Monkey Bread aka Pull Apart Bread

Hello, how is everyone doing? I am excited because this past weekend was my nephews 7th birthday. We had an amazing time at Cedar Point and I cannot believe my nephew turned 7! I remember holding him in my arms when he was just a baby.

My sister, my nephews mother, loves Monkey bread, and well so do I of course, so every time I visit I am asked to make it. This recipe cannot be simpler. This is a great dessert as well as a great brunch dish. I hope you guys try this and enjoy.

Here's how to do it:

Ingredients/recipe

4 cans of biscuits
1 cup of sugar
2 ts of cinnamon or more to taste
1 cup of butter (2 sticks of butter)
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 ts of vanilla

Pre-heat your oven to 350.

Cut each biscuits into four quarters. Mix the 1 cup of sugar and 2 ts of cinnamon in a zip lock bag or a dish. Put the cut biscuits into the zip lock bag and shake or dip them into the dish. Place the coated pieces into a bundt pan or a 9x13 (its easier to turn over if made in the bundt pan).

Melt the butter, brown sugar and what is ever left of the cinnamon sugar mixture in a pot. Heat until the sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Take off the heat and add in the vanilla. Pour over the coated biscuits. Place in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes or until bubbly and brown.

Once it is cooked, take out of the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes that flip onto a large plate or board. Pull apart, or cut into pieces and enjoy!

Enjoy!

Easy Tomato, Onion, Basil and Swiss Cheese Frittata

Hello. How was everyone's Easter? Mine was really nice and I ate a ton of food, which I enjoyed very much. I was really tired for some reason too. I found myself nodding off the whole day. I guess I was in a real food coma all day.

I started my day off with an easy frittata.  I love frittats. They are great make ahead meals and great for breakfast or brunch. I wanted to make a super simple one with just a few flavors, but I wanted the flavors to really stand out and work well with each other. With my roommates help, I decided on green onions, tomatoes and Swiss cheese. I had some basil sitting in the fridge so I used that too.

I love how the cheese on top forms a nice crust, yum!

That is what I call breakfast

Here is how you do it;

Ingredients/recipe

Serves 4-6 people

12 eggs

4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
5 green onions (scallions), chopped
4-6 basil leaves finally chopped
1/2 cup of Swiss cheese, shredded

Start off by chopping your tomatoes and onions and saute those in a pan for a few minutes 3-4. Break all your eggs and season with pepper. Whisk your eggs together until all mixed. I add in the black pepper with I do this. Add your chopped basil and give it a final whisk. Add to the pan, stir everything together and let the frittata set up for 2 minutes.

While your frittata is setting up, spread your cheese and right before your put it into the oven, sprinkle your cheese all over the top. The cheese will get nice and bubbly, and form a nice crust.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Take out, let rest for a few minutes and enjoy!

You guys this is a super easy meal and would be perfect anytime. I hope you guys try this one. 

Enjoy!

Indulgent Pancakes with Bananas, Caramel and Maple Syrup..Happy Easter!

Hello everyone! I wanted to do something really indulgent for Easter and since I don’t have many springtime recipes I wanted to share this one with you. Sometimes after a long week you just need to indulge yourself. Some may have a glass of wine or beer, some may have sweets (my favorite) and some may even bake or cook. 

This idea came from my roommate and I put it together for you. Now this isn’t your healthiest meal, but hey we all deserve things in moderation, right? 

I did use no sugar maple syrup, only because I wouldn’t buy flavored maple syrup because that very fakey tasting and real maple syrup is expensive. Plus with me being pre-diabetic, I had to cut corners in some places.  This is super simple and very affordable. I feel weird even typing directions but hey this is for you guys.

yeah I like bananas

Here is how do make these delicious pancakes.

Ingredients/Recipe

Pancakes made from scratch or a mix (I used a mix)

Caramel Sauce

Maple Syrup

Bananas

Make your pancakes according to package direction. When your pancakes are done and plated, top with bananas, caramel sauce, and maple syrup (all to taste). That’s it. Nothing major or grand, just simple delicious  pancakes with a little extra to take it over the top.

You could also add some walnuts too, I think that would also taste great with these. 

I hope you guys try these and have a Happy Easter, safe holiday.

Enjoy!

Egg Roll-Up

Hello all! It’s been a little bit since I blogged this week, but I made a quick trip to Florida and now I am back. I had a really good time, spent a little more than I wanted to and wasn’t ready to come back. 

I tried so much food that I am still stuffed! I wasn’t able to get pictures of everything, but just to tell you a few things that I tried; Alligator bites and Fish tacos from Tu Tu Tango. It was a really cool restaurant with three kitchens, and art work from local artist throughout the restaurant. It was really awesome restaurant and alligator doesn’t taste like chicken, but it was still good. I also had breakfast at The White Wolf Café, which was a simple egg wrap, yum-o! I also was able to try a Cuban sandwich. I don’t recall the name of the restaurant, but it was crowded! The Cuban was amazing and I was so happy to try! I also tried a falafel sandwich for the first time and it was delicious too! 

