Hamburger Surprise!! :)

When we were first married and I told Mr. Amazing I was going to make "Hamburger Surprise" he got rather nervous. Usually any recipe with the word "surprise" is just another way to say "disgusting" haha. When I pulled them out of the oven and he tried one, he didn't like it. Then I added the MUST HAVE ingredient of Lawry's Season Salt. Bam! It instantly became one of his favorite meals. Which is a good thing, because I make them often!

Dough:

1 tbsp yeast

3 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

½ tsp salt

1 egg

¼ c shortening 

1 cup warm water

Inside:

Browned, seasoned hamburger to taste

Cheese slices

Put warm water, egg, sugar, salt and shortening into mixer. Start mixing and add 1 cup of flour. Mix until blended then add the yeast. Finish adding flour until the texture is just right then let it raise.

Take a small amount of dough and pull it until very thin a little bigger than your palm. Put a small scoop of cooked hamburger and a small cheddar cheese slice (like the size you’d put on a saltine cracker). Roll up into a ball. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. When hot put butter on top and sprinkle with seasoning salt.

Pizza Rolls

Not that my picture taking skills are anything to get excited about, but I apologize even more so for this one. Mr. Amazing had the camera for the weekend and all I was left with was my really crappy dumb-phone camera. But it worked, right?! .

In all seriousness, these pizza rolls are incredible!!! My kids snarfed these little babies down so quickly that 3/4 of the pan disappeared within 15 minutes! Then hubby came home, ate his fill, and then kept grabbing another and then another. (Addicting? I think, yes!). I can't wait to try these as a freezer meal! Another dang good recipe makes the menu!! (Recipe from honeybearlane.com)

4 cans store-bought buttermilk biscuit dough

1 package pepperoni

3-4 cups of Mozzarella cheese (or Mozzarella sticks cut into 3rds)

Basil, Oregano, Garlic Salt, Grated Parmesan

Open each can and taking one biscuit at a time, press each biscuit flat. Put in 2 pepperoni's and the desired amount of cheese. Fold up sides into a ball and put into a greased 9x13 pan close together. Brush the tops with oil and sprinkle with seasonings and Parmesan cheese. Bake in oven at 425 degrees for 18-22 minutes. For 10 minutes have them covered with foil and for the last 8-12 minutes remove the foil so they can brown.

Quick Banana Bread

When Grandma showed up with 6 overripe bananas that needed used immediately and with a lack of desire time to whip up a couple batches of banana bread, I decided to try out artsyfartsymama.com's easy version. Although I would have to say this has more of a light cake with banana flavor appeal that actual banana bread, the way my kids ate through 2 loaves in 8 minutes deemed it a keeper! And hands down it is a lot easier and quicker! 

1 box yellow cake mix

2 eggs

3 overripe bananas, mashed

1 cup chocolate chips

Mix everything together and pour into greased bread pans (I find it cooks better if they aren't super thick which is why I do 2 pans. You can do just 1 pan with it being really thick if you want though). Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Egg in a Hole

Ree, from thepioneerwoman.com, has some killer recipes that this family loves. And this one has just been added to the list! My kids love (love, love!) over-easy eggs with toast and beg Mr. Amazing to make it for them often (I'm a scrambled eggs only kinda gal so they know who to ask if they want it done right haha ;). So when I found this recipe that combined the two, it was guaranteed to be a keeper. And it is! And with Grandma's hearty whole wheat bread, it only took 1-2 of these babies for the kids to be stuffed! 

1 slice of your fav bread

1 Tbsp butter

1 whole egg

Salt and Pepper to taste

With a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass, press a hole in the center of the slice of bread. Next preheat a skillet over medium low heat and melt a tbsp of butter in it. When the butter is spread out, place the piece of bread in the skillet and crack the egg straight into the center of the hole. Cook for a good minute or so and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then flip it over with a spatula and cook another minute of so. Let it cook until the yolk feels soft without feeling over-jiggly. If using a griddle to cook (like you cook pancakes on) then butter the bread itself like you would grilled-cheese sandwiches.

Mama’s French Bread Pizza

I might have just been given the easiest meal in the world to make. Seriously. This is SO GOOD! And ridiculously easy! From Priscilla from our recipe group, I say THANK YOU!! My kids had this gone within minutes, I kid you not! The secret really is the garlic butter, so unless you have a killer garlic butter recipe (and are more gung-ho than I am), then buy a bakery garlic french bread loaf that already has it spread on! We did discover that there was too much in the middle and not enough on the sides so next time I will spread around the butter more evenly first. Perfect as is, my kids have asked that next time we try adding a few toppings (jalapenos for Rachel, pepperoni for baby doll, etc). The best part was how fast this came together. It took about 4 minutes to get into the oven and was ready to eat in 13. It just doesn't get any better than that! 

