The Family Table: Recipe - Breakfast Sandwich Egg Patties

Friendly Reminder for recipes: C. is always cup and T. is always tablespoon. 

Recently I was looking for high protein recipes for easy meals or snacks and I came upon one that I have played around with a bit and turned into my own version for a loaded, delicious 28.9g serving of protein per patty.  

I've made it both with and without the ground sausage, but I prefer it with the added flavor and heartiness of breakfast sausage. 

It's a super easy dish that takes almost no time to put together and can be enjoyed on it's own as a side, or as a breakfast sandwich on a biscuit or English muffin.

Here's the recipe:

Pre-heat oven to 325. 

Line 12 cup muffin tin with silicone muffin liners for ease of removal.

6 large eggs

1 C. cottage cheese

1 C. shedded cheddar

*1 T. Cowboy Candy, or salsa, relish or any other type of sauce you like with eggs (optional)

* 1 t. any salt, pepper, or other seasonings you prefer (optional)

12 oz. cooked, crumbled ground breakfast sausage

Nutrition Label

Whisk eggs together, then add in cottage cheese, cheddar and any optional mix-ins. Add 1 T. cooked sausage to each cup, then pour 1 scant 1/4 C. of the egg & cheese mixture to fill to the top. Bake for 30 minutes. Use immediately or let cool slightly, then gently flatten, wrap with wax paper and place in a freezer bag & freeze for later use. 

To re-heat using a microwave, place the frozen patty on a microwave safe plate and heat for 90 seconds. Flip the patty over and heat for another 60 seconds. Enjoy on it's own or use for breakfast sandwiches on a biscuit or English muffin. 

I used the recipe analyzer at this site for the nutrition label seen here ➤

Please feel welcome to share your thoughts or questions in the comment section below, and I hope you have an incredible, blessed day!  

Status Report: December 2024 - Final Post of The Year!

After the festive Christmas rush of activity it's quiet again, and time for the last status report of the year. I like status reports - they're mini versions of blog posts & rando thoughts all wrapped up into one. So, here we are:

Been busy with: all the Christmas things.  From decorating to shopping, baking to basket filling and everything in-between. Somehow this year December came out of nowhere and Christmas was here long before I was mentally ready. Even with all that, there was plenty of laughter, lots of great food and I'm blessed that almost all of my people were able to be here with family this year. 

Contemplating: Writing out the story of Mrs. Dudley. Who exactly is Mrs. Dudley, you ask?  Yes, well she's among the top 3 most profoundly, godly, influential women in my life in my 60 years on this earth. It's always felt like her story needed to be told, for some reason. I have her name on my project list and it keeps staring at me. 😎

Feeling: nostalgic about Oregon. My twitter friend Beth humorously commented recently that "Oregon is home to Tillamook cheese and Bigfoot".  Well, yes. This is truth. But immediately my brain said: "And the Vortex, and the Sea Lion Caves, and Wildlife Safari, and the Dunes and mom's old house on the Umpqua River and all those amazing things." 😂

My family spent so much time there over the years it's really like a 2nd home vibe for me. I spent a lot of time there as a kid, then as an adult I've been blessed to take all my kids there too & relive some of the amazing adventures that we went on as kids. 

Oregon is a fantastic place to visit and explore. Highly recommend 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😊

Thinking: How incredibly enjoyable it is to actually have my very own "pretend" wildlife documentary show. I know it sounds funny and it really is, but with the technology of my simple little Ring spotlight cams and a free video editor I can document the urban wildlife in my very own backyard. It's also partly funny because 'wildlife photographer' was sort of my dream job if I ever had to pick.  

I'm often quite surprised by what I see on the cameras each day and until I actually had cams installed, I had no idea my back garden was as busy as it is at night. If you're curious and haven't watched, my wee little channel is Barefoot in the Garden on YT. So funny how 1 security cam turned into 3 wildlife food/drink camera stations around the back garden and pond. 😁  

Re-evaluating: My garden layout & plans for 2025. Nothing on paper (yet) but some big ideas. In my ongoing effort to refine what I'm growing and where, it's more of a simplified garden layout this year than it's ever been before, and I'm really looking forward to that.  

This will only be my 6th year of attempting to grow my own produce section of the grocery store 😄 and now after several trials and errors over many seasons, I know what grows well for me, what doesn't, and what I have room for. This year, I'm also leaning heavily into more perennial fruits to add to the ones I added last year. No such thing as too many berries. 

And with that, this month's and this year's Status Update posts come to a close. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have an incredible, blessed and fantastic day. 😊

If you have any thoughts or questions, please feel welcome to leave a comment. 

The Family Table: Homemade Seasoning Blends

Homemade Seasoning Blends 

In my ongoing effort to cut costs over the years as I was raising my family of seven children, one of the most invaluable tips I ever got was how to make my own seasoning blends for various recipes. It sounds like a simple little tip (and it really is) but I can only imagine how much money it's saved my grocery budget over the last 40+ years of making my own. 

