Breakfast Casserole with Sausage, Egg, Cheese & Veggies

Merry Christmas!  Among many other festivities, we enjoyed a lovely brunch with my family on Christmas Day.  I made an amazing French toast casserole that we gobbled up before I could snap a picture (recipe here), and I also made this delicious breakfast casserole with sausage, egg, cheese, and veggies.  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones!   

Ham & Cheddar Breakfast Casserole w/ Green Pepper and Onion

Who doesn't love ham and cheese?!  With the weather cooling down some, I've been getting a little more guilt-free use out of my oven.  Organic eggs, fat-free milk, leftover ham, green pepper from the garden, and reduced fat cheddar cheese are used to make this tasty breakfast casserole.  It has a delicious crescent roll base that just puts it over the top!  It's perfect for company or a lazy weekend and ready in less than an hour.  Oh, and it's even better cold!  Happy Friday!

Southwestern Omelette with Pepper Jack & Black Beans

Lazy Saturdays.  I live for those few-and-far-between days when we can sleep in until 9:00, wear our pajamas until noon, and not have a commitment until the evening.  While making brunch for my family in my pajamas with Blake Shelton serenading me in the kitchen, I decided to put a little Mexican twist on our omelettes.  Yum!  Fresh, spicy, cheesy and delicious!  

Buffalo Deviled Eggs

Did you know that it's currently National Egg Salad week?  Take a guess why... all of those leftover hard-boiled eggs from Easter.  I wanted to try something new and came up with these yummy Buffalo Deviled Eggs.  They are so good and can easily be adjusted to suit your spice level.  The recipe as written yields a mild spice level. 

Eggnog French Toast

I had a little leftover eggnog from Christmas with an expiration date of 1/1/2013 and I decided to use it up with breakfast this morning.  It's a simple yet delicious twist on your classic French toast.  

Bacon, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Biscuit Bowls

It was just another Tuesday evening.  We had finished eating a yummy steak dinner and I was in mid-cleanup, when the doorbell rang.  It was my in-laws stopping in for a "quick visit".  My father-in-law handed me a gift bag and said, "This is your early birthday gift."  Now, my birthday isn't until August 6, so he wasn't kidding when he said early.  I opened the bag and was completely shocked with what I saw inside.  It was a new Nikon camera!  Did I mention I was shocked?  I felt so undeserving and loved.  It was such a sweet gesture and I was really anxious to start using it.  I'm still becoming acclimated to all of the camera's options and intricacies but I have fallen in love with it already.  Thank you so much to my in-laws for this amazing gift!  

For my first blog post using my new camera (EEK!), I decided to make a tasty breakfast/brunch.  These are really amazing.  You have your own personal breakfast bowl consisting of a flaky biscuit enveloping crispy bacon, egg and cheese.  These can be made ahead of time for those crazy weekday mornings.  Simply store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and heat them up a toaster oven or in a microwave on high for 30 seconds, allowing it to cool for 1 minute before serving.

Roasted Sunny-Side Up Eggs in Rings of Onion over Zucchini

While catching up on Facebook this past Friday, I came across a picture that my husband posted to my wall that he found on reddit.com.  It was a lovely picture of a sunny-side up egg inside an onion ring and I was excited about the idea.   There was also some zucchini in my fridge that I needed to use up, so I decided to roast everything together in the oven.  The verdict?  Amazing!  

Maple Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Frittata

My Granddaddy brought over some sweet potatoes from his garden for me one night this week and I wanted to try something new, something different than the normal sweet potato pie.  Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I was going to use them in some sort of breakfast dish... but what?  The last time I made a frittata was six months ago, so I decided on that.  Out of all of the different kinds of frittatas that I have had, none of them ever included sweet potatoes.  I'm glad I tried it because this certainly turned out delicious!  It was slightly sweet with lovely hints of cinnamon and the caramelized onion really brought out the flavors.  If you are planning on having out-of-town guests stay at your house, especially over the holidays, consider serving this for breakfast or brunch.  It is especially good when you lightly drizzle some maple syrup on top!

Brunch Casserole

One Year Ago:  Parsley Caprese  

I was recently asked for summer brunch ideas for when someone has guests at their house and I immediately thought about my brunch casserole.  This recipe is fluffy and full of flavor.  It is very forgiving and can easily be altered to your taste.  My favorite thing about it is that it can be made a day in advance, so you can avoid the hassle of messing up your kitchen and still serve a delicious home-cooked brunch to your guests.  About an hour before you are ready to serve your guests, throw the casserole in the oven, sit back and enjoy your company.

Bacon and Egg Breakfast Cups

One day, I received an email from my husband with the strange subject line of, "OMG. I want".  I opened the email to find something very unexpected -- a huge photo of bacon cups cradling eggs over light.  Suddenly, the subject line made perfect sense.  I remembered seeing something similar on marthastewart.com and, while her recipe is very different than what I came up with, it was a great starting point.  These turned out fantastic!  If you are a bacon lover, I highly recommend them!

Strawberry Flaugnarde

One Year Ago:  Asian-Style Chicken, Zucchini and Rice

Months ago, my mother surprised me with a cooking class for a day.  One of the things we were shown how to make was a French dessert, apple claflouti.  I had never heard of it before but when I tasted it, I fell in love.  Today, I wanted to recreate this yummy dessert but with a few changes.  Upon further research of the dessert, I discovered that clafouti is made only with cherries and that incorporation of any other fruit makes it a flaugnarde.  It turned out delicious and I cannot wait to try different variations of it! 

Potato and Kale Frittata

One Year Ago: Honey Mustard Sauce

This is a delicious, comforting breakfast that is healthy and filling.  I love frittatas because they are quick, easy and very versatile.  I always try to have a variation of it in my fridge for lunch or breakfast throughout the week.  The addition of bacon would be a wonderful element, albeit less healthy.

Apple Clafouti

One year ago:  Salisbury Steak

Clafouti is a French dessert, which is normally made with dried cherries arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter.  Apples are used in this recipe along with dried cranberries (Craisins, to be exact) and it is very healthy and wonderfully delicious.  Try experimenting with different fruits.

Double Egg, Prosciutto & Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

Yesterday was my nephew's 1st birthday party.  My sister served a delicious baked ziti meal for our family and we had a lovely time.  Saturday mornings, I normally make a huge breakfast but the morning of the party proved to be hectic, so I made my husband's favorite fast and easy breakfast sandwich.  Whenever I make these sandwiches, bacon is usually used in place of the prosciutto but we had a lot of it that needed to be used up.  These sandwiches are also perfect for on the go.

Raspberry-Filled Meringue Heart Cookies

Valentine's Day marks marks seven years that I have been married to my sweetheart, John. We met when I was in the summer after 9th grade and by the end of our first date, I knew he was the one without a doubt in my mind. He is an amazing man. He is considerate, honest, truthful, caring, an amazing father, intelligent, witty, the funniest person I've ever met and on top of all of those things, he gladly puts my needs before his own. He is my best friend and soul-mate. He is my everything. He is going to hate me when he reads the sappiness of this post lol ;) I can't help it; I'm a sappy kind of girl. :)

Ingredients:
Printable Recipe

• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
  
• 1/8 tsp cream of tarter
  
• Pinch of salt
  
• 3/4 c sugar
• Red food coloring, a few drops
  
• Raspberry preserves
  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl, beat together the egg whites, raspberry extract, cream of tarter and salt using an electric mixer on high speed until peeks begin to form.

Turn down the speed to low and slowly add in the sugar . Add the red food coloring, to desired color.

Pipe the egg mixture into heart shapes onto parchment paper lined baking sheets and then outline each heart. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Turn the heat off and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for an hour.

Carefully remove the meringues from the parchment paper. Spoon the raspberry preserves into the center of each heart.

Enjoy!

Pancetta and Spinach Omelette

Happy Saturday! It's going on five days now that my daughter has a fever and I wanted to serve her a yummy yet quick breakfast.  I can't be tied down to the kitchen while she wants to cuddle!

Ham Spinach Frittata

For Christmas, my sweet Granddaddy gave me the signed cookbook, "The Spice Kitchen" by Sara Engram and Katie Luber with Kimberly Toqe. The cookbook came with 24 cases of different organic, 1 teaspoon pre-measured spice packets. It was an extremely thoughtful gift and I have been so anxious to try a recipe from the book along with the spices! I came across a pepperoni spinach frittata recipe that I wanted to try. There were a few ingredients that I didn't have on hand and I was not about to run to the store in all this snow (9 inches), so I adjusted a few things. This came out delicious! The anise seed really gave it a wonderful flavor. It is a great base frittata recipe.

Prosciutto and Smoked Gruyere Quiche

My poor little sous-chef and food critic, Madelyn, has a nasty case of the flu. So far, she has missed two days of school and will definitely not be returning tomorrow. Because she is so sick, I know that the next few days will be crazy and that I will not be able to keep my beloved schedule. So, a quiche is perfect since it can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. While my little angel was sleeping on the couch at 2:00 in the afternoon, I whipped up this quiche. It's really quiche Lorraine, except I used prosciutto instead of bacon.

Homemade Eggnog

I have been wanting to make my own eggnog for over a month now but patiently restrained myself from doing so until the holidays. One of my favorite food bloggers, Annie Bakes (check her out), tempted me with a recipe for eggnog that she found in the Oprah magazine and loved. Since I trust her judgment so much, I decided to give it a whirl. She was right -- this is super good eggnog! I cannot believe how simple and tasty it is at the same time! Never again will I buy eggnog from the store. Never. If you are an eggnog fan, you have to try this!

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 c white sugar
• 1 1/2 c milk (I used fat free)
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 c heavy cream, softly whipped
• Liquor (brandy, bourbon, rum, whiskey, etc.)

Directions:

• In a heavy saucepan, whisk together the eggs, milk and sugar. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until thickened and heated to 140 degrees F on a candy thermometer; about 5 minutes.
• Strain the mixture into a bowl. Stir in the nutmeg and vanilla.
• Cover and refrigerate, until chilled.
• When ready to serve, fold in the whipped cream. Serve in a bowl, sprinkle nutmeg over all and serve with alcohol on the side.
• Enjoy!

Orange-Cinnamon Meringues

12 Days of (Christmas) Cookies

Day 8

Orange-Cinnamon Meringues

I realized last night that my husband has never had a meringue before. He bit into it and said, "I've never tasted anything like this before". I cannot imagine going through life never enjoying one of these heavenly treats. It's like biting into a sweet cloud from heaven. I thought adding a little orange extract and sprinkling cinnamon would give them a nice flavor. Wow. These are the best meringues I have ever had. My daughter gobbled up as many as she could get her little hands on. When making these, the key to stiffening your egg whites is to make sure they are at room temperature.

Ingredients:

• 3 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 1/8 tsp cream of tarter
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 c white sugar
• Ground cinnamon, for sprinkling

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
• In a Kitchen Aid (preferable) or with an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, orange extract, cream of tarter and salt on medium speed until soft peaks appear and then turn the speed to high and add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the egg mixture and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form; about 6 minutes total.
• Drop by rounded teaspoons (or pipe) onto parchment-lined baking sheets.
• Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until firm (43 minutes in my oven). Turn oven heat off and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.

• Remove from oven. Decorate with food coloring, if desired. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
• Enjoy!

Madelyn Rating:"Good!"