Overnight Orange and Vanilla Bean Sticky Buns

I made these rolls a couple of months ago, but never got around to posting them. At least I remembered the pictures. Hopefully I can remember if I made any changes. I do know one thing I would like to change next time. The sauce is super runny! When I tried to turn the pan over onto the serving dish- it made a huge mess all over the floor. (It still tasted delicious!) So I think I might need to cook the sauce longer next time. Whenever that might be. Ryan has decided that I need to stop making carb heavy food - particularly desserts. *Sigh* But it's probably for the best. We both feel better and look better when we aren't eating so much junk food. Darn it, but it's SOOOO GOOOD! FYI, I found the original recipe at Betty Crocker. 

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup whipping cream

grated orange peel from 1 orange

orange juice from 1 orange (original recipe had 7 Tbsp liquid- I might decrease this next time)

1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped out and reserved, bean discarded

1 cup pecan halves, toasted (I added more I think - who doesn't like pecans??)**

2 loaves (1 lb each) frozen white bread dough, thawed

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, and cook until combined.  Next time I think this needs to be longer - maybe until it starts to boil? Remove from heat. Stir in honey, whipping cream, orange peel, orange juice and seeds from vanilla bean. Cool 30 minutes. Pour mixture in ungreased 13x9x2-inch pan. Scatter pecan halves over top.

Roll out one loaf of dough into rectangle shape about 14 inches by 6 inches. In small bowl, mix 1/4 cup each of brown sugar and granulated sugar, the cinnamon and salt. Spread half of mixture over dough. Roll dough tightly, and pinch seams closed. Using dental floss, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Place rolls in pan. Repeat with second loaf remaining sugar mixture. Cover pan of rolls with plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight.

Remove from refrigerator and let sit 30 minutes. Heat oven to 350°F. Bake 45 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Cover pan with platter, and carefully flip over. - I think they may need to be cooked a little longer too. The original recipe said 35-45 min, but I think mine could have gone a little longer. 

** To toast pecans, but them in a large skillet on medium high heat. Stir them frequently and watch carefully until they start to turn golden brown and smell nutty. Be careful not to burn them - it happens fast!

Mary's other Chocolate chip cookies

Yesterday, the 12 year neighbor boy came over and asked to borrow 3/4 c butter. He said they were making cookies. Adria said they are making the good chocolate chip cookies. I asked her if it was different than the recipe we got from Mary last year. She said, yes these are better!. So later when Adria went to Marian's house to play, I told her to get the recipe. Adria says it's from a cookbook that Mary made herself, so I'm not sure if it's her recipe or a family members. Adria tried to take a picture with her cell phone. But sadly, her cell phone photography abilities leave a lot to be desired and the picture is rather blurry. So I did my best to decipher it, and this is what I believe it says. (It makes me think of the struggles they had translating the Bible, and how they had to guess at some words - I totally know how they felt. Hope I didn't change the recipe too much on accident. Ha ha ha!)

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

These chocolate chip cookies have been my go to for almost 10 years. They are fail proof in my mind! They always turn out thick and chewy. You can make them small for a group or giant and they still turn out great. I love everything about these cookies! They stay soft for days, because the butter to flour ratio is so high. My secret for keeping them soft is taking them out of the oven the second you see any brown appear on top. Even the tinniest bit. Then leave them on the tray for at least 10 minutes, so they can slightly cook a little more without browning any more. When they come out, they won't be done at all. But in my experience, if you wait until they're all the way done, they will be rock hard once they cool. Just take them out early... They will be delicious!

3/4 c butter softened
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1 egg
3/4 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 c chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars in stand mixer for 2-3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and keep beating for 1 (I really can't see the number here) min. Meanwhile in a separate bowl mix flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture and cream. Then add the chocolate chips and... (mix quickly??) ...until incorporated.

Bake at 365 degrees for 7 to  9 minutes, until ..... (slightly brown on top???)... Then remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for ten minutes (I think that's what is says... and I can't read the last sentence. NUTS!)


Update:  Mary later sent me a clear picture of the recipe. THANK YOU MARY! And I did really good at guessing. The time to cook I had as 7-8 instead of "7-9 minutes, first sign of brown on top," so I fixed that. I had a "when they cool" instead of "once they cool" and a few periods instead of exclamation points. And the last sentence says, "Transfer to cooling rack.

"

Apple Butter

I have made apple butter before, and I always have a hard time remembering what recipe I used and what changes I made. So I'm putting it here. We had a great lunch party at Mom's house on Thursday afternoon with all the girls. But we had lots of left over apple slices. So I brought them home to make apple butter.

5 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped
2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon all-spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything in the crockpot and cook on high for 1 hour. Then turn to low for 9- 11 hours. Well, that's what the original recipe said. What I did was on low for 6 hours. Then it was time fore bed. So I unplugged it. Then the next morning I cooked it on high for another hour and on low for 5 more hours. Then I put it in the fridge again because I had other things to do. Then when I pulled it out of the fridge, I dumped it in a pot and cooked it on the stove for several more hours - probably 5 or so! It took FOREVER! Everything said to tell if it's done, you have to put a spoonful on a plate, and when it stops having liquid form around the edges, it's ready. That takes a really long time and it all depends on how much moisture it in the apples. So I started with 5 or more quarts of apples, and by the time I was done, I had 6 half pint jars of apple butter - so it decreased by about 75 percent! (Who knew there was so much water in apples??)

