Buttermilk Syrup

My neighbor told us about Buttermilk Syrup the other day... and to be honest I thought it sounded gross. She was adamant that it was the best stuff EVER and insisted I try a spoonful.
She was right. This is DELICIOUS! It's great as a syrup, a glaze, by itself... my personal favorite has been with cinnamon rolls.

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla

Heat sugar, buttermilk, & butter in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer for a few minutes. Turn off heat, add baking soda & vanilla.

Refrigerate overnight (to let the soda calm down).

Reheat when you're ready to eat.

Grandma Garff’s Sour Cream Rolls

I wish I could say that I know Stephanie. She is an extraordinary woman, full of strength and courage. Her testimony is incredible and unwavering. If you need some perspective on life, check out her blog. And if you don't, you should try this recipe for her rolls ~ they are like a mouth full of heaven!

16 oz sour cream
1/4 cup shortening

Heat them together in a little pan, but don't boil.

Place in mixing bowl and stir in:
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, well beaten

Directions:
Take 2 packages of dry, fast rising yeast and dissolve in 1 cup of luke warm water. Then mix with other ingredients in large bowl. Add 7 1/2 cups flour, and knead.

Cover the bowl with aluminum foil and place a dishtowel over it. Place bowl and contents, well covered, in a refrigerator overnight (or in a cold oven for 3 hours) and until the dough has doubled in bulk.

Make rolls and place in roll pans, cover with dishtowel and let raise for about 3-4 hours.

Bake at 350. Rolls bake in 9-12 minutes, cinnamon rolls bake in 18-20 minutes.

I really didn't make any ingredient changes to this recipe, but I did a few things differently to make the process go a little smoother... at least for me.

I start by dissolving the yeast (I used 2 Tbsp SAF yeast) in 1 cup warm water and letting it sit while I'm heating the sour cream and shortening.

I also cream together sugar, soda, salt, & eggs in my mixing bowl first. Then add about 1/2 cup of the hot sour cream / shortening to temper the eggs before adding the rest.

And after I shaped my rolls, I just popped them in the oven... totally spaced that 2nd rise, but they still turned out heavenly!

This is my cinnamon filling (which I think is pretty a pretty standard one).
1 cup brown sugar
3-4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 butter, softened

And I use this cream cheese frosting.

Mini Quiche

I love quiche... but we never eat the whole thing. So I decided to make little guys in my muffin pan. They turned out great! But we still didn't eat all of it...
Sorry the picture's a little fuzzy.

8 oz pre-made crescent dough (I used Pillsbury Crescent Creations)
4 oz cream cheese (softened)
1-2 Tbsp milk
2 eggs
8 oz cooked meat of your choice (I used spicy pork sausage)
2 Tbsp chopped onion (I used green onions)
2 Tbsp chopped vegetable of your choice (I used mushrooms)
Shredded cheese to sprinkle on top
Salsa

Beat cream cheese and milk until smooth. Add eggs, onion, and vegetables.

Roll out and cut the crescent dough into 12 pieces. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of greased muffin cups. Sprinkle meat into cups.

Pour egg mixture over meat.

Bake uncovered for 18-20 minutes at 375 or until a knife comes out clean.

Sprinkle cheese over top and let melt for the last 2 minutes or so.

Top with salsa and serve warm.

Breakfast Burritos

This isn't anything fancy, just something I threw together for dinner tonight. There's so many different ways you could make this. If you have any suggestions to add to this very basic recipe, feel free to leave a comment.

Breakfast Burritos

2 beaten eggs per burrito
salt and pepper to taste
shredded cheddar cheese
tortillas (I'm a recent convert to the kind you buy at Sam's or Costco that you have to cook yourself. The flavor is so much better than regular tortillas. Or try Melanie's recipe found here.)
bacon, sausage, or ham

Beat the eggs and add a dash of salt and pepper. Scramble the eggs in a pan over medium heat. If you want to add any vegetables like mushrooms or olives or anything you like in an omelet, add them to the beaten egg and cook. Meanwhile, brown the bacon, sausage or ham. If using uncooked tortillas, use this time to cook the tortillas too. Once the eggs and meats are cooked add a little cheese in the center of the tortilla and add the scrambled eggs and meat, then roll up and enjoy.

Whole Wheat Banana Oat Muffins

So I woke up this morning with the intention of eating oatmeal and bananas... but my banana's were too ripe for me to enjoy and lets face it, oatmeal sounded boring. I had a little bit of whole wheat left over from the last time I made bread, so I thought what the heck, I'll try to make muffins. After combining bits & pieces of about 5 different recipes, and adding some oats, this is what I came up with.

1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk (I was also running low on milk, so I used reconstituted dry milk; 1/2 cup water + 1 1/2 Tbsp dry milk)
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 mashed bananas

STREUSEL TOPPING:
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter

Combine flour, brown sugar & cinnamon. With a fork, cut in butter until crumbly.


In a bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, & salt. Stir together, and create a well in the center of flour mixture; set aside.

In another bowl, combine egg, milk, oil, & banana. Add egg mixture to flour mixture all at once, and stir just until the batter is moistened (it will be lumpy).

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, about 2/3 full. Sprinkle streusel topping over muffin batter. Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes.

Orange Rolls

2 packages of Pillsbury biscuits
1 cup sugar
½ cup orange juice
1 Tbsp butter or margarine
Frosting:
1 cup confectioners sugar
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/8 cup butter, softened
½ tsp vanilla

In small saucepan, combine sugar, orange juice, & margarine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for up to 5 minutes, stirring often. Line a greased 9x13” pan with biscuits.

Pour orange sauce over biscuits and bake according to package directions.

Meanwhile, cream together confectioners sugar, cream cheese, butter, & vanilla. Mix until smooth. Frost orange rolls immediately after coming our of the oven.

Breakfast Quiche

26 oz frozen hash browns, thawed (dab off extra moisture with a paper towel)
1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup ham/bacon, fully cooked
1-2 cups shredded cheese
10 eggs
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

In a 9x13" pan, build a crust with the hash browns and melted butter, bringing up the sides of the pan. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes.

Whip up all the other ingredients and pour over baked hash browns. Lower oven temperature to 35o and bake for an additional 35-40 minutes until golden.

*You can personalize this recipe anyway you like. Add anything that you think would taste good in an omelet, and it will work great with this!*

Buttermilk Pancakes / Waffles

1-1 1/2 cups water
1 egg, beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Combine butter, buttermilk, and egg. Add to flour mixture.

Using a wire whisk, mix together just until incorporated. If you beat the batter too much, you'll need to let it rest before baking. Add just enough water to desired consistency, thinner for pancakes and thicker for waffles.

*You can use all of the batter and freeze your extra pancakes/waffles in zip lock bags. Just pop them in the toaster like EggoWaffles!*