Stuffed French Toast

Another good Breakfast For Supper recipe.  We had this with bananas, and it was a complete meal.  Fruit salad would be good with it, too.  It had a bunch of steps, but not really hard ones.  Most of the stuffed french toast recipes I've seen have cream cheese filling, and I don't really like cream cheese like that, so I've avoided making them.  These are stuffed with ham and cheese though, and are sort of like a Monte Cristo type thing.  From Southern Living.

Stuffed French Toast
1 loaf (16 oz) french bread, sliced into 18 slices (I bought "wheat" french bread and it was only 13 oz and I only got 14 slices out of it)
1 lb thinly sliced deli ham, diced
9 slices swiss cheese
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, divided
Powdered sugar and syrup for serving

Place 9 (or 7) bread slices in a single layer in a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish; top evenly with ham, cheese, and remaining bread slices.

Whisk together eggs, milk, orange juice, and vanilla; pour over bread slices.  Let stand 10 minutes, turning once.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in large skillet over medium-high heat; add half of the french toast and cook 1-2 minutes on each side.  Place on a lightly greased 10x15 jelly roll pan.  Repeat procedure with remaining butter and french toast.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes (mine only took 15 so be careful) or until golden.  Serve with powdered sugar and syrup.

So my youngest immediately pulled his apart, just ate the ham, and declared himself done.  I did convince him to eat one bite of the the french toast part, which after two chews he said he liked, but after a few more said "no, I don't."  The rest of us really really liked it.  It was a bit hard to flip the sandwiches over without the ham and cheese falling out, but I managed.  This would be really good with bacon, too, but you'd have to precook it.

Skinny Parmesan Twists

These are not healthy.  They are thin-in-diameter breadsticks.  I didn't want the name to mislead you.  From Southern Living.

Skinny Parmesan Twists
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp caraway seeds or grated Parmesan cheese

Combine butter, 1 cup cheese, and sour cream, beating well at medium speed with an electric mixer.  Combine flour and Italian seasoning.  Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until smooth.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface; divide in half.  Roll 1 portion of dough into a 12x7-inch rectangle, and cut into 6x1/2-inch strips.

Twist each strip 2 or 3 times, and place on greased baking sheets.  Repeat procedure with remaining dough.

Combine egg yolk and water; brush over breadsticks.  Sprinkle with caraway seeds or additional grated Parmesan cheese (I used garlic salt).  Bake at 350 for 10-11 minutes (mine took more like 15 but I used stoneware) or until golden brown.

These came out awesome!  We had it with pasta and sauce.  They weren't as "bready" as you'd think a breadstick would be.  The texture was smoother, and the flavor was awesome.  I'm glad I went with garlic salt on top.  I did have some caraway seeds, but that is the part that I usually pick out of the sausage on pizza, so I didn't feel like adding it to breadsticks.  I'm sure sprinkling them with more Parmesan cheese would have been yummy as well.  We will have these again for sure.

Four-Way Cincinnati Chili

I have no idea why this is called "Four-Way."  I have never made Cincinnati Chili before, so I don't know what "One-Way" Cincinnati Chili would be like.  My best friend from junior high's mom is the first person I knew who made this, and she posts quite often on her facebook wall about making it still.  When I saw this recipe in the Southern Living cookbook I'm going through, it made me think of her fondly.  So I decided to try it.

Four-Way Cincinnati Chili
1 pound ground beef
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp pepper
2 (14 1/2 oz) or 1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped (I did this right in the pan, I'll tell you when)
8 oz uncooked dried spaghetti
Condiments: shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onion (nope, then the kids wouldn't eat it), oyster crackers

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large skillet; cook over medium heat until meat is cooked through.

Stir in cinnamon and next 9 ingredients (dump in the tomatoes, then break them up into pieces with a wooden spoon or spatula...I have a nylon Pampered Chef knife that I used).  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While beef mixture simmers, cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain and return to pan.

To serve, place pasta on individual serving plates; spoon beef mixture over spaghetti.  If desired, top with cheese, onions, and oyster crackers.

This came out SO GOOD!  It's not spicy at all, like you think chili will be.  The cinnamon and nutmeg et al gave it a very sweet delicious flavor.  Everybody liked this, although the two youngest didn't like the tomato chunks.  When I make "regular" chili, they don't like the beans, so they really liked that this one didn't have any beans to pick out.  It was different having it over spaghetti, almost like it wasn't even chili, but spaghetti and meat sauce.  Seriously, so good.  We're definitely having this again.

Gingerbread Scones

Breakfast for supper happens a lot around here.  We had these this week with scrambled eggs and bacon.  I really like the spices and flavors involved with gingerbread.  I remember my mom making gingerbread sometimes when I was young, in an 8x8 pan, and she would serve us squares of it with whipped cream on top.  Yum.  So I wanted to try these, even though I wasn't sure how the kids would receive them.  From Southern Living.

Gingerbread Scones
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup milk

Combine first 5 ingredients together; cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.  Combine molasses and milk; add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened (I had to add a few more drops of milk to get to this point).  Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead lightly 4 or 5 times.

