Overnight Apple Cinnamon Rolls with a Caramel Sauce

I love the idea of having warm, gooey cinnamon rolls first thing in the morning but who wants to wake up and slave in the kitchen. This recipe is the solution. October is my favorite month of the year so I made a few adjustments to incorporate apples for Fall.

Overnight Apple Cinnamon Rolls with a Caramel Sauce
Makes about 12 rolls

Dough:
1 envelope active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
3 cups flour (may need a little more see directions)

Filling:
1/2 stick unsalted butter room temp, separated
2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

Caramel Sauce
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

Add 1/2 cup of fairly warm water to a glass measuring cup. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let sit for about 10 minutes. While the yeast is activating, add apple juice, sugar, salt, egg, vanilla and butter in a medium sized bowl. Add yeast mixture to the wet ingredients and mix well by hand or stand mixer. Add the flour one cup at a time while mixing. You want the dough to come away from the sides of the bowl and not be too sticky. If needed, add more flour one Tablespoon at a time until dough forms a soft ball. If mixing by hand, at this point you will want to take the dough out of the bowl and knead it by had for about 5 min. If using a stand mixer, continue to knead using the hook attachment for a few minutes. Place kneaded dough on a greased bowl and cover. Place in a warm area of your home and let it rise for one hour.

While the dough is rising, prep your apples. Once they are peeled, cored and sliced, place them into a microwavable bowl. Add 2 Tablespoons butter (half of your 1/2 stick softened and ready to go) and cover with plastic wrap. Cut a small slit in the plastic wrap to allow steam to escape. Microwave the apples for about 2 minutes. Be careful! They will be very hot and the steam will burn you. Let them rest a minute before opening. Drain the juices once cooled and place in the fridge to chill.

Punch down the dough after an hour. Don't worry if your dough didn't rise too much. It will depend on the temp of your home. Grease a 9x13 pan and set aside. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out a 15 x 9 inch rectangle. You can use your 9 x 13 pan to help you estimate the size. Take the rest of your softened 1/2 stick of butter (about 2 tablespoons should be left) and spread it all over the dough. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it over the buttered dough. Take your softened apples from the fridge and line the apples evenly over the brown sugar mixture. Tightly roll up the dough and cut into even rolls. You can cut 12-15 rolls depending on the size you prefer. Arrange them into your baking dish (see photo below). Cover with plastic wrap and sit on counter over night.

This is what they will look like when you wake up in the morning. YAY! Most of the work is done. Now you just have to preheat your oven to 375F degrees. Remove the plastic wrap and cover them with foil. Bake for 25-30 minutes. I removed the foil with about 5 minutes to go so they would brown nicely. While they are baking, make your caramel sauce by adding the three ingredients together in a sauce pan set to med-high heat on the stove. Stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and the sauce has bubbled for about 3 minutes.  It will thicken while it cools so you may want to keep it warm until the rolls are ready that way it pours easily over them.

Tip: you can freeze the rolls without the sauce and enjoy later:)

Freezer Shakes

Here is my first ant- cold cereal recipe:)  My husband goes to work early in the morning and is ALWAYS in a hurry. I am not the wife that gets up and makes him breakfast (sorry babe) so here is a great idea for making sure he gets out the door with something quick and healthy!

For this post I am using a high protein spinach shake that my husband likes. You can apply this method to any shake you like to make. We have a magic bullet so this method is perfect but you can freeze your shake in quart sized freezer bags to fit your traditional blender as well.

Take the container you will be blending the shake in and put a quart sized freezer bag in it so you don't put more than it can handle.

Stuff it with sliced bananas, blueberries, sliced strawberries, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt, 1 tsp. Agave nectar, handful of fresh washed and dried baby spinach leaves.

Freezes in the shape of the cup so all you have to do in the morning is add nonfat milk and blend. No ice needed!

Bye Bye Cereal

For about a month we have stopped serving cold cereal in my home. I got fed up with my kids fighting over what kind of cereal they wanted or having a meltdown because the kind they like ran out. It has been much easier than I thought. Sure I have to get up 10-15 minutes earlier to make a hot breakfast but it's worth it. Most days we will do oatmeal with fruit or yogurt with granola but I have a few recipes to share. The next few recipes I post will feature make ahead yummy breakfast alternatives. The first one here is baked oatmeal. You can freeze these and set them out before and they will thaw by morning.


Baked Oatmeal Muffins

3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup sugar (I used no calorie sweetener instead)
1 very ripe banana, sliced
1 cup fruit of your choice or chocolate chips
5 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup flax seed, ground
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
2 1/2 cup 1% milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix eggs, vanilla, applesauce, and sugar until combined.
Add banana, and other fruit of your choice. (If using chocolate chips add them last) In another bowl, mix oats, salt, baking powder, flax seed, and cinnamon. Dump dry ingredients into wet ingredients; mix well. Pour in milk and stir until combined. Spray two 12 cup muffin tins with cooking spray or use cupcake liners. Scoop mixture evenly into muffin cups. Bake 35-40 minutes or until the center of each muffin is set. Cool and enjoy — or freeze them in gallon freezer bags.

German Pancakes with homemade syrup

This dish is obviously great for breakfast but I also love it as a last minute dinner. You can make the syrup ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for a few days. Just heat it up when you are ready to serve. YUMMY!!

