Eating Wild

So, after all the skeet-shooting photos, I feel like John's first hunting trip deserves a post.

It went well.  Very well:

Lots of birds met their death, but no actual people (or dogs) were injured.  So my prayers were answered. :-)

I told John that if he brought any birds home, I would attempt to cook them as long as I didn't have to clean them.  He took me at my word and brought home 3 duck breasts and several pheasant.  They also shot some quail, but John didn't get dibs on any of those.

I headed to the internet for help, and found a few highly-rated recipes from Emeril.  I used these instructions for pan-roasting the duck breasts, but the guys who cleaned the ducks took all the skin and fat off the breast.  So I added some butter in the pan to help them brown.  I thought they were just okay--I only ate a few bites.  Truthfully, they sort of tasted like steak (I cooked them to medium), but a little bit gamey.  John thought they were decent; Will thought they were fantastic and asked for seconds.

I went all out for the pheasants since I had a whole afternoon to prepare them.  First, I finished the cleaning job by removing some stray feathers, one heart, and some kidneys.  I also had to hack off the rest of their necks.

Poor naked thing:

While I was patting them dry, Anna leaned over the bowl and said, "Well, I hope you got all the shot out."

I about died laughing.  And double-checked that the shot was indeed all out.

All stuffed and layered and ready for the oven:

And plated.  Pardon my horrible food photography, but it didn't look that much better in person:

I also made the wild mushroom bread pudding accompaniment recommended in the recipe.  Will (yes, Will--the same child who never eats his PB&J at school because "the bread is weird")  said that he loved it, that the mushroom bread pudding was "so, so good" and that it was almost as delicious as the duck.  Color me shocked.  John liked it and requested the mushroom bread pudding for Thanksgiving.  I thought it tasted like dry chicken.  Anna refused to eat it, then asked, "Daddy did I hurt your feelings? Because I didn't eat your bird?"  John reassured her that his feelings were just fine.

And now we're back to the land of eating whatever animal I retrieve from the Publix meat section.  Nicely packaged and free of innards.  And feathers. :-)

Celebrating Epiphany

I thought it would be fun to do an Epiphany celebration this year with the kids, just to bookend the Christmas season and bring the focus back around to Christ once Santa was long gone.  I found the house blessing tradition via Google, and loved the idea.  (At the time, based on the mutiny of our appliances in the week after Christmas, I thought an exorcism might be more in order.  All is fixed now, though!)

We started by chalking the door; I couldn't reach above the door, so I just chalked the top of the door and the kids did the stoop.  (John was working nights that week, so we didn't have our tallest family member!)

2014 for the year, with the wise men's initials in between.

Then Will read Matthew 2:1-12 and we prayed using the following prayer that I borrowed from one church's website:

May all who come to our home this year rejoice to find Christ living among us.

May we be blessed with health, goodness of heart, gentleness, and faithfulness to your will.

And may we seek and serve that same Jesus who is your incarnate Word, now and forever.

I was going to buy a King's Cake from Publix, but conveniently the cooking school we attended in Paris emailed me a recipe for Galette des Rois, the French version of a king cake.  So I made that instead, and Will made a crown to top it.  We didn't have a baby for the "feve" so we substituted one of Anna's Hello Kitty minifigurines.  And Will found her!

Here's the recipe--the measurements are weight based, so you'll need a kitchen scale.  Speaking of which, I finally got one!  So fun.  It was only $20 at Walmart and I'm all excited to use it to weigh my leftover yarn skeins, too.  If you don't have a scale, David Lebovitz has a recipe with volume measurements (it's a different recipe, but the resulting cake looks similar to mine, just prettier!).

Galette des Rois

1 package puff pastry sheets (or grab 2 packages--this recipe makes enough filling for two cakes)

Almond Cream ingredients:

110 g sugar

110 g butter

2 eggs

110 g ground almonds

20 g flour

Rum (amount not specified--I used about 2 tsp)

Pastry Cream ingredients:

250 g milk

1 egg

25 g cornstarch

60 g sugar

Vanilla bean, seeds scraped (I used vanilla bean paste; you could substitue 2-3 tsp vanilla extract)

1. Start with the Pastry Cream:  Bring the milk and vanilla to a boil.  In a separate bowl, beat the egg with the sugar until the mixture is pale and thick, then stir in the cornstarch.  Pour a third of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisk, then pour that mixture back into the saucepan.  Stir continuously over the heat until the mixture thickens and boils for one minute (mine thickened considerably, so I pulled it off the heat before it boiled--you should have a thick pudding).  Pour into a large bowl to cool.

