Baked Eggs

Recently a friend from Australia raved about eating "Baked Eggs" for brunch.  I thought it sounded yummy but had no clue what "Baked Eggs" were.  So last night  I did some research online and was intrigued by two baked egg dishes, one combines tomato sauce and chili powder and the other incorporates meatballs.   Essentially each dish has sauce on the bottom and an egg on the top which gets baked in the oven.  Bread is also served alongside the dish for sopping up the sauce.

This morning I decided to try out my own Italian Inspired Baked Egg recipe for breakfast.....

Italian Inspired Baked Eggs
1/2 cup Spaghetti Sauce
1/4-1/2 of one Italian Sausage link, cooked and crumbled
1/8-1/4 cup Mozzarella Cheese
1 Egg

Preheat oven to 375F.  Spray a small ramekin (a small oven proof bowl) with cooking spray.  Pour sauce into the bottom of the ramekin.  Add cooked sausage pieces to the sauce then layer on the mozzarella cheese. Crack one egg over the top of the cheese, being careful not to break the yolk.  Cook until the egg has set about 12-20 minutes (depending on how you like your eggs).  Let cool for 5 minutes or so.  Then enjoy with toast and or your favorite bread.    Printable Recipe

* Notes: I overcooked my eggs a little so my yolk was not runny.  If you prefer a more runny yolk stick to the lower end of the time.  I never set a timer so this is just a guesstimate.

I enjoyed my Baked Eggs dish with buttered French Bread and some Earl Grey Tea.  Let me just say that I thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast!  It was so much more satisfying than a bowl of cereal and milk or plain old scrambled eggs!  I will definitely be making more baked eggs in the future!

Have you ever made Baked Eggs before?

Locally Made Sausage

After 4-H yesterday we stopped by Maurice Bonneau's Sausage Kitchen, a small-family owned business that sells locally made, all-natural sausage.  I bought a package of Smoked Chorizo and a package of Italian Sausage with Sun Dried Tomatoes & Black Olives.  This morning I made some scrambled eggs with  Smoked Chorizo and cheese curds. It was so filling and delicious!

Scrambled Eggs w/ Mushrooms, Chorizo and Cheese Curds
2 1/4 cups sliced mushrooms
2 eggs
1/3 cup Chorizo diced (skins removed)
1/3 cup Cheese Curds
Kale, ripped up (optional)
Fresh Parsley for garnish

Spray a skillet with cooking spray.  In a bowl scramble the eggs.  Cook the mushrooms in the skillet over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, stirring often.  Add the scrambled eggs, the Chorizo, Kale (optional) and the fresh cheese curds.  Scramble the mixture until the eggs are cooked through.  Remove to a plate and garnish with fresh parsley.  Makes 1-2 servings.
Printable Recipe

French Toast with Love

Earlier tonight the boys and I were looking at fun food ideas online and ran across a picture of french toast with a cut-out heart filled with strawberries.  Aiden decided that he wanted to eat that immediately and set to work gathering up the ingredients.  He apparently forgot that we ate tacos only 20 minutes earlier!  Momma indulged him and he got Ehic on board as well.  So for dessert the boys had French Toast with Love!

French Toast with Love
1/4 cup Milk*
1 Egg
dash of Vanilla Extract
dash of Cinnamon
few slices of Bread
Sliced Strawberries
Maple Syrup
Heart Shaped Cookie Cutter

Preheat Griddle.  In a bowl combine milk, egg, vanilla and cinnamon. Whisk the mixture together.   Dip each side of bread in the mixture let excess drip back into the bowl.  Cook both sides of the french toast over medium heat.  Cut out a small heart from each cooked slice.  Fill the cut-out space with sliced strawberries.  Serve with Maple Syrup.

Note: *I don't usually measure my ingredients when I make french toast so I am estimating on the milk.  Be conservative with the milk.  In my opinion it is better to have to make more of the mixture than to soak your bread.

