French Toast

For some reason, I have been craving French toast lately. I think it started when I went to a bridal shower brunch and one of the girls made this amazing French toast. But I've always been intimidated by French toast - it isn't always the healthiest breakfast food, and for a lifetime calorie-counter like myself, it was considered off limits. I also had this vision of a complex, super-involved preparation that should be reserved only for the most special of guests and occasions.

But then I got over that. And when I was struck by this craving, and coincidentally presented with a surplus of bread (it was whole wheat, although the recipe calls for white) and eggs, I decided to go for it.

It. Was. So. Easy.

And soooo good.

I'm hooked. I've got two other French toast recipes already bookmarked to try, and I think I can safely say that Elle and Tim are definitely willing to act as my test-tasters on this mission.

In fact, I might have to make this again just to take a photo, because I neglected to do so the first time I made it :) I attempted to make a half-batch but only ended up with enough coating for five pieces of bread, which worked fine for the three of us.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
12 slices white bread
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Add the milk, brown sugar and nutmeg; stir well to combine (I added cinnamon as well, but I didn't sprinkle it at the end).

2. Soak bread slices in the egg mixture until saturated

3. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Brown slices on both sides, sprinkle with cinnamon and serve hot.


Source: allrecipes.com

Banana-Zucchini Bread

I faced the age-old aged banana dilemma a few weeks ago. I set out to searching allrecipes.com for a recipe to use with other ingredients I had - some shredded zucchini in the freezer and some cranberries in the cupboard. This just seemed like the perfect thing to bake. I sent a loaf to work with my husband and took a loaf to work with me. I omitted the nuts but made the rest of the recipe as directed.

As I've been gaining back my appetite, this was the perfect thing for me - moist, flavorful, somewhat healthy and easy to snack on. And trust me, as I speak from experience - it's good warm or cold, fresh or a couple of days old.


Ingredients

3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup grated zucchini
2 bananas, mashed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8x4 inch bread loaf pans.


2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light yellow and frothy. Add oil, brown sugar, white sugar, grated zucchini, bananas, and vanilla; blend together until well combined. Stir in the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix in the cranberries and nuts. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared loaf pans.


3. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Allow to cool in the loaf pans on a wire rack before removing and serving.


Source: allrecipes.com

Going bananas at the grocery store

I was unpacking my bags after a trip to the grocery store recently, when I pulled out about 7 bananas from one bag. All the bananas were separated from each other, which I thought was odd. I remembered picking up a bunch of about six bananas that were all still attached to each other.

I turned to Mike, and said, "What the heck happened to our bananas? Why are they all loose from each other?" He looked at me, and then looked at our kitchen counter, where a more familiar looking bunch of bananas was already sitting.

We got someone else's bananas (and a bag of mini-marshmallows, it turned out). We really like bananas. But that's a LOT of bananas for two people to consume in a week, particularly considering that we'd also bought pineapple, pears and apples.

Knowing I would have several bananas going bad quickly --


-- I logged onto allrecipes.com, and located a banana bread recipe. Of course, as always, I read over a large chunk of the comments, so I could easily fine-tune the recipe (see my notes below).

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2. In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter or margarine. Beat the egg slightly, and mix into the creamed mixture with the bananas. Mix in sifted ingredients until just combined. Stir in milk and nuts. Spread batter into one greased and floured 9x5 inch loaf pan.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) until top is brown and cracks along the top.


My notes

*I took some of the commenters' advice and added 1 tspn vanilla, 1 tspn cinnamon, and a little extra banana (since I had plenty). I had so much banana, in fact, that I doubled the recipe and made two loaves. I also substituted half of the white sugar for brown sugar, for color.

*I didn't have any walnuts to add, but I did have chocolate chips, so I added about a cup of those. I have a mega sweet tooth, and it was a little too sweet even for me. Next time, I'd skip the chocolate chips and make sure I had some walnuts to throw in.

*Also, to help it stay extra moist, cover with foil immediately after removing from oven for about half an hour.

*I baked mine initially for about 40 minutes, and then checked it every five minutes or so after that to see if it was done. In the end, it probably took close to 60 minutes, but I think I overbaked it ever-so-slightly. About 55 minutes would probably have done it for me. (My oven bakes on the quicker end of the spectrum.)

Grandma's Pumpkin Bread

When I visited home for weekends during college, my family would often send me back to the dorm with snacking essentials. Cookies, Skittles, mini orange juice cartons, Nutra-grain bars. And sometimes, if I was lucky, a loaf of Grandma's pumpkin bread.

