Breakfast Round Up

With Christmas just a few days away, I wanted to do something a little different. Below, I have made a breakfast and brunch round up of some of my favorite recipes. I love grabbing a cup of coffee and sharing breakfast with family first thing in the morning. Try a few of these recipes with your family this Christmas.

Eggs

Garden Skillet Egg White Frittata

Turkey Sausage and Baby Bella Oat Crust Quiche

Bacon and Hash Brown Skillet Egg White Frittata

Bread and Muffins

Blueberry Wheat Pancake Muffins with Cherries and Walnuts

Cranberry Orange Bread with Oat Streusel Topping

Carrot Brown Sugar Oatmeal Muffins

Red and Green Muffins {Cranberry Zucchini}

Zucchini Walnut Poppy Seed Bread

Cranberry Tangerine Muffins

Casseroles

Tater Tot Turkey Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Sausage Cheese Squares

Individual Pumpkin Cranberry French Toast Casseroles with Nut Praline Topping

French Toast Casserole

Oatmeal and Granola

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Almond and Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Almond Joy Oatmeal

Pumpkin Cranberry Granola

Banana Nutella Oatmeal with Peanut Butter

Cakes and Toast

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cake

Angel Food Cake French Toast

French Toast Sticks

Savory

Breakfast Lamb and Egg White Greek Pita

Breakfast Quesadillas with Carne Asada and Egg Whites

Roasted Spaghetti Squash Hash Browns

Crushed Potato and Watercress Cakes

 Spreads

Pecan Pumpkin Butter

Toasted Walnut Honey Cream Cheese Spread

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas with family and Friends! 

Merry Christmas! Love,

Memory Bread - Cranberry Orange Bread with Oat Streusel Topping

Last year, my mother-in-law started a new tradition for the holidays and I want to share it with you. Every year from now on, whether we all spend Christmas or Thanksgiving together, we are going to make a "Memory Bread." All the females will gather together in the kitchen and make some type of bread for the family to share. Once the bread is baked and cooled, we will round up the guys and all sit down together. We all have a slice of the bread and go around sharing a favorite family memory from the past year. The ladies take turn each year coming up with a new recipe. Last year, Momma Hann came up with Zucchini Pineapple bread. This year, I came up with a cranberry orange bread recipe.

 Cranberry Orange Bread with Oat Streusel Topping

I thought this would be a great bread for the holidays because of the tart, in season cranberries. I know sometimes fresh cranberries are hard to find throughout the year, so stock up on them now and freeze them! They save very well! 

This bread has a sweet and tart flavor and makes the kitchen smell amazing! The sweet crumbly oat topping is the perfect pairing for the snappy burst of flavor that the cranberries give off. And I love the bits of orange zest that you see as you slice into the bread! 

I adapted this bread from a batch of Cranberry Tangerine Muffins that I made around Thanksgiving last year. Don't let the list of ingredients scare you; it is a quick bread to put together. And it's worth it!

Cranberry Orange Bread with Oat Streusel Topping

adapted from cranberry tangerine muffins

       makes 1 loaf

3/4 C whole wheat flour

3/4 C all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 egg

2/3 C milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk, regular is fine)

1/4 C vegetable oil

3/4 C sugar

2 T orange zest (I used 2 large oranges)

1/4 C fresh juice from orange

1 1/4 C cranberries cut in half

1/2 C chopped pecans (walnuts would also be great)

Streusel Topping

1/4 C flour

1/4 C oats

2 T brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 T canola oil

Preheat oven to 350°. In a small bowl, mix together the streusel ingredients and set aside. 

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a medium bowl, mix together the egg, milk, oil and sugar. Add in the zest and juice. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just until incorporated; do not over mix. Gently fold in the cranberries and chopped nuts.

Prepare a loaf dish with Baker's Joy, and pour in the batter.

Sprinkle the streusel on top. 

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (I baked mine for 45 minutes)

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Cool completely and remove from dish. 

Slice it up and serve.

