Biscuits and Gravy Casserole

I love biscuits and gravy, so I decided to try this recipe for our New Year's brunch.  It was fabulous!  It makes a bit more than two people can eat, however, and it's not possible to cut it in half unless you waste half of the biscuits.

I served it with Cranberry Orange Bread and Caramelized Ham and Swiss Buns.  Perfect combination!

Click here for the original link to the blog Lemon Sugar.

Biscuits and Gravy Casserole

INGREDIENTS

1 can large, flaky biscuits (such as Grands)

½ pound ground breakfast sausage

3 Tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 and ½ cups milk

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F).

Prepare a small casserole dish (approximately 7x10) with cooking spray. Set aside.

Open biscuits, and cut biscuits into quarters.

Layer half of the quarters in prepared pan.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare gravy.

In a heavy skillet, brown the ground breakfast sausage over medium high heat until fully cooked.

Sprinkle the cooked sausage with 3 Tablespoons of flour.

Use a wooden spoon to stir flour into sausage until completely absorbed.

Lower heat to medium, and cook flour/sausage mixture for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add milk, and stir to combine.

Add salt and black pepper.

Stir frequently until mixture comes to a slight boil.

Taste, and adjust seasonings as desired. (I usually add more black pepper)

If the gravy is too thick, add a bit more milk. You want the gravy to be thickened but not too thick, not "globby," it should still be slightly runny.

Pour gravy over the cooked biscuits.

Layer the remaining uncooked, quartered biscuits over the gravy.

Place casserole dish on a baking sheet, and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. If they start to over-brown, you can cover with foil for the last 10 minutes or so.

Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Orange Bread

For our New Year's brunch this year, I wanted to serve something sweet to go with Biscuits and Gravy Casserole and Caramelized Ham and Cheese Buns.  I searched my Pinterest boards and found this really delicious cranberry orange bread.

Click here for the original link on the blog Taste and Tell.

Cranberry Orange Bread

Ingredients

2 cups flour

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

grated zest of 1 large orange

⅔ cup fresh orange juice

2 eggs, lightly beaten

⅓ cup vegetable oil

1¼ cups fresh cranberries

½ cup nuts, chopped

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in the orange zest. Make a well in the center and add the orange juice, eggs and vegetable oil. Stir gently, just until almost combined. Fold in the cranberries and nuts, making sure you don’t over mix the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake in the preheated oven until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cranberry-Orange Scones

This was my first attempt at homemade scones.  DEFINITELY a keeper!

This recipe comes from the December 2014 issue of Food Network Magazine.  It is Ina Garten's recipe and it can be made ahead (which is what I did).  Just put them on the pan and cover them in the fridge until you want to bake them.  Then do the egg wash, sugar, and glaze as directed.

I don't have a paddle attachment, so I used regular beaters.  That worked OK until I added the eggs and cream.  At that point the dough spun right up the beaters!  I ended up mixing the cranberries in by hand, which worked fine.

I froze half of the them unbaked.  I plan to thaw them overnight before baking them in the morning.  I'll post an update on how that worked when I do it!

Ina Garten's Cranberry-Orange Scones
Makes 14-16

4 cups plus 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp grated orange zest (2 oranges)
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced (3 sticks)
4 extra large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 cup dried cranberries
1 egg beaten with 2 Tbsp water, for egg wash
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp confectioner's sugar
4 tsp freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat oven to 400.  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest.  Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas.  Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly add to the flour and butter mixture.  Mix until just blended.  The dough will look lumpy.  Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough and mix on low speed until blended.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and knead it into a ball.  Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough just under 1 inch thick.  You should see small bits of butter in the dough.  Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn't stick.  Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough.  Place the scones on the prepared sheet pan.  Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out and cut more circles.

Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash, sprinkle with granulated sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked.  The scones will be firm to the touch.  Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes, then whisk together the confectioner's sugar and orange juice and drizzle over the scones.

I made these for New Year's Day brunch with Caramelized Ham and Swiss Buns and Egg Casserole for Kids.  Fabulous.

Sticky Buns

These JUST came out of the oven.  And they are DIVINE.

All of the woman's clubs around here are known for their sticky buns.  Chris loves them.  So when I was making dinner rolls the other day, I started flipping through Gold Medal's Best Bread Machine Recipes cookbook for other ideas.

