Baked Ham Egg and Cheese Boats

(Adapted from Spoon Fork Bacon) 

Ham, egg AND cheese... all in a loaf of bread? Yes Yes Yes! 
There's so many ways you could go with this idea but we'll keep it to the basics today. But seriously, the possibilities are endless.  Think bacon, bell peppers, mushrooms, etc..etc..etc..

Lets just jump right into it because there's not really much else to say about it other than its delicious and my non fancy self secretly felt a little fancy when I pulled it out of the oven and served it up. 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
* this is based on how many I made. Adjust according to how many you want to eat!

• 4 small baguettes. (you can use hoagie rolls)
• 6 large eggs 
• 1/3 cup heavy cream (you can use milk instead)
• 1 cup diced ham (I just grabbed the sliced deli sandwich ham and chopped it up)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (your choice)
• 2 scallions (sliced thin)
• Salt, pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Hollow out the bread.  Keep in mind that if you hollow it deep then you have to fill it more. I ended up doing this and had to add more ham, egg, and cheese to the mix.

In a bowl, whip the eggs and cream.  

Next, add the ham, cheese, and scallions.

Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the mixture into the bread loaves and place on a baking sheet.  Bake for about 25 minutes or until the eggs are fully cooked.

Allow to cool for a few minutes then cut wedges and enjoy with a nice hot cup of coffee! 

Bacon Pancakes

Oh sweet bacon, I can't tell you how many times I've zoomed in on this picture just to stare at the bacon. Bacon will be the death of me if I don't watch out and clearly I'm eating way more than I should in one sitting because each time afterwards, I'm dehydrated for at least two days. I've got the bacon fever bad and I need to stop. But first, bacon pancakes!
The song Bacon Pancakes from the show Adventure Time is a constant in my household. Its absolutely catchy and of course makes me crave bacon, so this morning I decided to follow the songs lead and make bacon pancakes, all the while singing the song... in fact, I'm singing it now that I'm talking about it..... I can't stop. 

Now I'm not a huge fan of pancakes - I prefer crispy waffles, but the idea of sticking a strip of bacon in a pancake sounds pretty damn cool if you ask me.  And before I go on with the recipe, I'm going to post this remix version that I play on a loop, of the Adventure Time song.  It'll make you happy and without a doubt want bacon pancakes! It'll also get stuck in your head. Forever.  You should totally hit play right now.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• 1 package of bacon (preferably thick, center cut)
• Pancake mix (I buy the kind you just add water to, but make it however you like)

                         THATS IT!   How easy is that?!

DIRECTIONS:

Fry the bacon.  How much is up to you. I did most of the package but also left several strips to eat solo. Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats eating crunchy bacon on its own.  If you have a bacon press, use it. You want to keep your strips somewhat flat.  Set aside when done.

Mix up your pancake batter and if you have one of those hot griddles, I'd say use that. But a skillet works just as well. Its what I use, it just takes longer. 

      

Place a strip of bacon down on the hot surface and then pour  batter over it. Let it cook and then slowly flip once the first side is done. You can gauge when to flip when all the little bubbles burst. 

Once the second side is done, move to a plate and continue with as many as you plan on making.

Pour some syrup over it for added yummy goodness. Butter too!

Bacon and Corn Griddle Cakes

(Adapted from Recipe Girl)
Holy sweet bacon.  I stumbled upon this amazing recipe that is hands down my new favorite way of eating pancakes.  I'm really not much of a pancake fan (I prefer waffles) but I am now totally and completely sold on pancakes and I don't know that I could eat pancakes any other way after this.
These pancakes are filled with bacon and cheese and corn and are pure heaven. I even ate the leftovers cold as a snack and they were still awesome.


My first batch was a semi fail in that the batter was too runny.  The results were fine and edible, just thinner than I would have liked.  I also didn't follow the original recipe which was to make it from scratch, but rather I opted to use a box of pancake mix.  With my 2nd batch, I added an extra 1/2 cup or so of pancake mix which thickened it up perfectly.


