Sunday, April 26, 2009

Yummy Breakfast.

Thees Recipes were on my old blog witch isn't equipped with labels for and easy find (for myself of coarse). I missed placed my egg recipe and I've come back to my blog twice now to look it up.

This dish is awesome and easy for a big family or if you have guests to feed. The original recipe was from a Pillsbury book. My version in the photo is made with just strawberries (it is what I had). But I love making my topping with blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries... yum. Some of my kiddo's like it with just syrup.


Cream Cheese French Toast Bake
with Fruit Topping
1 container (8oz) pineapple cream cheese spread, or strawberry cream cheese spread
1 loaf (1lb) French bread (cut into 3/4-inch-thick slices)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
14 tsp cinnamon
2 tbs butter or margarine, melted (put on in morning before baking)
Topping
3-4 cups fresh strawberries and/or blueberries (OR)
1 bag frozen fruit (mixed or one fruit)
1/4-1/2 cup sugar
1. Spray 13 x 9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. It my loaf is a little thicker I might use another small 8x8 dish also. Spread about 1 tablespoon cream cheese on half of the slices. Place other slices on top making a sandwich. Place sandwiches in dish(es) covering the bottom of the pan.
2. In med. bowl, beat eggs. Add the milk, 1/4c sugar, salt and cinnamon; beat well. Pour over sandwiches in baking dish. Make sure to coat completely while still letting even amounts drip into the pan. Let them soak at room temperature for 5 min. Turn sandwiches over. Soak remaining mixture into sandwiches so they are completely covered. Cover; refrigerate about 8 hours or overnight.
3. For fresh fruit- Chop strawberries and stir together with sugar; refrigerate over night. You can add other berries with the sugar mixture or add them fresh in the morning. (I add them all at once so they make a nice syrup, my kids like it that way). For Frozen fruit- Rinse fruit making sure it is broken up. Mix with sugar and refrigerate. Your fruit should thaw over night (mine always does).
4. In the morning- Heat oven to 400. Uncover sandwiches and drizzle with melted butter. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Remove fruit. Stir in up. Then serve over French toast. (You serve the fruit mixture cold; however, I served it hot once and it was really good too!)
Serves about 6
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OK now I really needed to add my favorite dish to serve with this. I only make these eggs when I have company to feed (although my whole family can gobble just this up themselves). It is just scrambled eggs... but they are so delicious. The recipe is actually from my childhood church. They make crock pots full of these eggs every Easter! A brief explanation before I start. They are meant to be lightly cooked and then placed in a crock pot, but over night is to long to leave them and unless you are getting up and making them at 5 (like to go to sunrise service) and you need them to stay warm and cooking until breakfast after the service, the crock pot method that it originally asks for isn't that convenient. So I have changed the preparations a bit.


Easter Breakfast Buffet Eggs
a.k.a. (My Favorite Scrambled Eggs Ever!)
2 Tbs butter or margarine
2 Tbs flour
1 cup milk
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
12 eggs
1/3 cup milk
3/4 tsp. salt
1. Make white sauce from butter, flour, 1 c milk and cheese. Stir over med to med-high heat until thick and flour is cooked. Adding cheese after the mixture begins to heat. Set aside.
2. Melt butter in large skillet. Mix eggs, 1/3 c. milk, and salt. Scramble in melted butter. Fold white sauce into eggs.
3.If you would like to use the crock pot method make sure to lightly scramble your eggs then fold in the white sauce (they will continue cooking in the crock pot, you don't want dried up eggs). Put everything directly into crock pot after folding white sauce into eggs. Put paper towels between the lid and crock pot base to absorb steam. Keep on low and then serve later when needed.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Cookies and Icing

Malitha, I decided to just post these recipes on here. You are the only one who follows it.. tee hee.
These cookies probably don't look that great but they were really good and the girls did the icing all by them selves (I helped Aidan a little).

I like this recipe. Its pretty simple to make and I always have the ingredients on hand. They aren't to sweet and they are easy to roll out. The original recipe (found on all recipes) calls for whipping cream but I have always used milk (when there's whipping cream in this house I always use it up to make Alfredo... yum). I'm actually looking forward to someday tasting these cookies with cream!

SUGAR COOKIES

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream/or milk (I have yet to have cream on hand while making these)
colored sugar for decoration (optional)

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour and baking powder, stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the heavy cream. Cover dough, and chill for 2 to 3 hours, until firm. I have pulled them out after and hour and a half. They were a bit sticky but not to bad. I usually just make them the night before.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottoms and edges of cookies are light brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.



I really liked this icing. It is a tad bit sweet...it is icing though, but it complemented the cookies very well. Again, I had everything in my pantry already (This is an important factor for me- I'm not to keen on packing up 3 or 4 kids just to get one ingredient at the store).

SUGAR COOKIE ICING

INGREDIENTS
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla/or almond extract
+additional milk 1/2 tsp. at a time may also be needed
assorted food coloring

DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, add milk first and slowly mix in sugar until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. Add additional milk 1/2 tsp. at a time until icing is at a spreadable consistency.
Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush. Allow them to dry, then store them in a sealed container.

I made two separate batches one right after another (I did not double it and do it at all at once). I knew that more icing would end up in mouths and on the table then on the cookies.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

More shoes.

I was so excited about those last baby shoes, that I just had to make a pattern for little slipper shoes. After a couple of quick test shoes (not using any interfacing), I finally came up with these little shoes to match that last outfit I made Claire.