Easy Autumn Breakfasts! French Toasts, Pancakes and Waffles

I told you all last week that I'd post a great Pumpkin French Toast recipe, sorry I couldn't do it. Soooo instead of just one, I have 3 recipes for you!!! I love y'all.

First up: Pumpkin French Toast. I found a pin on the ever so great Pinterest for Pumpkin French toast. How easy is that? Made some for my son's breakfast and he DEVOURED it!



Ingredients
About 4-6 slices if bread- your preference-whole-wheat or white
1/2 cup milk (almond, dairy, soy- i used vanilla soy milk)
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
3 tablespoon of sweetener of choice- (I used maple syrup)
1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spices (or a 1/2 tsp worth of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves)
a pat of butter or coconut oil (for that brown flavorful crust!)
A pinch of salt

Directions:
Allow bread to dry out on a plate overnight.
The next morning, or whenever you make this, mix all ingredients except for the butter/coconut oil and the bread. Pre-heat skillet or griddle to medium heat. One piece of bread at a time, soak the bread in the pumpkin mixture per side until the bread feels slightly spongy. Cook in skillet for about 3 minutes per side. If you're making a lot, preheat oven to about 100C-200F and add the  cooked french toast to a sheet pan or any oven-proof dish. Repeat until you're done! Top with whatever you please! We topped with maple syrup. I also love fruits, or confectioner's sugar!


Next, these are pumpkin pancakes I made using annie eats recipe. I added pecans, and just used 3/4 cup of whole wheat white flour from King Arthur's Flour. HEAVENLY and it freezes quite well!!!



Last but not least, my favorite recipe from this weekend- Sweet Potato Waffles with Homemade Blueberry Glaze!!! YUMMM! Found this recipe from the Mayo Clinic. I Made a few changes to my taste. Enjoyed by all!

Ingredients

For the syrup
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
6 tablespoon honey
Pinch of ground cinnamon

1/3 cup peeled and diced sweet potato, or 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup 1% milk (or any milk of you choice)
2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
Directions

To make the syrup, in a saucepan, combine the blueberries, lemon juice and zest, honey, , and cloves. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the berries burst and the juices are slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Frozen berries may take slightly longer to thicken. Set aside and keep warm.

If using sweet potato, bring a small saucepan half full of water to a boil. Add the sweet potato, return to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until very tender, about 10 minutes.  (I roasted a large sweet potato for 45 minutes)  Drain and puree in a food processor or mash with a potato masher until smooth. Set aside. If using pumpkin puree, reserve.

In a small bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, sweet potato puree, coconut oil, egg brown sugar. Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined.

Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 225 F. Preheat a waffle iron. Spoon or ladle about 1/2 cup batter into the waffle iron, depending on the size of the iron. Spread evenly and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the batter thickens, thin with a little soy milk. Transfer the waffle to the baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining batter to make 6 waffles. Serve topped with the syrup.

ENJOY!!!!!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Buttermilk Waffles: The Ultimate Comfort Meal!

I remember being a snooty little rugrat when I first heard of chicken and waffles...it was actually when I was watching an episode of "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air". I remember thinking, "Why the hell would you eat fried chicken and waffles together?" I thought that because my mom was old school, I wouldn't be here making this blog post if I had said the "H" word out loud. Back to the story, I was just weirded out by this strange combination. Waffles- ONLY eggo waffles for me- were breakfast with pork sausage, bacon and or scrapple. And fried chicken was only for lunch or dinner. NO way can you combine the 2!

Fast forward to my adult years as the microwave queen, I still couldn't stomach it. Then when I got into cooking and being the from scratch gal that I am, I could dig the combo. In fact, I wanted to try this last month before my husband left, but was distracted. Then last week, I asked my eldest child after his 2 week stay with his father, what he wanted for dinner and he asked for chicken, waffles, rice and something else in a soup. I liked the idea of chicken and waffles together so I went to work.

I marinate my chicken up to 12 hours prior. First I season, then pour buttermilk over for the juicest most flavorful fried chicken you will evah eat. Adding cornmeal makes a nice crunch, but a little goes a LONG way. No need for more than a scant 1/4 cup or you'll break yo' teeth. The waffle recipe I found on www.cooksillustrated.com. I wanted a great recipe and you can not go wrong at all with America's Test Kitchen! These were some AMAZING waffles, too. It uses powdered buttermilk which is different, but it made the lightest dry mix! I also like it because you don't get the  sour buttermilk taste. 

Also oil instead of butter was used for a crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle waffle. It's damn good! Definitely a hit with my children and my German friends! All you chicken and waffle virgins must try this and pour some good grade b maple syrup on both waffles and chicken! Don't look at me like that, I know you like BBQ chicken and one of the main ingredients is some kind of sweetener! Give this a shot!


 
Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Buttermilk Waffles
Printable Recipe here!
Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Ingredients

• 1 Whole Chicken about 4 pounds, cut-up (alternatively you can purchase your favorite chicken pieces totaling 4 pounds)
• 2 cups buttermilk, shaken
• Pre-floured seasoning:
• 1- 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Seasoned Salt (I love McCormick's Season All)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning or dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 onion powder
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper or white pepper
• 1/8 tsp cumin
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal

Flour seasoning:

• 1- 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Seasoned Salt 
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning or dried thyme
• 1/2 onion powder
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper or white pepper
• 1/8 cayenne pepper

• 24- 36 ounces peanut oil

Directions

If you're using a whole chicken, cut up into 8 pieces- remove backbone two breasts, two wings, two legs, and two thighs.

