Stuffed French Toast with Blueberry Sauce -- Random Recipe #9

Time for another Random Recipe from my cookbook collection.  This week I let me oldest son (who is 6) pick the book and flip to a recipe, he was excited to help :) He picked Taste of Home 1999 Annual Recipes from the bottom bookshelf. The bottom bookshelf is where I keep most of my annual recipes books, mainly Taste of Home, Southern Living, and Sunset.

I love Taste of Home and have enjoyed reading through the homey recipes for years. The annual recipe books are great because they are supposed to have every recipe from the past years magazines in one compact book. There were a bunch of recipes on the page my son flipped to so I had him close his eyes and point to one, lots of fun for a 6 year old, as I'm sure you can imagine. This is the recipe he landed on, Stuffed French Toast with Berry Sauce. My other two will be taking turns picking our Random Recipes as well in the future :)

French Toast is the least served of the breakfast carb trifecta (French toast, waffles, and pancakes) in our house.  We all love waffles, which are picky husband's favorite, so I make those often. Pancakes are so easy that they are a close second choice.  French toast always sounds good but the recipes are often hit or miss and I don't have a tried and true favorite.  Last month I made this White Milk Bread and ended up making French toast with it that turned out perfectly! I think a lot of it had to do with the dense bread, it doesn't sop up too much liquid and get mushy, and I have since decided this is my definite French Toast Bread recipe and whenever the need for French toast arises in the future, I will be baking this loaf.

Stuffed French Toast with Berry Sauce

adapted from Taste of Home 1999 Annual Recipes

*I followed the recipe when I made this but found out I needed to double the mixture to dip the bread in and also the blueberry topping. I am writing the ingredients as written so you may also need to double the milk/egg/vanilla and the Blueberry Sauce ingredients. Feel free to halve the recipe for four servings since one slice is plenty filling. The original recipes says 4-6 servings but I think it's more like 8.

Filling:

1 package 8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

French toast:

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 slices French bread (1 inch thick) I made a loaf this White Milk Bread and it was just enough 

Syrup:

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 and 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, orange peel and cinnamon until smooth; set aside.

In a shallow bowl, combine eggs, milk, and vanilla. Cut a pocket in the crust of each slice of bread. Stuff each pocket with 1 - 2 tablespoons filling.  (This is a little tricky.)

Dip both sides of bread in egg mixture and pat down briefly sopping up some of the egg/milk/vanilla mixture. Fry on a greased (I did not grease mine since it's nonstick) hot griddle (I set my temperature to about 345) for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

For syrup (not sure why they are calling it syrup here when in the title it is Berry Sauce...), combine water, maple syrup, sugar, and cornstarch in a sauce pan. (I would make sure to use a little of the water to make a cornstarch slurry before adding it all together so it doesn't get lumpy). Bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat; add blueberries. Simmer for 5-7 minutes or until berries are tender. Serve over French toast.

~~~

I dusted the French Toasts with powdered sugar, isn't that a must?

Here you can see the cream cheese middle.  Now personally I liked the cream cheese / orange combo but my youngest was not liking it much and I think that was because he was expecting the filling to be sweeter, but it really is more a basic cream cheese flavor and you get your sweetness from the blueberry sauce.  You could add some extra sugar to the filling, which I would probably do if making this for kids again.

The kids mostly enjoyed this, except my youngest not liking the filling. I loved it, especially the lovely blueberry maple sauce. Picky husband does not like blueberries or cream cheese so he did not have any, don't worry, I made him something different.  This was a fun recipe to try that I probably would not have made had it not been our Random Recipe for the week.  There are no photos of this recipe in the book so it kind of gets lost with the other recipes, some of which have photos.  The only little problem I had was the the French toast dipping mixture and the blueberry sauce definitely need to be doubled for this to work.  Now that I've found the perfect French Toast bread I am looking forward to making FT more often :)



Zucchini Mushroom Tacos with Homemade Tortillas

These delicious vegetarian soft tacos are my pick for I Heart Cooking Clubs 1st week cooking Chef Rick Bayless's recipes.  This is actually the first Rick Bayless recipe I've ever tried! I do not own any of his books yet (I have ordered one and it is on the way), so checked out a few from the library. I had heard of Rick Bayless before and knew he was known for Mexican cooking, but didn't know much else about him.  Thanks to IHCC I've now got a TiVo season pass for his show, "Mexico One Plate at a Time,"  (before IHCC I didn't even know he had a show!) and am looking forward to learning more about "true" Mexican cuisine throughout the next six months while IHCC cooks Rick Bayless recipes.

I love Mexican food and having lived in Texas for a little bit,  have experienced a little bit of everything from semi-authentic to Americanized Tex-Mex (which picky hubby and I love, we are always looking for a new Mexican place to try on date night).  I also love to cook Mexican (once again, more like American Tex-Mex) at home and we often have Mexican nights with the standard tacos plus enchiladas, chimichangas (these are often requested), burritos, etc. and lots of sides. I also love doing a Mexican buffet when hosting parties at our house since there is something for everyone to enjoy!

Zucchini Mushroom Tacos

Tacos de Calabacitas y Hongos 

adapted from Mexican Everyday

Serves 4

1 and 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium white onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick (I used 1/2 teaspoon onion powder)

3 ounces mushrooms (shiitake, oyster, portobello or the like), stemmed and sliced about 1/2 inch thick (you'll have a scant cup) -- okay, I used potobellos and weighed out 3 ounces and that was only one portobello...next time I would use a ton more mushrooms

One 15 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted), drained -- I used Muir Glen Fire Roasted

1 canned chipotle chile en adobo, seeded

1 and 1/2 teaspoons chipotle canning sauce

2 medium (about 12 ounces) zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Salt

1/2 to 3/4 cup (2 to 3 ounces) crumbled Mexican queso fresco or other fresh cheese such as feta or goat cheese -- I used feta since I had some on hand, but would love to try this with some queso fresco and goat cheese

12 warm corn tortillas, store bought or home made -- I made flour tortillas

Hot sauce for serving

Add the oil to a very large (12 inches) skillet and set over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring regularly until beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook about 2 minutes more, stirring regularly, until their liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are beginning to brown.  

 

While the mushrooms are cooking, pour the tomatoes into a food processor or blender. Add the chipotle chile and its canning sauce and process until smooth.

When the mushrooms are ready, add the tomato mixture and cook, stirring regularly, until the mixture has thickened to the consistency of canned tomato sauce, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the zucchini and continue to cook, stirring every once in a while, until the zucchini is cooked through but still a little crisp, 8 to 10 minutes.  Taste and season with salt, about 1/2 teaspoon.

Scoop into a bowl...

and garnish with the crumbled cheese.

Serve with the warm tortillas and hot sauce for everyone to make soft tacos.

