De[con]Structed French Toast

Lately, I've been looking for easier (lazier) recipes to fix. We have super-crazy schedules right now, so finding meals with a lot of steps to it is just nearly out of the question! But...what if I could just do something nice, tasty, but with very little work? Like maybe not even having to mix much of anything?

I came across some recipes in "deconstructed" form. Basically, it's your favorite meals/dishes that you just layer instead of mix together. And I'm game!

So, I'm thinking about starting a whole new category of recipes based on this idea. And, since I tend to tear things up & make them look demolished instead...I like the thought of having them "destructed".

Today, I bring you the first recipe in the De[con]Structed series...and it's breakfast!

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DE[con]STRUCTED FRENCH TOAST

Ingredients:

1 slice slightly-stale bread
1 egg
1/2 T cinnamon
1 T brown sugar
2 drops (1/4 t) vanilla extract
3 T milk
1/2 T sugar
1 pinch ground nutmeg


Directions:

~ preheat oven to 350 degrees F

~ in a small baking dish or ramekin dish, spray with cooking spray, then place your slightly stale bread in the bottom (may want to tear in half or into smaller pieces)

~ sprinkle with cinnamon & brown sugar

~ crack the egg, leaving the yolk in tact (if possible), on top of the bread

~ in a tiny glass (like a shot glass), pour in the vanilla & milk, then swirl to mix

~ carefully pour the vanilla milk over the eggs & bread

~ sprinkle it all with the sugar & nutmeg

~ place the baking dish into the oven; 20 minutes for softer yolks, 30 minutes for harder yolks

~ when the French toast is done, pull out of the oven

~ top it with powdered sugar &/or maple syrup, if desired

~ serve


Yield: 1

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I doubled this since I like having a couple of slices at once. Plus, I used slightly stale Pepperidge Farms brown sugar & cinnamon swirl bread. The brown sugar & cinnamon were already in it.

However, all of the measurements are approximate. Just eyeball it according to your taste!

Now then, if you are concerned that the 20-30 minutes is too long for you in the morning, just think: you can layer your stuffs, place it in the oven, go get ready, then have a hot breakfast ready to go!
TA-DA!

Also, this form of "deconstruction" is very elegant & minimalist...so it creates a gorgeous presentation.

Imagine doing a few of these for a brunch! YUM!!

ENJOY!

Irish Bread & Butter Pudding

When I say I love getting in touch with the Irish side of my heritage, I'm not kidding! (find some of my other Irish [based] recipes HERE)

I finally got around to trying an Irish dessert I've been wanting to try...since...like...late February or early March. Now that it's September, there's no better time than now! Amm-i-rite?

With fall being right around the corner, I want to attempt to increase the overall foodie repertoire for the cooler months.

I do try to keep the authenticity of dishes like this. So I did some serious research into some different variations, and came up with one that worked the best for me to make.

So, here's what I did:

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IRISH BREAD & BUTTER PUDDING

Ingredients:

~ 8-12 slices slightly stale/dry white bread, crusts removed & set aside
~ butter
~ 1 C sultanas (plumped golden raisins) or other dried berries/grapes
~ 2-3 T sugar
~ 2-3 T cinnamon
~ 2-3 pinches nutmeg
~ 1 C heavy whipping cream
~ 1 C milk
~ 3 eggs, lightly beaten
~ 2 T vanilla extract


Directions:

* In a glass or ceramic dish (about an 8x8), spray the bottom & sides with cooking spray; I used a pottery casserole dish (that has family story)...it has a great look & fit with what I wanted to do, but I would recommend a squared off dish

* Place the raisins (or other dried fruit) into a small bowl or large coffee mug & cover with hot water for about 10 minutes; this will help plump up the dried fruit a bit to form the sultanas

* Take your bread slices & remove the crusts (set crusts aside - will use in a little bit), cut each slice down the middle (either into rectangles or triangles...but this step is optional: you may leave whole); I have an old Pampered Chef gadget that can make uncrustable sandwiches, so I used it to make my slices round & pretty to fit into my round dish - again, just make it easy

