Sausage and Potato Breakfast Casserole

Breakfast is my favorite meal, usually because by the time I wake up, I am ravenous and anything I find to eat is going to taste delicious. It is a rare day that I skip breakfast, and I usually enjoy a substantial meal in the morning rather than a few bites of something light. I'd rather have eggs and potatoes for breakfast than something sweet and fruity, although the occasional plate of waffles and syrup suits me fine. In general, give me something packed with protein, carbs, cheese and sometimes a bit of grease, and I'm satisfied for hours.

I also love one-dish meals, with everything mixed together - easy to make, easy to serve and totally delicious. This breakfast casserole is very forgiving because you can toss in a variety of vegetables - I often include sauteed mushrooms and green pepper. You can use 2 cups of egg substitute in lieu of the whole eggs, and frozen hash browns work in a pinch if you don't happen to have any leftover baked potatoes. Use whichever sausage you like best, maple breakfast sausage, a spicy chorizo, or my favorite, a bulk pork sausage heavy on the sage.

Any way you cut it, it's a deeply satisfying dish and a great breakfast for those days you need something solid in your stomach.

Sausage and Potato Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. bulk pork sausage - I like Bob Evans Savory Sage sausage
  
• 1/2 medium onion, choppped
  
• 2 large russet potatoes, baked*
  
• 1 cup extra-sharp cheddar, shredded
  
• 8 eggs**
  
• 1/4 cup milk
  
• pinch salt
  
• pinch pepper
  

 Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease an 8 in. x 8 in. baking dish.
   
   
2. Brown the sausage in a large skillet until browned. Break up any large clumps of sausage. Add the chopped onion when the sausage is mostly cooked through and cook until the onion has softened and all the pink is gone from the sausage.
   
   
3. Shred the leftover baked potatoes with a box grater into a large bowl and beat together the eggs and milk in another bowl or a measuring cup.
   
   
4. Layer half the shredded potatoes in the baking dish, followed by half of the sausage and onion mixture and then half of the cheese and repeat with the remaining potatoes, sausage and onion and cheese.
   
   
5. Season with salt and pepper
   
   
6. Pour the egg-and-milk mixture evenly over the other ingredients and bake for 40 - 50 minutes or until the eggs are set. You can bake it longer if you want it to come out golden brown.
   
   
7. Let cool 5 minutes and then serve. I added a bit of sriracha on mine.
   

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Rösti

Rösti is basically a large skillet potato pancake, kind of like a huge latke. I've mentioned my potato pancake preferences before, but this morning I wanted something potatoey and hashbrown-like. Last night I made some rough applesauce* and I had a smidge of crème fraîche left that needed using up, and really, what better vehicle to showcase both delicious sweet-tart applesauce and smooth, creamy crème fraîche than a gigantic potato pancake?

It is also the perfect autumnal pairing, and quite easy to make. I had fun working my Benriner Japanese mandoline, though for the life of me, I can not figure out how to use the finger guard while slicing, so I am just super-duper careful not to add shreds of finger to the fingerling potatoes.

Rösti with Chunky Applesauce and Crème Fraîche

Serves 1 generously or 2 judiciously

Ingredients:

• 2 tiny fingerling potatoes, I used a Peruvian purple and red creamer
• 1/4 of a medium-sized onion
• 1 royal trumpet mushroom
• 1 egg
• fresh thyme
• 1 - 2 t flour
• salt
• pepper
• applesauce
• crème fraîche or sour cream

Directions:

1. Grate the potato on a box grater or a mandoline that has serrated razor settings. I used the medium blade on mine which produces 1/4 inch shreds. Grate about 1/2 cup of potato. Soak the shredded potato in a bowl of cold water and set aside.
2. Grate an equal amount of the onion and as much as the mushroom as possible - I probably only got about 3 T of shredded mushroom.
3. Put the onion and mushroom into another bowl along with some fresh thyme leaves, salt and pepper and mix well. 
4. Drain the potato shreds and squeeze out as much of the water as you can, then add to the onion and mushroom mixture and mix well.
5. Crack in the egg and stir to combine, then toss in 1 t of flour and mix well. You can add a bit more flour if the mixture seems too runny.
6. Heat up a large skillet and melt some butter over medium-high heat
7. Spread the mixture out as thinly as possible, lower the heat to medium and then cover the skillet and let cook until the edges of the pancake are golden-brown and then carefully flip over and let cook on the other side until it, too, is golden-brown and delicious.
8. Remove from heat, top with applesauce and crème fraîche or sour cream and eat.

