Breakfast Dogs on a Stick

Ingredients:

• 16 breakfast sausage links
• 3 cups pancake mix
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• Sprinkle of cinnamon
• 1 whole egg, slightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups water
• Canola oil, for frying
• Warm pancake syrup, for serving
• Special equipment: chopsticks

Directions:

Cook the breakfast sausage links in a cast-iron skillet, turning occasionally until done.

In a large bowl, combine the pancake mix, cornmeal and cinnamon. Stir to combine.

Add the eggs, vanilla and water, adding more water as needed for the batter to become slightly thick (but not overly gloopy.) Start out by adding 1 cup, then work your way up to 3 cups or more.

Heat some canola oil in a large pot over medium-high heat to about 350 degrees F. Drop in a bit of batter to see if it's ready; the batter should immediately start to sizzle but should not immediately brown/burn.

Insert chopsticks into the cooked breakfast sausages so that they're two-thirds of the way through. Dip the sausages into the batter and allow any excess to drip off for a couple of seconds. Carefully drop into the oil (stick and all) and use tongs or a spoon to make sure it doesn't hit the bottom of the pan and stick. Flip it here and there to ensure even browning, and remove it from the oil when the outside is deep golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes.

Serve with warm pancake syrup.

Southwest Tortellini Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 9 -10 ounces refrigerated cheese tortellini, can use any type
• 1 (4 ounce) cans diced green chilies
• 1 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat sour cream, can use regular
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
• 1/2 cup sliced black olives
• 3/4 cup chopped green onion

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease/spray a 1 1/2 qt casserole dish.

In a bowl, toss together the black beans, tortellini, green chilies, diced tomatoes and cumin. Mix well and pour into the prepared casserole dish.

In another bowl, stir together the sour cream, lime juice and sugar; evenly spread this over mixture in the casserole dish.

Evenly sprinkle with cheese, then olives, then green onions, then the cilantro.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Uncover and continue baking an additional 20-30 minutes until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Classic Sheet Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 stick butter
• 1 cup water
• 8 tablespoons cocoa
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking spoon
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1 pound confectioner's sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring one stick of butter, water, and four tablespoons of cocoa to boil. 

Remove from heat and add in flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. 

Beat in eggs and sour cream.

Pour into greased large 15.5" x 10.5" pan.

Bake 20 minutes and let cool at least 10 minutes. 

Bring four tablespoons of cocoa, milk, and one stick of butter to a boil.  

Remove from heat and add confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and walnuts (optional). 

Pour over cake and spread evenly. 

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Doughnut Sandwich

Ingredients:

for each sandwich, you will need:

• 1 doughnut, any kind you like
• 1 generous scoop of chocolate chip cookie ice cream
• melted chocolate (pour a bag of chocolate chips into a small heavy-bottomed saucepan and melted it over extremely low heat)

Directions:

Remove ice cream from freezer and let sit on countertop to soften ever so slightly while you prepare the doughnuts.

Slice each doughnut in half around the middle using a long, serrated bread knife.

Place a generous scoop of ice cream on a small plate. Using a spatula, flatten the scoop of ice cream to the same diameter as your doughnuts. Place the flattened scoop of ice cream on half the doughnut. “Close” the sandwich with the other half of the doughnut.

Place prepared doughnut sandwiches in freezer temporarily.

Melt your chocolate.

Remove sandwiches from freezer. Dip each sandwich into melted chocolate.

Giant Skillet Cinnamon Roll

Ingredients:

Dough

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup warm water (90-110°F)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 6 cups all purpose flour, sifted
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling

• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon mixed together

Glaze

• 4 oz. cream cheese, slightly melted 
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted 
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons hot milk

Directions:

For the dough, heat milk, 1/2 cup sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar melts and a few small bubbles appear at the edges of the pan. Remove from heat and let cool while you prepare the other elements.

Dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in very warm water (90°F to 110°F) in the bowl of a standing mixer (or a large bowl if you don't have a stand mixer). Stir with the paddle attachment (or wooden spoon) until well blended. Let stand 10 minutes.

Beat eggs into yeast mixture. Stir in cooled milk mixture (it should be lukewarm), switch to the dough hook then add in flour a little at a time until dough is elastic. Add melted butter and mix, then add in more flour until dough is elastic and pulls away from the sides of the mixer.  Note: you may not have to use all the flour. Do not add so much flour that  the dough does not stick to your hands. Set a timer and knead with the dough hook (or knead with hands on a floured surface) for 5 minutes. 

Place dough in a buttered bowl and turn it over to coat the entire surface. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place 1 hour or until doubled (mine took a little longer than an hour to double).

Punch down dough and turnout onto a lightly floured surface. Knead a few times and cut into two pieces. Roll out each piece to 12x9-inch rectangles. 

For the filling, brush the rolled dough pieces with the melted butter. Sprinkle each with half the cinnamon sugar mixture. 

Cut the each dough piece into 5 even strip lengthwise. Roll one strip up as if you were making a regular cinnamon roll. When you get to the end, use another strip and continue rolling. When the dough spiral reaches about 6-inches in diameter, (3-4 strips-worth of spiraling) place it in the center of a  lightly greased 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Continue spiraling dough strips around the middle.

When all the dough has been used, cover and let rise about 45 minutes or until doubled.

Preheat oven to 400°. Bake for 18-25 minutes, or until golden. Keep a close eye on it so it doesn't over-bake.

Whisk together glaze ingredients, adding additional milk as needed. Glaze pastry in the pan while it is still hot. Add orange zest if desired. Slice into pieces and serve while still warm.

Healthy Blueberry Scones

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup of skim milk
• 3 teaspoons of cooking oil
• 1 egg white
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray.  In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, and baking powder.  In another bowl, stir together milk, oil and egg white.   Add liquid mixture and blueberries to dry mixture and stir until just moistened. 

On a lightly floured surface, knead dough 10 times.  Roll dough into 3/4 inch thickness.  Cut dough into 12 pieces and transfer to baking sheet. 

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown  Cool on wire rack.