Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

 

Here’s a list of everything you need: a loaf of bread (not pre-sliced!)-I used a deli white bread I picked up from Publix (French or Italian bread will also work)-eggs, milk, butter, cream cheese, cinnamon, fresh fruit and jam (you can use only jam with no fresh fruit, but using both makes this flavor come alive in your mouth

 First things first, take your loaf of bread and cut into slices of 2-3 inches. Then with your knife, create a pocket in your slice by cutting a strip along the top of your bread, then cutting down into the bread til about 1/2" from the bottom and sides (don't want your delicious stuffing to come out during cooking!

 Next, take your room temperature cream cheese and stir in the delicious jam (Thank you Susanna Hindman for giving me your wonderful homemade strawberry jam!)

 The mixture will resemble yogurt when you are finished. Yummy!

Wash the strawberries. Then set aside a few of your prettiest strawberries for a garnish. Thinly slice your strawberry from the tip to the top, making sure not to cut completely to the top of the strawberry.

 Thinly slice the remaining strawberries.

Now we're going to macerate the strawberries! This is just a fancy word for mixing in a little sugar to bring out the juices.

Last step before the grand stuffing! Mix the strawberries with the cream cheese & jam.

 Now for the best part! The stuffing. Take about 2-3 tbsp. of your strawberry mixture and stuff the toast into the pocket. Then slightly pinch top to seal pocket back up.

For your batter, take you eggs, milk and cinnamon and mix together in a shallow dish.

Evenly coat both sides of your french toast for optimal cooking.

 Heat 2 tbsp. of butter on a griddle set on medium heat. Cook about 3 minutes per side or until golden brown.

Serve with a little butter, powdered sugar and your strawberry garnish. Enjoy!


Recipe:

• 1 loaf White, French, or Italian bread
• 3 tablespoons strawberry jam or jelly
• Fresh strawberries
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• ½ packages Cream Cheese (4 Oz),  at room temperature
• 2 whole Eggs
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• ½ cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. Heat skillet or electric griddle to 325 to 350 degrees.
2. Cut french bread into 2-3 inch wide slices. Then, with a paring knife, go back and cut halfway into each slice, in the center, creating a ‘pocket’ that your fruit mixture can be stuffed into.
3. In a bowl, place the room temperature cream cheese and three tablespoons of jam/jelly.
4. Slice strawberries (leaving a few as a garnish), and mix with 2 tsbp. of sugar to coat.
5. Mix strawberries with the cream cheese and jam.
6. In a separate bowl, break 2 eggs; add cinnamon and milk and combine well.
7. Now, take fruit mixture and stuff into the ‘pockets’ of your french bread slices. Place on a baking sheet.
8. When done stuffing each piece of bread, completely coat each piece in egg mixture. Make sure all sides are covered. Do all pieces before starting to fry.
9. Put 2 tbsp of butter into a hot skillet and melt completely. Add all of the bread to the skillet and cook roughly about 3-5 minutes on each side, until it reaches a nice golden brown. You want to make sure the cream cheese mixture heats through.
10. When done cooking, serve immediately and enjoy with a little butter and powdered sugar (if desired) and top with strawberry garnish.


Recipe borrowed and slightly altered from manda2177. http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/breakfastbrunch/stuffed-french-toast-2/

Earrings!

 Okay…if you’re anything like me, your jewelry box is, well, not the most organized part of your life. For me, this is a daily frustration. As you can see by the looks of mine, jewelry items are easily misplaced and half the time forgotten! I’ll pull out a pair of earrings I haven’t seen in about 6 months and be ecstatic because I forgot that pair even existed! Something needed to happen. I don’t really have money to go out and buy a nice jewelry box to help organize myself, so I decided to create my own little earring hanger. 

 

My supplies: ribbon, paper clips, scissors, and a little tape (not pictured...I forgot)

 How it’s done:

First, I cut my ribbon slightly longer than the width of my dresser mirror, so I could hang it and have it slightly drape.

Next, I took 15 or so paper clips and slightly bent the outer ring so I could stick it through the ribbon. I placed them at intervals of about 1-1/2 inches apart from each other.

