Pioneer Womans Cinnamon Rolls

I have a favorite cinnamon roll recipe.  It was one I got from a friend when I first got married and have loved it ever since.

I was in the mood to try something new and since I have practically loved every recipe from Pioneer Woman, I decided to try hers!

They were yummy and just as good as her pictures showed!  She uses a maple frosting that is fun to try every once in a while too!

So if you are in the mood for cinnamon rolls (well maybe not this week with 100 degree temps) give these a try or maybe just try her frosting with your own favorite recipe!

I also highly recommend both her cookbooks!  They are awesome!

Cinnamon Rolls

(Pioneer Woman cookbook Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl)



Dough

• 1 quart (4 cups) whole milk (I just use what I have, but I am sure whole milk would make them a WHOLE lot yummier!!)
• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 pkgs (4 1/2 tsp) active dry yeast
• 9 cups flour (I used half wheat and half white)
• 1 heaping tsp baking powder
• 1 scant tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp salt

Filling

• 2 cups melted butter
• 1/4 cup ground cinnamon
• 2 cups sugar, plus more as needed

Maple Icing

• 2 lbs powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup whole milk (or whatever you have on hand)
• 6 tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 cup strongly brewed coffee (I just used more milk here!)
• Dash of salt
• 1 tbsp maple flavoring or maple extract

For the dough, heat your milk, oil, and sugar.  Do over medium heat and warm it up but don't let it boil.  Set it aside and let cool to lukewarm.

Once it is lukewarm, sprinkle your yeast on top and let it sit for 1 minute or until you start seeing it working.

Now pour this mixture into your mixer and get ready to mix!  Add 8 cups of your flour and stir until combined.  Cover with a clean towel and set it aside to rise for about 1 hour.  Make sure you have a warm spot or if you are lucky enough to have a proofer on your oven, stick this pot of yumminess inside there!

Remove your towel after an hour and you should see a yummy rised dough.  Now add your baking powder, baking soda, salt and the remaining 1 cup of flour.  Mix with your dough hook again and combine.  If you need to add more flour to make it not incredibly sticky, do so!

Now the joy of this recipe is that she says you don't have to use it right away!  I haven't tried this with hers, but she says you can put the dough in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and just keep punching the dough down if it rises up over the bowl!

If you are using the dough right away (or you are ready to use it from the refrigerator), take half your dough and roll it out to a large rectangle.  You may want to flour your work surface to prevent sticking!  Now comes the yummy goodness!  I gave her measurements for butter, cinnamon and sugar.  You can use her measurements and use half for this part of the dough and half for the other part or you can wing it like I do and just sprinkle till it looks good!  The most important part is to make sure you do the melted butter first!  Make sure you try and spread evenly and don't get too close to the edges so you can roll them up and not loose too much buttery yumminess!

Begin at the long end and start rolling the dough up.  Try and keep it tight!  When you reach the end, pinch your seams together.  Now use a knife and cut your rolls into 1 1/2 inch slices.  (You can see a great step by step on her blog if I have confused you by now!)

Pour a couple tablespoons in your pan (she uses pie pans, or I like jelly roll pans or whateve you want to cook them in) and make sure the butter coats the pan.  Place your cut rolls in your pan making sure you don't overcrowd your rolls.  Repeat this until you are out of dough and then do the same with your other half of dough.

Cover your rolls with a clean towel and let rise for about 20 minutes.  During this time, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  You can now get a head start on your dishes, or take a much needed break!

Now remove your towels and bake for 13-17 minutes or until golden brown.  Don't overly brown them, you will be sad if you do!

While they are baking, make your icing!

In a large bowl, whisk together your powdered sugar, milk, butter, coffee(or more milk), and salt.  Add your maple flavoring.  Whisk until smooth.  Taste and add more maple, sugar, or butter if you feel it needs anything else!  The icing should be thick but pourable!

While the rolls are still warm, pour your maple icing all over the top, making sure to get all the edges covered.  As they sit the rolls will absorb the icing and make them super yummy!

