Summer vacation is fast approaching at my house. My preschooler just finished and my other three kids have one week left. During the school year my kids eat breakfast and lunch at school, so, as a stay at home mom, I have to start serving those meals to my kids again.

I like to find meals that are quick and inexpensive to prepare. I also like to find recipes that my kids can help me make. This becomes a summer activity that my kids really enjoy and it keeps them busy. When I found this recipe for Mason Jar Waffles, I was really excited. I decided to give them a try and my kids really enjoyed them. Here’s the recipe if you want to try them at your house.

Ingredients

• 1 egg ($0.20)

• ¾ cup milk ($0.20

• 3 Tablespoons oil (I used Canola) ($0.15)

• 1 cups white flour ($0.24)

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder ($0.08)

• ½ teaspoon salt

Preparation

Crack egg in a clean 1 quart Mason jar. Put the lid on and shake until well blended. Add remaining ingredients. Place the lid back on and shake vigorously until smooth and well combined. It should be ready to use now. If after opening you find some flour has still not mixed in well, just place lid back on and shake again until ready. The batter can then be placed to bake in your waffle maker. Bake according to your waffle maker’s manufacturer’s directions. This recipe said it should make six waffles, but I found it to only make five. This could have been because I put more batter in my waffle maker than I should have so you may need to play around with the recipe to see how many waffles you end up making.

Serve with pancake syrup.

Freezing

Another reason I like this recipe so well is because they freeze well. I like to plan to make extra waffles since I am already making them and I already have all of the ingredients out.

After making the waffles, I let them cool completely. My waffles always seem to cool really fast. Next, I take a cookie sheet and line it with wax paper and place a layer of waffles on it. Then I add another piece of waxed paper and add another layer of waffles. I place it into the freezer to flash freeze them. When they are frozen, I take them out and place them in a zip lock baggie. I cut the waxed paper I already used and place between the waffles. I seal the bag and label it. When I am ready to use them, I just get them out of the freezer and place them in the toaster over to heat. If you set your toaster on 350 degrees, it usually takes about 10 minutes. You can also microwave them for 1 ½ minutes or until pancakes are heated through.

Related posts:

1. Whole Wheat Blender Waffles
2. Recipe – Banana Nutella Cake in a Jar
3. Recipe: Apple Filled Pancakes

My family loves pancakes and bacon for a Saturday morning breakfast.  I was so excited when I found a recipe floating around Pinterest combining the two in a cute little item called the Bacon Strip Pancake.

I also learned that you could bake bacon in the oven and do away with all the mess that frying makes on your stove.  I liked how the strips of bacon cooked flat when baked in the oven, so that is when I thought about using the baking technique for the Bacon Strip Pancakes.  My family really enjoyed these and I plan to make them again soon.

Baking Bacon

I have read several baking methods for bacon but this is the one I have liked the best.  Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  Next, arrange the bacon slices on top of the foil.  Place the baking sheet into the center rack of your oven.  Make sure your oven is cold, so DO NOT preheat.  Set oven at 400 degrees for 17 to 20 minutes.  When the bacon is golden brown but not too crispy then it is done.  Immediately remove bacon from the cookie sheet as it will continue to cook.

Pancake Batter

While my bacon is cooking, I start to prepare my pancake batter.  You can use any pancake batter recipe or even a store bought boxed pancake mix.  I like to use my own prepared pancake mix.  I place the dry mix in zip lock baggies and store them until needed.  This saves me time.  My pancake batter is also cheaper than buying the boxed versions at the store.

Place in a baggie the following ingredients:

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup whole wheat flour (Or you can use all white flour)

3 Tablespoons sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

Note: If I use any wheat flour, I grind my own and place the pancake mix in the refrigerator and only make enough that I would use within the month.

When you are ready to make the pancake batter, you will need to place 1-½ cups buttermilk, one Tablespoon canola oil, and 2 eggs in a small bowl.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until you form the batter.  I think that buttermilk cost too much so I use the milk I have on hand and add 1 Tablespoon white vinegar per cup of milk.  I then let it sit for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes, I stir and then use it in the recipe just like buttermilk.

