Friday Morning Breakfast :: Orange Cream Crepes

I am a crepe gourmet. I honestly love them so, so much and have been making them since the moment I could flip a frying pan. Sadly, for me, that grand accomplishment didn't happen until the 9th grade, but still. I made a batch of crepes for my French class and have been loving on them ever since. Usually I stick with the staples of fresh fruit or sugar and lime juice, but today I needed something a little more substantial. So I skimmed my pantry for items I already had stocked in my kitchen. It equates to very little, I can tell you, but I did have oranges and heavy whipping cream. That pretty much decided it. 

Then I started skimming online to see exactly how I could make an orange whipped cream. There was a super easy recipe on the Sunkist website that I followed. It was fairly easy, but didn't turn out as firm as I wanted. So I made up a regular batch of whipped cream and combined them, which turned out perfect. I had a little too much cream for my crepes, if you know what I mean, so I just am going to save the rest for later. For the crepes, I halfed my own quick crepes recipe, because a full batch would be taking it just a little too far. When done, these orange cream crepes tasted like Spring, which is exactly how I wanted to start off my Easter weekend; light, bright, and full to the brim. 

Orange Whipped Cream Ingredients

2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed Sunkist® orange juice
1 Tbsp. fresh Sunkist® orange zest, chopped
½ cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp. powdered sugar

Directions

Whip cream until soft peaks form. Stir in freshly squeezed Sunkist orange juice, fresh Sunkist orange zest and powdered sugar. Continue whipping until peaks are firm. Refrigerate until needed.

My Quick Crepes Ingredients (again, I used half of this recipe and came out with 4 crepes)

3/4 c. flour 

1 c. buttermilk

1/2 c. milk

2 eggs

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Directions

Mix all ingredients together until you have a fairly runny, smooth batter. Warm a skillet on low-meduim heat. Pour batter and coat the bottom of the pan with a thin layer. Cook until there are no new bubbles forming and crepe no longer sticks to the pan. Flip it and heat the other side, also until it is no longer sticking.

For our crepes I spread a thin layer of cream cheese, then spread the orange whipped cream before rolling it up. They were so good, but I couldn't even eat three of them, they were that filling! Usually I can down about 5 or 6, so that just goes to show what a batch of heavy cream can do for the soul. 

Friday Morning Breakfast :: Uncle Mark's Waffles

The arrival of Spring has been delayed yet again with yet another batch of snow. Yick! So to combat the cold weather blues and cabin fever combo I have recently contracted, I whipped up, literally, a batch of my favorite kind of waffles. These waffles make up the best kind of good weekend juju imaginable. 

When that waffle iron gets hot and sizzles some of this wafting waffle steam into the air I am suddenly back at my Aunt and Uncles house. It is the day before Easter morning. There are a truck load of cousins scattered around and bellyaching laughter filling the house. There are eggs to be painted, jokes to be played, and fun to be had. Grandparents lounging on the couches with the morning paper. Parents hogging the hot showers. The summer in the sun, winter in the shade weather that Spring always promises. Those memories sounded like the best kind of medicine for a morning like today. So, I was makin' waffles. 

I am not really sure if this is a secret recipe, or not. Honestly, I am not even sure if this is a family recipe or just something stolen from a big, red, Betty Crocker cookbook. All I know is every night spent at my Aunt and Uncle's resulted in a double batch of these waffles on Saturday morning. They have come to be known as my Uncle Mark's specialty. He will often combine them with his foamy, buttery-smooth syrup and orange julius. I tell you, those breakfasts simply cannot be beat. 

The secret to these waffles is whipping the egg whites until they are firm and then gently folding them into the batter. There still have to be little white clouds of egg whites when you pour the batter on the iron. Then, when these are finished cooking, the outside is just crispy enough and the inside is soft and light as air. These are the kind of waffles you can put anything on: peanut butter, jam, powdered sugar, or a kamikaze combination of the lot. I would wolf down five or six of these babies before I knew what hit me. They are light. They are delicious. They are just what I needed on this freaking frigid day. Bonus! If you make a whole batch for just one and a half people, then you can freeze the rest and save them for another morning when you just might need some Spring cheering up.

Special thanks to my Grandmother who copied down the recipe for me and gave it to me when I got married. Her handwritten recipe cards are some of my most treasured kitchen possessions. If you can make out the instructions and ingredients from the photo, great! If not, shoot me an email and I will share ;)

See? I am telling you. All about the egg whites.

