Baked Stuffed French Toast

I got up a little early this morning, for a Sunday.  Iris was also awake.  So the two of us headed down stairs, made some coffee, and played for a little while.  I was hankering for something yummy for breakfast so I started looking up baked french toast recipes.  Most required that the mixture be made the night before, but I finally found one that I modified a bit to fit the ingredients I had in my home.  It turned out great so I thought I would share it.

Ingredients:
8 slices bread of your choice (I used light wheat - it was what I had on hand)
8 oz of Cream Cheese (I used Neufchatel)
1 cup of fresh or frozen fruit of your choice (We had frozen mixed berries)
6 eggs
1 cup of milk (I used 2 percent)
Ground Cinnamon
Confectionary Sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cube all slices of bread
Layer 1/2 of the bread cubes in the bottom of a baking dish
Cube cream cheese and layer on top of bread cubes
Layer fruit over the cream cheese
Top with the remaining cubes of bread

In a separate bowl, beat the 6 eggs and 1 cup of milk together, pour evenly over the bread layers.
Top with ground cinamon to taste.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes until the egg mixture is completely baked into the bread and the top has begun to brown.

Sprinkle with confectionary sugar and serve with maple syrup!

This dish is easy to assemble and is delicious!

Best Ever Banana Muffins (according to the web site anyway)

I don't know if these are the best banana muffins ever, but they are pretty good and pretty easy to make.  I made them this morning on a whim.  I had some bananas that really needed to be used up and I really did not want to throw them away.  It probably took 15 minutes to prepare and then 20 minutes to cook.  If you bake at all you probably have all of these ingredients on hand.

The Ingredients and Instructions:

3 lg. bananas, mashed
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1 slightly beaten egg
1/3 c. melted butter

Mix the above ingredients together and add:

1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. flour
Grease 12 muffin tin (I used papers which I sprayed lightly with cooking spray rather than greesing, but that is largely because I hate cleaning muffin pans) and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Bakes a firm consistency muffin that doesn't crumble.

The website claimed that this recipe is excellent for mini as well as jumbo sized muffins and suggests for a dessert treat, simply top with vanilla frosting. I haven't tried either.

Summer Citrus Broccoli Salad

Broccoli Slaw Citrus Salad

I am a BIG fan of summer salads.  I love the fresh vegies and the fun light dressings.  Everything tastes so fresh and refreshing.  This past monday we went to a Memorial Day picnic at my in-laws.  I made a delcious crispy broccoli slaw citrus salad with Jimaca.  I had never had Jimaca before.  It is a sort of potato-type vegetable from Mexico.  It is very crisp with a subtle sweet flavor, although, it really is a pain to peel, as it has a pretty tough skin.  I tried a potato peeler but had to switch to a knife.

Here is the recipe for the salad (you can also find this on the back of the Green Giant broccoli slaw package):

Ingredients for salad:
1 package of Broccoli Slaw, which contains shredded broccoli, red cabbage, and carrots
1 Jimaca, sliced julienne style
1 half a small red onion sliced julienne style (approx 1 cup)
3 Oranges sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices
2/3 cup chopped cilantro

Ingredients for dressing:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon of orange zest
4 teaspoons of sugar
A pinch of salt

Chop and mix the broccoli slaw, the jimaca, red onion, oranges, cilantro, and orange zest.
Prepare the dressing in a separate bowl.
Pour the dressing over the salad and mix throughout.

This is what a Jimaca looks like 

Mmmmmm...Cookies

This morning Eli and I made delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies.  It was incredibly easy, fast, and a fun cooking project with my three year old. 

The Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 pinch salt
3 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a saucepan bring sugar, cocoa, butter, milk, and salt to a rapid boil for 1 minute.
2. Add quick cooking oats, peanut butter, and vanilla; mix well.
3. Working quickly, drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper, and let cool.

