Toffee Apple French Toast

This recipe really does need to sit overnight... I tried to do it all in one morning and the texture wasn't right, but the flavor was awesome. It's like dessert for breakfast! It also halves really well. a half recipe feeds 4 pretty easily.

8 c cubed french bread (1 large or 2 small loaves)
2 med tart apples, peeled and chopped
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c sugar
1 3/4 c milk, divided
2 tsp vanilla, divided
1/2 c English toffee bits
5 eggs

Place half bread crumbs in greased 9 x 13 baking dish; top with all the apples. In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugars, 1/4 c milk, and 1 tsp vanilla until smooth; stir in toffee bits. Spread mixture over the apples. Top with remaining bread. Beat the eggs and remaining milk and vanilla until blended; pour over bread.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35 to 45 min or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean.

I have this sitting in the fridge now... I am going to try and freeze it for this weekend and see if it still turns out... I'll report back!

Fudge Pudding Cake

No pudding involved :)

1.) Sift Together:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbls cocoa powder (the plain, non sweetened stuff)

2.) In a separate bowl combine:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbls melted butter

3.) Add wet ingredients to dry, mix well, pour in to buttered 9x9 pan.
4.) Mix 1 cup brown sugar w 1/4 cup cocoa and sprinkle over cake
5.) Pour 1 1/2 cups boiling water over the entire cake
6.) Bake at 350 for 50 minutes

When the cake is done the water falls to the bottom and mixes with the brown sugar and cocoa on top, making a fudge like topping. When serving, flip each of the pieces upside down on the plate.

This is Adam's favorite dessert recipe :) Photos to follow when it's done baking tonight :)

Ethel's Poppy Seed Sandwiches

This is a super easy and delicious recipe we got from Jeremy's grandma.  A great hands-off recipe since it is made the night before.

Ethel's Poppy Seed Sandwiches

24 cocktail buns of 12 small buns
1 1/2 lb sliced deli meat
3/4 lb sliced cheese
3/4 cup butter
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp mustard
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp poppy seeds

Layer bottom of buns in a pan, top with meat, cheese, then top layer of buns. Boil remaining ingredients in sauce pan, cool, and baste over sandwiches (may not use all of sauce). Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 325* for 25 minutes covered and 10 minutes uncovered.

Tip: We made these last weekend in disposable aluminum pans, then baked the disposable pans on top of a cookie sheet to help prevent the bun bottoms from getting too brown. Makes clean-up easy too.

Love Surprise Cake

My sister, Abby (south Texas), and I had a bake-off for Valentine's Day.  I found this cake online last week and decided to make it. When she told me she was planning to make the same cake, it was on... BAKE-OFF! I made mine Saturday for dinner with friends that night; Abby made hers today. I started at 8:30 on Saturday and finished at 6:00 that night! Enjoy my day in pictures. I made four 9-inch white circles and one 9x13-inch red velvet.

All leveled out.

Hollowed out and shaped.

Forgot to take a picture of the filled halves, but made the stack/flip on the first try!

all frosted up and "decorated"

After the first slices. Is it a butterfly?


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Nope, a heart. Jeremy approves!

 



This cake was a lot of work.  I decided that I would never make it as a professional cake decorator.  Too much work and not enough patience.  And all the hard work gets eaten in about 10 minutes!  Not to mention, too much waste.

Chicken Divan

The Chicken Divan recipe is from Pillsbury.

Ingredients
1 bag Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers Select frozen broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups cubed deli rotisserie chicken
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 can (18.5oz) Progresso creamy chicken and wild rice soup
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup Progresso Italian style panko crispy bread crumbs

Directions
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. cook broccoli as directed on bag 4 minutes. Place broccoli and chicken in un-greased 9 inch square pan. Sprinkle with pepper.
2. Pour soup over broccoli and chicken. Sprinkle with cheese and bread crumbs.
3. Bake about 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.


I didn't have the exact bread crumbs the recipe called for and it tasted fine. Both Scottie and I liked the new dish.

Creamy Chicken Breasts

This recipe is actually from Katie Frantes, Jenilee's and my college roommate. It's an old standby and Adam and I really love it. As always, falls in to the "easy" category for me :)

4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
8 slices swiss cheese
1 can cream of chicken
1/4 c sour cream
1 c herb seasoned stuffing, crushed
1/4 c margarine or butter

Arrange in 9x13 baking dish. Top each breast with cheese. Combine sour cream and soup. Stir and spread evenly over chicken. Sprinkle with stuffing mix. Melt butter and drizzle over crumbs.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Nans Puffs

I found this recipe while I was looking for my banana bread recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Needless to say, I forgot about the bread and these are really good and very easy!!

1/2 c butter
1 c milk
3/4 all purpose flour
4 eggs
1 T sugar
Honey (optional)

Grease muffin pan VERYwell... I didn't and they stuck pretty bad.

Melt butter, add milk, boil. Add flour all at once, stir with wooden spoon until it forms a ball that does not separate. Remove from heat. Cool 5 min.

Add eggs one at a time. After each stir until mix is smoothed out. Divide among muffin tin( about half full). Sprinkle w sugar.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes until brown and puffy. Serve warm with honey.

When done they look like popovers but no special pan or work needed!

These were SO easy and I think they look like way more work than they are... Double score in my book!

... And Adam wanted me to add... You can eat them with honey, with your honey. So creative ;)