Archive for Bread and Breakfast
Baked Oatmeal Cups (Bird’s Nests)
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My four boys are just about getting too old to appreciate anything cutesy I try to make with food.
When they get up in the morning, they bound into the kitchen, excited to see a big pile of bacon on a tray with a dozen scrambled eggs and mountain of pancakes. Does it really matter to them if I tried to arrange the food in such a way as to make the platter look pretty? Do they even care that I woke up extra early, and lovingly mustered all of my artistic ability to form the pancakes into the shape of the country of India? After all, we’ve all been enjoying our studies about William Carey and his missionary efforts there. Who wouldn’t have fun smearing butter all over Calcutta? I figured they’d be thrilled!
But no. They don’t care at all. They just want me to hurry up and pass them the maple syrup and while I’m at it, another slice of bacon.
I’m telling you, I am sooooo unappreciated around here. From now on, I think I’ll just flip some boring ol’ round pancakes straight off the griddle and onto their plates ten feet away. I’ll skip the serving platter. I won’t mess with a lovely presentation of fruit arranged on a plate in the shape of a clown face. They can just stuff their faces with “normal” food for all I care.
Hmmph.
Now that I’ve thrown a fit that is so becoming of a grown-up, I suppose I should now confess that my intentions and my artistic abilities are not even close to being able to pull off much of the above. I’ve never really attempted to make pancakes into the shape of India - or any other country for that matter. Incidentally, I did turn out the state of Texas once, but that was totally an accident and as usually happens when I have not gone out of my way one little bit, my boys were actually quite impressed.
“Whoa Mom! You made a Texas pancake! Can you make me a Maryland and an Idaho next?”
I obviously got right on that, but ended up instead with a lopsided gourd and another pancake that resembled the fuzz under my couch. I gave up at that point and figured they could chew the pancakes into the shapes of their requested states, because really, have you ever tried to pour Florida onto a griddle with a spoon?
This leads me to the special breakfast I made recently in an effort to be cute. It is spring after all. Doesn’t the idea of eating a bird’s nest for breakfast sound simply delightful?
Okay fine. We can just call these Baked Oatmeal Cups. Either way, these are easy to throw together and are versatile enough to add variety and meet your family’s taste preferences.
Baked Oatmeal Cups (or Bird’s Nests if you’re feeling cute)
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sucanat or honey
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup melted butter
Topping choices: mini chocolate chips, raisins, other dried fruit, coconut flakes, apple chunks
Mix together oats, sucanat, salt and baking powder. Stir in eggs, milk, and melted butter. Scoop batter into 12 paper lined muffin cups. Sprinkle toppings of choice into the center of each cup. Bake in a 350° for about 30 minutes, or until the oats are golden brown. These are easier to eat with a fork, unless you like cleaning partial bird’s nests up off of your table and floor.
Do you try to be cute when you cook and bake at your house? And how do those efforts go over for you? Ever tried to make India out of pancake batter?
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Flaky Cream Cheese Pastry – The Healthy Way
Posted by: | CommentsBack in my former life – the one in which I innocently and cheerfully ate Chillsbury* dough from a can – I loved making a cream cheese pastry dish that always got rave reviews. It was simple. You spread a can of Whillsbury* crescent dough on the bottom of a pan, throw in some cream cheese filling, top it with another round of Gnillsbury* crescent dough, bake it, and eat. I loved that stuff, as did everyone else who ate it with me.
Gone are my days of eating biscuits or crescents from a can. Oh, and can I just pause to say this: I do not miss that vulnerable and insecure feeling that always came from never knowing when the can would pop open and dough would ooze out. Maybe it is just me, but waiting for the biscuit can pop always put me slightly on edge. Yeah, it was probably just me. I have can-popping-biscuit-bursting-forth issues, I think.
Anyway, I had forgotten all about this delicious dish, which is crazy, because hello? It does have cream cheese in it. It occurred to me recently that the perfect replacement for Billsbury* crescent dough would surely be my go-to whole wheat yogurt dough. Why I hadn’t thought of using it to figure out a new Cream Cheese Pastry dish, I have no idea. But I finally thought of it, tried it, and here it is. My family devoured it for breakfast this morning, which means that next time, I have to double it for sure!