Notes:

• Rough applesauce - I simmered 2 Ginger Gold apples, peeled, cored and cut into quarters in 2 cups apple cider with about 8 inches of stick-cinnamon, 4 whole cloves and 4 allspice berries until the apples were soft and falling to pieces and the liquid had reduced. I pulled out the spices and let the sauce cool and then refrigerated it.

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Egg Baked in a Potato Shell with Salsa, Cheese and Chives

I've never been a fan of cold cereal for breakfast; I'm an eggs-for-breakfast kind of girl. Add potatoes to that and I'm in heaven. Eggs and hash, potato-filled omelette, peasant breakfast, scrambled eggs with a thin German potato pancake, I can't think of an egg-and-potato preparation that I wouldn't love.

I love the presentation of oeufs en cocotte, and I've done my own take on that by baking beaten eggs and cream in leftover mashed potato. Yesterday I was pondering the pile of roasted potatoes I had leftover from making my roasted beet, potato and goat cheese pizza (recipe forthcoming), and I decided to try baking an egg in a hollowed-out potato shell.

Tasty, plus it had that satisfying comfort food feel to it.

Egg Baked in a Potato Shell with Salsa, Cheese and Chives

Ingredients:

• 1  medium potato, baked and cooled
• 1 egg
• 1 T salsa
• 2 T shredded cheddar
• chives
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Slice off the top of the potato - about 1/4 of the way down.
3. Place the potato in a ramekin.
4. Scoop out the insides of the potato, leaving a shell with about 1/8 in. layer of potato - I like to use a grapefruit spoon.
5. Season the insides with salt and pepper
6. Put 1 T of salsa on the bottom, followed by 1 T cheese.
7. Carefully crack the egg into the potato and top with the remaining 1 T of cheddar.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes, then top with chives and a few more shreds of cheddar if you like and serve immediately.

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Omelette

One of my favorite quick, I-have-no-idea-what-to-cook-for-dinner meals is a simple omelette. It's quick, it's versatile, and you can tart it up any way you like. I'm sure the French would scoff at my omelettes and my omelette-technique - though they'd probably approve of my spelling - but eggs are one area where I don't really care about what others think is "the only correct way" to do them.

For example, I will not, ever, eat eggs that are sunny-side-up, and rarely will I eat them over-easy. I like my fried eggs over hard, yolk cracked and cooked all the way through. Bonus points for a little browning on the egg and the crispy edges on the egg whites. Likewise, the scrambled eggs I saw Jacques and Julia doing on one of their shows once were way too moist and loose for my taste. I like them scrambled a bit more on the dry side, still fluffy, but drier.

They'd probably shudder at the fact that I usually use an EggBeaters-type of liquid egg product, though if I have an omelette on the weekends, I usually make a 3-egg omelette and go crazy. The whole eggs and touch of heavy cream make it fluffy and monstrous and delicious.

Omelettes are great because they are such a versatile vehicle for so many different ingredients: smoked salmon, caviar and dill; taco-seasoned ground beef, cheese and vegetables; pesto, tomatoes and mozzarella; hey I've even put leftover potatoes in an omelette. Vegetables? Yes. A smidge of seafood in a cream sauce? Why not? Go CRAZY.

Of course, they are just as delicious on their own with just a bit of cheese and topped with some salsa.

Omelette with Cheese and Salsa

Ingredients:

• butter
• 1/3 cup EggBeaters
• cheese
• salsa

Directions:

1. Over medium-high heat, melt butter in 9 in. skillet.
2. Pour in your liquid eggs (or 3 eggs beaten with a bit of milk), tilt the pan so it's spread out evenly.
3. Sprinkle some cheese on the top and cover with a lid to let cook for 2 minutes or so until the edges are set. Then fold in half and sprinkle a little more cheese on top.
4. Cover again and let cook for 1 minute, then turn off the heat and let it finish cooking for another minute or so.
5. Plate and top with salsa.

