Pumpkin Cranberry Orange Pancakes with Caramelized Pecans, Cheesy Eggs and Bacon

Yes another pumpkin thing. You'll live. It's fall. I like pumpkin. So there.

I had some leftover pumpkin and cranberry sauce from the pumpkin cinnamon rolls and cranberry pancakes made about a week ago and they needed to get used.

I decided that pancakes would be a good idea. I was tired of my fried egg on toast that is the usual morning breakfast. Along with coffee. Must have coffee.

And its Saturday, which means for some odd reason I need to make a real breakfast. Something from the kids about since I'm home and they are home and we have no place to go, I should make a real breakfast...vs cereal or toast. Whatever.



What you will need:

• Pumpkin
• Cranberry sauce
• Flour
• Eggs
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Sugar
• Vanilla
• Orange extract or frozen orange concentrate (if you use concentrate, eliminate the sugar)
• Vinegar
• Salt
• Pumpkin Pie spice
• Eggs (1-2 per person), salt and pepper, milk (1tbs per egg more or less)
• Bacon

So this is super simple. These are fat fluffy pancakes so therefore are filling. 

Get your bacon started now, get eggs mixed up with a pinch of salt and pepper and little milk. Use paper towels (or we have a cloth towel dedicated for draining grease to be more environ friendly) to sop up grease as bacon gets done. You can also cook the bacon in the over on a baking sheet with edges. This makes them all done at once.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together with a fork, flour, soda, powder, sugar, spice and salt. Add vanilla and orange extracts, 2 eggs, 1c pumpkin, 1/4c cranberry sauce, 2tbs vinegar (to make baking soda all fizzy and happy. This is why they are sooooo fluffy!) Mix together with dry ingredients.

Warm up 2 skillets, one large for your pancakes, unless you have one of those electric griddle thingy's, then use it. The other skillet is smaller, for pecans. MMMMM pecans. If you made bacon, you can use some of the grease to coat your pan for pancakes and for eggs. Just makes for added yumminess.

In the smaller skillet melt 1Tbs butter, 1/4c crumbled/chopped/not whole pecans. When butter is melty, coat pecans and add 1Tbs of brown sugar. 

Coat your big skillet/griddle with butter (hold a stick by the wrapper and with open end, rub all over pan. Hands stay clean, no excess of butter.)

Cook until edges look dryish. Sorry, no bubbles on these. Flip and cook on other side for a few seconds.

Keep pancakes warm in oven at 250 on an oven safe dish. 

Turn off the pecans, and let them cool.

Finish off bacon/sausage (if you didn't use oven method) and use same pan for eggs (minus a lot of the grease). To get rid of the grease, I keep a tin can or jar with lid next to stove. Sometimes I am lazy and run it down the garbage disposal (gasp) with hot water. You can keep bacon warm with pancakes in oven, as the get cold fast.

When pancakes are ready sprinkle with pecans and drizzle with syrup. Make the kids set the table and enjoy!

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Pumpkin Cranberry Orange Pancakes____________________________________

1c flour

2t baking soda

1T baking powder

2t pumpkin pie spice

1t salt

2T vinegar

1t vanilla

1t orange extract or 2tsp orange juice concentrate

2 eggs

1c pumpkin

1/4c cranberry sauce (canned)

Pecans:

1/2c pecans

1T brown sugar

1T butter

Mix dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients and mix gently with a fork. Heat pan of griddle to medium-high heat. Drop pancake batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto greased pan. Cook until edges start to look dry and pancake puffs. Flip and cook for a 1-2 minutes on opposite side.

Pecans: Heat butter in small skillet over medium heat until melted. Add chopped pecans and brown sugar. Heat until glazed evenly. 

Strawberries 'N Cream French Toast with Bacon

Looks good right?

I had an epiphany yesterday when bringing home fresh strawberries and french bread still warm from the oven. You can see me in an 1800's style dress with a basket of fresh goodies right?

Ha!

Anyway, I thought... You know, cream cheese with those strawberries would be yummy... Ooooh! I could make a cream cheese filling for French toast and top that with fresh strawberries.

With this plan in mind, 5 seconds later, my children pipe up from the back seat. "Tacos sound good for dinner! LET'S HAVE TACOS!"
"But I was thinking french toast."
"I don't like french toast!" "I want tacos"
"Are you sure...? I have strawberries..."
"Ooooh! STRAWBERRIES!"

*shakes head*

So we had tacos. I didn't want friggin' French Toast anyway.

