French Toast

E & I have two different ways of making French toast. Sometimes we will just buy a bag of cinnamon swirl bread and use a plain egg batter to make it; it turns out pretty good. We also have a Better Homes and Garden Cookbook with a simple French toast recipe. We used that recipe today, since we had all of the ingredients at home.

Ingredients:

• 4 beaten eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 TBSP. sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 8 slices of bread (we just used wheat bread that we had leftover; it probably wasn't thick enough, but it was free!)
• 2 TBSP. butter

Directions:
1) In a shallow bowl, beat together eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon & nutmeg.
2) Dip bread slices into egg mixture, coating both sides.
3) In a skillet or a griddle, melt 1 TBSP of butter over medium heat.
4) Add half of the bread slices and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
5) Repeat with remaining butter & bread slices.
6) Serve with syrup (and I like to add butter & powdered sugar too... yummy!)

Blueberry Banana Muffins

We had some leftover ripe bananas and some frozen blueberries, so I used this recipe (awkward title, in my opinion) and made up a batch. We used frozen blueberries, and we substituted shortening for butter. They turned out good. Today I procrastinated homework and cover letter writing by cooking and baking. Oh well; we all need a mental health day sometimes :)

Berry Breakfast Smoothie

I've been trying to get in the habit of eating more fruit. They also say that blueberries & flax seeds are good "cancer fighters." I don't know if it's true, but I also call this my anti-cancer smoothie :)

This recipe serves 1 person (using a pretty big glass).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. (more or less) orange juice
• 1 TBSP of ground flax seed (I buy a bag of flax seed and then grind up about a week's worth in my mini Cuisinart. Then I refrigerate the ground flax seed)
• 1 banana (peeled & sliced)
• 1/2 c. yogurt (if you want to be super healthy, use Greek yogurt. But then you will probably want to add some honey to this recipe. Also Greek yogurt is usually $$$, so I just use plain or vanilla yogurt most of the time; gotta stay on a budget)
• 1/2 c. frozen blueberries
• 3-5 frozen strawberries
  
• MONEY SAVING TIP: I used to buy a bag of "Mixed Frozen Berries" instead of measuring out blueberries & strawberries separately. Then I noticed that I was paying almost $4 for a 12 oz. bag of mixed berries. And a 16 oz. bag of frozen blueberries or strawberries is around $3.25.
  

Directions:
1) Put ingredients in a blender

2) Blend (on a high speed) until all of the ingredients are mixed together

3) Enjoy!

Other helpful note: Check your teeth after eating this; blueberries like to get stuck between your teeth....

Banana Muffins

We finally used our wedding mixer this weekend; I think that some people get married just so that they can get a Kitchenaid mixer. It's like a rite of passage :)

E & I had been intimidated by ours, but it wasn't as complicated as we thought it was going to be.

We used my mom's banana muffins recipe. Yummy!

The recipe is supposed to make 36 muffins, but I probably overfilled the muffin cups, because we only got 28 out of the recipe :)

Ingredients:

• 3 3/8 c. flour
• 2 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 c. shortening (we used Market Pantry brand - it was cheap; we have subbed unsalted butter in the past, and using the shortening made all the difference)
• 3 eggs
• 3 bananas (peeled & sliced) (we used SUPER ripe bananas)
  
• 1 c. sour milk (to make milk sour: add 2 TBSP of vinegar or lemon juice to milk; wait a while for the milk to thicken, and then it has soured)

Directions:

1) Put ingredients into mixing bowl in the order given.

2) Beat on medium speed with a mixer for 2 minutes.

3) Fill muffin cups 2/3 full

4) Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes on the center rack.

5) To know if they are done: either do the toothpick test or (this test is easier for me) if the center of the muffin springs back when touched, they are done.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

We made up a 1.5 batch of chocolate chip cookies last night. We baked 1.5 dozen cookies right away, and then we froze the rest of the dough. When we freeze the dough, we freeze it in little cookie dough balls on a baking sheet. We freeze it overnight, and then when they are frozen into little cookie dough balls, we put them into a plastic bag in the freezer. It makes it a lot easier, in my opinion. We have 4 1/2 dozen frozen cookie dough balls in our freezer right now :)

My recipe for chocolate chip cookies is based on the Nestle Toll House recipe, with a few changes.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) of unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar
• 1 TBSP of vanilla extract (variation on original recipe)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12 oz. pkg) of Semi-Sweet chocolate morsels (My variation: I use 1/2 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 package of milk chocolate chips. I think it's a good combination)

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2) Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl

3) Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. (Be sure to use a LARGE bowl)

4) Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5) Gradually beat in flour mixture

6) Stir in chocolate chips

7) Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets

8) Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until golden brown

9) Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely

Tomato, Basil and Cheese Baked Pasta

I knew that I was craving some kind of cheesy baked pasta, but I didn't want to use our normal baked ziti recipe.

