Copycat Orange Julius

This is the third Orange Julius recipe I have posted.  The others are here and here. 

Last night we were having breakfast for dinner.  I love breakfast for dinner ;) .  We had buttermilk waffles with pureed (frozen) strawberries, buttermilk syrup, and jalapeno bacon.  I was going to make a fruit smoothie to go with dinner, but the boys all wanted Orange Julius.  I didn't have orange juice concentrate or any oranges to make the other recipes I have, but I did have orange juice.  SO, I went to the internet to find a recipe that uses orange juice for the Julius.  I found it here at Lynn's Kitchen Adventures.

We all enjoyed this recipe very much.  I actually prefer the Orange Julius recipe with the orange juice concentrate....a little more orange flavor and a little more tart, but this is great too!!  We will definitely be making these again!

I added more ice than the recipe calls for.  We like our Orange Julius a little thicker....SO adjust the amount of ice you add to your liking.

Copycat Orange Julius

 

Ingredients:

2 cups orange juice

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup ice

 

Directions:  Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into glasses and enjoy!!

Baking Bacon

We are still working on finishing up the S'mores stuffed chocolate chip cookies at our house....still delicious!

Today we are talking about bakin' some bacon :)  Have you ever baked bacon?  I tried it a year or so ago and didn't have much luck.  I lined my baking sheet with foil, placed a metal cooling rack in and placed my bacon on the cooling rack...thinking that all the grease would drip through to the pan.  I guess a lot of the grease did drip through, but it took FOREVER for my bacon to bake and the cool rack was a pain to clean!!  So I gave up baking bacon for awhile.

My husband has been telling me about the most wonderful bacon that he buys at work that is 'baked'.  We decided to try it again and it was GREAT!!  This is what I did this time....

I lined 2 large baking sheets with foil and then placed a sheet of parchment paper on top of that.  I needed 2 pans to fit my entire package of bacon.  Place the bacon on the parchment paper close together, but works best if they are not touching...or the pieces might stick together.  Place your pans of bacon in a cold oven.  If you have 2 pans, place one in the top quarter of the oven and the other in the bottom quarter.

Turn oven on to 350 degrees.  When the oven is pre-heated, you will cook your bacon for 15-25 minutes...depending on thickness of bacon.  Mine was not thick cut bacon and took 15 minutes(plus the pre-heat time)...but it will vary depending on your oven.  I rotate my pans at approximately 8 minutes baking time.

When bacon is finished baking, remove from pan, drain and pat off grease with paper towels.  After a few minutes, you can roll up the foil and parchment paper and throw it out.

I LOVE baking bacon.  The bacon is not too crispy and not too chewy...it's perfect!!  I also LOVE that my house smells like yummy bacon for the meal, but not ALL day!!

Recipe for Buttermilk Waffles...here
Recipe for Strawberry Syrup...here

Quick, Easy, Healthy Breakfast

I know...you've all made oatmeal before :)....but I thought I'd share our favorite quick and easy breakfast.  Oh, and healthy.  I make this for my husband for breakfast nearly every Mon-Thurs @ 4:15am before he leaves for work.

With the sweetness of the bananas you don't need much brown sugar.  I really LOVE the crunch that the pecans add.

I'm going to tell you how I made it every morning.  I have a ceramic cook-top stove, so if you have something different...you will need to adjust the directions.

Oatmeal with banana and pecans

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1 banana

~1/4 cup chopped pecans

brown sugar

milk

Directions:  In a small pot bring one cup of water to boil over high heat.  When the water begins to boil, stir in 1/2 cup oats and turn burner off.  I move my pot off of the burner for 30 seconds to a minute to let the burner cool just a bit.  Then I put the pan back on the burner to continue cooking(with the burner turned off) while I do other things...like pack a lunch.  When the oatmeal is the desired consistency, pour oatmeal into a bowl, top with sliced banana, pecans, brown sugar to taste and desired amount of milk.

Smothered Breakfast Burrito...sausage gravy

I LOVE these smothered breakfast burritos for dinner!!  So easy and SO yummy!  If you like biscuits and gravy, you should definitely try these!

Smothered Breakfast Burrito

 Start with your breakfast burrito.  We make ours with scrambled eggs, hash browns and some roasted chopped green chili.  I usually add those ingredients separate...some of my kids only want eggs.  Roll your burrito fillings in a warm tortilla, sprinkle with cheese and top with your sausage gravy.