My friend Lesley was my roommate for my first two years of college, so she would often benefit from these snacks, too. In fact, she still remembers how my Grandma would send me back to college with a special loaf for her birthday.

Lesley emailed me several weeks ago asking me for the recipe. She was craving the bread. The email got buried in my inbox, and, well, I forgot. But as time got closer to her visit, I found the email again and knew what I should do: dig out the recipe and bake her a loaf.

It was my first time attempting Grandma's bread, even though I've had the recipe for years. I can say it was pretty darn good, but it's always just a little better when Grandma makes it, isn't it?

Since this recipes makes two large loafs, I took one to work, where it met with some enormously positive feedback and a couple of recipe requests.

Ingredients

2/3 cup shortening
2-2/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 can (15 oz.) pure pumpkin
2/3 cup water
3-1/3 cup flour
2 tspn baking soda
1-1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn baking powder
1 tspn cinnamon
1 tspn cloves
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2/3 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two large loaf pans.

Cream shortening and add sugar thoroughly. Add eggs, pumpkin and water. Blend in dry ingredients, except nuts and raisins. Add nuts and raisins last, if desired.

Bake in preheated oven until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (40-50 minutes).

My notes

*Instead of 1 tspn cloves, you could use 1/2 tpsn cloves and 1/2 tspn nutmeg.

*I used the nuts but not the raisins. But I've had it with raisins, too. Either way, it's delish.

*These freeze very well.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

For Round 13 of Operation Baking Gals, I made some Vanilla Cake Mix Coolers
and some pumpkin bread. I went in search of a pumpkin bread recipe and found one that included 1 cup of mini-chocolate chips - just the amount I had left over from the last time I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip. Since I'm all about not letting ingredients go to waste, I thought I'd try this one out.

The recipe I found yielded three loaves, which seemed a bit much, but I'm glad I made it. I sent one to our soldier, Josh; part of one to his wife, Kara; a few slices to my friend, Sara; and uh, Tim and I *might* have eaten the rest. Maybe.

Aside from the deliciousness of this moist, rich bread, I was pleased to find a reason to pull out some of the bread pans my grandmother had given me. There are a lot of baking pans that she passed on to me when I moved from Pittsburgh, and I feel like I don't use them enough.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 1 pound size coffee cans, or three 9x5 inch loaf pans.


2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill cans 1/2 to 3/4 full.


3. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.

Source: allrecipes.com

Irish Soda Bread

Have I ever mentioned how much I love bread? Oh yes, I believe I have.

I decided I wanted to visit Ireland for my final contribution to Desserts of the World Week. I was inspired by two friends who had just returned from a trip to Ireland, where they got engaged.

So I logged onto allrecipes.com, and searched for Irish recipes. An Irish Soda Bread recipe jumped out at me instantly, begging to be made.

I'd never had soda bread, but I learned from the reviews that it is supposed to be a little drier and more crumbly than most of the bread we are used to the states. My Irish-traveling friend told me that restaurants in Ireland serve it with every. single. meal. By the end, she was practically an Irish Soda Bread critic.

Anyway, I found this recipe to be shockingly easy (especially for bread, which can be a bit of a pain to make from scratch). I made it to go along with a pasta dish my husband made for dinner. It did not disappoint. It was very dense and a bit crumbly, as expected, and I loved the buttery taste of the crust. I stuck the leftovers in the fridge and had some again the next night with a big salad and was quite content. I think it would be great with chili or potato and leek soup, too, but it is *still* too hot in Phoenix for that. Pity me, please.

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup buttermilk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and margarine. Stir in 1 cup of buttermilk and egg. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on prepared baking sheet.


In a small bowl, combine melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk; brush loaf with this mixture.


Use a sharp knife to cut an 'X' into the top of the loaf.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 30 to 50 minutes. You may continue to brush the loaf with the butter mixture while it bakes.

Source: allrecipes.com

My notes

*I brushed the top of the bread 4 or 5 times while it cooked to make the crust as moist and flavorful as possible. I'm glad I did.

*One commenter on allrecipes suggested using this recipe to make biscuits instead of one big loaf. She said to split the dough into biscuit-sized balls, place them on the cookie sheet and bake them at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on the top. I'm definitely going to try that next time. The quick prep and cook time of the biscuits would make this a great last-minute addition to a meal during the week.

