Fruity French Toast Casserole

I got a version of this recipe from KSTU-TV, but adapted it for my own family. I cook a hot breakfast at least 4 days a week, so I'm always looking for new things so it's not always the standard "bacon & eggs" or "pancakes". Also, anywhere you can sneak some fruit in is always a bonus. This one is good and just fun for something a little different from the standard breakfast foods. This will serve about 4-6 people.

Casserole

6 Slices Bread, cubed

4 oz (1/2 pkg.) Cream Cheese, cut into small cubes

1 Cup Fresh Fruit (blueberries, strawberries, peaches or whatever you like)

5 Eggs

¼ Cup Milk

¼ Cup Maple Syrup

1) Place ½ of cubed bread in a well greased baking dish (8X8’ish or one like I told you about in this post). Spread around evenly.

2) Sprinkle cubed cream cheese evenly in dish over the bread.

3) Arrange fruit on top of bread & cream cheese.

4) Top with remaining bread cubes.

5) Beat together eggs, milk and syrup and pour over bread mixture so everything is moistened.

6) Cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least a couple hours.

7) In the morning, bake at 350 covered with foil for 30 min.

8) Remove foil and bake another 30 min. until lightly browned.

Fruit Topping

½ Cup Water

½ Cup Sugar

1 Tbsp. Cornstarch

1 Tbsp. Butter

1 Cup Fresh Fruit (same as in the bread mixture, or not I guess)

1) While the casserole is baking, combine water, sugar and cornstarch in pan and stir together to dissolve sugar.

2) Heat until thickened and add the fruit. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes.

3) Remove from heat and add butter. Stir together until butter is melted.

Cut french toast into servings and top with fruit mixture.

My Cute New Cookware

You might be thinking, "how could someone refer to their cookware as cute?" Well, let me just show you what I got for Mother's Day that I am so excited about. In fact, I'm so excited that I haven't stopped cooking ever since and our fridge is getting too full to fit anything else into it. I'm going to have to take a break for awhile until we catch up! Cookware isn't what it used to be...silver, black, straight, boring. There are so many fun options out there, why didn't someone think of "cute" cookware sooner?! Next, I'm going to have to replace my entire pots & pans set! Anyway, here are my two new items that have brought me so much joy.

Rachael Ray's Bubble & Brown Stoneware Set: You can select from a few awesome colors. I chose the orange. You can use these as you would normally use any kind of glass baking dish, except instead of clear, square and boring, you've got a beautiful bright color, shape and even handles! You can use it to make things like lasagna, casseroles, brownies, etc. They are even cute enough to use as serving dishes for other things! I served a fruit dip in the little one last week. Tramontina Gourmet Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven: This one is great because I've always needed a smaller dish for things like soup for my little family. I have this giant soup pan and I seriously think because of it, I rarely make soup for my family. Who wants to lug out this giant thing that's way bigger than what you need and that you have to clean when you're done? This is cast iron so it heats everything evenly and can be used right on the stove and transferred into the oven. You could brown beef in it for spaghetti sauce (or hamburger helper, I'll just admit) because you still have plenty of room for more. It also has cute little handles so you can serve in it as well. Who doesn't love to save cleaning time by using less dishes? And again, it came in a fun color! Love it!

Tea Party Tea Sandwiches

We had a fun little tea party for Mother's Day. I kind of just took a combination of ideas from online, made up some of my own ideas, put them together and man, they turned out so yummy! What a fun activity for the girls, I'd highly recommend it. One of the best things about these sandwiches is I assembled all of them from start to finish in about 15 minutes. That was good since I decided to have this tea party the day before I actually had it. I shopped for the food that morning, so these are really great if you're a procrastinator like I am!

For all tea sandwiches, you first have to cut the crusts of the bread. Also, you are going for small and cute. Don't forget to bring out your best china and make it fancy!

I wanted a combination of both sweet and savory sandwiches, so here are the savory ones.
Tomato & Olive Sandwich
Bread (I used white for these), with crusts removed
A Variety of Marinated Olives (You can get these in the bulk section of the deli area in the grocery store).
Cream Cheese, softened
Tomatoes, sliced
Salt

1) Pit and chop the olives.
2) Mix the olives with the cream cheese.
3) Spread the olive/cheese mixture onto the bread slices.
4) Lay tomatoes over the cheese mixture and sprinkle with salt.
5) Top with another slice of cheese covered bread and cut diagonally in half to form a triangle.

Cucumber & Chive Sandwich
Bread (I used white for these), with crusts removed
Cucumber, peeled & sliced
Chives, fresh
Cream Cheese, softened
Salt

1) Mix the chives with the cream cheese.
2) Spread the chive/cheese mixture onto the bread slices.
3) Lay cucumbers over the cheese mixture and sprinkle lightly with salt.
4) Top with another slice of cheese covered bread and cut diagonally in half to form a triangle.