How to include your pre-schooler:

I premeasured all of the ingredients and then let Eli poor them into the saucepan and then I did the stirring while they were cooking.  Then, while I was dropping the hot cookie batter onto the wax paper, Eli licked clean the rubber spatula that I used to scoop the peanut butter out of the measuring cup.

We both had a great time!  And, needless to say, I have been eating cookies all day long.  But I decided this morning that today I was going to be fancy free and eat cookies.  Tomorrow I will worry about my waistline!

Food From the Heart

I think that food has got to be the best gift to parents of a new baby, or in our case babies. We have received so many great food gifts since bringing the twins home. This has made our lives so much easier as there is so much to do that it is nice to have a healthy yummy ready to go meal. The food we have received is so much yummier than anything we can get delivered! Also it is so wonderful to try all these new dishes that we have never made for ourselves.

Our friends Dawn Weirs and Hayley Roberts (the Butler sisters) brought us two delicious Zucchini Casseroles and an American Lasagna. They also stayed overnight and gave us a night off, sleeping with the girls and handling all the night shifts. Seriously, girls, you can come back anytime!!!!!

Saul and Carolyn (my brother in law and his wife) gave us a gift certificate for Make Thyme for Dinner in South Portland, for 8 prepared meals. So far we have had a fantastic Tuscan Beef Stew, a Vegetarian Tamale Pie, and Cranberry Pomegranate Pork Medallions. We have 5 more delicious meals still in the freezer we cannot wait to try.

Our friends and neighbors, John and Elisha made us one of the best Sheppard's Pies I have ever had. I am not sure what their secret is but it was really good.

Our friends Amanda and Ed came to visit one night and brought dinner with them, a pot roast with carrots and potatoes. This is the best kind of dinner guests!

Our friends Lisa and Erik, who also have twin baby boys a bit older than our girls and a daughter the same age as our son, brought us a Chicken Tagine with Couscous and Green Salad with Carrots and Mushrooms. I loved this one so much, I just had to include the recipe. Thanks for providing me with it Lisa!

Chicken Tagine in a Slow Cooker (serves 4 over rice, pasta, or couscous)

4 boneless chicken breast (about 1.25 lbs)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 medium red onion thinly sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large garlic clove minced
1 cup chicken or veggie stock
2 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp of tomato paste
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1 tbsp of corn starch whisked into 2 tbsp of cold water

In slow cooker combine chicken, salt, spices, onion, carrots and garlic. In a small bowl whisk together broth, honey, lemon juice, and tomato paste then pour into slow cooker. Sprinkle with raisins and apricots. Cook for 5 hours on high or 8 hours on low. At the end of the time, whisk together the corn starch and water and add to the pot. Cook until the juices are thickened slightly. Pull chicken apart with a fork (optional). Stir and then Serve.

Garnish suggestions - chopped cilantro, almonds, sliced green olives.

I have no idea who this recipe originally belongs to, but it is delicious! I hope that you also enjoy it.

Thanks so much to everyone who has brought us food and if I have forgotten anyone in this note, I apologize, as you can imagine I am very tired! We are so appreciative.

A Quick and Easy Sweet Potato Sheppard's Pie

Jesse and I are always looking for new recipes to shake up the dinner routine. While I love to cook, most days I do not have the time to do much more than assemble dinner. This recipe is a spin on a sheppard's pie, assembles quickly, and uses very few dishes.

The Ingredients:
Sweet Potato (2 potatoes or 1 large can)
Sweet Corn
Ground Turkey

Brown the ground turkey and season to taste. I usually use some garlic or garlic powder, kosher salt, and ground black pepper, but you can use whatever seasonings you like.

Cook the sweet potatoes. I usually microwave them. Peel and mash. Or if you want to go really quick and easy, use a can of sweet potatoes. Then you just have to open the can, drain the liquid and mash the potatoes.

Place the ground turkey on the bottom of a casserole dish, place corn on top of the meat, then top with the mashed sweet potatoes.

Bake at 350 degrees until the top has started to brown and the casserole has heated through.