on homemade whole wheat flax muffins...

I've been experimenting with muffin recipes lately. I wanted to create a muffin that was low in calories but high in protein and also low in sugar. I know what you're saying to yourself…What kind of muffin is that?! But for me, I wanted to find a perfect muffin that I can grab and go when I start school. I'll be waking up early and so I've been thinking up different breakfast goodies I can make ahead of time. This morning I tried out a recipe that I sort of put together with all the ingredients that I had hoped to be able to use and it worked out! And they are delicious!

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup flax seeds
1 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz apple sauce

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Prepare a muffin pan with liners, or by lightly greasing each well baking spray. In a large bowl, lightly whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger.

2. Whisk the sour cream, honey, egg, olive oil, and vanilla extract together in a separate small bowl. Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in this liquid mixture. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to gently but firmly fold the ingredients together, folding from the bottom up to make sure all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Stop as soon as the mixture comes together; do not over mix. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until barely golden on top.

3. Enjoy with jam, butter or whipped honey! Yum!! 

xoxo.

on cheddar sage biscuits...

These turned out amazing if I do say so myself. I've never made homemade biscuits and I'm pretty excited about how these turned out. I had already planned ahead of time that we were going to have creamed chipped beef for breakfast and had the longing to get a bit fancy with biscuits instead of just using regular toasted bread. 

These Cheddar Sage Biscuits are perfect to have with something like creamed chipped beef for example or even making breakfast sandwiches out of them. And I don't see why you can't enjoy them along side a meal. Sage is one of my favorite herbs to cook with. The aroma it gives off while baking or cooking is beyond words. I can't even give you a description that will give the taste of it alone any justice. So with that being said you'll just need to make them to really truly understand anything I've just said. Okay? Yeah. Good. 

Ingredients:
2 cups flour 
2 tablespoons fresh sage 
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter, chopped into cubes
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 cup buttermilk 

Directions: 
1// Preheat oven to 400°. Aline a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2// Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Using your hands, pastry blender or even your kitchen aid (which is what I did and it worked just fine) add cubed up cold butter and work it into the dry ingredients. Keep working butter into the dry ingredients until it starts looking like course meal and crumbles. 
3// Add buttermilk. In the bowl, using your hands work the buttermilk until everything starts to hold together. Next work in the sage and cheddar cheese. 
4// Transfer to a floured work station and roll out dough to about 1/2 inches thick. Use a round cutter (or the top of a mason jar!) and press down,  twist and place on baking sheet. Brush tops of biscuits with some buttermilk and place them in the oven. 
5// Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until golden.

Enjoy!

on the ultimate breakfast sandwich...

Remember the recent post on my The Ultimate French Toast with the secret ingredient well, I made the Ultimate Breakfast Sandwiches. Amazing! Using the same French Toast recipe I made some really kick butt breakfast sandwiches. I swear, best idea I've ever came up with. You've got to try this out for yourself. I always love a chance to be creative with things and of course this allows you to customize your perfect sandwich. We decided to combine bacon, egg and cheese. The combination of sweet and savory is delicious so if you're in the market for your next breakfast idea...you can thank me later!

Well, I'm ready for a relaxing Saturday. Today will be full of checking things off my todo list, baking in my kitchen, creating a meal plan and spending precious moments with Sebastian. Hope you all are doing something you love today! 

xoxo.

on sweet potato waffles with candied bacon...

Sweet Potato Waffles with Candied Bacon. Yeah man, this happened this morning and we give it two thumbs up. My little picky eater boy even ate these waffles so that tells you a lot and for that I am jumping in glee. It's like pure bliss when Sebastian doesn't scrunch up his nose to something and actually gives something a slight nod of acceptance. And it's even better when he comes up to me and says Mmmm mom this is deeeelicious! The candied bacon is the cherry on top. Try these out for your next breakfast adventure. 

