At the end of Thanksgiving weekend, I hold onto the last little bits of fall before the holidays kick in.  It always seems that Christmas comes too early.  Even though Winter doesn't "officially" begin until December 21st ... snowflakes already grace store windows as garland.

So, in my last little ode to fall, I went on a little day trip with fellow Innkeepers Jim & Ana with the Mount Dora Historic Inn to a local corn maze.  A maize maze.  I thought getting lost in 6 acres of corn would be a great way to get outdoors, enjoy the weather and walk off all the tasty holiday indulgences.

It sounded quite easy, like kids play that we adults were just entertaining ourselves with.  Perhaps the gps in my car has made me too confident in my wayfinding skills, but that all changed when the stalks were 2 feet over our heads and every corner and twisted turn looked the same.  We really did get lost.  Good conversation with friends was the only thing that kept me from screaming out in a claustrophobic fit.  We got to talking about jobs we had before innkeeping and becoming serial entrepreneurs.  One of my first jobs was working in marketing for an agricultural association, so being ear-deep in corn (hehe) shouldn't have been so out of place for me.  One of the stories I shared with them was the time I was introduced to red-eye gravy.  It's a country thing, I guess.  Bacon grease and black coffee.  To be honest, I never actually tasted it.  I love bacon ... on my plate.  I love coffee ... in my cup.  But bacon and coffee mixed together.  Ew. I wrinkle my nose at the thought.  Perhaps I should be more open minded.  It is breakfast, after all.

Jim took this as a "challenge."  Picture an Einstein-mad-scientist-type, crazy hair, tongue sticking out with a wild look in his eye, groovy 70's music blaring, things bubbling, steam rising.   Now, picture that scientist in a chef's coat  and replace the lab with a kitchen ... except with clean cut hair ... but his tongue still sticking out.  Yeah.  That's Jim.  He loves experimenting a creating new things.  Especially when it comes to baking.  And I had just given him an idea.  A bacon and coffee infused dish.  Since were were lost in the middle of a corn field, I threw in the added ingredient of corn.  Poof.  Bam.  The idea was born.  A savory corn cupcake with bacon and coffee.  I didn't know whether to be intrigued or grossed out.

My first experience with a savory cupcake was in Oklahoma.  Yup.  Not some culinary capitol like Chicago or NYC.  The heartland.  Oklahoma.  So the fact that this idea was born in the middle of a farm shouldn't have surprised me at all.

The cupcake place we found in Oklahoma City was an adorable little cottage with the most perfect little cupcakes I'd ever seen.  They had red velvet, chocolate and classic vanilla.  They also had green tea cupcakes and a savory egg-y breakfast cupcake.  They were delish, so I unwrinkled my nose and accepted the bacon-coffee-corn-cupcake challenge.  It was a bake-off between me and Jim.  And I have to tell you in advance, his cupcake won!

The stars of this show ...

Do you hear the StarWars-like music?  Duuuuuun ... Dooooooon ... Da-DOOOOOON.  Bom Bom Bom Bom Bom Bom.

Corn ... check.

Bacon ... check.

Coffee ... hmm ...

Recently Marx Foods offered to send some free salt samples to food bloggers.  I sent in my info and got a little box of all kind of chef-y sounding flavors of salt.  Things I would never in a million years find at my local grocer.  My homesick NYC neighbors squealed in delight  that they could order gourmet-to-go direct to their doorstep as flavorful reminders of home.  I was just excited and inspired to try something new.

One of those flavors happened to be ... espresso salt.

Using espresso salt in a breakfast recipe may be uncreative or cliche ... but I'm a breakfast girl so that's the first place my mind will go.  I think my neighbors used it to season their steaks.  Yum.

On with the bake-off.

First, REAL bacon bits ...

Then, fresh white sweet corn from our local farm.  Did you know that corn has one "silk" hair per kernel?

Yup.  I learned that in the corn maze.

