Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits and Gravy

A lot of the time while I'm making dinner, I'll have Food Network on in the background.  Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is on about 90 percent of the time, but it is good background noise.  One day, while I was cooking, I heard Guy Fieri mention Cheddar Biscuits and Gravy.  I thought they sounded delicious so I wrote Cheddar Biscuits and Gravy on my fridge calendar to remind myself to look it up.

I couldn't find the recipe from the episode, but I found plenty of other recipes on blogs that sounded equally delicious.  I love this age where we can get a meal idea and use the internet to find something that sounds similar in under ten minutes.

Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits and Gravy
barely adapted from Tiny Test Kitchen
Ingredients
Biscuits
2 cups flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup cold buttermilk, shaken
1 cold large egg
1 cup grated Cheddar
1 egg beaten with a splash of water

Sausage Gravy1/2 teaspoon canola oil
1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage
1/2 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk

Directions
Biscuits
1)  Heat oven to 425ºF. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper and set aside.
2)  Add the egg to the buttermilk in a measuring jug and beat to combine, set aside.
3) Take a tablespoon of the flour and add it the grated cheese. Toss to coat the cheese with the flour, set aside.
4) Place the remaining flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl of an stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the ingredients with the mixer on low. Add the butter and mix until the butter is the size of peas. You may need to shut the mixer off and manually rub the butter into the flour to get the butter pieces all the same size.
5) Turn the mixer back to low and add the buttermilk mixture to the flour in one addition. Mix until just combined. Add the cheese mixture to the dough and mix until just combined. Stop the mixer.
6) Using clean counter space, flour a 12×12″ area well. Form a ball with the dough in the mixer bowl and place it on the flour. With lightly floured hands, knead the dough gently. Using your hands again, form a 5×10″ rectangle with the dough.
7) Using a 2 3/4″ biscuit cutter ( or a small cup), cut out 8 biscuits from the dough. Reform squares of the same thickness to get the last biscuits.
8) Place biscuits on the prepared baking sheet.
9) Brush the tops of the biscuits with the egg wash and pop in the oven for 20 minutes, until golden grown.

Gravy
1) Heat the oil in a 9″ saute pan over medium high heat. Add sausage and break up any large pieces with a wooden spoon. Cook until the sausage is browned.
2) Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon, trying to keep as much of the oil and fat in the pan as possible. Add the butter (less if you have a lot of oil) and allow to melt. Add flour and begin to whisk continuously for 2 minutes until the flour and butter have formed a smooth paste and the flour is cooked.
4) Begin to add the milk in a thin stream, whisking all the time to prevent lumps.
5) When all the milk is added, let the gravy simmer gently for 2-3 minutes to make sure the milk is heated through.
7) Re-add the sausage and cook on medium low heat for 2-3 minutes.

I love biscuits and gravy.  I loved the biscuits by themselves.  I just used regular packaged cheese in our biscuits and I do think to achieve the full cheddar flavor from the biscuits you do have to use something sharper and more pronounced.  While the recipe looks labor intensive, it isn't difficult.  It definitely isn't a weeknight recipe, but made for a delicious Saturday breakfast at home watching our recorded shows from the week. 

Egg Sandwiches with Goat Cheese and Prosciutto

It is time for another recipe swap, and this time, I got our host Sarah from A Taste of Home Cooking.  I was really excited because in all the time that we've been doing the swaps, I have only ever gotten something from Sarah once.  Please visit Sarah's blog to look through six years dishes she's made while blogging.

While looking through her blog, I came up with so many dishes that I basically meal-planned my two weeks of food around Sarah's blog.  We loved every dish that I made, so it was hard to choose between the three that I actually took pictures of, which one I should actually post.  I was going to post about the Chicken Tostadas with Avocado Salsa, but then one of the other bloggers from my food forum posted it as part of her Taco Tuesday series...so I'll save that one for another time.  I finally decided on these delicious breakfast sandwiches.

Egg sandwiches with Goat Cheese and Prosciutto
slightly adapted from A Taste of Home Cooking
Ingredients
4 ounces goat cheese, softened
2 teaspoons dried chives
4 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
4 medium rustic rolls, halved crosswise, lightly toasted
4 tablespoons pesto
4 ounces sliced prosciutto
Directions
1) In a medium bowl, combined the goat cheese and chives; set aside.
2) Heat the butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crack each egg into the skillet, and lower the heat to medium-low. After about two minutes, flip the egg and sprinkle with salt. Turn off the heat but don’t move the pan. Residual heat from the pan will finish cooking the eggs without drying the out while you build the sandwiches.
3) Spread the cut sides of one half of each roll with the goat cheese mixture and one half of the roll with pesto. Top the bottom half with a fried egg, then sliced prosciutto. Top with the other half of the roll. Serve immediately.

