Brunch Scramble Rolls: Celebrate Blog With Friends

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends theme collaborations. Each month a group  of bloggers get together and each publish a project based on a theme. What I love about this partnership is that it’s not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may have a recipe, sewing tutorial, crafts projects, book review and/or a technology post all related to the theme of the month.

This month's theme is Celebrate. Appropriate for December, don't you think?

There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here’s a peek at what we all came up with:

I made Brunch Scramble Rolls. The reason I chose this dish is because, for me, brunch is a big part of celebrating during the holiday season. This is especially true of New Year's Day. I wrote a post once before about the New Year's Brunch I used to host when my kids were little. It was a casual, festive open house, I had as many as 40 guests in any given year.

 Brunch Scramble Rolls

So much of the holiday season revolves around food, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I always make a full turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, and I do the same on Christmas day. The start of Chanukah is celebrated not just with the lighting of the menorah, but with a dinner featuring Prime Rib. The day after those holidays, and New Year's too, I serve brunch. It's a late morning meal served and eaten in pajamas. It's a family tradition I treasure. So when I think of "celebrate" and I think of food, it's brunch that often comes to mind for me. 

These Brunch Scramble Rolls are a new addition to our brunch table and they're a hit. They're quick and easy to make, which always works for me. I want delicious and impressive brunch options, but it's the day after a holiday, I want ease when it comes to preparation.

I start with dinner rolls and no, I don't make them I buy them. This year I used wheat rolls. I hollow them, butter them and pop them in the oven.

I gather the other ingredients. Did you notice most of them are in baggies? I do the chopping the day before. 

That makes the scrambled egg portion as easy as . . . well . . . scrambling eggs! 

Fill the rolls with the eggs, pop on the tops and serve. Delish. And they're festive looking, don't you think?

Shhh, don't tell, but when Hubs isn't home for dinner, the boys and I will sometimes have breakfast for dinner. Lately, College Boy's been requesting these Brunch Scramble Rolls.

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:

Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares Bottle on a Shelf, a beautiful mantelpiece craft. 

Tamara of Part-Time Working Hockey Mom shares Fun with Elf on the Shelf. 

 Jules of The Bergham Chronicles shares Celebrate Good Times, five fun ways to celebrate a birthday.

Kia of Think in English shares What to Honor in an ESL/EFL Classroom and How to do it.

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Repurposed Christmas Painted Bricks.

Rabia of The Lieber Family Blog shares Snowman Trio, a cute holiday decoration for your home.

Melissa of My Heartfelt Sentiments shares Celebrate Relationships, low cost items for the holiday season. 

  

Be sure to stop by again next month for more theme based projects.

Brunch Scramble Rolls

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

6 dinner rolls
3 TBSP butter, melted
2 tsp grated parmesan
1 green onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red pepper
1/2 cup fresh spinach
1/2 cup cooked chopped bacon
4 eggs
1/3 cup milk

salt and pepper
1/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet. 
*Cut just the tops off of the rolls and set onto the baking sheet, cut side up. Carefully remove most of the bread from the inside of the roll to create a bowl. Place onto the baking sheet.
*Using a pastry brush, dab the melted butter into the bread bowls and onto the bread tops. Sprinkle with the parmesan.
*Bake for about 10 minutes, just until they start to brown. Remove from oven.
*Heat a greased skillet to medium. Add the green onion and the red pepper. Cook and stir until it starts to soften. Add the spinach and stir for 1 minute. Add the bacon.
*Whisk the eggs and milk together, pour into the skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Cook and stir until the eggs are scrambled. Lower the heat, add the cheddar and stir until it melts. 
*Scoop the scrambled eggs into the prepared bread bowls. Gently place a toasted bread top over each bread bowl.

Lame, Lamer, Lamest: Secret Subject Swap

Welcome a Secret Subject Swap. This month 10 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. Read through mine and at the bottom you’ll find links to all of today’s other Secret Subject participants.

My subject is: Make a list of the best/lamest excuses you've encountered (or used yourself).
It was submitted by: Tamara of Part-Time Working Hockey Mom.


