Zucchini Bread

For the past month or so, I had been seeing a lot of zucchini recipes on Pinterest. I guess because it was zucchini season. It sounded weird to me that zucchini was a main ingredient for something sweet. I always thought it to be used in a savory dish. So I wasn't too interested in any of the different versions of zucchini bread that popped up all over Pinterest. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely LOVE zucchini. Just not in a sweet form.

Well one day, an old co-worker brought in some freshly baked banana and zucchini breads for her last day in our office. She suggested I try the zucchini bread. I hesitated a bit, but I went for it. Let's just say that I went back for thirds and fourths. It was delicious. Not too sweet and you don't even taste the zucchini! It was just like eating a spice cake. And since I had been seeing a lot of zucchini bread recipes lately, like this one from Oh My! Sugar High, I decided to give it a go. I wanted to make this for my family, especially for my girls, to try out. Its a great way to sneak in some of their veggies. And they LOVED it. In fact, my older daughter has asked me to make more. I also gave some for my folks and they also loved it. This will definitely be made frequently at home. Serve it warm with some butter, or at room temperature. Yum!

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg (optional)
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cup sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini (with some of the liquid squeezed out)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

1) Preheat oven at 350 deg F. Grease and flour 2 8-inch or 9-inch loaf pan and set aside.

2) In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg (if using). Set aside.

3) In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients and beat until well combined. Batter will be thick.

4) Fold in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour in prepared loaf pans and bake for 40-60 minutes, until toothpick test comes out clean. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Then cool completely in a wire rack.

Blueberry Muffin Overnight Oatmeal

I don't know about you, but I'm kind of tired of eating plain old oatmeal or plain cereal for breakfast. I try to eat a healthy breakfast but I'm just so tired of the bland taste. I think that's the reason why people tend to eat yummy, unhealthy food because healthy always equals no taste. Not so with this new oatmeal recipe I found. I came across this recipe from Creme de la Crumb on Pinterest. I've been seeing a lot of posts about overnight oatmeal lately. Its quite an interesting spin on regular, goopy oatmeal. Its eaten cold. Which isn't so bad, since its now summer and no one wants to eat hot oatmeal in the heat of summer. And its a great grab-and-go meal to take with you when you're in a rush in the morning. No need to cook it and wait to cool before you can pack it up and eat at your desk at the office. It sits in the fridge overnight in a container, then just grab it and go out the door. Its so convenient. And tastes quite yummy. I think I've found another way to eat my oatmeal.

1/2 cup old fashioned oats (not quick oats)
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
6 oz blueberry Greek yogurt
1-2 drops vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. dry vanilla pudding mix
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (to taste)
1/3 cup flake cereal
fresh blueberries (for garnish)

1) In a mason jar or other sealable container, combine oats, almond milk, yogurt, vanilla extract, pudding mix, and cinnamon. Stir until well combined. Top with cereal and blueberries. Cover and refrigerate overnight or 2 nights. Eat cold.

Lemon Blueberry Bread

I know I've somewhat neglected this blog for a while. Having a six year old with tons of activities at school and a 1 year old needing attention will make me do that. I'm not complaining though. I'm so blessed and thankful to have healthy children and a busy household. But now that I have another daughter to look out for, I really needed to get back to my food blogging so both my children can benefit from this. I want to start creating memories with her in the kitchen like I did with my 6 year old. I can't wait to have both my girls with me in the kitchen. Its what I've always dreamed of.

I had been craving something lemony to make one day. But I had a huge batch of blueberries that I bought from Costco that needed to be used up. So in search of a great recipe, once again, turned to my favorite Pinterest and found this recipe from Notes from the Heartland.

This had just the right amount of tartness I was looking for and not overly sweet. I brought this to work and my co-workers really enjoyed it. Its a great way to use up those blueberries.

1 1/2 cup, plus 1 Tbsp. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1) Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

2) Sift dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients together. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine.

3) Mix the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour with the blueberries, being careful not to crush the blueberries. Gently fold blueberries into batter just until combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan.

Lemon syrup
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

1) Dissolve sugar and lemon juice in a small pan over medium heat. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

2) Remove from heat. Place blueberry bread on a plate. Poke with a fork or wooden skewer several times. Brush the bread with the lemon syrup.

