BAKED OMELETES aka CRUSTLESS QUICHE

The beauty of making individual omelets is that you can truly have what you want.  Hubs hates mushrooms and I love them.  He likes his with more salt and I like more pepper.  You see where I'm going with this?  It's all about what YOU want.  They also take half as much time to bake as a whole casserole would.

The one on the left is rotisserie chicken, mushroom, onion, fresh ground pepper and nacho cheese.  The one on the right is pot roast, onion, green Tabasco, salt and pepper with sharp cheddar cheese. These are a good place to use up some leftovers!

BAKED OMELETES aka CRUSTLESS QUICHE
BASIC EGG MIXTURE - per person
2 eggs
1/8 cup whole milk
1/8 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
Fillings to taste

• Spray ramekins with cooking spray,
• Fill bottom with your favorites.
• Whisk together the eggs, sour cream and milk.
• Pour over fillings.
• Bake 30 minutes or until cooked through.
• Let sit 5 minutes.
• Invert onto plate and enjoy.

POTATO FRITTATA

POTATO FRITTATA
1 pound Yukon golds, scrubbed and thinly sliced
2 large carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 cup green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoons olive oil
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup grated cheese
1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup snap peas

• Preheat oven to 375°.
• Melt butter and olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat.
• Add garlic and green onions, sauteing until fragrant.
• Add potatoes and carrots in batches cooking until tender and slightly browned.
• Drain on papertowels.
• Layer potatoes and carrots in 9x9 baking dish sprayed with PAM.
• Whisk together the eggs with the salt and pepper until beaten into a smooth consistency.  Pour over potatoes.
• Bake uncovered 18-20 minutes or until frittata is dry on top.
• Add cheese and bake until melted, 2-3 minutes more.
• Serve with tomatoes and snap peas.

BAKED OMELETE ROLL

Baked Omelet Roll adapted from Food Family Finds

Serves: 6 – 8

8 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon Frank's hot sauce
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup chopped ham, thin sliced
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced thin
1/4 cup green onion (tops too), sliced thin
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1-1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spray an 11 x 17 jelly roll pan with non-stick cooking spray, line with parchment paper and enough hanging over all of the edges to grasp, then spray the top with more cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, flour, ham, onions, peppers, mushrooms, salt and pepper.
• Pour the mixture into the pan an spread evenly.
• Bake for 14 minutes, just until the egg is no longer shiny.
• Top with shredded cheese and baking for an additional 2 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and immediately begin to roll the egg mixture. Start with one narrow end, grasping the parchment and roll forward.
• Continue to roll, using the parchment to avoid burning your fingers until you create a log.
• Cut into 2 inch sections and serve.

ROASTED RED PEPPER HAM STRATAS

ROASTED RED PEPPER HAM STRATAS
6 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
5 cups day old bread, cubed
1/3 pound ham steak, cubed
3 green onions, sliced thin
1/3 cup diced roasted red pepper
8 ounces cheese of choice
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter, sliced into slivers

• Preheat oven to 350˚.
• Whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper.
• Spray four 8 ounce ramekins with PURE.
• Divide two-thirds of the bread among the four 8 ounce ramekins.
• Top with ham, onions, red peppers and half the cheese.
• Top with remaining bread and then the egg mixture.
• Top with remaining cheese.
• Dot with butter pieces.
• Refrigerate overnight.
• Bake until set, about 30 minutes.

BAKED EGGS

This is a great brunch recipe.

BAKED EGGS
2 slices sourdough bread torn into pieces
4 green onions
3/4 cup diced ham pieces (optional)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup shredded cheese

• Preheat oven to 350˚.
• Spray a 1 1/2 quart baking dish with PURE.
• Line the bottom evenly with torn bread pieces.
• Sprinkle green onions and ham pieces (if using)  over torn bread.
• Sprinkle half of cheese over onions.
• With a spoon create 4 indentations into the bread.
• Carefully break eggs into wells.
• Bake casserole 20-25 minutes until whites are set.
• Serve with fresh fruit.