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Peasant Breakfast

Crisis Brownies and other comfort foods is the title of the blog. Yesterday I brought you the crisis brownies - so named because sometimes when you have a crisis, the only solution is chocolate - today I'll bring you one of my favorite comfort foods; but first, a comment.

Sometimes, I derive comfort from making something elegant or fancy, like crèmes brûlées:

Other times, I'll be comforted by taking something simple and homey and presenting it attractively, like kimchi bokeum bap:

But then there are those dishes which are neither fancy nor plated professionally. I have been known to eat Stovetop Mac and Cheese straight off a wooden spoon from the saucepan as I stand in the kitchen.

This next dish is never plated attractively, does not use an elaborate recipe or expensive ingredients. There is no real name for it, and I've called it many things: Potatoes, Eggs and Vegetables, Mess-in-a-Bowl, but most often, I call it Peasant Breakfast.

It is just chunks of potato cooked in butter with vegetables, usually onion, bell pepper and mushroom, and once they've cooked down and browned nicely, I crack some eggs over it, let them set, and then mix it all together. Top it with a little grated cheese and serve. Presto. Yum. Really, for pure comfort bang for your buck, you just can't beat it.

When I was in Korea, I used to make this dish for my friends after a long night of partying in I-Tae-Won. We'd go back to my place, usually at 3 in the morning, and I'd make a huge mess of this in the name of hangover remedies, then we'd crash, sleep late and go out for kong namul guk (spicy bean sprout soup) or budae jjigae ("troop" stew) as additional help with staving off the hangover.

I also craved this dish throughout all of my pregnancies, and still crave it at times when I am cold and need something deeply warming. I made it last night as a mini-celebratory meal. I like to adjust with slightly different ingredients and spicing it differently.

Yesterday, I found hedgehog mushrooms:

They were almost too cute to eat. But I ate them, and yes, I washed them first. :)

Peasant Breakfast

Ingredients

• butter
• potatoes
• onion
• green bell pepper
• mushroom
• Creole seasoning
• Old Bay seasoning
• eggs
• grated romano
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Brown potatoes in butter. You can use leftover boiled potatoes if you have them, though I usually just use fresh. If you use uncooked mushrooms, you'll want to cover it and let them steam. Season with Creole seasoning.
   
2. Add the chopped onions, bell pepper and mushrooms and stir well. Add Old Bay or more Creole seasoning to suit your taste.
   
3. Cover and let cook through until the potatoes are tender and the vegetables browned. I like it when the onions get almost crispy.
   
4. Push the vegetables aside to make three holes, and crack an egg into each. Cover and let cook until the eggs are set, then stir the whole mess together and let cook. Dump into bowls and top with a bit of cheese and season with salt and pepper.
   

Notes:

• I change up the seasoning, sometimes using fresh thyme and rosemary, but I usually go for something spicy, and this does it for me. 
• I also will add in bits of leftover ham or sausage if I have them. I really like linguiça and chouriço in the spicy version or maple sausage in the rosemary and thyme version.

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Steel-cut Oats with Cranberries and Almonds

Well, it's snowing again. Still. We've got another snow day for the kids, another day of shoveling a foot of snow at a time, and that means another day of warming, filling foods. My mom gave me an unopened canister of steel cut oats when I was there over Thanksgiving. I'd been meaning to try them out - I'd heard good things about them - and we love oats in this house anyway. I was intrigued by others' description of the chewy texture, rather than the glue-like paste of some rolled oats' dishes.

This version is pretty low-maintenance to boot. Instead of standing over a pot for a half hour, stirring constantly to keep the oats from sticking, you start these the night before and then let them sit overnight to soak. In the morning you just heat them up, sweeten to taste and then serve.

