Stocking the Freezer

I love a yummy breakfast each and every day. But, I HATE cooking that yummy breakfast every morning. In fact, if I have to cook the breakfast, usually I just don't eat. Not eating is not good for my disposition. I become mean when I haven't had good breakfast.

To help combat an ugly situation, I have created this wonderful plan -- freezing breakfast. About once every three weeks I bake up a batch of Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes. These are the best -- packed with nutrition and tastiness, they make the perfect freezer food.

So, I whip up a double batch, fire up my most treasured griddle and put a good movie or TV show on the computer. It takes about an hour to griddle up 80 pancakes(I use about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake).

I let them cool on parchment paper for at least an hour. Then -- this is the important part -- I cut up that same parchment paper and stick it between layers of pancakes in a Ziploc bag. If you don't put the parchment paper between them, they stick together and just become a messy, unmanageable situation.

After loading two Ziploc, I stick them in the freezer. Now -- instant breakfast. I take out as many as I need and warm them up in the microwave each morning.

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

A few weeks ago I had a terrible need for a KFC biscuit. After convincing the family to pick up dinner, KFC had the audacity to be out of biscuits. Seriously! What fried chicken place runs out of biscuits? Well, they did and I was forced to come up with my own. Luckily I had some buttermilk on hand and was able to adjust a recipe to fit my taste.

I like a moist biscuit with a crunchy outside. A strong butter flavor is required absolutely required. These became an instant household favorite. My daughter now requests them often and I will do my best to stock buttermilk so that we're ready at a moments notice.

Oh, and these babies take about 20 minutes from start to finish -- perfect for adding to almost any meal. We like to eat breakfast sandwiches around here with ham, egg and a biscuit. These will work perfectly!

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

3 cups Flour

1 Tbs sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup cold butter

1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat your oven to 450°F.
2. Place the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a food processor.
3. Add the butter to the food processor and run until the butter is cut into the flour mixture.
4. Add the buttermilk and blend quickly -- not too much.
5. Place the dough on a cookie sheet in lumps about 1/4 cup in size. Squash them a bit with your fingers into a loose biscuit shape.
6. Brush the tops with melted butter.
7. Bake the biscuits for 12 to 14 minutes, until they're golden brown.

Servings: 12

Hash Brown Heaven

When you bake it, the food will be taller than this, I like it squashed flat, and forgot that I needed a picture for the blog.

So, here is the squashed serving.

I've been looking for a hearty breakfast recipe that I can prepare ahead of time that meets many requirements: healthy, tasty, filling and yet not too heavy on calories. Also, I need to be able to re-heat it in the microwave and have it taste the same as it did when it came out of the oven.

This baby is the winner. I've pulled together several different recipes and tweaked it so that we had the perfect meal. My husband loves it so much he ate almost 1/2 of a 9x13 pan for dinner this week. Note: It is not low calorie if you eat half the pan.

This will make 8 hearty servings, with about 350 calories per serving.

Hash Brown Heaven

1 medium onion
14 oz turkey kielbasa
2 green peppers
4 cups frozen hash browns, thawed(one bag)
1/2 cup sour cream3 eggs
8 egg whites
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups Mexican cheese

1. Dice green pepper and onion very small.
2. Dice kielbasa very small. Brown and set aside.
3. Combine all ingredients reserving one half of the cheese in a greased 9x13 pan.
4. Top with the remainder of the cheese.
5. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until set.

Servings: 8

Amount Per Serving Calories 346.04
Calories From Fat (44%) 153.67%
Daily Value Total Fat 17.52g 27%
Saturated Fat 8.7g 44%
Cholesterol 142.63mg 48%

Blueberry Muffins

These muffins are great! Everything you look for in a muffin -- moist, tangy and full of flavor. The little touch of lemon adds a flavor boost and makes the blueberries taste even better.

Blueberry Muffins

2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoon lemon peel
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups blueberries
coarse white sparkling sugar for garnish (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with papers, and grease the papers.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a hand-held or stand mixer, until light, fluffy, and almost white in color. Start the mixer at low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, then gradually increase speed to medium-high until the desired color and texture are reached.
4. Scrape down the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add the vanilla and sour cream or yogurt, and mix until incorporated.
6. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until the batter is smooth. It will be thick.
7. Fold in the berries by hand.
8. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups, using a heaping 1/4-cup for each. Sprinkle with regular granulated or coarse white sugar, if desired.
9. Bake the muffins for 18 to 24 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Remove them from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a rack.
Servings: 12

OamealCookie Pancakes

This recipe comes from Rachael Ray originally. I modified it a little to fit our family's preferences for chocolate without nuts. Give this recipe a try -- it's a great way to get fiber into your kids for breakfast!

One tip -- with the brown sugar content, these can burn easily. Be sure to start your pan on low heat and increase the heat as necessary.

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 really ripe bananas, mashed up
3/4 cup chocolate chips
½ stick melted butter
Maple syrup or honey, for drizzling

DIRECTIONS:

Mix dry ingredients, the first 7, in a bowl.

In a another bowl, mix the wet ingredients, the next 4.

Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined, then fold in the mashed up bananas and the chocolate chips.

Stir in the melted butter.

Heat a griddle over medium-low heat and brush with additional melted butter.

Cook pancakes, each about 1/3 cup, until bubbles form on the top, then turn.

Cakes will cook in about 2 minutes on each side.

Keep pancakes tented with foil as they come off the griddle to keep them hot.

Serve with drizzled honey or maple syrup over the top. Yields about 24 pancakes.

Chocolate Chip Cherry Scones

I first tried scones a few years ago at one of those places where you put together dinners to take and bake at a later time. They were pretty good, but a bit dry for me. Since then, I've tried several scone recipes, but fell in love with this one. I'm so in love that I even passed on chocolate chip cookies last night in favor of scones -- unbelievable!

I think a good scone should have chocolate chips. Always love the chocolate. Also, I'm a huge fan of dried cherries. If you aren't, or don't have any on hand, dried cranberries will work too -- just swap them for the cherries in the recipe below. So I modified the beloved recipe to become this -- my favorite recipe for scones:

Chocolate Chip Cherry Scones

1 1/2 Tbs freshly grated lemon zest
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbs butter, cut into 8 or 10 chunks
3 Tbs sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cherries

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. With a vegetable peeler remove the zest from lemons and chop fine, reserving lemons for another use.

3. In a food processor pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a large bowl.

4. Add chopped cherries and chocolate chips to flour mixture. Toss to coat.

5. In another small bowl lightly beat egg and yolk and stir in cream. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

6. Shape scones as desired. Bake at 400 for 15 to 20 minutes, just until they start to turn a light golden brown.
NOTE: Dough can be frozen. I usually divide the batch into two halves and freeze the second half for another day.
Servings: 12