Breakfast Strata

October 2, 2012 by


This weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year.  Not only is it starting to feel like fall, but it’s General Conference too.  (If you don’t know what that is, we’re Mormon and basically it’s a weekend where our church leaders speak and it is broadcast on the BYU channel or online- or you can go in person if you’re in Utah).   We usually have this for breakfast or a brunch inbetween sessions since I can make it the day before and just pop it in the oven.
It’s also nice for holidays or anytime you want a super quick hot breakfast that you can make ahead of time.  Even my hubby who does not love eggs likes this. (I’m sure the bacon doesn’t hurt 😉
If you have a large group, you can double this and put it in a 9 by 13 inch pan as well, we’ve done that many times.

BREAKFAST STRATA
6-8 slices thick bread, crust removed and cut in 1″ cubes (8 cups)
1/2 lb mild italian sausage, cooked
1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled (or extra sausage or chopped ham)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups milk
4 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
pinch black pepper
1 tsp dry mustard (I only use Coleman’s brand- it’s so much better)

Spray a 8 or 9 inch square pan or casserole pan with nonstick coating.
Mix the bread, meat, and cheese together and place in pan.
Beat eggs, milk, salt, and mustard together until well combined and pour over bread mixture in pan.
To make ahead you can cover and chill up to overnight at this point.
Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes. (If chilled, place in oven while it preheats so pan warms slowly).

Recipe adapted from my friend Holly P.

Filed Under: Breakfast, Holiday Recipes

Piggy Pancakes

September 14, 2012 by


Things have been a little crazy around here… a few too many projects to finish up before fall.  Every time I say I’m done with projects I add a few more.. then a few more…

I’ll be back to posting more regularly next week.  In the meantime, make pancakes.  Piggy pancakes. 🙂

Filed Under: Breakfast

Lime Poppy Seed Scones

January 28, 2012 by
Breakfast in bed.  It sounds like such a nice idea.  Unless you have kids.
And then there’s kids jumping, crumbs flying, syrup on pillows… you get the picture.
Well, my alternative is tea and scones for a mid-day light meal.  On Sundays we usually have dinner a little early, so scones and some herbal tea is perfect to have after church for a light lunch.
You could use lemon instead of lime in this recipe, but I really love the flavor of lime, so that’s always my first choice.  And since I don’t always have fresh limes on hand, I always keep some lime juice powder from King Arthur Flour on hand, and also some powdered lemon peel from Penzey’s Spices.  Both work well for replacing lime or lemon zest.
Just remember you are basically making biscuits here, so don’t overwork your dough, and check out my Biscuits 101 for more tips.
LIME POPPY SEED SCONES
Recipe by My Stained Apron
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
6 T unsalted butter, cold and cut in cubes
zest from 1 lime, optional
2 tsp poppy seeds
1 T lime juice
1 egg
1/2 cup plus 2 T cream
For egg wash:
1 egg
1 T cream
2 tsp sanding sugar
Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a medium bowl.
Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until resembles the size of peas.
Stir in the zest and poppy seeds.
Combine the lime juice, egg, and cream in a small bowl or measuring cup, then make a well in the flour mixture and pour in.
Stir with a fork just until combined.
If needed, gently knead just to make dough come together.
Pat into a circle about 9 inches.
Cut into 6 wedges (you could also cut with a biscuit cutter as well).
Place on lightly greased baking sheet, spacing wedges so they are just barely not touching.  (1/8 to 1/4 inch space between).
Combine the egg and cream for the egg wash, and brush tops of wedges.
Sprinkle with sugar, and bake at 425 for about 12- 14 minutes or until golden brown.
 