Ingredients:
12 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup finely chopped sweet onion
4 stalks of scallions, sliced/chopped
Pancake mix - use the waffle directions (egg, oil, water)
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1 cup frozen, canned or fresh corn
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Pepper
Maple syrup, for serving


Directions:

• I used thick center cut bacon. Cut them into 1/2 inch pieces and cook them over medium head until they start to brown.  Throw in the onion and scallions and continue to cook until the bacon is crispy and the onions and scallions are soft.  

• See the picture up at the top? Scoop out that much bacon and some of the onion/scallion mix - this is going to be your topping later, so set it aside. In fact, if you're going to make several stacks, scoop out enough so that everyone has some topping, and of course up the amount of bacon if 12 isn't enough.  The original recipe called for 8 slices. I upped this because 8 wasn't enough for me. I started with 8 and after pulling out the reserve bacon topping, I felt what was left wasn't enough for the batter, so I cooked up some more. 

• While the bacon and onions are cooking, mix up your pancake mix in a medium bowl.  Remember to use the waffle method, which calls for water, oil, and an egg. I used Hungry Jack Complete Extra Light & Fluffy Pancake & Waffle Mix:  2 1/2 cups of mix, 1 1/4 cups of water, 1/4 cup of oil and 1 egg.

• Stir in the rest of the bacon mixture, corn, and cheese. Your mixture should be thick. If not, add more pancake mix. If you'd prefer them thinner, add a little milk.

• Heat the skillet and spray a little nonstick spray in the pan. Pour about 1/4 of a cup of the batter onto the pan and cook until its golden brown. Flip and repeat on the other side.  Repeat with the remaining batter.

• Serve stacks with the reserve bacon/onion mix and some maple syrup to top it off.

Easy Homemade Pop Tarts

Who doesn’t like PopTarts? This household does and so I decided I’m going to be fancy non fancy and make some because then I can say Ohh Ahh I made PopTarts.  I looked at a couple recipes online and they all looked pretty simple; I’m figuring, I got this!  Well I’d like to say that after my attempt, I’ll probably maybe perhaps never make them again.   I can't claim that they look amazing as I had hoped, but they tasted oh so good. I might even venture to say better than the real PopTarts.  Maybe I’ll make them once more. And maybe the next time it’ll go much smoother.

So my first feeble attempt was quite messy. I don’t know how these other people do it but I’d like to see their behind the scenes. I toggled between two recipes on Bake Me More's site and Smitten Kitchen's.  In the end, I was starting to feel real lazy and semi defeated that I gave up on the idea of making the fancy filling with the cornstarch (a la Smitten Kitchen) and just went straight for the easy squeeze bottle in the fridge and nothing more.  I honestly found it to be just fine and delicious.  So for those of you who plan on trying this, I think there’s no need for the added step of mixing in the cornstarch bla bla bla. But what do I know, maybe it makes the filling that much better. I didn’t even attempt the other filling options.

Here goes, the simplest way I found:

Ingredients:

1 package of refrigerated pie crust

Jelly – I used the standard Grape Smuckers.

Butter – few spoons will do.

Glaze, Icing, Sprinkles – whatever you want to top it with.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

There will be 2 pie crusts in the package. It’ll help to let the open package sit for a bit to room temperature. Impatient me didn’t wait THAT long...but I did let the dough soften up some. Dust your workspace with flour and unroll one of the pie crusts out into a rectangular shape. You should have it rolled out enough to cut a 9x13 piece.  I used a baking pan to measure it out and a pizza cutter to cut it.

Repeat with the 2^nd roll.

Next you’ll want to cut the big pieces into several smaller, even rectangles (your Pop Tarts), again using the pizza cutter. I managed a total of 16 smaller pieces.

Now many will say to use the cut off edges to make more or to make other treats.  This is about the point where I was getting annoyed because I couldn’t get it even enough. NOTE: a ruler would help. BUT, I didn’t have a ruler and after a couple attempts to make it look fancy and even, I say forget it... cut what I could cut..tossed the excess. Oooh, so wasteful!