*name changed to protect the innocent guilty
Flaky Cream Cheese Pastry
Dough:
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup plain yogurt
Filling:
1 – 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup real maple syrup (sugar, sucanat, or honey would work too)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice (optional)
Mix together all four dough ingredients and knead lightly to form a nice ball. Divide in half. Press one half of the dough into an 8×8 inch baking dish.
Whip together the cream cheese filling ingredients. Pour filling over the bottom crust.
Roll the second half of the dough into a square and place it on top of the cream cheese filling.
Bake in a 350° oven for 30-40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
Allow pastry to cool slightly before slicing and serving.
Tell me – am I the only one here with can-popping-biscuit-bursting-forth issues? I’ll admit it right now, it makes me jumpy just thinking about it. ;)
Easy Homemade Granola
Posted by: | CommentsI didn’t really plan it this way, but what better way to follow up a post about not soaking grains than by giving you a recipe which includes unsoaked grains. Do with this what you wish. :)
This recipe works great as a snack or for a quick breakfast, especially if you’ve made it ahead of time. We like to put it in a bowl and add dried fruit and milk or cream. A friend of mine even adds applesauce to this granola for a sort of “apple crisp” taste. Her kids love it that way!
Easy Homemade Granola
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup sunflower nuts
1/2 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup honey
1 cup coconut oil
In a small sauce pan, melt together coconut oil and honey. Stir all remaining ingredients together in a large bowl. Drizzle on the honey/coconut oil mixture and stir well. Pour mixture onto a large, parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake at 300° for 35 minutes, stirring after the first 20 minutes. Store granola in an air tight container.
Is it a little bit obvious that I got a few new dishes for Christmas and had a fun time taking pictures of granola?
Are you granola eaters at your house?
Homemade Sausage Gravy
Posted by: | CommentsHave I ever told you about the time I made a cream gravy for a special boyfriend many years ago? We had reached our six month dating anniversary, and so, to celebrate, I was making him a dinner of hamburger steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, and I can’t remember what else.
Everything was coming along pretty well. I called my mom five or twenty times while I was preparing the food, mostly so that she could walk me through the gravy making process. I thought I had it all figured out and soon, it was time for us to enjoy our meal together.
But the gravy. Somehow between hanging up the phone with mom, calling my boyfriend in for the meal, and serving the food – the gravy (if, in fact, we can call it gravy) had turned into a thick, heavy paste like substance. How could this have happened?
Never fear. My boyfriend was very kind. He simply got a butter knife and spread chunks of gravy onto his meat and potatoes. Then he proceeded to eat heartily, and even complimented me on the great flavor of the food.
Yeah, he was a nice one all right. I shouldn’t have let that one get away. Oh wait. I didn’t. A few months after I made him choke on gravy, that nice boy asked me to marry him. I guess he figured that if he could survive my gravy, we could get through anything – thick and thin. (Ha, get it? Thick and thin? The gravy was thick. Get it? Okay, it wasn’t that funny.)
I have since then perfected my gravy making skills, much to the delight of my boyfriend husband, and all of our darling offspring. Here is my sausage gravy recipe and a picture tutorial that will hopefully spare you all from making the same pasty mess that was once my “gravy”.
Homemade Sausage Gravy
1 pound turkey sausage (I like using this homemade recipe.)
1 Tablespoon plus 3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour (I use freshly ground white whole wheat)
2 1/2 cups milk
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Begin by browning the sausage with one tablespoon of butter in a large skillet until it is cooked thoroughly.
Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter, stirring it around until is has melted.
Sprinkle in the flour. Stir it around with the meat and butter until it is absorbed.
You should now have kind of a thick, meat mixture in your skillet. Turn the heat on your burner up to “high”.
Pour in the milk, and stir constantly. I find that I must leave the burner turned to “high” in order for the gravy to thicken.
Continue to stir over high heat until gravy becomes thick and bubbly. Remove the gravy from the heat, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
Trouble shooting your gravy: If your gravy turns out too thick, simply add more milk, small amounts at a time, continuing to stir, until gravy is the desired consistency.
If your gravy fails to thicken, mix a “paste” of 2 Tablespoons flour with 3 Tablespoons of water. Stir the mixture into your gravy, little bits at a time until the gravy thickens to desired consistency. Do NOT sprinkle flour directly into the gravy. That’s how lumpy gravy is made. :)
We love this gravy served over these Whole Wheat Biscuits.
