These made for a quick and easy weekend breakfast. I was a bit bored with my regular breakfast fare, so I decided to try something new. The lemon flavor really comes through and the pancakes are really The blueberries and blackberries definitely make this recipe for me. I’m not big on maple syrup, so I squeezed one of the lemons I used for zest over the pancakes and berries and it was perfect. I am sure syrup could be great, but it’s just not my thing. If fresh berries are hard to come by this time of year, frozen could be used in a pinch, or even a light smear of berry jam (I would recommend blueberry) or lemon curd would go really well with these pancakes.

This recipe yields a lot of batter! I will say that I did thin out the batter quite a bit (the Better Batter got a little gummy on me), but I think I got 14 or 16 pancakes out of it, either way it was way too much for just two people. I know you could increase the amount of batter used in each pancake, but I think the smaller size works a lot better for the fluffiness of the recipe. If the pancakes were bigger, I think they would lose some of that. If you do have to thin out the batter, I would recommend using lemon juice if possible, then water. Lemon juice really adds to the flavor and I think water would dilute that a lot.

If you are making Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, I am certain you have all of the ingredients needed to make these right now. You can mix these waffles up in less than 5 minutes. Then it’s just up to your waffle maker to finish the job. The batter could also be used for pancakes as well. I like these waffles because they are perfect for a fast and easy Thanksgiving breakfast and should help tide everyone over until the main event.

I am not a really big fan of pumpkin things, but I actually really liked these. The pumpkin flavor was present, but not overwhelming and really good with the spices. I served these with maple syrup (which I’m normally not a fan of either) and they were perfect together. Absolutely perfect. I would also imagine that these would be quite good with apple butter. I have a mini waffle maker and I got 18 mini waffles out of this recipe. There were waffles for days on end. Depending on the type of waffle iron you have, your waffle mileage may vary.

So, it’s Thanksgiving tomorrow here in the States. The last thing over everyone’s minds is probably breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so it shouldn’t be overlooked just because the main event is later in the day. I’ve the hard way over cooking several Thanksgiving dinners to know that a hungry chef is a cranky chef. Take a quick break this morning and make a delicious breakfast to get you through the day. I have to admit, my cooking time was over 30 minutes (more like 35 than 25), so not the world’s quickest breakfast. I’m going to write that off the increased baking time to the gluten-free flour, which is temperamental at best.

This was the first time I ever had or made a Dutch baby pancake and I have to say that it lived up to the hype. I would highly recommend this for special breakfast or a delicious brunch.

A couple weeks ago I got the weird idea that I wanted to make my own sausage. Just patties, dealing with casings and grinding my own meat is far too gross and far too much work for brunch. I had almost forgotten about my plan, until it came time to make Sunday brunch this past weekend. Since I had a little extra time, I figured why not. Making sausage this way is really just like making mini-burgers, which made these a quick and easy addition to brunch.

I was really happy I ended up using sweet Italian sausage for this. I feel like they would have been super, super bland without the extra Italian flavors. I thought that the mustard and sage really complemented each other. I think that this could be made with plain ground chicken or turkey, but you would definitely need to add a lot more seasoning if using ‘plain’ ground meat.

I really wanted to make some autumnally appropriate baked goods, but it’s still a million degrees here and the last few weeks the internet has been overloaded by pumpkin. Pumpkin is not my thing. It looks gross and even though I can’t remember what it tastes like (I’ve only had it twice), I’m pretty sure it tastes gross too. Apple seemed to be a seasonal flavor that was more my speed.

I had two problems with these when they were done. They were extremely dense. Super dense baked goods can just be the outcome of gluten free baking. It happens. I’ve also never made donuts before, let alone baked, gluten free donuts, so I’m not quite sure why these were so dense, but they were. The donuts were also insanely sweet. I know donuts are meant to be sweet, but I think the combination of sugar and applesauce (even though it was unsweetened) was just too much. If I made these again, I would probably scale down the sugar even more to maybe just 2 tablespoons. Because they were so sweet, I decided not to make a glaze for them and warm from the oven, they did not need one either.

It’s almost Cinco de Mayo, which is a pretty ridiculous holiday. It’s hardly celebrated in it’s country of origin, but any excuse for Mexican food and tequila is okay with me. In preparation for Cinco de Mayo, it’s time to share some excellent Mexican recipes for any and all of your celebratory needs.

