Week 5: Barb's Breakfast Bonanza

The Month 1 challenge involves cooking a new breakfast recipe. I did the cooking on Sunday but just managed to recover enough to actually blog about it.

Here's the evidence.




Don't let the dishes scare you, though. These are actually dishes from Saturday's dinner (beef stroganoff), Saturday's dessert (chewy chocolate chip cookies), and Sunday's breakfast extravaganza. Poor Brad!

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We began breakfast with our very own pumpkin spice lattes.

Adapted from
"Pumpkin Spice Lattes"
posted September 21, 2009 on Apartment Therapy: The Kitchn

Makes 1 - 2 servings



2 C milk
2 Tbsp. canned pumpkin
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup of strong brewed coffee

In a saucepan combine milk, pumpkin, and sugar and cook on medium heat, stirring, until steaming. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and spice. Whisk really well with a wire whisk. It takes lots and lots of whisking to get all the pumpkin chunks out.

Pour into a large mug or two mugs. Add the espresso on top.

Top with whipped cream and sprinkle pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or cinnamon on top.

They weren't as good as Starbucks.

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We had brown sugar bacon and pumpkin waffles after the lattes. (Not exactly a photogenic breakfast but really tasty!)

Adapted from
"Brown Super Bacon"
Paula Deen for Food Network

1/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp. chili powder
8 slices thick-cut bacon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Set a cooling rack inside the prepared pan and set aside.

In a shallow dish, combine the brown sugar and chili powder. Dredge the bacon slices in the brown sugar mixture and arrange the bacon on the rack. Bake in the preheated oven until crisp, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a serving plate and serve.

This is the second brown sugar bacon recipe I've tried. The first one is from Gina Neely. I preferred the spicy taste of Gina's recipe (cayenne pepper) to the smoky taste of Paula's (chili powder).

Once the bacon hit the oven I started the waffles.

Adapted from:
"Pumpkin Waffles with Maple Walnut Apples"
from Food Network Kitchens

Makes 8 4-inch waffles

Waffles:
1 C cake flour
1/4 C wheat germ
1/3 C granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp fine salt
3/4 C milk
1/2 C pumpkin puree
1/4 C melted butter
1/4 C melted shortening (transfat-free)
1 large egg
1 large egg white

Topping:
2 to 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 crisp apples, peeled and sliced thinly
1/4 C pure maple syrup
1/2 C toasted walnuts

For the waffles:
Preheat a waffle iron to medium heat.

Whisk the flour, wheat germ, sugar, baking powder, spice and salt together in a large bowl.

Beat together the milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and melted shortening, egg and egg white, in a large measuring cup. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk together to make a slightly lumpy batter.

For the topping:
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the apples and let cook until slightly browned, but still crisp, about 4 minutes. Add the maple syrup and walnuts and toss to coat. Set aside.

Pour and spread about 1 cup batter into the waffle iron. Cover and cook until crisp and a rich golden brown, about 7 minutes. (Try to resist the temptation to open the waffle iron too soon. Steam will puff out of the iron while the waffles cook, when this stops the waffle is cooked.) Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve hot with the apples.

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Here are a few more breakfast recipes that didn't make the cut:
Breakfast Skillet
Mascarpone Stuff French Toast with Peaches
Baked Caramel French Toast (from an all-breakfast recipe site)