Potato Crusted Quiche

Potato crusted quiche is a great grab and go meal prep breakfast item. This is a really simple recipe that can be adjusted with the filling options you have on hand.

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Vegetarian Breakfast Casserole

I recently had my family over for brunch and decided to try this breakfast casserole recipe. It was a big hit and we didn't miss anything like bacon or sausage. I cut up and froze the leftover for some quick grab-n-go breakfasts later in the week.

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Lemon Berry Dutch Baby

Dutch babies make a really fun brunch menu item. There are so many variations you can create, but I always enjoy a lemon flavored one. Use whatever berries you have. Serve with lemon curd or maple syrup.

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Cinnamon Pancakes with Maple Apple Topping

This recipe is an easy breakfast or brunch recipe that comes together with basic ingredients you may already have at home. It looks like more work than it really is. If serving more than 4, I would increase the recipe. This makes about 9 pancakes.

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Spinach and Cheese Strata

This is one of my favorite brunch recipes. You do most of the work the night prior and before your guests arrive all you have to do is bake it. Leftovers taste great too.

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Quiche Lorraine: Bacon, Cheese and Onion Quiche

Quiche Lorraine is a classic quiche recipe that never fails. It's a crowd pleaser and is usually devoured quickly whenever I serve it. I've simplified the ingredients a little bit so they are all very easy to find. Feel free to use a store bought pie crust if you prefer.

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No Fail Banana Bread

I was having one of my lazy weekend days when I decided I wanted to bake some banana bread, but also not have to go to the grocery store. I was out of butter and milk, so I started looking for options that didn't require any of these. I came across this recipe and was very skeptical. All the reviews said the banana bread was great and I eventually decided I would give it a try and see how it turned out. This is such an easy bread to make and it has turned out wonderfully each time I've made it. I brought a loaf to work and it was gone by the afternoon. I made 3 of these loves in a month and each has turned out delicious. Don't be scared off by the slightly odd ingredient list. This banana bread freezes really well too. I could hardly tell the difference between the loaf I thawed from the freezer and the fresh loaf.

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Bacon, Cheese and Green Onion Quiche

I recently had a spare pie shell in my freeze and way too many eggs in my fridge. The obvious, easy solution was to make a quiche. I usually have some bacon in my freezer and I happened to have green onion in my fridge, making this a really easy recipe to put together from what I had laying around. As with most quiches, you can adjust this recipe with what you have at home. You can sautee regular onions and use those, add other veggies, use a different breakfast meat. It's pretty hard to mess this one up.

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Breakfast Egg Casserole with Croutons

Every now and then I get excited by breakfast foods. Typically I am more of a lunch and dinner person, but I have been loving this breakfast casserole recipe and have made it a few times this year. It's so easy to make and you can modify the recipe to sit your taste. I've made this with bacon, but if I am short on tie, I'll just throw in some ham cubes and it's delicious too. I like to sprinkle Trader Joe's "everything but the bagel" spice mix on top of this. Feel free to experiment with this recipe and enjoy the great breakfast dish!

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Blueberry Lemon Loaf Cake

I have been on a blueberry spree lately, only to realize that I had gone a bit overboard a needed to make something with them aside from smoothies. I looked at a few loaf and bread recipes and loved the simple ingredient list of this one. I have also had success with other Joy of Baking recipes, so I gave this one a try. The loaf cake had a great blueberry to cake ratio and a subtle lemon flavor. I decided to add a little more lemon the next time around, and loved the recipe even more. If you prefer a lighter lemon flavors, only use one tablespoon of lemon zest. For a more intense lemon flavor, add another 1/2 tablespoon (about 2 lemons). I love having a slice of this loaf cake with a cup of tea or coffee. The loaf cake will remain moist for at least 3 to 4 days (mine has never lasted beyond that). You can wrap this in foil and keep it at room temperature for storage.

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Overnight French Toast Casserole

Many years ago a friend of mine brought a french toast casserole to a potluck and I remember loving it. Time passed and I completely forgot about this delicious breakfast food until my sister reminded me of them. This recipe is pretty simple and makes for a great, ready to bake breakfast food. I love having this plain, but feel free to add some maple syrup on top.

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Three Ingredient Pancakes

I love making delicious pancakes with all sorts of add ins and ingredients, but when I don't have these things on hand, this recipe is my go-to for quick and easy pancakes. You can probably make this without having to go to the grocery store. I've been making these for years but only recently realized I'd never put them on the blog. I sometimes add a little sugar or extra baking soda, but these are great even without that. Add whatever toppings on extras you enjoy. I usually slice in some bananas or sprinkle on chocolate chips.

If you don't have self-rising flour at home, don't worry about buying it. You can easily make it with this recipe.

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Easy Gluten-Free Banana Pancakes

I don't know if I'd call these banana pancakes or banana crepes, but either way this make a delicious and very easy breakfast. The pancakes are a little difficult to flip since they're much more delicate than a pancake made with flour. The smaller you make these, the easier this will be. I accidentally overcooked mine, hence the slightly too brown picture, but they still tasted great. I topped mine with honey but they are just as good plain or with maple syrup. In the version picture I did not use baking powder. This recipe makes breakfast for one person.

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Birchermuesli

Birchermuesli makes an delicious and filling breakfast. What's great is that you can even prepare it the night before and eat it in the morning, making it ideal for busy weekdays. This recipe can be adapted easily based on what fruits or berries you have available. In the past I've added pineapple, apricots and peaches, and each variety is great. Some recipe do not add the lemon zest, but I find that its add a fresh flavor to the birchermuesli. My mom has always prepared it this way and this birchermuesli has been a hit for years.