Country Egg Scramble

I found this on the real mom kitchen site a while back and hadn't had a chance to try it!

This was a yummy hearty breakfast Wednesday meal for our family.  We ate this with Blueberry Muffins!  YUM!

Simple and yummy and was a hit with all!

Country Egg Scramble

(realmomkitchen)

• 6-7 medium sized red potatoes, cubed (I just used baking potatoes that I had on hand and guesstimated the size!  You can't really go wrong!)
• 8 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 4 medium green onions, sliced about 1/4 cup (left these out since I didn't have any)
• 6 slices bacon
• 1 cup cheese, whatever you have on hand should work

First off you need to cook your cubed potatoes.  So fill your pot with enough water to cover your potatoes and heat to boiling.  Then cook until your potatoes are tender, but not falling apart!

Beat your eggs, milk, salt and pepper with a fork or wire whisk.  Beat them until the egg mixture is a uniform yellow color.

In a large skillet, cook your 6 slices of bacon until crispy and then remove from heat.  When you eventually have to crumble the bacon, I like to cut the bacon before I cook it with my kitchen scissors so it is already crumbled.  Place your cooked bacon on a paper towel lined plate to help drain some grease!

Next add your potatoes to the skillet and cook them in the bacon grease left in the pan.  If you think there is too much grease, drain a little but leave enough so you can brown up your potatoes.

Cook your potatoes in the grease until browned, turning occasionally.  Stir in your green onions if you are using them and cook 1 minute longer stirring constantly.

Pour your egg mixture into the skillet with the potatoes.  As the eggs begin to set on the bottom and side of the pan, gently lift cooked portions with your spatula so that thin, uncooked portions can now flow to the bottom.  Avoid constant stirring!

Cook 3-4 minutes or until eggs are thickened throughout, but still moist.  Dice up your bacon, or put your already crumbled bacon on top and then sprinkle with cheese!

Enjoy with a nice warm muffin!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Pancakes, Pancakes, Pancakes!

There are lots and lots of recipes for them and they are probably the easiest recipe!  You can buy mixes or make your own, but it is an easy breakfast or Breakfast Wednesday dinner!

One of my boys likes them plain with peanut butter on top and the other wants chocolate chips mixed in ~ a boy after my own heart!  In fact I forgot to add them in this morning and we almost had a pre-school breakfast melt down!

This is a great easy recipe that made quite a bit of batter.  My family of 4 was able to have 2 breakfasts with one batter.  I have all the ingredients on hand and you can make it in your blender!  Yes she recommends blending it and I didn't find my pancakes were flat or yucky by doing this!  It is a guarantee that all the ingredients are properly mixed and they cooked really nice!

So enjoy some pancakes and try a new recipe ~ maybe it will become your favorite!

Buttermilk Pancakes

(www.savorysweetlife.com)

• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour (I did 1 cup wheat and 1 cup white)
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp milk

Blend the buttermilk (I like to buy the powdered buttermilk so I always have it on hand when needed), eggs, butter and vanilla in a blender at a medium-low speed until well combined.

Slowly add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Continue to blend until the batter is thick and smooth.

Add the milk 1 tbsp at a time, until the batter is to the consistency you desire.  I have added only 2 tbsp both times I have made this!  Yes I have made this recipe already twice before posting!

Heat up your favorite skillet and cook these up!  I used a 1/3 cup and poured it on my griddle.  Then I added mini chocolate chips or blueberries to my batter.  YUM!!

Egg in the Hole

I don't know what the true name of this breakfast idea, but we called it Egg in the Hole.

We had rave reviews at our house this morning and even had asking for seconds!  Super easy breakfast idea, one that I have had before but haven't thought about for a long time!  Just another idea if you find yourself in a breakfast rut!

Egg in the Hole

• Bread (we used sourdough-YUM)
• Eggs
• Butter

Get a piece of bread and find a biscuit cutter or we used a drinking glass to make your center hole.  We toasted the center hole and had it as toast.

