Breakfast(s) in a Mug

I do apologize for not posting anything for the past several days. I've been busy being mom and wife, and I also had a run in with the stomach bug. With the kitchen already most of the way cleaned up, and my husband out in his workshop doing his woodworking hobby, I saw the perfect opportunity to make a post or two. My kitchen hasn't had very many things happening in it except the basic ravioli, hamburgers, pancakes and other easy dinners. Speaking of EASY here are a few of our favorite hot breakfast mug recipes. You will see that there are lots of dashes of this and splashes of that, its hard to put an actual measurement when you're just making 1 or 2 servings.

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Scrambled Eggs in a Mug
1 serving

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Coat a microwave-safe coffee mug with cooking spray. Add eggs, milk and season with salt and pepper; beat until blended. (I asked for a mini whisk for Christmas last year just for this purpose) You can either add cheese now or add it right when you serve it.

Microwave 45 seconds, move all the cooked parts to the center. Microwave 30 to 45 seconds more, or until eggs are almost set.

Time to eat!

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French Toast in a Mug
2 servings

• 3 slices of Bread (whatever you have on hand, french bread, hamburger buns, use what you've got)
• 1 Egg
• 3 Tbsp Milk
• Dash of Cinnamon
• Couple drops of Vanilla
• tiny bit of Salt
• Drizzle of syrup

Lightly spray or butter 2 coffee mugs. Tear up the bread and divide it between the two cups. In a small measuring cup with a pour spout add Egg, Milk, Vanilla, Cinnamon and Salt and blend, tiny whisk works great here too. Pour half into each mug. Microwave 1 at a time for 2 minutes. Drizzle with syrup and Enjoy!

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Baked Oatmeal in a Mug
1 serving

• 1 Egg
• 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• Splash of Milk
• Dash of Salt
• Dash of Cinnamon
• 1/4 cup Quick Oats
• handful of blueberries or other fruit (optional)

Beat egg, brown sugar, milk, salt, cinnamon. Add oats and fruit (you can leave out the fruit if you choose to). Stir until all combined. Microwave for 2 minutes, check after 1 min 40 seconds. Serve plain or pour some milk on it.

Pizza and Pancakes

My husband is typically in charge of homemade pizza and pancakes. I've managed to make pizza crust once. And pancakes once. Here are our favorite recipes for both. I will go for pizza crust first. Although I don't remember exactly how its all done. I may have to consult the expert on this post. The instructions for pizza crust are directly copied from Barefoot Contessa on food network. We've been using this recipe exclusively since 2008.

Pizza Crust

• 1 1/4 cup warm Water
• 2 pkg Yeast
• 1 tbsp Honey
• 3 tbsp Olive Oil
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp kosher salt

Combine the water, yeast, honey and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. When the yeast is dissolved, add 3 cups of whole wheat flour, then 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and mix on medium-low speed. While mixing, add up to 1 more cup of flour, or just enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with the flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the bowl.

When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Dump the dough onto a board and divide it in half and cover them with a damp towel. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

Press and stretch each ball into 2 big sheet pans lined with parchment paper or coated with a little oil (If you've chilled the dough, take it out of the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes ahead to let it come to room temperature.)

Add your toppings. My favorite is green peppers, onions, black olives and mushrooms. Bake 10 to 15 minutes at 500 degrees. Yum!

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I do hope you know how to cook pancakes, so I'm just going to post the recipe without the steps of cooking and flipping pancakes. And I have absolutely no idea where or how we came up with this recipe. With help from the pancake chef of the house I found the original recipe on the Gold Medal website. Breakfast for dinner happens a couple times a month plus a couple weekend mornings as well. It's a definite dinner that my husband, Chuck, can pull off without any help or ideas from me, and its always perfect.

Pancakes

• 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Salt 
• 2 Eggs 
• 2 cups Milk
• 1/4 cup Oil

Cook on a hot griddle, they are ready to flip when you see bubbles.
We make a huge batch of these and freeze them. We fold them up in wax paper, then pop them in freezer bag them the freezer and reheat in the microwave for breakfast.

*I  just saw from the original recipe that you can substitute melted butter for the oil and make waffles. We haven't found the perfect waffle recipe yet, so this one we have got to try.

My First Post and a Recipe

Welcome! I've got a confession to make first, I may post recipes that I have used or have found but please understand that my recipes are road maps not contracts. I tweak almost every single recipe I have in one way or another and hardly ever the same way twice. Also some recipes I quickly wrote down without making any references to where I found it, so please forgive me if I have used one of your recipes without giving you proper credit.
After lots of thought, I  have chosen to give you my favorite recipe for muffins. It has been tweaked so many times and turned into several different flavors, and so many options to make them healthier. I will do the original recipe then tell you about how to tweak it to add more nutrients

Blueberry Muffins
Preheat oven to 400°  | Makes 1 dozen  | Bake 20-25 min

Combine the dry ingredients
1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour (or combination of whole wheat, unbleached AP flour, white whole wheat)
3/4 cup Sugar (can be cut down to 2/3 cup)
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking powder

In a 1 cup measuring cup add:
1/3 cup Veg Oil (or melted coconut oil, applesauce, flax meal, or any combination of)
1 egg
and enough milk to fill up the 1 cup: about 1/3 cup (add a bit more milk if using all whole wheat flour)

Combine dry and wet ingredients until just moistened
Fold in 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Mix up topping: handful of oats (old fashioned or rolled) and 2 tablespoon of brown sugar.

Spray muffin tin or use muffin cups, divide batter into 12 muffins. Add topping to each muffin.

Bake 400° 20-25 min or until toothpick comes out clean.

These can be put in a freezer bag and frozen then reheated in the morning for a quick breakfast, but at my house they don't last that long. I do believe that I found this recipe on the side of the box that a blueberry plant came in.

Enjoy!