SOURDOUGH PANCAKES

2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
2 T. sugar
1 t. salt
1 c. sourdough discard
1 1/2 c. milk-room temperature (or a little more to desired consistency) 
1 large egg-room temperature 
1 T. avocado oil, olive oil, or melted butter
optional: chopped pecans or mini chocolate chips.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Add the sourdough discard, milk, egg, and oil. Mix just until combined--do not over mix. Add chopped pecans or mini chocolate chips if desired. 

Heat griddle and grease with avocado oil, olive oil, or melted butter. Pour batter onto hot griddle and brown until bubbles pop, then flip and brown the other side.

Serve with buttermilk syrup and sliced bananas or strawberries, blueberries, or other fruit of choice.

Waffles

 1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c cornstarch
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 c buttermilk
2/3 c oil
2 eggs
3 T sugar
1 1/2 t vanilla

Whisk together dry ingredients. Add went ingredients. Mix until combined. Allow to stand for 30 minutes before cooking.

Heat waffle iron. Cook according to waffle iron directions.

Makes 10-12 waffles.

Recipe by Aretha Frankensteins, via Our Best Bites (with a few of my own adjustments)

Banana Muffins with Browned Butter Glaze

Browned Butter is one of my favorite things. It takes these muffins over the top. These aren't the prettiest muffins, but they are some of the tastiest. The muffin recipe yields a dozen. I usually double or triple the muffin recipe. One batch of the glaze is usually enough unless you find yourself snitching spoonfuls.

1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed 
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/3 c. butter, butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pans with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients to combine. Set aside.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until just combined. Scoop batter into each muffin tin.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. While the muffins are cooling, make the glaze (recipe below).

Glaze 

1 stick butter

2 c. powdered sugar

1/4-1/2 c. milk

Brown butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Cool slightly.  Whisk in the confectioners’ sugar.  Whisk in enough milk to get a glaze consistency. Best to use immediately.  Spoon  the glaze over the muffins.

Recipe modified from My Mommy Style

Chocolate Banana Smoothie

1-2 frozen bananas broken in chunks
1 heaping T. almond butter
1 heaping T. baking cocoa
almond milk

Put bananas, almond butter and cocoa into blender.  Add enough almond milk to reach desired consistency.

Optional: stir in chopped pecan and unsweetened coconut.

Mango Green Smoothie

1 frozen banana broken in chunks
6-7 chunks of frozen mango
1 handful of spinach or kale
apple juice (or a scoop of frozen apple juice and water to desired consistency)

optional to make a protein shake:

add a large spoonful of greek yogurt, 1-1 1/2 scoops vanilla protein powder, 1 t. chia seeds, and/or 1 t. hemp seeds

Put banana, mango, kale or spinach into a blender. Add chia seeds, hemp seeds, and/or Greek yogurt if desired. Add enough apple juice (or frozen apple juice and water) to reach desired consistency and mix until smooth.

* For a berry smoothie, you can substitute frozen mixed berries for the frozen mangos.

Peanut Butter Powerballs

2 c. old fashioned oats, slightly broken down in the blender
1 c. all natural creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. unsweetened finely shredded coconut
2 T. hemp seeds, ground flax or wheat germ
2 T. chia seeds
2/3 c. local ray honey

optional: 1 scoop of your favorite vanilla protein powder

Add ins: 1 cup mini chocolate chips, dried fruit, craisins, raisins, chopped nuts

Combine all dry ingredients in mixer.  Mix on low until ingredients are well blended.  Add wet ingredients. Mix on medium speed until dough forms.  Scrape bowl with spatula and mix again.  Use a 2" cookie scoop to form into bowls.  Set on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Store in covered storage container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

*recipe from cleaneatsandtreats.com

Zucchini Bread 2

Here is another great zucchini bread recipe.  This one is from my friend, Khyra.

3 eggs, well beaten
1 c. oil
2 c. sugar
2 c. raw, peeled, grated zucchini
3 t. vanilla
3 c. flour
1 t. soda
1 t. salt
3 t. cinnamon
1/3 t. baking powder
1/2 c. chopped nuts, optional

Combine eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla and mix well.

Sift flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder together & add zucchini mixture, blending well.  Stir in chopped nuts.
Prepare a sugar cinnamon mixture.  Grease & sugar(using cinnamon sugar) two loaf pans.  Pour batter into pans.  Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture on top.  Bake at 350 for about one hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Don't overbake.

