I made this stuff up! Cooking with Mimi

Baked French toast

Baked French Toast

1 loaf sourdough bread (I used Pepperidge Farm)
8 eggs
2 cups milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla

Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces

1.  Grease a 9x13 pan with butter.  Tear bread into bite-size chunks and place evenly in the pan.
2.  Mix together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla.  Pour evenly over bread.  Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours (I put mine in overnight....it was about 12 hours).
3.  In a medium bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until it all looks nice and crumbly (like small pebbles, according to P-Dub).  Place in a ziploc bag and put in fridge.
4.  When ready to bake, take pan and bag out of fridge.  Remove wrap and evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top.  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees (or 45 minutes if you like it more soft and pudding-like).

Notes:

• You can serve with syrup, but we made a quick glaze with powdered sugar and milk.  Delish!
• If you don't have brown sugar, mix 1/2 Tbsp. molasses with 1/2 cup sugar until well blended.
• Like I said, you can bake it for less time if you like it softer, but I love how the top gets crispy when it's baked for an hour.  The underneath part is still somewhat soft.  One hour in my 350-oven was just right.
• The directions said to scoop out, but I wanted to be able to control the portions so I cut it into 12 servings (they were large, and this is rich, so you could serve other breakfast dishes and use this as more of a side dish and get 24 servings).

Makes 12 large servings

Source:  slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Apple Salad

So no picture for this but trust me it's good. I made it for Kelly's baby shower but originally had a similar salad at Blue Heron at the coast. So I tweaked this recipe to make it more like I wanted it.

Apple Salad

• 4 honeycrisp apples, cored and chopped
• 1/4 cup pecans, toasted
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
• 1 (8 ounce) container vanilla greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon

In a medium bowl, stir together the apples, almonds, cranberries, cherries, cinnamon, honey and yogurt until evenly coated. Depending on the apples you are using you may want to add a bit more sugar or honey to meet your taste. Enjoy!

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

 

I had some bananas that needed to be used up and wanted to try a different banana bread. This one had peanut butter and chocolate chips. Winner!! This recipe was found on Pinterest. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium ripe mashed bananas
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, divided use
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
1 1/2 teaspoons turbinado sugar, optional


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray or butter.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together banana, peanut butter, 2 tablespoons butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes; beat in eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in milk and flour mixture until just combined; stir in chocolate chips

Pour batter into prepared pan; bake for 50 minutes. Remove pan from oven, melt additional tablespoon butter, brush evenly over the top, and top with turbinado sugar. Continue to bake an additional 5 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool for 20 minutes before running a knife around outside edges, removing, and transferring to a wire rack to cool an additional 30 minutes before slicing.

Makes 6 servings

Blackberry Muffins

Mom brought me up fresh blackberries so I found a couple new recipes to try out. These muffins were yummy and you could use frozen blackberries.

Blackberry Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 Tbsp warm melted butter (1 stick)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups (about 5-6 oz) of fresh blackberries, cut in half (often available at Trader Joe's, you can use frozen blackberries if fresh are not available, defrost and drain them first.)

Method

1 Position rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a standard 12 muffin pan or line with paper muffin cups. (Actually, with the berries you'll have more batter than just for 12 muffins. This batch made 18 muffins.)

2 Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.

3 In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, milk, sugar, butter and vanilla.

4 Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix together with a few light strokes, just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Add the berries. (If you are using frozen berries, defrost them first, then drain the excess liquid, then coat them lightly in flour.) Do not overmix! Overmixing will cause the muffins to be dense, not fluffy. The batter should not be smooth.

5 Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of 1 or 2 of the muffins comes out clean, 17-20 minutes (or longer). Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes before removing from the pan. If not serving hot, let cool on a rack.

Serve as soon as possible, preferably within a few hours of baking.

Makes about 18 muffins.