Printable Recipe 

Steaming Hot Oatmeal

Synchronicity was at play this morning in my kitchen. I had left over apple slices in my fridge from the snack Aiden didn't eat yesterday. I also had left over soaked raisins and brown sugar syrup from making Apple Dumplings last night. So I decided to use these leftovers to make a yummy hot oatmeal for breakfast. It was so warming to the soul on this very cold single digit morning in Maine!

Can you see the steam rising?

Apple-Raisin Oatmeal

Combine in a sauce pan: 1 3/4 cups boiling water, 1 cup Quick Oats, 1/2 cup Raisins, 1 small Apple diced, Brown sugar or maple syrup (add to your preference)

Cook over medium heat until oats are cooked (about 2 minutes). Put the oatmeal into individual bowls and then add a little bit of milk to each bowl. Stir to combine.

Note: I like to add slivered almonds or cut up walnuts to my bowl of oatmeal.

Printable Recipe.

Cream Scones

This morning I wanted something warm for breakfast but not our usual standbys. I decided to finally use the Cream Scones mix that I made last month. I loved that all I needed to do was add the butter and the cream. Not having to mix everything up this morning saved me a lot of time. They came out so good and were so deliciously good!

Cream Scones

(from Family Meals: Creating Traditions in the Kitchen by Maria Helm Sinskey)

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tblsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp grated orange or lemon zest (optional)--I added orange zest.

1/2 cup dried currants (dried blueberries or other dried fruits can be substituted)--I added chocolate chips.

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup heavy cream, plus 1/4 cup for brushing

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest, if using. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture, and, using a pastry cutter or two table knives, cut the butter into pieces until it is the size of large peas. Add the currants and then the cream, and stir just until the dough comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gather it into a ball, and knead lightly until uniform. Pat the dough into a round about 1 1/2" thick. You can either use a round biscuit cutter or cut into triangles. Arrange 2" apart on a tray and brush tops with cream. Bake about 12 minutes. Serve warm.
Printable Recipe.

Eggs in a Frame

Seeing this post about heart shaped 'Eggs in a Frame' brought me back to my childhood. I remember my Mom making this breakfast for my sister and I from time to time. She didn't use fancy cookie cutters though just a glass to cut a circle out of the middle. This morning I decided to carry on the tradition and made some star shaped ones for breakfast. They came out so good!

Eggs in a Frame

Bread-Cut a shape out of the center of the bread and then lay both the bread and cutout pieces on a hot griddle or pan

Egg-Crack the egg and pour into the center of the bread with the shape cut out

Cook the bread and egg on one side for a bit and then flip to cook the other side.

**You will notice that the stars that I cut out are missing. I sent them to school with Ehric for a snack.

GF Waffles

Aiden said he wanted Maple Syrup for dinner. I said, "Would you like to dip something into the Maple Syrup?" We worked out a compromise...Waffles! Then I looked in the fridge and realized we didn't have any eggs! I decided to look online for some ideas and also looked over my usual recipe. I decide to take a stab at making up my own gluten free waffles (without eggs) with what I had one hand. I am happy to report that they came out great!

Gluten Free Waffles

1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour

1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

1.5 tsp Sucanat w/some Cinnamon mixed in

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup applesauce

1 cup Blue Diamond Vanilla Almond Milk

1 tblsp Canola Oil

Preheat waffle maker. Combine dry ingredients. Then add wet ingredients. Whisk or stir to form a batter. Spray waffle maker with cooking spray. Add batter and cook until no longer steaming.

Note: Be diligent about spraying between batches. I found that these stuck easily when I forgot to spray.

GF Crepes

This morning I was in the mood for crepes. I decided to forgo my usual recipe and make some gluten free ones; since I am experimenting with Gluten Free recipes lately. I found a recipe from Gluten Free Mom and let me just say these were really good! I have been eating crepes since I was a little girl and I thought these tasted and looked just like my regular crepes. Ehric had at least 3 or 4 of them, and when I asked how they were he said, "Amazing as always!" That just melted my heart! I will definitely make these again!

