Pepperoni Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients:

8 slices of bread (I use whole wheat)
6 oz shredded cheese (mozzarella or Italian blend)
1/2 marinara sauce
6 oz sliced pepperoni
dried basil
dried oregano
cooking spray

Directions:

Pre-heat a large skillet over medium heat. Spray the pan with cooking spray. Place 2 slices of bread in the skillet (more if your skillet is big enough). Place 1 1/2 oz of cheese on each slice of bread. Sprinkle with basil and oregano. Top with 2 layers of sliced pepperoni (12-18 slices, depending on the size of your bread). Place a 2nd slice of bread on top. Spray with cooking spray. Cook until golden brown on first side, flip and cook until golden brown on second side and cheese is melted. Repeat for remaining sandwiches.

Serve with marinara sauce for dipping (remember to heat it up in the microwave if you've been storing it in the fridge)

Serves 4

To see what I spent on this recipe and read the story behind it, visit my other blog here.

Hazelnut French Toast with Cherry Compote

Ingredients:

1 Loaf of Bread (I use whole wheat)

4 large eggs

1 16 oz bottle Coffee Mate Hazelnut Biscotti Creamer

1 Tbs ground cinnamon

1 lb Cherries, pitted

Directions:

Pit the cherries and place them in the blender or food processor. Blend until mostly smooth (it will be a little chunky). Set aside.

Pre-heat a griddle to 350 degrees (or over medium heat if using the stove top).

In a large, wide bowl, beat together the eggs, creamer, and cinnamon. Once the griddle is hot, dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture, turning to coat. Place on the griddle. Repeat for as many slices as will fit. Cook them until golden brown on first side (about 4 minutes) and flip to second side.

Once finished cooking, serve them with a dollop of cherry compote on top.

Serves about 8 (2 slices each)

To see what I spent on this recipe, visit my other blog here.

Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated Pizza Dough
1/4 cup corn meal
3/4 cup Marinara Sauce
8 eggs
1 Tbs Butter
1 Tbs Vegetable Oil
8 oz shredded Mexican blend cheese (I use one with pepper jack)
1 small onion, finely diced
1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 green bell pepper, finely diced
1 small jalapeno minced
6 oz Breakfast Sausage links
salt and pepper

Directions:

Cook Sausage according to package directions. Allow to cool before slicing it into 1/4 inch thick slices.

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Sprinkle a baking sheet with corn meal. Unroll pizza dough onto the pan. Bake for 5-7 minutes - until golden brown all over.

While the pizza dough is baking, pre-heat a large skillet over medium heat with 1 Tbs vegetable oil. Finely chop the onion and add to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until lightly golden brown, about 5 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, finely chop the bell peppers and mince the jalapeno. Add them to the pan with the onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook for only 1 minute so that the peppers maintain their color. Turn of the heat.

Pre-heat a large skillet over medium heat with 1 Tbs butter. Crack the eggs into a medium size mixing bowl and beat well. Season with salt and pepper. Add them to the pan and cook (scramble) until just set.

To assemble the pizza, spread the marinara sauce onto the pizza dough, scatter the scrambled eggs around, sprinkle with the shredded cheese, scatter the peppers and onions and top with the breakfast sausage slices.

Cook at 425 for about 5 minutes - just until cheese is melted. Slice and serve.

Serves 4

To see what I spent on this recipe, visit my other blog here.

We serve this with Smashed Maple Sweet Potatoes and Bananas.

This recipe is part of 5 Dollar Dinners $5 dinner challenge.

Egg Nog French Toast

Ingredients:

1 loaf of bread (I used wheat)

5 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, divided

1 1/2 tsp rum extract, divided

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup maple syrup

Directions:

Pre-heat a griddle to 350 degrees (or over medium heat, if on the stove top).

In a wide bowl beat together the eggs, milk and salt until completely blended. Beat in 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp rum extract and 1 tsp nutmeg.

Once griddle is warm, dip bread into egg mixture, turning and coating completely. Place on griddle and repeat for remaining slices of bread. Cook until golden brown (4-5 minutes) then flip and finish cooking. Remove from griddle. Repeat as many times as necessary to finish cooking the loaf of bread (depends on your griddle size).

While the french toast is cooking, place syrup in a small saucepan. Stir in 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Heat over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp rum extract. Serve over french toast

Serves 8 (about 16 slices total, 2 slices each)

We make this whole batch because there is nothing my husband loves more than breakfast food that he can snack on at all hours of the day.