Cinnamon Zucchini Bread (2 ways)

I have two recipes I like for zucchini bread. When I pulled them together to prepare to post them here, I realized they are nearly the same. The major difference is one has a blend of delicious Fall spices and the other one has cinnamon chips. We use the food processor to grate our zucchini quickly. I like to grate up a bunch and measure 2 cups of zucchini into ziplock bags to keep in the freezer to quickly make zucchini bread all year long.


Zucchini Bread
Recipe by Paula Smith, slightly modified

3 eggs
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 c oil
2 c grated zucchini
3 c flour
1 t salt
1 t soda
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t baking powder
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t nutmeg
3 t vanilla

Sugar 2 loaf pans by spraying with cooking spray and then shaking around a few tablespoons of sugar until coated. Whisk dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside. Combine wet ingredients. Add the dry to the wet and mix. Pour into pans and bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes.



Cinnamon Chip Zucchini Bread (variation)
Recipe adapted from Kelly Meppen

Follow recipe above, but omit cloves and nutmeg. Add 1/2 c sour cream to the wet ingredients. Replace the brown sugar with a second cup of white sugar (so 2 cups total of white sugar). Follow the directions, but stir 1 1/2 c cinnamon chips into the batter before pouring into pans.

Bacon Spinach Quiche

Another great quiche recipe from my friend Angie!

1 pie crust, homemade or a frozen pie crust
1/2 c. chopped onion
6 slices bacon
8 beaten eggs
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. half-and-half, cream, or milk
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
dash of nutmeg, optional
3 c. lightly packed, chopped spinach
2/3 c. mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. shredded Swiss cheese
tomatoes, chopped--optional

Prepare and roll out pie crust in a 9-inch pie pan.  Line pie with aluminum foil.  Bake at 450 for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 4-5 minutes more or until pie crust is set and dry.  Remove from oven.  Reduce oven to 325. 

In a skillet, cook onion and bacon until onions are soft and bacon is cooked.  Remove and place on a plate lined with a paper towel.

In a bowl, stir together eggs, sour cream half-and-half, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Stir in bacon and onion mixture.  Add cheese to egg mixture and mix well.

Pour egg mixture in hot pie shell and bake for 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let stand at least 10 minutes.  It is also great at room temperature and helps the quiche to come out nicely. 

Recipe Source: Better Homes and Garden Cookbook and Angie Faust

Ham & Swiss Quiche

My friend made this great quiche for book club last month.  She is such a great cook and I love everything she makes.

1 pie crust, homemade or a frozen pie crust

4 beaten eggs

1 1/2 c. half-and-half, cream, or milk (She said she has used any of those 3 and this recipe works well with any.)

1/4 c. sliced green onions

1/4 t. salt

1/8 t. pepper

dash of nutmeg

3/4 c. chopped cooked ham

1 1/2 c. shredded Swiss, cheddar, or Monterey Jack\

1 T. flour

Prepare and roll out pie crust in a 9-inch pie pan.  Line pie with aluminum foil.  Bake at 450 for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 4-5 minutes more or until pie crust is set and dry.  Remove from oven.  Reduce oven to 325. 

In a bowl, stir eggs, half-and-half, green onions, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Stir in ham.  In a small bowl toss together the cheese and flour.  Add to egg mixture and mix well.

Pour egg mixture in hot pie shell and bake for 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let stand at least 10 minutes.  It is also great at room temperature and helps the quiche to come out nicely. 

Recipe Source: Better Homes and Garden Cookbook and my friend Angie Faust

Baked French Toast

I combined a couple recipes to make this amazing baked French toast.  It's nice to let the oven do the work and not have to stand around a griddle making breakfast.  I loved how crunchy this was and the flavor was awesome!

• 8 pieces Texas Toast bread
• 2 c. milk
• 4 eggs
• 2 T. vanilla
• 2 T. granulated sugar
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 3 T. butter
• maple syrup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with Silpat or aluminum foil and set aside.
Whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon. Lay the slices of bread on another (rimmed) baking sheet, then pour the mixture over the bread. Allow it to stand for 10-15 minutes or until the bread soaks up the egg/milk mixture (you can carefully flip the bread over if you want to hurry the process along).
When the bread is almost done soaking up the egg mixture, place a 1 1/2 tablespoons butter on the lined baking sheet and place the baking sheet in the oven for 1-2 minutes or until the butter is melting. Remove the pan from the oven and use a pastry brush to brush the butter over the baking sheet. Carefully transfer the soaked bread from one pan to the other pan. Place in the oven and bake for 15-17 minutes.
When the time is almost up, melt the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons butter. Remove the pan from the oven and brush the top of the bread with the remaining butter, then use a spatula to flip the bread and return it to the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the bread is cooked through and the pieces are fluffy and golden. Take car to not overcook, you don't want the French toast to be too crunchy.  Remove from the oven. Serve with additional butter and plenty of maple syrup.

