Breakfast Casserole

This went way too fast at my sons baby blessing to take a picture so you will have to use your imaginations...

8 frozen hash brown patties
1/2 C. butter, melted
1 C. cubed ham
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese
1 C. shredded Swiss cheese
8 eggs
2 C. milk or cream
1/2 tsp salt

Place potato patties in greased 9 x 13 pan, Pour melted butter evenly over the top of the patties and bake at 350 for 20 min. Remove from oven and sprinkle ham and cheese over the top. In large bowl beat eggs. Add milk and salt. Stir. Pour mixture over cheeses and ham. Bake for 30 min.

I have done this with southern style hash browns and cubed lunch meat as well. No matter how you make it, it is delicious! Add fresh fruit and you have a great and easy meal for family gatherings.

Cranberry Almond Granola

This lasts about a week at our house. If I am lucky.

*1 cup packed brown sugar
*1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
*1/2 cup honey
*1/3 cup unsweetened apple juice concentrate
*2 Tbsp canola oil
*3 tsp almond extract
*6 cups old-fashioned oats
*1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
*1 cup slivered almonds

In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, milk powder, honey, apple juice concentrate and oil. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved; stir in extract. In a large bowl, combine the oats, cranberries and almonds. Drizzle with sugar mixture and mix well.

Spread in a thin layer in two 15x10x1" baking pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Cool completely. Serve with yogurt or milk. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3 quarts.

Perfect Pancakes

I just realized Andrea had asked for my pancake recipe so I will post it here, even though it has nothing to do with grilling.

Maggie, it would be fun if Scott posted a grilling tutorial for us- do you think he would?

Pancakes

(almost the same as the waffle recipe, actually.)

mix together:

1 1/4 c. flour

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. sugar

add:

1 1/3 c. milk

1 egg

2 Tbs. oil

Whisk ingredients together till most the lumps are gone. Work with a little more flour if you like thick pancakes. This is pretty fast to whip up and so much better than any mix I've tried!

*Tip: Try making these pancakes with whole wheat flour. Then, after you pour each pancake on the griddle, place 5 thin banana slices on it before you flip it. You'll have super-yummy banana pancakes!

Waffles Topped With Stewed Blueberries

Want to make your family really happy? Make them these tasty waffles topped with blueberry wonderful-ness, add lots of whipped cream and yum! A delicious way to start the day...

Waffles 

1 1/2 c. flour

1 Tbs. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. sugar

1 1/3 c. milk

1 egg

2 Tbs. oil

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the wet and stir with a whisk till combined. Cook as usual in your waffle maker.

Blueberry Sauce:

2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 c. water

1/2 - 3/4 c. sugar

1 Tbs. cornstarch

Put blueberries in a small saucepan. Mix the sugar and cornstarch together thoroughly in a measuring cup and add to the berries. Add the water. Cook on med.- high heat till mixture begins to boil, stirring frequently. Simmer for a few minutes while stirring, until berries are soft and sauce begins to thicken.

Voila! you're ready to top your waffles!

In my house, the whip cream flows pretty freely from the can, so we top these off with a small mountain on each waffle.

You can do this with just about any type of fresh or frozen fruit: peaches and strawberries are good!

WHOLE wheat pancakes

Do you have some of this somewhere in your house?

Do you want to use it more in your life?

Well, here is the recipe for you!

"Star's Whole Wheat Pancakes"

Add to your blender: 1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Berries

2 cups milk

Blend for about 5 minutes

(this time is based on my blender,

I like my batter to be a bit chunky, with chewy little wheat bits

so blend longer for a smoother batter)

Add: 2 eggs

2 Tbs. Oil or melted butter (I like coconut oil best)

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

dash of salt

Blend for about 30 more seconds

Heat butter or coconut oil in skillet or griddle

Stir batter and spoon from bottom of blender

This will help mix in the little wheat chunks as they tend to sink to the bottom

Make each pancake kind of small, this makes them easier to flip.

These would be great adding additional grains or nuts, maybe even some flax seed.

I know I can never get enough fiber!

Crepes!

Don't those look yummy? Ok the secret is those are from a stock photo, but mine do look that good when you make them, so there. Everyone needs a good crepe recipe in their arsenal of recipes, so here is a great one. (We make these all the time- my daughter would eat them for every meal if I let her!)

The recipe makes about 5, so double if you need more.

3/4 cup flour

2 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 tsp. vanilla

1 T oil

Whisk the dry ingredients together, then add the rest of the ingredients and whisk well till lumps are gone. Drop about 1/3 c. batter into a heated fry pan coated with melted butter. flip  with a spatula when the surface no longer looks wet. It won't take very long, you'll get the hang of it after the first one.

Now have plenty of Nutella, cinnamon&sugar, or strawberries handy to fill them with. And keep a shaker full of powdered sugar to dust them with. Yum!

(credit goes to MJ, this is another recipe I got from her!)

Apple Puffed Pancake

▪ 6 large eggs

▪ 1 1/2 cups skim milk

▪ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

▪ 1 cup all-purpose flour

▪ 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

▪ 1/2 teaspoon salt

▪ 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

▪ Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

▪ 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

▪ 4 apples, such as Gala or Red Delicious, peeled, quartered, cored and thinly sliced

▪ 1 tablespoon light-brown sugar

▪ Confectioners' sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine eggs, milk, and vanilla in the jar of a blender. Blend until well combined. Add flour, granulated sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend until dry ingredients are well incorporated; set aside.

Place butter in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish. Transfer dish to oven and heat until butter has just melted. Carefully remove from oven and place apples in a single layer in baking dish. Return to oven and cook until butter begins to bubble, about 4 minutes.

Pour batter over apples, sprinkle with brown sugar, and continue baking until puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, if desired; serve immediately. Serves 6

We have this often. It is like a German pancake with apples and is delicious! I cut my apples into wedges and then use the cheese slicer on my grater to slice them smaller. Enjoy!

A note from Hailey:

"Well, this is what it looked like when I made it, very tasty! I added a few photos of the process but for some reason they are reversed, with the finished product first. I used a large food processor to mix the batter. And sprinkled a little more cinnamon on top along with the brown sugar before baking. We also sprinkled it with powdered sugar and a shaker of sugar & cinnamon I keep around for just such situations. Everyone liked it, thanks Liz!"