Baked Vanilla/Vanilla Donuts

I have been fighting buying a donut pan for some time... I couldn't hold out and picked one up the last time I was at Hobby Lobby. (The recipe for blueberry baked donuts with orange glaze pushed me over the edge... thanks Pinterest!)

My first try was a really simple recipe for vanilla donuts (with a hint of cinnamon) and vanilla glaze with sprinkles. Everything from the dough to the piping to the glaze was simple. The pan works really well. The donuts are a bit softer and less dense than a real cake donut which I think I might prefer... still deciding. In any event, baking donuts at home will be a great substitute for picking up fried donuts on the weekends!

(On a random note - the colored sprinkles melted into the glaze but the gold ones didn't.)

Donut recipes I have been pinning and will need to be made:

• chocolate donuts with buttermilk glaze
• blueberry donuts with orange glaze or lemon glaze
• buttermilk pumpkin donuts
• maple bacon donuts
• cinnamon-sugar donuts
• cake batter donuts
• vanilla donuts with strawberry glaze

Perhaps I need to host a coffee/donuts brunch?

Fat, Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

Alright, I don't know what is going on with my biscuits but they never seem to be as tall as the photos of the recipes I use. I'm not sure if I'm rolling them out too thin or the baking soda/powder isn't working correctly. In any case, I made these while my parents were in town. Taste great but I don't think I've found "best" biscuit recipe out there yet. The search (and baking) is still on (no complaining either... I clearly have a love for southern biscuits).

Here's the recipe from Bakergirl and a photo of hers... they just look much more scrumptious than mine!

Country French Breakfast

Mike and I had a lazy Sunday before doing Riley's newborn shoot a few weeks ago. I made this country French omelet from Ina Garten to start our day off.


Eggs started on the stove and finished in the oven. And, little mess - only one pot!

Gifting Cinnamon Rolls

I made cinnamon rolls from P-dub for a gift for new parents Trent and Amy. Mike and I also did their newborn shoot... Riley's a doll! Hopefully they enjoyed their cinnamon rolls. (Mike and I certainly enjoyed the ones we held back for ourselves haha!)








I'm not entirely sure how many cinnamon rolls her recipe is supposed to make... it says 8 servings but I was worried this meant 8 pans so I cut the recipe in half. I got two trays of 8 cinnamon rolls each. I also omitted the coffee from the icing recipe for my first shot. Definitely going to make these again and freeze for holiday guests!

Whole Wheat Biscuts, Homemade Butter & Crafting

I went over to Ann's recently for a little afternoon crafting to make Grace a Minnie Mouse headband to give her on my trip home. Here's both the headband, the headband-maker Ann and my "contribution" to crafting - whole wheat biscuits with homemade butter.





The whole wheat biscuit recipe can be found here. A nice departure from regular biscuits, lots of texture and not at all dry like some wheat things can be. And, here's the link for the homemade butter recipe. Super easy! The pictures are really instrumental in knowing you didn't screw it up (which is what I thought happened once the cream turned into whipped cream).

Mike took photos of Grace, Stephanie, Shane and to-be Baby Joel while we were at home over the weekend. He'll post photos at his blog soon... hopefully he was able to snap one of Grace in her new headband!

Cornmeal Pancakes

Easter is one of basically 3 days that Mike's work is closed... I like to make the most of these days!

I have had this recipe from Epicurious laying around for a while and finally had a chance to try it Easter Sunday. I made half the recipe... there were some reviews indicating it made a lot of batter. I also substituted whole wheat flour for some of the all purpose flour. (Both the whole wheat flour and the cornmeal give the pancakes a lot of texture.) I skipped the pecan butter this time but might go ahead and make it next time. There were also some reviews that said they put the pecans into the pancake batter... not so sure how I feel about that.

Anywho. The pancakes were so good! AND fluffy. Finally, I made fluffy pancakes. Success!

