Baked Blueberry French Toast

People keep getting married.

Last year's record was six weddings. April through October. Wedding season now extends half the year. Six months of "I do's" and gift registries and bouquet tosses and ring bearers being coaxed to make it down the aisle by Aunt Trudy in the front row.

But still, I love weddings. So I don't complain too much about my fridge door looking like a Papryus store display board.

I love the variety. I've attended ceremonies ranging from traditional to modern; upscale to shabby chic. Weddings held in a church, a barn, a country club, by a pool, an estate lawn, the beach, and a field. Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, and Pentecostal. Military. Greek. Justice of the Peace. Age-old recited vows and hand-written. Receptions with DJs, live bands, iPod playlists hooked up to speakers, and some with no dancing at all. Princess gowns to hand-me-downs with a few modern tweaks.

No matter the details, the mishaps, the crazy grandmas or slightly creepy third-cousin of the groom's uncle's half-sister who keeps eyeing you at the punch table, every wedding ends the same: two people become one. And that is beautiful.

And so this year I've outdone myself. Ten weddings. TEN. Like, I need to use every single finger on both hands to count the number of dresses and pairs of shoes I'm gonna have to buy in order to attend these marital celebrations. I even pulled a 27 Dresses-moment and went to three weddings in one weekend. I suppose I just love mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam.

So when my friend and housemate, Lynn, asked if I could make a few of the dishes for her breakfast-themed reception, I was all like hand me a spatula and some cooking spray!

French toast. x2.

First up:



Baked Blueberry French Toast

Food creds: Tasty Kitchen



Ingredients:

         1 loaf challah, Italian, or French bread

         8 eggs

         2 cups milk

         2 tsp. vanilla

         1/2 cup brown sugar (divided)

         1/2 tsp. nutmeg

         1 tsp. cinnamon

         1/4 tsp. salt

         4 T. butter

         1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

         2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Directions:

         1. Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a baking dish (I used 9x13). 

         2. Cut bread loaf into cubes and place in baking dish.

         3. Beat together eggs, milk, vanilla, 1/4 cup brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. 

         4. Pour egg batter over bread cubes and press bread down gently to absorb most of the mixture.

         5. Melt butter with remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Mix well and then drizzle over bread.  

         6. If using pecans, sprinkle over top. Finally, top with blueberries just before putting in the oven.

         7. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve with syrup.

You're turning violet, Violet!
a.k.a. blueberry sweat

Stay tuned for french toast #2...

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Coconut Mango Quinoa

I get obsessive sometimes.

Hi.


Does that make you nervous?

You totally don't need to worry. It's mostly about things, not people.

Not that you aren't awesome enough to obsess over. ... But, yeah.


I have compulsions to love a thing into a state of unfashionableness.

Justin Bieber's acoustic album has been my office jam for an unhealthy length of time. I bob my head to it. My shoulders sway a little. It helps me type. Do people look quizzically at me? Not sure. I'm in my zone. It's a Biebs thing.

Confession: last summer I listened to Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" (the extended version) for a solid week while writing my first grad paper. No joke. Repeat. Over and over again. Contradiction and a half: I totally cried. Maybe big girls don't need to cry, but grad students sure do.

I could watch You've Got Mail every night of the week and function just like any other normal variety-movie-watching person. My mother coined the term "feel good movie" when I watched Baby Boom with her for the zillionth time. For her, it's Diane Keaton all the way. As for me, a lover of books, coffee, and NYC, it will always be Joe Fox (F-O-X) and Kathleen Kelly.

And don't get me started on the bean burgers I made all.summer.long. Soooo good. Though, tasty as they are, no one should really have an obsession with anything containing beans as the main ingredient. Just sayin.

I don't ever remember eating slash seeing slash knowing what a mango was when I lived in PA. Ever.

What?! I dunno. It just doesn't exist in my food memory. 

My fruit world was rocked about two summers ago when my friend Kim introduced me to my new food obsession. Mangos. Mangooooos.

Their technicolor skin and invisible seed are both intimidating and enticing. I really have yet to conquer the "hey, I'm ripe!" stage of a mango. What is that? When does that happen? Though I've nailed the "do that pineapple thang on my hidden stone seed" maneuver. Oh, mango, you enthrall me.