Lemon glaze
1/2 -  1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2-3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1) Stir together powdered sugar and lemon juice until well combined.

2) Pour glaze over blueberry bread.

Waffles

During the weekday, our meal at breakfast is often not spent together. My breakfast usually consist of either some sort of cereal or oatmeal that I often just eat on the desk in my office. I leave the house earlier than hubby because I drop the little munchkin off at my parents, who in turn feed her breakfast before they drop her off at school. Because weekday mornings are always so rushed, weekend breakfast is usually something special that I like to make so we can sit down and eat together as a family and enjoy a nice, slow day off.

The only other time I've ever made waffles was when I made these Carrot Cake Waffles. My daughter likes to eat things plain with no surprises like shredded carrots in her waffles. So she wants her waffles plain. So I did a search among the blogs I frequently visit and found these awesome waffles from Annie's Eats. Known as Waffles of Insane Greatness (or WIG), this recipe has apparently travelled all over the blogosphere for its awesome goodness. And I can definitely attest to its awesomeness. And so can the little munchkin, who ate all of hers up. She said I make the best waffles ♥

3/4 cup all purpose 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 milk
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.

2) In a large bowl, whisk together milk, buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla extract. Whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until incorporated and a few lumps remain. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

3) Preheat waffle iron. Fill waffle wells and cook according to manufacturer's instructions. Cook until crisp and golden. Serve immediately.

Copycat Disney French Toast

I've been on a hiatus the past week or so because I went back on my Fat Flush Diet, which lasted a week. So there obviously hasn't been any cooking or baking. If you followed me in 2010, the Fat Flush Diet consist of no salt, no sugar, no flavor! But it cleanses your body of toxins. This time around, however, it was easier to plan for our meals. All I did was grill/pan sear a lot of fish. Because fish tended to have natural flavoring in it. That diet was so hard, but so worth it. I lost about 5 pounds, where 2-3 pounds were probably water retention. So I'm sure I'll get that back once I get my body back to consuming the salt. So, I probably lost a solid 2-3 pounds. A good weight to kick start a diet. I had been calorie counting for about a month or so and I just couldn't shed any weight. So this will help me continue with the calorie counting.

To celebrate the newer me, I wanted to finally make a good breakfast for us today. During this week-long diet, all I did was look for new recipes. I saved up so many, so I'm going to be consistently making new recipes in the next month or so. One of those is a copycat recipe for
Disney's French Toast that I found on food. com. I first had this yummy breakfast a few years ago when my brother-in-law and his family invited us to stay with them during a trip to Disneyland. They brought us along for breakfast at one of their character breakfast. I had some of their french toast and its all I look for when we have breakfast at Disneyland. I'm so glad to have found this recipe because it was delicious. You don't even need to use any syrup because its already sweetened with cinnamon sugar. Hubby and my daughter were thoroughly pleased with this supped up classic breakfast. I modified the recipe and used regular sandwich bread and cut the recipe in half. But you can use Texas loaf as the recipe calls for if you would like larger french toast.

8 slices white or wheat bread
1 egg
1 1/4 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
oil for frying

Cinnamon Sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
6 Tbsp. sugar

1) In a large bowl, whisk all the batter ingredients together, except the bread, until thoroughly combined and smooth.

2) In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar. Set aside.

3) Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a skillet or griddle. Dip bread in batter and fry on both sides until golden brown.

4) Pat french toast on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Coat in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and serve warm.

Red Velvet Pancakes

I love anything that is Red Velvet. I've made Red Velvet Cake, Red Velvet Cupcakes, Red Velvet Brownies, and Red Velvet Cake Bon Bons. So why not Red Velvet Pancakes?

I first heard of the concept of Red Velvet Pancakes when I heard that The Buttermilk Truck served Red Velvet Pancakes. What an awesome idea. Unfortunately, I haven't caught up to the Buttermilk Truck, but I've been dying to have a taste of Red Velvet Pancakes. Then one day, I came across this recipe from Food Republic. I think it was time to finally make the breakfast version of this beloved dessert. Serve this with pancake syrup or cream cheese frosting, but this is a definite recipe to make if you are a Red Velvet dessert lover like me.

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp. red food coloring
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cocoa powder.

2) In another large bowl, beat egg, buttermilk, sour cream, food coloring, and vanilla extract until smooth. Slowly whisk in flour mixture into wet mixture, alternating with the melted butter. Whisk until all lumps are out.

3) Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat and drop in batter about 1/4 cup at a time to form pancakes. When the bottoms are set and bubbles are forming on the top, flip pancake over to cook on the the other side. Serve warm with cream cheese frosting or syrup.

Sausage Pancake Egg Sandwich

I've been looking for great breakfast recipes to make on a lazy Saturday and found this recipe from Paula Deen a while ago. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to make it until recently. We've been on a cereal diet since we got back from our vacation in Hawaii. And so we've only been eating cereal for breakfast. But I decided one morning to splurge and have a good breakfast and this recipe came to mind.

This definitely was a good breakfast. Hubby really loved it. It isn't for the diet conscious, but its okay to splurge every now and then. This dish gives a great balance of salty and sweet from the pancake or maple syrup used to top it off. A definite make-again recipe.

Pancakes
2 1/2 cups self rising flour
pinch of salt
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil, plus more for cooking
butter

1) Preheat oven to 200 deg F.

2) Combine flour and salt. Mix milk, eggs, and oil together. Add milk mixture into flour mixture and stir until well combined.

3) Heat a skillet or pan over medium heat. Rub butter on the bottom of the pan and add about a teaspoon of oil to prevent the butter from browning. Ladle 1/4 cup of the batter, for each pancake, onto the skillet. Cook pancakes for 2-4 minutes until the bottoms are brown. Flip the pancake over to cook on the other side, until lightly browned. Place pancakes in preheated oven until ready to serve.

Scrambled eggs
8 eggs
salt & pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. butter
4 cooked sausage patties, crumbled

cheese slices (Swiss or cheddar)
maple or pancake syrup
butter

1) Heat a large skillet or pan over medium heat. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs until the whites and yolks are combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

2) Melt butter in the skillet. Add eggs and reduce heat to medium-low. Add sausages and stir frequently until eggs are cooked through. Remove from heat.

3) To assemble the sandwich, place a slice of cheese on top of one pancake. Top with scrambled eggs. Place another slice of cheese on top of scrambled eggs and cover with another pancake. Place a dab of butter and drizzle with syrup and serve warm.

Apple Cider Beignet with Caramel Rum sauce

I've been wanting to make some apple donuts because we always buy loads of apples from Costco. Don't get me wrong. Hubby and daughter loves eating them, but I just wanted to make something out of them other than eating them on their own. Then I found an awesome recipe for Apple Cider Beignets from Smells Like Home. OMG were these delicious! And easy to make. I especially love dipping it in the caramel sauce. The original recipe includes making the caramel from scratch. But I had some caramel sauce leftover from my Banana Caramel Cream Pie that I didn't want to go to waste. I just added a splash of the rum and apple cider vinegar it called for. These were great to eat by itself, but dipping it in the caramel sauce takes them over the top. Make these now if you love apples. These will not disappoint.

Beignets

vegetable oil

2 Golden delicious apples (or any apples you have on hand), peeled and core removed

1 1/2 cup self rising flour

1 egg

1 cup sparkling apple cider

confectioner's sugar for dusting

Sauce
1 cup caramel sauce

splash of rum

splash of apple cider vinegar

1) Preheat oven to 250 deg F. Set a cooling rack on a large shallow pan inside the oven. Heat 2 inches of oil in a pot over medium heat to 275 deg F.

2) Place 1 cup flour in a shallow bowl. Make a well in the center. In a small bowl, beat egg. Stir in apple cider and 1 tablespoon of oil. Pour mixture into the well of flour. Stir with a fork until lumpy batter forms. Set aside.

3) Cut peeled apples crosswise into 1/4" thick slices. Pat apple rings dry.

4) Place 1/2 cup of remaining flour in a small bowl. Dredge 3 apple rings into flour, shaking off excess flour. Then dip apple rings in the wet mixture until well coated. Fry in oil until golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes per batch. Transfer to rack in the oven to keep warm. Dust with confectioner's sugar when ready to serve with caramel sauce.

5) To make the sauce: Combine prepared caramel sauce, a splash of rum, and a splash of apple cider vinegar in a microwave-safe bowl. Stir to combine. Heat in microwave for 1 minute. Serve warm with beignets.

