baked french toast

Although living alone has some definite perks, it also requires some creativity when food is involved. Last week I happened to have a beautiful loaf of bakery bread with no possible way to eat it all before it got stale. So instead of gorging myself on sandwiches, I added some apples and blueberries and baked up this delicious french toast! 

This recipe will yield quite a large batch of this yummy brunch bake. I only made about half of it for myself. It lends itself easily to adaptation, meaning you can sub in whatever fruit or milk products you have on hand! And oh my goodness, the way this smells as it cooks? Out of this world. You can also prep everything at night and refrigerate until you're ready to bake and serve in the morning, making it a fantastic option for when you have guests! 

What You'll Need:

• 1 loaf Crusty Sourdough Or French Bread
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 3/4 cups Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 pinch Nutmeg 
• 1 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces
•  Fresh Fruit (optional)

What To Do:

Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with butter. Tear bread into chunks (or cut into cubes) and evenly distribute in the pan.

In a medium sized bowl mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours or overnight.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add nutmeg if desired. Add butter pieces and cut them into the dry mixture until mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a Ziploc in the fridge.

When you're ready to bake the casserole, preheat oven to 350 F. Remove casserole from the fridge and sprinkle crumb mixture over the top. (If you're using fruit, sprinkle on before the crumb mixture.) Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture. Bake 1 hour or more for a firmer, less liquid texture.

Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter and drizzle with maple syrup.

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman 

Peanut Butter Banana Waffles

Thinking about breakfast for dinner? This dish is sure to please! Peanut butter packs your waffles with flavor and protein, and pairs perfectly with nutritious bananas. This is a great recipe to make use of over-ripe bananas. It is a great stand alone meal but can also go great with turkey bacon (as pictured above), eggs, or fruit for a fuss-free dinner. 

What You'll Need:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter

1 ripe banana, mashed

1 1/2 cups milk

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

What To Do:

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Blend the peanut butter, banana, 1/2 cup milk, egg and vanilla in a blender or food processor until mostly smooth. There may be some banana chunks still, but that is fine. (I used the beater on my stand mixer and it worked perfectly) 

Whisk the peanut butter into the flour blend. Add the milk and stir until the batter is smooth. Cook the waffles according to your waffle iron's directions, top with butter, sliced bananas and maple syrup. Serve hot!

Recipe adapted from Savvy Eats

Baked Eggs Rancheros

This recipe was my first introduction into baked eggs (besides breakfast pizza) and I did not expect the incredible concoction that steamed up from my oven. 

It was so, so good. Good as in my words are not going to do this justice. 

It was savory and spicy, rich from egg yolk and the hearty ranchero sauce, with crunch and cool from the toppings- just a well-rounded blend of everything good in life. 

My dish was slightly varied from the original recipe. I did not use cheese or tortilla strips... and I don't have a cast iron skillet so I had to transfer from a saucepan to a roasting pan. But I'm sure any variation on this would make a brilliant addition to the brunch rotation or even as breakfast for dinner. 

What You'll Need:

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
3 cups (1 28 oz. can) whole tomatoes, fire-roasted preferred
1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can whole kernel corn drained

12 large eggs
1¼ cups coarsely shredded pepper jack cheese
1 cup sour cream
2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro

2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
4 small (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into ½-inch wide strips
Coarse salt, to taste

What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 450˚ F.  To make the ranchero sauce, combine the jalapeño, tomatoes, onion and garlic to a blender or food processor.  Process until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Pour the sauce into a 12-inch ovenproof skillet.  Stir in the black beans and corn.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Lower the heat but maintain at a simmer and let cook about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, brush a baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of the oil.  Spread the tortilla strips in a single layer on the baking sheet and brush the tops with the remaining tablespoon of oil.  Sprinkle with coarse salt.  Bake about 6 minutes, tossing once or twice, until lightly browned and crisp.  Set aside. 

When the sauce has thickened slightly, remove the pan from the heat.  Carefully crack the eggs over the surface of the sauce placing them as evenly as possible.  Return the pan to the heat, cover, and let simmer gently in the sauce about 10-12 minutes, until the whites are partially but not completely opaque.

Heat the broiler.  Sprinkle the cheese over the top over the eggs, place underneath the broiler, and cook until the cheese is browned and bubbling and the eggs are cooked to your liking, just a few minutes.  In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and lime juice.  Remove the pan from the oven, top with dollops of the lime crema, sprinkle with crumbled tortilla strips and the cilantro.  Serve immediately.

recipe adapted from Annie's Eats

Avocado Eggs Benedict with Chipotle Hollandaise Sauce

This has been on my list to try for a long time! And after I made this delicious dish I wondered by I waited so long. Putting this meal together is pretty simple. Poaching an egg can be tricky but even if it doesn't turn out pretty, it will still be delicious. You can check out this helpful tutorial from Smitten Kitchen! 

