Easy Strawberry Cinnamon Bread #breakfast

Strawberries are still plentiful at the farmer's markets and grocery stores, so I am trying to take advantage of that before fall arrives. I think it is so crazy how summer is just flying by, and before we know it, the season will be over.

So meanwhile, I have made this quick and easy fruit bread. It's cheating a little bit because this recipe calls for a can of refrigerated cinnamon rolls as its base, but that is what makes it so easy to make.

The great thing about this strawberry cinnamon bread is that it's delicious for breakfast, brunch, or dessert, along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

I'm really finding that using coffee creamer to cook with is versatile and economical. I used my favorite flavor in this recipe, Sweet Italian Cream.

This recipe really only takes a few minutes to put together. You can also easily double it if you are serving it when you are entertaining.

Make sure the cinnamon rolls are completely covered by the egg and strawberry mixture. You can also make this with peaches or other kinds of berries.

Recipe for Quick Strawberry Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients:

1 can good quality refrigerated cinnamon rolls, with frosting
1 cup strawberries, cut in half and slightly smashed with a fork
3 eggs
1/4 cup coffee creamer, Sweet Italian Cream, or Vanilla flavor
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Open cinnamon rolls and place evenly into a greased 9x9 baking dish.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, coffee creamer, cinnamon and vanilla. Stir in strawberries.
Pour egg mixture over cinnamon rolls in baking dish.
Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes, or until eggs are set, and rolls are golden.
Let rolls sit 5 minutes after coming out of oven.
Microwave frosting about 10 seconds, and then pour over bread.
Serve or at room temperature,

Serves 4-6

Stuffed Bell Peppers With Bleu Cheese Crumbles

One of the things I have tried to be more conscious of in my cooking is trying to cook with the seasons. You know, eating what's plentiful, and in season  at the grocery store or farmer's market, and incorporating that into your meal plans.

Lately, the bell peppers have been so gorgeous that they inspired me to make one of my favorite meals, stuffed peppers.

I like the flexibility of ingredients for stuffed peppers, and you can use turkey, or beef, or make them without meat if you like, too. And you can put veggies in them, from zucchini to tomatoes, to carrots.

For this version of stuffed peppers, I made them with healthy and yummy ground turkey. I put in lots of onions and chopped some mushroom to add to the meat mixture.

This really is an easy meal, and I like knowing that the red peppers are so healthy for you.

The tomato sauce on top of the peppers adds to their great taste, and makes them look good.

I have been a little obsessed with these bleu cheese crumbles lately from Trader Joe's, and have been finding all kinds of ways to use them.

Ground turkey can be a little bland for me sometimes, and so I added the crumbles to top the peppers, and I was pretty much in heaven. They added a delicious kick to the peppers, and I'll make this recipe again, using the bleu cheese crumbles.

Just add some delicious garlic bread and your favorite glass of wine, and you have an easy and delicious summer dinner to enjoy!


Recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers with Bleu Cheese Crumbles

Ingredients:

3 large red bell peppers
1 pound of lean ground turkey
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 large egg
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped button mushrooms
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 small can tomato sauce
3/4 cup bleu cheese crumbles, or top with the amount of your choice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large baking dish with vegetable oil.

Wash and cut peppers in half. Cut off stems and remove seeds.

In a large bowl, combine turkey, bread crumbs, egg, onion, mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Pat meat mixture into each half of pepper. Put peppers into greased baking dish.

Spread each pepper with tomato sauce. Generously sprinkle Italian seasoning over peppers.

Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes. Top with bleu cheese crumbles.


post by Patricia

Lazy Sunday Biscuits & Gravy

Sunday's at our house are usually a lazy day to relax and enjoy family, and what better way to start the day then with a fantastic breakfast. Biscuits and Gravy is so simple and so good!

1 Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

When it comes to cooking, the easier the better for us sometimes, some days are long and filled with a million things to do. On those nights we like to make things in the slow cooker, start it in the morning and when you are done with your day come back to it already cooked and ready to go. So easy! And this recipe does not get any easier, there is only one ingredient you add to your chicken in the slow cooker...

Easy Recipes for Family Meals with Oatmeal from Smart and Final #ChooseSmart #shop

For my family I like to save money when we shop for groceries. I think if we can save on food we can have money for extra things and fun adventures. I look at a sales ad for a store, check my coupons and plan a weekly meal list based on the deals. This week we are shopping at Smart and Final for items on sale to make easy recipes for family meals. I see that the First Street brand has many items on sale and a $2 off offer when you buy 4 participating products. We always buy First Street items and Smart and Final so I decided to plan a day around eating Oatmeal since my son loves it and it is on sale. 

My little shopping buddy always likes to help pick out items in the store. We plan to have Fruit and Cream Oatmeal with grapes and orange juice for breakfast, Oatmeal Cookies and peanut butter cookies for lunch at the park and Oatmeal crusted chicken for dinner with friends to watch some movies. We have a very fun day planned. My son convinced me in the store well insisted is more like it that we change my plan from Oatmeal Raisin cookies to Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies with almonds. He loves chocolate!

For Breakfast we are having Blueberry Fruit and Cream Oatmeal with banana slices on top, green grapes that we got a great deal on and orange juice. A healthy and easy start to the day.

When we were in the store and my son realized we were making cookies it was all he could talk about until we made them. He always likes to help in the kitchen. Sometimes its just trying the ingredients for quality control of course. I have many First Street baking items already in my cupboards so I only needed to buy the Quick Oats and Chocolate Chips. I have always loved making cookies from scratch. As a teenager my family would ask me to make my awesome chocolate chip cookies, it always made me feel special to bake it for them. For my son I add the oatmeal for texture and the health benefits.

I made simple First Street Peanut Butter Sandwiches topped with green grapes to serve with my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip with Almonds Cookies. We had a mini picnic at the park benches in between my son playing in the splash pad and playground. We recently found this park and we love it. On the hot summer days we are able to have him play in the water. My son even shared some of our cookies with a few kids at the park. He wanted to pet their little dog and offered a cookie for a pet. He is a smart cookie!

When we got home from the park my son was exhausted from playing in the sun. While my son took a nap I planned out the dinner I was going to make for a few friends that were coming over to watch some movies. I am making Oatmeal Crusted Chicken and serving it with spinach couscous.

For my recipe I pulsed in the blender the quick oats and spices so the oatmeal would stick to the chicken and cook more evenly. My son was awake by the time I was ready to use the blender and loves to help push the button. Next I dipped the chicken in an egg wash before covering it in the oatmeal crust. I drizzled the top of the chicken with butter before going into the oven to help the oatmeal brown. You can use your favorite spice mix like I did or add the ones directly from the recipe. My spice mix contains all the spices on the ingredients list.

Oatmeal Crusted Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 cup regular oats
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
• 1/4 teaspoon dried summer savory or parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 egg
• 4 Chicken Leg Quarters
• 2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Combine oats, salt, and next spice ingredients (salt through pepper) in a food processor or blender, process until oats are finely chopped. Place oat mixture in a shallow dish; place egg  in a medium bowl. Dip chicken in whisked egg, and coat in oat mixture. Place chicken in baking pan and drizzle butter over chicken. Bake at 450° for 45 minutes or until done.

We had a wonderful day spending time as a family enjoying meals, a day at the park and movie night with friends. My recipes we all planned around a simple ingredient that was on sale. Have you had a day with one ingredient as your meals inspiration?

You can see my shopping trip at Smart and Final by reading my Google+ story. Connect with Smart and Final on Facebook and Twitter.