Brown Sugar Baked French Toast

This is a company breakfast. I don't know why you wouldn't make this without company being over, but I know I wouldn't.
In a small bowl, combine 2/3 cup packed brown sugar,
1/2 cup melted butter and 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
(if you like cinnamon)
Cut a loaf of French bread into 1 inch slices.
In a large shallow bowl, whisk together 6 eggs and
1 1/2 cups milk.

Place bread slices in bowl - and you know how to make french toast, right? Turn them over once... take them out of the milk bath and sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on one side of the bread.

Place bread slices, brown sugar side down, in a lightly greased 9x13 pan.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve brown sugar side up.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

for Jaymi

3/4 cup butter, margerine or shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups flour (I use 1/2 whole wheat, half white or a combination of gluten-free flours)
1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup mashed banana
1 3/4 cups oatmeal, uncooked (this means regular or quick cooking oats, not the instant kind)

Cream butter with sugar and then add the egg and mix well.
Mix flour, cinnamon and nutmeg together and add to creamed mixture and blend till smooth. Add mashed banana and oatmeal next. Blend. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased sheet and bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes.

(You could also throw in some raisins, if you like.)

Dutch Breakfast Cake

A traditional Dutch breakfast bread. Do NOT serve this to Great-Grandma. She DOES not like it. "This is why I was happy to move away from Holland!" she said.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted

Sift together all the dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and beaten eggs to the melted butter and mix well. Add buttermilk to the dry ingredients and mix to a sticky dough. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in a 350 oven, in a buttered 9 inch square pan.

Gingerbread Pancakes

This is for those fall weekends when you want to make something special but don't want to actually go to much trouble - so pretty much any weekend, at our house.

1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
1/3 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1/2 teaspoon each: nutmeg, cinnamon and ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil plus more for the pan
1 1/2 tbsp molasses
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and soda, spices and salt into a large bowl. Set it aside. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy.

Then whisk in the sour cream, milk, oil, molasses and vanilla extract. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid, whisking the batter until just smooth. Set it aside for 5 minutes.
Heat a large, heavy skillet, then coat the surface with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Lade the batter (1/3 cup per pancake) into the pan and cook for about 2 minutes or until golden, on the first side. Flip the pancake and cook until golden on the other side, about 1 1/2 minutes.
Serve immediately with soft butter, warm maple syrup and applesauce.

A really good recipe for steel-cut oats

Here's how to cook steel-cut oatmeal:
3 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon butter
a pinch of salt
1 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup steel cup Irish oatmeal
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Bring the water, butter and salt to a rolling boil in a small saucepan.

Meanwhile, whisk together the cream, maple syrup, and brown sugar in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth. Set aside.

Add the oats gradually to the boiling water. Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture simmer for 1/2 hour, stirring frequently. After the first 20 minutes, stir in the cranberries, sugar and spices.

Serve the oatmeal immediately with the sweetened cream.Makes 3 to 4 servings.(Recipe from the immensely useful "One Bite Won't Kill You" by Ann Hodgman")