Rum-soaked French Toast and Two Sauces

Rum-soaked French Toast and Two Sauces

When we began our now painfully long journey to Alaska we stayed with Eli’s sister in Portland, Oregon for a few days. One of those days I made breakfast and decided to get creative. I know Kristy, Mike and the kids over at Eat, Play, Love will appreciate my interest in french toast experimentation. They’re currently on the hunt for THE BEST french toast recipe and what they’ve come up with so far has been a tasty troupe of french toast fabulousness. If you haven’t seen what they’ve been up to, you should really go check it out. Anyway, I don’t know how I haven’t thought of adding rum to french toast mix before, but I don’t know if I can live without it now. It was SO tasty! Give it a shot the next Saturday you find yourself in need of a boozy brunch munch.

Rum-soaked French Toast
french bread, cut into slices
4 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 cup rum

1. Beat ingredients together in a pie plate.
2. Coat each side of each slice of bread thoroughly.
3. Fry bread slices in a skillet on medium to medium-high, turning when each side is golden brown.
4. Serve topped with whipped cream and one of the two sauces below, or whatever your heart desires.

Chipotle Caramel Sauce
You may remember that I concocted this recipe for Chipotle Caramel Sauce to top baked butternut squash. That was an okay pairing, but not ideal. Using the Chipotle Caramel Sauce along with whipped cream to top the Rum-soaked french toast is delicious and decadent.

Strawberry Rum Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups strawberries
1/2 cup rum
pinch of salt

1. Melt butter over low heat.
2. Turn off the heat and add strawberries and rum. Toss to coat.
3. Marinate 15-20 minutes.
4. Turn on the heat to medium-low. Cook strawberries 5 minutes.
5. Add the salt. Stir well to combine.
6. Cook till strawberries have broken down into a sauce.
7. Let the sauce cool before pouring it over your french toast (particularly if you are using whipped cream as a topping too).

Vegan Giant Ginger Cookies

Yum! Raw sugar!

This recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens’ 100 Best Cookies issue. I’ve made quite a few of these recipes and if you see this issue (usually on newsstands at Christmas) you MUST pick it up. These were a huge hit with my colleagues at the Arizona Health Sciences Library and at the University of Arizona Poetry Center. Even Jake, who is not a HUGE fan of sweets, loved these cookies. Actually, as I was packing some up to take to my colleagues he came into the kitchen and said: “Hey…uh…where are you going with those cookies?” He looked a bit sad when I told him I was taking them to share with others. Anyway, try these out. I recommend them with a nice hot cup of tea and a saucy novel.

Vegan Giant Ginger Cookies
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups Earth Balance
2 cups granulated sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup turbinado sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat Earth Balance with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.
4. Add the granulated sugar and beat till well combined.
5. Add the bananas and maple syrup and beat till combined.
6. Add in the flour mixture and mix as much as you can with the mixer, switching to a wooden spoon if it becomes too difficult.
7. Place the turbinado sugar in a small bowl.
8. Form dough balls 2-inches in diameter (unless you want smaller cookies). Roll balls in the sugar to coat. Place them 2 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
9. Bake 15 minutes, or till bottoms are light brown and tops are still slightly puffy.
10. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Vegan Giant Ginger Cookies

Microwave Tofu Mash

This recipe from “PETA’s Vegan College Cookbook” was relatively tasty and super easy to make. It’s one I’ll bookmark for later consumption as I move forward in life. I did adjust the seasoning a bit. I like mine with 2 slices of cheese and extra soy sauce. That’s the real beauty of this one though. It does well with reinvention.

Microwave Tofu Mash
1 16-oz. package extra firm tofu, drained and crumbled
1 slice vegan cheese
1 7-oz. can chopped tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon mustard
2 teaspoons soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix everything together and nuke 3 minutes.

Microwave Tofu Mash

Pepper and Potato Tortilla

Look at those lovely layers!