Place chicken in a large resealable bag or large bowl. Season chicken all over. Pour buttermilk over chicken and allow to sit in the fridge 12 hours to overnight or as little as 30 minutes.

While marinating or next day, add flour, additional seasonings and cornmeal to a large bowl.

Once marinated, remove chicken from bag or bowl allowing excess buttermilk to drip from piece. Dip chicken into flour and place on paper towels or a cooling rack with paper towel under.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet (I prefer a cast iron skillet!) 350 degrees using a good thermometer or candy thermometer.Once heated, place as many pieces in the skillet as possible. The reason is so each piece cooks evenly and crisp. Cook about 20-25 minutes. Wash or use another cooling rack lined with paper towels to place cooked chicken- to avoid any sogginess. Remove each piece except breast. I usually let the breast cook another 5 minutes since they're the biggest pieces.

Allow to rest about 5 minutes.

Buttermilk Waffles

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients 2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tsp cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon table salt 1/2 cup dried buttermilk powder (can be found in the baking aisle) 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup greek yogurt* (see note) 2 large eggs 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup peanut oil or vegetable oil 1 1/4 cups unflavored seltzer water *I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream in the original recipe. I allowed it to thicken by placing a paper towel on a slotted spoon on a bowl to catch the whey. Directions Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 250 degrees. Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet and place baking sheet in oven. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, buttermilk powder, and baking soda in large bowl to combine. Whisk Greek yogurt, eggs, vanilla, and oil in medium bowl to combine. Gently stir seltzer into wet ingredients.  Make well in center of dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir until just combined. Batter should remain slightly lumpy with streaks of flour. Heat waffle iron and bake waffles according to manufacturer’s instructions (use about 1/3 cup for 7-inch round iron). Transfer waffles to rack in warm oven and hold for up to 10 minutes before serving with butter and maple syrup. Place waffles and chicken on plate and add some good grade B maple syrup to both! You'll be sent to comfort heaven for sure! Eat Sparingly or every Saturday morning I don't care it's really good! Enjoy!!!!!

Also check out Salty Seattle's GENIUS take on this classic American dish: http://www.saltyseattle.com/2011/01/chicken-and-waffles-meet-modern-gastronomy/

Banana and Cream Cheese Filled French Toast Waffles! Whoa.

Dude(ttes), I am not joking. I first read about this after I clicked Bobby Flay's link on Twitter. It said: "didn't/ see/already recycled yesterday's Parade Mag? (cont)" It made me giggle as there are a lot of jokes about Parade Magazine. But I really miss it, it has some great articles and comics! Along with the awesomeness of Parade Magazine, it had a recipe for the yummy looking Waffle/French toasts! My children's favorite breakfasts are waffles and French toast, so I HAD to give them a shot. My husband was away last night, so what a perfect time to have breakfast for dinner!

I used bananas and cream cheese, because that's what I had on hand. I had peanut butter, but I wanted something a bit different.  I used some bananas I froze, and  it gave the cream a thicker texture than unfrozen bananas would, I believe. And it added the perfect touch of sweetness.

 Biting into one of these is like a present for the soul. You get the sweet crunchiness of the bread, and then you are hit the smooth, sweet cream cheese mixture. I am definitely making this again!

I made this with Bacon, but do what you want. I LOVE Bacon. In fact, I capitalize the "B" in Bacon because Bacon is that important to me. And I put it in the oven for 10 minutes on 400F and it's perfectly crunchy and I am not covered in Bacon grease pop burns (not so sexy).

Recipe

Banana-Cream Cheese Filled French Toast Waffles

or try Bobby Flay's orginal version here!

French Toast Batter:

8 stale slices of whole-wheat bread

4 eggs

3/4 cup of milk

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/4 tsp orange extract (or use 1 teaspoon of orange zest)

1/4 tsp of  cinnamon

pinch of salt

Banana -Cream Cheese Filling

1 banana, chopped (i used frozen)

6 tablespoons of cream cheese (full fat or neufchatel) 

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

pinch of cinnamon

a little orange extract

Directions

Heat your waffle iron on medium

Put all ingredients for filling in a blender and blend baby!

Pulse for about 5-10 seconds. don't want it too thin!

Now put that in the fridge and start your French toast batter.

Add all the ingredients for the French toast batter EXCEPT the bread. Stir up nice and gently.

Now, get that cream cheese out of the fridge and slab some cream cheese on the bread and make a cream cheese sandwich. Resist the temptation to eat it right then and there are keep making sandwiches.

Dip a sandwich one at a time into the batter,

then place in waffle iron. 

Cook until waffles/toasts are all cooked. And voila! Easy, yeah?

 I used powdered sugar on mine but the kids preferred maple syrup. Use whatever your heart desire. Bobby used an amazing looking mixed berry sauce. I would have if I had some berries on hand. But this recipe is a great fridge/pantry cleaner upper ;) Hope you all try this or make it your own!