Coconut cousins | shredded & milk

Coconut Mango Quinoa

Adapted from: Epicurious

Ingredients:
         1. 1 cup uncooked quinoa
         2. 1 can coconut milk
         3. 1/4 cup Stevia OR 3/4 cup brown sugar
         4. 1 tsp. salt
         5. 4 ripe mangos
         6. shredded coconut for topping
         7. green onions, chopped, for garnish

Directions:
         1. Cook quinoa according to package directions. Set aside.
         2. In a medium saucepan, heat coconut milk over medium heat until
             hot but not boiling. Add sugar and salt and stir until dissolved.
             Remove from heat.
         3. Add 1 cup of coconut milk mixture to quinoa. Stir and let sit for 20 minutes
             so the quinoa can absorb the flavor.
         4. Meanwhile cut mangos into small pieces. (If you're unsure how this
             is done, check out this short video).
         5. Serve quinoa in individual bowls. Add mango pieces and drizzle more
             of the warm coconut milk mixture on top. Finish with some shredded
             coconut and chopped green onions.



Maybe these constant repetitions simply mean recognizing a good thing when you've come across it.

Maybe perpetuating goodness breeds familiarity.

I like familiarity.

And I certainly like a good mango.

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Mini Monkey Bread

My childhood memories are tainted with hyperbole.

As in the time when my child self spotted a bumble bee as round as a softball hunting me down in the backyard. I thought my life was ending. Or, that my face was about to become one ginormous bee sting. Hence, I thought my life was ending. (Is hence too willy shakespeare?)

And perhaps I also recall my aunt making monkey bread every time she and my uncle and cousins stayed for a weekend visit. It was an extravagant piece of architecture. A cinnamon-sugary dough tower as large as the Empire State building. Erected on our kitchen table.

King Kong could have hung tight on its biscuit rafters.

That bread was stories high.

Or, so it seemed.

Monkey bread: equal parts Nostalgia and Exaggeration. Always, always scrumptious.

Mini Monkey Bread

Ingredients:
           10 muffin cups
           1 can (10) biscuits
           1/4 cup maple or pancake syrup
           2 tbsp butter + 4 tbsp butter
           1/3 cup sugar
           1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
           1. Preheat oven to 450°. Prepare a muffin tin with 10 muffin cups.
           2. Cut each biscuit into 4 even pieces. Roll each piece into a small ball.

           3. Melt 2 tbsp butter then mix with syrup. Put a spoonful of the 

               butter/syrup mixture in the bottom of each muffin cup.

           4. Combine sugar and cinnamon together and mix well. Melt the other 

               4 tbsp of butter. Dip each biscuit ball into the butter and then roll 
               ball around in cin/sugar mixture. Four biscuit balls for each cup.

           5. Sprinkle any remaining cin/sugar mix over each cup of biscuits.
           6. Bake for 8 minutes.

Serve warm. Heck, even add a bit more syrup or maybe some caramel to the top of these mini delights.

Indulge. No exaggeration necessary. 

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Roasted Asparagus & Oranges

I don't make romantic meals for two . . . yet.

I'm persuaded, however, that when my days are full of wifely love and cooking for two, my meal planning might involve the following: vegetables, citrus, fish, a 400° oven, and about 30 minutes to impress.

Roasting will.save.lives. 

Or at least it could save your Valentine's Day (in case you forgot to plan ahead and make reservations for your love's favorite restaurant, and now you feel weighted down by shame and persecution and lack of ideas and stomach groans . . .). 

Redeem yourself!  

Asparagus. Oranges. Fish. 

It's not at all impossible to take three ordinary foods and create a warm, delectable, and sophisticated dish.

 

 

Roasted Asparagus & Oranges

Ingredients:

          1. a stalk of asparagus (cleaned and thick ends trimmed off)

          2. one or two oranges (cut into wedges)

          3. olive oil, basil, paprika, and sea salt

Directions:

          1. Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with tin foil or 

              parchment paper.

          2. Spread out asparagus and orange wedges on sheet and drizzle 

              with a little olive oil.

