Comfort Food 002: French Toast

The weekend always brings out the breakfast chef in me.  A few weeks ago a friend handed me several slices of her grandma's infamous homemade bread.  My immediate first thoughts, oooh I am making some french toast!  I left the bread on the counter for a few days to dry out.  Additionally, I have recently acquired some Sangster's Rum Cream from a quick vacation to Jamaica, I decided that the flavor would be a perfect add on this very traditional meal.

Necessary Ingredients:

3 eggs

2/3 cup of milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp of cinnamon

4 slices of stale bread

Butter

Maple Syrup

Optional:

1/4 cup rum cream

Fresh berries

Powdered sugar

 In a bowl beat eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla together. If using, rum cream. Whisk until well blended, pour into a shallow bowl.

Dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture, allowing bread to soak up some of the mixture. Melt some butter (or use vegetable oil or pam spray) over a large skillet on medium high.  Add as many slices of bread onto the skillet as will fit at a time.  Fry until brown on both sides, flipping bread when necessary.

Plate and serve hot with butter and maple syrup, if available, fresh berries.

French Kisses :-*

Winter Comforts:Soup 004: Five Spice Chili

Well, well, well meet my favorite comfort meal, Mista Chili. He is so hot and spicy and always filling to the my tummy. If your mind went else where shame on you, but then again this blog is about food porn right?!

Necessary Ingredients:
1 lb of ground meat
1 15 oz can of Tomato Sauce
1 15 oz can of Red Kidney Beans, strained and rinsed off
1 tbsp Cumin
1/4 cup Chili Powder
2 Bay Leaves
Pinch Crushed Red Pepper
1 tbsp Paprika
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup of chopped white/spanish onion
1/2 cup of chopped green pepper
1/2 of jalapeno, diced
 Salt and Pepper

In one pot add about two table spoons of EVOO, to coat the bottom, over medium-high heat. Add in garlic, green pepper, and onion. Let saute until soften, add in jalapeno, let simmer for another two minutes. After the vegetables have softened and sent your sensory nerves into overload, add in the ground meat. I prefer ground turkey but you can opt to use ground beef (chuck) if that is your preference.

 Cook meat until it is brown and done, it will chunk up so breaking it up with a wooden a spoon or whatever cooking utensil you are using. While cooking the meat I like to season it with salt and pepper. Once the meat is done I add in the tomato sauce and kidney beans. 

After adding the tomato sauce and kidney beans, I then add in  all of the dry spices. Note the spice level in this recipe is rather high, but I like it that way. To scale back the heat, eliminate the jalepeno pepper and or the crushed red pepper. Turn the eye to low-medium heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. I stir the pot every 15-20 minutes to ensure that it is not sticking to the pot and all the flavors get a chance to fold together. 

Spoon into bowls.

 Garnished with avocado slices, dollop of plain greek yogurt (great substitute for sour cream) and red onion.

Winter Comforts: Soup 003: Semi-Homemade Crab Corn Chowda

After a eventful day of errand running, my favorite Trader Joe buddy and I went to our favorite place, Trader Joe's :) I have been dying for some crab of some sort ever since I had the biggest  crab cake of my life a few weekends ago in Baltimore.  So I snagged box of creamy corn and roasted red pepper soup, a can of crab claw, and heavy cream to make this magic I will have for lunch.   I also spent the vast majority of my lazy Sunday Monday on the sofa channel surfing so a scratch made soup was not on the list of things to do.  

necessary ingredients: 

1 box of creamy corn and roasted pepper soup
8 oz can of crab claw
3 medium red skin potatoes
8 oz of heavy cream
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup of chopped celery
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1/2 cup of chopped carrort
1/2 of  diced jalapeno
1 tbspn of dried thyme
Salt and Pepper


In one pot add about a two table spoons of EVOO, to coat the bottom. Add in garlic, onion, celery, and carrots.

Just the aroma from this combination here alone sends my taste buds dancing. 

Lovely texture here in the claw. I did not have one complaint about just using half the can. A lot of good flavor here also.

 Let saute for about 3-4 minutes over medium heat, add in diced jalapeno cook for another 2 minutes.  Slowly pour  in creamy corn and roasted pepper soup, stirring and mixing up the sauteing vegetables. Stir in heavy cream. Bring to low heat. Season with thyme, salt, and pepper. Add in potatoes and let cook for 30-40 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add in crab meat let simmer for 5 minutes. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with additional slices of jalapeno pepper.

Comfort Food Pizza 001: Breakfast Pizza

breakfast pizza

randomly i had whole wheat pizza dough in the kitchen, i had probably planned to make some kind of no red sauce pizza but i never got around to it. so one Saturday morning I perused the fridge and found some pretty typical breakfast ingredients sausage, potatoes, eggs, and cheese. then out of nowhere I had the bright idea for me and my house guest to have pizza for breakfast. note this is not available at the local pizza shop, but because sharing is caring you can make it for yourself! **this was a little labor intensive as i made the potato hash from scratch

necessary ingredients:

1 pie of pre-baked pizza pie
2 pieces Italian chicken sausage, chopped/sliced
1 red skin potato hash
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
EVOO

first things first, red skin potato hash:

wash and scrub potato clean. shred potato into pieces, dry with a paper towel, potatoes hold water, a lot of it.  in a skillet with EVOO, one clove of fresh chopped garlic, salt and pepper, saute the shredded potato until tender.

Pre-heat oven to 425

cook sliced sausage in a skillet for about 5 minutes each side or until brown.

pizza pie, drizzle with EVOO a top the pie, place topping across the entire pie. in a bowl scramble two eggs and pour on top of pie. sprinkle mozzarella cheese atop. place on pizza pan and bake pizza for about 30 minutes...watch it closely so that it does not burn. remove, slice and serve.

Quick Fix: Nutella & Strawberry Delight

nutella is pure hazelnut heaven!nothing short of delightful! i mean it taste amazing, is smooth, and it melts with perfection. i have not one complaint to offer you. this quick snack is brought to you by "i wanted something sweet and all I had available was wheat bread, strawberries, and a non-stick skillet.

necessary ingredients:

2 pieces of bread
6 sliced strawberries
2 tbsp of nutella
Pam spray

pre-warm skillet to medium heat. spray pan with Pam, spread nutella across the bread slices evenly. place in skillet nutella side up. spread strawberries atop bread while in skillet. place second piece of bread on top, allow it to simmer on both sides for about three minutes, flip to the other side for another three minutes. remove from skillet, slice into triangles, plate and sprinkle confection sugar atop. Ta-da, quick snack is served!

Winter Comfort Soup 001 : Tomato & Carrot

 roasted carrot & tomato soup

as a child, i HATED tomato soup!  mommy use to whip up a good ole can of Campbell's Soup with her magical touch (and staple kitchen ingredients) it would look so delicious!  and then i tasted it, and it reminded me that tomatoes were included. YUCK!

well fast forward about twenty years and where we are, me telling you about my homemade tomato & carrot soup recipe. sorry Campbell's i still don't love you.

necessary ingredients:

6 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

4 large carrots, diced

1 spring of thyme

1 spring of rosemary

6 medium vine tomatoes, diced

1 large onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 Tbsp. chopped shallot

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil

2 dried bay leafs

1 (28-32 oz.) cans whole peeled Roma tomatoes

1 qt. chicken broth

1 pt. heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place chopped carrots, diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, shallot, thyme, rosemary, and basil on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and cook 30 minutes, or until vegetables are soft.

Place roasted vegetables in 6 quart sauce pan and heat over medium heat.  Add tomatoes and broth and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Puree soup in food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan. Stir in cream and heat over low heat, just until heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.