2. Then prepare the Almond Cream:  Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a time until combined.  Add ground almond and flour, mix well, then add rum.

3. Mix the pastry cream and almond cream together.  Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag for easier piping (optional).

4.  Roll out both puff pastry sheets.  Cut a circle slightly larger in diameter than a 9 inch pie plate from one sheet of puff pastry (to be the bottom), and another circle equal to 9 inches in diameter for the top.

5.  Pipe half of the frangipane mixture into the center of the bottom pastry circle.  (Use the other half for a second cake, or you can bake it up with figs or plums.)

6. Top with the other circle of puff pastry and crimp the edges to close.  Using a knife, make a decorative design on the top without poking through to the filling, then brush with beaten egg.

7.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until puffed and golden.

It's easier than it sounds, and make a sweet and delicious pastry.  It was yummy the next morning with coffee, too.

So that's how we celebrated Epiphany!

Celebrating cookies

Did you know today is National Cookie Day?  The kids and I definitely felt the need to celebrate.  I made some cookie dough batter after school and I put some in bowls for the kids so they could add their own mix-ins.  I used chocolate chips and peppermint crunch chips for the rest of the dough.  Here are the kids, doctoring up their dough...and eating quite a bit of it, too:

When they were finished baking, we used the cookies to fill a cookie jar given to us by John's family--it used to belong to his cousins, Lawrence and Opal, who have passed away.  Isn't it cute?  And now it's full of cookies:

We used a regular chocolate chip cookie dough today, but I'll share my favorite holiday cookie recipe--ginger cookies.  Mama credited Mrs. Tami Capps for the recipe, so I'll do the same:

Mrs. Tami's Gingersnap Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt (I skip if using salted butter)

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

1. Cream butter and sugar, then add molasses and egg.  (Spraying your measuring cup with cooking spray makes the molasses come out more easily.)  Mix just until combined.

2. Combine dry ingredients, then add to wet mixture in 2-3 additions until incorporated.

3. Form dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter; roll them in sugar, then place onto greased cookie sheet or silicone liner.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Yum!

Compliments to the chef

Will has become annoyingly picky about food over the past year or so.  I find it particularly irksome because he was a really adventurous eater throughout toddlerhood, and I think his pickiness now is less of an issue of his truly disliking a food, and more about him just wanting to be a little difficult and skip to dessert as soon as possible.  Granted, I do like to do a lot of experimentation in the kitchen, so I'm often trying to get him to eat all kinds of new things.  Sometimes that pays off and he finds a new favorite food--brussels sprouts, for instance--but it often backfires and he spends the whole meal complaining about green stuff.

This week, however, we had two nights of dinner where Will spontaneously THANKED ME for the delicious food.  I was shocked speechless, but decided I better bookmark these recipes for use again, and share them, of course.

Monday night, in an effort to use up some leftover ground chicken, I made lettuce wraps according to this recipe:

PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps with Chicken

I had everything except the water chestnuts and chili pepper sauce, so I skipped them, and I added in some red bell pepper.  I served them with potstickers (from the freezer section), and we ate with chopsticks and fingers.  The kids were thrilled.

Last night, I tried these two:

Island Pork Tenderloin

Island Rice with pineapple and lime

We had broccoli on the side, and both the kids and John totally cleaned their plates.  I thought the Tabasco might be an issue with Will (Anna doesn't mind spice), but he loved it.  I sold the meal as "Hawaiian Pork and Rice" and that helped, too.  :-)

Christmas cooking and crafting

I scaled back on my original plans for Christmas crafts and made sure to start early on the few presents I planned to make, so this was a mostly fun, stress-free Christmas at our house.  Well, except for the marathon evening knitting the last week!  But other than that....easy peasy.  Here are the main projects I tackled:

1. The Southern Living White Cake

I looooove the Southern Living cover cakes and I've made a few in the past, but this one might be my favorite.  I made it for our office Christmas lunch, because my coworkers are pretty willing to try my experiments.  The contest winner this year was a Chocolate Gingerbread Toffee Cake--a gingerbread-chocolate cake layered with toffee bits and chocolate ganache and frosted with ginger-infused whipped cream.  The whipped cream worried me when I tried it by itself (very ginger-y), but it worked well with the finished cake.  John pronounced this his favorite me-made cake ever (I cut a wedge out for him before taking it to work), and it got rave reviews at the office, too.  If you want to give it a try, click HERE for the recipe.  Here's a picture of my version:

2. Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies

I spotted these cute cookies floating around on Pinterest and decided to make them for the Christmas pageant reception at Will's school.  I made them exactly as the recipe stated and I think they turned out very cute and were really delicious--the peanut butter cookie worked really well with the saltiness of the pretzels.  I will definitely be making these again next year.

