Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

French Toast Casserole reminds me of Christmas morning or a celebration brunch, but it’s easy enough to have any time.  I love that it can serve a crowd without having to stand over a hot griddle cooking a few slices of bread at a time.  The pumpkin flavor and pecan butterscotch topping, makes this dish especially festive.

You can bake it in a 9×13 casserole dish, muffin tins, a Bundt pan, or even a slow cooker.  It makes a great freezer meal, or a prep the night before dish. I’ll give instructions for each variation at the end.

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

1 loaf, 20 oz of bread.  We like Saralee Artisan Golden Wheat Bread

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Homemade Pumpkin Bagels Video Tutorial

This isn’t a new recipe to this blog, but it’s still one of my favorites. The soft inside and chewy outside make a lovely grab and go breakfast. I originally wrote this post in 2015. Grant is now in 1st grade! I don’t regret spending that last year with him, and even though the kids are all in school now, we decided my time is still best spent at home helping things run smoothly for everyone.

Tee hee.  This video makes me giggle.  When I watch the replay and Grant (4) dumps the pumpkin on the counter, I roll on the floor laughing and then back it up and watch it again.  Maybe because I was there for the original moment, trying to balance a camera and helping Grant with the cooking at the same time.  How the pumpkin on the counter shocked us both and I got the giggles, which I tried to hold in making a weird background noise.  Grant, relieved that I wasn’t upset said, “We better clean that up.”   Which made me giggle all the more.

After we made quite a mess but got most of the stuff in the bowl, I said “What should we do now?”  I thought Grant would say, “Let’s clean up!”  but he said “SMILE.”  Which made me giggle all over again.

This boy is the joy of my days.  The sleepless nights, messes, tantrums, and battles are all worth it.  I had the option to spend this year in a classroom blessing other people’s children, while I earned money that my family needed.  I would have had to let someone else be with Grant during the day, and I just couldn’t.  It’s his last full year at home and I fought for my chance to be the one to clean up his messes and talk him down from the ledge of toddler insanity. It was selfish and selfless at the same time.  He needs me as much as I need him and there’s something priceless about that.

For those who prefer a written recipe here you go:

Pumpkin Bagels

  • 2/3 cup warm water
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast

Put all ingredients in the order listed in your bread machine.  Set for the dough cycle.  When the cycle is ended, divide the dough into 10 balls.  Poke your finger through the center and make a large hole.  Let the bagels rise for an hour or until doubled. Pour 8 cups of water into a stock pot, boil bagels for 1 1/2 minutes, turning once.  Remove to a dish towel to drain.  Place bagels on a greased baking sheet.  Brush with egg white and sprinkle with a little sugar.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden on the top.  Cool on a wire rack.

This is day 6 of 31 Days of Pumpkin Recipes

1 Pumpkin spice mix

2 Homemade pumpkin puree

3 Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

4 Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

5 Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

6 Pumpkin Bagels

7 Butternut Chicken Stew

8 Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

9 Healthy Pumpkin Pecan Scones

10 Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

11 Pumpkin Muffin/Drop Cookie Mix

12 Easy Pumpkin Cake

13 Pumpkin Dump Cake

14 Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

15 Pumpkin Mousse

16 Pumpkin Cheesecake

17 Pumpkin Latte

18 Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

19 Pumpkin Chili

20 Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies

21 Pumpkin Biscuits

22 Maple Pumpkin Butter

23 Stuffed Sugar Baby Pumpkins

24 Pumpkin Pancakes

25 Pumpkin Waffles

26 Pumpkin English Muffins

27 Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

28 Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts

29 Pumpkin Biscotti

30 Pumpkin Caramel Monkey Bread

31 Impossible Pumpkin Pie

 

Caramel Filled Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

These cinnamon rolls start with a pumpkin based yeast dough, filled with cream cheese caramel, for an ooey gooey breakfast treat that triples as a perfect dessert or after school snack.

The dough is the same as our Pumpkin Dinner Roll Dough, but halved so it will fit in your bread machine.  Of course you can mix it up in your mixer if you prefer, or even make the larger batch like I did so there are plenty to share.

