French Toast with Sweet Potato and Sausage Hash

We usually buy a french baguette when we go to the grocery store. We cut it thin and toast it to serve with cheese or warm it in the oven and serve it alongside a sauce-y meal. Because it's fresh it goes stale pretty quickly so the leftovers usually get made into french toast. It works really well! I've used bread so stale I can barely cut it and it still turns out great. The French were definitely onto something :)

Day old leftover bread, cut into 1 inch slices

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk (today I used almond milk and it turned out great!)

dash of salt

Optional add ins we've used: vanilla extract, orange zest (super yummy!)

Butter for skillet

1. Warm large skillet over medium heat. 

2. Whisk eggs, milk, and salt in a shallow bowl.

3. Place as many bread slices as will fit into the bowl and let soak for 30-60 seconds (sometimes longer if the bead is super stale). Flip and soak for another 30-60 seconds. 

4. Melt butter to coat bottom of skillet. Place soaked bread slices in pan, cooking until brown, maybe 3-5 minutes, and flip, cooking again until browned. 

Continue in batches until all bread is cooked (you can keep the cooked slices hot in a warmed oven set to 250). Serve with some (real) maple syrup or any other topping you like!

We had our french toast with a hash. I like hashes because they taste great and use up lots of ingredients! Mike picked up ground pork and we had one sweet potato lingering around so hash they became :)

1 sweet potato, diced

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 pound ground breakfast sausage

EVOO

S&P

1. Heat EVOO in pan over medium heat. Add sweet potato and onion, cooking until potatoes softened (they won't be cooked through yet) and onion transparent, 5-8 minutes.

2. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. 

3. Add sausage, breaking it up with the back of a wooden spoon. Continue cooking until sausage is browned, about 5 minutes more. Reduce heat to medium-low and add water to coat bottom of pan to cook the potatoes the rest of the way through if not already (I did this twice, the water will cook off). Season with S&P. 

Enjoy alongside french toast or top with a poached egg!

Since Mike got ground pork, I seasoned it up like sausage would be, mixing in red pepper flake, cayenne pepper (a little goes a looonnngg way), garlic powder, onion powder, sage, and S&P. 

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

This is super easy and oh so yummy!

1 tsp honey

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp white wine vinegar

3 Tbsp EVOO

Warm honey in microwave for 10 seconds. It should be nice and liquidy. Whisk in mustard and vinegar first. Then whisk in EVOO while pouring.

Pour over your favorite salad and enjoy!!

Bacon Wrapped Cod with Potato Croquettes

We made this using leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes! Super easy dinner. 

Leftover mashed potatoes

egg, whisked

breadcrumbs

S&P

garlic powder

cod

bacon

1. Form mashed potato cakes, keeping cold in fridge or freezer until just before you cook them. 

2. Heat oil (I used canola, a higher heat oil) over medium heat in a large pan. 

3. In a shallow bowl, whisk egg. In another shallow bowl, combine breadcrumbs with some S&P and garlic powder. 

4. When oil is rippling, it's ready. Dip potato cake in egg, then breadcrumbs and place in fry pan. Continue with all potato cakes. Flip when the bottom is browned. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate when done.

5. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400. Season cod with S&P and wrap with bacon. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until fish is white through and bacon is done. (So easy, right? This baked while I made the potato croquettes.)

Serve with homemade tarter sauce :)

Mayo

pickles and their juice

S&P

Slice of lemon

Finely dice pickles, mix with mayo, little bit of pickle juice, S&P, and a little lemon juice.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

This was awesome! I made this to use up some leftover pumpkin and french bread. Delicious!

3/4 of a loaf of stale french bread, cut into 1 inch cubes (about 6 cups if I was to make a guess)

4 eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk (I used skim)

1 cup canned pumpkin (about half of a can)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

pinch of salt

maple syrup (the real stuff only!), toasted pecans, and powdered sugar

1. Whisk together eggs, heavy cream, milk, pumpkin, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour over bread and let sit for at least an hour at room temp, stirring occasionally if able.

2. Preheat oven to 375. Pour bread mixture into a buttered square baking dish. Bake 45 minutes. The top pieces of bread that are sticking out will crisp and start to brown. 

3. When done, drizzle top with maple syrup and top with toasted pecans. 

4. Serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and enjoy!

This could easily be doubled :)

A note about the bread... you probably don't want to use your average sandwich bread that you buy at the grocery store (unless it's fresh). It is preserved enough that it doesn't really get stale like fresh bread. The bread I used was so stale it was difficult to cut. But after soaking in custard, it was perfect!

Easy Breakfast

I started making this when I started working nights. I always want hot breakfast when I get home from night shifts. I'd cook this and do the dishes later! These potatoes taste awesome!!

1 small potato

your cheese of choice, shredded

1 egg

butter

S&P

Poke potato with a fork all over. Microwave on high until fork pokes easily through (for me, it takes 3-5 minutes depending on the size of the potato).

Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp butter over medium heat. When the potato is done, dice it, and add it to the pan. Sprinkle with S&P to taste and saute until browned, about 3 minutes. Set aside on your plate and top with your cheese of choice (it melts so nicely!). 

Add a little more butter to the pan (we use stainless steel pans, if using non-stick you probably don't need to do this). Cook your egg (I do mine over easy). Top your potatoes and cheese with your egg. If you have any fresh herbs (I used chives), throw those on and enjoy!

Spaghetti Squash with Sausage & Peppers

EVOO

Spaghetti Squash, sliced in half lenthwise, seeds scooped out

Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Half a green pepper, sliced

2 links Italian Chicken Sausage, sliced

2 cups Easy Tomato Sauce

Parmesean

Rub cut sides of squash with EVOO and place cut side down on roasting pan. Roast at 425 degrees until easily pierced with a fork (30-45 min). Set aside.

Meanwhile, warm EVOO in skillet over medium heat. Add red pepper flakes and green pepper, saute until soft, about 5-10 minutes. Add chicken sausage (mine was fully cooked, so it just needed to be warmed). Mix in tomato sauce and warm through.

Using a fork, shred squash and add to sauce. Top with freshly shredded Parm and Enjoy!

*I normally would have added onion and garlic, but didn't have any on hand. I definitely encourage you to do so*

Easy Tomato Sauce

This recipe is adapted from a Williams Sonoma recipe (no wonder it's so good!)

EVOO

1-2 celery stalks, finely diced

1 carrot, peeled and finely diced

1/2 onion, diced

5 garlic cloves

8 tomatoes small to medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried thyme

S&P to taste

fresh herbs if you have any on hand (parsley, basil)

Saute the celery, carrots, and onion until soft, about 5-8 minutes over medium heat (in olive oil).

Add garlic, cook 1 minute more.

Add tomatoes with any juices, tomato paste, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to simmer, reduce heat to med-low, Cover. Simmer for about 10 minutes (the tomatoes start to break down. Discard the bay leaf.

You can either leave it like that, a chunky sauce (this is how we had it the first time we used this recipe); or process through a food mill (I used the largest disk, it still had some texture); or puree in food processor/blender for a smooth sauce. 

Stir in any fresh herbs.

Made 2 cups.