Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

K love pancakes. So I made him some with grated apples. This way I can finish up my stash and feed him some more fruit. This is the easiest pancake recipe ever. It's not that fluffy, so it's not Hubby's fave, but it's awesome when I'm too lazy to look for my usual fluffy blueberry pancakes recipe (although if you do replace the blueberries with shredded apple in the blueberry pancakes recipe, it's the best pancakes I've ever had. No joke). ;)

I find that when everything is at room temperature, I don't end up burning the pancakes before they're cooked. And that's always been an issue with me and most pancake recipes. Either that or it'll take forever to cook over a medium low heat. -_-

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 egg, room temperature & lightly beaten
• 1 medium apple, grated
• Butter or canola oil for greasing pan

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. 
2. Pour in milk, egg and mix until combined.
3. Stir in grated apple. 
4. Heat up a nonstick pan over medium heat. Lightly coat with butter or canola oil. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and cook until edges look dry and bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake. Flip and cook the other side. 
5. Repeat with remaining batter, lightly coating the pan with butter or oil between each pancake. 
6. Serve with maple syrup and coffee or milk. 

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

It's that time of the year when blueberries are in season. We've got lots of blueberries and I needed to make something with it. I figure muffins would be awesome since we almost never finish cakes or tarts in this house. While I'm at it, why not make them a little healthier and more filling with some oats, eh? ;)

It's not necessary to mix 2 tablespoons of the flour with the blueberries, but it helps to make the blueberries stay whole while they bake. If you don't care about that, then by all means, just leave out that step.

I really do like these muffins. They're not too sweet and that cinnamon sugar topping totally hits the spot.


Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
(makes 1 dozen muffins or about 35 baby muffins)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg, beaten and at room temperature
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line muffin tins with liners. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine all but 2 tablespoons of flour with the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, combine beaten egg, milk, canola oil and vanilla extract. Mix well. 
4. Pour liquids into the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined. Set aside.
5. In a small bowl, toss blueberries in remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. Gently fold into the batter. Spoon batter into muffin tins to the top. 
6. In another small bowl, combine the sugar and ground cinnamon. Top each muffin with some of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
7. Bake in the center rack for 10-15 minutes (for mini muffins) or 20-25 minutes (for regular muffins), or until a cake tester comes out clean when poked inside the middle.
8. Serve with (a pat of butter and) coffee.

Easy Mini Cinnamon Buns

These are probably the easiest cinnamon buns I've ever made. I like them mini, so I could finish one in 2-3 bites. You can always make them normal sized by not cutting the dough in half before rolling. :)

It's important to use pasteurized milk, otherwise the bacteria will likely kill the yeast. Although I wouldn't worry about it, since most milk is pasteurized these days.

Definitely eat these while they're hot. Otherwise I'd just nuke them in the microwave for about 5 seconds to warm them up if eaten after they've cooled down.


Easy Mini Cinnamon Buns
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 tsps (or 1 packet) instant yeast
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup (semi-)melted butter, divided
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 - 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 6 Tbsp sugars, divided
• Canola oil, for greasing bowl
• About 1 cup cream cheese frosting (1/4 of this recipe's frosting is good enough)

Directions:

1. Heat up milk and 3 tablespoons of butter until the temperature reaches about 110F (the temperature of bath water/just a bit warmer than your body temperature), either in a small sauce pan over medium heat or in a 2 cup measuring cup in the microwave.
2. Transfer butter and milk mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add yeast, 1 tablespoon of sugar and salt. Mix well.
3. Add 2 cups of flour to the liquid mixture. Use the handle of a wooden spoon to mix dough until it gets sticky and a ball of dough starts to form. Roll it out onto a floured surface and knead, adding flour as needed, until the dough is just tacky and no longer sticky (usually about 2 1/2 of flour and 5 minutes of kneading will do). Form the dough into a ball. Grease the mixing bowl with canola oil and place the ball of dough in it, rolling it in the bowl to get it greased up.
4. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave it in the microwave for 1 hour, or until the dough doubles in size. Do NOT turn on the microwave. It's the best place to let the dough rise.
5. Line a 8" x 8" pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a thin rectangle. Brush with 3 tablespoons of butter. Sprinkle 1/4 of sugar on top and then with the cinnamon. Use a knife or pastry cutter to cut the rectangle lengthwise (to make 2 long rectangles).
7. Starting at one end, tightly roll up the dough and situate seam side down. Repeat with the other rectangle. Using the same knife or pastry cutter, cut the dough into 1 1/2 - 2 inch long pieces.
8. Place the cinnamon buns into the parchment lined pan. Spread remaining butter over the tops of the cinnamon buns.
9. Place the pan on top of the oven to rise while the oven preheats. Preheat to 350F. Bake in the middle rack for 25-30 minutes, or until slightly golden brown. While the cinnamon buns are baking, make your cream cheese frosting.
10. Spread the frosting over the hot cinnamon buns. Let cool for a couple of minutes before serving with milk or coffee.