3. A Honey Cowl

I couldn't visit a crafting blog without seeing a version of the honey cowl, so I took it as a sign I should try knitting one.  I made one for Leah from one skein of madeline tosh pashmina in my very favorite colorway of that yarn (amber trinket).  I didn't get any modeled photos of it, but the pattern is available HERE (with pictures), and here are pics I took right before I wrapped it up:

4. Two Cardigans

While on a quest to get my car headliner fixed back in October, I stopped in a cute yarn shop in Jacksonville and bought two skeins of yarn that I thought would look great on Missy...and then I looked for a pattern.  I decided to try the Breezy Cardigan pattern because I've had success with another pattern by that designer.  I will save the lengthy story on this for other knitters on my Ravelry page, but it took a long time (an entire cardigan in laceweight yarn) and finishing up this sweater was a traumatic experience.  I don't think the drama showed in the finished project--it was really cute on Missy and I hope she likes it, but I will not be repeating this pattern!

I had better luck with the Creature Comforts Cardi I made for Laurie.  It was an easy knit and a really unique pattern--I may have to make one for myself.

5. Drawstring Gift Bags

It's a good thing I didn't see this pattern until a few weeks before Christmas--otherwise, I would have been in a sewing frenzy making gift bags for all our gifts.  The Jeni's Drawstring Bag pattern is great for using up scraps of fabric, and I used fabric I had on hand to make a knitting project bag for Missy, a gift bag for Barb, and two bags to hold some of Anna's new toys.  Here are the two I made for Anna:

6. Lego Play Table

I saw an easy idea for constructing a Lego play and storage table in the Family Fun magazine a few months ago, and, when I realized Will would be getting a lot of Legos for Christmas, I decided to make it.  Of course, I had tossed the magazine by the time I was ready to make it, so I went looking on their website but was unable to find the instructions.  I did find some blog posts from moms who had made the table and, with those and my memory of the article, went about making one for Will.

I purchased two rolling carts from Target and a piece of plywood from Lowe's (along with some electrical tape to decorate the edges).  I used some non-slip adhesive grips to help hold the plywood to the carts.  John purchased some Lego building plates from the toy store, and I attached those to one side of the plywood with adhesive Velcro.  I chose the Velcro because the kids (especially Anna) still enjoy playing with the Duplo blocks, so I thought I could switch out the Lego plates with Duplo plates depending on which blocks they were using.

Here's the finished product (pardon the mess--we haven't completely loaded the new Legos into the table yet):

The entire project came in around $50--not bad, right? :-)

Slow cookin'

I tried a new slow cooker recipe this week, and it was delicious and easy--however, I found it online and frequently have a hard time finding the same recipe twice, so I'll share it on here!

Mama makes a delicious white chicken chili, and though this one is not quite as yummy, it is extremely easy and will be going into my regular slow cooker rotation.  I found the recipe on Tasty Kitchen and modified it based on the comment.

White Chicken Chili (from Mrs. C on Tasty Kitchen)

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 onion, chopped

3 16-ounce cans white beans (Great Northern), drained and rinsed

3 cans cream of chicken soup (or one 26 ounce can)

3 cans Rotel (or one 28 ounce can)

1 packet McCormick White Chicken Chili seasoning mix

10 ounces chicken broth

Place all into crock-pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Remove chicken breasts, then shred and return to pot.  Serve with toppings (we had crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and avocado).

My only complaint was that it was a little spicy for me.  I think next time I will replace one can of Rotel with a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes.

I'll also include my favorite slow-cooker recipe, courtesy of Mama.  We have this at least 1-2 times per month.

CrockPot Pork Roast

Lawry's seasoning salt

1 boneless pork loin roast

1 onion, cut into 8 chunks

1 packet Lipton Onion Soup mix

2-3 Tbsp Worscestershire sauce

Sprinkle seasoning salt over roast, then brown the roast in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.  Add to slow cooker along with onion.  Sprinkle soup mix packet over roast, then shake Worcestershire sauce over it (I just eyeball it).  Cook on low for 8-10 hours (or on high for 5 hours).  Can serve with pot juices over rice or mashed potatoes--and our favorite thing to do with leftovers is serve on sub rolls, top with slice Provolone cheese, and heat it under the broiler until the cheese melts.  Yum!