Baked Apple Streusel Pancake Bars

The second part of the post-photo brunch was the baked apple streusel pancake bars! (recipe from The Kitchn) These tasted good and were simple to put together but I think in halving the recipe the bake time or some of the items didn't bake quite right. As you can see below, my cinnamon topping sunk right to the bottom! I'm going to try this recipe again though... we all enjoyed it! Mike also topped his with some maple syrup which was a nice addition!

Florentine Bake

Our friend Shellie was nice enough to pose for some photos for Mike this weekend. After they were finished with the photos, and as a small thank you, I made this florentine bake with baked apple struesel pancake bars (coming in a few days). (Ann has posed too but her cooking has to wait until Lent is over!)

I really liked this baked dish filled with eggs, cheese, spinach and potatoes. (Since there were only 3 of us, I halved the recipe.) The original recipe from Pioneer Woman calls for a layer of sausage but I omitted it. This was plenty filling and I didn't miss the sausage at all. I also didn't add extra cheese to the top and broil it. It was also easy to put together. I got up around 9, did all the prep work and popped it into the oven. Then, Mike, Shellie and I went out to take pics and came back about 15 minutes later to a finished dish!

Birthday Cake (Cake Batter) Pancakes

I posted a link to these really cute pancakes a couple of weeks ago. Mike finally had a Sunday where he could have breakfast at home before work, and my birthday was right around the corner (which is why I refer to them as birthday cake pancakes), so we made these pancakes. They are really yummy and cute. I think I would cut back on the powdered sugar "syrup" next time but the pancakes do have a "cake" taste that's really good.

I'm still struggling with getting our pancakes to be a little puffier (word? not sure). I wish they would rise a bit more!

Dublin Dr. Pepper Ribs, Taquitos & Flour Tortillas

Oh, what is that you ask? That is a homemade tortilla, recipe from Alexandra's Kitchen. They are AAAHmazing and so simple to make. I saw a few recipes that called for lard but chose this recipe because it called for butter instead. (I have a really hard time buying and cooking with lard.)

Mike ordered Dublin Dr. Pepper marinated ribs for dinner Friday night at the Ranch and we made taquitos out of the leftover rib meat and eggs that we ate on these delicious flour tortillas.

I didn't have any problems with this recipe even though it was the first time I tried it. I cooked them on our griddle pan and it went totally smoothly, no burned tortillas at all. I do need to work on rolling them out just a tad thinner and they could have been a little rounder... we'll just say they were abstract. I also prepared the dry ingredients/cut the butter in using my food processor which I think is a lot easier than doing it by hand with knives or a pastry cutter. Next time I am going to try swapping in whole wheat flour for half the flour content and see what happens!

Bacon Cheddar Biscuits

Its no secret that I love making biscuits. These came up on thekitchn last Friday... suggesting they would be an easy bake over the weekend. I made them Sunday morning. They are very easy (especially with the use of a food processor) and pretty tasty. I opted to brush with melted butter as opposed to the bacon fat suggested in the recipe. I also substituted green onions for chives since that's what I had on hand.







Sadly, mine didn't rise as much as the biscuits in the photos on the website. No judgment though... I'm sure they will all be eaten.

Sausage & Peppers Frittata

I adapted this recipe from my Giada at Home cookbook from the recipe "Baked Provolone and Sausage Frittata." Its super simple to put together and frittatas in general are very versatile. You can put one together with eggs, milk, some kind of cheese and add an whatever leftover veggies or protein suits you.

Ingredients:

Butter for the baking dish
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1/2 pound mild turkey sausage, casings removed
8 large eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
3 cups shredded provolone cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease 8x8 baking dish. Heat oil in medium skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and cook for about 3 minutes. Add sausage and cook until brown. Set aside to cool.

In large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and slat until smooth. Add bell pepper, 2 cups of the cheese and 1/4 cup parsley. Add turkey & onions. Pous mixture into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and the eggs are set.