Baked Blueberry Cinnamon Croissant French Toast

I bought all these little micro croissants cuz I just really wanted some. I had a feeling I'd have leftovers and wouldn't know what to do with them and man was I right. Luckily I have some guests over so they can be guinea pigs for this dish. I had considered just making French toast out of them, but then decided to bake it so it'd be ready for everyone at the same time without needing to keep the earlier cooked ones in the oven.


Baked Blueberry Cinnamon Croissant French Toast
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 14 micro croissants (or 4 large croissants)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

1. Place croissants in a 8" x 8" square glass pan, squishing them all in one layer. Set aside.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt. Gently mix in blueberries.
3. Pour mixture over croissants. Place a plate on top of the croissants and press down so that they're fully submerged in the custard. Chill in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350F. Lift the plate off of the croissants and bake for 30-45 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.
5. Serve with maple syrup or whipped cream, etc. and coffee.

Danish Pancake Balls

I just got myself a new takoyaki pan so I'm super happy. Although I'm all takoyaki'd out, I wanted to use it to make other foods. It just so happens that this pan is similar to the ones used for Danish pancake balls. So I decided to make some. :D

They turned out pretty good. Everyone loves them, so that's pretty darn awesome. I probably would've liked them more with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. But I didn't have any, so I just stuffed them with some chocolate chips and drenched them in maple syrup. :P


Danish Pancake Balls
(makes 60-64 balls)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 6 Tbsps sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• Canola oil for greasing pan

Directions:

1. Place an aebleskiver or takoyaki pan over medium-low heat. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
3. In a smaller bowl, mix together eggs, milk and butter. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. 
4. When pan is hot enough to make a drop of water dance, brush holes with canola oil and fill each to slightly below the rim with batter. Drop a couple of chocolate chips in the center. Using knitting needles, picks, chopsticks, takoyaki picks, or your fingers, move some of the batter so that the chocolate chips are covered.
5. Cook for another minute or so, until golden brown and you can use a skewer/takoyaki pick/chopstick to break the contact between the pancake ball and pan. Using the pick, turn/flip the pancake over to the other side, while stuffing the batter that overflows over the edges/from the turning ball into itself using another takoyaki pick (1 per hand!).
6. Cook until golden brown, crispy on the outside and the pick comes out clean when pierced into the pancake ball. Transfer balls to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter, re-greasing the pan each time.
7. Serve with maple syrup, powdered sugar, whipped cream, fresh fruits, etc. and coffee.

Sweet Crepes

Nomnomnom. I love crepes. I'd get them when I go to the night market or something. But this one time, I had it and it was super greasy. It was gross so I was sad. The next day when I was trying to figure out what to make for breakfast, I decided to just try to make it for myself. Success! And SUPER easy. I can't even believe it.

The other day I made more cuz I had some leftover whipped cream, custard and strawberries in the fridge. I figure it was the perfect way to get rid of them. Although I still like filling them with Nutella and strawberries the most. Same with K. Just blogging this with him in my lap, he's pointing at the picture and asking for more. LOL.


Sweet Crepes
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsps sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsps whole milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 Tbsps butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Butter for greasing the pan
• Filling options: Nutella, sliced strawberries, blueberries, custard, sliced bananas, whipped cream, melted chocolate, jam, etc.

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and sugar. Whisk in eggs, milk, water, butter and vanilla extract until the batter is smooth.
2. Heat up a nonstick pan over medium heat. Coat the pan with just a light layer or butter. Pour batter in the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Once the edges get dry (about a minute or so, depending on your pan), flip and cook for another 15 seconds or so, until the other side is cooked. Transfer to a plate to cool/fill. Repeat until all the batter is gone.
3. Spread filling on one side of the crepe, fold the non-filled side over the filled side and then fold in half again. Top with whipped cream and fresh fruit.

Ham Hash

I've been watching a lot of Chopped on the Food Network and noticed that a lot of times when contestants didn't know what to do with some leftover meat ingredient, they'd just make a hash. That got me thinking when I had leftover ham steak. So I guess watching TV does teach you stuff, eh? ;)

Sunny side up eggs always look best when you cook them properly. But sometimes I'm in a rush or just impatient so I'll use a lid to cover it when frying it so that it cooks quicker. You'll notice that if you do that, the yolk won't look as golden yellow as if you finish the cooking without a lid.


Ham Hash
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 small russet potatoes, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup ham, diced
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsps canola oil, divided

Directions:

1. In a skillet, heat up 2 teaspoons of canola oil over medium high heat. Toss in potatoes and Cajon seasoning and cook until potatoes are browned and tender.
2. Add in onions and ham. Cook until onions are soft and ham is heated through.
3. Stir in tomatoes and use the liquid to deglaze the pan. Cook until tomatoes are soften. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to two separate serving dishes.
4. Wipe out the skillet and heat up the remaining teaspoon of canola oil over medium low heat. Fry up the eggs and season with salt when the eggs are about cooked. Top each dish of hash with a fried egg.
5. Serve with coffee, milk or juice.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Bread

Rarely do we have bananas that are ripe enough for banana bread these days but it does happen once in a while. I've been craving peanut butter and/or wanting to put peanut butter in everything lately so I figured I'd put some peanut butter in the banana bread. And then of course I thought to put chocolate chips in it. I mean...how could you not? :P

K's daycare is a nut free environment. This means this is definitely not daycare friendly, so I'll have to help K finish this at home. The things a mother will do for her child, eh? ;)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Bread

(makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, soften
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup all natural crunchy peanut butter
• 2 medium bananas, sliced
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9" x 5" loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving some overhang. Set aside.
2. In a stand mixer bowl or large bowl with hand mixer, cream butter, sugar and peanut butter until creamy until creamy.
3. Mix in bananas, vanilla extract, eggs and sour cream until well combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides.
4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add that and chocolate chips to banana and peanut butter mixture. Beat until everything is just combined.
5. Pour batter into the loaf pan. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to knock any air out.
6. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toohpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. If the top becomes too brown, loosely cover with aluminum foil. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Serve with coffee and/or a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or milk, etc.

Easy Lo Mein

So it has occurred to me that I've never posted a Lo Mein recipe here. WTF?!!??? It's one of those things that I like to make as a quick snack. Mind you, it almost always turns into a meal just by adding some veg and some leftover (roasted) meat.

My mom always made it super simple for us for breakfast. Just cooked hot oil with soy sauce. Believe me, it's worth it to heat up the oil. I remember sometimes she didn't have time to heat up the oil and it just never tasted the same. :(

But, of course, Hubby likes it with spice. Meh. I'll eat it whichever way. I love it all!


Easy Lo Mein
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 bundles dry thin shrimp egg noodles
• 3 Tbsps soy sauce
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp canola oil
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 red chili pepper, diced (optional)
• 1 green onion stalk, finely diced (optional)

Directions:

1. In a small pot, bring water to a boil. Add in the bundles of noodles. Cook for 5-7 minutes, or until al dente, using chopsticks or tongs to separate noodles from their bundled form.
2. Meanwhile, mix remaining ingredients in a microwaveable bowl. Cover with saran wrap and cook on high for 20 seconds. Carefully uncover the bowl.
3. Using tongs or chopsticks, transfer noodles into the bowl of sauce and mix. Some of the residual noodles water will help make the noodles saucier.

If you don't want to use the microwave, just mix all the ingredients, except for the noodles and oils. Heat up the oils in a wok or pot and then pour it over the sauce mixture and then mix in the noodles.

Quick Breakfast Wrap

Believe it or not, this was easy enough for me to make during a weekday morning. I'm sure it's not THAT difficult to get yourself and a toddler ready in the morning and then cook breakfast and feed the pets at the same time. For most people. But I'm not most people. One of the most "elaborate" breakfasts I typically make on weekday mornings consist of sunny side up eggs with pre-cooked bacon that I can just nuke in the microwave. Teehee.

But this wasn't bad...I left the ham and peppers to cook on the pan while I took K to the potty (we're potty training and it's just oh so much fun) and luckily nothing burnt. YES!


Quick Breakfast Wrap
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 10 inch flour tortillas
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 leftover ham steak, diced (or equivalent to about 1 cup of diced ham)
• 2 green onion stalks, finely diced
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp canola oil
• Salsa (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat up oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add in ham and cook for about a minute so the sides start to brown up a bit. Toss in peppers and cook until peppers are tender crisp.
2. Mix in beaten eggs and stir until eggs are almost no longer runny. Toss in green onions and season with salt and pepper. Take the pan off the stove.
3. If you have a gas stove, just lay the tortilla over the gas and let it warm up the tortillas. It'll only take about 3-5 seconds per side, if even that, so keep an eye on those tortillas.
4. When tortillas are warmed, lay them on two separate plates. Divide the filling in half, spooning half onto the center of each tortilla. Top with some salsa, if desired. Tuck in the ends and roll into a wrap.
5. Serve with coffee or milk.
6. If you're taking it to work with you, just use aluminum foil that's been lined with wax paper and wrap. It'll keep the wrap warm for about an hour or so.

Creamy Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal

I haven't made any oatmeal for K for a while. He used to have it every day for 4 months or so when he first started eating. But now I make it for him way less. He just gets sick of the same foods so easily. He won't eat the same thing more than 3 days a week. And don't even try giving him the same thing more than once a day! Unless it's cookies and fruit. Those, he can eat 24/7 if we let him.

The kid loves raisins and we're running low on frozen blueberries (which he loves to put in his yogurt and oatmeal), so I thought I'd just make him cinnamon raisin oatmeal. Why not? They make cookies out of this stuff! ;)


Creamy Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal
(serves 3 adults)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 small pinch salt
• 1 cup raisins
• 1-2 Tbsps brown sugar
• 2 tsps ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Bring milk to a gentle boil in a pot over medium heat. Add in remaining ingredients. Turn heat to medium low and cook until oatmeal is thick and creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally with a spatula to prevent oatmeal from sticking to the pot.
2. Serve with fresh fruit.

Ham & Egg "McMuffin"

I do love my breakfast sandwiches. I especially love the sausage and egg mcmuffins from McD's (fast food wise). It's not hard to make, so sometimes I just make them at home when I make my breakfast sausage patties. But when I don't have those, I just use ham from the deli or bacon. To make my life easier though, I'll make the sandwich with a plain omelette rather than frying an egg the way McD does it. I don't have a ring mold and don't feel like cleaning it anyway. :)


Ham & Egg "McMuffin"
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 English muffins, split and toasted
• 2 slices process or Cheddar cheese
• 4 slices black forest ham
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Salt, to taste
• 2 tsps canola oil

Directions:

1. In a skillet or omelette pan, heat up oil over medium low heat. Pour eggs into the pan, shifting the pan so that the eggs cover all of the bottoms. When almost no longer runny, sprinkle a pinch of salt and flip. Split round omelette into two. Fold one of the omelette halves into half and put it on top of a toasted English muffin slice. Repeat with the other half of the omelette.
2. Place the ham slices onto the pan to warm up.
3. To finish assembling the sandwiches, place 1 cheese slice on top of each of the eggs. Then top with heated ham, then the top of the English muffin.
4. Serve with coffee or milk.

Breakfast on Toast

Breakfast. The best thing about breakfast is runny eggs. No joke. A runny egg will make almost any food 100 times better. :)

I know it's hard to tell, but there's actually a slice of toast underneath all that bacon. You can even see a teeny tiny piece of avocado peaking out on the right. This is pretty good. But you know what makes it even better? Salsa. Or you can use some pico de gallo if you have it.


Breakfast on Toast
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread
• 2 eggs
• 3 strips bacon, cut into halves
• 1 small avocado, sliced
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup salsa or pico de gallo
• 1 Tbsp butter

Directions:

1. In a small skillet, melt butter over medium low heat. Break eggs into the skillet to cook sunny side up eggs. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Meanwhile, toast bread slices. Once toasted, spread 1/2 of the avocado slices onto each of the toasts. Top with bacon strips (3 half-strips per toast) and then an egg on each toast. 
3. Serve with salsa and coffee, tea or milk.

Note: Been making this as a sandwich (without toasting the bread) and with my breakfast sausage patties instead of bacon and it is FRIGGIN' DELICIOUS! So good that Hubby wants to sell it. As if someone hadn't thought of that already somewhere. Lol!