LUAU BENEDICTS

LUAU BENEDICTS
1 English muffin per person
2 eggs per person
enough leftover sweet and sour pulled pork
hollandaise sauce

• Prepare Hollandaise sauce.
• Toast English muffins.
• Poach eggs.
• Layer together starting with English muffin, pulled pork, poached egg and the hollandaise sauce.
• Enjoy.

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
1/2 cup butter
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash cayenne pepper or hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons hot water
finely chopped fresh parsley, if desired

•    Heat butter in a heavy saucepan until hot and foamy, but not browned.
•    In a small bowl, whisk or beat egg yolks with lemon juice, salt, and  hot sauce.
•    Gradually beat in butter, then water.
•    Return mixture to saucepan and beat over very low heat until mixture is slightly thickened.
•    Serve immediately or let stand over warm water for up to 30 minutes.
•    If desired, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley before serving.

Makes about 2/3 cup of hollandaise sauce.

BUTTERMILK RAISIN BRAN MUFFINS

BUTTERMILK RAISIN BRAN MUFFINS
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoons salt
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 of a 14 ounce box  Raisin Bran (about 2 1/2 cups)
PURE

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Spray muffin tin with PURE.
• Beat together the eggs and sugar.  Beat well.
• Add oil to egg mixture and blend well.
• In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
• Merge together the wet and dry mixtures until blended well.
• Fold in raisin bran and golden raisins.  If a bit dry add milk until desired consistency.
• Fill muffin tins 2/3 full.
• Bake 15 minutes.

CARROT CAKE PANCAKES & CREAM CHEESE SYRUP

I love carrot cake.  If you asked me what I wanted for my birthday cake I would say Carrot Cake!  So when we found this cute little diner, Babycakes Cafe, recently and they had carrot cake pancakes on the menu I had to give them a try.  And then I had to duplicate them.  YUMMY!!!!!!!!! 

So I started with my basic pancake recipe and added lots of carrots and spices. Their cream cheese syrup at the restaurant was really more like a glaze, so I used maple syrup as my liquid ingredient to make an actual syrup and like it even better!

The carrot cake pancakes were easy to make and tasted great! And it is always nice to have dessert for breakfast!

CARROT CAKE PANCAKES & CREAM CHEESE SYRUP
1 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups buttermilk
2 JUMBO eggs
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup carrot (very finely grated)
4 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
4-6 tablespoons maple syrup (use enough for desired consistency)
powdered sugar to taste
crushed pecans or walnuts

• Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg together in a large bowl.
• Whisk together the milk, egg, sugar and carrot in another bowl.
• Mix together the wet and dry ingredients making sure to not over mix them.
• Heat a griddle and melt some butter on it to coat.
• Pour 1/3-1/4 cup of the mixture onto the griddle for each pancake and heat until the surface starts to bubble and the bottom is golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
• Flip the pancakes and cook the other side until the bottom is golden brown, about 1-2 minutes.

• Blend together the cream cheese and maple syrup and add  powdered sugar to get desired sweetness.
• Pour the cream cheese onto the pancakes.
• Sprinkle with crushed nuts.

BANANA JUICE the key to perfect BLACKBERRY BANANA BREAD

Did you know that Banana's have juice? Don't worry, most people don't.  But, they do and the juice is the best part of making a moist banana bread.  The key to banana juice is using a banana that is "JUST RIGHT", one that is heavily speckled, in my opinion, one that is just short of rotting.  I take it one step farther many times and when they are "JUST RIGHT"  remove them from their skins and freeze them in recipe ready proportions.  Freezing them yields the liquid readily without the steps I'm about to tell you about.  I didn't even know I'd been doing  "JUST RIGHT" for years with the freezing process and then I read an article about how to juice a banana.

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
5 large very ripe bananas
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 medium not so ripe banana, thinly sliced
1/2 cup butter, melted & cooled
2 JUMBO eggs
3/4+ cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon PURE vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons crsytalline sugar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease your loaf pan with the butter wrapper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Dust with flour.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl.
• Place 5 bananas in a microwave safe bowl and cover with a food cover lid with the vents open.
• Microwave on high for 5 minutes - until the bananas are soft and have released their juice.
  
