French Toast Casserole

Another one of those things that is just easier to bake in one dish instead of dipping and flipping for half an hour while holding a 20lb kid. Honestly I think I prefer it to regular french toast. French toast has never been my favorite but my hubby likes it so we have it from time to time. Well I had this at a baby shower and decided it was worth it to make at home, so the next weekend when little boy woke up a hour before eveyone else i put this together and then played until hubby and little lady finally woke up.

8 pieces of bread

4T butter 

1/3 cup brown sugar 

2 eggs

1/2 to 2/3 cup milk

1/2 t vanilla

In a  8x9 pan melt your butter in your oven while it preheats to 350. Then sprinkle on the brown sugar. Place one layer of bread on top (4 pieces fit perfect in my pan). Beat up your egg, milk, and vanilla pour half on top of the bread and layer another 4 pieces of bread. pour on the rest of your egg mix and sprinkle on some cinnamon. Then bake for about 40 minutes. I served mine with some homemade apple sauce and it was fantastic.  

You want the egg to absorb into the bread so you can do this the night befor if you think about it, or just let it sit for a couple minutes before putting it in the oven.

I used wheat bread the first time which was great but then I used a soft load of sourdough and it was SO yummy. I'm loving sourdough and use it all the time now, either the soft bread loaf or the artisan, each are good on their own way. 

Pumpkin Sausage Soup

This stuff was good. Surprisingly good, like my husband went back for thirds kind of good.

http://livewellnetwork.com/My-Family-Recipe-Rocks/recipes/Pumpkin-Sausage-Soup/9151664?pid=9154406

Pumpkin sausage soup adapted from My Family Recipe Rocks

• 1 pounds breakfast sausage (preferably homemade)
• 1c sweet yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 package baby bella mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 3 cups pumpkin
• 2 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade)
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 can coconut milk

Directions

In a large stock pot,  Add chopped sweet yellow onion and sliced mushrooms. Cook until onions become translucent. Add breakfast sausage and brown. Once sausage has browned add spices, herbs, salt and pepper. Stir in canned pumpkin and mix well.
Add chicken broth, mix well and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 hours (the longer the better, to allow the mixture to reduce a bit and the flavors to meld together).

Ketchup

It all started with avoiding ketchup with HFCS and now we have progressed to this...

Not to toot my own horn, but it's pretty delicious. And totally sugar free.

Ketchup
4oz tomato paste
1 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 T dijon mustard
2 T water
1/8 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon
a pinch of ground clove
1/8 t garlic powder

Optional: 1T maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a pint mason jar. Mix well. put the jar in the fridge so the flavors will marry (they like to get frisky). use on everything, hotdogs, hamburgers, meatloaf, fries, eggs, mac and cheese... (i think that last one is weird but my husband sure likes it)

This should last up to about 7 months in the fridge.

Three bean salad

I made this one day for a picnic with the fam and my husband loved it so much he requested that i make it again to bring to our friends luau the next weekend. Thankfully it was well received there too. I'm pretty sure that makes this one a keeper.

3 Bean Salad
1/2 can great northern beans (just freeze the other half of the beans)
1/2 can kidney beans
2 handfuls of green beans snapped into bite size pieces*
2 green onions (or a slice of red onion finely diced)
1/4 c cider vinegar
2 T olive oil
1T honey
1/4 t ground mustard
1/4 t garlic
salt and pepper
other spices you may like to add: a pinch of cayenne OR chopped fresh basil OR chopped fresh parsley

First saute the green bean pieces with a spritz of olive oil and some salt until they have a little color on them, about 5-8 minutes. Then in a bowl stir together all your dressing/spice ingredients. top with all three kinds of beans and toss to coat.

*I guess if it's not green bean season you could use canned and skip the saute...but canned green beans taste rubbery to me so i'll only be making this with fresh beans.

Easy scratch Mac &Cheese

I can't remember the last time I had box Mac and cheese. Growing up my mom always made a big batch from scratch and with the exception of maybe having it at a friend's house I never ate the kraft kind until my hubby and I started living together and he thought it was a staple for the pantry. We ate it for a while but I'm not sure I ever really acquired a taste for it. The best way to make real Mac and cheese is to make the cheese sauce and add it to cooked noodles, but that requires one of two things, either you use two pans or you cook the noodles then put it in a dish so you can use the same pan to make your cheese sauce to dump on top of your noodles. Since I'm working with one hand most of the time I'm getting food ready I opt for the one pot easy way.

2cups noodles (1/2lb)
2cups milk
1Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt and pepper (each)
1 tsp ground mustard (or sweet paprika)
1-1/2 to 2 cups fresh grated cheese

Mix all but the cheese in a pot and bring to a soft boil. Reduce heat to simmer and let it cook till the pasta is al dente (like 8 minutes). Stir occasionally so the noodles don't stick together. When the pasta is done turn off the heat and stir in the grated cheese. Cover and let the cheese melt.

Don't get to stuck on only using cheddar adding just a bit of other cheeses really amps up the flavor.