Note: I was sent a Breakfast kit from Krusteaz in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.
For the last couple of years, I have had the opportunity to work with Krusteaz to bring attention to a fun way to switch up your dinner routine in February.
February is National Hot Breakfast Month, so to celebrate, Krusteaz encourages you to have breakfast for dinner once a week. As someone who never gets a hot breakfast on weekdays, I’m all for this idea, and have made a couple of yummy breakfast-for-dinner recipes in the past, including Cheesy Corn Pancakes and Frog in a Hole.
To help you celebrate National Hot Breakfast Month, Krusteaz is giving away a Breakfast Night Kit to one reader!
The kit includes:
two boxes of the following breakfast mixes: Buttermilk Pancake Mix, Belgian Waffle Mix, Blueberry Pancake Mix, Wild Blueberry Muffin Mix, and Cinnamon Swirl Crumb Cake and Muffin Mix
Kitchen items including a whisk, a tote bag, and pancake batter pen
A selfie stick, to help capture the fun!
Further details will be after the recipe.
This year, I decided to have a sweeter breakfast for dinner option, in honor of upcoming Valentine’s Day: Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes with Strawberry Maple Syrup.
This recipe uses Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake mix with a few additions to make Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes. I served them with a simple Strawberry Maple Syrup to top them off!
cThis has been quite a dreary and rainy fall so far. One of my favorite remedies for blah weather is a warm beverage. In the fall, you really can’t go wrong with a mulled apple cider, like this Orange Mulled Whiskey Cider!
Nielsen-Massey sent me a sample of their Pure Orange Extract to use in this citrusy spiced cider. Nielsen-Massey has offered high quality vanilla and other flavors since 1907. They are my go to for extracts, vanilla beans, and vanilla powder. Their Pure Orange Extract is a great pantry way to always have citrus flavor on hand. Just 1/2 teaspoons of the orange extract equals two tablespoons fresh orange juice.
They must have known Philadelphia has been basically sitting under a cloud and that I needed a warm pick me up! The addition of the pure orange extract to this cider brings some brightness to the mulled cider.
This cider uses some of my favorite spices to really bring the fall flavor. I picked up my spices at the Head Nut in Reading Terminal, but you can also find them at Penzey’s.
Recipe (serves 6):
2 quarts apple cider
1/2 cup 100% pure pomegranate juice
1/3 cup 100% pure maple syrup
1 Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean
1 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Pure Orange Extract
3 large cinnamon sticks
12 whole cloves
5 whole allspice berries
1/4 teaspoon cardamom seeds
3/4 cup whiskey
Add the apple cider, pomegranate juice and maple syrup to a large saucepan; heat over medium-high heat.
Split vanilla bean in half lengthwise with the tip of a small knife.
Scrape both sides of the bean with the knife’s dull side and add the seeds and bean to the saucepan. (The seeds are the black flecks in the cider.)
Add the orange extract, cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice berries and cardamom seeds to the saucepan; stir to combine. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 30 minutes. Strain mulled cider through a fine mesh sieve.
Add whiskey; stir to combine. Serve with a fresh apple or orange slice.
This cider tastes just like fall! What a comforting beverage as the weather turns colder.
The spices in the cider add a nice warmth to the drink, complementing the apple and whiskey flavors nicely.
The orange flavor from Nielsen-Massey’s Pure Orange Extract comes through as well, adding a burst of bright citrus and making for a super tasty drink!
I wanted to make an appetizer that travels easily so that I could bring it up to an engagement party I was attending on Long Island. Closet Cooking has a fantastic recipe for Maple Bourbon Bacon Jam that sounded perfect. I altered it to make it into a slow cooker recipe because I didn’t have time to keep something on the stove for 1-2 hours (I actually ended up making this overnight) and made it a bit less spicy.
The jam can be made well ahead of time which made it perfect for traveling!
Ingredients:
1 (16 oz) package uncured center cut bacon
1 large white onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 cup brewed coffee
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup bourbon
1 chipotle chili in adobo, chopped, plus a teaspoon of the adobo sauce
The inspiration for this post is a bit convoluted. I was originally looking for some way to incorporate wet walnuts into a recipe for my dad. My dad is a huge fan of wet walnuts and he just had surgery so I wanted to make him a little pick-me-up treat. Wet walnuts are usually a topping on ice cream so I thought it would be fun to make a spin on a banana split in cupcake form. Later, I found out that Banana Splits do not traditionally even have wet walnuts as a topping. Oh well!
I used a banana cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart and filled each cupcake with homemade whipped cream. I then topped 1/3 of the cupcakes with vanilla frosting, 1/3 with strawberry frosting, and 1/3 with chocolate frosting. I topped them all off with sprinkles, wet walnuts, and maraschino cherries!