Steel-cut Oats with Cranberries and Almonds

Makes 3 servings

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup steel-cut oats
• 3 cups water
• 1 teaspoon orange peel 
• 1/4 cup chopped salted roasted almonds
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• Agave nectar

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, boil the oats, dried cranberries and orange peel in the water for 1 minute. Cover, remove from heat and set on a heat-resistant surface.
   
2. Let sit overnight.
3. The next morning, uncover the oats and bring them to a boil over high heat.
4. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until the oatmeal is hot and creamy, about 5 minutes.
5. Garnish with the chopped almonds and some additional cranberries if you like and sweeten to taste with agave nectar.

One serving is worth 6 WW points.

Notes:

• There is a very large discrepancy between the points I got when I entered this recipe into the WeightWatchers online calculator and when I entered the nutritional data generated by Living Cookbook software. Like, a HUGE difference. I don't know what bit of pixie dust they have in the WW algorithms, but, man, it makes no sense.
  
  They revamped the points system to get away from assigning points value strictly on calories and to account for specific nutrients: fat, carbohydrates, fiber and protein. Still, when I entered that specific data which my software generated from the exact same recipe, I got a points value of 10 per serving. I think that the food database in my software might be hinky. :/

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Almond Pastries

I had a hankering for a cheese danish the other night. Well no, first it was a craving for almond-filled croissants, croissants aux amandes, but then later on, I'd moved on to drooling after a good old cheese danish when the thought hit me: Why not combine them?!

So, practically the first thing I did this morning was take out my box of puff pastry from the freezer and let that last sheet of pastry thaw out. Then I took a look at what I had in the fridge that could simulate a cheese danish filling. A little cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, some ricotta, almond paste and an egg yolk formed the base of it. I added orange zest and almond extract to round it out, and finished it off with a lovely egg wash to give it a sheen.

Going into the oven, they were kind of a mess, I'll be honest. The crimped-together edges were not the least bit pretty and I wondered if I'd have anything photograph-worthy. I thought if the filling turned out ok, I could  troubleshoot the presentation the next time I made them, but to my surprise, when they came out of the oven, they were gorgeous, attractively puffed-up and golden brown.

The final test, then, would be how they tasted.

Sublime. The texture was just right, smooth and creamy, and the orange and almond flavors worked nicely with one another. It is strongly reminiscent of almond without being too strong.

Almond pastry

Ingredients

• 3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1 T ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 T almond paste
• 1/2 t pure almond extract
• 2 t grated orange zest 
• 1 sheet  frozen puff pastry, defrosted
• 1 egg beaten, for egg wash

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
   
2. Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out with a rolling pin until it's a 12 by 8-inch rectangle. 
   
3. Place the cream cheese and confectioner's sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream them together on low speed until smooth.
   
4. With the mixer still on low, add the ricotta and crumble in the almond paste and let the mixer combine them well.
   
5. Then add the almond extract, orange zest and egg yolk and mix on low speed until just combined.
6. Cut the sheet of puff pastry into eight rectangles with a sharp knife.
   
7. Place one heaping tablespoon of cheese filling into the middle of 4 of the rectangles.
   
8. Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and then cover it with a free pastry rectangle, pinching the edges together so that they stick together.
   
9. Brush the top of the pastries with the egg wash.
   
10. Place the pastries on the sheet pan.
11. Bake the pastries for about 20 minutes, until puffed and brown. Serve warm.
    

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Pannukakku; Finnish Oven Pancake

Here Chez Babs, we just love breakfast-for-supper, but really, who doesn't?

For starters, none of us were all that hungry tonight, plus I wanted something tasty but quick. I wasn't in the mood to make everyone an omelette to order and the kids didn't feel like scrambled eggs and cinnamon toast. I also didn't feel up to dealing with cleaning the waffle iron or the cast iron griddle either, and try though I may, I just can't justify coffeecake for dinner. Finally I remembered that earlier in the day, I had been thinking of making pannukakku for breakfast, but sloth got the better of me and I had a bagel instead.


So, Breakfast for Supper, the international edition!