I tried making these with a scrambled egg type mixture as Sarah recommended, but ended up with more egg on my plate than between the bread.  The second time I made these, the fried egg worked much better, although Jacob said he liked the taste of the scrambled eggs better.  I love the combination of pesto and goat cheese, so I thought that that would be a delicious addition.  I only used chives because I forgot to buy green onions, but I think the green onions would be amazing as well because I didn't really taste the chives in the goat cheese mixture.  These breakfast sandwiches are super tasty and only take about 10 minutes to cook, so it is a win-win dinner.  Can't wait to make these again in the future.  Stay tuned for the tostada recipe as well, it was amazing too!

Please click through the dishes below to find other delicious recipes.

Banana Oatmeal Cups with Chocolate Chips

It's time for another What's Baking Challenge, and the theme this month is Baking Healthier from Catherine at Pursuing Domestic Godess-ness.

I am a yo-yo exerciser.  I'm really good for a few months, and then working out doesn't seem like fun anymore, so I stop.  In turn, my weight also yo-yos.  I am back in the working out really good phase right now.  I am finally getting into jogging, thanks to the Couch to 5K program, and when the bitter cold sinks in, I've been doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. 

I recently heard on the Biggest Loser that one of the problems with overweight people is that the majority of them skip breakfast.  This is something that I used to do a lot, so I understand it.  So, when approaching this challenge, my first thought was to find a healthy breakfast that I could make on Sunday, pop in a plastic bag, and eat all week when I got to work: enter Banana Oatmeal Cups with Chocolate Chips.

Banana Oatmeal Cups with Chocolate Chips
from Green Lite Bites
Ingredients

3 mashed bananas

1 cup vanilla Almond milk

2 eggs

1 tablespoon Baking powder

3 cups Old Fashion or Rolled Oats

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

 

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2) Mix all ingredients except the chocolate chips together, and let sit while you prepare the muffin pans.
3) Spray a muffin pan and/or liners with with non-stick spray.
4) Stir the chocolate chips into the oatmeal batter.
5) Divide batter into 15 muffin cups. They should be just about filled, these don't rise much, so it is okay to fill them all the way.
6) Bake 25 minutes, you’ll see the edges just starting to brown and they will be firm to the touch.

I thought these were great.  I am not a huge banana fan, but I think they worked well in these.  I think the banana and the chocolate provide just enough sugar to make these good, although if you like sweeter things, you may want to add just a little sugar into the mix.  These were a great breakfast and kept me full all the way up until lunch.

I do have to confess that Jacob isn't a fan of these.  He thinks that the oatmeal stayed too crunchy, and he is a huge breakfast oatmeal fan, so he likes a mushier oatmeal texture.  I thought the inside oatmeal was softer while the outside was crunchier, providing a nice contrast.  But, I can't force him to see the cups my way...so more for me!

Please check out Catherine's blog (Pursuing Domestic Godess-ness) at the beginning of February to see a list of what all the other participants made.

 

Chile Tortilla Egg Bake

Throughout the week, it is hard enough to get a cold breakfast before sprinting out the door (hopefully with all of my stuff...sometimes not).  So, during the week, it is mostly just cereal bars or fruit on the bottom yogurt.

Jacob and I only have one day a week off together, so I try to make something good for breakfast on the days that we have.  We both love green chiles, so I thought this was a no-brainer.  This was an easy breakfast to put together, perfect for accomplishing small chores around the house while putting something great on the table.

Chile Tortilla Egg Bake
from Spoonful
Ingredients
6 flour tortillas, soft-taco size (fewer if the tortillas are larger)
3-4 small cans of chopped green chiles, drained and rinsed
1 pound grated cheese
5 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Optional toppings:
Pico de Gallo
Sour Cream
Guacamole

Directions
1) Grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish.  Preheat oven to 35 degrees.

2) Cover the bottom of the baking dish with tortillas, overlapping as little as possible, using about 2 tortillas per layer.  By the time you get to sides, press the tortilla up against the edge o fthe dish. 
3) Sprinkle the tortillas with half of the chiles, and about a third of the cheese.  Then add another layer of tortillyas, and top it with the rest of the chiles and another third of the cheese.  Add the final layer of tortillas, sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
4) Whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt in a bowl.  Pour this over the entire casserole.
5) Bake for 35 minutes.  The edge will be brown, and it will not jiggle at all.  Let sit five minutes before cutting. 
6) Top with optional toppings that are desired and enjoy.