Carrot Cake Waffles

Hubby and I used to love going to Paradise Cove in Malibu to have breakfast. It was a nice cafe right on the beach and I used to love ordering their Carrot Cake waffles. We've gone there a few times, until hubby got a serious bout of food poisoning from there. So we haven't gone back since. But I really miss eating their Carrot Cake waffles and always wondered when I would get another taste of it.

Yesterday, we went on our weekly trip to Costco and I came across a cookbook that had a recipe for carrot pancakes. "Light bulb!" I didn't buy the cookbook, but I decided to search for it online and came across this recipe from Tasty Kitchen. I haven't used my waffle iron in a long time, so I decided to use it for this recipe.

It came out pretty good, but it wasn't the Paradise Cove waffles I came to love. However, my daughter really liked it. What's even better is that she was actually eating carrots without knowing it. She hates carrots or any other vegetables. So this was another great way to sneak-in something healthy for her. I'll probably attempt another version of this recipe, but I'm definitely making carrot cake waffles again.

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 light brown sugar, lightly packed

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups finely shredded carrots

1/2 cup crushed pineapple

1) Combine flour, salt and all the spices in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, buttermilk, oil vanilla extract and eggs. Add sugar mixture into flour mixture and stir just until moist. Fold in shredded carrots and crushed pineapple.

2) Heat waffle iron and coat top and bottom of pan with a nonstick spray or brush with melted butter. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop batter onto waffle iron, close lid and cook until done. Serve warm with maple syrup and/or whipped cream.

Orange Muffins

Oranges are in abundance at our house right now. We've harvested a whole bunch of oranges from our tree that I don't know what to do with. Fresh squeezed orange juice isn't always easy to make. Do you know how hard it is to squeeze oranges to make orange juice? Even with a juicer? Its a carpal-tunnel syndrome waiting to happen. So I needed to figure out what to do with some of the oranges we had. I was thinking of making my Orange Ice Cream Popsicle that my daughter loves. But its too cold to be making ice cream right now. So off I went in search of another great recipe. I really wanted to make a cake or some muffins with my fresh oranges. There were quite a few muffin recipes out there, but I'm always leery about trying new recipes that no one has made yet. I knew I wouldn't be disappointed with any of the recipes I try from Annie's Eats, so I had to make her Orange Muffin recipe.

Annie never seems to disappoint me because these were so yummy. They came out moist and light. Not like other muffins that are dense and almost dry. I especially love the sweet orange glaze on top. Hubby said they were really good and orangey and daughter couldn't wait to eat them once they came out of the oven. Though all she really ate was the glaze off of her muffin.

1 cup milk

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1/2 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

2 stick unsalted butter, melted

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

zest of 1 orange

for the orange glaze:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tsp. orange zest

1) Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line muffin pan with 16 liners.

2) In a medium bowl, combine milk, orange juice, sour cream, eggs and melted butter. Whisk together to blend. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir to blend. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Fold in orange zest with a spatula.

3) Evenly distribute batter into muffin cups. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack over a baking sheet. Drizzle glaze over muffins while still warm.

4) To make the glaze, combine orange juice, powdered sugar, orange zest in a small bowl. Whisk together until smooth, adding more orange juice if necessary to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle over muffins. Allow glaze to set before serving or storing in an airtight container.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Its a chilly and rainy Saturday morning and we decided to stay in. And whenever we stay in, I like to make a nice breakfast for us.

I still had some pumpkin puree in the freezer that I wanted to use up. And then one day, I came across this recipe from Annie's Eats that I had been saving up and I thought today was a good day to try it out. What a great recipe this was. It very tasty and my daughter loved it. We served this with whipped topping, or pancake syrup, or cinnamon sugar. My daughter liked dipping her pancakes in the whipped topping the best. This is another great way to sneak in something healthy in my daughter's food.

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

dash of ground ginger

dash of ground cloves

1 cup milk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 large egg

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil or melted butter

1) In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and all the spices. Stir to combine.

2) In a small bowl, combine milk, pumpkin puree, egg and oil/butter. Add mixture to dry ingredients and whisk until well incorporated (note: the batter will be a little lumpy).