I hope you will start a new tradition like this! I can't wait to get back to Kansas next week for Christmas and hear what everyone's favorite family memory was from the past year! We have had several exciting things happen in 2011! I have a lot to be grateful for, and I hope you do too. 

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Giveaway Winner Announced!

Good morning blog family!! Thank you to all who participated in my surprise Stella & Dot giveaway!

Congratulations to Amanda Tubbs who is the winner of this awesome bracelet!

Amanda, please message me your address so I can ship this to you.

I want to give a HUGE thank you to Jennifer Staats with Stella and Dot, for providing this prize! Don't forget to check out her website and facebook page if you haven't already! And as always, thank you to everyone who has followed along with my in my foodie journey! ♥ XOXO

Surprise Giveaway - Free Bracelet!

Surprise! I've got a great giveaway for you! My good friend, Jennifer, is an independent stylist for Stella & Dot. She has bracelets, necklaces, rings, charms, totes, and jewelry traveling cases to name a few things! Check out her website and like her on facebook.  I love all of her stuff and had a hard time picking my favorite thing for this giveaway! She has been gracious enough to provide one lucky winner with the Clover Double Wrap Leather Bracelet in Black and Gold.

I love little bracelets like this! You can wear them by themselves, pair it with a watch, or stack them with other bracelets, like they did here:

It's 16" in length, double wrap, adjustable to fit most wrists, and lead and nickle safe. 

This bracelet is a $59.00 value! Stella & Dot jewelry has been featured in Lucky Magazine, In Style, and Gossip Girl.

To enter the contest you must like Jennifer's page on facebook and leave me a comment HERE on my blog letting me know that you did. You can also go to her website and leave me a blog comment letting me know what your favorite item of hers is. You can also like my Cookin' Cowgirl facebook page, and leave a blog post letting me know you did. Last, you can tweet about the giveaway!
So many fun ways to enter! But hurry, you only have a little over 3 days! Thank you, Jennifer!! xoxo

Merry Christmas from Cookin' Cowgirl and Jennifer Staats with Stella & Dot!


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Almond Joy Oatmeal

Every six months or so, my favorite candy changes. I remember for one semester in college, I basically I lived on Rolos. I wouldn't buy them by the roll either. I would buy them by the bag. I would sit there and play on the computer study, unwrapping each one and making a little trash pile of my tiny gold wrappers. Then there was the Twizzlers addiction. One year for Christmas, Chris and I drove the 16 hour trip from Birmingham to his parents house in Hanston, KS, and along the way I bought a 1 pound bag of strawberry Twizzlers. When we arrived at the Hann's, the Twizzlers were gone, and I felt like I had a pound of wax in my stomach. That was the end of my Twizzlers kick! Yes, my favorite changes all the time, but right now my favorite candy is Almond Joys.

Almond Joy Oatmeal

I decided to recreate my current favorite candy in a healthy breakfast. When you think of Almond Joys, what do you think of? Almonds, coconut and chocolate, right?

Good. Me too. 

Now, usually, I use water for the liquid in my oatmeal, but I decided to dress this one up a little. I used Almond Breeze, unsweetened, vanilla almond milk. I love this milk because it has half the calories of a glass of regular milk, plus the flavor is great, and there are 0 grams of sugar!

Almond Joy Oatmeal

     serves 1

1/2 C old fashioned oats

1 C unsweetened, vanilla almond milk (I use Almond Breeze)

2 T shredded coconut, unsweetened

2 T sliced almonds

2 tsp dark chocolate chips

Pinch of salt

Prepare the oats according to your favorite method, stove top or microwave. Once cooked, stir in the coconut, almonds and salt and top with chocolate chips.

You can eat it like that, or sir in the chocolate so it gets melty and gooey. It may not seem like it will be sweet enough because of the unsweetened milk and coconut, but the chocolate is just enough to make up for it.

How's that for a delicious, healthy breakfast? That's right, I said healthy! The only added sugar is in the 2 tsp of dark chocolate. Healthy fiber, healthy fats, healthy carbs, protein, TA DA! This recipe is also easy to double.

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