Plus, avocado makes everything better. 

As does any kind of chipotle cream sauce. Can I get an amen?

I would definitely recommend this for any meal of the day. I enjoyed it at 10pm, but I'm sure it will be making some more brunch appearances soon! It's great for looking like you're all fancy schmancy and spent a long time making something classy for guests when it takes about fifteen minutes total to make, including heating the water. 


What You'll Need:
(serves 2)

• 2 English muffins
• 2 large eggs
• 1 small avocado
• 2 slices Canadian style bacon 
• butter to spread

for Hollandaise sauce:

• 2 egg yolks
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 chipotle pepper (more if you like things spicy!)
• 2 tbsp adobo sauce (from canned chipotles in adobo)

What To Do:

Bring a pot of water to simmer. Swirl the water quickly with a spatula or spoon, creating a whirlpool effect. Crack your egg in the center and cook for about 2 1/2 minutes or until the whites are cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon and let drain on a paper towel.

Meanwhile, butter both sides of the English muffins and brown in a pan over medium heat. Heat Canadian style bacon in the pan as well. Mash avocado until creamy. Spread avocado over English muffin, then top with Canadian bacon and poached egg.

In a blender, combine egg yolks, lemon juice, chipotle pepper and adobo sauce for about thirty seconds until completely combined. With the blender still running, slowly stream in the hot, melted butter. The mixture should become thick and creamy. Immediately pour over your delicious sandwich and indulge. 

Recipe adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride: 

Avocado Eggs Benedict and Chipotle Hollandaise Sauce.

A Board Games and Brunch Bridal Shower for my bestest best friend!

This weekend I was absolutely thrilled to host a bridal shower for my best friend in the whole world- Miss Danae Sparkman! (soon to be Nelson :) ). It was hosted in Stephenville for a younger, more relaxed crowd and we had a greeaaaat time.

When you came in, the first stop was the guest book! There was an ornately framed engagement picture of Danae and Clay, a lovely arrangement of white and yellow daisies and orange carnations. The theme quote was also framed there- "Love is a game that two can play and both win." -Eva Gabor

Notice the signage! I worked hard to design labels made with Scrabble tiles- all other font is Girls Are Weird from dafont.com!

In the sitting room, we set up a faux-to booth- with a backdrop held over the fireplace by two oversized "Scrabble letters" (for Danae and Clay), s

ome instructions for the pictures, and flowers!

In the dining area, we hung a banner that said "Love is sweet" and put up our tissue paper poms!

On the serving side table, there were more tissue paper poms, and stacks of board games. Atop one stack were oversized "Scrabble tiles" that I painted and on the other was another flower arrangement!

We ate and played games in the living room. There was a matching banner that read welcome and the rest of the tissue paper poms.

We gathered the generous gifts from guests in the living room.

We also displayed the super cute favors here! I'm sad I didn't take a picture of the actual favor, but they were magnets made out of Scrabble letters, spelling out words like LOVE, TRUE, or WISH.

Danae's seat was specially decorated!

We played two fun games- first Wedding Candy Land! Danae drew a color and had to answer a question correctly to continue on the board. Each color had a different category of question including- her fiancé, their relationship, wedding tradition/culture, her parents' courtship/wedding, and household knowhow. For every wrong answer, she had to add a piece of bubblegum to her mouth... so it got pretty hard to answer by the end! But she did very well :)

We also played Wedding Taboo! I printed out homemade Taboo cards and all the words somehow related to weddings or love. Everyone got to play and it ended up being a VERY close game.

We also had a fun faux-to booth!

I was VERY lucky to have such amazing help preparing the brunch for the shower too! Let me show you our spread. We had a waffle station, complete with two waffle irons, butter and syrup, peanut butter, and whipped cream and fruit.

We also had a breakfast taco buffet with yummy tortillas, eggs, potatoes, sausage, bacon, cheese and salsa. Mmmmm!

And Clay's mom brought a fantastic fruit tray!

And there were some fantastic desserts as well- strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, red velvet whoopie pies, and vanilla cake balls! (I sadly did not not get a close up of the cake balls- bad me!)

To drink, we had hot coffee, milk, orange juice, and punch. I loved the pitchers we used for the drinks!

notice our pretty, striped paper straws? love.

And here's the full table spread- it came together so nicely and everyone complimented how well everything came together. For my first bridal shower, I'd say it was a success. I am so happy for Danae and Clay and am super pumped for their wedding this summer!

Tutorials for the cake stands, tissue paper poms, and such to come!