Easy breakfast casserole

I found this recipe when I was looking for an easier alternative to the other hashbrown casserole that I usually make. This is definately it. It turned out great and was so simple to put together! I didn't add the veggies to it but it was still tasty!

Easy Breakfast Casserole

1/4 cup butter

12 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

6 cups frozen hash browns, tater tots, hash brown patties ( enough to cover bottom of your pan)

1 cup milk

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups diced ham or 2 cups sausage or 2 cups bacon

1 cup diced red peppers, green pepper (Optinal) or 1 cup yellow peppers ( Optinal)

1/2 cup diced onions ( optinal)

Directions

1. Spray a 9" x 12" baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Melt butter and drizzle in the bottom of the pan.
3. Layer the frozen hash browns evenly to cover the bottom.
4. Layer cheese, meat and any desired vegetable on top of potatoes.
5. Whisk eggs,salt and pepper.
6. Pour egg mixture over the top to cover.
7. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
8. Bake uncovered at 350º for 1 hour or until set.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

This will forever be known as just Blueberry Spice Bread in my house so my kids will eat it. They loved it. Fresh blueberries makes everything yummy!

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

3 eggs, lightly beaten 1 cup vegetable oil 3 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 1/4 cups white sugar 2 cups shredded zucchini 3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 pint fresh blueberries

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.
2.	In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.
3.	Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely

Carrot Spice Muffins

These are pretty good considering they're healthy and good for you. They'd be better if they had cream cheese frosting on them but I suppose that defeats the point.

Carrot Spice Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1/3 cup honey or brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk or yogurt
• 1/3 cup oil or melted butter or applesauce
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups grated carrots
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Mix together dry ingredients- flour, soda, powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice.
3. Mix together wet ingredients- honey/brown sugar, egg, buttermilk/yogurt, oil, vanilla and the carrots, raisins and nuts.
4. Stir the wet and dry ingredients together until just moistened.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Tim's Pancakes

Tim made us homemade pancakes this morning. They were delicious! We're done buying the mix and he'll make these from now on!
Tim's Pancakes

• 4 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 cups milk
• 4 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup oil or butter
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• Enough water to make the batter the consistancy just right, We use about 1/2 cup water

Mix all the wet ingredients except for the water together first then add the dry ingredients. Add the water last to get the consistancy of your batter the way you want it. If you like thinner pancakes add more water if you like thicker add less. They are delicious and make enough to feed our family on any morning and another morning with leftovers. Enjoy!

P.S. You can add blueberries if you have them. We add them once the batter is on the pan and then flip them.

Strawberry Muffins

I picked up some fresh strawberries yesterday at the store and found this recipe this morning. They are a wonderful way to use up some of those strawberries. Delicious! 

Berry-Smash Muffins (Strawberry Muffins)  

23 min | 5 min prep

12 muffins

• 1 2/3 cups fresh strawberries
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 425 F.
2. Put a paper baking cup in each of 12 regular-size muffin cups, or grease just the bottoms of 12 muffin cups.
3. Slightly smash strawberries in large bowl, using fork.
4. Stir in sugar, oil and eggs until mixed.
5. Stir in other ingredients just until moistened.
6. Spoon batter into muffin cups.
7. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until light golden brown or toothpick poked in center comes out clean.
8. Cool 5 minutes.
9. Loosen sides of muffins from pan if needed, and take them out of the pan.
10. Makes 12 muffins.
11. Tip: If you do not have fresh strawberries, you can use frozen strawberries that you have thawed and drained.

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

This is a recipe that made Grandma's cookbook but was my mom's recipe.

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

• 1 1/4 cups oatmeal
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup oil
• 3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line muffin pans with liners. In medium bowl combine dry ingredients. Add milk egg and oil to dry ingredients. Mix until just moistened. Gently fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups to 2/3 full. Sprinkle top of muffins with cinnamon sugar mixture (2 Tbsp sugar, and 2 tsp cinnamon) and Bake for 25 minutes.