Dear Food: I love you.

I'm not sure it qualifies as breakfast since we didn't actually eat until 1:30 in the afternoon. But it was pretty tasty & I thought I'd share these recipes.

Vanialla French Toast (w/ homemade chokecherry syrup)

Red Delicious Sausage

Jalepeno Bacon

Mixed Fruit & Cream

(Yea ... I said sausage AND bacon. We tend to error on the side of carniverous in this house. Ha.)

The VANILLA FRENCH TOAST toast is fairly simple & you can find 500 variations of the same recipe on the net. The one we like goes something like this:

3 eggs

3 cups of milk

1/4 cup mexican vanilla extract

1 Tblspn Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon nutmeg

2 pinches of clove

Beat the batter until mixed well. Dip your bread & place on griddle (or in skillet) over medium heat. Cook on each side until browned. (* don't be scared if it comes out a little burned looking. Thats just the spices in the batter!)

RED DELICIOUS SAUSAGE

This is my perosnal favorite!

Gather these ingredients:
* 1 pound ground italian sausage
* a large red delicious apple (or two small ones!) (chopped!)
* a large white or yellow onion (chopped!)
* 1/2 cup maple syrup (Don't go Log Cabin or Mrs. Buttersworth on this. Treat yourself to REAL maple syrup. It's a bit more expensive but its SO worth it!)
* olive oil
* 1/4 tablespoon nutmeg
* 1 tablespoon cinnamon
* 2 table spoons McCormick brand Montreal Grillin' Seasoning

In a skillet over medim-low heat sautee the onion in olive oil for about 90 seconds; stirring constantly. (This is a really important step! Don't skip it --- you'll change the flavor of the end result!)

Remove from skillet & drain the oil.

In a mixing bowl mis together the sausage, onion, finely chopped apple chunks, syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, and grillin' seasoning.

Mix together well --- get your hands dirty!

Make patties out of the concoction & place in a skillet over medium heat. Cook with the lid on to keep those flavors locked in. Pay careful attention to flipping the patties. The syrup will make it extremely vulnerable to burning. You want it to cook all the way through but you don't want to burn the outsides. :)


JALEPENO BACON

Easy peasy.

Soak the bacon in jalepeno juice for 30 minutes before cooking regularly. I opt to throw sices of jalepenos in with mine because I LOVE the way the cooked peppers taste. But use caution --- cooking with the peppers (the seeds!) will make this considerably spicier than just using the juice.

Also, I might warn against cooking this bacon if you have small children or babies in the general vicinity. The air gets hot. Think of cutting onions --- but worse! Ha. This is really only meant for people with an extreme love of jalepenos --- like me. :)

FRUIT & BERRIES

I mix this with my french toast or I eat it plain. I love it.

I use the Schwann's mixed berry medley. It comes with raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. Then I cut up an orange and add it to the mix. Sometimes I steam fresh cranberries and add them too --- but not today.

The cream I use on top is Yoplait lemon flavored yogurt with a splash of orange juice. (It tastes great without the orange juice too ... but I like a runnier consistencey.)

CHOKE CHERRY SYRUP

I don't make syup or jelly. My recipe for this is to befriend someone else who does all the work. Haha. Inevitably you will always have yummy home made goods in your cupboard if you have a friend who is in to canning. :)

Anyhow, there ya have it. I hope you will, at the very least, give the sausage recipe a try sometime. It's fabulous.

Happy Sunday, Ya'll.