Crepes

One of my favorite traditions on Valentine's Day is making crepes for breakfast. I make them at other times throughout the year but on Valentine's it's a must! Our two favorite fillings are lemon juice with powdered sugar and Nutella with strawberries. And whipped cream on top of both kinds. I've tried various recipes for crepes over the years and this is my favorite that I've come up with. They are super easy to make and are a fun change from pancakes and waffles.

CREPES

• 6 eggs
• 2 cups of milk
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

In large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, melted butter, flour sugar and vanilla until smooth. Heat a medium-sized skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Grease pan with a small amount of butter. Using a serving spoon or small ladle, spoon about 3 tablespoons crepe batter into hot pan, tilting the pan so that bottom surface is evenly coated. Cook over medium heat, 1 to 2 minutes on a side, or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Cinnamon Roll Cake

So I have an obsession with Pinterest.com right now and found this recipe on it recently. I made it for my family this past weekend and everyone loved it! It was similar to a coffee cake, but less dense. I think it would be perfect to serve at a brunch. If you like cinnamon rolls, then you'll love this!

CINNAMON ROLL CAKE

Cake:

• 3 c. flour
• 1/4 tsp.salt
• 1 c. sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c. butter, melted

 Topping:

• 1 c. butter, softened
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Glaze:

• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 5 Tbsp. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes. While warm drizzle the glaze over the cake.

Zucchini Blueberry Muffins

I love growing zucchini and having it overflowing so that I can try new recipes with them! I had a bunch of blueberries so I wanted to find a recipe that uses both the berries and zucchini and I ran across this bread recipe on AllRecipes.com. Since I had already made zucchini bread, I decided to turn these into muffins and they were delicious!

ZUCCHINI AND BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pint fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 24 muffin cups. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared muffin cups. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. 

Orange Julius

I had a friend when I was in Junior High that would always make an Orange Julius for us every time I spent the night at her house. I loved it so much! I had some extra frozen orange juice so I thought I'd make this drink to go with breakfast on Sunday. I could drink it every day it was so yummy. I think I'm going to make it a tradition to make this drink on birthdays and holidays from now on.

ORANGE JULIUS

• 12 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• about 16 ice cubes

Combine all the ingredients, except the ice cubes, in a blender and make smooth. Add the ice cubes and mix until smooth.

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

This recipe I half-way made up. I saw a picture of a pumpkin muffin with cream cheese filling and thought that I could probably do that myself with my awesome pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe that I have. I only had half of a bag of chocolate chips so I made a dozen muffins with those and then a dozen of just pumpkin bread with pecans on top. They were both delicious!

So for the muffin, use this recipe. Then add chocolate chips (I'd recommend it) or leave it out and add nuts. Or do both if you are daring! So here's the recipe for the filling:

CREAM CHEESE FILLING

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix this up with your handmixer. Grease a muffin tin or insert paper lining. Fill a quarter of the muffin cup with pumpkin mix, then drop a rounded teaspoon of the cream cheese mix into the middle of the pumpkin. Finally add more pumpkin mix on top of the cream cheese until the muffin cup is about 3/4 full. You should get 2 dozen muffins with this recipe. Bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes.

Fruit Smoothies

My friend Cassie at Cassie Craves let me be a guest blogger and I chose to blog about fruit smoothies that I make very often. Click here and read all about it!

Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast

I had an epiphany the day before on Saturday, the day before Mother's Day - I should prepare some baked French toast and stick it in the fridge overnight so Joe could just pull it out and bake it for me for Mother's Day! Otherwise I'd wind up with cold cereal for breakfast....not very festive. So I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com, made a couple of changes per the reviews for the recipe, and got it all ready. Joe baked it with perfection and it tasted wonderful! It's my favorite new French toast recipe. I bought an extra challah bread loaf so I can make it again soon. YUM!

BLUEBERRY CREAM CHEESE FRENCH TOAST

• 1 loaf of challah bread (Italian or sourdough would be good too)
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
  
• 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, diced
• 1 cup blueberries (I used frozen and it worked great)
• 8 eggs
  
• 2 cups milk
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Tear the bread into small, bite-size pieces and layer half of the bread chunks on the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of cinnamon over the bread and the layer the cream cheese and blueberries on top. Spread the rest of the bread chunks over top and sprinkle with the rest of the cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, syrup and vanilla. Pour this mixture over the bread. Cover with foil and put in the fridge overnight. The next morning, set the casserole on the counter for 30 minutes to get to room temperature. Bake the casserole at 350 for 30 minutes with the foil covering it and then 30 minutes without the foil.