Once you get all your pieces cut you’ll want to melt your butter.  I just tossed a couple spoons in a bowl and nuked it for 20 seconds in the microwave. Brush the butter along the edges of each rectangle. This will help seal your yummy packages.

Now place about 1 tsp of jelly (or whatever you opt for as your filling) in the center of each rectangle and then top it with another piece.  Press down on the four sides lightly to seal, then take a fork and crimp the edges all the way around. You’ll then want to poke small holes on the top of the pop tart so it puffs right when it bakes.

Baking time was about 8 minutes, give or take.  The jelly may ooze out (mine did) but that’s ok. It kind of hardens like a fruit roll up. I just peeled it off and ate it because I was feeling hungry and greedy.

While they are cooling on a rack, you can create your topping.

GLAZE

I did attempt this and semi- failed because I can never seem to get this mix right...

You will need:

1 cup of powdered sugar

Milk to thin.

Place the powder in a bowl and slowly pour milk in until it’s a thick syrup.  I swear I did this... but my results proved otherwise.

It never glazed over in that white tone that I wanted, more so rather an opaque. It still worked and held the sprinkles and tasted fine. Make sure your pop tarts are cooled first before pouring it on. I was impatient and threw them in the freezer.

ICING

Of course you can make your own or be non fancy lazy like me and buy a squeeze pouch and have the kiddos squeeze it on. Fun times for all.

SPRINKLES

Sprinkles makes even the non fancy, fancy.

Now comes the time where you can step back and be amazed by your creation. Even my horrible cutting skills were saved by the icing and sprinkles. Likely you can do a better job than me, but nobody in my house complained and the plate was empty before the day was over. 

Mini Bread Bowls

How freaking cool are bread bowls? I came across this recipe for a customizable bread bowl breakfast using mini rolls via Tasty Kitchen and immediately knew I had to make these.  Honestly I didn't even read the recipe to start with, I just saw the delicious pictures and was sold.  A brief glance at the ingredients and the fact that they had photos of a 5 year old making one told me this has got to be easy enough for me to do. 


One of the best things about this recipe was that I could use really anything in the fridge for the filling. The next best thing was that it would only take about 20-25 minutes in the oven. And third, or maybe this should be first (??) is that its all awesomely in this teeny little roll bowl!


Lets get started!


Ingredients


* Mini Bread Rolls - as many as you plan on having! I used 3.
* 2 Tbs butter, melted.
* Salt and Pepper
* Eggs - one per roll
* Fillings - up to you! 


                ~ I used   pepperoni (cut into small pieces)
                                leftover roasted chicken (cut into small pieces)
                                shredded mozzarella/cheddar cheese
                                pesto
                                roasted red peppers
                                spaghetti sauce (1 tsp)
                                fresh and dried herbs

Directions

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Next thing you'll want to do is cut off the tops of the rolls and scoop out the insides.  Press the insides in some along the walls of the rolls, making yourself a bowl. This, is fancy, for the non fancy like me.  

Next you'll want to melt that butter and brush it (I used a spoon) along the inside of the bread.  I opted to follow with some pesto, because pesto is so good, I don't know why I haven't been eating it my entire life.  You know how you can get the jar of it at the grocery store and it its in that oil? I'm pretty sure too you could omit the butter part and just do the pesto/oil. 
Then sprinkle in some salt/pepper.

Continue adding your fillings as you see fit. I went with shredded cheese next, then chicken and pepperoni, followed by the herbs, sauce, and more cheese.

Last, you crack an egg in each of those suckers and you are ready to pop them into the oven.  I decided I'd make one with a beaten egg to see how that would turn out (more so too because I was afraid my 5 year old wouldn't be down with a runny egg). Both ways turned out amazing!  Oh and I cut up the red peppers and poked them into the yolk. Makes it look a little pretty in the end.


25 minutes later, you have these ridiculously cool bowls of yummy goodness that I just know i'll make again and again.


How you eat them is up to you. For my 5 year old, I cut his in half. Because he had the one with the beaten egg, everything held together fine.  The other two were cut in half causing the yolk to run out... but in a good way.


Enjoy!!