Kitchen Adventures 10.6

It struck me yesterday that my blogging to baking ratio has gotten greatly disproportional. I'm doing way more baking and cooking than blogging, and it just gets me further in the hole each time! Yesterday did not help the situation, though it did help my hungry tummy. I made a couple sides and a dessert for our Easter dinner, which was a delicious and fun time with friends. But, this post will not address those delicious dishes. Instead, today we'll talk about a scrumptious breakfast from my last family visit.

Karen and Ryan, my sister and brother-in-law, came down to visit me over their spring break in March. We had a wonderful time running around Norman and OKC! We toured OU, ate at Cafe Plaid, drove around Norman, went to the movies, ate at Hideaway, went to the OU art museum, ate at Buffalo Wild Wings, found almost every Sherwin-Williams store in the OKC metro area, went to the OKC bombing memorial, walked around Bricktown and Bass Pro Shops, met up with friends at the Library, went shopping, ate at Tarahumara's and Crimson and Whipped Cream. As you can see, we did a lot! And we ate a lot. :) We didn't eat out all the time, though. These two are coffee lovers, and I have some espresso powder left from an earlier baking adventure, so I thought I'd try to find something that could use some of this up. While flipping through one of my new Rachael Ray magazines, I came across a french toast recipe that incorporates espresso powder. I couldn't pass it up, so we had it their first morning here. It was nice to make breakfast with Karen and chat while things were cooking. We even said our prayer before eating. Mom would be proud. :)

This recipe is from Every Day with Rachael Ray.

French Toast with Espresso Cream

Ingredients:

2 T. instant espresso powder
1 c. sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
1/4 c. heavy cream
1/4 tsp. salt
Eight 1/2-inch thick slices chullah bread (I used ciabatta bread)
4 T. melted butter

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the espresso powder with 1/4 cup hot water. Remove 2 T. of the espresso into a cup for later. Whisk the condensed milk into the remaining espresso.
2. In a baking dish, whisk together the eggs, cream, salt, and reserved espresso. Place the bread slices in the dish and turn to coat.
3. Melt 2 T. butter in a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add 4 slices of bread to the pan and cook for about 2 or 3 minutes, then flip the bread over and cook an additional 2 minutes or until golden brown. Do this again with the remaining butter and bread. Drizzle the espresso cream over the french toast when serving.

Kitchen Adventures 10.3

Ah, it's good to be back and sharing recipes! Life has definitely been busy over the past month. The parents came to visit in early March, the sister and brother-in-law came to visit a week later, work got crazy busy, and of course there are always social things to be done. I'm going to try and do some catching up today, so we'll see how that goes.

As I have mentioned before, I am more aware of dietary restrictions such as gluten free these days since I have several friends and co-workers that have to follow those guidelines. Hence, I am always looking for easy GF recipes I can share with them. While flipping through some of my Rachael Ray magazines my parents brought me, I stumbled across a GF pie recipe. This was perfect, since I had just been talking with a friend about GF pie crusts and finding a way to make them. I of course had to tell her the secret: use Chex instead of graham crackers. If you think about it, Chex have always been gluten free, but now the product can be advertised that way. I have never thought about using them as a substitute, but it was pretty delicious.

Included with this information was a recipe I just couldn't resist. Chocolate and peanut butter has to be one of the best culinary combinations ever. The timing was perfect, too, since I wanted to make a pie to celebrate PI Day (I told you I had some catching up to do). Even though I'm no longer taking math classes, I remember with fondness celebrating my first PI Day in Mr. Wertenberger's trig class. I had been looking for a great recipe to share at work to celebrate and this one fit the ticket.

This recipe came from the February 2011 Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine.

Double Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pudding Pie

Ingredients:

3 c. Chocolate or Rice Chex cereal, finely crushed
5 T. butter, melted
12 oz. semisweet baking chocolate, chopped, plus more for chocolate shavings
1 1/2 T. unsweetened baking cocoa, sifted
2 c. half-and-half
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg plus 3 egg yolks
6 T. whipping cream, plus 1 c. whipping cream, whipped for topping
1/2 c. white vanilla baking chips
1/4 c. creamy peanut butter

Directions:

1. Stir together the crushed cereal and melted butter in a small bowl. Press this mixture in the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Refrigerate the crust for 30 minutes or until set. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the crust for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with one-third (4 oz.) of the chopped chocolate after removing the crust from the oven.
2. Meanwhile, in a large heatproof bowl, mix the cocoa and remaining chopped chocolate together. In a 1-quart heavy saucepan, heat the half-and-half over medium-high heat until it is almost boiling. In a medium heatproof bowl, beat the sugar, egg and egg yolks together with a whisk until the mixture is light yellow. Slowly beat in half of the hot half-and-half, then pour this egg mixture into the saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium and heat the mixture just to boiling. Cook this mixture, beating with a whisk, for about 1 minute or until thickened. Pour this through a sieve into the cocoa mixture and beat with a whisk until smooth. Pour this into the crust and refrigerate 30 minutes or until fairly set. (As a short cut, you could just buy instant pie pudding and use that. I realized that after I had made it.)
3. Wipe out the saucepan, then add 6 T. cream to the pan. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Place the vanilla baking chips and peanut butter in a medium heatproof bowl and pour the hot cream over them and let stand until chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes. Beat this with a whisk until smooth. Spread this mixture evenly over the chilled pie and refrigerate until firm, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. If desired, serve with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Here is a picture of the delicious creation.



For more gluten free recipes, check out chex.com/glutenfree

Kitchen Adventures 10.1

Wait, there's only a two week gap between postings?? Something must be wrong! :) Actually, I just finally have a bit of down time and so I'm catching up on my recipe posting. These last few weeks have been busy with work, social activities, family visits, and life in general. Last week was spring break at OU, but I had to work all week except Friday, so I didn't really get a break. However, I'm taking the next few days off and enjoying time with my sister and brother-in-law while they enjoy THEIR spring break! I love having accrued vacation time. :)

Anyway, back to the recipes. The first one I'm sharing is from the lovely blue binder I received from my aunt a few years ago. I first made this recipe last year and really enjoyed it. My boyfriend at the time had the bright idea that you could really substitute other ingredients for the filling instead of sausage since I know not everyone likes sausage. I believe we made a batch with chicken and mushrooms which was also delicious. That is the beauty of recipes like this--you can tailor them to fit your tastes!

Bubble Pizza

Ingredients:

2 tubes (10 count) biscuits
1 T. oregano
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 small can tomato sauce
1 lb. ground sausage (substitute whatever filling you want)

Directions:

Brown sausage. Cut biscuits into quarters, then mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Place ingredients into casserole dish, probably a 7"x11" dish. Bake according to biscuit cooking directions. Note: you may have to bake it a little longer than it says, just check it until it's done.