New Recipe: Make-Ahead Muffin Melts

The day after Christmas already? I can't believe it. I actually started my Christmas shopping in September this year. It's the first year I've ever started really early and it was great! Except that I'm the kind of person who can't wait to give a gift so hanging on to all those presents for so long was murder. We had a wonderful Christmas - and I hope you all did too! I'm still going through all our Christmas pictures, so I thought I'd post about Christmas breakfast.

Christmas breakfast in this house is always a bit challenging for me. As a kid my mom made us a big breakfast after we opened presents because we'd go over to my Aunt & Uncle's house later in the afternoon for Christmas dinner. For us, we go to my in-laws for Christmas lunch and no one wants to eat a big breakfast if you're going to have a big lunch in just a few hours. A couple years in a row I tried different casseroles. One in particular I remember was just gross (my sister and husband didn't think it was but I vowed to never make it again...I'm pretty sure it made me gag). But this year I found a good one! An all-in-one easy, quick breakfast that wasn't too big and didn't ruin lunch (or make me gag). These Make-Ahead Muffin Melts are from a Pioneer Woman cookbook my friend Janis gave me for my birthday. I haven't tried a PW recipe yet that I didn't love!

Make-Ahead Muffin Melts

Ingredients:

• 12 slices of bacon
• 12 hard-boiled eggs, peeled & chopped
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup mayonnaise (real stuff, not light or fat free)
• 1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard (or more to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 5 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 6 English muffins, split

Directions:

1. Fry the bacon (I like mine crispy but you do what you like). Chop up the bacon and set it aside. 
2. Peel the hard-boiled eggs and "rough chop" them. 
3. In a bowl add your chopped eggs, cheese, chopped bacon, mayo, Dijon mustard, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix it all up. Taste it and see if it needs anything else. If not, lets move on.
4. Preheat your oven's boiler (PW says preheat to "low", my oven has only one boiler setting "hot as hell". But if your oven has a "low" then do what she says.)
5. Spread the egg mixture evenly on top of all your English muffin halves and put them on a baking sheet.
6. Broil them for 3-4 minutes (ovens vary so it make take longer for some, it did in mine). Keep an eye on them so they don't burn.
7. Enjoy!

Recipe Source: Pioneer Woman

 Notes/Suggestions:

• I halved the above recipe, we are only 3 people and do not need 12 English muffins sitting around (I'm not sure these would reheat very well). The recipe halved great.
• If you're making these ahead of time (I made mine the night before), skip #4 in the directions. Make up your mixture, spread them on the muffin halves, arrange them on a baking sheet (they could also be layered with wax paper in a container to save room), then wrap them and stick them in the fridge. To make sure they would be hot, I baked mine at 350 for 8-10 minutes (that may have been a bit too long) and then broiled them.
• Grant isn't a fan of crunchy things and didn't like them. He picked the topping off and ate that but was totally turned off by the whole thing. But in my opinion, it's a kid friendly recipe. Just not my kid.
• Chopped up ham or sausage would be a tasty substitute for bacon.
• This would be good for dinner too! You could serve it with a bunch of different sides.

Enjoy!

High Five for Friday

Today I'm linking up with Lauren and Jennie to share some of my favorite stuff from the past week. This week seems very food-oriented!

1) On Friday our big boss had a pizza lunch for us just to say thanks for what we do. We don't do things like that often and it was nice to sit with everyone at lunch for a bit and just talk. I'd been itching to bake something new, so I made these chocolate peanut butter cake bars for our dessert:

2) Saturday morning I really branched out and tried grits for the first time! I've been living in the south for 13 years now and have adamantly refused to try them every chance I get because they just looked gross. But I recently found this recipe for Cheddar Garlic Grits with Fried Eggs and the picture made my mouth water. I had all the stuff, so I made it Saturday morning. I have been turned. The garlic was a bit heavy for a morning meal but I'd definitely make this again sometime.

3) Grant and I went for a walk together Saturday afternoon! Usually for walks he's in the stroller (which I do know he's too big for) or he'll ride his bike. But this time we walked together - 2.25 miles! - and it was so much fun! He kept calling it our adventure :)

4) Sunday night we busted out this ice cream machine that Grant got for his birthday that basically makes blizzards for you. It was a lot of fun! And, I have to say, I was impressed with how easy it was to put together, easy it was to use, and very low-mess on the clean up. 

Grant mixed Cap'n Crunch into his...which wasn't great. I went
with peanut butter cups...which was great.

5) Fall mornings. I love Fall!