Preparing the Oven Baked Bacon Strip Pancakes

Spray a hot griddle with butter flavored cooking spray.  Place 4 slices of bacon on the griddle.  Take a small pitcher, I used a creamer container, and pour the prepared pancake batter over each piece of bacon.   When the batter is bubbly flip and cook on the other side as you would regular pancakes. Serve them with warm syrup.  My family loves Buttermilk Syrup which you prepare and will be warm.  I also had some extra batter so I just made regular pancakes with it.

Freezing Bacon Strip Leftovers

If you have leftovers, you can easily freeze them.  I like to flash freeze my pancakes first.  I place them on a wax paper (I get mine at the Dollar Tree for $1 a roll) lined cookie sheet.  I also place an extra sheet between the layers and then when they are frozen, I place them in a Ziploc baggie.  To reheat, place them in the microwave for 1-2 minutes or until hot.

Related posts:

1. How to Cook Bacon in the Oven
2. Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes
3. Recipe: Apple Filled Pancakes

{guest post submitted by Ashley of Our Family Stone}

One of my least favourite parts about winter is the lack of exciting fresh food available. We live in a part of Canada that all summer has an abundance of fresh apples, peaches, melons and berries. It seems each week a new and exciting ingredient is ripe for the choosing and I am ready for the challenge. Then Fall rolls in, the supply slowly dwindles and before we know it we’re left with overpriced imports and bland tomatoes.

In a desperate effort to help my culinary spirit survive the winter I spend hours washing and freezing berries, primarily raspberries to carry us through those long winter months. Then on the days when the rain is falling (because here winter means rain, very rarely snow) and the dreary is starting to set in, I gather my supplies, pre-heat my oven and reach into the freezer for a bag of my precious berries. In a matter of 5 minutes, I’ve whipped up a delicious batter (that I must say I enjoy raw as much as I do cooked) ready to hit the oven and make my house smell a little bit like summer.

I originally found this recipe on Food.com, and while it’s excellent on its own I decided to make a few adjustments, both to make it more healthy (because who doesn’t want to eat healthy, awesome things?!) and to make it suite the ingredients in my fridge better. It’s taken some tweaking but it’s finally reached perfection and I’m here today to share it with you.

Ingredients

• Whole Wheat Flour 1 Cup
• All Purpose Flour 1 Cup
• Sugar, Granulated ¾ Cup
• Baking Powder 3 tsp
• Salt ½ tsp
• Skim Milk (can sub 1%) ½ Cup
• Half/Half Cream (can sub sour cream) ½ Cup
• Vegetable Oil ½ Cup
• Lemon Zest 1 Lemon
• Juice of Lemon 1 Lemon (approx. 1 ½ tsp)
• Eggs, Large 2
• Raspberries** (Fresh or Frozen UNTHAWED) 1 Cup

 Preparation

1. Pre-Heat Oven to 400 degrees F

2. Line 12 Muffin Tins with Paper Liners (you can grease pans and not use liners but these are delicate muffins that can lose their shape)

3. Combine Flours, Sugar, Baking Powder, Salt and Lemon Zest in a Medium sized bowl

4. In a small bowl combine milk, cream, oil, eggs and lemon juice. Whisk together and set aside

5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients

6. Add wet mixture and stir only until no lumps remain

7. Gently fold in Raspberries. Caution: over stirring will cause your berries to break up and your muffins to be pink

8. Fill Muffin Cups 3/4 full of batter

9. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until muffins are golden brown I usually find 21 minutes is perfect

10. Remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes before removing from muffin tins to cool

These muffins freeze extremely well and are a favourite in our house. Here’s hoping our raspberry supply lasts us a few more months and that summer comes back soon! Happy Baking Everyone!

**You can substitute other berries in this muffin. Blueberries would be an excellent exchange

Ashley Stone is a Mommy to two beautiful girls, the wife of a handsome husband, and the voice of Our Family Stone. She spends her days working with her kids in tow, baking, crafting, blogging, cleaning and trying to go to the bathroom alone. She started blogging 6 years ago because she wanted to feel like an “author” and to relieve the excess noise in her brain. Ashley has something to say about everything, pop on over to Our Family Stone and you’ll find that out!