Filed Under: Bread, Quick & Muffins, Breakfast, Tea time

Frosted Flakes French Toast

January 13, 2012 by
 
You should never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.  Because if you’re anything like me, then you end up with something nobody in the house eats.  Like frosted flakes.  I don’t eat them.  My hubby doesn’t eat them.  My kids don’t eat them.  We like cereal, but we pretty much only eat the non-sugary varieties.  And yet I came home with frosted flakes.  The tiger must have hypnotized me or something.
I’ve heard of french toast made with cereal before, so I figured why not?
The results were surprisingly good.  Hubby said it reminded him of a doughnut with the combination of bread and a sweet topping. 
So don’t forget to make time to have breakfast together this weekend, and make it together too!  If you don’t have frosted flakes,  just dig through your cereal cupboard and try something fun, you might be surprised!
 
FROSTED FLAKES FRENCH TOAST
Recipe by My Stained Apron
 
8 slices bread
2 eggs
1/4 c milk
1/4 c cream
1 T vanilla
2 cups frosted flakes
 
Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, and vanilla in a bowl.
Coarsely crush the frosted flakes and place in another bowl.
Heat pan or griddle over medium high heat, melt a little butter or oil in pan or use nonstick spray.
While pan is heating, soak a few pieces of bread in egg mixture.  When pan is hot, dip bread in frosted flakes, coating each side, then place in pan.
Cook in batches so you don’t crowd the pan, for a couple minutes on each side.
While each batch is cooking, have the next batch soaking before it gets dipped in the cereal.
Keep hot in a warm oven if needed.
Serve hot with butter and syrup.
Filed Under: Breakfast

Morning Buns

September 16, 2011 by
It actually rained a tiny bit tonight. Hooray! I am so excited for fall and winter.  And this is the perfect thing to welcome in fall.  Warm cinnamony bread in the morning (that I can make beforehand too!) with some Evil Hot Chocolate makes for very happy faces around here.  This is originally from the King Arthur Flour blog, and in that recipe they bake it in a tree form but a 9 by 13 pan works great.
This is the perfect Holiday breakfast recipe, since it can be thrown in the oven while you enjoy festivities.  And I have found if we have company it’s really nice to make a few days ahead so we can have it on hand for an easy breakfast.
HOLIDAY MORNING BUNS
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 T sugar
2 to 2 1/4 cups heavy cream
Coating:
7 T butter, melted
cinnamon and sugar for rolling
Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
Add 2 cups of the cream all at once, then stir until the dough comes together.
If needed, add more cream to bring dough together.
Knead lightly just to make sure there are no dry spots.
Break of pieces of dough about the size of a ping pong ball and roll each piece in the melted butter, then the in the cinnamon and sugar.
Place the balls into a pan in a single layer (I use a 9 by 13 inch glass dish, sprayed with non-stick spray).  By the time you are done they should be touching, but not overlapping.
Cover the pan with plastic wrap and put in the freezer overnight, or up to a week. (Just wrap the foil again in foil if freezing longer than overnight.
The next day take the pan out of the freezer and let them sit at room temerature while you heat your oven to 350 degrees.  (Don’t worry, they don’t need to thaw).
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until they are cooked through.
If they have been in the freezer longer than overnight, they may need 65 to 70 minutes.
(You may need to tent with foil after 45 minutes so the tops don’t overbake).
Dust liberally with powdered sugar (if desired) and serve immediately.
Filed Under: Bread, Yeast, Breakfast, Holiday Recipes

Minute Sausage Patties

June 6, 2011 by
 
Have you heard of “minute steaks”?  They are little steaks which cook up extra quick.  This is my sausage version.  I don’t particularly love freezer meals, since they really never do taste quite as good as before they were frozen.  Instead I freeze components to make quick meals.  Breakfast included.
I rarely think to un thaw meat, especially for breakfast.  And honestly, we don’t usually have meat every morning and when we do, I really don’t want to serve my family large amounts of meat.
This is a great way to have smaller portions of meat and honestly, my hubby and kids don’t miss it.
I have gotten more than 12 patties out of a pound, but you could up the amount of meat used in your patties if you want.
These make it so quick and easy and I even use them for quick dinners in a pinch.
I serve them with biscuits or English muffins and eggs for breakfast sandwiches.
 