Pannukakku



Serves 4*

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 t sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t almond extract
• 1 T unsalted butter
• Greek yogurt, vanilla flavored
• berries
• confectioner's sugar
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425.
   


2. Mix together the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
   


3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy, then add the milk and extract. Whisk well.
   


4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk until everything is incorporated. Set aside.
   


5. Put 1 T of butter in an 8 x 8 inch square baking pan and put in the oven for 5 minutes until the butter has melted and is bubbly.
   


6. Take out, tilt the dish so that the bottom is evenly coated with the melted butter. Then pour in the batter and bake for 15 minutes or until it is puffy and the tops of the sides are browned.
   


7. I like to slice it into quarters and serve with Greek-style vanilla yogurt, berries and confectioner's sugar.
   

Notes:

• Here is the pannukakku a few minutes after it's come out of the oven. It has deflated quite a bit. When I took it out, the entire thing was puffed up and the edges were up above the top of the sides.
  
  
  
  


• I halved the recipe I like because I think that pannukakku should be eaten right away, not stuck in the fridge to be reheated later on. The full recipe makes enough batter for a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

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Scrambled Tofu with Mushroom, Onion and Bell Pepper

Poor tofu gets such a bad rap from its bland flavor, sometimes spongy texture and its soy origin. I say that its blandness only means that it won't compete with other strong flavors in a dish. It literally soaks up marinades, so with a wonderful mixture of spices and seasonings, you can have a dish that is every bit as flavorful as any meat-based dish.

Be sure to choose the right kind of tofu for your task: Japanese-style Silken tofu is an excellent choice in blended smoothies and desserts, while Chinese-style extra firm varieties make the best stir-fries and baked dishes. You can further affect the texture by pressing out the excess water and even freezing it.

As for the stigma of its soy roots, I have yet to see good evidence that it causes cancer or makes you gay.

This recipe gives you a double-shot of umami goodness with the wild mushrooms and nutritional yeast.

Scrambled Tofu with Mushroom, Onion and Bell Pepper

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• ¼ block of extra firm tofu (I like nasoya organic tofu best)
• ½ onion, chopped
• ½ orange bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (½ oz) packet dried mushrooms, rehydrated to make 2 oz. mushrooms
  
• ¾ t onion powder
• ¾ t garlic powder
• ½ t turmeric
• 2 T nutritional yeast
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put the olive oil in a pan and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the rehydrated mushrooms and cook until nicely browned and they release no more moisture. Set aside.
   


2. In another skillet, pour in about 2 T olive oil.
   


3. Drain the tofu and blot it with a paper towel. You can even squeeze it a bit to release more moisture.
   


4. Crumble the tofu into the pan and saute until it's nicely golden-brown.


5. Push the tofu to the sides of the pan and add the chopped onion and saute until translucent.


6. Add the orange bell pepper and stir the mixture together.


7. Stir in the onion powder, garlic powder and turmeric and mix well.


8. Dump in the cooked mushrooms and mix well.
   


9. Fold in the nutritional yeast, making sure that everything is well coated. Let it cook for about a minute more, then plate.


10. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

See the steam rising? Hot and tasty.

Notes:

• This dish works well with almost any combination of vegetables. I often use chopped tomato in it, added just before the nutritional yeast goes in. Sometimes I cook up a separate skillet of diced potato and fold that in once the other vegetables are done, before seasoning with the spices.
  


• I prefer to cook the mushrooms in a separate skillet because, even over high heat, they give off moisture. Dried, reconstituted mushrooms give off less moisture than fresh, but still I don't like adding any extra water to tofu when it's browning.
  

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Raw Apple Breakfast

In keeping with my attempt to eat many more light & healthy meals throughout the week to balance out the times when I indulge in full-cream, full-fat decadence - and believe me, I do indulge - here is a fiber-rich, deceptively filling, delicious breakfast that may have you thinking, "Hey, some of these raw vegan dishes are pretty damned tasty!"

Unlike many raw dishes which require some fancy footwork with a food dehydrator, the only pieces of equipment you need here are a food processor and a coffee grinder.

