Baked French Toast with OJ

Mornings are still cool, and there’s nothing better than a nice, warm citrus-y breakfast that takes literally no effort while you’re enjoying that first cup of coffee. This is one of those make-ahead breakfast deals that is just so easy, and so delicious, there is no reason not to give it a go. Truly, I made this little ditty while the soup was simmering on evening.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons light-colored corn syrup
• Cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/2 cup fat-free milk
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large egg whites
• 2 large eggs
• 12 (1-inch-thick) slices French bread (about 1 pound)

Directions:

1. Combine brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup; pour into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

2. Combine rind and next 7 ingredients (rind through eggs); stir with a whisk. Arrange bread slices over sugar and butter in dish; pour egg mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

3. In the morning, preheat oven to 350°.

4. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until lightly browned.

Notes:

• The original recipe called for 1/3 cup pecans. The big breakfast eater in our house has not yet developed a taste for nuts, so I didn’t include them. If you do, add them after the butter / sugar mixture and before the bread.
• Instead of a 13 x 9 pan, I used one that was a little shallower (but much cuter!) and just cut one layer of bread a bit thinner.
• If the egg mixture does not come about 3/4 of the way up the pan, mix together another egg and some milk and toss it on in.
• While I didn’t have any on hand, don’t ‘cha think this would be great with some whipped cream?!

What Is Missing Here?

Don’t you just love those little frames in the Sunday comics with the two very similar pictures and the trick is to find at least 6 differences between them? Well, for this little game, you’ll need a bit of imagination to figure out what should be in the pictures, but I’ve got confidence in your architectural knowledge to fill in the gaps here.

A quick bit of back story here … for years and years, we’ve made homemade gingerbread houses at the holidays and set them out for all to enjoy. It was with great joy that my mom gave me a heavy mold to use after my frustration with cutting individual pieces from large sheets of gingerbread. There is a bit of time involved, making and chilling the dough, baking the houses (half at a time), cooling the industrial quality gingerbread, making the frosting, building the houses, and very importantly letting them set for 24 hours before the decorating begins. Naturally, decorating involves the consumption of great amounts of candy! After all was said and done, any family friend could easily figure out which house was created by which child. These creations screamed out with personality. Two years ago, there was some grumbling about having to decorate the houses, so last year …. no houses! No houses lead to further grumbling, so this year the houses returned and all was well in the world again.

Fast forward to this week. The baking was done and the assorted pieces were all set out on plates waiting for the houses to be built. Then, this morning, I found this …..

After speaking with each of the kids, it turns out that no one has any idea at all what happened to the other pieces. Gasp! They claim that the puppy methodically worked her way through the same building piece from each plate without disturbing the other pieces nor leaving any crumbs. Uh, huh. Righto.

Update: Sick puppy this morning. Very, very sick … Perhaps my teens didn’t chow down on the house pieces after all.

Almost Bananas with Guilt

Gluttony. That’s a thing of the past with foodies. Now, restraint is the new gluttony. Slow food. Locavores. Eating closer to the bottom of the food chain. Yeah, those are the subtopics of the current chapter. As someone who purposefully does not purchase many fresh foods grown outside California, I must confess to one weakness … bananas. Grown outside my entire continent, sprayed with various chemicals to control their ripening, transported half way across the world using oil that we … ok, let’s stop there. Simply put, I like ‘em. And, my teenage son goes through them with like they are candy when he’s competing in one sport or another.

As for over ripe bananas, the obvious answer is banana bread! I found a recipe a few years back that did me well. Sure, it required 3 bowls and used shortening, but it was some pretty good stuff. When that big ol’ container of questionable shortening was finally finished (banana bread being its only use ’round here) I went on an expedition for a new plan. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you banana bread made with 2 bowls and no questionable ingredients! This is straight from Allrecipes.com and incorporates several reader suggestions. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Slowly add dry mixture until just incorporated. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Notes:

* Go ahead and mush those bananas between your fingers …. its fun!

* When teen age kids are so excited over your banana bread and just pull the puffy top right off the loaf, take it as a supreme compliment.