I'm also playing around with some no-knead bread recipes, so I'll post them if they turn out well.  I was making one of the recipes this morning while Anna was toddling around the kitchen.  She grabbed one of my apron strings and started pulling on it, so I literally had a child tugging on my apron strings!  That plus the fact that I was making bread made me feel very Early American pioneerish.  That is, I felt that way until I forgot Anna was holding on and made a quick dash to the fridge, causing Anna to crash down onto the tile floor.

Sigh.  I bet Ma Ingalls never did that.

Soup's On

This cold weather has me craving soups--so I thought I would share two of my new favorite soup recipes.  We've dined on both this week.

This Bean and Barley Soup is a slow-cooker recipe that starts with dried beans.  It is quite healthy, and reminds me of ribollita (the barley is a similar texture to the bread in ribollita).  John and I love it, but I admit it is not a kid-friendly recipe.  Leftovers are fantastic.

We are dining on Italian Tortellini Soup (from the Big Mama recipe) tonight.  It's a little less healthy, but is delicious and Will-approved (I just fish out the sausage and tortellini for him to eat--he passes on the zucchini).

**********

On a totally different subject, John has 2 important dates coming up.  He'll have a followup sigmoidoscopy on February 26th to see how the tumor responded to the chemo and radiation, and he'll have surgery on March 9th to remove it.  We appreciate everyone's prayers and please keep praying! :-)

Dip-Tacular!

BooMama is hosting a blog carnival for dip recipes in honor of the upcoming football season, so I'm adding one of our favorite dip recipes (well, it's actually a salsa) and a no-cooking-required dip shortcut.

As a side-note, in case any newcomers happen by here and are unaware of our allegiance...we are UF fans all the way. Go Gators!!!!

Okay, on to the salsa recipe:

Mango Salsa

1 1/2 cups diced mango (about 2 mangoes)

1 finely chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp lime zest
Juice from the zested lime
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all of the above and allow to sit for at least 30 minutes--longer is better. Since there is no mayo, this is a good one to serve outdoors or tailgating. I have substituted nectarines in the past, and I bet peaches would also work well.

Now, I'll share a quick dip idea (no cooking, chopping, or mixing), courtesy of my medical school roommate. Buy a package of Publix spinach dip and a round loaf of Hawaiian bread--both are conveniently located in the deli section. Hollow out the bread loaf and pour the dip into middle of the loaf. Tear up the pieces of bread you pulled out of the loaf, and serve the bread bowl dip with the torn bread pieces and some tortilla chips. (You could make your own spinach dip and do the same thing.)

Happy dipping! (And go HERE if you're looking for more dip ideas.)

Faux Fried Okra

I loooove fried okra. If John and I are ever on one of those couple game shows where we have to guess each other's favorite stuff, I have instructed him that he is to say fried okra is my favorite food (I am to answer that his is filet mignon). I hate those kind of questions, because it is so hard to commit to one favorite thing, but I think I could eat fried okra for days without getting sick of it. My favorite is cornmeal-breaded okra, served at Cracker Barrel....mmmmmm.

I don't do any deep-frying at home (I'm scared of the hot oil, John is scared of heart attacks), so I've always had to satisfy my okra cravings at restaurants. Until now, that is. I saw this Southern Living recipe for Parmesan Okra on Kelly's Korner. I followed her modification of adding Creole seasoning, and also substituted half of the breadcrumbs for cornmeal. It is yummy and tastes very similar to the real thing. Try the Italian-flavored actual recipe, or use my modified recipe below:

Ingredients:

1 pound okra, cut into 1/2 inch slices

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/8 cup plain dried breadcrumbs

1/8 cup white cornmeal

2 tsp Creole seasoning

Saute okra in hot oil in a skillet over medium-high for 5 minutes. Mix together breadcrumbs, cornmeal, and Creole seasoning, then sprinkle over okra. Saute for an additional 2-3 minutes until slightly browned and serve.

We've had this about twice per week since I discovered the recipe. We had it with Hoppin-John in the picture above, and yes, that is fish-shaped cornbread. Will will eat anything that is in a fun shape, and John and I kind of enjoy it, too. :-)

Chief Complaint: Chocolate Overload

I need to share two new chocolate recipes that I tried this past week. I consider myself a chocolate addict--I looove all sorts of chocolate, but especially dark chocolate, the higher the cacao content the better. I've even been known to eat unsweetened baking chocolate in desperate moments.

