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Cinnamon French Toast

3 Feb

Cinnamon French Toast

 

I love French toast, but it’s not something I make all too often.  My husband had bought a loaf of artisan French bread for $0.99 at Safeway, one of our Just for U personalized deals on our Club Card.  Usually, we just have the bread with butter with our dinner, but since I have the new electric griddle, I decided to try it out making French toast today.  It was perfect to get all the slices on at once and to cook them all evenly:

Electric griddle with French toast cooking

It’s been a while since I’ve made French toast, so I looked up a few recipes and came up with this combination.  I put a little powdered sugar on top, and served it with cut strawberries and bananas.  My older daughter thought it was beautiful!  And delicious.

 

Cinnamon French Toast

What you need:

8 slices of bread, preferably French bread cut 1/2″ – 1″ thick
1 cup milk or half and half
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave about 20 seconds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make it:

In a bowl, whisk together, milk, eggs, honey, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.  Pour mixture into a pie pan.

Dip each slice of bread in the mixture, allowing both sides of bread to soak for a few seconds.  Place each slice in a skillet or on an electric griddle and cook until golden brown on each side, about 2-3 minutes for each side.  Serve with powdered sugar, syrup, and fresh fruit, if desired.

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A Kitchen-y Christmas: Kid Version

3 Feb

My daughters both love to cook with me.  Any time in the kitchen, they want to help any way they can.  Naturally, because of her love for cooking, my older daughter wanted an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas.  I had an Easy Bake Oven when I was a kid and I thought it was really cool.  Until I realized it’s just a light bulb in a plastic oven, and it makes the tiniest, almost tasteless desserts.  So, we talked it over, and we decided that it might be more fun to ask for her own set of baking supplies.  I figure, I would have to supervise her using the Easy Bake Oven anyway, and if we are putting the time and effort in, we might as well make a real dessert so she can learn her way around the kitchen.

So, I headed out to our local Target store and came up with all this:

A Kitchen-y Christmas: Kid Version

Our Target has this cool line of bright-colored, collapsible prep items called squish.  They are reasonably priced, and great for minimal storage since they collapse.  She loves the colors!  I got the 5 quart mixing bowl, the measuring cup set, and the measuring spoon set.  We may expend to some of the other size mixing bowls and the colanders at some point.

The Caterpillar Spatula and Giraffe Wisk are both made by NordicWare.  They also make an alligator rolling pin, but I decided to skip the rolling pin for now.  They are the perfect size for little hands, and love that they are cute with the animal shaped handles.

Then, I got a Wilton 24 cup mini muffin pan and a Kitchen Essentials from Calphalon Bar Pan.  This was to keep with the Easy Bake Oven theme, making things on a smaller scale and individualized.  And, of course, since she was getting a bar pan, I got her a red OXO Good Grips Brownie Sptaula.

A friend of mine is working on an apron for her as well.

She loves all of it!  We made mini blueberry muffins last month, and hopefully, making some brownies today to try out the bar pan and spatula.  In the end, it did cost me a little more for all this than an Easy Bake Oven would have cost, but these items we will be able to use for a lot longer than an Easy Bake Oven, or so I hope!  Hoping to get lots of baking done with these items over the years while she grows up!

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A Kitchen-y Christmas!

1 Feb

When my family asked what I wanted for Christmas, of course my reply was kitchen stuff!  Of course, it’s not top of the line, but it will get the job done for what I need (or so I hope!).

Kitchen gadgets from Christmas

First off, a Cuisinart 7 cup Food Processor from my mom and dad.  I have a small, 2 cup food processor, but was really needing something for larger batches of things like guacamole, applesauce, salsa.  I had tried in my blender a few times, and it was ok, but I needed something more.  Plus, I broke my mandolin slicer, and this one came with a slicing blade, so I’m hoping to get some use out of it for slicing and chopping as well.  So far, I used it to make a large batch of guacamole, and it worked great.  Looking forward to using it more!

