Almost-Homemade Caramel Rolls

Over the weekend I thought I would surprise the family with caramel rolls one morning.  Normally I make The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls.  They are fantastic!  But I didn't have the drive to actually make homemade rolls.  So instead I used frozen...but baked them in homemade caramel sauce.  The result...no one knew! 

Caramel Sauce for Rolls
by (aunt) Carol Jones

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
5 tablespoons corn syrup
3 tablespoons water

Put ingredients in a saucepan and melt together.  Pour into a 9x13 pan and let cool.  Top with 12 uncooked (frozen) cinnamon rolls.  After the rolls thaw and double in size bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden (and not raw in the middle).

Invert onto platter with edges (so caramel won't run off).  Cool and serve.  Great reheated and with a cup of coffee!

Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Quinoa

I'm a firm believer that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  And since I still have will-power so early in the morning I try to eat something healthful to start my day.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a try. 

I'm so glad that I did.  The kitchen smelled all homey and delicious all morning long.  Plus the hot cereal filled me up and left me satisfied until lunch.  The next time I make this I'm going to double or triple the recipe so I can have leftovers for quick and easy breakfasts for the rest of the week!

Click here for a link for the Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Quinoa!

Warm Peach French Toast Bake

This week I decided to try a new breakfast bake recipe.  When I saw it in a USA Weekend, I thought it seemed a little like the peachy french toast that my mom makes.  But not quite as sweet.  Whereas my mom's peachy french toast is my sister's favorite breakfast, I think it's a little too sweet.  

We all thought that this tasted really good.  In fact, I'm happy that there are some leftovers in the fridge because I think a piece warmed up tomorrow sounds great!

Warm Peach French Toast Bake
by Ellie Krieger, found in USA Weekend, July 20-22, 2012

1 large whole-wheat baguette (I used white because it was all I could find)
4 eggs
4 egg whites
1 cup skim milk
1 tsp vanilla
5 cups frozen, unsweetened peaches (or you can use fresh)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.  Cut the baguette into half-inch-thick slices and arrange them in a single layer in the pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, and vanilla.  Pour the egg mixture over the bread in the pan.  Scatter the peach slices evenly over the bread.  Sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon. 
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Uncover and bake until slightly puffed and golden, about 40 minutes.  Serve with plain non-fat yogurt and/or syrup.

Glazed Orange Muffins

Okay, does anyone else love orange baked goods? (cookies, rolls, etc)

If so, this muffin is for you. It is delicious and quite orangey. Not only that, but with the glaze and sugar/zest topping, it looks quite fancy!

The recipe only makes seven muffins (and I used a larger muffin cup and only got six). So the second time I made them I doubled the recipe and they still turned out great. I found this recipe on the Pinch of Yum blog. Check it out - great looking recipes!

Glazed Orange Muffins

1/3 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons corn syrup
juice of 1 or 2 oranges (about 1/3 cup)
1 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
generous 1/4 teaspoon salt
glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
sugared zest:
2 tablespoons orange zest
1/4 cup white sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. Whisk together the milk, oil, egg, corn syrup, orange juice, and a pinch of zest. Mix in the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt until batter is just combined. Pour batter into a greased muffin tin and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until tops spring back when pressed.
For the glaze, mix the powdered sugar with the orange juice, adding 1 additional teaspoon of orange juice at a time to achieve the desired consistency.

For the sugared zest, combine zest with sugar and combine with your fingers until crumbly.
When muffins are done, cool completely before dipping tops in glaze. Once dipped in glaze, immediately sprinkle with sugared zest.

Banana Bread Pancakes

(sorry for the ugly unevenly colored pancakes...I was having some issues with our griddle)

Do you ever buy bananas only to find that oops - a few have gotten ripe before you've eaten them? No- just my family??

In an effort to not make banana bread (who has time for it to bake for an hour) I decided to make some pancakes. A few weeks ago, my mom found this easy pancake recipe that tastes fantastic!

Note: We had some leftovers and found that they reheated quite well the following morning.

