I’ve been a very bad blogger recently. I mean really bad!!! I can’t believe it’s been almost 1 1/2 months since I’ve posted. I apologize to those of you out there that regularly follow my blog. No I haven’t died or dropped off of the face of the Earth. Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing quite a bit of travelling for work. As such, I haven’t been able to spend the kind of time I would like with my family so I’ve tried to limit my computer time recently to spend more time with them. And to be honest my last bit of travelling has left me both physically and emotionally drained and I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything on the computer other than some mindless surfing. While I still have a bit of travelling left to do, things should start to mellow out a bit for me and, hopefully, I’ll be able to start posting more regularly again.

Just because I haven’t been posting recently doesn’t mean that I haven’t done any cooking, although on the road it’s pretty much been restaurant food every day, mostly fast food, sad to say. It certainly doesn’t help me in trying to reach my next weight goal that the doctor has imposed upon me. Looks like I’ve got some catching up to do there also. Unfortunately, recipes like the one I am posting today sure don’t help. We’re talking crabcakes (bound with mayo and Ritz crackers), poached eggs, and a decadent Hollandaise sauce loaded with bacon. It doesn’t get any more heart-stopping…and tasty…than that. This recipe certainly isn’t everyday fare, that is unless you have some sort of death wish, but occasionally it’s okay to go all out and live a little.

Crabcake Benedicts with Bacon Hollandaise
serves 4

12oz crabmeat, picked over to remove any stray shell pieces
1/4 cup mayonnaise
30 Ritz crackers, crushed
1/2 Onion, small, finely diced
1/2 stalk Celery, finely diced
1/4 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning (optional)
Salt
Pepper

3 slices Bacon, thick cut, diced
8 Tbl. Butter, clarified
2 each Egg yolks
2 Tbl. White wine
pinch cayenne pepper
lemon juice, fresly squeezed

8 each Eggs
Vegetable oil

In a medium bowl, combine the crabmeat with the mayonnaise, crackers, onion, celery and seasonings. Mix well and allow to chill for 1/2 hour.

To make start making the Hollandaise sauce render the bacon until brown and crispy. Remove from heat and drain off the bacon fat, combining it with the clarified butter. In a medium sized pot bring about 1″ of water to a simmer. Place the yolks in medium sized mixing bowl along with the wine. Place the bowl over the simmering water and cook the eggs, whisking constantly, until the eggs are thick enough to hold a line drawn through them. This is known as the ribbon stage. Remove from the heat and very slowly, a bit at a time, drizzle in the butter-bacon grease mixture, whisking constantly so that the fat is emulsified into the egg yolks. Add the cayenne and squeeze of lemon juice and taste for salt, adding a bit, if necessary. Place in a warm, but not too hot spot as you finish the dish.

Divided the crab mixture into 8 equal patties. Heat some vegetable oil in a large skillet, over medium high heat and cook the crabcakes, in 2-3 batches depending on the size of your skillet, about 3 minutes per side. Meanwhile poach your eggs, again in batches if necessary.

As everything finishes up stir the crispy bacon into the Hollandaise sauce. Place two crabcakes on each of 4 plates. Top each with a poached egg and spoon some of the Bacon Hollandaise over top. Enjoy and then make an appointment with your cardiologist!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Ours was fantastic!!! Fun yet mellow. Not quite as relaxing as I had hoped it would be but it never is when you have a 5 year old. She was so wound up for the morning that she expected us to entertain her all day, a theme that has been playing out more often recently. I’m not sure what it is; it isn’t that she doesn’t have an expansive imagination. I’ve watched her carry on 4 way conversations where she plays the part of each one of her dolls. I guess it’s just easier to have Mom and Dad do the entertaining than to do it herself. But when we do the entertaining we short change ourselves as listening to her carry on full conversations, where she plays all parts, is quite amusing, often insightful, many times downright hysterical and sometimes just a bit scary. But, I digress… Overall it was a great Christmas, and although it would have been nice to share parts of it with family, it was very nice doing our own thing.

New Year’s was rather pathetic at our house this year. The wife and kid were in bed by 10pm and I was on the computer, putzing around when I noticed that it was already 12:15am. Yes, I missed New Year’s, but I can’t complain because the day before my wife and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary with a nice romantic dinner, of steak and grilled crab legs, to the sounds of “Phineas and Ferb” playing in the background. Oh well, there’s always next year.

