Fifi’s French Toast Casserole

Yuletide comes early to the Recipes, thus my favorite Holiday brunch-ish recipe.

WARNING: ONCE YOU MAKE THIS, YOU CANNOT TURN AWAY FROM THE DARKSIDE.

Thanks Fif!

Only ONCE Per Year French Toast Casserole

Day 1
Combine
1/2 c whole milk or half & half
1 1/2 c dark brown sugar
3/4 c unsalted butter
1/4 c + 2 tbs light corn syrup (Karo)
pinch salt
in a heavy suacepan over medium heat and stir constantly for 5 minutes. Pour into a lightly greased 13″ by 9″ dish. Fit slices of challah, brioche, Sally Lunn, french or stale Texas Toast bread over syrup. Combine
4 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 c whole milk or half & half
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
and pour over bread. Cover and chill overnight.

Day 2
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle 3 tbs of cinnamon sugar over casserole, cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes and then remove the cover for the rest of the cooking time.

Take aspirin or have another Bloody Mary. Your arteries need all the help they can get!

I Miss my Honey

She was my grandmother, but so much more.

A real life force, Honey was the best person I’ve ever known. She was so kind, so gentle, so honorable. The last 10 years of her life were a blur of trying to keep her happy, in a good way. She loved her great grandchildren so much. It was almost more than she could take. She paid Mary, Mary and me to pick worms off of her Catawbas when we were kids. She was number one in the grandparent department, unconditionally. BabyDaddy knew it. We all did.

Miss Mary made horrible food, but she was the best person I’ve ever known. Fifi is allowed to have issues with her mom, but she was good nail polish, cheap paperbacks, terrible gossip rags, diamond watches, dirty Playskool toys, and white picket fences to me.

What a legacy.

The Last Thing Honey Made for Me

1 avocado, mashed

1 onion, diced

1 c mayonnaise

Mix all together. Let turn gray. Inform your grandchild you have made her favorite dish. Heap a 2 c scoop on her plate with saltines. Take 24 different prescriptions.

I love my Honey, but this was a Therapy Worthy meal. She would love that, lol.

Here she is, holding a bunch of random stuff a 4 year old gave her:

This Just In: Super Lazy Enchilada Rice

I made this tonight. It was not a total success. I think it would be in a rice cooker.

Much Lazier and It’s From a Can Enchilada Sauce Rice

1 c mild red enchilada sauce

1 c white rice

1 c water

2 tbs oil

Warm the oil in a skillet. Add the rice. Stir to cook a bit and then add water and then sauce when you can smell the rice toasting. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 10 minutes, covered. Add 2 parts water for 1 part sauce to the mix if you need to. Cook for 10 more minutes, adding water and sauce, until cooked.

This never cooked fully for me.

What I will do next time? Cook the rice in the rice cooker with the same 2 parts water to one part sauce plus salt.

I will update! (Because we celebrate the failures here too!)

Tag: Tomatoes

This is how I found an interesting recipe on another blog, Karma-Free cooking. Madelyn has very kindly given me permission to recreate her recipe with some Recipe changes. There are a few more steps than I generally like in a pasta bake, but the efforts are interesting. RockStar and I think that we’ve come up with some changes to the next incarnation of Madelyn’s brainstorm.

Karma Free Pasta Bake, Recipe version

1 onion, diced

3 tbs butter plus 1 tsp oil

1 box Barilla Plus pasta

1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 c chopped tomatoes OR 1 c chopped carrots

1 c shredded medium chedder

1 c shredded Monterey jack

1 quart half & half

2 tbs mustard

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg or mace

salt & pepper

Step One: Melt butter and heat oil in a small skillet. Add onion, sprinkle with salt, and saute until onion is transparent. Pour into the bottom of a 9 inch by 13 inch baking dish. Add pasta and stir in onions and fat to coat pasta.

Step Two: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Press spinach in colander or twist in a towel to remove most of the moisture. Spread over pasta. Scatter tomatoes or carrots over spinach. Spread cheese over the top of the dish.

Step Three: Pour half & half into a bowl. Add mustard, nutmeg, pepper, and at least 1 tsp of salt. Whisk until mustard has incorporated into mix. Pour liquid over the pasta and veggies slowly. Cover dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes, covered. Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes.

This was good, but a bit, um, curdy. Here’s what we’re trying next time:

In a large saucepan, melt 4 tbs butter. Add onions & salt. When onions are transparent, add 4 tbs all purpose flour and saute for one minute. Slowly add 1 quart milk to make a bechamel (fully explained here). When bechamel coats a spoon, add mustard, nutmeg, pepper, and 1 tsp salt. You can also add the cheese to this sauce if you want it more uniform and less stringy.

You will have to boil the pasta for this version because the sauce won’t release enough moisture to cook the dry pasta. Otherwise, layer cooked pasta, spinach, tomatoes/carrots, cheese, cover with sauce, and bake as directed.

I will keep you informed about the version Recipe 2.0

I have no pictures of this, but I did find an old pic of RecipeDog looking like the camera is sketchy. So cute!!!

I can’t think of a witty title for Turkey Enchiladas

I also cannot tell you how they were, as I don’t eat turkey. I’ll give you the recipe and then BabyDaddy will have to give you the critique later.

