Breakfast Snack

Since Jeremy's work was so generous in giving us a baby shower, I decided to make them a Friday breakfast snack to show our appreciation.  I made Monkey Bread and sausage balls.  This Monkey Bread is not to be confused with the homemade Monkey Bread rolls that are very popular in the Moore Family.  I'm not sure how they each got their names, but they are not really similar at all (besides being of the bread category). 

This recipe is SO easy and it's perfect for weekend guests or to bring to a breakfast event.  It transports very easily and you can make it the day before you serve it.  It really is best served warm, but that's not always an option.

Monkey Bread

3 (12 ounce) packages
refrigerated biscuit dough
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine or butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease one 9 or 10 inch bundt pan.


Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a plastic bag. Cut biscuits into quarters. Shake 6 to 8 biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the prepared pan. Continue until all biscuits are coated and placed in pan.

In a small saucepan, melt the margarine with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuits.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. No need to cut- the bread just pulls apart.

PW's Rosemary Bread

And just because I don’t think you’ve heard me rave about the Pioneer Woman quite enough, here is another PW recipe. And this one is so, so good! You really have to try it.

The only downside- you will really want to eat every single one of them. This recipe is so easy and impressive.

I used Rhodes frozen dinner rolls and kosher salt. Buttery, salty bread- how bad can it be???

Buttered Rosemary Rolls

Ingredients:
Frozen, Unbaked Dinner Rolls
Melted Butter, Regular, Salted
Fresh Rosemary, Coarsely Chopped
Coarse Sea Salt

Directions:
Spray a small iron skillet with cooking spray (or coat with olive oil). Place frozen rolls in the skillet, leaving plenty of room for rising. Cover and allow to rise for several hours.

After rising, brush rolls with melted butter.

Sprinkle on chopped rosemary. Brush with additional butter. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Bake according to roll package directions (usually 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes), until rolls are a deep golden brown on top.

Serve skillet on the table.

Breakfast of Champions

Hey y'all! I needed some recipes to impress, so it was time to pull out no other cookbook than . . . my Paula Deen Cookbook!

The YWCA hosted a breakfast for the state legislators. Again, we planned on ordering some food and I spoke up and said- I can make that for so much cheaper.

Sometimes- I don't know what I'm thinking!!! But I do have so much fun. If I could pay someone to clean the kitchen- I would volunteer for things like this so much more! On the menu: sausage and mushroom quiche, breakfast pizza, and zucchini bread. The great thing is that each of these items can be prepared the evening before and heated just before serving. I really recommend the quiche if you have out of town guests- they will love it!

Mushroom and Sausage Quiche

One 9 inch refrigerated pie crust, fitted into a 9-inch glass pie plate
1 1-lb. package ground sausage
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 large Vidalia (or other mild) onion, chopped
4 eggs.
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese, 2 or 4 percent milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1-eight-ounce package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Crimp the edges of the crust.

2. Cook and drain the sausage; set aside. Wipe out the pan and in the same pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onion and saute for five minutes or til tender.

3. Place the eggs, sour cream, cottage cream, flour, Parm. cheese, and hot sauce in a food processor or blender and process til smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary.

4. Stir together the crumbled cooked sausage, mushroom mixture, egg mixture, and Cheddar cheese, and spoon into the pie crust. Cover the edges with foil to prevent the crust form burning (I had to take it off about half way through, so it could get a little brown.)

5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, til golden brown and set in the center. Cool for 20 minutes.

Someone at my old office gave me this breakfast pizza recipe and it's delicious. To serve- I took it out of the 9x13 and cut it into little squares. Sometimes the middle is a little gooey, so I didn't serve that part.

Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:
1 can Crescent Roll Dough
1 roll of Breakfast Sausage
6 eggs beaten
½ cup bell pepper – chopped
½ cup onion – chopped
2+ cups of shredded cheese – Monterrey/Colby/mild cheddar (your preference)

Seasoning – I used a little garlic powder & Italian seasoning while cooking the sausage, onion and bell pepper.

Directions:

1. Cook sausage, onions, bell pepper and seasonings together in skillet. (this time I substituted bacon- really use your favorite breakfast ingredients)

2. Roll out crescent roll dough in a 9 x 13 baking pan (kind of press into pan).

3. Spread sausage mixture on dough.

4. Pout in eggs and top with cheese.

5. Bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes. (might need to bake a little longer- check middle)

I managed to not get any pictures of the zucchini bread. But it's not too exciting anyway. This is one of my all-time favorite breads. Here's the recipe:

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini (took 2 small zucchinis)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I omitted nuts)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar.


