Stuffed Breakfast Stout French Toast with Framboise Lambic Syrup

A rich and incredibly delicious french toast featuring Founders Breakfast Stout and topped with a syrup made with Framboise Lambic.   The flavors are complex and complimentary.  Very different from standard French toast.  Simply amazing.

Stuffed Breakfast Stout French Toast with Framboise Lambic Syrup



Breakfast Stout Stuffing:
12 Oz. Cream Cheese
6 Oz. Founders Breakfast Stout
1 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
1 Tbsp Chocolate Syrup


With a mixer whip cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Stir in the powdered sugar and chocolate syrup.  Add the beer and mix well. Place in refrigerator until you’re ready to top your toast.





Framboise Lambic Sauce:

1 Bottle Framboise Lambic
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup


Pour the lambic into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Boil for about 20 or 30 minutes until it reduces to the consistancy of the thick syrup.  Remove from heat and stir in the maple syrup.   










Breakfast Stout Toast:

1 Loaf Challah Bread
5 Eggs
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Cup Founders Breakfast Stout
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
Cinnamon To Taste

Add eggs, milk, stout, vanilla extract and cinnamon to a bowl and whisk well. 

Cut the the challah bread into 1 inch thick slices and soak in the egg mixture making sure both sides are coated well. 



Add the bread to a heated skillet and let it sit for about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Spread a slice of french toast with the cream cheese stuffing and stack and spread the top piece of French toast with a layer of cream cheese stuffing.  

Drizzle the lambic syrup on top.  The syrup is very rich and you really don't need a lot.  

 

Curried Baked Beans on Toast

This is an interesting and delicious breakfasty thing that a friend of mine posted a photo of on Facebook - along with oh-so  floofy and handsome Nigel the kitty-cat looking for a nibble.

The dish is Curried Beans on Toast topped with an egg. 

 Although baked beans seem to be a foodstuff of American invention, the putting them on toast seems to be a British thing hearkening back to World War II when sources of good protein were difficult to come by.  

At some point someone decided to curry them - perhaps due to the British colonization of India a taste for curry was acquired,  the two were combined and dish was born?  I just supposing, but it makes sense.  At least to me it does.

So, I decided to try it and, I must say, I actually liked it quite a lot.  It's very easy to make, tasty and satisfying.  

Quick Curry Beans On Toast (for two)


1 20.7 Oz. Can Campbells Pork and Beans
3 Teaspoons Curry Powder
1 Pinch Salt
1 Pinch Pepper
1 Teaspoon Finely Chopped Mint
4 Slices Bread
3 Tbsp Butter
4 Eggs, Poached or Fried

Empty the beans into a saucepan.  Add the salt, pepper,  mint and curry powder.  The mint is not so much for flavor as to round out the spiciness of the curry.

Mix well, and then cook until warmed through over medium heat.  

Once the beans are warmed through, add one tablespoon of butter and mix well.  This makes the curry creamy.

Toast and butter the bread then arrange two slices per plate.  

Pour the cooked beans onto the toast. Arrange an egg atop each of the bean covered toast slices.

Enjoy!

I slept like a baby . . yeah, right!

There is one expression I simply do not understand . . . 'I slept like a baby'.  I know what it means, I get it .. . . I've lived it . . . it makes no sense.    


I remember when we brought him home from the hospital I would be up with him all night while he cried and cried and I cried.  That was me sleeping like a baby.


Leave him in his bed and let him cry himself to sleep they said.  Okay . . . well then he'd cry and cry in his crib and I'd lie in my bed and cry.  That was me sleeping like a baby.


And then when he did sleep, he'd wake up every couple hours to be fed.  That was me sleeping like a baby.


As he grew older I told him he couldn't leave his bed unless he had to use the potty.  That if he needed something he had to call me.  Then it was mom, mommy, mom, mother? MOM!! . . . every couple hours.  That was me sleeping like a baby.


I don't think I got a decent night sleep until after he was five years old.

I'm not complaining . . . really I'm not . . . I'm just saying that whoever came up with saying couldn't possibly have been a parent because 'sleeping like a baby' is anything but.