Banana Bread Pancakes

2 cups pancake mix (I use low fat Bisquick)

1 1/3 cup water

1/2 cup oatmeal

1 ripe banana, mashed (I used two, since that's what I had)

walnuts, optional

Whisk together the pancake mix and water. Stir in the oatmeal and banana. Cook on griddle.

Cold Oatmeal

I'm a big fan of eating breakfast in the morning. And since I'm always up for trying new things, I thought I would try this recipe that I got from my mom who got it from a friend. I was a little sceptical at first...after all, oatmeal that you don't cook? Sounds suspicious to me.

I personally love this in the morning. It's comforting and quite filling. Plus, it takes just a couple of minutes to make at night. (Just a warning, Nate wasn't a fan of the texture of the oatmeal...)

Cold Oatmeal

by Tara Anderson

1 cup vanilla yogurt (I use low-fat Greek)

1 cup oatmeal (dry)

1/4-1/3 cup milk (I use soy or almond)

Mix together - it should be soupy. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning add berries, apples, raisin, or currents (if needed) and little more milk. I'm a big fan of fresh strawberries on top of mine.

Baked Oatmeal

Since our kitchen remodel is nearly done, I thought it was time that I start cooking actual meals for the family again. I decided that nice Saturday breakfast would start the weekend off right.

I saw this recipe in one of my mom's cookbooks. Since we LOVE oatmeal, I thought I would give it a try. It was simple to put together and we all liked it. Caroline even asked for more. I'm looking forward to leftovers tomorrow morning with a little fresh fruit with it.

Baked Oatmeal

1 3/4 cup water

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup oatmeal

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar (I used about half of this, and it was still plenty sweet)

Preheat oven to 350.

Boil water and 1/8 tsp salt. Stir in oats and cook for five minutes. Set aside. (The cookbook mentioned that this could be done a day in advance.)

Beat together eggs and milk. Stir in cinnamon, baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, and brown sugar. Stir in oatmeal mixture. Put in a sprayed casserole dish (I used a 9" square pan). Bake 30-40 minutes. Serve with milk.

Mmmmm...Cinnamon Rolls!

Over Christmas break I decided to try my hand at making cinnamon rolls from scratch. I'd seen the photos and read the reviews of Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls and thought that it would be a good recipe for me to practice on.
Wow - this is seriously the BEST cinnamon roll that I've ever eaten. Plus, one batch makes 6-7 pans of rolls. In fact, over the weekend we got a pan of rolls out of the freezer that I made a month ago. They still tasted great!
For the recipe visit Pioneer Woman. I strongly suggest that you make these soon!

Pumpkin Pancakes

This morning, Nate and I were going to go out for brunch. But I saw this recipe for Pumpkin Spice Pancakes and decided we would bring the restaurant to our kitchen. They were delicious! Not only were they easy to make, but they had the best pumpkin flavor. Not too sweet, but just right! The recipe made a lot - perfect for leftovers!
Since I didn't change the recipe at all, it can be found here at Lauren's Kitchen.

Morning Glory Muffins

This morning I thought I would surprise my family with fresh-baked muffins. I saw this recipe in the latest Weight Watchers magazine, and thought I'd give it a try. It came together easily and in no time we had warm-from-the-oven muffins.

Nate and I thought they were just so-so. But Caroline ate one and a half. I guess I'm used to a sweeter muffin. But the carrots and pineapple gave this some good texture.

Morning Glory Muffins

Makes 12

2 points each

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ginger

3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/3 cup drained crushed pineapple

1/4 cup fat free egg substitute

1/4 cup finely shredded carrots

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

http://www.weightwatchers.com/Index.aspxMix flours, salt, soda, powder, cinnamon, and ginger in a large bowl. Set aside. In a separate bowl mix buttermilk, pineapple, egg substitute, carrots, brown sugar, oil and vanilla. Add liquid mixture into the flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. Do not over mix! Fill 12 muffin cups (that have been lined with a muffin liner). Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until done. Let cool.