Category Archives: Breakfast

Breakfast, Easy Brunch Recipes, Eggs, Gluten Free (GF), Healthy, Ketogenic, Paleo

Green Chile & Cheese Egg Muffins

January 20, 2017 Jolyn Leave a comment

These quick and easy egg muffins are great for a brunch or for breakfasts on the go throughout the week. There’s no flour, so they are gluten free and great for Ketogenic and Paleo diets.

Ingredients
15 eggs
4 oz diced green chiles, drained
4 green onions, sliced
2 cups grated cheese
2 tsp of your favorite seasoning
(I use Spike Seasoning)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Set 12 silicone baking cups on a baking sheet and coat with
nonstick spray.

2. Put onions, chiles and a generous bit of cheese in each cup.

3. Beat the eggs and spices until well combined.

4. Carefully pour a little of the egg mixture into each cup, letting it
settle a bit and then adding more. Using a fork, gently mix the
ingredients in each cup.

5. Top with remaining cheese and bake until puffed up and nicely browned, about 25 to 35 minutes.

These last in the fridge about a week — well, not in MY fridge,
because I eat them sooner!

This is a slightly modified version of a recipe I found on
KalynsKitchen.com, a website I highly recommend!

Bacon, Breakfast, Casseroles, Cauliflower, Chicken, Easy Brunch Recipes, Healthy, Main Dishes, Vegetables

Chicken Cauliflower Casserole

August 14, 2016 Jolyn Leave a comment

This Cauliflower Casserole was a big hit with my brunch guests while helping me to stay true to my ketogenic lifestyle. The recipe came from CavemanKeto.com, and I highly recommend his website for wonderful recipes to support ketogenic and paleo diets.

Ingredients:

10 to 12 chicken thighs
1 head of cauliflower, chopped
16 oz cheese, shredded (I used a Mexican cheese blend)
6 green onions, chopped
6 thick slices of bacon
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium green pepper, sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bake chicken thighs and shred or cut into cubes (I baked them in a large baking dish with a little water at 350° for 60 minutes.)

2. Brown the bacon and cut into small pieces.

3. Cook the cauliflower (I used the microwave on high for 5 minutes).

4. Sauté the peppers and onion slices until tender.

5. Combine all the ingredients (except 4 oz of cheese) in a very large bowl.

6. Press mixture into a large greased casserole dish and top with the remaining cheese.

7. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes at 350° and then five minutes more without the foil.

You can prepare the casserole ahead and refrigerate overnight, but let it sit at room temperature 20 minutes before baking.

Breakfast, Easy Brunch Recipes, Healthy

DIY Protein Bars

August 6, 2016 Jolyn Leave a comment

Chewy, crunchy, yummy and good for you! And even with 11 ingredients, it’s simple because all you do is combine the ingredients, press into a pan and freeze.

INGREDIENTS:
1½ cups rolled oats
¾ cup whole almonds
½ cup dried blueberries
½ cup pistachios
⅓ cup ground flaxseed
⅓ cup walnuts
⅓ cup pepitas
¼ cup sunflower seeds
⅓ cup maple syrup or honey
¼ cup apple sauce
1 cup almond butter

DIRECTIONS:

Mix first eight ingredients together.
Add honey and apple sauce and stir. Add almond butter and stir.
Line a baking dish with waxed or parchment paper. Spoon mixture into the dish and spread it evenly.
Freeze for one hour and then cut into bars.

Will last up to a week in the refrigerator or up to a month in the freezer.

Breads, Breakfast, Easy Brunch Recipes

Quick & Easy Banana Bread

April 21, 2016 Jolyn Leave a comment

For a delicious, moist banana bread that is very simple to make, you can’t beat this recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9″x5″ loaf pan.

