New Year's Day Brunch Bread Pudding

     My daughter gave me a new cookbook for Christmas and I couldn't wait to try out some of the recipes. I decided the Breakfast Bread Pudding with Peaches and Blueberries would be perfect for brunch on New Year's Day. After all, this is the day where we eat anything and everything because we know we have to "be good" again starting tomorrow...right?

     The ingredients were simple and easy to put together. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, spray a 9x13 pan with PAM and you are ready to put this breakfast dish together.

     Cut an 8 ounce loaf of stale Italian Bread into cubes (about 8 cups), or if you cook like I do...tear it into pieces. Put the cubes into the greased pan. Add a 1 pound bag of frozen peaches and 2 cups of fresh blueberries to the bread in the pan and sprinkle with cinnamon. The recipe calls for 1/4 tsp., but we like cinnamon...I just sprinkled away! Toss the bread, fruit and cinnamon together in the greased pan.

 In a separate bowl, beat 6 eggs. 

Slowly whisk in 2 cups of whole milk, 1 cup half and half and 3/4 cup of sugar. 

Stir in 1 tsp. of vanilla and a pinch of salt.

     At this point, it looks and smells like it could be frozen custard. Tempting to get out the little ice cream freezer, but I did promise my husband breakfast!

     Pour the egg mixture over the bread and fruit and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. You can also get to this step and put it covered in the refrigerator overnight. Press down on the bread pieces to make sure they all get soaked into the milk/egg mixture. After waiting 30 minutes, put into the 350 degree oven for 1 hour. 

 

When it is done, it looks like this!

     This is the cookbook. The recipe says it makes 8 servings at 344 calories each. True confession: We each ate almost 2 servings. I will worry about that tomorrow!

     I may have mentioned Broadbent's in Kentucky in a previous blog post. We get all of our bacon there and have for so many years I can't remember when we didn't. It is simply the best. My husband also loves the ham steaks and these little biscuit ham slices. I find them too salty (but I had one anyway) for my taste, but the bacon is perfection. We get ours on trips to Florida, but they do have a mail order catalog. 

I usually drink my coffee black, but I had a little 

of that half and half left over...and it is a holiday!

     We were supposed to wait until the casserole cooled a little so it would be in pretty squares on our plates. It smelled so good, we just couldn't wait. This recipe is a keeper. We both loved it! 

Wishing you all the Happiest of New Years!

Easy Low-Fat Granola

     On our recent trip to an Amish community, I bought what they called "Sunrise Granola" and it was the best I'd ever tasted. I eat Greek Yogurt for breakfast every morning and I love to sprinkle a couple tablespoons of granola on top and theirs was perfect. I could tell that it was made with butter and it was in small pieces, very brown and toasty.

     Once it was gone, I decided to try to make a lowfat version that was the same texture. I have a different lowfat granola recipe (posted on the blog in the past) and I have a delicious high calorie recipe, but I wanted something that tasted good and was in small pieces for topping yogurt. I didn't take pictures as I made it because I didn't think it would taste as good as it does!

     With very few ingredients, it has the crunch and the chewy sweet that I was looking for and no fat added. You can adjust the ingredients to your own liking. Use a little more syrup/brown sugar if you want it more coated, use a different dried fruit or even substitute nuts for seeds. I really think the secret was in getting it nice and lightly browned. I will still buy the Amish granola when I visit Arthur, but for every day this version is much healthier!

Easy Low Fat Granola

4 cups oats (I used quick cooking in the big round box)

1 cup sunflower seed/pumpkin seed mix (I used salted)

½ cup brown sugar packed

½ cup real maple syrup

1 cup raisins

     In large bowl combine oats and seeds. In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar and maple syrup and bring to a boil. Pour over oat seed mixture and mix well. Pour onto greased cookie sheet and bake about an hour at 300 degrees. I checked mine often and stirred the edges as they turned brown into the middle. I judged the cooking time by the color of the mix, not wanting it to burn but still wanting a brown and toasty flavor.

     Remove from oven and fold in raisins, let cool. Keep in airtight container or Ziploc bag. It freezes very well.

I thought I'd share this sunrise photo from a few days ago.

Sometimes the sky is truly a work of art.

Healthy Eating in 2011-Foodie Friday

      Like everyone else, I eat way to much "junk" during the holidays. One thing I love about a new year is the opportunity to go back to healthy eating. I'm not one of those people who can live on lettuce and egg white omelets. I like flavor and texture in my food! I love this granola recipe because it has no added fat. Many recipes call for butter (which certainly does enhance the color and flavor) but this one doesn't. The nice thing is that it still tastes great. I love it with low fat yogurt for breakfast or a healthy snack.  

Crunchy Granola

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup water

4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

8 cups rolled oats

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup walnut pieces

Dried fruit (optional) I used golden raisins for this batch.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, combine oats and nuts, set aside. Combine brown sugar and water in a small saucepan, bring to a low boil and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and add salt and vanilla (it will bubble when the cold vanilla hits the hot sugar). 

Pour brown sugar syrup over nut/oat mixture and stir well until all the oats are coated. Spread granola onto the 2 cookie sheets and bake 1 hour (until golden and crunchy) at 275 degrees. Allow to cool, break into pieces, add dried fruit if you'd like and store in airtight containers.

