Cast Iron Skillet Breakfast Eggs, Potatoes & Sausage

This is an amazingly delicious change of pace egg, sausage and potato breakfast. The mildly spicy sauce reminds me of a Spanish omelet. Smoked paprika and a touch of cumin makes all the difference in the savory flavor of this dish. This is perfect for 4 average appetites, or two hungry folk. It's easier than you think, and well worth the effort. 

To Start preheat the oven to 350 degrees 

 You'll need:

4 cups cubed microwave baked potatoes (3-4 medium)

1 15oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 T. ea. chopped fresh oregano or basil, parsley

3/4 t. salt, divided

1/2 t. each smoked paprika, and black pepper

1/4 t. cumin powder

1/8 t. crushed red pepper

2 T. EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

1 cup chopped smoked sausage

1/2 c. chopped onion

1 clove of garlic, minced

4 large eggs

1/3 cup grated smoked Gouda

1. In a medium saucepan combine tomatoes, oregano, 1/4 t. salt, 1/2 t. paprika, 1/4 t. black pepper, cumin powder, and red pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; partially cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Cover and set aside. 

2. In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add sausage, and onion. Lower heat to medium; cook until sausage begins to brown, about 3-5 minutes. Add potatoes, garlic, remaining 1/2 t. salt, and remaining 1/4 t pepper; cook until lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Pour tomato sauce over potatoes. Make 4 indentations in mixture and crack 1 egg in each.  

3. Bake until eggs are just set, about 15 minutes, or until desired doneness. Sprinkle with Gouda. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with fresh oregano, or minced parsley. Enjoy!

 

Orange Cranberry Caramel Rolls Quick & Easy!

 

What to do when the man of the house is craving cinnamon rolls and you don't want the thick gooey frosting? Compromise and create a yummy caramel roll infused with orange, and slathered with cranberry sauce in the center. 

 

 We bought a bag of oranges that are hit and miss. Some are flavorful and juicy, others are rather dry. Thus the reason I usually don't by bagged anything in the way of fruit. All is not a loss though, because I juiced a couple of the oranges and grated the peel on one to make the most amazingly flavorful rolls, if I do say so myself, and I just did!

These rolls are soft, with a nice caramel topping, buttery and sweet, with a touch of sunshine and Autumn all rolled into one. Yes, I know it's officially winter, but I had leftover cranberry sauce that was crying to be used, and I associate cranberries with Autumn mostly. The plus side is that these are relatively quick and easy. Enough of this chatter though, lets get cooking!


ORANGE CRANBERRY CARAMEL ROLLS

TOPPING

1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted in a 9" x 12" baking pan
2 T honey
1 T. grated orange rind

ROLLS

3-3 1/2 c.  flour
1/4 c. oats
2 T. flaxseed meal
1/4 c. sugar
1 T. yeast
1 t. salt
1/2 c. each orange juice, and water
1 T. each butter and oil
1 egg
1 T. grated orange rind

FILLING

2 T.  cinnamon sugar + 1/4 cup brown sugar
 brush rolled out dough with some of the melted butter in the baking pan
1/4 - 1/2 cup cranberry sauce
1 T. grated orange rind

Grease 13 x 9 inch pan. melt one cube of butter in the pan by placing in the oven heated to 250. Check after five minutes. Combine all dry ingredients listed under ROLLS, except for 1 1/2 c. flour in your mixer bowl. Heat to very warm the orange juice and water. Add the liquid, orange rind and egg to the dry ingredients and mix on low using the dough hook,  until combined, turn up to medium and continue to mix about 3 minutes, then gradually add 1- 2 cups of additional flour until a nice soft dough forms and pulls away from the side of the bowl.

On a  clean, floured, dishcloth roll out the dough to a 15x7 inch rectangle  Brush the dough with some of the melted butter in the baking pan. Using a wide spatula spread a very thin layer of the cranberry sauce on the buttered dough. Sprinkle the combined sugar over the cranberry sauce, the orange rind, and then roll the dough up starting on a long side.

Add the orange rind, 1/2 cup brown sugar and two tablespoons of honey to the baking pan and mix with the melted butter. Cut the dough into twelve slices. Place them in the baking pan and cover the pan loosely with plastic wrap or a dishtowel. Let rise until doubled in size, in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes.

Taking off the plastic wrap or towel, place the rolls in the oven on an upper rack, and turn the oven on to 375 degrees. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden. Remove from the oven and let sit for 1 minute, then turn out onto tinfoil. Whaalaa! Pure heaven for breakfast! Enjoy!

Blueberry Pecan Muffins

 

Ahhhh, the joys of summer harvest! A soft and oh so delicious muffin, chock full of luscious blueberries and pecans, and topped with cinnamon sugar, fresh from the oven. What better way to start the day? 

 

We are so very fortunate to be able to buy these berries in bulk at a reasonable price. I'm enjoying a lot of great produce from other sources, as well as our garden, so I will be sharing more delectable treats and recipes as the summer harvest progresses. For now, on to the muffin recipe!


Blueberry Pecan Muffins

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 T flaxseed meal
1 T baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 egg
1 cup almond milk
2 T each canola oil and coconut oil, melted
Cinnamon sugar for topping

Turn the oven on to 375 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

Sift together all dry ingredients except for the nuts. Combine with the nuts in a medium mixing bowl. That's right, I still sift, and it does make a difference in how the muffins turn out. Whisk together all wet ingredients and gently stir into the dry ingredients. I was taught by my Home Ec teacher to only stir about 11 times, so I try to do that. I added the berries after the 11 stirs and then stirred 11 more times. The idea is to keep the muffins from turning out tough and full of air holes.

By ice cream scoopfuls add batter to the greased muffin tins. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and then bake for 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Huckleberry Muffins

 We took a nice drive out Lostine Canyon the other night.

  Along with seeing gorgeous scenery and a herd of elk, we took a stroll down a path that led us to a huckleberry patch. What a great find! So we picked enough to come home and make some yummy treats such as huckleberry pancakes and muffins.

Here's my recipe for Huckleberry muffins. Enjoy!


1 2/3 cup white flour
1/3 cup whole wheat
1/4 cup each whole oats and flaxseed meal
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cup almond milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
3 tablespoons butter, yes the real thing, melted
2 tablespoons oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients, including the egg. Slowly stir the wet ingredients into the dry, trying not to over stir. The rule of thumb I learned in Home Ec, oh yes, that was ages ago, was about 11 to 15 good swipes around the bowl. It doesn't matter if you have a bit of flour here and there not stirred in, unless there's a lot. The idea is to not over beat the batter so your muffins come out nice and soft.
Grease or line your muffin tin with papers. I use a regular ice cream scoop to divide the batter. Yield is about 12 muffins. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden on top.

Enjoy!

A Quick Blueberry Mix Fix for a Healthy Breakfast

If you are someone who likes the convenience of boxed mixes, here's a little tip to make it a tad healthier. It won't change the basic muffin, except to make it tastier. Add 1/4 cup each rolled oats and flaxseed meal, and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Whaalaa! Tasty goodness, made easy!

Spiced Oatmeal Waffles With Maple Pecan Syrup

Okay, don't laugh! I know I should have taken a photo before half of my breakfast was gone, but I got caught up in the enthusiasm of the meal. Everyone was so excited about homemade waffles they didn't want to wait for a photo shoot....lol. We bought a cheap little waffle iron, because I'm a stickler for food made from scratch. The fun of cooking from scratch is that if I want pumpkin waffles I can do that, or as in this case I used oatmeal flour made from toasted oats. These were such a hit, I don't think I would be tempted to try the "basic" all white flour waffle recipe. I learned some tips as I scoured the internet for recipe ideas. One is, the professional waffle houses make their batter the night before. I didn't realize I could toast oats and then blend them up into flour, yay! Buttermilk is a must, and you don't have to beat egg whites separate if you have a good buttermilk recipe. These waffles were soft on the inside and crisp out. I did make changes to assure that, such as half butter half oil, and a dab more sugar than this recipe called for. Enough gabbing and on to the recipe. Oh, as a credit to the original creator, Alton Brown, this is his recipe for the most part, but I tweaked it and will tell you the difference.

