Morning Glory Muffins

I had a big accomplishment this morning, I made muffins and they weren't made from a box! Yahoo! Some of you may think I am nuts for being so excited about this, but I am not great at baking and I tend to take shortcuts when I can (especially on a Sunday morning). I woke up craving muffins this morning and when I looked in my pantry and saw I didn't have any pre-made mixes left I reluctantly opened up a favorite recipes book and found the easiest muffin recipe there was. These muffins have grated carrot, Crasins, pecans,banana and cinnamon in them which makes them sweet, spicy and slightly tart. I didn't have all the ingredients from the original recipe so I made notes where I altered it.  These little guys got a thumbs up from the hubby and are a great way to start off a wet and grey Sunday morning.


Morning Glory Muffins (makes 18)

2 C Flour
1C Sugar
2tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp of salt
3 eggs lightly beaten
1C vegetable oil
2 grated carrots
1 apple, peeled grated ( I used mashed up one banana)
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c dried coconut (I didn't use it)
1/2 c choc chip ( I didn't use it)
1/2 pecans chopped
2 tsp vanilla

In large mixing bow, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt (I put through sifter so there are not lumps and mixes well). In  a separate bowl, beat eggs and slowly whisk in oil. Stir in carrots, apple, cranberries, coconut, chocolate chips, pecans and vanilla.  Slowly add this to the flour mixture.  Use ice cream scoop to evenly distribute batter into 18 greased muffin tin. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes.

Frittata

This weekend I had one of my favorite girlfriends in the whole wide world stay with us. Every time she comes up and stays over we skip on all the diners the city has to offer  and I happily make breakfast. I absolutely love it, we stay in our jammies, sip on coffee, eat whatever I decide to whip up and catch up on all the things we miss living miles apart. This time for breakfast I decided to make a frittata, because it is a great way to clean out your fridge before you go grocery shopping! All you need are the basics: eggs, milk, veggies and cheese. Frittata's are not just for breakfast, add some meat to your dish and you have yourself a hearty dinner!

Clean up Frittata
Serves 4

6 large eggs
6 Tablespoons of Whole Milk
1/2 large Red Pepper chopped
1/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes 
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 Large Baked Potato skin on, sliced(I microwaved it first for 8 minutes to make it soft)
1/2 Tsp of Paprika
1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder

 1 cup of Cheddar Cheese
Salt and Pepper
EVOO

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In oven proof skillet heat up EVOO on Med High heat and saute onion, red pepper, tomatoes and potato slices. Once vegetables are soft add paprika and garlic powder.

Meanwhile whisk together eggs and milk. Once mixed add into pan with vegetables and salt and pepper to taste. Let set on burner for 5-8  minutes until halfway set and add cheese on top. Transfer into over and cook until not jiggly in the middle. Take out of the oven and put a dinner plate on top  of the skillet (watch out its hot!) and flip the skillet over so the frittata falls onto plate. Enjoy!

Zucchini Bread

  I am SUPER excited! This recipe won Host Favorite from Foodie Fridays on http://wifeofthecolonel.blogspot.com/! Thank you!!!!!!

One day I would like to have my own vegetable garden, however living in the city makes it slightly difficult as my yard = a wooden deck  and the Topsy Turny really isn't the most attractive planter around. :)  Lucky for me my sister’s father in law has his own vegetable garden and each summer I  finagle obtaining some of his home grown veggies to incorporate into my cooking. I was able to snag a HUGE zucchini this time and with that I made this moist and delicious zucchini bread which I found on Food Network.com by Paula Deen. The spices of the nutmeg and cinnamon complement its’ soft, yet still firm texture making it the perfect counterpart to a nice up of coffee or tea. And who says you can't have your cake and eat it too? This TASTY bread has so much zucchini in it I swear it could count as a vegetable serving! :)     YUM!

 Zucchini Bread

3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup water

2 cups grated zucchini

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, waters, zucchini and lemon juice.  Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean.


 As featured on Foodie Fridays on http://alilcountrysugar.blogspot.com/ and http://www.foodiefriendsfriday.com !!!

This morning I woke up sore, really sore. Brett and I managed to finish the Boston Ruckus, a four mile military style obstacle course, unscathed.  It was quite the experience and I was happy we could participate in it  with our pals, the Scanlons.  After all that hard work and after seconds of careful calculation I estimated we burned approximately 5 million calories during the festivities.  So in my mind that equates to us being able to eat whatever we want for the rest of the weekend without feeling guilty. HA! With that enjoy this chocolate chip banana muffin recipe, I know we did!!  


Ingredients

Dry
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

whisk together and add 1/3 cup of chocolate chips

Wet
3 mashed bananas (i keep my older bananas in the freezer for recipes like these)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, fold so mixed together (be careful to not stir too much as it will make muffins stiff).

Use ice cream scoop for even muffins and scoop into muffin pan. Bake for 14-16 minutes at 375 degrees.

Enjoy!




Whisk dry and wet to get out any lumps and whisk the wet to cream together.












Fold the wet into the dry

Use an ice cream scoop for even muffins!