I would love to make a Cuban and show you guys, for now I have a breakfast egg roll up. This seems intimidating, but have no fear its super simple! Here is what you need to do;

 Ingredients/recipe

Adapted from Taste of Home (I cannot find the direct link)

 

·  4 ounces cream cheese, softened

·  3/4 cup milk

·  1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided

·  2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

·  12 eggs

·  1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

·  1 small onion, chopped

·  2 teaspoons canola oil

·  1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

·  1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped

·  1-1/4 teaspoons Italian seasoning, divided

First whisk together your cream cheese, milk, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning and 12 eggs (you can add salt and pepper to taste of you like). Once whisked all together, spay a baking sheet, or jelly-roll pan. Pre-heat your oven to 350 and bake for 10-12 minutes.

While your egg is baking in the oven, sauté the canola oil, onion and mushrooms. Once the mushrooms are brown, take off heat. 

When the eggs are done baking, take out and top with the mozzarella cheese, 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, mushrooms and tomato. Starting with the shorter end, roll it up. Be careful because it will be hot. Place seam side down. Garnish with parsley, cherry tomatoes and extra Italian seasoning, cut and enjoy!

I hope you guys try this and enjoy!

New Year’s Resolutions and a Turkey Egg and Cheese Bake

Hello everyone! How’s it going? 

I was thinking today about being healthy, saving money, and New Year’s Resolutions. Have you made any Resolutions this year? I would like to say I did, but I really didn’t. In my mind I made a list of things I need to take care of such as; getting ready for taxes, cleaning my room, cutting coupons and many more. What I also planned on doing is practicing the piano again because I used to be very well at it. Many of the things I planned or thought about haven’t been done.

What about you? Are you following your New Year’s Resolutions or are you planning on getting things done that need to be taken care of?

A few other goals I am trying to set for myself are food goals. I want to bake more bread and learn how to decorate cakes. These are just some of my food goals that I hope to accomplish. 

So enough of goals and resolutions (and if you do have any stick to them, you  can do it!) let’s talk food.

How does a really good BLD sound? BLD if you don’t know is a Rachael Ray term for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner. I saw this recipe in her Everyday With Rachael Ray magazine months ago and though it sounded delicious. It’s a Ham, Egg and Cheese bake. It is soo simple your kids can do it with a little help. This is a really nice breakfast and healthy. It has yummy English muffins on the bottom topped with ham, eggs and cheese. You cannot go wrong with that in my book. I made a few changes to make it slightly healthier but pretty much kept it the same. I really hope you guys try this one. 

This is right before you add the extra cheese, omg I could have eaten this than!

Adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray

Ingredients/recipe

• 4 to 6 whole wheat English muffins cut into 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
• 8 ounces sliced deli turkey, coarsely chopped
• 2  cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cups milk
• Salt and pepper
• 2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced

.

Directions:

1.      Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 13x9 baking dish. Layer the English muffins on the bottom top with, ham, 1 ½ cups cheese and 2 tablespoons chives in the dish. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Pour into the dish and top with the tomato slices in an even layer.

2.      Bake the eggs until nearly set, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup cheese and 1 tablespoon chives on top and bake until golden.

I cannot tell you how much I love this dish and how good it is. It is also very changeable and you can do almost anything you want with it.

I hope you try this and like it. Enjoy!

Going Greek

Good morning! How is everyone? Have you recovered from Thanksgiving yet? I had such a great Thanksgiving. It was wonderful seeing family and friends and eating a ton of food! What did you eat this year? Did you make anything new or just your normal line up? I had the normal food and it was all delicious and I wish there was more. 

I am excited about Christmas coming up and starting to plan a few meals with my family when I see them. I am also switching into Christmas mode and trying to take care of a ton of things like decorating and finishing up my planning for my holiday baking. I never finished planning it all out because I decided to change a lot of the cookies that I make to try new cookies. It will be an ongoing process that I will be keeping you updated with.

Today I wanted to give you guys something healthy after this thanksgiving. A egg mug! I did one of these in August but I wanted to revisit this one because I have a great take on it. A Greek Egg mug! Yes if you love olives, and feta cheese you will love this one!

Greek Egg Mug

1 tbs of chopped olives

¼ cup of frozen veggies (onions, celery, bell pepper…your choice)

3-4 eggs or you can use egg whites

1-2 tbs of feta cheese

a pinch of dried oregano 

Salt and pepper to taste

Put everything into a mug, mix well. Put in microwave for 3-4 minutes, stirring about half way through the cooking time.  Take the mug out of the microwave, check the bottom of the mug to make sure there is no liquid. If there is  a little bit of liquid, microwave for about 30 seconds, if not enjoy!

I hope you guys try this it is so good. Enjoy!