Crème Brule French Toast

In my mind, this melt-in-your-mouth French toast is the perfect bready dish for large or small Easter brunches. It’s perfect for several reasons—reasons I could discuss at length, but I won’t. I’ll be short and snappy listing only the top three reasons this is the perfect French toast:

1.) These little toasts are prepped the night before so they absorb as much cream as possible before they are cooked. It is so nice having at least one dish prepped the night before, making one less thing to worry about when cooking and assembling other foods.

2.) They’re baked in the very dish they are prepped in, which again, is wonderful. The less clean-up the better. Each toast turns out golden and toasted on one side, with the other side coated in thick, decadent caramel.

3.) It’s easy to cut the recipe in half for a small family celebration, or double for a large crowd. Everyone will think you worked so hard to get these little toasts made, but really they are easy and the prep time is minimal.

Crème Brule French Toast

"The Essential Mormon Cookbook," page 6
printable version of this recipe

½ cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 loaf Texas toast Wonder bread (extra-thick white bread)

5 eggs

1 ½ cups half-and-half (I use fat-free)

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Coat a jelly roll pan (18x13x1) with cooking spray and set it aside.

Melt butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally. When mixture is smooth, pour it into prepared jelly roll pan, spreading to coat the bottom of the pan. Place 12 slices of bread on top in a single layer to cover the pan, making sure one surface on each slice of bread is touching the brown sugar mixture.

Mix eggs, half-and-half, salt and vanilla together; pour and cover each piece of bread. Cover and refrigerate over night. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until golden. If not serving immediately, turn each slice of bread over to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. It can be served with maple syrup. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I’m not a huge fan of raisins, but after watching Ina Garten whip up some oatmeal raisin cookies I couldn’t help but try them again. The cookies looked so good my husband sent me to the store to buy ingredients so I could come right back home and make cookies. I thought the idea was brilliant.

I wanted to do everything exactly the way she did, even if it meant adding raisins instead of chocolate chips to the cookie dough. The cookies would be delicious with chocolate chips, but I actually like the sweet juicy raisins. Toasted pecans and dark brown sugar add bold flavor and a really nice texture to the classic oatmeal cookie. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. And yes, it’s fine if you use chocolate chips instead of raisins.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

recipe by Ina Garten from Barefoot Contessa
printable version of Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats
1 ½ cups raisins (or chocolate chips)
1 ½ cups toasted pecan halves, chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Bake pecan halves in 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes, or until toasted. Allow pecans to cool slightly and chop them roughly; set aside.

Mix butter and sugar together until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together. Slowly add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix well. Add oats one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add raisins and pecans.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 12-15 minutes. Enjoy!

Enchiladas Verdes

Nothing disgusts me more than canned enchilada sauce. Alright, there are myriads of things that disgust me more, but red enchilada sauce is offensive. Possibly it’s the spice concoction that disgusts me; maybe it’s because I’ve never cooked enchiladas successfully and canned red sauce has been an ingredient in all my attempts. In any case, I almost gave up on enchiladas, but then Gema came into my life. Rather, I found her recipe on all recipes, but I felt like she walked right into my kitchen and waived a magic wand over my dinner table. The enchiladas were that good.

Her spicy green sauce made from charred Serrano peppers and tomatillos was delicious, resulting in my first-ever successful enchilada dinner. I used some left over filling I made and froze a few weeks earlier from a stuffed Pasilla pepper dinner, but Gema recommends using meat from a store bought rotisserie chicken. She also recommended using Mexican crema fresca instead of sour cream, but sour cream was on sale at Smith’s and that’s what I used. Here’s to you, Gema!

Enchiladas Verdes
recipe from Gema
printable version of this recipe

2 cloves garlic, skin removed
3 Serrano peppers
1 pound small tomatillos, husks removed
½ store-bought rotisserie chicken, shredded
½ cup oil
9 corn tortillas
3 cups water
4 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
Iceberg lettuce, shredded
Cilantro leaves
Mexican crema fresca (found by cheeses at Smith’s)
Cotija cheese, grated (I used cheddar)

Place a large skillet over medium heat. When skillet is hot, add garlic, peppers and tomatillos. Cook until charred and blackened on all sides, turning occasionally. The garlic cooks quickest, taking about 5 minutes, and the tomatillos take the longest, about 15 minutes. When garlic, peppers and tomatillos are blackened, remove from skillet and allow them to cool.