Berry PamCakes

Pancakes are NOT my thing...I usually make them too runny, break them as I flip them or cook the outside and not the in. Therefore, I have handed that job to my lovely husband who's precise technique makes them fluffy and perfect every time. Well this morning I felt like surprising him with breakfast in bed so I decided to take another stab at my nemesis. I approached them at a different angle in hopes they would come out somewhat decent by making them healthy. So here we go, you be the judge. I still think my husbands are better, but with bikini season right around the corner I am just as happy with these for the time being.

3 Cups of Mixed Berries
1Tsp Lemon Juice
1 cup of all purpose flour (Tip from the Mom Inlaw: try 1/2 cup Wholewheat and the other half All purpose flour to up the fiber)
2 Tbsp Granular Sugar
1/2 Tsp Baking powder (I used  baking soda)
1/8 Tsp Salt
1 cup buttermilk ( I used skim milk)
1 Lg egg separated
2 Lg egg whites
1/2 Tsp Vanilla (my addition)
1Tbsp of powdered sugar (for dusting)

Mix berries in bowl with lemon juice, let rest.
Sift Flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into bowl
Combine buttermilk and 1 egg yolk
Add flour mixture to wet ingredients (buttermilk/yolk) & fold in (Add berries here, however I had a blue disaster from the blueberries, So I suggest plopping the berries in the batter when you pour it on the skillet...strike out for me again!)
Fold in two beaten egg whites (beaten to form peaks)

Egg whites beaten, lift them with mixer until they form peaks

Heat up skillet use PAM to grease. I use an ice cream scoop to get even amount of batter for each pancake. Keep warm by sticking them in the oven on "warm"or wrapping a plate in tinfoil. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

Brett's Breakfast Burrito

My hubby and I were watching Pioneer Woman over coffee  this morning (yes, I DVR all Food Network shows)  and she got us in the mood for some breakfast burritos!  Truth be told I was perfectly happy eating my Mother in-laws banana bread she baked for us, but  Brett saw burritos  and he was locked in.  So being the loving wife that I am, I told him I would  make him his own burrito. It was the least I could do as he did spend all of his Saturday doing house projects.  (Pavlov's law anyone? Reward for doing good :)) Turns out they were pretty darn tasty. Such a yummy and hearty breakfast that gets your day going with the rest of 'dem cowboys!

Brett's Breakfast Burritos
 (Makes 2-3)


1/2 lb of sausage
3  large eggs
2 -3 Tablespoon of cream
1/4 cup sharp Cheddar cheese
1 tsp of chopped green onion
Few slices of red pepper
Tortillas (warmed up in microwave for 15 seconds)
Few dashes of Tabasco sauce
pinch of Salt and pepper

In skillet brown up sausage.  In bowl whisk together eggs and cream and pour into pan on low heat. Stir the mixture so your eggs are nice and fluffy. Once  almost done add salt, pepper and few shots of Tabasco.  Take a tortilla and layer egg and sausage mixture in middle of the tortilla first, then cheddar cheese, pepper and onion. Roll up into  a burrito or taco and enjoy! Yee-Haw!

**Make it healthy use turkey or chicken sausage, egg whites, skim milk and a whole wheat tortilla!

Monkey Bread

This is one of my favorite baaaaaaaad breakfast foods. I remember going to IGA in Maine with my Mom and always begging her to buy Monkey Bread. It is so sweet and sugary and everything an eight year old should not have! Well my sister introduced me to a recipe that is easy to make and satisfied my craving for this sweet and tasty bread.  I decided to make it for for Parade Day in Southie, so of course I put some Irish flavor into it by making the frosting green...but that is optional. :) Enjoy!

Preheat oven to 350.

3/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
3 cans of biscuits. Each biscuit quartered.

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a big zip lock bag and dump in quartered biscuits to coat. Once coated place in coated bunt pan.  They will layer.

1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Stick of butter
1/4 Teaspoon of Vanilla extract

Put all ingredients in sauce pan and melt together until it bubbles giving it a stir. Once melted drizzle over bunt pan. Place Monkey bread in oven for 25 minutes, take out and let cool to touch. Then take plate, cover bunt pan and flip pan so monkey bread slides out. Enjoy!

Note: Orange zest would be a nice flavor to add into the sauce! I need to try that next time!

Bacon, Tomato & Asparagus Frittata

Saturday mornings are my favorite. I think it's the combination of not having to go work, getting to snuggle with my hubby for a bit and that I actually have time to cook one of my favorite meals of the day, breakfast.   This morning I was inspired by Spring coming around the corner and made a bacon, tomato & asparagus frittata.

6 Eggs
2 Tblspn of cream
5 Asparagus spears chopped to 1/2 inch pieces
1 large Plum tomatoe chopped or 6 cherry tomatoes halved
4 slices of bacon chopped
1 cup of Asiago Cheese (or whatever is on hand)

EVOO

Salt and Pepper

In over safe sautee pan cook bacon in a little bit EVOO. Once cooked put on towels to absorb the grease.

Next give a little more EVOO to pan and sautee asparagus and to tomato until soft. Meanwhile whisk 6 eggs and 2 tablespoons of cream together add some salt and pepper. Add egg mixture to pan along with bacon and cheese. Let cook on stove top on about medium heat until eggs are almost cooked, but still a little runny. Put under the broiler until full cooked about 4 mintues. Scoop out of the pan  with spatula.  Enjoy!