To preserve the apple butter, put it into sterilized jars while it is hot. Then put it in a water bath for 10 minutes of boiling time. At least that part is fast. And because they are small jars, I just did it in a big pot instead of in the water bath canner. It's so much faster when  you don't have to wait for all of that water to heat up! Now maybe you will all get apple butter for Christmas!

Halloween Popcorn

We liked the 2 recipes I made for Genna's bday last week: Cookies and Cream popcorn, and Halloween bark. But we dumped them in the same bowl and ate them together. So I decided to make them into one recipe. So here it is:

8 cups popcorn
2 cups pretzels broken into pieces
10 to 12 Halloween Oreos - broken into pieces (depending on how many you ate first!)
1 cup candy corn
16 oz vanilla candy coating (white chocolate)
Halloween sprinkles

Mix popcorn, pretzels, cookies and candy corn in a large bowl. Melt the candy coating and pour over popcorn. Mix well to coat. Spread onto lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with Halloween sprinkles. Adria added bone shaped candies to ours too. Allow to cool. 

Cupbob Copycat Korean Pork Bowls

Ryan has made these for us several times and we all really like them! Even the girls will eat them. I found a recipe for him to try several months ago, and he made his own modifications- mostly making it less spicy so we wouldn't complain when we ate it. If you haven't tried Cup Bop, you should. The only complaint  have with them is that they don't put enough veggies in their bowls. But when you make your own, you can add as much as you want! Ryan says it is really a version of a Korean dish called bibimbap or be bim bop.


Pork
2-3 pounds pork tenderloin
2 tsp liquid smoke
salt and pepper

Cube the pork. Put in Instant Pot, add salt and pepper to taste and liquid smoke. Cook in Instant Pot for 45 minutes until done. If you don't have an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker you should get one. Ryan LOVES his! While pork cooks, make the sauce. When the pork is done, drain it and shred it and add 1/3 to 1/2 of the sauce, depending on what you think tastes good.

Sauce
1 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce (One 112-16 oz. bottle)
1/4 cup oyster sauce
2 tsp. ginger powder or fresh (fresh is best)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbs. sesame seed oil
1/4 cup Go-Chu-Jang (Korean Hot & Sweet Sauce) in the Asian aisle at most grocery stores. (Increase up to 1/2 cup to increase spiciness if desired)


Calrose rice - or other sticky white rice
Rice noodles - Cooked according to package directions

Stir Fry
Carrots
Bok Choy
Celery

Slice veggies thin. Heat a few teaspoons of olive oil in a pan and saute the veggies until they are tender crisp.

Other ingredients for pork bowls
Fresh Veggies:
-Lettuce chopped
-Cilantro
-Bean sprouts
-green onions chopped
Sesame Seeds for garnish
Sriracha mayo - also in the Asian food aisle - spicier than I like it, but the boys like this one
Chipotle Mayo - not quite as spicy and the one I usually use.

To assemble the bowls:
Put desired amount of white rice and noodles in the bowl. Top with pork and add some sauce. Then add stir-fried and fresh veggies. Garnish with mayo and sesame seeds. The Korean method of eating it is to assemble it, serve it and then stir it together right before eating.

We scarfed it down so fast I didn't even get a picture! The only picture I have is from the leftovers I took to lunch at work the next day. So it doesn't look at fabulous as it usually does. Maybe I'll get pics next time.

Here's a picture Ryan found from when we made it a few weeks ago - I told you we made it frequently!

Genna's Birthday Pretzel Pizza and other party treats

I can't believe this girl is turning 13! Where does the time go? She wanted a typical teenage b-day party. Dinner (pizza) and a movie. She invited just a couple of friends over and currently they are in my basement watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas." It's not one I particularly like, but she must take after her dad. He really likes it too. Do you like her new pajamas? She just got those from Adria tonight. She was SOOO excited about them. She hugged Adria so hard it make Adria's shoulders hurt.

Even though the party is small, we had to make is special. So I made monster bark, cookies and cream popcorn, a chocolate cake and pretzel pizza. Genna loves cookies and cream anything and she requested chocolate cake. It wasn't one of my better ones, but I think it turned out okay.

I really wanted to make an orange chocolate one, but she said no! So that will have to wait. I just used the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate cake and made butter cream frosting to go on it. I copied the decorating technique from the orange chocolate cake by Cupcake Jemma - so it's a layered cake with orange colored frosting topped with chocolate (melted chocolate candy coating). I only have 9 inch pans, so it's only a 2 layer cake. Guess I have to invest in 8 inch pans so I can make a 3 layer cake next time. I'm sure Ryan will agree I NEED more cake pans. (Ha ha ha!) We have tried the "garbage cake" (the parts you cut off to make the cake flat) and it tastes good, but we haven't tried the cake  yet- better go do that now. One of the girls has to leave early so I better go pause the movie so everyone can have some cake ....

Cake was great! (Or maybe it's just my sugar addiction talking.) The cookies and cream popcorn was super easy. Mary, my fabulous next door neighbor, gave me the recipe. She found it online and made it for a young women's activity this past summer. Here's what I made:

Cookies and Cream Popcorn:

16 chocolate sandwich cookies (like Oreo's) -
16 oz vanilla candy coating
9 to 10 cups of popcorn

Put cookies in a food processor and pulse to finely chop the cookies- but don't turn them all into crumbs. Leave some large chunks. Sort through the popcorn to remove all the un-popped kernels and put in a large bowl. Melt the candy coating according to package directions. Pour over popcorn and stir to coat. Add the cookies and stir coat evenly. Allow the popcorn to cool. Break apart and serve.

