Almond Milk Shake

Ok, so it's time to get back on the Paleo horse so to speak...I went way off diet for Christmas and New Years. Now, I'm slowly easing myself back into it...IE I have some leftovers I need to finish and then I will be back to almost full paleo. I found out about Steve's Paleo Goods recently online and ordered some of their products. So far I really like what I've tried. I'm planning on writing a review when I've sampled everything. I'm eating their apple pie paleo krunch this morning with a chocolate almond milk shake I made.

Ingredients in the shake:

-almond milk (I always fill a glass with almond milk and pour it in the blender so I don't know exact amount)

-2 teaspoons of almond butter

-1/2 teaspoon honey

-1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

- 1 teaspoon of coconut palm sugar

- 1/2 cup of ice

Blend in a blender until smooth.

I also added golden flax seeds and a herbal calcium supplement. I will grind the flax seeds before adding next time. I do like this shake as is but next time I plan on adding some berries or a piece of a banana...or avacado, I bet that would be good. This was my first time using palm sugar and I really like the taste! 

Brian's Breakfast Casserole

I had something at my home this year both for New Years Eve and New Years Day.  NYD I made a brunch and I knew I wanted something extra delicious so I asked my friend Brian for his breakfast casserole recipe that he had made me several times.   My thinking was that there would be plenty of time for resolutions on the 2nd :)  I did change his recipe up a little so I will post his recipe and mine below.  This recipe looks a little challenging as there are several steps and prep work needed.  It wasn't actually that much work and it was well worth it.

Brian's Recipe:
- 1 box/bag of croutons (he has used stuffing mix when he made it for me in the past)
-2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
-4 eggs
-3/4 tsp dry mustard
-3 cups milk (reserve 1/2 cup for soup)
-2 lbs roll sausage
-1 can cream of mushroom soup

The Night Before:
1. Brown Sausage (like hamburger)  - drain well on paper towel
2. Place croutons on bottom of greased casserole dish
3. Top with cheese
4. Place browned sausage on top of cheese
5. Mix eggs, dry mustard, and 2 1/2 cups milk and pour over top of croutons, cheese and sausage mixture in the casserole dish.
6. Refrigerate overnight covered (Also may be frozen for future use)

Day of Use:
1. Combine can of cream of mushroom soup with 1/2 cup milk and pour over top of casserole.
2. Bake at 300 degrees uncovered for 1.5 hours

This is what I did differently:
- I only used half a bag of stuffing (which was really just plain croutons) as there were  A LOT in the bag I bought
- I like sausage but I don't like to be overwhelmed by it so I only used 1 pound of sausage and I used ground sausage meat to make it easier
- I used 6 eggs instead of 4
-the next morning when I woke up I noticed that the croutons didn't seem wet enough so poured another 1/2 cup of milk on the casserole.
- I baked it for 1.5 hours but the mushroom soup was still not browned at all...I left it in the over for maybe another 10 minutes until the soup mixture was more browned and then took the casserole out.

I made two of these and they were gone in minutes!  Super delicious and unfortunately not something I can eat everyday.  This has a real southern taste to it.  A lot of people mentioned that it reminded them of sausage and gravy biscuits.

Cousin Lisa's Cinnamon Rolls

I recently visited my family in Virginia. My cousin Lisa is a home ec teacher and one of my inspirations to start cooking. I remember Lisa trying to teach me how to make grilled cheese and saute onions for on top of burgers. She was teaching her brother and I how to test if the oil in the pan was hot enough by sprinkling just a little water in the pan...we almost burnt her mother's kitchen down that day...ahh, memories...

Well, I was lucky enough to stay with Lisa on this visit and she made all sorts of yummy things for me like these cinnamon rolls!

Above picture is pre-glazing.

