Matt’s Breakfast Hash

Can you believe it?  It’s not a pumpkin recipe! Don’t be alarmed though… this recipe is just as great as any pumpkin recipe in the Fall.

Last weekend, we visited my sister and brother-in-law in Richmond, VA and were introduced to this A-mazing recipe.  This recipe came from Matt’s family so I, of course, had to name it after him.  It was the perfect breakfast to fill us up for a day of apple picking in Virginia (more to come!). The mimosas, bloody mary’s, and apple cider donuts also helped (have I mentioned what a FANTASTIC host my sister is?)

Halloween Bloody Mary's

Apple Cider Donuts, Grapes, Strawberries, and Coffee. Perfection.

Almond Mimosas (made with almond champagne!)

It’s the perfect Saturday or Sunday morning breakfast recipe; not only is it cozy and Fall-ish, it’s a perfect clean-out-your-fridge-at-the-end-of-the-week recipe. Remember that one time I mentioned using fruit that’s overstayed their welcome? Well, you can do the same thing with veggies for this recipe. Green onions that aren’t the freshest? Toss ‘em in.  Tomatoes? Yup. Mushrooms? Sure thing. Heck, even that pot roast left over from the week? chop it up and enjoy.

You know what’s also pretty great? Adding cottage cheese on top of the hash.  That’s another little treat Matt told us about.  You can leave it off but I suggest adding it… the cottage cheese makes it a whole different ball game.

This recipe is like a flavor explosion in your mouth.  And you can tailor it to your liking. Toss your refrigerated goodies in with some potatoes, season with salt and pepper, top with cottage cheese… pure bliss.

Oh, and you need to serve it with Halloween cinnamon rolls.  It’s a must.

Matt’s Breakfast Hash (serves 4-5)

Ingredients (these are what we used but feel free to add or take away anything… this recipe is very adaptable!)

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 large russet potatoes, cleaned and chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

3-4 links spicy Italian sausage

3 large eggs

1/4 cup green onions

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 cup shredded cheese (any kind will do!)

Directions

Sprinkle oil on bottom of large skillet and set to medium heat.  Add the potatoes and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.  Add the onions and italian sausage.  Once the sausage is cooked, add the eggs and scramble the eggs in the hash mixture.  Add the salt and pepper to your liking.  Sprinkle with green onions and cheese.  Serve hash with or without cottage cheese.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Bread

Here we go again… another pumpkin recipe.

Hate if you want but I love pumpkin way too much.  It’s also Fall, which means you can eat pumpkin every day.  Totally legit.

This recipe is so fantastic. It’s super easy and absolutely delicious.  It’s not short on calories though.  BUT you can totally have it for dinner… I won’t judge (because I had it for dinner). Having this for dinner makes the calorie count okay.  It really does.  I asked Siri.

Confession: If I could eat dessert or any bread for dinner I would.  I would take a piece of chocolate cake over a steak anyyyy day. True story.

Time for you to make this bread.  You won’t regret it.

Pumpkin Pie Bread (recipe from here!)

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. salt

3 cups white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil (or 1 cup melted butter)

1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 2 9×5 inch loaf pans. Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together.  Set aside.

In a blender, mix together sugar, oil, pumpkin, and eggs till smooth.  Add the flour mixture and water, alternating between additions.  Mix until smooth.

Divide the batter evenly into the loaf pans.  Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Place on a wire rack until cool. Enjoy!

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Reason #5,632 of why I love smoothies: They’re delicious.

Reason #6,327 of why I love smoothies: You can get a whole lot of fruit into one drink without it tasting too healthy. (This smoothie has 3 servings of fruit in it! YES!)

Confession: I get really really bored with fruit sometimes.  I love fruit but sometimes it gets a little too boring. I get bored biting into apples, peeling bananas, cutting up strawberries, etc. Ya know? Sometimes you need to mix it up.  So…

Reason #6,987 of why I love smoothies: It’s a totally different way to eat fruit while maintaining their nutrients.  Mixin’ it up. I like it.

Confession #2: I’m anti-throwing food away. I hate doing it. Yes, I’m officially my mother. I’ve discovered that smoothies are just as delicious with week old fruit as they are with day old fruit. True story. So….

Reason #7,892 of why I love smoothies: You can use those strawberries (or any fruit for that matter) that have overstayed their welcome by a couple of days.  The smoothie will be just as delicious.  I promise.

Reason #8,645 of why I love smoothies: You can do whatever the heck you want with them.  You can put any kind of fruit, sweetener, veggie, or whatever else into them.  Whatever your heart desires.  Add coffee? Do it up. Add whipped cream? Yup.  Add chocolate syrup? Heck yes.

I hope I’ve convinced you all to like smoothies as much as I do. If I haven’t convinced you yet, make this smoothie.  That will do the trick.