And here are the sweet ones.
Pear, Honey & Walnut Sandwich
Bread (I used wheat for these), with crusts removed
Pear, sliced
Cream Cheese, softened
Honey
Walnuts

1) Mix equal amounts of honey and cream cheese together.
2) Spread mixture onto the bread slices.
3) Lay pears over the honey/cheese mixture on half of the slices of bread.
4) Sprinkle walnuts onto the other half of the slices of bread.
5) Put the bread slices together and cut diagonally in half to form a triangle.

Strawberry & Chocolate Hazelnut Sandwich
Bread (I used wheat for these), with crusts removed
Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread found next to the peanut butter in the grocery store)
Strawberries, sliced

1) Spread the nutella onto the bread slices.
2) Top with strawberries.
3) Put the bread slices together and cut diagonally in half to form a triangle.

Banana & Chocolate Hazelnut Sandwich
Bread (I used wheat for these), with crusts removed
Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread found next to the peanut butter in the grocery store)
Bananas, sliced

1) Spread the nutella onto the bread slices.
2) Top with bananas.
3) Put the bread slices together and cut diagonally in half to form a triangle.

5 different sandwiches in 15 minutes!

Biscuits & Gravy

This is your basic run of the mill biscuits & gravy recipe, but I wanted to post it because I have a great recipe for leftovers. You can click this link for that recipe: Sausage Gravy Pasta. Even though these are basic and easy, I make them all the time at my house because my kids LOVE them...well, and so do I!

4 Buttermilk Biscuits (we like Pillsbury frozen biscuits best)
1 tube Jimmy Dean Sausage
2 Cups Milk
2-4 Tablespoons Flour

1. Prepare biscuits as instructed on package.
2. Brown sausage in skillet. As soon as sausage is completely brown, turn to medium heat.
3. Add flour by the tablespoon, stirring constantly. Let the flour turn BROWN before adding another tablespoon (if you don't, your gravy will taste like flour).
4. After you have added enough flour to make the gravy as thick as you like, add milk and stir with whisk.

Serve over biscuits.

Spaghetti Pasta Salad

I wanted to post a couple of leftover recipes. I really have a hard time with leftovers and can only eat them if they are completely transformed into something that doesn't resemble what they were originally. This is one of my favorite things to do with leftover spaghetti noodles. In fact, I usually try to make extra pasta just to make sure we have enough left over to make this. It could not be any easier.

Cooked Spaghetti

Tomatoes, chopped

Cucumber, chopped

Can of sliced Olives

Zesty Italian Salad Dressing

Salad Supreme

Combine all ingredients in whatever quantities desired. Serve warm or cold.

Fruit Roll-Ups

I didn't even know this was possible without a food dehydrator, but I found out how to do this in an old book I've been reading called "Today's Tips for Easy Living". It's a great book even though the "today" referred to in the title was in 1988!

All you have to do to make these is puree whatever fruit you want in the blender. Add about 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice per quart of puree to keep the fruit from browning and as a preservative. After blending them, pour onto an inverted cookie sheet covered in saran wrap. Put them in an oven set at 175 degrees and leave the door open a couple inches (I assume so the moisture won't remain in the oven?). You have to leave them in there for several hours, but you can tell when they're done because they don't look "wet" anymore and when you try to peel them they'll be pliable.

For mine, I used strawberries, oranges and bananas. They all tasted great. Also, I dried my strawberry one out so much that it was brittle and I was just cracking pieces off of it. I put it in a ziplock bag with a few drops of water and the next day it was just as soft as the others.

I'm looking forward to trying this with all different kinds of fruit. What a healthy treat! Enjoy!

Eggs 'n Gravy

I recently discovered this breakfast food and I absolutely love it! We all need another way to cook eggs, right? I've never heard of this method before, but it's so simple. The kids love it too.

It's made just like you would make biscuits and gravy (which I just recently learned how to make as well), except with eggs instead of sausage. You'll need some biscuits, so you can either use pre-made biscuits or start cooking your favorite kind while you're preparing the rest.

1. First you hard boil some eggs (I make one per person). Peel them and then separate the whites from the yolks.
2. While the eggs are cooking, heat a pan over medium-high heat. Add butter and cornstarch or flour. Whisk them together. This is a roux.
3. When the butter is melted, add milk while stirring. Make sure it is hot enough that it's bubbling a bit so it will thicken.
4. Add salt & pepper to taste. I also add a little hot sauce here because I always add hot sauce to my eggs, but you can leave that out if you don't like it.
5. Chop up the egg whites and add them to the milk mixture.
6. Split each biscuit in half and spoon some of the egg/milk mixture onto it.
7. Crumble an egg yolk over the top of each biscuit.

Ok, normally I just "eye-ball" it, but in the interest of trying to create a recipe, here are the general amounts per person:
1 Egg, 1/2 Tbsp. Butter, 1/2 Tbsp. Cornstarch/Flour, 3/4 Cup Milk, 1 Biscuit.