French Toast

Healthy French toast? HAH! I suppose it could happen. I use my Silver Hills bread for it, even though I drench the whole thing in maple syrup. Does that count? ;)

Seriously though, brioche or Challah bread is the best when it comes to making french toast. I didn't plan on making it, so I didn't buy any. That's okay. I had way too much sliced bread anyway.

Usually when I'm using sliced sandwich bread, I'll be able to make 10 pieces of French toast. Otherwise, it's only 8 pieces.


French Toast
(serves 4-5)

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 Tbsps honey
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• A pinch of salt
• 8 slices 1 inch thick brioche/Challah bread or 10 slices sandwich bread
• 4-5 Tbsps butter, divided
• Maple Syrup

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, beat eggs with honey, cinnamon and salt. Stir in milk.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a large skillet.
3. While butter is melting, dip 2 slices of bread into the custard mixture. Let excess drip off and lay them on skillet to cook. Once brown, flip over to cook the other side. Repeat with remaining slices of bread. 
4. Serve with fresh fruit, maple syrup, honey, fruit compote, powdered sugar, flavoured butter, Nutella, whipped cream, etc.

Egg on Fish

Haha. I didn't notice it at first, but if you look at the picture closely, you can see a smiley face with a tongue (the fish) sticking out! How creepy...

So, did I mention that I bought a lot of snapper from Costco? I think this'll be the last time I do that. I always seem to forget that we just don't eat enough fish to validate buying it from there. Normally I'd freeze excess food, but with fish, there's no freezing! After it defrosts, it's so darn fishy that we can't even eat it. Ai..when will I learn? =\


Egg on Fish
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 small snapper filet
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil, divided

Directions:

1. In a small skillet, heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in over medium low heat. Crack the eggs into the skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Let it cook slowly. If you're in a rush, cover with a lid to cook faster (which is what I did. Hence the whitish film over the yolk).
2. Meanwhile, heat up the remaining olive oil over medium high heat in another pan. Season both sides of the snapper filet with salt and pepper. Pan fry the filet until golden brown on one side. Gently flip filet over to cook other side. Add in tomato halves. Cook the fish with the tomatoes until fish is cooked through. Season with more salt and pepper, if needed.
3. Transfer fish onto a plate, top with fried egg & tomatoes.
4. Serve with toast or hash browns and coffee or milk.

Breakfast BEgglewich

As I had mentioned last week, breakfast sandwiches are one of my FAVES. If I'm going to put bacon in my sandwiches, I will usually opt for the breakfast sausage patty instead. Not this sandwich though. I'm perfectly happy to stick bacon in here instead. It is so friggin' YUMMY! Which is awesome since then I don't have to make the breakfast sausages and can just nuke readymade bacon strips that I always have on hand. Quick and super filling breakfast? I think so! In fact, I actually made this on a weekday morning earlier this month and still managed to get to work on time. Score! :D

I wouldn't add the spinach if you're not going to eat it right away though. It has a kind of grassy flavour if you wrap up the sandwich to eat a couple of hours later or so. I'm okay with it since everything else will overpower it but if you're sensitive to "grass" tastes then I'd be cautious.


Breakfast BEgglewich
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 jalapeno and cheddar bagels (or any bagel you want), toasted and halved
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 small handfuls of baby spinach
• 5 strips readymade bacon
• 2 cheese slices (processed or cheddar or whatever you want)
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a small skillet, warm up oil over medium low heat. Pour beaten eggs into the skillet. Move the skillet around to evenly distribute all the egg. Season with salt and pepper. Once the egg is almost all cooked, flip to cook the rest of the egg so that you get a round plain egg omelette. Split the omelette in 2 so that you have 2 half circles. Fold that in half with your spatula.
2. To assemble, layer a small handful of baby spinach on the bottom of the toasted bagel. Top with egg, then cheese slice. Break the bacon strips in half and lay 3 half-strips on top of the cheese, then add 2 more crosswise. Top with the top of the bagel.
3. Serve with coffee.

Breakfast Croissantwich

Breakfast sandwiches are awesome. I love them. Partly because I love warm sandwiches. And partly because mom used to make a simple breakfast sandwich for us for breakfast most days, so it brings back childhood memories. :)

I swear, considering how much leftovers we typically have, most of my meals are made up of leftover stuff from the fridge and pantry. And this is no exception. Excess bacon bits/deli meat/ham/spam/sausages? Check. Day old croissants? Check. Lone bell pepper/frozen peas? Check.