Butter your pan and place your bread in the pan.  Next, crack your egg in the center of your bread and make sure it fills the center.  Butter the top side of your bread.

When egg cooked, flip over and cook other side.  When done, serve with your circle toast!

Perfect Diner Pancakes

I lost my camera to my husband this weekend.  So unfortunately my kids don't get to laugh at me for taking pictures of my food and you don't get to see a wonderful picture of a pancake!

I know we all know what a pancake looks like, so just imagine that picture here!  I was enticed by the recipe name "Perfect Diner" pancake and had to try them.  We do Breakfast Wednesdays at my house and also with school I try really hard to cook more than cereal for breakfast on school mornings (like that I cook cereal~which consists of grabbing a box out of the pantry!) so I am always looking for that great pancake recipe.

I have found a few and have even used some mixes lately.  I think I have found a favorite!  I think I am done with mixes too!  My kids all liked these pancakes too. 

They are fluffy and have great flavor and super yummy!  I don't know how they compare to a diner pancake so much because I am more of a waffle gal when we go out to breakfast!  I do believe the title though, they were perfectly yummy!!

Perfect Diner Pancakes

(http://www.tastykitchen.com/)

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup Malted Milk Powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cups milk (I added more after mixing because it seemed to thick)
• 1 extra large egg (I used a large egg, which may be why I needed more milk)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp melted butter

Heat your griddle to medium-high heat.

In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients and whisk to blend.  In a smaller bowl, combine/whisk the milk, egg, and vanilla until frothy.

Add the milk mixture to your dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.  Now add your melted butter and whisk until completely incorporated.  (I added some more milk here, about a tbsp at a time until desired thickness)

Allow the pancake batter to rest for about 3-5 minutes to thicken.  (Mine was already thick, but I did let it rest!)

Now cook those lovely pancakes on your hot griddle and feel good about sending your kids to school having a great breakfast!  Top with syrup or our ever favorite peanut butter and syrup on top of that!  or strawberry jam or all sorts of other yumminess!  Makes about 8-10 pancakes depending on size.

French Toast

I found this recipe on Pioneer Woman and decided to give it a try!  (She makes hers with a berry butter, which I may try later!)  It is just french toast, but she does it a little different.  She only used egg yolks.  She said on her blog you haven't lived if you haven't tried it this way!  I decided to try it when she described the yucky blobs you can get on french toast when the whites on the egg don't get mixed in.  You know when it makes cooked egg on the sides of your french toast or when you have a blob of it on the bread!  I absolutely hate that! 

So this was the recipe for me to try!  It was good, no blobs of yucky egg white and had great flavor.  She cooks with half and half, but I think you could get away with just using milk!!

Try it both ways for breakfast or as we did for our Breakfast Wednesday Dinner!

French Toast

(The Pioneer Woman)

• 1 loaf of sourdough french bread
• 4 whole egg yolks (just the yolks!!!)
• 2 cups half and half
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsps vanilla
• zest of one lemon (which I didn't add!)
• Sifted powdered sugar for on top
• Syrup!

Cut your bread into 1/2 inch thick slices or buy the already pre cut bread.  In a dish combine the egg yolks, half and half, sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest if you are adding.  Whisk to combine.  Dip bread slices in mixture, coating both sides and cook on a griddle or skillet over medium heat.  Brown both sides and remove to a plate.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and pour yummy maple syrup on top!  ENJOY!!

Strawberry Sauce

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything!  We have been busy with baseball and end of the school year stuff and I haven't been very experimental or cooking a ton!

Well, I am back at it again and hoping to be cooking more now that I am not trying to rush kids to bed and going to activities etc.!

This sauce turned out really good (just need to adjust the sugar depending on the sweetness of your strawberries) and we ate it on crepes! 