The Halloween Bark is about the same:

16 oz vanilla candy coating
8 Halloween Oreo's (any cookie works, but the orange and black is so nice!)
1 cup pretzels
1/2 c candy corns
Halloween themed sprinkles

Break the cookies into smaller pieces and spread on a lined cookie sheet. Spread candy corn and pretzels on cookie sheet too. - I think there is a technique to how close together to put everything that I haven't quite mastered yet. Melt the white chocolate bark or candy coating as directed on package. Pour onto cookie sheet- use a spatula to spread if needed. Sprinkle with Halloween sprinkles or additional candy corn and cookies. Put in refrigerator to harden. Break apart into smaller pieces and serve.

Now for the PIZZA!

My kids all really liked the pretzel pizza that Little Ceasars use to have. But they haven't made it for a year or 2 now. So we found a recipe to make our own. One of the girls at the party asked to take a couple of pieces home. She said she doesn't really like pizza, but that she likes this one a lot! I found a couple of recipes online, and used ideas from both of them to make my own:

Crust:
3 c warm water
3 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp yeast
2 tsp salt
7-8 c flour

alkaline dipping solution:
1 cup water
1/4 c baking soda

toppings:
Kosher salt or Pretzel salt - I have some Mediterranean salt I used.
2 cans Campbell's Cheddar cheese sauce (I think next time I'll try something else like a Ragu cheese sauce -by the spaghetti sauce or a different canned cheese sauce by the re fried beans)
Sharp Cheddar cheese - shredded
Pepperoni

for grownup pizza add:
shredded Parmesan
McCormick Bruschetta seasoning mix (Side note - this is great on grilled veggies!)

Mix 3 c water, sugar, and yeast. Allow to sit for 5 mins for yeast to grow. Add salt and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead until dough comes together and then allow to raise for 30 mins. - One recipe suggested letting it sit in the microwave to raise- I tried it- it worked great.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease two 14 inch round pizza pans. Mix 1 c water and the baking soda. Divide the dough into 2 pieces. Form each half into a round ball and dip one half into the alkaline solution. (Make sure to stir it just before dipping the dough.)  Put ball onto a pizza pan and press the dough to make a thick pizza crust. Make sure the edges are thicker so it's a nice round pretzel like crust. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Using a pastry brush, brush alkaline solution all over the crust- more around the edges than the center. Sprinkle the edges with pretzel salt. Put crusts into oven and bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove crusts from oven and spread with 1 can of cheese sauce. Top with shredded cheddar, (Sprinkle with Parmesan Bruschetta seasoning if desired), and pepperoni. Bake for 6 minutes until cheese is melted. Then I moved the pizza's lower in the oven - right onto the baking stone to brown the bottom of the crust and baked for another 5-6 minutes. Maybe next time I'll just start them lower in the oven on the stone for the entire time.  Brush the edges with melted butter. - I actually pulled them out after the first 6 minutes thinking they were done, and brushed them with butter then. But after looking at the bottom of the crust, I decided they needed to go back in to cook the bottom side some more.

Well that was it for the party - It took all day to get everything ready - I had to shop for groceries, make a cake, go back to the store for birthday gifts and make the other food. But it was probably the easiest party I have put together! I even through some quick party favors together from leftover party favors from previous Halloween parties and some candy. Adria helped me put them together after we ate cake and everyone went back to the basement to watch the movie. She also helped decorate. She and Genna had the 2 next door neighbor girls (Marian and Lucy) they love to play with come over early to decorate. Good thing only Hallie is the only other guest at the party or I might not have had enough party favors. Adria remembered we needed to make some when Marian had to leave early. We will send hers home with her sister.

Ginger Peach Ice Cream Floats - Gourmet Dessert to go with Gourmet Pizza

I found this recipe at Epicurious and thought we should try it. We had a bunch of peaches that needed to be used and Pierce and Ryan both LOVE ginger beer.

5 or 6 peaches
4 bottles ginger beer, divided
1 pint vanilla ice cream

Poach peaches in a large pot of boiling water 1 minute, then submerge in ice water. Slip off skins. Slice into 1/4" wedges.
Bring peaches and 1/2 a bottle of ginger beer to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until peaches are fork-tender, about 5 minutes. Let cool completely. Peaches can be poached up to 3 days ahead. Transfer to an airtight container and chill.
To assemble floats, put peaches in bottom of a glass and pour 1 Tbsp. (or more) poaching liquid over each. Top with 2 scoops of ice cream, then pour ginger beer over. Serve with spoons and straws.

Friday Night Gourmet Pizza night

Last week we had Olivia and Mom over for a pizza night. I was pointing out leftovers we had - lots of lemons and Gorgonzola and Olivia said we should make pizza like we had at Pizzeria Limone last month for my birthday. Turned out the Gorgonzola and gone bad and the kids weren't interested in that anyway. So we saved the fancy pizza idea until last night. They turned out really well! After I tried them, I thought we should share them with Mom. We called her and took some pizza over there. Jessica's girls were there too and so when Jessica came to pick them up she tried some pizza as well. The all said it turned out great! We didn't follow a recipe- just made them up.

