Graduation Breakfast

Today I made a special breakfast for my UU grad! He has worked so hard, which called for a special graduation breakfast :D

I made Pioneer Woman's homemade waffle recipe. It did not disappoint!! You can try it for yourself here. :)

Happy Saturday, everybody!

Let's grill tonight!

Trying my hand at some grilling tonight! My husband is a patient teacher;) it is so much fun though! :P

Let grilling season begin!!

Happy Saturday:)

Cinnamon toast french toast

Oh my....we tried this recipe this morning It was so good!!!!! And easy!!

Cinnamon Toast French Toast

From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook (Knopf, October 2012)

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

16 slices (from a 1-pound or 450 gram loaf) white sandwich bread

1 stick (4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, softened

3 cups (710 ml) whole milk

6 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon table salt

2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Whisk the cinnamon and sugar together in a small dish. Line two large baking sheets with foil. Place the bread slices on the baking sheets in one layer. Spread each slice of bread with 1 teaspoon of butter, then sprinkle each slice with one teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Toast the trays of bread in the oven until the bread is golden, and until the cinnamon-sugar makes a caramelized crunch on top, for about 7 to10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and let the toast cool slightly.

Generously butter a 9×13-inch baking dish. (You might have a little butter leftover but I wanted to build in some leeway in case, understandably, you weren’t buttering your bread with precise teaspoon measurements!) Cut two slices of the cinnamon toast in half horizontally. Arrange the cinnamon toast down in two rows along the width of the pan. Begin with the bottom half of one slice of toast, then fan 7 more slices in a row, finishing with the top half of the slice. This ensures that those served the end pieces of the baked French toast are not stiffed with thin slices! Repeat with another 7 full slices and 1 halved slice of cinnamon toast in the second row. Whisk the milk, eggs, salt and vanilla in a medium bowl and pour evenly over cinnamon toast in baking dish. Let sit for 15 minutes (or overnight, if you’re preparing this ahead of time) so that the custard absorbs a bit.

Before baking, if you’ve got any extra cinnamon-sugar (you’ll likely have a tablespoon or two), sprinkle it over the French toast. Bake for 30 minutes, until puffed and golden and until no liquid seeps out of the toasts when they are nudged about in the pan. Cut into squares and serve plain, or with a dollop of plain yogurt and fresh berries, or maple syrup.

Blueberry waffles

We made these waffles this morning and they were so easy and delicious!!! All you do is take your favorite muffin mix....

And add a little extra milk than what the directions call for( to make it pourable consistency) and pour the mix in your waffle iron!! Be sure to use either butter or a lot of non-stick spray on the iron as these stick worse than regular waffles:)

ENJOY! :)

Try it Thursday!

YUM!

This recipe is from comfyinthekitchen.com

1 cup of butter

2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of sugar

Mix it all together. I added vanilla and almond extract in my dough:) 

Make cookie balls( 1 teaspoon full of dough), make a thumbprint, and add your favorite jam. ( we used strawberry).

They did not disappoint! The cookie was so light and fluffy and they look so festive!! :D

Mmmm....

So we are splurging.... 

Frozen pie crust+ apple pie filling+ cinnamon,sugar,brown sugar, and butter on top with a side of coffee= one perfect DINNER! :D

Taco Soup

This was soo yummy and so easy! Perfect for a fall night:)

Taco Soup:

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey breast
1 (15 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (any flavor)
1 (15 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (Mexican flavor)
1 large onion (chopped)
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package hidden valley ranch dressing mix
1 (15 ounce) can hot chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

Preparation
1. Brown the the meat and onions and drain.
2. Mix the taco seasoning mix and ranch dressing mix into the meat.
3. Add all the other ingredients, without draining.
4. Simmer for about 1 hour.
5. Serve hot, topped with sour cream, cheese, avocado, raw onions, or nacho chips (optional).

*(I did not put corn in ours. I also used Mexican Rotel instead of stewed tomatoes and onion powder instead of a whole onion).*

Add some chips, sour cream, and cheese

Enjoy!

-N

Recipe: Crunchy Granola

                                        

Ok... so my aunt told me about a recipe for this homemade granola snack and I tried it this past weekend. It was so super easy and oh my... It was so addicting! I made it on Friday and it was gone by monday! As she put it, it will make a great snack to munch on and watch football this fall! 

                                           Preheat oven to 450.

On medium heat, melt 3 Tbs of butter, 5 Tbs of brown sugar, 2 Tbs of honey and one Tbs of pancake syrup.  When melted, remove from heat.  Add 2 cups uncooked oatmeal, 1/2 cup raisins, and 1/4 cup chopped nuts (I actually just left them plain and didn't put any fruit or nuts in them and they were still yummy).

Spread on greased cookie sheet.  Bake 3-5 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool, then crumble. Store in air tight container.  Enjoy!

          -N                

"In the morning, we're makin WAFFLES!"

So I have become a little excited over this website lately....

"100 days of real food"

So this morning, we made one of the recipes and it was super yummy...

Whole Wheat Waffles:

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 ¾ cups milk
• ¼ cup oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ( I put more cinnamon than this and added some vanilla)
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat your waffle iron. In a large mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, honey, cinnamon, and baking soda until well combined.  Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk together just until the large lumps disappear.

When the waffle iron is hot, dab it with a little butter and then ladle some batter onto the center of the iron. Follow the instructions that came with your waffle maker to know how long it should be cooked (mine takes about 3 – 4 minutes each). Keep waffles warm until you finish cooking all of them. Top with pure maple syrup and fruit. Enjoy!

-N

MMMmmmm.....

So we tried this for dinner tonight and it was sooo yummy & easy!!

BAKED PENNE:

Here's what you do...

 1/2 lb. extra-lean ground beef or Italian Sausage (We actually just used just plain pork sausage because thats what we had)
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup green peppers (I left this out)
1 jar(24 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 tub(10 oz.) Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme, divided
1 cup Kraft Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
3 cups cooked penne pasta

Heat oven to 350°F.

Brown meat with vegetables in large nonstick skillet. Stir in spaghetti sauce, 3/4 cup cooking creme and 1/2 cup mozzarella; cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until mozzarella is melted. Add pasta; mix lightly. Spoon into 2-qt. casserole; top with remaining cooking creme and mozzarella. Cover. Bake 20 min. or until heated through, uncovering after 15 min.

ENJOY! :)

- J&N

Sunday's Fixin's!

Recipe: Creamy Parmesan and Bacon Chicken

So when J and I came home from church today, we decided to grill the fresh chicken that was in our fridge ... J was in the mood for some parmesan chicken so after much brainstorming and googling...this is what we concocted and it...was....amazing.

First... we seasoned our chicken with Garlic powder, Salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning and stuck them on the grill. Also, stuck bacon in the oven ( 400 degrees...15 minutes)

While this was happening.........

We worked on our homemade parmesan sauce:

We sauteed 4 green onions, some fresh garlic, garlic powder, salt,pepper in olive oil

Then in a separate sauce pot:

We melted 2 tablespoons of butter and added our saute mixture into the butter

                                     

Here comes the cheese!!! Add 4 tablespoons of cream cheese and 1 cup of milk ( or half&half) --we just used organic milk--

THEN add 1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

Let simmer on low for 10-15 minutes & thicken. stir freqently. We added a little more parmesan to make it thicker :)

Once our chicken was almost ready to come off the grill, we stuck bacon and provolone cheese on top and placed atop a mound of spaghetti noodles.

Then poured our parmesan cheese sauce over the entire concoction.

mmmmm....ready to eat!!

As you can see.......

 It did not disappoint! :D