Oven-Baked Caramel French Toast

Hi Everyone. So I found this recipe on All Recipes and it turned out wonderful! We usually do a big conference breakfast complete with cinnamon rolls but this might win over this year! We love breakfast for dinner so if you really want to treat your family, mix it up early Sunday morning and bake it when you get home from church! MMMMMM! Oh yeah, and I refrigerated the leftovers and warmed them up the next day and they tasted fine!

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 cup chopped pecans, divided
• 12 slices French or Italian-style bread
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Caramel Sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter and 2 tablespoons corn syrup. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.
2. Pour sauce into a 9x13 inch baking dish and sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans. Place 6 slices of bread on top of the sauce, sprinkle with the remaining pecans and cover with the remaining 6 slices of bread.
3. Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt in a blender. Pour egg mixture evenly over bread slices, cover the baking dish, and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
4. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove the French toast from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until lightly brown. Drizzle sauce over the toast right before serving.
5. To make the Caramel Sauce: In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter and 1 tablespoon corn syrup. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

I made some alterations. Don't layer the bread. Just stuff as many as you can (squish them together) in the pan and then pour your egg mixture over. This way all sides of the bread are covered. Also, I put the sauce on about 1 1/2 hours before serving and it was fine. You can put the pan in the oven to keep it warm. Enjoy!

What's Your Favorite?

We're having some serious dinner crisis' at our house. I'm simply tired of cooking and need some new meal ideas. I thought if we all shared one of our family's favorite meals we could come up with a pretty good list of yummy choices. I'm going to say tacos and spaghetti don't count unless you have a killer recipe. I added a couple things that we like. Also, if you have any resources you go to for recipes please leave a comment or e-mail me and I'll add them to a sidebar. Thanks for your input, I can't wait to try something new!

Chicken Pillows

Filling:
8 0z cream cheese
3 TBSP butter
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 small onion chopped or a few green onions
1 can cream of chicken soup
salt a pepper to taste
optional (olives, mushrooms, green pepper, seasoning salt, garlic powder.
1 pkg refrigerator crescent rolls or 1 batch dough

Dough:
1 TBSP yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water.
3 TBSP sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Mix filling together and set aside. Open can of rolls or roll out dough and cut into triangles. Place a couple teaspoons of filling on each piece of dough. fold dough together and seal the edges by pinching together. Bake at 375 for 15 - 20 minutes. If you have filling leftover, heat it up and pour over top of pillows before serving.

Roast Chicken Rotisserie Style

This Chicken works great for Sundays (as long as you remember to put it in the oven before you leave)

4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 onions, quartered
2 (4 pound) whole chickens

In a small bowl, mix salt, paprika, onion powder, thyme, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Remove and discard giblets from chicken. Rinse chicken cavity, and pat dry with paper towel. Rub each chicken inside and out with spice mixture. Place 1 onion in cavity of each chicken. Place chickens in a resealable bag or double wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight, or at least 4 to 6 hrs.

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Place chickens in a roasting pan. Bake uncovered for 5 hours, to a minimum internal temperature of 180 degrees F. let the chickens stand 10 minutes before carving.

This chicken has the best flavor and is really easy, you just have to plan ahead. I've cut the recipe in half and just did one chicken and it works great. If you don't like dark meat or are intimidated by a whole bird like I was, this would probably work great on split breasts or other pieces. Just reduce the cooking time.

Ricotta Berry Muffins

I made these last night and thought they were really tasty so I thought I would post them for you to try. I like that there is Ricotta in it so there is more protein in the treat. They taste almost cake like.

Ricotta Berry Muffins

Ingredients
3/4 cup Ricotta cheese room temperature
2 cups Flour
2 large Eggs room temperature
2 teaspoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Baking soda
4 ounce Unsalted butter melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2/3 cup Sugar
1 1/3 cups Blueberries
1 lime Zest finely grated (I used a lemon)

Instructions for Ricotta Berry Muffins
Butter or spray muffin tins or line with cupcake papers. Preheat oven to 400.

Whisk ricotta, eggs and vanilla together, then stir in melted and cooled butter.

Working in a large bowl and with your fingertips, rub sugar and lime zest together until sugar is moist and fragrant. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour ricotta mixture on top of dry ingredients and, using rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough. Batter will be very thick and heavy. Stir in blueberries. (If fresh blueberries aren't in season, use frozen ones: just pour the amount you need into a strainer, run hot water over the berries, then drain and add.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups and bake 20-25 min. Cool.

Chicken Italiano

Appetizers are a favorite of mine to make so you'll see mostly that from me... anyway, here's a really easy one and so delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

• 18 Wonton wrappers • 1/2 cup Red pepper, finely chopped • 1/2 cup Green onion, finely chopped • 2 tsp. Olive oil • 2 cups Cooked chicken, finely chopped • 1/3 cup Mayonnaise • 2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese • 1/2 tsp. Garlic powder • 1/2 tsp. Onion powder • 1/2 tsp. Basil • 1/2 tsp. Oregano • Salt & pepper to taste • Non-stick cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray muffin pan cavities with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Press wonton wrappers into cavities.

3. In small skillet, cook red pepper and green onion in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, combine chicken, mayonnaise, cheese and seasonings

5. Stir in cooked vegetables.

6. Spoon 3 tbsp. filling into each wonton cup.

7. Bake 7-8 minutes.

8. Serve hot or at room temperature. Makes enough for 18 servings.

Tis the season for Pie

This is the time of year I have no guilt eating pie. This is our favorite and so easy!

Pumpkin pie (1 pie)
1 Can pumpkin
1 (4oz) condensed milk ( I used the whole can they come in 6oz or 8oz)
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp GINGER
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt

Add all ingreditent and mix well, pour in pie crust.
Bake 425 for 15 mins reduce heat to 350 degrees back for 35-40 mins.

I like to make my own crust, this is a not fail crust. It makes 2 or cut in half if you only need one.
Pie Crust (2)
2 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 c shortening
½ c water

Put flour, salt and shortening in bowl, use a fork for pastry cutter and cut up the first ingredints. Once it looks like a crumbled mess add slowly the water and mix until you form your dough. The less you work with it the lighter your crust. Roll in a ball and cover with saran wrap and put in fridge for at least 30 mins to chill then roll for pie.