes, blueberry, raspberry, caramel, chocolate chip, lemon poppyseed, cream cheese and regular buttermilk.  My favorite was the cream cheese recipe.  They tasted heavenly with Strawberries and whipping cream or that heavenly caramel syrup.  I always use the frozen strawberries with sugar (thawed) for my strawberry topping.  It is quick, easy and delicious.

Obviously, this isn’t the healthiest meal, however, for a once a year dinner, it tasted pretty heavenly.

Here is that Cream Cheese Pancake recipe!

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (8oz) cream cheese
2 cups Bisquick mix
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2 eggs

Mix together bisquick, graham cracker crumbs, sugar, milk and eggs until blended.  Slice cream cheese into bite size pieces and stir into the batter.  You may need to add more milk if it is too thick.  Pour batter onto your hot griddle and cook until it is ready to flip.  Turn and finish cooking.  Top with the toppings of your choice.

Buttermilk French Toast

Ingredients 4 large eggs 1 cup nonfat buttermilk 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon Pinch of ground nutmeg Pinch of salt 1/4 cup of sugar Canola oil for griddle 1 loaf of your favorite bread Topping Caramel Syrup Frozen Strawberries w/sugar, thawed

BUTTERMILK FRENCH TOAST 1. Crack eggs into a large mixing bowl and add buttermilk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and sugar. Whisk with a wire whip until well combined. 2. Place a griddle or large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Brush canola oil over the griddle surface. Dip slices of bread into the batter. Place on griddle and cook until lightly browned on both sides. Serve topped with FRESH BERRY COMPOTE.

Buttermilk Belgian Waffles

Because I leave every morning at 6:15 a.m., I promised my six-year old son I would fix him waffles today. I went to grab my waffle iron out and then remembered it had broken!  All I had was my belgian waffle iron that I got as a wedding gift 18 years ago.  I had buttermilk sitting in the fridge that I needed to use up, so I decided...what the heck, I’d make some buttermilk belgian waffles.  They were yum!  I’m not a huge syrup fan, unless it’s the buttermilk caramel syrup, but what I DO absolutely LOVE on my pancakes and waffles is homemade sweetened whipping cream and fresh fruit.  I didn’t have any berries in my fridge this morning, so I improvised with my freezer jam.  I told myself this morning that I was going to have a healthy breakfast to make up for all the “bad” I ate this week, but seriously, let’s get real.  This looked too good to not eat.  So, I did....

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 TBSP. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, separated
4 TBSP butter, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:  Mix the egg yolks, buttermilk and butter in a bowl.  Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients and then pour in the buttermilk, egg mixture.  Mix it until combined.  Then, gently fold in the egg whites.  Pour onto a greased hot griddle until lightly brown.  Serve immediately.

German Pancakes

This recipe is otherwise known in our house as the “sleepover” breakfast.  It is the most often requested breakfast among our kids.  We love it with the buttermilk syrup!  Anything is good with that buttermilk syrup!  If you’ve never had these, you have got to try them!

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
dash of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
6 TBSP. butter

Directions:  Preheat oven to bake 425.  In your 9x13 pan, cut up your 6 TBSP. of butter into chunks.  Place in oven until melted.  In the meantime, in your blender, blend the eggs, milk, flour, salt and vanilla.  Once your butter is all melted (be careful it doesn’t burn), pour batter right into the center of the pan.  Do not stir!  Carefully slide into oven and bake for 20 minutes.  They will puff up all over, but they quickly fall once removed from the oven.

Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes

I made these for the kids this week for breakfast and they turned out delicious!  They are so light, fluffy and flavorful!  One trick to not getting the blueberries to bleed all over in the batter is to pour the batter on the hot griddle and then hand drop the blueberries on top of the pancake batter.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 TBSP. sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups milk
3 TBSP. melted butter
Blueberries (small...I prefer the frozen organic ones)

Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.   Mix the eggs, milk and buttermilk in a separate bowl.  Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Mix until the batter is barely combined.  Add the melted butter.  The less you are able to mix the more light and fluffy they will be.

Heat a hot griddle and oil or butter the pan.  Pour pancake batter onto the griddle and sprinkle the blueberries on top.  Flip once bubbles start to form.  Serve immediately with maple syrup or this yummy buttermilk syrup.

Buttermilk Caramel Syrup

This is an absolute favorite at our house.  I always double the recipe because the kids drench their pancakes in the stuff.  I love a little bit of freezer jam spread on my pancake mixed with a little bit of the syrup, but that's just me!  Try this recipe.  You will forever be addicted!

Ingredients:  

1 cube butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 TBSP. karo syrup

Bring to a boil, as soon as it boils, remove from heat and add: 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 tsp. baking soda and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon.