Related posts:

1. Easy Family Recipe – Lemon-Garlic Chicken
2. Lemon Berry Muffins
3. Recipe: Raspberry Lemonade Poke Cupcakes

Bacon. It doesn’t get much better than that.

I’d live off of it if it wouldn’t kill me.

I hate cooking bacon though. Frying it in a pan is messy and takes forever. I’ve tried microwaving it using a nifty little gadget designed just for that but, while it’s probably healthier since the bacon doesn’t sit in the grease, it just doesn’t taste as good as it’s higher fat cousin.

My solution is to cook bacon in the oven. It makes the bacon super crispy, which is just the way I like it, and I don’t have to sit and fiddle with it like I would in a pan.

What you Need

• A sheet cake pan. If you cook this on a regular cookie sheet without a rim you’ll have grease all over your oven.
• A pound of bacon
• Foil

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400°.

Cover your sheet pan with foil. This makes cleanup MUCH easier so don’t skip this step.

Lay your bacon out on top of the foil. Try and spread it out as much as you can.

Once your oven is preheated, place your pan of bacon into the oven. Be sure that your pan isn’t too close to your heating coils. Some grease will spit out and you don’t want to create a fire hazard.

Set a timer for 7 minutes. Your bacon will not be done in 7 minutes (unless you really like it raw) but I like to keep an eye on things to make sure I don’t have too much grease spitting out of my pan and the bacon isn’t cooking too quickly. When you check your bacon, use some tongs and toss the bacon a bit so it can cook on the other side. I don’t worry too much about flipping each piece over. As long as I give everything a good toss I find that it cooks just fine.

Set your timer for 7 minutes again. Use your tongs to toss the bacon. I repeat this until the bacon is as crispy as I want it to be. I find I have to cook it for about 21 minutes to be sure that it’s all crispy but if you like your bacon a bit floppier just pull it out sooner.

Lay your bacon on a towel to drain and enjoy.

I may or may not have eaten most of this by myself. I’m pregnant. It’s allowed.

Related posts:

1. Bacon Strip Pancakes With Oven Baked Bacon
2. Oven Fried Chicken and Country Gravy
3. Oven Barbecued Ribs

Pancakes are one of the all-time best comfort foods around. I personally like mine filled with fruit — banana pancakes are a favorite around our house. This apple filled pancake recipe gives breakfast a fun twist and requires next to no preparation.

You don’t have to limit these apple pancakes to breakfast though. These would make a fantastic dessert or a killer brunch. They present so well that they are also a great option for dressed-up breakfast in bed for a special occasion.

Ingredients

• Your favorite pancake recipe (or use a mix and jazz it up with this apple-filled trick)
• Apples, slicked vertically or cored and sliced horizontally
• Berries (optional)

Preparation

Slice your apples thinly. If you have an apple corer, you could core the apples and then slice them horizontally. I don’t own an apple corer so I just made thin vertical slices, however the apple probably would have cooked into the pancake a bit better if it been cored. Either option works just fine though.

We used green apples so that the end result wouldn’t be too sweet and I loved the flavor combination.

Mix up your favorite pancake mix or try our blender pancakes using whole wheat berries or buttermilk pancakes.

Lightly grease your frying pan and lay an apple in the pan. Let this cook for about a minute so it will start to get soft, then pour your pancake mix directly over the top of the apple slice.

Flip the pancake when you start to see bubbles break the surface. You should have a nice, lightly toasted pancake. You may get some batter leaking out from beneath the apple slice. To make sure these cook all the way, I flip them over one more time so that any extra batter has time to cook.

Cook the other side of the pancake as you normally would and serve immediately. My whole family loved these and I loved the huge apple flavor and the great texture variety.

Top with butter, syrup, and mixed berries.

Enjoy!

It doesn’t get much better than this!

Related posts:

1. Recipe: Strawberry, Date, and Apple Salad
2. Bacon Strip Pancakes With Oven Baked Bacon
3. Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

{Guest post by Terri DeWulf}

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If your family is anything like mine, we love eggs! Individual quiches are an easy way to prepare a quick and delicious meal anytime of the day. And they are good for you too! What I like most about this recipe is they can be made to order for each member of the family, and they all can be baked at once.