For our Christmas dinner, we decided to do Roast Duck and while normally eating half a duck is no problem for me, with all the other dishes we had we ended up with a decent amount of duck leftover. A few days later I found myself in the mood for breakfast at dinner and knowing that we had duck that we had some duck to use up I decided to marry it with some of the winter squashes we seem to have multiplying on our baker’s rack.

Duck and Butternut Squash Hash
serves 3-4

1 1/2 to 2 cups Duck meat, cooked
2 cups Waxy potatoes, small diced (Yukon Gold or Red skinned work great)
2 cups Butternut squash, peeled and small diced
1 small Onion, peeled and small diced
1 clove Garlic, peeled and minced
2 Tbl. Vegetable oil
3 strips Bacon, preferably thick cut, cut into thin strips
3/4 cup half and half
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Bring 2 small pots of salted water to a boil. To one pot add the diced potatoes and to the other pot add the diced squash. Par cook the potatoes and squash until almost done. They should still have a bit of crunch to them. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat and add the oil. Once hot add the bacon and cook until crispy. Remove the bacon leaving the fat in the pan. Add the potatoes and cook just until starting to brown. Add the squash and the onions and cook until all the vegetables are tender, about 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic and duck and cook for 2 minutes. Add the half and half and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Mash the hash down, slightly crushing the potatoes and squash and form into a large patty just smaller than the size of the skillet. Reduce heat to medium and cook, undistrubed for 5-6 minutes. Flip the hash over (don’t worry you won’t be able to do this as one large patty just try to get most of it flipped over) and reform into a patty again mashing it down slightly. Allow it to cook until the bottom starts to crisp up, another 10-12 minutes. Watch to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Divide among plates flipping the hash over so that the browned, crispy part is on top. Serve plain or like I do, topped with poached eggs and accompanied by buttered toast for scooping up the hash.

Are you burnt out on gingerbread flavored foods this holiday season? Hopefully not as I have a wonderful “gingerbread” bread recipe to share today. I first made these gingerbread pancakes a few years ago and fell in love with them. For pancakes, they are a little on the dense side but it seems appropriate considering the punch of flavor that these offer. I know you are probably already saying to yourself that you’ve had enough “gingerbread” to last you until next Christmas (and we’re still a week away from the big day!) but I would suggest that you give these a try. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

While these are fantastic served with butter and maple syrup, like in the pictures above and below, an even better bet is to serve them with a lemon sauce (lemon is a traditional accompaniment to gingerbread). To make a simple, yet tasty lemon sauce, in a saucepan combine 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1/4 tsp. of salt. To that add 1 cup of cool water and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and clear. Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel and 2 tablespoons of butter. Stir until well mixed and the butter has fully melted.

Gingerbread Pancakes
makes 12 medium sized pancakes (enough for 2-4 people depending on their appetite)

1 1/4 cups All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg, freshly ground
1/4 teaspoon Ground clove
3 large Eggs
1/4 cup Dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup Water
1/4 cup Coffee
6 tablespoons Unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 170°F. Whisk together dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together eggs and brown sugar until smooth. Add buttermilk, water, molasses and coffee, then add the flour mixture. Finally stir in melted butter. Cook on a preheated griddle and keep warm in oven until all are finished.

Confession time. I love Stumbleupon!!! It has become my favorite internet time waster ever!!! Late at night I can literally waste hours upon hours surfing the web, using the Stumbleupon toolbar, discovering all sorts of cool, and mindless diversions; from cool, new ways to make music, to sophomoric videos, to beautiful photographs, and, of course, great recipes and food sites.

If you have never heard of Stumbleupon before, heed my warning and stay away!! Stumbleupon is an insidious invention that will consume your time and turn you into an unproductive, sleepless zombie, albeit a rather well informed one, depending on what categories you choose as your interests. If you are an ex Stumbleupon addict and have broken your addiction, please share with me how you did it and what withdrawal symptons you had, and how long they lasted.

During one of my late night, Stumbling sessions I came across a recipe for Cinnamon Roll Pancakes from Recipegirl.com. Now I have come across recipes for these tasty, sugar packed pancakes before, but seeing Lori’s post and beautiful pictures reminded me that I had wanted to try them for myself. After checking out Lori’s recipe I did a web search and found page after page full of links to similar recipes. And why not? It’s a brilliant idea and I would personally like to thank the person who first came up with this idea. I’m ashamed that I didn’t think of it myself.

