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Tag: breakfast

Hearty Personal Breakfast Skillet

If you are anything like me, you are always searching for new and exciting recipes.  Sometimes, those recipes can be similar to ones you have already made, but you need only to change up the method in which you serve them!  Through the years I have heard people say, “Why do you worry about so many small details?”  My response is always…”Presentation is Key!”

This very topic is what helped me to discover personal-sized cast iron skillets.  I love cooking with the small skillets both for presentation and to have the ability to cater to each individual’s personal preferences in foods.  These Hearty Personal Breakfast Skillets are a big hit on Sunday mornings in our family.

Which Skillets to Use ~

There are so many wonderful skillets out there, however, we tend to lean toward the Lodge brand.  The benefits of this brand are as follows:

  • Retain heat well
  • Preseasoned
  • Can be used on stovetop, in oven, on grill or over an open fire
  • Lifetime warranty
  • Long-standing history of quality products
  • Can be used for everything from frying to sauteing, to broiling and everything in between
  • Have a large variety of sizes and different series
  • Easy to find locally and on-line

Size to Use for Hearty Personal Breakfast Skillet ~

We use the Lodge Pre-Seasoned 6-1/2 Inch Skillet for the breakfast skillet as well as many other individualized recipes.  It is a good idea to have 6 to 8 if you are planning on serving several people.  I use them many times for just Brad and I as well, so if you are empty nesters, it is fun to get 2 and have fun creating!  *Pay close attention to the size because many brands have an even smaller size that is not big enough for this savory dish!

What is even better about these is that you can create savory or sweet recipes in them.  Who doesn’t like digging into a steaming hot personal pan brownie or cookie topped with ice cream?  Yum!  These have quickly become known as pizookies!

Recipe ~

Ingredients for 6 Personal Skillets:
  • 14 Red potatoes, cubed small
  • 10 Sausage patties, crumbled
  • 6 Ham slices, cut into small squares
  • 1 Small Onion, diced
  • 2 Bell peppers, color(s) of choice, cubed
  • 2 Anaheim peppers, diced
  • 12 – 14 Eggs
  • 1/2 to 3/4 Cup Milk
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Montreal Steak Seasoning
  • Shredded cheddar cheese

*Please note, you can customize these ingredients to your liking.  Other topping ideas:

  • Mushrooms
  • Spinach
  • Mozzarella, Swiss, Gruyere, Fontina, Gouda or your favorite cheese of choice
  • Tomatoes
  • Bacon
  • Avocado
  • Black Olives
  • Jalapenos
  • Hash Browns
Directions for 6 Hearty Personal Breakfast Skillets ~
  1. Brown sausage.  I used patties because that is what I had on hand.  (You can, of course, use any type as you will be crumbling it after cooked.)
  2. While sausage is cooking, continue chopping the rest of the veggies and ham.
  3. Cook chopped potatoes, onions, and peppers until browned in a separate small skillet.                   
  4. Layer sausage and ham in prepared 6 1/2″ skillets.                                                                                         
  5. Follow with cooked potatoes and veggies.                                                                                               
  6. Season liberally with Montreal Steak Seasoning and then salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Beat eggs with milk until completely combined.
  8. Pour egg mixture over meat and veggies in each skillet.                                                               
  9. Top with desired amount of cheese.  (We love cheese so I completely cover the skillet.) 
  10. I placed each skillet on foil lined baking sheets to protect oven from spillage.
  11. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until browned.

*You can exclude necessary ingredients to create a Keto version.

Want To Top It With Gravy? ~

Let’s take it a step further and add gravy.  You can go the traditional route and make gravy from scratch or you can make it from a mix.  I use Pioneer Country Sausage Gravy Packets when not making gravy from scratch.  Season it up with salt and pepper and it becomes the perfect final topping for this delicious recipe!

Make Ahead ~

Holiday season is upon us.  Chop up all of your ingredients ahead of time for prep and put together early Christmas morning.  Put your coffee on and assemble these before the Christmas present frenzy begins.  While you are all opening presents, this delicious breakfast can be cooking and filling the room with scents of a cozy Christmas morning!

If you are in a pinch for time, put it all in one large skillet to scoop out individual servings when ready!

Serving Choices ~

As you can imagine, the skillets are extremely hot when taking out of oven. I love to serve these yummy dishes with quilted handle covers for functionality and to keep the presentation fun!  Basic Black Set of 3 Skillet Handle Covers are a good place to start for your collection!

Of course, these fun bandana ones are adorable for many occasions as well!  Are these not the cutest???

Bandana Hot Handle Holders by Lodge

Crafty Hands Primitive has a large assortment of colors to choose from to match any season/holiday/theme you wish.  Be sure to look at the beautiful patterns by CraftyHandsPrimitive on Etsy by clicking here!

