Holiday mornings with the family - all clad in PJ, bedhead, and quiet smiles - are just some examples of life's wonderful simplicity. What better way to add to these holiday memories like the classic all-American diner breakfast of eggs, griddled meats, and the fluffiest pancakes ever? 

I've been tinkering with the notion of what it takes to make buttermilk pancakes so fluffy that a billowy stack of them could be used as a potential headrest. After a bunch of delicious research, I found a guy who knows a guy who wrote a book that talked about this tasty subject.

With the advice of culinary super-nerd,  J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and his smart book "The Food Lab", I share with you the secret to making THE BEST BUTTERMILK PANCAKES OF YOUR LIFE: Whipped egg white merginues.

Just a small dallop of stiffly whipped egg whites puts so much air into the pancake batter, it's freaking incredible!

If you want to turn up your morning pancake game to 11 (that was for you AC/DC fans), grab some of these goodies and create a pancake mix-in buffet! Let everyone pick what tasty morsels they want to add into the pancake as it's sizzling on the griddle (during step 11 in the recipe).

• Fresh blueberries and raspberries
• Chocolate chips and peanut butter chips
• Sliced bananas
• Chopped up crispy bacon
• Sprinkles (save some for yourself because sprinkles are for winners, and you, my friend...)

Grab your spatula and whisk, and be prepared for bear hugs of happiness from your PJ onesie-d relatives over the delicious buttermilk pancakes you've made ever.

This past weekend was filled with dyed Easter egg decorating, and while it's all fun and games at the time, the looming question afterward is - What to do with all those boiled eggs? Egg salad sandwiches and deviled eggs get old really fast, so I found another way to eat up those eggies by making braided stuffed bread.

Simply put, I made a simple Italian bread dough, rolled it out, and filled the bread insides with boiled eggs, veggies, cheese...anything tasty I found in my fridge. It's like the kitchen sink soup in bread form!

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or brunch. This stuffed bread defies traditional meal time status quo. 

You can find every color of a sunset in blood oranges - golden rod, crimson orange, ruby red, purple maroon, and everything in between. They're some of the most beautiful citrus fruits in season right now, and I had to find a way to make them last through the rest of the year.

Orange marmalade is one of my favorite preserves since childhood. There's a sweet zing from the orange and a slight bitterness from the rind that balances all the flavors. Seeing the little bits of orange zest also remind me that this was once a whole fruit, versus the clear jellies where it's made only from juice. 

I will admit that the energy and time to create a lovely marmalade is more intensive than the typical fruit preserve, but if you have the time to make it, the results are very rewarding and will last you for many months. Marmalade is a bit tricky because there's a fine line between making sure the flavor balances between flesh sweetness and peel bitterness, all while keeping the marmalade color vibrant. After researching and testing out a few batches of marmalade, I'm proud to say that my recipe combines the best of all my learning and will give you a successful batch of marmalade that's not only delicious but so beautiful in color. 

Like I said, marmalade making is energy-intensive so please read the entire recipe before starting! While the recipe below shows how to make the marmalade, instructions on proper canning techniques to store the finished marmalade are on another blog post (click here).

Get ready to put a little crimson orange sunset on your next piece of toast or in your oatmeal!

Imagine ooey-gooey cinnamon bread...mmmm... now imagine a bunch of mini donut holes baked together in a way that you can pull apart little round bites of sweet deliciousness...MMMMM...these two visions combined are what make a tasty sweet treat called monkeybread. It could possibly be the bread that brings all monkeys and mankind together.

Those who have eaten this monkeybread know - it's amazing. I know that you're salivating right now from thinking about it. Those who have not had this bread before should probably rectify this situation very soon, if not right now. It doesn't take very long to make, and it can be enjoyed day, night, and anytime that your brain can justify reasons to eat it.