This breakfast was a hit.  Jacob added a lot of cheese to the top, so it had that strand of cheese that dangles from your mouth to the fork.  The original recipe didn't call for extra toppings, and in all honesty, was fine without them, but I had some leftover pico de gallo from tacos that week and we threw it on and it elevated the dish even more.  Jacob put sour cream and pico on his and exclaimed that it was delicious. 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Cinnamon Buns

The theme for the Recipe Swap this round was breakfast.  I was excited when I saw that my recipe was Christine's Kitchen Chronicles since I guest posted for her not too long ago.   Her blog is full of a lot of great recipes, so I was excited to try these.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Cinnamon Buns
from Christine's Kitchen Chronicles
Ingredients
For the Ready to Eat Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the Cinnamon Rolls:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 packet yeast (2-1/4 teaspoons)
4-1/2 cups flour (I used 1-1/2 cups whole wheat and 3 cups all purpose)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 stick (4 Tablespoons) butter
cinnamon
sugar
1 batch ready to eat cookie dough

For the Icing:

2 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoon butter, melted 

2 teaspoon vanilla
4 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk

 

Directions
1)  Make the Cookie Dough:  In a small bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla. Add in flour. Stir in chocolate chips.  Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.
2) Mix the milk, oil, and sugar in a large pot. Scald milk mixture (heat until not quite boiling) and then let it cool to room temperature.  If the liquid is too hot, you will kill your yeast and your rolls will not rise.
3) Sprinkle yeast over milk mixture and let it sit for a couple minutes.  Stir in 4 cups of flour to form a sticky dough. Cover pan and let the dough rise for 1 hour. 
4) After dough has risen, stir in remaining 1/2 cup of flour, baking powder, and baking soda until well combined. 
5) Divide dough in half. On a flour covered workplace, roll the dough out until it's about 1/8" thick and in a rectangular shape about 18 inches long and 12 inches wide.
6) Melt butter in a glass measuring cup or a small bowl. Pour half of the melted butter over the dough and spread using a brush. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (the amount is up to you). Top with spoonfuls of prepared chocolate chip cookie dough. 
7) Roll dough toward you, keeping the spiral as tight as possible. Cut into 3/4 inch slices. Place in a greased pan.  
8) Repeat this process with the other half of the dough.  
9) Let the cinnamon rolls rise again for 30 minutes. Then bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. 
10) While rolls are in the oven, mix together ingredients for icing.  You want it to be the consistency of a spreadable frosting.  Add powdered sugar if it is too runny and heavy cream if it is too thick. 
11) Let the rolls cool for about 5 minutes before icing.  

These are definitely more of a weekend recipe than a weekday recipe.  Since I don't have a lot of experience with yeast, I was scared, but everything turned out really good.  I don't know if these needed to be stuffed with cookie dough, but it made them different and they were good.  I doubled the amount of icing because we really like a lot of icing on our cinnamon rolls.  These would definitely be a great special breakfast for a holiday or a momentous occasion. 

What's Baking: Lemon Poppyseed Loaf

It was my time to host the What's Baking Challenge this month.  The girls in this swap usually come up with some really good themes, and I am not creative at all.  The one thing that I thought of was that in cooler weather, I love quickbreads.  I have made several banana quickbreads lately.  While they turned out fantastic, especially the Nutella Banana Bread that I tried, I decided to try something else.

I love lemon cakes.  When we're in the store and I see lemon cake of any kind, I always say that I'm going to go home and make a lemon poppyseed bread, but then never do.  I usually eat the loaves alone, so I try not to tempt myself too badly.  I decided to break down and finally make my lemon poppyseed loaf, especially since no one else made anything similar.

Lemon Poppyseed Loaf
barely adapted from StoneGable
Ingredients
3 tablespoons milk

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 cup sugar, divided

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon loosely packed grated lemon zest (~5 lemons)
2 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/8 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (~2 lemons)

 

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease large loaf pan. 

2) In a small bowl mix together milk, eggs and vanilla.

3) In a large bowl of a mixer, mix together flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and poppy seeds on low speed for 30 seconds.

4) Add all of the softened butter and 1/2 of the egg mixture. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds increasing speed to medium and mix for another 30 seconds. Add the rest of the egg mixtures in 2 parts mixing for 20 seconds in between.
5) Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6) Put 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup lemon in a saucepan and cook until sugar dissolves.

7) When pound cake is done, poke holes over the top of the cake with a skewer.  Brush glaze over cake.

 

 

 

I may be biased because I love lemon cakes, but I thought this was a good recipe.  I baked it about five minutes too long and it came out a little on the dry side, so I adjusted for the time difference in the directions.  The glaze made the cake moist and even more flavorful.  I wish there was a little more lemon flavor in the actual cake than the zest, but it is still a very good cake.

Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Smoothie

I love when recipe swaps coincide with something I'm craving.  I started jogging (really slow) again this week. When I get home from my so-called jog, I feel like I need something to drink, but something tasty as well.  When I got home the other day, I decided I wanted a smoothie, which was fantastic because the Crazy Cooking Challenge this month was smoothies.





I found this recipe on Closet Cooking.  This blog is written by Kevin Lynch, and his blog has some seriously drool-worthy recipes and photos.  I almost chose some of his grilled cheese recipes for the last Crazy Cooking Challenge.  He also has a lot of really great looking hamburgers and sandwiches.  If you're craving something new, pop over to Kevin's blog.  You'll spend hours enraptured by his pictures and recipes.


