Now that the summer holidays are over and the kids are back at school, your weekday mornings are bound to be a bit of a rush, and maybe even manic on some days. If your children are anything like mine were, this could make for a bit of a challenge as far as getting them to eat a wholesome and delicious breakfast before they head out the door.  Back in Canada, mine all had buses to catch. Over here in the UK, most parents drive their children.  It was always a rush for me to get mine out of bed and dressed in time to catch the bus, and to try to get a nutritious breakfast into them at the same time, was hit and miss sometimes.  I found portable things that they could just grab on their way out the door worked best of all most days.

 

These Breakfast Omelet Cups are the perfect thing for that.  Small single sized omelets, perfectly for small hands, or hands on the go!  Perfect also for those of us who are watching their carbs. (ME!)

 

All of the ingredients are simply beaten together and poured into well greased muffin cups and then baked until nicely puffed and golden. 

 

They are also very adaptable to whatever ingredients you have ready to hand.  On this particular day I used chopped ham, spring onions, peppers and cheddar cheese. 

 

You could use cooked bacon or sausage instead of ham, and whatever vegetables your kids/family are crazy about!  It is the same with the cheese! 

 

Fond of pizza-like flavours?  Why not use chopped or sliced mini pepperonis, peppers, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and grated Parmesan!!

 

If you family likes tuna or salmon, you could use a small tin of tuna/salmon, drained and flaked, with some onion, cheese and chopped broccoli!

 

Or you could keep them totally veggie and use only a mix of your favourite cooked veggies, chopped, onions and cheese.  See . . .  totally adaptable.

 

I served them with some tater tots and  whole wheat bread toasts.   Everyone really enjoyed them! 

 

 

These are such a simple thing and yet so delicious!  Proof positive that tasty doesn't need to be complicated or hard work!  Do make sure you butter your muffin tins really well, as the cheese can have a bit of a tendency to stick!  Enjoy and Bon Appetit!

 

Well this past week we saw all the children heading back to school.  I loved back to school time when I was a child.  It was so very exciting.  New shoes, new scribblers and pencils, new teachers,  and I got to see some of my friends that I hadn't seen all summer! 

 

Two of my seven Grands at the end of their first day of school.  I think it went well. They look happy enough anyways!

  

It was pretty exciting for me when I was raising my family also!  I was excited for them and the new year they were beginning, plus there was the fact that by the end of the summer they were getting pretty bored with being home and getting on my very last nerve more often than not!  Five children with all of their personalities and quirks.  Lets just say, they did not always get on, but happily for the most part they do now.  Whew!

 

I was a cookie baking mum.  I loved to bake cookies and each day when my children arrived home from school, there would be a delicious after school snack waiting for them. If I was lucky I would have enough for them to each enjoy some on the day and then to pop into their sack lunches the next day. 

 

This recipe I am sharing today is adapted from one I found in a cookie book by GBB finalist Miranda Gore Browne, entitled Biscuit. (If I am not mistaken, she was in the first series, but I could be wrong!)

 

Suffice it to say I never made these cookies for my kids.  I didn't have the recipe back then, but I know they would certainly have loved them! 

  

What child wouldn't enjoy a cookie almost as large as their heads! 

 

Studded with candy covered chocolate drops!  YES!  (That was the child in me trying to escape!)

 

Perfect for the child in your life, or yes  . . .  the child in you!

 

Meant to be enjoyed with a nice tall cold glass of milk!

 

Buttery and crisp edged . . . slightly chewy in the middle, the recipe only makes about a dozen cookies, but they are LARGE cookies.

 

They do spread a LOT when they are baking, so it is no exaggeration to say you will only get maximum of six on a large baking sheet, and even then, they may run together a tiny bit at the edges. Mine did, so bear this in mind.  The more air that can circulate around them, the more crisp those edges will be!

  

 

Friday was just one of those days.  It was my husband's 80th birthday and I wanted to bake him a really nice cake.  He loves Maple and so I decided to make him a Maple Cake.  I found a really good recipe on the Betty Crocker site.  And went with it.  I had very high hopes.

 

Can you say "CAKE FAIL?"  Not the recipe's fault. The recipe is a sound recipe and I will try it again another day.  For some reason my cake stuck to the pan very badly, despite all my efforts and this is what I ended up with. *Sniff *Sniff     Crumbs, loads and loads of crumbs.

 

Its a good thing I had a back up plan!  Pumpkin Pie Roll Ups!  Is it ever too early for a Pumpkin dessert?  I THINK NOT!  Especially when it is as delicious as this one!

 

Pumpkin Pie Roll Ups!  I did a recipe for Apple Pie Roll Ups a number of years back, which proved to be very popular and even won an award.  They are really good!  I am happy to say that these are every bit as tasty, and maybe even more so! (as if that's possible!)

