Panettone French Toast

I love breakfast, but I love sleeping in more. With a toddler, sleeping in is a luxury that doesn't happen often. At 7 a.m. I am not a spry thing that wants to cook. So, I naturally gravitate to easy recipes that only take a few minutes. Thanks to Carmen Cooks, this recipe fit the bill. I received some panettone in a gift basket from a vendor and decided it was worth trying. I wasn't sure what to do with it and then I saw Carmen's post. It was really easy to make and my toddler devoured it. Next time I receive some panettone, I'll make this again.

Panettone French Toast
3/4 cup milk

3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
8 slices of 3/4 inch thick panettone
a bit of butter for greasing the pan or griddle

Whisk the half & half/milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt together and pour into a shallow pan. Lay the bread into the mixture and soak them for a few minutes until just saturated.
Heat a frying pan or griddle over medium-high heat. Rub some butter and place the slices of french toast onto the surface. Cook for about three minutes on the first side (until bottom is browned) and about 90 seconds on the second side.

Serve warm, with syrup.

Ready to Ring in the New Year

After a long blogging hiatus, I am hoping to get my groove thing back. I have been exhausted, haven't felt like posting and just needed a break. I did, however, continue to cook and bake. Those posts will come soon -- I just have to figure out my new camera and upload all my pictures to my computer. Did I say camera? Yep...Santa brought me a Cannon Rebel. I was thrilled and haven't stopped taking pictures of my little one or husband (much to his chagrin).

During my break, I was tagged by my blogging buddy, Melissa. She has a great blog that showcases not only some great dinners but her beautiful cakes. She it quite the talented thing and I am always in awe. If only we lived in the same state -- I'd hire her to make my son's birthday cake so all the mothers would be jealous.

So, without further adieu, her are the rules Melissa at Delicious Meliscious laid out for me.

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
3. Tag several random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Whew! I think I can handle this. So, I know you are on the edge of your sofa, chair, etc. Here are my seven random things:


1. I am allergic to Christmas trees. Only fake trees for me. Bah Humbug!
2. I was repelled by spinach before 30. Now I love it.
3. I love Frank Sinatra, Madonna and Britney Spears.
4. I can not pass by Sour Patch Kids without buying a package.
5. I am an only child.
6. My husband is an only child.
7. I only have one child....but want another one desperately.

Now, on to the seven people that I want to know more about:

1. Priscilla at Priscilla's Baking Adventures
2. Kellie at Ain't Life Grand
3. Jess at Cookbook Habit
4. Linda at Tender Crumb
5. Joelen at Joelen's Culinary Adventure
6. Jenn at Made with Love
7. Jaime at Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats

Thanks, Melissa, for tagging me. Can't wait to learn more about y'all.

Pork Tenderloin Parmesan

I lost my camera so I wasn't able to take a picture of this meal. Instead I am using the photo off of Martha Stewart where I got the recipe from. If the meal wasn't good, I wouldn't even post it and just chalk it up to a meal gone bad. But it was really good. I searched and searched for my camera but didn't find it until after dinner and by then it had been devoured. I cut the tenderloin in half and put the rest in the freezer. Guess what I'll be making when I decide to thaw it out.

Pork Tenderloin Parmesan
12 ounces pork tenderloin
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Coarse salt
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
Lemon wedges, for garnish
Parsley sprigs, for garnish

Slice pork into 12 pieces, and place between sheets of plastic wrap. With a small heavy skillet or meat mallet, pound pork to 1/8-inch thickness.

Combine egg whites with 1 tablespoon water in a shallow bowl or pie plate and lightly beat to combine; set aside. In a second shallow bowl, combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan; set aside.
Season pork with salt. Dredge in flour, tapping off excess. Dip first in egg-white mixture, then place in breadcrumb mixture, turning to coat. Pat gently to adhere.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Sauté half the pork until golden brown and cooked through, about 1 minute per side. Repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and remaining pork. Serve with lemon wedges and parsley sprigs.

The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I recently joined Cookie Carnival because the cookies this baking club make always look so good. I did a little research and discovered that I can make the cookies or choose to pass. That's my kind of club and so I decided to join. My life has been so busy since July and I am trying really hard to keep up. Sometimes I do a good job. Sometimes...not so much.

Anyway, back to cookies. My toddler helped me make these. I don't know if I consider them to be the ultimate cookies, but they were good. I even have some in my freezer since he devoured them. In fact, if cookies were on the menu for dinner tonight he would have been in heaven.

I can't wait for Kate at The Clean Plate Club to announce December's cookie.

The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsps. pure vanilla extract
3 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
16 oz. flavorful bitter or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly butter them, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or a large bowl if mixing by hand, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

Using your hands, shape knobs of dough about the size of a large walnut and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Stagger the rows of cookies to ensure even baking. Bake 12-15 for smaller cookies, 14-17 for larger ones or until the tops are a light golden brown. If the cookies are neither firm nor dark when they are removed from the oven, they will cool chewy and soft. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

I'm Not Spam

But Blogger sure does think I am. Dang, mean people from face book. I think you caused this. Curse you!

Out of Commission For a Few Days..

I got a message from Facebook saying that they detected some suspicious activity and think I have a malicious virus downloaded on to my computer. And guess what...I am having major problems. Awesome!So, my computer is off (using my mom's) and I am not posting anything until I get back from a work trip on Wednesday and my IT department can work some magic.

Dang, I hate mean people.