Notes: For the milk I used Blue Diamond Vanilla Almond Milk and for the flour I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour. I cooked my crepes in my cast iron crepe pan. This batch made 12 crepes.

Happy Groundhog Day!

I don't know what it is about Tuesdays and Wednesdays being the "official" snow days but that is the reality the past few storms. Since we didn't have to worry about our school routine this morning we all slept in a little later than usual. Well I at least layed down in bed later than usual. I am hopeful that we won't have too many more storms in our future since Punxsatawney Phil didn't see his shadow today. Supposedly we will have an early spring!

Lately, I have been running across a lot of Raw recipes and Gluten Free recipes. I've bookmarked a few that I want to try and have purchased a few pantry items so I can try my hand at them. This morning was the perfect opportunity to try Gluten Free Pancakes. I found a recipe and then tweaked it a bit to use what I had on hand. They tasted just like regular buttermilk pancakes to me, and the boys were oblivious to the fact they were not our usual mix and ate up a bunch. Here is the recipe I made:

Gluten Free Pancakes

Makes 20 4" Pancakes

1 1/3 + 3 tblsp Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Powder

4 tblsp Dry Buttermilk Powder

1 tblsp Organic Sucanat and Cinnamon Mixed

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum

2 eggs

3 tblsp Canola Oil

2 Cups of Water

Combine Dry Ingredients, then add Wet Ingredients. Stir to get rid of lumps. Cook on a hot griddle on medium heat. Flip when the first side bubbles.

Note: This recipe makes a lot of batter. It is also a thick batter. Next time I am going to halve the recipe.

Ehric and Aiden happily enjoying Gluten Free Pancakes!

French Toast

On Friday it snowed yet again. Since school was cancelled I decided to make a special breakfast, Raisin French Toast with sausages and orange juice. It was so good!

Raisin French Toast
6 slices Pepperidge Swirl Raisin Cinnamon Bread
1 oz milk
1 egg
Pinch of Cinnamon

Tiny bit of Vanilla Extract

Preheat griddle or pan (lightly butter or oil first). In a shallow dish scramble together the milk, egg, cinnamon and vanilla. Dip both sides of the the bread slices into the mixture and then cook both sides on the griddle.

Aiden ate half of his French Toast and then decided that he wanted to eat Pancakes. Since I had a hot griddle and a Pancake mix handy I humored him.

They both left the table happy with full tummies. "Snow day, yummy snow day!"

Cinnamon Filled Streusel Muffins

Last night I entered my recipe for Cinnamon Filled Streusel Muffins in the Hood New England Dairy Cookoff contest. Top prize is $10,000!

In 2006 I was looking through a popular baking catalog and saw they were selling a prepackaged kit to make Streusel muffins. To make these muffins you also needed to buy their signature cinnamon filling. I thought it sounded delicious and it inspired me to come up with my own recipe. My very picky husband said, "Um, these are good!" and that is saying a lot!

I decided to make a batch this morning and they were indeed so good! Here is the recipe:

Cinnamon Filled Streusel Muffins

by Valerie

Batter:

(Dry)

2 Cups King Arthur Flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tblsp baking powder

(Wet)

1 Cup Whole Milk

1/4 Cup Safflower Oil (or Canola/Veg oil)

2 Eggs (I use farm fresh eggs)

Filling:

1/4 cup Superfine Sugar

1/4 Cup Melted butter

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Streusel:

1 Tblsp flour

3 tblsp Sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 Tblsp butter

Preheat Oven to 500 degrees F, grease Silcon Muffins tins with Pam Spray or Crisco.

Batter: Mix together dry ingredients and blend well. In a 2 cup or larger measuring cup add oil, milk and eggs. Beat well. Add wet ingredients to dry Blend for 20 seconds and no more.

Filling: Melt butter (about 40 seconds in microwave), add sugar and cinnamon. Combine.

Streusel: In a bowl combine all ingredients. With a fork stir and press into butter until mixture is

crumbly. Or use a pastry knife.