Serve with maple syrup and enjoy!

Homemade Bagels

I was really excited to try these out. Bagels that are hot out of the oven are soooo good and I wanted to be able to make these and not have to drive to Einstein's to get them. =)

Making them is a lot like baking bread except you have an extra step at the end - boiling. I thought bagels were fried for some reason, never knew they were boiled! So these were easy to make and don't let the fact that you're using yeast scare you from trying them out. Also, I just made plain ones but you could easily make different kinds - cinnamon sugar, chocolate chip, cheese, onion, sesame seed, etc. I got the recipe from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion.

BAGELS

• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 4 cups unbleached bread flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon non-diastatic malt powder, brown sugar, or barley malt syrup (I used brown sugar)
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Water bath

• 2 quarts (64 ounces) water
• 2 tablespoons non-diastatic malt powder, brown sugar, or barley malt syrup (brown sugar again)
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Combine all the dough ingredients in a mixing bowl and knead vigorously, by hand for 10-15 minutes, or by machine on medium-low speed for about 10 minutes. The dough will be quite stiff; if you're using an electric mixer it will "thwap" the sides of the bowl and hold its shape when you stop the mixer. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and set it to rise until noticeably puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. (***The way I let my bread dough and this dough rise is by turning the oven on to 200 degrees then turning the oven off once it hits that temp. Right after I turn the oven off I place the dough in it. This ensures that it's rising in a warm place and isn't exposed to drafts or humidity. I also always place plastic wrap over the bowl.)

Transfer the dough to a work surface and divide it into 8 pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll it into a smooth, round ball. Cover the balls with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes. They'll puff up very slightly.

While the dough is resting, prepare the water bath by heating the water, malt powder (or brown sugar) and sugar to a very gentle boil in a large pot. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Use a bagel cutter, or use your index finger to poke a hole through the center of each ball, then twirl the dough on your finger to stretch the hole until it's about 2 inches in diameter. Place each bagel on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Transfer the bagels, a couple at a time, to the simmering water bath. Increase the heat under tha pan to bring the water back up to a gently simmering boil, if necessary. Cook the bagels for 2 minutes, gently flip them over, and cook 1 minute more. Using a skimmer or strainer, remove the bagels from the water and place them back on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining bagels.

Bake the bagels for 20-25 minutes, until they're as deep a brown as you like, turning them over about 15 minutes, which will help them remain tall and round. Remove the bagels from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

Zucchini Lemon Muffins

Recently I checked the King Arthur Flour's Bakers Companion cookbook and have been trying new muffins, bagels and breads out. The ones that both Joe and I and our family members (who are our guinea pigs) enjoy the most I'll share on here with you. This was our favorite muffin recipe that I tried out. It was very light and flavorful and this summer when zucchini is plentiful I'll definitely be making this one often!

ZUCCHINI LEMON MUFFINS

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulate sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Grate peel of 1 lemon or 1/4 teaspoon lemon oil
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup packed shredded unpeeled zucchini

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon peel in a large bowl. Stir in the walnuts and raisins. In a smaller bowl, combine the eggs, milk, and oil. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Stir just until barely combined and then gently fold in the zucchini.

Spoon the batter into a greased 12-cup muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the muffins spring back when you press them with your fingertips. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes on a rack, then turn out of the pans to finish cooling.

Bacon Potato Waffles

I found this recipe in the latest issue of Taste of Home and was really intrigued that the recipe called for mashed potatoes in the batter. Couldn't pass that up! I loved the consistency that it created - soft on the inside and crisp on the out. The bacon was awesome too but I'd add more strips next time. This is a wonderfully hearty breakfast meal!

BACON POTATO WAFFLES

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 cups mashed potatoes (I used instant potatoes)
  
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 5 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I didn't add this - too weird for me)
  
• 3 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (Next time I'm going to try 5 strips)
  
• Maple syrup or chunky applesauce
• Additional crumbled cooked bacon, optional

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, mashed potatoes, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in onion and bacon.

Bake in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions until golden brown. Serve with syrup or applesauce. Sprinkle with additional bacon if desired.

Peach French Toast

This is a dish that my mother-in-law made for the baby shower that we co-hosted last weekend. This French toast casserole was so good and I watched her make it the night before and witnessed that it wasn't hard to make. This would be perfect for Sundays when you are frantically trying to get everyone ready for church and still need to feed everyone breakfast! She got this recipe from one of her friends.