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Zucchini Chocolate Cupcakes

At 3 pm everyone at my house gets the munchies.  I’ve taught my kids to be self-reliant when it comes to food.  It’s a habit of years of dealing with chronic illness. Now that I’m doing a bit better, I want to take back some of the kitchen control.  I like my kids learning to cook and make do, but I’m not loving the mess they leave behind.  It’s going to take some steady supervision to change the bad “clean up after yourself” habits I’ve allowed.  In the meantime, I’m being proactive by preparing after school snacks.  Rename these “muffins” and you can serve them for breakfast too :).

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Zucchini Chocolate Cupcakes are loaded with veggies, fiber and protein.  You can choose how you want to sweeten them.  I used a mixture of xylitol and sucanant.  To get the right texture, you should include real sugar for at least 1/3 of the sweetener.

You can also be creative with the flour you use.  I used fresh ground whole wheat flour, unbleached flour or a gluten free flour blend (if it has xanthan gum in it) will also work.  If you are using an alternate flour option, add it gradually and stop when the consistency is cake batter right.   Some flours (like coconut flour) absorb a ton more water than wheat flour and you will need quite a bit less.

Zucchini Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 Tbs vanilla extract

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. In a stand mixer, beat Greek yogurt with sugar, eggs and vanilla.  Stir in Zucchini.
  3. Add baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, cocoa powder, stirring well after each addition.
  4. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring just until incorporated. Do not add chocolate chips at this time.
  5. Fill greased or lined muffin cups 2/3 full.  (I like to use an ice cream scoop to measure it.)
  6. Sprinkle the top of each cupcake with 1/2 tsp of mini chocolate chips.
  7. Bake for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  8. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before removing cupcakes to finish cooling.

Nutrition Information for Zucchini Muffins

Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Easy Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Meat and Cheese are the two most expensive categories in my grocery budget. I keep costs down by choosing less expensive proteins a few times a week like eggs.   While I’m not a fan of vegan protein alternatives like tofu and TVP,  I do enjoy fresh or dry roasted edamame.

how to prepare tofu

If someone in my home developed food allergies to all dairy and eggs I’d consider tofutti. Until then…. nope.

Eggs, on the other hand, are little compact nuggets of serious nutrition.  2 large eggs have 140 calories, 12g of protein, and everything necessary to grow a chick = lots of nutrients.   Plus at $1.50 a dozen, a serving of 2 eggs is only $.25.

Grant Slicing Eggs

We like to have hard boiled eggs on hand for snacking.  They are also great chopped on top of a chef’s salad, in egg salad, potato salad, tuna salad, creamed eggs over biscuits, deviled (stuffed) eggs….you get the idea.

Boiled eggs are easy to cook, but may not be so easy to peel.  When eggs are freshly laid, they are slightly acidic which makes the shell stick tightly to the albumin in the egg white and impossible to peel cleanly. The hen covers her eggs with a protective coating as they are laid which keeps this acidic level intact and the egg fresh outside the fridge for 10 days.

peeling eggs

Commercial eggs have the protective coating washed off.  This allows the natural CO2 trapped in the egg to dissipate through the porous shell reducing the acidity and the stickiness of the shell.  Commercial eggs will ripen in the refrigerator to be easy to peel in about 10 days. By the time they reach our homes commercial eggs are typically perfectly ripe.

If you have your own hens, you’ll need to wash the eggs you hope to boil with warm water and a soft cloth before storing in the fridge.  Label them so you’ll be able to tell the date they will be ready to boil and peel (10 days ripened.)  Oiling the eggs for storage will make it impossible for them to ripen to easy peel stage.

Eggs in steamer

We enjoy steaming our eggs instead of boiling them in water.  They don’t crack since they aren’t in the rocking boiling water to knock them around.  We think they are easier to peel than boiled eggs and don’t have the grayish green line separating the yolk from the white, unless we forget about them and over do it.

I use our combo steamer/slow cooker/rice cooker to do it, because it automatically starts timing when the water comes to a boil and sets of an alarm when they are done.  I simply fill the bottom with 2 inches of water, fill the top basket with eggs, set it to steam for 15 minutes and go to something productive.

Peel eggs with a spoon

When the alarm sounds , I use oven mitts to lift out the steamer basket and plunge it into a sink of cold water to stop the cooking process.  When they are cool enough to handle, I tap and roll the eggs on a paper towel (or cloth towel) to break up the shell, then slip a spoon between the shell and the egg.  The spoon curves with the egg keeping it protected and the peel slips off pretty quickly this way. If the spoon doesn’t slide well, I oil the tip with a touch of olive oil.