The dough for this is very similar to the dinner rolls.  But the finishing process is much different.

This recipe takes a lot of time, but not active time.  There is a lot of waiting for rising.  Since I'm not a morning person, this will never be breakfast for us fresh out of the oven!

I put the ingredients in the order that my bread machine wants them.  Make sure yours is the same.

Sticky Rolls (I call them Sticky Buns)

1 cup water
1 egg
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast

Caramel Topping
nuts (if desired)
2 Tbsp butter or margarine, softened
Cinnamon Filling

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except last three, in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

Select Dough/Manual cycle.  Do not use Delay cycle.

Remove dough from pan, using lightly floured hands.  Cover and let rest 10 minutes on lightly floured surface.  Make Caramel Topping.

Roll or pat dough into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle.  Spread 2 Tbsp butter or margarine over dough.  Make Cinnamon Filling.  Sprinkle over butter or margarine.  Roll dough up tightly, beginning at 15 inch side.  Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal.  Stretch and shape roll to make even.  Cut into 15 1 inch slices.  Place slightly apart in pan.  Cover and let rise in warm place about 1 hour or until double.  (Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.)

Heat oven to 350.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.  Immediately place heatproof platter or tray upside down onto pan.  Turn platter and pan over.  Leave pan over rolls 1 minute.  Remove pan.  Serve rolls warm or let stand until cool.

Caramel Topping

1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup dark corn syrup

Place melted butter in ungreased rectangular 13 x 9 pan that is 2 inches deep.  Stir in brown sugar and corn syrup until well blended.  Spread evenly in pan.  Sprinkle with nuts, if desired.

Cinnamon Filling

2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix all ingredients.

Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I can't remember now if I first saw this on pinterest or facebook, but I pinned it so I could find it again.  I made it over Labor Day weekend and it was wonderful!  And then I kept thinking about it, thinking there was still some buttermilk left in the fridge, however when I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday, there were no blueberries.  Sadly, blueberry season must be over.  Alas, I did not get a picture the time I made it.

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour (set aside 1/4 cup of this to toss with the blueberries)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk***

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons

** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

*** To make homemade buttermilk, place 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Fill cup with milk until it reaches the 1-cup line. Let stand for five minutes. Use only 1/2 cup of the prepared mixture for the recipe.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.
Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.
Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Baked Cheddar Eggs and Potatoes

We had this dish for dinner the other night and it was FANTASTIC!  Baking the eggs makes them the same as soft boiled, which is divine.


It takes longer to cook the potatoes than you think, so I'm not sure I would ever make this for breakfast.  Maybe brunch, since I'm not a morning person. :-)  The next time I made it, I used red potatoes, as the recipes says, and the timing was more accurate.  I've also added cooked bacon to it when you add the cheese and it is even better!

This recipe comes from the December/January 2013 issue of Taste of Home.  Since it was just for the two of us, I halved this recipe.  It was so filling, even for dinner, neither of us could finish all our potatoes!

Baked Cheddar Eggs and Potatoes

3 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, chopped (I used Idaho, which might be why it took so long for them to cook!)
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (I used dried)
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
8 eggs
1/2 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1.  In a 10-inch ovenproof skillet, heat butter over medium-high heat.  Add potatoes.  Cook and stir until golden brown and tender. Stir in the parsley, garlic, salt and pepper.  With the back of a spoon, make four wells in the potato mixture.  Break two eggs into each well.

2.  Bake at 400 for 9-11 minutes (I think I baked mine for at least 15) or until egg whites are completely set and yolks begin to thicken but are not hard.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake 1 minute longer or until cheese in melted.

Bacon Egg Breakfast Cups

The boyfriend found this recipe mentioned on lifehacker.  I tried to make it on a regular morning before work, and it does take longer than regular bacon and eggs, so it's more of a weekend treat type of dish.  Especially since I have to partially cook the bacon first before I can put it in the muffin cups.  The first time I forgot to spray the pan and I'm still working on cleaning that pan of the stuck on egg, so don't forget!!  And I cooked them for longer than the eight minutes that Kirbie recommends, as neither of us care for runny yolks.  This would make a cute dish to serve if you have breakfast company and don't want to be stuck at the stove making eggs for everybody; and if there are kids, it's finger food!

