Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

My boyfriend has quite a few more work parties than we have at our office. Whenever they have one, he turns to me to come up with a delicious dish to bring. Recently, one of their potlucks was breakfast themed and I was asked to bake a coffee cake. After scouring websites for idea, I found one that looked particularly interesting called cinnamon cream cheese coffee cake. After looking through the ingredients and directions and thinking about what I could do to improve it, I decided to add apples. And it was a hit; my boyfriend forwarded me all the emails that were exchanged among his coworkers referring to how good the coffee cake was. So, if you’re looking for a good recipe to make for a work party, this seems to go over well with everyone.

Crumb Topping:
1/4 cup butter, softened and sliced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Swirl:
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
10 oz. apple pie filling (about half a can), diced

Cake:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. In a medium bowl, combine all the crumb topping ingredients. Using a pastry blender, blend the mixture until it resembles crumbs. Set aside. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and brown sugar until fluffy. Stir in vanilla and cinnamon. Fold in the apple pie filling. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Add the sour cream and mix just until combined. Transfer the batter to prepared pan. Top batter with spoonfuls of apple cinnamon cream cheese swirl. Use a back and forth motion with a knife to swirl. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over top of cake. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Allow to cool before cutting.

Biscuits & Gravy

When I worked at the Stacker Cafe damn near a decade ago (yikes!), one of my favorite items on the menu was biscuits and gravy. Though it was amazingly tasty, the gravy came from a bag, which I’m not particularly fond of. However, I was never able to recreate the recipe using regular ingredients … until I stumbled upon a southern style recipe, which, of course, I modified a bit. And it was absolutely fantastic. For this particular recipe, I made the biscuits using Bisquick since I had some left over from making dumplings. However, I’m sure homemade biscuits would be even better.

8 biscuits

1 lb. ground sausage

3 Tbsp. bacon grease

1/4 cup flour

Salt and pepper to taste

3 cups milk

In a large skillet (cast iron works best), brown the sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon or spatula, over medium heat. Do not drain the grease. Add the bacon grease, flour and salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly until the flour begins to brown. Slowly add the milk while continuing to stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for one minute, stirring occasionally. As the gravy cools, it will thicken. If you prefer thinner gravy, just add more milk. Cut the biscuits in half and pour the gravy over top. Enjoy!

Sausage, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Burritos

I never used to be a big fan of breakfast burritos, mainly because the only kind I had ever had came from one of the various fast food chains (usually McDonald's). After I started working at Mickey D's while in high school, I saw haow they were made and that turned me off completely. Recently, I started craving sausage and eggs, and had some tortillas left over after making enchiladas, so I gave it a whirl. The best part about these is you can use any kind of sausage you like (spicy, Italian, sweet ... the possibilities are endless). And, if you're anything like me and can't get enough breakfast food, these work well for dinner, too.

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 cup onion, diced

1 lb. ground turkey or pork sausage

6-8 eggs, scrambled

salt and pepper to taste

4-6 flour tortillas, depending on size

cheese slices

Sauté onions and sausage in olive oil until crumbly and no longer pink. Stir in eggs and mix well until cooked through. Season as desired. Warm tortillas in microwave. Place cheese slice on top of tortilla and spoon egg mixture over top. Roll up and enjoy. Serve with sour cream and salsa if you so desire. 

Overnight Bacon, Egg & Chorizo Casserole

Dating someone who is on the Paleo Diet, I’ve started making a lot of different things that are Paleo-friendly. This one is, by far, one of my favorite breakfast casseroles, mostly because it doesn’t contain any kind of potato. I mean, I have nothing against potatoes - obviously - but I have been trying to limit the amount of starch in my diet. The Chorizo sausage really spices this dish up, but you can use any type of sausage you wish. This does make a 9-by-13-inch baking dish full, but it does heat up well the next day and tastes like it came fresh out of the oven. Another thing you could try is topping it with cheese. I decided against it since cheese is frowned upon in the Paleo world, but I’m sure it would be delicious.

1 - 10-oz. package Chorizo sausage, sliced

8-10 slices bacon, sliced

1/2 red onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

18 large eggs

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. chili powder

In a large skillet, brown the sausage and bacon. Using a slotted spoon, remove the meat from the skillet and transfer to a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Sauté the onion, garlic, pepper and mushrooms in grease left over from meat for about 10 minutes. Pour into baking pan. In a large bowl, whisk eggs with remaining spices until frothy. Pour eggs over entire meat and vegetable mixture in baking pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, preheat oven to 350°. Bake casserole for 60 minutes or until browned on top and firm in the middle.