Friday Morning Breakfast :: Baked Cinnamon Bananas on French Toast

I honestly love making French toast. It always makes the house smell fantastic and the wafting aroma takes me right back to my teenhood with my best friend. When we had sleepovers we would usually have Mac N' Cheese for dinner, popcorn during our movie, and then we would usually make French toast for breakfast. We even made green French toast (kinda like green eggs and ham only with French toast). The thing I love about French toast is how difficult it is to ruin. In fact, I learned how to make French toast from an 8 year old girl I was babysitting. She clambered around on the counter getting all the ingredients, pulled down the family's electric hotplate, and made her own French toast all while I watched with wonder and awe. So, yes, French toast and I have a longstanding relationship of friendship, adoration, and awe. Which is why I often resort to magnifying this easy breakfast when I want something tasty. This time I chose baked cinnamon bananas. 

Ever heard of them, baked cinnamon bananas? Because I hadn't until just recently. I know about banana bread and banana splits, but baked bananas had never come across my cooking radar. Well, baked bananas are super easy, especially if you have a toaster oven. Also, it turns out they are particularly delicious. They can be added to your French toast, banana splits, or used as a simple healthy snack if you are interested in that kind of thing. Here is how I did it. 

Ingredients

1 banana

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp honey

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 slices of bread

1 egg

1/4 c milk

more cinnamon

Directions

First peel and slice the banana. Spread slices over a sheet of tinfoil and top with lemon juice, honey, and cinnamon. Bake in the toaster oven on 350 degrees for 10 minutes. While you bake the cinnamon bananas make your French toast. Add egg and milk to a small container and whisk with a fork until blended. Sprinkle mixture with cinnamon and dip both sides of your slice of bread in the mixture. Cook in a greased skillet over medium heat until cooked through. Add cinnamon baked bananas to your French toast and enjoy. I had mine with maple syrup and powdered sugar. So yum!

Friday Morning Breakfast :: Baked Apple Crisp

Feast your eyes on yet another easy Friday morning breakfast. I searched and searched for a good recipe, but nothing was really matching what I was looking for. I love apple crisp, but didn't know how to make a single serving. I thought I could try it as a baked apple though, something I had never attempted before. So I took what I found from several recipes and came up with this. Often my antics in the kitchen can be a little scary, especially because I have no training or expertise. However, I do know what I like and in this instance my experimentation turned out perfectly! The oats came out chewy. The crasins rocked it. I drizzled it with a little maple syrup. So very good! When paired with my favorite yogurt it was a filling and delicious breakfast, if I do say so myself. The best part? My Littleman can reaching for my plate wanting more, so he got his own little dish too. 

Ingredients:
1 apple
1/3 c. oats
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp crasins
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice the apple in half and core it. Mix the other ingredients in a small bowl. Press the mixture into the apple. Drizzle it with more honey or maple syrup. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy with your favorite yogurt or even ice cream for dessert.

Friday Morning Breakfast :: Orange and Pear Green Smoothie

People, I am turning into a green smoothie fiend. The blender is my new best friend; that and a bag of spinach. It is so easy to throw everything in my sweet silver machine and set it to whirring. This is what my breakfast looks like on the days Superman is home for the weekends because I get to escape to the gym. That's right, he watches Littleman and I get my butt kicked in spin class. I whip up a smoothie before I leave and take it with me. Then, after I spin my wheel awhile, I enjoy my green smoothie on the way home. Delicious and makes me feel like I am eating healthy in partner with my gym experience. Boom! There you have it. Fast and easy blender breakfast for a mom on the run, or at least a stationary bike. 

Ingredients:

2 handfuls of spinach

5-7 baby carrots

1 peeled orange

1 sliced pear

1 c. of yogurt

1 c. of orange juice

1 c. crushed ice

1 tbsp. honey

Directions:

Throw everything in the blender in order of ingredient list and blend on low for 15 seconds and then high for 15 seconds. This actually makes quite a lot and I usually end up putting some in the freezer and saving it for later. 

