I borrowed this recipe from the (late) Charleston Cake Lady, who borrowed it from the Bishop England High School cookbook, Gracious Goodness…..Charleston. Both are wonderful books with good recipes.

Decadent, was the word that came to mind when I had the first bite of this bread. Tea time was the second, and breakfast, the third.  Uh! It is so good, especially with a little honey-pecan cream cheese.  Now, I know why the Cake Lady says in her book, that she can’t decide when to have it, so she has it for breakfast and dessert. I don’t blame her, I would have too.

I’ll bet you’d like for me to stop “talking” and start writing, right? Well, here you go. A delicious recipe using those frozen strawberries you put away in the freezer a while back. This recipe can easily be cut in half for one loaf. I made one, just for me. I’ll probably be on strawberry bread overload by tonight because I can’t stay away.

Strawberry Bread

Makes two loaves

Shortening and all-purpose flour for greasing the loaf pans

3 cups all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur, LW)

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

4 large eggs, beaten

Two 10-ounce packages frozen strawberries, thawed and cut into bite-size pieces, juice included (I had a large bag of strawberries and I used 10 ounces by weight, LW))

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

I chopped my pecans and put them in the microwave on a saucer for 60-90 seconds to toast. This brings out more flavor. Time depends on the wattage of the microwave, LW)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Sift the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda together into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar. Stir in the oil, eggs and strawberries, including the juice. Mix well (batter will be stiff, LW). Gently fold in the nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 60-65 minutes. Allow the loaves to cool thoroughly in the pans before slicing. Each loaf makes 10 slices.

Enjoy!

My former neighbor, Marsha Heffron Jones, gave me a quiche recipe that I have loved! It’s the sausage and spinach quiche below. I’ve been experimenting with different meats and cheeses and I have found a combination that just can’t be beat. It’s brown sugar ham, Swiss cheese and a less amount of spinach.  IMAGINE this sausage and spinach quiche made with ham and Swiss. Oh my goodness. Make it and you will know what I mean.

This recipe makes two quiche, so I made one with crust and one without. You can use two crusts or none at all.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pie pans.

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup finely chopped Vidalia onion

2 cups finely diced Kentucky Legend Brown Sugar Ham Steak in 8-ounce package (use it all)

1 (9-ounce) Green Giant Steamers Plain Spinach, found in the frozen food section, thawed in fridge, and squeezed dry

4 eggs

1 cup mayonnaise (I use Duke’s)

1 1/2-2 Tablespoons sour cream

1 cup whole milk

1 cup grated Swiss Cheese

1/3 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

In a large skillet, over medium heat, melt the butter and saute the diced ham, and onion until the onion starts to caramelize. Add the squeezed dry spinach, and cook, stirring constantly for another 3-4 minutes. Transfer the ham mixture to a plate to cool.

In a large bowl, add the eggs, mayonnaise, sour cream, milk, cheese, salt and pepper. Gradually add the ham mixture and beat well with a whisk between each addition. Divide the quiche equally between two pie pans, and bake for approximately 35 minutes. The center will not jiggle when the quiche is done.

Makes two 9-inch quiche.

Quiche with Sausages & Spinach

This quiche is delicious. It has become one of my favorites since Marsha Heffron Jones brought it over for supper one night in early April. Now, I make this recipe quite often. It’s great to reheat for breakfast. A slice of this wonderful quiche, a little fresh fruit and a cup of coffee is all I need to start my day.

Recipe:

This recipe makes two quiche in two 9-inch pie plates.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2 pie crust for two, 9″inch pie plates or quiche dishes (depending on how thick you want the quiche, the smaller the pie plate, the thicker the quiche)

3/4 cup diced onion

1 pound mild sausage

1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach

4 eggs

1 cup mayonnaise

1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream

1 cup whole milk

1/3 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

1 cup grated mozzarella or Swiss cheese

In a large skillet, cook the onion and sausage until the sausage is done. Remove the sausage mixture into a strainer over a bowl while you are cook the spinach in the same skillet. If you don’t have a strainer or colander, put the sausage mixture on paper towels to absorb the fat. When you are ready to remove the spinach from heat, place the sausage mixture into a bowl so that you can use the strainer for the spinach.

Sauté the spinach until tender. You should not need to add any liquid. Place the spinach in the strainer and press out any liquid. If you don’t have a strainer, use a tea towel, put the spinach in the towel, and wring the liquid out. Place the spinach in the bowl with the sausage.

In another large bowl, mix the eggs, mayonnaise, sour cream and milk with a wire whisk. Add the cheese, salt and pepper. Pour the sausage-spinach mixture into the egg-cheese mixture and mix well. Divide this mixture into the pie plates, and bake for 30-35 minutes, depending on the depth of the pie plates.

