Ultimate Recipe Swap: Breakfast: Potato-Asparagus Omelet

It's Thursday! It's time for another Ultimate Recipe Swap hosted by Life As Mom. This week's theme is Breakfast!

I'm terrible at making breakfast. I think the reason I am terrible, is because growing up, I never saw it being prepared. Now, I don't mean that my parents never cooked breakfast. Oh, they did. But I HATED breakfast food (even cereal) as a kid/teen and I usually hid in my room until everything was cooked, eaten and cleaned up before making my way downstairs on the weekends! If I was lucky, Dad forgot to save me a plate of eggs! (Sometimes, I wasn't so lucky...blech!)

So, while I watched other meals being prepared, I never watched to learn how to fry an egg or cook bacon or make a pancake.

My tastes have changed a lot since then. I like most breakfast foods now and can even cook some. To this day, I've never made a single pancake! French toast or scrambled eggs are more my speed!

A couple of years ago, I wanted to make my husband a nice Easter Sunday breakfast before traveling to visit my parents. I wanted something a little fancier than just scrambled eggs. I don't have exact measurements, because really, anything goes with this one!

Potato-Asparagus Omelet

Ingredients:

• O'brien potatoes (frozen)
• oil
• eggs
• milk
• leftover asparagus (chopped)
• Canadian Bacon (diced)

Directions:

• Cook Canadian Bacon until slightly browned, remove from pan, set aside.
• Cook O'brien potatoes in hot oil according to directions on package.
• Add Canadian bacon and asparagus to potatoes and heat until asparagus is warmed.
• Scramble eggs and milk and pour over potato mixture.
• Cook until eggs are done.

Notes:

• Cheese would be a good addition to the recipe.
• This can be "chopped up" as the eggs are cooking or left solid more like and omelet.
• Leftover asparagus works best, since it's already cooked. If you don't have leftover asparagus, be sure to steam the asparagus before adding to the potato mixture. Otherwise, they'll take too long to cook with the other ingredients.

I've made this a few times since that first time and have switched it up according to the ingredients on hand. Sometimes with the meat, sometimes without. Sometimes without the potatoes. Whatever. Just throw in what you have, throw in what you like!

Angel's Pound Cake

One of my favorite cakes is pound cake. Growing up, I have some fond memories of birthday cakes from the local bakery that were pound cakes. There's a bakery in Philly that makes the absolute best pound cake. You can buy it as a birthday cake, wedding cake, even in loaves. All with their signature sugary icing. Mmmmm!

As an alternative to the pound cake from the bakery, Mom would often buy Sara Lee pound cakes from the freezer section of the grocery store. A favorite treat was sliced strawberries with vanilla pudding on top of a slice of Sara Lee pound cake. Mmmmm!

As an adult, I was introduced to homemade pound cakes. One of the ladies I worked with would often bring in a cake to share with us. What a great treat for a Monday morning! Seriously, I remember being on the bus on my way to work on a Monday morning, thinking to myself: "I really hope Angel brings in a pound cake today!" Angel enjoyed to cook and brought in all sorts of treats for us, but the one that sticks out in my mind the most is her pound cake.

Even after she left to move to another state, we still had her pound cake. She gave us all the recipe and occasionally someone would make it and bring it into work. No matter who made it, we still always called it Angel's Pound Cake.

Angel's Pound Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks margarine, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 8 oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. almond extract
• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups flour

Directions:

• Cream margarine, butter, cream cheese and sugar together, well.
• Add flavoring. Blend well.
• Add eggs one at a time with 1/2 cup flour with each egg, beating well with each addition.
• Pour batter into prepared (greased and floured) tube or loaf pans.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

Notes:

• Do not preheat oven.
• To make a marble cake, reserve one cup of batter. Add 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa. Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto the batter in the pan and swirl with knife.
• Angel also baked these pound cakes in coffee cans. Perfect size cake for a small group!

This cake is great when topped with this frosting:

Fantastic Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 small box instant pudding (any flavor)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 8 oz. cool whip

Directions:

• mix ingredients well and frost cake

I'll be sharing this recipe with the following carnivals:

• Tasty Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Be sure to check them out for great recipes!

Also, in addition to hosting Tuesdays at the Table, Cole is having another giveaway this month in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Click here to read more about it and don't forget to enter!

An Award....or two!!!

I am very lucky to have been given this award by two of my new blog friends. Thanks so much Geri from Heart N Soul Cooking and Mandy from Home is My Paradise. They were both very kind in sharing their awards with me. (Sorry ladies for taking so long to follow up on this, it's been a tough couple of weeks!)

I am super excited to get this award, since I am so new at this whole thing! I've wanted to start a blog for a while, but it took a little fire under my butt to get me motivated to actually do it! My friend Lisa, started her blog Extraordinary Life, and I immediately felt left out! I had to have one too! Except, now, I have two blogs - this one and Under the Big Oak Tree!

I'm having loads of fun sharing recipes and ideas with other ladies all over the internet and of course "meeting" new friends!

Neno's Award—Rules and Regulations

1. As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.

2. To seek the reasons why we all love blogging.

3. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.

4. Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.

5. Answer the award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.

6. Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.

7. Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.

I'd like to share my awards with a few of my blog friends:

Lisa @ Extraordinary Life

Joy in My Kitchen

Cole @ All the Small Stuff

It's a Very Cherry World

I could go on and on listing great blogs to pass the award on to, but then we'd all be here for a while!

Thanks again to Geri and Mandy for thinking of me (and my blog)!!!

Swine Flu....we got it....Oink! Oink!

I want to thank everyone for their wonderful comments on my recent posts here and on my other blog. I have not gotten a chance to read or answer all of them yet. I am currently dealing with swine flu.

On Monday, I wasn't feeling well and on Tuesday I felt worse. My husband came home from work early and took me to the doctor. We just figured I had a cold and let's take care of it quickly since we have the baby now. He waited in the car with the baby while I saw the doctor. Boy was he surprised when I announced it was swine flu!

At the suggestion of my doctor, we called Grace's pediatrician on our way home to see if they wanted to start some sort of precautionary treatment. Pediatrician said no.

This morning, Grace woke up around 6:00; much earlier than her normal 10:30 am. Her face was very red and her hands were warm. (Her hands are usually very cool.) I took her temp. and she had a 101.4 degree fever. I had to wait until 8:00 to get a doctor on the phone. The doctor didn't seem too concerned that I have swine flu and that the baby had a fever but I scheduled an appointment anyway for my own peace of mind.

Joe (my husband) came home from work and is now on the way to the pediatrician's office to get her checked out. I'm going to take a quick shower and make up the beds before he gets home that way Grace and I can get some rest when they get home.

I'll be back to blogging as soon as things are back to normal. I'll try to update about our recovery if I get the chance.

Baked Beans with Apples ~ Crock Pot Recipe

I've mentioned before that we love baked beans. We eat them often and have tried several different versions before sticking to our current favorite beans.

Today I am posting another one of our favorite bean recipes. In fact, this is the recipe that I used just prior to finding Our Favorite Baked Beans.

Baked Beans with Apples

Ingredients:

• 2 cans (28 oz each) pork and beans
• 1 1/2 cups onion, diced
• 1 1/2 cups Granny Smith Apple, diced
• 2 Tbs. mustard
• 1/2 -3/4 cup brown sugar
• 8-10 slices Canadian Bacon

Directions:

• Combine all ingredients (except Canadian Bacon) in crock pot.
• Top with Canadian Bacon.
• Cover and cook for 4 hours on High or 8 hours on Low.

I made a few changes to the original recipe that I found on Food Network. It's a Paula Deen recipe. I left out the salt, replaced raw bacon for Canadian Bacon and cook them in the crock pot instead of the oven.