Changes:
I decreased all of the add-ins just a little bit. I like to have a lot of egg to my frittata. I also did not sprinkle the top with any additional cheese... I thought the inside was cheesy enough. I also added a little Italian seasoning to my turkey sausage as it was cooking to make sure the frittata was full of flavor.

crispy parmesan biscuits on the left, frittata on the right

Crispy Parmesan Biscuits

I made these crispy parmesan biscuits by Giada last weekend for brunch with Mike, his mom, her boyfriend and Mike's sister Rachel. We had it with another Giada recipe - sausage and peppers frittata. The cooked biscuit picture will show up with the pictures for the frittata!

These biscuits are pretty great. We had them with brunch. Giada's recipe says to stack them with smoked salmon and arugula. I have also made them before to serve with chicken salad and chili.

Note - the thing I have the biscuits baking on is one of the things I use most often in the kitchen. Its a silpat mat you place on baking sheets. Its totally non-stick on its own and you just rinse and wipe clean after you are done with it. Love it! See them here , here and here!

12th Dish of Christmas 2010 - Crawfish Quiche

Again - sorry there are no pictures! Too busy setting up a fun brunch with some of my favorites to wrap up the Christmas holidays...

I had crawfish quiche during my bridal shower brunch in Orange at the Old Orange Cafe (if you are ever in Orange, go there for brunch on a Sunday!). Loved it. I wanted to do something that would remind Laura and I of home and something I could just put in the oven and not worry about for brunch.

Recipe

vegetable oil
3 oz. crawfish tails
1 oz. diced onion
1 oz. diced green bell pepper
1 tbs. minced jalapeno
1 tbs. minced chives
1/3 to 1/2 cup pepper jack cheese
splash of milk
5 large eggs
salt & pepper

Saute diced onion, bell pepper and crawfish tails in a small amount of vegetable oil (enough to cover the bottom of your pan) until vegetables are tender. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.

Whisk together eggs, milk, cheese, jalapeno, chives and cooled crawfish, onion and bell pepper. Pour into a glass pie dish (I used a pyrex dish) sprayed well with cooking spray. Bake at 400 until cooked through. I think ours took 15-20 minutes but keep an eye on it. Cooking times will depend on how thick your quiche is. You want the quiche to be cooked through and a little golden on top.

Biscuits

Since September was biscuit month, I made a classic biscuit recipe from Paula Deen. (get the recipe Paula Deen recipe ) These biscuits are great for breakfast or brunch, served with eggs, or served with a bowl of soup for lunch or dinner. I had mine as a snack with strawberry jam! Really easy too!

Pancetta & Cinnamon Waffles

The second week of September was waffle week so I made up a batch of these not classic but delicious pancetta and cinnamon waffles from Giada. (Giada recipe) These waffles have great flavor... salty pancetta, warm cinnamon, sweet syrup. We did them for dinner one weeknight but would also be great for brunch on the weekend! Make & enjoy!

Mini Maple Pancake Muffins

Love Bakerella. So talented. I have no patience for the tiny details she does so well!

These muffins she posted are so simple and yummy. Grab the recipe here. While there, check out the pictures since I totally spaced while baking these and didn't take a single picture to show you guys!

I baked these for Ann and her sister Virginia to snack on while selling their goodies at the Dallas Flea last weekend. Check out both of their Etsy shops!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mrmrsdarcy (baby slings!)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/theartisann (headbands, bib necklaces and more!)

I think everyone liked them! Especially Virginia's cutey Moses who ended up with some of the chocolate chips on his face. Just makes me want to sell my little creations even more!

A weekend's worth of recipes!

Our great friends threw us a luau shower over the weekend (stay tuned for pictures) and we had lots of family in town to celebrate with us. I made lots of yummy things to have on hand for our visitors including classic chocolate chip cookies, salsa, sonoma chicken salad (I actually swapped out 2/3 of the mayo and used low-fat greek yogurt to decrease the fat content), pancetta and green onion tart and finally buttermilk cheddar biscuits made mini-style.