Raw Apple Breakfast

Ingredients:

• 1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
• 1 heaping tablespoon of almond butter
• 1 tablespoon flax seeds
• 2 T pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
  

Directions:

1. Peel, core and cut the apple into quarters.
   


2. Process it in a food processor along with the almond butter until it is in small pieces - you don't want to make a puree.
   


3. Grind up the flax seeds in the coffee grinder until they've become powdery.
   


4. Serve in a bowl topped with pepitas and the ground flax seeds.

Notes:

• This filled my cereal bowl pretty well, so it was a good portion for one person.
  


• Next time, I may drizzle some honey or agave nectar over the top for a teeny bit of extra sweetness.
  


• Other additions which might be nice:
  
  
  • chopped almonds or walnuts
  • chopped dried fruit
  • untoasted sesame sees
  • unsalted sunflower seeds
  • maple syrup
  • wheat germ
  • a dollop of Greek yogurt
  • blueberries
  • cinnamon
    
  
  

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Cinnamon Rolls

Last month, I posted the recipe to my cinnamon rolls which are a Christmas morning tradition: November 30 - "I Dreamed a Dream."

In years past, I've made them the night before, put them in the fridge for a slow rise overnight and baked them first thing on Christmas morning so they're freshly-made. This year, I was so whipped from my big Christmas Eve dinner, I had planned to make them before turning in, but I fell asleep. I was on the couch watching "It's a Wonderful Life," telling myself, "Just 5 more minutes. I'll get up and make the dough in just 5 ... more ... Zzzzzzzz ...."

Oops.

Fortunately for me, the kids got up at the obscenely early hour of 4:30 am, so I ended up making the dough a little before 5 am and the rolls came fresh and piping-hot out of the oven all set and ready to be devoured at 7.

This year, instead of slathering them in a diabetic-coma-inducing icing, I decided to eat them plain, but hot and slathered with butter.

Still the best thing ever for a special holiday breakfast... or a post-holiday breakfast 4 days later.




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I Dreamed a Dream...

...of cinnamon rolls. My very-special, Christmas morning, to-die-for cinnamon rolls, to be exact.

Clearly, my subconscious is telling me something. Time to gear up for the holiday baking!

I generally only eat these rolls once a year on Christmas morning, because they are very sweet; plus sometimes, the wait is as perversely satisfying as the indulgence itself. Also, they are inextricably linked to the holidays and are laden with memory.

The smell of a batch of cinnamon rolls in the oven evokes those wonderful childhood memories of looking at the impossibly tall, sparkling tree sitting atop a ton of presents; our impatience as my sister and I did our best to wait until an appropriate hour, say 5:30 or 6 to dash into our parents' room and pull their covers off in order to get them out of bed so we could get to the cinnamon rolls and stocking gifts. It's a long-standing family tradition, sitting at the table eating fresh cinnamon rolls slathered with cold butter and tearing into our stocking gifts.

They can be labor-intensive to make if you're not really into baking with yeast dough, but they are so worth your time and effort. I have posted this recipe at another forum over the years, and have gained converts each time.

A word of warning, have a vial of insulin handy. You may also want to opt out of the icing or use a lighter hand when drizzling it on if you can't tolerate sweets.

You can make these the morning of, if you're a super-early riser; otherwise, if your Santa duties leave you begging for the chance to sleep in, you can make them the night before and let them rise overnight in the fridge.

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

For the Dough:

• 2 ½ to 2 ¾ cups All Purpose flour
• 1/3 cup rolled oats, ground in a food processor
  
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 package dry yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)
  
• ½ t salt
• ½ stick butter, cut into small pieces
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup water
• 1 egg


For the Filling:


• 2 T butter, melted
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• ½ cup golden raisins
• ½ cup walnuts


For the Honey Butter Icing (my favorite):


• 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
• 2 T butter, softened
• 2 T honey


or

Cream Cheese Icing (for you proles out there):


• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• dash of salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine ¾ cup of flour with the ground oats, granulated sugar, yeast and salt.


2. Heat milk, ½ stick butter and water until warm- NOT hot-about 120° F. Be sure you check the temperature with an accurate thermometer- if the liquid is too hot, it will kill the yeast, then no lovely risen dough!


