Fruit and French Toast Roll-ups

Brinner's back!  And so is the fruit.  It's still summer, so don't be surprised by another recipe with fruit in it.  But things got a little fancier tonight.  I've seen French Toast Rollups around Pinterest, but I wanted something that was filled with various kinds of fruit and more of a traditional french toast.

These ended up being like a simple version of crepes.  Because you roll the bread out, they are easy to fill and roll up like a crepe.  They are flatter like crepes.  But when you dip them in a french toast like egg mixture, the bread expands a little again.  The cream cheese gets all warm and melty, and the fruit is just YUM!  Our favorite combination  ended up being bananas and peaches with Philadelphia® Honey and Pecan Cream Cheese.  And instead of pouring syrup on them, we just dipped them into syrup like french toast sticks.  It was amazing and really fun for our family to have a little something different for Brinner.

Fruit and French Toast Roll-ups

Ingredients:

16 slices (1 loaf minus end pieces) potato bread
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup sliced peaches (canned is fine)
1 banana, sliced
4 Tbs. plain cream cheese
4 Tbs. Philadelphia® Honey and Pecan Cream Cheese
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
Powdered Sugar for dusting
Syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat griddle to 375 degreess or a skillet over medium high heat.

2. In a shallow bowl, combine eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Whisk to combine.  Set aside.

3. Cut crusts off of each piece of bread.  Using a rolling pin, roll each piece of bread flat.  You will use 4 slices of bread per fruit (unless you want to come up with your own creation!).

4. For peaches and bananas, spread 1/2 Tbs. of Honey Pecan Cream Cheese on 1/3 of each slice of bread.  Lay fruit over the top of cream cheese.  Begin rolling bread, starting with the fruit and cream cheese end.  Gently press down to seal.

5. For blueberries and strawberries, spread 1/2 Tbs. of the plain cream cheese on 1/3 of each slice of bread.  Lay fruit over the top of the cream cheese.  Roll bread, again starting with the fruit and cream cheese end.   Gently press down to seal.

6. Spray hot griddle with cooking spray.  Dip each roll in egg mixture and place, seam down, onto hot griddle.  Cook until browned and then turn.  Continue to cook on each side until browned and remove to a serving plate.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with syrup.

Serves 4

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TBT - Eggs Benedict

I'm doing a little throwback today in honor of Mother's Day.  Last year, I shared a recipe with you that is simple to make for Mother's Day brunch.  Eggs Benedict is an English muffin, a slice of Canadian bacon, a poached egg, and some hollandaise sauce.  It is simple to make, yet looks and sounds fancy enough to make for your special mom, grandma, or *cough* wife.  Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there (and yes, fur babies count!).  Click here for the recipe.

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Biscuits and Gravy

It's Brinner time again!  And I'm throwing in a Southern flair.  You can't go to the South and not have Biscuits and Gravy.  And it's exactly what it sounds like - a biscuit, with gravy.  But Southern style is a white gravy loaded with yummy sausage.  And in true Southern fashion, it's a one pot meal, using the fat from the sausage to thicken the gravy.  If you want a little more spice, you can add a dash of cayenne pepper.  I toned my recipe down a bit in order to please the kidlets.  And the best part is that this is a simple dish, taking about 15 minutes from start to finish.

Biscuits and Gravy

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground country sausage
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 cups milk
2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley
1 can Grands® Biscuits (8 count)

Directions:

1. Cook biscuits according to package instructions.

2. While biscuits are cooking, prepare gravy.  Preheat a skillet over medium heat.  Add sausage.  Brown, making sure to break sausage into small pieces as it cooks.

3. When meat is browned, add butter and melt.  Add flour, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.  Stir to coat meat.  Pour milk over meat and stir.  Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes to thicken gravy.  Remove from heat and add parsley.  Serve over biscuits immediately.

Serves 4-6

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Breakfast Pizza

So I'm back to Brinner.  Yeah, we kind of love Brinner.  And you can only have pancakes and waffles for so long.  I had been browsing around Pinterest and saw this particular dish, but could not find a recipe for it.  The link just kept giving me an image.  So, I decided to wing it.  Come up with my own best guess - frankly, it's really one of my favorite ways to cook.  Because when you get it right, it's so fulfilling.

