Cakes 'n Eggs

One ridiculously hot Sunday morning...I awoke with a grumbling stomach yearning for an all-around awesome breakfast! While my handsome husband, caught up on his zzzs, I started my into the kitchen.

After assessing my fridge and pantry I scrounged up: eggs, pancake batter (thanks to a friend's wedding favor), blueberries and veggies.

I decided to make fluffy scrambled eggs with a short stack of buttermilk-blueberry pancakes accompanied by Vermont Maple syrup.

For the eggs I started with chopping some onion and mushrooms, then I threw them in the saute pan with a touch of olive oil to get nice and golden. Next I beat up the eggs, added a touch of water and poured that into the saute pan, covering the veggies. I immediately added salt and pepper to the eggs, while stirring them often, to make sure they wouldn't stick to the pan. The heat should be on medium to make sure the eggs don't overcook.

Meanwhile, I was given pancake batter as a wedding favor gift, all I needed to add was water and an egg, once that was beaten up, I decided to add some blueberries. Then I made sure the skillet was hot, added olive oil and poured in the batter using a 1/3 measuring cup. Once the pancake bubbles on the side flip over for a few minutes.

Once the eggs are nice and fluffy, grate your favorite cheese on top, sprinkle with green onion and serve. Pile the stack of pancakes, drizzle with syrup. Ta da! Dive in to an all-around awesome breakfast for anyone!

Bakin' it up!

Some days are just great days to spend in the kitchen, hands deep in flour with an apron on. I love baking! For my wedding I created welcome bags for all my out of town guests...and all of my family were out of town guests. So with 30 welcome bags to be made, there needed to be a sweet, homemade element. I had once seen a Texas sugar cookie with a mini red heart on it in a bakery, every since then I knew I wanted to make this for my wedding. Since all of my family came from all over the United States, this Texas cookie would work perfect.

You of course do not have to make Texas cookies, they could be in any shape. What I really want to show you is the wonderful sugar cookie recipe. I also added the blue heart because my favorite color is blue, you could dye your dough any color to your lovely cookie confection.


Texas Sugar Cookies

1 large egg
2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour

Whisk egg and vanilla into a small bowl and set aside. In a standing mixer, cream butter until fluffy, scrape sides of bowl and add sugar. Beat until light, add egg mixture and beat for about one minute. Add the salt to the flour in a separate bowl, reduce speed and slowly add flour mixture to wet ingredients. Just mix til blended, do not over mix.

Remove dough from the bowl and place on a floured surface. Roll out dough to about a 1/4 inch thick surface. Use your cookie cutters to make whichever patterns you'd like. If you want to create a colored cookie part to place on your sugar cookie, take part of your dough, add whichever color you'd like and mix thoroughly. Bake cookies for 8 minutes at 350 degrees.


Cherry Brownies

1 cup softened butter
4 squares of semi-sweet chocolate (4 oz)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp ground coffee
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped candied cherries (you can use fresh or dried as well)

My husband and I were invited to a pool party a few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to make brownies with my new standing mixer. I didn't have any nuts but we had ground coffee and candied cherries. First I put a double boiler onto the stove to melt my chocolate squares. If you don't have a double boiler, simply put a metal bowl over a sauce pan which has about a cup of water in it. You don't want the water to touch the bottom of the bowl.

Place butter, sugar and vanilla into the mixer, mix for about 30 seconds. Turn the speed up and beat for about two minutes. Turn the speed down slightly, add eggs, one at a time. Stop and scrape the bowl. Add melted chocolate mixture, turn down speed. Add all remaining ingredients and mix til blended, do not over mix (30 seconds). Pour into a greased and floured baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

These delectable desserts will have your mouth jumping for joy! Simple sugar cookies with a little flair and chocolatey brownies with soothing hints of coffee and gooey pieces of candied cherry. YUM!

Enjoy! xo Lo