2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
Banana Bread--Dry Ingredients

3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar.
Banana Bread--Butter and Brown Sugar

4. Stir eggs and mashed bananas into the butter and brown sugar mixture until well blended. If you are using nuts, add them at this point.
Banana Bread--Wet Ingredients

5. Stir banana mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.
Banana Bread--Batter

6. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Banana Bread--Ready to Bake

7. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then take out of pan and cool on wire rack.
Banana Bread--Baked

Breakfast, Casseroles, Easy Brunch Recipes, Eggs, Food Art, Main Dishes

Chile Relleno Casserole

April 14, 2016 Jolyn Leave a comment

This Chile Relleno Casserole is delicious and so simple with only five ingredients. Great for breakfast, brunch or any meal, and leftovers are yummy, too.

Ingredients:
1 lb shredded cheese (Mexican cheese blend or cheddar)
5 eggs
1½ cups milk
½ cup flour
8 oz can of whole green chiles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 9″x13″ baking dish with nonstick spray.
Whisk together eggs, milk and flour.
Slice chiles open and rinse away seeds. Pat dry. Arrange half the chiles to cover the bottom of the dish.
Pour half of the egg mixture over the chiles.
Cover with cheese.
Repeat layers of chiles, then egg mixture, then cheese.
Cut a chili to create a design on top if you wish.
Bake about 50 minutes until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting.

For a creamier dish, substitute half of the milk with cream. You could also add any number of ingredients to this dish, such as bacon, red bell peppers, onions, etc. This Chili Relleno Casserole has become a breakfast regular in my house.

Breakfast, Easy Brunch Recipes, Vegetables

Sweet Potato Hash

February 19, 2016 Jolyn Leave a comment

“I yam what I yam and that’s all that I yam.” –Popeye

The internet is great for so many things, but one of the problems is too much conflicting information and difficulty determining which website should be believed. Take, for example, the difference
between yams and sweet potatoes. Some websites claim emphatically that there is no difference, that a sweet potato is a yam and a yam is a sweet potato. Others claim just as emphatically that they are distinctly different, from different parts of the world and should be cooked differently. Here’s a website I found interesting in case you want to explore the topic further, though I make no claim that it’s accurate: http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-yams-and-sweet-potatoes-word-of-mouth-211176.

After spending waaaay too much time researching the issue and
asking produce department clerks, I’ve stopped caring. I just pick the ones I want when shopping and use them interchangeably. My mouth and my stomach certainly don’t care what I call them.

For this recipe I used two yams(?) and two sweet potatoes(?), and it was delicious

1. First I skinned and cubed the tubers and cooked them in boiling salt water until just tender, about 10 minutes. Then I drained them and laid them on paper towels to dry.

2. In two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat, I sautéed red bell peppers, red onions, green onions and garlic until tender, about 8 minutes.

3. Then I added the yams/potatoes to the pan, seasoned them with salt and pepper and gently stirred to combine. I turned the heat up to high and let the vegetables sit untouched so the potatoes would crisp up. After about five minutes, I flipped them and let them crisp on the other side for a few minutes.

If not serving bacon elsewhere in the meal, you could certainly add it to this hash.

A hearty, healthy dish that can be made the day before and refrigerated. Reheat before serving.

Breakfast, Casseroles, Easy Brunch Recipes, Holidays, Main Dishes

Baked Scrambled Eggs With Veggies

February 1, 2016 Jolyn Leave a comment

Light, fluffy scrambled eggs to serve 12 people.

INGREDIENTS:
½ cup butter, melted
24 large eggs
1 ¼ cup Half-n-Half
1 ¼ cup milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
¼ cup olive oil
Fresh veggies, chopped (suggested: mushrooms,
red and green bell peppers, spinach, onion)
3 green onions, chopped
¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
1. Pour melted butter into 9″x13″ baking dish.

