Yummy Monday

... Father's Day edition. I suppose I should've shared these before Father's Day but they are really good for any day... nothing fancy at all.

For breakfast, David requested breakfast pizza. I had no idea he liked it so much, I probably haven't made this in over a year. I guess I better start making it more often! David is such a simple guy (in a good way). His favorite breakfast is usually eggs, bacon, & toast (even biscuits are too fancy) and his favorite dinners are meat and potatoes. So it is pretty fitting that this pizza would be at the top of his list. Anyways, here is the link if you want to print it out.

Breakfast Pizza

(C) Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) can reduced-fat refrigerated crescent dinner roll dough
• Cooking spray
• 12 ounces turkey breakfast sausage
• 1 cup frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup fat-free milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (8-ounce) carton egg substitute
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

Separate dough into triangles. Press triangles together to form a single round crust on a 12-inch pizza pan covered in foil and coated with cooking spray. Crimp edges of dough with fingers to form a rim.

Cook sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain.

Top prepared dough with sausage, potatoes, and cheese. Combine milk, salt, pepper, and egg substitute, stirring with a whisk. Carefully pour milk mixture over sausage mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until crust is browned.

I have made it before without the hash browns and it was still good. I also use real eggs instead of egg substitute. If you are trying to be extra healthy, just do half whites and half whole eggs. I think I used 4 eggs.

We didn't do anything fancy for lunch and we went over to my sister's for dinner so I didn't have to cook dinner (thanks Nat!). I didn't, however, show up empty handed. I tried out a new cupcake recipe. If you don't already know, I am a little obsessed with cupcakes. I love them. I can't wait until the Sprinkles opens here in Houston this fall. Currently, I go to Crave more than I should. Anyways, for Father's Day (because david loves fruity desserts, especially strawberry-ish desserts) I made these:

Aren't they pretty?!? I wanted to find the recipe for some of Sprinkles cupcakes and wouldn't you know that Martha would have one. Apparently, the owner of Sprinkles visited her show and gave out the recipe for strawberry cupcakes. So I tried it out.

Sprinkles' Strawberry Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature
• Sprinkles' Strawberry Frosting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
2. Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
5. With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
6. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Mine turned out pretty good except that they weren't as moist as I had hoped. I would recommend taking them out of the oven right at 22 minutes because I think that is why mine dried out (I left in for too long). They are super dense and yummy! The link for the frosting is above in the recipe. I recommend using frozen strawberries. I used frozen in the frosting and fresh in the cupcake and I could taste the strawberry much more in the frosting.

Enjoy!