Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes

My kids never liked pancakes.  In fact, I haven't been a huge fan recently either.  One morning, I was in the mood to cook so I decided to make them from scratch rather than adding water to the Krusteaz mix.  Wow, what a difference!  Since then, I have tried many recipes and combined them until I think I have found the perfect concoction.  Now we all love them!  These are so delicious.  Just mix all these things together and store in your pantry, then just scoop out what you need for breakfast.  Enjoy!

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 Cups Rolled Quick Oats (I process mine in the blender dry before adding them to the mix because I don't love having the texture of the oats in my pancakes, but this is optional)
2 Tbs. Sugar
2 Tbs. Baking Powder
3/4 Tbs. Baking Soda
3/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

When you want to make pancakes in the morning,  mix together the following:

1 1/2 Cups Mix
1 Cup Buttermilk (I always have this on hand.  Click here to read how)
1 Egg

Cook on griddle or skillet and serve.  This is the right amount to feed my family of 4, with a little leftover.

Raisin Bran Banana Muffins

Everyone needs more recipes for using up over-ripe bananas. I tried this one the other day and we loved it. They're healthier than the average muffin with the fruit and fiber in them.

2 Cups Raisin Bran Cereal
1 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Walnuts, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg
1 Cup Buttermilk
1/4 Cup Cooking Oil

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cereal, flour, sugar, walnuts, baking soda and salt.
3. Break the egg into another bowl and beat it together with the buttermilk and oil.
4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together.
5. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full with mixture.
6. Bake about 20-25 minutes.

Cinna-YUM Roll

Ok, Lame food title, I know...but it's true. I have been in search of the perfect cinnamon roll recipe for a couple of years now. I make them twice a year because they're such a pain in the %@&, but I love them, so I keep trying to make them. I always end up with disappointing results. The dough has no flavor, it's too tough, not fluffy enough, not dense enough, the filling is not gooey enough, too crispy, doesn't cling to the roll, the frosting tastes like raw powdered sugar, the recipe doesn't make enough, it's not spreadable, etc. etc. etc. Let me also add that I am not a baker. I love to cook (obviously), but I can't say I've ever really 100% successfully baked anything. So I am certain this is a large contributor to the fact that my cinnamon rolls have never quite worked. All the more reason to find a perfect recipe, you know?...fool proof! So, I think I did.

After working hard all day laboring over these rolls, I grunted as I removed them from the oven and they were overcooked. I wasn't surprised, of course, but annoyed. I frosted them up knowing we were about to dig into yet another crappy batch of cinnamon rolls. And then?! Whoa! These were good! Really, really good! Not to say they were perfect, but the problem was the baker, not the recipe. I really think this recipe is perfect. I have some plans to change a few of my techniques here and there next time I make these, but I have finally found a winner.

To give credit where credit's due, I found this recipe on the "all recipes" app on my IPAD. Awesome app, by the way, and it's free. I use it all the time. This recipe was called "Clone of a Cinnabon"...and it really was.

Dough

1 Cup Milk, warm

2 Eggs, room temperature (see all this temperature junk?? This is exactly why I hate baking. The moon has to perfectly align with the planet in order for a baked good to come out right...sorry, I digress)

1/3 Cup Margarine, melted (I used butter, but I'll try margarine next time since the recipe calls for it and maybe the special scientific process used in creating margarine is necessary for the said baked good to come out right)

4 1/2 Cups Bread Flour (I used all-purpose flour, but again, will certainly use the bread flour next time since it will probably make these even more delicious...unimaginable)

1 teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup White Sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons Bread Machine Yeast

Filling

1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
2 1/2 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon
1/3 Cup Butter, Softened

Frosting

1 (6 oz.) Package Cream Cheese, softened
2/3 Cup Butter, softened
3 Cups Confectioners Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Ok, admittedly, when I made these, I doubled the frosting. The recipe shown here is the doubled recipe because I think it's necessary and when I make these again, I want them to have the right amount of frosting. I made one batch and it wasn't enough, so I made a second batch separately. It was probably more than necessary, but I can't say it hurt them:)

1. Place dough ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press start. (Note: I'm sure you could make these without a bread maker, but since I can't bake, I couldn't tell you how).

2. After the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. (Note: I didn't have to flour a surface, the dough was dry enough that it didn't stick).

3. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.

4. Roll dough into a rectangle (it says 16x21, but I didn't measure and I just felt lucky enough to be able to get it into a shape that somewhat resembled a rectangle).