3) Heat a greased skillet or pan. Pour batter on skillet and cook on both sides until golden brown. Serve warm with maple/pancake syrup, whipped topping, or cinnamon sugar.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

We're going on a road trip to Vegas, and again, I wanted to make some snacks for the trip. And since I had some bananas left over, I wanted to make some kind of a muffin that we can also munch on for breakfast. Because who wants to waste money on breakfast while in Vegas, right? I'd rather spend money on a lunch buffet rather than a breakfast buffet. And maybe have some money left over for those penny slots. lol! Anyway, I didn't want to make just a plain 'ol banana muffin. Since I've been on a chocolate banana fix, I wanted to make something with that theme. So I did a search and found this from cdkitchen.com that looked easy. It called for chopped up candy bars, but since I had so much chocolate chips in my fridge, its what I used. It came out pretty good. What I'd like to do next time is put a dollop of hazelnut spread in the middle of the muffin for a secret surprise. I would've done that now, but I was afraid of how it might melt and ruin the batter. I'll experiment with that next time.

3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, melted

1 cup mashed bananas

2 eggs, at room temperature

1/4 cup sour cream 1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 375 deg F. Line muffin pan with muffin cups.

2) In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugars and salt. Stir in melted butter until moistened, using a fork. Reserve 1 cup of flour mixture and set aside. Add baking powder and baking soda in the remaining mixture. Set aside.

3) In a separate bowl, mix together banana, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla until well blended. Add banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until combined. Mix in chocolate chips.

4) Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Crumble reserved flour mixture on top of batter and lightly press onto the top of each muffin. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or cooled with chocolate drizzled on top.

Chocolate Banana Stuffed French Toast

Its another one of those lazy Sundays we're having and I wanted to have a nice breakfast for us. I found a recipe for a Banana-Nutella Stuffed Croissant from a Costco recipe book that I've had for a couple of years and it looked so delicious on the picture. So I wanted to someday make it. Unfortunately, I always seem to forget to buy croissants. But I wanted to try to make something similar to it and I did have some bananas and sandwich bread. So I decided to improvise and came up with this recipe. And it was sooooo good! Hubby couldn't stop raving about it while he was eating it. This is a nice twist to a regular french toast. I'll definitely make this again.

4 slices of sandwich bread

4 Tbsp. cream cheese, softened

4 Tbsp. chocolate hazelnut spread

1 banana, sliced into rounds

6 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 Tbsp. rum

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

a pinch of ground cinnamon

butter

confectioner's sugar, for garnish

1) Spread cream cheese on one side of each slice of bread. Spread chocolate hazelnut spread on top of cream cheese. Set aside.

2) In a small saucepan, toss banana slices with brown sugar. Heat mixture on medium heat until sugar melts. Place mixture on top of 2 of the sliced bread topped with chocolate/cream cheese spread. Place the other 2 slices on top of the banana, chocolate side down, to make a sandwich.

3) In a bowl, combine egg, milk, rum, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Dip each side of the sandwich in batter. Heat a sautee pan over medium heat and coat with a little butter. Cook sandwich like french toast, turning once. Top with confectioner's sugar.

Spinach and Bacon Quiche

I've been wanting to make quiche for a while now ever since a quiche recipe popped up on my reader. I thought it looked so easy and I love quiche. So when I was at the supermarket yesterday, I figured I should buy all the ingredients I needed. Which isn't much. I had most of the ingredients at home already. I just needed the pie shell.

This recipe is from Paula Deen and I found it on the Food Network website. It received great reviews and looked really easy, so I wanted to give it a try. I modified the original recipe a bit, based on the reviews. Specifically, I decreased some of the ingredients because it looked like it would overflow from the pan. It came out so yummy. I can't believe how easy this recipe was.

6 large eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups heavy cream or half & half

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups chopped fresh baby spinach, packed

1/2 lb (or 1/2 a package) bacon, cooked and chopped

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese

1 (9-inch) refrigerated pie crust

1) Preheat oven to 375 deg F.

2) Combine eggs, cream (or half & half), salt and pepper in a food processor or blender. Layer spinach, bacon, and cheese on the bottom of the pie crust. Pour egg mixture on top. Place crust on a large backing dish (to help catch the overflow while baking). Bake for 35-45 minutes until the egg is set.

Malasadas II (Leonard's bakery version)

We've attempted to recreate the delicious Malasadas that hubby made last year but they somehow don't turn out the same as when hubby originally made them. Working with yeast is very tricky. So whenever we tried to make them again, they didn't rise well and they tasted very yeast-y.