Have any fun stories about boyfriends or gravy you’d like to share? :)
Sweet Pepper Fritata
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I can’t decide which I like best about this dish: looking at it…or eating it. I love that the red and green peppers make this fritata look festive for Christmas. This is very easy to make and can be put together ahead of time and baked just before serving. If you want to add a little extra protein, throw in some leftover cooked chicken or sausage.
Sweet Pepper Fritata
1 small onion, chopped
3/4 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cup chopped red pepper
2 Tablespoons butter
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Saute onion and peppers in the butter for 5-7 minutes or until veggies are tender and your family comes running into the kitchen to see what smells so good. Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in a bowl. Stir sauteed vegetables into egg mixture. Pour into an ungreased pie dish. Bake in a 350° oven for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle of the fritata comes out clean. Serves 6-8.
Which would you rather do – look at this, or eat it? Or maybe you could just really enjoy looking at it while you eat it. ;)
(Be sure to leave a comment on this post for a chance to win one of four $10 gift certificates to the Heavenly Homemakers Shop, as a part of our Christmas Brunch!)
Multi-Grain Pumpkin Waffles and Pancakes (wheat free)
Posted by: | CommentsI am such a whole wheat girl. I love my freshly ground hard white wheat. I order 500 pounds of wheat at a time for goodness sake. But, in an effort to add variety to our diets, I’ve been on a mission to try different grains.
As you know, I’ve done a fair amount of experimenting lately with Coconut Flour (which isn’t a grain, but it does add variety to our healthy baked goods). Recently, my dear friend Angie sent me this Pumpkin Waffle recipe, and then another dear friend Jenny (who is Angie’s sister) affirmed how good these are – so I went for it. This recipe calls for several different grains and none of them are wheat. Look at me, growing in my grain varieties! Hey, it’s not difficult when you have good recipes like this one. In fact, my kids loved them and my pickiest eater even said, “Wow, these taste like your homemade donuts!” I think we have a winner.
Multi-Grain Pumpkin Waffles and Pancakes
1 cup sorghum or barley flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup millet flour
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
4 tablespoons melted coconut oil
4 tablespoons maple syrup or sucanat
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups milk (or coconut milk if you’re going for dairy free also)
Whisk together dry ingredients. Beat the wet into the dry ingredients to combine. Cook the batter in a waffle iron – greasing well between each batch. Or, add a few extra tablespoons of milk and cook the batter into pancakes.
I can attest to the fact that it’s best to keep your waffle iron greased well to keep these from sticking. Otherwise, these were easy to make and incredibly delicious. And we just added some multi-grain variety to our diets. It wasn’t even painful. ;) Remember, my nine year old thinks these taste like donuts. That’s a multi-grain transition anyone can make!
What grains do you eat at your house? Have you ventured beyond whole wheat yet?
My Favorite, Versatile Whole Wheat Dough
Posted by: | CommentsYou’ve been seeing this same dough recipe pop up over and over as I post new recipes. It has definitely become my go-to dough recipe for quick, kid-friendly meals that are also healthy. I decided today to highlight and feature my friend, The Versatile Dough. He (she?) is a winner in my book and can multitask in my kitchen to create all kinds of wonderful food.
I guess that must mean that this dough is definitely a “she”. He’s can’t multitask as well as she’s can. This is not an insult to the he’s – no not at all. I’m thankful that God made males able to focus on one thing well. We females can multitask so well, it’s sometimes hard for us to focus on just one thing. Trust me, I’m a she. I know these things. (See, like right now I’m typing this, thinking about the meat thawing in my kitchen for lunch tomorrow, making a plan for what to do with the apples on my porch and creating a chore list for my kids – all at the same time. It’s amazing that my post makes any sense at all. Case in point. So far, this post hasn’t made a whole lot of sense. After all, I’ve just assigned a gender to my whole wheat dough.)
So back to my point, because surprisingly, I really do have one. I love this Whole Wheat Dough. I use it a lot. I think you will love it too.
Versatile Whole Wheat Dough
3 to 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground hard white wheat flour)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup plain yogurt
Mix all ingredients and knead together until a nice dough has formed. (If you’re using store-bought flour, you will probably not need all 3 1/2 cups of flour.) You can roll out and use this dough right away, or you can allow it to sit on the counter-top overnight (covered) in order to break down the phytates in the wheat and make it more digestible.