This is the recipe you’ve been waiting for. Earlier when I posted this recipe for Lemony Chickpea Salad I told you I’d just finished eating a dinner of massive high calorie proportions. I am finally posting that recipe. I got it from my “Encyclopedia of Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking” cookbook. The recipe says it “serves 4” and though I read that before making it, I was still surprised by the massive quantity of tortilla we had leftover. As you sit down to eat this for your Sunday morning brunch, skip on over to Chat ‘n Dish and watch this tantalizing video for a recipe for Dandelion, Apple, Fennel and Bacon Salad so you have something to aspire to for a light lunch. Also because she’s a total kitchen babe and has super good taste for giving a shout out to me in her video. Thanks for the ego boost! 😉

Pepper and Potato Tortilla
1 medium sized potato, peeled and cut into thick slices
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup frozen hash browns
6 eggs, beaten
4 oz. cheese, grated
chili powder, to taste
salt and black pepper, to taste

1. Boil the potatoes in salted hot water till just tender. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large, nonstick, ovenproof cast-iron skillet, heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic and peppers over medium heat till softened.
3. Add the potatoes and the hash browns and continue frying, stirring occasionally till the potatoes are cooked and the veggies are soft.
4. Pour in the eggs, starting around the edges of the mixture in the pan and working towards the middle. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid till the eggs set.
5. Add the cheese and sprinkle with chili powder. Reposition the cover to melt the cheese.
6. If you are using a real cast-iron skillet or other ovenproof frying pan, you may place the tortilla under the broiler for a minute to finish melting the cheese and browning it on top.

Pepper and Potato Tortilla. We made one with regular cheese and this one with vegan cheese, in an effort to cut some calories for my diet.

Broccoli Pesto

In my new(ish) thrift store mixing bowl!

This recipe for Broccoli Pesto with Fusilli Pasta intrigued me. I couldn’t imagine a pesto without basil in it. I love broccoli so I just had to try this one out. Jake and I made some adjustments though, so we didn’t have to run to the store for the things we didn’t have. We used penne pasta instead of fusilli, which is probably our favorite mode of delivering pesto to our mouths. Just so my readers are aware, this recipe made a TON of pesto. We usually like our pesto in small amounts. We’re not fans of the globbin’ it on kind of pesto-ed pasta. A touch of taste is all we need. This recipe made so much pesto that I cooked the rest of the box of penne the next day to toss into the leftovers for lunch so we could disburse the pesto sauce a little bit more. This is probably a double batch or dinner party kind of recipe for those of you who feel the same way about pesto as we do. For those of you who are the glob-it-‘n-go kind, this recipe should make enough pesto sauce for you to be completely happy about life. And in the end, isn’t that everyone’s goal?

Broccoli Pesto
1 medium head of broccoli (about 3 cups), cut into small florets
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
1/3 cup mozzarella, grated or cut into small chunks
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces dried whole wheat pasta
3 cups baby spinach
1 15-oz. can pitted black olives, drained, rinsed and cut in half
2-3 roma tomatoes, chopped, to garnish

1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the broccoli for no more than 20 seconds.
2. Drain the broccoli and run cold water over it, draining thoroughly again.
3. Blend the broccoli in a blender along with the walnuts, mozzarella, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Add the olive oil little by little while blending. Add more salt or lemon juice if needed and set aside.
4. Cook the pasta till just barely tender. Then drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.
5. Stir in the spinach and about half to three-quarters of the pesto.
6. Top with olives, black pepper and fresh cut roma tomatoes to serve.

Broccoli Pesto

Tomato Onion Bake

View from above; just out of the oven.

Here’s another recipe for my friends who are fans of baked eggs. This one comes from my “1000 Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World” cookbook. It’s actually a new favorite of mine and I’ll tell you why: this is the perfect beginner basic recipe. This recipe is as simple as it gets; no frills. Sometimes in my quest for new complex recipes I forget how amazing the simple things are. This recipe made me remember how amazing tomatoes, eggs, onions and simple seasoning really can be. It’s also great to have this recipe as a base recipe. I know I can add whatever other veggies I want (spinach? sliced mushrooms? shredded potatoes? zucchini?) to this original recipe and it will be tasty and successful. I love it when I find a good base recipe like this. Finding the REALLY good recipes is one of the things my search is all about.

