Holiday Breakfast Burritos

A fun breakfast for the holidays is Sausage Breakfast Burritos. 

It is easy to shred and chop lots of fillings and lay them out in colorful bowls for your guests to just  make their own burrito the way they like it!

chopped tomatoes

shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 of a Jimmy Dean sausage 1 pound chub.....we had leftovers so I froze it in a freezer bag. 

Scrambled eggs with red peppers......

All the fixins for Sausage and Egg Breakfast Burritos 

I use fried up and crumbled Jimmy Dean sausage and scrambled eggs with red peppers, some cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and top with salsa or sour cream.

honeydew melon and OJ rounded out a great holiday breakfast! 

Happy Holidays! 

Warm up the tortillas in the microwave and cut up some fruits for side dishes.  Then pour some orange juice and dig in!

Gingerbread cake, Cookies and Christmas Cupcakes

On Thanksgiving we made some gingerbread cookies. You can see my son Dev wanted his gingerbread girl "anatomically correct". lol 

Sadly, his gingerbread cookie's anatomy melted flat in the oven. So sad......
You can see the box that I purchased to make these little houses. The gingerbread was a boxed mix from Costco that came with 4 pouches. One pouch said it would make 12 cookies and we had about 18 cookies. They were chewy and delicious! 

But this gingerbread brownie is one thing that is absolutely wonderful and delicious.....

Not quite as cute as the gingerbread houses and cookies turned out...but much more tasty! 

We made the boxed gingerbread houses from the kit with 4 little houses inside. Each of my granddaughters got one to make.....

It's a really fun and creative activity to do for a Christmas party or family dinner in December....everybody got into it! 

I loved the ideas I read on Crystal and Company's website. She makes cupcakes toppers out of candy. Her link is HERE for cute pirate cupcakes tutorial. I do a pirate party every year so I am copying her idea for sure.

There are so many cute things to put on top using candy, toothpick toppers, sprinkles, designing an animal face with candy, and making stripes and polka dot designs with candy and edible things.


Here are a few that I loved.

Cute Cupcake Toppers from Current Catalog

                      

This cute Christmas set of toppers is from Currentcatalog.com, a stationery store online. It is only 99cents! My classroom Christmas party will be more fun with the kids being able to choose their own cute toppers for the cupcakes they decorate. And look how easy! The link for these cute toppers is HERE at Current.

Free Cupcake Topper Printables

      

Another cute topper with some FREE PRINTABLES I found at Bake it Pretty blog HERE. She occasionally has a free printable for all kinds of holiday stuff. All you need here is a color printer to make some really cute cupcakes!

Cute Reindeer Cupcakes for Christmas Day!

The Amateur Gourmet has a tutorial on making these cute reindeer cupcakes with curly pretzels and M &Ms. I think kids could totally do these and have a great time at a winter party. All you need is chocolate cupcakes and frosting and vanilla wafers and some little candies.  The rest is so easy!  Katy's tutorial is HERE at Amateur Gourmet.

Tips for Melting Candy Wafers for Decorating Cupcakes......

1.Use a double boiler.
2. Use low heat.
3. Don't boil it too fast or it turns to a ball.
4. Stir pretty regularly.
5. If you use a piping bag, let the melted candy cool for 10 minutes so it doesn't burn your hands as you pipe
6. Once molds are filled put them in the fridge to harden, or between color layers.

Have fun making Christmas cupcakes..... Here's my latest yummy obsession...Gingerbread men and Gingerbread Cake!

Gingerbread Cake with YUMMY cream cheese ICING! 

Finished gingerbread cake....

Finished cake with cream cheese icing....

I got this DIVINE recipe from Jaime Cooks it Up. She is a true master in the kitchen. I loved these decadent and easy bars so check it out if you want the recipe. It's easy and it is HERE at her website.

Cut up and added some cute picks...

The icing is my favorite....cream cheese mixed with butter and powdered sugar. It makes anything taste better I think.

Delicious! 

 It was soooo rich and yummy. It would make a great addition to any Holiday dessert bar.

Cream of Broccoli Soup like Kneaders

Cream of Broccoli cheesy soup like Kneaders ...well except I added bacon (meat candy) :D 

We have a fun little bakery/ sandwich shop in the Salt Lake City area called Kneaders. They make the most delicious artisan breads, soups and rich desserts, not to mention their hand pulled turkey and avocado sandwiches on focaccia bread.

Turkey Avocado Kneaders sandwich on Focaccia  bread 

 I dream about those sandwiches sometimes. And their cupcakes, cheesecakes and cream puffs are divine. Just look at their yummy selections! My daughter spoiled me on my birthday with a 4 pack of cupcakes in 4 flavors. It was such a yummy treat!

Kneaders is one of my favorite lunch spots in the Salt Lake valley. 

Anyway we had lunch there the other day and I had a combination soup and sandwich plate that included a yummy cream of broccoli soup. I think it is my hub's favorite soup. He loved it so much I went home that night and tried recreating it. I think it is pretty darn close! We both loved it.

Here is my recipe for Broccoli Cheese Soup

2 cups of frozen broccoli florets
1/2 pint cream 
1/2 cube butter (use it to fry up onions with some olive oil)
1/2 medium onion (or more) diced
2 stalks celery finely diced
2 cups milk 
A cup or so of water added (I just add till I like the consistency)
2-3 tablespoons flour
1/2 to 3/4 cup mashed potato flakes to thicken
1/2 cup finely grated cheese of your choice
3 bacon pieces microwaved and crumbled crispy
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Johnny's Season Salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
pepper to taste

Broccoli Cheese soup on a cold, snowy day is the very BEST treat! 

I start all my soups by dicing the onion up in a fry pan with a little olive oil mixed with some butter. Then when they are caramelized I add the flour and a little milk to make a roux or a flour gravy. Keep adding milk a bit at a time till you have a thin white sauce. Then I add the diced celery, the broccoli florets, and milk.

Just steam your broccoli for 3 minutes in the microwave covered with plastic wrap. 

 After letting that all simmer for 5 to 7 minutes I add some water and potato flakes to get my perfect consistency that I prefer. Then I add seasonings, tasting as I go. I crumbled up 3 pieces of microwaved bacon into the soup when serving.  Cheese is added last. I think I used a mixture of grated jack and cheddar in one of those 1 cup bags you buy at Walmart...so convenient!

I learned how to make easy 30 minute french baguettes bread from the FOOD NANNY! 

The French Baguettes recipe and tutorial are on another WEEKDAY CHEF post. They are so easy you won't believe it. And they are hot and crusty and yummy and No FAT! well.....except all that butter I slathered on after they were hot from the oven!! 

French Baguettes go great with hot, creamy Cream of Broccoli  soup! 

Anyway, it took all of 20 minutes to make this soup. I did microwave the broccoli in a little bowl with a bit of water and some plastic wrap over it for 3 minutes first so it was semi steamed before I dumped it in the pan.

Here is my finished broccoli cheese soup like Kneaders.  I added a few slices of crispy bacon crumbled up and some croutons...

I served the soup with some homemade garlic croutons (just buttered bread sprinkled with Johnny's garlic seasoning and cut up then toasted in the oven) and some mozzerella cheese grated over top for fun. It was delicious!

Creamy Broccoli Cheese soup with bacon added.....yummo! 

 Hot, creamy soup is always a winter winner. Try it in a bread bowl. Jamie Cooks it up has a great recipe for breadbowls  HERE that always turn out pretty and yummy.

Here they are hot out of the oven made by my daughter Tiffany for my birthday dinner. She's a good cook too! 

Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup is perfect for a freezing, snowy day to curl up in a big quilt by the fire and sip while watching all the junk on my DVR! And even better in a bread bowl or with some hot french bread. mmmm.....yeah, I want some now!