Cinnamon-Raisin French Toast

This weekend, try this:



Get some cinnamon-raisin bread (or make your own).



Combine some milk and a couple eggs.



Add some vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.

That's homemade vanilla, honestly. Though if it were vodka, we'd have to use it up quickly before it went bad.

Dredge thick slices of the bread in the egg mixture and saute in butter until toasty and delicious.



Eat with cinnamon-sugar, maple syrup, strawberry whipped cream, coffee, orange juice, and the people you love.



(Eat them in the company of the people you love, don't eat the people you love. Just thought I'd make sure that was clear. We don't condone cannibalism in this house.)



Better-than-Cannibalism Cinnamon-Raisin French Toast

6 slices cinnamon-raisin bread
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
Vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar, to taste
Butter, for sauteing
Cinnamon-sugar, maple syrup, and/or whipped cream, for serving

Combine milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar. Heat butter in saute pan. Dredge bread in mixture and saute in butter, flipping after 3-4 minutes. Saute other side. Serve with assorted deliciousnesses.

Blueberry-Orange Yogurt Cake

I keep protesting that I don't really like cake, and then I keep finding excuses to make more.

It seems like I have lots of inspirations to make cakes these days, from birthdays to wee chocolate ladybugs to the unopened container of Greek yogurt in the fridge.

Ok, who am I kidding - I was really inspired by Smitten Kitchen's amazing food photographs and mouthwatering prose. The yogurt was just an excuse.


With subtle hints of orange and the pop of tiny blueberries, this cake was pretty stellar. It was great as dessert after dinner, but even better as a snack in the afternoon. Because blueberries plus oranges plus yogurt equals healthy, right?

Right?


This was also great (though less photogenic) with lime zest instead of orange and frozen blackberries instead of blueberries. Somehow, I'm sure it will be even better when berries are actually in season!



Blueberry-Orange Yogurt Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

I had to tinker with the recipe, of course. A little less sugar, since orange is sweeter than lemon; almond extract instead of vanilla; butter instead of oil.

Deb refers to this cake "crazy moist." Despite my tinkerings and despite my strong dislike of the word "moist" - to me, it onomatopoetically conjures up sweaty running shoes or rotting compost heaps, or muddy horse pastures where your rubber boots go moist, moist, moist as you walk, and therefore shouldn't be used to describe food - I do have to agree. This cake is crazy moist, and in a much more delicious way than shoes or compost or mud. Now that I've completely spoiled your appetite, go make this!



1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled (so it won't curdle the yogurt)
1 1/2 cups blueberries (I used tiny frozen wild blueberries and didn't bother defrosting them first)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, the sugar, the eggs, orange zest, almond extract and melted butter. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold the blueberries gently into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy.

Toppings Salad

I'm fortunate enough to work from home, which means I also get to eat lunch at home.

Or, usually. There are days when I'm running around from grocery store to grocery store, stomach rumbling indignantly, waiting till I can get home at 3 or 4 to have a bowl of cereal for lunch.

But generally I can make myself lunch - make scrambled eggs, make a sandwich, heat up leftovers.

The other day, I made myself a giant bowl of salad for lunch.



Chopped apples and pears, baby carrots, broccoli, snow peas, nuts, and goat cheese. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar. No lettuce to mess with the deliciousness.

A toppings salad. Just the way Cary and I like it.



Cori looked at my giant bowl of salad and raised her eyebrows. "I'll be really impressed if you can eat all of that," she said.



I looked at her for a moment, then dug in.

Twenty minutes later, I presented her with an empty bowl.



Yum.



Toppings Salad
A toppings salad is a great way to sample whatever produce is in season - or to clean out your veggie drawer. I sort of just chop up and toss in anything that looks good, so, uh, calling this a recipe is sort of a stretch.

Combine:
1 apple, cored and roughly chopped
1 pear, cored and roughly chopped
1 handful baby carrots, roughly chopped
1 handful snow peas, ends trimmed and roughly chopped
1 handful broccoli florets
1 ounce goat cheese, crumbled
1 small handful almonds
1 small handful walnuts
1 drizzle balsamic vinegar
1 skeptical housemate
1 empty bowl
1 triumphant smile

February

Pleasing the Persnickity Pup

Lest you think that we eat tons of good food around here while Merry has to make do with kibble, let me assure you - he eats pretty well.

In fact, Mr. Picky has been known to drive his mom crazy by rejecting even carefully-crafted meals.

Cori mixes a wide variety of scraps and dollops of different food with Merry's kibble and wet food to try to entice him to eat.

Sometimes, we get this response.


Other times, we get this one.

What, no prosciutto? Le sigh.

Canine Haute Cuisine
Serves one picky puppy

1 scoop Iams Low Residue Kibble
1/2 can Iams Low Residue Canned Food
1/2 cup add-ins (His favorites are cheese, cream cheese, peanut butter, Greek yogurt, steak, shrimp, or leftover wiener schnitzel. Prosciutto is also acceptable.)

Mix together. Serve. Hope he eats it.

Farmer's Market Chowder

Last weekend, Cary and I went to a nearby Farmer's Market.

During a gentle drizzle, we strolled between stands selling bright yellow flowers, dark green vegetables, and various forms of ethnic street food.

We picked up one of these.


A few of these.


And these beauties.


I simmered them all together with a few other veggies and some chicken to make this:


Or, with fresh bread, pretty much a perfect Saturday dinner.

Farmer's Market Chowder
Inspired by this sweet corn chowder, which is one of my favorite soups as-is

The beauty of this soup is how easy it is to adapt to whatever's in season wherever you are. Just head out to your local farmer's market or vegetable stand and pick out whatever looks prettiest, tastiest, or otherwise calls to you.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3-4 red scallions
1/2 lb tiny purple potatoes, quartered
6 cups chicken broth
1 Romanesco broccoli, chopped into florets
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and sliced into coins
1 bunch dinosaur kale, chopped roughly
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
2 cups milk or more chicken broth
1 handful basil leaves, sliced thinly

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a casserole dish with foil. Add chicken breasts, season with salt/pepper/whatever else you like, cover with foil, and bake until cooked through, around 30 minutes.

2. Slice red scallion bulbs into coins. Slice green parts thinly and set aside.

3. Saute scallion bulbs in a little butter or olive oil until tender, 1-2 minutes.

4. Add potato pieces and 6 cups chicken broth. Bring to a boil and immediately turn down to a low simmer. Simmer until potatoes are tender, 15-20 minutes.

5. Add broccoli, asparagus, kale, and red bell pepper. Simmer another 1-2 minutes or until kale is cooked down a bit.

6. Add frozen peas and corn and 2 cups milk. Chop cooked chicken and add to soup. Simmer until heated through, a few more minutes.

7. Top with basil leaves and tender green parts of the red scallions. Serve with fresh bread.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Just in case you were wondering what kind of cupcakes were lurking under those ladybugs...

Topped with whipped cream, a smear of nutella, or nutella whipped cream, these peanut butter cupcakes were pretty fantastic.


And even though cupcakes aren't really my favorite dessert, they're so much better when you can bite off ladybug heads while you're at it.


Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Adapted from I Heart Cuppycakes

I used crunchy peanut butter instead of creamy. While Cori objected to the chunky texture, Cary and I thought they were just fine.

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
  
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 12-muffin pan with cupcake liners, if you so choose.

2. Beat the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute by machine or longer by hand.

3. Mix in the egg and the vanilla, beating well.

4. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

5. Mix the flour mixture and the milk alternately into the butter/sugar mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture.

6. Divide batter between the cupcake liners. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool cupcakes in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

7. Remove cupcakes from pan and top with your choice of frosting. Whipped cream (heavy cream whipped with a hand mixer or in an immersion blender with a little powdered sugar and vanilla), a dollop of nutella, or some nutella mixed into the whipped cream all make great, low-fuss options.