Baked Pumpkin French Toast

I was looking for something to make for General Conference Sunday breakfast and came accross this recipe. I love anything pumpkin, and the caramel on the bottom of this french toast was too much to pass up! Here's a link to the original recipe (with pictures): http://www.dana-made-it.com/2010/11/baked-pumpkin-french-toast.html. This recipe tastes like pumpkin pie in breakfast form.

Baked Pumpkin French Toast

1 loaf french bread, cut into thick slices
2 1/2 c. milk
1 Tbs. flour
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbs. sugar
3/4 c. pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs

1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. corn syrup
1/4 c. butter

2 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Slice the french bread into thick slices. Combine the next nine ingredients (milk through eggs) with a whisk. Set aside.

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and butter. Stir continuously until bubbly, about five minutes. Pour into bottom of baking dish.

Arrange the sliced french bread over the caramel. Squeeze as many slices into the pan as you can. Pour the milk mixture over the bread, cover and refrigerate for at least eight hours, or overnight. When ready to bake, uncover and sprinkle with the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Remove from oven and let set for five minutes. The french toast will be quite puffy, but will settle as it cools. Enjoy!

Strawberry Country Cake

This recipe is from Ina Garten and it's a perfect dessert for summer. The cake recipe makes two cakes, one to use and one to freeze.

For the Cake:

12 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 c. sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

3/4 c. sour cream, at room temperature

1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest

1/2 tsp. grated orange zest

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. baking soda

For the filling for each cake:

1 c. (1/2 pint) heavy cream

3 Tbs. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter the bottom of two 8-inch cake pans. Then line with parchment paper and butter and flour the lined pans.

Cream the butter and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, then sour cream, zests and vanilla. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. On low speed slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine just until smooth.

Pour the batter evenly into the pans, smooth the tops, and bake in the center of the oven for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pans 30 minutes, then remove to wire racks and cool to room temperature. If using one cake, wrap the second well and freeze.

To make the filling for one cake, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until firm. Slice one of the cakes in half with a long, sharp knife. Place the bottom slice of the cake on a serving platter, spread with 1/2 the whipped cream and scatter with sliced strawberries. Cover with the top slice of the cake and spread with the remaining cream. Decorate with strawberries.

*Note: The original recipe listed the baking time as 40-45 minutes. Mine were done after about 32 minutes. You don't want to overbake or the cake will dry out.

Ham and Cheese Pot Pie

I am all about simple. For a health fair at Schrieber Cheese (a cheese plant here in Logan) on June 17, I was assigned a booth. We decided that each of our booths would have a movie theme. So I thought and thought and finally remembered the movie Ratatouille where Gusteau tells Ratatouille, "Like I always say, anyone can cook." So I decided on this for my theme, ways to make homemade dinners and keep it simple. So I have been looking for recipes and ways to do this. Some websites that I frequently use are allrecipes.com and kraftfoods.com. So I was search on Kraft something that I could make with ham in it, (because Ben and Heidi gave us some ham steaks from their pig and I had no idea what to do with it!) I happened upon this recipe and it is exactly what I was looking for simple and delicious!

Recipe adapted from kraftfoods.com

(I only used 2x as much broccoli and no cauliflower. Also I just made biscuit dough and rolled it really thin and used that instead of pie crust!)

1 ham steak (6 oz.), chopped

1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 cup frozen broccoli cuts, thawed, drained

1 cup frozen cauliflower florets, thawed, drained

2 green onions chopped

1/2 cup (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) cream cheese

1 ready-to-use refrigerated pie crust (1/2 of 14.1-oz. pkg.)

1 egg

1 Tbsp. water
HEAT oven to 400ºF
COMBINE first 5 ingredients. Microwave cream cheese spreadin microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until completelymelted, stirring every 15 sec. Add to ham mixture; mix well.Spoon into 4 (6-oz.) ramekins.
UNROLL pie crust on lightly floured surface; roll to 12-inchcircle. Cut into 4 circles with 5-inch round cookie cutter. Cutleaves from about 1/4 of the trimmings with small cookie cutteror sharp knife; discard remaining trimmings.
BEAT egg and water until well blended; brush onto top edgeof ramekins. Top with pie crust circles; press gently onto toedges of ramekins to seal. Top with leaf cutouts; brush lightlywith egg wash. Discard any remaining egg wash. Placeramekins on baking sheet. Cut slits in crusts to vent.
BAKE 30 to 32 min. or until golden brown.
Enjoy!!