One word of warning though. These pancakes are sugar bombs so if you are planning on feeding them to your kids make sure it is a nice day and that they can go out to play afterwards as they are going to be hopped up on sugar for the next few hours!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
adapted from www.recipegirl.com

 
makes 6-8 large pancakes (serves 3-4 people)

Pancakes
2 cups flour, all purpose
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
2 Tbl. vegetable oil
2 eggs

Filling
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbl. ground cinnamon
1 Tbl. flour, all purpose
1/2 cup butter melted

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbl. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Make the cinnamon filling by combining the sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter together and mixing until well combined. Place into a squeeze bottle. You can use a zip lock bag with the corner cut off, but this can be messy and its much easier to use a squeeze bottle. Besides I find uses for squeeze bottles all the time so do yourself a favor and pick up one or 2. Set aside.

Make the glaze by combining the milk powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Add more sugar or more milk if necessary to make a thick but pourable glaze. Cover well so that it doesn’t dry out and set aside.

To make the pancakes combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. In another bowl, beat the eggs and add the milk and oil. It helps to have a helper like I did.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir just until mixed. A few small lumps are ok. You don’t want to overwork the batter or your pancakes will be tough. Heat a griddle over medium high heat. Lightly grease your griddle. I do this even when using a nonstick griddle as I find I get better browning with just a bit of fat on the griddle. Pour about 1/2 cup of batter onto the griddle, per pancake. Next drizzle with the cinnamon filling, making a swirl pattern to give it the look of a cinnamon roll.

Allow to cook until bubbles start for form and pop on top and the edge has just started to dry out. Flip and allow to cook another 2 minutes. Remove to a plate, flipping the pancakes over so that the swirl pattern is facing up. Wipe down the griddle well to remove any burnt sugar and repeat the process until you have made all the pancakes. I usually serve them as they come off of the griddle but if you want everyone to eat at the same time, place the pancakes in a warm oven (150°F) to stay warm.

Drizzle with the glaze and serve.

Unfortunately, this will probably be my last post on ramps for the year. Work is going to be very busy as I have to cover some of my staff’s vacation. That means no weekends off for the next few weeks. In fact, I’ll be lucky to get a day or 2 off in the upcoming 2-3 weeks, which means that all of my free time will be devoted to chores around the house. No time to go wandering through the woods, looking for ramps. By the time I surface again, most of the other plants will have overtaken the ramps, making them much more difficult to find. And while you can gather ramps well into the summer, I prefer the more tender, more subtle flavor of early season ramps. If you can’t get enough, then I suggest you check out the article I wrote, for Chef Talk. It contains a wonderful recipe for a Grilled Ramp Salad that is a must try for anyone who loves ramps like I do. You can find the article here.

Last weekend my parents came up from Indiana to celebrate my Mom’s 70th birthday. Neither of them were very familiar with ramps so I figured I could make a few things that showcased them. On the night of my Mom’s birthday I created the Grilled Ramp Salad that I wrote about for the Chef Talk article, while the following morning, Sunday, I baked off this wonderful Strata, aka, Egg Casserole. My Dad also expressed some interest in how to hunt for ramps so I took him to my favorite foraging spot and gave him a quick lesson in ramp gathering. It was nice as we also got to spend a little father-son time, something that doesn’t happen often as they live 5+ hours away and when they come up, love to spend time with their granddaughter. And who can blame them. She’s awfully cute!

Egg Casseroles, Stratas, do require a little preplanning as they do best when they are made the night before and allowed to soak overnight. The nice thing about that is then that morning there is very little that needs to be done and you can relax with a cup of coffee. They can also be assembled early in the morning, if you are planning on doing a late brunch as you can get away with a 4 hour soak, but I wouldn’t allow for any less time.

Spinach and Ramp Strata
serves 8-10

10 eggs
2 3/4 cups milk
2 cups ramps, chopped (use the everything but the roots)
2 Tbs. butter, plus more for greasing the pan
12 oz. frozen spinach, thawed
2 cups swiss cheese, shredded
1 pound loaf french bread, sliced 1/2-3/4″ thick
salt
pepper
freshly ground nutmeg

Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat and melt the butter. Add the ramps and saute until tender but not colored. Add the spinach, salt and pepper and continue to cook until most of the water has evaporated.