• Transfer bananas to a sieve and allow them to drain over a small saucepan for about 10-15 minutes.
• Place bananas, raisins and blackberries in a medium mixing bowl.

• Cook juice over a medium high heat for about 5 minutes until juice is reduced to 1/4 cup.
• Stir reduced liquid into the banana/blackberry mixture and mash together until well blended.
• Add butter, eggs, vanilla and brown sugar and mix to a smooth consistency.
• Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and with a wooden spoon fold together until just combined.
• Fold in walnuts gently.
• Pour into prepared loaf pan.
• Layer banana slices around the edges.
• Sprinkle with crystalline sugar.
• Bake 50-60 minutes based on loaf pan size.

Giving Thanks ~ Oatnut Sourdough Herb Dressing

This week I'm sharing a "new" scratch recipe for my Oatnut Sourdough Herb Dressing. My brother has been after me for years to always make it the same way (my late father's recipe) I always have (tradition) and write it down, so this one is for him and to see if he really does read my blog! LOL! We use this recipe for both Thanksgiving and Christmas and I always make enough to freeze for weekday meals too. It's a great way to use up stale bread. Sometimes I will collect the stale bread into a wrapper in the freezer until I have enough to make a large batch.

Oatnut Sourdough Herb Dressing
10 slices Brownberry or Oroweat OATNUT bread, cut intobite size chunks
1/2 loaf sourdough French bread, cut into bite size chunks
1 large sweet onion, chopped fine
1 small bunch celery (leaves and all), chopped fine
1/2 bag baby carrots, chopped fine
1 box mushrooms, chopped fine
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon white pepper
2 sticks unsalted butter
4 cups hot water
2 tablespoons Better than Bouillon Chicken base
2 tablespoons Buttery Herb & Garlic Mix (I believe McCormick makes it)
4 teaspoons minced garlic, Jar

• Cut bread into bite sized chunks and spread out in a thin layer over cookie sheets.
• Bake at 200 degrees for 3-4 hours until pieces are actually hard.
• Chop all the vegetables.
• In a large cast iron pan melt 1/4 cup of the butter.
• Add the onions and saute until translucent. The add the celery and carrots and continue sauteing until crisp tender. Add the garlic last as it will burn first.
• Whisk together the water, better than bouillon chicken base and all of the seasonings.
• Add the melted butter.
• In a large pan toss the bread slices together.
• Add the sauteed vegetables and toss again.
• Add the liquid mixture and toss again until well absorbed.
• Fold entire mixture into at least a 9x13 baking dish.
• Bake uncovered 1 hour.
• At this point I use a small portion for our dinner that night and freeze the rest.
• When it's time to cook it again, I defrost it, put it back in the same baking dish and bake it again, but this time covered with foil until the last 15 minutes so it doesn't dry out. We like it crisp on top so I remove the foil the last 15 minutes.

PARMESAN CHEESE BREAD/ROLLS

PARMESAN CHEESE BREAD
3 1/4 cups unbleached flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 1/3 cup warm water
1/2 cup freshly grated Asiago Parmesan Cheese
extra-extra virgin olive oil

• Sift together the four, yeast and salt.
• Stir in the water until dough forms.
• Sprinkle with 1/2 the cheese.
• Transfer to a well floured surface.
• Knead until soft, elastic and no longer sticky (about 10 minutes). Add flour as necessary to reduce stickiness.
• Knead the dough until it remains rounded and doesn't flatten out when left to sit for a few minutes.
• Arrange into a round.
• Brush the surface with olive oil.
• Cover loosely with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 2 hours).
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Brush a 9 inch round pan with olive oil.
• Put remaining cheese on a plate.
• Punch down the dough and knead a few more times with fresh flour.
• For rolls - divide dough into12 pieces.
• Roll each piece into a ball.
• Roll each ball in the cheese and then place in pan with the edges touching. 9 balls around the outside, 3 balls in the center.
• Cover with a flour sack towel and allow to rise again.
• Cut a small slash in the top of each ball.
• Sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.
• Bake for 10 minutes and the reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake until golden and crispy, about 20-30 minutes more.
• Serve hot or transfer to a wire rack and cool and then slice.

