I am always so impressed by the healthy, thoughtful meals Biz from Biggest Diabetic Loser prepares for herself to eat at work every day.  One of her breakfast ideas, a sausage and broccoli “crustless quiche” is such a filling and satisfying way to start the day at the office.  I used frozen broccoli florets (no need to thaw or you could use fresh) and I used left-over pizza sausage which brought this dish together in very little time.  (...)
Click here for the recipe Sausage and Broccoli Breakfast Frittata (Crustless Quiche)

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Either you love biscuits and gravy-it is pure childhood comfort food for you-or it doesn’t makes a lick of sense.  I mean it’s biscuits.  And they are covered in gravy.  Yet there is something hearty and soul-satisfying about a big warm plateful of crisp fluffy biscuits smothered in creamy sausage gravy.  It is a filling, special occasion breakfast-which is kind of ironic considering it probably had it’s beginnings as a staple of poverty-perfect for serving a crowd after a late night or before a busy day. 
(...)
Click here for the recipe Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

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These pancakes are fantastic! Crisp on the outside and fluffy and soft on the inside.  They are super easy to whip up and are a great canvas for fresh blueberries, chocolate chips, or even just butter and maple syrup.  Thanks to Krysta for the recipe!  Although I can’t wait to try it with homemade buttermilk, they are delicious with store-bought buttermilk as well (and pretty great with plain old milk and lemon juice, too).

Updated to add: If you are able to make these with homemade buttermilk (see link above) I really cannot recommend it highly enough.  They really become something extra special-crisp on the outside with a light, melt-in-your-mouth texture on the inside.

Best Buttermilk Pancakes

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp oil
• melted butter or oil for frying
• 1 cup blueberries, chocolate chips, or other mix-in

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a 4 cup measuring glass, combine liquid ingredients: buttermilk, eggs, and oil.  Stir to combine.
3. Stir wet ingredients into dry, mixing well.
4. Heat a large, heavy skillet or griddle over medium heat.  It is always better to go too low than too high with pancakes.
5. Once hot, brush the surface of the griddle with melted butter or oil. Pour 1/4 cup of pancake batter over greased spot.
6. Add a few blueberries or chocolate chips to the wet pancake and cook until the edges are set and bubbles form on the surface of the pancake.
7. Flip pancake and cook the other side until golden brown.
8. You can keep stacked pancakes warm in a low oven until ready to serve.

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We used to buy a lot of Jiffy Blueberry Muffin Mix.  It was mrChaos’s favorite and he and the kids would often make them on the weekends when I was at work.  At some point during my box-mixed rebellion I stopped buying the familiar blue and white box, rendering them muffin-less.  Perhaps that’s why we demolished a dozen muffins in 24 hours.

Soft, moist, full of fresh blueberries, and with a crunchy brown sugar streusel on top, these muffins were exactly what I was looking for.  I was a little worried, after the extreme loyalty to the Jiffy box, that the kids wouldn’t eat muffins made with fresh fruit, but they gobbled these up in no time.

Lisa at The Cutting Edge of Ordinary calls these “To Die for Blueberry Muffins” and she’s right, these are some of the best blueberry muffins I have ever had.  If you haven’t visited her blog, you should.  It is full of great recipes, in fact I made her Chicken Noodle Casserole the same day!

Blueberry Muffins with Brown Sugar Streusel

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• approximately 1/2 cup milk (you need enough to make 1 cup liquid ingredients)
• 1 generous cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, cold, cut into small pieces

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Grease or line a muffin tin.
2. In a bowl, combine 1 1/2 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt, and baking powder.  Stir together until combined.
3. In a glass measuring cup, measure 1/3 cup oil.  Then add the egg and vanilla and enough milk to fill the cup to the 1 cup mark. Stir until well combined.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently fold them together until combined, its ok for the batter to be lumpy.
5. When it looks like you only need to stir a few more times, add the blueberries and gently fold them in until evenly distributed.
6. Scoop batter evenly into muffin cups, about to the top of each.
7. In a small bowl combine brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and cinnamon. Stir with a fork.
8. Use two forks or your fingers to work in butter until mixture has pea sized chunks.
9. Generously top each muffin with mixture.
10. Bake muffins approximately 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean from the center.

Feel free to use frozen blueberries when fresh blueberries are too expensive.  Just be sure not to let them thaw before baking or they will turn your muffins blue (but they will still be delicious).

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I almost didn’t post this.  That is, I don’t think there is anyone left in the world who doesn’t already have a recipe for banana bread.  So why would anyone care about mine?

Then I realized that the reason I have this website is to archive our favorite recipes for friends who are curious or family who wants to reproduce them.  So this recipe is for them, but if you don’t happen to already have a favorite banana bread recipe, then you should try it too.  It is an easy snack-moist and subtly sweet-and a great way to use up your bananas that are getting too soft to eat by hand.

This really isn’t my recipe, although I do like to make each recipe mine in little ways.  My mother’s recipe and my mother-in-law’s recipe are the same, except for the addition of buttermilk (my mom) and spices (his mom).  So I combined them to create the perfect banana bread for my kids: a little bit Granny’s banana bread and a little bit Nana’s banana bread but with one of Mom’s twists.

My touch was to add mace instead of nutmeg.  I discovered mace this past Thanksgiving while making pumpkin pies (which I will share with you in the fall-its wonderful!) and I love it.  Mace is the outer shell of the nutmeg and has a smoother, creamier flavor.  It can be hard to find but you can order it online and those of you in Houston can buy it in bulk at Central Market.  Feel free to use nutmeg in its place.  Also, this recipe makes one loaf but you can double it to make two.

Banana Bread

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter (I use unsalted)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt (increase this to 1 tsp is using unsalted butter)
• pinch cloves
• 1/2 tsp mace or nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup mashed banana (about 2-3 bananas)
• (1/2 cup chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts, optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a loaf pan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar.
3. Add eggs, flour, salt, and spices, stir to combine.
4. Combine baking soda and buttermilk in a measure cup, stir well then add to batter.
5. Beat until well combined.
6. Stir in mashed banana and nuts if using.
7. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake approximately 50 minutes or until a tester in the center comes out clean.

If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can quickly make it by combining milk and lemon juice (about 2 tsp) and letting it sit for a few minutes.  You can also omit the buttermilk and use 4 bananas (Nana’s recipe), just stir in the baking soda with the flour and salt.  Also, you can increase the spices or omit them, whichever you like.  I would use this amount in the spring but I’d increase them in the fall-but I’m like that.

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