Ingredients

-Large Eggs (1 per individual quiche)

-1/4 C 1% Milk per three eggs

-Cooking spray

-Salt and pepper

-Various fillings such as turkey sausage, shredded cheese, left over veggies, shredded baby spinach, green peppers, lunch meats such as lean ham or turkey, salsa, hot sauce. Get creative!

Baking Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin tins with non stick spray so the quiche will easily come out once cooked.

In a large bowl whisk three eggs, 1/4C of milk, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

In your prepared muffin tins, place your fillings. This is the fun part, especially for kids, because they get to choose exactly what they would like! Then pour your eggs into each filled tin. Don’t over fill because these will puff up.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Tops should be golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes. To remove them, take a knife and run it around the edges and gently pop them out of the pan. Enjoy!

Terri DeWulf is a stay at home Mom to seven children, ages 16 down to two and a half. She holds her degree in nursing and currently resides in Indiana with her husband and children. She enjoys cooking and gardening.

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Two times of the day that can be a little hairy at our house are breakfast and after school.  The kiddos are hungry and they are looking for whatever isn’t nailed down to eat.  If not careful, they will eat their body weight in junk and empty calories.  One trick I have is to make sure to have healthy, tasty alternatives ready at hand.  One of my secret weapons is a super rich and creamy yogurt with granola and berries ready and handy in the fridge for them to easily grab.

I know this isn’t a new concept at all but what makes it a little different and super economical is the way I make the yogurt extra special.  Instead of buying the more expensive individual cups or even the creamy and a little more decadent Greek yogurt, I buy the cheaper low-fat or fat-free vanilla yogurt that you can purchase in large containers.  This is then where the magic a happens…

I pour all of the yogurt in to a mesh strainer lined with a paper towel and let that sit in the fridge for a few hours.  This drains some of the excess liquid from the yogurt and makes it extra decadent and creamy.  My kids LOVE it!  I top it with berries, granola and then drizzle a little Agave nectar over it and they couldn’t be happier.

So here is what you will need…

• Large container of your favorite yogurt
• Fresh or frozen berries
• Granola
• Agave nectar or honey
• Small containers in which to store individual portions of the tasty treat {optional}

For more fun tasty treats and some crafty idea as well, come visit me over at WhipperBerry.  Stop in and say hello!!

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gather your supplies… yes, that entire stick of butter is going in! =)

spray the bottom of the Bundt pan with vegetable spray (I use EVOO spray). drop 1/2 the pecans in.

place the rolls right on top of the pecans. sprinkle the pudding over rolls.

mix melted butter and brown sugar together. pour over rolls. sprinkle the remaining 1/2 of your pecans on top of the caramel (I left the pecans out this time).

place pan in cold oven overnight. rolls will thaw, rise, and smell yummy! In the morning, remove pan from oven. Preheat oven to 325*, and bake rolls for 30 minutes.

yummy, gooey, caramelly goodness.

are you drooling yet?

my happy cozy place at the table! =)

Blog Your Way to BlogHer

This post is an entry to the Blog Your Way to BlogHer Contest. Busy Mommy Media is giving away 1 ticket to BlogHer 2011 in San Diego! Visit the contest page for details on entering.

 

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Since we moved in together, Kyle and I have always lived within two minutes of a grocery store. I’m not really sure why we’re drawn to grocery store neighborhoods, but it might have something to do with my general laziness re: food shopping. I love to grocery shop, but I hate carrying the food in and putting it away (I know…laziness has reached new heights…), so Kyle often does grocery runs for me. 

It’s become something of a Sunday tradition that Kyle ends up at the grocery store finding us breakfast food. Usually it’s because I’ve forgotten something essential (like syrup). However, we’re trying to eat a bit healthier these days, so he’s been doing fresh produce runs instead. Mmm…I’ll take a good avocado over a stack of pancakes any day.

The best part is that I get to hang out in my pjs all morning and when he gets back from the store, he can entertain the baby…

…so I can do this:

Sunday Morning Omelette:

• Eggs (three per person if using whole eggs, four per person if using one whole egg and three egg whites)
• Fresh produce for inside (we’re fans of mushrooms, peppers, and spinach)
• Fresh produce for outside (ripe avocados or tomatoes are best)
• Shredded cheese or crumbled feta
• Flax seed (optional – we like the taste and it adds a little texture)
• Milk
• Olive oil

(1) Dice up the fresh produce and toss into a pan with some olive oil. Pay attention to what you’re cooking…peppers take longer than things like mushrooms and spinach, so put them in first and let them cook for a while before you add the other stuff. When everything is nice and yummy looking, put it all into a bowl and set aside.