Cool the spinach mixture. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat thoroughly. Add the milk and season with salt, pepper and a few gratings of fresh nutmeg. Butter a 9×13 baking pan. Place half of the bread slices in the bottom of the baking dish. Layer with the spinach mixture and top with 1 cup of the swiss cheese.

Top with the remaining bread.

Then pour the egg mixture of the everything, making sure to soak each piece of bread. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate, at least, 4 hours or preferably, overnight.

The next morning preheat the oven to 350°F. While the oven is heating uncover the strata and top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until the strata no longer jiggles, in the center, when gently shaken. If it starts to get too brown cover with some aluminum foil. When done remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

This country is facing a huge problem. Yes, I know, we are facing a lot of problems; the financial crisis, the housing crisis, looming oil prices and its impact on the environment, Scott Walker and the union busters. The list goes on, but I’m not talking about these front page issues that take up most of our time. I’m talking about something more insidious. An issue that has seemed to have slipped past the media’s attention and yet no one noteworthy has taken up its cause. Yes, I’m talking about the fact that it is getting harder and harder to find a good plate of Biscuits and Gravy anywhere in this country, even in the Deep South. One day, America is going to wake up, craving a warm comforting bowl of lumpy liquid love, and it won’t be there. And the sad thing is we have no one to blame but ourselves. Even when you find it on menus, what you get get, most often, is a pile of pasty,white “gravy” that is graced with the occasional nugget of sausage, or, my personal favorite, the pasty, white “gravy” with slices of breakfast links tossed into it at the last minute.

You’ll notice that I put the word gravy in quotations. That’s because I don’t consider white sauce, fresh out of the can, or made from mix, to be the real thing. It’s sad, because sausage gravy, besides being a thing of beauty, is also quite simple to make, and doesn’t take much longer than most breakfast dishes.

So, I am arming my readers against that day when Biscuits and Gravy finally disappears from restaurant menus altogether. For it is you that will carry on the tradition so that your children can experience the comforting, artery clogging goodness that is sausage gravy.

Sausage Gravy
serves 4

1 pound breakfast sausage, bulk not links
1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
1 Tbsp. fresh sage, minced
2 Tbsp. freshly brewed coffee
salt
pepper

In a large skillet brown the sausage.

Once browned sprinkle in the flour. This is one of the biggest mistakes that people make when making sausage gravy. They pour out the sausage grease, but then make a roux on the side consisting of butter and flour. It seems to me you are throwing a lot of the good sausage flavor away, only to introduce more fat, in the form of butter, when you add the roux. So don’t drain the grease off of your sausage, just add the flour and make your roux right in the pan with the sausage.

Stir the flour in until it has absorbed all the grease and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly add the cold milk stirring constantly. Add the sage and bring to a boil to allow the flour to thicken. Stir constantly, scraping the bottom to avoid scoring the milk. Season with salt and pepper. How much will depend on both your taste the the sausage you are using. Finally, add the 2 Tbsp. of coffee. Yes, I know it sounds strange, but you won’t taste it in the final product and the acidity helps to both brighten and deepen the flavor. Serve over split biscuits, enjoy, and know that you are doing your part to keep a bit of American culinary history alive!!!

A few days ago, I got it into my mind that I wanted to try making an oatmeal souffle for breakfast. I know this is not an original idea, but for the life of me I couldn’t think where I had heard of this concept before. Luckily we have the Internet, that bastion of all knowledge. I figured that the web would be full of recipes and that I’d be able to get the general gist of how to make one and then come up with my own recipe, although I had already pretty much figured out how I would do it.

***RANT ALERT****

Okay, I’m going to rant a little about something that has been bothering me for awhile, but with my most recent search for recipes for oatmeal souffle, I have decided that I have to say something. It drives me freaking nuts when I come across the same recipe, on site after site, that is exactly the same. Sure the wording of the directions might be slightly different, but in all honesty they are completely the same. It’s obvious that people are just “stealing” recipes and just changing the directions enough so as to not get busted for copyright infringement. Now, being the cynical guy that I am, I am not surprised by all these websites that have page after page of stolen recipes, but what really surprised and bothered me was the number of blogs that have done the same thing, and don’t give any attribution. Come on people! At least have the decency to twist a recipe a little bit to make it your own. Some blogs didn’t even bother to change the order of the ingredients and/or only changed or omitted a couple of words from the directions. Here’s an idea; if you are so lacking in cooking skills that you can’t alter a recipe to make it yours then you have no place in the blogosphere and need to give it up. Or at the very least man up, and let your readers know that the recipe you are offering is not yours. Give credit to those that take the time to create those recipes.