Turkey Enchiladas in Hatch’s Green Sauce

2 turkey thighs, baked and meat pulled in bite sized pieces

8 flour tortillas

shredded pepper jack and colby cheese, about 1 cup of each

1 diced yellow onion

Hatch’s green enchilada sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put tortillas in a stack in the oven while it warms up. Pour about 1/4 cup of the sauce into the turkey and stir to coat. Remove tortillas from oven and cover with a kitchen towel. Take your first tortilla and put about 1/4 cup of turkey on it, sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt, sprinkle on onion to taste, add a sprinkle of both cheeses, fold and put seam side down in an 8 inch square baking dish. I can get 4 enchiladas per dish and it takes a can of sauce per pan of enchiladas, plus the rest of the cheese on top. I like to bake 2 and freeze at least one (don’t put sauce on these) pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Now, I do these with just cheese and onions for the RockStar and me and they are Migh-T tasty.

Street legal crack in sauce form:

July 5th, Fruit Salsa, Monnie’s House

So her name is really Aunt Bunny, but she has been tagged as Monnie here. This is her Kick Ass sweet fruit salsa with cinnamon pita chips. My heavens, it was fantastic.

Fruit Salsa

3/4 – 1 Granny Smith Apple (finely chopped – use food processor or chop by hand – don’t use blender)

2-3 Kiwis (peeled and finely chopped by hand or processor)

1 cup Fresh Strawberries (sliced and finely chopped – ditto on chopping)

Dressing for fruit:

1/4 cup Orange Juice

2 TBSP Brown Sugar

2 TBSP Apple Jelly

Stir above ingredients well. Pour over fruit mixture, but you may not need all the dressing. You don’t want it to be too soupy, judge the dressing by the consistency.

Serve with STACY’S Cinnamon Flavored Pita Chips.

This recipe is too good, even RockStar loved it (Blondie, her cousin, not so much.) SR

Diet Food, Recipe Style

Once upon a time, in a land exactly where I’m sitting, Sketchy and BabyDaddy adhered to the Weight Watchers gestalt. The only positive thing we lost, and then regained – in spades – from that experience, was one of BD’s favorite soup recipes. This is not a minor point, as soup/stew is considered a Perfect food by BD. We had heard of this mythical soup from Fifi and Mary,Mary (my sister). It was only in a Points System/No Meat format that this ubiquitous diet food entered our house.

Do Not Fear. I can make anything dangerously unhealthy. It’s my gift.

Taco Soup

1 lb ground beef, turkey, or veggie crumbles
1 onion, diced
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet ranch dressing mix
2 cans Rotel or mexican style tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 c broth, any kind

Brown beef or turkey in a medium soup pot with chopped onions. If using beef, drain excess fat. Mix in taco seasoning and ranch dressing packets and stir into meat and onions until incorporated. When meat is cooked, add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. (If using veggie crumbles, add them now.) Add more water for soupier consistency.

Make 8 -10 cups and freezes well. Very low fat and high in fiber.

Deliciousness Additions: Tortilla chips, sour cream, crema, creme fraiche, lime juice, crusty bread and salted butter, cheese, any kind of cheese, lots of cheese

My Holiday Bull’s Eye

The Tomato Sandwich

2 slices rustic bread

1 garden tomato, sliced

mayonnaise

salt & pepper

kitchen sink

Spread a healthy, insulating layer of mayo on bread to protect you against evil. Sprinkle pepper on mayo. Layer tomato slices to desired slippage/depth. Sprinkle tomato slices with salt. Assemble sandwich. Cut sandwich in half. Eat over sink to catch drips.

Rinse. Repeat. Relax in the cool like these two ‘Mater Sammich Addicts.

Mexican Restaurant Rice in the rice cooker

I will in no way vouch for an accuracy in locale to this recipe (found in general status under Mexican Rice II at allrecipes.com, plus generous reviewer contributions which will be incorporated here.) It tastes just like what I get with the Number 3 Lunch Spechul at my local taqueria. If you have a basic level fuzzy logic rice cooker, you get the Lazy Man’s Special, if not, check your skillet often.

1 c white rice (never ever used here except for this recipe)

1 1/2 c vegetable/chicken broth

1/2 c tomato sauce

1 tbs oil or butter

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, smashed and diced

1 tsp salt, plus salt for The Onion Sweat – not a new band, by the way

1 tsp ground cumin

*Put rice in cooker. Add tomato sauce to cooker next so you can clean out measuring cup with broth. Add broth.

Over low heat, add oil to skillet. Add cumin, cook for 30 seconds. Add onion, salt, and garlic. Sweat for 5 minutes over low heat.

(If cooking rice on stovetop, add wet ingredients AND RICE now , stir and cover. Cook over low heat for 20 – 30 minutes. Fluff and serve.)

Add onion and garlic mixture to wet ingredients in cooker and mix. Close cover and cook per directions.

Enjoy and fight over leftovers. I would have taken a picture of the rice, but we ate it all. Tee Hee.

By the by, the tomato sauce is enough for three servings of Fuzzy Logic Mexican Rice. Just sayin…

* These are instructions for kitchen geeks with small to medium sized fuzzy logic rice cookers.

A Can Called TUNA

Canned tuna was on double deep discount this week so BabyDaddy and I stocked up. As I adore the Sabra brand Tuna Salad (and hummus – oh joy! the hummus), I decided to try to fool around with my basic Tuna Salad recipe. I don’t like it very much, but it will suffice when time and funds demand.

Old Skool Tuna Salad

2 cans tuna in water, dranied

1 big spoon mayo

1 big spoon sweet relish

salt

Mix. Die of boredom.

Now, my recent jaunt to the Mediterranean has caused me to try a radical thought – lemon juice and tahini in tuna. I also added some salt, some mayo, and a sprinkling of my secret shame, my secret love – smoked paprika.

Not quite there yet. It still needs something. Mostly something sweet to balance out the rest of the flavors. I’m not sure if this will involve sweet pickle relish or not, but I’ll keep trying until I realize canned tuna is a horror that cannot be saved. I PROMISE.