My brother told me he found a recipe on the Food network that supposedly is a recipe from Leonard's bakery - a bakery in Hawaii that is famous for its malasadas. So I decided to try to make it for breakfast today and they came out delicious. And it didn't have a yeast-y flavor at all. I think hubby thinks this was a better recipe than his. Sorry boo :(

The tricky part of this recipe is how its cooked. You have to constantly monitor the temperature of the oil, otherwise you may end up with a charcoal looking ball with its center still uncooked.

2 tsp. dry active yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 Tbsp. plus 1 1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. nutmeg

vegetable oil for frying

cinnamon-sugar

1) In a medium bowl, combine yeast, warm water and 1 tablespoon sugar. Mix until yeast dissolves and set aside for 5 minutes. Stir in milk, vanilla, eggs and butter. Set aside.

2) In a large bowl, mix flour, 1 1/3 cup sugar, salt and nutmeg. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour yeast mixture into the center of the well and mix to form a soft, smooth dough. Cover dough with a clean towel and set aside in a warm place until dough doubles in size. (Note: this may take anywhere from 1-3 hours, depending on how warm the air is. You need to wait to make sure the dough rises to double its size.)

3) Once the dough has risen, punch the dough down and set aside. Heat 2 inches of oil in a high-sided pot to 325 deg. F. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop a golf-sized ball into the hot oil. Make sure to work with small batches and fry the dough until the are uniformly golden brown, about 3-5 minutes on each side. (Note: its very important to monitor and maintain the temperature of the oil. Too hot of an oil will cause the malasadas to burn on the outside while being undercooked on the inside).

Drain malasadas on a paper towel then roll them in the cinnamon sugar. Serve warm.

Baked French Toast

Today will be my last day of food indulgence, because starting tomorrow, Hubby and will I be on a 2-week long diet. It'll be a strict diet of liquid, veggies, fruits, supplements and no carbs, salt, sugar, or flavor! So today, hubby and I are on "Fat-Saturday" mode (as opposed to Fat Tuesday. lol!). After today, some of the recipes I'll be posting for the next 2 weeks will be diet food. Which is why I chose today to make this recipe I found on allrecipes.com.

I've made Baked French Toast before, but for some reason, I couldn't find that recipe. This came out crunchy, custardy (an oxymoron, I know) and syrupy. But it was quite delicious with the crunch from the top side of the bread, custardy on the inside, and sweet from the syrup. A great way to make ahead for a brunch.

2 Tbsp. corn syrup

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 (1 lb.) loaf french bread, sliced (or any hard/dense bread you have)

5 eggs

1 1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

1) In a small saucepan, heat butter, brown sugar and corn syrup and simmer until sugar has melted. Pour over a greased 9x13 baking dish or smaller.

2) Layer slices of bread over brown sugar mixture. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, milk, vanilla extract and salt. Pour egg mixture over bread. Cover dish and refrigerate overnight.

3) The next morning, preheat oven to 350 deg F. Uncover pan and bake for 45 minutes. Dish will be done when you test with a toothpick and the toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or the French toast will harden. It can be reheated.

Oatmeal Creme Brulee

Its a beautiful Saturday morning. Hubby, daughter and I were finally able to sleep in a little bit and FINALLY have nothing to do but stay home and relax. Well, actually I have nothing to do. Hubby has a paper to write. But he promises it'll only take a bit and he'll finally be done and he'll be able to spend the rest of the weekend with us. I hope so, 'coz its Mother's Day weekend.

Whenever we're home on a weekend. I like to make a nice breakfast for us to enjoy together at the table. I found this recipe from my good 'ol crockpot cookbook. Suprisingly, its found under the Light Recipes section of the cookbook. I can see the oatmeal part as being "light."But the "creme brulee" part is far from being light. We all know that creme brulee is made of heavy cream, egg yolks and sugar. I love creme brulee, and since hubby and I were on a diet, I figured oatmeal would be good for us. But I think the health benefits of the oatmeal might be negated by the fattiness of the creme brulee. Oh well.

This recipe requires a lot of steps. And it cooks for 3 hours in the crockpot. So I don't think this would work if you wake up late in the morning to try to make this. Three hours will take up your entire morning, and it'll be lunch time by the time you get to eat this. But we have all day at home, so we'll just eat lunch late today. This dish is really yummy. Its more like a dessert rather than a breakfast dish.

