Turkey Breakfast Sausage

Who doesn't like breakfast sausages.  Unfortunately, the prepared breakfast sausages usually found at the supermarkets contain chemicals and preservatives that I can not even pronounce.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder 
• 1/4 tsp onion powder 
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme 
• 2 tsp whole fennel seeds 
• 1 tsp rubbed sage 
• 2 1/2 tsp kosher salt 
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes 
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg 
• 1 1/4 lb ground turkey
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, fennel, sage, salt, red pepper flakes, brown sugar, and nutmeg. 
2. Place the pork in a mixing bowl.
3. Add the spices and maple syrup to the pork and mix to combine.
4. Saute patties over medium heat until the patties are completely cooked through and are golden brown, about 6 to 7 minutes per side.

Chi's Banana Muffins

I loved this recipe and so does the kids! Applesauce and yogurt makes this so moist and makes you feel it's healthy too! I only had nonfat Greek yogurt at home and it worked out fine. (I halved this recipe and got 23 standard muffins. I also omitted the nuts)

Ingredients:

3½ Cups flour
2.5 Cups sugar (I used half brown sugar and half white sugar)
1 Teaspoon salt
2 Teaspoon baking soda
2 Sticks butter (softened)
½ Cup of applesauce
½ Cup of plain yogurt
4 Eggs
1 Teaspoon vanilla
5 Tablespoons of butter milk
*Substitution: 1 Cup of a milk and lemon (1 whole) mix
1½ Cup nuts of choice (optional)
5 Bananas or 2 Cups (mashed up)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all wet ingredients except bananas in a large bowl.
Sift dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients in portions. When the batter is all mixed
up, fold in mashed bananas.
Pour into muffin pan and bake at about 20 minutes or until
toothpick comes out clean. Or you can bake in a loaf for about an hour.

Waffles

To make these easy on me in the morning, I mixed all the dry ingredients the night before and just added the wet in the morning. Easy, fluffy, delicious. And if your waffle iron makes little hearts, that's just a bonus!

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla, just until smooth.

Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot.

Basic Waffles (Heart-shape recommended but optional)

Alton Brown's recipe from Foodtv.com:

Ingredients

• 4 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1 cup
• 4 3/4 ounces whole-wheat flour, approximately 1 cup
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 whole eggs, beaten
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• 16 ounces buttermilk, room temperature
• Vegetable spray, for waffle iron

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In another bowl beat together eggs and melted butter, and then add the buttermilk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.
3. Ladle the recommended amount of waffle batter onto the iron according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Close iron top and cook until the waffle is golden on both sides and is easily removed from iron. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree F oven until ready to serve.

Baked French Toast Casserole

Photo courtesy of Food Network.

We ate too fast for me to take a picture. LOL

I wanted to make breakfast during our Mammoth trip without having to stand and flip pancakes or French toast the entire time. I decided on this Paula Deen recipe due to the high commenting and ratings on FoodTV.com. I changed it a big (substitute white sugar for corn syrup because I didn't have any). In an effect to streamline packing for our trip, I did the egg mixture and praline mixture (san butter of course) before hand. When we got to the cabin, I just sliced the bread, pour the egg mixture on top, then melted the butter, mixed it with the praline mixture and spread on top! (I didn't do it overnight in fear that it would be too soggy...maybe I'll try it next time, that would make it even easier!) So easy and so delicious. Very fluffy, almost like a bread pudding:

Ingredients

• 1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
• 8 large eggs
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Dash salt
• Praline Topping, recipe follows
• Maple syrup

Directions
Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

Praline Topping:

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Makes enough for Baked French Toast Casserole.

Baked Egg Muffins

I came across this recipe while browsing the web. It's really fast and really rather tasty and all you really need is your basic breakfast items to assemble. Cook the bacon the night before to save time, and simply assemble and bake in the morning. I added a bit of truffle oil before serving and it was delish!

Ingredients
-bread
-butter
-bacon
-eggs
-cheese
-chives

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Butter your muffin tin. Cut edges off the crusts of the bread and butter the bread slices. Press each slice gently into the bottom of the muffin cup. Bake for 3 to 6 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bread, until it is starting to crisp.

Remove tin from the oven, place the bacon on the bottom of each cup. Save some bacon for garnishing. Crack an egg into each cup. Season with salt and pepper, and cover with cheese.

Place the muffin tin back into the oven and bake for 10 to 14 minutes until the whites are just set, or to the desired consistency. Remove the bread cups with a spoon, garnish with chives and bacon bits.

note: I baked mine for 15 minutes because I didn't want the yolk to be too runny.

Dutch Baby Pancake

Baked in a large, hot skillet, the thin, eggy batter puffs up like a popover. To serve, slide the pancake from the skillet onto a plate and dust with powder sugar.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
lemon wedges

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add butter to melt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together all ingredients, except confectioners’ sugar, until smooth. Pour over melted butter in skillet. Bake until puffed and brown, about 20 minutes. Slide pancake onto a serving platter. Serve immediately, cut into wedges, with confectioners’ sugar sifted over the top. Serve with a lemon wedge.

Zucchini Bread

I started with a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com and substitute the white flour for wheat flour. It came out perfectly. It does have a hint of a wheat taste for those of you who don't like wheat but we're use to it in my family. Top with some honey whip and it's perfect. (I omitted the nuts to keep it kid-friendly.)

Ingredients

• 3 cups wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil (OR ½ cup veg oil & ½ cup apple sauce)
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 40 to 55 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Banana Pancakes

Yes, I like to make pancakes. I was watching Bobby Flay Throwdown and had to try a new technique: whipping up egg whites then folding to get a lighter, fluffier pancake. It worked so great I'm gonna do that for all my pancake recipes from now on!

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Directions
Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil and bananas.
Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.

Pumpkin Pancakes

We had a can of pumpkin I had extra after making Paula Deen's pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving last year so I decided to make pumpkin pancakes for Anh 2 Mike and the kids. It was good. The vinegar sounds weird but what it does is curdles the milk and makes mock buttermilk. Try it. It's easy. I usually mix the dry ingredients the night before to speed it up in the morning.

Servings: 6 | Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3 tablespoons brown sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups milk
* 1 cup pumpkin puree
* 1 egg
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 2 tablespoons vinegar

Directions

1. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

(Blueberry) Oatmeal Pancakes

Oatmeal blended into the batter is a good way to get the family to have some oatmeal in their diet! These are delicious and easy to make. I added 1 cup of blueberries into the batter. The sweetness of the maple syrup compliments the tartness of the fresh blueberries. I'm thinking about grounding up some macadamia nuts into the batter and adding sliced bananas for a Hawaiian inspired version!

TIP: I mixed the dry ingredients the night before because I'm really lazy in the morning. When I woke up, I just had to mix in the wet ingredients which took a second and started cookin'

Blueberry oatmeal pancakes...yum.

RECIPE: Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
(Adapted from Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats (I used regular not quick cooking oats)
  
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (I used regular milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup fresh blueberries (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Place flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, vanilla, oil and egg in a food processor and puree until smooth.
2. Stir in one cup of blueberries (or any other mix in)
3. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.