6) I actually planned out our dinners for the week (and have stuck to it!) and to break up our weekly routine, we had a picnic dinner in the park Wednesday evening. Grant hinted over the weekend about a picnic and he really loves them - and being outside in general. With the days getting shorter I thought we'd need to do it sooner rather than later. We invited my in-laws to join us and we ate giant sandwiches, chips, pasta salad, and brownies for dessert. Followed up with some playground time! It was a great evening!

So  happy :)

7) One more about food! Last night I decided to try this recipe for Garlic Parmesan Roasted Broccoli. I almost didn't make it because I was in a rush to get dinner on the table. I'm so glad I didn't skip it! It was SO easy to get ready, cooked fast, and was - hands down - the best broccoli I've ever eaten in my life!

Happy Friday!

Have a great weekend!

New Recipe: Butter Dip Biscuits

I have tried several new recipes lately but I haven't been documenting them like was I before. This one was spontaneous and turned out great so I decided to take pictures and blog about it. We were grilling pork chops and I can't remember what our side dish was - baked potatoes maybe - and I've been eyeing this biscuit recipe for a while so I thought I'd give it a try. 

There is one missing because I took the picture after
removing one to cool off for Grant.

Butter Dip Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp. granulated sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. In a microwave safe bowl (or the dish you'll be using for the biscuits) melt the stick of butter in the microwave.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Then pour in the buttermilk. Stir until a loose dough forms, batter will be a bit sticky. 
3. Press the dough into the prepared baking dish, on top of the melted butter (its easiest to use your hands). Take a knife and cut the dough into 9 squares before baking.
4. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, rotating dish once during baking. If you notice that some of the butter that is coming up to the top is getting brown, you can take a paper towel and dab around the edges. Oven do vary, but basically biscuits should be golden brown on top and spring back to the touch.

Recipe Source: The Country CooK

Notes/Suggestions:

• Brandie at The Country Cook said to use unsalted butter for these biscuits but I don't use enough to justify that purchase. So I used salted butter and cut down on her amount of salt but I didn't cut it out completely.
• I felt like 4 tsp of sugar was too much so I cut it back just a bit and that was a bad idea. The biscuits were good but tasted, to me, like they were missing just a little something and I'm sure it was that little bit of sugar I cut out.
• I am the type of person that always puts something on biscuits. But I ate one and a half of these just plain because they were so good. Grant ate one and the other half of my second one (a bread lover like his Mama) and husband managed to put down two as well. They were well recieved all around. We were all big fans of the awesome crispiness of the outside. 
• These biscuits are soooo easy and really good. They went great with dinner and would go well with a good breakfast or brunch. They are a little spongier than a traditional biscuit but still really good.
• Also from The Country Cook, this fun marshmallow recipe HERE

New Recipe: Country Breakfast Pot Pie

When I really want to cook dinner but have zero energy to put into thinking of what to make it usually comes down to two things: breakfast or BLTs. Last night breakfast won out. I want an omelet! I said. But then I found this breakfast casserole of sorts on the Pillsbury website. Plus, it's almost the end of February and I thought I needed a second new recipe for the month...but it turns out this is my third. It's been a long month. Anyway, you can find the recipe HERE. It was pretty yummy and I know this because Husband said he would eat it again. I didn't read through the recipe - something I really should start doing - before deciding to make this or before buying the ingredients so I had to fudge a few things but it all worked out.


Everything for breakfast in one place - YUM!

Cookin' the taters!



Grant hung out in the kitchen with me and seems to like to watch me cook!
I can't wait until he can be my little helper :)

  

Choppin' the ham



Look at all that cheesy goodness!



Cooking the egg & ham mixture
(I really could have eaten it just like this with a piece or three of buttered toast)



Ready for the oven!



Ready for my belly!

Notes/Suggestions:

• The recipe called for an 11" x 7" (2 quart) casserole dish which I did not have. My options were an 8" x 8" (2 quart) casserole dish or a 13" x 9" (3 quart) casserole dish. I was afraid the 8" wouldn't hold it all so I went with the bigger one. It didn't have an impressive thickness to it like the Pillsbury picture but it was still yummy.
• I added an extra egg to be sure my egg mixture covered the pan but I left all other amounts the same.
• I accidentally bought the regular croissants (not the big & whatever ones called for in the recipe). They worked out fine.
• I forgot green onions so I substituted my trusty onion powder and I didn't miss the chives at all.
• Great brunch recipe!

As a side note I just want to say that I love sharing and recieving recipes. Since I've been posting recipes here I've been told by two people that they've tried a recipe that I've posted. My mother-in-law tried the Chicken Pot Pie recipe and my friend Jen tried the Lasagna Roll Ups recipe (she even doubled it for company). I get irrationally excited when people tell me that they've tried - and loved - a recipe that I've shared. Husband makes fun of me for it but I don't care because it makes me happy :)