In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in.


Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!

Strawberry Muffins

When Melissa and John came to visit, we had dinner at a famous Nashville "meat and three"- The Loveless Cafe. Everything there is absolutely wonderful. The other day, I was at a half-price book store and they had a copy of the Loveless Cafe cookbook and I couldn't resist picking up a copy for myself.

I love reading and looking through cookbooks. I saw a recipe for Strawberry Muffins and I thought the recipe looked delicious and unique.

Billy's surgery was originally scheduled for September, but they called us last week and it's been moved to tomorrow! It was kind of last minute notice, but I think it's going to work out perfectly. Jeremy and I will still be in Nashville and we won't have to worry about getting a flight in from OKC.

I decided to make Strawberry Muffins to take to the hospital for snacking- while everyone just waits around. They turned out pretty good- a nice alternative to the traditional blueberry.

Strawberry Muffins

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1 ¼ cups sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Zest of ½ an orange
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup roughly chopped strawberries (fresh or frozen)
½ cup buttermilk

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Whisk the butter, 1 ¼ cups sugar, salt, eggs, vanilla, and orange zest together in a bowl. Sift the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and ½ teaspoon cinnamon over the butter mix. Add the berries to the flour mix and gently fold a few times. Add the buttermilk and gently mix together.

Scoop out the dough into paper-lined muffin pans. Will make six Texas size muffins or twelve standard size muffins.

Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of cinnamon with the remaining ¼ cup of sugar and sprinkle on top of the muffins. Bake for 20-35 minutes, depending on size of muffin.

Friends I’ll Remember to Never Forget

Ali and Sam came to visit us in Nashville. We had such a great time. As with most of our visitors, it seemed like we mainly centered our days and activities around food! But it was delicious and fun!

On Friday, Ali and I enjoyed lunch at the girly and delicious Puffy Muffin. It was wonderful! We shopped a little bit and went to one of our old favorite nail salons for a pedi.

That night, we ate at a new restaurant in historic Franklin- Sol. It was so yummy! They make fresh guacamole at your table- that’s rare in Nashville. Unfortunately, I was feeling a little under the weather, so we didn’t do anything else that night


On Saturday morning, Sam would not allow us to eat anywhere other than the Pancake Pantry. It’s a Nashville tradition! You have to stand in line to get a table- they don’t take reservations or call ahead seating. You just line up outside the building. The line can look a little intimidating at first, but it moves really fast. It moves even faster, when your husband waits in line while you and your friend browse in the nearby boutiques (thanks Jeremy & Sam!).

Sam was like a kid in a candy store. Jeremy had a ham & cheese omelet, Ali had sugar and spice pancakes, Sam had grill cook's medley, and I had pecan pancakes. Fantastic!

For the remainder of Saturday, we were lazy and enjoyed the day! When Ali and I were in law school, I made cheese blintzes a few times for parties at Ali & Sam’s. They became Sam’s favorite and now, he requests them! My mom got this recipe from a neighbor in Granbury and we’ve been making them ever since, including at Amy’s wedding! Here is the recipe:

Patti’s Cheese Blintzes

1 day old loaf of white sandwich bread
1 stick of butter (melted and cooled)

Filling:
8 oz. package of cream cheese
1 egg yolk
¼ cup sugar

Topping:
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cut crust off bread. Roll flat with rolling pin. Spread filling onto bread. Roll up. Mix topping. Dip in butter, then roll in topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes

Saturday night, we went to MAFIAoZA’S for dinner. They have pizza and pasta dishes named after famous Mafia people and things. You’re gonna love it or else . . .


A trip to Nashville would not be complete without a trip to Broadway to visit some of the famous honky tonks. Ironically, we seemed to hear every type of music except old country. But the band was good and there were plenty of crazy tourists and locals to keep us laughing! We ended the night at Lonnie’s where they have karaoke and buckets of beer (cash only). It was fun, but we had to leave when a couple got up on stage to do a duet that was completely awful!

Sunday morning- more food! We had brunch at Tin Angel and stopped by the Farmer’s Market to get a watermelon for dinner. We grilled out steaks and had mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and watermelon.

Then it was time to take Ali and Sam to the airport. We had such a good time and I was sad to see them leave. It was nice that we went to some of our old favorite spots in Nashville, since Jeremy and I are leaving soon, too! We reminisced about our old law school days and how much we and Nashville has changed!