5. Spread dough with 1/3 Cup softened butter and sprinkle evenly with the sugar/cinnamon mixture.

6. Roll up dough and cut into rolls (it says 12, I got 15).

7. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9X13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes (ha ha, while typing this I realized I totally skipped this step!). Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

8. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

9. While rolls are baking, beat together all the frosting ingredients.

10. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Ta Da! (Hailee says that's short for Da Da Ta Da!) Happy Baking!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Muffins

Your kids will love cutting into these and finding a surprise inside! We make these for breakfast. Sorry I suck at taking pictures:)

1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Oats
1/4 Cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Oil
3/4 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
Jam

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Grease muffin tin.
3. In a large bowl, stir together flour, oats, sugar baking powder and salt.
4. In another bowl, mix together the egg, milk, oil and peanut butter.
5. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients until just combined.
6. Fill muffin cups 1/2 full with mixture.
7. Cover each muffin cup with the other 1/2 of the muffin mixture.
In this picture I've covered 1/2 with the rest of the muffin mixture and half still have the jam exposed.8. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.

Unfortunately I overcooked mine so the pictures aren't great, but you get the idea:)
Variation ideas:
1. Replace the peanut butter with mashed bananas and use whole blueberries in the middle instead of the jam.
2. Replace the peanut butter with cream cheese and use sliced strawberries or peaches instead of the jam.

Breakfast Skillet

I'm always trying to come up with new ideas for breakfast because I make breakfasts more often than dinners! I got the idea for this from a food blog, but I can't remember which one. I adjusted it to our liking. My kids loved this. It's one of those methods, not recipes, but those are the best because you can throw in whatever you like!

First, fry some eggs in a skillet (one per person). I prefer mine over-medium (whites fully cooked, yolks warmed through & slightly thickened), but you can make them however you like them. When they're done the way you like them, slide them onto a plate and cover with foil to keep them warm.

For the hashbrowns, you could use frozen hashbrowns or make your own. I made my own this time. It's perfect if you're looking for some uses for your big bag of potatoes in the pantry! Just wash and peel the potatoes and shred them with a food processor. Be sure to soak them in water to release the starches. It makes a huge difference in the texture of the potatoes. After soaking them in water, pat them dry with a paper towel. Then put some butter and olive oil in the skillet you used to cook the eggs and throw the the potatoes in. (Tip: The butter is for the flavor and the oil is so the butter can reach a higher temperature without turning brown). DON'T TOUCH THEM for at least a couple minutes. You want them to be brown and crunchy on the outsides and soft on the inside. The center will steam as the outsides are cooking. Flip them over once to brown the other side. As I cooked them, I seasoned them with salt, pepper and some chives.
Then top with crumbled bacon and cheese. I didn't show the step of cooking the bacon because I used pre-cooked bacon! You could cook the bacon in the skillet before the eggs if you need to cook them, or use the microwave while you're doing everything else. You could also substitute sausage or ham.
After the cheese is melted, slide your eggs back onto the hashbrowns. I then topped them with cherry tomatoes and parsley. Mostly just for color and because I had them in my garden, but it did make them pretty and delicious.
I know some people have an aversion to this, but this is the way I like them! The yolk spills all over the hashbrowns and flavors them up. Yum Yum!
It's easy and something different than the standard pancake breakfast!

Fruity French Toast Casserole

I got a version of this recipe from KSTU-TV, but adapted it for my own family. I cook a hot breakfast at least 4 days a week, so I'm always looking for new things so it's not always the standard "bacon & eggs" or "pancakes". Also, anywhere you can sneak some fruit in is always a bonus. This one is good and just fun for something a little different from the standard breakfast foods. This will serve about 4-6 people.

Casserole

6 Slices Bread, cubed

4 oz (1/2 pkg.) Cream Cheese, cut into small cubes

1 Cup Fresh Fruit (blueberries, strawberries, peaches or whatever you like)

5 Eggs

¼ Cup Milk

¼ Cup Maple Syrup

1) Place ½ of cubed bread in a well greased baking dish (8X8’ish or one like I told you about in this post). Spread around evenly.

2) Sprinkle cubed cream cheese evenly in dish over the bread.

3) Arrange fruit on top of bread & cream cheese.

4) Top with remaining bread cubes.

5) Beat together eggs, milk and syrup and pour over bread mixture so everything is moistened.

6) Cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least a couple hours.

7) In the morning, bake at 350 covered with foil for 30 min.

8) Remove foil and bake another 30 min. until lightly browned.