Ok - that sounds (and looks) like a lot. But I planned ahead and got to spend lots of time with the fam while having a kitchen full of goodies. I prepared the cookie dough the weekend before, rolled it into an easily sliceable log and froze it. Thursday night, I sliced the dough into about 3 dozen cookies and baked them. I also made the salsa Thursday night. Saturday morning before our company arrived, I chopped and crisped the pancetta, chopped green onions, grated cheese for both the tart and biscuits and chopped the butter for biscuits. I put all that back in the fridge (all measured and ready to go!) All that planning made Sunday morning much easier on me. I woke up and was able make a great brunch for me and Mike; my parents, sister and her boyfriend; my grandparents; my aunt, cousin and baby G; and Mike's mom and 2 sisters! We definitely had a full house!

Thanks to everyone for coming to visit and making the shower special!

Banana and Cinnamon Muffins

What to do with two over-ripe bananas? Use them in these muffins of course!

This recipe gave me 16 muffins (cups filled about 90% of the way). The muffins are moist with a crunchy sugar top and the apartment smells of yummy cinnamon right now :) These are going to make really easy on-the-go breakfasts for Mike and I this week.

dry ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

wet ingredients:
1 1/2 cups milk or buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 to 3 ripe bananas, mashed

raw sugar

Preheat oven to 325 and prepare a muffin tin with liners and non-stick cooking spray.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Mix wet ingredients in separate bowl until well combined. Slowly pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just incorporated. Pour the melted butter into the mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the mashed bananas until combined.

Spoon the batter into the lined and sprayed muffin tin (an ice cream scoop works well to make all the muffins the same size) and sprinkle some raw sugar on top of each muffin to create a crunchy sugar topping. Bake 20-30 minutes until the sugar is golden and a toothpick stuck in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove from pan and continue cooling on a wire rack.

Chicken Salad, Yogurt Biscuits...

I really do not like when I get excited about a new recipe (or two) and they end up tasting blah... totally mediocre, so-so, a dud. Case-in-point, the chicken salad and yogurt biscuits I made last night to bring to work for lunch this week. Recipes/ingredients sound good, not difficult to put together... taste... meh. I'll say it again, mediocre.

I've desperately trying to find a good chicken salad recipe that isn't hosed in mayonnaise (I'm seriously not a fan of mayo, it kind of weirds me out. The only way I enjoy it is homemade on my grandmother's potato salad that would be strategically situated near me on any Thanksgiving/Christmas table if I could make it happen.) This chicken salad is just missing something... there's no zing, nothing that makes you go "hm... that is so good!" The recipe consisted of chicken, 1 tbs. each mayo and Dijon mustard, olive oil, red bell pepper, green onion, salt, and pepper.

The yogurt biscuits. I love biscuits. They are not exactly a health food so any recipe that can lessen the buttermilk/heavy cream/real butter is worth trying if that means I get to eat more of them. I think part of the problem with this recipe is that I might have over-kneaded the dough. But that's secondary to the main problem... again, nothing that made me go "wow, these are so good!" I think the recipe needed more salt and maybe a brush of melted butter over the top to enhance the flavor.

Ah well... the search continues. If you have a good chicken salad recipe... pass it on, I need new brown-bag lunch ideas. I'm a huge fan of bringing my lunch and turkey sandwiches can get boring so I'd love to substitute some days with something easy like chicken salad. No links to the recipes today since they were duds!




In totally food-unrelated news, my parents visited for Memorial weekend again this year. These are my favorite types of visits as I do not have to make the long drive :) We went to a Frisco Rough Riders baseball game (they actually won in extra innings!), had Fireside Pies and got their outfits for the wedding squared away! Over the past week, Mike and I also ordered our wedding bands and have scheduled all of our vendors visits to be done in August. I also have been picking up outfits for showers. On deck this week - Mike's suit and continuing to work on the music for the ceremony & reception.