3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet to dry ingredients and mix 2 minutes at medium speed with a hand mixer or a stand mixer.
   


4. Add the egg and an additional ½ cup of flour; beat another 2 minutes at high speed.


5. With a spoon, add enough remaining flour to form a soft ball of dough. Knead on lightly floured surface for 5 minutes, until smooth.


6. Cover, let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down the dough.


7. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to an 18x8 inch rectangle. Brush with melted butter.


8. Take the raisins, walnuts and brown sugar and grind in a food processor about 5 seconds. Mix in a bowl with cinnamon. Then sprinkle this on top of the buttered dough, to within ½ inch of the sides.


9. Roll up, from the long side, until you’ve got a long snake-like roll. Pinch the seams tightly and then cut into 9 equal pieces.


10. Place, cut side up, in a greased 8x8 inch square baking pan.
    
    If you are making them the night before: At this point, you can place the pan in the fridge and let sit overnight. In the morning, take out the dish and let come to room temperature before proceeding with baking.
    
    If you are not making them in advance: Simply cover with a towel and let them rise in a warm place again, for 45 minutes


11. Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes or until done. Let the pan cool on a wire rack.
    


12. Make the icing by mixing together the ingredients in a small bowl, whisking until smooth. Then drizzle over the rolls.

Notes:

1. Now the times I've made these and let them sit overnight in the fridge, I've never had any trouble getting them to rise by the time they go in the oven, but I found this tip from Alton Brown for getting those rolls cold from the fridge to rise a bit more. I think I'll give it a try this year and see if it makes any difference:
   

   Remove the rolls from the refrigerator and place in an oven that is turned off. Fill a shallow pan 2/3-full of boiling water and set on the rack below the rolls. Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they look slightly puffy; approximately 30 minutes. Remove the rolls and the shallow pan of water from the oven.
   
   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
   
   When the oven is ready, place the rolls on the middle rack and bake until golden brown, or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, approximately 30 minutes.



2. This year, I believe I may halve the recipe for the honey-butter icing. It's so lovely, but too much of it drowns the rolls.
   
   
   See? Check the picture. -->
   
   
   They are drowning in the icing. It is oh-so sinfully good, but the part of me that wants to feed us healthy food cringes.
   


3. I am also giving serious thought to perhaps halving the entire recipe and seeking out a smaller pan. This pan is an 8 x 8 inch baking dish. 9 large rolls is an awful lot of wonderful sweet, cinnamony goodness for one Mommy and two girls to eat. We never eat them all on Christmas morning. I haven't tried freezing the leftovers. I think I'd rather attempt a smaller batch. Perhaps a small casserole dish might do the trick.
   

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Who Wants Coffee Cake?

I am not a sweets for breakfast girl. I have never really liked cold cereal, although occasionally I'll have some granola with yogurt. The smell of sodden Cheerios has always turned my stomach, and I never relished digging down through a bowl of bobbing sugar-nuggets to get to the unnaturally-colored, cloyingly sweet dregs of milk and dissolved cereal.

When faced with a choice of pancakes, french toast, waffles or an omelette with side of hash browns and some greasy breakfast pork-item, I'll always opt for the eggs, potatoes and meat. I make pancakes and crepes for the kids because they like them. I'd rather have savory crepes with a creamy mushroom and herb filling than Natalie's preferred jam-and-yogurt.

My cinnamon buns are a once-a-year treat on Christmas morning, a well-loved tradition not to be ignored, even by me; a summertime stint working in two donut shops 20 years ago has left me with little craving for weekly donuts; but every now and then I am overcome with a craving for coffee cake.

When I mentioned to the girls (early) this morning that I was considering making a coffee cake for breakfast, Lucy had a meltdown. "Nooooooooooooo!" she wailed. "No. Coffee. Cake!!" After a bit of prodding, I realized she thought that it was a cake made from coffee. When I told her that it was just called that because it was a sweet breakfast cake that people could eat with their morning coffee, and that she wasn't obligated to drink any coffee at all in order to have some cake, she relented.

