The Daring Baker's Take on The Danish Braid....

It’s great to be back with the Daring Baker’s this month. Kelly from Sass and Veracity and Ben from What's Cooking, were the hosts this month and they chose the beautiful Danish Bread. The recipe is Sherry Yard's from The Secrets of Baking and what a beauty this was.

I had all the ingredients at home to half the recipe on a random day, so I made one braid and I filled it with a peanut butter and jelly filling, which I always have on hand, then I sprinkled it with coarse sugar and boy was it good! I couldn’t resist a little sweet drizzle over top either. Can't wait to experiment with the little danish's next time and try the apple filling.

Here's a peek at some of my finished product.

Love the jelly peeking through the braid, mmm!

Ah, here's my favorite way to enjoy the braid, with a little sweet drizzle! It's just powdered sugar and milk whisked together.

Thanks for a great challenge this month Daring Bakers. Be sure to check out other Danish Breads at The Daring Bakers Blogroll. Have a great day everyone!

Get the Recipe HERE

Honeyed Strawberry Shortcake Yogurt Parfaits

Happy Friday everyone! Nice to have the weekend here!

I created this recipe for a little project I'm working on, that I'll write about later and what a hit these were with my family. Fresh, cool and delicious for the summer!

I have been crazy for this Farmer's Market in Mesa lately. I walk out with bags and bags of fresh produce for pennies, it's awesome! If anyone is in Mesa, go to that Superstition market on Greenfield and Main, I love it! I bought 2 packages of strawberries for a whopping $1! Now who can pass that up!

And how cute are these little glasses. I was at Walmart and snatched them up. They were only 2 bucks. I think I'll always be a bargain shopper!

I assure you the whole family will love this treat. Great for breakfast or just a midday snack. Hope you all enjoy!

Honeyed Strawberry Shortcake Yogurt Parfaits

4.5 oz package shortcakes, 4 count, cut into cubes
16 oz reduced fat vanilla yogurt
1 Cup chopped fresh stawberries
8 teaspoons honey
1 package Nature Valley Oats n’ Honey Crunchy Granola Bars (2 in package), crushed

1. Place an even layer of shortcake into 4 little parfait glasses. Top evenly with a couple spoonfuls of yogurt, then about ¼ Cup strawberries. Drizzle each cup with 1 teaspoon honey then top with a Tablespoon of crushed granola bar. Repeat this layering one more time and serve.

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Happy Birthday to my cutest Mom, you don't look a day over 35! Here's Granna, my sister, me and "Mona" at Rigatoni's for her Birthday Lunch yesterday. These women are the best, I am grateful everday for them! Happy Birthday Cutie, had so much fun yesterday!

Have a Great Weekend everyone!! Anyone else going to take the kids to see Wall-E?

Gooey Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Just got done watching the long awaited Top Chef finale and they definitely picked the right person. Since I already ruined it for someone, I deleted my commentary about the winner. It was a great show though!

Now for some pancakes. The kids go nuts for these pancakes, so since many of our Dad's are still big kids themselves, I thought I’d share these tempting pancakes before Father’s Day. The marshmallows are fabulous as they melt into the pancakes with the chocolate chips. These are certainly not your everyday type of pancakes, they are a real “treat” and should only be served on “special occasions!” Just a slight sugar HIGH!

Hope everyone enjoys this weekend with all of the Father’s in their lives! I'll be back soon with a killer recipe using some of the leftovers from my Father's Day Dinner!

Here's a more realistic shot, the marshmallows and chocolate chips are certainly optional on top, they just seem to make my pictures more fun!

Mmmmm!

Gooey Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Pancakes

4 Tablespoons melted butter
½ Cup half and half
½ Cup milk
2 eggs
1 ¼ Cups whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ Cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 Cup mini marshmallows

Pure maple syrup
Pads of butter if desired
Handful of mini marshmallows to sprinkle on top
Handful of chocolate chips to sprinkle on top

1. Place melted butter, half and half, milk and eggs into a medium bowl, stir to combine and set aside. Place flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Stir to combine.

2. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring until just combined. Gently stir in chocolate chips and marshmallows.

3. Preheat a griddle or large skillet that’s been sprayed with cooking spray over medium low heat. In batches, pour about ¼ Cup (or more if you like larger pancakes) batter onto griddle/skillet. Cook both sides until golden brown and cooked through, about 1-2 minutes per side.

4. Pour warm pure maple syrup over pancakes and serve with pads of butter, additional marshmallows and chocolate chips if desired.

Makes about 12 medium size pancakes

A Little Pancake With Your Blueberries...

My boys had been asking me for blueberry pancakes for about 5 days straight last week. Mornings before school get so hectic, it seems like all we have time for is cold cereal or breakfast bars. I ended up breaking down one morning and made them their blueberry pancakes.

This was a spontaneous recipe I came up with and I decided to add some flax seed meal that I bought from Trader Joes a few months ago. I always hear it is so good for you. These pancakes were really delicious, you hardly even know they are healthy.

It was funny, I went a little overboard and added about two times too many blueberries in the pancake batter, so the pancakes were a bit blue. My boys looked at them funny, but ate them because they had been waiting so long for pancakes! I love that they had no idea these were actually healthy. I thought they were great with all the blueberries, but I decreased the amount in the recipe below so the pancakes don't turn blue on you! I'll definately make these again, they were great.

Healthy Whole Wheat Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup Flax seed meal
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 Cup frozen blueberries, plus 1 Cup for garnish

1 Cup warm pure maple syrup

Directions:
Stir together the flour, flax seed meal, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the the egg, buttermilk and canola oil until just combined. Stir in the blueberries. Pour the batter onto a greased hot skillet and cook about 2 minutes per side or until browned and cooked through. Serve with extra blueberries and pure maple syrup.
Makes 12 4-inch pancakes

Avocado and Egg Sandwich with Tillamook Cheddar on Whole Wheat

Happy New Year Everyone! I can hardly believe it's 2008. Crazy! Has everyone decided to eat healthier? I like to try smaller portions and exercise more, I stay happier that way!

I had a great Bikram Yoga class early this morning then later, made myself this yummy 1/2 sandwich for breakfast. I had no intentions of taking pictures of it, but it looked and tasted so good I had to!

I love avocado and eggs. Actually avocado with anything is heavenly to me. This is a sandwich for one, so double accordingly. There's nothing to it, thats the best part! Enjoy!

If you are going to make this sandwich, I highly recommend splurging on the Tillamook Cheddar. I didn't think it really mattered until I tried it. It is seriously soooo good. Especially in mac and cheese. I won't use anything else!

Avocado and Egg Sandwich with Tillamook Cheddar on Whole Wheat

1 egg, beaten
1 Tablespoon milk
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

Few pinches shredded Tillamook Cheddar
4 slices avocado
1 lightly buttered and toasted whole grain wheat bread

1. Heat small non stick skillet over medium heat. In a small bowl whisk egg, milk, salt and pepper until combined. Pour into hot skillet. Scramble until cooked. Sprinkle cheese over hot eggs to melt slightly.

2. Cut toast in half. Place eggs and cheese over ½ piece of toast. Top with avocado slices and close with remaining piece of toast. Enjoy!

Blackberry Cream Cheese Muffins With Sweet Berry Drizzle

My husband brought home these giant blackberries from Trader Joes, and I've been trying to decide what I wanted to do with them for the last few days. I finally decided on these monster size blackberry cream cheese muffins that are incredible. I was licking the batter from the spoon like my 2 year old! They are just sweet enough that they taste like a little cake.

I used my "Texas Muffin Tin" that holds 6 massive muffins, and each feed about 4. You can also use 24 standard size muffin cups for a smaller more practical muffin, just bake them for about 5 minutes less than my recipe.