Peppy's Pita Bread

I have been wanting to make pita bread for a really long time.  Usually when I try it, it doesn't puff up like it is supposed to and turns out to be more like a flat bread.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, and it was way easy and tasty.  We had fun watching every single pita puff up perfectly in the oven.  I can't wait to stuff them with something yummy!

Ingredients:

1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions:

1.  Place all ingredients in bread pan of your bread machine, select Dough setting and start.  When dough has risen long enough, machine will beep.  (I made my in my Kitchenaid because I don't have a bread machine, and just mixed it until it formed a soft dough, then let it rise until double in size.)

2.  Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope.  With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces.  Roll each into a smooth ball.  With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle.  Set aside on a lightly floured counter top.  Cover with a towel.  Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.

3.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.  Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack.  Place cake rack directly on oven rack.  Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown.  Remove from oven immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft.  Once pitas are softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas.  They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.

Feta Cheese Foldovers

For one of classes we had to do a presentation on a countries culture and talk about their food habits and etiquette. We did this so that one day if we are counseling this group of people we can know a little bit about them. My group chose to do Greece and I learned a lot. Just a little trivia: Greece was the birth place of the cookbook and the white hats that chefs wear. Pretty cool huh? So these are the food samples that I made and took for our presentation. They are really good as an appetizer and super easy! My class loved them so much they asked me to bring them to our class party that we had a week later! Hope you like them as much as they did!

Recipe Courtesy: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl, blend feta cheese, green onions, and egg. Cut pastry into 12 (3 inch) squares. Place a mounded tablespoon of feta mixture in the center of each square. Moisten edges with water, and fold pastry over filling to form a triangle. Press edges together firmly with a fork to seal. Lightly brush pastries with the egg yolk mixture.
3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Hot Cross Buns

Every time I hear "Hot Cross Buns" blaring out of my car CD player I wonder what they are. So I looked them up and found that you should make these on Good Friday, which is the Friday before Easter. They were named in 1733 and have a lot of history behind them. My favorite superstition is that if I hang one in the kitchen, it is said to " . . . protect against fires and ensure that all breads turn out perfectly. The hanging bun is replaced each year." (Wikipedia) I wonder how it makes the kitchen smell as the months go by. I recommend eating them instead of hanging them as they are really good.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup lukewarm milk

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 egg

1 egg white

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

3/4 cup raisins or other dried fruit

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons water

cream cheese frosting

Directions:

Put all ingredients except egg yolk and 2 tablespoons water in bread maker pan in order listed. Set to dough setting. Or use a mixer to mix and rise until double. When done mixing and rising, punch down dough on floured surface, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. Shape into 12 balls and place in a greased 9 x 13 pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double, about 35 - 40 minutes. Mix egg yolk and 2 tablespoons water. Carefully brush on rolls. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. When cooled completely put frosting in a zip lock bag, cut corner and make an X on each bun.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

I have been searching for a great peanut butter bar recipe. In college I remember having a few black sharpie fights in order to either confiscate or claim my friend Erica's peanut butter bars. They were usually being held hostage by Dave. I still haven't found a recipe that requires sharpie fighting, but this one is close.

Adapted from Once Upon a Plate

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups rolled oats (regular or old fashioned)

Topping:

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream or evaporated milk

5 tablespoons butter

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Position oven rack to center position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10 x 15 inch baking pan, set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Cream together butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs and vanilla to butter mixture; beat until combined. Add flour in 2 additions, mix well but do not over-beat. Stir in oats by hand until evenly distributed.

Spread mixture evenly into prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and slightly firm. Remove from oven and quickly place spoonfuls of the 3/4 cup peanut butter on the surface. As the peanut butter melts, spread evenly with a knife. Allow to cool completely. When cool, make the chocolate topping.

Bring sugar, cream and butter to a full rolling boil. Boil for 45 seconds. Remove pan from heat and add the chocolate chips. Whisk gently or stir until chocolate mixture is smooth. As soon as mixture is smooth, pour evenly over the cooled cookie and peanut butter base. Allow chocolate to set up and harden. When set, cut into squares and serve.