Also learned that it kinda looks like blonde barbie doll hair.

Or nose hair.  See ... this is why I'm no chef-y.  I get distracted and play with my food.

My mom says when I was a kid I used to call this "corn on the NOB" instead of "corn on the cob" because of the little corn nobs stuck into the ends.  Again ... playing with my food.

Hmm. Perhaps I should have pulled out a bigger cutting board?  Ya think?  Naaaah ... would of spoiled the fun.

This little bow saw knife made me feel like I was playing a violin ... again ... playing with my food.

CORN!

Fresh.  Uncooked.  Do not try to adjust the color on your screen.  This is not yellow corn ... but sweet white corn.

Mix together the dry ingredients (full list and recipe at the bottom of the post)

Now... I have a question for you.

I looked it up.

My photographer friend Jim looked it up.

We Googled it.

Still ... no answer ... on the history ... of what in the heck is a "Clabber" girl ... as opposed to just the name of some baking powder.  Looks like there'd be some historical story to it, but we couldn't find it.  If you know ... PLEASE TELL US!

Add your wet ingredients to a separate bowl ...

Oops.  I lied.  One "dry" ingredient goes into this "wet" bowl.  Sugar.

Some eggs.  Some Buttah'.  Some sour cream.  Jim added a lot of creamy things to this recipe.  Gives it a moist cake texture.  No classic cornbread here.

A spoonful of bacon grease.

A cap full of vanilla.

Blend.

Pour into dry ingredient bowl and "mix" ... not too much ... or they'll be tough.

Add the corn last.

Dollop into your cupcake/muffin pan.  This is where I went wrong.  I always use paper cups for easy servings and even easier clean up.  But these suckers stick to the paper like glue, so I would grease your cupcake/muffin tin and skip the paper.

Sprinkle with bacon bits and espresso salt to taste.  A sort of "red eye gravy" topping.  They're both SALTY SALTY SALTY ... but it contrasts nicely with the sweet and creamy cupcake.

Then bake!

This is also where Jim's cupcakes beat mine.  He made 6 big poofy ones.  Like a cupcake should look.  I made 12 ... so they came out kinda teeny.

And voila.  A savory corn red eye gravy cupcake.  It was EXCELLENT hot with eggs over easy.  However, I didn't like it cold.  This is not a cupcake to keep in a pastry display for everyone to grab on the go at room temperature.  This is an eat it hot and fresh for breakfast in the morning kind of meal.  A little weird, I do admit.  But it was fun to make!

Savory Corn Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup cake flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

8 strips bacon, cooked, crisp & crumbled

1 1/2 cup corn

1 cup buttermilk

8 oz sour cream

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 stick of butter, melted

2 large eggs

1/4 lemon, juiced

1 tbsp bacon grease

1 capful vanilla extract

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 360 degrees.  Yes, that is 360, not 350.  Grease muffin pan.

2) Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt

3) Cream together eggs & sugar, then add bacon grease, butter, buttermilk, softened cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla and lemon juice.

4) Add to flour mixture along with corn and fold together until well blended.  Do not whisk.  Do not overmix.

5) Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins and sprinkle with espresso salt and crumbled bacon.

6) Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

7) Serve with eggs and enjoy!

###

I love everything and anything orange.  It's my favorite color.  My favorite flavor.  My favorite scent.  I love it so much so that I can even be found popping up in an orange juice commercial for about 3 seconds.  If you see an ad for Florida's Orange Juice, don't blink, you'll see me!

So, when I opened up Pioneer Woman's new cookbook and found Marmalade Muffins, I nearly fell off the bar stool in my kitchen I was so excited.  Pairing my favorite flavor with a sweet morning breakfast treat ... now THAT's a happy moment.  Pioneer Woman is pretty much a household name in any food bloggie's world, but for those of you that have not yet had the delightful opportunity, click here for an introduction.  PW is one of the first blogs I ever read (if not THE first blog) and I always find her writing makes me smile.  I had the awesome opportunity to meet her live and in person at the BlogHer Food party in San Fran during our recent trip to the west coast.  Her new cookbook was a gift to attendees and between BlogHer and driving through Napa my waistline has grown at least an inch since that trip.  Good thing I've got  marathon training to slim it down again!