If you are ever in need of bringing muffins somewhere, or just feel like making muffins, this is a great recipe and easy too. Any berry would be great in these. Enjoy!

Blackberry Cream Cheese Muffins With Sweet Berry Drizzle (adapted from Better Homes and Garden Nov. 1997)

10 oz fresh blackberries
2 Tablespoons sugar

1 stick softened butter
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 Cup sugar
1 Tablespoon orange zest
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Cup all purpose flour
¾ Cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 Cup heavy cream

Heaping ¼ Cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place blackberries and sugar in a large bowl. Stir to combine so that berries are coated in sugar. Set aside.
2. In a stand or electric mixer cream the butter, cream cheese, sugar and orange zest until well combined. Slowly beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined.
3. Place the flour, wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. With mixer on low, add half the flour, then half cream, then remaining flour, then remaining cream until just combined.
4. Fill 6 extra large muffins tins or 24 regular size tins with muffin batter, about ¾ full, that has been greased or sprayed with cooking spray. Press 3-4 berries into tops of each unbaked muffin, Reserve any berry juice in bowl for drizzle. Bake for 23-28 minutes or until golden brown on top and cooked through. Remove and let cool.
5. In the same bowl as berries were in, place powdered sugar and milk. Whisk until smooth and drizzling consistency; should be a light pink color from the berry juice. Drizzle over top muffins and enjoy!

Good Morning Honey!

(This Breakfast tastes much better than the picture looks)

So, I got up early today thanks to my little one and made my hubby breakfast (took under 30 minutes). He is such a sweetheart. He got up early to take some friends to the airport so I wouldn't have to. However, he was hurrying me while I was taking pictures of it, so it's not my best. I can't wait to get my new camera. I've doubled this recipe and it's fed the 4 of us. Give the kids a little ketchup to dip the potatoes and they love it!

So Good Scrambled Eggs With Pan Fried Baby Red Potatoes

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons finely chopped white onion
2 medium baby red potatoes, small dice
Pinch of salt and pepper (I like big pinches, but everyone is different on saltiness)
¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
2 Tablespoons finely chopped white onion
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons milk
Pinch of salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of garlic salt seasoning (Lawrys or Spice Hunter is great)
¼ Cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 piece buttered toast of choice
2 strips bacon, cooked and crisped (I get the precooked bacon at Costco and hit it in the microwave for 60 seconds, it’s great!)
¼ Cup salsa of choice

1. Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add onions, potatoes, salt, pepper and parsley. Cook and stir frequently for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through and slightly golden on edges.

2. Heat olive oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Saute red bell pepper and onion for 3-5 minutes, until softened. Whisk eggs, milk, salt, pepper and garlic salt in a medium bowl. Pour into hot skillet. Cook and stir with rubber spatula until cooked through. Sprinkle with shredded cheese, remove from heat.

3. Serve with toast, crisped bacon and a side of salsa.

Serves 1-2

Borden's Cheese Win 2006

Breakfast Frittata Italiano

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ Cup finely diced white onion
¼ Cup finely diced red bell pepper
1 Cup chopped prosciutto
½ teaspoon minced garlic
10 eggs
¼ Cup half and half
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
1 ½ Cups Borden Six Cheese Italian Shreds

Preheat oven’s broiler. Place eggs, half and half, salt and pepper into a large bowl and whisk until well combined. Set aside.

Place olive oil in a large 10 inch oven proof skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add onions, bell pepper and prosciutto. Saute for 3-5 minutes or until prosciutto is crisped and vegetables are tender. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add egg mixture and cook until just starting to firm up, but still loose, scraping down sides to evenly cook. Sprinkle with basil and Borden’s Six Cheese Italian Shreds.


Place skillet 5-6 inches under oven’s broiler and cook for 3-5 minutes or until eggs are firm and cheese melted. Transfer frittata to serving plate, cut into wedges and serve.

4 servings