PEACH FRENCH TOAST

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick of butter, cut into pieces
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 large can sliced peaches (or about 4 fresh peaches)
• 1 loaf fresh French bread, sliced 1-inch thick
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• Cinnamon and sugar

In a saucepan, melt brown sugar and butter. When butter melts, add the water; return to burner and stir constantly until mixture foams, then pour into 9x13 baking dish. Let cool 10 minutes, then line dish with sliced peaches, then layer of French bread, and then remaining peaches. In blender, blend eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour carefully over peaches and bread, making sure all pieces are covered. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour (until golden). Use pan syrup to top, then top with whip cream if desired.

Baked Artichoke Squares

I made this for a baby shower I co-hosted on Saturday and they were a huge hit! I got asked many times for the recipe and was quite embarrassed when I described how easy they were to make. Anybody can make these. I got them from the Pillsbury.com website.....a great resource for recipes!

BAKED ARTICHOKE SQUARES

• 2 cans of the crescent seamless dough sheets (next to the crescent rolls in the refrigerated section)
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
  
• 1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained (squeezed)
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (I minced 1 clove of garlic)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll the dough sheets from the cans and cut them down the middle so that you have 4 long rectangles. Place them cross-wise in an ungreased 9x13 baking pan; press over the bottom and up along the sides. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden colored.

Meanwhile in a bowl mix together the remaining ingredients. Spread the mixture over the cooked crescent crust. Bake 8-10 minutes longer or until the topping is hot. Cut into 1/2-inch square. Serve warm.

Coconut Pancake Syrup

I recently made a Thai dish (not good enough to post on here) and had a lot of leftover coconut milk and couldn't figure out how to use it. I searched on AllRecipes.com for something and saw this recipe for Coconut Pancake Syrup. It was super easy to make and we all LOVED it! We ate it with waffles one night and then shared it with my inlaws and ate it with Swedish pancakes another morning. Delicious both times!

COCONUT PANCAKE SYRUP

• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 2 cups light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut

Whisk together the coconut milk and cornstarch in a saucepan until the cornstarch is dissolved. Pour in the corn syrup, sugar, and coconut; bring to a boil, stirring continually. As soon as the mixture comes to a rolling boil, remove from heat. Allow to cool completely before serving.

Banana Crumb Muffins

Shellie made these muffins for us when she was visiting us over the summer and we all loved them - even Joe who hates both bananas and muffins! I had a bunch of bananas that were about to go bad so I requested the recipe of these amazing muffins from Shell and I'd love to share it with everyone! Seriously....make these soon.

BANANA CRUMB MUFFINS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Shellie's tips

Don't use muffin paper liners. waste of time. and in my opinion waste of muffin. just spray pam into muffin pan and they will come right out.

Also if you have an ice cream scoop with a pushy button that releases the ice cream I use that to fill the muffins. don't get a complete scoop or it will over run. like a 3/4 scoop is perfect.

This recipe makes about 12. but you are probably want to double or triple it cause its that good.

Oven Denver Omelet

I have a lot of peppers and eggs on hand right now, so I wanted to make an omelet. I looked through my Taste of Home cookbook and found this recipe (you can find it online here). It went along perfect with my "one-skillet" theme for the week. The whole family loved it and we'll be making it often!

OVEN DENVER OMELET

• 8 eggs
• 1/2 cup half-and-half cream (I used whole milk)
  
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup finely chopped fully cooked ham (I used bacon)
  
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion

In a bowl, whisk the eggs and cream until light. Stir in the cheese, ham, green pepper and onion. Pour into a greased 9-in. square baking dish. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

I recently bought a lot of blueberries that were on sale and was thinking that I hadn't made blueberry muffins from scratch in a LONG time. This is mainly due to Joe's dislike of any muffin except ones from Costco, so I decided to try this recipe from AllRecipes.com to try and change Joe's mind. I didn't have all the ingredients it asked for (I was low on white sugar) so on here I'm going to list the ingredients that I used. Again, check out the original here.

These muffins turned out to be soooo good and Joe even said that they're better than the Costco ones. Yay! Colton was even a fan of them. I think the key was the streusel topping. Take that Costco!

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS WITH STRUESEL TOPPING

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, diced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

Combine 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. In a small bowl, sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons flour over blueberries, and set aside. (This simple trick will keep you from having "purple" batter)

In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter with 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, and stir in vanilla and lemon zest. Fold in dry ingredients alternately with milk. Fold in blueberries. Remember, fold gently, don't stir. Spoon batter into prepared cups.

Combine 2 tablespoons flour, 5 tablespoons brown sugar ,and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles course crumbs. Sprinkle over batter in muffin cups.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack.

Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes

I had some extra ricotta on hand and did a search online for some recipes I could use so that the ricotta could be used before it went bad. When I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. I love breakfast foods! We all really liked these pancakes - even Colton! They were a great first pancake for Colton. It's a very healthy version and the pancake came out light and fresh tasting. You can view the recipe from EatingWell.com here.

BLUEBERRY RICOTTA PANCAKES

• 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (use all-purpose if you don't have this on hand)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons canola oil, divided
• 3/4 cup fresh or frozen (not thawed) blueberries
  

Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and nutmeg in a small bowl. Whisk ricotta, egg, egg white, buttermilk, lemon zest and juice in a large bowl until smooth. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.

Brush a large nonstick skillet with 1/2 teaspoon oil and place over medium heat until hot. Using a generous 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake, pour the batter for 2 pancakes into the pan, sprinkle blueberries on each pancake and cook until the edges are dry and bubbles begin to form, about 2 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes more. Repeat with the remaining oil, batter and berries, adjusting the heat as necessary to prevent burning.

Yogurt Muffins

So I'm still working on my goal of cooking one recipe out of each of my cookbooks and I'm still on the Bs! I need to get crackin'.

This this recipe is out the Better Homes and Garden red binder cookbook that I'm sure EVERYBODY has. I don't know why I don't refer to that cookbook more often because it has some really great ideas in there.

This muffin recipe is so terrific and is very easy to make. The yogurt makes the muffins very moist. I made some changes, using what I had on-hand, and I really liked them.

YOGURT MUFFINS

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel (I used lemon peel)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 8-ounce carton orange yogurt (I used blueberry)
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1-2 teaspoon orange juice (I used lemon juice)

Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper bake cups; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, orange peel, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture; set aside.

In another bowl combine egg, yogurt, oil, and vanilla. Add mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).

Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 18-20 minutes or until golden. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from muffin cups.

Meanwhile, stir together powdered sugar and enough orange juice to make a glaze that is easy enough to drizzle. Drizzle over warm muffins, serve warm.

Country French Omelet

So I've been making omelets for years by mixing up some eggs with whatever veggies and cheese I had on hand. This was a sufficiently good breakfast for me so I was only semi-excited to try the Barefoot Contessa's version of an omelet because what else can you do to an omelet? Holy cow! This was sooooo good! It tastes like one of those uppity omelets you'd eat at a fancy restaurant. I seriously want to eat this every morning for breakfast. It was fairly time consuming, it took about 30 minutes, which is way longer than I usually put into making a breakfast, but well worth it!

COUNTRY FRENCH OMELET

• 3 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup diced, unpeeled Yukon Gold potatoes (I used red potatoes)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 extra-large eggs
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped chives (I used basil because it was the only fresh herb on hand)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Add the bacon to a 10-inch skillet and for 3-5 minutes over medium-high heat, until the bacon is browned but not crisp. Take the bacon out of the pan and set aside on a plate.

Place the potatoes in the pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue to cook over medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes, or until very tender and browned. Remove to the same plate with the bacon.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together with a fork. After the potatoes are removed, pour the fat out of the pan and discard. Add the butter, lower the heat to low, and pour the eggs into the hot pan. Sprinkle the bacon, potatoes, and chives evenly over the top and place the pan in the oven for about 8 minutes, just until the eggs are set. Slide onto a plate, divide in half, serve hot.

Coffeecake

I was given the cookbook Best of the Best from Utah from my mom a few years ago. Then shortly after that, my mother-in-law brought me the cookbook Best of the Best from Georgia after a trip she took there. I then decided that I would collect all the "Best of the Best" cookbooks from every state that either Joe and I have lived in. Joe was born and lived in Denver until he was 12, so that is why we had to get this one!

I absolutely love coffeecake because it's dense, has lots of cinnamon and brown sugar, and when I was a kid it made me think that I was a grown-up while eating it. I felt that way because I imagined grown-ups just sitting around visiting all morning, drinking hot chocolate and eating coffeecake, while us kids were in school. I wish it really was that way!

COFFEECAKE

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup sour cream

Filling:

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (I like to use pecans)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease tube or Bundt pan or 2 loaf pans. In a large mixer bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Mix in flour, baking powder, soda, and salt alternatively with sour cream. For tube or Bundt pan, spread 1/3 of batter in pan and sprinkle with 1/3 of filling; repeat twice. For loaf pans, spread 1/4 of batter in each pan and sprinkle with 1/4 of filling; repeat. Bake about 60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.