Sausage Gravy

Ingredients:  

1 pound ground sausage ( I use the hot)

1/2 cup flour

4 cups milk

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:  Brown your ground sausage until completely cooked.  Drain off most of the fat.  Add 1/4 cup flour to the sausage and cook for a minute of two.  Mix your other 1/4 cup flour with your milk(stir well to make sure you get the flour mixed well...with NO lumps) and add to the sausage flour mixture.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until it thickens.  If it is too thick, you can thin it with a little extra milk.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cinnaburst Bread

 Have you ever had Great Harvest's Cinnaburst Bread?

It is seriously one of my FAVORITE things!!  When I saw this recipe for a copycat version, I knew I had to try it!!  This recipe is simple and seriously SO good!!  I don't have a Great Harvest Bread Co. close by, so I will be satisfying my craving with this recipe from now on :)  I was able to get cinnamon chips from my local grocery store, but I haven't seen them there before...might be a seasonal thing.  I know that my sister has bought them from Target before, not during the Christmas season.

Great Harvest Cinnaburst Copycat Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk 

1/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (1 packet)

1/3 cup oil (I used canola oil)
1/2 T salt
1 egg
4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup cinnamon chips

Directions:  In mixer combine yeast, sugar, and warm water and milk; let bubble for about 5 minutes.  Add in oil and egg.  Slowly add 2 cups flour, mix and then add salt.  Add 1/2 cup flour at a time until it comes away from the side of the bowl.  Add the cinnamon chips when it gets close to the right consistency.  The dough will be very sticky, but the softer the dough the lighter the bread.  So use the least amount of flour you can handle.  Let rise in mixing bowl for about 30 minutes.  Divide dough in half and form into loaves.  Put loaves into greased bread pans.  Let rise an additional 30 minutes.  I spray one side plastic wrap with cooking spray and set that over the dough while it rises.  Because it is sprayed it won't stick when you pull it off to bake it.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Makes 2 loaves.

If you can find cinnamon chips at your local grocery store, you can go here to buy Gourmet Cinnamon Chips - 11oz 

Strawberry Syrup

I LOVE fruit syrup!!  Sunday morning I made Buttermilk Waffles and decided to make some strawberry syrup to go with them.  I found this recipe at Taste of Home.  We all really loved this syrup!  My oldest boy said that from now on he will have Peach Vanilla Syrup with pancakes, Buttermilk Syrup with French toast, and this syrup with waffles.  I can't wait to try this with crepes too.

Strawberry Syrup

Ingredients: 

1 pint fresh strawberries, halved 

3/4 cup sugar 

2 tablespoons corn syrup 

1-1/2 teaspoons lemon juice 

1/2 teaspoon butter 

Waffles or pancakes

Directions:  Place strawberries in a blender(or food processor); cover and process until pureed. Transfer to a small saucepan; add the sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice and butter. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute. Skim off foam. Strain seeds if desired. Serve warm with waffles or pancakes. Refrigerate leftovers; warm before serving. Yield: about 1-1/2 cups.

Homemade Granola Bars

I LOVE granola bars, my kids LOVE granola bars and we all LOVE sweetened condensed milk :)...when I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it and I am glad I did!!  I really love the taste of these and the fact that MOST of the ingredients are healthy...AND  they were very easy to make.  I have been storing these in the refrigerator.  I was afraid that they would be hard, when I took them out to eat, but they are not at all.

A little tip...if you are buying flax seeds and/or wheat germ at your grocery store, look for it in the bulk bin area.  It will be much cheaper there.  Also I found my sliced almonds much cheaper in bags in the produce isle than the nut isle...go figure:)

Homemade Granola Bars

slightly adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup flaked coconut(I used sweetened)

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup flax seed

1/4 cup wheat germ

Directions:   Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.  In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sweetened condensed milk, butter, coconut, almonds, chocolate chips, flax seed and wheat germ) with your hands until well blended. Press flat into the prepared pan.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, depending on how crunchy you want them(I took mine out at 20 minutes so they would be nice and chewy, not crunchy). Lightly browned just around the edges will give you moist, chewy bars. Let cool for 5 minutes, cut into squares then let cool completely before serving.      