Tomato Onion Bake
4 tablespoons butter, plus more for greasing
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1 pound tomatoes, sliced
2 cups fresh white bread crumbs
4 eggs, beaten
salt and black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch pie pan with butter.
2. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a skillet. Add onions and cook on low heat, stirring, till soft.
3. Layer the onions, tomatoes, and bread crumbs in the pie pan. Season each layer with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Dot the remaining butter on top and bake 40 minutes.
5. Remove the pie pan from the oven and pour the beaten eggs over the top of the mixture, making sure they’re as evenly distributed as possible.
7. Return the pie pan to the oven and bake another 15 minutes, till eggs are just set. Serve immediately.

Tomato Onion Bake

Lemony Chickpea Salad

Well, I just made a SUPER high fat dinner for Jake and I. It was fantastic, just made WAY more than I expected (as you’ll see when I post the recipe in a few days) and was obviously way more unhealthy than I had expected when I looked at the photo in my cookbook. Anyway, I need to lessen some of my guilt by posting this recipe I made the other day. I’ve got to thank the fantastic blog mistress over at Eat Yourself Skinny for this amazing recipe. I had her recipe for Lemony Chickpea Salad for lunch the other day and it was perfectly tangy for a 90 degree day. Check out her blog for the original recipe. I altered mine a tad, using a real chili pepper rather than the red pepper flakes, and tossing it the way I prefer rather than using a spoon. I’m just SO lazy. Next time I have folks over I’ll double or triple the recipe and serve it as an appetizer or side dish. Also, check out my new tiny thrift store bought bowls. They’re pretty cute.

Lemony Chickpea Salad
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tiny Thai chili pepper, minced
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1. In a medium bowl with a lid, mix together the parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, chili pepper, and garlic clove.
2. Add chickpeas. Put the lid on the bowl and shake vigorously to coat.
3. Let it marinate 1 hour at room temperature. Serve.

Lemony Chickpea Salad

Orange Tarragon Chicken

Orange Tarragon Chicken

I love Greg and Katherine. I wish I lived next to them so I could sneak into their kitchen and eat their food when they aren’t home. Kind of like a modern day foodie Goldilocks. Only slightly more deliberately sneaky. I knew Jake was going to love their recipe for Orange Tarragon Chicken. Make sure you check out their recipe, they did stuff differently than me; I added a bit of my own flair to this. Also, their pictures are a whole lot better than mine. I altered the recipe below so it is appropriate for one person as I obviously don’t eat chicken. Jake enjoyed the recipe. He said it was really different from any other marinated chicken he’d had…in a positive way. I bought 2 chicken breasts at the store and made one for him. The other I’m cooking tonight with my Mom’s sneaky shortcut recipe for chicken and gravy (with mashed potatoes, of COURSE). I’ll post that recipe for everyone in a few days.

Orange Tarragon Chicken
1 large chicken breast
1 orange
2 tablespoons jarred jalapeno pepper (or 1 small jalapeno pepper, diced)
1 1/2 tablespoons dried tarragon
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Juice the oranges and rob them of their orange peel by grating.
2. Combine jalapeno pepper, dried tarragon, garlic, orange peel, salt and pepper in a medium-large mortar and grind with pestle till ingredients form a paste.
3. In a medium dinner bowl, combine orange juice and paste and mix well.
4. Add chicken, spooning mixture over top and bottom to coat thoroughly.
5. Marinate chicken for a minimum of 4 hours.
6. Grill, or fry in a pan over the stove till chicken is cooked through (remember, raw chicken is NOT your friend).
7. Serve immediately, because really: who wants to wait?

Mexican Corn Stew

This recipe reminded me a little of a creation of my own for Fiesta Bell Soup, which featured bell peppers. In this recipe the spotlight is on corn rather than bell peppers. I tackled this recipe from my “Vegetarian Times Cookbook” on a particularly hot day this week. It was not the most wonderful day to be slaving over a sultry oven waiting on a stewing stew. The end product however, was well worth the effort. I wish there had been more toppings available for this in my fridge, but this was the day before we went to the grocery. We made do with crushed, cut cherry tomatoes and carrot stick-like slices of medium Cheddar cheese. This was quite yummy and satisfying and though we finished the rest of it off the next day as leftovers, I could see a million different uses for leftovers. It could be used as a dip for tortilla chips, like a chunky salsa. It would work well over baked potatoes smothered in cheese. With eggs and chorizo (or soyrizo, if you’re a vegetarian) and toast as a makeshift Mexican breakfast. I think there are a lot of possibilities here. In any case, I’m certain you’ll never have leftovers for long.

