Berry Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast

Just another way to bring the sugary-creamy goodness of Valentine's day to the breakfast table.

You need:

Loaf of french bread
Frozen berries
Cream cheese
Eggs
Milk
Vanilla
Sugar!

Puree 1 cup of any berry with a couple scoops of sugar. (I used blueberries this time. Not very valentiney, but they were what I had and Devan loves blueberries. Blueberies are my least favorite berry, but I still loved these.)

Cream the puree together with 4 oz softened cream cheese.

Beat about 4 eggs with milk and add it some vanilla, cinnamon and sugar. The original recipe called for 1 cup of sugar. Yikes! I used a couple tablespoons.

Cut a loaf of french bread into 1 inch slices and spread the cream chesse mixture between two slices like a sandwich. Then dip into the egg mixture and fry.

So delicious! We decided they're best when they're hot, straight off the frying pan. This recipe made 6 french toasts. I was uncomfortably full after 1 and a half pieces. Devan finished off the rest.

Rice and Spinach Balls

Okay, girls, I know we all got busy with the holidays, but I'm running out of good ideas so I hope we all start sharing recipes again soon! Here's another great way to use up leftover rice. I didn't serve them with marinara but they were still really good.

Rice and Spinach Balls

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with nonstick foil. Heat 2 tsp oil in skillet over medium heat. Add I cup thawed frozen cut-leaf spinach, ½ small onion, diced, and ½ tsp minced garlic; cook 2 minutes until spinach is tender.

Stir into spinach mixture 1 cup cooked rice, ¼ cup grated Parmesan, 1 large egg, and 1/8 tsp pepper.

Drop rounded Tbsps onto prepared baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes or until firm. Serve with marinara. Makes about 10.

Shepherd's Pie

You all might already have a good recipe for Shepherd's Pie but I made it last night and it tasted sooo good, I just had to share this easy meal.

Okay, so this is not really a recipe as much as a list of ingredients. Add as much or as little as you like. This makes a 9x9 casserole.

roughly 1/2 lb of ground turkey, browned with onions, salt, and pepper

frozen green beans

frozen peas

frozen corn

any other frozen veg you think would be good

mix all this together with a can of tomato soup and a little salt and pepper. Spread in a casserole dish and top with mashed potatoes. If I have time, I like to make homemade potatoes, but this is good with dry potatoes too. I add a little garlic. Spread the potatoes over the meat and top everything with a little cheese. Cheddar is good and so is parmesan and mozzarella. Bake at 4375 for about 30 minutes. Make sure the cheese on top gets nice and brown.

Alex! did you use cooking wine in your sesame chicken or a substitute?

Cranberry Chop

I've been meaning to post this anyway, but since Alex asked for Thanksgiving recipes, I thought I post it today. I'll come up with some other things later. I could also use some help with veggies!

Cranberry Chop

½ lb fresh cranberries

1 peeled orange

2 small peeled and cored apples

1 cup sugar

Fresh lemon to taste (or substitute lemon juice)

1 c. chopped walnuts

1 can crushed pineapple

Dates

Blend until finely chopped in a blender or food processor.

* Best if made the day before and allowed time to blend together.

This is a great alternative to cranberry sauce. I never use very much sugar, just enough to make it kind of sweet. I have also never tried it with the dates. You really must make this the day before. So good!

I made Alianna's veggy and rice casserole last night. It was really good. We ate it with beans. I've been trying to eat at least a few vegetarian meals a week, to save money on meat. We usually just end up eating plain rice and beans and that gets pretty boring so it was nice to jazz it up a bit. What else do you have for us Alianna? I'm sure you have some really great new meat free recipes.

I think I'm all caught up on the recipes now. I haven't made Heather's cake yet because I know it would get me into trouble and I'm saving it for a special occasion. So what else do you girls have? I need some more dinner ideas. I feel like I cook the same things over and over again. And I need some good vegetable side dishes. And I want to learn to make homemade tortillas and noodles. As you can see I'm a mess.

Also, what are your favorite holiday recipes? What kind of side dishes does your family eat on Thanksgiving and Christmas? And what is a good meal to make on New Year's Eve? Christmas cookies! I'm getting excited to make some holiday padding!

Red and White Chili

This is one of my favorite crockpot meals and since my mom just asked me for it, I thought I would share it here too. Sorry, no pictures since I haven't made it yet this fall.

Red and White Chili

6 cups cubed cooked chicken

2 cans navy beans, drained

1 cup chicken broth

1 large onion, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 t cumin

1 t oregano

1/2 each salt and cayenne pepper

Place all ingredients in the slow cooker; stir gently to mix.

Cook on low for 6-7 hours or High for 3-4 hours until hot and sauce thickens slightly.

If you think this will be too spicy for you, you can leave out the jalapeño. Also, I use dried navy beans that I have soaked which means I usually end up adding more broth throughout.

I like the picture, Alex! I forgot we were going to do our apron pictures! I guess we better get on that!

Sesame Chicken

I made Heather's fried rice for dinner last night and it was delicous, but left me wanting more Chinese food. When I crave Chinese, it doesn't go away until I finally cave in and get some takeout. It could be a day or three weeks later, but eventually the craving wins. So today I played around in the kitchen a little and made some sesame chicken that hit the spot. There were a few ingredients I don't normally have at home that I had to buy, but all together they were cheaper than one meal from a restaurant would be. To me it was worth it. And it's lots heathier than the deep fried stuff you'd get if you ate out.

Ingredients
3 whole boneless chicken breasts

Marinade
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon cooking wine
3 drops sesame oil
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon oil (just whatever you normally cook with)

Sauce
1/2 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1/8-1/4 cup white vinegar or rice wine vinegar (depending on how sweet you want the sauce)
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes or chili paste
1 minced garlic clove (I just threw a little garlic salt into mine, but that's just how I roll)

Garnish
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Directions

Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Mix the marinade ingredients (the first 9 ingredients listed) and marinate the chicken for 20 minutes.

To prepare the sauce:. Mix together all of the sauce ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Turn the heat down to low and keep warm while you are frying the chicken.

Heat about 1 T oil in a pan and fry the marinated chicken.
Place the chicken on a platter or bowl and pour the sauce over. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (I didn't this time). Serve the Sesame Chicken with rice (Like Heather's!)

Devan got really excited about this and he doesn't often get excited about anything. Hannah liked it too.