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Caramel Apple Scones

I know that apple season is over, but luckily apples are available year round where I live (produce such as berries and asparagus are only sold seasonally). I first made these scones as part of my mom's birthday breakfast when I was visiting her, but I loved the caramel sauce so much that I had to make them again. That said, these scones definitely need the caramel sauce on top to make them as good as they are. I may have even eaten a few spoonfuls of leftover caramel sauce when nobody was looking.

These scones freeze really well if you need to prepare the dough ahead of time. Just freeze the already cut dough and add a few more minutes to your baking time. It's great having these in the freezer on those cool morning when you want a warm breakfast but don't feel like putting the effort into it.

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Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

When it comes to baking in Switzerland, my kitchen supplies are pretty limited (which is partly why I love baking when I visit my family). I have an abundance of cookie sheets, one cake form, and 2 different sized baking dishes. I have to say that I miss making muffins and cupcakes, but on the plus side, I've actually started making more cookies and bars. I actually really love bars, whether they're lemon bars, hello dollies, or pecan bars. After craving sweets (again) and being unable to find the ingredients I really wanted (again), I opted to make these simple bars. The recipe is extremely forgiving and easy to adjust to your liking. I loved the gooey bites full of strawberry jam and was very happy with this end result. They also tasted great 2 days later (I wouldn't know anything beyond that since that's when the last square was eaten).

Make this recipe with whatever jam you like or have at home. I had a huge jar of strawberry jam at home, so that's what I used. Anything from apricot to raspberry jam would be excellent in this. You can also add whatever spices you like to the dough base if you want to switch it up a bit. I'm sure you could substitute some whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour as well if you want a slightly healthier variation.

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Leek and Gruyere Quiche

Quiches are a great thing to make when you have extra cheese and veggies hanging around in your fridge. While I was visiting my parents I went grocery shopping and bought a few things that were already in the house. With a whole lot of gruyere and some extra leek from another recipe, my mom decided it was time for a quiche. Since she's a great cook, I love following her lead in the kitchen.

We started taking out what we were going to use when my mom taught me a little trick to keep the quiche somewhat healthier (though I doubt any quiche with a pie crust can ever be considered healthy). Instead of using half and half or some cream, she added a bit of flour to low-fat milk and added an extra egg to the recipe. This way you still have a great cheesy filling, but without as much added fat and fewer calories. The flavor is great and it reheats well if you have any leftovers.

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Zucchini and Carrot Muffins

When it comes to baking, I don't usually make an effort to use "healthy" ingredients (at most I'll mix in some whole wheat flour with my white flour). I stick with butter and sugar and am usually please with the results. Sometimes, though, I really want to have a breakfast muffin that doesn't make me feel guilty for having consumed something so unhealthy at 9 am (and lets face it, I usually have at least 2). I actually came across this recipe on accident and was really, really skeptical about the ingredients. I thought I would give it a try since, oddly enough, I had everything required at home. I was not expecting to like these. I was hoping that they would be good enough for an on-the-go type of snack or a quick breakfast option, but didn't think I would love them. I was so very wrong. Turns out these muffins were so good that the first batch of 20 were gone within 2 days and I made another batch a week later. I even made a third batch to put in the freezer so I could just snack on these when I wanted.

Now to clarify a few things. These muffins are probably not considered healthy by people who bake with alternative ingredients and count their calorie intake. They do contain sugar and white flour, but they require much less of both ingredients than many muffins do. There are also tons of healthy ingredients baked into the muffins, like zucchini, carrots, almonds, and apple. I also cut down the amount of oil required in half and added some apple sauce to the mix to keep things slightly healthier. They are unbelievably moist and stay that way even a few days after you bake them. I stored mine in an airtight container and they were still great on day 3.

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Strawberry Butter

A while back I ran into the dilemma of what to do with strawberries that didn't have a lot of flavor. It turns out this problem has come up again. I love a perfectly ripe strawberry that's bursting with flavor, but the last 2 time I bought them they were pretty sad excuses for strawberries. Yes, they looked beautifully red and delicious, but the taste was not impressive. This time, I decided to take those berries and make some strawberry butter.

Strawberry butter is a great way to switch up your standard toast with butter. It's sweet and the added sugar brings out the hidden flavor in the berries. I imagine if the strawberries are flavorful to begin with this might be even better. But I was really happy with the result of this butter. It's great on English muffins, scones, and pancakes. You can adjust the sweetness to your preference really easily, but I like mine the way the recipe was written. You can also swap in different berries, like raspberries, if you have them on hand. In the recipe, the berries and butter are blended together in a food processor, but if you don't have one, you can get away with smashing all the ingredients together until you get the right consistency, which is what I did.

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Sour Cream Banana Pancakes

I realize I just put up a post involving bananas, but these pancakes would make an amazing Mother's Day breakfast treat. The first time I tried this recipe I was probably 19 and had just recently discovered Ina Garten. I made these for a family breakfast and they were a hit with everyone. Although I usually just grab a bowl of cereal for breakfast, banana pancakes are one of my favorite hot breakfast foods. They're fluffy and the flavor from the lemon zest is amazing. But, if you're not a fan of lemon zest, you can leave it out and still enjoy these pancakes.

I almost always top these with maple syrup. On the rare occasion that I am out of maple syrup, I'll just eat these plain or add a little bit of butter on top. They really taste amazing either way. If I know I don't have any real topping for the pancakes at home, I usually slice some extra bananas into my pancakes. If you don't like bananas, feel free to add whatever fruit or berries you like to the batter. Or just make them plain.

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