If you do allow the dough to sit overnight, it is best to knead this dough for several minutes before you try to roll it out. :)
What to Make With This Versatile Whole Wheat Dough
(Click on the links above the pictures to find the specific recipes.)
I bet if I think real hard, I can come up with several more ways to use this dough. Have you tried making this dough before or any of the above recipe ideas? You MUST try it – it’s buttery, flaky, healthy, tasty and EASY!
And if you think I’m weird calling my dough a “she” you should hear me talking to my frozen/thawing chickens as I prepare them for soup. Wouldn’t you just like to be a fly on the wall in my kitchen sometime? Oh the things you would learn about me then. ;)
Homemade Peach Syrup (made with unprocessed sugar)
Posted by: | CommentsWe usually top our pancakes with real maple syrup or homemade applesauce. Sometimes peanut butter and jelly. Or peanut butter with maple syrup. Or honey. Or if we sprinkle a few mini chocolate chips into the pancakes, we don’t really need syrup at all.
But last week when we had some fresh, local peaches in our kitchen, I made a quick and healthy peach syrup that is oh-my-goodness good.
You need exactly two ingredients to make this: peaches and sucanat. The two together cook to form a syrup. No water necessary. :)
Homemade Peach Syrup
3 fresh peaches (or 2 cups frozen)
2 Tablespoons sucanat
Slice peaches into a saucepan. Stir in sucanat and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the peaches are tender and the ingredients have formed a syrup.
You can add a few shakes of cinnamon if you like.
In case you need them, here is my Simple Soaked Pancake recipe and my Whole Wheat Waffle recipe.
What’s your favorite way to top pancakes and waffles?
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
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As several of you requested, I’m sharing my healthy variations to Crystal’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins. These were a big hit yesterday morning when I served them in our marriage class.
If you’d like to read more about how I adapt a recipe to make it healthier, check out this post. You’ll find a free, downloadable recipe conversion sheet which you can tack onto your refrigerator to reference when you need to convert a recipe.
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (adapted from MoneySavingMom)
3 cups whole wheat flour (I used freshly ground hard white wheat)
1 – 1 1/2 cups sucanat
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 eggs
2 cups pureed pumpkin (or one 16 ounce can)
1 cup melted coconut oil (or butter)
1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer either homemade chocolate chips or soy free chocolate chips)
In a large mixing bowl, stir together all dry ingredients. Add eggs, pumpkin and oil. Mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into 24 paper lined muffin cups. Bake in a 400° oven for 16-22 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown.
These are easy to put together and make your house smell just like the fall season is supposed to smell. Pumpkin and cinnamon smell awesome. Plus, adding chocolate to a muffin never, ever hurts my feelings. :)
Coconut Flour Cheddar Drop Biscuits
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At a recent youth event, my friend Lisa mentioned something about her Coconut Flour Cheese Biscuits. I immediately dropped my plate and fork, leaped over the couch to the other side of the room and tackled her onto the floor, begging her to please share her recipe.
Of course you know I’m kidding.
Her name is really Louanne.
Okay no, I’m kidding again.
Her name really is Lisa and when she mentioned her Coconut Flour Cheese Biscuits I didn’t actually drop anything or leap over anything or tackle her. I’m not that crazy.
Yes, kidding again. You all know I’m crazy.
But still, she was nice enough to give me her recipe without all the drama. The drama is what I felt inside when I heard that she had a new great coconut flour recipe to offer.
So here, without any shoulder shaking, leg grabbing or tearful pleading is my friend Lisa’s awesome recipe:
Coconut Flour Cheddar Drop Biscuits
¼ cup coconut oil or butter, melted
1/3 cup sifted coconut flour
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Blend together eggs, coconut oil or butter, salt, and onion powder. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in cheese. Drop batter by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. For a cheesier biscuit increase cheese to ¾ cup.
This recipe makes about 10 biscuits.
If you’re curious, here’s a post I wrote explaining more about why I love coconut flour. And also, one of my readers just let me know that this great deal for coconut flour is back up and running. How very thoughtful of them to re-stock five minutes before I posted this recipe. :)
Disclaimer: No friends were harmed during the acquiring of this recipe.
Have you tried coconut flour yet? Do you love it?