4 cups water

3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

1/2 tsp. salt

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

fresh berries (optional)

1) Coat crockpot with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and preheat on High. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil. Immediately pour into preheated crockpot. Stir in oatmeal and salt. Cover.

2) Combine egg yolks and sugar in small bowl. Mix well and set aside.

3) Heat cream and vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium heat until mixture begins to simmer (small bubbles begin to form at edge of pan). Do not boil. Remove from heat.

4) Whisk 1/2 cup of hot cream into yolks, stirring rapidly so yolks don't cook. Whisk warmed egg mixture into remaining cream, stirring rapidly to blend. Spoon mixture over oatmeal. Do not stir.

5) Turn crockpot to Low. Line lid with 2 paper towels. Cover tightly and cook on low for 3-3 1/2 hours or until custard has set.

6) Uncover and sprinkle brown sugar over surface of custard. Line with 2 dry paper towels. Cover tightly and continue cooking on low for 10-15 minutes or until brown sugar has melted. Serve with fresh berries if desired.

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

I was in the mood for pancakes this morning. But I looked in my pantry and didn't have any pancake mixes! So I looked for a recipe and found this one. I never felt the need to make pancakes from scratch. Why should I when its easier to use the mix, right? Well, I couldn't believe how easy it was to make this. Its as easy and delicious as pouring the mix out of the box and adding milk/water and eggs. They come out so soft and fluffy, maybe I won't use the box anymore.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 Tbsp. butter, melted

1) In a large bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add milk, egg, and melted butter. Mix until smooth.

2) Heat a lightly oiled/buttered griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Scoop batter into griddle. Brown on both sides and serve hot with butter and maple/pancake syrup.

Breakfast Hash

The hubby was asking for some hash browns for breakfast one day. Unfortunately, I didn't have any on hand at the time. So this weekend, I decided to surprise him with this dish I concocted to make up for it. Its a whole breakfast meal in one and he loved it. He loves potatoes, so he had 3 servings of this dish. Its pretty simple to make. I used a frozen, store-bought bag of Potatoes O'Brien, which made it even more simple. I served this with a side of my white gravy/bechamel sauce to make it even more rich.

14 oz (half a bag) of frozen Potatoes O'Brien

8 oz (half a tube) breakfast sausage

1 clove garlic, minced

4 eggs

1/4 tsp. paprika

salt & pepper to taste

1) In a large skillet, brown sausage meat, making sure to break up any large pieces. Remove meat from skillet and set aside.

2) In the same pan, sautee garlic. Add frozen potatoes. Continue cooking until the potatoes have browned to a crisp.

3) Add sausage meat and continue cooking for another minute. Stir in 1/8 tsp. paprika and salt & pepper to taste.

4) Crack 4 eggs over the potato mixture, one at a time. Sprinkle the remaining paprika, salt & pepper to taste on top of the eggs. Cover skillet and cook until egg whites are no longer clear, about 5 minutes.

Monkey Bread

When I first heard the term "Monkey Bread," I became curios. I was watching Unwrapped on the Food Network and saw a company making it, but never found it anywhere in the store. I came across a recipe a while ago, which was pretty simple. It only called for coating the dough in sugar and then baking it. It tasted pretty good. I didn't make it again because it didn't impress me so much. I found this recipe not too long ago, and it calls for a syrup topping. This one beat the old recipe by far. Its ooey, gooey, goodness. Hubby loved it. Its pretty addicting, especially if you eat it hot. The recipe called for baking it in a bundt pan, which I don't have. So I improvised by using my spring form pan and placing an empty can in the middle to make the hole. This is a pretty simple, must-try recipe. Its great for breakfast, dessert, or something to snack on.

4 cans refrigerated biscuit dough (or 2 cans of the large biscuit dough)

2/3 cups brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Syrup topping

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Grease bundt pan.

2) In a freezer bag, combine 2/3 cups brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.

3)Using kitchen shears, cut biscuits in 4 (6 if you're using the large biscuits). Drop biscuit pieces in the bag and shake to coat. Arrange coated biscuits into the prepared pan.

4) Place syrup ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.

5) Pour syrup over biscuits. Bake for 35 minutes.

6) Turn over onto plate and serve hot.