Category: BRUNCH

CHAMPAGNE MAPLE GINGER FLUFFY PANCAKES

I had some strawberries left from last night’s CHAMPAGNE STRAWBERRY BANANA SHAKES so I decided to make pancakes! What a great combination of flavors!
FLUFFY MAPLE GINGER PANCAKES
2 1/3 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 tablespoons baking powder
2 Jumbo eggs, beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple extract
1 can ginger ale

  • Arrange pancake mixture in a large bowl, leaving a well in the center.
  • Whisk together the butter, eggs and vanilla extract.
  • Pour egg mixture into the flour well and mix just until consistent.
  • Add ginger ale and whisk until smooth and blended.
  • Heat griddle and coat with a thin layer of butter.
  • Drop batter onto hot griddle.
  • Cook until bubbles form along the top.
  • Flip pancakes and cook until golden.
  • Serve with butter, PURE maple syrup and strawberries.
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Babka: Lovin’ From the Oven

Have you ever picked up an old cookbook off of your shelf, you know, one that you have used for decades and turned it to a recipe you haven’t seen for ages and suddenly been transported to the last time you tasted that dish? That happened to me recently with this recipe. It is excellent. It’s not quite a bread and it’s not quite a cake. It can be served for breakfast, brunch or dessert.

Babka:
1 cup milk
1/4 cup warm water
2 pkg yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup raisins
topping:
1 egg white
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp butter
In a small sauce pan, heat milk until bubbles form around edge of pan. Remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm. In a large bowl, combine warm water and yeast, stirring until dissolved. Add lukewarm milk, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, stick of butter, eggs, egg yolk and 3 cups flour. With electric mixer, beat until smooth and blended. Stir in remaining flour, stirring until dough leaved side of bowl. Mix in raisins. Cover with towel; let rise in warm place until double in bulk (about 1 hour). Grease and flour a 9 inch springform pan. Turn dough into prepared pan. Cover and let rise until dough is 1/2 inch from the top of the pan. Meanwhile, make the topping by mixing flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter in a bowl with a pastry blender. Brush the egg white on top of the babka and then sprinkle on the topping. Bake 350 degrees 60 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool pan on wire rack 15 minutes. To serve, remove from the pan and cut in wedges.

This is SO good!!!!

S.O.S., creamed chipped beef or S*%$ on a Shingle ~ it all tastes the same no matter what you call it

Hubby had been craving S.O.S. a lot lately! I hadn’t made it in years and he really wanted to go OUT for a hometown diner style breakfast. Someone told us about a local diner that had it as a special every other weekend. Of course we had just missed that weekend so he had to wait almost 2 weeks until yesterday! He was soooooooooo excited and then he was soooooooooooo disappointed. It truly was S@#%! on a shingle, the dogs weren’t even thrilled with the leftovers! So this morning I surprised hubby with home made Creamed Chipped Beef and I thought I would share the recipe. One of my ‘secret’ ingredients is serving it over sourdough toast for extra flavor. The other is using a cast iron skillet.

1/3 cup butter
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 jar Armor dried beef*, chopped small
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (my last secret ingredient)

  • Melt the butter and add the onions.
  • After about 2 minutes add the beef also. Saute’ until onions are translucent.
  • Sprinkle with pepper. Use salt sparingly (beef is pretty salty)
  • Sprinkle flour over the meat and onions and stir in well. The flour will burn, so work quickly.
  • Gradually add in the milk, stirring continuously until mixture boils. Turn down heat.
  • Add the Worcestershire sauce and thicken to a gravy consistency.
  • Serve immediately over toast.

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HASH BROWN HAM & CHEESE QUICHE

I found this recipe in an old Taste of Home magazine that I bought at a library book sale – best book sale I’ve been too in a long, long time. I spent $9.80 at the sale and then calculated the retail prices of all the books and magazines plus tax ($309.73) and found I saved $299.93 when all was said and done!

I did make a few changes to the original recipe which are indicated in green and the items I removed are in red. I have to tell you this was one of the easiest brunch items I’ve ever made. Crisp and tasty too!