Yogurt Parfait

This was my breakfast this morning.  And although its entirely too simple to make, it IS delicious and it looks yummy layered in a pretty cup.  Perfect for breakfast or anytime of the day!

Ingredients:

Vanilla, light and fit yogurt

Granola

Fresh fruit (or frozen)

Layer berries, granola and vanilla in your parfait dish.  Serve.

Father's Day Brunch

For Fathers Day I decided to try something different. I made Warren strawberry creme filled french toast. I've never tried making stuffed french toast before, but I certainly will again. I took one bite and just savored it. It was heavenly. We all loved it! I can't wait for a special occasion to make them again. That's how much I loved them.

Ingredients:
2 loaves French Bread
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 jar strawberry jam (I used the yummy freezer jam)
Fresh strawberries
12 eggs
1/3 cup half and half
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla

Cut your french bread into 1 1/4" slices and press down the centers for a place to hold the filling. Smear inside with a good amount of cream cheese and then some jam and fresh strawberries. Place a lid on top (a matching sized piece of french bread). Make the egg mixture by mixing the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and half and half. Soak the bread in the mixture for at least one minute and then brown in a little bit of butter on your hot griddle. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup. Yum!

Granola

This is a recipe that I love for homemade granola. It's light and NOT too sweet. I love it mixed most in my yogurt for a snack, but I love it with milk too. When I make it, I usually four times the recipe. I store it in a tupperware container (what will fit) and the rest I put in ziploc bags and freeze. If you like it more clumpy, you can add more honey. I think it's perfect the way it is.

Granola Ingredients:
9 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup powdered milk
1 cup oil
1 cup honey
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup whole flaxseed
1/2 cup ground flaxseed

Mix all together and spread evenly on the bottom of two cookie sheets. Bake at 350 and stir every 10 minutes until the granola is lightly browned. It will store up to four months in your pantry.

Whole Wheat Pancakes and Heavenly Caramel Syrup

I have two recipes that I love for whole wheat pancakes. Today I made the recipe that uses just the ground wheat flour. However, I am posting the blender pancake recipe as well. The already ground flour recipe is probably my favorite of the two, but if you are too lazy to grind your flour for breakfast, its really nice to have the option of just putting the whole wheat kernel right into your blender. And honestly, both recipes are great!

I'm also putting all of our favorite syrup recipes in here. I tried a new one today that I got from Sister Wood, the lady we home teach. It's for vanilla syrup. It's really good. Reminds me of the caramel syrup our family loves. However, a staple is also the homemade maple syrup. So, here is the recipe for all three!
Whole Wheat Pancakes:
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil
1 TBSP. baking powder
1 TBSP. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour

Mix all together and pour onto griddle. Don't re-stir the batter!

Whole Wheat Blender Pancake Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/4 cups whole wheat kernels
2 eggs
2 TBSP. oil
1 TBSP. honey
1/2 tsp. salt

Blend the buttermilk and the wheat kernels until smooth. Add the eggs, oil, honey and salt. Blend again until smooth. Then add the baking soda and baking powder and blend just for a few seconds. Don't ever stir again. Pour onto hot griddle.

1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Caramel Syrup
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cube butter, real butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 TBSP. karo syrup

Bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, remove from heat and add 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Vanilla Syrup
Ingredients:
1 cube butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Bring to a boil, remove from heat and add 1 tsp. vanilla.

Maple Syrup
Ingredients:
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. mapelline flavoring

Bring water and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat, add vanilla and mapeline.

Strawberry Cream Filled Crepes

It's Warren's birthday today and he loves EVERYTHING strawberry. So, this morning I made him his usual birthday breakfast in bed, consisting of these wonderful fruit-filled crepes and a sausage breakfast casserole.

Crepes:

3/4 cup Flour
2 TBSP. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

FILLING AND SAUCE
2 cups vanilla yogurt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup strawberry jam (I prefer homemade), seperated
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

I made the crepe batter and the sauce the night before so that it was all ready to go this morning. Just whip the crepe batter until it's smooth. You are supposed to let it sit in the fridge for an hour before you use it, that is why it is nice to make it the night before.

Directions: I just use a frying pan and spray it with cooking pray, then I pour 1/4 cup batter and tip the pan until it is a thin layer over the entire pan. Then flip.

FILLING AND SAUCE
Mix the yogurt, cinnamon and 1/4 cup jam in a small bowl; set aside. Heat remaining jam in the microwave for 45 seconds; stir until melted and smooth.

Spread the yogurt mixture down the center of each crepe. Top with fresh fruit (strawberries, bananas, pineapple, any other berry). Fold or roll crepe over yogurt mixture. Top with melted jam and chopped pecans, if desired; serve. OPTIONAL: can also top w/whipping cream. Adds fat and calories, but sure is good!

I freeze any leftover crepes. Just be sure to seperate each one with wax paper.