Breakfast

Baking with Kids | Berry Cream Cheese Biscuit Muffins

Motherhood, Recipes, Uncategorized

Are you looking for an insanely easy & fun recipe for your kids to bake almost entirely by themselves? This is it! My 4 year old – Athena – did literally everything by herself, except handle the oven, and left behind NO mess at all, except for the dirty dishes for me to wash. 

I love breakfast foods, but I do not love eating when I first wake up. It takes me a good 6+ hours of being awake to begin to feel hungry. My children, however, love to stuff their face the second their eyes open. Allowing them to make their own kid-friendly breakfasts has worked out really great for our family.

Ingredients

  • 2 3/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon Sugar
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
  • 4 oz. Cold Cream Cheese
  • 1 stick Salted Butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 1/4 cup Buttermilk
  • 2/3 cup Blueberries* {or whatever berries/fruit you have on hand… could also substitute Chocolate Chips, Sprinkles, raisins, or nuts even, or omit if plain is more your style.}

Directions

  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking salt, sugar, and salt.
  • Add cream cheese & butter cubes to the mixture, set a timer for 5 minutes, then use your hands to mix together until all crumbly & combined.
  • Dig a hole in the center with your hands, then pour in buttermilk. Using a rubber spatula, stir until combined.
  • Fold in Blueberries {or other mix in choice.}
  • Scoop mixture into a greased muffin tin & bake for 15 minutes at 425°F {Adult Supervision Required}.

While the Biscuit Muffins are baking, prepare your Sea Salt Vanilla Butter for serving.

Ingredients

  • 6 Tablespoons Salted Butter, softened
  • 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

Directions

  • Mix ingredients together with a kid-sized rubber spatula until blended & easily spreadable.

Let cool for a few minutes before serving with a heaping spoonful of Sea Salt Vanilla Butter.

This really is such a kid-friendly recipe. It takes very little time from start to finish, involves super fun “play-learning” using their hands {make sure to wash first!!}, leaves them feeling accomplished & successful, as well as provides them with useful baking skills that they can use for the rest of their lives. Happy baking!!!

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

Vegetarian Savory Farmhouse Muffins

Recipes, Uncategorized

Good morning, world! 

I am enjoying the most delicious, savory, yet, still sweet muffin this morning & had to share the recipe with you so that you can enjoy them with me! They are SO good! Not only are they tasty, but they make a great grab & go Breakfast that is both yummy and filling.

The moistness of the muffin & maple flavor from the vegetarian sausage makes the Muffins taste like pancakes, but hand-held & without mess! The Jalapeños give the perfect amount of heat/flavor. The cheese crust ties the whole thing together & gives a little crunch. They are seriously the PERFECT savory Breakfast muffin if you ask me!

I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do!

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 stick salted butter, melted
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon Minced pickled jalapeño
  • 1 tablespoon dried Chives
  • 3/4 cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar, + extra for topping
  • 4 oz cream cheese {warmed 30 seconds.}
  • 3 Morning Star Farms Maple Flavored Veggie Breakfast Sausage patties, warmed.

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 375° & grease 12 count muffin pan, set aside.
  • Heat Morning Star Farms Maple Flavored Veggie Breakfast Sausage by your preferred method on package, Crumble into bite size pieces using a fork, then set aside.
  • In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together: flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  • In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, & melted butter.
  • Pour flour mixture to liquid mixture, stir with a rubber spatula until combined. Fold in jalapeño, cream cheese, Shredded Cheese, and Chives. Finally, fold in vegetarian sausage.
  • Scoop mixture into each muffin tin, filling evenly until all batter is used & top with Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese.
  • Bake for 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Enjoy! 

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

Ukrainian Halva Fairy French Toast

Recipes

Our family loves French Toast. It’s such a delicious way to start your morning, but it can be really messy, especially when little hands get ahold of maple syrup.

This is a really fun & tasty way to switch up your French Toast to keep all the deliciousness, but lose the mess! Plus it’s cute as heck and sprinkles are a guaranteed way to start the morning out with a smile. Plus it’s so simple to make!

The halva is already sweet like candy, but with a nutty/toffee-like flavor to it so maple syrup is not needed for this recipe, but if you can’t imagine French Toast without it (like my Ella), go right ahead and add it!

