Tag Archives: french

Prelude To The Turkey

Last Friday while doing my weekly grocery shopping, I remembered it was a {short week} and that took the pressure off a little as far as meal planning and packing lunches go. I gave in and purchased two Lunchables for Elliott for Monday and Tuesday, but made up for it with our dinners!

We tried several new recipes this week that I wanted to pass along…are you ready?

French Onion Soup {a favorite of Jay’s}

This was my first ever attempt at this soup. I looked at several recipes before settling on the one from Epicurious…very pleased with the way it turned out, though. I found the little ramekins at Ross for $1.99 each. They were the perfect size for two ladles of soup and two baguette croutons. Gruyere is about $20 a pound, but so worth it {I got 8 ounces at Sprouts for a little over $10}!

BLT Pasta Salad {via Pinterest}

Spotted this and realized I had every single ingredient ~ the perfect way to use up several tomatoes on the vine, some center cut bacon, a head of romaine, some green onions {in place of the chives} and the last of some light sour cream! I even had a box of whole wheat penne in the pantry. This could totally pass for a main course salad.

Bombay Sloppy Joes {courtesy of cute Aarti from Food Network}

Sloppy Joe goes exotic! When I first spotted these, I filed them away in my mental food rolodex. I love Indian flavors and knew that these would be right up  my alley. The slight sweetness comes from just a bit of honey and raisins and the kick comes from serrano peppers! The house smelled divine as this was cooking up. I will never buy Manwich again. We’ve been making Rachael Ray’s homemade sloppy joes for years, but these are a nice twist.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes {again, via Pinterest}

Not a great pic, but they were soooo yummy. We had our neighbors over in their pajamas this morning, brewed a huge pot of coffee and enjoyed these. This was one of the new traditions on this year’s holiday list {click on the link if you want to see how the pancakes are really supposed to look ~ ha!}. You could certainly use pancake mix, but I made this from scratch as the recipe suggests and it was a cinch. I made mini silver dollar size by using a tablespoon to measure out the batter. The cream cheese drizzle puts them over the top!

*****

Looking forward to Mr. Turkey and all his side dish friends tomorrow.

I am learning that a lot of people don’t care for the green bean casserole with the dried onions….I love it! It kind of wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it.

What is the one thing that is a must on your Turkey Day table?

Windy But Calm

Man it’s been windy up in these parts last night and today…

branches litter the ground and the power went out in the middle of the night. I awoke at 5:37am to find the Bose blinking 12:01 and the printer restarting so I immediately knew we’d lost power sometime during the night.

I woke little missy up at 7:00am and she was tearful and complaining of her neck hurting again. Ugh! We took a trip to Dr. Y yesterday and all was fine ~ no temp, tonsils were a bit red and inflamed and her right lymph node was a little enlarged, but no antibiotic was prescribed or anything. She even wanted to go to school on the way home….I made the mistake of letting her ride her new pink Razor in the backyard for a bit yesterday afternoon when she SHOULD have been resting….”I’m all better now, Mama!” How many times have we heard that? Shame on me.

So she stayed home again today.

We’re laying low.

Being calm.

No scooter.

School tomorrow.

*****

Wanted to share this recipe with you…

Tomato & Basil Quiche

We had this for Easter Brunch and it was yummy. I substituted fresh basil and used mozzarella instead of the colby-jack. The frozen pie crusts at Trader Joe’s are great ~ super duper light & flaky. Highly, highly recommend.

We also had this.

And fresh pineapple that had me thinking I was in Hawaii.

You really must make the creme brulee french toast. This time I made it with TJ’s challah….yup….delish!

Because of the aforementioned recipes, I will be starting Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred.

Soon.

*****

Hope your Tuesday has been nice to you!

XOXO

French Toast Friday ~ Coconut Banana

Elliott doesn’t have school today.

Staff Development.

It was SO nice to know that we didn’t have to rush, rush, rush this morning.

Get up. Go potty. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. Pack lunch. Get backpack ready. Brush teeth. Brush hair. Wipe face. Put shoes & socks on. Dash out the door. Walk to school.

I decided to declare it “French Toast Friday”.

Since I love all things coconut, I recently picked up a bottle of coconut extract {emulsion} at Ross of all places. I normally don’t buy food items there, but I saw this and thought it’d be great for summer recipes in place of vanilla extract. And it was cheap so if it didn’t work out, no biggie.

So, this morning I decided to give our french toast a tropical twist.

I just added about 1 tsp. of the emulsion to 3 eggs and a touch of milk and scrambled with a fork before dunking the bread.

Here she is naked before syrup…

There was a little more egg mixture so I took the butt of the bread and soaked that, too.

Good thing French Toast Friday only rolls around once in awhile.

Um, it was amazing…..would be excellent with some toasted coconut on top or some chopped pecans, too.

*****

Hope you have a syrupy sweet Friday!

French Toast Friday ~ Cinnamon Almond

Kicking Easter Weekend off with some Cinnamon Almond French Toast:

I just added some sprinkles of cinnamon and about a 1/4 teaspoon of pure almond extract to 4 eggs (or 6 egg whites) and a splash of milk. Soaked 4 pieces of Oroweat Double Fiber bread and…voila!

Drizzle with a little syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar and you’re off to a sweet & healthy start to the holiday weekend!

I hope your weekend is filled with vibrant colored eggs, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, Peeps and that annoying Easter grass from the baskets that ends up all over the floor!

Now, off to Burbank to pick up the in-laws!

Darlings, Driving, Daydreaming & Dips

Our Sunday was filled with all things {d}ivine…

A sweet shower to welcome Baby Halle.

How {d}arling is this pic of the new peanut and her beautiful mommy, Jennene:

Watching E & H tear up and down the street in the neighbor kids’ Escalade:

{D}riving

Holdy decided to take a break from behind the wheel and {d}aydream:

Finally, I made my first ever French {D}ips:

Like my old school Crock Pot from 1926?

A stainless steel upgrade is on my wish list…..

I did little mini slider-type ‘wiches:

The au jus turned out flavorful enough, but we decided to add a little heat:

This recipe couldn’t be easier…

Slow Cooker French Dips

It was another {d}elicious weekend ~ in more ways than one.