Sweet Potato Waffles: 
(adapted from taste of home)

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 baking powder
1 teaspoon cardamom 
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated 
1 cup sour cream 
1 cup mashed sweet potato, cold
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions: 
1// In a medium mixing bowl combine the first five dry ingredients. Set aside.
2/ In another bowl mix together sour cream, sweet potato, egg yolk and melted butter. 
3// In a Kitchen Aid or with a hand mixer, add egg whites and whisk until stiff peaks form. 
4// Meanwhile add the wet mixture from step 2 into the dry ingredient bowl. Mix well. 
5// Then fold in the stiff egg whites. 
6// Bake in a waffle iron until golden brown. Serve with maples syrup at candied bacon (recipes below)

Candied Bacon:

Ingredients: 
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon paprika 
2 tablespoon finely chopped pecans 

Directions:
1// Mix all ingredients together.
2// Place a wire rack into a baking sheet lined with foil. Lay bacon on wired rack and sprinkle mixture all along the bacon strips. 
3// Bake on 350° for about 20 minutes or until bacon is browned and crispy.
4// Cut up and sprinkle on top of waffles!

Enjoy. xoxo.

on the ultimate french toast...

The Ultimate French Toast. That's right. Like KABOOM. Can you tell that I've had a slight love affair with breakfast foods lately? Mhmmm. It just happened and I'm totally serious you need to try this stuff. Secret ingredient...panko crumbs. Who knew, right? I made these for breakfast and my boys gobbled them down. This french toast will not disappoint! Plus it makes the house smell so lovely. 

Ingredients:
8 slices of country loaf bread, brioche or challah
2 tablespoon butter, melted
4 eggs
1 cup panko crumbs
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cardamom
zest of half of a lemon

Directions: 
1// Mix together eggs, heavy cream, honey, spices, vanilla & lemon zest. Use a whisk to fluff eggs up. 
2// Use a separate dish for the panko crumbs. 
3// Heat a skillet on medium heat. Dip bread in the egg mixture first until saturated and then transfer and lightly coat it with panko crumbs. 
4// Brush skillet with melted butter and add the french toast. Cook until golden brown. 
5// Serve with warm syrup. 

I would really love to hear what you all think! Enjoy. 

xoxo.

on breakfast cups...

The weekends have been my favorite to make fun and exciting breakfast foods. Well, exciting for me because my breakfast during the week consists of oatmeal & yogurt. I made these fancy breakfast cups that were a complete success and of course tasty! It's something I spotted on Pinterest a while back so I thought I'd give it a try. I love that certain things in our kitchen can have multiply uses. The fact that I got to use a cupcake tin for making breakfast got me all giddy. 

You'll need:
cupcake tin 
bacon or ham
eggs 
your choice of ingredients 

 1// Take your slices of bacon and wrap them inside along the sides of the cupcake holes.
2// Next beat eggs. One egg for each cupcake hole. I made six breakfast cups so I used six eggs. Put whatever your heart desires in the egg. I chopped up some spinach and green onion with some seasonings.
3// Pour beaten eggs 3/4 of the way into the cupcake holes. Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top.
4// Pop it in a oven at 350º for about 15 minutes.

Be creative and Enjoy!

xoxo.

on hash brown waffles...

If you don't already have a waffle iron well, I'm telling you now go get one only because making hash browns with it is pure amazing! This is going to be our new weekend breakfast food. It's super easy to make however can take a little time since peeling potatoes always takes like a million years. Usually when something is a little more involved I would prep the night before but you can't really let potatoes sit for too long. Anyways, the extra time was well worth it. Try this out this weekend! 