Spiced Oatmeal Waffles - (the night before you want these make up the batter)

5 1/2 ounces oats, toasted in a dry skillet
4 ounces flour
3 T. brown sugar  (Alton uses white) plus one T. white sugar, my addition
3 eggs
2 T. each melted butter and oil   (Alton uses all butter)
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 t. pumpkin pie spice  (my addition)
1 t. vanilla    (my addition)
Toast your oats in a dry skillet, watching to make sure they don't burn. When cooled whir in a blender or food processor until flour like consistency. In a glass bowl or 4 c. measuring cup combine all dry ingredients. In another bowl whisk together the eggs, fats, vanilla and buttermilk. Gently mix into dry ingredients. Don't beat too vigorously and don't worry about lumps. You want light fluffy waffles and over beating will make them tough. Cover and refrigerate over night, which is not a recommendation from Alton but several others did say that helped make the batter thick and certainly didn't seem to hurt anything. Take out about 30 minutes prior to cooking the waffles. This will make 6 large 4 section waffles. Follow the instructions on your waffle maker. Mine is a small Rival which makes to square waffles at a time and I figured out that a quarter of a cup of batter on each side was enough. Now for the syrup.

Butter Pecan Maple Syrup
2 T. butter
1/3 c. chopped pecans
1 c. maple syrup

In a small saucepan melt the butter and cook the pecans lightly. Add the syrup and heat til very warm. Serve with the waffles or any favorite pancake, or french toast recipe. Enjoy!

Breakfast by Candlelight

A power outage created an opportunity for breakfast by candlelight! The lights went out about 8 last night, and were still out when we woke up this morning. Sooooo we decided to pull out the peanut butter and bread, and low and behold there was a box of chocolate bars Kent picked up at Costco. Along with some yummy Clementines we had a marvelous breakfast. The real kicker was that the lights came on in the middle of the feast so I nuked the bread with chocolate and peanut butter for a few seconds and then had a melty yummy treat with my orange slices. You won't find me eating chocolate much, but it sure sounded like a good idea, and was! We were reminded that we didn't have an emergency heat source or way to cook in case the power stayed out, so now we are planning  for that, but luckily it's been rather nice, and we had plenty of easy to prep food that needs no cooking. Something to think about....

Autumn Morning Breakfast - Apple Craisin Maple Rolls Plus

 With the cooler mornings my thoughts tend to turn to warm comfort foods for breakfast. I have a couple of bags of apples in the fridge waiting to be sauced so I decided to create a breakfast roll that would satisfy my craving for apples and maple, with a touch of cranberries.

 The beauty of this recipe is that I got 8 large rolls, and one loaf of bread out of the batch. I was also able to use some sour milk I had on hand. With just the two of us a gallon of milk doesn't always get used like it should so instead of water I used that.

These are sweet without being overly sugary and have just the right amount of fruit without being too much. Not your typical sweet roll recipe, I used my standard bread recipe with some modifications so here it is. I hope you give it a try!

Apple Craisin Maple Rolls Plus
 bread dough
2 1/2 cups warmed sour or regular milk
2 T. yeast
1/3 c. honey
2 T. molasses
1 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
3 heaping tablespoons flax seed powder
3 T. apple sauce
3 T. oil
2 t. salt
6 or more cups white flour, or you can add a bit of whole wheat if you like
filling
4 small apples cored, sliced and chopped
1 c. chopped Craisins
1/4 cup each brown and white sugar
1 T. lemon juice
1/4 t. each ground cloves, allspice and cardamom
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts
1/4 c. flour
softened butter