(2) Whisk eggs together with a splash of milk. Good cooks recommend using milk with some fat in it (you can even use half and half), but we always use skim milk and it turns out fine. Pour the egg mixture into the hot pan you used for the vegetables and spread it around so you have a very thin layer. The olive oil left over from the vegetables should be plenty to grease the pan, but if you need to add more before you put the eggs in, go ahead. Nothing more annoying than sticky eggs.

(3) Cook the egg mixture on medium-low heat without flipping it over until it looks mostly dry. Make sure that you don’t have the pan too hot while you’re cooking the eggs or one side will cook faster than the other and you’ll get that weird chewy brown layer on the outside. Once the egg mixture looks dry (or mostly dry), sprinkle cheese, flax seed, and the vegetables you set aside over the omelette and then wrap it up burrito style. Give it a few seconds to melt the cheese, remove from heat, and serve with whatever produce you’d like on the side.

Note – if you don’t want to eat that many eggs, you can reduce the omelette to two eggs and serve black beans on the side instead, so you still get all your protein for breakfast. Omelettes and black beans are an all-time favorite meal of mine…especially with peppers…and some lowfat sour cream…mmmm…

Carly Morgan is a mommy/wedding/Disney blogger. She’s been blogging full-time for about two years now and for the last three months has enjoyed blogging about her first kid, Eva. Carly lives in Salt Lake City, UT.

Blog Your Way to BlogHer

This post is an entry to the Blog Your Way to BlogHer Contest. Busy Mommy Media is giving away 1 ticket to BlogHer 2011 in San Diego! Visit the contest page for details on entering.

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Since so many fruits are in season during the summer, you can usually find them on sale at the store.  I like to wait until my berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries) go to $1.00 a package and then I buy them up and freeze them for later use.  It’s so nice to be able to make a pie or cobbler in the winter with fresh fruit from my freezer, and I think they taste so much better than store bought frozen.  Another thing I like to do with those berries is make muffins with them and then freeze those muffins for later use.  This makes a quick and frugal breakfast for another busy morning.

Freezing Muffins

Freezing muffins is really easy.  After cooking the muffins according to your recipe, let them cool completely.  I like to wrap each muffin individually with wrap and then place enough for a family breakfast in one large freezer bag.  Make sure you get out all the air in the bag. I like to wrap them individually to prevent freezer burn. The muffins can stay in the freezer for up to three months, so make sure you label and date your bag.

Reheating Muffins

Reheating muffins from the freezer is really easy and quick.  First, you can get them directly from the freezer and place them back in the muffin tin and then place them in 350 degree oven until heated through.  If you have time to thaw them out before using them, you can just place them into the microwave for 20 second interval until you the muffin is as hot as you like.

Freezing Muffin Batter

Another way to freeze muffins is to just freeze the batter. In this method, all you do is make your batter as directed in the recipe and then place the batter as you would in the muffin tins.  Next, place the whole muffin tin in your freezer until the batter is frozen solid.  Then all you do is break the frozen batter from the tins with something, like a butter knife, and gently get it out.  Then place them in a freezer bag and get out all of the air. Make sure to label and date the bag.  Frozen muffin batter will last for about four months in the freezer.

Reheating Frozen Muffin Batter

To reheat frozen muffin batter, just place the batter back into the muffin tins.  You will then need to wait until the batter has completely thawed. Then you can heat the muffins as directed in your recipe.  This method is not one I choose for a quick breakfast.  If I know I’m going to have the muffins in the morning sometimes I’ll place some wrapping over the muffin tin and then thaw the batter overnight in my refrigerator.  Then all I have to do is place it in the oven in the morning. 

Berry Muffin Recipes

There are lots of berry muffin recipes that can be found searching online.  Here are a few of my favorite ones.

Berry-Smash Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Raspberry Muffins

Photo Credit: Dano

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