That being said, I think I finally overdid it with the chocolate when I made this Chocolate Sorbet recipe from Smitten Kitchen last Sunday. This may be a total coincidence, but after dining on the sorbet Sunday night, I woke up with the worst migraine ever on Monday morning and actually ended up visiting the emergency room. I've logged many, many hours in various ED's, but never as a patient--I really thought my first visit would be thanks to some debacle of Will's. Instead, some stabbing pain, uncontrollable vomiting, and lack of abortive meds at home landed me there Monday morning--three shots of various painkillers/nausea meds cured me, though, and I bounced out a few hours later ready for work. (If you're wondering if it is embarrassing to be a doctor and be seen in the ER, well yes, yes it is. And if you're wondering if I told the attending physician about my chocolate indiscretions, well no, no I did not.)

That doesn't sound like a resounding recommendation for the recipe, but it was very good, even though I am afraid to eat any more of it. It was intensely, densely chocolatey--the most chocolatey thing I've consumed apart from some hot chocolate in Italy (so dense I could invert the cup and nothing would pour out). Feel free to try it yourself, just consider having some Imitrex (or at least some ibuprofen) close at hand.

I had a better experience with this Molten Chocolate Cake recipe from Tasty Kitchen. I used to make a similar molten cake recipe back in the days soon after John and I got married--that recipe involved several steps and took about an hour of prep, so I only made it for romantic date night dinners.

While surfing the Pioneer Woman site this week, however, I came across this easy-peasy molten cake recipe and tried it last night. It was prepped, cooked, and in my tummy within half an hour, and it was wonderful. It might even be easy enough to be my go-to dessert (replacing blueberry cobbler), if I could only be trusted to keep baking chocolate in the pantry at all times without eating it...which will probably never happen. :-)

Cookie Dough Brownies

The MckLinky Blog Hop theme today is Favorite Recipe--there's no way I could narrow down to one favorite recipe, but I've taken these brownies to many a party or work function and I almost always get a request for the recipe. They consist of a brownie base with a layer of cookie dough, topped with a chocolate glaze. And they are super-easy and, unlike other cookie dough, salmonella-free! :-)

Cookie Dough Brownies

Ingredients:
Brownie mix (family size, plus eggs and oil)
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips (reserve 1 cup)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Prepare brownie mix according to cake-like instructions in a 9x13 pan. Stir in all but 1 cup of the chocolate chips. Bake according to package directions and cool completely.

For the filling, cream butter with both sugars until smooth. Add milk and vanilla. Blend in flour. Spread over the cooled brownies (and feel free to lick the beaters!).

For the glaze, melt the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp vegetable oil over double boiler or in microwave. If using microwave, heat for 1 minute on High, stir, then continue heating in 30 second increments until melted and smooth. Spread the glaze over the brownies and allow to cool.

Slice into squares and enjoy!

Summer in a Cake Pan (or Pie Plate)

I searched the Internet and made countless phone calls, but did not succeed in locating a blueberry patch for Will and me to pick from. However, one trip to Publix netted me these:

Blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, all on sale (and "picked" in air-conditioned comfort). Yum!

After eating my fill directly from the cartons, I decided to whip up two of my favorite berry recipes. Recipe number one is blueberry pie. Just use your favorite pie crust recipe (I use BH&G), fill it with blueberries tossed with flour, sugar, and lemon zest, and bake.




Recipe number two comes from a pamphlet I picked up in Williams-Sonoma about 3-4 years ago. I love this recipe and have made it each summer since I found it. I can't find the exact recipe online, although this one is essentially the same thing, just in a larger quantity (I think to fit the large heart cake pan). The one that I use was designed for the rose cake pan, but it will fit in a standard Bundt pan as well.


And I think I've been spending too much time on the Pioneer Woman website, because I was inspired to take photos of the whole process. Now if only I could get my photos to look like hers!


Mixed Berry Cake


Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 Tbsp Chambord liqueur
5 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups mixed berries


For glaze:
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp Chambord liqueur


Directions:

Have all ingredients at room temp.

(side note: Isn't that little bottle of Chambord so cute? Almost worth the trauma of being seen hauling your impressionable 3-year-old into a liquor store.)

Get some company to join you in the kitchen...preferably an enthusiastic participant:

"Ready and willing, Mama--just tell me what to do!"

Place a rack in the lower third of your oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a rose Bundt pan or similar pan of your choice. I used a flower cakelet pan--this recipe made enough to fill it twice.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Reserve 1 1/2 Tbsp of the flour mixture.

In a mixer bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Add the Chambord and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the sour cream and beginning and ending with the flour. Toss the berries with the reserved flour mixture. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold 2/3 of the berries into the batter.

