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Morning Foods

Dessert/ Fruit Dishes

Roasted Pecan Dip with Fruit

Fruit made even better with this dip.

Seems like I’m posting a lot of dessert recipes lately but this dip is perfect for summer get-togethers and so easy to make.

What’s your favorite fruit? Mine is any kind of berry; strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. If it ends in “berry” I like it. Or, on the other hand, I love mandarin oranges (the canned ones) mixed with bananas. My least favorite fruits would be pears and apples or grapes that are as big as golf balls; I won’t buy grapes when they are huge and I haven’t seen a small grape in years; I guess they are all pumped up with hormones or something. My husband is the grape buyer because he knows I won’t buy them when they go over $3/lb. This recipe comes just in time for all those summer fruits you will be seeing at the market.

When we are at any of our kids houses their refrigerators are full or organic fruits like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries and of course they all eat bananas. My son, Paul would not touch fruit when he was a kid and my husband would try bribing him with money to get him to even try a strawberries.

You have never had a fruit dessert like this and a dip so easy; and never a recipe from me with only four ingredients.

Back in my catering days (and that seems a lifetime ago) I catered a party for this lady and she wanted a fruit tray but she had her own recipe for her favorite dip so she gave me the recipe and ask me to make it for her. I made the recipe and I loved it and the best part of it (other than the Eagle Brand milk taste) is the roasted pecans.

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Cake/ Coffee Cakes/ Dessert/ Morning Foods

Blueberry Lemon Cake

Lemon and blueberry, great combination.

Blueberries and Lemon go hand in hand for a great flavor combination.

I’ve done a blueberry coffee cake before but I can’t say that this is a coffee cake. Put a big dollop of whipped cream beside it and it makes a great dessert. Serve it for brunch, lunch or dinner; you will enjoy it.

The only thing I did wrong with this cake was to over bake it. And, that’s my fault. I kept testing it and even though the recipe called to still have a few moist crumbs sticking to the cake tester I continued to bake it. I must have had a brain freeze for a moment or two.

I love making one layer cakes because there’s never a lot left over to tempt you to keep going back for more. Some cakes I have made live on in my freezer for a couple of months. They get cut into thin slices and wrapped for my husband’s sweet cravings.

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Bread/ Muffins

Savory Zucchini Muffin

Savory muffin loaded with zucchini and cheese.

I’ve never tried so hard to get a recipe right.

Our garden club May luncheon is coming up and I’m doing the food. Tortellini Salad, Strawberry Dill Spinach Salad, and a Chicken Salad with orange maralade/mayo dressing. So, I wanted a savory muffin to go in the center of the plate in one of those cute little flower petal type muffin papers.

Finding a savory muffin was harder than I thought. My first zucchini muffin was awful and then I realized it was a “healthy” version of what should have been a good muffin – lo-fat cheese, no fat in the batter etc. My second attempt was a Bisquick version and even though it had 1 cup of Bisquick it had four eggs. I don’t know why that didn’t ring a bell in my head or in my ears anyway that are constantly ringing. Anyway, long story short that turned out more like one of those egg cups people make and mine was way too salty and that was probably because I added salt not thinking that the Bisquick had salt in it and then the cheese had a good amount of salty taste too.

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Appetizers/ Dessert/ Food Stories/ Morning Foods/ Sauces/ Scones

Devonshire Cream and the Proper Way to Eat a Scone

Too good to be a “Mock” anything.

I use to call my recipe for Devonshire Cream “Mock Devonshire Cream”, but this is too good to be a “mock” anything and I’m sure is better than anything you buy ready made in a jar.

Unless you have a cow out in your back yard where you can go milk her and take the unpasteurized milk and allow it to sit for 12-24 hours and then slowly heat it and then leave it to cool for another 12-24 hours you may want to make your own before going out and buying that cow just to get an authentic bowl of clotted cream to put on top of your scone to follow with jam. Devonshire cream is produced in Devon England.

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Beef/Veal/ Entree/ Morning Foods

Beef Hash and Eggs

Put an egg on it!

Did you grow up eating hash (not that kind)? I remember having it once or twice as a kid but it wasn’t something on our weekly menu. I remember working with a girl decades ago (that’s a long time) and remember her telling me she cooked the same thing each week. Meatloaf for Monday night supper, chicken for Tuesday, maybe burgers for example for Wednesday and she would repeat the meals the next week.