My love affair with Oroweat (and saving money)

As much as I love homemade bread (as is evidenced by my Peasant Boule recipe), I don't have time to bake it regularly. It's not really that I don't have any extra down time... it's just that I eat a lot of bread. I'm a carb addict. I get it from my mom.

I love good bread. However, I am also cheap. Thrifty. Stingy. Whatever you want to call it. I like to save a buck (I get that from my mom, too). So when my friend Mike told me about the Oroweat outlet near my condo, I was intrigued. This friend, not to be confused with my husband Mike, also likes to save money. He knew I would appreciate this place.

And appreciate it, I do. It is simply amazing. All the bread you could ever want. And just $2 for a loaf. $2.50 for an extra-large loaf. $1.49 for English muffins. This is the stuff that costs upwards of $4 at Fry's. So I'm getting good bread, and I'm spending the same amount I was spending for a loaf of not-so-good bread before.

They have a punch card, so you can work toward a free item. AND, if you spend more than $5, you get an item off the "free shelf," which is just a shelf of loaves of bread. AND, if you buy a reusable bag for 99 cents, you get another free item off the free shelf.

When my parents were in town in May, my dad and husband spent a day laying down new bathroom flooring while I took my mom to the Oroweat outlet. Cuz I knew she would appreciate it.

You can literally spend $10 and get a month's worth of bread. Mike (the friend) and I always text message each other when we have a particular good run at Oroweat. It goes something like this: "Just spent $9.73. Got 4 loaves of bread, 2 eng muffins and a reusable bag. Long live Oroweat!"

Anyway. I have a point to all this. Mike's (my husband's) boss, Lara, says Oroweat has finally outdone itself. They came up with these sandwich thins. They're healthy (yay! to counteract all the cookies I eat!) and she says they're really good. I trust Lara. She has not yet steered me wrong in food or in books, so I'm hoping the outlet has these when I go over the weekend to restock.


Anyone else addicted to bread? Where do you get your good bread deals?

Monkey Bread gone wild

This month's craft party gathering was deemed a brunch, so I bypassed my usual cookies and cakes and went with monkey breads. I'd never seen monkey bread that wasn't the standard sugar and cinnamon yummy goodness that I grew up with until the shower I cohosted earlier in the month, when one of our coworkers brought Bacon Monkey Bread.

(Note: In a tired moment last week, I referred to it as bacon banana bread. Think about that for a minute. Now gag. And continue.)

I thought it would be perfect for craft party brunch. I made a lot of adjustments to this recipe, and it turned out pretty well. Personally, I'm a fan of my arteries, so I cut the butter way back. I didn't feel like battling onion breath all day, so I skipped those. The bread tasted great, though!


Ingredients:
3 cans refrigerated biscuits (I used four, as they came in a pack of four)
1/2 lb. fried bacon (I think I used 12 slices but didn't measure out how many pounds that was)
3/4 c. chopped bell peppers
3/4 c. chopped onions (I omitted these)
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese (I used 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 sticks butter (I used about 5 tablespoons)

Directions:
Cook peppers (and onions) in butter. Cut biscuits into quarters. Crumble bacon into cheese. Toss biscuits with bacon and cheese. Layer dough in a well-greased bundt pan.

After layering 1 can of biscuits, spread 1/3 of the pepper and onion mixture. Drizzle about 1/4 cup of butter over dough. (I did not add butter in each layer and instead poured it over everything at the very end - it tends to seep down, through and around the biscuits.) Continue the layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Note: I think you could also add some shredded cheese to this recipe for a cheesy, bacon-y breakfast bread.

I also realized that not everyone eats meat, so I wanted to make a sweeter, meatless monkey bread ... I searched through some recipes and found one that I adapted to make Raspberry Monkey Bread. I honestly didn't think it would work, though, so I kinda didn't measure anything exactly.

Ingredients:
4 cans refrigerated biscuits
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4-1 cup raspberry preserves

Directions:
Cut biscuits into quarters. Combine butter, honey, sugar and raspberry preserves. Toss biscuit quarters with mixture to fully coat them. Bake in a well-greased bundt pan at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.


The recipe I adapted mine from also suggested using 1/2 of nuts.

For many, many more monkey bread recipes, check out this site.