I found a class at Craftsy a few months ago about pizza making by Peter Reinhart. I have an artisan bread class from him too. He has a pizza blog as well. So I guess he know what he is talking about. He has some great pizza crusts and toppings recipes. According to him, to make good pizza crust, you must use a slow fermentation. When Mom and Olivia were over last week, that is what we did and the crust is great, but you must plan ahead. I didn't do that tonight, so I had to find a quicker crust, and I didn't want to do the cracker crust. I found one at King Arthur Flour. Here it is with some minor changes I made.

1 1/3 cup lukewarm water
1 Tbsp yeast
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking powder
6 Tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 500°F with a pizza stone in the bottom. Mix together the water and yeast until the yeast dissolves. Add the remaining ingredients to the water/yeast, stirring to make a somewhat sticky dough. The dough should only be mildly sticky, and easy to work with. If it's sticking to your fingers, mix in additional flour. Divide the dough in thirds, pat each third into a disk, and place on a lightly floured piece of parchment. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, while your oven gets good and hot. Roll one piece of dough between two pieces of lightly greased parchment to make a THIN crust. Top the crust with your preferred toppings. Put the pizza, parchment and all, on the baking stone. Bake for about 6-8 minutes, until the crust is brown and the toppings are heated through. Remove from the oven and serve.

The parchment idea is amazing! We have a wood pizza peel to put the pizza's in the oven and a metal one to pull them out. We had been using flour and cornmeal to get the pizza off the peel, but it's a pain. The parchment works great. It does get a little scorched so there might be some ash in the bottom of the oven, but no big deal there.

We have some really good pizza places in Draper- Mangia, Pizzeria Limone, and Terra Mia. We decided to recreate a couple of their pizzas. The first one we copied was Mangia's Inna's Fave. Ryan said we can never complain when we go there about how expensive it is because to buy the stuff to make the pizza was around 20$ he said.

Copycat Inna's Fave (A sauceless pie with thinly sliced prosciutto, sliced figs & Gorgonzola cheese, finished with arugula & a drizzle of balsamic reduction)

Proscuitto
Fresh Figs, thinly sliced
Gorgonzola cheese
Parmesan cheese
Arugula
Balsamic Reduction (see recipe below*)

On a thin crust spread out a few slices of prosciutto. Top with sliced figs and sprinkle with cheeses. Bake until crust is browned. After pizza is cooked, top with fresh arugula and drizzle with balsamic reduction.

Ryan bought a balsamic reduction, but I didn't know it, so I made my own:

*Balsamic Reduction
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey

Stir balsamic vinegar and honey together in a small saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the vinegar mixture has reduced to 1/3 cup, about 10 minutes. (Mine never got to a third cup and it took lots longer than 10 minutes- more like 15-20 min. It was still good and we used it on a Caprese salad later too.)Set the balsamic reduction aside to cool. This makes a lot more than you need - so you will have left overs for other uses!

The second pizza we made was a combo of two pizzas from Pizzeria Limone, the Limone and the Pera. We used an olive oil base from the Craftsy pizza class. Here's our version:

Limone - Pera Pizza

Herb olive oil*
Parmesan cheese
mozzarella cheese
Asiago cheese
Prosciutto chopped in small pieces
Lemons - THINLY sliced (mine were too fat and I thought I was doing them thin)
Fresh Pears - sliced
Fresh Basil

Spread a thin layer of herb olive oil on pizza crust. Sprinkle with cheeses and prosciutto. Top with lemons and pears. Bake until crust is browned. Then top with fresh basil and serve.

*Herb Olive Oil
1 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon  dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried marjoram
½ teaspoon dried or fresh rosemary needles
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder or paste
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (optional)

Add all the ingredients together in a bowl and whisk to distribute. Taste immediately after stirring and adjust the salt, spices, and herbs to taste. Always stir or whisk just prior to adding it to any dish, as the spices tend to settle to the bottom of the bowl. This makes lots of extra too- the recipe suggests using it as a dipping oil for bread or as a base for salad dressings.

The third pizza we made was regular old pepperoni for the kids.

Myles Mission Farewell

I can't believe it's time for Myles to leave in his mission already! His farewell was last Sunday. He did a great job on his talk and we had lots of food. This post won't be as detailed as other post because we are busy getting him ready to go. But I wanted to remember what we served. I started a week before and made breads to freeze. We bought mini quiches at Walmart - that was the only place we could find them. And Brazilian cheese bits at Costco- Ryan's dad, John, suggested them because they are gluten free and John can only eat gluten free. I also bought plain Greek yogurt and vanilla-honey Greek yogurt for yogurt parfaits. I bought dark chocolate cinnamon cashew granola at Sams club and tons of berries to add to the parfaits.

Funny story- we didn't end up using any of the berries I bought. Two of my friends from the neighborhood asked if they could help bring something. Julie is a really good cook and I said to bring any kind of breakfast food like muffins or cinnamon rolls thinking she would bake something. Kristen also asked what she could bring and I said a fruit bowl. Ryan's mom had offered to bring fruit too. So I was thinking we would have 2 bowls of fruit. BUT.. Julie brought over a large bowl of mixed fruit before church - so I was thinking 3 bowls of fruit. But then Ryan's mom brought over an entire cooler FULL of fruit! We had so much! Kristin brought over 2 fruit trays too. We ate a good portion of it and then we gave Andrea's left over fruit back to her. (I still have a little bit left in the fridge.)

