Bacon & Mushroom Breakfast Casserole

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest, and I realized all the ingredients were right there in my fridge, well I had to give it a try.  I did some minor modifications which are listed in parentheses with the recipe.  Credit for the recipe goes to Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes.

Ingredients:

4-5 slices bacon, chopped
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese (pepper jack)
8 eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream (half & half)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
Dash pepper
4 green onions, chopped (one shallot sliced thin)

In addition I added one chopped Green Mexi Bell Pepper

In a large skillet, fry the bacon until crisp, reserving about 2 tablespoons of the drippings. Remove the bacon from the pan and sauté the mushrooms in the reserved bacon grease until tender and the liquid has evaporated. Season with a little salt and pepper. Spread the cheese in a greased 11.75x7.5" baking dish. Or a baking dish lined with non-stick aluminum foil.  Top with the mushrooms, then the bacon and green onions (mexi bell pepper) (shallot).

 In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, cream (half & half), salt, celery salt and a dash of pepper. Pour evenly over everything.

 Bake at 350º 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6-8 servings 

Enjoy friends!

Breakfast Quesadillas

This morning hubby ask for "something Mexican" for breakfast.  Looking over the contents of the fridge, I noticed lots of possibilities.  However, having not used my quesadilla maker for a while, I thought this might be just the ticket!

I chopped up some onion, jalapeno, and some Jimmy Dean turkey sausage.  

Saute until the vegies are tender.

Get the rest of the ingredients ready.  The salsa, sour cream, and avacado will be garnish!

We like to use whole wheat tortillas!

Here's the quesadilla maker that was a gift from our daughter, Nickole!

Top a tortilla with some cojack cheese and the sausage mixture.

Place another tortilla on top and close the lid.

Meantime, break a couple of eggs into a non-stick skillet.

A bonus of living in a small town, we get farm fresh eggs from our 

next door neighbors for $1.50 a dozen!

The finished product, sprinkled with some cilantro.

Enjoy friends!!

Chili Relleno Casserole

I was looking for some inspiration for breakfast this morning.  Since we have lots of Anaheim chilies in the freezer, I wanted to use some of those.  This recipe was listed on cooks.com.  Wow!  Excellent!

This recipe calls for canned chilies, but by all means use home grown if you have 'em.

2 (4 oz.) cans whole green chilies, cut in half and seeds removed
1 1/2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 Cups milk
1/4 tsp. hot pepper sauce (optional)
1/4 Cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs beaten

Place half the chilies in a 10 x 6 baking dish; sprinkle with cheese.  Arrange remaining chilies over the cheese.  Mix the milk, flour, salt, and eggs -- beating until smooth.  Add the optional hot sauce.  Pour mixture over the chili cheese layers.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 45 - 50 minutes or until a knife inserted just off center comes out clean.  Let cool and set for 5 to 10 minutes.  Serves 6.

This is seriously good stuff.  

You could serve this with some sausage links and fruit for a complete breakfast.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

I bought some beautiful fresh blueberries and thought that the perfect thing to do, 

besides eat them fresh, would be to make pancakes!  

Sunday morning breakfast!

Recipe from Food Network

(this serves 6)

Dry Ingredients: 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2/ tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredients:

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

1/4 cup melted butter

Final Ingredient:

Fresh Blueberries

Sift together the dry ingredients.  Beat the eggs with the buttermilk and melted butter.  

Then combine the dry and the wet ingredients into a lumpy batter--

careful not to over mix or the pancakes will be flat and heavy.

Heat some butter or oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  

Spoon 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet and sprinkle the top with some fresh blueberries.  

Cook the pancake until the bubbles start to burst and the edges are kind of dry.

Flip the pancake over and cook on the other side for a minute or two, 

depending on the size of the pancake.

Stack the pancakes and keep them warm until time to serve.  

Serve with butter and maple syrup.  Yum!

The inside of the pancake is tender and moist and the blueberries burst with sweetness.