What was I saying before that long tangent and reminiscing about San Fran?  Ah ha!  Back to the orange muffins ... I was all ready to make them that very instant until I read an ingredient that I never keep in the house ... buttermilk.  I had a bad experience with it as a child.  When I was a little girl, I used to love drinking my grandmother's coffee cream.   She would keep it in a little tin creamer jar in the refrigerator and I would always sneak in a sip or two off the refreshing cold spout.  That is ... until she discovered what I was doing and realized my little 4 year old lips had inadvertently graced every single cup of coffee poured in the house!  Then she started putting the little tin creamer just out of my reach.  I thought I had outsmarted her once when I found what I thought was cream, but then took a big swig of buttermilk.  BLAAAAH!   After that, until I out grew my cream addiction, I only drank cream from the individual plastic thimble-sized versions in restaurants.

So, needless to say, buttermilk has never been a staple item in my refrigerator.  Now, Ree includes instructions for how to "make" buttermilk, or a substitute if you don't have it.  But I thought it was time I made amends.  Besides, I needed to get some fresh oranges.

Florida navel oranges are what's in season, and if you've never had a navel orange allow me to introduce you.

Some have "innies"

Some have "outties"

(And this one has a honker of one for sure.)

And that's why they call them "navel."

You'll notice that they're a little blemished.  Florida oranges usually are.  But what they lack in exterior skin perfection on the outside compared to their California cousins, they more than make up for inside with juicy sweetness.

While my grandmother was over at my house teaching me how to make Rhubarb Jam, we made a batch of these muffins too.

Here we go, starting with blending together the butter and sugar.  Nearly all of  PW's recipes have butter in them.  Quite frankly, I don't know how she stays so fit and trim.  But she does  live on a ranch and has 4 kids to raise ... so I imagine there is a lot of calorie burning opportunities there.

Now, just because they're described as "mini" muffins doesn't mean I had to pull out such a small bowl.  I probably just pulled it out of the cabinet because it was orange.  Sheesh. Have to transfer to something larger.  My grandmother is shaking her head giggling at me at this point and mouthing off some thing in French I can't understand.  :oP

We mixed together the dry ingredients ...

Added the buttermilk and other wet ingredients ...

Zested up some navels ...

And WOOOOOOW.

I've never worked with batter so "fluffy" before.  It's light and whipped and soft and creamy.  I'll have to try buttermilk in place of regular milk in some other recipes now too!

My grandmother couldn't help taking a taste ... caught orange handed!

Now, since PW made mini muffins, I thought I'd try out a new iron pan that my mom gave me over a YEAR ago!  Now so new, huh?

They look delish, but my grandmother shook her head and said, "Rachelle, there is too much in those."  I thought, how could a tablespoon of batter possibly be "too much?"  She was right though.  They sort of exploded into a gigantic pancake completely covering the pan and dripping over onto the bottom of my stove.  Thank goodness I had a cookie sheet there to catch the drippings!

So, we poured another batch in regular muffin cups and THOSE turned out delish!

Drizzled on top is a quick and easy topping of orange juice and brown sugar.  Next time though, I think I'll try this  citrus glaze that I used on scones before.  After all, you can never have enough orange!

In case you were wondering if you've ever seen me blip across your tube in an OJ commercial ... here's photographic evidence!  Just please don't associate me with flu season.  LOL!

This is me with Dave.  And yes, he's a real live bonafide Florida citrus grower.  SERIOUSLY!

And there's me.  In my orange shirt.  Told you I love the color.  But if I ever dye my hair carrot red/orange please tie me up and smack me silly.