I don’t repeat meals often and I have this blog to thank for that because I’m always trying to come up with something new to post. We do have burgers, pulled pork, chili, anything bar-b-queed showing up again and again but not on my weekly menus.

Usually when I do a beef roast, it is cooked with potatoes, carrots and onions. What else could you put in a pot roast? Never though of putting mushrooms in with the mix; I think that addition would be great and will try that the next time.

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Breads/Biscuits/ Morning Foods/ Pastries

Blueberry French Toast Muffins

Great little breakfast treat.

In my search for a cake to bake in my German pan (Gugelhupf – bundt) I came across a girl from Germany that posted a delicious looking cake. After translating some of her things so I could read the recipe I came across her blogroll and some of the blogs she follows which is where I happened upon Moey’s Kitchen blog.

I’m not sure if my translator worked word for work but I THINK she lives in Cologne, Germany with her husband and a cat in a city on the Rhine. Now doesn’t that sound wonderful and when I read about her trips to weekly markets, vegetable stalls and Turkish green groceries, French cheese vendors, regional butchers it makes me want to hop on a plane and knock on her day and say “What’s for lunch Moey?”

I’ve found my newest obsession now is to translate a few German blogs I’ve fallen for and then what’s next? I can move on to French, Swedish or just about anyplace my little nibble fingers will take me.

Now on to this French toast recipe. Moey gave me the idea of doing French toast in a muffin pan. Now why didn’t I think of that since my French toast making days goes back “decades”. These were absolutely beautiful and cutting the bread into cubes gives all those little crunchy edges to nibble on after it comes out of the oven. I added blueberries to her recipe and also some maple syrup with the milk/egg mixture. I also drizzled on some melted butter before baking.

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Bread/ Muffins

Blue Corn Muffins

Blue Corn Muffins – Santa Fe Style

I’ve had blue corn tortilla chips before and didn’t think much of them one way or the other; after all, they were tortilla chips that were blue in color and I’ve never noticed much of a difference between the regular and the blue corn.

While in Santa Fe back in September, we visit Eloisa restaurant twice and both times were served their blue corn muffins with a chipotle butter that was as orange as the evening sunset. The muffins had a little sweetness to it and the butter had a little heat to it — a match made in Santa Fe. And, they were just so pretty and hard to resist even though I wasn’t “eating” bread then. I have to say I did not pass up the blue corn muffins or the chipotle rolls we had at Geronimo’s on our last night in Santa Fe.

On our last day in New Mexico, we visited Chimayo. We wanted to check out the weavers and especially eat at Rancho de Chimayo since they had just won a James Beard award last year. While in one of the little shops, I was stocking up on green Hatch chile powder, the dried green chiles, and the red ones both crushed and ground I was talking to a couple of ladies in the shop (I guess they were stocking up on their spices too) and told them about the blue corn muffin I had eaten a couple of days before; and the owner heard me talking and pulled out a bag of blue corn flour. I know I could probably buy it here (Bob’s Red Mill) but there was just something about sharing recipes with these ladies that made my day. They told me how they use the Hatch green chile powder on popcorn and even though I had not had popcorn for about 10 weeks, it made me want to rush home and make some.

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Bread/ Morning Foods/ Scones

Pumpkin Scones with a Splash of Chocolate

Ready for fall where ever you are?

Nothing says Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving more than the sight of a pumpkin patch or the smell of something pumpkin cooking in the oven. And, it is starting to feel like fall here in Texas at least for a few days, but it would be great if those hot days were behind us for a few months.

I think pumpkin and chocolate make a great pairing in anything. Years ago I did a pumpkin chocolate chip muffins that is so good you will go back for seconds. And since I love making scones and I love taking baked items to craft circle this was a recipe waiting to happen and happened it did this past week I received so many compliments on this recipe I decided to post it right away because they can be made and frozen so during the holidays all you have to do is preheat your oven and pop these little pumpkins in the oven .

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Bread/ Breads/Biscuits/ Morning Foods

Buttermilk Biscuits with Sorghum Butter

My grandfather would have loved these!

Growing up we always lived right next-door to our grandparents and we ate a lot of snacks/meals at their house. My grandfather had some quirky eating preferences. He liked to have his dessert along with his meal, he would crumble his cornbread in a big glass of Bulgarian buttermilk, and he loved to mix molasses with the butter to put on hot biscuits right out of the oven. And, to this day I can picture him doing those things.