* Butter one side of 4 slices of the bread & place butter-side-down in the baking dish overlapping slices just a bit

* After the 10 minutes of soaking is up for the raisins (now sultanas), drain & sprinkle a few over the top of the bread layer

* Sprinkle about a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of cinnamon & a pinch of nutmeg over the fruit layer & covering the top of the entirety of the bread slice layer

* Repeat the bread buttering step

* Sprinkle with more sultanas (plumped raisins or other dried fruit)

* Repeat the sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg step

* If you are doing a 3rd layer (I did), then repeat the last 3 steps one more time, otherwise move on to the next step

* In another bowl, whisk together the heavy whipping cream, milk, lightly beaten eggs & vanilla extract; pour mixture over the bread slice layers

* Set baking dish to the side for at least 1 hour, or place in refrigerator overnight

* When ready to bake the bread pudding, set oven to 350 degrees F

* You will want to place your baking dish in a bain marie (it's like a hot tub for the pudding in a sauna...spa time for the baking dish!)
Place the baking dish into a larger baking dish that will hold the pudding level; pour water into the larger baking dish - enough to go half way up the pudding baking dish. This will keep the cooking even throughout the dish for pudding

Prepping the Bain Marie

* Allow to bake in the center of the oven for about 1 hour

* After the hour is up, pull bain marie out of the oven & allow to cool for a few minutes, then remove the baking dish from the bain marie to cool a bit more from there

* Serve warm with a topping of whiskey sauce or whipped cream

* Top with a sprinkling of bread crumbs made from the cut off crusts from the bread slices:

   Bread Crumb Directions:

# Set oven to 400 degrees F
# On a baking sheet, spray liberally with cooking spray
# Lightly cover baking sheet with a dusting of cinnamon & a sprinkling of light brown sugar
# Arrange crusts in a single layer on the baking sheet
# Spray tops of crusts liberally with cooking spray
# Lightly cover the crusts with a dusting of cinnamon & a sprinkling of light brown sugar
# Bake for about 10 minutes
# Crusts should be hard & crispy
# Allow to cool for a moment & then crush the crusts into a near dusting or pulverize them in a food processor to make crumbs for sprinkling

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Irish Bread & Butter Pudding
with Irish Cream not-so-whipped topping "sauce"
and bread crumb topping

I have been wanting to make this dessert for quite some time...and it was so worth the wait! Oh, it's SO good!!

This is also another dish that terrifies my kids, and my hubby automatically said he won't do bread pudding. *sigh* I need to find folks to share this with. I am so happy with how it turned out!

It's certainly a perfect dish to have ready for St. Paddy's Day, but I would also love to make a more Christmas-y version using Craisins, and then maybe topping it with cranberry sauce.

This is also a great way to figure out how to use up some of that day-old bread, or the loaf that's close to it's Best By date. Don't let any of it go to waste!

There was a lot of time put into this dessert...but it really was easy!

I might even try this with our wheat bread. It's supposed to be white bread, but I have been working to try to take a more "make it good for you/make it better for you" type of approach.

Oh...and if you make your own bread, all the power to ya! OK? I just used the good ol' store-bought stuffs.

Let me know if you use this. I hope you love it as much as I do! (a new comfort food for me, I think)

ENJOY!

Easy Croutons

Oh man! You have that loaf of bread that didn't quite get used! Now what?

WAIT! Don't throw it away! Read what to do with that stale bread here!

Bread is an odd commodity around our house. Either everyone wants sandwiches, so we run out quickly...or...we stock up just to be left we 2 loaves of uneaten bread. Go figure.

I hate wasted food. Hate is a strong word...and that's why I'm using it. Wasted food makes me cringe. So it was very difficult for me to throw out full loaves of bread...or even 5-10 pieces that didn't get used. So what is one to do with a ton of leftover bread?

MAKE CROUTONS!

That's right, I repurpose the bread. So...here's what I do:

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EASY CROUTONS

Ingredients:
~ slightly stale sliced bread - not moldy
~ cooking spray
~ seasonings of choice:
(Italian seasonings; salt & pepper; Scarborough Fair - aka Simon & Garfunkel: parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme; cinnamon & sugar; etc.)

