Halloween Breakfast

I decided to go overboard for Halloween this year and themed all of our meals. Ben decided breakfast was his favorite but Nick and I were fans of dinner. Featured first:

BREAKFAST

on the menu:

Pancake Ghosts

Breakfast Sausage Mummies

Slime Juice

please ignore the Sponge Bob plate. I've since learned it's better to photograph food on a plain plate.

Pancake Ingredients

pancake mix

funnel-tipped condiment bottle - ie: ketchup bottles at restaurants

chocolate chips - frozen

powdered sugar

Pancake Instructions

1. Mix your batter according to the batter instructions.

2. Once mixed, fill the condiment bottle with the mix. It helps to first transfer the batter to a measuring cup with a spout. The purpose of the condiment bottle is to allow you to "draw" a ghost shape on the griddle.

3. Place 2 chocolate chips on the griddle (frozen helps keep them from melting) Using these as guidelines for the eyes, draw the rest of the ghost with the batter.

4. Flip once bubbly. Give it another minute or so and repeat.

5. Sift powdered sugar over top before serving.

Sausage Ingredients

breakfast sausage links

puff pastry sheets

yellow mustard

Sausage Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400. On a floured surface, roll out one sheet of puff pastry until it's half the original thickness and about double in size.

2. Use a pizza cutter and slice the dough into 1/2 inch wide strips

3. Using a pastry brush, lightly wet one side of each strip with ice water. This will help the pastry strips stick to each other as you roll them.

4. With the wet side of the dough facing out, wrap a strip around each sausage. As you get near the top, leave a gap in the pastry for the mummy's eyes. I would suggest leaving a bigger space than you originally think is necessary. I ended up not having much room for the eyes.

5. Repeat until you're done.

6. Place the mummies, face side up on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown.

7. Remove from oven and allow them to cool for about 3 min. To make the eyes, dip the end of a chopstick into a dab of mustard and dot them on.

Juice Ingredients

orange juice concentrate (country style - must have pulp)

blue kool-aid mix

water

sugar

Juice Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients together. Add sugar to taste.

Hippie Hash Browns

If you have ever been to Fleetwood Diner in Ann Arbor you have probably tried their Hippie Hash Browns. In honor of Ben's first UofM football game, we decided to try our hand at making this delicious dish! Please keep in mind, measurements are totally approximate and cooking instructions are completely random. They turned out yummy but can't compare to Fleetwood's version. We will however, be trying again.

I started by shredding 6ish potatoes in my new food processor (thank you Grandma!). I heated some oil, added chopped onion and garlic. Sauteed for awhile. Once the potatoes were shredded, I added them to the pan and started frying. I found that the potatoes take a looooong time to cook if you do them all at once. I would recommend breaking it into portion sizes and cooking one at a time. Leave them one on side until cooked to your liking. Flip and cook again.

Remember the peppers from the Fall Decor post? Well here they are, all diced up. My bowl looks a little empty, but it's a small price to pay for good food. We used about 4ish peppers. Add oil to a separate pan and saute the peppers until they are tender. Add broccoli as well and really any other veggie you prefer.

Once everything is done cooking, serve the potatoes layered with the veggies and some feta cheese. I am telling you, the feta makes the dish! We ate them with some eggs and toast.

Ham and Cheese Biscuits

I also made this on Easter morning. They were really simple and pretty good. I ended up serving them with a side of honey mustard to dip.

Ingredients

6oz smoked ham - chopped

3/4 c. shredded cheese

12 oz can buttermilk biscuits

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350. Mix the ham and cheese in a large bowl.

2. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Add to ham mixture and mix lightly. Spoon into 8 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray.

3. Bake 20 min or until puffed and golden brown. Cool 10 min before removing from pan.

Baked Blueberry Peach French Toast

I started making this on Saturday morning and as I was pulling it out of the oven, Nick reminded me that we were meeting his parents for lunch at 11am. It was 10:30. So, into the fridge the dish went and we ate it the next day. I think I would cook it a little longer because it tasted a little mushy to me. Either that or sticking it in the fridge overnight might have messed it up too. FYI - you can make it up until the point that you have to bake it. Cover it and then just cook it when you're ready. Nick and Ben both liked it.

Ingredients

16 slices light whole wheat bread - I don't know what they are talking about here. I only used 12ish and that was cramming them together.

1 c. blueberries - fresh OR frozen - thawed

1 c. peaches - chopped - fresh OR frozen - thawed

2 1/2 cc. fat free skim milk

2 c. fat free egg substitute

2 TBSP sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 TBSP powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Arrange 8 (or in my case, 6) slices of bread in bottom of a 9x13 inch basking dish, squishing slices together to make one layer. Sprinkle blueberries and peaches over top.

3. In a med. bowl, whisk together milk, egg substitute, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Pour half of milk mixture over fruit and top with another layer of bread. Pour remaining milk mixture over bread. Using a spatula, press top layer of bread down to saturate with milk mixture.

4. Cover dish with foil and bake 20 min. Uncover and bake until egg mixture is set and top is golden brown, about 10 min more. Cool slightly before sifting powdered sugar over top. Slice into 8 pieces.

Serving size - 1 piece - 4 points

Creamy Strawberry Puff Pancake

I made this Christmas Eve morning for Nick, Ben and myself. It is in no way a waistline friendly food but it is so yummy, it's worth the splurge. It calls for red current jelly but I just used strawberry and it was fine. It also calls for fresh strawberries which are about impossible to find right now so I just used frozen and thawed them first.

Ingredients

1 c. flour

1 c. milk

4 eggs - beaten

2 TBSP butter/margarine

3/4 c. ricotta cheese

1 tsp. grated orange peel

3 TBSP. powdered sugar

2 TBSP. red currant jelly

2 c. sliced fresh strawberries

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 450. In a medium bowl combine flour, milk and eggs. Whisk until smooth.

2. Melt margarine in medium ovenproof nonstick skillet over med/high heat. Coat skillet with melted butter. Immediately pour batter into hot skillet.

3. Bake at 450 for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

4. Meanwhile in a small bowl, combine ricotta, orange peel and 2 TBSP of the powdered sugar. Mix well. Spoon jelly into small bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for 10-15 seconds or until melted. Stir until smooth.

5. Remove pancake from oven. Pancake will collapse. Immediately spoon ricotta cheese mixture over pancake. Top with strawberries, drizzle with melted jelly. Sprinkle remaining TBSP powdered sugar over top. Cut into wedges. Serve immediately.

Breakfast Sandwich

I came up with this one on my own and thought it was pretty good. Basically it's a "healthy" version of an egg mcmuffin. Ben and Nick loved it.

Ingredients

3 egg whites per sandwich

the refrigerated biscuits that come in the scary tube thing that pops when you open it

low fat or fat free cheese slices

turkey bacon

Instructions

1. Cook the biscuits according to instructions.

2. Cook the egg whites, add salt and pepper and garlic to taste

3. Layer the bacon, cheese and eggs on the biscuit and serve