Blueberry Maple Oatmeal Smoothie
slightly adapted from Closet Cooking

Ingredients
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen) 

4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup milk or fruit juice 

Directions:
1) Mix the rolled oats into the yogurt and let sit in the fridge over night.  
2) Puree everything in a food processor.

I thought this was great for my first homemade smoothie.  The oatmeal provides great texture and everything goes really well together.  When I pureed everything in the blender, it looked like the consistency was off, but when drinking it, I decided it was the perfect smoothie consistency.

I couldn't taste the maple syrup at all at two tablespoons, like the original recipe called for, so I upped the amount, and finally could taste it in the mixture of ingredients.  In Kevin's description of this recipe, he said that he would throw in a banana if he had one.  I definitely think the blueberries need a little assistance in this drink.  While it tastes good on it's own, it seems like a supporting fruit was missing (my husband thought strawberries would be great, and I kind of thought the banana was an awesome suggestion).  I look forward to playing with this recipe some more and enjoying some other great smoothie combinations.

Breakfast Taquitos

When I wake up on Saturday, the first thing that crosses my mind is "What can we have for breakfast?".  I get tired of cereal and oatmeal during the week, so I use my weekends to make better breakfasts.  Sometimes my husband only wants egg sandwiches, but when I get the go ahead to make something else, I get excited.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right?

I've been spending more and more time on the Prevention, RD blog.  I love reading about her and her dog Lily, whose relationship reminds me a lot of my relationship with my dog.  She's also moving like I am, so I like to see where she's at in the moving stage compared to us (her move is going much more smoothly than mine is).  I also love seeing her pictures and blog posts.  I wish my food looked as appetizing as hers does.  Maybe someday.  I digress...let's get to the recipe.

Breakfast Taquitos
slightly adapted from Prevention, RD
Ingredients
non-stick cooking spray
12 large eggs
1 1/2 cups 2% plain Greek yogurt, divided
1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup part-skim (2%) Mexican blend cheese, shredded
1/4 cup roasted red bell peppers, chopped
3 green onions, sliced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons hot sauce (we used green tabasco sauce)
18 (6-inch) flour tortillas
juice of 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon cumin

Optional toppings:
salsa
pico de gallo
avocado

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray and set aside. (I forgot to spray my foil before I put them in and they were SUPER difficult to free from the foil...so this is an important step).
2) If you're roasting your pepper yourself, roast your pepper before you start messing with the eggs. We put ours on the grill until all the sides are red with black splotches, and then take it off and let it sit. 
3) Crack eggs into large mixing bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
4) Spray a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and head over medium heat. When skillet is hot, add egg mixture to pan.
5) Using a rubber spatula, gently scrape bottom of pan and fold eggs over to scramble. Remove from heat when slightly undercooked. Add cheese, roasted red peppers, green onions, cilantro, and hot sauce to taste. Gently fold to combine.
5) Warm tortillas in microwave to ease rolling process. Working with a few tortillas at a time, place a scant 1/4 cup egg mixture into each tortilla and roll up into a cylinder. Place rolled tortillas on prepared baking sheet, seam-side down. When all tortillas are rolled and filled, lightly spray tops with cooking spray.
6) Bake for 15-18 minutes or until edges are golden brown and crisp.
7) While the taquitos are in the oven, combine remaining 1 cup Greek yogurt, lime juice, cumin, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Stir to combine and store in fridge.
8) Remove taquitos from oven , let cool for 5 minutes, and then serve with dipping sauce and any desired toppings.

I thought these were a fantastic breakfast.  My husband said they were missing salsa, so he threw salsa on his, but I thought they were great the way they were.  I liked that they incorporate bell peppers and green onions too, so they felt a little heartier than just normal eggs wrapped in a tortilla.  I had never used Greek yogurt in eggs before, and I have to tell you that I'm a fan.  I think it makes them lighter and fluffier than making them with milk.  Definitely will have to make these again for breakfast sometime soon.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins

Strawberries are one of those mesmerizing fruits at the grocery store.  I walk past them and they lure me in with their bright red color. So, I buy them and take them home, and the next time I look at them, they are sad looking, and not so appetizing.  But the cycle repeats quite frequently at the grocery store.  Someday I'll beat the cycle...or not.

These muffins came on a day where I remembered that I had strawberries in my fridge that I had bought, and needed to use them.  Some of my recipe swap friends had been posting these, and they sounded awesome.  So this recipe saved some of the poor strawberries in my fridge from going into the trash. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins
from Carrie's Sweet Life
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
2 eggs
½ cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1.5 cups chopped fresh strawberries

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2) In a mixer cream together the cream cheese, butter, and sugar.
3) Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla and mix until just combined.
4) In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt.
5) Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix until just combined. Be careful not to over mix.
6) The batter will be thick, almost like cookie dough. Fold in the strawberries.
7)  Spoon batter into a paper lined muffin pan. Fill the muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are golden. Cool on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes.
 
