TGIF!!!!

Today is FRIDAY!!!! And I am so thankful. I love fridays almost as much as I did when I was working outside the home... (almost.)

Friday means Saturday is just around the corner and that means you may be planning to make a nice, big, Saturday morning breakfast for your family. During the week we usually stick with Green Smoothies (either Green Monster of Tropical Green) and a piece of toast, so when the weekend comes-- we love a real brunch-type breakfast. What's that? You are unsure of what to make?? Ahh. I have ideas.

I have collected some of our "most favorited" breakfast recipes and I shall share them with you.  So you don't have to wake up and wade through Pinterest tomorrow (which, is fun too!) here are some of our recently tried and loved recipes for "Weekend Breakfasts."

Easy & Fluffy Belgian Waffles From Something Swanky

They are exactly how they sound. We love them with fresh fruit on top, and if you happen to have a dollop of homemade whipped cream, by all means, do it!

Photo via Something Swanky

Parmesan Baked Eggs

These are a delicious alternative to something sweet. Once you cook the onion and the herbs together it makes an amazing combination with soft baked eggs. *This coming from someone who has never really loved soft baked eggs* But I think these are fantastic!

Photo and Recipe Courtesy of Pinch of Yum

Now, Back to sweet stuff!!!

Ricotta Hotcakes

We watched Nigella makes these on a Summer-Themed episode and it was enough to run out and buy ricotta cheese and fresh berries. Eat them with crispy bacon. You won't be sorry. 

Photo and Recipe Courtesy of Nigella Lawson

Buttermilk Pancakes

I've tried a lot of pancake recipes, this one is my favorite in the way of buttermilk pancakes. Yum!

Photo and Recipe Courtesy of A Farmgirl's Dabbles

Cream Cheese Sausage Balls

Many people think Sausage Balls are more of an Appetizer food, which they totally can be, but I think they are great for breakfast! Great for a portable "on-the-go" breakfast or for a special occasion "balance out that french toast casserole" breakfast too. These are really good. The cream cheese makes them really special. 

Photo and Recipe Courtesy of Plain Chicken

Add a fresh fruit salad and maybe a slice or two of bacon, a cup of coffee (make mine ICED!!!) and you will be good to go!!!

Now, go work hard so you can feel good about splurging on breakfast tomorrow morning! 

Warm up with Cranberry Orange Scones

I know it's January and we are all supposed to be behaving ourselves, nutritionally speaking-- but it's also COLD outside and in the midst of all the yogurt and salads we are enjoying with a new love lately, here is a scone recipe I came up with over Christmas-- it would be great for any chilly morning or afternoon with a steaming cup of coffee or tea. If they seem a bit complicated, know that they come together very quickly.


Cranberry-Orange Scones
Makes 8 large or 16 small scones


2 cups of Flour
1/4 cup of sugar (I used raw, but regular is fine too)
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt 
Grated Zest of one Medium Orange

Pulse the above ingredients in your Food Processor several times to sift and combine.

Add 5-6 Tbs. of Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces and pulse again.
Add 2/3 cup of sweetened, dried cranberries and pulse again 2-3 times to incorporate.

In a small glass measuring cup, add one egg to 1/2 cup of Heavy Cream and whisk with a fork. (Now here's where I feel the need to explain-- I have ALWAYS made these with Half and Half instead of Heavy Cream even though the original recipe calls for cream. Always. Then, over Christmas, I found myself with cream and without half & half. So I bit the bullet, and can I just say--- WOW. It made a HUGE difference in the texture, and the fact that these scones lasted for days without drying out. However, I will say that the half & half is fine and makes a nice (though not quite as flaky) scone. So do whatever you wish. :)

Add liquid/ egg mixture all at once and pulse a few times to ensure it comes together. Your scone dough will be kind of crumbly but moist.

Dump out the dough directly onto a lightly floured surface or wax paper and pat it into a circle (divide into 2 circles if you wish to make small scones.) Form into a circle as best you can and then use a sharp knife to cut into 8 wedges. Move wedges to a Parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 425' for 12-15 minutes until just beginning to lightly brown.

Before Baking-- they are a bit flat

 

 They plump up nicely in the oven

Remove scones to a wire rack to cool for about 7 minutes and prepare glaze. These are perfectly yummy before the orange glaze, but it does add a whole other level of deliciousness! 

Orange Glaze

1 cup of Powdered sugar

1-2 tbs. of fresh orange juice (from the orange you zested. If your child ate the orange while you were making your scones, plain ole' OJ is fine too.) 

Mix the two together in a bowl until you get a nice thick-ish consistency. 

 Glaze consistency

Set your wire rack of scones right back on the pan you baked them on (so the parchment catches your excess glaze) and drizzle glaze over them. They will set up a bit in just a few minutes and be ready to eat! 