Now, just enjoy. This is easily frozen by letting it cool, cutting into slices and wrapping in heavy plastic wrap. Just unwrap and reheat when ready to use.

Roast Beef Hash and Baked Eggs, prepared the night before and cooked on Sunday morning.

I love Sunday morning breakfast, but I sure don’t like to spend a long time making it. With this tasty dish, you can prepare it the night before and cook it that morning.  All you need to do is to purchase deli roast beef, or in the case of this recipe, leftover roast beef from the French Dip Sandwich that you’ll find at Southerncookingathome.blogspot.com.

Enjoy!

Roast Beef Hash and Baked Eggs

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into small dice

1 cup diced onion

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

2 cups cooked, cubed roast beef

4 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

In a medium skillet, over medium high heat, add the potatoes. Cook until tender, stirring often. When the potatoes have cooked, add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the thyme, roast beef, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 2-3 minutes to heat through. Taste for seasoning.

If continuing on, add the eggs as directed. If finishing the next morning, stop here, cover and refrigerate the hash.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the hash to a skillet or a baking dish. Make 4 indentions in the hash and add an egg in each indention.  Bake until eggs are cooked to desired doneness. Serve immediately. Makes 2-4 servings.

Serve with your favorite bread, jam and fresh fruit.

This beautiful Doughnut Muffin looks like a sparkling jewel.

I love these muffins, yes I do. Funny thing is that I have never been a fan of eggnog, and these have a little eggnog in the batter. Even though I am not a fan, I bought eggnog for my visiting children during the holidays. There was leftover and I felt that I should do something with it. I mean, how can you resist cooking something from a carton that says, Southern (something) Vanilla Spice. So, I took a basic doughnut muffin recipe and changed it, a lot. I gave it a drink of eggnog among other things.

This recipe is one that I posted more than a year ago on my other site, but I noticed the other day that eggnog is still available in the store even though the holidays have passed. So, I thought, why not post on my Southern breakfast site here. It would be great with the winter citrus, or the quiche you’ll find in this site.

The good thing about making muffins is that a muffin pan size can be whatever you want it to be. Jumbo, large, small or mini. Make this the size you like and freeze what you can’t eat. You’ll have them when the season is over. Wish I had one right now!

Recipe-

6 tablespoons softened butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup Vanilla Spice Eggnog, or flavor of your choice

Topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Add paper cupcake liners to a 12 cup muffin tin. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each egg.

To a bowl, add the flour, salt, baking powder, soda and nutmeg. To the butter, sugar mixture, add half the flour mixture and half the eggnog and mix well. Repeat with the remaining flour and eggnog. Scoop mixture into the muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for about 17 minutes or until muffins are lightly browned and a cake tester inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the tin and place on a wire rack. Prepare the topping.

For the topping, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Dip the top of each hot muffin into the melted butter and swirl in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve.

You can see the texture of this muffin is just amazing.

This is the season for citrus,  and Valentine’s Day would be a great time to serve Broiled Grapefruit. Sweet, juicy and delicious, because that little bit of sugar that you add to the top of the fruit brings out more flavor than you can imagine. This is especially good when the grapefruit is a little bitter or sour.

I don’t know that you’ll need a recipe for this. It’s so simple. Just turn your broiler on to pre-heat, cut the grapefruit in half and sprinkle it with the desired amount of sugar. This is large grapefruit so I used a tablespoon and a half of brown sugar, or you can use the same in white or natural sugar, on each half. Place the fruit on a broil-proof baking sheet and place it two slots down from the broiler. Keep watching! (Don’t leave it, the sugar could catch on fire.) Let the top bubble until the grapefruit is beginning to overflow with juices, and become bubbly and glossy and the sugar has completely melted. This could take about 5 minutes or more depending on the distance from your broiler. Remove the grapefruit when ready and place on a small plate or hold it with a bowl like I’ve done with this one. Place a cherry in the center.

Before serving the grapefruit, go around the edges with a grapefruit knife, and use the double serrated section of the knife to separate the pith from the fruit. Serves two.

Enjoy. To accompany the grapefruit, check out the Eggs Benedict or the Quiche with strawberry jam lined crust below.

I love my old book on Southern  cooking by Martha Mead.  That’s where the Southern Belle cake, and the Lulu Paste recipes came from (find those recipes on my southerncookingathome.blogspot.com site). The book is titled Recipes of the Old South in case you are interested in knowing the name, or you want one for yourself.

This time, it’s the Oranges that I was interested in cooking because this sounded like such a great way to prepare this fruit that is so available in January. Different for sure. So, I followed the instructions, and after a few hours, I had really delicious caramelized oranges.

The juice leftover from cooking would be great over vanilla or raspberry yogurt, and the orange sections would be good with a bagel and cream cheese, or served as a side with grits and eggs. Yum, and especially good with sausage.

The oranges are very easy to prepare. Like I said, you just need some time, because total time is about 2 1/2hours. If you are having them for a Sunday morning breakfast, because after all, these are special, you can prepare them on a Saturday and refrigerate until ready to use. Enjoy!

Recipe:

3 oranges

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1/4 cup Grand Marnier (optional, and not in the original recipe)

Boil oranges whole and unpeeled in water to cover for about 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain oranges and allow to cool. Boil together for 5 minutes, syrup, sugar, and water (and Grand Marnier if using). Place orange sections in a pie plate. Pour the sugar mixture over the cooked oranges which have been quartered and seeded. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Serve hot or cold. Keep in a glass jar in the fridge. This would be good with meat or poultry. Makes 12 sections.

               Child’s Famous Butter Cakes Cooling On A French Rack

I love anything British, and Child’s Butter Cakes are very much like English muffins, but “yeastier and more delicate”, according to the late Robert Johnson, whose book this recipe was borrowed from.

There is a self-fulfillment when making bread, and when the recipe comes out looking like this, you’ll feel a great accomplishment. It’s an easy recipe to follow. The muffins also make a great base for Eggs Benedict, which you can find the recipe for if you scroll down.

Recipe:

2 packages active dry yeast

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons soft butter

2 teaspoons salt

3 1/2 cups flour

Put the yeast in a large mixing bowl, stir in 1/4 cup of the warm water, and the sugar, and let “proof” for 10 minutes, or until bubbly.

Add the remaining 1 cup warm water, the soft butter, salt, and 1 cup of the flour. Beat until smooth, and continue adding flour in batches as you stir. By the time the flour is added the dough will start to come away from the sides of the bowl and form a ball.

Put dough in a warm buttered bowl and turn to coat all sides well with butter. Let rise, covered with a towel, in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

Punch the dough down and roll out 3/4 inch thick on a lightly floured board. Cover with a towel, and let rise for 30 more minutes.

Cut the dough in rounds with a 3-inch cutter or glass, then cook the cakes in a greased large frying pan over medium-low heat, 3 to 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.  Serve hot, or the next day, split and toasted with butter.

Blueberry Tea Biscuits with Halo Glaze

So feathery light with a touch of sweetness, and the wonderful taste of blueberries. Then top them off with an orange glaze and you are on your way to a delicious breakfast. Serve these beautiful biscuits with eggs and sausage patties.

*2 cups cake flour (*if you don’t have cake flour, measure out 2 cups of all-purpose flour and remove 4 tablespoons of the flour and add 4 tablespoons of cornstarch and mix well)

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces plus 1-1/2 tablespoons butter, melted and set aside for the tops

2 tablespoon white sugar plus 1-2 tablespoons turbinado sugar for the biscuit tops

1 1/2 teaspoons zest of orange or Halo

1 cup heavy cream mixed with 1/4 cup milk (read recipe directions below on adding cream mixture)

1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Prepare a parchment line baking sheet.

Use 1/2 tablespoon of the flour to mix into blueberries. To a mixing bowl, add the remaining flour, baking powder, salt, 2 tablespoons white sugar and Halo zest. Add the butter, and using either a pastry blender or your hands, mix the butter into the flour until you have very small pieces of butter.*See the method below for mixing butter into flour. Start to stir in enough of the cream mixture to make a moist dough, adding about 3/4 cup of the cream mixture, and then as needed. When the dough is moist enough, but still slightly stiff, very carefully fold in the blueberries to keep them from breaking.

Using a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop or a measuring cup of the same size, drop the dough onto the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the biscuits with butter and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown on top. Makes 13-16 biscuits.

Glaze

1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted

Juice of one small Halo, or if using an orange, enough juice to make a glaze

Mix well, and drizzle on top of the slightly cooled biscuits.

If the biscuits are still hot when you are ready to serve them, just put them on serving plates and add the glaze. Believe me when I tell you that nobody is going to mind scooping up the glaze. It will be delicious!

This is my method for mixing butter into flour. Put your hands into the flour like two  scoops and pull the flour up into them. Now, push the butter through your thumbs and forefinger. You will feel the butter flatten and fall into the mixture. When you see very small pieces of butter, then the mixture is ready to mix with the liquid.

This recipe is an adaption of one found in Biscuits, Pancakes & Quick Breads, by Beverly Cox.