Pause to comfort crying baby, if you happen to have one in the kitchen.

"What do you mean, I can't lick the beater???"

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the remaining berries over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter on top, spreading the batter so the sides are higher than the center.

Bake until the center of the cake springs back when touched and a toothpick comes out clean--approximately 1 hour total (depending on the pan you use--my cakelet pan only took 20-25 minutes). Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze by combining the water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves (about 3 minutes) then boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Chambord.

Invert the cake pan over a wire rack set over waxed paper. Using a pastry brush, brush the warm cake with the glaze. Let the cake cool completely, and dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving. Enjoy!

"I'll pretend to be satisfied with this paci for now...but there better be lots of cake in my future!!!"

French Toast for a crowd

I asked John if he had any special requests for his Father's Day breakfast, and he replied that he'd love some french toast. Since my resolve to get up early and fix breakfast always wanes around 6 am, I looked online to find a French toast recipe that could be assembled the night before and baked later. I found Blueberry French Toast, Orange French Toast, Bananas Foster French Toast, and many other variations--I ran each of these ideas by John, and he nixed them all, "I think I just want regular french toast."

So after wading through many other recipes deemed too frou-frou by the father in our house, I found a yummy recipe by Paula Deen. If you want the original recipe in all of its buttery, creamy, and praline-topped glory, go HERE. The below recipe is my slightly less fattening and pecan-free (at John's request) adaptation. I used a soft French bread loaf from Super-Tarzhay, but I think challah might make it even better--steer clear of any really crusty and airy baguettes. It would be a good recipe to use if you need to make a brunch dish for company, but the leftovers were also good for 1-2 days later so don't hesitate to try it if you have a small family like ours!

Baked French Toast Casserole

Ingredients:
1 loaf French bread, 13-16 ounces
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups fat-free half-and-half
1/2 cup skim milk
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Dash salt

For topping:
3 Tbsp butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Slice French bread into 1.5 inch slices. Arrange slices into greased 9x13 dish in 2 rows, slightly overlapping each slice. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour mixture over bread slices, covering evenly and spooning some of the mixture between the slices. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, preheat the oven to 350. Flip each bread slice over (so the drier top parts are against the bottom of the pan). Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together, then cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork. Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the bread slices, then place in the oven uncovered. Bake for about 40 minutes, until golden.

I sprinkled powdered sugar over each serving, drizzled with maple syrup (side note: splurge on real maple syrup--it's a different creature from the imitation stuff and is sooooo goood you'll never go back to Aunt J) and topped with some blueberries. We rounded off the meal with bacon and mimosas--delish!

Random stuff

Just a few things:

• We tried a new freezable recipe last week, Green Chile-Chicken Casserole from Cooking Light. I've been seeing recipes for King Ranch Chicken casserole everywhere (my Southern Living annual cookbook and Kelly's blog), and this recipe sounded similar to that but lower in fat/calories. I made it using bone-in chicken breasts (cooked according to this recipe) and split it into two 8x8 pans. We ate one and froze one. It was yummy and tasted fattening, even though it is fairly healthy (for a cheesy Mexican dish)--John had about 3 helpings and Will ate most of his share. We haven't eaten the frozen one yet, will probably do so this week (cleaning out the fridge in preparation to move in 2 weeks!) Anyway, click HERE for that recipe.


• In exciting news, I was a runner-up in the "Gaggle of Geese" contest over at My Sister's Farmhouse. The entries were hilarious--you have to go over there and check out the winner, it is priceless.


• And we're famous! Sort of. Go HERE and scroll down and see if you recognize anybody. This blogger did our birth announcement for Anna--I'd seen her blog previously and then found her stuff on Etsy. She was really great to work with and will do custom invitations or announcements that you can print as pictures (at Target, Shutterfly, etc.), making them very affordable.

That's all for now. Anna is 2 months old today so that means it's time for shots! She has been packing on the thigh padding in preparation. :-)

Freezer-Happy

After freezing so many meals for my maternity leave, I have really come to appreciate the ease of "cooking" meals out of the freezer. I know summertime is coming with yummy fresh produce, but I think I'm still going to try to keep the freezer stocked--if nothing else, it might keep us from getting takeout one or two nights during the week.