***RANT OVER***

The recipes I did find told me I was on the right track and helped me to refine a couple of the ratios I wasn’t so sure about and last night I had my recipe done. I told my wife that I would be cooking breakfast, which she wasn’t thrilled with. Normally she’d love for me to make breakfast but today is my birthday and she wanted to cook me a special breakfast with the help of your 4 year old daughter. As I really wanted to try out this recipe I convinced her that tomorrow (Sunday) would be a better morning for cooking me breakfast as I am planning on going out tonight, for my birthday, and probably wouldn’t be in any shape to cook breakfast tomorrow.

Overall, I am very pleased with how this turned out. It didn’t rise like a normal souffle does with all the heavy ingredients I didn’t expect it to, but it did come out much lighter than standard oatmeal or most of the baked oatmeal recipes I have had. It had a different texture, but not it a bad way. In fact I really, really enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t as heavy as regular oatmeal is. If I had any issues with this recipe, it might be just a little too sweet. If you like your oatmeal really sweet then keep the recipe as is, but if you prefer it not so sweet, or need to watch your sugar intake I imagine you could cut the maple syrup in half, from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup and still end up with a very good dish. Also, while I often like my oatmeal heavily spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, etc. I keep the spices to a minimum so that they wouldn’t mask the maple flavor, which I would would be subtle.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. It is definitely the prefect breakfast for a cold winter’s day, when oatmeal sounds good, but you’re looking for something just a little different.

Triple Fruit Oatmeal Souffle
serves 4

1 cup milk
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup oats, not instant
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup dried apricots, diced
1/3 cup chopped pecans
3 eggs, separated

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Butter and sugar a 1 1/2 quart ramekin or baking dish. In a small sauce pot combine the milk, butter and salt. Bring to a boil and add the oats. Cook the oats for the amount of time specified on the container then remove from heat.

As the oatmeal mixture is cooling slightly whip the egg whites to stiff peak. Do not over whip and make the whites dry!! Add the maple syrup, cinnamon, fruits and nuts to the oatmeal mixture and stir to combine. Add the egg yolks and mix well. Take about 1/4 of the whipped egg whites and stir that into the oatmeal mixture to lighten it then pour mix into the remaining whites and gently fold to combine. Do not over fold the mixture. It is okay to have a few streaks of whites remaining. Pour into the prepared baking dish and place in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes without opening the oven door. After 30 minutes remove from oven and serve immediately.

I know I’ve said it before, on this blog, but I’ll say it again, “My wife rocks!!!!” I woke up this morning to the smell of cinnamon rolls baking, and there is no better smell in the world! I love the fact that my wife can cook so well, which, in this day and age, is saying something. I am constantly amazed by the number of people I meet that “can’t cook.” I know I’ve said it here before, but it never ceases to amaze me. Luckily, I think we are starting to see that trend change. Just look at all the good food blogs out there today. It seems that people have finally awakened and have come to realize that cooking doesn’t have to be a chore, but something that we do out of love and passion. It is sad that so many of my generation have to learn this lesson later in life, but I am glad that they are learning it.

So this morning, my wife woke up really early and couldn’t get back to sleep so she decided to make cinnamon rolls (I’ve already established how much I think this rocks!). Being overwhelmed by my ever expanding cookbook collection she headed to the internet in search of a good recipe. Like me, she just can’t leave well enough alone. She found Paula Deen’s Cinnamon Roll, like the dough recipe, found the icing recipe from Todd Wilbur’s “More Top Secret Recipes,” and kind of just winged it with the filling. Whatever she did, they came out great. Try them out and surprise someone you love with a little cinnamon love in the morning!!!