These eggs were inspired by on of my favorite breakfasts at one of my favorite diners/bars, Joe’s. You can get the best drinks and the best breakfast in the same  exact spot all in the span of a few hours, it’s great. The Huevos La Mexicana at Joe’s are simple and tasty. This is an extremely easy and  flavorful dish. It’s quick and simple, making it great for a quick breakfast or a brunch with a crowd. I served mine with some restaurant salsa and tortilla chips with a bit of cilantro and a lot of hot sauce on top.

Mexican Scrambled Eggs
Serves 2

• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tomato, diced and seeded
• 1 jalapeño, diced and seeded
• 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
• 2 eggs
• shredded cheese

There’s a man with a van who hangs out around the closest big intersection to my house. He sells things out of the back of his van. Primarily berries and cherries, but sometimes there are avocados and mangoes or pumpkins and pineapples; it kind of just depends on the season. I live about 40 minutes away from one of California’s biggest strawberry growing regions, so we pretty much get them year round. They are just starting to come into their main season at the moment. The berry man has become my go to source for strawberries and other various items, because 1. he’s cheap, 2. he has a hand painted sign that says ‘Picked Fresh Today’ and 3. they are always delicious, which makes me believe the sign and love the price even more. I drove by the berry man the other day and got the genius idea of buying a full flat of strawberries, which turned out to be able SIX pounds, which is sort of a lot. I felt pretty proud of myself getting 6 pounds of strawberries for just over $2 a pound, especially considering how expensive they are in the grocery store, but as soon as I got home, I realized I had to figure out what to do with six pounds of strawberries…

My first strawberry endeavor was this delicious muffin recipe. It’s perfect for a sweet breakfast treat and also makes a pretty satisfying dessert. Quite frankly, it’s pretty hard to go wrong with Nutella. The fresh strawberries only make the Nutella even more enjoyable. My favorite part of these muffins is the little Nutella line that runs through the center. It basically ensures you get a bit of Nutella in every bite!

Strawberry Nutella Muffins (adapted rom Prevention RD)

• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour (I used Better Batter)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped fresh strawberries
• 1/3 cup Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease well. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk together canola oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla.
3. Mix the wet ingredients into flour mixture. Add slowly and gently stir, you don’t want to over mix. The batter will be very thick; fold in the strawberries.
4. Fill each muffin cup half way with batter. Next, add a small spoonful of Nutella to each muffin cup. Cover the Nutella filling with the remaining batter.
5. Bake muffins for 22-26 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the pan and let cool on a cooling rack. Yield: 12 muffins.

After eggs benedict and chilaquiles, huevos rancheros is probably my 3rd favorite breakfast of all time. I like ranking things, so this is definitely a statement I can say with confidence. For those of you not familiar with huevos rancheros, it’s a Mexican breakfast dish made with fried eggs, lightly fried tortillas and a tomato-chile sauce and usually served with beans, sometimes rice and a bit of avocado. There are a million different variations, but it’s all the same basic concept. The only down side to huevos rancheros, is that it can be a bit time-consuming to make. I generally hate breakfasts that require a lot of work, so it is a dish saved for ordering at restaurants. Baking the dish helps eliminate a lot of the hands-on work time that the dish usually requires.

For me at least, all the ingredients in this meal are things I always have on hand, so it’s the perfect recipe for a last-minute brunch (or even dinner). The next time I make this, the only thing I would change would be the amount of cheese. The original calls for 12 ounces, I would half that and only use the cheese sprinkled on top and not bother mixing it in with the bean mixture. That said I did you an awesome combination of pepper jack and garlic jack from the Sonoma Cheese Factory. They are a California company, so I’m not too sure what their distribution range is, but if you can get your hands on some garlic jack, I would highly recommend it.

Baked Huevos Rancheros (from 20 Something Cupcakes)

• 3 tablespoons Olive or canola oil
• 1 large onion, diced (emphasis on large, or 2 medium onions)
• 6 – 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2-14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes with chilies/jalapeños
• 2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 canned chopped chipotle peppers
• 6-8 corn tortillas (I could only fit 6, original recipe called fo 8)
• 8 large eggs
• 12 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded