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 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.

Ichiban Eggplant Ambrosia

Last year I grew the Ichiban Eggplant and discovered a velvety, creamy, vanilla flavor when I roasted the fruit. This year, I put in another and we’re reaping the benefits tonight. So this:

Became this:

Which I cooked at 400 degrees F until nicely roasted. Then BabyDaddy scraped out the flesh (while I heated the pita. I’m a poet and I didn’t know it!)

Then I mixed the flesh in the blender with:

lemon juice

1 garlic clove

salt

olive oil

cumin

smoked paprika (optional but AWESOME)

tahini

And you have Baba Ganoush.

Wall*E – A Collective Recipe Family OMG!

So Very Good.

(Let me know how much you love the short before the movie. All of the Recipes were in stitches.)

This is a beautiful, wonderful, very good movie. See it thrice.

Smoked Paprika – Help me now (2 for 1)

I’m so in love with this. It’s expensive and goes bad quickly and it’s yummy and makes hummus into a sexy food again. I made hummus from scratch (because MamaSketchy is on an enforced vacation and feels the need to cook away her blues) today and I tried it with just cumin and just smoked paprika. The paprika kicked the cumin’s bootay. Here’s the hookup:

Hummus Among Us (The Hard Way)

1 bag of dried chickpeas

water

1/2 tsp baking soda

the time alloted to the unemployed

juice of 2 lemons

tahini

garlic clove

olive oil

ground cumin or smoked paprika

salt

Soak the chickpeas overnight. Drain, cover chickpeas with water by one inch, and cook with baking soda over medium heat for 1-2 hours, or until soft (adding water if necessary). Drain and let cool. Haul out your blender or food processor. Put half the lemon juice and one whole garlic clove in machine with a tsp of salt. Puree. Add a reasonable amount of chickpeas, oil, tahini, and cumin or smoked paprika. Add water if you’re blending. Puree until smooth. Correct seasonings. Store in the fridge for 3-4 days, if you’re lucky!

You’ve made a half batch. Repeat process from lemon juice or make channa masala with the leftover chickpeas.

EZ Chana Masala

1 tbs oil or ghee

1 tbs garam masala or curry powder

1 can diced tomatoes

leftover cooked chickpeas

salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil over medium in a large skillet. Add garam masala or curry powder and cook in hot oil for 30 seconds. Add chickpeas and toss to coat. Add tomatoes and lower to a simmer. Simmer for ten minutes. Serve over rice with yogurt and Major Grey’s mango chutney.

“The Right Tea for Iced Tea”

Anyone remember that commercial? Anyone besides me? (By the way, I’ve had to edit this post about 10 times. I hope like hell that you all like Iced Tea.)

In any case, I found myself leafing through my trusty loose leaf notebook yesterday, searching diligently for my old Cook’s Illustrated iced tea recipe. It was nowhere to be found and for 1 minute I thought I might have break down and get one of those free trials for their website. Then I’d never cancel and I’d end up paying for it for the rest of my life (Hi Netflix, you wily bastards. No late fees my heiner.) LUCKILY, I managed to find my favorite iced tea recipe in the free section of the site. I will now share the SR tips and tricks to the basic recipe.

Cook’s Illustrated Iced Tea a la Sketchy

5 bags Luzianne, strings tied to a bamboo skewer

1 quart water

6 tbs sugar (optional)

ice and more water

Put the tea bags and water in a cold pan. Start a timer for 10 minutes. Turn heat to medium low. When the timer goes off, the water should be dark and steamy with tiny bubbles. Take pan off of the heat. Mix sugar and and about one cup of water in a pitcher. Mix until sugar dissolves. Remove bags from tea. Stir hot tea from pan into sugar water. Add ice and water to preferred octane level.

Do this every day for all 8 months of Summer.