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Friday, September 7, 2012

Pancake Bites with Turkey Sausage

I saw this idea on Pinterest and got so excited. My kids absolutely love pancakes (and sausage!) and these are perfect for busy school mornings! You just pull them out of the freezer, pop them in the microwave for 1 minute and you have an easy homemade breakfast. I can't keep up with the demand in my house.

These bites are very versatile so you can use frozen sausage patties (I like turkey), blueberries, sliced strawberries or even mini chocolate chips.

Fluffy pancake with a bite of savory turkey sausage - yum!


If you're feeling ambitious, you can make a homemade pancake mix or use a pre-made mix. My go-to is Heart Smart Bisquick mix. (Follow the recipe on the side of the box for pancakes).

Here is my favorite pancake recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg - I use egg substitute
1 cup milk, plus more if necessary - I use 1%
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon all natural sugar - I use pure cane
 
Directions:
 
Whisk together egg and milk. Slowly stir dry ingredients until moistened.
 
Preheat oven to 350. Spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Take a frozen turkey sausage patty and break it into bite sized pieces. Place a piece on the bottom* of each muffin tin.
 
Cover with about 1 tbsp of pancake batter.
 
*If using fruit, put pancake batter in tin first, then top with fruit. The fruit tends to stick to the bottom of the muffin tins.
 
Cook bites for 12 minutes. Serve with maple syrup for dipping!
 
To Freeze: Let bites cool completely. Place on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer for 10 minutes. Place them in a freezer safe container or freezer bag.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Cherry Cream Cheese Danish


 This is a Kraft recipe that I've tweaked & have been making for years.
Always a big hit at parties.  I make mine using all low fat / calorie products so it ends up not being awful for you to enjoy because usually one piece is never enough.  The key is to make sure you cook it long enough to avoid soggy dough (lesson learned the hard way, lol).   Also you can change the cherry filling to another filling if desired.   Always good the next day too so you can make it a head of time.

Ingredients:
2 cans  (8 oz. each) refrigerated low fat crescent dinner rolls, divided
2 pkg.  (8 oz. each) Neufatchel Cream Cheese, softened
1-1/2 cups  powdered sugar, divided
1 egg white
2 tsp.  vanilla
1 can  (20 oz.) cherry pie filling
3 Tbsp.  1 % milk
1/4 tsp splenda (optional)

How to make:
HEAT oven to 350°F.

UNROLL 1 can crescent dough into 2 rectangles; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan sprayed with cooking spray, firmly pressing perforations and seams together to seal.
 
BEAT cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, egg white and vanilla with mixer until well blended (optional to add 1/4 tsp splenda to make it sweeter).  Spread onto crust. Cover with pie filling. Unroll remaining can of crescent dough; separate into 2 rectangles. Pat out to form 13x9-inch rectangle, pressing seams and perforations together to seal; place over pie filling.
 
BAKE about 30 min. or until golden brown.  MAKE SURE IT IS COMPLETELY COOKED.  (Sometimes mine takes up to 35 minutes, depends on your oven.)   Let sit for about 5 minutes.   Gradually add milk to remaining powdered sugar, beating with whisk until well blended; drizzle over warm dessert.   It's good served warm or room temperature.  Enjoy.


Recipe & picture courtesy of Kraft