Bacon Egg Breakfast Cups

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 8 mins

Ingredients:

4 eggs
4 slices of precooked bacon (if you are using raw bacon, make sure to heat it up so it is cooked about 50% before placing it into the molds)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray muffin tin with pam spray.
2. Line muffin pans with bacon so that it circles each mold.
3. Break an egg into the center of each mold. Bake for about 8 minutes or until egg is cooked to the doneness of your liking. Serve while warm.

Red Velvet Waffles with Cream Cheese Icing Drizzle

Rachael Ray had these on her show at Valentine's Day and I finally got around to making them.  I made a couple of small changes to it... I never find 4 oz blocks of cream cheese, only 3 or 8, so I went with 3 and stirred in part of the milk until it looked drizzley.   And I have no idea where to find pomegranate seeds, so I skipped them entirely and used the whole 6 oz container of raspberries, which might have been slightly over the one cup.  We had them as a breakfast treat for Easter. And a word of caution, I used a Belgian waffle iron, so I was guessing at how much to ladle in... the batter is thinner than regular waffles (or at least my regular waffles), so go with less than you think or you'll have batter all over the iron and counter.  Oh, and on the show, she used liquer in her berries, but I skipped that too, already decadent enough for breakfast, didn't need boozy berries too!

Ingredients

• 1 box of red velvet cake mix
• Nonstick cooking spray
• For the Cream Cheese Icing Drizzle:
• 4 ounces cream cheese, one small block, softened
• 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• For the Red Berry Salad:
• 2 cups strawberries, sliced
• 1 cup red raspberries
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1 tablespoon sugar 

Yields: 8 waffles

Preparation

Preheat waffle maker to medium-high heat.

Prepare cake mix to package directions. Once waffle iron is hot, spray with cooking spray. Pour 2 cups (about half) of the cake batter into the waffle iron. Cook 5 minutes; carefully remove from the waffle maker.

For the cream cheese drizzle, cream together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and salt into a bowl. Slowly whisk in milk. Set aside.

Mix together all ingredients for the red berry salad in a small bowl.

Top each waffle with a heaping spoonful of red berry salad and a drizzle of cream cheese

Super Sausage Gravy

The boyfriend requested biscuits and gravy, so I went looking on yummly.com (my new favorite way to search for recipes - meta search type of thing!) and found this version from Bob Evans on allrecipes.com. We both thought the gravy could be a bit thinner, but overall, very tasty and satisfying. And I feel all southern now. And I cheated and used Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits.

Ingredients:
1 pound Bob Evans® Original Recipe
Sausage Roll
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups milk
Salt and black pepper to taste
8 prepared biscuits
Directions:
1. Crumble and cook sausage in large skillet over medium heat until browned. Stir in flour until dissolved. Gradually stir in milk. Cook gravy until thick and bubbly. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot over biscuits. Refrigerate leftovers.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Creamy Icing

These are a delicious change of pace from your average pancake!  The consistency is like a very moist cake.

The recipe comes from the October 2011 issue of Cuisine at Home.  It calls for "apple pie spice," which neither I nor my grocery store had.  The magazine said it was a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.  We had everything but the cloves.

The icing is delicious and would be great on real cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, or streusel.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp apple pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 oz Philadelphia Cooking Creme, Original (use the rest for the icing)
3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
vegetable oil (for the griddle)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees with a baking sheet inside.

Combine dry ingredients, set aside.  Whisk together buttermilk, Cooking Creme, maple syrup, egg and vanilla in a separate bowl.  Fold buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients until just moistened (small lumps are OK).  Let batter rest 10 minutes (this allows the baking soda to activate and will produce lighter, fluffier pancakes).

Heat a large griddle or nonstick skillet over medium-low.  Brush griddle with a thin layer of oil.  For each pancake, pour about 1/3 cup batter onto the griddle.

Cook batter until bubbles form on surface, 2-3 minutes.  Flip pancakes and cook until golden, 2-3 minutes more.  Keep pancakes warm on baking sheet in the oven while cooking remaining pancakes.  Oil griddle as needed.

