APPLE PANCAKES

These are a quick, easy and delicious breakfast on the go or on a weekend.  I grew up eating these as a treat and my children grew up with them and now I make them for my grandchildren.  I love them to this day and I enjoy the excitement on the children's faces when I make them.   You can also freeze these and pop them in the toaster or microwave for a quick weekday breakfast.  

Ingredients:

1 ½ C all-purpose flour

3 ½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. white sugar

1 ¼ C. milk

1 egg

3 Tbsp. butter (melted)

1 large apple peeled , cored and either thinly sliced.  (I used Granny Smith)

1/8 tsp. of cinnamon mixed with 1 Tbsp. sugar  (optional – more or less to taste)

Instructions:

1.        In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, salt & sugar.  Make a well in the center & pour in the milk, egg and melted butter.  Mix until smooth.

2.       Mix the sliced apple with the cinnamon & sugar mix, stir until apple is well coated. 

3.       Heat a lightly oiled griddle or skillet, to medium high heat (for electric griddles that would be about 375°).  Pour about 1/8 to ¼ C of batter (to make a cookie sized pancake) to the hot griddle and add a small amount of the apple/cinnamon mix to the top of the pancake then pour a Tbsp. of batter over the apples.  Cook until batter looks dry along the edges, gently lifting to check that bottom is golden brown and flip.  Cook the other side until brown and serve.  

I make them small enough to hold in your hand to eat like a cookie. 

**Serving options:  1) I have put them in a baggie with granulated sugar in it and shake them.  2)  Sprinkle some powdered sugar over them.  3) Put them on a plate and serve with butter and maple syrup.  

Bacon and Hasbrown Casserole

This dish is a winner for Sunday brunch...just add eggs! I actually made it as a side dish with fried catfish and it was perfect! Just a side note...any leftovers can be fried to make delicious potato pancakes too!

Ingredients 

1 bag (14 oz) frozen shredded hash browns, thawed 
1/2 c. diced yellow onion

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 pint sour cream

4 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 package bacon (12 oz), diced

1 c. Frenches Fried Onions

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Spray 11 x 14 inch casserole or baking dish with cooking spray.
3. Cook the bacon until crispy and reserve 1/3 of the cooked bacon.
4. In large bowl, combine all ingredients, reserving 1/3 of your bacon and cheese, and stir together. 
5. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
6. In a small bowl, combine the reserved bacon and cheese and add the fried onion. Spread evenly over the top of the mixture in your casserole dish.
7. Bake for 45 minutes until top is golden brown and potatoes are done.

NOTE: Although I say to Salt and Pepper to taste, I will caution you that this dish can get salty with the bacon in it. Personally, I add VERY little salt and a fair amount of pepper when I make it. 

Easy Blackberry Cream or Cherry Cream Pie

I love blackberry pie, it’s one of my favorites and my sisters always make one for our family reunions and I always have to fight someone for the last piece!  Lol  Blackberry pie is really one of the easiest fruit pies to make because there is no stove top cooking, you just mix up everything in a bowl and fill the crust, put on the top crust and bake.  But I came up with an idea of making blackberry cream pie and for this one I had to use canned pie filling – I am working out the kinks of making my own filling with this recipe so I might have a follow up recipe soon but why wait to enjoy something so good?   J

FILLING

INGREDIENTS

1 can of blackberry or cherry pie filling, you can use whatever flavor you want but these are my favorites.

1 large size box of vanilla pudding – cook and serve – not instant.

  NOTE:  If large box of pudding is too much for your size pie just pour in about ¾ of it or until the crust is filled about ½ way.

PIE CRUST   (or you can use premade crust)

INGREDIENTS

·         1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

·         1/4 teaspoon fine salt

·         1 teaspoon granulated sugar

·         8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into small pieces

·         4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

INSTRUCTIONS

1.     Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and stir briefly until the mixture is aerated. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it’s in pea-size pieces that are slightly yellow in color, about 4 to 5 minutes.

2.     Drizzle in 4 tablespoons of the ice water and mix just until the dough comes together. (Add the last tablespoon of ice water if necessary, but don’t overwork the dough or it’ll become tough.)

3.       Shape the dough into a flat disk, cover it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

4.       Roll out the dough so that it will fit a 9 inch pan with about a ½  to 1 inch overlay.  Fold in half and lay in pie plate and unfold.   Fold edges under and crimp or style the way you want.  Take a fork and make a few holes across the bottom and sides of crust.  Bake at 375 until golden brown,  if the dough bubbles up a bit take a wooden spoon and gently press it down.

If using a store bought crust, or making your own bake them according to instructions above or according to the instructions of the store bought crust.   Let the crust cool.

Once both the crust has cooled (pudding can be warm)  pour the pudding into the crust and cover it with plastic wrap and set it in the refrigerator to finish cooling.   Then remove plastic and pour or spoon the can of pie filling over the top of the pudding, spread evenly.

Toppings:  You can top this with either meringue or whipped cream – it’s really good either way but if you want to keep it simple and easy – I recommend using whipped cream.  J    Put in refrigerator until ready to serve and keep any leftovers in the refrigerator. 

Shrimp Fettuccine alla Carbonara

I love Carbonara, but we all know I cannot leave a good recipe alone. :) This twist on the classic is tasty, but also sneaks in some veggies! A classic Carbonara sauce uses Pancetta or Bacon, but I have chosen to use Prosciutto in this one for a different level of flavor.

Ingredients

1/2 small onion, finely diced
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 bunch asparagus tips
8 oz. cremini (baby portabello) mushrooms, sliced
1 lb. dried fettuccini
5 oz. grated Parmesan or parmigiano reggiano cheese
1/2 pt. heavy cream
1 lb. shrimp, cut to bite size
2 eggs, well beaten
4 oz. Proscuitto, sliced into strips

Directions

1. Prepare your sauce while your pasta is cooking. It is very important that the pasta is hot to cook the eggs in your sauce.
2. Combine the heavy cream, eggs, and Parmesan cheese in a separate bowl until well blended. Set aside. 
3. Cook your pasta 8-11 minutes or until al dente. Be sure to reserve 1 c. of the pasta water in case you need to use it in your sauce.
4. While your pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat (be sure to use a very large pan, since this is basically a one pan meal).
5. Add your Prosciutto and cook until crispy. 
6. Add the onion and garlic and saute until translucent. 
7. Add the mushrooms and cook until done, but not mushy.
8. Add the asparagus tips and warm through (they should still be crisp).
9. Add the shrimp and cook until they turn opaque.
10. Add the hot drained pasta to the pan and toss about 2 minutes to coat with the fat in the pan (Prosciutto is very low in fat, so you may have to add a little more olive oil if your pasta looks too dry).
11. VERY IMPORTANT: Remove the pan from the heat.
12. Add the sauce to the pan and whisk constantly to ensure the eggs do not scramble.
13. Use your reserved pasta water to thin the sauce if necessary.
14. Serve with fresh parsley and top with shaved Parmesan cheese.

Smoked Oyster Dip

My Dear Darling husband has been asking me to develop this one for a while now and I finally have a recipe that he loves. This one is easy and packed full of flavor. I served it with garlic crostini, but it would be delicious with a cracker or pita chips too!

Ingredients

1/2 small onion, very finely minced
8 oz. white mushrooms, diced
8 oz. veggie cream cheese
1/3 c. sour cream
1/3 c. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. hot sauce
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 green onions, whites diced and green tops sliced for garnish
2 cans smoked oysters, diced


Directions

1. In a small skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil (I use a garlic infused olive oil that I make and keep in my fridge at all times) and 2 Tbsp. butter over low heat. 
2. Add the minced onion (not the green onion) and sweat until translucent. 
3. Add the mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are soft. Set aside to cool.
4. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine softened cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream until smooth (well, as smooth as it can be with the veggies in it).
5. Add Worcestershire, hot sauce, kosher salt, garlic powder, diced green onions, and lemon juice and combine well.
6. Add the diced oysters (you want them to be about the same size as your diced mushrooms).
7. Stir in the cooled onion and mushroom mixture.
8. Refrigerate until chilled all the way through. Garnish with the green onion tops and serve.

Toasty Breakfast Cup

I’m sure that you have to noticed that everyone is coming up with cookie cups, biscuit cup & pizza cup recipes filled with almost everything, well I am no different because the ease of the “cups” is what sparked this idea of mine – toast cups!   Of course I taste tested my recipe on my family and a few house guest one weekend and I have tweaked the crust a bit and added 2 more fillings since then.  As with all new recipes there is a trial and error period until you get them just right – I have made 3 attempts and finally came up with what I think is a really good breakfast that will even work for the crust to be made ahead of time for a quick and easy breakfast.    J   

    

INGREDIENTS  &  INSTRUCTIONS:                            Preheat oven to 350°

CRUST:

1 cup of bread crumbs (you can use plain or seasoned, I used ¾ c plain & ¼ c seasoned)

5 Tbs. of butter melted

3 tsp. of sugar.

In a medium bowl mix together ingredients, it should resemble the texture of a graham cracker crust.    In a normal size muffin tin (6) place about 3 to 4 heaping tsp. of the crumb mix in each cup then press with your fingers or a small spoon around the sides and bottom.   Once I got it pretty much even I then took a very small juice glass (actually it was one of those small glass containers that pimento cheese comes in) and I used that to really press it in hard and smooth it out.    Then place in the oven and bake until the crust is brown.  Take it out and let it completely cool.

FILLING Options:     (I used 3 different fillings in mine)

                Option 1:

3-4 large eggs scrambled

¼ c of green pepper finely diced

¼ c of onion finely diced

¼ to ½ c of real bacon bits or crisp bacon crumbled

Shredded cheese for topping.

*You can use whatever spices or veggies that you like in your Omelets or just make plain scrambled eggs.

                Option 2:

Crack 6 eggs and place one in each baked & cooled cup

Salt and pepper to taste. 

                Option 3:

½  to 1 lb. of sausage

1 3/4 cups of milk

4 Tbs of flour

Brown & crumble sausage in skillet.  Drain but leave a small amount of grease.   Sprinkle 2 Tbs of flour over the sausage and cook and stir until flour begins to brown.  Pour milk in blender and add last 2 Tbs. of flour and blend it a few seconds to mix well then while stirring the sausage, slowly pour in the milk and it will thicken.  Cook and stir for a few minutes, this needs to be very thick.   Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes stirring occasionally.   Pour into cooled crust cups.

FINISH:

Pour your filling into all 6 cooled crust cups to about ¼ inch from the top (except for the single egg)  Place the filled cups back into the oven and bake them until eggs are done or the gravy is set.  At this time you can take them out and sprinkle with cheese if desired and put them back in the oven until the cheese melts.  When you take them out of the oven let them cool and settle for a minute then run a thin knife around the edges between the muffin pan and crust then gently remove.   If you have any extra gravy you can place 1 or 2 of the filled cups on a plate and pour more gravy over all.   

**NOTES:  

I seldom ever measure so if this isn’t enough OR too much crust you may have to adjust the measurements a little bit.   If you have too much crust mix you can store in a baggie placed in the refrigerator to use later.  To make ahead you can mix up the crust mix and store as just mentioned.  You can also make the gravy the night before or even mix up the omelet mix or scrambled eggs and store in an airtight container just overnight.  

Ham and Cheese Frenchies

Those of us that are *small voice* older and grew up in the Midwest, may remember the restaurant King's. They had a phone at every table where you called in your order and the most awesome cheese frenchies! This is a twist on that wonderful, old classic that is sure to make you smile and your kids will love them!!!

Ingredients:

8 slices of Texas Toast (white bread will do in a pinch)
8 slices of American Cheese (ONLY use American!!!)
8 slices of ham of your choice (I like to use a deli cut smoked ham)
Mayonnaise (to taste)
Dill pickle relish (optional)
Panko crumbs
Crushed Saltine crackers
Toothpicks

Batter:
2 eggs (well beaten)
2/3 c. + 2 tsp. milk
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. flour


Directions:

1. Cut the crust off the bread and spread with mayonnaise (to taste) and add one slice of cheese for each piece of bread, a little dill relish, and ham (not too much or it won't seal). Cut diagonally to form wedges. I have found that it works best to freeze at this point, at least a couple hours but overnight is best.
2. Make your batter as directed (I like to let my batter sit for a few minutes (5-10 minutes) and then mix again right before use).
3. Place toothpicks in each diagonal to secure them for frying.
4. Heat oil in your fryer to 375 degrees.
5. Crush your saltines with a rolling pin and mix with equal parts of panko.
6. Dip your diagonals in the batter and then in the crumb mixture and drop into the fryer immediately.
7. Cook until brown, but not burnt (about 3 minutes).
8. Drain on paper towel.
9. Remove toothpicks.
10. Serve with fries or chips and ketchup (if desired).
11. Enjoy!