The original recipe called for sweetened dried cranberries instead of the flax seed and wheat germ.  I love dried cranberries in my salad, but I am not a big fan of fruit in my granola bars...

How about you?  Do you like dried fruit in your granola bars?           

Blackberry Cobbler Waffles

We LOVE breakfast food for dinner at my house!! This is really more like dessert! I did make some super healthy fruit shakes to go with this...so I think it all works itself out.

I found this recipe over at How Sweet It Is. I LOVE Jessica's blog. Seriously the yummiest recipes, best pictures and funniest posts you will ever see!!

Blackberry Cobbler Waffles

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cups rolled oats

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 pints fresh blackberries

vanilla ice cream + maple syrup for serving (I used buttermilk syrup)

Directions: Preheat your waffle iron and spray it with non-stick spray (I always spray again between each waffle.)

In a bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Stir in eggs, milk, vanilla and butter, mixing until combined and smooth. Fold in about 1 cup of black berries. Make waffles per your iron's directions.

Heat the remaining blackberries in a saucepan over low heat and mash with a fork until saucy. Serve waffles with warm mashed berries, syrup and vanilla ice cream.

Crepes with Cheese Blintz Filling

My Sister sent me this recipe. Her husband made them for her(lucky). We had to try them and we LOVED them. My Sister served hers with pureed strawberries and pureed peaches mixed with a little Splenda, fresh berries and powdered sugar. I served mine topped with mixed berry sauce(I'll share that recipe soon), whipped cream and strawberries.

I loved these, the filling wasn't too sweet and mixed wonderfully with the fruit syrup and whipped cream. Thanks for the recipe, Heather!

Crepes with Cheese Blintz Filling

Ingredients:

Crepes:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 3 T butter, melted
• 2 T granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t. vanilla
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• additional butter (for pan)

Filling:

• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1 cup softened cream cheese
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 t. vanilla

Directions:

1. Use an electric mixer to blend together all crepe ingredients(except the butter for the pan) in a large bowl. Blend just until smooth. The butter will be very thin.
2. Combine the filling ingredients in a medium bowl and mix by hand. Keep the filling nearby.
3. Preheat a 10-inch frying pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot add 1/2 t. butter.
4. When the butter has melted, pour 1/3 cup batter into the pan. Swirl the batter so that it entirely coats the bottom of the pan. Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or until golden brown on one side.
5. Use a spatula to lift an edge of the crepe, grab it with your finger, use the spatula to quickly flip over. Cook for another 1 1/2 or until a bit lighter shade of brown than the first side, then slide it out of the pan. Repeat with the rest of the batter and stack finished crepes on top of each other to keep them warm.
6. Heat the cheese filling in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes or until hot. When ready to fill the crepes, place each crepe, dark side down, on a plate. Pour 2 to 3 T of cheese filling across the center of the crepe. Fold the sides in and flip entire blintz over(to hide seam) onto a serving plate.
7. Top with desired toppings.

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

These Cinnamon Rolls are the BEST!! I didn't use Pioneer Woman's maple frosting, but I'm sure it is wonderful... just like everything else that she makes. I used the butter cream frosting that I use for sugar cookies. I will definitely be making these again!

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 quart Whole Milk
• 1 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 packages Active Dry Yeast
• 8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
• 3 cups (to 4 Cups) Melted Butter
• 2 cups Sugar
• Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon
  _____
  MAPLE FROSTING:
  1 bag Powdered Sugar
  2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
  ½ cups Milk
  ¼ cups Melted Butter
  ¼ cups Brewed Coffee
  ⅛ teaspoons Salt
  

Directions: Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. “Scald” the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1 ½ to 2 cups melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.
Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees (edited to say 375 instead of 400, as The Pioneer Woman now suggests) until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.
For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls.

Buttermilk Waffles

All I have to say about this recipe is YUM!!! This recipe came from my husband's Aunt.

Buttermilk Waffles

Ingredients:

• 3 c. flour
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1 T baking powder
• 2 T sugar
• 1 t salt
• 2 T oil
• 3 c. buttermilk
• 6 egg whites (I only use 5, I've made it with 5 and 6 and I like it best with 5)

Directions: Combine dry ingredients. Beat egg shites until light and fluffy. Ad oil and buttermilk to dry ingredients. Fold in egg whites. Cook. Serves 6-8 people.