Creamy Icing

6 oz Philadelphia Cooking Creme, Original
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-2 Tbsp warm water

Whisk Cooking Creme, sweetened condensed milk, buttermilk, and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat until warm.

Add water as needed to thin sauce until desired consistency is reached (I didn't use any water at all).

Fluffy French Toast

The boyfriend found this recipe on allrecipes.com a few months ago and made it before I went to work one morning. I thought the holiday weekend would be the perfect time to have it again! Although it's originally pictured with strawberries, raspberries were what I found at the farmer's market yesterday. And it says 12 slices of bread, but I only got nine out of it. Do keep whisking up the egg mixture as the flour starts to settle.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 12 thick slices bread

Directions

1. Measure flour into a large mixing bowl. Slowly whisk in the milk. Whisk in the salt, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla extract and sugar until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat.
3. Soak bread slices in mixture until saturated. Cook bread on each side until golden brown. Serve hot.

Blueberry Sauce

This recipe comes from the Taste of Home website.  It was part of a recipe for a Puff Pancake that I'd rather not discuss.  But the blueberry sauce was fantastic!  I think it's the same recipe for the Blueberry Poundcake Sundaes I use as the signature photo for this blog.

This sauce is great on poundcake, pancakes, ice cream.  On anything, really!  It's simple and easy.

Blueberry Sauce

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar and cornstarch. Gradually whisk in orange juice until smooth. Stir in blueberries. Bring to a boil over MEDIUM heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes longer or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla.

Potato Basil Frittata

I first saw this on Ina Garten's show "Barefoot Contessa" on the Food Network.  I immediately looked it up online and made for breakfast the next weekend.

It is unbelievably good!  Probably the BEST frittata I have ever had.

Don't subsitute another cheese.  The gruyere is key to this recipe.

I half the recipe for just me and Chris.  The whole recipe would easily feed eight.  Serve it with fresh squeezed orange juice and grapes for an extra special touch.

Potato Basil Frittata

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided

2 cups peeled and 1/2-inch diced boiling potatoes (4 potatoes)

8 extra-large eggs

15 ounces ricotta cheese

3/4 pound Gruyere cheese, grated

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a 10-inch ovenproof omelet pan over medium-low heat. Add the potatoes and fry them until cooked through, turning often, about 10 to 15 minutes. Melt the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter in a small dish in the microwave.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, then stir in the ricotta, Gruyere, melted butter, salt, pepper, and basil. Sprinkle on the flour and baking powder and stir into the egg mixture.

Pour the egg mixture over the potatoes and place the pan in the center of the oven. Bake the frittata until it is browned and puffed, 50 minutes to 1 hour. It will be rounded and firm in the middle and a knife inserted in the frittata should come out clean. Serve hot.

Fruit Cream Cheese Crepes

I got a crepe pan for Christmas.  So much fun!!

I found a wonderful resource for crepe recipes called World of Crepes.  You can also sign up for their newsletter "The Crepe Vine" to get exclusive crepe recipes in your inbox.

The following recipe called for cherry pie filling, but I used fresh blueberries instead.  It seems like any fruit filling would be delicious!  The basic cream cheese filling would also be good by itself, and maybe topped with fruit or syrup.

Dessert Crepe Batter

1 1/2 cups flour
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 3/4 cups skim milk (I used 1%)
3 eggs

1 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp orange liquor (I used Triple Sec, you could probably skip this or use OJ instead)

pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients except melted butter in blender and mix until blended. OR mix by hand -- combine the milk and eggs and pour slowly into dry ingredients.  (I mixed it by hand -- I hate using a blender)  Add melted butter last.  Refrigerate batter for at least 30 minutes.

To make the crepes, visit How to Make Crepes in 6 Easy Steps.

This recipe says it makes 24 6-inch crepes, but I got a lot less than that!  If you're new at making crepes, the extra batter comes in handy because you WILL screw some up!!

Cherry Cream Cheese Filling

1 21oz can cherry pie filling (I used about 1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries)
2 8oz blocks softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp sour cream
2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients except fruit with mixer or by hand until combined.  Fill each crepe with cream cheese mixture and top with fruit.  Roll up and transfer to serving plate.  Garnish with whipped cream.  You can serve them immediately or chilled.