These are sugar overload so despite the photos showing all 3 types, stick to one cupcake at a time 🙂
I personally am not vegan. But as more of my friends dabble in veganism, I have been getting more requests to do some vegan friendly recipes. I’m honestly finding vegan baking to be relatively easy; most of the substitute ingredients are already in my pantry!
I received a bag of One Degree Organics Sprouted Spelt Flour along with some vegan baking recipes that sounded really tasty! I have never made a vegan cookie before so I appreciated the nudge towards trying and decided to make some Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies.
Sprouted Spelt Flour works generally like normal flour, you just need to adjust your dry-to-wet ingredient ratio (less dry ingredients or more wet ingredients). Sprouted Spelt Flour contains more fiber, vitamins, and essential fatty acids than regular flour so it seems like a generally good switch to make. (I’m not giving up eating cookies, but hey, at least I’ve increased my fiber!) 🙂
One Degree Organics prides itself on using only organic foods grown using natural veganic methods for its grains used in its cereal, bread, and flours. The company also does not add any synthetic ingredients and practices sustainable growing methods. One Degree Organics actually includes a QR code and alphanumeric code on each package so that you can learn about where that specific product came from and the family of farmers behind it. Pretty cool right?
So I was really excited to use their Sprouted Spelt Flour in this recipe! Because this is my first time baking vegan cookies, I kept the recipe mostly intact. I did add some walnuts for a bit of crunch which resulted in these Vegan Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies!
My boyfriend really likes peaches. But, strangely enough, he’s allergic to the skin of peaches so he really only eats them in desserts. I owe him a peach cobbler at some point, but when I saw this recipe from The Pioneer Woman I thought he’d love it. (Plus, it’s a bit easier than a cobbler… baby steps.)
I didn’t have real maple syrup, so I had to use the stuff you use on pancakes. Because of that, the recipe is slightly altered from the original to account for the sweetness.
I love recipes that make it easy to serve a bunch of people with minimal effort. A slow cooker is usually a go-to for those types of recipes but I’ve never considered using it to make breakfast before. The Ninja Cooking System is the perfect tool for it though. They sent over this recipe for a Slow Cooker Apple French Toast Casserole and I couldn’t wait for the weekend to come so I could make it.
This recipe makes 8 servings so it would be great for breakfast for a larger group but I also packed up the rest of my servings to reheat during the week.
Ingredients:
½ cup butter
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup pure maple syrup
1 loaf challah bread (about 1 pound), cut into cubes
I love French toast. I may or may not have had dreams about Sabrina’s French Toast (in the Italian Market in Philly) but I always have a bit of eater’s remorse when I realize how many calories I managed to consume before 10 am. I must not be the only one, because Cooking Light had a lighter French Toast recipe that takes advantage of seasonal apples in their most recent issue.
Ingredients (4 servings):
Compote:
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon butter
3 sliced and peeled Fuji apples
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
French toast:
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 knotted challah rolls
2 teaspoons butter, divided
Powdered sugar (optional)
Prepare the apples. Peel the apples and slice into somewhat even sizes so that they cook evenly. If you cannot find Fuji apples, Cooking Light suggests substituting Liberty, Pink Lady, or Jonahold apples because they will maintain their shape while cooking.
Heat a saute pan over medium heat and coat the pan with cooking spray. Melt 1 teaspoon butter and add the apples. Cook for 8 minutes or until tender. Be sure to stir so that all sides of the apple get evenly cooked.
Stir in the maple syrup and cinnamon and keep warm.
In a medium bowl, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Add milk, vanilla extract, salt, and eggs and whisk until blended.
Slice each of the challah knots in half.
Add the challah pieces 1 or 2 at a time to the milk mixture, coating them well on each side.
Using the same saute pan you used for the apple compote (this will give the French toast a slight apple flavor), melt 1/2 teaspoon butter in the pan over medium heat. Add 2 bread slices and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. (Because of the knot, press down on the slices so that it can cook evenly). Repeat with remaining butter and slices.
Serve topped with compote and sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.
This was a very satisfying breakfast, but didn’t weigh me down. The apples caramelized, bringing out their sweetness which was a nice addition to the French toast. I loved using the individual rolls of challah, you end up with an already portioned for you meal.
This recipe was so good, I actually made it again the next morning!
Are you ready for the easiest salmon recipe, perhaps ever? The name says it all: maple-soy glazed salmon. You just use equal parts maple syrup and reduced sodium soy sauce.
Ingredients:
2 pieces of 5 oz salmon fillets, skin on
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos to make gluten free)
salt and pepper, to taste
Combine the maple syrup and soy sauce.
Top the salmon fillets with salt and pepper.