Next, a Hamilton Beach Electric Griddle from my husband and girls.  My older daughter was the one that picked this out.  It’s something I have thought of getting, but just hadn’t gotten around to getting one.  So, when my husband took her shopping for me, she saw this and the picture on the front of the pancakes and sausage cooking together, and decided it was something I really needed.  She was so excited after they got it, she so wanted to tell me, but instead, told anyone she could what she got me while I was not listening.  And she was so worried the first time I used it that I wouldn’t like it.  I have used it multiple times now, for hamburgers and buns, and pancakes, bacon, and eggs.  I LOVE it!  It cooks everything more evenly than a skillet on the stove, and is large enough to cook a lot all at once.

Also from my husband and girls are the 2 KitchenAid Bamboo Mixer Spatulas, the Oster Hand Mixer with retractable cord, plus dough hook and whisk attachments, and the Oster 10 Speed Blender.  These were to replace older items.

The West Bend Air Crazy Popcorn Popper is from my brother-in-law.  Well, sort of.  He gave me a gift card for Target, so I used it to buy this.  We love popcorn, but I am tired of microwave popcorn.  My family had an air popper when I was a kid, and I loved it, so I was happy they still make them!  This really isn’t anything fancy, and isn’t perfect, but makes us yummy, air popped popcorn!

The KitchenArt Adjust-A-Cup Measuring Cup is from my mom and dad.  This was something my mom had gotten for my sister-in-law’s bridal shower, and thought that my sister and I would like them too.  I think it’s cool!

I also got more measuring cups, Fred M-Cup Measuring Matryoshkas, from my Aunt Connie and Uncle Rick.  These are really cool too! My younger daughter loves playing with the wooden matryoshka dolls at my parents’ house, she even got her own set from my Aunt Paula for Christmas, so it was really neat to get these measuring cups.  Each half of a doll is a different measurement:

Fred M-Cup Measuring Matryoshkas

They also gave me the metal tester on the front right.  It’s cute with a little snowflake on top.

The final item is a Joseph Joseph Rocker Garlic Crusher in my favorite color, purple!  It was from my mom and dad as well.  I learned of this product at the Taste of Home Cooking School show back in November.  I have a garlic press, but wanted to give this a try to see which I like better.  I haven’t had a chance to try yet, but hopefully soon!

Now, hopefully, life will slow down some so I get a chance to cook more and use all these fun, new kitchen tools!

Zaycon Foods Chicken Tenders

16 Jan

This is the first of two Zaycon Foods chicken events that was available here this month, Breaded Chicken Tenders.  It was $1.99 per pound, and came as 2 boxes of 10 pounds of chicken tenders.  Then, each box actually had 2 bags, so all together I got 4 5 lb bags.  Here are 2 of the bags:

10 pounds of chicken tenders from Zaycon FoodsThese are not formed chicken, but cut pieces of white meat that are breaded.  They are not fully cooked, so they do have to be either deep-fried or baked in the oven (400F for 12-14 minutes, or until fully cooked).  They are made by the Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation under the Sweet Georgia Brand, and nutritional information and cooking instructions can be found here.

I made some for dinner tonight, and they were pretty good.  I cooked them for closer to 15 minutes, but I wanted to make sure they got cooked through.  So far, I’m happy with the purchase!

Cooked Zaycon Foods Chicken Tenders

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Spinach and Mozzarella Chicken with Lemon Roasted Potatoes

15 Jan

Spinach and Mozzarella Chicken with Lemon Roasted Potatoes

 

This turned out amazing!  I had gotten spinach from Bountiful Baskets in the juicing pack I contributed for, and wanted to make it with chicken somehow.  So, I started looking through some recipes, and came up with a marinade for the chicken, then topped with spinach and mozzarella cheese.  I wanted them to be somewhat flatter, but didn’t pound them flat very well.  Just meant that it took a little longer for them to cook.  Since I had gotten red potatoes and lemons as well in my regular basket, I thought roasting the potatoes with lemon would be a nice addition.