2. Whisk together the eggs, Half-n-Half, milk and salt.

3. Pour eggs into baking dish.

4. Put eggs into 350 degree oven, and stir every 5 to 10 minutes
until beginning to set.

5. While eggs are baking, sauté veggies in olive oil until lightly browned.

6. If using spinach, add it to sautéed veggies to let it wilt for just a minute.

7. Add vegetables to eggs and bake another 8 to 10 minutes.

8. Once eggs are set nicely but still moist, stir again and top with green onions and cheese.

9. Bake 2 to 3 minutes longer and serve immediately.

Breakfast, Desserts, Easy Brunch Recipes, Food Art, Fruit

Baked Apple Roses

November 20, 2015 Jolyn Leave a comment

This is an impressive and beautiful dessert. Yummy, too, especially when served warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!

Does it qualify as a Simple Brunch Idea, though? Well, technically it’s simple (as in, five ingredients and very few steps), but definitely not easy. Especially the first time you try it. I recommend that you watch the YouTube video before attempting it yourself. Maybe you’ll see something in it that I missed.
Rose Shaped Apple Baked Dessert by Cooking with Manuela: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rGrwvEjZIQ

Here’s the way I made this recipe, as well as a few of the lessons I learned along the way.

Ingredients:
2 red delicious apples
½ a lemon
1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
Apricot preserves
Cinnamon

Core the apples and slice into VERY thin slices. (Lesson one: the
thinner the slices, the easier to roll).

Put the apple slices in a bowl of water and add the juice of half a
lemon. Microwave for about 3 minutes. (Lesson two: be sure they are soft. See the picture further down of what happens when they are not pre-cooked enough.)

On a floured surface, unfold the puff pastry and use a rolling pin to stretch it slightly. Cut the sheet into six strips.

Spread a spoonful of the apricot preserves on a strip of the pastry. (Lesson three: Don’t spend extra on high quality preserves. The one I bought had big chunks of apricot, which makes for a delicious topping on toast, but didn’t spread well for this recipe, so I had to remove the chunks, wasting much of it.)

Lay the apple slices over the top half of the dough, overlapping them.

Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and fold the bottom half of the dough up over the apple slices.

Okay, here’s the tricky part!! Beginning at one end, roll the apple-filled pastry up being careful to keep the apples from slipping out.

Here’s what happens when your slices are too thick and not soft enough. It simply won’t roll.

I put the remaining apple slices back into water and into the microwave for two more minutes and tried it again. (Lesson four: practice makes perfect) You can see the progression in the photo below. The next two I rolled up (bottom row) were better, but still too stiff and thick. For the ones in the top row, I used thinner slices that were also softer, and each one got better as I was practicing (left to right in picture). So hopefully the next batch I do will all come out looking like my final rose.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes, checking carefully since ovens vary.

(Lesson five: run a knife around the edge to loosen the entire apple rose before lifting it out of the pan. The edge of the first one stuck to the pan, and the rose just unwrapped as I lifted it out — that’s why there are only four roses pictured on the plate.)

Please leave your comments, especially if you have tips on how to make this better or easier.

Breakfast, Easy Brunch Recipes

Pumpkin Spice Granola

November 13, 2015 Jolyn Leave a comment

Once you discover how easy it is to make your own granola — and how wonderful fresh granola tastes — you’ll never want to settle for store-bought again. You can add your favorite nuts, seeds, fruits and seasonings for variety or just make your own signature mix. For an easy, yummy gift, fill a glass jar with your granola and tie a ribbon around it.

And now here’s a blend specially made for Thanksgiving — Pumpkin Spice.

Ingredients:
2½ tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon sea salt
¾ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
⅓ cup maple syrup
⅓ cup pumpkin puree
2 cups rolled oats
½ cup roughly chopped pecans
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
½ cup dried cranberries

Directions:
1. Whisk together the olive oil, salt, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup and pumpkin.

2. Add the oats, pecans and sesame seeds and stir well.

3. Spread evenly onto a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees until nicely browned and dry, about 40 minutes.

4. Stir in dried cranberries and let cool completely. Store in an
airtight container for up to one week.

Simple Brunch Ideas