Here's the scoop for PW's Marmalade Muffins!  I cant' wait to try the other comfort food yummies she has in her book. Yum!

Marmalade Muffin's from Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients

2 oranges

2 sticks of butter, sorftened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Directions

1) Grate the zest from both oranges.

2) Mix the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until creamy.

3) Crack in the eggs and mix until well combined.

4) Sift and add your flour into the bowl and stir together using as few strokes as possible so the muffins aren't tough.

5) In a small cup or bowl, combine the buttermilk and baking soda.

6) Add the buttermilk mixture to the muffin batter and mix until just combined.

7) Add the zest and mix until combined.

8) Grease 24 mini muffin tins (or 12 regular muffin tins) and fill 2/3's full with muffin batter.

9) Make for 12 to 17 minutes until golden brown.

10) While muffins are baking, prepare the glaze.  Juice the 2 oranges and add to the brown sugar in a medium bowl.  Stir until combined but don't worry about dissolving the sugar completely so that it will give it a grainy texture.

11) Drizzle the glaze over the muffins as soon as they're done.

Oooh and Aaaah.

###

My grandmother's sister ... my great aunt ... came down to visit us from New Hampshire recently.  She still lives in the little teeny town they grew up in called Berlin.  And it seems everyone  there is teeny tiny too as my grandmother and great aunts are all under 5 feet tall. (Is this beginning to sound like Whoo-ville?) I'm glad that gene skipped me ... even if it was by just a few inches!   Berlin is close enough to Canada that they all speak a very slang version of French.  My grandmother spoke more French than English when I was born which is how I ended up as a "Rachelle" instead of "Rachel"  and she swears up and down that I used to speak French fluently ... when I was 3 years old. Well, a 3 year old's French vocabulary is about what I still have today. With a few added essentials, of course,  such as "fromage" and "vin" and "Bordeaux."

Having these two ladies in town was a hoot, and a little like Driving Miss Daisey.  I loved spending time with them and hearing about their stories of "the good ole days" which, ironically, were partially during the Great Depression.  The most fun they had was sneaking out on a Friday night to attend a USO dance and my grandmother's most prized possession were a pair of roller skates that her sister and brother-in-law gave her as a gift.  Life was simple and much slower back then and everything they ate was grown in their yard and cooked from scratch.  As wonderful as "garden to table" dinner sounds, I realize that there is a lot we take for granted.  Big super grocery stores packed with every possible ingredient imaginable and having recipe books with full color photos or my laptop on my kitchen counter with access to food photos and recipes from around the world.  I realized this when Ma Tante Yvonne gave me her recipe for Rhubarb Jelly handwritten on a 3x5 index card.  I think I'll frame it.

Rhubarb looks sort of like big red celery to me.  Except, tart and sweet.  It grew in their backyard in New Hampshire like a weed.  Ma Tante Yvonne was telling us over tea how  ticked she was that "Mon Oncle" Willy had just cleared out all the rhubarb in his backyard.  It was the house they all grew up in, so I think she felt like he just wrecked her old garden.

A French woman is not one you want to tick off.

And so, she gave me her simple recipe for rhubarb jelly so that I'd post it to the world.

When I was looking at the index card, I had to scratch my head and wonder if  two of these ingredients were available during the depression?  Jello and canned pineapple?   I guess when you're in your 80's, the 1920's through the 1940's all seem like they were yesterday.  Pre-jello and post-jello.  So I Googled it and learned ...  Jell-O is older than dirt.  I stand/sit corrected.  It's been around since the 1800's and became "Jell-O" in 1902.

Well okay then!  Let's make some depression-era Rhubarb Jelly!

First ... the rhubarb.

I couldn't find it fresh where I live, so we bought a bag of frozen rhubarb.  Because it is frozen, it's going to be holding a lot of unnecessary water.  So, we thawed it out on some paper towels.

My grandmother's hands have made this jam for 70 years now.  Wow.

So here are the basic ingredients you'll need ... rhubarb, pineapple, sugar and jello.

You can't really taste the pineapple after it's cooked in with everything else, so I imagine they added this for the acidity.

Throw everything (except for the jello) into a large pot on low to medium heat and let it cook slowly, for about 1/2 hour.

Stir periodically while it's cooking.

This is my grandmother ... she's concentrating ...

After about 10 minutes, it will look like this ...

Then add one packet of jello, stir, and let it sit for another 5 minutes.

Add to a mason jar or other storage container and pop it in the refrigerator so the jello can do it's trick.

And there you have it.  Rhubarb jelly.  I love it on English muffins or toast.  Mmm.

Rhubarb Jam

Ingredients

4 cups or 2 lbs of rhubarb (cut in small pieces)

1 8oz can crushed pineapple

3 cups of sugar

1 small 4 oz package of strawberry jello

Directions

1) Cook at moderately low heat until reaching boiling point. Stir while it is cooking (20 minutes or more)

2) Add small 4 oz package of jello.

3) Mix well, jar and then refrigerate.

4) One batch makes 4 small jars or 2 large jars.

###

Meet Jim. He's the "man behind the lens" on a lot of the photos you see here on the site. I cook. He shoots. I crack an egg in a bowl ... he laughs because he feels like he's taken over 100 pictures of eggs. I spray pam in a pan ... he glides across my kitchen floor on his knees because I should have been smarter to spray it over the sink. We have fun cooking, shooting and eating. And because I've been cooking and eating so much I signed up to do a marathon with his wife, Beth. She motivates me to stay in shape. And since Jim lives pretty much on coffee and Guinness alone, she and I eat all the yummies after we shoot them.  In addition to mouth watering food porn photos, we also drool over the B&H catalog ... Jim over the photo stuffs and me over the video stuffs. But THIS video was done by another friend of mine, Marc with Odyssey Creative. Check it out ... and meet Jim!

I do love mornings.  Really I do.  The sun breaking over the horizon.  The crisp fresh air.  Birds tweeting their first little happy chirps.  The quiet stillness and excitement of having the whole day ahead.

I just wish it wasn't so painful to get out of bed!  All snuggled up warm under the covers.

Caffeine is what makes my mornings possible.  And afternoons for that matter.  But I'm no addict.  Ah em.

Coffee isn't just a beverage.  It's an experience.  The nutty smell of fresh grounds, the bubbling sound of it percolating in a coffee pot, and that first sip.  I'm even one of those weirdos that takes a picture of her coffee when she's traveling so I'll remember the moment.  (Pictured above ... cafe 3 blocks from the Vatican in Rome.  It was cold and raining.  I was wearing short sleaves and a skirt.  So that little cup was the warm highlight of my day.  As was the cute Italian guy that made my foam into a heart-shape. )

So here is an Ode to Coffee ...

My Top 10 Favorite Coffee Quotes

#10 "I make serious coffee - so strong it wakes up the neighbors."  ~Author Unknown

Got to love coffee that strong! Just like Europe.

#9 "Man does not live by coffee alone.  Have a danish."  ~Author Unknown

I must confess.  I'm a dunker. I like a little cookie with my coffee.

#8 "Behind every successful woman is a substantial amount of coffee."  ~Stephanie Piro

How else would I get everything done?

#7 "In Seattle you haven't had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it's running."  ~Jeff Bezos

Or type a 100 words a minute.  Go. Go. Go.

#6    "I could smell myself awake with that coffee."  ~Jaesse Tyler

I think the scent of coffee wakes me up more so than the actual brew.

#5    "I like my coffee like my men:  hot, strong, steamy."  ~Author Unknown

Amen.

#4    "My blood type is Folgers."  ~Author Unknown

Mine is Eight O'Clock.  I get excited by that little red bag!