I never thought I would like molasses and back then I’m sure I would have turned up my nose at the thought of molasses mixed with butter. But, when I saw this recipe in Garden and Gun magazine from Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee, I knew I was going to have to try and make these biscuits. I’ll probably never get to Blackberry Farm but at least I can try their biscuits. You have to take a look at their website; over the top luxury that looks fantastic.

How do you think those pioneer women made biscuits? I can picture them standing over a old wooden table with a floured covered apron on dusting the table with flour and cutting out the biscuits. Then I started wondering what they use for baking powder. Baking powder was discovered in 1843, not sure what they would have done before then. Maybe they didn’t even have biscuit cutters maybe they had to form the little balls of dough in your hands and pat them out flat. However they did them I’m sure they were delicious with some fresh churned butter.

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Beef/Veal/ Entree/ Morning Foods/ Pizza

Parmesan Naan Breakfast Pizza

Steak and eggs, what could be better for breakfast?

Are you one of those people that take home leftovers from a restaurant because you couldn’t possibly have eaten another bite off your plate? Sometimes I ask for a box when they bring my food just so I’m not tempted to eat the whole thing.

My husband is always bringing home something from Mexican restaurants and sometimes they actually make it into the refrigerator. Once I went to get in my car to go someplace and the most horrific smell hit me in the face. Guess what, it was HIS Mexican food in the back seat. I’ve gotten where I order everything a la carte from Mexican restaurants because I can get exactly what I want and not so much that I’m not finishing it because I have eaten too many chips and bowl(s) of salsa.

Well, if you happen to have left over steak, I’m sure it will make it into the house. There probably won’t be enough to make a meal out of it but you can make this breakfast pizza that is made with naan for the crust. You can really add whatever ingredients you want; I didn’t add a lot of cheese (just parmesan) because it was for breakfast and I just didn’t want a real cheesy pizza.

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Egg Dishes/ Morning Foods

Ham, Mushroom, and Grits Breakfast Casserole

This is one good breakfast casserole and another grits recipe.

I love grits and I really love stone ground grits. The grits in this recipe are Charleston stone ground white grits. I thought I was ordering the mixed (yellow and white) grits but clicked a little too fast on Amazon. To me, stone ground grits are the best and if not stone ground then regular grits, not the instant variety.

The weekend we were getting our kitchen back together after the paint job, I decided to make something nice for breakfast. We had been eating out every meal for over a week even though the painting only took four days, we had a mountain of pans and dishes and stuff to go through before my kitchen was back in operation. Just getting my pantries (food & pan) back together was so great because I didn’t have that “hoarder” feeling any longer. I don’t think I could have looked at all those piles of pans, gadgets one day longer.

Were you raised eating grits for breakfast? We weren’t, in fact, I don’t think I even ate grits until I was older and my mother started making cheese grits to go with bbq. I remember when we were living in Overland Park, KS and one of my back neighbors was from Atlanta and I told her I had never eaten a bowl of plain grits with just butter and salt and pepper. I knew I loved cheese grits but not sure about the plain ones that looked like a bowl of gruel. Well, one morning she showed up at my back door with a bowl of hot buttered grits. We had no fences in this neighborhood so you could just walk over and visit with someone without having to go to front door or gates to get in. Those grits were so good. I don’t remember the girl’s name but I do remember her grits.

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Egg Dishes/ Morning Foods

Grits, Greens, and Egg

Get your greens early in the day.

Do you get enough greens everyday? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. With this recipe you can get some greens with your breakfast.

Originally I had planned on using fresh baby kale and sautéing it and putting that around my grits. But, the morning I made this I went to the refrig to grab my bag of greens and it wasn’t there. I forgot I used it a couple nights earlier to make my pork and kale dish. Luckily I had a bag of frozen spinach in my freezer.

I’m probably the only person reading this post that actually likes canned spinach. I always have a few cans in my pantry and always have some in the freezer and still buy fresh spinach when I want it in a salad.

This recipe turned out really good and looks oh so good in a bowl or plate. I love dishes like this one that combines a lot of flavor and fits neatly in a bowl. The bacon adds the saltiness you want, creamy cheese grits go so well with the spinach and the perfectly fried egg I did in my little pan I brought back from France makes the perfectly composed plate. And you’ll notice the grated yellow stuff on top of the egg. Well, that’s my cured egg yolk that took me 6 days to make. (More on that in another post.)

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