HASH BROWN HAM & CHEESE QUICHE
3 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
4 tablespoons butter, divided 1 + 3 tablespoons
1 cup shredded jack cheese
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
+1 large bunch green onions, sliced
+6 button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup cooked ham, diced
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
-1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
PURE

  • Thaw hash browns between paper towels to absorb excess moisture.
  • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Spray 9 inch pie plate* with PURE.
  • Press hash browns into the bottom and along the sides of the pie plate.
  • Melt 3 tablespoons of butter and drizzle it all over the hash browns.
  • Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes until edges are browned.
  • While these are browning, melt remaining tablespoon of butter in a small skillet and saute’ green onions and mushrooms.
  • Reduce heat to 350 degrees.
  • Combine the cheese and ham chunks. Layer over potatoes.
  • In a small bowl whisk together the whipping cream, eggs, salt and pepper.
  • Pour over the ham layer.
  • Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes or until set in the center.
  • Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

*next time I will use an 8×8 baking dish for ease of serving.

hubby approved

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Muffins That Taste Like Donuts: Lovin’ from the Oven

I hate buying donuts for many reasons. One, they are bad for us. Two, my kids are never happy with the variety I get. Three, my preschooler usually just eats the frosting and leaves the bottom for the garbage. Four, they are only cheap if they are a week old and stale. Five, they don’t stay with my kids, creating hungry, sugar-buzzed monsters an hour or less after they have eaten them. So, although once in a great while I buy or actually make homemade donuts, I usually make pseudo donuts. These muffins are a great example. I can make them with whole wheat flour. I can even cut down the sugar amount. Ssh! Just don’t tell my kids.
Muffins That Taste Like Donuts:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter

Combine the egg, 1/3 cup butter, 3/4 cup sugar and milk in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine the dry ingredients and add, stirring just until moist. Scoop into greased muffin tin. Bake 350 degrees for 20 minutes. While still warm, dunk in melted butter. Dip into the sugar, until top is entirely coated
Here is pseudo donut coffee cake from my site, Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.

HASH BROWN HAM & CHEESE QUICHE

I found this recipe in an old Taste of Home magazine that I bought at a library book sale – best book sale I’ve been too in a long, long time. I spent $9.80 at the sale and then calculated the retail prices of all the books and magazines plus tax ($309.73) and found I saved $299.93 when all was said and done!

I did make a few changes to the original recipe which are indicated in green and the items I removed are in red. I have to tell you this was one of the easiest brunch items I’ve ever made. Crisp and tasty too!





HASH BROWN HAM & CHEESE QUICHE
3 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
4 tablespoons butter, divided 1 + 3 tablespoons
1 cup shredded jack cheese
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
+1 large bunch green onions, sliced
+6 button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup cooked ham, diced
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
-1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
PURE

  • Thaw hash browns between paper towels to absorb excess moisture.
  • Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Spray 9 inch pie plate* with PURE.
  • Press hash browns into the bottom and along the sides of the pie plate.
  • Melt 3 tablespoons of butter and drizzle it all over the hash browns.
  • Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes until edges are browned.
  • While these are browning, melt remaining tablespoon of butter in a small skillet and saute’ green onions and mushrooms.
  • Reduce heat to 350 degrees.
  • Combine the cheese and ham chunks. Layer over potatoes.
  • In a small bowl whisk together the whipping cream, eggs, salt and pepper.
  • Pour over the ham layer.
  • Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes or until set in the center.
  • Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

*next time I will use an 8×8 baking dish for ease of serving.

hubby approved

Valentine’s Day Brunch

When I sat down to prepare these two posts for Valentine’s Weekend I was initially unsure of what kind of menu to put together.

Food.
Romance.
Romantic foods? Hmmmmm

Sure, there is that unforgettable kitchen scene from the movie Nine and A Half Weeks. But that was all lust rather than romance. Plus it wasn’t very sanitary 😉

I think most people see “romance” as a means to an end, how to woo the one that has stolen your heart. But my idea of romance these days (we’ve been married 15 years as of this week) is that it is the outward evidence of true love. You can’t “see” true love but you can see the gestures and expressions that true love creates, right?

For example, Alexis was off of work yesterday and I knew I was going to be off today. So before I left the office, I wrote 2-3 “love you” type messages and hid them on her desk where I knew she’d come across them during her day today. Simple gestures, huge sentiment.

So it’s only natural that food is linked to romance. It’s one of my ways of showing my love day in and day out. When it came to creating this brunch menu, I kept it simple and just thought of things that I’ve made for Alexis that she loved.