Prepare chicken by removing bones and shredding or chopping finely; keep warm in a warm oven.
Heat ½ cup oil in a deep skillet to 350 degrees. Fry tortillas individually turning once with kitchen tongs. They shouldn’t be in the oil for more than 15 seconds per side. Remove excess oil with paper towels and keep them warm in an oven. The hotter the oil, the less the tortillas will absorb.

Puree the garlic, peppers and tomatillos in a blender with water and bouillon granules. Blend until smooth. Pour mixture into a skillet over medium heat and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

Soak tortillas, one at a time, in sauce until pliable, fill them with shredded chicken, a spoonful of sauce and shredded cheese. Roll and place seam side down on a serving plate. Spoon a generous amount of sauce over rolls and top with cilantro, crema and cheese. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Fruit Crepes

It wasn't my intention to make such a patriotic dessert, but that's how it turned out.  It looks like this might be a good dessert to serve in July.

We always make a few sweet dessert crepes after eating savory dinner crepes.  My husband really likes cherries so we usually make cherry crepes, but we've also made peach and blueberry crepes, too.  The directions are below.  Enjoy!

printable version of fruit crepes

Crepes:
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 ¼ cups milk
¼ melted butter
2 tablespoons sugar

Mix all ingredients together and stir for 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl and stir 15 more seconds. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before cooking. To cook crepes, spoon 2 tablespoons batter into a hot, lightly greased 6-7 inch skillet. Rotate pan until batter covers the bottom. Cook on medium heat until bubbles appear; turn and cook the other side.

Other ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
¼ cup sugar
Cherry pie filling, sliced peaches, sliced strawberries, or fresh blueberries
Sweetened whipped cream
Powdered sugar, sifted

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla and sugar together until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture on warm crepes; top with fruit. Roll up and top with sweetened whipped cream sifted powdered sugar.

Chicken Crepes Versailles

The crepes were wonderful. The filling had sautéed mushrooms, peppers and white sauce ingredients, which made it saucy and really tasty. The crepe sauce could have had more seasonings—like salt and pepper—not anything to wild. The ingredients were simple and mostly things I had on hand, which was nice. I like to try new things, but I don’t like buying spices and things I’ve never heard of. We were all happy with the way they turned out—even my daughter liked them.

One thing that could be better is making crispier crepes, something that might be achieved with a crepe maker. While the crepes and were delicious I wished they were a little crispier on their golden surfaces. It is a tiny problem, but something I think a crepe maker would solve. Possibly?

Chicken Crepes Versailles

Printable version of this recipe

recipe adapted from cooks.com

Crepes:
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 ¼ cups milk
¼ melted butter
2 tablespoons sugar

Mix all ingredients together and stir for 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl and stir 15 more seconds. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before cooking. To cook crepes, spoon 2 tablespoons batter into a hot, lightly greased 6-7 inch skillet. Rotate pan until batter covers the bottom. Cook on medium heat until bubbles appear; turn and cook the other side.

Crepe Sauce:
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups fat free half and half, or evaporated milk
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Melt butter in a small sauce pan; add flour and stir until bubbly. Remove pan for heat and stir in half and half, salt and pepper. Return pan to heat. Cook and stir until boiling; boil 1 minute more. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm until serving.

Crepe Filling:
5 tablespoons butter
5 button mushrooms, chopped
½ red bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups fat free half and half, or evaporated milk
2 chicken breasts, boiled and diced

Melt butter in large skillet. Sautee mushrooms and peppers until tender. Blend in flour, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat until mixture is bubbly. Remove from heat and add broth and half and half. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until mixture thickens. Stir in chicken and heat through.

Putting it all together:
Spoon ¼ cup chicken filling down the center of a cooked crepe, sprinkle with shredded cheese and roll burrito-style. Place filled crepe onto a plate, spoon sauce over top. Enjoy!

I'm not sure what I was thinking . . .

Who potty trains a kid in three days? It's an incredibly foolish idea. With the worst of it behind me I still ask myself, "what in the world were you thinking?" Apparently I wasn’t. If I were to do it again I would wait until my child was a little older. My nearly 24 month-old is potty trained and that’s great, but the process wasn’t a pleasant undertaking for either of us. That’s all I’m going to say about it.

In other news, I’ll make Chicken Crepes Versailles for dinner tonight and I’ll post pictures and the recipe tomorrow morning.