 

Finally, time to rediscover all those beautiful pairs of earrings lost in the abyss of my jewelry box! Hang each pair on a paper clips, and vwah-la! Done! My own earring organizer, built for under $2. 

Creamy twice baked potatoes

Ingredients:
4 medium baking potatoes
4 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 oz. cream cheese, cubed
1 c. sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 c. sour cream
6 strips bacon
paprika

Directions:
1. Clean potatoes, pierce with a fork, and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour, or until tender. Cool.
2.  With a santoku knife, cut bacon into 1/2" pieces. Fry in pan over medium heat until fully cooked, scoop out of pan with slotted spoon, and drop onto paper towel to absorb oils.
3. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise, and scoop out pulp being careful not to break the skin, and place in medium mixing bowl.
4. Add butter, milk, and salt to potatoe pulp and beat with an electric beater until fluffy. Beat in cream cheese, 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, and sour cream, until smooth. Stir in half of the cooked bacon. Spoon into hollowed potatoe skins. Top with remaining cheese, cooked bacon, then lightly sprinkle paprika on top.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until heated through, cheese is melted, and tops are golden brown.
6. Serve and enjoy!

Alice Springs Chicken

This recipe is a melt in your mouth dish you will love! Made it for my husband yesterday for lunch, paired with some twice baked potatoes (recipe to come), and green beans. The flavor just bursts in your mouth! This one will take a little prep time, but it's well worth it!

Ingredients:

Honey mustard dressing/marinade
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, 1/2 inch thick each
1 tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
1-2 c. mushrooms, sliced (depending on how much you like mushrooms--these really make the flavor!)
2 tbsp. butter
8 slices bacon, fully cooked
2 c. shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar and mozzarella; monterey jack or colby jack work well also)

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken breasts in enough honey mustard to just cover overnight (Save the marinade for later use)
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Fry bacon in a frying pan until just fully cooked, but not too crispy (will give chicken a more savory flavor)
4. Heat up the oil in a frying pan on the stove and sear each chicken breast 3-5 minutes per side until golden brown and chicken is fully cooked through, but not dry.
5. Transfer chicken to oven safe pan and brush with honey mustard.
6. Add butter to frying pan and saute mushrooms, until tender.
7. Stack cooked bacon across each breast, spoon mushrooms on each breast and then approx ½ cup of desired cheese on each.

8. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, making sure cheese is melted. 

 

Serve with desired side items and enjoy!

Hotcakes with delicious blueberry compote

I'm constantly looking for new recipes to try. This is one I found in a magazine that I just had to experiment with: result = heavenly! Josh (my loving husband) and I went crazy over these. This recipe is definitely a keeper!


Blueberry compote (optional):
18 oz. fresh blueberries
1/4 c. sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp lemon juice
*optional: 1/4 c. coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves (keeps the compote from being too sweet)







Hotcakes:
1 c. fresh ricotta cheese (this makes them fluffy as a pillow!)
4 large eggs, seperated
3/4 c. buttermilk, shaken (substitution: I didn't have any buttermilk, so I used 1 tbsp. lemon juice then added milk to be 3/4 c and let sit for 5 min.)
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. fresh blueberries
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, plus extra for serving

1. Compote: combine blueberries, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan over medium heat; cook 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves (don't overcook berries or they will lose their shape.) Remove from heat. Gently stir in mint (if using); keep warm.

2. Hotcakes: whisk ricotta and egg yolks together in a large bowl to combine; whisk in buttermilk. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into ricotta mixture. Stir with a whisk until just combined.

3. With an electric mixer, beat egg whites and sugar in a large bowl until stiff peaks form. With a large rubber spatula, gently fold egg whites through the batter in 2 batches. Gently fold blueberries into the batter.

4. Melt some butter on a hot griddle pan over medium-low heat. Ladle batter onto the griddle and cook, about 3 minutes per side or until hotcakes puff, become golden brown, and are just cooked through.

5. Transfer to serving plates. Spoon warm blueberry compote over the hotcakes, top with a dollop of butter, and serve immediately.