Coconut syrup

Christie and I are on a coconut kick right now. My neighbor gave me this recipe for coconut syrup and brought me some over, it is delicious. Here is the recipe 2 cubes of butter 2 cups of sugar 1 cup buttermilk add to medium saucepan and heat on medium heat until boiling. Boil for 2-3 minutes then remove from heat. Add t teaspoon of baking soda and 2 t coconut extract.

Breakfast Casserole

This recipe is from my sister-in-law, Heather.  These were her exact words.  Interpret as you wish.
1 lb. sausage
12 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 sleeve of saltine crackers, really smooshed
2 handfuls of shredded cheese

Brown sausage and set aside.  Beat eggs in a large bowl.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the eggs and mix well.  Pour into a 9x13 pan (sprayed with cooking spray).  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Zucchini Muffins

My kids love the banana muffins so much that Dave posted. I came across this zucchini muffin recipe on Real Mom Kitchen. I had to try them and the did not disappoint. Here is the recipe as it was posted.

Zucchini- Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder (I upped it to 1 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
¾ cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional, I didn’t do the nuts)

Position rack in middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper liners. Spray the paper liners with nonstick spray. (This is key, or the muffin will stick to the liner)
In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar to blend them smoothly. Whisk in the oil and vanilla until blended. Use a large spoon to stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Stir in the zucchini, then stir in chocolate chips and walnuts (if using) until evenly distributed.
Pour about 1/3 cup of the batter into each paper liner.

I didn't add walnuts but them would be delicious. I made them in mini muffin tins just sprayed with Pam and baked them for 12 minutes. I increased the baking powder like she did, but I don't know why she did that.

Pancakes

This recipe is from Christie's neighbor Karen. It is very tasty. Kristen asked for the recipe so I decided to post it here.

2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 c oil
1 3/4 cup flour(wheat or white or 1/2 and 1/2, I use 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white, Christie uses King Arthurs White Whole wheat)
2 T sugar or honey
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Mix together wet ingredients and add to dry.

Nutella French Toast

I made these for breakfast on Mother's Day. They were a big hit. Well, except with Eddie. He is going through an anti-sauce phase and refused to touch them on account of the Nutella in the center (he ate a stale mini bagel instead). The original recipe says in makes 2 sandwiches, but the egg mixture went a bit further for me—I'd say there was probably enough for 3-4 sandwiches.

• 4-8 slices quality white bread (Harmon's challah bread worked nicely)
• 1/4 cup Nutella
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tbsp confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat a panini press or flat griddle. Spread 2 pieces of bread with the Nutella. Top each side with another piece of bread.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla in a shallow bowl. Dip each side of the sandwich in the egg mixture. Transfer to a platter. Let stand for a few seconds.

Put the sandwiches on the press, pull the top down, and cook until they are golden and crisp, about 4 to 6 minutes. If you are using a flat griddle, you would just have to flip them over like regular french toast.

Dust with confectioners' sugar, then do your best not to inhale as you bite.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

From Allrecipes

3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.
Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Notes: My kids love mini muffins, so I made them in mini muffin tins and baked them for 12 minutes. I made the batter last night and baked them this morning, they were delicious with yogurt and Christie's granola recipe.

Peanut Butter Crunch Granola

This recipe is from my sister-in-law, Tami. I just made it today and keep grabbing handfuls as I walk by. Its tasty. The peanut butter is not overwhelming.. its just right. I made half the recipe just to try it out and it made a heaping cookie tray full, so depending on how much granola you will eat, you may want to do half.

Mix together:
10 cups oatmeal (not instant)
2 cups Grape Nuts (for crunch)
1 small bag coconut (optional)
2 cups wheat bran
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup walnuts, seeds, almonds (optional)

Boil for 1 minute:
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 cup honey
1 cup peanut butter (or less if you prefer)

Remove from heat and add
2-3 teaspoons vanilla

Pour over oat mixture. Bake on cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes at 325 until golden. After baked and while still hot you can add any dried fruit you want. (I added craisins and it is delish)

Homemade granola

I have been trying to make better breakfasts for the kids before school. I pulled out the recipe for granola from mother. Caleb was having it for an after school snack with vanilla yogurt, so tasty.

So here it goes

Put 3 cups of oats in a 2 quart dish and microwave for 2 minutes. To the oats add and mix

1/3 c wheat germ
1/3 c coconut
1/3 c sesame seeds
1/3 c nuts (I used walnuts because that's what I had and I doubled the amount so I used 2/3 c and would probably add more next time because I always pick the nuts out, they are so good.)
1/3 c brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/3 c sunflower seeds

To dry ingredients add
1/3 c vegetable oil or butter (used canola oil)
1/4 c honey
1 t vanilla

Mix until well coated. Cook in microwave on power level 7 for 7 minutes. Stir twice. If you want to add raisins add 1/2 c and cook 1-2 minutes more on full power.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Here is the recipe for the muffins I made at the cabin, which I found on All Recipes as usual. Depending on the size of your muffin tins, this should make somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-18 muffins.

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in bananas and chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.