German Pancakes


6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
confectioners' sugar for garnish


Place the eggs, milk, flour and salt in a blender; cover and process until smooth. Pour the butter into an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish; add the batter. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes. Dust pancake with confectioners' sugar; serve immediately with the syrup.

Buttermilk Syrup

1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


In a saucepan, combine the first five syrup ingredients; bring to a boil. Boil for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. 

Overnight baked french toast

This is a dish I usually make on Christmas eve for Christmas morning breakfast. There is so much commotion going on with gifts that making breakfast that morning needs to be easy and delicious.  Mine is a little burnt on the top in these pics. I like it like that so haters back off;) You also don't have to use nuts on yours either (Jazmine).

Baked French Toast

1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
8 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash salt
Praline Topping, recipe below
Maple syrup

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

Praline Topping:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. 

recipe from paula deen

Basic Waffles

My whipped cream is melting from the piping hot waffles but who cares. This looks pretty tasty!

Waffles


1 3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
3 eggs
1 stick butter, melted
1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat waffle iron. Whisk together in large bowl the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients. Gently mix the wet into the dry ingredients. You only need to stir about 10 times. Just until the dry is incorporated. Serve as desired.

recipe from: joy of cooking

Zucchini Frittata

Here is another great recipe my husband can eat on his diet. Who wouldn't want this cheesy warm egg dish?? We went out of town for the weekend and he didn't do so great as far as eating right so we are back on the healthy train. This has great flavor considering the ingredients. It's great for a breakfast, brunch or breakfast for dinner! A frittata is like an open faced omelette. You can make a a big one and serve more that one person with it. I put two slices on top of each other for the picture above. If you aren't worried about fat and calories, feel free to use the whole eggs (cut it down to 6) and real bacon and butter.

Zucchini Frittata


1 1/2 tablespoons butter substitute
2 tablespoons onion, finely diced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 med-large zucchini, shredded and chopped
7 eggs (use only 3 yolks though)
1 tablespoon water
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
4 turkey bacon strips cooked and chopped
1/4 tsp light salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 cup sliced green onions

In an oven proof skillet, melt butter substitute over med-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute for 1-2 min. Add zucchini; cook for 3 min or until tender.

In a bowl, beat eggs, mustard and water (this will help them to be fluffy). Pour into skillet. Sprinkle with turkey bacon, salt and pepper. As egg sets, lift edges letting uncooked egg to flow underneath to cook. Cook about 7 min on med heat. Preheat broiler.

Place skillet 6 inches from the heat in the oven for about a minute. Add cheese and green onion and broil again until cheese is melted. Serves 2-4.

Inspired by a recipe from Taste of Home

baked breakfast

I have been playing around with foods my hubby can eat. I made this breakfast for him and it was actually really tasty. Lots of flavor and texture. I used veggie sausage I got from Costco. It's from Morning Star Farms. I think that you can get it at the grocery store too. It's packed with Protein and tastes like regular sausage. I also love this way to prepare it because it's the perfect serving size for him. He gets what is in the Ramekin and that's it. Very filling.

First I sprayed my skillet with cooking spray. Then I threw some mushrooms and sliced bell peppers. You may want to add the bell peppers first because they take longer to cook.  NOTE: If you use regular sausage for this recipe cook the sausage in the pan first. Then add the veggies. Since my sausage patties are precooked I just need to heat them through.

Add the sausage once you like the tenderness of the veggies. Then I seasoned with Morton's Light Salt and pepper.

Add sausage and veggies to Ramekin. Crack your egg over the top.

Bake in oven at 400 degrees for about 15min for fully cooked egg and around 11 min for runny yolks. I DON'T like runny yolks so that's how long it took for mine to cook thoroughly.

Baked sausage and egg breakfast

1 bell pepper, sliced
1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced
2 sausage patties, chopped
2 eggs
salt and pepper

Lemon pancakes with strawberry syrup

These pancakes are fluffy and light which may be a bad thing because I could eat them all day long. My daughter will NOT eat strawberries so I make this syrup to trick her into eating them. She said it was so good so I say these are kid tested!

Strawberry syrup

8-10 strawberries, quartered
1/4 cup sugar
juice from one orange

I threw these ingredients into my magic bullet* to blend for about 30 sec. Then refrigerate until ready to use.

*If you don't want this to be a liquid just mix the ingredients and let sit for a half hour then scoop onto pancakes.

ingredients for the syrup

fresh orange juice

ALL DONE!

Lemon Pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 rounded tsp of baking powder

4 eggs, separated

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup milk

3 lemons juice and zest (I used Meyer lemons because I think they are so yummy, They are a mix between lemons and mandarin oranges.)

1. sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl. Set aside.

2. separate the egg yolks from the whites. Put the whites in a bowl you plan to whisk them in.

3. Add wet ingredients in with the egg yolks.

4. Zest and squeeze the juice from the lemons into the wet ingredients.

5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

6. Whisk the egg whites to medium to stiff peaks. Then slowly fold into batter. The more delicate you do this the more fluffy your pancakes will be.

7. cook in pan or skillet. They take a little longer than the pancakes I usually make so be patient.