Divide dough in half; shape each portion into a ball.  Pat each ball into a 5-inch circle on an ungreased baking sheet.  Cut each circle into 6 wedges, using a sharp knife; do not separate wedges.

Bake at 425 for10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Serve warm.

Yum.  Kind of like gingerbread biscuits.  I put them upside down on plates and spread the bottoms with butter before serving them.  Everyone liked them.  I had two the next day for breakfast and they weren't quite as good, but they were still okay.  A very good breakfast food.

Cracker Snackers

This is the thing I ended up bringing to the baby shower since the Mocha Macaroon Cookies were a fail.  I was planning on bringing this anyway, but this became my only contribution.  Oh, and Coffeemate.  This one is from the Southern Living cookbook that I'm working through.

Cracker Snackers
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
11 oz pkg oyster crackers (these are smaller now...I think the bag I got was only 10 oz)
1 envelope (0.7 oz) Italian dressing mix (they recommended Good Seasons so that's what I got)
1 tsp dried dill weed
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Combine oil and garlic; let stand 30 minutes.  Discard garlic.

Place crackers in a bowl; sprinkle with oil.  Combine dressing mix, dill weed, and garlic powder; sprinkle over crackers, stirring well.  Let stand 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Store in air-tight container.  Yield: 6 cups

This was nice and easy.  The perfect thing to do while waiting for mocha macaroons to set (which they never did).  This came out crazy garlicky.  That's good if you like garlic.  I munched on a couple to taste them, and I thought they were good.  I had a few at the baby shower, and they were good.  I came home with about half of them, so they weren't a huge hit.  The next day I had a small bowl of them, and that wasn't good.  So these are only good in small doses.  

Mocha Macaroon Cookies

I love cooking and baking, and I've gotten pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.  But every once in a while there comes along a very humbling recipe, the kind where I call my mom and say "what do I do now?"  This was that kind of recipe.  I attempted to make these for a baby shower.  Since they are mocha flavored, I knew they wouldn't be a hit at home, plus I wasn't sure how the coconut would go over.  I've never made regular macaroons, which would have perhaps helped me with this adaptation.  Here is the recipe, even though I am not endorsing this one.  From Simple & Delicious.

Mocha Macaroon Cookies
2 tsp instant coffee granules
2 tsp hot water
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 pkg (14 oz) flaked coconut
2/3 cup white baking chips, melted
Plain or chocolate-covered coffee beans (omitted by me, but the recipe went south long before this omission)

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, dissolve coffee granules in hot water.  Stir in condensed milk, melted chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt until blended.  Stir in coconut.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until set (what if this is never?).  Cool on pans 1 minute.  Remove to wire racks to cool completely.  Drizzle tops with melted baking chips (I never got to this step...actually I never got them off the cookie sheets); top with coffee beans.

Okay.  So I didn't use parchment paper.  BUT I almost never do (unless I'm making pumpkin whoopie pies) because I always use Pampered Chef stoneware baking sheets and nothing sticks to them because they are awesome.  The real problem here, however, was not that they stuck to the cookie sheets, but that they never "set".  There was no real baking to do here, because there was no flour or whatever else.  All they really had to do was go into the oven to like dry out or something.  I cooked them long past 10-12 minutes, but they started to smell burnt, even though they weren't set.  I took them out and let them sit a L-O-N-G time on the cookie sheets, but whenever I tried to remove even one cookie from the sheet, it would smoooosh all together.  The stoneware cooled completely, which I thought may have been an issue because they do stay warmer longer than metal cookie sheets.  This didn't make a difference.  I called my mom, but she said she's never made macaroons because Dad doesn't like coconut.  Fair enough.  She did say I could bring them crumbled and serve them with a spoon, but I opted not to do that.  So off I went to the baby shower, with the cookies still on the cookie sheets.  When I got home, I noticed one of the cookie sheets had been scraped clean.  Steve had taken them to a camp out, where he says they were enjoyed by all, and that you couldn't even taste the coffee part of them.

Chicken & Apple Salad

This was another quick one I threw together after church on Sunday.  Sundays are starting to be "quick lunch days" because I have been working every Sunday afternoon.  This one looked yummy and I knew it would be fast...from Simple & Delicious.

Chicken & Apple Salad
Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp curry powder, optional (I used about 1/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Salad:
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 medium apples, chopped (I used gala, my current favorite)
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
10 cups torn mixed salad greens (I think that's way too much)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (I used pecans because I love them, and because I already had some)

In a large bowl, whisk vinaigrette ingredients until blended (I always put it in a Tupperware cup with a tight-fitting lid and shake it like crazy).  Place greens on a large serving plate; top with chicken, apples, and onions.  Drizzle dressing over salad.  Sprinkle with nuts.

Of course you could make these individually, too, and not on a large serving platter.  That's what I did.  This tasted quite good.  I didn't like it as well as the one with cherries I had made the week before, and also I thought this vinaigrette was unnecessarily complicated.  I have made very yummy vinaigrettes before with only like 4 or 5 ingredients.  But overall a fast yummy lunch, which is what I was after.