Sources: cooks.com (for Bacon Monkey Bread) and recipegoldmine.com (for Raspberry Monkey Bread I based mine on)

Glazed Lemon Loaf

I went through several cookbooks, trying to find a lemon recipe that really spoke to me. Not just any old lemon cake would do. I needed something worthy of Cheryl's lemons.
I dusted off an old cake mix cookbook my grandma got me several years ago. I hadn't used it in a while, but my grandma has an uncanny ability to pick out cookbooks with recipes I love, so I had a feeling I'd find something in that one.
Oh, hello, Glazed Lemon Loaf.
I knew it would be a winner. I was right. Just look how pretty the batter is:

And the finished product ain't too shabby either:

It was really good. Light, refreshing, and the glaze was a little tangy. The recipe makes two loaves, so Mike's co-workers got one, and my co-workers got one. Lemon Loaf all around!

Ingredients
Loaf:
1 package lemon cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup and 3 tablespoons water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions
Loaf:
Grease two 8 1/2-inch by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans and line with foil. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, water and oil. Beat on medium speed for two minutes. Spread batter into the two prepared pans, dividing evenly.
Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack.
Glaze:
Heat sugar and lemon juice together to dissolve sugar. Poke holes in top of loaves with fork or toothpick. Brush glaze on tops, letting it soak in. Cool loaves completely, then remove from pans.

Source: Duncan Hines Cake Mix Magic

Peasant Boule

My husband, who is a notoriously thoughtful gift-giver, once came up with a brilliant gift idea for me - a gift certificate to a local kitchen store that offers various cooking and baking lessons.
He presented me with the gift certificate and a listing of all the classes they had to offer. I honed in on one in particular: a bread-making class.
Bread is one of those things that I always wanted to attempt to make. There are few things in life I love more than bread. But I'd never worked with yeast before, and in all honesty, it scared me.
I knew a class would be a perfect way to break in some bread recipes. The best part was that the teacher had clearly made a lot of bread in her day. And she wasn't afraid to tell you what you were doing wrong and how, precisely, to improve your technique.
We made a handful of different breads that day, but the one that stuck with me -- the one that goes perfectly with Mike's homemade spaghetti sauce -- is the Peasant Boule.
I had never heard of a Peasant Boule. I'm still not real sure what the name means. But I can tell you that it's delicious. And not as hard to make as you might think.

Ingredients
3-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tblspn sugar
1-1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 cups water at 115-120 degrees (You made need a little extra. I use a basic baking thermometer to make sure the water is the right temperature.)
Optional -- 1/3-2/3 cup finely chopped fresh herbs of your choice (chives, parsley and basil are good)

Directions
Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a stand mixer (can also be done by hand, which is how I do it). Include the herbs at this point if you are using them. (I never use herbs, FYI. I think the bread is awesome without them. If you try some herbs, let me know how it turns out.)
Add the water and mix until combined. The dough should be very soft. Add more water if needed. Mix until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead until no longer stick -- about 10 minutes. Use no more flour than necessary.

Place in a buttered bowl and cover with plastic.

Allow to double in size -- about an hour.

Turn dough onto a board and press down gently to deflate it. Without too much handling, shape into a round about 7 inches wide and place it smooth side up in a buttered 9-inch round cake pan. Generously brush with butter.

Allow to rise (uncovered) until doubled in size -- about 25 minutes. It will fill the pan and will be light and airy to the touch. Brush with more butter.
Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes (it only takes about 30 minutes in my oven, which is known for baking quickly). Loaf should be well-browned and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Internal temperature should be 200 degrees (I use that trusty baking thermometer again to check).
If the bottom crust is not as brown as you would like, remove from the pan and place directly on the rack for 3-5 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a rack.

Slice and enjoy!

Fresh Blueberry Banana Bread

I started making this recipe last summer - it's been a hit every time I've made it. I read about this recipe on my newspaper's Web site, and then I made it several times, including several times in Ohio last August.

But blueberries were on sale at my grocery store this week. And I'm itching to make it again! I think the banana and crunchy topping are what really make it. I made it a bit healthier by substituting unsweetened applesauce for the Crisco.

Here is the original story.

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons flour plus 1 3/4 cups flour (separate uses)
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter flavored Crisco
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas

Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup ground nuts (walnuts or pecans)
1/4 cup melted butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss the washed blueberries with 2 tablespoons flour. Set aside. Sift the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

In large bowl, cream the Crisco and gradually beat in the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the flour mixture alternately with the mashed banana, stirring until blended. Stir in the blueberries.

Pour mixture into greased loaf pan. Combine topping ingredients, sprinkle on top of batter. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick come out clean. Makes 1 loaf.

Source: tampabay.com