So, back to what we served. The first thing I made was Mini Lemon Poppy Seed muffins:

1⁄2 cup creamy butter, softened
2⁄3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1⁄3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
zest of 1 lemon
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 cup buttermilk substitute (made with the remaining lemon juice from the 1 lemon and enough milk to make 1⁄2 cup)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line mini tins with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, and beat well after each.
In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, poppy seeds, and lemon zest.
With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating two times with the buttermilk, then lemon juice, and then vanilla.
Beat just until smooth.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, 3/4-full.
Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely.

The original recipe was from food.com, but I kept forgetting to separate the eggs and I didn't have as many lemons. So this is the version I made!

Later I went to the store and bought more lemons, and then I decided to get rid of the frozen zucchini from the freezer. I had what was supposedly 10 cups in the freezer, but by the time I got all the extra water out of it, it was only 2 or 3 cups - go figure? But at least I used it all up.

I made Olivia's Lemon Zucchini Bread. It was probably the most popular item at the table!
2 cups cake flour substitute
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
½ cup canola oil
1⅓ cups sugar
2 TB fresh lemon juice
½ cup buttermilk substitute (fresh lemon juice mixed with milk)
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup grated zucchini
Glaze ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar 2 TB lemon juice
1 TBSP milk

To make cake flour substitute, put 2 Tbsp of cornstarch in the bottom of a 1-cup measuring cup, then fill the cup as usual with all-purpose flour and level top.
Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Then add oil and sugar until well blended. Add lemon juice, buttermilk, lemon zest to this mixture and blend all together. Fold in zucchini until it is mixed well. Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend all together until well combined. Pour batter into greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. While still warm, make glaze and spoon over the bread. Let the glaze set up before cutting and serving. (I put mine in the freezer for a few days!)

I then made Mini Scrambled Egg Cups. I combined 2 different recipes (one from allrecipes and one from superhealthykids and made it up as I went. This is about what I did.

1 pound mild Italian sausage, browned- probably more than I needed, but I used it all.

12 - 13 eggs, beaten

Diced dried onion (original recipe said 1/2 c chopped fresh onion I just threw some it - probably 2-3 Tbsp)

1/2 tsp Salt and 1/4 tsp Black Pepper (I threw some in)

Italian herb mix ( from the grinder in the spice aisle - I added some)

1/4 tsp garlic powder (don't remember if I added it)

1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese (didn't measure that either)

1/2 c milk 

1 to 1 and 1/2 c fresh spinach leaves, chopped finely. The recipe said to stack the leaves, roll them up, and slice them thin- that worked well. 

Mix everything together. Spray mini muffin tins well. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the eggs are slightly brown. I adapted all of these recipes from regular size to mini, so they didn't cook as long, but I just kept an eye on them, so I'm not sure how long they actually cooked. I served these with salsa I bottled last year.

I found a gingerbread recipe I wanted to try. In the comments it said it was bread for breakfast with butter on it. I didn't think butter sounded right, but I had cream cheese on the table to add to any of the breads. It came from FoodnessGracious. I didn't make any changes. It was a super easy and yummy recipe. So I'm reposting it. 

Sticky Gingerbread

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg beaten

2/3 cup warm milk

1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Line an 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper and cooking spray.

Whisk together the flour, ginger, and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Melt the butter in a pan with the molasses and brown sugar.

Once melted, add the flour to the liquid and stir well with a spatula.

Add the egg and stir.

Combine the warm milk with the baking soda and stir to combine.

Add the milk to the batter and mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture into the pan.

Bake in the oven for about 75-80 minutes until the top is springy to the touch.

Let cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

I thought we had lots of sweet breads and we needed something more savory. I remembered the Cheddar Cheese and Chive Bread I made last year and posted here, so I made that again. And yes, I had to buy more zucchini after getting rid of everything in the freezer. Ha ha ha!

Mom asked what she could bring. Ryan's niece, Abby, is Vegan and so I thought I better make something she could eat. I remembered a recipe Mom used to make that used a bottle of fruit. I was going to make it, but I didn't have a bottle of fruit. Mom said she did. She said using bottled apricots make it taste like Gingerbread. I think that's what she used. It was great! The recipe I have calls it spoiled fruit cake. But that doesn't sound appetizing. Mom made it into a loaf to match the rest of the breads, so I called it Fruit Bread. But I don't think that name does it justice. 

Fruit Bread - or Mock Gingerbread - or Spoiled (bottled) Fruit Cake

1 quart of any bottled fruit, juice and all - mom's recipe said cherries or plums

4 teaspoons soda – mix in with fruit and let it foam

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup oil

4 cups flour (not sifted)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cloves - optional

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 to 3 teaspoons cinnamon

Mom's recipe that I have a copy of didn't have directions. But one on the internet said to blend the fruit in a blender or chop into small pieces. I don't know what she did. My recipe said to bake in a large pan at 325 for 50 min or 350 for 30-40 min. It seems like a pretty forgiving recipe.  The internet recipe said to cook at 350 for 50 min or until a tooth pick comes out clean, but it had a lot more oil. 

Mom also made Banana Bread. I'm sure she used her standard recipe. Here it is:

1/2 cup butter or shortening
1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas (riper the better, and frozen in the freezer)

1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream butter.  Gradually add sugar, creaming well. Add eggs and bananas. Blend thoroughly. Combine milk and lemon juice in small bowl and set aside.  Add soda and salt to creamed mixture. Add flour to banana mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.  Blend well after each addition.  Stir in nuts if desired.  Grease bottom of bread pan.  Pour in batter about 2/3 full. Bake at 350* for 60 -70 minutes until bread springs back when lightly touched in center (or until knife comes out clean.)  

I thought I should have a second vegan bread, so I used to chocolate cake recipe I have used before to make Vegan Mini Chocolate Muffins. I followed the recipe, but instead of putting it in a loaf pan, I put them in mini muffin tins. I had a problem with one batch of Lemon Poppy Seed muffins sticking to the papers, so I found a suggestion to spray the cupcake liners with cooking spray before putting in the batter. That worked a little too well- the muffins nearly fell out of the papers. They were delicious, but a little too crumbly. The neighbor kids loved them! The Pugh kids ate a bunch. Their little 4 year old even came to the door afterward and asked for more of them. It was funny. He didn't mind I gave him the ones that were falling apart - they still tasted good. 

I made 3 more dishes the 2 days before. - I know way to much- but I wanted to try them. I made Dutch Apple Bread before, but I never had a chance to post the pics or the recipe. Mom said it was great the last time I made it. It ended up really crumbly. I'm not sure if that's because I froze it or if it's just crumbly. It's from Butter with a side of Bread. I think I followed it fairly closely. 

1/2 cup softened butter (1 cube)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups diced peeled green apple (I used a green apple and a fuji apple - I think it was closer to 2 cups)

Topping:

5 TBSP cold butter

1/3 cup flour

2 TBSP granulated sugar

2 TBSP brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Vanilla Glaze: (Whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Set aside)

1 TBSP melted butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 TBSP milk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x5 bread pan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add in eggs, milk and vanilla and stir to incorporate. Mix in flour, salt and baking powder.  Fold in apples. Transfer mixture to prepared baking pan.

For topping, combine all ingredients and mix with a fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter in pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in bread comes out clean. 

Let cool. Remove from pan and drizzle top with vanilla glaze. 

We had lunch on Pioneer Day (July 24th) at Corner Bakery. I saw their Cinnamon Creme Cake and thought that looked yummy. I decided to find a copycat recipe and make it. Kristin's 12 year old son said he liked it so much he wanted his mom to make it for his birthday! It was also a big hit at the party, but also very crumbly. 

TOPPING AND FILLING INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 2/3 cups flour

2 sticks salted butter, melted

CAKE INGREDIENTS

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, room temp, cut into pieces

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

5 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

2 cups sour cream (I just used an entire 16 oz container)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease with shortening and flour a 10 inch/12 cup tube pan very well. 

Combine first five topping ingredients in a large bowl, add melted butter and combine with a wooden spoon. You want big chunks of the topping and filling so don’t over mix.

Cake: Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium size bowl, set aside.

In a large bowl cream butter, shortening, and sugar until very light. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in almond extract. Add the dry cake ingredients alternating with the sour cream. The batter will be very thick.

Spoon half of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the topping mixture over the batter, then the remaining cake batter, then remaining topping. Press the final topping layer into the cake layer very gently, just to make sure it ’sticks’.

Bake in the center of the oven for 50 min to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cake is done when it starts to pull away from the sides and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Loosen sides of cake with knife and invert onto a wire rack and then invert again on to serving platter. Sprinkle with powder sugar to finish.

The last thing I made was Cherry Chocolate Babka. I have seen lots of Babka recipes and wanted to make one. We had lots of cherries in the fridge and I thought maybe I could use them to make Babka. But you can't use fresh cherries. I wanted to make it anyway, so I bought dried tart Montmorency cherries at Costco. Here's the recipe I used as a guideline with some changes from another recipe I found. I think this is about what I ended up with:

150 g (1 cup) dried tart Montmornecy cherries

60 ml (¼ cup) Torani hazelnut syrup

335 g (2¼ cups) plain flour, plus extra, to dust - I needed more like 4 cups

7 g yeast - yes I used a scale

95 g unsalted butter, melted - I think this is about 7 Tbsp

95 ml lukewarm milk

45 g sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

80 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids),roughly chopped - I used Ghirardelli 60% cacoa bittersweet chocolate chips. 

Soak cherries in hazelnut syrup overnight. Drain and reserve the liquid. (I needed more liquid and cherries - so maybe use more of both next time - definitely more syrup.)

Grease a long bread pan, (mine is 12 x 4.5 inches), and line with parchment paper

To make dough, sift flour and ½ tsp salt in a large bowl and stir in yeast. In a separate bowl, combine butter, milk, sugar and eggs. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in milk mixture. Mix to form a dough. (Adding lots more flour to actually make a dough!) Using your hands, knead dough until smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Using floured hands, shape into a 12x 18 inch rectangle. Leaving a 1/2 -1 inch border along 1 longer edge. Thicken reserved syrup by heating in microwave for a short time. Spread onto dough. Scatter over drained cherries and chocolate. Starting from the edge without the border, roll up dough. Pinch the border to roll and the ends closed to seal. Cut dough longways down the center of the roll. Twist the 2 halves around each other keeping cut side on top and holding in the filling as much as possible. Press the ends together. Carefully place the twist into the prepared bread pan. Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray. Allow to rise again until nearly doubled - about 1 hour. (I forgot mine - oops and it raised longer than that, but it looked great! I lucked out!)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 min or until golden brown. One recipe said to bake it until a skewer came out clean and also to cover the top midway through baking. I think I cooked it 20 min, then covered with tinfoil and cooked it another 10 minutes or so. Cool in pan for 10 min. then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Ryan liked the bread, but no one really tried it. Ryan said it's because the name scared people away. He didn't mind - it left more for him! I think next time it needs more filling. When I baked it, you couldn't really see the different layers anymore. Maybe I need more syrup or something more for a filling.... I'll have to come up with something. 