I became addicted to these little muffins throughout the week.  They are a lot like cupcakes, so I took them into my office, and they were devoured within an hour.  The only problem that I did have was that some of the muffins ended up without strawberries, so you could just decorate the tops with the strawberries instead of trying to fold them into the batter.  This would ensure that every one of these great muffins would have strawberries in them.  The next time you have some strawberries that are sitting all alone in your fridge, think of these and use them up.

What's Baking: Blueberry Lemon Loaf

I still feel like a novice baker, but like the age old saying goes "Practice makes perfect.".  I decided to join another recipe challenge that has to do with baking.  Deep down inside, I felt like it would be a great challenge, but at the same time, I was scared about how my project would turn out.  This month's challenge from Ammie at Adventures in My Kitchen: baking with produce.

I have to admit that the recipe I wanted to make changed a lot.  First it was raspberry and lemon cupcakes, but my store didn't have raspberries.  Then I thought I'd do the Blueberry Lemon cupcakes from Annie's Eats, but mid-week, I changed my mind because I didn't want to bother with frosting anything.  So, I found this: Blueberry Lemon Loaf.  I love recipe challenges because they cause me to stumble over new blogs.  Hopefully other people stumble across my blog that way too.

Blueberry Lemon Loaf- makes one loaf
adapted from Vicarious Foodie
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)
1/2 cup milk
2 1/4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Lemon Glaze:
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
6  tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for dark-finish pans) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Grease a loaf pan, so loaf doesn't stick.

2) In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3) In the bowl of an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until softened. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, lemon zest, and lemon juicet.
4) With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined.
5) Gently fold in the blueberries.
6) Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7)  Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the 1/3 cup of sugar and the 3 tablespoons of lemon juice to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
8) When the bread is done, remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Pierce the hot loaves all over with a wooden skewer or toothpick, and then brush the tops of the loaves with the hot lemon glaze. Cool the loaves in the pans for about 30 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

While I found this bread really good, I love intense lemon flavors, so I adjusted the recipe to include more lemon juice.  If you like duller lemon flavors, don't add the lemon juice to the wet mix ingredient mixture, and cut the glaze amount in half.  I also added quite a bit more blueberries so that the loaf was bursting with blueberries.  I thought it was a great loaf and would be perfect for a brunch or just a morning get together with friends.  I love the contrasting colors of the lemons and the blueberries and am glad that I ended up making this, instead of the other choices.  So next time you find yourself scared of baking, try making this lemon loaf: very easy to make and very good.

Breakfast Grilled Cheese

When I heard this month's theme for Crazy Cooking Challenge was Grilled Cheese, I got super excited.  I also learned a lot about the sandwiches in the process.  Did you know that there is a Grilled Cheese Invitational?  It is a chance for people in search of the perfect grilled cheese to all rendezvous at the same location and hope to become a Grilled Cheese Champion in their cooking contests.  I think that's awesome.  Look it up if you haven't heard about it yet at the Grilled Cheese Invitational website.





In my quest for the perfect grilled cheese, I ran into Grilled Cheese Social. Grilled Cheese Social is written by MacKenzie Smith.  MacKenzie comes up with some amazing grilled cheeses and has everything from breakfast to dessert sandwiches. The writing on her blog makes you feel like your her best friend the second you step onto her site. I spent a lot of time clicking and reading through all her posts and finally decided on the Breakfast Grilled Cheese.

Breakfast Grilled Cheese
slightly adapted from Grilled Cheese Social
Ingredients
Grilled Cheese
1 egg, scrambled
salt and pepper
2 slices of sourdough bread

1/3 cup of crumbled goat cheese
1 tablespoon of basil pesto (I couldn't find arugula to make the arugula pesto)
2 pats of salted butter

Pesto
from Savory Sweet Life
Ingredients

2 cups of fresh basil, packed
3 cloves of garlic (more of less depending on how spicy you like it)
1/4 cup of pine nuts
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
A pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1) In a food processor, pulsate basil, pine nuts, garlic, and Parmesan cheese until everything is mixed in with each other. Slowly add extra virgin olive oil and pulsate again until everything is fully combined and incorporated. Season with salt and pepper.

2) Scramble one egg, seasoning with salt and pepper.

3) Lay out two pieces of bread.  Crumble goat cheese on one side, and spread pesto on the other.  Place the scrambled egg on top of one of the pieces of bread, and then close the sandwich.

4) Place butter either in a skillet on the stove or on your panini maker.

5) Cook until sandwich is at the desired toasted level.