Strawberry Sauce

(Our Best Bites cookbook)

• 1 pint strawberries, washed, hulled, and roughly chopped ~ I googled what a pint of strawberries was since I bought mine at Costco and it is 2 1/4 cups sliced or 7 cups whole berries
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar ~ adjust to sweetness, mine needed more sugar
• 1 tsp almond or vanilla extract ~ used vanilla

Combine berries, sugar, and vanilla(or almond) extract in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly and breaking up the strawberries with a wooden spoon.

After 5 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool before putting in your blender.  When cool enough, transfer to your blender and blend until desired consistency is reached.  Refrigerate unused sauce for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months!

Use on top of waffles, crepes, ice cream, milkshakes or even the cookbook suggests adding a few spoonfuls to lemonade to make Strawberry lemonade!  A yummy summer treat!!

Sweet Cinnamon Scones

This is yet another one of Pioneer Woman's yummy recipes!

They are light and cinnamony~light not on the terms of calories, but on the terms of yummy soft texture and full of cinnamon chips and sweetness!

They take a little time putting together~just the part where you form the dough and make the actual scone. It was sticky (next time I will flour my counter) and then I think I crammed too many on the cookie sheet and I will use 2 sheets next time! I had a really hard time getting them out of the pan without breaking them!

Definitely a great brunch or holiday make, not (at least for me) an everyday make!

I will definitely not shy away from making scones again though! So good!!

Sweet Cinnamon Scones

(The Pioneer Woman)

• 
  
  3 cups flour


• 
  
  1/3 cups sugar


• 
  
  5 tsp baking powder


• 
  
  1/2 tsp cinnamon


• 
  
  2 sticks (1 cup) butter


• 
  
  3/4 cups heavy cream


• 
  
  1 egg


• 
  
  1 tsp vanilla extract


• 
  
  1 cup cinnamon chips

Topping:

• 
  
  1/2 cups sugar


• 
  
  1 tsp cinnamon


• 
  
  1 1/2 tsp heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and baking powder. Cut butter into pieces and then cut the butter into the dry ingredients (use a pastry blender or fork to incorporate the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs).

Stir in cinnamon chips.

Mix together in a separate bowl cream, egg and vanilla extract. Pour into flour/butter mixture, stirring gently with a fork to combine.

Turn onto a work surface~mixture will be crumbly and sticky at the same time. Gently press together on the sides as you flatten or can roll with a rolling pin. From either a circle or rectangle.

Mix together topping ingredients and sprinkle over dough. Cut into wedges or triangles and transfer to a cookie sheet (or 2) and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Allow to cool before serving!

Orange Julius

I found this recipe shared on a craft blog (the idea room) that I like to look at for fun ideas! She shared this recipe that her son put together from a foods class at his school!

I made this after church and it was super yummy! The kids thought it tasted like those orange dreamsicles!

It was a great treat and reminded me of the days of finding these at the mall in California!

Orange Julius

(the Idea Room)

• 6 oz frozen orange juice concentrate (I thawed mine)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 ice cubes

Combine all ingredients (except the ice) in your blender. Blend for about 1-2 minutes. (I had a 12 oz can of orange juice and just used the rest to make orange juice).

Now add the ice cubes 1 at a time. When ice is blended, pour and enjoy!!

Overnight Caramel Sticky Buns

I love the Our Best Bites recipe blog! It has great recipes and has been a fun place to look for new ideas! When they came out with a cookbook, I had to have it!

This is from their new cookbook (which is really great with ideas to do with leftover ingredients, and many tips) and it was yummy! My kids are already asking when I am making them again! Good thing rhodes rolls are on sale right now, I may have to go buy some more to have them on hand!

You make these the night before (which is sooo nice) and then they cook up pretty fast and super good!

Overnight Caramel Sticky Buns

(Our Best Bites cookbook

check out there site www.ourbestbites.com)

• 18 Rhodes frozen dinner rolls
• 1 (4.6 oz) box cook-and-serve pudding mix in either vanilla or butterscotch (I used butterscotch)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup pecans, optional
• 1/3 cup melted butter

Spray a bundt pan with non-stick spray. Make sure to get your pan completely covered! Place the frozen rolls evenly around the pan.