 

Spinach & Mozzarella Chicken

What you need:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons (or about 1/3 cup)
1 tablespoon rosemary
2 cloves minced garlic
Salt and pepper
2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

How to make it:

In a small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper.  Put chicken on a flat surface in between 2 pieces of wax paper and pound flat.  Place chicken in a gallon size zipper bag and pour contents of the bowl over chicken in the bag.  Seal bag and place in refrigerator overnight, or for at least 1 hour before cooking.

Remove chicken from bag and discard remaining marinade.  Preheat oven to 400 F.  Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook chicken in skillet for about 5 minutes each side to slightly brown it.  Remove from skillet and place in a baking dish.

In the same skillet, put in the spinach and cook for a few minutes until spinach wilts.  Place spinach on each of the chicken breasts in baking dish.  Next, put shredded mozzarella on top of the spinach on each chicken breast.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked fully through and cheese is melted.

 

 

Lemon Roasted Potatoes

What you need:

3 pounds red potatoes, well scrubbed
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Dice the potatoes, leaving skins on.  Place in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, mix together remaining ingredients.  Pour over the potatoes in the large bowl.  Toss to fully coat potatoes.

Spray a foil lined baking sheet with non-stick spray.   Spread potatoes in an even layer on the baking sheet.

Cook in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.  Stir potatoes around on baking sheet.  Continue to bake for 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes are browned and softened.

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Ah, produce!

14 Jan

After being out of town for 2 1/2 weeks for the holidays and not participating in Bountiful Baskets or Sunizona’s FarmBox, my house had no produce!  Well, I take that back, I think my husband had gotten some bananas just before the kids and I got back.  So, I was very excited to get my FarmBox last Wednesday and then Bountiful Baskets this past weekend.

The FarmBox program has a few new items, citrus from Arizona Organic Family Farms, a raisin walnut bread, and hoagie buns.  First, I tried the raisin walnut bread, it’s really great!  I’m going to try some oranges this week and I’m looking forward to it.  Here is how my box looked last week:

Sunizona FarmBox 1/9/2013I picked a cucumber, micro cilantro, red potatoes #2 (non-perfect potatoes), raisin walnut bread, special spelt bread, radishes, green beans, and pink lady apples.  All delicious!  We really, really love the bread.

It was a good haul at Bountiful Baskets this week.  I got the conventional basket and the new juicing pack.  I have a juicer, but honestly, I got the pack more for the extra produce offered in it, it’s all things we love to eat.

Here is the conventional basket:

Conventional basket 1/12/2013Red potatoes, cucumbers, rainbow carrots, avocados, grape tomatoes, sweet peppers, strawberries, oranges, lemons, red delicious apples, golden delicious apples, and Asian apple pears.  I’ve already used the lemons to marinate chicken and potatoes for mashed potatoes.  We’ve been snacking on the peppers, cucumbers, carrots, and apples.  I also made guacamole with the avocados.

Juicing Pack 1/12/2013This is the new juicing pack.  Great mix of fruits and vegetables, celery, kale, baby spinach, carrots, beets, cucumber, limes, ginger, fuji apples, and a lemon.  I may juice some of this, but more likely we’ll just eat it.

Finally, I didn’t contribute for these, but snapped a picture of the 12 lb jar of honey and the 1/2 gallon of coconut oil, just to show what they look like.

Bountiful Baskets honey and coconut oil

Note: The type and amount of food may vary from another basket because of geographic location and because of variances in how case ends are distributed once everything is distributed evenly. I also volunteered and got an extra item for volunteering.