The finished product

A New Favorite: Low Fat Banana Bread

I am always anxious to try a new banana bread recipe and this one is a good one. The technique is a bit different as you roast the bananas (still in the peel) in the oven first and then let them cool. This brings out so much more flavor and sweetness that you can dramatically reduce the sugar and oil or butter needed. DRAMATICALLY. If you follow the recipe, you will get a yummy loaf of traditional banana bread without the high calorie content. Enjoy!

Low-Fat Banana Bread
Makes one 9x5 loaf

4 Large Ripe Bananas
2 Large Eggs
2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 3/4 cups of All purpose flour
1/2 cup of sugar (as opposed to the usual cup or cup and a half!!)
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs. vegetable oil (as opposed to the usual stick of butter!) 
2 ounces of low fat cream cheese (cut into 4 pieces and chilled)

Roast Bananas on a rimmed baking sheet at 325' for 20 minutes until the skins are completely black. Remove and set aside to cool. Leave oven on.
After bananas are completely cooled, peel and mash them. Measure 1 1/2 cups. Discard any excess or save for future use. (Mine had quite a bit of liquid but it turned out great!)

Whisk Eggs and Vanilla in a small bowl. Using an electric mixer on med. low, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt together until combined. Add oil and cream cheese slowly, one piece at a time. Mix until the cream cheese incorporates and resembles small pea-sized bits. Slowly add egg mixture while mixing and then add bananas and beat 30 seconds.

Scrape batter into a greased loaf pan and bake 50-60 minutes until golden brown. Cool for ten minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. Store in the Fridge for a few days.
The recipe advised us to wait an hour and let it cool. We did not. :)

**Adapted from Cook's Country Magazine

Hazelnut Iced Coffee

     ** Note, after making this iced coffee again, I realized I gave the wrong amount of sugar--- reduce the starting amount to 1/4 of a cup and taste it before you add more!! I hope no one ruined their iced coffee!!


There are few things better on a hot summer day than something cold and refreshing--- what better way to celebrate summer than with a tall (and by tall, I do not mean the smallest size at the local coffee chain) glass of Iced Coffee?

Iced Coffee jogs several good memories for me:

1. My first interaction with the wonderful stuff was at age 12. Wanting desperately to be older than I was, I begged my mom to let me drink coffee. She, knowing me better than myself, made me a small glass of sweet, creamy, vanilla-colored iced coffee. We sat with our glasses at our sunny kitchen table and talked about something very grown-up... I was very sophisticated. I think I probably took three small sips and decided I like pink lemonade better-- but it still made for a great memory!

2. Fast forward about 10 years to college in North Carolina... I lived with two amazing roommates who also happened to be friends. One of them (you know who you are, C.L.!!!) began making this a-MAZ-ing iced coffee for us all throughout the warmer months and E and I were officially hooked. There weren't many days that these girls couldn't be found sitting in their 8 o'clock class trying to stave off lethargy with iced coffee and brown sugar pop tarts!

To this day, a good iced coffee brings back very fond memories of friendship and laughter...

Though I've never really had a good recipe for it, the amazing Courtney recently helped me get re-acquainted with the yummy beverage and I would like to pass on the recipe to you!

Good Iced Coffee should be sweet, creamy and very cold! I cannot stand to go somewhere that claims to have "Iced Coffee" and they pour hot or lukewarm java over ice and then expect me to add my own sugar to the tepid mixture and make it the right consistency. (Note: I'm not really that High Maintenance... it's just sounds that way.) Haha!

Iced Hazelnut Coffee

• One large 8-cup pot of strong brewed Hazelnut coffee (or any flavor you like-- check out the Fresh Market for some excellent flavors!-- My current favorite is Decaf Hazelnut-- )

• Sugar (to taste... start with about a quarter of a cup for 8-cup pot)

• Milk (I like to use a bit of half and half to make it slightly rich and then the rest 2% Milk)

Pour the coffee in a large pitcher, add sugar and stir. Add Milk until it's the desired color you like. Taste for sweetness, add more sugar if needed. Stir again until sugar is disolved and then place in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Serve over lots of ice in a pretty glass! 

Keep in mind, whenever you have a partial pot of coffee left over in the morning, don't throw it out!!! You can do this and have a delicious treat the next morning instead of having to talk yourself out of swinging by Starbucks!!! This is WAY more cost effective and you can drink it in your P.J.'s!!!

Healthier Oatmeal Banana Bread

Makes 2 Loaves

3/4 cup of Unsweetened Applesauce

3/4 cup of Brown Sugar

4 Eggs

2 2/3 Cup of AP Flour (I mix about 60-40 Regular to Whole Wheat)

1 1/3 cup of Regular Rolled Oats

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1 cup of Low-Fat Buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

4 Large ripe bananas, mashed.

Heat oven to 325' and grease and flour 2 loaf pans. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix together applesauce, sugar and eggs. Beat well. Sift together flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and oatmeal to applesauce mixture. Add vanilla and bananas. Sometimes, when I want to make it a little less healthy, I add about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Bake in loaf pans for 60-75 minutes.  Cool.

**This recipe has been adapted from a friend of a friend.