~~~~~

These were very yummy, nice fresh flavor with a little kick! I made them for dinner one night while picky husband was working late (he doesn't like mushrooms or zucchini) for the kids and myself and was pleasantly surprised when all three kids ate their tacos and liked them!  Score one for Rick Bayless! They said they were a little spicy but not too much and loved the feta cheese.  I often make veggie tacos but never like these! These were a delicious change of pace and I will make them again for sure, just adding some more mushrooms since three ounces was not enough mushroom for a mushroom fan like me :) 

Mushroom Pizza Rustica

This week for Tuesdays with Dorie we made a Pizza Rustica! I wasn't quite sure what a Pizza Rustica was, I thought it was more like a filled two crusted pizza but this to me was more like a savory ricotta pie and it was pretty yummy! 

Since I don't eat meat I swapped out the prosciutto for some mushrooms sauteed in butter and brandy.  They were delicious. I even got a double mushroom! How fun! 

Above are the mushrooms just starting to cook...and below they are being added to the ricotta and cheese mixture.

For the ricotta I used a mixture of two brands, Biazzo was wetter than the Frigo but they tasted pretty much the same (I am a ricotta fan and did a little ricotta taste test :) )

The lattice top was a little tricky. I usually forget to use my ruffled pastry cutter so it was nice to have a reason to pull it out.

Below is my Pizza Rustica before going into the oven.  It baked up nicely although I did add an extra 5 minutes or so on to the cooking time.  Picky husband does not like ricotta cheese so he passed on this one (I also made a lasagna that night since I knew this would be a tough sell) and my kids all tried it but didn't like it.  Thank goodness I had my mom over for dinner when this was served because she really enjoyed it and could appreciate something like this.  I liked it as well and am really glad I added the mushrooms since they added a nice depth of flavor. I packed up half of the pie for my mom to take home and I will probably have some as leftovers for lunch this week.

Not Quite Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

It's my turn to host for Club: BAKED!  I thought it would be fun to give these Red Velvet Whoopie Pies a go and then forgot to add the red food coloring, go figure!  So here are my Brown Velvet Whoopie Pies :) I've never had or made whoopie pies before although I see them all over. They've always looked like a fun treat to me and now I know that they are!

These were a big hit with my whole family, they are definitely a delicious treat and quite easy to make! I loved the cream cheese frosting and walnut combo. Thanks for baking along with me this week, I hope you all had fun with this recipe and I can't wait to check out your red desserts :)

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Baked Explorations
Yield:10-12 large or 15-17 small pies

For the Whoopie Pies
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder ( like Valrhona)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening, at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon red gel food coloring

For the Cream Cheese Filling
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Assembly
1/2 cup toasted walnuts,chopped coarsely


Make the Pies


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.


In a large bowl, sift together the flour,cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.