BUTTERMILK WAFFLES - SIMPLY SWEET

Buttermilk Waffles
Makes 8-12 waffles
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
Scant 2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons salted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs, separated
Pinch cream of tartar

• Heat the waffle iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 200 degrees.  Set a wire rack over a baking sheet and set aside.
• Meanwhile, whisk the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a large bowl.  
• In a medium bowl, whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, and egg yolks together.  
• In a small bowl whip the egg whites and cream of tartar together until foamy.
• Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour the buttermilk mixture into the well, and gently whisk together until just incorporated with a few lump remaining (do not overmix).
• Fold in the whipped whites using a rubber spatula until just combined with very few strokes.
• Spoon batter onto the waffle iron and cook until golden brown, about 3 1/2 minutes.  Transfer the waffles to the wire rack (don’t overlap), cover with a cheesecloth towel, and keep warm in the oven.
• Repeat with the remaining batter.  Before serving, remove the towel and let the waffles crisp in the oven, about 3 minutes.

BLACK & BLUE WHITE CORN BREAD

BLACK & BLUE WHITE CORN BREAD

2 cups white corn meal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

5 eggs

2 cups sour cream

1/2 cup peanut oil

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup fresh blackberries

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Lightly spray 9x13 pan with PURE.
• Sift together the corn meal, sugar, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl.
• Make a well in the center.
• Pour in the eggs, sour cream and oil.
• Mix until well blended.
• Fold in blueberries and blackberries.
• Pour batter into pan and leverl out.
• Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.

THE perfect over medium egg!!

Do you love eggs?  I do and there is nothing better than a perfect over medium egg for me.  I like my whites done and my yolks runny so I can sop them up with my toast. So many times the yolks break trying to flip the eggs, but I have finally figured it out and it is soooooooooooooo simple!

THE PERFECT "OVER MEDIUM" EGG

per egg:

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon water

salt and pepper to taste

• Melt the butter in your pan over a medium high heat.
• Crack eggs into the butter.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• When whites begin to solidify add the water and cover.
• The rest of this is a matter of watching closely.  When the whites are done they will no longer jiggle.  Turn off the heat immediately and your yolks will be perfect.
• Serve with your favorite toast.

RICOTTA PANCAKES

  2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  2 teaspoons baking powder
  1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  2 large eggs, separated
  2 cups milk
  1/2 cup ricotta, well drained
  1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• Set ricotta in a fine mesh strainer about 30 minutes before you start cooking, to drain off excess liquid.
• Whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
• Combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks and vanilla in a separate bowl.
• Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff.
• Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta and milk mixture, stirring gently until just combined.
• Whisk in a small amount of the egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining whites.
• Heat a griddle over medium-high heat, and brush the surface with butter.
• Use a ladle or measuring scoop to pour batter onto the griddle. Cook pancakes for about 3 or 4 minutes, then flip, cooking until both sides are golden brown.
• Spread lemon curd between pancakes and dust with powdered sugar or serve with syrup and/or fruit.

BAKED EGG & HAM CUPS

BAKED EGG & HAM CUPS

PER PERSON

4 slices deli ham

2 eggs

grated cheddar cheese

• Preheat oven 400 degrees.
• Spray a muffin pan with PURE.
• Place pan in oven to heat.
• Line each muffin slot with 2 slices of ham.
• Crack an egg into each ham cup.
• Salt and pepper.
• Bake 10 minutes.
• Top with cheese.
• Bake 5 more minutes.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

What makes biscuits rise?