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Sloppy Joe Turnovers

9 Jan

Sloppy Joe Turnovers

 

Yum, yum, yum!  My husband had been talking about having sloppy joes for dinner, so I started looking up recipes for them.  I remembered that Lori at My Kinda Rain had a recipe for Sloppy Joe Turnovers, and since I had a can of Grands biscuits in the refrigerator, I decided to give them a try!  I did use a different filling than she did, but then made them turnovers.  Eventually, I would like to come up with  my own biscuit recipe to use instead of biscuits from a can, but I have some work on my bread and biscuit skills to do first.   I like the turnovers because they aren’t as messy….which I know pretty much defeats the purpose of them being “sloppy” joes, but it’s nice when you have small kids.  I paired this with Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup, and it was a great, filling meal!

 

Sloppy Joe Turnovers

What you need:

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can biscuits (I used Grand biscuits, but regular biscuits can be used as well)

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef.  Drain any fat.  Add chopped onion and cook until onions are soft.  Stir in ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, yellow mustard, salt, and pepper.  Simmer over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes to let it thicken.

Roll out each biscuit to about 1/4″ thickness.  Scoop about 1/4 cup of meat mixture onto each biscuit.  Fold in half and press edges together well.  Place all on a baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown.

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Sausage, Spinach, and Rice

7 Jan

Sausage, Spinach, and Rice

One of my favorite dishes I make at Thanksgiving is Wild Rice & Sausage Casserole.  And, while it’s great, it’s a little time-consuming considering it has to go in the oven.  So, I decided to try a little variation, use Italian sausage in place of breakfast sausage, add spinach, and do it in the skillet.  Turns out, this makes a nice, quick standalone meal!  The Italian sausage has enough spices that you don’t really need to add any more seasoning.  My kids both gobbled it down!

Sausage, Spinach, and Rice

What you need:

1 pound Italian sausage, hot or mild, casings removed
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 pound fresh spinach, chopped
2 cups cooked rice, wild, brown, or white, your choice
Grated Parmesan cheese

How to make it:

Break up and brown sausage in a large skillet.  Add onions, and continue to cook until onions are soft and translucent.  Add spinach, and cook until wilted.  Stir in rice and cook over medium heat for a few minutes.  Serve into bowls and sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese onto each serving.

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Three Cheese Mostaccioli

31 Dec

Three Cheese Mostaccioli

My mom and sister discovered this recipe on the back of a box of Creamette mostaccioli noodles.  It’s a little time consuming to prep, but turns out really tasty!

 

Three Cheese Mostaccioli

What you need:

1 pound mostaccioli noodles
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
4 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded swiss or mozzarella cheese

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in flour, basil, garlic salt, and pepper.  Slowly pour in milk, stirring constantly to avoid getting lumps.  Continue to stir and cook until mixture thickens.  Remove from heat.  Stir in 1 cup shredded cheddar and the Parmesan cheese.  Mix in with cooked noodles.

Grease a 9 x 13 pan.  Spread half of the pasta in the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle with the swiss or mozzarella cheese.  Add remaining pasta noodles.

Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until bubbling.   Remove foil and immediately sprinkle with remaining shredded cheddar cheese.  Let stand for 10 minutes to cool, and serve.

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Monkey Bread

25 Dec

Monkey Bread

 

For the last few years, my sister has made monkey bread as part of our Christmas morning breakfast.  She started with a regular bundt pan, but then found a holiday tree bundt pan to make it a little more festive.  It’s a big hit with everyone in the family!

 

Monkey Bread

What you need:

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 cans Grands biscuits
1/2 cup butter, melted, divided
1 can vanilla creamy frosting, if desired for a glaze

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease a bundt pan.

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Open 1 can of biscuits, and cut into sixths.  Roll into balls, and coat in the sugar/cinnamon mixture.  Place coated balls into the prepared pan.  Pour 1/4 cup melted butter evenly over the balls in the pan.  Repeat for the second can of biscuits, pouring the remaining butter over the top when done.

Bake in the preheated oven 30-35 minutes, or until biscuits are no longer doughy and are golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes.  Turn pan over onto a serving plate.

Heat frosting in a small saucepan over low heat until it becomes runny.  Add food coloring if you have a desired color.  Pour over the top of the monkey bread.  May also add sprinkles for more decoration.

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