Primitive Skillet Handle Pot Holder choose fabric image 2

Care of Iron Skillets ~

I had never cooked with an iron skillet until I got married.  Brad quickly taught me the beauty of using them, but even then I shied away from them because I was unsure how to care for them.   I soon realized that they truly are very easy to clean.  This is all you need to clean your cast iron skillet:

Stainless Steel Scrubber Set

What’s even better is that this fun idea has come to you just in time for Christmas.  Whether adding them to your Christmas wish list or surprising someone special, a set of single-serving sized iron skillets will be sure to bring a smile to anyone’s face!  Soon I will bringing you a cookbook featuring a variety of iron skillet recipes just like this delicious hearty breakfast skillet!

Happy Cooking ~

Mimi

 

 

 

 

 

Valentine’s Day Family Fun

Valentine’s Day ~ The celebration of romance and love!  My dad always said it was another Hallmark holiday…😂!  As a child, it is such a fun day to share Valentine’s cards and specialty candies with your friends.  But it can be so much more than that.  Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I have always loved this holiday and I still do.  For us it evolved into a special time to have some Valentine’s Day family fun!

If your children are of school age, you are probably already working ahead with them to create their decorated box or bag to collect their precious valentines in.  IF, due to Covid this year, you don’t get to do this at school, take the time to still make one for home.  Ask family members to send valentines to fill their goody box!  While in the planning process, why not make a special breakfast to start their day out right?

Valentine’s Day Breakfast ~

Mornings are hectic, I know!  But with just a little planning, it doesn’t take much to make breakfast special for this day!   Over the years, we have added food coloring to different food dishes to match the theme of the holiday…some have been great…and some not so much! For example, I urge you to NOT make green oatmeal on St. Patrick’s Day…I promise…it does not go over well!

Last year, Lauren got pretty creative with her breakfast ideas for the kids.  Suffice it to say that they LOVED it!  It consisted of red, heart shaped pancakes with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

They also had some festive strawberry milk.  She made a batch of strawberry milk ahead of time and poured it into heart-shaped ice cube trays.  When it was time for breakfast, they popped those ice cubes into a plain glass of milk….and voila!

There was a little planning ahead time.  Not too time consuming but oh so fun!  Next, let’s get to work on how we are going to present their Valentine goodies!  Need those fun ice cube trays….Get this 24-cube silicone heart mold by Wilton!  The trays can be used for ice cubes, gelatin, baking and candy molds!

Some other fun food ideas are:

Valentine Fruit Wands by afewshortcuts.com ~ This is an oh so easy yet festive snack recipe the kids will definitely love!

Valentine Grazing Board by ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com ~ Shove the diet aside for one day because you are going to love this Valentine’s Day grazing board!  yum!

Valentine Candy Poster ~

For many years, I would make a valentine candy poster for the kids.  It is such a fun way to give them their Valentine goodies.  It warms my heart that Lauren has continued this tradition.  They are so much fun to make and even more fun to receive.

I think it is easiest if you buy your candy first before making your Valentine poem.  Of course, you will want to try to work in their favorites.  This way you know what candy names you are working with to create the clever wording needed to make your poem work.

Types of Candy with Sample Sayings ~

Please don’t

You are  Extra Sugarfree Bubble Gum Slim Pack - 10 / Boxspecial

I love you to Image result for Reeses pieces

I wouldn’t trade you for Image result for 100 Grand bar

You are the best kid in the See the source image

Sending you hugs & Hershey's Kisses - 1 piece

This Valentine’s Day is going to be a Image result for Whoppersof a day!

To my   Sweetarts - 1.8 Oz Roll

You are A--zing!

You’re no!

You Skor - 1.4 Oz Baran A!

These are just a few examples of how you can create your own personalized Valentine’s poem.  There are so many clever sayings you can create with the names of the candy in it.  In fact, it is not only fun to make one for the kids but have fun and make one for your honey too!

Valentine’s Day Family Fun Continues ~

Now you weren’t planning on just handing these works of art to the kiddos, were you????  Of course not!  They need to work to get their special treats!  After all, you put a lot of time into making that Valentine poster for them.  So how do you suggest we do that?  Glad you asked!  Have you ever played the Yarn Scavenger Hunt game?

Items Needed for the Yarn Scavenger Hunt ~

1 color of yarn for each person playing

A room that has items to crawl under and over

Not too bad, right?  You will start off by choosing one color for each child and tying one end of each ball of yarn to something in the room.  This will be the starting point.  You can start everyone off at the same point or in different areas.  Weave the yarn over couches, under chairs, around tables.  Safety is key, but you want them crawling over and under as much as possible….even over each other at times when their yarns cross each other.

They will collect the yarn as they go in an effort to get to the end and ultimately to their Valentine candy!  For such a simple game, you will enjoy watching the children laugh hysterically as they race to get to the end.

