Eggnog French Toast

This year Christmas morning rolled around and as usual, I had planned to make a delicious, fancier breakfast for everyone!

Also, as usual, by the time I was ready to make it, everyone said they were full of sweets and not to bother...

Well, this meal got pushed back to lunch, then, dinner, and finally the next day, where I decided to make it no matter who was hungry or not! I wanted french toast with berries and cream even if my kids were too full of cookies to enjoy it!

Although, I'm pretty sure they did, in fact, enjoy it!

This recipe is almost exactly like the easy french toast recipe I already posted on this blog, but with a few small changes, I made it a Christmas version.

First, instead of using regular whole wheat bread, like I normally do, I used Aspen Mills Cinnamon Chip bread. Honestly, so worth searching for since this adds so much flavor and fluffy texture to it! 

Next, I used egg nog in place of milk. 

This year, I actually used vanilla eggnog and added extra cinnamon, but not on purpose... My boys kept drinking all the eggnog before I got a chance to make this recipe and by the time John picked up a third container for me, only vanilla was left! 

Who knew they liked eggnog so much!

But no worries, I made this last year with regular eggnog and this year's with vanilla eggnog was just as good, but with a less distinct eggnog flavor.

Honestly, you can probably leave out the cinnamon and sugar if you use regular eggnog, but with the vanilla flavored one, you'll want the extra cinnamon.

To make this eggnog french toast, heat a griddle to about 325 F.

Next, mix the ingredients together (I do it in a cake or pie pan), and dip the cinnamon chip bread in the mixture, flipping it to coat both sides.

Next, I usually spread some butter on the griddle before placing the bread on it. Wait for it to brown (usually just a few minutes) and flip. And if you find that you flipped it too early, you can always wait for the new side to cook and then flip it back to give the first side some more time to toast.

We topped our eggnog french toast with powdered sugar, berries, and whipped cream.

Although you could leave out the powdered sugar, you can also add syrup as well like my daughter "Buddy the Elf" did here, Haha! Christmas is only once a year after all!

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2 Ingredient Honey Butter

I remember the first time I had honey butter... 

Sounds like a strange thing to have such a strong memory about, but I do. 

It was at Aspen Grove. (A place that is full of fond memories for John and I since we met there.) Part of the deal with working there is that meals and lodging are provided for you. As the summer goes on, you get pretty used to the same weekly schedule of meals. And one thing I always looked forward to was the biscuits and honey butter! Ok, ok... technically, it was biscuits and gravy. But I've never liked that meal... So instead, I would take my biscuits and eat them with honey butter instead. So much better!

Since then, I've only had honey butter a handful of other times and I'm always a little disappointed when it's not the creamy perfection I remember.

Well this recipe... is the creamy perfection I remember. 

And with only two ingredients, it really is just honey - butter.

All you need to do to make this yummy spread is to combine 1/2 cup soft butter with 1/2 cup honey. If you want you can also whip the butter a little first to help them combine better.

And that's it. Super simple. Super quick. Super delicious.

You're welcome. 😉

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Grandma Honey's Zucchini Bread

Recently, my sister Julia brought us two zucchini's from my Grandma's garden! And what does everyone do with zucchini? Make bread out of it. 

Thanks to the family cookbook my Grandma and Aunt made years ago, I have a zucchini bread recipe from my Great Grandma Honey! And no, her real name was not "Honey" but that's the nickname she chose to go by so it might as well have been.

Just like my family recipe for french toast, this is a great, classic zucchini bread recipe that I think everyone should have in their collection. Even beginner bakers can't mess this up.

To make my Grandma Honey's Zucchini bread, start by finely grating the zucchini until you have two cups worth. 

Next, mix all of the ingredients together. 

As a side note, nuts are optional for this recipe and I didn't add any to mine this time around.

At this point, I preheat the oven to 350℉ and prepare two 9x5x2 loaf pans by greasing them with butter, dusting them with flour, and then lining them with parchment paper. 

After the pans are prepared, divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake them for 1 hour. 

Remove them from the oven and let them cool for about 10-15 minutes before taking them out of the pan. Allow them to continue cooling all the way on a cooling rack or slice them up and enjoy them warm with some butter. 

I love this recipe because of how simple and delicious it is! And when it's from a person named "Honey", you know you can't go wrong!