Garlic French bread (the bakery kind that already has garlic butter spread on it)

Mayonnaise

2 tomatoes

Colby or Pizza blend cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Spread mayo over the garlic butter on both halves. Slice tomatoes and arrange on the halves. Cover with desired amount of cheese. Place in oven and bake for 13 minutes or until cheese is melted and French bread is toasted. Slice up and enjoy!

The Best Buttermilk Cornbread

This cornbread is so good that I couldn't even snatch a picture of it before it was half gone! Still ranked in the top 20 on allrecipes.com, this buttermilk cornbread is almost like cake. It's divine! Never really haven eaten cornbread til I married my hubby who lived in the south for 2 years, I was never a big fan. That all changed when I found this recipe a few years ago. Now it's a staple. It's a snack! And it is a requirement for stew! Only 1 thing makes this better... and it requires being awesome, and therefore I am disqualified. But my mom, she's awesome. She dehydrates her own corn. And when she wants a little piece of heaven, she freshly grinds enough corn for the corn meal. And that my friends, makes this even better than best. Yes, that is possible :)

½ cup butter

2/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

½ tsp baking soda

1 cup cornmeal 

1 cup flour

½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375. Grease 12 muffin tin cups.

Melt butter and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk and baking soda. Add to mixture. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes. (I always double this and just put in a 9x13 and cook a little longer).

Heavenly French Toast

These really are Heavenly french toast... eaten by the angels. (Ok, lame joke, I know!). But I am quite sure you will agree with me that these french toast are amazing!!!

1-2 loaves of Angel Food Cake
Eggs
Milk
Jam
Cool Whip

Cut the Angel Food Cake into slices. Mix up eggs and a little milk (just like you make normal french toast). Dip the slices into the egg mixture and cook on a preheated griddle. Serve with butter, jam and Cool Whip. Then you will eat like the angels do (ok, another lame joke, but it's no joke you will enjoy it! :)

Breakfast Casserole

I was shocked when I realized I hadn't posted this recipe yet! This is one of our biggest breakfast for dinner fav's EVER! My kids devour this pan so quickly that unfortunately, there is never enough for next night leftovers haha! This meal freezes so good, and I love to make a couple of extra pans to stick in the freezer. (Just note, that it takes quite a while to thaw out though and if not completely thawed out, plan on an extra 20-30 minutes cooking time!). 

1 lb bacon crumbled (or buy the pre-cooked crumbled bacon for an even quicker version :)

1/2 cup onion chopped

3/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped (optional. We like it both ways)

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3/4 cup milk

12 eggs

1 pkg frozen hash browns, thawed

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Cook bacon and then remove and saute onion and pepper. Set aside. In large bowl beat milk and eggs. Add the mustard, salt and pepper. Set aside. Grease a 9x13 and spread half of the hash browns in the dish. Spread the bacon onion pepper mixture on top. Sprinkle on 1 cup of cheese. Spread remaining hash browns  over top. Pour egg mixture over the top of hash browns. Bake, uncovered at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cup of cheese (and any extra bacon if you have it) on top! Serve with toasted English muffins or bread.

Challah Bread

Ahhhh. Challah bread! Katrina gave me this recipe years and years ago, and it has been our go to bread ever since! Sometimes I'll make rolls instead and sprinkle with the same seasonings! This is the perfect bread to go with salads and soups! (Or if you are my kids, just a dang good snack!)

1 cup warm water

2 tbsp yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

1 tbsp salt

2 1/4 cup warm water

9 cups flour

Mix 1 cup warm water, yeast and sugar. Let yeast bubble for 5-10 minutes. Add oil, salt, 2 1/4 cup warm water, 4 1/2 cups flour, mix then add the rest of the flour as needed until the dough is not sticky but soft & supple. Let rise for 1/2 hour, bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

To make into Challah Bread:

Separate dough into 3 pieces (so one whole batch makes 3 Challah loaves, 3 large bread loaves, or try some cinnamon rolls!). Roll dough into a long snake and braid. Brush melted butter on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, sesame seeds, garlic powder, and Salad Supreme seasoning. Let raise a little, then bake. (I find at my high altitude of 6200 ft that they cook better at 350 and take longer than 20 min!)