I wouldn't look at it negatively though. It makes breakfast prep just that much easier. ;)


Breakfast Croissantwich
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 4 croissants, cut in half horizontally (to hold food)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup frozen peas/finely diced bell pepper/sliced mushroom/whatever veggie
• 1/2 cup bacon bits/finely diced ham/spam/whatever meat
• 1 red chili pepper, finely diced
• 2 Tbsps canola oil
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Toast croissants in the toaster oven (or at 250F in an actual oven) while you make the filling. Keep an eye on the croissants if using a real oven because they can get too toasty quickly.
2. In a large skillet or omelette pan, heat up oil. Add in meat and veggies. Cook until heated through. Pour in the egg and red chili pepper. Stir to make a big scramble, keeping in mind to keep the pieces fairly big and/or not too small. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until egg is fully cooked.
3. Spoon 1/4 of the egg mixture onto one side of a croissant. Top and cut in half (see picture).
4. Serve with coffee.

Eggnog Panettone French Toast Bake

Someone at Hubby's work gave him a Panettone for Xmas and told him that they make great French toasts. Excellent. I love French toast! I just don't like making them for more than 2 people since there's always someone who'll get cold or overcooked French toast from staying in the warmer too long. That being said, I wanted to make a baked French toast casserole thing with this instead of the traditional sliced breads.

Man, I really liked this. Hubby not so much but he almost never likes French toast anyway so that doesn't count. I only used half of our loaf so I'll have to make this again or find something else to cook using the Panettone. Hmmm...


Eggnog Panettone French Toast Bake
(serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb panettone, cubed
• 2 cups eggnog
• 6 eggs
• 2 Tbsps sugar
• 2 Tbsps packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

1. Grease a 8" x 8" square pan and an aluminum foil that you'll be covering the dish with with butter. Set both aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except the panettone, until combined. Toss in panettone, making sure all of the cubes are soaking up the custard mixture.
3. Pour into the greased pan and cover with the greased aluminum foil. Set in the fridge overnight.
4. Take the pan out of the fridge and let it warm up for half hour before baking. 
5. Preheat oven to 350F.
6. Bake for 20 minutes with the foil on. Take the foil off and then bake for another 25-30 minutes, until the middle is cooked through.
7. Serve with bacon and warm maple syrup.

Christmas Oatmeal

I gotta call this my Christmas oatmeal. Simply because eggnog is only sold in our stores in December. I know I can probably just make my own, but there's something nice about only being able to get something once a year. It makes it more special. Plus the last time I tried making eggnog, it was pretty darn nasty. Albeit I was only 12 but still....


Christmas Oatmeal
(makes 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cups quick cooking oats
• 2 cups eggnog (or 1 cup each of whole milk and eggnog)
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Bring eggnog and cranberries to a gentle boil over medium heat. Be careful because it'll bubble over very quickly.
2. Stir in oats and a half pinch of salt. Cook until oatmeal thickens to desired consistency, about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Serve with milk or diluted juice. 

I found this to be pretty sweet (almost like a dessert), so if you want, just use half whole milk and half eggnog for the little ones. :)

Raisin Cranberry Apple Oatmeal

K has been having oatmeal since he was about 8 months old? Maybe a little older. But I've stopped giving him oatmeal for some time since he got sick of the Blueberry Oatmeal.

Now that he can have little chunks of apples without my having to worry about him choking, I almost never make him his Apple Pie Toddler Cereal. I probably can, since he still loves his applesauce. And I have so much brown rice leftover. Heck, yes I think I'll do that later today or tomorrow.

In the meantime, he still has about 2 cups of this oatmeal left. And he loves it. I mean who wouldn't? It's sweet from just the dried fruits I put in there!


Raisin Cranberry Apple Oatmeal
(makes 2 cups)

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 apple, cored, peeled & diced
• Half pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Bring milk to a gentle boil over medium heat. Be careful because it'll bubble over very quickly.
2. Stir in oats, raisins, cranberries, cinnamon, nutmeg and a half pinch of salt. Cook until oatmeal thickens, about 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Take oatmeal off the heat and stir in diced apples.
4. Serve with milk or diluted juice. 

Oatmeal can keep in the fridge for a up to 5 days. Add a splash of milk when heating up to loosen the oatmeal. Otherwise it may be too thick when reheated.