Tonight, I made dinner before they had the opportunity to tell me what sounded good.

See look at me being all sneaky and stuff. (They were outside enjoying the 2 seconds of sunshine we had today)

See my beautiful strawberries?

Unfortunately, we are going to have to murder them slightly to make dinner. But it's ok. They'll be yummy. I might add I bought this 3 pound container last night... and it's half gone. 

Nope. No strawberry-a-holics in this house. Not a one.

Ok. So let's start this the way I didn't cause I was being stupid.

Cut your now day old, lovely, crusty French bread into 1/4" to 1/2" slices. 

(insert french accent here) Lika dis...

Next, for this lovely loaf, get 2 eggs, some milk and almond extract. Or if you have no almond, amaretto will do in a pinch or if you have to, vanilla.

Yes, amaretto. No, the alcohol. Yes, seriously.

I used both. It was delish.

Onward.

Break open said eggs. (Do I really have to tell you this?)

Scramble the eggs.

(Insert accent here) Lika dis...

That funny looking thing is called a whisk. Forks do in a pinch. Don't panic.

Add milk. Oh. About...2 cups.

Add about 1/4 c of sugar, dash of almond or vanilla or amaretto or a combination. Whatever you have on hand. I wouldn't necessarily do almond AND vanilla, but almond and amaretto are very nice.

Sorry, no picture for that one, but trust me they are in there.

Whisk all together really well.

Do not put the whisk in the...sink.

Take it back out and wash it 'cause you will need to agitate (ooh big fancy word) the liquid to keep sugar suspended.

It's heavy. It likes to sink.

That's your physics lesson for today.

Next drown your lovely bread in the mix until happy (about 10-15 secs per side) and place on baking sheet. You will use said sheet later, again.

We wouldn't want you to have the whisk mistake again, no would we? See I warned you well ahead of time. Oh. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Less dirty dishes = happy cook.

Ok set the bread aside. If there is any dip left over, pour over the slices. They'll soak it up.

Get the bacon going.

MMMMMM. Bacon.

Time to murder the strawberries,

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ok. I'm done now.

Let's start the filling.

These are the ingredients in the filling. Plus a little almond extract. It ran away before I could take the picture.

Don't you hate it when ingredients grow legs and run off.

Grab the cream cheese. It's best if slightly soft. Makes mushing easier. Dump it in a bowl.

Add about 1/2c of yogurt, 1/2c marshmallow fluff and 2 Tbs sugar.

Squish together until smooth. Check on the bacon.

I cheated. I do that. 

Add almond extract. Mix in.

When it's done, it should look (insert accent here) lika dis...

So the bowl is messy. Cooking is messy. I'm a real cook, not food set person. 

Add a few chopped strawberries to the mix. I used maybe 4 little ones.

K. Throw it in the freezer to stiffen up a bit. 

Time to murder the strawberries a little. 

Chop them into bits. Check on the bacon.

Add sugar to make them happy. Add amaretto if you have no children to worry about. No intoxicating children, no matter how tempting to get them to sleep earlier.

Time to cook the toast. 

Heat up a skillet, griddle, or cast iron.

Slather it down with butter. 

Check on the bacon. Drain slices on paper towels. Throw on baking pan and into oven if they are done before everything else.

Cook on each side only until golden brown and return to baking pan. 

Once all of them are done, slide into the oven for about 7-8 minutes. 

Whew. Take a swig of that amaretto. Go pee. Dance a jig. Whatever.

Time to assemble.

Take one slice of toast and cut in half. Top one half with the filling from the freezer. Place other half on top. Cover in strawberries.

Grab some bacon and your good to go!

Sunday Breakfast - French Toast with Apple Compote

Sunday's are my day. Well, ok not ENTIRELY mine, I do have to share with my monkeys.

My Monkeys.

Anywho, so sundays are my day to clean the house and do other mommy stuff.

This morning, I happened to have some used bread left over from spaghetti night, so I decided french toast would be a good use for it before it became dry enough for bird food.

Of course, if you have french toast, then you have to have apple goo to put on top. Its required. No really. It is. If you don't have any apples to make your french toast happy then I suppose fresh berries are a good substitute.

But then you have to add whipped cream.

Sigh. Whipped Cream.

*shakes head*

Ok, back on track.

Today's breakfast's name...French Toast with Apple Compote, Tori's famous Macaroni and Cheese Eggs, Bacon and sausage.