Oh, puhhhlease. Lamest excuses? I'm a mom. Fielding lame excuses from kids is pretty much part of the job description. Although all kids use them, and all moms have heard them, I have to admit that sometimes they push the limits. A mom's dilemma, when met with yet another level of absurdity when it comes to excuses is the age old "do I laugh or do I cry?"

I don't remember all the lame excuses I've heard (or used, for that matter). I'm sure that's out of mental self-preservation. But there are a few that have stuck in my mind. Sadly, these are a few I just can't seem to forget.

Top three lamest excuses I've heard:

* "The poop was already on the floor when I got here". No dilemma here, this one's a "cry". In fact, my eyes still water at the memory.

* The kids were not allowed to eat or drink in the living room when they were little. One day I came downstairs and the carpet in the living room was soaking wet. I found my youngest, who was around 4 or 5 at the time. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Were you drinking in the living room?
Son: No.
Me: Why is the carpet wet?
Son: It's raining.
Me: Raining?
Son (looking away): Yes, Mom.
Me: In the house?
Son: {{silence}}
Me: You want to change your story?
Son (pointing out the window, where it is, in fact, raining): No, Mom, see, it's raining.

* "I know you said not to touch the cookies, Mama, but I was hungry and the shelf with the candy is up too high". I have to admit that a 3 year old saying this while looking at me with those innocent saucer eyes made me laugh. Well, I laughed after I cleaned up all the crumbs from the floor of the pantry.

Eggnog Brickle Cookies

Let me just say that if I'm faced with a situation where I feel like I'm on the spot and have to come up with something quickly, I freeze. Well, my brain does anyway. And what comes out of my mouth is invariably idiotic. I totally suck at lying.

Top three lamest excuses I've used:


* There were Curling trials going on in our town. I actually like the sport, I've watched it in the Olympics and I think it's interesting. I don't think I'd want to watch an entire match in person, though. I'd imagine it's cold in the rink, and I don't think a match would keep me interested from beginning to end. It was a freezing cold night and I was curled up in a ball on the couch. Hubs came upstairs with his phone to his ear, told me that his friends had 2 extra tickets to the Curling trials, and wanted to know if we wanted to go with them.
"I can't, I have to stay home" I started, searching for words "I really need to sweep the floor."



* When I was in my late 20s, I had to renew my license so I left work a little early and stopped by the registry. I wasn't feeling well so I'd planned on going home and going to bed. At the registry, I actually failed the eye test. I was told that I had 2 weeks to come back with glasses or contacts and retake the exam.
I came back 2 weeks later without glasses or contacts to try again. The examiner didn't want to re-test me. I explained to her that the last time I failed because "I was sick. I had the mumps and it affected my eyesight". 
"Yeah, right, can't you do any better than that?" she argued, "not only do adults not get the mumps, but no one does any more, ever heard of the MMR vaccine?"
Yes, it was a lame excuse. Yes, I'd had the MMR. And yes, I'd actually just had the mumps. 
PS: Once I finally got her to give me the exam, I passed it.

* I was once asked by an acquaintance if I could drive her kids to school. Which day? Every day. Although I don't mind helping people out now and then, or working out a carpool arrangement, I wasn't going to drive her kids every day with no reciprocation. So what did I say? The first stupid thing that came to my head. "I'd be happy to, but my seat belts are broken."



BTW, if anyone wants play Cyrano de Bergerac for me when I need excuses, I could use the help.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Cognitive Script

The Blogging 911  

The Lieber Family Blog

 The Bergham Chronicles

Southern Belle Charm
Bookworm in the Kitchen
Never Ever Give Up Hope 
Part-Time Working Hockey Mom 
Climaxed

Eggnog Brickle Cookies

                                                              ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe


Ingredients (makes about 3 dz):

1 stick butter, softened
1 stick margarine, softened
3/4  cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 TBSP spiced rum
3 TBSP eggnog
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup toffee bits
about 2 TBSP colored sugar

Directions: 
*Cream the butter, margarine and sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg, eggnog and rum.
*Carefully beat in the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg starting at the lowest speed until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Mix in the toffee bits.
*Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours and up to a day.
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover three baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the colored sugar onto a plate.
*Roll the dough into approximately 1/2 inch balls. Dip the top of each ball into the colored sugar and place onto baking sheets.
*Bake for 11 - 13 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before removing to cool completely.