Eggs Benedict
These are one of Alexis’ all time favorites when we’d eat at Village Inn in Jacksonville Beach or Perkins here in Knoxville, so I finally learned how to make it for her this year. I hadn’t before mainly because I didn’t know how to poach an egg. I found out that I actually LIKE poached eggs…..who knew?

I won’t bother with a recipe since there are a million out there already, but here are some tips for poaching an egg & making Eggs Benedict.

  • Proper temperature is the key. Use an instant read thermometer to get the water to exactly 200f.
  • Fresh, cold eggs retain their shape better when poached. Tip courtesy of Rouxbe Online Cooking School: Place raw egg in bowl of cold water. If it lays flat, it’s fresh. If one end floats up, it is older (good for boiling). If the entire egg floats, it should be discarded.
  • Add 2 Tablespoons of white wine vinegar and 2 teaspoons salt to your simmering water to help speed the coagulation of the egg white (keeping it’s shape better)
  • Poach 3-4 minutes for soft, 5-6 for medium, and 7-8 minutes for hard poached eggs.
  • I used a packet mix to make my Hollandaise sauce the first two times I made Eggs Benedict, just so I could focus on getting the eggs poached correctly.
  • If you don’t want to do the traditional free floating method of poaching eggs, they now have cool silicon “boats” that you can use to poach eggs.

Artichoke Bisque
Alexis LOVES rich flavor. I surprised her with this one for Mothers’ Day 2003 and she adored it.

4 teaspoons flour
8 ounces butter
3 cups beef stock
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1 1/2 ea onion, diced
1/2 bunch green onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 cloves of roasted garlic
1 can artichoke hearts with juices (about 2 cups)
1 cup spinach, fresh, rinsed and chopped
salt to taste
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream

Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Whisk in flour over low heat and whisk constantly for 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in beef stock after that. Then add celery, onions, green onions, bay leaf, thyme and garlic. Simmer for 45 minutes.

Finely chop artichoke hearts, chop the spinach and add to the mixture, continue simmering another 30 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool slightly and then puree it in a blender, food processor, or with an immersion blender.

Add cream, wine, Tabasco, and salt & pepper to taste. Bring back just to a simmer, garnish with whatever you like (croutons, fried leeks, sour cream, etc), and serve. Today used fried leeks and thyme.

Mini Monte Cristo Sandwiches
This is another dish that Alexis enjoys unabashedly. It’s a finger food variation of the Croque-monsieur. It is basically a ham n swiss sandwich given the french toast treatment. Sounds odd but try it. It’s amazing.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons butter or margarine
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
8 Slices white bread
4 ounces swiss OR fontina
4 ounces cooked ham
3 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 Env. Golden Onion Soup Mix
1/4 cup butter or margarine

Instructions
Equally top 4 bread slices with cheese and ham; top with remaining bread, buttered side down. Cut each sandwich into 4 triangles. Beat eggs, milk, and golden onion recipe soup mix until well blended. Dip sandwiches in egg mixture, coating well. In large skillet, melt 1/4 C butter and cook sandwiches over medium heat, turning once, until golden. Makes about 16 mini sandwiches

The KEY part that they left out is the dipping sauce. Warm raspberry preserves over low heat and serve in a sauce cup, it makes the dish.

Grapefruit
Alexis is a certifiable grapefruit freak and just Thursday I received a shipment of California oranges and grapefruit from a family member, so I just had to include those. I was going to make this citrus salad but Alexis didn’t like the sound of the recipe so I went with a basic sectioned grapefruit. Nothing sexy but she loves them.

Mimosas
Come on, it’s brunch. mimosas are obligatory.


Part II – The Valentine’s Dinner
This is coming tomorrow, but to give a little preview, here is the premise: My martial arts instructor has been learning to really cook for the past year. He recently got engaged. My 15th anniversary is this week. So he and I are cooking Valentine’s Day Dinner for his fiance and my wife!

FARMER’S BREAKFAST

This is another one of those recipes that has floated around for so long that I have no idea what I tore it out of. The paper has yellowed, the edges look like they have been gnawed on, but the flavor is the same!