One easy thing I've been freezing is pancakes. We were buying frozen pancakes from the grocery store, until it dawned on me that I could do this and cut out the middleman (or woman, i.e. Aunt Jemima). Here's how I make them:


Fairly Healthy Oatmeal Pancakes


1 1/2 cups "Heart Smart" Bisquick
1 2/3 cups skim milk
1 cup oats
1 egg or egg substitute
1 tsp vanilla
Ground cinnamon (I just shake a whole bunch in, probably around 2-3 tsp--update, Mama says this would be a ton--so I don't know, just shake some in there 'til it looks good to you)


Combine all ingredients, whisk together. Brush skillet with melted butter, cook pancake on each side. Cool on wire racks, then place in a single layer into the freezer. Once frozen (1-2 hours), place into freezer container or bag, separated by wax paper.


To reheat, we microwave the frozen pancakes for 30-60 seconds (flipping about halfway through). You could probably use a toaster oven, or pop them in the toaster if you make them small enough.


And in our household, they taste waaaaay better if they're shaped like this:

Cupcake Pops

I saw these cute cupcake pops on the Pioneer Woman's cooking page and decided to try making them since we're having company this weekend. PW invited blogger Bakerella to visit her and teach her how to make these. Apparently, Bakerella also demonstrated how to make these on the Martha Stewart Show (and if it's good enough for Martha...).

Here are the directions from Bakerella, and here is the feature on her from Pioneer Woman. My cupcake pops are definitely a little sloppy--they are really time-consuming, so I got lazy at the end and just started throwing them together. But they are very cute when finished:

Frozen somewhat beautifully

I mentioned a few posts back about looking for freezer-friendly meals--I think Missy was the only contributor, but she gave me a good one. So I wanted to share it, along with 2 other recipes I've had success with freezing before and prepared this past weekend.

First, Missy sent me a link to Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Shells, courtesy of Giada and foodnetwork.com. I made the recipe to try it out several weeks ago. I actually got THREE 8x8 pans worth out of this one recipe, so we ate one that night and I froze two. They both cooked from frozen quite well. I put a little over 15 shells per pan (which is plenty for John, Will, and I, if I add another side and rolls)--Publix packages about 1.3 pounds of ground turkey per package, which is probably where I ended up with the extra stuffing. When I remade it this weekend, I also cooked up about 7 cups of sauce (the amount in the recipe was not quite enough for all 3 pans, and the sauce is GOOD).

Next, I made a batch of Italian Wedding Soup, a Barefoot Contessa recipe on foodnetwork.com. The meatballs are sort of healthy (made from ground chicken and baked). To freeze it, I made the meatballs, then made the soup, minus the spinach and pasta; I poured the soup into containers, added the meatballs, and froze. I'll add the spinach and pasta when I cook it after thawing.

Finally, I made Pineapple-Stuffed Jerk Chicken Breasts, a recipe I got from Everyday Food (I love that magazine). This recipe involves doing something I hate--extensively handling chicken (I'm scared of Salmonella and feel like I have to clean the entire kitchen after working with chicken--but I still eat raw cookie dough, which is definitely not rational). This recipe is so good, though, that it is worth the mess. I've made it with both fresh pineapple and canned, both work fine (I chop them more finely than the chunks called for in the recipe for easier stuffing). The texture of the chicken near the stuffing is a little different after freezing, maybe because the acidity of the lime juice cooks the chicken a bit in the freezer? But it's still good. And this is another recipe that requires no thawing--just throw the frozen breasts under the broiler.

I also have a frozen pan of Swiss Chicken in waiting. I got that recipe years ago from Mama, and John likes it a lot. I got the idea of freezing it from Kelly's Korner (I prepared with raw chicken, cheese, and sauce, froze it, then added the stuffing mix and butter after thawing and before cooking). I thawed one pan and cooked it last week for John and Will while I went to a work meeting, so I didn't get to taste it. John said it was "okay." I said "just okay," and he said it was "fine." Which I suspect means not good (he rarely complains about my cooking experiments gone wrong). I'll see how it tastes when we cook the other one. It is definitely yummy when made and cooked right away.

So that's what is packing our freezer at the moment.

PS...As Missy guessed last time, the "freezes beautifully" quote is from Annelle (Daryl Hannah) in Steel Magnolias. I love that movie. :-)

Addendum to the last...

I was checking the Pioneer Woman, and just saw this recipe for "Baked Fudge" which sounds very similar to the Brownie Pudding recipe, but baked in individual ramekins. That sounds like a good idea (I could definitely use some portion control when chocolate is involved). This reminded me that I should also mention that the dish in which you cook the Brownie Pudding is important--I initially used a round 2 1/2 quart glass dish, which was too deep and probably needed a significantly longer cooking time. The second go round, I used my oval white Corningware casserole dish, and it worked out much better.

Need some cooking help!!