Sprinkle the pudding mix, brown sugar and cinnamon all over your rolls. Make sure to evenly coat! Sprinkle with pecans if desired! Pour melted butter all over the rolls.

Cover with a clean dry towel and leave at room temperature over night!

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes and then invert on a plate or platter.

Make sure to be careful when inverting so as not to spill the caramel goodness all over your floor! Take that from experience, I did that once! Enjoy and your kids or husband or friends who are over will love you!!!

Frosted Cinnamon Rolls

I have reposted this recipe with a few details added! I have made these so much that the added things I do weren't in the recipe when I put this on the blog in November of 2008! So I have reposted with the new details!

This is the best recipe I have found and I just think all the time it takes is soooo worth it!

I got this recipe from a friend while living in Utah. Her mother-in-law made these for us and this has been the only cinnamon roll recipe I have used since!!

So Yummy!!

Frosted Cinnamon Rolls

3 cups buttermilk

2 tbsp yeast

2 tbsp warm water

3 cups flour

Mix together and let rise for 1 hour. This will take on a spongy consistency.

Add:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 eggs

1 tsp soda

2 tsp salt

5 cups flour

Mix together and let rise for 1-1 1/2 hours

Split dough into 2 equal parts. Roll out dough and brush with melted butter. Once you think you have enough, you probably should add more! Add cinnamon and sugar. I sprinkle until it is pretty covered! I want to have the Cinnabon middles!! Roll up dough and slice the rolls.

Place rolls on cookie sheets (takes 2 cookie sheets for the recipe!). Let rise for another 1-1 1/2 hours. Bake 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. (my baking time has been a little longer than this! So plan on 20 minutes for your timing!)

Frosting

1 lb bag powdered sugar

2/3 stick butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup milk

Mix together and get to your desired consistency.

Spread on warm cinnamon rolls or wait til they cool to spread!!

Oatmeal Muffins

I have the King Arthur Flour All-Purpose Baking Cookbook!

I have to admit I haven't used it a lot! I am now trying a new goal to make bread every Monday. I am now looking at this book alot!!

It has more than just bread recipes, although the info on bread and recipes is WOW! Maybe a little overwhelming with all the info, but definitely good info!

I found this muffin recipe and it turned out really good. These aren't a sweet muffin but they do describe them as a "low-calorie treat"!!

Plan ahead, because you do soak the oatmeal in buttermilk over night! They are worth it and I know low-calorie treat doesn't include putting butter on top, but that is totally worth it too!

Oatmeal Muffins

(King Arthur Flour Bakers Companion)

• 1 cup oats
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 tbsp melted butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup raisins ~ Optional!

In a small bowl, combine the oats and the buttermilk. Cover and refrigerate overnight!

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the buttermilk and oat mixture, brown sugar, butter, egg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Gently stir in the flour and raisins ~ the mixture will be very thick at this point!

Scoop into 12 greased muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes (watch this, mine were done at about 15minutes) or until the tops are light golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes on a rack and turn out on a rack to finish cooling!

Huevos Hyancinth

On Breakfast Wednesday last week we had the yummiest egg ever! I usually pass on the eggs, I like them but they are not my favorite! I would have to say yes to this egg!

YUM YUM YUM!

I didn't make them for my kids, wasn't sure how they would react. They like eggs, but they also like things to look the way they should. Todd and I had these and they were super good and super fast and easy! Definitely something you could throw together in about 10 minutes, which would just about include your cooking time too!

Huevos Hyancinth

(The Pionees Woman Cookbook)

• Butter for ramekins
• Thinly slice ham, turkey, or any deli meat (I used Ham)
• Tomato slices or salsa
• Large Eggs
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Crumbled or grated Monterey Jack or any cheese you like

Butter individual ramekins, and in each one place a piece of ham. Top the ham with the tomato slices or with salsa or picante sauce (a couple tbsp will do). Gently crack an egg ove the top of each ramekin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Top each ramekin with 1/4 cup grated cheese or crumbled cheese.

