It’s a Barn Raising – of Sorts

May 30, 2011August 3, 201119 Comments

Both Mr. N and Miss A have summer birthdays. So this year, since we’re in the new house, we decided to get them a swing set for their birthdays. We purchased a beautiful set at a very reasonable price, the catch – we have to build it ourselves. This is no easy feat as you can imagine. There are literally dozens of pieces of wood and hundreds of screws, and nothing is labeled.

This job was beyond dad and I, so much like the barn raisings of long ago, we invited some extra hands to help us put this thing together.

So since we’re raising the swing set and our state this week was Pennsylvania, we decided to whip up a few Amish dishes to get in the spirit of things. We started early yesterday morning with an Amish Stuffed French Toast.

The first step was to cube a loaf of bread.

We placed the bread in a baking dish and then cut up a block of cream cheese and placed it in the bread.

The recipe then called for the use of a pie filling. Instead, we took fresh blackberries that we had frozen from my Grandpa’s garden last summer and combined them with a bit of sugar.

Next we poured them over the first layer of bread.

Then we added the remaining bread over the top. Finally in a bowl we mixed together eggs, milk, vanilla and maple syrup. We poured this over the top layer of bread, followed by a bit of melted butter and cinnamon. The French toast was then refrigerated overnight and baked for 50 minutes at 350F in the morning.

We served the dish with syrup and powdered sugar. However as good as this looked and smelled, it didn’t quite live up to our expectations.

Miss A rated it the lowest with 1 spoon. She barely ate any. Dad and I both gave the French toast 2 spoons. It was okay, but we think would have been better with white bread instead of wheat. And Mr. N seemed to enjoy it the most and gave it 3 spoons. He ate it for breakfast, dinner and again the next morning for breakfast.

As for the barn raising…

after a 12 hour day and having to wait out some rain showers (water and power tools don’t mix), it’s coming along. Here’s hoping tomorrow will be the final day for the “barn raising.”

Print this recipe: Amish Stuffed French Toast

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

May 28, 2011April 13, 201314 Comments

I have to say this has been one of the cloudiest springs in recent memory. That’s not to say it actually is the cloudiest – it could be in fact that my memory has selective recall. That’s been known to happen on occasion. Nevertheless it’s cloudy again. We made these quick, healthy breakfast treats earlier this week, but they would be the perfect way to brighten up a cloudy morning. The recipe is adapted from one we came across in the Taste of Home Comfort Food, Diet Cookbook. It’s also a great way to use up some of the leftover phyllo from the baklawa. (I bought several packages just-in-case my attempt at the recipe went horribly array.)

We began by cutting three phyllo sheets into sixths. We then separated the squares out and placed them in muffin tins – 3 per tin.

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Third Time’s the Charm? Quest for the Best Banana Bread.

May 27, 2011April 13, 201328 Comments

Tonight the kids and I whipped up the third banana bread recipe for our quest. This particular version is adapted from Martha Stewart’s banana bread and was sent to me by an old high school friend. Thanks Liz! The major differences in this recipe compared to the first two are that it uses only white sugar and replaces the oil with sour cream. Until now, I had never seen a banana bread recipe with sour cream, so I was intrigued.

We started by mashing the bananas – Miss A was on hand to help in what has become her new favorite outfit (a princess nightgown), worn both day and night.

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Boo-Yeah! Baklawa!

May 24, 2011April 13, 201328 Comments

Ever since last month when Dawn over at First Look, Then Cook posted her recipe for baklava, it’s been on my mind. I instantly thought of an ice wine we have that would match this dessert perfectly. Not to mention I’ve never worked with phyllo before and it sounded like a challenge I needed to tackle. So when we were looking for Egyptian desserts and came across the recipe for Baklawa, the Egyptian version of the dessert, I knew it was time to get to work.

The main differences between Greek baklava and Egyptian baklawa are that the Greek version uses honey in the syrup and almonds in the pastry. The Egyptian form of the dessert uses sugar and orange blossom in the syrup and omits the almonds. Either way, the dessert sounds intriguing to me and dad, and one that we thought even Mr. N and Miss A would enjoy.

Miss A helped me out early in the process. She was very excited to see the mallet coming out again and was eager to crush the walnuts. Continue reading →

Seafood Pasta with Cloves? You Bet!

May 23, 2011April 13, 201318 Comments

This weekend we are wrapping up our Egyptian adventure with another winning recipe. When dad first picked Egypt a few weeks ago, we knew little about the local cuisine. We figured we would come across some traditional Middle Eastern dishes such as falafel or babaganoush – and we did. But we also discovered that Egyptian cuisine has influences from the Mediterranean, Europe, Africa and the Middle East and offers a lot of healthy, flavorful cooking options.

Tonight’s recipe is one of the first that we came across for the region and we instantly knew we had to try it. This recipe for Egyptian Seafood Pasta is very similar to an Italian dish that dad and I used to eat a ton of when we were dating. So going in it already had a lot to live up to.

We began our pasta dish by sauteing a chopped onion with some olive oil. Once the onion was softened we added bacon, garlic and ground cloves – yes cloves! This was new to me. Continue reading →

Dessert for Breakfast and Other Infidelities

May 21, 2011April 13, 201325 Comments

We wanted to try an Egyptian dessert this week. We also wanted something healthy so that our waistlines didn’t explode after that Georgia Peach Cobbler. We found a recipe for a strawberry dessert on Tour Egypt and while it’s fairly healthy, I have to say that I’m not really convinced it’s an authentic Egyptian dessert. I’m also uncertain whether it’s a dessert or if it’s breakfast. I think it can easily be both; and if not, well then we just ate dessert for breakfast. I suppose there are worse things that could happen.

The recipe is easy – combine raspberries and sugar in a sauce pan and heat, stirring gently, until a syrup forms. Continue reading →