Overall the party turned out great. Myles said lots of his friends didn't come because they were out of town, but he had a few people show up - even a couple of girls I had never met before. We did end up with lots of leftover breads, so my freezer is still full. Anyone want a slice?

Myles Birthday: Lemon Huckleberry Cake and Nutella ice cream and Lime Cornmeal Bars with Blueberry Glaze

Myles is an adult!! Wow, I'm not old enough to be his mom anymore. Since it's his last birthday at home for awhile, I wanted to make something special for cake and ice cream. He didn't have anything he really wanted but he said the ideas I gave him sounded good. We ended up making Nutella Ice Cream and Lemon Huckleberry Cake yesterday. Last week when we visited Steven, he took us to pick wild huckleberries! We brought a bunch home and froze most of them. But we saved enough to make this cake. We took the leftover cake and some leftover Lime Cornmeal Bars I made 3 weeks ago and froze to Grandpa Jenny's house this evening to celebrate with the cousins.

Lemon Huckleberry Cake
(adapted from Mel's Kitchen)

1 cup  butter, softened to room temperature
1 3/4 cups  sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (made from milk and 1 TBSP fresh lemon juice)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)
2 cups fresh huckleberries
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

WHIPPED LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
12 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans with at least 2-inch sides with parchment paper and coat with nonstick cooking spray
In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes (don’t cut down the time on this step).
Add the eggs and vanilla until well-combined, 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir the dry mixture into the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined and a few dry streaks remain.
Add the buttermilk and lemon juice to the batter, and stir by hand, folding the batter until just combined.
In another bowl, toss the huckleberries with the 2 tablespoons flour. Add the huckleberries and remnants of flour to the batter and fold in by hand with a spatula or wooden spoon until just-combined. Overmixing may result in a tough, dry cake.
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes until just baked through. The top will spring back lightly to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out with moist crumbs but not wet batter.
Let the cakes cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans before turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the frosting, whip the cream cheese and butter together with a handheld electric mixer or with an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix on low speed (so the powdered sugar doesn’t fly everywhere) until combined. Increase the speed to medium and mix until creamy, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream and whip the frosting until very light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
When the cake has cooled completely, place one round on a platter or plate and spread the top evenly with frosting. Place the other cake round upside down on the frosting and press just lightly. Continue frosting with a thin spatula or offset spatula until the top and sides of the cake are evenly frosted. Garnish with blueberries (I ran out of fresh huckleberries) and lemon slices, if desired.

Nutella Ice Cream
This recipe came from Just a Pinch. I followed to cooking directions so we wouldn't have raw eggs in our ice cream.
2 large eggs
2/3 c sugar
2 c heavy cream, cold ( I might have used just whole milk for the cream and milk)
1 c 2% milk, cold
3/4 c nutella
1/2 c hazelnuts, chopped

Beat the eggs and sugar together and then add the milk in a sauce pan. Cook it, while whisking, until it got to scald temperature and begins to thicken.  Add the Nutella and cream while blending until smooth. Pour into a small bowl and place into a large bowl filled with ice water to chill the ice cream mixture.  When chilled freeze according to ice cream maker instructions. After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the hazelnuts, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready. Serve while soft or put in freezer until firm.

Lime Cornmeal Bars with Blueberry Glaze
I found this recipe on Epicurious and I think I made it as written:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup fine cornmeal
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lime zest
4 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk ( It was very rich and I think I will skip the egg yolk next time)
3/4 cup fresh lime juice
For the blueberry glaze:
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. spray a 9x13" baking pan and line with parchment paper, leaving a 1" overhang on both long sides.
Combine cornmeal, powdered sugar, salt, and 2 cups flour in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add 1 cup butter and beat until mixture resembles coarse meal and dough sticks together when you rub it with your fingers. Transfer dough to prepared pan and press into bottom and 1/2" up sides with your knuckles. Bake crust until golden, 18–20 minutes. Remove pan from oven and reduce oven temperature to 300°F.
While crust is baking, whisk granulated sugar, lime zest, and remaining 3 Tbsp. flour in a large bowl until combined. Add eggs and yolk and whisk until smooth. Whisk in lime juice and pour mixture onto hot crust (it's easiest to do this with pan on oven rack) and bake until topping is set, 25–30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool.
Make the blueberry glaze:
Combine blueberries, granulated sugar, and 3 Tbsp. water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until blueberries have burst and sauce is slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Let cool slightly. Purée blueberry mixture with an immersion blender until smooth. Let glaze cool.
Pour blueberry glaze over lime filling and spread to form an even, thin layer. Let cool completely, then chill (or freeze) until ready to serve. Lift bar out of pan using parchment overhang and cut into 24 squares or more because they are very rich!

Kellie liked the cake and the lime bars. She even asked for the recipes, so I think I must have done a good job with those!

Memorial Day Camping

I had a bunch of days off for memorial weekend - Myles didn't however. But I thought it would be fun to go camping! I know- that's a shock! But I figured we could handle 1 night. I didn't decide on this until the Monday before memorial weekend- kind of late to plan anything. But after looking at some ideas on the internet, we ended up at a teepee in Fremont Indian State Park. We drove down Friday after school, only stayed one night and came home Saturday afternoon. The perfect length of time for a camping trip! And we even took the dogs with us. I wanted to find some meals that would be easy to take and not hard to cook while we were there. It turned out great and the kids liked it!