Broil for 2-4 minutes, removing when the yellow of the egg is still soft but not overly runny. It took me about 7-10 minutes to cook mine. I wanted to make sure the whites were done!

Chocolate Waffles

I made these for breakfast when Todd was out of town! My boys are always up for a new chocolate recipe, but sometimes my husband is less than thrilled when it happens at breakfast! I thought these waffles were really good! Of course some of you know, just about anything with chocolate is good!! We ate them with maple syrup, but we all decided some whip cream and strawberries would make these super delish!!!

Chocolate Waffles

(found on www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com

The Ghiradelli Chocolate Cookbook)

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder (of course the cookbook version says ghiradelli cocoa powder)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups milk
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 4 tbsp oil
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine the baking powder, flour and cocoa in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk together the milk, egg yolks and oil. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients.

In another bowl (or your mixer) beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. It shouldn't take long, only about 3 minutes.

Fold the egg whites into your chocolatey batter.

Stir in your chocolate chips and you are ready to cook! Make sure you spray your waffle iron before you put your batter in!

**I halved this recipe for me and my 2 boys and it made plenty!**

Banana Crumb Muffins

I had a few bananas that needed to be used! They were really really black and crying to be put out of their misery!

So I mashed them! and made these wonderful muffins! They were super flavorful and yummy and just might replace any other banana muffin recipe I have!

And I just had to add a few mini chocolate chips! Almost everything is better with chocolate!
Banana Crumb Muffins
(www.allrecipes.com)

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg (added from a reviewer)
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon (added from a reviewer)
• 3 mashed bananas
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup melted butter (or 1/3 cup oil)
• 1 tsp vanilla (added from a reviewer)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips (optional)

TOPPING:

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fill muffin tins with muffin papers - I got about 17 muffins.

Cream together butter or oil, egg, vanilla, and sugar. Add the mashed bananas.

Then add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly! Add the chopped nuts or chocolate chips if desired! Place batter into prepared muffin tins.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tbsp flour, cinnamon. Cut in 1 tbsp butter until resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle over muffins.

Bake in a preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean!

Brunch Casserole

I found this recipe on Tracey B. blog and had to give it a try. It is one of those breakfast casseroles, but it uses potatoes instead of bread.

It was really good and Todd enjoyed it even more the next 2 days as left overs for breakfast. We ate it for Breakfast Wednesday dinner and super good! I will admit that I forgot about the whole make it the day before and cook it in the morning or it would probably work to make it in the morning and let it sit all day and make it at night. But it still was really good even if it only sat for an hour!

Brunch Casserole

(from Tracey B. Blog)

• 4-6 cups frozen shredded hashbrowns - 1 24oz bag (I didn't have any hashbrowns, so I cubed up some potatoes really small and then boiled them until tender and they worked great!)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar or colby-jack cheese
• 2 tbsp chopped onion or dry minced onion
• 1 lb mild sausage
• 4 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced (which I left out because of the kids!)
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp salt (it seemed to need more salt, I may add more here or just know to add when eating!)
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tsp dry mustard

Brown and drain sausage. Set aside. Thaw potatoes (or cut up and boil real ones) and place 1/2 of the potatoes in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan (I sprayed my pan, but don't know if you have to do this). Add 1/2 cheese and 1/2 sausage and mushrooms and then repeat layers one more time.

Beat eggs, salt, pepper, onions, mustard and milk. Pour liquid over the top of potatoes and cheese mixture. Cover and leave in refrigerator overnight.

Bake, covered at 350 degrees (I didn't bake mine covered because I didn't read this very well and it turned out fine!) for 45 minutes. Let set for 10 minutes before serving and enjoy!

Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes

I found this recipe on Sisters cafe and it is definitely a keeper! They were really moist and whipped up really quick for a school breakfast!

Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes

(www.sisterscafe.blogspot.com)

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Add milk, sour cream and butter; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Fold in the blueberries.

Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a greased hot griddle and enjoy!