Of course, once they get to the end of their yarn, they will be gifted with their candy poem poster.

You can also have fun decorating cookies in fun Valentine’s Day shapes.  Although the cookie and icing recipe I shared in an earlier post was for Christmas, you can still refer back to it for the recipes.  Click here to find the cookie recipe and icing for your Valentine’s Day cookies!  Making cookies is always a fun festive idea!

Whatever you choose to do to make this day special….be sure to have a full day of Valentine’s Day Family Fun!!!!

Love ~ Shelly

 

 

 

 

 

Homemade Sausage with Fennel

Pappy on the Penarve is at it again….this time making homemade sausage with fennel….AH…MAZING!!!!!  He has been perfecting this recipe for quite some time, and the end result is worth all of the work.  Let me tell you, there are quite a few steps to the end result…but oh is it worth it!!  That being said, it would be a great idea to purchase quite a bit of meat to work with so you can store some for later!  By doing this, it makes the time spent making this delicious sausage even more worthwhile!

In our recipe a KitchenAid mixer with the meat grinder attachment is used.  I absolutely love my KitchenAid and use it for so many different recipes.  Check out the Black Storm KitchenAid Professional Series Mixer ~ it is a FANTASTIC addition to any kitchen!

There are, of course, other great meat grinder options:

This electric meat grinder gets great reviews…check it out here!

This manual meat grinder has a suction base and gets great reviews…check it out here!

These grinders work for so much more than just making sausage.  I grew up with my mom making homemade ham salad.  We still put in requests for her secret recipe to this day!  Yes, I said secret!  And yes, that recipe will be coming soon so stay tuned!

Back to the Homemade Sausage with Fennel ~

As stated earlier, buy the pork shoulder butt in bulk.  When we find it on sale, we go hog wild….yes, pun intended! 🤣  The savings you will notice will astound you!

What you will need ~

  • The fattest pork shoulder/butt you can find…seriously buy that fatty stuff!
  • Fennel seed – if you are like Brad (Pappy), you will want an abundance of this!
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Garlic Powder
  • Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
  • Red Wine or cooking wine (we used a nice Cab)
Step 1 ~

Cut the pork shoulder/butt into chunks for grinding and place in a disposable foil pan.

Step 2 ~

Cover the meat with foil and move to the freezer to get to a cold state.  This helps the grinding process go much smoother.  Brad kept it in the freezer for about 1 hour.

Step 3 ~

Grind the meat chunks.

Step 4 ~

Generously season the ground pork shoulder/butt.

Step 5 ~

*After completely blending, make 1 or 2 small patties.  Fry these patties for tasting.  This is an important step before moving on!  This will enable you to decide if it is seasoned to your liking.  If you are preparing meat to store for later use, you will want to be sure you are happy with the flavor.

Step 6 ~

Add additional seasoning if you prefer.  Cover ground meat and place back in freezer for about an hour.

Step 7 ~

Remove from freezer and prepare your mixer for the final prep stage of your homemade sausage with fennel.  *If you don’t have a mixer with sausage stuffer capabilities, you can make it into patties.  We actually prefer to make different types of sausages for various serving options.  When using the sausage stuffer, it is helpful to watch videos first to aid in the process.  I have provided a link from KitchenAid.com right here ~  Use this handy link from KitchenAid to view how to use the sausage stuffer attachment!

If you are making into patties, there are many options on that process.  I prefer rolling the sausage out and using a glass or biscuit cutter to be the best option for more uniform patties.  However, sometimes we just form them with our hands as we did in the picture above.  If you choose to roll out it, there are different methods, I like the method that HappyMoneySaver.com uses here ~  Happy Money Saver describes the rolling out and cutting process in detail here!

 

Freezing Homemade Sausage with Fennel ~

We love the Food Saver Vacuum Sealer for so many freezer foods.  It does such a great job protecting food from air and freezer burn.  It is also ideal for food prep.  You can double so many of your recipes and save half of them for later, making busy nights or lunch time woes a cinch!    Get your own Food Saver Vacuum Sealer here…you will love it!

Like so many kitchen gadgets, you may ask yourself, “Will I really use this?”  From experience, this is one gadget we are very happy to have and we find ourselves using it often.

We will use this sausage for breakfast and dinner ideas.  Our favorite is grilled sausage with peppers and onion served with a side of rice.  However, we will definitely be looking for new fun ideas to use this yummy sausage as well.

 

Meal prep has become widely popular for busy families and lunch preparation.  This homemade sausage with fennel is an ideal recipe for just that!  Not to mention the savings you will see.  For this recipe we bought almost 10 pounds of pork for $9.  Seriously $9!  The amount of sausage links it yields (depending on how big you choose to make each one) is phenomenal!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!  Let us know in the comments below!  Also, follow MimiBlog with the link and you can stay up to date with all the great recipes!

Have a great week!

 

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