If I had my choice between sleeping like a baby and sleeping like I log I'd much prefer making like wood and cuttin' some zzzzzzzzzz's.  Just sayin'.

Bacon and Egg Savory Cupcakes

16 Slices Bacon

1 Can (16.3 Oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle Biscuits

1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

8 Eggs

Salt And Pepper, If Desired

Heat oven to 350°F. In 10-inch skillet, cook bacon over medium heat about 4 minutes or until cooked but not crisp, turning once. (It will continue to cook in the oven.) Set aside.

Spray 8 jumbo muffin cups or 8 (6-oz) glass custard cups with cooking spray. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Place 1 biscuit in each muffin cup, pressing dough three-fourths of the way up sides of cups.

Place 2 bacon slices in each biscuit cup, add a pinch of cheese and crack an egg over each. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until egg clears are set. Run a small knife around cups to loosen. Serve immediately.

Makes 8 servings


Print Recipe

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do

I'm a horrible person and I'm probably going to Hell but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.  


There's this person in the office where I work who apparently doesn't have enough to do. He flits from door to door and desk to desk talking to anyone who happens to make random eye contact.  Not necessarily full eye contact either . . . once could be looking in his general direction and that would be enough to invite conversation.  I'm not talking once in a while that he does this . . . but every day several times a day.




Sometimes I get tangled in his talkative web and it might not be that bad if the conversations contained even the slenderest thread of coherent of thought process.  But it's usually random weirdness that doesn't have much to do with much of anything that is relevant.


And sometimes it seems as though he's speaking some Khoisan language as he walks by and starts making a weird clicking sound with his mouth and punctuates this with knuckle tapping on the partition of my cubicle.


Today he stopped at my cubicle with a couple clicks and knocks and with a great intake of breath began babbling a stream of nonsense.  I listened politely for as long as I could tolerate it without blood leaking out of my ears or my head exploding.  


Then as if my telephone suddenly began to ring (which it didn't) I lifted one finger in a hold-on-a-sec gesture, picked up the handset of my phone and began a non-existent conversation with no one.  He walked away and instant relief ensued.


You might say to yourself . . . how would I get away with such a ruse?  The man is clueless . . . what can I say.


I'm totally going to Hell.

Breakfast Galette

Crust:

1 1/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 Stick Unsalted Butter, Cubed and Cold

1/4 Cup Water, Ice Cold

Toppings:

3 Tablespoons Ricotta Cheese

1/4 Cup Mozzarella, Shredded

2 Slices Bacon, Cooked and Cubed

1 Slice Ham, Cubed

3 Large Egg Yolks

Salt And Pepper

In a medium bowl, mix together all-purpose flour and salt. Place flour and unsalted butter in freezer for 5 minutes to chill.

Combine flour mixture and butter. Mix until you’re left with what resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, mixing until it just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it’s ready. If the dough doesn’t hold together, add a little more water and mix again.

Remove dough from bowl and place in a mound on a clean surface. Gently shape into a discs, being sure to not over-knead. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a floured surface, roll dough to a 10-inch circle with a 1/4-inch thickness. It’s okay if the edges are shaggy and it’s not a perfect circle. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Scoop ricotta onto the center of the dough, spreading out to make a large circle, stopping 1-inch from the edge of the dough. Sprinkle on grated mozzarella cheese. Fold edges of dough over the cheese. Transfer baking sheet to the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Whisk together yolk and water. Brush dough with the egg wash. Bake until crust is lightly golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Take galette out of the oven and gently place yolks atop cheese. Arrange bacon bits and ham to your liking and place back in oven for 2-3 minutes, or until yolks set.

Garnish with salt and pepper.

The ultimate reason is "because."

I know I'm kinda of weird, but I think those stick family stickers that people are putting on the backs of their cars are really kind of cute.  Of course, I don't have any on my car . . . cuz, I don't want people to think I'm weird.  It's quite a paradox.



They're kind of fun . . . they come in all kinds of varieties that represent the families personalities . . . I especially like the zombie ones . . . too funny!


