dinner at eight :: breakfast for dinner

{Dinner at Eight is a special project I am doing with my friend Rebekah this year - planning date nights at home for our husbands every other week, putting the kids to bed early and being intentional about our marriages! Read more Dinner at Eight posts HERE!}

{P.S. I am so sorry this week's post is a few days late! We were out of town last Wednesday to late Sunday night and I just was not able to get it up before I left!}

 Breakfast food. One of Erik and my favorites! I have so many fond memories of past dates at our favorite breakfast restaurants. Long Shoreman's Daughter (now closed) in Fremont Seattle when we were very first married, and  Little Cheerful + The Old Town Cafe when we lived in Bellingham. We have yet to find a favorite breakfast haunt in our current hometown, so for this date I set about recreating some favorites from the past.

First, I chose a name for our little at-home restaurant that combined two of our old favorites: The Old Cheerful Cafe. I searched and searched online for some kind of fun art to add to the menu cover and was so excited when I found this sweet teacup design as a free printable over at Creature Comforts.

I set our table using one of my favorite vintage tablecloths that was given to me by a dear friend, some colorful Fiestaware dishes, and canning jars for glasses. I love that Fiestaware can easily be dressed up or down and the colors just make me so happy. Little Cheerful is also one of the very first places that I really fell in love with Fiestaware. Our napkins were placed in an old galvanized bucket.

Creating our date night menu ended up being a bit harder than I had originally anticipated. With Easter Sunday falling just a couple days before our date, I realized a little too late that I had used some of our favorite breakfast foods for our family's after church Easter Brunch- quiche, banana muffins, + cinnamon petal biscuits.

So I asked Erik what his number one favorite breakfast food was and he said roasted red potatoes. Thankfully I hadn't made potatoes for Easter, so we had those. Audrey had been asking all week for me to make her favorite zucchini muffins, so I added those to the list. Then I just added a few more things that I knew were always hits- orange juice, glazed chocolate donuts from our favorite grocery store, a strawberry citrus salad, and well-done bacon (Erik insists on all of his meat being well-done!). I planned on also serving Irish Cream hot chocolate, but honestly once we had eaten everything else, we were completely full and not really in the mood for anything else sweet.

Another thing that was kind of a challenge with this date is the fact that Erik was home while I was trying to set it up. He just started a brand new job today (a huge huge answer to prayer!), and last week he ended up having a few days off in between jobs. So while I was trying to prepare all the food and set up the table, I was also trying to keep as much of it under wraps as I could!

When it was all said and done, Erik and I both agreed that this date was our very favorite one yet! So many of our favorite foods, combined with so many happy memories from our past. Erik also mentioned that he really loved the time I took to create a meaningful menu and a cozy table. Just like Rebekah, I had planned on us watching Breakfast at Tiffany's when we were done eating, but our stomachs were really full and we still had quite a bit of packing to do for our out of town trip the next day, so we ended up skipping it.

I am already really looking forward to our next Dinner at Eight!

{Don't forget to check out Rebekah's sweet Breakfast for Dinner date. That girl is seriously amazing when it comes to setting the atmosphere + decorating!}

January 10

We had one of our very favorite breakfasts this morning. I love making these because even my super picky little boy gobbles them up!  I almost always double this recipe.

OVEN PANCAKES (aka. Dutch Babies)

recipe adapted from The Joy of Cooking

2 eggs

1/2 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

sprinkle of cinnamon

1/4 c. sugar (I have been decreasing this or not including it at all lately)

1/2 c. flour

 2 T. butter (or more if you want!)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Beat eggs in a medium size bowl. Add milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar (if desired). 

Put butter in a pie plate (or a 9x13 pan if you are doubling the recipe) (and yes! you don't have to use a skillet!), and put the plate in the preheated oven. While the butter is melting (keep in eye on it- I have had it explode in my oven before!), whisk the flour into the other ingredients. 

Take the pie plate out of the oven and tilt it a bit to spread the melted butter around. Pour batter into the pie plate and place back into the oven to bake for 12-15 minutes (I usually check it after 12 minutes). 

* Audrey and Elliot love their oven pancakes with real maple syrup; I usually eat mine plain or with fresh lemon juice + powdered sugar. 

January 8

A quiet cozy day at home. We made one of our favorite breakfast treats that my mama used to make me as a little girl - Cinnamon Petal Biscuits. We got some housework done. We finished off the night with movies! Land Before Time for the kids (continuing with our dinosaur theme), and then Inception (which I actually thought was really boring, but maybe I was just tired?) for the grown-ups. 

Here is my yummy recipe for Cinnamon Petal Biscuits- you will definitely want to make these soon! Maybe breakfast this weekend?

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CINNAMON PETAL BISCUITS

2 cups flour

3 T. sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. shortening

2/3 c. milk

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/4 c. sugar

2-3 T. cinnamon 

Grease 12 muffin cups. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, the 3 tablespoons of sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center of dry mixture. Add milk all at once. Using a fork, stir just until moistened. (I usually just use my standing mixer for this part)

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Quickly knead dough by gently folding and pressing for 10-12 strokes or until nearly smooth. Divide dough in half. Roll half of dough to a 12x10-inch rectangle. Brush dough with half of the melted butter. 

In a small bowl, stir together the ¼ c. sugar and the cinnamon (I just use our already-made cinnamon sugar mixture we have on hand for toast!), sprinkle half over the dough. Cut rectangle into five 12x2-inch strips. Stack the 5 strips on top of each other. Cut the stack into six 2x2-inch squares. Place squares, cut sides down, in prepared muffin cups. Repeat with remaining dough, butter, and cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

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P.S. I know the recipe looks super complicated with all it's steps, but it really is so easy. And totally worth it- these things are the BEST!

P.P.S. And I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished biscuits before we ate them all! Next time I won't forget!

January 3

I made our very favorite waffles this morning for breakfast, or rather, brunch. It is a recipe I got from the blog NieNie Dialogues a few years ago that has become one of my go-to recipes; I know it by heart now. The kids ask for it at least once a week.

We also jumped back into school today. We are learning about dinosaurs and the letter D!