Fruit Topping

½ Cup Water

½ Cup Sugar

1 Tbsp. Cornstarch

1 Tbsp. Butter

1 Cup Fresh Fruit (same as in the bread mixture, or not I guess)

1) While the casserole is baking, combine water, sugar and cornstarch in pan and stir together to dissolve sugar.

2) Heat until thickened and add the fruit. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes.

3) Remove from heat and add butter. Stir together until butter is melted.

Cut french toast into servings and top with fruit mixture.

Biscuits & Gravy

This is your basic run of the mill biscuits & gravy recipe, but I wanted to post it because I have a great recipe for leftovers. You can click this link for that recipe: Sausage Gravy Pasta. Even though these are basic and easy, I make them all the time at my house because my kids LOVE them...well, and so do I!

4 Buttermilk Biscuits (we like Pillsbury frozen biscuits best)
1 tube Jimmy Dean Sausage
2 Cups Milk
2-4 Tablespoons Flour

1. Prepare biscuits as instructed on package.
2. Brown sausage in skillet. As soon as sausage is completely brown, turn to medium heat.
3. Add flour by the tablespoon, stirring constantly. Let the flour turn BROWN before adding another tablespoon (if you don't, your gravy will taste like flour).
4. After you have added enough flour to make the gravy as thick as you like, add milk and stir with whisk.

Serve over biscuits.

Eggs 'n Gravy

I recently discovered this breakfast food and I absolutely love it! We all need another way to cook eggs, right? I've never heard of this method before, but it's so simple. The kids love it too.

It's made just like you would make biscuits and gravy (which I just recently learned how to make as well), except with eggs instead of sausage. You'll need some biscuits, so you can either use pre-made biscuits or start cooking your favorite kind while you're preparing the rest.

1. First you hard boil some eggs (I make one per person). Peel them and then separate the whites from the yolks.
2. While the eggs are cooking, heat a pan over medium-high heat. Add butter and cornstarch or flour. Whisk them together. This is a roux.
3. When the butter is melted, add milk while stirring. Make sure it is hot enough that it's bubbling a bit so it will thicken.
4. Add salt & pepper to taste. I also add a little hot sauce here because I always add hot sauce to my eggs, but you can leave that out if you don't like it.
5. Chop up the egg whites and add them to the milk mixture.
6. Split each biscuit in half and spoon some of the egg/milk mixture onto it.
7. Crumble an egg yolk over the top of each biscuit.

Ok, normally I just "eye-ball" it, but in the interest of trying to create a recipe, here are the general amounts per person:
1 Egg, 1/2 Tbsp. Butter, 1/2 Tbsp. Cornstarch/Flour, 3/4 Cup Milk, 1 Biscuit.

Apple Pancakes with Cinnamon Syrup

This recipe is from my mom. She made these often when we were still living at home. It's nice having another recipe to throw your apples in. I love these and the syrup is so good, you could drink it!

Pancakes:
1 1/2 Cups Flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon Sugar
3/4 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg, beaten
1 Cup Evaporated Milk
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Apple, peeled & chopped

1. Stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar & salt.
2. Combine the beaten egg, milk & melted butter.
3. Add the liquid mixture gradually to dry ingredients, stirring only until the batter is smooth.
4. Fold in the chopped apples. The batter will be very thick.
5. Drop the batter by generous tablespoons onto a hot, greased griddle, spreading to make the pancakes round. Allow plenty of cooking time as the pancakes are very thick.

Syrup:
1 Cup Light Corn Syrup
2 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Water
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 Cup Evaporated Milk

1. Mix together the corn syrup, sugar, water & cinnamon in a medium size sauce pan. Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring constantly for 2 more minutes.
2. Remove from heat and cool 5 minutes.
3. Slowly stir in the evaporated milk.

A little extra tip on this syrup is that I pour it over my yams at Thanksgiving too!

Dutch Babies

I thought I'd start with a breakfast food. I love these! This is a refreshing change from the typical breakfast foods. These were always my older brother's favorites growing up. Give them a try!

6 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup Butter
Lemon, Powdered Sugar & Maple Syrup

1. Combine the eggs, milk & salt in a blender. Blend the batter until fluffy.
2. Tap in the flour a little at a time, beating the ingredients until well blended.
3. Melt the butter in a 9X13 inch baking dish in a 425 degree oven. When the butter is bubbly, pour on the batter.
4. Immediately return the mixture to the oven. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon, a sprinkle of powdered sugar and some maple syrup. Yum!