Peaches'n'Cream Tart

We made spinach, ham, turkey, egg, and cheese hand pies for brunch as a family yesterday. Since we're all "stuck" at home together with the "Safer at Home" order in place I figured that we might as well sleep in and then make brunch together. Jared made the filling because he's fantastic at making eggs. Each of the kids took turns helping fill, seal, and brush the pies with egg wash. Then we ate them together with the leftover filling.
Sorry for the rabbit trail. :D
While we were working on brunch, Miss E (my almost 12 yr old) decided that we needed a fruit version. I didn't have enough pie dough ready to make a bunch more hand pies so we decided to make a tart instead. Here's what we did.

Lemon Lavender Zucchini [Breads, Muffins, or Cake]

Anyone who knows me, knows that playing the mad baking scientist is kind of a stress reliever. With having 4 extra kidlets for 9 days, I decided it was in my best interest to whip up something creative after putting them all to bed one night.

Easter Weekend Breakfast and Brunch Ideas

I love making extra special things for holidays and Easter weekend is no exception. Many times I will bring in a special treat for our Sunday school class. I enjoy using food to be a blessing to others when I get the opportunity (although, my dear hubby sometimes wishes that I didn't as it often affects our waistlines). With Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday happening this week, I thought it would be a good time to share some of my favorite options.

Cheese Blintzes

My sister introduced me to this recipe when Jared and I first got married. It is delicious and makes for a nice breakfast, brunch, or ladies tea dish. You can play with different filling ideas as well to make different flavored blintzes, i.e. nutella, pb & j, etc.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

the rolls were so good that I didn't get a picture
before they were completely consumed

I love making cinnamon rolls and I love making anything with pumpkin this time of year (I know you've all been inundated with pumpkin recipes, but what's the harm in just one more). I've made Pumpkin Spice Bread Bites with spiced cream cheese dip and they turned out absolutely deliciously but I decided to attempt my own recipe for pumpkin cinnamon rolls. They were super yummy! 

My Top 5 Pancake Recipes

Are you looking for something to make for breakfast? Something that is versatile, quick, and simple to make? A recipe that you can mass produce and then pop into the freezer for consumption later? If you answered, "Yes," to any or all of those questions then this might be the post for you, and pancakes might just be the answer.
Our family LOVES pancakes. We'll eat them for breakfast, lunch, snack time, supper, or even dessert. Because of our great love of pancakes, I've come up with several recipes. With that in mind, I decided to put links to them all in one spot. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Banana [Chocolate Chip] Pancakes

Yummy, yummy pancakes!

Yes, I'm on a bit of a pancake kick lately. I just love all the options there are for different flavors when you're working with pancakes. It's like any other cake or quick bread, I just can't help myself, I have to play around and be creative. This particular recipe is a big hit with my kids. Peanut butter and banana is just one of those perfect combinations that's only made better with the addition of chocolate (although the chocolate is optional).

Multi-Grain Carrot Cake Pancakes

We love pancakes and I love attempting new things so when I saw a recipe for carrot cake pancakes I knew that I had to give them a shot. They turned out beautifully and have become a new family favorite. The original recipe was vegan and since we aren't vegan I had to make a few changes so here they are.

Jelly Biscuits

There are days when you're just in a rush. Maybe you woke up late or something took longer than

planned, which isn't a stretch when you've got 4 kids. Trying to figure out what to feed everyone for breakfast when you feel like you're making a mad dash to get out the door is difficult. I don't know about your kids, but mine take forever to eat a bowl of cereal and seem to do better with eggs. Here's one thing that we do when I haven't thought ahead, scrambled eggs and jelly biscuits.

Step 1 - preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2 - pop open a can of Pillsbury Grands! Biscuits, arrange them on a baking sheet, and place them in the oven for 13-17 minutes.

Step 3 - whip up a big batch of cheesy scrambled eggs with some pre-cooked sausage tossed into the pan.

Step 4 - remove biscuits from the oven and let them cool till they are easy to handle.

Step 5 - open biscuits and spread with jelly.

Step 6 - eat.

The kids will say things like "Mom, you made some great biscuits!" Everyone will be feed and happy. :)

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Most of our family really enjoys pancakes (Miss S asks for them at breakfast a LOT). I wanted to try something different than my standard buttermilk pancake so I play around with my pancake recipes and some fresh blueberries.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

I wanted to take breakfast to church for our Sunday school class this morning and it had to be a dish with blueberries as I'd gotten a really good deal on fresh ones this week. I decided to look for a good coffee cake recipe but was missing at least one ingredient for every recipe I looked at, which made me decide to experiment...

Kale Berry Smoothie

Jared happened to see that one of our favorite chefs uses kale in his smoothies instead of spinach so I decided to give it a try this morning. It was delicious and refreshing after a my run. I forgot to snap a picture this morning, but it looks a lot like my Monster Spinach Smoothie.

