Last week was Spring Break. This week is my birthday. It's 75 degrees in North Carolina, and March Madness is upon us. All is well.

You'd think that after a week of boozin and cruisin (for lack of a better way to sum up spring break), I would be in detox mode. Kind of like most girls were dieting in the weeks leading up to Spring Break and I was eating mac and cheese. Nope. I made this. And it's amazing.

I love finding easy recipes, and this is one of the easier breakfast recipes I've come across. If you haven't noticed, I love me some Pillsbury crescents and biscuits. While I'd prefer homemade biscuits (who wouldn't?), these do the trick for a quick fix in a recipe. My step sister and brother-in-law are starting a food truck in Nashville that serves fresh biscuits and biscuit sandwiches. Now, if I were closer and had the option to have the family make me delicious homemade biscuits I wouldn't have to resort to the blue tube, but such is life. If you live around the Nashville area check out www.biscuitlovetruck.com. Nom.

Although senior year still doesn't seem to be giving me as much time as I'd like for me to blog, I'm going to get back on my post a week schedule. Any suggestions for what I should make myself for my birthday? I know, I know. It's my birthday, I shouldn't be doing the baking..but that's just no fun.

Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring
Recipe from All Things Deliciousness

2 small tubes refrigerator buttermilk biscuits OR 1 tube Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits
 * I used one tube Grands. One and a half would've been ideal, but one worked great as well.

3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

1/2 C. pancake syrup

1/3 C. packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 C. chopped pecans, opt. (I opted out on both of these. Per usual.)

1/4 C. chopped almonds, opt.

Spray a fluted pan with non-stick spray. Combine the melted butter and syrup in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts (if desired).

Place about half of the syrup mixture in the bottom of the pan. Then sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture on top.
Lay the biscuits on the bottom of the pan, overlapping edges (closely together) to form a ring.
Top with remaining syrup and sugar mixtures.
Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool for 1 minute in the pan, then invert onto a serving platter and enjoy!

I'm not sure which bothers me more--posting things that didn't turn out quite right or taking a two week break from blogging altogether because I refuse to take pictures of anything I didn't love. Pretty much any time I disappear from the blogosphere you can bet that I'm struggling with this dilemma. Thankfully today I have a recipe that was much easier than any of my unpostable (made up word) mistakes over the past few weeks, and it's delicious!

With exams right around the corner, my diet will almost certainly be composed of Coke Zero, pizza bread and sweets (why can't I eat like a normal girl?). This banana monkey bread works for breakfast, but I can also see it fitting into many other categories. Dress it up and it's dessert. It definitely works as a late night snack, and it would be a lovely addition to any brunch. This is one of those recipes you want to have around because it's just that easy. Thank you for being patient with my busy self as junior year winds down. More posts to come!

Banana Monkey Bread
Makes 4 ramekins
Recipe from Pinch of Yum

Pillsbury Grands Biscuits (4)
Bananas (2-3)
White chocolate chips
Cinnamon and sugar

Directions

1. Cut biscuits into 1-inch cubes.  Slice bananas.  Combine and coat with cinnamon and sugar.
2. Arrange in greased ramekins and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
3. Melt white chocolate; spoon over tops

*I used five biscuits because that's what came in the container (and why would I want one extra plain biscuit when I could have it covered in cinnamon sugar instead?). The bananas I had around were on the large side, so I only used two. For the white chocolate I just melted a cube of white melting chocolate, but I'd say melt about 1/4 cup if you are using chips. Lastly, I used about 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon for the cinnamon sugar.

Also, my ramekins are a bit thicker than some others, so I needed about 3-4 more minutes of cooking. I also realized that filling them up quite as high as I did is just a mess waiting to happen, and since none of you probably want to clean cinnamon sugar from the bottom of your oven I'd suggest putting the ramekins on a pan before baking.

Only I would decide to take pictures the same day as tornadoes are going through NC. Sorry for the dreary backdrop!

These biscuits are my family's go-to for any big occasion. Even though we all love a warm batch of Sister Schubert's, it's hard to deny that homemade bread is better. The recipe comes from my step-sister and her husband, they gave it to us last year with a few jars of homemade jam and we've put it to good use ever since. They're amazing right out of the oven, never dry and very flavorful. Because we're a family full of butter addicts we inevitably slap on the butter to the individual biscuits but they're fine without it as well. I know for a fact we'll be making two batches of these easy biscuits for Christmas tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Touch of Grace Biscuits

Serves: 10 biscuits

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray

2 cups Southern self rising flour

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp shortening

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and spray 8-9" cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine self rising flour, salt, and sugar in medium mixing bowl. With your fingers, work the shortening into the flour mixture until there are no lumps bigger than a pea. Stir in the cream and buttermilk. The dough will be wet and will look like cottage cheese. Spoon a biscuit into the all-purpose flour to coat the outside. Pick it up and shape into a small round while shaking off the excess flour. Place the biscuits into the pan tightly against one another so that they will rise up not out. Bake just above the center of the oven until slightly browned, 15-20 minutes. Then brush with melted butter. Cool 1-2 minutes, then serve immediately.