#3    "I'd stop drinking coffee, but I'm no quitter. " ~Author Unknown

Quit? Who said anything about quitting coffee?

#2    "Coffee in styrofoam is against my religion."  ~Betsy Cañas Garmon

Oh the irony.  I actually had the most expensive coffee in the world ... Kopi Luwak ... a.k.a. "monkey butt coffee" in a Styrofoam cup.  In a library. I swear.  But it was with good friends who also love to travel ... which brings me to my #1 favorite quote ...

#1  "Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after."  ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Pair the two together ... and you won't get any sleep at all!

--Rachelle

###

If you need something to wake you out of a sugar induced coma from Halloween ... this will do just the trick.  Although, I can't say that it will help your waistline any more than Halloween candy!

It's the Hisega Lodge Breakfast Pizza.  Located in Rapid City, South Dakota, innkeepers Carol and Ken serve this to guests before they embark on outdoor adventures in the Black Hills.  But this is, not your typical pizza by any stretch.

While I must confess that ... yes ... I have ... at some point ... had cold pizza for breakfast.  In college.

And it was ... Yuk.

So the thought of having pizza for breakfast instantly brought back that memory and made my upper lip curl up like Elvis.

BUT

This is a hot and delightfully tasty good-morning version!  It's everything that is great about breakfast on a round of dough with a little added Mediterranean flavor.

And it is ... YUM!

Let's get to it, shall we?

Now, there are quite a few ingredients to this puppy ... so if you're the type of cook that usually pulls things out of the refrigerator or cabinets as you need them, I would recommend getting everything out on the counter first before beginning.  (I have the full list of ingredients and recipe at the end of the post.) You'll also want to take a quick look at how to roast red peppers.  It's really easy, but I recommend doing it the night before you make the pizza for breakfast in order to save some time.

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees and place your cream cheese in a bowl next to the oven so that the heat coming from it will start to soften it up.  Ideally you want it to be around room temperature so it spreads nicely.

The Hisega Lodge makes their own dough with biscuit mix, which is another great breakfast staple to add to the mix.  But just for fun,  I chose to take the opportunity to use dough from our local pizzeria, PizzAmore.

When this clever little idea popped in my brain, I asked my boyfriend if he could pick up a "wad" of pizza dough from PizzAmora on his way home.  He stared at me blankly for a minute and then asked, "exactly what unit of measurement is a 'wad'?"  Ha!  That's where all the trouble and fun began.

Okay, I was having a "ball" (get it? a ball!  Buwahahaha) playing with pizza dough.  This picture in particular made me giggle since it looked like I was holding it in my mouth ... though I had just tossed it in the air.

"Look ma, no hands!"

You can see the wild gleam in my eye from the fun that Iwas having.  I did say this was the "grown up" version of pizza for breakfast, right?   Oops!

Anyway, you want to mix a little flour and cornmeal for your surface (and your fingers) to prevent sticking.  I probably have WAY too much there.  You can use a little less.

Pizza dough is one of those things that just doesn't want stay where you put it.  If there is one little trick I learned from watching Jessie at PizzAmore, it's that you've got to let gravity help you stretch the dough.

Pick it up by one side ... let it start to droop .. then start moving it quickly between your hands like you are moving a wheel.

After it is about the size you want it, place it on your pizza pan or stone.

Even after all that stretching ... it still wants to shrink back to it's original ball like a tight pair of spandex!

Jessie has another trick for this that he calls "spanking the dough"

Eh ehm.

Well.  You could read into that if you wanted to ... but I'll tell you that I saw him try this at PizzAmore and it more like smacking it between your hands.

I'm digging myself into a hole here, aren't I?