Drizzle the maple-soy mixture equally over the salmon.
I bought my salmon from a supermarket in Wilmington that inexplicably only had salmon without the skin. What the heck? Normally, I would just grill the salmon, skin side up for 2-3 minutes and then flip the salmon, skin side down and cook until done. Because we had to take into account the whole no-skin issue, we wrapped the salmon in tin foil and popped it on the grill for a good 10 to 15 minutes. (Special thanks to Kevin and Tim for doing the actual grilling part!)
It still turned out great! The sauce caramelizes a bit, adding some sweetness to the salmon. I really wish it could have been straight on the grill to add some charring but it was not to be. Sigh. If anyone gets the chance to actually try it this way, please let me know how it turns out!
Tasting Table posted an adapted recipe of Marcie Turney’s Salted Caramel Budino. If you’ve never been to Barbuzzo in Philadelphia, your taste buds are missing out on one fantastic dessert. So, if my attempt at this adapted recipe is even half as good as the original salted caramel budino, I will consider this a win.
Barbuzzo’s version is described as “dark chocolate crust, vanilla bean caramel, sea salt.” The Salted Caramel Budino version below omits the crust, but maintains the vanilla bean salted caramel poured over a maple flavored custard.
New York Times recently had an article with a recipe from Carmen Quagliata, the executive chef at Union Square Café. The recipe was for a perfect winter dish: Vegan Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash and Apple with Candied Walnuts. Usually when searching for Brussels sprouts recipes, bacon is almost always included, so I was happy to find a somewhat healthy alternative. I thought Ash Wednesday would a great to try out this recipe for dinner.
Ingredients for Brussels sprouts:
1 ½ cups Brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch asymmetrical chunks
2 cups (about 1 large) Honeycrisp, Cortland, or Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into 1-inch asymmetrical chunks (my local market was out of these options so I used two Pink Lady apples)
1 shallot, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 fresh sage leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper
½ tablespoon maple syrup
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. While it is heating up, prep your Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, apples, and shallot. To trim the Brussels sprouts, cut off the rough white stem and then cut the sprout in half. If any outer leaves fall off discard them as well.
This was my first attempt at cutting and peeling a butternut squash, and I found the blog A Veggie Venture to be super helpful. The blog has a lot of great tips about veggies in general, so I suggest checking it out. If you’re not up for cutting your own butternut squash, Trader Joe’s sells already cubed pieces. However, they are a bit more dried out than freshly cut squash so keep that in mind.
I only needed the top half of the butternut squash
I used an apple corer to prepare the apples, and then cut the slices in half.
Keep the skins on the apple
Toss the Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, apple, and shallot with the olive oil and sage leaves in a shallow baking dish.
So many colors!
Season with salt and pepper.
Bake at 375 until vegetables and apple are wrinkled and slightly brown, about 45 minutes to an hour. Do not disturb or mix the dish while it’s cooking.
If you don’t have time or are just apprehensive about making the candied walnuts, you can purchase them already made.
However, the recipe is below in case you’re feeling adventurous. (Honestly, it wasn’t that difficult!)
Ingredients for walnuts:
6 cups vegetable oil
6 ounces walnut halves
2 cups confectioners’ sugar (I ended up using less than a cup and they were fine)
kosher salt
To make, place a deep fryer or high-sided saucepan over high heat (I ended up using my pasta pot; my saucepans were all dirty from previous cooking adventures). Add the oil making sure there is at least 3 inches from the top of the pot. (When the walnuts are added, the oil bubbles and rises so you need room for this to happen) Heat to 375 degrees.
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in another pot. Add the walnuts and boil for 10 seconds. Drain well and immediately toss with confectioners’ sugar. Spread flat on a baking sheet to allow to dry.
Walnuts after tossed in powdered sugar
The original directions suggest having a baking sheet lined with paper towels nearby. Mine stuck to the paper towels (boo) so I’d suggest maybe using parchment paper. Working in batches if necessary, add the walnuts to oil and stir once or twice. Fry until amber-brown or about 30 seconds. Using a wire skimmer or a heatproof slotted spoon, remove walnuts and move to baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
To serve, drizzle maple syrup over roasted vegetables and sprinkle with walnut pieces.
How good does that look??
This dish was really great. It had the feel of a comfort food dish without the leftover heaviness.
I was sort of hoping the Brussels sprouts would play a bigger role in the dish, but the butternut squash was what I kept going back for (nothing wrong with that). The walnuts add a lot of sweetness to the dish so don’t go overboard on topping the dish with them. The best part though, was that with so much flavor, I didn’t even miss not having meat for dinner!
Note: If you want something to pair with this to make a more hearty meal, the recipe suggests serving it with walnut bread.