Cinnamon Rolls
makes 12

1/4 oz package yeast
1/2 cup water, warm
1/2 cup milk, warm
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
3 1/2 – 4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon, ground
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup raisins

8 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese, room temp.
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt

In a bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let sit 5 minutes to activate. Add the milk, sugar, butter, salt and egg. Mix well and add 2 cups of flour. Mix and add another 1 1/2 cups flour. Mix and add the remaining flour only if needed. Knead for 7-10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise until double, about 1-1 1/2 hours. Punch down dough and roll out, on a lightly floured surface, to a rectangle approximately 9″x15″. Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins, mixing well. Gently spread the softened butter over the dough then sprinkle with the cinnamon mixture, using it all. Starting on the long side, roll the dough up, pinwheel style, pinching the seam together. Cut into 12 slices. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9×13 baking pan generously with butter then add the cinnamon rolls. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise until double, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. While the rolls are baking prepare the icing by combining the butter and cream cheese. Add the sugar, vanilla and salt and beat until light and fluffy. When cinnamon rolls are done, remove from oven, allow to rest for 10 minutes then generously ice the tops. Serve warm!

Okay, I have to admit, I’m a sucker for Monkey Bread!!! Yes, I know, it probably can’t be considered the height of the culinary arts, but damn it’s good. What’s not to like; rich caramel, buttery goodness, a crisp crust and gooey interior. It’s got everything you need to start the day off right!! Add a cup or 2 of coffee and you can start your day in high gear.

There are a number of recipes out there for Monkey Bread. Some use store bought biscuit dough, others use store bought bread dough, and yet others have you make everything from scratch. While “made from scratch” is often my favorite way to go, I have to admit that, in this case, I am partial to the recipes using store bought biscuits. Not only do I like the soft texture of the Monkey Bread made this way, but it cuts down on a lot of prep work, which makes it a great breakfast for when you have overnight guests. Get a couple of the kids involved, they love to help shake the dough in the sugar, and you can have this on the breakfast table in no time.

Money Bread

3 cans (12oz each) biscuit dough
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1 cup, packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350° F. Grease a large bundt or tube pan. Meanwhile mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon and either leave in a large bowl or place in a large ziplock bag. Cut the biscuits into quarters and toss them in the sugar-cinnamon mix until well coated. Arrange the pieces in your prepared pan sprinkling with the optional pecans and/or raisins as you build up the layers. In a saucepan mix the butter and brown sugar over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuit pieces and immediately put into the oven to bake. Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 8-10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Don’t allow to cool longer or the Monkey Bread might stick to your pan as the sugars cool.

My family isn’t super big on breakfast, at least on the weekdays. It’s usually a grab and go affair as both me and my wife would rather spend the extra few minutes in bed than get up and make something substantial, although we always see to that our daughter gets a good breakfast. Things change on the weekends. If we don’t go out for breakfast then we will usually cook a substantial meal. My wife usually does the cooking in the morning as I am not much of a morning person, though I do a fair share of the breakfasts as is evidenced by the number of breakfast food posts I have done.

It was Valentine’s Day today so I decided that for one of my gifts to my wife, I would do breakfast. I love to make hashes of all kinds and thought hash and poached eggs would be a great choice for the day. Hashes, traditionally, have been a way to use up the previous night’s leftovers, and I find them a great way to clean out a fridge and turn those leftovers into something tasty and useful. Hashes are a great way to stretch out meat since hashes oftentimes rely heavily on potatoes and vegetables.

The has I created for our Valentine’s Brunch did not incorporate any leftovers but was still rather economical and full of great flavor!

Smoked Turkey Hash with Sweet Potatoes
serves 4

2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into a 1/4″ dice
2 cups Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into a 1/4″ dice
2 cups smoked turkey breast, from the deli counter, cut into 1/4 -1/2″ dice
1 small onion, minced
1/4 cup green or red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup 1/2 & 1/2
Tabasco to taste
salt
pepper

Bring 2 pots, with a quart of water in each, to a boil. Cook the potatoes, separately, for 4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. In a large, heavy bottomed skillet, heat 2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil and 1 Tbsp. of bacon fat (you can use all vegetable oil if necessary). Add the onions and cook 1 minute. Add the potatoes, turkey, and bell pepper.

Stir to combine and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1/2 & 1/2 and tabasco. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium high and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Gently press down on the hash and allow to cook for about 3 minutes. Gently flip the hash and press down again so that as much of the hash can come into contact the with bottom of the skillet as possible. Cook 4-5 minutes then flip again. Continue this process until the vegetables are tender and you get the hash as crusty as you like.

Divide among 4 plates and serve topped with 2 poached eggs.