This is really simple.  The hard part is figuring out how long to cook it so that your eggs are either soft, medium, or hard.  If you like them soft, or dippy as The Hubs calls them, go with 12 minutes.  If you want them hard, leave them in a little longer.  It doesn't take a big amount of time to get the yolks to firm up.  And using precooked bacon makes this dish fast to prepare and even easier to get off the plate.  My kiddos quickly dubbed this Breakfast Pizza because of the way you roll up the edges like a pizza crust.  And now I have a quick go-to recipe for busy nights.  If you like your eggs with some spice, throw some Sriracha sauce on this or even some salsa.

Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:

2 cans refrigerator crescent rolls
8 eggs
Salt and Pepper
1 package precooked bacon
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  Set aside.

2. Open crescent rolls and separate into 2 halves per can - it should make 4 squares.  Press seams together  so there are no holes.  Fold up edges of each square and pinch together to form a crust. Place on parchment paper.

3. Crack 2 eggs into each crust.  Sprinkle salt and pepper on top to season.  Lay 3 pieces of bacon on top of eggs.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese onto top of each square.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on how well you like your eggs done.  Serve immediately.

Serves 4

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Blueberry and Lemon Ricotta Pancakes (and a winner)

Thank you so much to everyone who entered the cookbook giveaway.  I think we all know what a talented woman Martha Stewart is, and this cookbook will make you drool.  Okay, let's just rip the bandaid off and get it out of the way.  The winner is......

Wendy Walker Cushing 

Congratulations, Wendy! Please email me your address and I will get it sent off to you!




Now for another Brinner recipe.  It's funny, I RARELY make a fancy breakfast.  I am so not a morning person.  I'm the horrible mom who has cereal in the pantry or granola bars or bananas.  The only time my family gets a real, nice breakfast is holidays.  I think that's why Brinner is such a big deal at our house.  Recently, I took on a personal challenge to try making ricotta pancakes.  They sound weird.  I imagined lumps of cheese in my pancakes, kind of like lasagna.  Ew.  But, we have a policy in our house - don't knock it until you've tried it.

So, with back up plans, I put it in my mind that we were going to try them.  The day I was going to make them, I had a couple of lemons that were on the brink of death as well as half a container of blueberries. I kind of love blueberries.  Put them in pancakes or a pie and I am happy.  I'll even just munch on them for a snack.  So it just made sense - pancakes + blueberries = duh, yeah!  And by combining them all, I created a monster of my family.  Now all they want for brinner are these pancakes.  Yes, they are that good.  Even mother-in-law approved!  Double win for me!

Blueberry and Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 lemons
1 cup milk
8 oz. ricotta cheese
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. butter, melted
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat an electric griddle to 375 degrees, or a large skillet over medium high heat.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Whisk together.  Set aside

3. Zest the lemons and reserve about 1 1/2 Tbs. of zest.  Add zest to flour mixture.

3. Juice one of the lemons into a medium bowl.  Add milk, ricotta, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter.  Whisk vigorously to combine.  Immediately add to flour mixture.  Using a wooden spoon, gently stir dry and wet ingredients to combine.  DO NOT OVERMIX!  Gently fold in blueberries.

4. Grease griddle with cooking spray or butter.  Pour 1/4 cup pancake mix onto griddle.  Cook until bubbles form on top and the underside is browned.  Flip and cook until browned on other side.  Serve with syrup.

Makes 20-24 pancakes

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Slow Cooker Cinnamon Raisin French Toast

There are so many recipes out there using slow cookers.  Most of the time I use mine for meats and
soups/stews.  But this time around, I thought I'd give Brinner a try.  Using the slow cooker just makes dinner prep so much simpler.  And when I'm running low on time (which seems to be happening a lot lately), it's nice to have something all ready when 5:00 hits.

French Toast is a family favorite over here, so it was really a no brainer on what I was going to make.  And when I found some cinnamon raisin bread on a price cut at the store, I knew I was going to use that to make the French Toast.  A trick that I've learned when making French Toast is to mix your spices with the vanilla extract.  If you do this, the spices will mix in better with the eggs.