Rachel Ray saved the day for us with this recipe, although I changed it up a little.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ziti (instead of shell pasta)
• Italian sausage (we had about 3/4 lb. left, so we just used that)
• 2 TBSP. EVOO
• 3 large cloves garlic (chopped)
  
• 1 small yellow onion (diced) - I bought a new kitchen toy that makes chopping onions a lot more fun. It was so worth it :)
  
• 1 (28 oz) can of crushed tomatoes (Lately the cheapest store for canned tomatoes, including diced, crushed, etc. has been Target - if you buy the Market Pantry brand. I think it's around 54 or 56 cents for a can of diced tomatoes. A store brand, same sized can at the other local stores is $1.06. I think the can of crushed tomatoes was about a $1 at Target; cheaper than Cub has been lately.)
  
• 10 to 12 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 7 oz. container of store bought basil pesto sauce (I had every intention to make my own pesto, but my Friday classes sucked the life out of me, so store-bought pesto it was...)
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (we didn't use this kind; we had a bag of half Romano and half Asiago cheese in our freezer, so we used that instead; and it worked out well)
• 1/2 pound of fresh mozzarella, shredded (I cheaped out on this ingredient too; I bought a block of Target brand mozzarella cheese and shredded it. Probably not as good as the fancy mozzarella, but it saved us some $$$)

Directions
1) Brown the Italian sausage, and then set it aside

2) Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt the water. Then cook the pasta according to the directions on the box; cook it until it is al dente. Drain it and set it aside.

3) Preheat a deep, big skillet over medium heat. (We used the 11" chef's skillet from our wedding set)

4) Add the 2 TBSP of EVOO to the skillet; coating the bottom of the pan.

5) Add the garlic; let it cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the chopped onion. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes (until the onions look cooked).

6) Add the tomatoes and stir. Let the tomatoes come to a bubble, and then reduce the heat to low.

7) Stir in the basil pieces and wilt them. Season with salt & pepper.

8) Preheat the broiler and place a rack in the center of the oven.

9) Add the pasta shells to a casserole dish. (We used 2 dishes, so we could freeze a batch for another night). Add the Italian sausage, pesto sauce, ricotta cheese and a handful of the romano & asiago cheese. Stir, coating the pasta with the pesto and cheeses.

10) Pour the hot tomato and basil sauce over the pasta.

11) Top with the mozzarella cheese and the remaining romano & asiago cheeses.

12) Place the casserole under the broiler in the middle of the over (about 10 to 12 inches from the heat). Let the cheese melt and bubble on top; 3 to 5 minutes.


Notes: It turned out really yummy. We also had garlic bread. We prepared 2 casserole dishes of this, and we froze one without baking it. My thought is that we might have been better off with setting the oven to 350 degrees and baking it for a longer period of time. The broiler did a good job of melting the cheese, and it tasted really yummy, but I didn't think the dish was hot enough. When we bake our frozen batch, we will probably thaw it out in the fridge, and then bake it at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes (or longer) instead of broiling it. Other than that, it was a great recipe.

Updates

I finally got over my sinus infection. Thank God. It was not very pleasant. Also, it's sunny and somewhat warm here, so that is nice :)

I'm trying to be more optimistic about the job search. I've started applying to jobs where a J.D. is an asset but not a necessity. They are jobs that I would enjoy working at, and where I would still be helping people. Hopefully something will eventually pan out. The job descriptions for the positions to which I am applying are jobs that I think would be a really good "fit" for me. I feel like I would be happy working at them. This makes me feel more optimistic, too.

I am pretty sure that my tube moved to my left side (instead of hanging straight down). It's causing me some pain, but I know that it could be worse. And I will either get used to it soon, or it will move again. I know that I could have it much much worse. A girl from my h.s. just found out that she has an orange-sized tumor in her brain. She is having neurosurgery this week. I hope that it isn't cancerous, and I hope that she makes a speedy recovery. I'm so thankful that my problem wasn't a tumor. An arachnoid cyst (even a huge one) really isn't a big deal at all.

Now for some recipe updates.

We tried the chicken stew recipe. I couldn't taste it (thanks a lot, sinuses!). But E really enjoyed it, so it must have been good :) I froze 4 chicken thighs, some bacon, tomato paste and chicken stock, so we can recreate the meal in a month or so without having to buy very many ingredients.

We also made a beef barley soup in the crockpot. Again, thanks to the sinuses, I couldn't taste it. The only thing that I could taste was the thyme, and it was actually overwhelming to me. But, again, E enjoyed it. We got a lot of leftovers, and we had some to freeze. So that's good :)