Baking Powder and Baking Soda are both leaveners and when activated create carbon dioxide which produces the rise. Baking Soda aka sodium bicarbonate has been commonly used for 200 years and works by simple chemistry. It's reaction is immediate, but does not continue once the biscuits are in the oven. Ironically Baking Powder is the main ingredient in Baking Soda, but baking powder also includes an acid or two. Double acting baking powder is the perfect one for biscuits because it has the immediate acting acid as well as the heat activated acid. In order to use baking powder alone you have to use way too much and it dries out the dough. So finding the perfect combination of baking powder and baking soda is the key to tall and fluffy biscuits.

PERFECT TALL & FLUFFY BUTTERMILK BISCUITS  
2 cups flour + 1 cup flour  
1 tablespoon double acting baking powder  
1 tablespoon sugar  
1 teaspoon salt  
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons butter, diced  
2 tablespoons butter, melted  
1 1/3 cups low-fat buttermilk

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• Spray a 9 inch cake pan with PURE.
  
• In a food processor pulse dry ingredients several times to combine.
• Add butter pieces scattered over dry ingredients and pulse until crumbly.
• Transfer to a medium bowl.
  
• Stir in buttermilk. (Dough will be wet and lumpy).
• Spray a 1/4 cup measure with PURE.
  
• In a mixing bowl add the remaining 1 cup flour.
• Drop the dough 1/4 cup at a time into the flour.
• Shape into 12 balls. Shaking off excess flour.
  
• Arrange balls (9 around the perimeter and 3 in the center) in the pan.
• Brush tops of dough with melted butter.
• Bake 5 minutes.
• Reduce oven temperature to 450 degrees.
• Bake another 15 minutes.
• Cool 2 minutes.
• Invert biscuits into a clean towel, turn right side up breakaing them apart and cool another 5 minutes.

♥

FLUFFY BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

As my good friend Martha over at Menagerie tells me, storm days are perfect "CAVE" days. Days to just snuggle in and do nothing or better yet ONLY what you WANT to do! Today is one of those days as we batten down the hatches for what they tell us will be a "significant late season storm". The temperature has dropped almost 20 degrees and the wind is blowing almost 60 miles an hour so I decided brunch was in order - a comfort brunch that is. Hot, fluffy buttermilk pancakes! Hubby likes to top them with molasses, but I love my homemade maple syrup.

The key to fluffy pancakes is not to over mix the batter.
Do NOT beat it smooth. You should have some small lumps.

FLUFFY BUTTERMILK PANCAKES
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• Heat griddle to 375 degrees.
  
• Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar into a medium bowl.
  
• Add eggs, buttermilk, and 4 tablespoons butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps.
  
• Using a 1/2 cup measure, pour pancake batter about 2 inches away from each other.
  
• When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over.
  
• Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
  
• Repeat with remaining batter, keeping finished pancakes warm.
• Serve with homemade maple syrup.
  

STREUSEL COFFEE CAKE

Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker is our Friday baker at OUR KrAzY kitchen. She posted a recipe for Sour cream coffee cake last week that is one that she is trying to duplicate from her SIL. It looked and sounded like my grams old recipe that I told her I'd dig out grams recipe for her and then I decided to go a step further and make it and do a post to highlight the good and yummy flavors. You get a light fluffy cake and ooey gooey streusel - YUMMY!

Grams old recipe calls for Bisquick and I no longer use it for health reasons, but make my own so I will include that recipe too.

STREUSEL COFFEE CAKE
CAKE
2 cups bisquick
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons oil

STREUSEL
1 cup bisquick
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons-2 tablespoons cinnamon(based on flavor preference)
4 tablespoons butter

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Generously spray 9x9 square baking dish with PAM.
• Mix cake ingredients together until well blended.
• Spread into baking dish, mixture will be thick.
• Mix streusel ingredients together until fine crumbles.
• Spread over the cake. With a knife gently cut a star into the cake to gently press some streusel into the cake.
  
• Bake 20-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
  

HOMEMADE BISQUICK
4 ½ cups sifted flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup powdered milk**

• Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
  
• Sift again 2-3 times in a large bowl.
  
• Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is similar to cornmeal.
  
• Add dry milk.
  
• Use in recipes that call for Bisquick or all-purpose mix.

**you can skip this ingredient if your recipe calls for any kind of milk, not water.