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Pizza Dough Showdown

A while ago we tried 4 different pizza dough recipes when we did our Pizza Around the World date night... Here's how it went.

Pizza Dough 1: The 24 hour pizza dough

I continually wonder if I did something wrong with this recipe. I followed the directions to a T and in the end the crust was a little chewy but completely flat. John liked the thinness of it, but for me the combination of chewy and flat wasn't great. It almost seemed rubbery... Being that this is a recipe from Alton Brown (and he is amazing!) I might have to retry this one to make sure I did it right.

Here's pizza dough number one's recipe. 

Pizza Dough 2: The 8 hour pizza dough

I cannot say enough good things about this pizza dough. It was just like the dough we've had at fancier pizza restaurants. It was chewy but fluffy and crispy all at the same time. By far, my favorite type of pizza dough to eat! That being said, this one did take the most work, but in my mind, it was worth it.

The recipe for this pizza dough is found here.

Pizza Dough 3: The 2 hour pizza dough

This recipe came out of a restaurant copycat cookbook I have at home and is supposed to be just like California Pizza Kitchen's dough. This is the one I usually make for a pizza night at home, although if I remember to start early enough, I'll definitely be making the 8 hour dough recipe more often instead! In the end, this dough makes a good crust that holds its structure, but doesn't have as much depth as the 8 hour dough.

This cookbook can be found here.

Pizza dough 4: The 20 minute pizza dough

This one is actually the same recipe as my quick and easy breadsticks dough. It says in the notes for this recipe that it can also be used as a pizza dough... which is true. In the end though, I only make this dough if I forget to start the dough and dinner is in half an hour. It ends up not holding its structure very well and doesn't add much as far as flavor and texture go. It's a much better dough to make breadsticks out of. Just sayin'.

The recipe for this dough is found here.

 

When we actually did our pizza date night, I didn't take very many pictures of the pizza dough/crust... just junky night time pictures of the pizza. Haha! Just as I predicted would happen in that post, I actually hadn't made homemade pizza again until this past week. Annnnd I chose to make the 8 hour pizza dough. No surprise. It's really good! We also tried making a half portion of the recipe with whole wheat flour this time. Definitely not as good as white flour, but another option if it needs to be healthier.

After trying all of these out, I definitely will be making the 8 hour dough more often. The only tricky part now is remembering to get it started by 8 am while simultaneously getting 4 little kids up and ready for the day... Buuut, if you want something bad enough, you find a way to make it happen, right? I never thought that could apply to making pizza dough until now. Lol.

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Around the World Pizza Date Night

 A few weeks ago, I was looking for a good recipe for pear and prosciutto pizza. 

That might sound weird, but we tried it at Pizza Limone in town and I loved it!

Well, that internet rabbit hole of pizza led me to all sorts of random pizza recipes from all over the world. A few minutes later, date night was planned. Haha!

Since I was planning on making lots of kinds of pizza, I thought it would be fun to do this as a double date! Buuuut, with covid and kids and living an hour away from all of our closest family... we ended up doing it on our own. In the future, it was way too much pizza for us and the kids so I'd definitely do it again as a double (or triple... maybe even quadruple) date. The idea would be that each couple is in charge of one or two countries and makes a pizza that is normal there.

Since we did this on our own, we made 7 pizzas... for 5 people. And the little guy didn't even eat any. 

So here's what we made!

Korea

This pizza was one of the best. We kind of combined two different recipes to be able to use what we had at home. In the end, we spread the bulgogi sauce on the crust, and then topped it with mozzarella cheese, corn, mushrooms, olives, and chicken from some wings we had in the fridge. So, yeah... we kina cheated using the chicken instead of actual Bulgogi (Korean BBQ beef), but it's what we had on hand. We also drizzled the leftover bulgogi sauce on top after cooking the pizza for more of the Korean BBQ flavor. 

The sauce we used is found here.

The pizza recipe is found here.

We should have thickened the sauce (like the pizza recipe did) but didn't think about it until we spread it on the crust. It still tasted great though!

(The Korean Pizza is the top one in this picture and the Swedish one is on the bottom.)

Sweden

This one was definitely the most unusual one. It was made by spreading red pizza sauce on the pizza dough followed by slices of bananas, curry powder, and mozzarella cheese (in that order). After trying this pizza I found out that the only time I don't mind eating a warm banana is when It's covered in chocolate and marshmallows and we're on a cold campout. That being said, it wasn't horrible. It just wasn't something I was used to and I'm not sure I would make it again... It was definitely fun to try though and I can see how some people might acquire a taste for it. 