In a small bowl, whisk together the canola oil and buttermilk.


In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and shortening until smooth. Scrape down the bowl and add the sugars. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add the red gel food coloring, then mix on low speed for a few more seconds to incorporate. Do not over mix.


Turn the mixer to low. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, in three separate additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture until just combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl , then mix on low speed for a few more seconds.


Cover with plastic wrap and chill the batter in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.


Remove the batter from the refrigerator. Us a a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10-20 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Let the cookies cool completely on the pan while you make the filling.


Make the Cream Cheese Filling


Sift the confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is completely smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.


Add the confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until smooth. Be careful not to over beat the filling or it will lose structure. (The filling can be made 1 day ahead. Cover the bowl tightly and put it in the refrigerator. Let the filling soften at room temperature before using.)


Assemble the Whoopie Pies


Spread the walnuts in an even layer on a small plate.


Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down (flat side facing up)


Use an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to drop a large dollop of filling onto the flat side of the cookie. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie. Turn the whoopie on its side and roll through the walnuts. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm up before serving.


The whoopie pies will keep for up to 3 days on a parchment lined baking sheet covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator.

Fried Noodle Cake with Hoisin Vegetables -- Random Recipe #8

Doesn't this look yummy?  I really lucked out with this week's Random Recipe!  My randomly selected cookbook was Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks #198, Stir-Fries Cookbook from August 1997. 

I've had this book for many years and have never cooked anything from it.  My randomly selected recipe was...

Twice-Cooked Noodles with Hoisin Pork.  Since I don't eat pork I swapped out the pork and added extra veggies (the same amount of veggies by weight as was called for with the pork).  The recipe also includes "purchased stir fry sauce" and I made my own.  I grew up eating stir fries all the time and I don't remember ever buying a sauce. This one called for garlic ginger stir-fry sauce, so here is a quick and easy home made version, you can just up the ingredients if you want a bigger batch of sauce and vary the spices to taste, I usually add some Chinese Five Spice powder but kept this one simple since it was to go with the hoisin sauce...

Quick and Easy Homemade Stir Fry Sauce

double if desired, this makes enough for one small stir-fry

1/2 cup vegetable broth

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or minced garlic)

1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger (or minced fresh ginger)

1 tbsp cornstarch

Whisk together all ingredients thoroughly, add to cooked vegetables in hot wok and stir for 30 sec - 1 minute until thickened and glossy. To use it in this recipe just whisk it all together and add it in when the recipe says to add stir fry sauce to the wok.

Twice-Cooked Noodles with Hoisin Vegetables

adapted from Pillsbury Stir-Fries Cookbook

8 ounces uncooked fresh Chinese noodles or angel hair pasta, broken into 2 inch pieces (I used a 10 ounce package of lo-mein noodles)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

3 tablespoons peanut oil (I used vegetable oil)

1 and 1/4 pounds mixed fresh vegetables, cut into like sized pieces -- I used 1 red pepper, about 6 mushrooms, about a cup of broccoli florets, and 1 small zucchini

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup stir fry sauce (see recipe above)

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

Cook noodles as directed on package. Drain well. In large bowl, combine cooked noodles, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the peanut or vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet or work over medium0high heat until hot.

Add noodle mixture, pressing to form pancake, cook 8 to 12 minutes or until bottom of noodle pancake is

golden brown.

Slide pancake from skillet onto plate (this is a little tricky); invert pancake onto another plate, browned side up. Add another 1 tablespoon oil into skillet or wok. Slide the noodle pancake into skillet, browned side up; cook 4 to 6 minutes or until bottom is browned. Slide onto serving plate, cover to keep warm.

In same skillet or work, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil until hot, add veggies and stir to coat.

 Add water and cook 6 to 8 minutes until veggies are crisp tender,stirring occasionally. Stir in stir fry sauce and hoisin sauce. Cook 1 to 2 minutes until thoroughly heated and sauce has thickened and is glossy.