Ingredients

  • Your Favorite Bread
  • 6 Eggs
  • 2 cups Milk
  • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • Cinnamon (as much or little as you like)
  • Butter
  • Ukrainian Sunflower Seed Halva
  • Rainbow Sprinkles (optional)

Directions

  • Whisk together eggs, milk, cinnamon, & vanilla extract in a bowl and pour into a small square or rectangle dish (but still large enough to fit your bread slices).
  • Dip Bread, flipping after at least 10 seconds to make sure both sides get completely covered.
  • Fry in warmed cast iron skillet on medium low for 2 minutes on each side.
  • Spread butter, spread Ukrainian Halva, top with rainbow Sprinkles.

Enjoy! 🍽

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

Ukrainian Pancakes (Syrniki)

Motherhood, Recipes, Uncategorized

Sasha & I made Syrniki this morning for breakfast! Syrniki are Ukrainian pancakes made from Farmers Cheese. I didn’t have time to pick up real Farmers Cheese, so I used cottage cheese as a substitute. Next time I make these, I’m going to stop in at Marina’s European Food Market and pick up some real Slavic Farmers Cheese.

In case you don’t know us personally, I am Ukrainian & my husband is from Russia. I was lucky enough to grow up learning some of the Ukrainian/Eastern European culture from my dad & his family (his sister, Mary, & her polish husband, Vince, both who are sadly no longer with us.) I loved going to their family parties! Learning the traditions, hearing the language… I loved their accents. I’d ask them to speak to me in Ukrainian, and in Ukrainian they would say, “why should I speak it if you can’t understand it?” I just thought that was the coolest thing ever. I learned a few words growing up, but never the language.

Ever since I was little, I knew I wanted to marry an Eastern European man. I gave all of my children a Ukrainian (or Russian) middle name to honor our heritage: Kaden Yuri (after my dad) 💙, Ella Aleksandriya 💗, Mia Nataliya (after Niko’s birth mother) 💗, Sasha Katiya 💗, Athena Mariyah (after my dad’s sister & my mom, both Mary… *side note: it isn’t supposed to have an “h” at the end. I’m still mad at myself for agreeing to putting that) 💗, & Moses Kolya (after Niko) 💙.

Since the invasion, I have decided to go “full Ukrainian.” I’ve taught myself how to read & write their alphabet confidently. I can now speak Ukrainian at an elementary level. I am teaching my children as I learn so we can be fluent at home. My husband has tried teaching me Russian over the years (which is very similar to Ukrainian), and I’ve tried Rosetta Stone in the past so it wasn’t totally unfamiliar to me, but this time it just clicked- almost like it was unlocked from my DNA bank. I finally would be able to not only understand what they were saying to me, but respond too. I’m so proud of myself.

In addition to all of that, I am learning how to cook Ukrainian foods so that I will be able to pass recipes down to my children to continue embracing our culture for generations to come.

Today we made Syrniki & it turned out REALLY yummy so I decided to share it here.

Gather your ingredients.

  • 2 16oz containers cottage cheese (farmers cheese if possible)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

I have a large family & wanted to make sure that I had extra to send to my parents to try. If you have a small family; cut this in half, or make & use for breakfast prep/freezer breakfast meal for later.

Mix together.

Sasha hard at work mixing everything together in a big bowl.

Meanwhile, pour some oil of your choice on a skillet on the stove and let it heat up.

Wash your hands again. Leave them a little wet, but not dripping. Grab a smallish size amount of cheese mixture and form into a patty & place on stove. Wet hands again & repeat one by one. You’ll want to fry them until they are golden brown. DO NOT move them until you see the crust forming on the bottom & the top looks flat like pancake batter, no longer like cottage cheese (the cottage cheese will slop all over the pan if you flip too soon). Flipping is more difficult than with American pancakes.

Once both sides are golden brown, transfer to a place &…

Serve.

I served these with peaches. I had planned on making cream to go with them as well, but got too overwhelmed with the flipping that I decided peaches were enough. Next time I will definitely make the cream ahead of time because it would be a very nice treat to go with them.

Now that I made them and know what to expect, I will feel more confident making them from here on out. I am excited to try them with various toppings, especially other fruits & jams. They are more savory than sweet, so the fruits bring a natural sweetness to them. They are really, really good though- the kids even said they were delicious!

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

Mother’s Day 2022

Crafts & DIY, Motherhood, Uncategorized

Happy Mothers Day to all the mama’s out there! I hope that today was wonderful for you.

I started Mothers Day weekend off at my parents house. My dad made a French toast, fresh fruit, and potatoes breakfast for my mom & I on Saturday.

