French Toast Pie (Breakfast!)

It turns out that Betty Crocker is NOT a real person, she is a name thought up to sound homey and like some sort of reliable source for domestic things. Oh well. Despite this huge blow, I still mustered up the courage to enter the kitchen this morning and make the French Toast Pie. It sort of sounded like a lot of work when I was making the candied almonds myself but it turns out that it's not at all hard or time consuming to candy nuts. Who knew?! I did do the nuts the day before though, that probably saved time...

Dave requested that I mention how much he really liked this one because he thought I was making him sound really negative about my cooking. So Dave thought it was the most delicious breakfast he has ever had the pleasure to ingest. Jo looked at me during breakfast and said, "Mommy, you make the best French Toast in the world!" I don't know how many other times she's eaten French Toast but I'm going to graciously accept the compliment and assume she is right.

French Toast Pie

Ingredients
5 slices sourdough bread
2 eggs + 1 egg white
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (chopped) candied almonds*
1 microwave baked apple**
Butter for non-sticking a pan

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400. Whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Slice the bread into strips and soak for 2 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, butter a pie pan and sprinkle 1/2 of the crushed almonds over the bottom.

3. Arrange half of the bread slices in the pan and top with the apple pieces. Layer the remaining bread on top and then sprinkle the top with the remaining almonds. Bake 15 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve with syrup if you are so inclined.

*Make some nuts: 1/2 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp salt. Mix together and heat in saucepan over medium high until boiling. Add 2 cups of any kind of nut you like (almonds) and stir constantly until almost all liquid is gone. Spread on wax paper and separate with a fork to dry (15 minutes)

**Microwave an apple: Cut apple into bite-sized pieces, place in a microwave safe container with a tiny drizzle of water and as much cinnamon as you see fit. Microwave for 2 minutes. Done!

Veggie Lettuce Wraps

It seems that the free time I have before starting my job has turned into a daily challenge for me to try to cook something I haven't made before. I mean, I knew I was not good at not having things to do, but I never thought I would try to turn myself into Betty Crocker. Mind you, I am not saying that I think I'm the greatest chef on earth (or that Betty Crocker is, for that matter - is she even a real person? I think I feel hours of time wasted on wikipedia coming on) but I never used to try something new every single day. It's just not practical in the long term.

After that lengthy introduction I don't really have that much to say about Veggie Lettuce Wraps except that I made them and I liked them. They were pretty easy, tangy, and super messy to eat (but I would put all lettuce wraps in that category). It helped that I made something Asian-inspired a while back and already had things like rice vinegar and sesame oil, but I am sure substitutions could be made. Heck, I bought them at the regular grocery store so I am sure someone else can find them. It's not like I have grocery super powers or something cool like that.

Veggie Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
1 can vegetable broth
orange juice
1/4 cup rice vinegar (mine was "seasoned" and "roasted garlic" flavor)
2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 small onion - coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves - minced
1 red bell pepper - coarsely chopped
3/4 cup sliced mushrooms - coarsely chopped (how many times can I write that?)
1 small can diced water chestnuts
2 Tbsp sesame oil (I already had this on hand or I probably would have used canola oil or something normal)

Instructions
1. Pour the can of vegetable broth into a 2 cup measuring cup and add orange juice to bring it up to 2 cups of liquid. Combine broth mixture and quinoa in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. While the quinoa cooks, combine rice vinegar, 1/4 cup orange juice, and the soy sauce. Set the mixture aside. In a large skillet, saute the onion and garlic in the sesame oil over medium high heat until onion just becomes tender. Add red pepper and mushrooms and continue to cook until mushrooms are soft, then add water chestnuts and the sauce mixture. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. When quinoa has finished cooking, stir it into the vegetable mixture. Serve in lettuce leaves and if you want (which I did) use lime slices on the side. If you really want to follow all my steps you would next take a picture of it on your phone and then, and only then, eat it.

Spiced Apple Custard Pie

After my late addition Pear Custard Pie to the pie party last night I was motivated to cook even more pie today, if you can believe it! I thought the pear was fine but it seemed like something that might work even better with apples. I sort of wish I knew which variety of apple is tart and bakes up perfectly but I had to wing it at the grocery store, so I went with Granny Smiths.