• 2 cups fresh kale
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup unsweetened crushed pineapple
• 1 cup 1% milk (almond or coconut milk would yummy as well)
• 1 large banana
• 1 cup whole strawberries
• 8 ice cubes

Directions

1. In a blender, puree the kale, blueberries, yogurt, milk, pineapple, banana, and strawberries till smooth.
2. Add ice cubes and blend until ice has been crushed. Enjoy!

Servings: 2 (3 cups each)

Loaded Cauliflower [or Potato] Souffle

In February 2011, Jared and I went on a cruise. On the cruise we tried all sorts of new foods and one of dishes happened to be a souffle. Now, a souffle has this slightly crisp outer texture but then you scoop a bite and the inside is light, airy, and yet still very creamy. Ever since that trip I have wanted to try my hand at making a souffle. My MIL even bought me an awesome souffle dish but I've been too chicken to try it. Until tonight, that is. Yes, tonight I faced my fears and dove head first into the deliciousness that is souffle. You see, I needed a savory side dish so I looked at a few different recipes, the Super Easy Souffle, the Easiest Souffle Ever, and even a Potato Souffle. After figuring out what the common elements are in a souffle I came up with my recipe.

Carrot Cake Waffles

I love finding new recipes on Pinterest, but the best part is that moment when I actually get the chance to try them out. My family loves waffles, pancakes, cinnamon rolls, etc. and we enjoy doing "breakfast for dinner" once or twice a month so when I saw this recipe on Pinterest for Carrot cake waffles a few weeks back I just had to repin it. I am so glad I did because this recipe is truly a keeper. It's delicious and fairly healthy. I made a few modifications and then topped them with maple syrup and spiced cream cheese whip.

Strawberry Banana Mango Muffins

I was feeling creative yesterday morning while making our Sunday "take along" breakfast. With several

bananas and a mango that needed to be used up I decided to attempt something new, Strawberry Banana Mango muffins. They were delicious!

Butter Braid: Savory or Sweet

Sweet - Strawberry Mango Braid

A few years back, my sister introduced me to butter braids. The school my nieces attend was selling them as a fundraiser and they were delicious! But...they made for an expensive breakfast. My sister decided there had to be an alternative and came up with her own recipe. I wanted to try her recipe but she was out of town so I just winged it. This recipe make 3 loaves (each loaf cuts nicely into 8-10 pieces) and my sister usually freezes 1 or 2 of them but I still need to get her freezer instructions...

Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Oatmeal [Raisin] Pancakes

Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes
with Mixed Berry Peach Syrup

Our family enjoys having breakfast for dinner at least 1-2 times a month and pancakes are one of the kids' favorites. I wanted to try something different than the standard buttermilk pancake so I adapted a Taste of Home recipe.

Dutch Apple Pie Muffins

With the streusel and some butter, yummy!

I really enjoy apple pie but don't make it often as it can be time consuming. With that in mind, I saw a special for $2 Dutch Apple Pies (the good kind in the freezer aisle) so I cheated and bought one to have when our company was here yesterday. This morning I was struggling with what to make for our usual "take along Sunday breakfast". Then I thought to myself, I bet I could make a muffin with flavors similar to Dutch Apple Pie. They turned out really well (Jared even told me that they are his new 2nd favorite). I would have added a streusel topping but I ran out of time, so I've added the recipe for it in case you have time to try it. Enjoy!

Shape up, Mr. Biscuit!

Biscuit Cars with Mixed Berry Jam

There are days when I know that the kids want need me to turn the mundane into something special and lunch is usually my ticket. It was time to think outside the [recipe] box... Sometimes I get the cookie cutters out and we make PB&J shapes but today needed something just a tad more interactive. Hmmm...pancakes?  No, we just had French toast... Biscuit pizzas? Nope, not enough cheese... Aha! I had it, biscuit shapes with  homemade mixed berry jam!

Miss E. and I made up the dough (just your standard fluffy, flaky biscuit recipe) and rolled it out. Then Mr. R., Miss A. and Miss E. picked out cookie cutters and cut out some shapes. We baked them according to the recipe and then ate them warm with some mixed berry jam. There were footballs, stars, cars, and circles to enjoy. And enjoy they did for they didn't leave even one to share with daddy! Poor daddy will have to wait till next time!

Stars, circles, cars, and footballs make for a fun lunch!

Pumpkin Spice Bread Bites with Spiced Cream Cheese Dip

There is something about pumpkins that make them almost completely inseparable from fall, especially as it gets close to Thanksgiving. It's hard for me not to think in "pumpkin" mode when it comes to baking during this time of year. You know what I mean, don't you? The memories that fill your mind as the smell of pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger wafts through your house when baking a pumpkin pie or even pumpkin bread. If you are like me (when it comes to pumpkins and fall), than this recipe is for you. It's a marriage of Monkey Bread and Pumpkin Quick Bread served with a side of Pumpkin Cheesecake.