Category: Breakfast

French Toast Madness

59 Comments

By Mike
Thanks to all of you who tuned in for our Banana Bread quest that wrapped up this week, and congratulations to Doree, Sally, Sweet Caroline, Dawn, and all the other fantastic recipes we tried last year. With every end comes a new beginning, and we’re embarking on our next quest with our final recipe from Hong Kong, a Hong Kong-Style French Toast.

That’s right, this year we’ll be breaking down the world’s best French Toast recipes, culminating in an NCAA Basketball Tournament-style Final Four. See, with French toast, it’s not exactly simple to just make it, freeze a slice, then break it out when it’s time to pick a champion. So in the great spirit of college basketball, we’re going to test recipes throughout the year, then when March Madness rolls around next year, the selection committee is going to hole up in some secret location, armed with spreadsheets, data, stats, photos, and years of expertise. We’ll choose our Final Four entries, seed them into our tournament bracket, and square them off in a winner-take-all series of head-to-head matchups in a quest for that One Shining Moment.  Continue reading →

Eggstatic

42 Comments

It’s time for our next international cooking adventure with Mr. N as our guide. He is again taking us to his favorite part of the world, or so it would seem based on most of his picks, Asia. Not so long ago we received a postcard from a long-time friend of mine who was visiting Hong Kong. Incidentally this same friend spent several years of his teenage life living in Hong Kong, a fact which fascinates Mr. N. So naturally, as soon as the card arrived in the mail, Mr. N said, “This is my next pick!”

Miss A is also quite excited about our culinary visit to Hong Kong. She too remembers the postcard (I don’t care what they say about snail mail, kids still LOVE to get things in the mailbox!) and excitedly exclaimed, “I love that girl. She plays with me.” She’s referring to my friend’s daughter whom she got to meet and play with this summer. So already both of the kids are ready to begin this adventure which we are kicking off with the Hong Kong Egg Tart.  Continue reading →

The Non-Dessert Dessert

52 Comments

Happy Saturday everyone! We hope your weekend is off to a good start. We got our first snow of the season this week, so today we’re headed off to sled! While I prefer warmer temperatures and clean sidewalks, I have to admit that sledding makes the snow a bit more tolerable. I’m not a skier, but I LOVE to sled. And of course, the kids are loving it too!

Incidentally this next Nicaraguan recipe,Maduros, would be a great meal or snack to serve after coming in from the cold. It’s technically a dessert recipe, but I ate mine for lunch, the kids ate theirs for an after school snack and Mike had his for breakfast the next day.

Maduros is a sweet dessert featuring the plantain, and it just so happens the plantains we picked up at the store are actually from Nicaragua. Miss A was very excited about that. Continue reading →

Cel-e-brate Good Times

68 Comments

…come on! Why am I cursed with these terrible songs in my head?! At any rate, we’re celebrating this week and not because of Christmas. I’m still not close to ready for that…shopping, baking, menu planning, cleaning, wrapping, etc. all still left to do. I guess procrastination got the better of me this year – that and work. Two more days to go this week and I’m home free!

So what are we celebrating? A four-spoon dish? Yes, but we’ll get to that momentarily. Are we celebrating two new awards? Yes, but again, we’ll get to that.  Our celebration is in fact nothing blog or holiday related. We’re celebrating something that’s been in the making for 16 years…31 seasons…314 games and 117 penalty minutes (for Mike that is). 

The Flock, Mike’s broomball team for more than a decade, clinched the Evanston Broomball League finals. And yes, it was worth the wait. Mike and I were just dating when I experienced my first broomball game. In fact, I don’t think anyone on his team was married. But last night as they took the title, eight pairs of little feet (a pair of which are brand new!) got to join their daddies on the ice. How time flies. Congratulations guys!

So in honor of our champion and because we’re always on the look-out for a great weekend breakfast recipe, we bring you Maple Bacon Biscuits. Yes, they are as good as they sound. We’ll be making these on Christmas morning and the next time we have overnight guests. We started by chopping up some bacon into bite size pieces. Continue reading →

Apple Thyme

41 Comments

We just returned home from a short (but wonderful) visit back to our old home town in Minnesota, so we’re going to keep this one brief. Along with our Gruyère Stuffed French Toast the other day, we  made another recipe from Washington. This one comes from the Washington State Potato Commission and is a twist on the typical hash brown side dish. You guessed it – Apple Hash.

We started by heating onions, salt, pepper and olive oil over medium heat. After a few minutes we added some chopped Yukon gold potatoes. 

We cooked the potatoes for about 10 minutes and then tossed in some apples, butter and fresh thyme. Continue reading →

Apple of My Eye

47 Comments

It’s state night again. Time to get out the United States puzzle for Miss A. She loves puzzles. Before making her selection, she first took the puzzle apart. Then put it back together. Then took it apart, asked me to put it back together and then pointed to the big purple state in the Pacific Northwest, Washington.

Washington is known for lots of fresh produce and seafood – apples, potatoes, berries, and salmon. Given the time of year, we’re going to focus on apples, the McIntosh to be precise. We came across this recipe in our most recent issue of Cooking Light Magazine and had set it aside as one to make for breakfast soon. Little did we know that it would come in handy for our Washington adventure. So, without further adieu we give you what we’re calling Gruyère French Toast with Warm Apple Syrup.

We started by thinly slicing our McIntosh apples. Continue reading →