Cinnamon Apple Streusel Baked French Toast with Caramel Sauce

I woke up wanting apple pie. However apple pie requires a fair amount of work. And it requires that you have more than 2 apples. So I improvised. Pie isn't a good breakfast choice anyways, right?

This morning's breakfast was simple to make but oh so yummy!

Caramel Filled Mulled Apple Cider Cookies

I love fall.

There is nothing like waking up to the cool mornings that make it perfect for wrapping up in a blanket, hot drink in hand and reading on my porch swing. My type of morning.

The crisp air and smell of leaves makes me feel like turning on my oven and baking something delicious. Ok, so I  always feel like turning on my oven and baking something. But it is even more tempting to do so when it's only 57 degrees outside and I don't have to worry about turning my kitchen into a sauna.

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this recipe from The Cooking Photographer. The cookies looked delicious. So I had to add the cider mix to my grocery list. This afternoon, I mixed up the cookies...so simple and so delicious. Definitely a recipe to keep around.

Cherry Oven Pancake

I think I was 8 or 9 the first time my dad found a recipe in the Washington Post for "Puffy German Pancakes." My family has been eating them ever since. I love them because they bake for 20-30 minutes, the perfect amount of time for me to get ready for work while it's baking and puffing up into a delicate breakfast treat.

I know I found this recipe online a few years ago but have no idea where it came from. Like almost all my other recipes, I've changed it to my liking. I recommend using sweet cherries, however the original recipe called for tart cherries.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Baked French Toast

I have a new addiction. Pinterest. It is becoming a new obsession. I used to follow a lot of blogs however most of them are beginning to seem rather repetitive any more and became un-inspiring to me.

Now that I have found new inspiration, I figured I will make another attempt at blogging.

This recipe is inspired by a recipe I found on Pinterest. It looked delicious. Then when I looked at the recipe,  I was shocked. 12 eggs?!?!

The original recipe came from Chef-in-Training. I'm sure it was great the way it was. I didn't have a dozen eggs to use and I didn't have the entire night to let it set. I needed it immediately. So I changed it. It was still yummy!

Pecan Upside-Down Cake

I woke up this morning craving the gooey, sticky pecan rolls from Panera Bread. That was a bit of a problem since the closest Panera from my house is about 30 miles away.

I didn't want to waste the time and gas to get one. That left me with the alternative of making some. I started looking through recipes and had no luck finding a "quick" version that didn't take a lot of kneading and rising time for a yeast based dough.

Then I got to thinking, why not just turn it into an upside-down cake. This turned out to be a delicious breakfast and will also double as tonight's dessert after dinner.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie

I have a problem. When I walk into a grocery store, it is similar to a kid walking into a candy store.

I've gone grocery shopping with friends before. We walk along the isles and like the typical American, my friends will stop and stare at the 50 variety of cookies, trying to decide what it is that they want to munch on this week. I however by-pass the store bought cookies, breeze through the 25 flavors of Pop Tarts, and spend my time staring at the different spices and herbs.

I get weird looks from the people trying to grab the standard jar of cinnamon while I'm just standing there staring, trying to decide what I could make with this spice or that herb. I've been known to laugh at people who actually buy the pre-mixed cinnamon and sugar. (Really people, it's just cinnamon and sugar, you can make it at home and save a little money!)  My friends don't go to the grocery store with me much anymore.

To try to save time and to avoid the annoyed looks while I stand in the way of the typical American consumer who doesn't know what to do with all the things in the little glass jars, I discovered  Penzey's, a company that sells some amazing spices that are very hard to find, especially at such affordable prices.

As I was staring at the catalog, reading all the different variety of spices, I came across a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie.

I love cookie dough, so much so when I set out to make chocolate chip cookies, it rarely results in cookies.

This pie turned out AMAZING. It is like eating cookie dough in pie crust.

Baked Porridge with Pear

I am moving in slow motion this morning. I know it's Sunday, a day to rest but I spent almost 4 hours making and eating breakfast. If you aren't moving as slow as molasses in the wintertime, you could easily make and eat this breakfast dish in under an hour and a half.

I saw this recipe from Panna about a month ago, however even with my pantry well stocked with various grains and flours, I had no semolina. I figured that any plain porridge would do, so I made a mixture of Cream of Rice and some wheat bran to use as the porridge base. Oatmeal would not work well for this however because of the texture.

This is going to become one of those recipes that I make often, especially in the fall and winter when hot cereal becomes the common breakfast of my house and there always seems to be about a half serving left over that is too little to save for the next day's breakfast but yet too much to throw out without feeling wasteful.