Enjoy friends!!

Omelette

This is how we like our omelettes.  Stuffed with all kinds of veggies, ham, and cheese.  

Dice up all the veggies and the mushrooms.  Grate some cheese and beat three or four eggs.

Saute the mushrooms first.

Add the diced tri-colored peppers--these are nice and sweet.  Saute until tender.

Add the sliced green onions and the ham.

Today, I added diced tomatoes from our garden, this is optional.

Beat the eggs, add salt and pepper and some dry mustard.

Pour the beaten eggs into a non-stick skillet to which some oil and butter has been added.

Push the eggs around with a spatula so they cook, do this slowly so they don't get brown.

Put all the cooked veggie mixture on one half, top with grated cheese.

Flip the other half over the veggie mixture and let the cheese melt.

This is what is left of my portion!

Enjoy friends!

Cinnamon Waffles with Caramelized Apples--Williams & Sonoma Kitchen

This recipe is from Williams and Sonoma--my new favorite website for cooking and recipes! These waffles are super delicious!  We had them last Sunday for brunch along with scrambled eggs, sausage, and fruit.  The recipe takes a while, but is well worth it!

Ingredients:

·                                 3 Tbs. unsalted butter, plus 8 Tbs. (1 stick) melted butter

·                                 6 Fuji apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch slices

·                                 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar

·                                 1 tsp. cornstarch

·                                 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

·                                 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

·                                 3/4 tsp. salt

·                                 2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

·                                 3 eggs, separated

·                                 1 3/4 cups buttermilk

·                                 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

·                                 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

·                                 1 tsp. baking soda

·                                 Whipped cream for serving

Directions:

In a fry pan over medium-high heat, melt the 3 Tbs. butter. When the foaming subsides, add the apples, the 1/2 cup sugar, the cornstarch, 1/2 tsp. of the cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. of the nutmeg and 1/4 tsp. of the salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender and the sugar mixture becomes syrupy, about 18 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 2 tsp. of the vanilla. Cover the caramelized apples to keep warm until ready to serve.

Preheat a waffle maker on medium-high heat according to the manufacturer's instructions. Preheat an oven to 200°F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, buttermilk, the 8 Tbs. melted butter and the remaining 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Over a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, the 1/3 cup sugar, and the remaining 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg and 1/2 tsp. salt. Add the flour mixture to the yolk mixture and whisk until smooth.

In another bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 1 minute. Using a rubber spatula, fold 1 cup of the whites into the batter, then carefully fold in the remaining whites.

Pour about 1/3 cup batter into each well of the waffle maker and close the lid. Cook until the waffles are golden brown and crisp, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer the waffles to a wire rack set on a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Repeat to cook the remaining batter.

Serve the waffles hot with the caramelized apples and whipped cream. Makes twelve 4-inch square waffles.

Williams-Sonoma Kitchen

Mini Breakfast Bites

Tonight instead of making a large breakfast casserole, I saw an idea that I wanted to try.  These little breakfast bites are baked in cupcake liners in a muffin tin.  Make them ahead of time, refrigerate, and warm individually in the microwave.  (Yes, my muffin tins are lined with left over halloween cupcake liners:))

For 12 breakfast bites, in a separate bowl,  beat 5 eggs with 1/4 cup of milk, saute some veggies ( I used mushrooms, yellow sweet peppers, and onion)  I also used already cooked Jimmy Dean sausage crumbles that you can buy in the grocery store!  In a separate bowl, grate some cheese, I used white cheddar and cojack.

Spray come non-stick cooking spray in the bottom of each liner.  Add the sausage, and veggie saute mixture.  Try to get an equal amount in each cup.

Top each one with some of the grated cheese mixture.

Next pour the beaten egg/milk mixture over each one to about 2/3 full.



Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 12 - 15 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from the muffin tin, place on a rack to cool.

These little beauties are delish!  Try and enjoy!