Ingredients: 
5 potatoes
1 cup diced onion
1 egg
2 tablespoon butter, melted
1/3 cup sour cream 
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & pepper

Directions: 
Peel and shred potatoes. I used a food processor which I feel like is the fastest way. Rinse the shredded potatoes under cold water. The key to getting really great crispy hash browns is to squeeze as much water out of the shredded potatoes as you can. I grabbed a handful and squeezed then transferred them to a heap of paper towels. Once you squeeze the water out, I then used the paper towels to dry the potato. Put the potato into a mixing bowl and add the diced onion, egg, sour cream, garlic powder and salt & pepper. Mix well. 

Melt the butter. Heat your waffle iron on the highest setting (in my case 6). Once it's preheated brush on the butter on both top and bottom. Add a pile on the bottom of the waffle maker and spread it evenly across and close the lid. My waffle maker beeps when it's done so about 10-12 minutes or until it's crispy and brown. Yum!

I made a delicious Eggs Benedict using these wonderful waffle hash browns. Come on! How amazing does that look!!?? Hash browns on the bottom with some Canadian bacon, poached eggs and scoop of  Hollandaise sauce. I love making homemade Hollandaise sauce. If you've never made it before well, it's super easy and tastes great fresh off the stove. Here's how I make mine--

Ingredients: 

4 egg yolks 

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard  

pitch of cayenne 

pitch of salt

Directions: 

Using a heat resistant mixing bowl (I used a stainless steal one) add the egg yolk and lemon juice and whisk vigorously until they get frothy and double in size. Took me about a good 5 minutes. Now place this heat resistant bowl over a saucepan with simmering water. Not boiling. The key is to know scramble the egg yolks! If you have a double boiler use that, this would be a lot easier. Whisk the egg quickly. Pour melted butter while still whisking. It should thicken up at this point. Turn the heat off and add the Dijon, cayenne and salt to taste. Put a lid on it and keep it on the warm stove until you use it! 

Enjoy! 

xoxo.

on pumpkin pie pancakes...

Ah pancakes, you can do so much with them! I'm pretty sure that you really need to make some of these. Like right now. They're basically mini pumpkin pies, how could you resist?! There's really nothing to it either and the finished product is a stack of happiness. 

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon allspice 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

vegetable oil for coating the pan 

butter and maple syrup to serve

1// Place flour, sugar, baking powders, cinnamon, salt, pumpkin pie spice and allspice into a medium mixing bowl.
2// Use a whisk to mix all the dry ingredients together.
3// Add pumpkin puree, eggs, heavy cream and milk.
4// Whisk the dry and wet ingredients together until smooth.

Coat a heated skillet with vegetable and scoop 1/4 cup of the pancake mix and pour on the hot skillet.

Cook them to your liking and flip. Serve with butter and some maple syrup!

Enjoy. xoxo.

on omelet pepper rings...

Yes indeed I hopped on the world wide web bandwagon and made some of these Omelet Pepper Rings and let me tell you it's become quite a favorite in our house. I've already made them the past couple weekends for breakfast! Today even! I gave my husband an option between Omelet Pepper Rings and homemade Waffles and he chose the pepper rings and that there tells you a lot about this fun colorful breakfast food.

Making these are a snap and there is so many different things you can do with them! Pick your peppers and cut them in rings. Place them in a frying pan that is coated with oil so they do not stick.

Pour your egg mixture into the pepper. Add whatever you fancy to your eggs. We've been keeping it simple with some onion, cheddar cheese and spices. Don't worry if the eggs seeps out a little. It will happen with some and others will be perfect. In the beginning I would have a fit when egg kept creeping out, ask my husband, not a pretty sight but I got over it.

Let the bottoms cook for about 2-3 minutes on low and then flip it gently to the other side to cook. It really took me only about 15 minutes to make a dozen pepper rings!

I ate them with the traditional toast and turkey bacon while my husband got creative and came to the table with this thing...

Now that is a serious MANWICH! With some four layers of pepper rings and turkey bacon in between on a roll will make any hubby a happy man. Try it out! Next time I'd like to do a mash-up of pepper rings and eggs benedict. Yes, I think that shall be my next endeavor.

xoxo.