We loved these sandwiches.  We just recently found goat cheese at our store, and so we hadn't really thought to use it in grilled cheese.  The pesto and the cheese worked great together, and the sandwich was truly delicious.  My husband was disappointed that he only asked for one sandwich.  I think we'll see these on the menu for many weekends to come.

To check out more cheesy deliciousness, please click on any of the pictures below!

Blueberry Banana Walnut Muffins

Every once in awhile, I feel adventurous when it comes to breakfast.  Usually, we eat cereal or oatmeal and just get ready and go to work.  However, I love banana bread, so I try to make that every once in awhile.

I had planned on making Nutella Banana Bread, mostly because my husband hasn't ever tried Nutella, but when we had leftover blueberries, I decided to try that instead.  When I googled Blueberry Banana Bread, a blog that I knew popped up, so I knew I had to try that recipe...especially since I had never made a recipe from her blog before.

Blueberry Banana Walnut Muffins
slightly adapted from Mrs Regueiro's Plate
Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup buttermilk*
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh blueberries (no need to thaw)
1 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and halved into small pieces

*If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can make it by combining one tablespoon of white vinegar, and filling a measuring cup up the rest of the way with milk.  Wait five minutes and then use in the recipe.



Directions
1) Put oven rack on lowest position.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 2 loaf pans, or muffin tins.
2) Cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Stir in eggs until well blended.
3) Stir in bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
4) Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt until just moistened.
5) Fold in the blueberries.
6) Divide batter evenly between the two loaf pans, or scoop batter in to muffin tins, making sure they aren't more than two-thirds of the way full.
7) Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan.
8)  Loosen sides and remove bread from pans. Cool completely before eating, about 2 hours.

I loved these muffins.  I loved the crunch of the walnuts in between the bites of fruit packed muffin.  I thought they had great flavor and yet they will still incredibly moist.  If you turn this into a muffin recipe, it makes about 30 muffins, which is enough to freeze for later, or surprise your coworkers with a great breakfast as well.

California Egg Bake

When we first got married, I was a really bad judge at how much produce we'd need for a week.  If I had two recipes that called for onions, I'd buy two full onions.  Then, at the end of the week, when I only used one of the onions, I'd just chuck the onion into the trash.  Over time, I've gotten better at judging, but every once in awhile it still happens.

At the end of last week, I had leftover green onions, a leftover avocado, and a leftover tomato.  I remembered that I had found the recipe for an egg bake that contained a few of these things, and when I looked at it again, lo and behold, I had everything but the cream cheese.

California Egg Bake
slightly adapted from Skip to My Lou
Ingredients
8 eggs
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
3 cups shredded Jack cheese
1 large ripe tomato, diced
1 large avocado, cubed
3/4 cup green onions, diced
4 oz cream cheese cut into small chunks
1/2 cup milk


Directions
1) Prepare 8×8 dish with nonstick spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2) Mix eggs with milk and seasonings, beat well.
3) Layer 2 cups Jack cheese. Layer remaining ingredients: avocados, tomatoes, green onions, cream cheese. Cover with remaining cheese and cover all with egg/milk mixture. 
4) Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Enjoy

This egg bake was very flavorful.  We very rarely put much in our eggs besides cheese and meat, so it was nice to try a different flavor profile with all of the produce in the recipe.  My husband thought it was really cheesy, and I agree, so if you don't want the extra cheese, you could easily cut it down to 2 cups of cheese total.  This would also be great with any type of colored peppers, jalapenos, or even shredded potatoes in it, if you have any of those leftover as well. 

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

Confession:  I have never made muffins from scratch.  I think it is because until recently, I was petrified of baking.  It seems so calculated and precise that I figured so many things could go wrong...especially at high altitude.  I usually just buy the packets that you add water and an egg to and whip them up that way.
            


When I saw the Crazy Cooking Challenge for this month, I was excited because it was something outside my comfort zone that I had never made before.  Since we live at high altitude, I was worried about the muffin moisture turning out right.  Most of our baked goods are much dryer up here, so I decided to try this recipe for Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins from The Idea Room.

The Idea Room is written by Amy Huntley, who seems to be a very organized mother of five kids.  She has everything from food crafts (Powdered Donut Snowmen), to crafts (How to Make Your Own Menu Board, to awesome food recipes (like these Blueberry Muffins).


Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins
barely adapted from The Idea Room
Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1 1/4 cups sour cream (about 10 ounces)
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (1 pint)


Directions
1) Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin.
2) Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Whisk egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add sour cream in 2 additions, whisking just to combine.
3) Add blueberries to dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed. (Small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick. Do not overmix.)
4) Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop batter into greased muffin tin. Bake until light golden brown and insert toothpick into the center of muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time. Let muffins cool down for 5 minutes.

