Author: Cassie

French toast – how I did it

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 I started out with a pretty fresh loaf of french bread (if I had access to an amazing brioche, I would have loved to use that instead) and sliced it. I know that french toast is better with day old bread so to simulated that. I baked them at 250 degrees for about 10 minutes not letting them brown at all.

Next, I put 1 cup of hemp milk and 3 whole eggs in a glass pie dish and whisked away.

And the secret ingredient is…. RUM! Well, actually it’s not that much of a secret. The recipe called for vanilla or rum. I used what I had in my little stash. The hemp milk actually turned out great! It think it added just a faint touch of texture that helped to create a really nice crust. Again, organic eggs are must! Oh yeah… and a dash of cinnamon.

I put the sliced bread (once it cooled -because remember I baked them for bit) in the batter and let them soak up the batter on both sides. By the time I was ready to cook them there was not much batter left in the dish because the bread soaked it all up.

Finally in a well buttered non-stick skillet heated to a little hotter than medium heat, I browned the toast on both sides (not sure how many minutes exactly but I would say about 2-4 minutes on each side). That was it! Why haven’t I been making french toast all this time? It is super easy and super delicious.

First time making french toast – success!

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my first time
I LOVE french toast and usually order a side of it when I eat out for breakfast but have never actually made it. Well this special Saturday morning brunch changed that. I used a recipe from The Joy of Cooking and used hemp milk instead of regular milk. I also added Captain Morgan Spiced Rum instead of vanilla and a dash of cinnamon. They came out great! I am so proud of myself!
One thing I learned in the process is that it is really important to have a really well buttered skillet for that nice crispy french toasty crust and delectable custardy center. Served with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar and a gentle snowing of powdered sugar. For french toast this good, use REAL maple syrup. It’s a little more expensive but sooooo worth it.

Mandolin hash brown potatoes

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I LOVE my mandolin and also love that it is in my favorite color. I wanted to experiment with another way to make hash brown potatoes without having to grate them. This worked pretty well and was fast! The down side was that the potatoes ended up with a delicate texture that made them a little mushy in some places. Overall it was a quick fix and produced the desired effect – yummy salty hash browns! Craving: indulged.
P.S. put your grated (or mandolin’d) potatoes in water to prevent browning and to draw out some of the starch. Less starch = crispy potatoes.

Saturday Brunch

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Image There is something about the smell of coffee brewing, salty potatoes, smokey sausage, and toasted bread the screams brunch! It means no alarm clocks, just sleeping in and getting up to make a fabulous breakfast in your pajamas. This breakfast serves as lunch, too, because it is close enough to noon to serve a dual purpose.

On this sunny Tucson Saturday, I have a craving for scrambled eggs and crispy, salty potatoes. Also on this day, I feel like trying my hand at french toast. I discovered a cool trick on my handy dandy mandolin and added a secret ingredient to the french toast that made the a little ‘drunk.’

Farmers Market Sunday

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I just LOVE a farmers market. I love local farming and the pride the farmers have in their product. I love the colors, the sounds, the fresh prickly pear lemonade, and the all the people buy food, who are supporting local farming. I would love to see a shift away from big box grocery stores to more farmers markets some day – it’s better on the environment, it supports local economy, and provides fresher more nutrient dense food. Many of these farmers literally picked their products for the market this morning. Amazing.

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Support local farming!
I just LOVE a farmers market. I love local farming and the pride the farmers have in their product. I love the colors, the sounds, the fresh prickly pear lemonade, and the all the people buy food, who are supporting local farming. I would love to see a shift away from big box grocery stores to more farmers markets some day – it’s better on the environment, it supports local economy, and provides fresher more nutrient dense food. Many of these farmers literally picked their products for the market this morning. Amazing.

Japanese-style dinner

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Japanese-style dinner

Who doesn’t love Trader Joes??? They have this very reasonably priced frozen package of Japanese style fried rice with hijiki seaweed. I doctored it up with fresh sauteed mushrooms ( I used button mushrooms because that is what I had in my fridge but shitake or oyster would have been great) and thinly sliced green onion. If I conveniently had some bean sprout and cilantro, that would have been awesome. -Side bar, I need to start growing cilantro because it always goes bad when I buy it at the store.- In the background is a bowl of miso soup that is super easy to make. Just dissolve some mellow white miso in some water, mix it with some hot water or broth, and thinly sliced green onion. Of course you can always add some cubed tofu and toasted nori to make it like they do at the sushi restaurants.
I LOVE rice and especially love fried rice because you can clean out your fridge to make it.

New Reds

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New Reds

Trying a couple of new reds. Something about red wine that warms me up from the inside out. Hoping it cures me of this cold, too!

Let food be thy medicine

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“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”

-Hippocrates

Chicken soup

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Feeling under the weather today so it is going to be homemade chicken soup for dinner tonight. Had miso soup and vegan Japanese fried rice for dinner last night… oh and wine, too. Pictures coming soon. I have to show my body love when it is sick because I need it to be at 100% to be able to get through each day. Tonight, I will show this body love with my Healing Chicken Soup made with organic veggies and a variation from the typical carrots, celery, and onion base. Maybe more wine, too.