Anyway, he then does the whole "hand tossed spin" thing with the dough above his head.  Since the dough would be mid air for a couple of seconds ... and I don't trust myself as a pizza dough spanker/smacker/twirler/etc  ... I'm going to make sure it stays on the table where I can make sure it has a good chance at becoming breakfast instead of my dog's treat.  And believe me, she's right by my feet ready and waiting ...

On to the toppings.  Make sure your cream cheese is smooth and soft.  Almost like frosting so that it's easy to spread.

Spread it over the dough ...

Oh, and PS ... that is a fairly new baking stone that has only had a couple of uses.  It's not "dirty" ... just needs a total bath in oil and some curing.

Okay. Now that that is clarified.  Add your hashbrowns and then sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan.  The recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of hashbrowns ... but I think my pizza crust is a little smaller than what they make so I didn't need quite as much.

Next, chop up some pre-cooked bacon and green onions and spread those on top of the cheese and hashbrowns.

Slice up some artichoke heats ...

Mmm ... starting to look YUM!

Next, layer on your roasted red peppers and sprinkle on more cheese.

Add some capers and pop it into the oven for 15 minutes while you prepare your eggs.

Now THIS was a neat flavor that I'll have to add to other recipes.

White pepper.

It's a little more mild then regular black pepper, but then again it packs a little more heat.  Neat-o.

Add a 1/4 tsp of white pepper and 3 large eggs to a mixing bowl and whisk together.

Take the pizza out of the oven and SLOWLY pour the scrambled eggs on top.  You want them to fill into every open nook and cranny.  If you pour fast ... they'll shimmy off the top of the other ingredients and ooze over the edge.

Bake for another 20 minutes until the eggs are solid.  A great tip that the Hisega Lodge added was to then slice the pizza and add back to the oven for an additional 5 minutes.  It's definitely a "deep dish" style pizza,  so the extra 5 minutes helps it cook through.

You may even need a bigger pizza cutter!  I know I did!

I had forgotten all about the cream cheese we spread first on the crust ... until I took a bite.  Woooooow.

The cream cheese with the bacon and eggs and salty capers is mouth watering.  In fact, I'd say the white pepper and the cream cheese are the two "secret" ingredients that make this recipe pop.

Are you an Innkeeper?  Do you have a favorite breakfast recipe you'd like to share?  Email it to InnTheKitchen@gmail.com and we'll test it in our kitchen and post it here on www.InnTheKitchen.com

Hisega Lodge Breakfast Pizza

6-8 servings

Ingredients

2 cups biscuit mix

1/2 cup water

8 oz cream cheese, softened

6 green onions, finely sliced

6 canned, quartered artichokes

6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

1/2 cup roasted red peppers, cut in strips

1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

2 1/2 cups frozen hashbrowns

1 1/2 tbsp capers

1/2 (additional) cup mozzarella

14 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 eggs, whisked with 1 tbsp water and 1/2 tsp white pepper.

Directions

In a bowl, combine the biscuit mix and water and stir 20 strokes. Turn onto a floured surface
and knead 10 times. Roll into circle and put into a 12-inch pizza pan. OR roll into a rectangle
approximately 14-inch X 10-inches and place on the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a
13X9 inch baking dish.

Spread the softened cream cheese evenly over the dough. Place the hashbrowns over the
cream cheese and follow with 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and the parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the
bacon, onions, and artichokes over that and arrange the red pepper strips over all. Sprinkle the
1/2 cup additional mozzarella over all and sprinkle the capers over that.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Bake pizza in middle of oven for 15 minutes and then pour the
egg mixture carefully over the pizza. Bake another 20 minutes until crust is golden brown and
the eggs are just solid. I cut the pieces when the pizza is almost done and then put it back in
the oven for 5 minutes to finish baking. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Serve pizza with
fresh tomato and spinach.

###

We hosted Kyle & Stacey from Orlando's 67 Days of Smiles and showed them around our small town of Mount Dora. Take a peak of our off-roadin' Segway tour, boat cruise in the Dora Canal, and find out what made them smile! :o)