Braaaainnzzzzzz!




Of course, another good one is the divorced family . . . 






And the crazy cat lady one is a hoot, as well.










Then there's the one for people who don't give a sh!t about your family . . . stick figure or otherwise.


Yeah, I know, I got nothin' . . . not even a stick figure family to stick on my car . . . but hey, my blog can't be awesome every day!  

Bacon and Cheese Omelet

3 Slices Bacon, Cooked

3 Large Eggs, Lightly Beaten

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

1 Tablespoon Butter

1/2 Slices American Cheese

In a small bowl, combine eggs, salt, and pepper; beat with fork. In a 10 inch nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat, rotating pan to coat bottom. Add egg mixture. Cover for a minute or two. 

As eggs start to set, gently lift edges with a spatula, and tilt pan so uncooked portion flows underneath. Top with cheese and bacon evenly onto omelet.  Cover for about a minute to allow cheese to melt.

Fold over and slide onto plate.  Serve immediately.

You are a sad strange little man . . . and you have my pity

When my son was a wee one he had a love affair with Buzz Lightyear.  He wasn't in love with Buzz per se . . . he was Buzz.

He would sit and watch Toy Story movies over and over again . . . getting the moves down and getting his inner Buzz on.

It was really cute . . . for a while.

He was in preschool at the time and they didn’t do anything to dissuade his alter ego.   In fact, they encouraged it . . . for a while.

It got to the point where you couldn’t tell him he wasn’t his super hero . . . er . . . hero.  He was Buzz Lightyear . . . “I’m not Eddie,” he would say.  “I am Buzz Lightyear.  To infinity and beyond!.”  

Like I said, it was cute . . . for a while.

During that time period Halloween came and wonder of wonders . . . he was Buzz Lightyear.  And this time he had the costume to prove it.

So, not only did he have the Buzz persona down pat but he had the look. 

Months, maybe even a year or more, this went on.  By now it’s getting old.

His preschool teachers told me it had to stop because it was disrupting the class and riling up the other kids.  I thought to myself, “you nutters encouraged the kid and now that it becomes a problem and I’m the one to have to put a stop to it.”

So the arguments began . . . you’d think it would be easy . . . you know how gullible kids can be.  Yeah right . . . the kid inherited his mother’s and his father’s stubbornness.  It wasn’t easy.

The deprogramming went something like this.  First off . . . no more Toy Story movies . . . .period.  Second . . . the costume mysteriously disappeared.  Then the sit down conversations . .  .

Me, “You’re not Buzz Lightyear.”

Him, “I am Buzz Lightyear.”

Me, “You’re not Buzz Lightyear.”

Him, “I am Buzz Lightyear.”

Me, “You’re not Buzz Lightyear.”

Him, “I AM Buzz Lightyear.”

You get the point.  One day he was Buzz and the next day he wasn’t.  Personally, I don’t think I did or said anything to convince him he wasn’t weird shaped spaceman.  I think he just grew out of it.

And, then suddenly he was Luke Skywalker.

Ah  . . . the joys of parenthood.

Quick Fried Cabbage With Egg


1/2 Small Cabbage
1 Medium Onion
1 Tablespoon Butter
3 Slices Bacon, Crumbled
2 Eggs
2 Tablespoons
Salt, Pepper or Seasoned Salt

Finely slice the cabbage and onion. Heat the butter in a pan and fry the onion until soft. Add the cabbage.  Cover and reduce heat to low and fry for a further 10 minutes. Remove cover add bacon and fry for 3 minutes. Beat the eggs pour them over the cabbage. Stir until the eggs have set.  Stir in the cream cheese and serve.

Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties

Is French Toast really and truly French?  Although France has their own version of this nom-dilly-ish-ous breakfast treat it doesn't originate there.  Prior to World War I, the dish was commonly known as German toast in America, but that the name was changed due to anti-German sentiment. 