1/4 cup butter
2 cups small cubed uncooked potatoes
1 large bunch green onion, sliced thin
1 cup cubed ham
6 eggs
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack/Mild Cheddar combo

  • Melt butter in cast iron pan.
  • Add potatoes and onions. Sprinkle with celery salt.
  • Cover and cook over a medium high heat, stirring occasionally until evenly brown and golden, about 20 minutes.
  • Add the ham and cook another 5 minutes.
  • Reduce the heat to low.*
  • Whisk together the eggs, salt, pepper and cream until well blended.
  • Pour egg mixture over ham and potatoes, cover and cook until eggs are almost set, about 10 minutes.
  • Occasionally run a knife of spatula around the edge to allow eggs to run down and not burn.
  • Sprinkle with cheese and cover again until cheese melts.
  • Cut into wedges and serve with toasted Oat Sunflower Bread.

*Using an electric stove, I switch burners and start with a cooler burner at this point since cast iron does not cool down as quickly. I like the cast iron though for the nice crisp edge to the potatoes.

BUTTERMILK CINNAMON PANCAKES

BUTTERMILK CINNAMON PANCAKES
2 cups Pioneer Baking Mix
2 JUMBO eggs
1 1/2 cup buttermilk OR and what I prefer:
[1 1/2 cup whole milk + 1 tablespoon cultured buttermilk powder]
1 teaspoon sunflower oil
Cinnamon Sugar
REAL Maple Syrup

  • Whisk together the baking mix, eggs, buttermilk and oil.
  • Pour onto hot griddle.
  • Top with butter, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and pour on warm syrup.
  • Enjoy!

EGGS ala ROOSEVELT I just call them DEPRESSION EGGS

EGGS ala ROOSEVELT I just call them DEPRESSION EGGS
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup milk*
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 jar dried beef, cut into small pieces*
salt and pepper to taste
PURE

  • Spray skillet with PURE.
  • Add milk and softened cream cheese to skillet and whisk together until smooth.
  • When cheese is bubbly, add eggs and beef.
  • Periodically whisk until eggs are firm.
  • Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Serve on buttered toast.

*The original recipe had no meat and called for using cream while allowing the eggs to just “firm” up. I changed it to reduce the fat a bit and add meat for hubby.

Christmas Morning Brunch Casserole

This is a BIG family favorite and the recipe varies depending on who in the family is preparing it. Some people use Jimmy Dean’s HOT sausage, some use bacon, some use all ham… some use cream of chicken soup or cream of mushroom… some use Monterey Jack cheese or a combo of lots of cheeses… some like plain white bread or wheat… There are so many possibilities!

Christmas Morning Brunch Casserole*
1 package Jimmy Dean Bulk Sausage
1 cup diced ham
6 slices sourdough bread
2 cups milk
1 can cream of celery soup
7 eggs
salt and pepper
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

  • Spray he bottom of a 9×13 baking dish with PURE.
  • Brown sausage and drain fat.
  • Scatter sausage and ham along the bottom.
  • Layer bread evenly over meat.
  • Whisk together the soup, milk, eggs and seasonings.
  • Pour over bread layer.
  • Top with cheese.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

*For Christmas morning I make this ahead a few weeks, but do not bake it. On the evening of the 23rd I take it from the freezer to the refrigerator and let it defrost. When we get up on Christmas morning I preheat the oven and pop it in. When we’re ready, so is brunch!





SWEDISH PANCAKES with LINGONBERRY BUTTER and LINGONBERRIES

I don’t eat out much, especially for breakfast, but I do have a soft spot for IHOP’s Swedish Pancakes with Lingonberries and Lingonberry butter. It took me awhile, but I have finally created a recipe so similar most people would not be able to tell the difference. These are thin pancakes. I make them about 8 inches round and then fold over once or twice.

SWEDISH PANCAKES with LINGONBERRY BUTTER and LINGONBERRIES
1/2 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 JUMBO eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
1 cup 4% small curd cottage cheese

  • Preheat griddle* or crepe pan
  • Sift flour and salt together. Set aside.
  • Beat the eggs, milk, vanilla and maple extracts together.
  • Add the oil and beat again until sooth.
  • Add cottage cheese and beat until completely smooth.**
  • Gradually add the flour until a smooth consistency.
  • Pour 1/4-1/3 cup of batter onto griddle or crepe pan.
  • Cook a minute or two on each side.
  • Top with Lingonberry butter and Lingonberries.

NOTE:
*I used a third cup measure and my large griddle. This made 5 at a time.
**I used my mini food chopper to grind the cottage cheese and it worked great and much faster.

LINGONBERRY BUTTER
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup lingonberries

  • Beat butter until creamy.
  • Add berries and beat again until well blended.
  • Chill.