Breakfast

This morning I was craving my caramelized apple pancake but I am by myself and the recipe makes two servings. I decided to experiment, cutting all the ingredients in half, using one large granny smith apple and I used my 9-inch cast iron pan. It turned out great! I was afraid it would spread out too much and the edges wouldn’t puff up but look – it’s beautiful!

Here it is just out of the oven before I flipped it over onto the plate.

It wasn’t quite as gooey as the big one but I needed to show that you can make this pancake for one. You know that movie, “Gone in 60 Seconds?” So was my pancake. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Sunday is when I stock up on my homemade granola. It seems to disappear quickly around here but it’s no problem because this is one of my simplest, easiest recipes. I dump everything onto a baking pan, mix it up with my hands, and bake it. I stir it a couple of times and I like to bake it until it’s really well toasted and brown. I use thick oats or regular rolled oats if it’s all I have, along with lots of nuts, brown sugar, coconut, and real maple syrup, plus as little oil and that’s it. My oil of choice these days is cold pressed avocado oil. When something is this healthy and this easy, there’s no reason to eat the store bought stuff. Homemade always tastes better. Click here for the recipe.

Speaking of “homemade tastes better” I also stocked up on my soft & chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. Well, they are usually oatmeal raisin cookies but today I “accidentally” mistook my dark chocolate chunks for raisins so I guess I’m stuck with these soft oatmeal dark chocolate chunk cookies. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. ?  Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I want to remind everyone how easy it is to make pancakes from scratch. How easy? Twelve minutes. Yes, it takes just 12 minutes to make my whole grain oatmeal pancakes. It was our Sunday breakfast, served with a little butter and a lot of real maple syrup.

These easy, healthy pancakes are made with buttermilk, oats, and whole wheat pastry flour so they are 100% whole grain. Buttermilk really makes the best pancakes! My usual breakfast is a hard-boiled egg, a slice of my homemade bread, a little fruit, and a cup of tea, but Sunday is the day for special treats – I should have called it Sunday brunch because we didn’t eat until after 11:00.

I found these pretty plates at Walmart so I took a new picture. Next Sunday, or maybe tomorrow, if you want a healthy whole grain breakfast that’s fun and easy, click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I love all desserts made with apples so I try to make them as healthy as I can and still be delicious. I did it with this easy homemade apple crisp. It’s made with 100% whole grains, no butter, and not too much sugar.  You can use butter if you like but you’ll be using a lot less butter than most other recipes.

There’s not much cleanup here either – basically just one bowl and a cutting board. I combine the apples in a plastic bag and you don’t even need a mixer. I use granny smith apples, which are always available, but make sure you slice them thinly so they cook up nice and soft.

Considering the ingredients (rolled oats, whole wheat pastry flour, lots of apples) I thought, “Why can’t I have this for breakfast?” If you can have oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, well that’s what’s in my apple crisp. I even put it in the breakfast category because compared to some breakfasts, like a bagel with cream cheese (no fiber/no fruit), this is a healthier choice. And more fun. Sometimes my breakfast is a hard boiled egg, toast, and apple crisp for dessert. Yum!

Oh, and you can add nuts to the topping if you like (more protein if it’s breakfast!). Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I made pancakes today. From scratch. In five minutes. If you’ve never made buttermilk pancakes from scratch… do it. You will never buy a mix again. Fresh blueberries are just coming into season and I decided to treat myself to pancakes for breakfast.

I put a little butter on the top, which melted right away, and then poured real maple syrup all over. OMG! And here is some good news: you can also make them with whole wheat pastry flour. They are delicious either way.

Blueberries are anti-aging superstars that are full of antioxidants, good for the brain and heart, and defenders against cancer and inflammation. I’ve said enough. Just do it. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

If you’re like me and your favorite part of the muffin is the top, you will love these easy breakfast muffins. The crunchy tops are made with nuts, brown sugar, and a little vegetable oil, but you can use melted butter instead. I always try baking without butter so I use oil in the topping. A lot of muffins like this use walnuts but I think pecans have a lot more flavor so that’s what I use, and I toast them first. Toasted nuts just taste way better than raw.

The reason I only make six is because the tops won’t be crunchy the next day and also, they are so filling, you only need to eat one. Make them with all purpose flour or a mix of all purpose and whole wheat pastry flour for some extra fiber. And keep in mind that the riper the banana, the sweeter it will be. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

My mother used to slice up leftover potato pancakes and scramble them with eggs for breakfast. It’s still one of my favorite things to eat so I made it today. I had made the potato pancakes (placki in Polish) on Monday and had plenty left over so I treated myself to this delicious breakfast. I have actually made the pancakes just to use for this breakfast – that’s how much I love this dish.

So here’s my recipe:

1. Make potato pancakes.

2. Slice them into strips and place in a non-stick pan.

3. Start heating up the pan and while it heats up, beat the eggs with a little milk, salt & pepper.

4. When the pancake strips are not hot, add the egg mixture and cook until set.

Have a happy day. 🙂 – Jenny Jones

Sunday breakfast usually means there’s time to make something special. Today I made English muffins and as soon as I tasted them I remembered why I never buy them at the store. They’re delicious! You don’t need an oven to make these because they cook on a griddle or large pan. This first photo above is how they look just before cooking. And below is how they look after about 15 minutes on the grill, seven minutes per side…

My recipe is simple. You make a yeast dough, let it rest for 10 minutes, then roll and cut out six circles. You dust them with cornmeal and once they rise in a warm spot, you cook them on a griddle – no oven. I preheat the griddle and just rub it with a stick of butter. They cook for seven minutes per side and now you have your own homemade English muffins, ready to split in half and toast. And yes, there are lots of nooks and crannies!

If you’ve never tasted homemade English muffins, I will say they taste nothing like the ones in the package. They’re a hundred, million, zillion times better! Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

When hash browns are just right, there’s nothing better with breakfast… crisp and golden on the outside (especially those crunchy edges!) and moist and tender on the inside… that’s how they should be. And you can do this!  This may be my only recipe with just ONE ingredient so you know it can’t be hard. There are just a couple of things that can make them foolproof every time. You’ll see… Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Weekend breakfasts are the best because there’s more time to make things like my caramelized apple oven pancake. It only takes 30 minutes and boy, is it good! You need a 9-inch cast iron skillet and lots of apples. I use two huge apples, weighing 1/2 pound each and I’ve used both Granny Smith and gala, cut into 1-inch chunks.  There’s more apple than pancake in this delicious breakfast but that’s a good thing.

First you melt a little butter and brown sugar in the skillet and cook the apples on the stove top over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes until they get caramelized. After 5 minutes, they should look like this.

Now you just pour the batter right on top of the apples. The batter is really light and super easy, made with milk, eggs, and flour basically and you just whisk it by hand – no mixer. As soon as the batter is added, using an oven glove, you put the hot pan in the oven (preheated to 400 degrees F) and fifteen minutes later, it’s done. Then you carefully, with oven gloves, invert in onto a big serving plate and it will look like this…

The edges of the pancake are caramelized just like the apples, which are soft and sticky sweet. You don’t need any topping like syrup but you can sprinkle it with a dusting of powdered sugar if you like. If this is all you’re eating, it will serve two but if you have some eggs and toast and this on the side, it will serve four. And if you’re starving and you make this easy apple pancake, someone I know actually ate the whole thing in one sitting. It wasn’t me. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones