French Toast Kabobs

Breakfast kabobs are a favorite at our house.  

The kids love these for a fun breakfast on the patio or in front of the fireplace in the middle of winter.  

We think they are a special treat no matter which fruit you choose to use.  

I am using strawberries, blackberries and bananas for a red white and blue treat.  

The board of ingredients:

• Texas Toast
• Milk
• Fruit
• Vanilla Extract
• Syrup
• Eggs
• Bulk Sausage 
• Sugar
• Skewers

Let's start by cutting up the bread.

Cut all the crusts off first.

{Don't toss the crusts into the trash, use them to make breadcrumbs.}

Finally, cut the bread into quarters.
You can do this step the night before to make your morning a bit easier.
Stale bread makes the best french toast.

Now for the sausage balls.
I love these things and so do the kids.
Start by putting the sausage into a bowl.

Use a mini ice cream scoop to make little meatballs.

Once all the balls are made, add a bit of water to a non stick pan and cook the balls over medium heat.
The water will help cook the meatballs by slightly steaming them.

Once the meat starts to caramelize, keep turning the balls.
You don't want burnt sausage balls.
Sausage will burn more quickly than most meats because the sausage contains sugar of some sort.
Sugar burns quickly so keep an eye on your pan.

Now we can make the custard for the french toast.
Add the eggs to a bowl and whisk them.

Add the milk.

Add the vanilla and sugar.
Whisk it all together.

Dip the bread pieces into the custard.

Coat both sides and get them out of the custard quickly.

Cook the french toast bites in a non stick pan over medium heat.
I am cooking the french toast with just a thin coat of non stick spray.
You could cook them in butter.

Cook the bites until they are golden brown.
These are beautiful.

Now for the fun part.
It's time to start building the kebobs.



I use two pieces of french toast together...you can do it however you want.

I LOVE making these.
They are already looking good.

All you need is a tiny drizzle of syrup.

This is really a fun breakfast for adults as well as kids.

Enjoy!

French Toast Kabobs

Ingredients:

1 Pound Bulk Breakfast Sausage
30 Slices Texas Toast
Eggs
Milk
Sugar
Vanilla
4 Bananas, Each Cut Into 5 Pieces
20 Strawberries
20 Black Berries
Syrup

Directions:

1. Roll sausage into 20 equal (roughly large tablespoon sized) balls. Put the balls into a non stick skillet over high heat and add a quarter cup of water to steam the sausage balls. When the water is evaporated, turn the heat to medium and turn the sausage balls to cook evenly until they are cook through.

2. Cut the crusts off the bread and reserve for bread crumbs. Cut the bread into quarters.

3. Crack eggs into a bowl. Add the milk, sugar and vanilla. Mix until well combined.

4. Dip bread pieces in egg mixture and cook in a non stick pan over medium low heat. When bread is golden brown, flip the bread and cook the other side until it is golden brown as well. Set cooked french toast cubes aside until all the cubes are cooked.

5. To assemble the skewer,add six cubes of french toast, a piece of each fruit and a sausage ball to the skewer.  Makes 20 skewers.  Enjoy!

For a printer friendly version of this recipe click here.

Homemade Pop Tarts

Nickolas - This one is for you!

A few weekends ago, we had a work weekend here at Willow Cottage.

Everyone had a job to do.

Kids put the dock into the water.

I planted the garden.

Hubby was trimming, weeding and putting mulch down.

 I was so excited that the kids are old enough to do the dock on their own this year.

I was also so excited about getting all this work done.

I always say that I feed my workers.

So before I went to put the garden in, I thought it would be good to whip up a little treat.

I made homemade pop tarts.
I hate pop tarts with a passion.
But homemade ones are really good eats.
Of course you can use store bought pie crust, but I made my own.

The board of ingredients:

• Extra flour for rolling out the pie dough
• Jelly 
• Powdered Sugar Glaze
• Pie Crust

- I am using the pie crust recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

The trick to a successful pie crust experience is using plenty of flour.

Once you get the crust rolled out, cut the dough.
You could certainly use a pizza cutter and make square or rectangular tarts.
I thought I would go really fancy and make round tarts.

Lay out the bottom layer of dough on the cookie sheets.
Don't over crowd the cookie sheet.

Spread a dollop of jelly around the middle of the tart.
I used a heaping teaspoon for a four inch circle.
If you add too much jelly it will just run out of the tart and onto the cookie sheet during baking.

This is how I added the top layer.

I know you can't see this, but I dipped my finger in water and rubbed the outer edge of pie dough.

Add another layer of dough.
Try not to capture a bunch of air in between the two layers.

Press the edges down with a fork.

Add a little slit to the top with a sharp knife.

Bake the pop tarts for roughly twenty minutes or until they begin to get golden brown around the edges.

Now it's time to spread a nice thick glaze over the top of the hot tarts.

I just added a little dab of glaze to the top and let it melt down the edges.
You could get fancier if you wanted to with a piping bag.
Some colored sugar would also add a bit of fun color.

Start piling them up because I promise everyone will love these guys.

Homemade Pop Tarts

Ingredients:

Jelly of choice
Pie Crust
Flour
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla
Super Tiny Pinch of Salt
Drizzle of Milk

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Dust cutting board or counter with flour.  Roll out the pie crust until very thin.  Cut dough into uniform shapes of your choice and lay on cookie sheet.
3.  Add one teaspoon jelly to center of crust.
4.  Run a wet finger around the outer edge of the dough.
5.  Lay the second shape over the bottom crust with jelly.
6.  Crimp edges together with a fork.
7.  Cut a tiny slit in the center of the top crust.
8.  Bake for fifteen to twenty minutes or until golden brown.
9. Meanwhile, add powdered sugar, salt and vanilla to a small bowl.  Add a few drops of milk and stir.  Keep adding a couple drops of milk until you get a very stiff glaze.  The glaze should be so stiff you can barely stir it.
10.  When the tarts come out of the oven, spread glaze on the top and let the glaze melt onto the tart.
11.  Enjoy!  Serving sizes vary according to size of the tarts you make.

I am linking to Foody Friday at Rattlebridge Farm and On The Menu Monday at Stone Gable.

Starting Seeds

It's an exciting day when we start our seeds.  

Since we are having such a warm year, we are working outside.

We gathered:

 Seed Starter

any brand will work

we buy ours in the fall and store it in the garage until we are ready to plant

 Seed Starting Tray System

we buy ours at Lowe's

 

Seeds  

Tweezers

Pencils

Popsicle Sticks

When I told the kids that we would plant seeds today they were so excited.
They ran to the basement and brought up the trays and little pots.
They went to the garage and grabbed the seed starter.
Seeds were carefully sorted and brought outside along with a few other supplies.
I got a phone call before I headed outside to help and they paced waiting for me to get off the phone.
They were ready to plant!

We use a seed starting set to start our seeds.

  For about $10.00 you get three sets.
This is obviously an old tray.
You can use these guys over and over again

  Each set contains a black base tray,

...a 72 cell insert which needs to be cut apart...

...and a clear plastic dome.

The clear dome keeps moisture locked in while the seeds are germinating.  

I love this set up.  

I do not like the discs that puff up into a sponge after you soak it in water.  

I much prefer this system. 

You will also need some seed starter. 

You can buy a bag from the store or make your own.  

I used to make my own, but we have just as much success with the store bought starter mix.  

If you want a formula for your own starter mix I would suggest mixing:

•  2 parts top soil
• 2 parts compost
• 1 part sand
• 1 part peat moss 
• 1 or 2 parts perlite.  

You can experiment and change the formula as you see fit. 

We pour a pile of the starter mix into a tray so we can fill the cell pods easily.

The beauty of seed starter is that it is light and fluffy.

When you are filling your cell, do not pack the starter mix in.

Just drop it in and level it off.

Once you have a full tray, you are ready to start planting seeds. 

My daughter is a whiz when it comes to tiny delicate plants and seeds.

She has such a light touch.

I love watching her do her thing.

Her tools of choice are her fingers and a pencil.

I use a pair of tweezers to pick up tiny little seeds.

She is using the eraser to make holes in the starting mix.  

Each seed has it's own directions for sowing.

Starting a seed is called sowing. 

Here she is starting okra seeds.

Okra needs a half inch of dirt over it to get started, so she pokes 1/2 inch deep holes in each cell.

In goes a seed.

Then she covers the hole up with her cute little finger.

We have found the easiest way to water the seeds is to pull a 9 cell pod out of the tray.  

We pour warm water into the tray so the cells can soak up as much water as they need. 

We have used all sorts of markers over the years, but pencil is the best way to label the markers.

Markers are the worst as they can fade or the moisture can make the ink run.
If the markers are too long for the lid to close, just break off a bit of the popsicle stick before you insert it into the dirt.
You want the lid to fit correctly.   

Finally, add the clear plastic dome.

After a few hours, you should begin to notice moisture gathering on the plastic lid.

This is a very good sign.

We use florescent lights to help the germination process along.
Germination is beginning to sprout or grow.

When we first started experimenting with starting our own seeds we just stuck the trays on a window sill. 

The windowsill method works, but we do not have enough windows to start all our seeds now.

Don't feel you need a bunch of expensive equipment to try starting seeds.  

A seed starting tray set, starter mix and some seeds will get you started.

After a few days, you will see something like the overexposed little arch in the middle of the picture. 

A few days later you should see something like this.

It's so exciting to see the seeds growing into tiny little plants.

After a majority of the seeds have germinated...or sprouted....then you can remove the clear plastic lid.

Keep the tender little shoots watered.

Too much water will cause the roots to rot.

If the leaves begin turning yellow that is an indication that they are getting too much water.

Just keep an eye on your seeds as they start to grow and make adjustments as necessary.

Starting your own seeds is incredibly rewarding, very cost effective and a great project for kids.

We start a lot of our flowers from seeds as well.

Enjoy!