Pancakes with Oat Flour

My kids LOVE pancakes. My 3 year old always says, "Mom, can you make pancakes? We have eggs." One day we were out of eggs when he wanted pancakes, so now as long as we have eggs he thinks we can have pancakes. How can I say no to that:)

I love the texture the course oat flour gives these pancakes and I love to add a little extra fiber where I can.

Pancakes w/oat flour

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup course ground oat flour (I ground old-fashioned oats in my food processor)
• 2 T sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 T oil
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup milk

Directions: Stir together flour, oat flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add wet ingredients and mix well.

Breakfast Burritos

I've mentioned before that we REALLY enjoy our breakfast foods. This is one that my husband would love to eat for breakfast everyday:) We always make these when we go camping. The week before our last camping trip, every morning when I would ask our 2 year old what he wanted for breakfast he would say, "breakfast burritos up on the mountain." I am really not much of a morning person. Usually in the morning I barely have time to cook up the oatmeal, toast, juice or occasionally a fruit shake and get the kids out the door to school and husband off to work. These really don't take much time, but since I make the tortillas from scratch it takes a little longer. I just can't bring myself to buy tortillas when they are SO cheap to make.

Anyway, I felt like spoiling my husband(and my boys) this morning before he headed off for his elk hunt. You can really add anything you like to these. I sometimes makethese with regular bacon, but decided to reduce the fat and substituted Canadian Bacon. They were SO good!!

Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients:

• 2-3 T olive oil
• 1/3 cup chopped onions
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1/3 cup green chili
• 2 baked potatoes, grated
• 6 slices Canadian Bacon. chopped
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Heat olive oil in large skillet. Saute onions for a couple of minutes. Add garlic, bell pepper and jalapeno and saute for another 5 minutes. Add green chili, potatoes and Canadian Bacon. Beat eggs and evaporated milk together, add to the skillet. Add salt and pepper and cook until eggs are cooked through. Wrap your eggs in a tortilla with some cheese and serve with your favorite fix-ins....salsa, sour cream, guacamole, whatever you like or have on hand.

I love it when you can buy roasted green chili here locally!! We split a 30 pound bag with my bro-in-law. We got 15 lbs. for ~$15. SO much cheaper than buying it in the can!! I just peel the skin off, get out most of the seeds, throw it in my food processor and pulse a few times. I put it in small snack size bags to freeze. So yummy!! We eat green chili with ALMOST everything:)

French Toast with Buttermilk Syrup

We are a breakfast family. We love breakfast! We even have breakfast for dinner about once a week and this is one of our favorites!! A friend of mine gave me this recipe for buttermilk syrup a couple of years ago. I don't know about you, but I was thinking 'buttermilk syrup? yuck!' Boy was I wrong!! This is SO yummy!! We don't have french toast with any other syrup now. I wish I could have gotten a better picture, but my kids and husband are not very patient when it comes to getting breakfast to the table:)

This is pretty much your average recipe for French Toast, but the addition of cinnamon sugar, gives the top a little crunch. The recipe came from Food Network.

Cinnamon French Toast

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 t cinnamon
• 4 T butter
• 8 thick slices of bread

Directions: Preheat an oven to 200 degrees F, and place a rack on a sheet pan. Whisk the milk and eggs in a glass pie or casserole dish until evenly combined. Whisk the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add about 1/2 a tablespoon of butter to the skillet, swirling the pan to coat the surface. Dip 2 slices of bread into the egg mixture and immediately lay in the skillet. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top and cook until the undersides are brown and crisp, about 4 minutes. Add a nut-sized bit of butter to the skillet, as needed, and flip the toast, cook until golden on the underside, about 3 minutes more.

Buttermilk Syrup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c buttermilk(put 1 T vinegar in measuring cup and add milk to 1/2 cup mark and let sit for a few minutes)
• 1 cube butter
• 1 t karo syrup
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t vanilla

Directions: Stir first 4 ingredients together in a large saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla and baking soda. The baking soda makes the syrup foam up, so make sure you use a fairly large pan.

We like to sprinkle powdered sugar on top of all this goodness:) The picture has a piece of white Texas toast on the bottom and a piece of homemade wheat bread on top. Honestly, I like the wheat bread as much or more than the other.

Have a great day!!