Camping dinner:

The standard hot dogs to grill
marshmallows for S'mores
Starburst candy to roast
Grilled Cheesy Sausage Pineapple Skewers
Mexican Street Corn - yummy!
Grilled Apple Crisp - easy to make.

Our version of these recipes below:

Grilled Cheesy Sausage Pineapple Skewers

½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ teaspoons dried Oregano
1 package fully cooked sausages with cheese (we used Johnsonville Beddar with Cheddar)
½ ripe Pineapple
¼- ½ large Red Onion

Combine the olive oil and oregano in a leak proof container. Allow to sit for at least an hour before grilling. Slice the pineapple into 1 inch chunks (we had lots left over and grilled that separately.)  Cut onion into large wedge chunks. Cut each sausage into 5 pieces.

If using wood skewers, soak them for 1 hour before assembling.  We used wood ones when we went camping, but metal ones when we came home.

To thread the skewers: slide on 1 piece of sausage, 2 pieces of onion, pineapple piece. Repeat and end with a piece of sausage.
Heat the grill. Place the skewers on the grill and brush with oregano infuse olive oil. Rotate halfway through cooking and brush the other side of the skewers with oil. Remove when the onions are cooked; approximately 5 minutes. Serve with barbecue sauce if desired. - We skipped that when we camped.

Mexican Street Corn

The family all LOVED this corn and said we are going to make it like this from now on!

6 ears sweet corn with husks
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup cotija cheese, crumbled
6 tablespoons cilantro, chopped or more
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 limes, quartered

Trim the tops of the corn to remove extra silk and leaves. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Place the corn covered in husks directly on the oven rack and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the corn is tender and juicy.
In a small bowl, combine the garlic powder with the mayonnaise. Mix cotija cheese with smoked paprika. When the corn is done, remove husks and brush the corn with the garlic mayonnaise. sprinkle with the cotija cheese and cilantro. Serve with the lime wedges to squeeze over the corn.

Grilled Apple Crisp

3 firm apples, peeled, cored and diced
4.5 Tbsp sugar
3 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
2½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened - I'm pretty sure I forgot to put this in!!
 heavy duty foil

Toss apples with sugar and lemon juice and set aside.
Combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well until fully combined.
Tear off six 11 inch pieces of foil and spray well with non-stick cooking spray. Tear off six more 11 inch pieces of heavy duty foil and set aside.
Divide the apples evenly onto the foil sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle each with the topping.
Fold foil over in half and crimp the edges. Place crimped pouch on a piece of heavy duty foil and fold in half and seal edges. Place on grill and cook for approximately 20 mins. Remove and carefully open each pouch.
Transfer to plates and serve with vanilla ice cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon if desired.

Camping Breakfast:

I couldn't decide which recipe to make, so I did 2 of them. Myles liked the burritos better, but Pierce liked the sandwiches better.

Campfire Breakfast Burritos

½ tablespoon olive oil
1 cup frozen hash browns
8 oz cooked ham, diced
12 eggs
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1 (4.5 oz) can green chilies, mild
2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup chopped cilantro or more
8 (12-inch) flour tortillas (we only used 7 of them)

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the hash browns and cook for 1 minute, stirring continuously. Add in the ham. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the hash browns and ham have both browned, about 8-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Whisk in the taco seasoning. When the hash browns and ham have browned, pour the eggs into the skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until the eggs have set. Stir in the green chilies, cheese and cilantro.
Warm the tortillas. Put ⅛ of the egg mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up like a burrito and wrap tightly in foil. Store in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator or in a cooler.
When ready to cook, place wrapped burritos in hot coals next to fire. Let the burritos sit in the coals, turning once, until heated through, about 10-15 minutes. (The time will depend on how hot your fire is.) We did ours on a grill and it took about 20 min.

Breakfast Sandwiches

Ingredients

1/2 lb. bacon
6 eggs
6 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
10oz frozen hash browns
6 slices cheddar cheese
6 Thomas English Muffins

Cook the bacon in either the oven (at 400 degrees for 15 minutes) or in a skillet until crisp. Drain on a paper towel lined plate, but do not discard the grease!
Place the grease into a large cast iron skillet, or heavy bottomed skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the refrigerated hash browns and press into an even layer. Let cook for 6 to 7 minutes, until golden brown, then flip over in sections and cook an additional 3 to 4 minutes, or until cooked through. Season the hash browns with salt and pepper. Divide into 6 portions.
Meanwhile whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper in a bowl. Lightly coat a 7x9” cake pan or casserole dish with non-stick spray and pour the egg mixture in. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes, then gently stir the eggs in the pan, turning the sides over and pulling up the bottom layer of cooked eggs. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Stir one more time and cook for an additional 3 minutes, or until the eggs are mostly set. The eggs will continue to cook once taken out of the oven, so don’t over cook them. Cut the eggs into 6 equal squares.
Assemble your breakfast sandwiches on top of the Thomas English Muffins: cheese, hash browns, egg, bacon, top bun. Enjoy now, or keep reading to make sandwiches portable.
Wrap the sandwiches halfway in parchment paper so the bottom is covered, but the top is open. Place, open side up in a foil container and then cover the container with foil. Keep the sandwiches chilled until ready to serve. To reheat, place the covered trays on a grill over medium heat. Cover and cook until the sandwiches are heated through. Ours seemed to take a really long time this way. With the ones we had leftover we wrapped them individually and they heated faster. It's even faster just to put them in the microwave!