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

* Cut the slightly stale bread slices into 16 cubes, each; you can remove crusts first, if preferred

* liberally spray jelly roll pan/lipped cookie sheet with cooking spray

* place bread cubes in a single layer on the cooking sheet

* take cooking spray & spray the tops of the bread cube layer

* sprinkle with seasoning (blend) of choice evenly over the sprayed bread cubes

* place in oven for about 10 minutes until golden brown

* remove from oven & allow to set for 2-5 minutes, and then turn over all croutons for a couple more minutes before removing from baking sheet

* you store the croutons in an airtight container at this point

OR

* place croutons in a large bowl for 8-14 hours to air dry for crunchier croutons

* be sure to store in an airtight container for about 1-2 weeks

~~ If Italian Butter is the variety of choice, use THIS RECIPE HERE, minus the cheese and substitute the actual olive oil for olive oil cooking spray in the technique listed above.

Now ready to serve in soups, salads or whatever you want or need to use them for!

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My youngest is a big fan of croutons and gets super excited when he sees I'm making some! The rest of the family really likes them, too.

ENJOY!

Italian Butter Grilled Cheese [Croutons]

The Ides of March happened just recently. I enjoy doing a "Caesar Feast" that includes Chicken Caesar Salad...so I wanted to make my own croutons. And last year, I came up with this:

It turns out that April 12th is National Grilled Cheese Day. Interesting, right? Well, I heard some trivia on April 12th that the (grilled) cheese sandwich originated in Rome. I thought about just adding grilled cheese to the Caesar Feast...but then a lightbulb went off!

Grilled Cheese Croutons for the Caesar Salad (or just a different kind of grilled cheese)! Oh yes...this would happen...

I wandered around Pinterest to see if I could find a grilled cheese crouton-type recipe. I found out that the croutons being used for soup were simply cubed up pieces of grilled cheese sandwiches. After that, I started coming across a lot of different grilled cheese recipes for the summertime being pinned. 

So, here you go...I was inspired & this is what I came up with:

ITALIAN BUTTER GRILLED CHEESE [CROUTONS]

1. Set oven to 450 degrees F

2. Mix in a small bowl for Italian butter:

1-2 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper

2 palmfuls crushed oregano

1 palmful crushed basil

1 palmful crushed parsley flakes

1 1/2 palmful garlic powder

1 palmful grated parmesan cheese

submerge in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

3. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray & then use day-old/slightly-stale bread.

4. Take a short basting brush & "paint" the Italian butter onto one side of the bread.

5. Place the "butter" side down onto the cooking sheet

6. Place 1 slice of either provolone or mozzarella cheese onto the bread. 

(Sargento has a provolone/mozzarella blend, so that's what I used) 

Only use 1 slice since you do not want croutons to be over cheesy. If you are making just a sandwich, feel free to use 2 slices.

7. Repeat step 4

8. Place on top of cheese with "butter" side up

9. Once the baking sheet has been covered (the Italian butter lasted enough for 16 slices/8 sandwiches, which just fit my baking sheet), place in the oven for 6-8 minutes

10. Pull out of the oven when the sandwiches start to appear golden brown (mine ended up a hair darker on the bottom side after 7 1/2 minutes, but they turned out fine)

11. Begin to cube the sandwiches into 16 pieces. I began with a knife, but found a pizza cutter to be much more efficient

After I cubed my 8 sandwiches, I ended up with 128 grilled cheese croutons. I tossed them in with our Caesar salad for dinner.

Isn't it beautiful? And everything was SO yummy!

These can be done on the griddle or in a skillet, too...especially if you just want the Italian Butter Grilled Cheese sandwich without cubing them.

So delicious!

Pretty, huh? I took either a cherub or sunburst tomato, a small piece of mozzarella cheese, wrapped a basil leaf around them, skewered the combo with a toothpick & then brushed each mini salad with the leftover Italian Butter.

So pretty, so cute...so tasty! And one of my faves!

ENJOY!