Eggnog French Toast

Yup that's right Eggnog French Toast....I can hear your tummy grumbling already just from reading the title of this post.  How could it be anything but tasty and wonderful?  If you have a carton of eggnog sitting around needing to be used up try this recipe, or the Eggnog Cupcakes I made a week.  Either way you can't go wrong.

Eggnog French Toast

Ingredients
4 large eggs
3/4 cup eggnog
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional*)
8 slices thick Texas toast or other thick bread
butter, softened
powered sugar

Directions
1. Break eggs into a shallow dish and beat lightly.  Add eggnog and ground nutmeg to eggs, mix well.
2.  Heat griddle to medium heat.  Dip bread into egg batter, allow the bread to soak up the mixture for a few seconds.  Cook about 4-5 minutes per side or until golden brown.
3.  Serve toast topped with butter and a light dusting of powdered sugar.
* note:  most eggnog mixtures you get from the store will be loaded with lots of yummy holiday spices already but I LOVE nutmeg so I always add extra.  If you aren't a huge fan or don't want extra you can omit the extra amount of ground nutmeg in the recipe.

Mini Banana Breads

I don't think I'm the only one out there that is happy to see over ripe bananas on the counter because I know they are perfect for making banana bread.  Thing is, in my house they usually don't make it to that point.  We go through a lot of bananas around here.  So the other day when I woke up and saw 5 brown bananas just sitting there begging to be made into bread I was pretty darn excited.  Plus I have these cute mini bread pans that I hardly ever get to use.

Mini Banana Breads (some with chocolate chips, others with walnuts)
adapted from Mom's Big Book of Baking

Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
3 very ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Coat the inside of a loaf pan (or the mini loaf pans) with cooking spray.
2. Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Combine the butter and sugars in a large bowl.  With an electric mixer, on medium-high speed, cream them together until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the eggs, bananas, and vanilla and beat until smooth.  With a wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture until just combined.  This is where I divide the batter in half, mix half with the walnuts and the other half with the mini chocolate chips.  You could combine it all together and make walnut, chocolate chip banana bread, or leave out one and double the other.  Its really up to you.
4.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan(s). Bake the loaf until it is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes.  Let the bread cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, inver it onto a wire rack, and then turn it right side up on the rack to cool completely.

Poached Eggs in Chunky Tomato Sauce

This is a recipe I learned for my step-father, Rocky.  He made it for us when we were visiting him and my mom in Arizona.  I was a little weary about it at first, I'll admit it doesn't look that appetizing when you first see it, but it is so good...just trust me on this!  You'll need some really crusty bread to mop up all the yummy juices, my favorite is sour dough.

Poached Eggs in Chunky Tomato Sauce

Ingredients
8 slices of bacon, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup diced celery
2 10.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes w/green chilies (If you can't find the can of tomatoes with the green chilies you can get regular diced tomatoes and add a small can of diced green chilies)
6 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. In a large skillet (you'll need a lid) render bacon for a few minutes, add onion and celery, cook until tender and bacon is crispy.  If your bacon has a lot of bacon fat you might want to drain some of it out.
2. Add both cans of tomatoes with juices to the skillet and bring to a boil.  Sometimes I find that the tomatoes don't have enough juice in them so I add a little bit of water, about 1/2 cup.

3. Once the juices have started to boil add the eggs, you should be able to add about 6 eggs at a time if your skillet is large enough. Season eggs with salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to medium and cover skillet with lid.  Cook until eggs are done to your likeness.
4. To serve, scoop out 2 eggs and some of the tomato sauce, I like to put mine in a bowl then enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Coffe Cake

Ok, so this is another family recipe.  I grew up eating this wonderfully-full-of-fat breakfast.  I'm not sure where my mom got the recipe but I know that this is one recipe that my kids will be passing on to their kids and so forth.  I remember the first time I made this for my step kids, they were in heaven!  It's definitely the go to breakfast for my 13 year old right now..."Bailey, what do you want for breakfast this morning?"  "Ummm, that cinnamon cake thingy you make!"  We always called it Coffee Cake when I was growing up but I've since come to realize that its really nothing like a normal coffee cake so I gave it a little different name.  I don't like coffee, but from what I've been told this cake is very good with a strong cup of coffee.  So, if you are looking for a very indulgent breakfast treat on Christmas morning (because we ALWAYS had it Christmas morning in my house growing up) this is what you should make for sure!

Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

Ingredients
Cake
3 cups Bisquick (plus extra for rolling out)
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Topping
1 cup powdered sugar
1-3 tablespoons water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Combine Bisquik, egg and milk in a bowl and mix until a dough forms.  Spread a little bit of Bisquick to roll the dough on.  Roll dough to 1/4" thick.

2. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Brush melted butter on rolled dough and sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over dough.











3. Roll dough up and place on an ungreased baking sheet.  Using kitchen scissors cut slits in the dough about every inch (not all the way through the roll, just about half way through).  This will help the cake cook in the middle.

4. Bake for 20 minutes.

5. Mix powdered sugar and water in a small bowl.  You are looking for a semi-runny consistency to the topping, easy enough to stir but not really watery.

6. Serve pieces of the cake topped with the powder sugar mixture. (we put more butter on ours but that's just us LOL).  I also recommended drinking a large glass of really cold milk with it!