P.s. Thanks for putting up with my list of why I love smoothies. I love lists.  I won’t make a list of reasons of why I love lists though.  I like you all too much and would like you to stay.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie (makes one large smoothie)

Directions

1 banana, broken up into pieces

5-6 strawberries, hulled and chopped

1 cup milk (I use vanilla soymilk)

1-2 Tbsp. Agave nectar*, to taste

4-5 ice cubes (the smoothie is also great without ice)

*You can get agave nectar in the specialty food aisle of most grocery stores.  If you don’t have agave nectar, you can also use honey or just plain ol’ sugar.  Anything works.

Directions

Add the strawberries, bananas, milk, and agave nectar to the blender.  Blend until smooth.  Add the ice cubes and blend until smooth.  Drink it up!

Pumpkin Spice Latte… in a crockpot!

I haven’t been this excited about a recipe in a long time.

I am really really really excited about this.

This is glorious.  This is OH-SO-EASY.

I looove Startbucks’ pumpkin spice latte.  It’s incredible.  And it’s just one more thing to look forward to when Fall rolls around. However, $4 for each one can add up.  SO, enter in the homemade version.

This version is just as, if not more, incredible.  It’s pumpkin-y, it’s spiced, and it’s cheap.

(Side note, I hope no one minds that I made up a word, and that I’ve used it 5,000 times in the past week.  How else can you describe something that’s… pumpkin-y?)

Fresh flowers from the Farmer's Market

(Another side note, how pretty are these flowers? I don’t know if they’re Autumn flowers but I’m going to pretend they are).

Fresh flowers from the Farmer's Market

Any crockpot recipe is easy.  This one is no different.  Adding the ingredients to the crockpot takes two minutes.  You wait two hours (which I don’t mind because it makes your home smell divine) and then devour it.  Top it with whipped cream and you’ve got yourself a pumpkin-y, spiced treat.

Doesn’t hurt that there’s caffeine in it either!

Please oh please go make this recipe.  If you’re not a coffee fan, no biggie.  I hardly tasted the coffee at all.  You could probably make it without the coffee… try it out and let me know if it works!

I used 1% milk in this… I typically drink soy milk but I would not recommend using it in this recipe.  Heating soy milk for 2 hours leaves a weird grimy taste in your mouth. Trust me on this one.  I would go with the real stuff.

Oh goodness, how I love crockpots.  And pumpkin.  And caffeine.  And Fall.

Have I mentioned I love Fall?

Pumpkin Spice Latte (recipe from here)

Ingredients:

2 cups milk

2 Tbsp. canned pumpkin

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup brewed espresso or 3/4 cup strongly brewed coffee

Directions:

Add the milk and espresso to the crockpot.  Stir in the pumpkin, sugar, vanilla, and spice with a whisk. Let it sit for 2 hours in the crockpot on high.  Ladle it out and top it with whipped cream (if you want).  Enjoy!

(This serves about 2 large mugs)

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Don’t you just love days like this? These delightfully dreary days at the beginning of Fall make me want to just curl up with a warm blanket, a good book… and pumpkin pie oatmeal.

My day has been a perfect Fall day…minus the good book (neuroanatomy books are not my idea of “good”). I love Fall more than any other season. I find dreary Fall days beautiful… there’s just something so warm and comforting about them. The weather is a wonderful change from the horrid heat we’ve had, but this morning I looked out my window and realized the leaves are actually changing too. Can you believe it? Fall is officially here and there’s no better way to welcome the new season than with a warm bowl of pumpkin pie oatmeal.

This recipe is wonderfully easy. I didn’t take any pictures during the cooking process because, well, the whole recipe took 2 minutes. If I had stopped to take pictures, I would have ended up with burned pumpkin pie oatmeal instead of the wonderful, pumpkin-y, Fall-like oatmeal I did have.

This recipe is truly wonderful. It’s like a bowl full of Fall and it’s healthy… what could be better than that?

I hope everyone is enjoying the change of season as much as I am. I’m looking forward to the pumpkin patches, apple orchards, and bright orange and red trees.

Pumpkins from the Farmer's Market

I also wouldn’t mind having a large pile of leaves to jump into.

Some things never change.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal (recipe adapted from here)

Ingredients:

1 cup dry oats

1/2 cup canned pumpkin purée

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Pecans

Maple Syrup, to taste

Directions:

Cook the oats according to the package directions. Once the oats are almost done, add and mix the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice into the oatmeal. Transfer to a bowl and add the maple syrup on top. Sprinkle with the pecans and enjoy.

Strawberry Crumb Bars

Well, so begins the busiest week of my year.  My sister, Erin, is getting married on Saturday and I begin my second year of medical school tomorrow.  It’s astonishing how time flies.  With that being said, I don’t have too much time to write but I thought I’d share a delicious recipe I made a couple weeks ago…

These Strawberry Crumb Bars were super easy to make and turned out great.  I brought them to our annual family reunion at Kentucky Lake and they got some great reviews!  It calls for a lot of strawberries, but in my opinion, you can’t go wrong with a lot of strawberries.

