Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

When I saw this recipe on pinterest, I knew I had to try it.  It was so easy!  Very tasty, no fail, gotta make again breakfast.  This was a winner at the Middleton house by all 4 of us!

Ingredients:
1-2 Cans of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (depending on how many people there are to eat)
Waffle iron
PAM cooking spray

Directions:
*Plug in your waffle iron and get it warmed up.

*Open up your cinnamon rolls and place them on a plate so you are ready to use them.

*Spray your waffle iron (top and bottom) really, really well with baking spray/oil

*Place one cinnamon roll into the center of the waffle iron and close the lid.

*Let the cinnamon roll cook until the light goes off.  Mine finished a few seconds before the light went off, but each waffle iron is a bit different.  Just keep your eyes on it.  I closed the lid all the way too, squashing them in the waffle maker.

*Open the lid, remove the cinnamon roll waffle, and drizzle with icing or syrup.

Chicken Pot Pie in Pastry Puffs

I LOVE those small Puff Pastry things.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry...I'll post a picture of them in a minute.  Anyways, they are sooooooo good!  I had a box of them in the freezer and wanted something fun and easy for dinner.  I looked at the box and there was a chicken pot pie recipe on it.  I changed it a little, so here is how I made mine.

Ingredients:
1 Box puff pastries
1 Big chicken breast, or 2 small one's
1 Can of Cream of chicken or mushroom soup
2 Tablespoons milk
1 Bag frozen vegetables
drop of oil to cook the chicken in
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
*Cook the pastries according to package (mine took 20 minutes to cook)

*Take the tops out of your pastries.

*Cut up your chicken into small bite sized pieces.

*Put a drop of oil into a large pan and place the pieces of chicken.

*Cook the chicken until well done.

*Cook your veggies in the microwave until cooked.  Drain the excess water from them.

*Pour your veggies, milk, and soup into the pan with the chicken pieces.

*Cook until warm.

*Add some salt and pepper to the chicken mixture.

*I thought about throwing some shredded cheese into the mixture, but didn't.  If you want to, do that now.

*Pour the chicken mixture into the pastries.  Eat it up!

Flour Tortillas

I LOVE it when you go to a Mexican restaurant and they bring you butter and tortillas.  They are delicious.  The problem is when you crave them at home.  Store bought tortillas don't taste very good, especially when you simply role them up with a bit of melted butter.  Gross.  I informed Nick that it bothered me how simple of a snack it is, yet it is impossible to have the fresh taste like the restaurant one's.  An hour later we had fresh, homemade tortillas.  It didn't take Nick but a minute or two to look up a chewy type version online.  They were really easy to make and took about 45 minutes.  We have made them 3 times since our first time now and they get easier to make each time.  We served them to family who are in town last weekend with white trash dip and boy was it a hit!  Hope you love them as much as we do!!!

Ingredients:
2 Cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3/4 Cup lukewarm milk

Directions:
*In a large bowl, mix the flour and baking powder together.

*Add the oil and salt to the warm milk and mix well.

*Slowly mix the milk mixture into the flour mixture.

*Work it into a dough, it will be sticky...

*Pour some flour onto your counter.  Spread it out.

*Put your dough onto the counter and knead it.  (Kneading dough is where you take your hands and put them into fists.  Now push your fists from the center of the dough out.  Rotate where you are and continue to push out the dough.  Then grab the dough and fold it over onto itself...if you don't understand this, google how to knead...  ;)  Its a fold and press sort of motion...

*The stickyness will be gone mostly now (after kneading).  Put the dough back in the bowl after you have kneaded it for about 2 minutes.

*Cover the dough with a damp cloth.

*Let sit for 15 minutes covered.  It will not rise, but it needs to sit for 15 minutes covered.

*Divide your dough into 8 equal sized balls.  Set them apart from one another so they are not touching.  Cover them with a kitchen towel.

*Let them sit covered for 20 minutes.

*After 20 minutes, place a bit more flour onto your counter.

*Take a rolling pin and roll each dough ball into a 7 inch square.

*Turn a pan on the stove onto medium heat.

*Do not spray it with baking spray, it won't stick...

*Cook the tortilla in the pan for about 30 seconds on each side.  They blister on each side when the side is cooked.

*After cooking each side for 30 seconds, place it onto a plate.  Cook the rest of the tortillas the same way.  Enjoy!

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

Did you read the title right???  There's no way...  Yes, there is "way" and you did in fact read it right.  These muffins are made up of 2 ingredients, and they take about 2 minutes to prepare.  You are probably wondering how they taste, right?  Well, you will be pleasantly surprised with how incredibly yummy these are!  They are so moist too!  I absolutely, most definitely will be making these again.  Oh, and my next recipe is for the pumpkin spiced butter-cream frosting I made/kind of invented.  AMAZING!

Ingredients:
1 Pkg yellow cake mix
1 Can pumpkin

Directions:
*Mix the 2 ingredients together.

*Put muffin liners in your muffin pans.

