It's not very often that I make breakfast but when I do, French Toast is definitely one of our favorites. It's simple and fast plus you get to put all of that ooey-gooey-sugary-yummy syrup on it. And I put a little something extra in ours just to make it that much better.
Ingredients
- 8 pieces of bread (White)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 1/2 Tbsp flour (to help thicken batter)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 1 pinch nutme
- 1 Tbsp butter
Instructions
- In medium bowl scramble eggs then add milk, flour and spices and mix together. Pour eggs into a pie pan to easily dip bread.
- Heat skillet and melt butter.
- Place 1 piece of bread into batter and coat evenly on both sides.
- Place bread on skillet and fry evenly on both sides.
- Serve with choice of toppings.
Topping Suggestions
- Syrup (of course)
- Strawberries or other berries with whip cream
- Peanut butter
- Plain with a little melted butter (without the butter you can wrap a paper napkin around it and take it on the go)
- Powdered sugar
- Raisins
- Bananas (with chocolate chips is even better)
- Scoop of vanilla icecream
- Any combination of the above or anything else you can think of.
Bread Suggestions
You can really use any bread that you like or have in the bread box. If it's a little bit stale it works even better.
- French bread
- Sourdough
- Wheat
- Left over dinner rolls
If peace on earth had a flavor, it would taste exactly like this cheesecake. Matt said it tasted like more. Either way, it's one of my favorite cheesecake recipes. You can make it either as a regular cheesecake or individual cupcakes. This recipe is for the cupcake version. Since it's pumpkin flavored it's perfect for Thanksgiving and fall but in all honesty I would eat it any time of the year.
Makes 4 dozen cupcakes or 1-9" cheesecake
Crust
- 3 packages Chips Ahoy Chewy Gooey Megafudge cookies (Any soft chocolate cookie)
Filling
- 4 - 8oz packages cream cheese - softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 5 eggs
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 - 15oz can pumpkin puree
Topping
- 6oz dark chocolate chips
- 6oz caramel
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 1/2 - 1 cup chopped walnuts (can substitute or combine pecans)
Directions
- Combine spices, pumpkin and flour in a small bowl. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer beat cream cheese until well combined. Gradually add in granulated and brown sugar. Continue mixing until smooth, scraping edges as needed.
- On low speed, one at a time add the eggs. After thoroughly mixed add pumpkin mixture.
- Heat oven to 350
- While oven is heating put cupcake holders in cupcake pan. Place 1 chocolate cookie in each cup. Using fingertips press cookie into bottom of each cupcake (Recommend using 4 different cupcake pans so they can set after baking).
- Pour batter into each cupcake until almost to the top (about 1/3 cup)
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack for 2-3 hours. Gently remove each cupcake from pan. Refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours.
- Sprinkle chopped nuts onto cheesecakes. Melt caramel with 1 Tbsp milk in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and continue melting in 10-15 second intervals until smooth then drizzle over cheesecake. Melt chocolate in similer manner (without the milk) and drizzle over cheesecake.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. Also good with Whipcream on top.
Substitutions
- Use a 9" spring pan for a single cheesecake
- Use cinnamon graham crackers for crust
- Use crushed gingersnap cookies for crust
- Use crushed chocolate graham crackers for crust
- When using dry crusts you will need 1 stick melted butter and 1/2 cup sugar for every 1 box of cookies. Melt butter, combined with crushed cookies and sugar until well covered. Press into bottom of pan.
- Use 1 Tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice instead of individual spices
If you think and rationalize like I do, Chex Mix can be almost healthy. Nuts are good for you. Gluten free cereal is not so bad. And the butter is dairy, so there's that.
I love making Chex Mix and having it in the cupboard for a snack and I've found that I don't keep potato chips around when I have it either. This is how I like to make Chex Mix for us, but there are tons of different ways.
This recipe will make 3-gallon zip-lock bags full.
Ingredients
- 1 box Corn Chex cereal
- 1 box Rice Chex cereal
- 1 box Honey Nut Chex cereal
- Walnuts
- Pecans
- Cashews
- Pretzels
- 3 sticks butter (1 stick of butter per 1 box of cereal)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. Season salt
- 2 tsp. Garlic powder
- 2 Tsp. Onion powder
- 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
- Newspaper
Directions
- Heat oven to 250
- In large roasting pan mix together cereal, pretzels, nuts. Set aside.
- In saucepan melt butter then stir in seasoning and Worcestershire.
- Pour 1/3 of butter over cereal and mix. Continue with the rest of the butter until cereal is well coated.
- Bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.
- Pour over newspaper to cool (this will soak up some of the butter so it does not get soggy).
- After cooled, bag in either 1-gallon zip lock bags or smaller snack size bags to take on the go.
Substitutions or additions
- Honey Nut Cherrios
- Bagel chips
- Rye chips
- Wheat Chex
- Cheese Nips
- Almonds
- Peanuts
- Mix nuts
- M&Ms - Only add after baked and cooled
- Craisins - Only add after baked and cooled
Some things to keep in mind with all of my recipes...
- I'll try and keep the sarcasm to a minimum in the recipes...no promises though.
- I have a sweet tooth, most of my recipes are desserts.
- I can cook and bake...I can't decorate. I can make it taste good, I can't make it look good.
- I rarely make the same thing the same way twice. Partly because I'm sure I can make it better next time...Mostly because I can't remember what I did last time.
- Plan on left-overs.
- Most of these recipes came from people who are better at cooking and baking than I am. All I did was find it, tweak the recipe and bring it somewhere with me.
- I can't remember everything that I have made and told people about so if there is something specific you know I have made in the past and it's something you want the recipe for, let me know so I can post it.
- I'm not a chef. I don't know what you did wrong. I probably don't know how to fix it for you. You can ask but I can't guarantee I'll know the answer.
- Our house likes flavor. Lots of flavor. Adjust your spices as needed for each recipe. I would start with less than the recipe says and add more as you need it.
- All of these recipes are what worked for me. You might have to adjust some things such as cook time on your own.
- Don't get discouraged if it's not exactly how you wanted it to be, just make adjustments and try it again.
- If you don't like how it turns out...it's not my fault.
Enjoy!
When you need something fast and simple and don't want to cook again for two or three days, here you go. It's also great because you can keep the ingredients in the cupboards and use it as a go-to recipe when you need it. I've frozen the left-overs in individual containers before and it
worked pretty well to defrost single servings when we wanted it.
Bonus - You only have one pan, a couple of spoons and bowls to clean up when you're done.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 1 yellow onion - chopped
- 1 can chili beans
- 1 can pork and beans
- 1 can kidney beans - drained and rinsed
- 1 can black beans - drained and rinsed
- 1 can navy beans - drained and rinsed
- 1 can whole tomatoes
- 1-64oz jar of V8 Juice - less if you don't want it as soupy
- 1-12 oz can of Spicy V8
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Optional to taste - Paprika, Chili Powder, Cayenne Pepper
- Stock pot (I use my 15 quart)
Directions
- Brown hamburger and chopped onion in stock pot with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Add whole tomatoes and break apart into smaller pieces. Heat until the tomato juice starts to bubble stirring occasionally.
- Reduce heat to medium-low. Add beans, V8 and spices as desired.
- Reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer until you are ready to eat.
- Enjoy! Great with a spoonful of sour cream and biscuits, cornbread or saltine crackers.