To Seat or Not to Seat

Should the Senate seat Roy Moore if he's elected? 

Yes. 

Let me explain. Because it is emotionally painful for me to believe that.

Up is down and down is up. My kids used to joke, when something seemed grossly amiss, that it must be "opposite day". Opposite day? That I could live with. We're so far past opposite day we can't even find that little dot in our rear view mirror. We, my friends, we're living in Bizzaroworld. 

The "president" of these United States, an admitted sexual predator, is openly endorsing an accused child molester for Senate. 

Let that sink in. 

I've been trying but it can't. It must be because I'm too left brained, but for me it just does not compute.

Not only is the candidate from Alabama accused of molesting children but also, many times, of stalking them, including in malls and in their schools. As if that's not bad enough (and in a normal world, it is) he has twice been elected as a judge in the Alabama Supreme Court, and twice removed for refusing to adhere to the Alabama Cannons of Ethics. He is openly homophobic, and does not know (or care) about the separation of church and state. How he made it to the bench that second time, after being removed the first time, is meaningful. It is a glimpse into the priorities of the community he now is running to represent in the Senate.

I have to admit that at first, when some sitting senators began discussing not seating Moore if elected, I was relieved. Phew, an "out". But later that same morning, I sat down with a cup of coffee, some warm cookies and my favorite sounding board, College Boy, and ended up completely reversing my stance.

Giant Banana Toffee Cookies

Lets talk about the famous (infamous) Access Hollywood tapes. The fallout was this: Billy Bush lost is job and Donald Trump was elected. Is it fair? Not to most of us. But there is a difference between being employed and being elected. A crucial difference. The workplace is not a democracy. Our country is supposed to be.

Moving on the the situation with Al Franken and John Conyers. They are elected officials who are facing the political consequences of the behaviors of which they are accused. And they should. But here is the difference between them and Moore: these men's electorates did not have this information when they were running for office. We cannot know if they would have been elected had these accusations come out during their campaigns. In this situation, any possible repercussions must be put into the hands of the governing bodies in which they currently serve.

We have lost our moral compass. That was evident during the presidential campaign and pretty much every day since. Our political parties are about tribalism, protecting donors, and reelection, nothing more seems to penetrate. Lindsay Graham said Trump was a "kook" and unfit for office, then walked it back. Paul Ryan said that these are not the values of his party, now looks at the "president" with adoration. Nancy Pelosi said Conyers was an icon, then called for his resignation. It's no longer about us, the citizens. It's about them. We, the people, we don't even seem to register. We are the scenery, they are the actors.

And so, one week before the Alabama election, I had to do a lot of soul searching. I had to put aside my own morals and values and even my extreme nausea and dig deep to find what it is that I believe in when it comes to the current state of our government. And I found it. It's democracy. There is so much that I see as an assault to that democracy. Within the parties themselves, it's the super-delegates who negate the premise that there is one vote for person and each vote matters as much as the next. In the election, it's the Electoral College, which does the same thing. Gerrymandering the districts is flat out cheating made legal.

And I think that refusing to seat a duly elected Senator when all of the accusations against him were well known during the election, is yet another fall down the slippery slope away from democracy. If we allow the senate, who's motives are dubious and values are fluid, to usurp the will of the people, what exactly do we stand for?

Yes, we need to find our moral compass again. There is no question in my mind that Donald Trump has opened Pandora's Box. And evil is dancing in our streets unchecked. But the remedy is not to further expropriate the will of the people by nullifying elections. No matter how distasteful, repulsive, offensive, disgusting, repugnant, abhorrent . . . the results of those elections may be. Or we are no longer a democracy.  

Giant Banana Toffee Cookies        
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (makes 2 1/2 dozen):
1 stick butter, softened
2 over ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt 
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup chocolate covered toffee baking chips

1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
*Cream the butter, bananas, 3/4 cup sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla. 
*Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Carefully, starting on the lowest speed until incorporated, beat into the banana mixture. Mix in the chocolate covered toffee baking chips.
*Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.
*Mix together 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a bowl.
*Drop dough, a heaping TBSP at a time, into the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll in the sugar/cinnamon mixture, forming into a ball and place onto prepared baking sheets (no more than 12 cookies per sheet as they spread).
*Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to cool completely.