Since it is the beginning of the year, I've been enjoying cooking my way through the Southern Living 2008 cookbook (Mama gets me a copy each year, and I love trying their new recipes--and John likes picking out ones for me to try) and through the new Barefoot Contessa cookbook from Missy. Ones that I've liked from Southern Living (with links, in case this makes you hungry):
Creole Fried Rice (I skipped the chicken thighs and used more andouille--have lots of sausage fans in this family!)
Green Bean, Grape, and Pasta Toss (Sounds weird, unless you're a big fan of broccoli salad like me! Unlike broccoli salad, this is best eaten within the first 24-36 hours--after that, the green beans got a little mushy on me. Would be a good side to grilled chicken or pork chops.)
Smokin' Mac'n'Cheese (I substituted regular Gouda for smoked--last time I used a smoked cheese, it overwhelmed the dish, so now I'm scared of that ingredient. Half-smoked, half-regular would probably be good. John didn't love the corn flakes on top--I usually use cheese or sometimes breadcrumbs to top macaroni and cheese, so will do that next time with this recipe. Will gobbled it up.)
Roasted Apples and Sweet Potatoes (I thought for sure Will would love this--I roast sweet potatoes a lot as a side dish, so this is pretty similar, with different spices and added apples. He just picked at it though. John and I liked it a lot.)

The Back to Basics Cookbook by the Barefoot Contessa has also been fun--I haven't made quite as many things because she uses some ingredients that are off limits to me at the moment (goat cheese, fresh mozzarella, and wine--I think the small amount of wine in the recipe wouldn't hurt, but what's the fun in cooking with wine if you can't enjoy a glass while you cook?!). Ina is pretty proprietary about her recipes, and she only posts them on foodnetwork.com for a limited time, so I've learned to print out and save the ones that I love. However, I did find a link for her Brownie Pudding to share with you (after clicking the link, scroll to the bottom)--this dessert is sooooo good, although it is very, very rich. I made it incorrectly the first time (my eyes are terrible, so I mistook 3/4 cup of cocoa powder to be 1/4 cup of cocoa powder, and I also undercooked it), so we ended up with something that was more like chocolate soup. The second time turned out awesome, however. Don't forget to buy some ice cream to have with it!

While we're talking about the Contessa, I have to include the link for maybe my all-time favorite recipe of hers--it's not in the cookbook, although she does mention it in her intro. It's Orzo with Roasted Vegetables, and I make it pretty often (in fact, we're having it tomorrow night). It's an adaptable recipe--last year when we had access to the fantastic farmer's market in Greensboro, I would buy whatever interesting vegetables I saw and throw them in. We tried all kinds of eggplant using this recipe--white, lavender, even striped!

So that's what I've been up to in the kitchen--but I need a little help with my next project. I'm trying to find some recipes to make ahead and freeze for after the baby's arrival. So if you have any recipe that "freezes beautifully," please send them to me!!! (PS...who knows who I'm quoting, and what movie???)

Cutting and Pasting

I've had some fun lately playing around with my blog template...and I changed the title. Not very original, but appropriate in this household where I'm outnumbered 2 to 1 with boys. We'll see if that changes come April. :-)

Here are some old pictures from last month, including Will's first day of school... And here are some new pictures from our trip to Disney last week. We decided to get annual passes given our new proximity to WDW...I hope the charm doesn't wear off now that we'll be going more frequently. This was the first time Will's been to the Magic Kingdom that he was really old enough to comment on the rides and characters. He told everybody he saw on the way to Orlando--from a guy at the AAA office to random people in the hotel lobby--that he was going to "see Mickey!! see Mickey!!." He did actually get to meet Mickey this time, and he was so excited and not at all scared (which was not the case with other characters...check out his picture with Pluto). I've also been looking on the internet for fun ideas for Will's lunches, before he OD's on peanut butter sandwiches--I found all sorts of cool sites like this one, which highlight a new craze for bento-style lunches for kids. Luckily, Will isn't too picky, so I haven't felt the need to cut fruit into all kinds of crazy shapes to get him to eat it. But I did find some inspiration for new things for lunch, including these "Corn Dog Muffins." Definitely of dubious nutritional value, they are easy to make and Will gobbled up the batch I made today. I'll try freezing them as mentioned in the recipe, and we'll see if they hold up.

Corn Dog Muffins

(From www.bentolunch.blogspot.com)

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

2 hot dogs, diced

About a half cup of shredded cheese (I used some leftovers in the fridge--I think it was cheddar and monterey jack)

Mix all together and bake at 400 degrees--I used a mini muffin pan and it took about 10 minutes.