I couldn't believe how moist these cupcakes were, and the flavor was fantastic.  The pint of blueberries created the perfect amount of blueberry to actual muffin.  I usually drown the packet muffins in a lot of butter, but these required nothing and still tasted amazing.  On the Idea Room, it was suggested that you can melt butter and dip these in cinnamon sugar.  I tried that, but it seemed like the cinnamon overwhelmed the flavor of the blueberries, so I left mine plain.  Now that I know how easy muffins are, I'll never use a store-bought mix again.

Click on the links below to see other great Crazy Cooking Challenge Blueberry Muffin recipes!

Baked Oatmeal with Apples and Mixed Fruit

Since I started blogging, I am becoming more and more aware of how many ingredients aren't available in my grocery stores.  I find some amazing recipes, but end up passing on them because I cannot find the ingredients to make the dish.

I love Nicole's blog.  I read it religiously, but there are many ingredients that she uses that I haven't been able to find.  When I got her Oatmeal recipe for the Fruit Recipe Swap, I was excited to tackle something of hers, but I knew that I'd have to make some types of substitutions.  

I looked everywhere in our grocery store for both agave nectar and any type of cranberries (fresh or frozen) to use in the dish when I first got the recipe.  I couldn't find either of them.  The funny thing is, I made this recipe on Saturday morning and we went grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon and right in the middle of the only aisle I hadn't looked in was Agave Nectar.  So, at least I found that Wyoming does indeed have Agave Nectar...however the cranberries still never turned up.

Baked Oatmeal with Apples and Mixed Fruit

slightly adapted from PreventionRD 

Ingredients

3 cups old-fashioned oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 cups milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 apples, peeled, cored and rough chopped
1 cup frozen mixed fruit (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350° F.

2) Mix oats, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside. 

3) In a large bowl, mix together applesauce, milk, egg, vanilla, and honey. 

4) Combine wet and dry and fold in apples, mixed fruit, and nuts.

5) Pour oatmeal mixture into a greased 9×13 baking dish and bake for 45 minutes. 

As this baked in the oven, the smell of cinnamon flooded our house.  The smell was amazing.  I haven't ever baked oatmeal, but it was pretty close to the consistency that I was expecting.  All of the fruit and nuts in this oatmeal made it fantastic.  Every bite exploded with a different berry and a crunch that made everything perfect.  This is a great breakfast!

Biscuits and Gravy

When I was growing up, I remember my mom's biscuits and gravy were amazing.  I remember only liking her biscuits and gravy.  They were so great that I know that I haven't made biscuits and gravy for fear that mine won't turn out as good as hers.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were talking about making things from scratch, and gravy was one of those things that I hadn't ever thought of making from scratch before.  I even asked him, "What ingredients make up gravy?", and he didn't know either.  When I was perusing Nicole's 2011 recap post, I saw her Biscuits and Peppered Sausage Gravy.  It seemed so easy I had to try it. 

Biscuits and Gravy
slightly adapted from PreventionRD
Ingredients
Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon Splenda
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Gravy
10 oz reduced fat pork sausage
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 cups milk (I used 1%.)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon rosemary, chopped


For Biscuits:
1) Preheat oven to 450 F. Grease a large baking sheet and set aside.
2) Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and wisk to combine. Stir in the milk and softened butter until a crumbly dough forms. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
3) Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness and, using a circle cookie cutter, cut into 12 rounds.
4)  Place rounds on the prepared baking sheet, brush with melted butter, and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

For Gravy:
1) Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, break it up with a wooden spoon, and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes.
2) Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to a bowl, leaving the rendered fat in the skillet.
3) Whisk the flour into the fat and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute.
4) While whisking, pour the milk and butter into the skillet and bring the gravy to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 2-3 minutes, or until desired thickness is reached.
5) Stir in the sausage and season with pepper, salt, and rosemary. Split the biscuits in half and divide them among plates. Top each biscuit with some gravy and serve immediately.

Our gravy took about 15 minutes to thicken, and we added more seasoning (which is reflected in the recipe above) to the gravy because the gravy didn't really develop that many flavors before it thickened.  But we loved this meal.  Our biscuits were perfect.  I will put a little more butter on the top of the biscuits.  This recipe isn't as perfect as my mom's recipe, but it was perfect enough for me.  I may just keep this in the arsenal to  someday feed my kids, and hopefully they will love it as much as I loved my moms.

Cranberry Vanilla Coffee Cake

I love cranberries but have never had fresh ones at all.  During the week of Thanksgiving, fresh ones were on sale at our grocery store. I grabbed a bag and planned on using it in something, although I had no idea what.

I was looking for a breakfast idea one morning and ran across Cranberry Coffee Cake.  I found this one on the Smitten Kitchen website and was very happy because I had all of the ingredients.  

So I dove into the recipe and have decided that I'm going to find more recipes to use fresh cranberries in.

