Breakfast Sausage

Homemade Breakfast Sausage (serves 8)

Avoid lean or extra-lean ground pork; it makes the sausage dry, crumbly and less flavorful.

2 lbs ground pork
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 teaspoons dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I didn't actually use this...)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Mix Sausage
Combine pork, garlic, syrup, sage, thyme, salt, pepper, and cayenne in a large bowl. Gently mix with hands until well combined. Form mixture into 2.5-inch patties, about 1/2 inch thick. (You should have about 16 patties)

2. Brown Sausage
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook half of patties until well browned and cooked through, 3-5 min per side. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate and tent with foil. Wipe out skillet. Repeat with remaining butter and patties. Serve.

Make ahead: The raw sausage patties can be refrigerated, covered, for 1 day or frozen for up to 1 month. To cook frozen patties, proceed with step 2, cooking patties for 7-9 min per side.

Dutch Babies

This is a SUPER easy and yummy breakfast dish. It can be served sweet with maple syrup, or you could make it savory and add some eggs, mushrooms, etc.

Preheat oven to 425

5 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cup flour

put butter in two pie dishes and melt (place in oven while preheating)

put in a blender:
eggs
milk
flour - 1/4 cup at a time

blend for less than 2 min

pour into pie dishes

bake for 20-25 min

Pancakes!! No Wheat!!

1 cup almond meal

1 cup sorghum flour (or corn flour, buckwheat flour, non-wheat flour of your choice)

1 egg

3-4 tablespoons butter or non-refined coconut oil (spectrum sells organic virgin coconut oil that is very good for this purpose)

1/2 to 1 cup milk (I use raw whole milk)

1/8 cup 4% milk fat greek style yogurt (or other plain high protein yogurt with some fat)

1/4 tspn salt

Added's (I use the first three together usually, the rest are as you like to taste)

Cinnamon

Vanilla

Ginger

Nuts

Fruit

Crack

Mix flours together with spices and salt. Fold in yogurt and egg until thoroughly mixed. Add 1/2 cup milk and mix until consistent. The batter should be the consistency of... pumpkin soup! Thick, but liquid, not watery. Depending on what flour you use you may need more or less milk. Put a tablespoon of butter on your pan, spread it around, use a quarter cup measure to pour batter on to heated pan into size of pancake desired. Re-oil pan between each batch, and expect first batch of pancakes to stick, always. If adding fruit, earlier for dried fruit, later (like onto the batter in the pan) for wet fruit like fresh blueberries. I don't know how to add crack, you're on your own with that.

Overnight Eggnog Baked French Toast

Another very delicious and very easy overnight brunch recipe!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, melted (melt the butter while the dish is baking) or margarine, melted
7 large eggs
2 cups eggnog
1 1/2 ounces rum (optional)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 French bread, cut into 1 inch slices
icing sugar

Directions:

Beat together eggs, eggnog, rum, sugar,nutmeg, cinnamon, salt& vanilla. Dip both sides of each slice of bread in this mixture and place them side by side in a greased oven proof pyrex dish Pour any remaining mixture over the slices. Cover and refrigerate overnight (If you wish you can freeze the dish and put in fridge to defrost the evening before you wish to serve it). Bake in 450f on bottom rack for 20-25 minutes (watch the bottom doesn't get too brown). Place on rack to cool slightly& dust with icing sugar. Serve with Canadian Maple syrup and the melted butter.

'Elegant' Brunch Casserole

I made this recipe this year twice for Christmas brunches with friends and family and had amazing results. The great thing about this casserole is that all of the prep is done the night before and can just be thrown in the oven in the morning. For a brunch with little clean-up, holiday or any day, this recipe rocks!

Ingredients:

1 loaf French bread, sliced
3 tablespoons buter, plus more butter, for buttering dish
4 ounces swiss cheese, grated
4 ounces monterey jack cheese, grated
12 slices bacon, diced and fried until crisp (optional)
8 large eggs
1 1/3 cups milk
1/3 cup white wine
3 green onions
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup freshly-grated parmesan cheese

Grease bottom and sides of 9" x 13" glass casserole dish with butter. Tear bread into bite-sized pieces and place in dish, arranging so that they form a fairly solid layer but do not overlap (you may not need the whole loaf). Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan; drizzle evenly over bread. Sprinkle grated Swiss and Monterrey Jack cheeses evenly over bread. Top cheese layer evenly with cooked bacon bits. Break eggs into large mixing bowl and beat lightly by hand; add milk, wine, chopped green onion, mustard, black pepper and cayenne, beating again until foamy. Pour egg mixture evenly over casserole; cover tightly with foil, and refrigerate overnight. The following day, remove dish from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake, covered with foil, for approximately 45-50 minutes, until eggs are 'set' in the center. Remove from oven and spread sour cream evenly over the top of the casserole; sprinkle with grated Parmesan. Return to oven uncovered; bake an additional 10 minutes or so until lightly-browned.

Phuong's Banana Bread

My coworker, Phuong, gave me this recipe and it is AMAZING. It isn't actually called "Phuong's Banana Bread" but that is what I call it - I guess it is actually called "Brandt House Banana Bread" from Greenfield, Massachusetts.

2 sticks butter (1 cup)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons banking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups mashed bananas
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup sour cream

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and blend in. Fold in mashed bananas, chocolate chips, and sour cream. Pour into two greased to "Pammed" loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour (I don't actually think it takes this long - so check after 45 min prob) Let cool at least twenty minutes before taking out of pan. Makes two loaves.

Mommy's Buttermilk Pancakes

This makes enough for about 2 people...I usually double it because the pancakes are good later to snack on cold.

Sift before measuring: 1 cup cake flour (make sure this is cake flour and not normal flour)

Resift with:
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Beat until light: 1 egg
add: 1 cup buttermilk

Combine the dry & liquid ingredients with a few swift strokes

Beat in: 1 - 2 tbsp melted butter

I cook on a electric griddle and set it at 350....you can always cook them on the stove too though. Just pour some batter, and then one the cakes start bubbling up a little they are ready to flip.

Scrambled eggs, Ramsey-style

A pretty great way of scrambling eggs, if you have a little time. Keep in mind the eggs will reduce a LOT. Also keep in mind they will be delicious.