The recipe we used for it is found here.

Australia

Brooke was the most excited to try this pizza and she liked it a lot! It's made with BBQ sauce, mozzarella cheese, crumbled bacon, pineapple (optional so we put it on half), and an egg cracked in the middle right before putting the pizza in the oven. It was... interesting. I personally wasn't a huge fan of the egg, but like I said, that was Brooke's favorite part. I'm not sure if I'd make it again for myself, but how hard would it be to crack an egg in the middle of a BBQ pizza in the future just for my mini me? We'll see if she requests it anytime soon! And hopefully I won't overcook it next time if she does...

The Aussie Pizza recipe is found here.

Italy

For this one, we made the traditional Margherita Pizza. Neither of us had actually ever tried it although it didn't sound too different than typical cheese pizza with more sauce, less cheese, and some basil thrown on top.

We didn't use an actual recipe for this, but kind of followed the basic instructions for the recipe right here. We didn't add any tomato slices but we did use large chunks of mozzarella cheese like it's supposed to have. It also overcooked a little, but still tasted fine!

Pear and Prosciutto

Like I said at the start of this post, we first tried this pizza in a restaurant in Utah. Soooo, I have no idea in what country it originated from. Buuut, it was a fun one to try to replicate at home! It was good, but if I made it again, I'd add smaller pieces of prosciutto and more pears to balance out the flavors. It ended up a little too salty and less sweet from the meat. We also didn't add the balsamic vinegar the recipe called for.

The recipe we used is found here.

Chicken Artichoke

Another more typical one in America, but I actually just wanted to try this one at home on a special crust I made. (More about the crust in this post). In the end, we left out the tomatoes (Yes, for John. Lol.) and it was still great! We did add some baby spinach to the top after it came out of the oven, but in the future, I think I would put the spinach on before the mozzarella cheese and bake it in. For me, this was a definitely would make again.

Here's the recipe.

After trying each of these pizzas, we rated them from 1 to 10 based on appearance and taste. The appearance winner was the Pear and Prosciutto and the taste winner was actually the Korean one! No surprise if you've ever had Korean BBQ!

For the 7th pizza, we used the leftover dough to make a normal pizza hoping our kids would actually help eat it. They maybe had 3 pieces total that first night and Brooke was the only one who would eat the leftovers with us and only if the piece had egg on it. And now, we won't be having pizza for the next month. Lol. So, the lesson learned is to definitely do this with friends. Haha!

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Choke Cherry Syrup

I would love to just eat a handful of choke cherries!... said no one ever.

Ok, ok... Maybe there are some people that can acquire a taste for them, but I didn't even know they existed until a few years ago! 

Turns out the name doesn't lie. They are usually super bitter with a slight cherry taste. While we were picking them, Aaron kept trying to taste one and then spitting it out! 

If John hadn't told me about choke cherry syrup, I would've thought there was no edible use for them. Lol.

The only reason he knew was because it was a tradition to pick choke cherries and make syrup during their family reunion each year.

Well, two years ago, we tried it for the first time, and this year I decided to write it all down so I don't have to keep researching how to do it and compare recipes again!

A few Saturdays ago, we drove up to Heber, UT to pick choke cherries in the canyon. The road we normally go up (Cascade Springs Rd) has so many that last time we were able to park the car and pick tons in a short amount of time! 

This year, that road was closed, sadly. We went up a different canyon road and still found enough, but in the future, we'll definitely go back to the other spot.

After grabbing lunch at Dairy Keen (the train restaurant that our kids love!) we came home to make the syrup.

First, you rinse the cherries and get rid of as many stems, leaves, and shriveled cherries as you can. Then, you put them in a large pot and fill the pot with water so it's just barely covering the cherries. Boil them for 30 minutes or until they're soft enough to easily squish the juice out. 

Next, use a wooden spoon to push the cherries through a sieve into a new pot. Discard the leftover cherry pits and skins when done.

In the end, we had about 6 cups of juice. We added around 4 cups of sugar (yeah, a lot!) and 1/4 tsp of almond extract. After letting it boil to dissolve the sugar, we got the jars ready.