Cranberry Vanilla Coffee Cake
slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups fresh or thawed frozen cranberries
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened, divided
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 9- by 2-inch round cake pan. (I used a square one since all our circular ones were being used and it turned out fine).
2) Put sugar into food processor, add vanilla, and pulse to combine. Transfer to a bowl.
3) Pulse cranberries with 1/2 cup of the vanilla sugar in processor until finely chopped (do not purée).
4) Whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt.
5) Beat together 1 stick butter and 1 cup vanilla sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down side and bottom of bowl.
6) Reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour, until just combined.
7) Spread half of batter in pan, then spoon cranberries over it, leaving a 1/2-inch border around edge. Spoon small bits of the remaining batter over the top of the cranberries and smooth them with as gentle of a hand as possible.
8) Blend remaining 1/4 cup vanilla sugar with remaining tablespoon each of butter and flour using your fingertips. Crumble over top of cake.
9) Bake until a wooden pick inserted into cake (not into cranberry filling) comes out clean and side begins to pull away from pan, 45 to 50 minutes.
10) Cool in pan 30 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely, crumb side up

Jacob suggested that next time we use brown sugar as the topping, and I think I'll try that instead.  Flavorwise the topping didn't really do much, but I think the brown sugar might change things up a little bit.  I think that I'd also add even more cranberries than I did.  I think three cups would be great (but then again I love cranberries).  This was a great breakfast, it was a perfect balance of tart and sweet.

Spinach, Mushroom, Turkey Bacon, Feta Quiche

The more I cook, the more I think that my blog name is completely appropriate for what I'm doing.  Jacob and I tried to make cookies this past weekend that were sabotaged by the altitude in Wyoming (and the fact that we didn't know how to compensate for the altitude).

It turns out the quiche was another one of those recipes where I went to pull it out of the oven at the original time that the Prevention RD blog said, and my quiche was a giant egg soup.  So then I just played the guessing game as to when everything would be done.  Living at 6,200 feet is very interesting sometimes.

I love quiches though.  My mom made them a lot growing up, and they just seem like such a fancy meal even though you could basically throw anything in there and it would taste fantastic.  I decided to try some new ingredients, and thought maybe I'd see how it would turn out using egg whites instead of a half a dozen whole eggs like my other recipe demands.

Spinach, Mushroom, Turkey Bacon, Feta Quiche
slightly adapted from Prevention RD, originally from Erin’s Food Files

Ingredients

1 store-bought frozen pastry shell
5 slices turkey bacon
2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 chopped onion
2 cups chopped spinach
1 cup chopped baby bella mushrooms

1/4 cup chicken broth
2 eggs
3 egg whites
2/3 cup fat free half & half
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 tablespoon Italian Seasonings
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 375° F. Bake pastry shell for 8-10 minutes or until browned. Remove shell from oven, and set aside. Leave oven on.
2) Chop turkey bacon and saute in a skillet over medium high heat until slightly crispy. Remove from pan and set aside.
3) Heat oil over medium to medium high heat. Add onion, saute 2-3 minutes until tender. Add mushrooms, spinach, and chicken broth. Saute 4-5 minutes until spinach is soft and the chicken broth has absorbed into everything.  Add turkey bacon back to the pan and stir to combine well.
4) In a bowl beat eggs, egg whites, and half & half. Season with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Add in veggie/bacon mixture and stir to combine. Add feta, stir to combine, and pour into pie shell.
5) Bake 40-50 minutes or until completely set, and slightly golden & crispy on top. Serves 4.

I thought the feta was an amazing strong flavor in this quiche.  I like spinach, but the strands of spinach bothered me a little texture wise.  The mushrooms were soft and gave the quiche that hearty filling.  We didn't let our bacon cook as long as it should have, so it was just kind of a limp addition to the pie.  We decided it would be even more amazing if the bacon was crispier.  Everything went together well though and with the addition of that buttery golden crust, it was so hard to stop eating it. 

Oh, and we couldn't even tell that the quiche was made with more egg whites than whole eggs.  Substituting the egg whites didn't affect the flavor at all.

Banana Bread

We were grocery shopping this week and I walked past a big sign that read "Bananas on sale for 20 cents a pound, great for Banana Bread!". 

I don't really like bananas.  I think it is a texture thing.  I try to pick one up every once in awhile, but always fail to eat the entire thing.  However, I love banana bread.  I guess anything is better when it is hidden inside something amazing.

I found a super easy recipe.  One that doesn't even call for a mixer.  I doubled the recipe and now have breakfast for a long time to go.

Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2) Mixed mashed bananas and butter in a large mixing bowl.
3) Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.
4) Sprinkle in the baking soda and the salt.
5) Add flour and mix well.
Cook for 1 hour, yields one loaf.

I thought it tasted great.  I didn't mash the bananas too fine, so there are big chunks in there.  I also put a little extra vanilla just because I am a fan of the "imitation" vanilla flavoring.  This has inspired me to try other breakfast creations: muffins, maybe scones.