Guest Blogger!

I’m so pleased to be guest blogging for my wonderful friend, Kelly at www.ayearofpinterestcooking.wordpress.com. I’ve enjoyed trying recipes she’s shared this year on her blog. I still love the cinnamon rolls in the waffle maker. It cracks me up to find unique ways to use things we already have. I’d like to share my Sunday Pinterest-Inspired Brunch from this weekend. There are several recipes that we tried out. My wonderful taste-tester spouse is very honest about my cooking (for fear of having to eat a bad dish again, I think!) and so that’s where the words for the statuses came from. Enjoy being at our kitchen table for brunch!

Hash brown Cups
We love hashbrowns. But babysitting them in the pan on a Sunday morning when you have tons of other things to do just stinks! So I was very excited when I found this recipe. I adjusted the recipe so it would feed the two of us. The blog said that reheating these was not as delicious so I trusted that.
http://www.recipesquickneasy.com/parmesan-hash-brown-cups/

5 oz. Simply Potatoes shredded hash browns
1 green onion (chopped, use the white and green parts)
1/8 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 T. olive oil
*makes five muffin cups
Preheat oven to 350 and coat a muffin tin with cooking spray.
Combine all ingredients.
Spoon mixture evenly into muffin tin evenly and then press into the cups using the back of a spoon.
Cook for about an hour.
Status: They are good.

The Saturday before Christmas my kitchen was taken over by gingerbread (graham cracker) house making elves. It was so fun hosting these two boys so their parents could go do their Christmas shopping. We ate as much as candy as we put on the houses. We used sugarplums, candy canes, twizzler ropes, loads of frosting, M&Ms and tons of sprinkles. Check out how creative he is with the gate that opens in front of the house! We laughed all afternoon. Did I mention that we had so much fun creating these? I have to say this was way better than when I taught 4th grade and we made the houses as examples of all the geometry terms we had learned. We just created, had fun, washed hands as wanted and clean up was way easier! I was tempted several times to point out right angles, cubes and cylinders but just mentioned them in passing.

Sunday I woke up with visions of sugarplums still dancing in my head and I was ready to do my Christmas baking. After creating a list I got started!

Pans of brownies are dressed up by cutting them out with a decorative cookie cutter.

I called these Charcoal Chunks- for anyone who had been naughty this year! I hope that even the nice friends who got cookie plates enjoyed these. They were so delicious!

Christmas Granola Cookies starting whirling away in the mixer. Jovial (the red dog) is always right there to help during baking.

Oats, almonds, walnuts, coconut, chocolate chips: Christmas Granola- cookie form!

It grew a little out of control as I added all the ingredients! This is a new recipe that got rave reviews this holiday season. I can't wait for my dad to try them.

This scoop from Starbucks makes the perfect size cookies. I love finding multiple purposes for kitchen gadgets.

Plates are starting to form. Cookies are overflowing the bowls!

Time for the favorite- peanut butter cookies. Nothing better than that first scoop from a fresh container of Jif!

Peanut butter cookie dough waiting to be crisscrossed...

Crisscrossed!

Racks and racks of goodness cooling. These fly off the racks...before they even cool.

Merry Moose Munch being coated with the caramel and peanut butter sauce in my $1 dutch oven- love a good auction deal!

Drizzled with chocolate and firming up on ourkitchentable! Check out the "blue hour" photo! Outside is a beautiful hue of blue when photographed at this time of evening. I learned about this at the Between Naps on the Porch blog. I loved that I was able to capture one of these magical photos! Also, there is a little bokeh going on (learned about that from PW)!

Sprinkle with M&M's to add holiday color.

ourkitchentablecreations! Plates of cookies and cones full of Merry Moose Munch are almost ready to be shared with family and friends.
To package the Merry Moose Munch I used icing bags and tied them off with a tag. The back of the tag gave me a great place for a message of thanks and happy holiday wishes. The mailman as well as the recess supervisors and Secret Pals at school all got these as a token of my gratitude.

I also glued these on the cones so the friends would know what goodies they were enjoying.

Here are the labels I put on the top of the plates of goodies. I printed these out on cardstock and then used the cricut to cut the circles. A bit of glue attached them to the plastic wrap so they could be refastened to the plate after the snacking.

Six cookies wrapped together made perfect little gifts.

It was a great day of baking and I had a blast delivering to the neighbors and friends and family during the next week. I've really enjoyed snacking on these throughout the holiday as well! Thanks for coming by to snack on some cookies with me. Leave a comment if you enjoyed hanging out ourkitchentablecreations today...and I sure hope you did.

Thanksgiving Breakfast

A friend of mine had a great idea of entertaining hungry house guests, and yourself, with this simple breakfast. Enjoy it as you prepare the turkey and fixings!





Mini-quiche

These omlets are made in muffin pans so that they are portable. Grab one as you stuff the turkey before the sun has even thought about shining.

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 1/2 c. ham (cooked and chopped) I buy the ham from the grocery store that is diced or use browned, ground turkey since that is what I usually have in the fridge
1/2 c. shredded cheese (or more if you wish!)
1/2 c. bread crumbs (did you know that using your coffee grinder makes great bread crumbs?!)
3 T. melted (warm but not hot) butter
onion, salt and pepper added to your taste and crowd

Use a mixing bowl with a spout- makes life much easier when it's time to pour the "batter" into the muffin tin. Beat the eggs together. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into muffin tins. (I line the tins if we are going to eat these in the car or on the run but for Thanksgiving they'd be great without the liners...just have the dog follow you around or use a plate!)
Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.
Makes 12 quiches.

SUPER EASY!!! Super delicious!!!