I officially start my second year tomorrow so oddly enough, that probably means I’ll be posting more.  I have a tendency to blog more when I’m avoiding studying.  Go figure.

Everyone should make these crumb bars soon… they’re the perfect dessert as this summer comes to a close.  However, turning on the oven in this 100+ degree heat probably doesn’t sound too appealing.  I understand.  I would recommend keeping these in the fridge… They are delicious when they’re cold!

Speaking of heat, who’s ready for Fall?? Totally over this heat.  Completely and totally over it.  Summer, you can move on now.  I’m ready for some 70 degree weather, pumpkin bread, and apple cider.  Who’s with me??

Strawberry Crumb Bars (recipe from here!)

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided

1 tsp baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 lb cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 large egg

4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered

4 tsp cornstarch

Juice of 1 lemon

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

-Grease a 13×9” pan.

-In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup sugar, baking powder and flour.  Mix in the salt and lemon zest.  Stir together.

-Cut in the butter and egg with a pastry blender until the largest chunks are pea-sized.

-Spread half of the dough mixture in an even layer over the bottom of the pan.  Press firmly to form the bottom crust.

-In another bowl, stir the remaining sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice.  Mix in the strawberries with a spatula.

-Spread the strawberries over the bottom crust.  Top the strawberries with the remaining dough just crumbling the mixture over the berries.

-Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Eggplant Parmesan and Baba Ghanoush

Eggplant Parmesan

Well, I finally did it.  I made the switch to WordPress.  I haven’t posted anything in a few months because Blogger (my old blog domain) was causing way too many problems.  I had a couple posts disappear after I published them and that just didn’t sit well with me.  So, here I am…on WordPress. Hopefully we can keep going on this blog, problem free!

This post was supposed to be published back in April but like I said a second ago, Blogger wouldn’t have that.

Eggplant was the “choice ingredient” for my dad and I’s cooking competition this Easter.  Our first competition was this past Christmas and pumpkin was the choice ingredient. It ended up being a tie so we decided to have the competition again for Easter dinner. We chose Eggplant as the ingredient to duke it out (fitting for Easter, no?)!

The very soon Bride to Be (August 6th!!) slicing up the eggplant.

Unfortunately, my dish didn’t get as many great reviews as my dad’s did.  I chose to make eggplant parmesan and my dad made baba ghanoush.  The eggplant parmesan was a little too mushy for my taste.  Well, everyone’s taste for that matter.  The only person that liked it was my mom but I’m thinking she was just being kind.  The eggplant wasn’t cooked long enough so it came out of the oven with more mush and less crunch. My dad’s, however, was incredible.  Baba ghanoush is not just the nickname of a Wedding Crashers character. It just so happens to also be an amazing eggplant dip. It’s a Lebanese dish made from eggplant and olive oil (Thanks, Wikipedia!).  Aka, a piece of heaven.

Baba Ghanoush

Stack of sliced eggplant.

I was disappointed that I didn’t win but I’d lose to my dad any day.  He’s an amazing cook and pretty tough to beat.  I wrote all about my dad and how he started me on cooking but Blogger, very rudely, deleted it.  Wordpress, I hope you don’t disappoint… I’m counting on you.

I didn’t get a chance to get the baba ghanoush recipe from my dad but I included the eggplant parmesan recipe at the bottom of the post.  It’s a great recipe but I misread it and didn’t cook the eggplant long enough. I’m sure the rest of you will not make the same mistake and will cook your eggplant long enough. I’m sure it will be worth it!

My brother and sister at Easter Dinner. Love these two.

Eggplant Parmesan (recipe from here)

Ingredients

3 eggplants, peeled and thinly sliced (into coin shapes)

2 eggs, beaten

4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs

6 cups spaghetti sauce, divided

1 (16 oz)  package mozzarella, shredded and divided

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided

1/2 tsp. dried basil

Directions

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

-Dip the eggplant slices into the egg and then the breadcrumbs.  Lay them flat in a single layer on a baking sheet.

-Bake in oven for 5 minutes on each side (*this is where I read it wrong… EACH side needs to be baked!)

-In a 9×13” baking dish, spread some of the spaghetti sauce on the bottom.  Then place a single layer of zucchini on top of the sauce.  Top the zucchini with the cheeses. Repeat this until all of the ingredients are used, ending with the cheese.  Sprinkle the very top with basil.

-Bake in oven for 35 minutes, or until golden brown.

p.s…I’m sorry for any inconvenience the change of address has caused! The only thing that has changed is from blogspot.com to wordpress.com . The rest is the same!

Dyed Easter eggs. Never gets old.