BB: Herb-Roasted Onions

I have been a Barefoot Blogger for a few months and boy, have I enjoyed it. Ina is a godess in my world...if only I had discovered her before now. Kelly over at Baking with the Boys discovered her years ago and had been a loyal fan since. She was responsible for picking out this side dish...and I loved it. I wasn't quite sure about it, but it looked simple and I was thrilled it was a low-maintenance side dish. I figured the worst that could happen was that it would end up in the trash. Good news: they didn't. I devoured them. They were so sweet, so tender and I will make them again. And next time, I won't change a thing about the recipe.


Herb-Roasted Onions

2 red onions
1 yellow onion
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.


Remove the stem end of each onion and carefully slice off the brown part of the root end, leaving the root intact. Peel the onion. Stand each onion root end up on a cutting board and cut the onion in wedges through the root. Place the wedges in a bowl.


For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, mustard, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Pour the dressing over the onions and toss well.


With a slotted spoon, transfer the onions to a sheet pan, reserving the vinaigrette that remains in the bowl. Bake the onions for 30 to 45 minutes, until tender and browned. Toss the onions once during cooking. Remove from the oven, and drizzle with the reserved dressing. Sprinkle with parsley, season to taste and serve warm or at room temperature.

Meatball Sandwich

OMG! Thank you Pam at For the Love of Cooking for this great recipe. I loved everything about it. It was easy to make -- just takes a while because the sauce has to simmer for two hours. I even have a big batch in my freezer ready to warm up over some pasta. My hubby liked it too and he can be difficult to please when it comes to sauce. If you significant other is looking for a good, hearty sandwich, try this. It's a no-fail pleaser.

Meatball Sandwich

Mushroom Marinara:

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced

6 oz of button or cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly

3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 15 oz can of tomato sauce

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

1 tsp white sugar

1 pinch of red pepper flakes

Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions and mushrooms and saute until tender; add the garlic and cook for 60 seconds, stirring frequently. Add the remaining ingredients. Simmer for at least 2 hours.

Meatballs:

1 lb lean ground beef
7 button mushrooms, diced finely

1/4 sweet yellow onion, diced finely

1/4 cup of Italian style breadcrumbs

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 egg

1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

1/2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp fennel seed, crushed

Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

1 tsp olive oil (for cooking)

Put the onions, garlic and mushrooms in a food processor to chop, otherwise chop them as small as you can. Combine all ingredients (except for olive oil) together gently. Form into small meatballs and set aside. Once the meatballs are prepared. Heat a skillet over medium heat with 1 tsp olive oil. Cook the meatballs until golden brown on all sides. Remove from skillet and place the cooked meatballs in the mushroom marinara.

Hoagie rolls

Mozzarella cheese

shredded Parmesan cheese

shreddedFresh basil, chopped

To assemble, place meatballs with some sauce in the hoagie rolls. Sprinkle the top with mozzarella and Parmesan. Place in a pan, under the broiler and melt cheese - watch carefully so don't burn. Top with basil and serve.

E is for Excellent

Way back when -- probably a good three weeks ago, Priscilla over at Priscilla's Baking Adventures gave me a blog award right when life started rocking my world. I haven't had the time to properly thank her for bestowing me with this great honor. For those of you that visit my blog often, you know that I love every recipe that Priscilla bakes. If she were my next door neighbor I would be in heaven. I could try every cookie, brownie, truffle, Blondie, you name it -- and walk away without the pounds. Unfortunately, she doesn't live near me so I either end of making some of her delightful baking bites and eating every one or shipping them overseas for Operation Baking Gals. I have found that shipping overseas save my hips from those unwanted calories and allows me to sample a few before packing them up.

Priscilla: I am so going to make the cookie dough truffles. I can't resist them and I'll just have to go to the gym more often.

Now, I get to pass this blog on to a few of my favorite sites. I get inspiration from so many blogs but here are a few of my favorites:

Melissa over at Made by Melissa. A fellow barefoot blogger, she always tempts my taste buds with fantastic recipes. I love her snack food Sunday concept and can't wait to follow her good eats from now until the Super Bowl.

Nancy at A Recipe A Day. I have always enjoyed reading Nancy's blog but it wasn't until I went searching for caramel popcorn that I realized how many of her recipes that I have starred.

Loves to Eat. I love everything about this blog. She has my taste in food. If only I could have Thanksgiving dinner at her house, I know it would be scrumptious.

Jenn at Made With Love. A newlywed, she is such a better cook that I was when I first got married. I love reading her posts and she is my west coast friend.

Melissa at Delicious Meliscious. Dang, this girl is so talented when it comes to making desserts. She puts me to shame. I love looking at her pictures. She has a great oven fried chicken recipe that should appear on my blog, as soon as I have time to write it.

Thanks again, Priscilla. You made my day.

Brownie Candy Cups

Brownie Candy Cups are my "go to" recipe when I need to make dinner for someone who is sick, had surgery or lost a loved one. Recently, my friend's dad had heart surgery and I made these, thanks to Bakerella . They were a big hit and she requested the recipe to pass on the yum yum love.

If you have heard about Bakerella yet, you need to stop by her blog. She is incredibly talented, and every recipe that I have made of hers is amazing. You can't go wrong with Bakerella.

Brownie Candy Cups

1 package Duncan Hines Chocolate Lovers Double Fudge Brownie Mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

30 mini Reeses cups unwrapped

1 Box Reynolds 2-inch aluminum foil mini cups for muffins

Preheat oven to 350. Place 30 foil liners on baking sheet. Combine brownie mix, contents from fudge packet in mix, eggs, water and oil. Stir with spoon until well blended. (about 50 strokes) Fill each liner with 2 tablespoons of batter

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and remove from oven. Push 1 Reeses in center of each "brownie cupcake" until even with surface of the batter. Bake 5-7 minutes longer.Cool 5-10 minutes in pan and then move to cooling rack to cool completely.