Rustic Country Breakfast

Snow days call for an extra special breakfast. With more than 12 inches on the ground, I'm in for a good bit of shoveling this morning and needed something hearty. My favorite breakfast, which I'm pretty sure I've inherited from my father, is eggs, bacon and toast, with a glass of black coffee and orange juice. Unlike my father though, I add veggies and cheese to the meal.

This morning I toasted 2 pieces of homemade bread, scrambled eggs 1 egg and 2 egg whites with peppers, spinach and tomatoes, and baked bacon. 

Yep, BAKED BACON! AMAZING! This is probably the whole reason I'm writing this post... to share my discovery of baked bacon. I've seen it all over Pinterest, heard about it via the Food Network, but never tried it. Well, I'm here to say I should have tried it sooner because it is beyond incredible!

It melts in your mouth, crumbles beautifully and tastes delicious, plus it has no fatty pieces to throw away. And it's super simple. Heat the oven to 400˙, put the bacon on an edged cookie sheet or in a casserole dish, bake for 20 minutes (or until done). I like to empty the grease out of the pan then continue to bake it for another 5 minutes. Place it on a paper towel to absorb any extra grease. It's that simple! You can of course replace the bacon with turkey bacon, however I have not tested the baking bacon with turkey bacon. If you do, let me know how it turns out. Enjoy and Happy Eating!

Poached Egg Salad with Avocado, Cucumber Sauce

I saw a picture of an Avocado Eggs Benedict this morning on Pinterest, and since I'm not the biggest fan of Hollandaise sauce, I decided to create my own Avocado, Cucumber Sauce to have with a poached egg salad. It's very simple and can be used with an assortment of dishes. Can't make poached eggs, try it on scrambled!

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Perfectly Poached

Have you ever gone to a restaurant, ordered poached eggs, and out comes the most beautiful, soft, pillow-like egg, dainty yet solid, and just so perfect? Then thought, 'Why can't I do that?'. You're not alone...

(Yes! This picture was taken by me!)

Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes

Baby, you hardly even notice
When I try to show you this
Song is meant to keep ya
From doing what your supposed to
Waking up too early
Maybe we can sleep in
I'll make you banana pancakes
Pretend like it's the weekend now
~Jack Johnson

And so my Sunday morning began with his song! An inspiration from Pinterest and the craving for pancakes from the past two weeks, I jumped into the kitchen. These are easy, wonderful pancakes. Who would have thunk? Bananas IN the pancake mix!?!?! Yep! And it's delicious! I adapted the original recipe because I like my pancakes fluffier. Bother recipes are listed below.

Homemade Granola Mix

Hi all! Months ago I saw Clinton Kelly on The Chew share his favorite Granola Mix. It looked so delicious and easy I had to try it. It was all that he said it would be! Granola can be so very expensive at the store, and if you purchase all your ingredients separately (in bulk-ish) and make it yourself, overall you'll be spending much less. This made about 2-3lbs (filled a little more than 1/2 a gallon ziplock bag) and cost a total of $4.13 (approximately). In a store you'd pay about $4.99 for 1lb, and it wouldn't be filled with all of these healthy goodies, and would probably have much more fat and sugar!

For me, I already had Old Fashion Oats in my pantry (a staple for those wondering), and I  recently bought a bag of almonds (which can be expensive, but go a long way) and a bag of dried cranberries for snacking. With honey/agave nectar, dried banana and oil already in my pantry, I was able to quickly whip this recipe up. I do a lot of eye-balling when it comes to this recipe, so feel free to do what feels, looks and tastes right!

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Blackberry Trucker Pies

So, I'm bringing out the country in me. A Blackberry Trucker Pie is also known as a Blackberry Turnover. The name came from my sister, who when I asked what the 'small little pies are that we get at the farmers' market' she responded with, 'you mean trucker pies?'. The idea is that they're small little pies that can be eaten with one hand, no fork, knife or spoon needed! They're also so very easy to make, your kids can even help!

1 sheet of pastry puff
pint of blackberries (eyeball it)
1-2 Tablespoons of sugar
1-2 Tablespoons of flour
lemon juice
1 egg with a dash of water

Heat oven to 350˙. Roll out the pastry puff on a lightly floured surface to make it a square. Cut it into four equal squares.

Put the blackberries, sugar, flour and a few dashes of lemon juice in a bowl and smash them together. Smash as much or as little as you wish.

Spoonful the mixture onto 1/2 a side of each square leaving room around the edges to pinch the edges together.

Using your finger, wet the edges of the half that has the blackberries with a touch of water.

 Fold the other half over.

 Press the edges together. Place on a greased baking pan.

Using a fork, poke a few holes in the top to allow the heat to exit, so the turnover doesn't explode!

Lastly, brush the top of each with a small mixture of raw egg and water. This will give it that brown look that everyone loves. Bake at 350˙ for 15-20 minutes, or until brown and the blackberries are bubbling.

Final product! Add some fresh blackberries on the side and have as breakfast, an afternoon snack or enjoy in the evening with a glass of wine.

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