Recipe Source: adapted from Sweet Rose Studio & Our Best Bites

Buttermilk Biscuits

I love this biscuit recipe.  I like to serve it with sausage gravy.  I have tried several biscuit recipes in the past and have never like them, but this one is yummy!  The key is to use a food processor and to not overwork the dough.  It is also important to fold the dough a few times before cutting them into circles (this makes all the yummy layers).

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons very cold butter cut into pieces
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, more or less (here is a guide for making your own buttermilk)

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, or in the bowl of a food processor. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture is like coarse meal and the butter is in small, pellet-sized pieces (slightly smaller than a pea). 
2. Pour in the buttermilk and mix/pulse only until just combined. The dough should start to come together but you don't want to overmix the dough. If there are lots of dry patches throughout the dough, add a bit more buttermilk, just a tablespoon or two at a time until the dough comes together.
3. Scrape the dough out of the food processor or bowl onto a lightly floured counter. Gently pat (do not roll with a rolling pin!) the dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Gently fold the dough in half or in thirds, repeating for a total of 4-5 times and pressing it gently to 1-inch thick after the last fold. These folds, combined with the cold butter, are what help to create flaky layers in the biscuits.
4. Use a round biscuit or cookie cutter to cut into circles. Do not turn the cutter while pressing into the dough, just press firmly enough to cut all the way through the dough.
5. Line a large, rimmed cookie sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper. Place the biscuits on the pan with the sides barely touching each other. This helps the biscuits rise up instead of out. If you like crustier sides to your biscuits, space them further apart. They won't rise as high but they'll have golden edges.
6. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the biscuits are lightly golden on top and bottom, do not overbake.

Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Maple Granola

We love yogurt parfaits and this is my favorite granola recipe!

*makes 10 cups

1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
5 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line cooking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper. Set aside.
Whisk together maple syrup, vegetable oil, brown sugar, and salt.  Fold in rolled oats and pecans.  Mix until the dry mixture is thoroughly coated.
Transfer mixture to prepared baking sheet.  Spread evenly across baking sheet.  Get hands wet and press down on top to compact it.  

Bake for 30-45 minutes until mixture is firm and lightly golden brown in color.  Rotate baking sheet midway through baking.  Break room temperature granola into bite size pieces.  Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to one month.

CORNMEAL PANCAKES

Whenever I don't feel like cooking dinner, I make breakfast for dinner.  I really like the cornbread texture of these pancakes.  

1-1/2 cup (scant) All-purpose Flour
1-1/2 cup Heaping Yellow Cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Baking Powder
4 Tablespoons Sugar
2-1/4 cups Whole Milk (more If Needed)
2 whole Large Eggs
3 teaspoons Vanilla
4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted

Mix together flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix milk, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients, stirring gently.
Stir in melted butter. Set batter aside. If batter is overly thick, add a small amount of milk.

Cook on greased frying pan over medium-low heat. We served with our favorite Buttermilk Syrup.

Recipe from: Pioneer Woman

Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Muffins

This is my new favorite muffin recipe.  I love the combination of blueberries and lemons and the ricotta leaves these very moist. 

 

Yield: Makes 18-24 muffins
 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup ricotta cheese (whole or low-fat is fine)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries or blackberries
Turbinado sugar-for sprinkling on muffin tops (love this addition)
 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest and sugar together with your fingers. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar and lemon zest mixture together until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the ricotta cheese and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
3. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, fill each muffin cup half way with batter. Add three blackberries to each muffin cup. Top the muffins with remaining batter so blackberries are covered. Generously sprinkle turbinado sugar over each muffin top.
4. Bake muffins for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown. Let muffins cool for five minutes and serve.

Recipe from: Two Peas & Their Pod

Breakfast Casserole or Breakfast Burritos

Preheat oven to 425

In a greased 9 X 13 pan, spread:

1 – 24 oz. package of frozen hash browns or shredded potatoes, defrosted

Pour 4 Tbs. melted butter over the potatoes

Bake for 20 minutes

Remove pan from oven and reset temp for 350.

Over potatoes, spread evenly:

1 cup or more browned sausage

8 oz. Monterey Jack cheese – grated

8 oz. Pepper Cheese

5 beaten eggs, mixed with 1 cup milk and 1 tsp. seasoned salt.

