Poached Eggs in the Microwave

So this isn't one of those..."I spent most of the night, trying to impress people" kind of recipes. This was a big morning for my husband and me when we realized how incredible this little trick is. We love having eggs in the morning...especially since our little "life-style change" (aka eating healthy...my husband refuses to call it a diet). Anyway, if you want a quick/healthy/easy breakfast in the morning just microwave yourself a poached egg!

Poached Eggs in the Microwave

Adapted from The Kitchn

1 egg
1/3 cup water
Approximately 1/3 tsp vinegar


Equipment
Microwave-safe mug or small bowl
Microwave-safe small plate
Slotted spoon

1. Crack the egg into a microwave-safe bowl or mug
2. Mix the vinegar with the 1/3 cup water and pour into the bowl or mug with the egg
3. Cover the bowl or mug with a microwave-safe plate. Place in the microwave and cook on 80% POWER for 60 seconds. Check the egg. If it is not done yet, return to the microwave and cook on 80% POWER in 20 second bursts.
4. Remove from the water with slotted spoon

The Kitchn has great step by step pictures!

-Brittany

Wheat Peach Shortcake Cookies

If I could re-name these cookies I would name them Peach Biscuits. I mean they are great for dessert but I can't wait to have them for breakfast with a cup of coffee! My hubby and I picked up some incredible peaches at one of the fruit stands on the side of the road and it made them that much better! Even though the recipe calls for 2 cups chopped peaches, throw some more in there....the more the merrier!!

Wheat Peach Shortcake Cookies/Peach Biscuits

Adapted from Delish Blog

2 cups pitted and roughly chopped, ripe peaches

1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp coarse salt

6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2/3 cup half-and-half

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the chopped peaches with 1 tablespoons sugar and set aside.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it between your fingers (or mix with a pastry blender) until it looks like coarse crumbs. Gently stir in the half-and-half, followed by the peaches.

3. Scoop up about 2 tablespoons of dough and drop onto prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing the cookies 2" apart. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until beginning to brown on the edges. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Best served immediately, but can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 day. 

-Brittany

Two for One Deal

I am so excited to share this recipe with everyone! I mean how often do you get a Two for One deal when you are baking? A little bit of a carb overload (hence my high cholesterol...I'm trying to cut back) but so worth it! For Mother's Day we had a little family gathering at my grandparent's. Everyone was supposed to bring something and since I am a grown up now I thought it was time for me to pitch in. I of course decided to bring some dinner rolls (I really am addicted to bread). I went all out for this one...including the kneading and rising part. According to Laura, I am now a "suzie homemaker" I guess. After all the kneading and rising, (which was super easy by the way) I started rolling the dough into rolls. After about 32 rolls (only 10 people were coming to dinner) I still had half of the dough left. So I had to think of something. Option A= making 64 rolls OR Option B= sticking with the 32 rolls and using the extra dough to try homemade cinnamon rolls! Well I of course chose option B and it was a success. 32 dinner rolls and 15 cinnamon rolls later I present the Two for One Recipe!

Dinner Rolls

Adapted from All Recipes
2 1/2 cups warm milk
4 teaspoons active dry yeast 
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons salt
6-7 cups bread flour (just depends on the consistency of your dough)
1/2 cup butter, melted

To make the dough:
1. Pour milk into a large mixing bowl, and sprinkle yeast over the surface. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Beat in the sugar, eggs, 1/2 cup softened butter, and salt; blend thoroughly. Gradually stir in the flour to make soft dough (I ended up using about 6 cups of flour). Cover bowl, and set in a warm place until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
2. Punch down the dough/knead, cover the bowl, and allow to rise again. Repeat this step two more times.
3. Break off 1 1/2 to 2 inch size pieces of dough, roll lightly into round shape, and place in prepared baking dish, edges touching. Repeat to make approximately 32 dough balls. Cover and let rise until doubled in size.   ***at this point set aside the other dough for the cinnamon rolls
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
5. Bake rolls in preheated oven until tops turn golden brown, 10-15 minutes. When rolls are finished baking, drizzle melted butter over the top and serve warm.

For the Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from All Recipes
Use the other half of the prepared dough AND...
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
(can add chopped pecans if you like nuts)

1. Roll the dough into a rectangle (approx. 17x10 inch). Mix together the sugar and cinnamon (and pecans if you want them). Spread melted butter all over the dough. Sprinkle the sugar mixture to cover the whole rectangle.
2. Starting at the long side, roll up the dough. With a serrated knife slice into one inch slices and place in a 9x13 buttered pan. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes (I actually skipped that part).
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

Because this was a last minute addition I didn't have the ingredients to make icing so I just sprinkled some more of the sugar mixture over the cinnamon rolls once they were placed in the baking pan. Also, try substituting 1 cup brown sugar for the 1 cup of white sugar.

Things I learned:
- when blending the ingredients for the dough (before you add the flour) it works best to use an electric blender to make sure there are no butter chunks
- when you are kneading the bread make sure a put flour on your hands to keep the dough from sticking.
- You can place the dough in the refrigerator overnight for a slow rise (takes about 8-10 hours). That is what I did after I had rolled the dough into balls and it worked great. I just put the rolls in the oven in the morning and made the cinnamon rolls with that extra dough (that had also been in the refrigerator overnight rising)
- Here is a great Video to show you how to roll the cinnamon rolls (with icing)

-Brittany

The Best Banana Bread

I had the day off this past Thursday which is why I decided to make banana bread for the first time. (My husband does not like nuts which is why I didn't make banana nut bread). We had some very ripe bananas which we didn't want to throw away so it was perfect. After making this bread I am never throwing away bananas again! It was so good and made two loaves so I could share the wealth with my parents. I will definitely be making this again....my husband requested trying to make it low fat. We will see!

 Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup butter or margarine

2 cups white sugar

3 overripe bananas, mashed

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup pecans (if you want to make it banana NUT bread)


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans
2. Mix the flour, salt and baking soda together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the butter and sugar until it is smooth. Stir in the bananas and eggs until well blended. (If you are making it with nuts, mix in the pecans now) Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together. Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans.
3. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Let the loaves cool off before serving.

It's best if you wrap the loaves in aluminum foil once cooled and refrigerate for 2 hours. This helps lock in the moisture.

-Brittany