Caramel Sticky Buns

I've seen a lot of types of these recipes but I've never tried them before. I decided that I liked the idea of making it last night and having a yummy thing ready to go for Sunday morning. These are so good and we devoured it!

I found the recipe here and that's also where the picture came from.

18 frozen dinner rolls (Rhodes work perfectly)

1/2 package (3.5 oz.) butterscotch cook and serve pudding. (NOT INSTANT)

1 stick butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

chopped nuts - optional

Note from Kristen - nuts and optional don't go together for me. I used pecans.

Grease or spray a bundt pan with non-stick oil. Sprinkle with nuts. Place frozen rolls in pan. Now, sprinkle HALF of the package of pudding over rolls. Make sure the pudding is NOT the instant kind! Melt butter and brown sugar together and pour over rolls. Sprinkle with a few more chopped nuts. Cover pan with greased foil and put a dishtowel over the foil. Place in a warm place overnight (the oven works great, as long as it is turned off). In the morning, bake at 325 degrees for 1/2 hour. Invert immediately onto a large plate.

Crepes

I always thought crepes were hard to make, but the other day I came across a recipe in a parenting magazine and they looked fairly simple so I gave them a try! Yum!! It took some time to use all the batter and it made a ton of crepes!

Crepes

2 cups milk
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup melted, unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixer or blender and blend until smooth.

2. In a medium-size skillet over medium-low heat, melt 1/2 tsp butter; ladle in 1/4 cup crepe batter. Swirl the skillet until you have a tin layer of batter covering the entire bottom.
3. Cook until the underside is golden brown, about 2 minutes; flip. Cook until the other side is golden brown, about 1 minute.
4. Add a filling, if desired, right after flipping. Place ingredients down the center of the crepe so you can fold in the sides like an envelope. If you aren't using a filling, cook all the crepes, then put them on a plate in the middle of the table alongside bowls of various fillings---jams, Nutella, whipping cream, sauteed fruit, etc.---so everyone can choose their own.
5. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Additional tips: If you have time, let the batter rest for half an hour before frying the crepes. And you can keep any unused batter covered in the fridge for one day.
If you want to make the recipe savory, not sweet, you need to lose the vanilla extract and the sugar. Then you can put whatever you want inside.

Favorite Waffles

Dallin's mom shared this recipe with us a couple months ago, and it has become our favorite waffle recipe ever. We love breakfast for dinner, so it hits our menu once a week. We had these last night. Dallin doubled the recipe so he could have them this morning before he went to work.

Waffles

1 cup buttermilk
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 egg whites

Preheat waffle iron. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg yolks, vanilla, and butter until thoroughly combined. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Stir into buttermilk mixture.

In another bowl, whip the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff. Fold into the batter.

Best Pancakes Ever!

My mom made these pancakes at our family reunion, and we all agreed they were the best homemade pancakes ever, plus you can freeze the mix and use all month long!

Makes about 6 cups of mix, enough for 3 batches of 8 pancakes each.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups cake flour
1 cup non-fat milk powder
3/4 cup malted milk powder
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter , cut into 1/2 -inch pieces

Instructions
•Process all ingredients in food processor until no lumps remain and mixture is texture of wet sand, about 2 minutes. Freeze in airtight container for up to 2 months.

•To make 8 pancakes: Whisk 2 cups mix, 2 lightly beaten large eggs, and ½ cup buttermilk in large bowl until smooth. Pour ¼-cup portions of pancake batter onto lightly oiled large nonstick skillet or griddle and cook over medium-low heat until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.

Repeat with remaining batter as desired. Serve. (If you don’t have buttermilk, make clabbered milk by whisking ½ tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice into ½ cup whole or low-fat milk and letting the mixture thicken for 10 minutes.)

More Granola

Maybe it's just the season for Granola, but my boys have wanted this for a long time and I finally got Cheerios on sale this week at Winco (.98 a box- Wahoo!)
I grew up on this granola. When I think of childhood memories and yummy food this is one that I will always remember. This isn't a crunchy granola. We eat it either plain, on yogurt, or mostly just pour milk on top and eat it like cereal. Yields over 15 cups.

10 cups oats
4 cups Cheerios
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt

Mix well in a big bowl and heat in 350 oven for 10 min. Stir and heat another 5 min. Let cool and transfer to plastic containers.

You can add any dried fruit and a little less sugar, but I didn't have any this time so it's going to be plain.

Granola

Again, this recipe is from the Kitchen Cafe blog. I have fallen in love with that blog and made several recipes from her. This granola is fabulous! I thought we would have a problem eating it all within the two weeks, I was dead wrong. The entire batch was gone in two days, so I made another. I finished it off this morning, it lasted 3 days. It's great. You can mix it up a little and add what you want, great fiber and tastes divine with half a yogurt on top. Sooo good!

Homemade granola

6.5 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
2.5 cups basic sweetened coconut
1 cup raisins
1 cup dried cranberries
1 1/4-1 1/2 cups sliced almonds (or whole, chopped, slivered or a combination – I used slivered)
1 1/4 cups pecans (whole or chopped to the size you like)
1/2 cup high-quality honey
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well to distribute oil and honey evenly. Spread a thin layer of mixture on two rimmed baking sheets (half sheet pans) lined with parchment paper (I used my silpat liners). Bake for 15-20 minutes stirring mixture and rotating sheets half way through until mixture is an even golden brown. Be careful to watch granola: it will quickly turn from golden to burnt and will continue to cook as it cools when you take it out of the oven. Mixture will be moist when it comes out of the oven but will crisp and clump as it cools. Keeps for 1-2 weeks.

Variations:
• Substitute any of the nuts for other nuts such as cashews, walnuts or peanuts (it’s nice to leave some of the nuts whole as it varies the texture)
• Add additional dried fruit such as apricots or dates
• Add 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• For extra-nutty granola increase proportion of nuts

I always add the 1/2 tsp vanilla. I think next time I will add some chopped dried apricot.

breakfast cups

These are really easy! It's basically just like an omlette all mixed up and baked in muffin cups. For our family of four this is what I did:

5 Eggs Scrambled with a little milk, salt and pepper as desired.
chopped green pepper
chopped red pepper
chopped orange pepper (just because I had them on hand.)
chopped spinach
chooped canadian bacon or ham
a little bit of grated cheddar cheese
I also had a bit of grated Parmesan on hand so i topped each cup with a tiny bit.

mix it all up in a bowl and then spoon the mixture into muffin cups or sprayed muffin tin. -Bake until they're done... sorry, I didn't time it.-
Note: Eggs puff up when they cook, so leave some room in the cup for it to grow as it cooks. This made 8-10 breakfast cups. 2 for each person plus a few extra, in our house the "few extra" usually goes to Owen. I don't know why he's not chubby. He eats a lot!