And she even shared the recipe:

Dough:
-2 and 1/2 to 2 and 3/4 cups flour
-1 package yeast
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of sugar
-2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of crisco
-1/4 cup of warm water (115 degrees)
-1/4 cup of warm milk (155 degress)
-1 egg

Filling:
-1/4 cup of sug mixed with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
-2 tablespoons of melted butter

Glaze:
-1 cup powdered sugar
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
-1/2 tablespoon milk

Directions:

In a food processor with dough blade - combine water, milk and yeast. Let yeast soften for about 30 seconds. Then add 1 cup of flour, sugar, crisco, salt, egg and mix together. Add remaining flour a little at a time until dough forms a ball. You may not need all of the flour. Put dough ball in greased bowl and let rise - this should take around 45 minutes to 1 hour. Roll into a rectangle around 12x7 inches. Brush dough with melted butterand sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture on top. Roll into log from the long side. Cut into 12 pieces and arrange in a 9 inch circular pan. Let rise for 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees for about 18 minutes.

While the rolls are baking combine glaze ingredients in a bowl and mix together. When rolls are done take out of oven and allow to cool slightly before drizzling glaze on top.













Lisa began cutting the rolls and they were getting a bit smooched so she took out a piece of floss and cut the rest of the rolls with floss...I'm not a baker - it's definitely not something I would of thought of - I was very impressed:)























I apparently, was not the only one impress...note the glaze all over her son's face:)











What was left of the rolls after we finished breakfast...yum!

Monkey Bread

I have seen recipes for Monkey Bread everywhere and it looked some yummy (anything with brown sugar and cinnamon wins me over easily) I had to try it! This can be eaten for breakfast/brunch or as a dessert with coffee.

Ingredients:

-3 cans of 10 count buttermilk biscuts

-1 cup of sugar

-3 tablespoons cinnamon

-1 and 1/2 sticks margarine or butter

-1 cup dark brown sugar

-optional nuts: I used chopped walnuts

-greased pan or bundt pan (If you use a bundt pan put a cookie sheet under it incase any of the butter/margarine melts out of the pan)

Directions:

-preheat oven to 350 degrees

-mix the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and stir until blended

-rip or cut each biscut into four pieces

-put several pieces at a time into the sugar mixture and coat well

-arrange biscut pieces in pan

-at this time you can sprinkle nuts on top

-melt the margarine/butter and mix in brown sugar and stir until completely blended

-pour the brown sugar and margarine mixture on top and bake for approximately 30 minutes

-take out of oven and let cool for a few minutes before slicing - as it stands it will firm up more

Side view from bundt pan.

I have made this twice now - the first time I made in a pound cake pan and only used 1/3 of all ingredients- I kind of liked it better.

Enjoy for brunch with an omlet and a mimosa:)

Gingerbread Pancakes

A friend dragged me to I-hop a couple of weeks ago for breakfast and I had the gingerbread pancakes they are featuring for the holidays. They were amazing! I don't usually use this term when discribing food from I-hop. I have been craving them since so I decided to try to make them myself. I scoured the internet looking for recipes -I was suprised to find there were so many! I finally decided to take a little from all of the recipes I had seen. They came out really good as I am not a fan of pancakes typically. Next time I will add a bit more of the spices. The pancakes were a nice light brown color but I was hoping for something darker. Maybe I will add a little cocoa powder next time for coloring.

Ingredients:

-2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 cup dark brown sugar (come to think of it I used brown sugar not dark brown sugar - is there a difference?)
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-1 teaspoon salt
-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
-1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
-1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
-1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
-1/2 cup water
-1/2 cup brewed coffee
-4 eggs
-1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted (I used margarine)
-1/4 cup lemon juice

Mix the first 9 ingredients (all the dry stuff) together in one bowl and mix all the wet stuff: water, coffee, eggs, butter and lemon juice in another large bowl.

When ingredients in both bowls are combined add the dry ingredients to the large wet ingredient bowl. Mix everything together until smooth and let stand for 15 minutes. Heat griddle or skillet on high heat and brush with oil.

When 15 minutes are up take a 1/4 cup measure and scoop pancake mixture onto griddle. I could fit 4 in my skillet at a time. Wait until pancake is bubbling on top and browned at the edges to flip over. Once on side is cooked the second side cooks pretty quickly. Brush skillet with oil inbetween batches. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon when ready to serve.

Pancakes starting to bubble slightly.

First four pancakes!

The finished product covered in sugar and cinnamon!