Instead of relying on pre-packaged spice blends from the grocery store (which are often quite expensive) I learned how to easily make my own, and even how to grow many of my own ingredients for them. And if you've never done it before, it's much easier than you might think.  

Growing your own basil, oregano, rosemary, onions, sweet & hot peppers and garlic for all of these blends, considerably reduces the overall cost of each one.  You don't even need much space to do this, as all of them can be easily grown in small pots and then harvested, dried and powdered/crushed for a wide variety of uses. Be sure to check out Darcy's tips & videos at The Purposeful Pantry on how to create your own veggie (and fruit) powders for a wide variety of uses.

These are my family's most used & most loved seasoning blends that cost mere pennies for the same sized jar that costs anywhere from $6.99 and $8.99 at my local Canadian grocery store. Made at home, with most of the ingredients also grown at home, it comes out to roughly 75 cents for each one.

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BBQ Spice Blend/Rub

This blend is most used on grilled/air-fried chicken and pork and hamburger patties.

2 teaspoons salt

2 Tablespoons smoked paprika (or powdered red pepper)

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoons onion powder

pinch of nutmeg (optional)

2 Tablespoons brown sugar (optional)

Blend well & store in air-tight glass container.

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Quesadilla Seasoning

This blend is most used on beef or chicken quesadillas or beef & refried bean burritos.

2 Tablespoons smoked paprika (or powdered red pepper)

2 Tablespoons cumin

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Blend well & store in air-tight glass container. 

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Taco Seasoning

This is by far my family's most loved seasoning. I refill this one the most, and usually triple the recipe. 

1 Tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper or jalapeno pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Blend all spices well & store in air-tight glass jar.

For taco meat: 1/4 cup seasoning to 3/4 cup water with 1 lb. ground beef, chicken or turkey for seasoned meat. Cook meat until done, add seasoning and water, simmer on low uncovered, until water is reduced. 

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Italian Seasoning

Best for any Italian pasta dish such as spaghetti, ravioli, canneloni, lasagna, etc. that calls for Italian seasoning. I usually make a double or triple batch of this since we have Italian dishes quite often. 

4 Tablespoons basil

2 Tablespoons oregano

2 Tablespoons rosemary

2 Tablespoons marjoram

2 Tablespoons thyme

2 Tablespoons red pepper flakes

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I hope these seasoning blend recipes have encouraged you to create your own and help you see how easy it is trim your own grocery budget. 

Please feel welcome to share your thoughts or questions in the comment section below, and I hope you have an incredible, blessed day!  

The Family Table: Orange Citrus Fruit Powders

In my household I'm all about thrifting, saving, stretching and getting as many uses as I can with everything I have, and that's where this simple little recipe comes from. 

I really hope you find it useful.  

At Christmas time I like to include in my dessert menu and gift baskets, a batch of homemade orange fudge. It's very similar to the flavor of the popular Terry's Chocolate Orange, but even better! 

The way I pull that off, is with fresh, organic orange peels I've dried & powdered (intead of artificial orange extract you can purchase at the grocery store). 

The deep citrus orange flavor profile with real orange compared to artificial orange extract is like night and day. 

The added bonus is, you can use this same orange powder in a wide variety of dishes and recipes from breakfast muffins, cookies, candies, pastries and various stir fry dishes. There are countless different ways to use citrus orange peel powder.

Take 2, medium sized, organic Navel oranges & wash with cold water, thoroughly.  Peel oranges with as little of the white pith as possible.  Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, whatever works best.  Once the peels are removed, finely dice into pieces and place onto a dehydrator tray. (If you don't have a dehydrator - then just follow these directions for simple oven drying). 

In the dehydrator, run it at 135 degrees for 16 hours.  This is the maximum time suggested to make sure your peels are perfectly dry for powdering.  Once dried, transfer into the Magic Bullet small cup (or whatever blender you have), and blitz until they're the texture you like. 

I like mine a little more coarse but you can blitz them until they're a consistent, uniform powder.  You can use whatever appliance you have, whether it's a blender, coffee bean or spice grinder, or food processor as they all basically do the same thing. 

The texture I'm usually going for is that of a fine crumbly topping, but this is entirely preferential. You can blitz until it's a fine powder or you can leave even chunkier bits. The chunkier you leave it, the more bold orange flavor is present in whatever you're using it in. 

Generally, 2 oranges will produce 2 tablespoons of orange peel powder which is the perfect amount for add-ins to cookies, cakes, candies, muffins, and numerous other recipes.  It's a great solution to over-ripe oranges, nectarines, tangerines, clementines and most any other orange citrus. Instead of throwing it out, simply scrub up those peels and find new life in aging citrus fruits you never would have thought of. 

I hope you found this helpful, and if you have any questions or comments, please feel welcome to leave those below.