MINUTE SAUSAGE PATTIES
ground sausage (We buy ours from Butcher Boys here locally)
 
Measure meat into desired patty size (I weigh or use a scoop, or shape into a log and slice thinly).
Put between two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap and flatten out very thin.
Flash freeze by laying single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze for a few hours, or until frozen.
Then put in a zip lock and label.  OR stack in a freezer container without flash freezing, just separate by a piece of parchment or wax paper.
When ready to cook, just put in a pan frozen.  Because they are very thin they will cook through quite quickly and there is no need to unthaw first.
 
Filed Under: Breakfast, Freezer, Pork

Homestyle Applesauce

October 22, 2010 by
 
Nothing says fall like a bowl of warm homemade applesauce.  The flavor of your applesauce will change according to what variety of apples you use, so keep that in mind.  You can even mix up and do half sweet apples and half tart.  I just use whatever I have on hand and adjust the sugar accordingly.  Sometimes I even use pears.  Happy harvest! : )
 
HOMESTYLE APPLESAUCE
5 apples
1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/8 tsp nutmeg (optional
 
Peel, core, and chop apples.
Combine with remaining ingredients in a pot and simmer, covered, about 20 minutes.
Filed Under: Breakfast

Warm Buttermilk Syrup

September 8, 2010 by
When I was a kid, for a special treat we would have “Ice Cream Waffles”.  You put a scoop of ice cream on a hot crispy waffle and enjoy!  It still remains a fun memory to me, and I promise, if you think it sounds weird, just try it.  Think of a warm waffle cone with creamy ice cream.  We would try all kinds of flavors, from plain vanilla to mint chocolate chip or whatever.  This would be a great addition.  I’m thinking crispy waffles, butter pecan ice cream, and a drizzle of this on top.  It would also go great on a multitude of other dishes, but I’ll leave that to you to have fun experimenting with!
 
WARM BUTTERMILK SYRUP
 
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 T corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
1 T vanilla extract
 
Combine butter, sugar, buttermilk, and corn syrup in a pot and boil over medium high heat.
Add baking soda and vanilla, allow to cook only briefly before removing from heat.
Serve hot, or reheat before serving.
Filed Under: Breakfast, Sauces / Condiments Tagged With: ,

Cheddar Waffles

May 24, 2010 by
 
This is the stand-by waffle recipe my mom made MANY, MANY, MANY times in my childhood.  We had a nice family breakfast once or twice every week.  This is my own little twist on them when we’re feeling like something different.  I know it might sound odd, but just trust me. You’ll never look at plain waffles the same again!  And if you want some plain, this recipe is great for that too. Just leave out the cheese.  Sometimes I make a couple without cheese, then stir cheese into the remaining batter so there’s some of each.  But these are definitely our favorites, and I think they might be yours too!
 
CHEDDAR WAFFLES
 
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup melted butter (or oil)
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (leave out for plain waffles)
 
Beat eggs till fluffy, then beat in remaining ingredients (except cheese, if using).
(If you’re in a hurry, don’t beat the eggs alone, just beat everything together-they’ll still be good)
Stir in cheese.
Pour batter into hot waffle iron, cooking according to manufacturer’s directions.
To keep warm, put on cookie sheet in warm oven.
Serve hot.
Variation: Add crumbled cooked bacon to batter along with cheese, or chopped ham.
SOURCE: my mom
Filed Under: Breakfast

Orange Julius

May 14, 2010 by
 
My mom made this often when I was a kid.  About once a week she would make us all a nice breakfast and this was a big favorite for us all. Now we all make it for our own families and I dare you to find someone who doesn’t like it!
 
ORANGE JULIUS
 
2 cup milk
2 cup water
12 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate (half of a standard 12 oz. container)
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 cups ice cubes
 
Mix well in blender. Serve immediately.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
 
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Filed Under: Breakfast, Drinks