          3. Sprinkle basil, paprika, and sea salt over top.

          4. Roast in oven for 30 minutes.

          5. Let the oranges cool for a few minutes before serving.

Baked Fish Fillet

Now don't go all crazy with the fish. I didn't catch and scale it myself or anything. Not that I know how to do either of those two activities. 

I will learn. 

One day.

The frozen fish section of your local grocer is magical. I made swai for this dish but have used haddock, cod, and salmon before too.

Ingredients:

          1. two fish fillets

          2. sea salt, turmeric, rosemary

Directions:

          1. Cut a large piece of tin foil and place the fillets in the center

          2. Sprinkle with salt, turmeric, and rosemary

          3. Creating a pouch, bring long ends of tin foil together and fold tightly. 

              Fold the smaller ends inward to create a seal.

          4. Place the pouch directly on the oven rack and bake along with the 

              vegetables and oranges (400 for 30 minutes).

          5. Optional: drizzle the excess juice from the fish pouch over the 

              asparagus. So good.

Roast! Toast! And eat warm basil-ly fruit! 

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Rice Pudding

I'd like to tell you that I had a hankering for rice pudding because the chilliness of winter simply called for it. Warm brown sugar. Cinnamon. Sooo winterish.

But January and February have been hijacked by 60-degree days, and so warm indulgent treats beckon without necessity.

I'd also like to persuade you that a gathering of friends arrived to help spoon ridiculous amounts of vanilla-y, nutty goodness from the pot.

Nope. Just me. With a spoon. And an unjustifiable hankering for rice pudding.

Do I own a cow? Nope.

Did I make my own milk? You betcha.

Cashew Milk
Food creds: About.com: Vegetarian foods

Ingredients:
          1/2 cup raw cashews
          2 cups water
          sweetener (honey, stevia, or similiar), optional
          a dash of sea salt (to taste)

Directions:
          1. Soak cashews in water for at least one hour. Drain and rinse.
          2. Put cashews and 2 cups of water in a blender or food processor and
              mix until smooth (about one minute).
          3. Add sweetener and salt, to taste.

I suppose using the term "rice" is a bit misleading. And by a bit, I mean I didn't use rice. At all. Not one grain.

Quinoa. Keen-wa. Say it. Buy it. Eat it. Make up reasons to substitute it for ordinary grains.

It's power-packed. My friend Rachel has a great post on her website, PureGoodness, about the benefits of quinoa and lists other awesome recipes for its use.

As for me, I'll make non-rice pudding out of it. With milk made from nuts.

Quinoa "Rice" Pudding
Food creds: Simply Recipes

Ingredients:
          2 cups water
          1 cup quinoa
          pinch of salt
          2 cups cashew milk
          1 egg
          1/4 cup dark brown sugar
          1 tsp vanilla extract
          1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
           1. Using a medium saucepan, bring water, quinoa, and salt to a boil. 

               Turn to simmer and cook covered for 20-30 minutes. *Quinoa 

               doesn't get as tender as rice does.
           2. Fluff quinoa with a fork and then add the cashew milk.
           3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg and brown sugar. Add half 

               a cup of the quinoa mixture into the bowl on spoonful at a time, 

               whisking thoroughly with each addition.
           4. Add the egg mixture back to the saucepan of quinoa and milk, and 

               stir on low heat for 10 minutes until thickened. Stir in vanilla.

           5. Remove from heat and add cinnamon.
                

               Optional: Add raisins. I topped with granola. Yum. 

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Breakfasting

Could I own a bakery that only made crescent rolls filled with a variety of deliciousness and be successful?

I think I could. I think you could. I think this should happen. I think I'm giving you a business tip. I don't know anything about business.

But somewhere in the world someone is baking crescent rolls with something random inside them right this very moment.

In that same kitchen someone is nibbling, oh please, shoveling a mass of flaky carb goodness into her mouth and pondering why that combination hasn't been sold in mass quantity by now.

Perhaps that shoveler is me -- just bein' real.

A decadent spread on Christmas morn'.

Looks like someone else knows a little somethin' about shoveling, too...

My mom is master at escaping the camera lens. I caught her elbow. Small victory.

