Needless to say, breakfast did not go as planned.

No matter.

Besides who wants a lavish breakfast in bed when he can have a fast and easy breakfast sandwich in the kitchen. Not me, no-sir-ree-bob!

I have always been a fan of breakfast sandwiches. Just grab a biscuit and your favorite filling and go. Quick and delicious.

However there has always been a small issue with my sandwiches. The look. I know what matters most but while taste is paramount, aesthetics must also be considered.

I have developed a system that helps me achieve my goal.

I start by cutting out the biscuits with a cookie cutter that is the size of one of the cells from my muffin tin. The biscuits are placed on a ‘parchment paper lined’ cookie sheet.

Then I beat a few eggs, season with a bit of salt and pepper and pour the eggs into the muffin tin, filling it half way.

Next I hand pick a couple of frozen sausage patties and arrange them in the baking dish.

After that, everything goes into the oven and gets baked until done.

Assembly is quick and easy. Open biscuit, add egg patty, add sausage patty, add shredded cheddar, close biscuit. Eat.

These breakfast sandwiches taste great. They also freeze well and make for a convenient breakfast when prior plans … um … fall through.

ps Sunday is a day of rest around here so I’ll see you Monday

And I know just the one. The first step is to get everything mis en place.

I’ll need :

1 cup milk

¼ cup water

2 teaspoons vanilla

½ cup butter

2 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup sugar

5 cups flour

2 teaspoons yeast

Usually I’d add everything to the bread machine in the order listed and select the dough cycle. However, that’s quite a bit of flour for my machine, so I’ll start off with 4 cups. Once that has been incorporated, I’ll add the last cup.

Next, the topping.

For that I’ll need:

1 cup butter

½ cup sugar

2 cups brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

I mix it all together and refrigerate until later.

When the dough is ready, I remove it and cut it into sections with my dough scrapper. Then I form the sections into balls, placing them on a cookie sheet as I go.

The next step is to decide how many to bake. A dozen sounds good. The rest of the dough will go in the freezer. Once frozen, it will get put in a Ziploc bag and then go back in the freezer.

After that’s done, its just a matter of putting everything together.

I start by lining my baking pan with parchment paper, this will make clean up very easy. Then I spoon enough of the topping into my baking pan to coat the bottom. Next I place the buns in the pan, making sure to leave enough space for them to double in size, and then I cover them.

When they’re ready, I bake them at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Then I turn them out onto a platter to cool; thanks to the parchment paper, the buns come out without incident.

Conclusion:  Success.

I was aiming for great tasting ‘now’ sticky buns. It took me about three hours to make and bake these.

And next time, I’ll use the buns in the freezer and it will only take me an hour and a half.

I’m very pleased.

They are one of my favorite breakfast foods. I can mix the dough in my bread machine and then all that’s left is to roll it out, spread the filling on it, roll it up, slice, arrange on a cookie sheet, and bake. Simple, right?

Well recently, I was over at bakingbites and noticed a nice recipe called Quick and Easy Cinnamon Bun Bread. It looked really good, I had to make it.

During my first attempt, I neglected to read the directions all the way through. I simply gathered the ingredients and went from there. After a few minutes of mixing, I noticed that the dough was not firming up.

Instead of checking the recipe again, I proceeded to fix it by adding a bit of flour, another cup to be exact. It produced a dough that looked more like the doughs I am comfortable working with. But then, I was once again faced with the task of rolling it out, spreading the filling, rolling it up, slicing and arranging on the cookie sheet.

Hey, I thought this was supposed to be quick and easy. Time for another look at that recipe. Ahhh, the mix was supposed to be a batter.

So once again, I set out to create the treat. This time I followed the instructions carefully. And I was rewarded with a dessert that looked very much like what I wanted. However, as I did not care for the oil, which I could taste very clearly, I will have to try the recipe again, next time with butter.

p.s. Sunday is a day of rest around here, so I’ll see you Monday.

I have been looking at the way I make omelets. Two eggs, half a cup of milk, a bit of salt, a bit of pepper. Allow the eggs to set then add meat and cheese. Give it another minute or two, then flip one side over, never mind the tear. Slide on the plate and devour.

Its been working for me, but I wanted very much to be able to make an omelet that looked like the ones I order at restaurants.

So, I shimmied over to youtube to see how Julia Child made hers. Very insightful, but … I needed more information, so I got her dvd.

After watching her technique a few times, I felt confident enough to give it a try. I wanted a really good omelet to go with the toast from my homemade bread.

It was hard at first; I can’t tell you how much I wanted to add milk to my two eggs. Or at the very least lots of water. But I followed her advice to the letter. I even worked on flipping the omelet. It was quite enjoyable. 

The end result: perfection. Absolutely delicious.

Definitely restaurant quality if not better.

Quick, easy, incredible.

I’m so glad I tried something new.

     Remember waking up to the smell of pancakes when you were little. That sweet aroma could just about lift you out of bed, carry you down the hall, and seat you ever so gingerly at the kitchen table. No cold cereal today, no sirree bob. Mom was making a hot breakfast; and, pancakes were on the menu. Two please with extra butter and drown ’em in syrup. You stuffed your napkin in your jammies, thanked God and then you ‘went to town’ on those pancakes.    

       Afterwards, your stomach stuck out and you couldn’t eat another bite if you wanted to. You hugged mom and headed back down the hall, grateful for the little things in life. Ahh, if only we could recapture those days.

     Well, we can’t move back in with the folks; but, we can treat ourselves to great tasting flapjacks any time we like. Of course you could buy a box; but, homemade pancakes are so much better. They require only a few ingredients and can be made in no time at all.

        This recipe is my favorite. I got it from Allrecipes.com

Good old fashioned pancakes

 1 ½ cups flour

3 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar (I use two)

1 ¼ cups milk

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 egg

     Do yourself a favor and double or triple the dry ingredient part of the recipe. Then remove only the amount you’ll need at that moment and put the rest in a container for next time.

 If you’ve never made homemade pancakes or if its been a while, treat yourself to some soon.