French Toast and a snowy night

Who blogs about French toast, right?

I guess I am. I have to follow a low fiber diet for three days so I can go have the big "C" next week. I know, you are all jealous. There wasn't a whole lot on the list to choose from that I like, other than pancakes, French toast, saltines, cooked potatoes, Jello, pudding and carrots. Really-I don't like yogurt, or wax beans or spinach (unless it is in dip form). I am limited.
I decided to jazz up the regular ingredients a little just because.

Jazzy French Toast (for lack of a better title)

4 slices Texas Toast

2 eggs

about 1/4 whipping cream (I eyeballed it)

1 TBSP real maple syrup

2 TBSP light brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat eggs lightly; stir in whipping cream and beat well. Add rest of ingredients and stir to combine. Soak each slice of bread for a good 30 seconds on each side so it can soak in. Fry up on your griddle. Top with you choice of toppings-I always pick butter and syrup.

Enjoy it while watching it snow, and snow, and snow some more.

This is what it looked like this morning when I got up. Between 10 to 12 inches in the yard.

And Tofu thought she would enjoy some French Toast too. I broke her little heart and didn't let her have any-she got spaghetti noodles on Thursday.

Ina's Easy Sticky Buns

While I have been off work, I have been reading many books and watching a lot of Food Network and Cooking Channel. Many I have seen before, but some I have not. I love Ina. I want her house in the worst way. Especially that kitchen with two cook tops and two ovens, that big fridge and the walk-in pantry. Sigh. It is the stuff dreams are made of.

Last week she made Easy Sticky Buns and my mouth fell open at how delish they looked. I had all the ingredients on hand, so I made them the next morning.

I will write the recipe as she wrote; however, I didn't use raisins as I hate them, and the butter amount for the 'sticky' is too much-in my opinion. I did check out the recipe on Food Network since I was too busy vegging while watching to write it down. People who commented said it was too much butter, but I made it as written-too much butter. Next time I make them I will cut it down to maybe 8 tablespoons.

Easy Sticky Buns (by Ina Garten)

12 tablespoons (1-1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 pecans, chopped (I toasted mine)

1 package (2 sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted

Filling:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a standard 12-cup muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper (very important). In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons of butter and the 1/3 cup of brown sugar. Place one rounded tablespoon of butter mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 cups. Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold one sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with half of the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of brown sugar, 1-1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of the raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll up the dough snugly in a jelly roll fashion around the filling, ending with the seam side down. Trim the ends of the dough about 1/2 inch on each end to give it a clean edge. Cut dough in 6 equal pieces, about 1-1/2 inches wide each. Place rolls cut side down in prepared muffin tin. Repeat with second piece of puff pastry. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes only. Invert the rolls onto the parchment paper. Ease filling left in the pan onto the buns with a spoon and press slightly into roll.

I cannot even aptly describe how wonderful these, especially hot out of the oven. They lasted 2 days here and warmed up nicely in the microwave.

I might have to bake a batch on Saturday because my college baby will be home for the weekend-I'm only a little excited!

Brown Sugar Cake

This is all that was left of my cake. One last lonely piece. It sure made a good breakfast.
This is a super easy, dense, moist cake. It reminds me of a coffee cake, but I brought it in for a dessert to work.

Brown Sugar Cake

1 package yellow cake mix

1 3.4 oz package vanilla instant pudding

4 eggs

2/3 sour cream

2/3 cup water

1/2 cup oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup chopped nuts-I used walnuts

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat cake mix, pudding, eggs, sour cream, water and the oil until well blended, about 3 minutes. Add the brown sugar, vanilla and nutmeg and mix just until combine. Stir in nuts. Pour mixture into a greased Bundt/tube pan. Bake one hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Loosen with a narrow spatula and invert onto a cake plate. When cake is completely cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Even better the next morning with a cup of joe.

Caramel-Cinnamon rolls

I have spoken of my hubby wanting me to learn how to be a pastry chef. I don't see that happening-any time soon. So I tried to make him feel better with some caramel rolls. I like to use a frozen sweet bread dough for the rolls-it is easy and gives consistent results. I usually wing it when I make the rolls-they are never the same twice.

Caramel-Cinnamon Rolls

1 loaf sweet bread dough, thawed (I used Rhoades)

2 TBSP melted butter

Cinnamon-sugar mixture (I keep a sprinkle top jar full in cupboard)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

When dough is thawed, roll out into a rectangle that is approximately 10 by 14 inches. Brush the dough with the melted butter. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar over the butter. Leave about an inch unbuttered around the edge of the dough so it will stick to itself when rolling up. Sprinkle with a handful of walnuts. Roll up the dough jelly roll fashion. Slice roll into 12 equal pieces. In bottom of baking dish, sprinkle the remaining walnuts.

Melt the 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar together and spread in pan. Sprinkle walnuts over caramel in pan.

Place the 12 pieces in pan. Spray a piece of plastic wrap with some cooking spray. Cover the pan and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

The amount of time will depend on how warm it is in the kitchen. When doubled in size, bake in a oven that is preheated to 350 degrees F. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Sorry-the 'after' shot is a little blurry

Here are a couple shots in the yard today. I shot some photos of our plum trees and our apple tree.

Plum Tree

Apple blossom getting ready to blossom

Today (now that it is 2 AM) is my Mommy and Me day with the Hermit Crab. We did a little shopping tonight and got her an outfit for open houses, some towels for college and a few decoration for the bathroom that I just painted. Tomorrow (today) is going to be spent looking for a dress for her for graduation, a new pan for me and lunch at Ikea. Yes, Ikea-she is ga ga for the Swedish Meatballs, mashed taters and lefse!