I am joining Michael @ Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday.

It is the place to visit for some of the best recipes in all of Blogland!

Caramel Apple Strata-So Good, Oh Yeah!

     Sunday my dad and I had a little family "party" for my sister's 50th birthday. We had appetizers and desserts at my house, and we went out for dinner. I'll share more of the party later this week. Today I'm going to show you one of the desserts I made.

     How many of you have recipes like this? I jotted this from a magazine (on a paper napkin) while at the hospital with my niece a few weeks ago. I don't know what magazine, so I can't credit the recipe. If anyone finds it, let me know.

Caramel Apple Strata

Ingredients:

2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter cubed

1/4 cup corn syrup

3 large apples, peeled and chopped

2 T. lemon juice

1 T. sugar

1 tsp. apple pie spice

1 loaf day old cinnamon bread

1/2 cup chopped pecans

10 eggs

1 cup 2 percent milk

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened, and set aside. (I found 2 minutes was a bit too long, my sauce was almost candy-next time I will remove it from the heat a little sooner)

In a small bowl combine apples, lemon juice, sugar and apple pie spice.

In a greased 9 x 13 pan arrange 1/2 the bread slices.

Spoon the apple mixture on top of the

bread and drizzle with half of the caramel sauce.

Top with pecans.

Top with a second layer of bread.

     In large bowl combine eggs, milk, salt and vanilla. Pour over top of casserole, cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. Cover and refrigerate remaining caramel sauce. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking the next day. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Let stand at least 10 minutes before serving. Mine set out of the oven while we went to dinner. Heat remaining caramel sauce and drizzle over the strata. Cut into squares and serve alone or with a good quality vanilla ice cream.

My family loved this one!

This could also be served for brunch.

It is a Barnyard Bash on Foodie Friday!

     For quite a while now, Lynn @ Happier Than a Pig in Mud has been telling us about her Barnyard Bash party today. I like Lynn. She is always wonderful about visiting me and I wanted to play along and support her new event. I started looking around my house for barnyard animals and I realized that I am animal deprived. The one lonely barnyard animal in my house, is Piglet. Of course, every farm has a pond...and I have a fish, that works doesn't it?

     He is Mexican Pottery and he used to sit among the shells on the top of our old television cabinet. When we got the flat screen, he was retired. That's it for me. I do have a couple of roosters who made a recent appearance at their own event, but other than that...this is not a barnyard friendly home. It is however a food friendly home...so let's cook!

     I've been cooking with apples all week. I actually made two different apple cakes, one was average and one was really good. Of course, you get the recipe for the good one! This is an Emeril Lagasse recipe that I tweaked a little, but not much.

Ingredients:

Cake layer:

1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar (I used a combination of light and dark brown sugar)
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup light sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups cored and chopped apples (I leave the peels on mine)

Crumble Topping:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I used dark brown-the recipe called for light brown)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, softened

Brown Sugar Glaze:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar (once again I used dark brown-light is fine)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons water

Directions:

     Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with Pam. In a large bowl, cream together one stick of butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating after the addition of each, add the vanilla. In a separate bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients, alternating with the sour cream. Fold in the apples. Pour into the prepared baking dish, spreading out to the edges.

     To make the topping, in a bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and 4 T. butter, and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the topping over the cake and bake until golden brown and set, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes.

     To make the glaze, in a bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla, and water and mix until smooth. Drizzle the cake with the glaze and let harden slightly. Serve warm or cold.

I am joining Lynn @ Happier Than a Pig in Mud for Barnyard Bash

I'm also joining Michael @ Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday

Real Men DO Eat Quiche...If It Tastes Good!

     For my younger readers, the title comes from a book published in 1982, Real Mean Don't Eat Quiche. Well, my man does eat quiche and loves it! He doesn't eat every kind of quiche, but he does eat this recipe that I got years ago from my mother. This is a simple dish to put together and you will see that I took some shortcuts to make the preparation even easier.

Ingredients:

1 9" pie crust (I use the refrigerated ones that are near the canned biscuits at the grocery store)

2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

2 T. flour

3/4 cup milk (I used skim)

3/4 cup half and half

4 eggs slightly beaten

bacon-cooked and crumbled (I used the pre-cooked variety to save time)

pinch of salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Place pie crust into pie pan or quiche pan. I like to pre-bake mine about 5 minutes.

     I used an entire package of the pre-cooked bacon (15 slices). I never think that pre-cooked stuff is crisp enough, so I put it in the microwave for a few seconds until it gets a little crisp. Crumble it into pieces and place them in the bottom of the pie crust to make the first layer. The picture blurred...but, you get the idea!

    

     Mix shredded cheese (if you can find it in a bag already shredded you are lucky-I bought a chunk and shredded it with a grater) with flour. Put the mixture into the pre-cooked pie crust.

     In a medium sized bowl, mix the milk, half and half, eggs, salt and pepper. Whisk gently (or use a fork) to blend. Pour over the cheese layer.

     Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 50 minutes. You want the top to be lightly brown, the eggs to puff up a bit and you should be able to insert a knife in the center and have it come out clean. Serve with a salad for dinner or with fresh fruit for breakfast. Enjoy!