 

Maybe we will call it a draw.  One is as good as the other!   

 

It uses simple ingredients. First,  tinned cooked pumpkin puree, which is a lot easier to find over here now than what it used to be. You can get it in most of the shops and from Amazon. 

 

Refrigerated Croissant Roll Dough, which is very similar to the Refrigerated Crescent Roll Dough that you can get in North America.  It might be a bit flakier, and more pastry like, but the NA version will also work very well. 

 

Cream cheese  . . .  easy enough and Pumpkin Pie Spice.  Say what???  Not something we can find here in the UK, but not a problem really.  I make my own from scratch, and it is probably better than what you could buy. 

 

 

Pumpkin pie spice has always been impossible to find over here in the UK, but it is so easy to make your own so I highly recommend doing so.  I make most of my own spice blends actually. That way you know just how fresh they really are.  I grate my own nutmeg from scratch and I even pulverise my own cloves, etc.  It doesn't take a lot of effort and more than makes up for it in flavour and freshness.

 

You make a buttery sugar streusel using both brown and granulated sugar, some of the pumpkin pie spice and some butter.  Easy peasy.

 

Putting them together really is a breeze.  Unroll the roll dough, divide into triangles, top with  . . .  first the pumpkin puree . . .

 

Next the cream cheese and then some of the sugar/spice mixture.  Then you roll them up. Its that simple.  Make sure you tuck in the edges. You don't want any of that lucious filling escaping!

 

Pop them into a buttered dish, sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture on top, drizzle some apple juice over all and then bake.  Bake until they are puffed and crisp  . . .  and cooked through. Like magic, you will find a centre which is just as tasty, or even tastier than a pumpkin pie!

  

Serve them warm with your favourite accompaniments.  Todd likes warm custard with his, but ice cream would be lovey as would pouring cream.  Or, dare I say it . . .  whipped cream!  YUMM!

 

When I put a bowl of this in front of Todd, he really didn't mind not having a cake.  He snuffled it up and went back for seconds.  (Oh how I wish I had his metabolism! )  I am not surprised really. They are fabulous!  Happy  almost Autumn y'all and Happy Birthday Todd!  Bon Appetit!

 

Along with the cooler, more autumnal-like days has come the desire to eat things that are that tiny bit heartier.  Delicious savoury dishes such as this Goulash I am sharing today.  Goulash is basically just a stew, flavoured with paprika, peppers and tomato.  We really love it in this house.  It has been a family favourite for many, many years.

 

Its really a simple stew to make. Most stews are very simple, and have been the food of the common man since time began I suspect. I once read in the old days that the same pot of stew would be kept hanging over the fire with things being added to it daily.  I am not sure how much I like that idea, but stew  . . . its an old, old thing.  Most  starts off by browning cubes of beef in some fat.  The more brown you can allow them to become, the richer will be the colour of your stew.  

 

Most people are in  a rush and they tend to bung too much meat into the pan to brown at any given time. Don't be in a rush, do it in batches if you must . . .  trust me, it will be worth the effort in the way and amount your beef browns.  I tend to put the meat on to brown while I am preparing the  vegetables. That way I am too busy to keep stirring it and ruining the browning process. It really has the opportunity to form a nice crust and that only adds to the richness of the stew. Trust me on this. (Note, browned, not burned, you do need to pay some attention!!)

  

Once it is browned you remove the meat and you add vegetables  . . .  peppers and onions, these are cooked just until they begin to soften.  Then you add aromatics like garlic . . . . the paprika (two kinds, hot and sweet), and some thyme.  Cook only until fragrant and then you return the meat, the liquid and your other vegetables.

 

You don't want to be using mealy potatoes, or the types of potatoes you would use for mashing. These will tend to disintigrate in the lengthy cooking time.  I had a few stay whole, but the majority of them didn't . . . nevermind, it still tasted gorgeous.

 

But my goulash was not as liquidy as it usually is, which I missed. So be warned.  There is usually lots of lovely flavourful juice which is luverly sopped up with crusty bread.

 

Sour dough, crusty white, whole wheat  . . .  whatever you desire.  All go well. Rye bread goes particularly well, but we just had soft white bread on the day, which was also very good.

 

Todd really enjoys meals like this.  He is a real meat and potatoes kind of a guy.  Meat and two veg (one of which is potato) and he is one very happy man.  I fished out as many whole pieces of potato for him that I could and he was in man-food heaven!

 

 

One lovely thing about meals like this is they taste even better the day after, which makes this the perfect meal for two.  We get to eat it fresh on the day and then again the day after when the flavours have really had a chance to develop overnight.  Brown food  . . .  I love brown food. The camera doesn't, but what does a camera really know about things that taste good!  Bon Appetit!