Banana and Macadamia Nut Topped Bagel

I went to Hawaii in June and while I was there created this delicious breakfast, which can be enjoyed anytime you need a tropical start to your day.

Start with a plain bagel (although a fruity or cinnamon flavored would be tasty too). Toast until desired doneness.

Spread on whipped cream cheese. Then top with sliced apple bananas. 

These are apple bananas:

(source)

Top the bananas with sliced macadamia nuts and drizzle with honey. I used Mac Nut brand honey, purchased at the local farmers' market and honey roasted macadamia nuts. 

Enjoy! And if you can't enjoy your tropical breakfast with a view, here's mine :)

 Aloha! 

Ultimate Cheesy Potato Recipe

This recipe is a staple at my husband aunt's house. I'd say she serves it 7 out of 10 times when she has company over. I finally made it myself and found out it's super easy!

Ingredients;
1 bag of hash browns, cubed (the Southern Style hash brown)
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz sour cream
8 oz mild cheddar cheese, grated (or more!), divided
Pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan. Mix  soup, sour cream, pepper and half of the cheese together in a bowl. Add hash browns and stir. Pour into pan and cover with the remaining cheese. Bake for one hour.

Tip: It's ok for the hash browns to be frozen when you cook this dish but if they are a thawed a bit, it's easier to mix up. 

These are great with dinner, but I also ate the leftovers with breakfast and they totally work!

Next time you're asked to bring a side, I suggest these!

Yogurt and brown sugar coffee cake

In the midst of moving (will we EVER be out of the "midst" of moving??), I ran out of sugar. I have more . . . somewhere, so I don't want to have to buy more, but I didn't have enough to make our favorite sour cream coffee cake. At the same time, I thought our sour cream was no good anymore (untrue, as it turned out, but oh well), so I tried an alternate version of our "cinnamon bread."

My favorite part of this recipe? You can use even really old, hard brown sugar--the kind where you can't break down the lumps--and that makes it even better! The rocks of brown sugar melt into sweet gooey pockets of goodness!

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 2 T softened butter
• 1 egg
• 3/4 c plain or vanilla yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla (omit if using vanilla pudding)
• 1 1/2 c baking mix (like Bisquick)

Topping

• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)
• 2 T firm butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8x8 glass or metal baking pan.

2. For the cake, in a mixer or medium mixing bowl, beat the brown sugar with the butter until combined. Beat in egg, yogurt and vanilla. Add Bisquick and stir until combined. Pour into prepared pan.

3. For the topping, combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. Using two forks, a pastry blender or your fingers, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs or wet sand. Sprinkle over cake batter in pan.

4. Bake about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

See that pocket of gooey goodness in the corner there??

Yum!

Sour cream coffee cake with streusel topping

One of the recipes my husband brought to our family was his mother's coffee cake. Now, the recipe was a hand-me-down to her, and she wasn't sure where it came from, either—possibly a newspaper? But it's become a tradition in our family to make this coffee cake (or as we call it, cinnamon bread, since we don't drink coffee and I'd rather not serve "cake" for breakfast) as often as we can.

Coffee Cake by Mr. T in DC, on Flickr
via CC license

Of course, my favorite story about this recipe is the time I submitted it to a local church cookbook, and they printed my Sour Cream Coffee Cake recipe . . . without sour cream.

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/2 c sugar
• 2 T softened butter
• 1 egg
• 3/4 c sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 c baking mix (like Bisquick)

Topping

• 1/4 c granulated sugar
• 1/4 c flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)
• 2 T firm butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8x8 glass or metal baking pan.

2. For the cake, in a mixer or medium mixing bowl, beat the sugar with the butter until combined. Beat in egg, sour cream and vanilla. Add Bisquick and stir until combined. Pour into prepared pan.

3. For the topping, combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. Using two forks, a pastry blender or your fingers, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs or wet sand. Sprinkle over cake batter in pan.

4. Bake about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Next time, I'll share a variation on this recipe I made for Father's Day!

What's your favorite breakfast tradition?

Saturday Breakfast Tradition: German Pancakes and Homemade Syrup

My husband loves cooking breakfast. When he cooks anything he tries to go above and beyond and make it great. We recently started a tradition in our house that on Saturday mornings we have something special for breakfast. It could be Krispy Kreme doughnuts, cinnamon rolls (or pop roll hack), pancakes, scones, waffles, eggs, bacon, or any combination. My hubby recently introduced German Pancakes to me and we have had them at least half a dozen times since. We have tried variations of this recipe and have found it is best to just keep it super simple!

German Pancakes
1/4 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1/8 tsp salt.

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Melt butter in 9 x 13 pan. Thoroughly mix together ingredients in blender and pour in pan. If you double the recipe use two pans! Bake for 30-40 minutes. Enjoy with syrup, powdered sugar, and/or fresh fruit. About 4 servings.

All set!

PB loves them!

We also enjoy this with this recipe for homemade syrup.

Homemade Syrup
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon maple flavoring

Boil sugar and water. Reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Add maple flavoring and serve. Leftovers should be stored in the refrigerator. We usually put the rest in a mason jar. 

Here are some other great breakfast recipes from the Wayward Girls:

Feta Omelet

Chicken and Waffles

Apple Braid

Happy Weekend!