After breakfast, my mom & I went to our favorite local flower farmer annual plant sale. I am so happy about my picks. We got them planted today (Sunday) and I cannot wait to see them grow! I swear her flowers just take root so much better than anything I’ve gotten anywhere else around town!

After the plant sale, Niko & I took the kids out to the annual Chili Cook Off & Dessert Auction at church. I REALLY enjoyed the vegetarian chili. My mother in law told me that she would ask the woman who made it for the recipe for me.

The dessert auction was fun. I couldn’t believe how much some of these families paid for these homemade desserts! One cake went for over $1000! It was to raise money for the Youth Mission Trip. (My father in law let us know today that the entire trip is paid in full thanks to the auction!) Next year I really want to enter a dessert or two into the auction. I wonder how much mine would go for?! 🤔

My father in law made & entered a “Strawberry Fields Forever” strawberry shortcake filled with real strawberries 🍓 and topped with a homemade strawberry glaze. He bid on & won that for us all to share. It was SO yummy! My mother in law bid on chocolate chip cookies for us to share. We also ended up bringing home a red velvet & cream cheese frosting cake.

Gifts

We bought plain white photo frames. I wrote Happy Mothers Day in the center & the girls signed all of their names and colored with Sharpies. After they were finished, we printed out photos of Moses & the girls and put them inside of the frames.

Mia & I had gone to Trader Joe’s the afternoon beforehand to buy several bouquets of flower arrangements. I took the arrangements apart and I laid all of the flowers on the table for the girls to make new bouquets for the Babas (Ukrainian word for grandma 👵🏼) except for the roses (since they had thorns) which I split 3 ways evenly.

They ended up turning out really cute! I thought this was a super fun way for the girls to be involved. I loved doing this with Mia at Findlay Market last year and really wanted to be able to make it possible for all of the girls to create real bouquets together to gift to their Babas for Mothers Day and thought this would be the easiest and less stressful way to accomplish that.

We assembled all of our gifts together and packed them up for each Baba.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of all of the completed bouquets. They were really pretty. Both my mom & Ali were really impressed with the girls work. I really hope that we made them feel special today.

Mia & Ella each made me a few things. Mia made me a cupcake 🧁 at The Mad Potter & a really cute card. Ella made me a mushroom 🍄 at The Mad Potter, a clay bowl in art class, a bouquet of paper flowers each listing different reasons why she loves me, & a box of “coupons” for me to cash in for various things like hugs, a walk around the block, or helping me out around the house.

Noah, Ella, Luda, Mia, Ali, Niko & Moses, me, Athena, Kevin, Milana, Sasha

We went to church, then out to lunch with my husband’s parents, sister, & her two children: Noah & Milana.

The cousin crew! Ella, Sasha & Moses, Athena, Mia & Milana, Noah. I can’t believe how big they are all getting.

One of my favorite gifts I received (from Kaden) was my Ukrainian mosaic butterfly 🦋 to add to my garden.

Of course I have my Ukrainian flag flying proudly. Then I added the sunflowers for the bad-ass Ukrainian woman who was giving out sunflower seeds to the occupiers so when they die sunflowers will grow. I moved the blue & yellow flower over to this space to go along with the Ukrainian tribute to my people.

I love love love the way that it looks! The butterfly really pulls it together. I got my new plants into the ground and I can’t wait to watch them grow through the season.

Well, after this busy weekend, I’m so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open to finish writing this so I’m going to call it a night. 5 am will be here in the blink of an eye.

What was the best part of Mothers Day for you?

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

Vegan Banana Oat Muffins

Recipes

My husband and girls LOVE bananas, so lately I have been making a lot of banana flavored treats for my family.

This breakfast is healthy, delicious, and super simple to make with and for kids! Ella and I made this batch together for Sunday breakfast for our family.

This recipe makes 24 muffins- which is perfect for our large family. This recipe can be easily cut in half if your family size isn’t as large! Or you can make and freeze for an easy grab & go breakfast for those accidental last-minute mornings!

Let’s Bake!

Ingredients:

  • 1 Stick vegan “butter”, softened (I use Earth’s Best!)
  • 4 Over-ripe bananas
  • 2 Cups flour
  • 1 Cup light brown sugar
  • 1 TSP salt
  • 2 TSP cinnamon
  • 2 TSP Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 2 TSP baking soda
  • 2 TSP baking powder
  • 2 Cups oats

Instructions:

  • Wash hands ✋
  • Preheat oven to 400° + prepare muffin tins (reusable liners or spray with Pam Baking Spray w. Flour)
  • In your stand mixer bowl, mix together bananas, flour, and brown sugar.
  • Add in salt, cinnamon, vanilla, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir to combine.
  • Add oats, stir to combine.
  • Spoon batter into muffin tin + top with oats for decoration
  • Bake 15 minutes + let cool before serving

That’s it! So easy that kids can make these almost entirely by themselves!

I hope you enjoy your Vegan Banana Oat muffins! If you do, please share!

Have a beautiful day 🥰

Incredibly Easy Bite-Size Pancake Muffins

Recipes

I love pancakes, but I do not love making them, nor do I have the time to make them. That makes these little incredibly easy, bite size pancake muffins the perfect solution! Mess free, easy grab & go, and delicious! No sticky syrup everywhere, no standing over a hot oven watching for air bubbles… just another incredibly easy, kid approved meal!

I like to make them after dinner while I am cleaning up. They take less than 5 minutes to whip up so I preheat the oven, get them ready, and start cleaning up from dinner. Once the oven is ready, put them in and set the timer for 10 minutes and finish cleaning. Try to race the clock and get your cleaning finished before the timer for the muffins go off!

Ingredients:

  • Box Pancake Mix
  • Water
  • Optional Mix Ins (chocolate chips, etc.)

Did I mention this was incredibly easy? 😜

Directions

Step 1 • Preheat oven to 350° F and spray mini muffin tin with cooking spray, or use liners (reusable, please!)

Step 2 • Follow directions on box mix. The brand I used called for 2 cups mix + 1 and 1/3 cup water. Pour mix into mini muffin tin or (reusable) liners.

Step 3 • Top mixture with optional mix ins. I listed the mix ins that I used this time under each photo. Fresh fruit is always a great and healthier mix in!

Peanut Butter Chips, Chocolate Peanut Butter Chips, Chocolate Chips
M&Ms, Butterfly Sprinkles, Maple Syrup

Step 4 • Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool before removing from mini muffin tin.

Peanut Butter Chips, Chocolate Peanut Butter Chips, Chocolate Chips

M&Ms, Butterfly Sprinkles, Maple Syrup

Enjoy!

I don’t think these could possibly be any easier to make. It is a fun breakfast to include children in making if you do have time in the mornings, but during the school year it’s just so much easier for me to make the night ahead.

As the muffins cool, finish up the last of your cleaning. Remove from the mini muffin tin, store for the morning, start your dishwasher and call it a day. You already have breakfast ready for your family in the morning. That’s how you get a head start on tomorrow before you even go to sleep!

Did you like these Incredibly Easy Bite Size Pancake Muffins? What mix ins did you use? Let me know in the comments! 🥞

Valentines Day Puff Pastries

Recipes

Tomorrow is Valentines Day! These puff pastries make the perfect Valentines Day themed breakfast! They are so simple to make, look adorable, and taste even better!

All you need is:

• 1 box of Pepperridge Farm Puff Pastry (there are two pastry sheets per box)
• Nutella
• Strawberries
• 1 egg
• Cool Whip (optional)

That is it! How simple is that?

How to make:

• Heat oven according to package directions.

• Roll out both sheets of pastry dough on a floured surface.

• On the first sheet, spread as much Nutella your heart desires. (You could substitute for cream cheese or strawberry jelly if Nutella isn’t your thing.)

• On the second sheet, I used a pizza cutter to slice down the center and across 5 times giving me a total of 10 rectangle slices (this varies depending on how big of slices you want to make).• In the center of each slice, do your best to cut out a heart shape (a heart-shaped cookie cutter would be ideal, but a knife will work just fine). Carefully place slices on top of first pastry sheet to create a sandwich.

• Once the two sheets are together, follow your lines with the pizza cutter to form individual sandwiches. Use a fork along the edges to squish the two crusts together until closed.

• Mix the egg with a little water to create an egg wash and generously brush on top of each pastry then bake according to package directions.

• While pastries are baking, cut strawberries in half (after cutting tops off). Once halved, cut a small triangle in the center at the top to form a strawberry heart. Set aside.

• Once finished, let pastries cool for about 5 minutes, then place one strawberry heart in each heart hole. Serve remaining strawberries on side (with or without some Cool Whip).

Enjoy!


Like this recipe? Let me know how it went for you!