Friday Morning Breakfast :: Gingersnap Oatmeal

I am still battling a harsh winter cold this Friday morning, which is why I chose something pretty easy for our Friday Morning Breakfast. Oatmeal is a great winter food, especially when you are feeling a bit ill. It will stick to your ribs, in a good way. The only thing I don't like about oatmeal is it can get boring fast, especially since I have been eating it almost all winter. I can only take brown sugar and maple syrup so many times before I want to go Hulk on the pantry. So what can you do to add variety? 

Honestly I love the strawberries and cream as well as the peaches and cream that come in the instant oatmeal variety packs, but I didn't have any on hand. All I have, thanks to the budget, is a huge tub of plain old oatmeal. Not even quick oats! Yeesh. So I have to come up with my own variety with things I already have in the kitchen. It is getting pretty minimal in there people. Sometimes I have bananas, fresh fruit, or even heavy cream. But not so. The end of the month means slim pickins around these parts. Today though, I just happened to discover gingersnaps. 

I unearthed a box of gingersnap cookies from our pantry while I was pulling the oatmeal from the top shelf. I love gingersnaps. I love them hard and crumbling. I love to dip them in milk. I was practically starting to salivate just holding the box and thinking about how much I love them. Naturally then, I ate one on the spot and decided to try adding them to my oatmeal. Turned out it was so easy and so good for this sick little momma.

Ingredients:

4 gingersnap cookies

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 apple

1 bowl cooked oatmeal

1/3 c milk

Directions:

I simply prepared my regular bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar according to directions. Then I used a little food processor to grind up the gingersnap cookies. Next I chopped up my apple. While oatmeal was still hot I added the apple and crumbled cookies and finished it off with the milk. Super easy!

Friday Morning Breakfast :: The Grapefruit Broiled

Friday is the day I usually make an effort with breakfast, because I seriously LOVE breakfast foods. Breakfast is my favorite food group. How can you not love waffles, crepes, sausage and bacon? The smell of it wafting through the house on a Friday morning is heavenly and says, "bring on the weekend!" Unfortunately I have tried in vain to begin a Friday Morning Breakfast tradition in our home. Superman's not down with it. See, he doesn't like to eat breakfast unless we are camping. Sad right? What is a breakfast loving girl like myself supposed to do with that? 

So instead of whipping up batch after batch of blueberry pancakes and cheesy hash-browns I am stuck trying to make a tremendously tasty breakfast for one and a half without being wasteful. I really need a Friday Brunch Club. I mean Play Group is great, Book Club is better, but Friday Brunch Club sounds like Elysium. Any takers? No. Fine, be that way!

Anyways, for my first real effort at my own Friday Morning Breakfast we have ventured into foreign territory : The Grapefruit. I don't know about you, but I have noticed all the hip and trendy folk seem to really love The Grapefruit. They eat it raw. They put it in juice, smoothies, and glazes. They even make them into doughnuts. All I keep thinking is yuck, I don't like The Grapefruit. 

I have never really liked it. It was a breakfast my Canadian grandfather had every time he visited. I would watch him sprinkle white sugar over the ruby red center and eat it straight from the rind with a spoon. It looked good when he did it with his shaky hands. So, I'd sidle up next to him at the kitchen table and help myself to the other half of The Grapefruit. I would generously sprinkle my sugar, lick my spoon, and squish in. The first bite was blech, the second not much better. I would always end up with my regular bowl of sugar cereal while Grandpa finished off The Grapefruit. 

But I am an adult now, and apparently adults eat The Grapefruit all the time. Pinterest says they do. And bonus, it is supposed to be pretty good for you. So I took the plunge and tried a new way to eat The Grapefruit--broiled. It was super easy. While the oven worked its magic I toasted two pieces of wheat toast and spread them with cream cheese, a personal favorite in case The Grapefruit broiling experiment completely failed. When the timer buzzed I settled down at the table once more, very reminiscent of my childhood breakfasts with Grandpa. Turns out the warm, caramelized version of The Grapefruit wasn't half bad. I ate all of it. Granted, this breakfast is nothing compared to fluffy, Belgian waffles, but it will do. 

Ingredients:

1 grapefruit

2 tbsp brown sugar

Directions:

Cut The Grapefruit in half. Sprinkle both halves with the brown sugar. Place in oven safe container, brown sugar up. Broil for 7 minutes. Remove being sure not to catch the oven mitts on fire (yup, eek! I did that), cool, and enjoy! 

P.S. Littleman tried it and made a face. He's simply not ready to embrace The Grapefruit just yet.