Now, I'm at the end of my usual grocery cycle, and since I'll be traveling for the holiday this week, I did a huge shopping trip recently where I restocked the pantry of several staples; I still have some items stocked away in the freezer. I am tempted to stretch it out and see what meals I can scrape together from my pantry. I love the end of a long grocery cycle - I have to be very creative about what to toss together to make a nice meal. Some of my favorite recipes have come about under those conditions!

Some friends and I were chatting about sharing our "Sandra Lee recipes" you know, those not-quite-from-scratch, shortcut recipes you may rely on but be too embarrassed to cop to using?

One of my favorites is biscuit mix sour cream coffee cake, but I happened to be right out of Bisquick. I did have a bag of New Hope Mills pancake mix, because I don't always feel like making my own batter from scratch. Sue me.

The recipe also calls for sour cream, which I rarely have on hand unless nachos are on the menu. I did have vanilla yogurt and I thought, "Why not substitute it? The yogurt is sour, like the sour cream, and the acid would probably work with the baking powder in the mix as a leavening agent. Besides which, the pancake mix was a buttermilk mix, so there ought to be some acidity already in the bag.

I opted to use brown sugar instead of white (I was out of the regular granulated sugar), substituted chopped nuts instead of flour in the streusel topping, and presto! 25 minutes later, I had a lovely, cinnamony coffee cake which both girls devoured, warm. It was the perfect accompaniment to my coffee this morning.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups pancake mix
  
• 1/2 cup sugar -I used brown sugar because I was out of the white
  
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup vanilla yogurt (or sour cream)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

For the streusel:

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray, or grease it with shortening or butter.
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour and sugar.
   
3. Add the yogurt, egg and vanilla extract and mix well. Spread batter into a greased 8-inch square pan.
4. Mix together the chopped nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium-sized bowl. add the melted butter and mix well until crumbly.
   
5. Sprinkle topping evenly over the top of the cake batter.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
   

Notes:

• This was tasty and fragrant, but it did not have the fine, moist, delicate crumb of some other coffee cake recipes I've tried.
  
• I don't know if the brown sugar in the cake was at fault or if I should have used more yogurt or added some butter.
  
• Instead of 3/4 cup, I might try 1 cup of yogurt next time.
  
• Perhaps reducing the cooking time to 20 minutes would be advised.
• All in all, still a satisfying treat. Not bad for baking on the fly.
  

Mmmmm.... Don't you just want to dig in?

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Baked Eggs in Potato

I had a craving for eggs the other day. I also had some leftover mashed potatoes and a bit of heavy cream which needed to be used up lest they go over to the dark side. I recalled making baked eggs in a nest of mashed potatoes a few years ago after Thanksgiving, and I thought, "Perfect."

This makes a really lovely little breakfast, and served in individual ramekins, it presents very well. My kids really love anything served in miniature form. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of these ramekins.

Baked Eggs In Potato Recipe

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 1 medium potato
• 1 T butter
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese - more or less to taste
• 3 eggs
• salt and pepper
• heavy cream

Directions:

1. Wash and peel the potato and cut it into chunks. Place the potato in a pot of water, bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, about 12 minutes.


2. Drain the potato, then put in a medium-sized bowl. Mash the potato, adding butter and a little bit of cream (about 1 T) until you get the right consistency. Season with salt and pepper and add a little bit of cheese (about a 1/4 cup).


3. Mix well.


4. Spray 3 10-oz. ramekins (standard size) with cooking spray and dive the potato mixture between them, pushing down with the back of the spoon so that you create a well in the bottom.


5. Next you can simply crack one egg into each well and top with cheese or you may beat each egg with a bit of cream and add the cheese to the beaten mixture, then pour it into the ramekins. My kids prefer the texture of the egg when it's beaten, although I like the traditional baked eggs.


6. Place the ramekins in a pan or on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the eggs are set.


7. BEWARE: If you beat the eggs, cream and cheese instead of just plopping in a whole egg, the mixture will puff up when it cooks. This is why setting the ramekins in a pan or on a sheet helps.

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