Let's all Holla for some Challa

When I made my trip up to Trader Joe's, I bought a loaf of Challah bread. I stated that I didn't exactly know what to do with it other than make French toast out of it, so that is what I did. I had never even tasted it before, so wasn't sure how it would turn out. It was super! The bread was eggy and sweet and made super french toast. I will have to check and see if the local bakery makes it or if they carry it in the small natural foods store in town-I haven't seen it at the grocery store bakery. I did a basic dip for the bread: 3 eggs, 1/4 cup milk, a tablespoon of sugar and some cinnamon. Dipped and fried. Yum!! No one even missed that I forgot to put the powdered sugar out. If I find this bread locally, you can bet it will be on the breakfast table again soon!

Booger thought I wouldn't post her impeccable table manners-wrong!

We also started getting our garden ready for planting. We have really clay-packed dirt here, so the Dude built me a raised-bed type structure. It is a 10x10 box with cross support boards so I have 5-2x10 plots to grow veggies and herbs. We are going to the nursery hopefully on our day off this week to get dirt to fill it. I started to clean out leaves and pine cones from some of the flower beds and we unfortunately found a nest with a litter of dead baby rabbits in it. I don't know when rabbits have off-springs, but the poor little guys didn't make it. Circle of life I know, but I felt bad. I'm not a very neat gardener, meaning I just pop bulbs in the ground and scatter seed and hope for the best. I do have a good 3 dozen bulbs coming up. Some stuff I planted last fall is popping through and some spots are just bare. Try, try again! I want to get my herbs going soon. I have started tomatoes and peppers in the house and they are taking off. I spoke with some people in different places and was told it was easy to grow veggies from seed in the house to transplant and they gave me some tips. Normally I buy tomato, pepper and squash plants and put in the garden, and use seed for peas and beans, and then onion sets. I bought lettuce also this year. While I don't eat anything from my own garden (not a big veggie fan) I cook with the produce-I guess that does mean I eat it, huh? My kids won't eat peas if I put them on their plate, but will pluck pods off and eat them right out of the garden-I give up trying to figure them out!

How stopping for breakfast turned into a trip to the ER this morning

Usually once a week, the Dude and I stop at our favorite little family owned restaurant on the way home from work to eat breakfast. We have become regulars like the older gentleman who is there at 6 when the doors open and knows everyone around to the grandma on oxygen who has her coffee and knits baby blankets, to the two ladies who stop on their way to work. Jokes and laughing and local gossip. The Dude and I had endured a really bad Friday and Saturday on our respective phases-just equipment not working, short staffed, just frustrating stuff. Sunday night we both had a pretty good night and I told him he had to treat for breakfast since I treated for dinner. We stopped, looked at the menu and I made a joke about how he asked for something and he kidded back and I laughed about giving him my opinion. He then looked at me and said "I'll ask your opinion in a minute when we sit down". Ummmm, now I've been married to him long enough to know that there was something weird in the way he said it. We sat down and I looked at him and said 'Shoot'


Okay, if you are under 18 or are uneasy about anatomical related conversations, skip to the bottom of the post where I will show food. It isn't X-rated, but concerns his body.


Are we good?



So he proceeds to tell me that Saturday night (it is now MONDAY morning) he noticed that his testicle was a little swollen. He had a hard time sleeping when we got home Sunday morning. When we went to work Sunday night he noticed around midnight that it was the size of a freaking orange. So he wanted to know if I thought we should take a trip to the ER or wait for the clinic to open. We were then served our breakfast and we ate like we hadn't seen food in months. We went to the car and called the 24 hour nurseline through our insurance. They said to go to the hospital since it was President's Day and she wasn't sure if the clinic was open or not or if they would be fully staffed or not. We made the trip to the ER. They took his info and led us to a room to do his temp, answer all the questions, take his blood pressure. The nurse leaves and said the doctor will be in soon and he's like 'Wanna see it?' So he drops trow and sure as snot, as big as an orange. The doc comes in (a woman) and feels him up, asks questions and orders an ultrasound. We go to that room and it is all warm with the elevator-type music playing to keep us calm. Now ladies-those of you who have had ultrasounds-to see your husband on a table with his peter under a small towel and another woman using a wand on his 'nut sack', it made me feel a little happy. Not that he was in pain because I would never want him to suffer in any physical way, but damn, here is a little glimpse into what it is like to be me. And when she told him to take the towel and wipe the gel off himself, I was almost giddy. After waiting an hour a different doc came in and said that he has epidiymo-orchitis, which translates into a bacterial infection, usually E. coli, and has backed up into the 'pipe' (that is what the doctor called it) causing the swelling and pain in the testicle and the tube on the back of the testicle. To the pharmacy we went to get an antibiotic and some pain pills-and ran into people from work. It was humorous only because it was nothing serious, or rather life threatening. So now, I'm getting him water, ice packs and pain pills. They are such wimps when they are sick-which he is not and I had to remind him of that on at least 8 separate occasions in the 6 hours we have been awake. But in his plus column, he got felt up by two different women that were not his wife.


Since we got home 4 hours later than normal, we slept way too late and woke up starving. I forgot I had just bought hamburger, so I opted to make waffles. I didn't even have time to defrost bacon, so it was only waffles for dinner, and they were pretty tasty.


Waffles


3 eggs
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1-3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
3 TBSP brown sugar (not shown)
1 TBSP vanilla extract


Place all ingredients in a bowl





Beat together until well mixed





Pour into greased waffle iron and cook according to directions. Ours has a light that goes out when they are done.

Serve with butter and syrup






Oh, and totally want to freak out your teenage daughters? Show them the drawing that the ER doctor gave you with all the male parts on it. It is the small things in life that give me pleasure.