How about you, does peeling eggs frustrate you? Do you have a family tradition for making eggs easy to peel?

 

 

Cinnamon Syrup Mix

cinnamon syrup mix

Syrup solutions usually call for 2 parts sugar to 1 part water boiled together for 1 minute.  My husband’s mother used 2 cups brown sugar and 1 cup water.  After we married I got the secret recipe and added 1/2 tsp of real maple extract to it to make it my own.  Then I learned by adding a little flour, cornstarch, or glucomannan for thickening, I could reduce the sugar by half without missing any of the sweetness.  This reduced sugar recipe (it’s hard to tell by the first ingredient, I know…) has extra flavor from cinnamon and nutmeg.  It’s a family favorite, especially around holiday time.  Read more

Apple Carrot Muffins

This looks like a recipe, but it’s really a lesson in substitutions.  Apples are $1.50 a lb, carrots are $.33 a lb.  Sub part of the carrots for the apples in this recipe and the kids get more vitamins and I get more money for groceries.  Win-win.  Made with fresh ground whole wheat flour, these muffins are rich in wheat germ oil, B vitamins, fiber, and vitamin A.

Muffins make great grab and go breakfasts (for kids), snacks, and additions to brown bag lunches.

Apple Carrot Muffins

Ingredients

  • 2 cups fresh ground whole wheat flour (I use Montana Gold White Wheat)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar (or stevia)
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 medium apple, chopped (I left the peelings on, but you can peel if you prefer.)
  • 1 large carrot, grated
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 Tbs oil (coconut or melted butter)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a smaller bowl beat together egg, milk and melted oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and barely mix. Fold in apples and carrot.
  3. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full.
  4. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins. Recipe doubles well.
  5. To make it a little fancier, sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar just before baking.
http://www.groceryshrink.com/apple-carrot-muffins/

For best results, eat or freeze within 3 days.

 

 

3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Biscuits and Gravy

This recipe is a man pleaser.  It’s not Fit Yummy Mummy approved or Trim Healthy Mama approved.  It’s not gluten free or dairy free–it’s just yummy.  It’s easy–so easy a child could make it and get tons of compliments.  And if you are hosting an early morning breakfast rehearsal for High School men, definitely bring it.  Even if the center biscuits are not quite done, they will eat it all and one of them will lick the pan and then ask you to bring a double batch next time.

3 ingredient Slow Cooked Biscuits and Gravy

 

3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Biscuits and Gravy

Ingredients

  • 1 lb breakfast sausage (in a bulk log)
  • 2 cans refrigerator biscuits (I used the small ones that come 10 to a can)
  • 2 cans cream of mushroom soup

Instructions

  1. Brown and drain the sausage
  2. Layer 1 can of biscuits in the bottom of a greased slow cooker.
  3. Top with half the sausage and then 1 can of cream of mushroom soup.
  4. Repeat the layers once more.
  5. Set on time delay to cook on high for 2 hours just before time to serve breakfast.
  6. Or 4 hours on low. (An outlet timer works great for this.)
http://www.groceryshrink.com/3-ingredient-slow-cooker-biscuits-and-gravy/

I anticipate the most frequent question asked will be, Is it safe to leave a slow cooker out on the counter this long before cooking?  I’m not sure. We did it–twice.  And no one got sick.  I think it would be more dangerous if it sat a long time AFTER cooking since the cooking process will kill any bacteria.

If the thought bothers you, you can keep it in the fridge and get up a few hours early to turn on the cooker and go back to bed.  (Allow an extra hour for a cold crock.)  Or you can bake this in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden.

The first time I made this, I used homemade biscuit dough and homemade gravy made with milk and flour and baked it in the oven.  It was wonderful too.  I haven’t tried the slow cooker method with homemade gravy.  With the 2 hour cooking time, it might make it through without curdling.  If you try it, let me know.  And now some photos my hubby took of the process.

3 ingredient biscutis and gravy 7
3 ingredient biscuits and gravy 8 3 ingredient biscuits and gravy 10

3 ingredient biscuits and gravy outlet timer