*Drop dough by large spoonfuls into muffin liners (they don't expand as much as normal cupcakes/muffins do).

*Set your oven to 350*F.

*Bake for 22-25 minutes.

*Put icing on them once they are dry if you want too.  My above recipe is delicious for the tops of these (Buttercream Icing)!

"Homemade" Bread

I have never posted about a boxed food item before, but this one was too good not to mention!  I bought it at Walmart and it was SO easy to make, it worked perfectly, and we all loved it.  So, go get a box...and make homemade bread!  YUM!

Here is the box to look for:

You know you want some!

OH!  Just follow the directions exactly on the box!  Oops!

Cheddar Biscuits

Here is another recipe from my friend Susan.  She sent it to me a few weeks ago and I kept forgetting about them...until now!  Am I ever glad I made them because they were SO easy to make, they made a ton of biscuits (good for snacks later tonight), and I pretty well had all the ingredients at home.

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups Bisquick baking mix
¾ cup cold whole milk
4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick)
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese

Bush on Top:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
½ teaspoon garlic powder


Directions:
* Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

* Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a large fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter in there that are about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and ¼ teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.

*  Drop approximately ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop.

*  Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

*  When you take the biscuits out of the oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter is a small bowl in your microwave. Stir in ½ teaspoon garlic powder and the dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over the tops of the biscuits.  (NOTE: Only put butter on the ones you plan to eat...they will store better if there is no butter on the tops of the one's you save for later.  Also, I didn't have any parsely flakes and mine turned out great regardless.  I had about 20 biscuits when I made them).

Monkey Bread

Oh...My...Goodness!  This is incredibly easy, and ridiculously delicious!  Perfect for a quick weekend breakfast!

Ingredients:
2 Packs of Grands Flaky Biscuits (no-name brand works just as good)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
7 Tbsp butter
1/3 Cup Brown sugar
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup (real if you have it)
Dash of nutmeg

Directions:
*Pre-heat oven to 350*F

*Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces.

*In a small bowl, mix the cinnamon and white sugar.

*In a large bowl with a lid (if you have it), pour all the biscuit pieces and the cinnamon/sugar mix.  Shake until the pieces are all coated.

*Pour the pieces into your bundt pan that has been sprayed down with cooking spray.  (There always seems to be quite a bit of the sugar mixture that doesn't stick to the biscuit pieces.  I sprinkle a bit of it over the biscuit pieces once its in a dish, and then throw the rest out.  You CAN sprinkle it all over and use it all, but I don't.  It will  taste great either way!)

 

*In another small bowl, melt the butter.  Now mix in the brown sugar, maple syrup, and nutmeg.  Mix well.

*Pour the butter mixture over the biscuit mixture.

 

*Bake in oven for 30 minutes until browned.  (Since buying our new home, I notice that the oven at the new house isn't quite as hot as the old one.  I cook the monkey bread for about 33-34 minutes at the new house.)

Beer Bread

I started seeing tons of recipes for this "beer bread" online.  I chose the easiest one I could find and was quite suprised with how tasty it was.  Its semi-sweet, and really heavy (no yeast, so it doesn't rise).  We agreed it needs something else next time, so I researched some flavors you can do for beer bread and added them at the bottom.  We will do some sort of cheese in ours and maybe chives next time!  You can do this plain one if you plan on using the bread with a soup or something that it will get dipped in.  If you want it as a side bread to your meal I would suggest adding one of the "add-ins" at the bottom! 

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 (12 ounce) can or bottle of beer (I used a miller lite)
1/4 stick of butter

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350*F

*Mix the flour, sugar and beer until well mixed.

*Pour it into an 8x8 or a 9x9 baking dish.

*Cook for 30 minutes.  Take bread out of the oven, rub the butter on the top and then place the bread back into the oven for 4-5 more minutes.

ADD INS:  (from Farmgirl Fare Blog)
Garlic & Herb:
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 minced garlic cloves (or 1 teaspoon garlic flakes)

Dill & Chive:
2 Tablespoons fresh or dried dill
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Rosemary & Feta:
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ounces)

Italian:
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon oregano (
2 minced cloves of garlic
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Other Additions: Any dried or fresh herbs; 1/2 cup freshly grated asiago (or other hard cheese); 1/2 cup finely chopped onion, 1/2 cup chopped scallions; 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour or 1/2 cup oats in place of 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour. Or practically anything else you can think of—just use your imagination.

Banana Bread

I am happy to say that I can stop looking for banana bread recipes.  Last night I tried a new recipe and it is going to be the one I use from now on.  Yes, its that good!

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
2 eggs
1 1/2 Cups sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup of walnuts or pecans

Directions:
*In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork.

*Add eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla to bananas.  Mix well.

*Add flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix just until combined.  Do not overmix.

*Fold in your nuts. 

*Pour batter in metal loaf pan coated with cooking spray.

*Bake in preheated (350) for one hour.

(This recipe came from a blog I came across online)