*Note, if you have a smaller crock pot, cut the recipe in half.

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Raisin French Toast

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 dozen eggs
2 cups milk

1 loaf cinnamon raisin bread

Syrup

Directions:

1. Spray crock pot with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, mix together cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, and brown sugar.  Add eggs and milk.

2. Dredge each slice of bread in the egg mixture and place in crock pot.  When all the bread is added, pour the remaining egg mixture over it and cover with lid.  Cook on low for 5-7 hours.  Keep an eye on it for the last hour to avoid burning.

3. Serve warm with syrup.

Serves 8

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Waffles

One of the best memories I have of my childhood comes from Saturday mornings.  No school, usually no commitments to go to (unless it was mowing the lawn), so we could sleep in a little.  But the smell coming from the kitchen always woke me up.  My dad would get up on Saturday mornings and make homemade pancakes or waffles.  I loved that tradition.  And then during the summer when we'd go camping, he'd wake up with the sun and do the same thing - I LOVED that aroma and the sounds of the river we'd camp by and the sticks on the ground cracking under my dad's feet.





My poor family doesn't benefit from me getting up on Saturday morning and making a big breakfast.
Instead, I opt for Brinner - Breakfast + Dinner.  And a favorite at our house is waffles.  The secret is to get your eggs nice and fluffy.  If you have a hand mixer, throw your whisk attachment on there and fluff those bad boys up - the more air you incorporate into your eggs, the lighter and fluffier your waffles will be.  Another secret of mine is that I always let the batter "rest" after mixing it.  That again helps ensure a light and fluffy waffle.

And I understand that there are waffle mixes out there.  But making your own waffles is just as easy, cheaper, and you don't have to mess with the preservatives that come with packaged foods. These are fantastic with some butter and a little syrup (we've been opting for Kroger brand's Cinnamon Maple syrup - HOLY YUM!).  And we usually go through an entire batch.  If you have any leftovers, it's easy to store them - just let them cool off, then place them in a gallon size ziploc bag and freeze them.  Then you can just take them out of the freezer and pop them in the microwave for a quick breakfast.

Waffles

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
1 3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk eggs on high speed until fluffy/frothy.  Add remaining ingredients and, using a mixing spoon, fold into eggs to combine.  Continue mixing until dry ingredients are incorporated, but a few lumps should remain.  Set aside and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes.

2. Preheat waffle iron.  Grease iron with butter or cooking spray.  Pour 1/2 - 3/4 cup batter onto waffle iron (depending on size of your iron and how big you want your waffles).  Close lid and allow to cook until steam begins to come out of iron or waffle is browned.

3. Serve with syrup, fruit, or toppings of your choice.

Makes 8-10 waffles

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Apple Pie Pancakes

We've all heard the saying, "As American as Apple Pie."  Well, with the Fourth of July coming up, I felt it was very appropriate to drum up something warm and sweet.  But, I really didn't want to make a whole pie. Next best bet, BRINNER!

You all know my love for Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner).  And it just made sense to me to come up with another recipe for pancakes.  Apple Pie.  Holy cow.  Doesn't that just sound sinful?  Yeah, I think I might need a round of confession after this.  Even better, I found a fantastic syrup today - Kroger Brand Cinnamon Maple Syrup.  Okay, now I need to go get a filling in my teeth.  Seriously though, they were the perfect combination of sweet, spice, and pancake.  Even the family loved them!  Serve them with a side of bacon (because seriously, can you EVER go wrong with sweet and salty?), and you have the perfect Brinner meal. One little note, these do take longer to cook than normal pancakes.  Why?  NO OIL!  YAY!

Apple Pie Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup applesauce
2 eggs
Apple Pie Filling
Kroger Brand Cinnamon Maple Syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat griddle to 375 degrees (or large skillet on medium high heat).

2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients, except pie filling and syrup, and mix until just combined.  There should still be a few lumps remaining.

3. Grease griddle.  Using a ladle or measuring cup, pour batter onto griddle to make size of pancakes of your choice.  When bubbles begin to form on surface, flip pancakes over and allow to brown on other side (approximately 3-5 minutes per side).  Serve warm with pie filling and syrup.

Serves 6

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