This pie made my kitchen smell like Thanksgiving or Halloween... fall. It's a fall-y flavor. Jo loved it, I loved it, Jon ate it, and Dave said it was "fine" and "not as good as regular apple pie but still enjoyable" - whatever that tells you! If you want to make pie and not make any crust then this is definitely a way to go!

Spiced Apple Custard Pie

Ingredients
2 large apples (I have no suggestions on which type is best)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9 inch pie plate.

2. Core the apples and cut them into thin sliced. Toss them into a sealable bag, add the cinnamon and nutmeg, close the bag and shake until the apples are evenly coated. Then arrange the apple slices in the pie plate as you see fit (artistic license).

3. In a stand mixer blend the eggs, milk and vanilla. Gradually add the butter while mixing on low speed. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl and add gradually to the egg mixture. Increase speed to high and blend until smooth.

4. Pour the mixture over the apples, dust the top with cinnamon, then bake for 40 minutes. You kitchen will smell fall-y.

Gazpacho

Cinderella and I made ourselves gazpacho for lunch today! When I was studying abroad in Spain the lady I lived with made it all the time and I pretty much loved it. Dave pretty much hates it so I thought that it might be a good time to have it when he wasn't around today.

The original recipe that the Spanish lady wrote out for me is barely legible and in Spanish so I'm going to go ahead and translate it and type it - you're welcome. Before I do though, I will mention that the batch I made today could have used a little more olive oil because it was on the thick side and I might have opted for a milder onion in retrospect. I think I'll be breathing fire for a few hours (another reason it's great that Dave isn't here).

Gazpacho (a la Spanish lady from Granada)

Ingredients:
4 tomatoes
1 cucumber
2 garlic cloves (or if you want it translated literally, she wrote "2 garlics")
1/2 onion (vidalia or something - save yourself from the halitosis)
1/2 red pepper (I used the whole thing - so what)
6 Tbsp olive oil
1 piece of bread soaked in vinegar (I used balsamic but I'm sure other types are fine)
1 Tbsp salt (I did less for sure, but I don't love saltiness)

Instructions:
1. Coarsely chop all the vegetables and the piece of bread.

2. Throw everything in a blender and blend.

3. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Bananas Foster Oatmeal

I know you probably don't care about oatmeal but would it surprise you to discover that I do?! Granted it doesn't rank anywhere near gravy when we're talking about breakfast foods, but doesn't Bananas Foster Oatmeal sound like an even more fantastic way to eat oatmeal? That's what I thought when I heard someone mention it.

So, it may not have been breakfast time but I felt like cooking something for afternoon snack with Joey today and it turns out that the wonderful snack I felt like cooking became Bananas Foster Oatmeal. I'm such an amazing cook that I just conjured it up right there! Also, there were no recipes on the interweb for it that I was able to locate.

It didn't take very long, it was thoroughly enjoyed by a two-year-old, and I might have eaten nearly a tureen of it too. Long story short, I'm thinking you might already want to make this:

Bananas Foster Oatmeal

Ingredients:
3/4 cup Quick-cooking Oats (even though I hear the Old Fashioned are somehow healthier)
1 Tbsp Sugar (I used the turbinado kind because it makes me feel special)
Banana
1/2 tsp Vanilla

Instructions:
1. Combine the oatmeal and 1.5 cups water in a microwaveable bowl and microwave for two minutes. As this is microwaving you might be looking at the label on the oatmeal and realize that I actually just wrote out the instructions from the back of the container, and you would be right. Once the oatmeal is finished, set it aside.

2. Unpeel a banana and place it on a microwaveable plate. Use a fork to mash it up a little bit, then microwave for two minutes.

3. While the banana is melting, heat the sugar in a small skillet or saucepan over medium high heat. Gently shake it occasionally until the sugar begins to melt. When melting occurs reduce the heat to low. Allow all the sugar to melt and try not to stir it too much. When all the sugar is melted, add the oatmeal to the pan and stir until it is all mixed thoroughly. Dump in the banana and the vanilla. Stir and serve to a two-year-old.

*pictures of this just looked like oatmeal so I'm allowing my lovely assistant to liven these images up a bit!