To serve, with sharp knife or kitchen scissors, cut hot noodle pancake into wedges. Top pancake with vegetable mixture.

~~~~~

This was probably my favorite Random Recipe so far! It was such a delicious lunch even though it was a bit tricky to get the noodle pancake just right. One of my very favorite things at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants is called Pan Fried Golden Noodle and it is pretty much this recipe! It is not on a lot of Chinese restaurant menus and I'd never tried to make it at home because I never thought I'd be able to find the right type of noodle but the lo mein noodles I tried were very similar to the restaurant noodles.  I will be making this one again for sure, some crunchy tofu would be perfect with this.  Although it is a bit time consuming for lunch, it was worth it :)

I'm sending this off to Sue for Cookbook Sundays and also to Ruth at Once Upon a Feast for Presto Pasta Nights #258.

Greek Bean Soup and White Milk Bread

I can't believe we are done cooking Tessa Kiros' recipes over at I Heart Cooking Clubs this week!  When we started with Tessa, I honestly hadn't even heard of her, so checked out two of her books from the library -- Apples for Jam and Falling Cloudberries, the only two of her books available in our state library database!  As soon as those were returned I knew I would enjoy her books so bought them all over the past six months. I think my favorite would have to be Food From Many Greek Kitchens since I've always loved Greek food and didn't know too much about it. I also loved Twelve and Apples for Jam, although all her books are gorgeous.

This simple recipe for White Milk Bread (or rolls) is from Apples for Jam...


White Milk Bread


1 cup warm (comfortable to your fingers) milk
One 1/4 ounce package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon honey
3 and 2/3 cups bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted


Put the milk, yeast, and honey in a small bowl and stir until the honey melts. Leave it for about 10 minutes, or until it begins to froth a bit. Put the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a larger bowl. Add the yeast mixture, the egg, and butter, and mix through well. Knead 10 minutes or so and, if it seems sticky, just hold the bowl firmly and move the dough around with your hand, rather than adding more flour. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave in a warm, draft free place to rise for 1 and 1 1/2 to 2 hours until it has puffed up well.


Lightly grease a 12 by 4 inch loaf pan and dust it with flour. Punch down the dough to flatten it and shape it into a rough loaf of a size to fit the pan. Cover with a cloth and leave in the warm place for another 45 to 60 minutes, or until it puffs right up in the pan. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375.


Put the pan in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top is firm and crusty and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from oven, knock the loaf out of the pan, and cool on a rack in a fly-free zone. This is best sliced warm and spread with butter, but you can keep the loaf for a few days in an airtight container (not a plastic bag) for excellent toast.  Makes one large loaf or about 18 small rolls.

Fasolada -- White Bean Soup

Tessa Kiros -- Food From Many Greek Kitchens

1 pound 2 ounces dried butter (or cannellini, haricot, navy) beans -- I used navy
3 garlic cloves, 1 whole, 2 chopped
1 bay leaf
1 small celery rib
1/2 small onion -- I left this off and used a little onion powder
salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled, cut into nice chunks
14 ounce can chopped tomatoes
freshly ground black pepper

Below is the fresh vegetable topping which I skipped...
1 and 3/4 ounces red or green onions coarsely chopped
1/2 cup very coarsely chopped Italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped celery leaves
best-quality olive oil, for serving

Cover the beans with plenty of cold water and soak overnight. The next day, drain and rinse them, and put into a pot with cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, skimming off and scum that has formed. Drain and rinse again. Wipe and scum that has collected on the pot, then return the beans to it. Add 8 cups of cold water, the whole garlic clove, bay leaf, celery rib, an the 1/2 onion. Simmer, partly covered, for about an hour, until tender. Larger beans will take longer and need more water. Add salt in the last 10 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat and saute the chopped onion until soft and golden. Add the chopped garlic and carrots and when the garlic smells good, add the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Swish about 1/2 cup of water in the tomato can and pour into the pot. Put the lit on and simmer for 10 minutes or so. When the beans are ready, pour them and their water in with the tomato sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes, adding a little water if it's too thick. Ladle into bowls and serve with red onion, parsley and celery leaves on top, a drizzle of oil and a grinding of pepper.

~~~

Both the bread and soup were delicious.  My whole family loved the bread and the leftovers made perfect French toast bread. I was a big fan of the soup. The rest of the family thought it was okay, they are their bowl for Saturday lunch but did not want seconds or left overs. Which means that I ate the left overs for about a week myself, but didn't mind one bit.  I had never heard of Fasolada before and when I was looking it up online it was neat to find that it is considered the national soup of Greece, and that it is available in cans there already made! It was nice to use some of my huge bean stockpile and I would make this again but probably a half batch since I was the only real fan.

Since this is the last Tessa Kiros I Heart Cooking Clubs week, I thought I'd share my personal favorite recipes...a lot of these weren't big hits with picky husband or the kids, but I loved them :) Here are my top five in no particular order...

1. Ricotta Gnocchi with Tomato Pesto -- This was my first Tessa recipe, so yummy!

2. Whole Wheat Apple and Pluot Pie -- This was a hit with the kids and I loved using apples we had just picked at the orchard.

3. Winter Squash Pizza Bake -- I was the only one who really liked this but it had such a neat flavor combo that really got me.

4. Greek Almond Halva -- this was another one that only I liked, but it was so yummy, I'm just waiting for an occasion to make another batch! 

5. Tuscan Baked Eggplant -- this was so yummy, I wanted to make batch after batch of this one, a must try for eggplant fans!

I had a great time cooking and baking along with the I Heart Cooking Clubs crew and can't wait to start on our next adventure cooking with Rick Bayless :)