 

Sausage | Egg Scramble Crescent Rolls

Ingredients:

             1 can crescent rolls (8 rolls)

             1 tbsp melted butter
             shredded cheese

             4 eggs

             milk

             seasonings optional (salt, pepper, garlic powder, chives)

             8 sausage links

                         

Directions:

             1. Preheat oven according to can directions. Grease selected cookie

                 sheet.

             2. Unroll crescent rolls and spread melted butter on each one. 

                 Place shredded cheese at one end of roll (the end that you would 

                 begin rolling)

             3. Grease a medium-sized skillet and place over medium heat. 

                 In a bowl, combine eggs, a touch of milk (just enough so that eggs 

                 aren't too runny), and seasonings, then whisk together. Scramble 

                 in skillet.

             4. In a separate skillet, brown sausage links.

             5. On top of cheese, add scrambled eggs and a sausage link and 

                 then roll crescent like normal.

             6. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Nutella | Strawberry Crescent Rolls

Ingredients:

             1 can crescent rolls (8 rolls)

             Nutella

             8 strawberries (sliced)

                         

Directions:

             1. Preheat oven according to can directions. Grease selected cookie

                 sheet.

             2. Unroll crescent rolls and spread Nutella on each one.

             3. Place 3-4 strawberry slices at top edge of crescent and then roll like 

                 normal.

             4. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

             5. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional)

           

Happy breakfasting!

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Wishbones & Cheesecakes

Wishbone: Have you pulled one before?

Photo creds: Real Simple

It's a bit like blowing out birthday candles . . . with the unfortunate possibility of having your wish snatched by whoever's grasping the other bony end. And in approximately 0.643 seconds you're intensely concentrating on a wish (or, like most of us, an untold deepest longing that you only ever summon on occasions like birthday candle blowing, shooting stars, or wishbone pulling -- never did marry Rider Strong -- sigh) and hoping your thumb is mightier than your opponent's.

A few years back, I had my first (and last) Thanksgiving wishbone pulling experience. It left me scarred, and not for reasons you might think.

You see, I actually won the bigger half! Against my grandmother.

It was an unfair match; I don't disagree. The family had gathered as spectators in my sister's kitchen to witness whether the matriarch of the family or the youngest of the cousins would claim the wishbone title. I tried with as little force possible to let her break the better portion. A woman whose fingers have clenched victories of various sorts in her lifetime just wouldn't achieve it that day.

It really wasn't so much that I got my wish but that I snatched hers. She seemed so disappointed.

"Aw, Nana, what was your wish?"

"That I'd live another year."

" . . . "

Tell me she did not just say that . . . out loud . . . in front of the entire family!? If she died before next Thanksgiving, that would loom over me for the rest.of.my.life! Not okay. Pretty certain this tops the list of things grandparents should never say to any member of the family.

She lived. 365 days later. And plus. And plusss. And plusplusplusplus. And she's still living. Thank goodness. :) We love her.

But no one lets her touch the wishbone anymore.

~~~

When I was in my early college years, I was usually given the task of bringing such important items as the canned cranberry sauce to the Thanksgiving feast.

I was broke. The family understood. 

Now that I'm in a slightly more stable situation, I offer a much more worthy and promising contribution: cheesecake.

It's kinda become my signature dessert. Last year I made a Pumpkin Swirl cheesecake. What a big decadent hit. Velvety cream cheese with the familiar flavors of pumpkin and spice dancing throughout.

This year I'm making the swirly pump. again, but this time with an Apple Caramel to join it. Yum.

To make a little extra income these past few pre-Thanksgiving weeks, I started selling them at work too. Office grandeur by day; kitchen whiz by night.

I tightened my apron strings and got down to business. 

          - Gettin' toasty -                                  - Cool down -                                     - Chillaxin' - 

If only these pictures were scratch-n-sniff. Mmm mm.

And if our table could drastically multiply itself, I'd invite you all! I certainly would.

But please, someone bring the cranberry sauce. It's no longer my duty. ;)

Have a wonderfully delightful Thanksgiving.

Full of food. Laughter. Memories. Family. Friends.

Photo creds: Hostess with the Mostess

Minus the wishbone.

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