Popovers (Individual Oven Pancake Style)

Put muffin tin in oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Bring eggs and milk to a warm room temp by putting eggs in very warm (tap) water for about 10 minutes and warming milk in microwave (only takes about 15 seconds).

In a blender cup (or blender if doing a large batch), blend eggs and milk. Add flour and salt. Blend again.*

When the oven has come to temp, carefully remove the muffin tin and add about 3/4 teaspoon butter in each muffin cup, making sure the sides are well buttered (a pastry brush works well). Quickly fill the cups half-full, then try to divide the rest of the batter equally.

Bake popovers until they are beautifully risen and browned, about 30-35 minutes. 

DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DURING BAKING TIME.

*If you don't have a blender cup, you can use an electric mixer, or even whisk by hand. But you want it really frothy.

Mama Bahr's Egg Strata Casserole

8 slices of bread, crusts removed, buttered
1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp. dry mustard
2 2/3 C. milk
1 tsp. salt, pepper to taste, dash cayenne
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 lb. sausage

Brown and drain sausage. Arrange buttered bread slices (my slices didn't fit very well, so I cubed them), grated cheese and sausage in 9 x 13 pan, alternating layers ending with cheese (b,s,c b,s,c)

Combine other ingredients and pour over. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Place casserole pan in a larger pan of warm water and cover whole thing with foil.

Bake 1 hour @ 350 degrees. Remove foil last 20 minutes. Cut in squares and serve immediately.

Optional:
Substitute bacon or ham for sausage.

Oven Pancakes

Turn oven to 450 degrees.  Put 6 Tablespoons butter (cut into pieces) in a 13x9 inch casserole dish.  Place pan in oven to melt butter.

Now the hard part:  REMEMBER TO TAKE THE DISH OUT BEFORE BUTTER BROWNS OR BURNS!

In a blender, put the following:

1 cup milk

6 eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

Blend well.  Carefully pour mixture into pan of melted butter.  Do not stir.  Bake for 18 minutes.  Pancakes will be high and fluffy.  Serve immediately.

Mat's Granola

5 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup raw cashews, chopped

1 cup almonds, chopped

1 cup shelled pumpkin seeds (or sunflower seeds, or whatever you like.  Salted or not, you get to choose!)

1 cup unsweetened coconut

1 cup wheat flour

1 cup non-instant powdered milk

1 cup wheat germ

1 cup raisins
1 cup other dried fruit (dates, cherries, craisins, etc.)

1 cup honey

1 cup coconut oil, melted

In a big bowl, combine all ingredients.  Mix honey and coconut oil together, pour over dry ingredients.  Using your hands, mix well.  Spread mixture onto two ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.  Cool.  Store in closed container.

Lemon Breakfast Bars

2 cups raisins (Kristy leaves these out)
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 1/3 cup  brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped walnuts

In a saucepan, combine raisins, milk, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Heat and stir until bubbling, then remove from heat to cool slightly.  In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and coconut oil, brown sugar and vanilla extract to make a batter.  Stir in flour, baking soda and salt, then add oats and walnuts.  Press all but 2 cups of the batter into a greased 9x13 pan.  Spread raisin mixture on top of batter to within 1/2 inch of the edges.  Sprinkle with dollops of reserved batter; press lightly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.  Allow to cool, then slice into 12 bars.  These delicious bars freeze well.  We wrap them individually in plastic wrap and tin foil to protect them from freezer burn.

Crepes

Grandma Carlene said we are the only family with left-over crepes (used to make the wondrous Smaco). That would be a tragedy indeed. Crepes are easy to make (okay, practice makes if not perfect, good enough and easy) and versatile--the perfect refrigerator magnet (throw all your leftover bits of goodness inside and you've got a meal). Mat's the original crepe maker at our house, but Kathryn is his number one helper and will be flying solo soon. We try to have these every Sunday--it's a tradition I love and mourn if Mat doesn't have time to do it. We first tried making crepes after reading an article in the Deseret News, alas, I could not find a link. Please feel free to put your favorite filling as a comment! So here are the recipes we use showing Mat's alterations after making them tons.

Sweet Crepes
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 cup water (this varies--just get it to the consistency you want)
4 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter (we only use 1/4 cup)
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar
(we add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla)
Butter or oil or ghee (yes, Mat makes his own ghee) for cooking

Place all ingredients (except cooking butter or oil or ghee) in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (this doesn't always happen at our house). Heat butter or oil in a small, flat skillet over medium heat. (The DN article we read actually encouraged the use of a big, old non-stick skillet that all the non-stick surface had come off of. Surprise, surprise--we had one of those! And it works great!) Ladle about 1/4 cup of batter into the skillet and tilt the pan in a circular motion so the entire bottom of the pan is thinly coated, about 1/16-inch thick.

Let the crepe cook for about a minute or two (for about a minute or less). There will be some bubbling. The outside edges of the crepe should have some browning before you flip the crepe over. To check for doneness, you can carefully lift the edge with a thin spatula. It should be a mixture of golden brown and light areas. The crepe should have a nice, lacy pattern if it is cooked properly. The first crepe often just gets thrown away.

Flip the crepe over and cook another half-minute (15 seconds or so) on the other side. Slide crepe from pan onto a plate or rack to cool, and repeat. Makes 10 crepes.

Peanut Butter Crepes
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons ghee melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter (natural, of coarse)
plus water as needed (1/4 cup is a good guess)

Blend, let rest in fridge.

Fantabulous Flapjacks

These are the best flapjacks ever. Say "No!" to pasty white pancakes! Say "Yes" to fragrant, flavorful, FANTABULOUS flapjacks! Aunt Virginia gave this to us for Christmas 2005. We've been giving it out to neighbors for Christmas since then. Everybody loves it, and they can save it until after the Christmas overload of treats is over to enjoy it. 

Fantabulous Flapjacks 

 For the mix: 

4 cups quick oats (410 g)

2 cups flour (267 g)

2 cups whole wheat flour (310 g)

1 cup dry milk (139 g) (from the cannery or Morning Moos) 

3 Tablespoons baking powder (44 g)

2 Tablespoons cinnamon (20 g)

2 1/2 teaspoons salt (19 g)

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 

1 cup packed brown sugar (186 g)

2 cups of mix is 353 g.

In mixer with paddle attachment, add all ingredients but the brown sugar. Mix well while measuring out the brown sugar. Add the brown sugar and mix well. Remove the bowl of mixer and, with hands, break up any brown sugar lumps. Store in an airtight container.

To make flapjacks: 

2 eggs, beaten 

1/3 cup oil*

2 cups mix 

1 cup water 

Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Scoop the batter onto a hot griddle or pan.  Cook for two to three minutes, then flip. Continue cooking until brown on both sides.

Suggested additions:

blueberries

frozen raspberries (broken into bits like at the bottom of the bag)

cinnamon bits

walnuts and mini-chocolate chips

*I use extra light olive oil--but melted coconut oil works too--maybe melted butter would as well?