Mexican Corn Stew
1 15-oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small jalapeno pepper, diced
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 tablespoons minced cilantro leaves
6 cups vegetable stock
3 cups frozen whole kernel corn
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
dash cayenne pepper

Soup topping:
Your choice of:
salsa, plain yogurt, avocado, tortilla chips, grated Cheddar cheese, or fresh chopped tomatoes

1. In a large pot over medium high heat. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil till tender.
2. Add the jalapenos, carrots, celery, and bell peppers and cook 3 minutes more, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the cilantro, water, corn, cumin, coriander and beans.
4. Cover and cook on low heat till the beans are tender and the soup is thick, around 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
5. Add cayenne and stir well.
6. Serve topped with your choice of toppings above.

Mexican Corn Stew

Carrots and Red Bells with Pineapple

Carrots and Red Bells with Pineapple

We used a recipe from my “1000 Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World” cookbook as a starting point for this. Then we added a bit of our own crazy flair. I told Jake that this was going to be a nice side dish kind of recipe, so he found some lovely chicken sausages on sale at the local organic food store to eat alongside of this. I ate mine alongside brown rice with a bit of orange juice added in as it cooked to keep the fruit theme going here. I was going to add some raisins too, but I thought that might be overkill, so I just added some dried parsley close to the end of cooking time. Anyway, here’s my secrety secret for the week: I do not care for pineapple. In fact, as a kid I had a pretty strong hatred for it. It was the only fruit in the canned fruit cocktail that I WOULDN’T touch. Actually, that’s a lie. I also didn’t like eating the peaches because I thought they were slimy like worms. That changed too. Haha! Anyway, it’s only in recent years, maybe the past decade, that I’ve been able to tolerate it. Otherwise its inclusion in recipes tended to make me irrationally upset. The other secret that isn’t so secret because I’ve spilled the beans on it before, is that I don’t like carrots a ton. I am pretty fine with them. I’ll eat them. I love them raw with dip for a snack. But I’m not a huge fan of them as a solo cooked dish. Jake loves carrots and pineapple. I made this recipe for him. And the best part is that I ended up enjoying it as well. Don’t you love it when things work out that way? This recipe was super easy and fast to make. Remember that the thinner your carrot rounds are the faster they’ll cook (aka: don’t start the sausage too late like we did). As you can see from the pictures, I left the pineapple in chunks for the recipe. I kind of wish I’d cut each chunk in half, because a 7 oz. can isn’t much pineapple to have to share. Cutting each chunk in half would’ve given an illusion of more. But it was delicious, so who cares in the end right? Confession: We didn’t remember the parsley till after we took the photo for the blog post (though at least I included it in my rice). By then we were so consumed with consuming that we didn’t care to spend any time taking a new photo.

Carrots and Red Bells with Pineapple
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely sliced
1 inch piece ginger root, peeled and diced fine
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 pound carrots, thinly sliced into rounds
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into long thin strips
7 oz. canned pineapple in natural juice
2-3 tablespoons pineapple juice (from the can)
salt and black pepper, to taste
parsley or dill, to garnish

1. Heat the two oils together in a wok.
2. Add the onion and garlic and stir-fry briskly for 3 minutes.
3. Add the red pepper flakes, carrots and red bell pepper. Lower the heat a bit. Continue stir frying for 5 minutes.
4. Add the pineapple and pineapple juice to the wok. Season well. Stir fry till the carrots are tender, but still slightly crisp and the liquid has mostly evaporated.
5. Adjust seasoning. Sprinkle with parsley or dill to garnish. Enjoy!

I’m sorry, but I couldn’t choose a favorite photo! This was so pretty, especially on my green dishes.