Combine warmed milk, yeast, honey, molasses, oats, applesauce and flax seed powder in mixing bowl. Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add oil and salt along with 3 cups of flour. Turn mixer on low and combine. Add more flour, 1-2 cups and mix on stir. Dough should be forming a ball by this time, knead either by hand on a floured board, or using the mixer, adding 1/4 cup of flour at a time if still sticky. Knead by hand for 10 minutes, until nice smooth ball forms, or by mixer 5 minutes dusting with flour until dough no longer sticks to sides of bowl. Place dough in bowl and let rise for about 30 minutes. Turn oven on to 375 degrees.
While dough is rising combine filling ingredients in a medium bowl and oil a 9 x 13 pan as well as 1 large loaf pan. After dough has risen for 30 minutes divide in half. Form one half into a loaf and place in loaf pan. The other half roll out on floured board to make a 10 x 14 inch rectangle. With a pastry brush lightly brush dough with butter. Spread apple mixture over the dough out to the edges. Roll up the long side and slice into 8 rolls. Place in oiled cake pan and let both bread and rolls rise for 30 minutes or until the bread loaf  is 1 1/2 inches above the pan. Bake one level above the bottom rack level, rolls for 25 minutes and bread for 35. Immediately take bread out of pan and place on rack to cool. Combine 2 cups powdered sugar with 2 t. maple flavoring. Add just enough water to make a smooth and thick but pourable glaze. Drizzle glaze over rolls and serve. Enjoy!

Tuesday's Tasty Tip for Breakfast

Can we say yummmm!!!!! My peaches are finally starting to ripen, but with bittersweet thoughts I pick and relish them one last time. We are moving, and so the tree with be in the hands of those who may not give it the care and attention I have. Perhaps I can sneak over and take care of the tree each year until we move to Oregon.... For now, I will enjoy the fruits of my labor, and God's blessing.
My tasty breakfast tip is something I gleaned from Dio, a friend whom I first met while living in North Pole, Alaska. She is so energetic, though much like me, a bit short and in need of always finding ways to stay healthy and keep her weight in check. Although McDonalds offers a similar food for breakfast, I like that I can control what I put in my version and the use of cantaloupe was a new one for me that turned out to be delightfully refreshing on a warm summer day.

Fresh Fruit and Yogurt Parfait

1 c. fresh chopped peaches, cantaloupe or berries (yes cantaloupe is wonderful this way!)
1/2 c. vanilla yogurt, or plain yogurt sweetened with maple syrup or honey to taste
1/2 c. your favorite granola or cereal

Layer in a parfait glass, or in a bowl, enjoy!

Breakfast Feast

I didn't take a photo because the toast was a bit darker than I'd hoped for but here's a simple and oh so delicious recipe for a scrambled egg sandwich.

Dilly Egg Breakfast Sandwich

2 slices Orowheat's Dill Rye bread
1 slice cooked bacon, crumbled
1-2 eggs beaten and slightly seasoned with salt and pepper
Mayonnaise or Yohnnaise

In a small skillet heat one tablespoon of olive oil over medium low heat. Combine bacon and egg mix and pour into heated pan. Let cook until slightly golden underneath, then flip and finish cooking.
Toast slices of bread and spread with mayonnaise. Place egg on one slice of toast and cover with other, whalaa! You have one dillyicious sandwich! You can add a dash of Tabasco for a bit of spark if you like.

Blogs of Note....... and peaches and cream oatmeal

I took an opportunity to check out the blogs of note list on my blog dashboard, and am amazed at what folks think is noteworthy. There was a young mom lamenting the fact that her husband is unhappy with her right now. In her post she referred to her life in not so charming terms, using letters to represent swear words. Her big thing was that hubby was unhappy about her having photos of an ex. When you look further, in a previous post she shares how she and the 14 month old baby have been sharing the bed for months, while hubby is on the sofa. Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand the real issue. The husband feels replaced by the baby, and is finding every other thing to blame as it's hard to blame your own child. A blog of note? Not sure why.

Here's a little tip from a not so noteworthy blog, but one you can feel assured that even your child could read....:-)

When the kidlets were young I made sure they had a lot of variety for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I love oatmeal, but my children werent't as crazy about it, so as I was cooking said cereal I would add a dollup of peach or banana, or other jam to pre-sweeten it. Whalaa, our own homegrown version of peaches and cream oatmeal! Someone may ask why I don't just buy it already made that way, well I like to know what my children are eating, and it's certainly much cheaper to do it this way. Call me stingy or cheap, but hey those pennies don't come easy! Try it the next time you want hot cereal for breakfast.