Breakfast Strudel

Breakfast for our family is the same old things-pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs, oatmeal and the occasional cereal. Well, here is a new item to add to your breakfast file. It would also be great for a brunch or other get together. Thanks Erica for the recipe!

Breakfast Strudel
(1 recipe makes 2 strudels)

*1 box Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry

2 TBS butter

1 C hash browns

1 C red or green bell pepper, diced

1/2 C onion, diced

1 C diced/chopped ham or bacon

12 eggs + 1 for egg wash

2 TBS chives

4 oz cream cheese

2 TBS orange juice

Salt and pepper to taste
any other veggies you want

Thaw pastry for 30 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. Melt butter and saute hash browns. Add in pepper, onions and ham. In a bowl, whisk eggs and chives. Add eggs to saute pan, salt and pepper to taste, and cook until just set. Stir in cream cheese and orange juice. Put in fridge to cool. Roll out pastry sheet to 12" x 10" on parchment paper. Cut sides of pastry to braid and add 1/2 of the egg filling. Braid pastry over filling. Brush top with egg wash and sprinkle with either parmesan or cheddar cheese. Repeat with second pastry sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Tips: Erica said she had never done the egg wash on top and it still turned out just fine. I also didn't do the egg wash when I made it and thought it was fine. You can also add whatever vegetables to the eggs that you like. I added mushrooms and fresh basil and it was delish. Using precooked bacon thats already crumbled makes it really easy. After you get the strudels put together, transfer them to the pan on the parchment paper and bake. *The Puff Pastry is located in the freezer section of Super Walmart by the frozen pie crusts.



Photo Source: Cuisine At Home

Easiest Fruit Dip

This isn't my favorite fruit dip, but its super easy, fast AND it still tastes good :)

Easiest Fruit Dip

Blend together:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 jar marshmallow cream

Serve with fresh fruit.

Creamy Spinach & Tomato Tortellini

I made this recipe last night and it was super yummy. The garlic, onion, fresh basil and parmesan cheese just make this dish full of flavor. The basil came right from our herb garden. Score!! I also used REAL cream....something I've never done before. I usually don't have it onhand so I generally substitute whole milk. Using real cream was really good....I just won't think about the calorie content ;) I also loved that it was meatless. Even my two year old ate it so thats really saying something too. I also used fresh tortellini from the refidgerated section in the store (usually on the aisle by the pasta sauce). The fresh stuff is about twice as much as frozen and I honestly couldn't tell much of a difference between fresh and frozen.



Creamy Spinach & Tomato Tortellini


Serves 4

1 16 oz package tortellini (fresh or frozen)

2 TBS olive oil
1/2 C chopped onion
6 cloves minced garlic

1 9 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 C chopped fresh tomatoes or canned, drained
handful of fresh basil chopped
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

1 C heavy whipping cream (Next time I'd consider adding a little more cream.)
¼ C parmesan cheese (REAL parmesan cheese is best)


DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook tortellini according to desired doneness according to package directions. Drain; keep warm.


2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Add onion and garlic; cook until tender and lightly browned, about 4 minutes.


3. Add basil, cooking for a minute to bring out the flavor.

4. Add spinach, tomatoes, salt and pepper; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.


4. Stir in whipped cream and parmesan cheese; cook until mixture just comes to a boil.


5. Reduce heat to low and stir in tortellini. Cook an additional 4-5 minutes or until heated through. Serve with additional cheese if desired.

Photo Source: Butter With a Side of Bread

Cake Mix Cookies

German Chocolate Cake mix with chocolate chips

Red Velvet Cake mix with white chocolate chips


Cake Mix Cookies

Any cake mix you want
1/2 C oil
2 eggs


Mix and bake by rounded spoonful at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Magleby's Rolls

My friend Rachele had a baby shower recently. Another friend Emily made these yummy rolls for it. The picture isn't the greatest of the rolls, but trust me, they are good. I think its good to have random recipes on hand that are good to serve at parties or showers, and this one def is!

The recipe comes from this website:

http://seasonsatmytable.blogspot.com/2009/01/maglebys-rolls.html

Homemade Roll recipe for 12 or 12 Rhodes Texas size frozen rolls
1/2 cup melted butter. (the original recipe calls to add 1/2 cup mayo to the butter, but I skip this step)
1/2-1 cup grated parmesan cheese
dried parsley flakes, garlic salt


Shape dough into balls or thaw Rhodes rolls just until soft, you don't want them to start rising. Dip entire ball into melted butter and or mayo mixture. Roll entire ball in cheese. Lay on baking sheet sprayed with Pam, several inches apart. Sprinkle with garlic salt and parsley flakes. Let rise and bake according to roll recipe or directions. These are amazing served warm, but great at room temp too.

Indonesian Chicken

I just had a new baby girl a few days ago. I tell you what, everyone needs to have a baby girl. :) She is so precious and sweet. Anyhoo.....A day or two before I had her, I was looking for quick and easy recipes because lets face it-I'm pretty sure I'm not going to have a lot of spare time anymore. I found this recipe on my family's cooking blog at http://www.reddhotrecipes.blogspot.com/

I don't post on there much, as I felt like I had so many recipes I wanted to create my own blog. This recipe is total yummers AND easy AND fast to prepare. Score! The only change I made to this version is I doubled the sauce. We like lots of sauce where I'm from so even tripling it might be something your family wants to do if you are feeding big eaters. I'm also listing this as a "30 mintue meal" because the prep work is so fast. It would take longer than 30 minutes if baking it in the oven.

1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used chunky and it worked great too)
4 tsp curry, or to taste
4 chicken breasts

Mix and marinade the chicken for at least an hour. Grill, or put it all in a pan and cook it on the stove top. (I'm thinking you could even put the it all in a 9X13 pan and bake it at 350 degrees till the chicken is cooked. This would make the prep work fast and all it would need to do is bake....although stovetop cooked chicken is super delish.)

1/2 cup toasted coconut (I doubled this as well.)
1/4 cup currants (We used craisins since this is what we had in our pantry.)

Top chicken with coconut and currants. Serve over regular rice or coconut rice. Soooo easy and Sooooo good!

Rice Crispie Treats Varieties

Regular Rice Crispie Treats

3 TBS butter

1 10.5 oz bag mini marshmellows

6 C rice crispie cereal

1. Melt butter and marshmellows in a large pan over low/medium heat.

2. When above mixture is all melted, add rice crispies and stir carefully with a wooden spoon.

3. When thoroughly mixed, press mixture into a greased 9X13 inch pan with greased fingers.

4. Cut and serve.

One of my mom's classics!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Crispie Treats (see top pictures)

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 package butterscotch chips

1 C smooth peanut butter

6 C rice crispie cereal

1. Melt butterscotch chips and peanut butter in a large pan over low/medium heat.

2. When above mixture is all melted, add rice crispies and stir carefully with a wooden spoon or spatula.

3. When thoroughly mixed, press mixture into a greased 9X13 inch pan.

4. Place pan in the fridge until it is firm, about 10 minutes.

5. Melt chocolate chips in the microwave and spread over firm treats. Place back in fridge until chocolate layer is firm.

6. Cut and serve.