Bake for 30-40 minutes.  Let sit for a few minutes before cutting.
You can also use this casserole as the filling for breakfast burritos.  It's nice to be able to prepare ahead of time, then bake while you cook the tortillas.

Serve with picante sauce.  Great recipe for a special breakfast or brunch.  Serve with cinnamon roll and fruit juice.

Recipe: Joett Hill

Grandma's Granola

Our Grandma Evadean makes this yummy granola that I just love.  I made a few changes to make it a little more crunchy.  It's great to switch up the nuts or dried fruits for something different too.


1 cup raisins, craisins, dried cherries, or blueberries
1 cup slivered almonds, or other nuts
1 cup coconut
½ cup olive oil, mild is best
1 cup warm honey
4 cups oatmeal
1 cup Rice Krispies
1 cup powdered milk
½ t salt
1 t vanilla

Stir well by hand in large bowl. Spray pan and spread on cookie sheet.
Bake 300 for 15 min., stir, bake for 15 minutes, stir, and bake 15 more minutes, or until crunchy, but not too brown.  I taste it to see if it is crunchy enough.
Serve with your favorite yogurt, oatmeal, or as a snack.

Baked Oatmeal

I really love oatmeal for breakfast. It's healthy, more filling than cereal, and it's yummy. I usually just have a packet of whatever flavor oatmeal or have plain oatmeal with a ripe, sliced pear, almonds, and a little granola. I love the second variety, but this is even better. We loved this and I thought it tasted a lot like a cobbler.

3 cups oatmeal, quick or old-fashioned

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup applesauce

1 cup milk

2 beaten eggs

1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 cup blueberries or blackberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 8x& baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve with a small amount of milk, it's best to warm the milk so that it doesn't make the oatmeal cold. You can also make without the berries and serve with fresh fruit, but I like it better with the blueberries baked in it. Enjoy!

Breakfast Burritos

These are such good burritos and everyone that tries them loves them. We like to wrap up the leftovers in tin foil and put some in the fridge and freezer. My husband just pops them in the oven in the morning and they taste great and are so filling.

• 2-3 leftover baked potatoes



• 1 pound sausage, we like hot



• 12 whole eggs



• chopped chives, to taste (optional)



• seasoned salt And pepper, to taste



• 1 cup monterey jack cheese



• flour tortillas, we like the uncooked found near the cheese

We like to make these after we have had baked potatoes. We put the leftovers in the fridge. Peel potatoes. Then brown a pound of your favorite kind of breakfast sausage. Drain off the fat.

In a bowl, whisk together a dozen eggs (adjust according to your needs), chopped chives, seasoned salt, black pepper and about 1 cup of Monterrey Jack cheese.

Once your sausage is browned and drained add in the breakfast potatoes and stir to combine over low heat. Pour the egg/cheese mixture over the sausage/potato mixture. You don’t want to stir too much or the potatoes will fall apart and become mushy. Cook over low heat and turn them occasionally to cook.

Cook uncooked tortillas in frying pan or warm in the microwave.


When fully cooked throw some into a nice warm tortilla, wrap it up and, if they need to be kept warm for a bit, wrap them individually in sheets of foil.

This freezes really well. Wrap burritos individually in aluminum foil.  Reheat in oven or microwave.

Recipe adapted from: www.thepioneerwoman.com/cooking

Banana Pancakes

This recipe makes me think of Jack Johnson's song, Banana Pancakes. These are really yummy!

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus additional for greasing the pan
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 small ripe banana, mashed
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
½ tsp. vanilla extract
Additional banana slices, for serving
Maple syrup, whipped cream, etc. for serving

Preheat the oven to 200˚ F. Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl; set aside to cool slightly. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; whisk together to combine. In a another bowl, combine the mashed banana, milk, eggs and vanilla and whisk to blend. Add the melted butter and the banana mixture to the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix gently with a rubber spatula until just blended (the batter will be slightly lumpy).
Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Grease lightly with butter. Drop the batter in 1/3 cup portions onto the heated cooking surface. Cook until a few bubbles form in the top surface and the bottom is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Carefully flip the pancake over and cook on the remaining side until golden brown, 1-2 minutes more. Transfer finished pancakes to a plate in the warm oven while you use the remaining batter, re-greasing the pan as needed. Serve warm with maple syrup and sliced bananas as desired.

Yield: about 8 pancakes
Recipe from: Annie's Eats