The Bacon and sausage, if you so desire it, should be in the pan first. It takes the longest. If you are not vegetarian, you can use the greasy pan of their cookin's for your eggs for some extra yumminess.

If you are, or have a vegy person in your house, throw the bacon on a baking sheet line in foil and throw in oven. This allows it t all cook evenly at once, and doesn't risk contaminating the other food with grease splatters (and keeps cleanup of stove easier too)

I generally cook them at abou 300 or they will be done before everything else.

You could totally do the sausage this way too, but i use turkey sausage so it doesn't splatter.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee. Nectar of the gods...an all day sunday thing.

Ok, the apple compote takes the next longest to do.

You will need:

2 apples, cut into chunks (remember chunks are bigger than bits)

2 Tbs butter

squirt of maple syrup

2-3 Tbs brown sugar

dash of cinnamon

splash of vanilla

Melt butter into skillet, you'll want non-stick, trust me.

Saute' apples for a few minutes. Add rest of ingredients and get all melty. Turn heat to med-low. Let do its happy melty thing while you move one. Don't forget to stir every now and then.

Next prep the bread by cutting in 3/4 to 1" thick slices.

Then mix together

2 eggs

2 c milk

2 tsp vanilla

1/2c sugar

dash of cinnamon, and nutmeg if you want.

Whip up eggs first then add the other stuff, stir until it feel like sugar is mixed well in. You will have to mix off and on (between soaking slices) to keep sugar in place.

Damn sugar. Never stays where you want it to.

Get your pan all nice and warm. Cast iron is good for this. LOVE cast iron.

Stir the apples. You forgot.

Get a stick of butter out and schmear all over the bottom of the cast iron. If it is well seasoned, then you only need to do this once. If you are using nonstick (ugh) then every batch will need re-greasing.

Ok, so there are 2 ways to cook the french toast. There is the speedy, I am starvingm the kids are whining, way and the I have to do the dishes and clean the kitchen while cooking way.

Way #1. Soak bread in goo for a few seconds on each side. Oooh look BUBBLES!

Throw them in pan as is, and move on.

Way #2 Soak them in goo until all the bubbles are gone mostly.

*Sniff* No more bubbles.

Lay them in foil lined pan and let them sit for about 10 mins, then throw in over for another 8-10 mins on 325. (Or 300 is ok if your doing the bacon, although, if you are using way #2 to make toast, you will want to put bacon in after the toast is out 'cause it'll be done before toast and that mean cold bacon. Yuk.)

Ok. Take it out and NOW put it in greasy, buttery pan to fry it up.

Stir the apples. You forgot again.

What does this do you ask? It makes the insides stay soft and gets a crisp on the outside but makes sure everything is cooked through. If you do the pan way, you usually dry it out and overcook to get it cooked all the way through and you lose the creaminess of the innards.

Creamy innards=good and yummy. Got it? Ok.

Moving on.

Hang on, getting walloped by a pillow wielded by the perpetual toddler puppy.

.

.

.

.

Ok back.

Tori's Mac n Cheese Eggs

So whilst the toast is getting toasty, crack some eggs into a bowl and whisk.

Yes a fork works if you don't have a whisk, but seriously, get a whisk. It has multiple, non-egg uses.

Assume 2 eggs for each person unless they are 11 year old growing boys, then about 6 :-)

For our family of 5 (1 normal kid, 1 eat everything boy, myself and 1 overgrown eat everything boy and my sis- both who don't partake in eggs very often) we go through about 10.

Add a little salt and pepper to taste. Yes, before you cook them. Add some more after too. This is called LAYERS of flavor.

Very Important. Remember that.

Cook eggs in your yummy baconey (is that a word?) grease or a little olive oil.

Flip the french toast. Get out the plastic squishy cheese (velveeta or its generic)

Yes this is required as well. Real cheddar cheese does not work correctly for tori's mac n cheese eggs.

Cut 3-4 slices into chunks. The smaller the chunks, the faster it'll get all melty and happy.

When eggs are to correct doneness, add cheese and turn heat to low. If you don't you'll have a lot of clean up to do with burnt on cheese. YUK!

By this time everything should be getting done-ish

Assemble. Apples should be all happy, bacon and sausage done, french toast waiting, eggs just done.

(If you need to make large quantities of french toast, cover with wax paper and put in micro-nuker without turning on to keep warm. A towel over top of top of wax paper helps too.)

Ok your done. Yummy Sunday morning breakfast.