I always thought I needed special equipment to can things, but after calling my Grandma Cail for advice, I found out that I didn't need any of that stuff! All we had to do was boil the jars in water in one pot and boil the lids in water in another. The lids don't actually have to boil for long. They just need to get warm enough that the seal around the edge softens a little.

Once the jars are hot, use tongs to take them out of the pot and empty the water out. Pour the syrup into the jars leaving about 1/4 inch of space at the top. Use tongs to get the lid out of the pot and place it on the jar. Place a ring on the jar as well and tighten it just enough to stay on (not as tight as it will go).

After the jars are cooled down, gently press on the lid to make sure it sealed (if it did, it won't pop up and down on top). Now the rings can be tightened all the way.

We usually like to put our choke cherry syrup on pancakes (and whipped cream if we happen to have any) but now, I'm thinking it would be awesome on french toast with a little powdered sugar on top! I'm definitely going to have to try that now that we have a fresh batch of syrup to use!

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Quesadilla Casserole

I talked to my Grandma Grimes recently and she mentioned that a few of my cousins have seemed to hit the "I'm making a cookbook!" stage of life. She remembers hitting that stage around their age, and ironically, I was thinking of doing the same thing recently. 

It's not because I think I'm an amazing chef or some inspired baker that can create all kinds of unique creations.

Let's be honest. I'm not.

But for me, making a cookbook sounds intriguing because I have finally been cooking on my own long enough to have "favorite recipes". The kind of recipes I turn to over and over again because they're either simple, tasty, or both!

This recipe is one of those recipes.

Quesadilla Casserole is super easy to make and everyone in the family enjoys it. Aaand, it always goes too quick for me to get a better picture, so... that's what we got. Lol.

Although I found the original recipe for Quesadilla Casserole online, I've made a few changes that I stick to every time I make this. And to make sure I never forget "my version" what better way than to record it on here?

First, brown and drain 1/2 lb ground beef or turkey on the stove. (We cook most of our meat ahead of time and freeze it in individual bags for easy use during the week.) Next, combine all of the ingredients except for the tortillas and cheese in the saucepan. Heat to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Once the mixture has thickened, spread 1/2 cup of it in the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Arrange 3 tortillas on top of that. I usually rip a tortilla in half to put down to cover the edges a little better. 

Spread half of the meat mixture over the tortillas followed by 1/4 cup cheese. Repeat with 3 more tortillas, the rest of the meat mixture, and 1/2 cup of cheese.

Bake at 350° F for 15 minutes. Let it sit for 5 minutes before serving. 

With how easy and good it is, Quesadilla Casserole is for sure one of the first recipes I will put in my cookbook. If I ever get around to making one that is! Lol.

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Angie's Gumbo

When my sister Angie was in college, she had a roommate from Louisiana who gave her this amazing gumbo recipe. Up until then, I had no idea gumbo was so amazing! (Seriously. Watching The Princess and the Frog makes me crave it now...) I had heard about gumbo of course, but growing up in California, had never had it. Now, it's one of the few recipes I have that actually makes me feel slightly southern. Lol. (the other two being my great uncle's hush puppies recipe and my great aunt's sweet potato souffle).

Here's how to make this dinner (not sure if it qualifies as a soup or stew? It kind of feels like its own category...).

First, add 1 1/2 cups rice and 3 cups water to a pot. Bring this to a boil over high heat. Then, cover and reduce the heat to simmer for 25 minutes for white rice or 45 minutes for brown rice.

While the rice is cooking, add 7 teaspoons of chicken bouillon powder (or 7 cubes of chicken bouillon) to 7 cups of water in a large pot.

To this, add 3/4 cups of Roux (if you're using the powdered version - you can find it online or in some grocery stores).

Sprinkle a layer of Cajun Seasoning over the top of the Roux in the pot. This part takes a bit of eyeballing it and guess work. Just be careful not to add too much. Maybe start with a teaspoon and add more later if you want more flavor. Also, I've used creole seasoning when I didn't have cajun and it works great as well!

Add the chicken to the Roux mixture and cook on low until the chicken is tender.

While the chicken cooks, chop up the green onions (optional).

Remove the chicken from the pot to a plate and cut it up into bite sized pieces.

Next, chop up the sausage and brown it in another pan. Once it is done, add the chicken, green onions, and sausage to the pot.