Spray pans with Pam or Crisco (if you haven't already)

Use a small food scoop (icecream scoop)- scoop batter into 10 cups of the tins (1 large heaping scoop per). Add a dollop of filling, then add another scoop of batter on top. Sprinkle tops with Streusel.

As soon as muffins are in oven drop temp to 400 degrees F. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool for a few minutes and enjoy!

Makes about 10 muffins in silicon muffin pans.

Suggestions:

Could add walnuts or apple sauce and/or drizzle icing on top (but sweet enough without)!

Cheddar Apple Frittata

Trying to think of an idea for breakfast yesterday I spied the apples we brought home from apple picking. I looked through the fridge and saw a carton of our farm fresh eggs, a block of cheddar and bacon. I immediately knew what I wanted to make...one of my favorite recipes Cheddar Apple Frittata. I have been making this one skillet dish for several years now, and each time the boys and I are always pleased with the results. It also always looks so nice in a cast-iron pan! Please excuse my  burnt bacon.

Sometimes I substitute deli ham for the bacon and Mexican cheese for the Cheddar. Either way it makes a great fall breakfast or dinner!

Homemade Mixes & Banana Bread

We are going camping for a few weeks, and I decided to make some homemade mixes to bring with. In plastic bags I mixed up all my dry ingredients, and then labeled the bags with the name of the recipe and what I need to add on baking day. I can't wait to enjoy the fruits of my labor!

Biscuits
(Credit: The Best of Marjorie Standish: Chowders, Soups and Stews)

The Mix:
2 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

On Baking Day add:
2 rounded tblsp shortening
1 cup buttermilk or milk

Chocolate Chip Scones
(Credit: 400 Calorie Meals)

The Mix:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup chocolate chips

On Baking Day add:
2 tbsp Butter
1/4 cup plain yogurt ( I Like to use Greek yogurt)
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Corn Muffins
(Credit: Quaker Corn Meal)

The Mix:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

On Baking Day add:
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
**I also like to add some cream-style corn to mine!

Old-Fashioned Flannel Cakes
(PA Dutch recipe)

The Mix:
2 cups flour
2 tblsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

On Baking Day add:
2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tblsp oil

Pancakes
(King Arthur Flour)

The Mix:
4 cups flour
2-4 tblsp sugar
1 tblsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

On Baking Day add:
4 eggs
1 qt buttermilk, yogurt or sour milk
1/2 cup melted butter or oil

I usually divide this recipe up into four. It makes a lot!!

I also made up some banana bread tonight!! Yummy! Here is my favorite banana bread recipe:

Banana Bread
(Courtesy of Mom'n'Pop's Apple Pie 1950s Cookbook)

Makes 1 Loaf or 4 mini loaves

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs beaten
4 bananas finely crushed
1tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Cream together butter and sugar. Mash bananas. Add lemon juice to bananas. Beat eggs. Add eggs and bananas to teh creamed butter and sugar. Combine well. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Add vanilla. Pour into greased** loaf pan(s). Bake at 350F for 60 minutes. Keeps well refrigerated.

** I grease my pans with Wilton Cake Release.

Read Across America Day/Dr. Seuss' Birthday

Since today is Dr. Seuss' Birthday I made us green eggs & ham for breakfast. Aiden asked for pancakes so of course we dyed those green as well.

After breakfast Ehric and I watched a few Seuss related videos on the Internet. We just got DSL recently and are loving our new ability to watch videos on the Internet!

Classic Green Eggs & Ham Video


The following video on Dr. Seuss cakes is really cool! Just a word to the wise if you are going to watch this one with your children: the chef says, "Damn" atleast twice.


Here is a really awesome science video on experimenting with Oobleck

Oobleck: A Non-Newtonian Fluid - The best free videos are right here

Besides videos, we also found this website dedicated to Read Across America Day and all things Seuss. http://www.seussville.com/

This afternoon we are going to make Oobleck and read some Dr. Seuss books. It should be fun!