There is a different version of “French Toast” in many cultures . . . back in medieval times, when food was often scarce; every bit of food was used including what we would typically chuck in the garbage bin without a second thought.  Old stale bread was no exception; the bread would be soaked in egg to add moisture and protein and then fried in hot fat.  Even the wealthy enjoyed the egg dipped bread . . . except they would use the most expensive breads, indulgently remove the crusts and douse the toast in honey.

In fact, recipes for "French toast" can be traced to ancient Roman times.  The original French name is pain a la Romaine', or Roman bread.

French toast is so simple and inexpensive, it's no wonder it's been around so long.  Yummers!

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Strawberry-Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

• One 1- To 1 1/4-Pound Loaf Of White Bread 
• 8 Ounces Cream Cheese, Softened
• 2 Tablespoon Strawberry Preserves
• 1/2 Cup Whole Milk
• 4 Large Eggs
• 1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tablespoons Gran Marnier         
• Pinch Salt
• Unsalted Butter
• Real Maple Syrup, Warmed

Mash the cream cheese with the preserves.  The mixture should be thick and chunky.  You can smooth it out in a food processor, if you prefer (I did).

In a shallow dish or bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, Gran Marnier, and vanilla.

Dunk the stuffed bread slices into the egg mixture and turn to coat evenly, until saturated but short of falling apart.

Warm 1 tablespoon butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Briefly cook the French toast in batches until golden brown and lightly crisp, turning once.

Place the first slices on a plate and top with a dollop of cream cheese.  

Top with a second slice and another dollop of cream cheese.  

Garnish with a sliced strawberry and drizzle with syrup. 

In a world of ordinary mortals, you are a Wonder Woman

When I was a little girl I wanted to be Wonder Woman in the worstest way!  Not the DC Comics version.  I wanted to be the REAL Wonder Woman . . . you know from the TV show starring Lynda Carter (1975-1979).  Wowzers . . . she was something!  Girls wanted to be her . . . men wanted to be with her. 

In a time when equal rights for women were at the forefront . . . Wonder Woman was a feminist icon.  She personified sexual equality in a male dominated world.  She was super strong, super dynamic, super lithe and super sexy.  And she could kick some serious ass!

Wonder Woman is the symbol of patriotism . . . and, if you know me then you know why that appeals to me.  Yes, her costume incorporated aspects of the American flag . . . but that’s not all.  But she believed in truth, justice and the American way.  That’s why she hooked up with the Justice League . . . duh!

And then there was the Lasso of Truth . . . I defy any hot blooded American male to tell me he wouldn’t want to be wrangled by her.  The Lasso of Truth forces anyone it captures to obey and tell the truth.  An interested fact about The Lasso is that it was actually inspired by something most of us are familiar with . . . academically if not personally.  William Marston, the creator of the Wonder Woman character, was also a scientist who worked on the systolic blood-pressure test used to detect deception . . . the predecessor of the polygraph test.   I wonder where he got the idea for the lasso . . . huh? 

Anyhoo . . . with her gorgeous hair, cute outfit, awesome power and uber coolness . . . I wanted to be her.  And then came Underroos.  Holy cow!  Now I could BE Wonder Woman! Yup, it’s true . . . with the magic of cotton underwear I could be her.  Yes!!! Uhm . . . no.  But at least they made me look cool . . . or at the very least feel cool.  If nothing else, they were very comfy.

If you’re unfamiliar with this line of adolescent fantasy-wear  . . . Underoos is a brand of underwear that is made for children that mimicked the outfit a super hero . . . or Mickey Mouse if that’s kind of thing appeals to you.  The garments stimulated young imaginations and allowed them to, in a small way, be that super-hero . . . or mouse. 

I guess I felt kind of super wearing them.  I’m thinking that just being having the underwear and not actually being Wonder Woman was somewhat anticlimactic. 

Nannercakes - Banana Pancakes

 

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1 Tablespoon White Sugar

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1 Egg, Beaten

1 Cup Milk

2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

2 Ripe Bananas, Mashed

In a mixing bowl, mix together egg, milk, vegetable oil and bananas.

Combine flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt.  Stir flour mixture into banana mixture; batter will be slightly lumpy.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake.

Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.