Prepare the shrimp according to the package directions. This may require thawing it and cutting off the tails. If the shrimp is already cooked, add it to the gumbo a few minutes before you're ready to serve it so it can heat up. If the shrimp is not cooked, let it cook in the pot for the time listed on the package directions.

Once the shrimp is added and the roux mixture is heated throughout, it's time to assemble! And, no, this version of "assemble" doesn't require a superhero costume... but if you want to wear one, go for it. Haha!

Put some rice in a bowl (as much as you want to eat) and pour the soup mixture with the meat over the top of the rice. At this point, you can add hot sauce or more Cajun seasoning if you want to.

And it's done!

Seriously. Anyone who has never made gumbo should try this recipe! It is life changingly good. And besides... everyone needs a recipe they can use to pretend that they're southern for a few days... or hours. We'll see how long this gumbo lasts....

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Chicken Parmesan

Growing up, I definitely had some favorite dinners. And although Chicken Parmesan wasn't made all the time (at least not enough to get old), it totally makes that list!

Well, a few weeks ago, I was making dinner for some friends of ours and found this recipe in my extended family cookbook! As it turns out, it's a recipe from my Aunt Linda who passed away when I was 2. My mom has always said that she was an excellent cook. And this recipe proves it!

I started this recipe with 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts which I cut in half for better portion sizes. I then took each of the pieces of chicken and dipped them first in plain yogurt followed by a bowl that had a mixture of crushed ritz crackers, Parmesan cheese, garlic salt and seasoning salt. 

(By the way, there is no way to make raw chicken look good. Sorry. Lol.)

As I dipped the chicken, I made sure to turn them over so each piece was evenly coated.

Once each piece of chicken had been covered, I placed it in a greased 13 x 9 pan.

Then it was baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. After that half an hour, use a spoon to pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the chicken and bake it for 15 more minutes.

And that's it! This dinner has a pretty quick prep time and is fun to make now that I know where my family got the recipe from! 

P.S. Did you spot my mom's rolls in the background? Another family favorite. Mmm... 

(Gotta love that bright yellow dinner light in the kitchen. Haha!)

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Blueberry Muffins

There are always foods that are just 10 times better when they're made from scratch instead of from a mix. Some can get away with it... mac and cheese, corn bread, even cake mixes are usually fine for me.

One that I used to think sort of "got away with it" was blueberry muffins... That is, until I actually made them from scratch.

And now, I'll never go back.

These muffins are seriously by far my favorite. They are sweet and soft with a sugary topping, but have a nice slight tartness every once in a while with some of the berries. They are so good that whenever I make them, they're gone by the next morning. No joke. My family loves these muffins.

So, for these blueberry muffins, I actually found the recipe online for double blueberry muffins after blueberries went on sale. We bought too many and had to freeze a bunch of them. I've actually tried making these muffins with blueberries from the bag in the freezer section and I definitely DO NOT recommend doing that. A lot of the berries turned out hard or flavorless after being baked and there was a decent amount of green berries in the bag as well... No, for these muffins, they need to be fresh... and then frozen... That's the best way to get them to turn out delicious every time.

As I mentioned doing in the past, I usually freeze blueberries if I buy them and am not planning on eating them all in the first few days. This way, I don't waste them and they're always ready for whenever I want to bake blueberry muffins!

The only thing I do differently from the recipe when I make them is that I keep them frozen. I just let the mixer smash the first group that I add and then I stir the rest in with a spoon (still frozen). This leaves a lot of intact blueberries in the muffins that makes them way better than if they were all smashed up. It also lets you mix the batter a little better since you aren't so worried about ruining all the blueberries!

To make these muffins, combine 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter and 1 cup of sugar in a large bowl. Add 2 eggs and mix. Next, mix in 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is well combined before adding the blueberries.

Next, add 3/4 cup frozen blueberries and mix them with a hand mixer or stand mixer. This will mask them up a little and turn the batter a blue/grey color.

Now, add 2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of milk half at a time so it doesn't spill over. Once combined, use a spoon to fold in 1 3/4 cups frozen blueberries.

Fill greased or lined muffin tins 3/4 of the way full and sprinkle the batter with cinnamon sugar. Bake the muffins at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before taking them out of the muffin tin.

Anyone that makes these muffins will know why I just can't settle for the box mix at home anymore. So, I guess any advice I have today would be... "don't settle". Lol.

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