Homemade Cinnamon Bread

I made this cinnamon bread the other day and it was yummy!! It was simpler than cinnamon rolls and helped overcome a craving for the real thing! Next time I may try even making a little glaze to pour over the top of the bread!

If you have a favorite bread recipe, you could skip the bread making part and just see how the cinnamon and sugar part is done and still have super yummy bread (and great breakfast, snack etc. bread at home! It wont last long!)

Homemade Cinnamon Bread

(http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/)

• 1 cup milk
• 6 tblsp butter
• 2 1/2 tsp yeast
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cups sugar (I might add just a little more next time!)
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• egg and milk mixed together for brushing
• softened butter

Melt 6 tbsp butter with milk. Heat until very warm, but don't boil. Allow to cool until still warm to the touch, but not too hot! (very important because you don't want to kill the yeast!) Sprinkle the yeast over the top, stir gently and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Combine the flour and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix sugar and eggs with your paddle atachment until combined. Pour in milk/butter/yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add half the flour and beat on medium speed until combined. Add the other half and beat until combined.

Switch your mixer attachment to the dough hook and mix for about 10 minutes on medium speed. If dough is overly sticky, add a little flour at a time and beat again for 5 minutes.

Place bread in a warm bowl that has been greased. Turn the dough around in it so it is all greased up. Cover with plastic wrap (and spray wrap or my mom always covered with a clean kitchen towel!) and let rise in a warm spot for 2 hours at least!

Turn dough onto a work surface and roll into a rectangle no wider than the loaf pan you are using! (I made 2 loaves with my dough, I think my pans are not as big!) Now do your cinnamon roll thing, smear melted butter on bread and then add cinnamon and sugar, lots of cinnamon and sugar!

Next roll the dough up and make sure to pinch your seams together! Make sure you grease your loaf pans really well. My bread leaked a little and it was hard to get the loaf out! Place dough seam side down into pan and then cover and let rise for 2 hours!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix a little egg with milk and when done rising, brush this mixture on the bread! This makes a great golden brown crust! Bake for 40 minutes on a middle/lower rack in the oven (my bread took about 30 minutes, so keep an eye on it!) Remove from pan and allow bread to cool!

Eat this yummy bread warm out of the oven, as yummy toast or even make french toast with it!

Waffles of Insane Greatness

I couldn't resist trying this recipe, especially since it is Breakfast Wednesday at our house tonight! I found this on Real Mom Kitchen and they did turn out really great! You don't have to beat your egg whites (which saves a step from my other recipe) but you do have to make sure and have time to wait 30 minutes (the batter has to rest!)

So try some waffles for breakfast or have your own breakfast dinner!

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Waffles of Insane Greatness

(www.realmomkitchen.com)

(She doubled the recipe and said she would triple next time for her family of 5)

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup whole milk (I only have 1%, which seemed to work fine)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten
• 3/4 tsp vanilla

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Whisk together to blend.

In another mixing bowl, beat together the milk, buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk until just incorporated and few lumps remain. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat waffle iron. Fill waffle wells and cook according to your normal waffle iron instructions!

Sourcream Poppyseed Streusel Muffins

I am always looking for a good muffin recipe! It is and easy breakfast add on and my kids love them as a snack!

These turned out really good and were easy to make! I didn't add the grated orange rind, too nervous the kids would reject the "chunks" or "foreign objects" in the muffin. I thought they were still quite good! So try with our without!

Sourcream Poppyseed Streusel Muffins

(http://www.ourbestbites.com/)

Muffins

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 tbsp grated orange rind (which I didn't add)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 8 oz container sour cream (light works great)

Streusel

• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tbsp butter, melter
• 2 tsp poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare streusel by combining streusel ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. To prepare muffins, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Combine buttermilk and remaining muffin ingredients in a small bowl and add to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups (I got 16) or 24-36 mini muffin cups, either lined or sprayed. Sprinkle evenly with streusel mixture.

Bake at 375 for 18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove muffins from pan immediately and place on a wire rack to cool.