I'll be sharing this recipe with the following blog carnivals this week:

• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table
• Tasty Tuesday

Be sure to check out Crock Pot Wednesday for more easy Crock Pot recipes.

Easy Potato Soup

I love potatoes. I'm not sure I've ever had a potato that I didn't like. Except for maybe, potatoes with cheese but even they are starting to grow on me a bit!

I love potatoes so much, that I've been known to just eat mashed potatoes for a meal when I'm home alone or in a cafeteria. McDonald's French Fries fix everything as far as I'm concerned...when I'm sick, I crave French Fries.

So, it made sense to pair up my love for potatoes with my new-found love for soup. The recipe I am posting today is a recipe that I found online last winter. I don't remember where I found it though. I've only made it once and pretty much stuck to the recipe 100%...rare for me. It's a simple recipe, which surprised me. For some reason, I thought potato soup would be more complicated.

Easy Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 ribs celery, sliced
• 2 qts. water
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 Tbs. butter
• 6 Tbs. flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

• In a large soup pot, cook potatoes, carrots and celery in water until tender. (about 20 minutes)
• Drain, reserving liquid.
• Set vegetable aside.
• In same pot, saute onion in butter until soft.
• In a bowl, mix together flour, salt and pepper. Gradually add milk, stirring until smooth.
• Add flour mixture to onions.
• Heat, stirring constantly until thickened.
• Gently stir in the cooked vegetables.
• Add 1 cup or more of the reserved cooking liquid, until soup is to desired consistency.
• Cook until heated through.

YUM!

I'm guessing that this soup would be awesome with some crisp bacon crumbled into it. Or some canned or frozen corn if you want to stretch the soup a little. Topped with shredded cheese would be good too, if you like that sort of thing!

Ultimate Recipe Swap: Jen's Easy Gooey Butter Cake

I'm not sure how it is in other parts of the country, but sadly, around here (Philadelphia, Jersey shore) little bakeries are few and far between. I remember being a little girl and visiting my Gram at her house down the shore, eating Butter Cake for breakfast. MMmmm!

Many, many years later I found a small bakery near the flower shop where I worked at the time. Occasionally, on Saturday mornings, I would stop at the bakery on my way to work (thanks, Mom!) and pick up a Butter Cake to share with the other poor souls at the shop that were stuck working on a Saturday!

After a while, it became less and less convenient to get to this bakery. So, it became a very rare treat. And now, since we've moved from Philly, we don't get there at all and haven't found a small bakery in or near our new town.

A few years ago, we had a lovely picnic hosted by my parents. It was a chance for us to get together with another family that my parents have known all MY life. (They met shortly before I was born.) We've all seen each other through the years, but not all together at the same time. So it was a really great day!

We all brought something to contribute to the day's meal. I took a salad and a couple of pudding pies. But the best thing of all of the food served that day was the Butter Cake that my sister-in-law, Jen baked!

She gave me the recipe at the time, telling me that it was one of the recipes in her grandmother's recipe box. I never got around to making it and I lost the recipe card in the move (still in boxes in the basement I'm sure) Now that I have the recipe again, I'll be sure to make it soon! I'm drooling right now as I type about it!

Now, I'm sure there are other variations of this recipe to be found on the internet. But since I've only ever eaten this when she made it, I'm calling it Jen's Easy Gooey Butter Cake.

Here' the recipe:

Jen's Easy Gooey Butter Cake

Ingredients for Cake:

• 1 pkg. yellow cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg

Ingredients for topping:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 lb. confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Add 1 of the eggs and the butter to the powdered cake mix. Stir (or use hand mixer) until well blended.
• Spread mixture onto an UNgreased 9x13 pan or baking dish.
• In a bowl, combine all ingredients for the topping, mixing well.
• Pour over the cake mixture, spreading to the edges.
• Bake for 35 minutes.

Got a sweet tooth? If so, head over to Life As Mom's weekly Ultimate Recipe Swap. This week's theme is Baked Goods! Mmmmm!