B&B Stuffed French Toast and Smooth OJ

[All photos by Mel Adair]

My boys excitedly skip around the kitchen when they catch me whisking together cream cheese and jam.  They search for the pan of heating oil then whoop in celebration.  Stuffed French Toast must be on the menu!    If I'm trying to score extra mom points, I'll blend up a batch of Smooth OJ, a domesticated version of an Orange Julius (recipe below).    

Riece was a toddler when my friend Victoria introduced our family to her Stuffed French Toast.  She helped her mom cook for guests lodging at their family-owned B&B nestled in beautiful Sisters, Oregon.   Stuffed french toast was a guest favorite!  Vic shared the recipe with me and over the years, it's become our family favorite, usually requested on special occasions or birthdays.   When the boys were small, they attempted to help, thus the artistry on my recipe cards.

 

Crazy Good Banana Bread

All photos courtesy of Mel Adair.

I love cookie dough.  Chocolate chip cookie dough.  After whipping up a batch, I have to bake it or freeze it as quickly as possible or I eat it.  Then I have guilt so I don't make it for a long time.  

Confession:  This banana bread dough is nearly as good, if not dangerously better than cookie dough!  I know, I know.  You're thinking that no one in their right mind would eat bread dough.   But this isn't normal bread dough.  This is crazy good banana bread dough that does a Cirque du Soleil in your mouth.  If you are a purist, this recipe is NOT for you.  If you are adventurous, this one is worth a shot!

I pulled the original recipe off the Food Network site, courtesy of Emeril Lagasse, in 2010 and have been making adaptions since.   

Speaking of crazy....

A Very Adair Seder

[Unless otherwise specified, all photos are by Mel Adair]

 ***Seder Disclaimer - the way we've chosen to celebrate Seder is in no way traditional as I found numerous variations online and adapted our meal based on what ingredients I could find or had on-hand.  I also took personal liberties in expounding on dishes as well.  ***

This posting is a bit overdue but I can't help myself as Seder is one of my newest yet favorite celebrations.  I'm not Jewish.  In fact, I'm mostly French but am intrigued by Jewish traditions as my Lord and Savior was a Jewish carpenter and the Book by which I teach and live my life was written by Jews.  I'm an average American girl with little known heritage so I'll gladly adopt or 'borrow' rich traditions or heritage and call it my own.

Since I'm a nerdy American girl, I enjoy learning about the history behind holidays then passing that information to my kids.  As boring as that sounds, I'm their mom so if I'm really excited about something, they're still naive enough to think it's actually exciting.  I'll exploit my position of nerdy authority as long as possible.

I'm a firm believer in celebrating each day a (we're alive, right!?!) as I'm also a party girl.  I'm not sure how it works to be a nerdy party girl so I just roll with it.  I want my boys to value each day as a gift yet pay special attention to days with deeper meaning.    Holidays can drown in commercialism and we often see merely a reflection of what a holiday is meant to be while missing the profound depth and beauty that should be explored beneath the surface.

Thus each Spring for the past few years, our family celebrates Seder, a Jewish feast traditionally celebrated at the beginning of Passover (Festival of Unleavened Bread).

Peanut Butter Chocolate Trifle

[Photos by Mel Adair]

This recipe is a simple adaption of a Taste of Home recipe 'Peanut Butter Chocolate Dessert'.  I simply embellish it (as if it needs it), tweak a few directions and ingredients, and present it in a trifle bowl.  Trifle bowls make everything look beautiful.

12-16 servings  Prep time 20 min + chilling (4+ hours when in a trifle bowl)

Ingredients
1 package chocolate cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos - generic tastes fine) chopped, divided
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese softened
1/2 cup of peanut butter
1 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar (aka powdered sugar), divided
1 carton (16 oz) frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip), thawed, divided
25 miniature peanut butter cups chopped
1 cup cold milk
1 package (3.9 oz) instant chocolate fudge pudding mix

Sparkling Wine Butternut Squash Soup

(Originally written October 2008.  Edited March 2013)

Craving something warm and sweet on a chilly October day, I began throwing some of my favorite flavors into a pot with leftover squash I baked the night before and I ended up with a spicy, sweet and satisfying Fall soup!   *Gluten and lactose free options

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash - baked and thoroughly mashed (mash without the skin and seeds, obviously!)

[Photo by www.mission-sustainable.com]

In case you need to know how to roast a butternut squash: (Thank you, Food Network!)  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/roasted-butternut-squash-recipe/index.html

3/4 container of organic chicken broth - ends up being roughly 26 oz from a 32 oz container

Rarebit with Cheddar Pinot Grigio Sauce

[All photos by Mel Adair]

Rarebit was our family favorite for years.  I simply forgot about it in the flurry of life until this past week.  I opened one of my favorite cookbooks looking for some inspiration and found an easy recipe for cheese sauce.  Knowing I had all the ingredients on hand, I was inspired to make rarebit once again!  And all my picky eaters were delighted!

Hand's down this is the best go-to cookbook I've ever owned for solid, straight-forward, high-quality recipes.  The editors test every ingredient and tool before writing the recipe, thus the name America's Test Kitchen. Excellent results every time.  The flip side is that there isn't any fun flair or flavors so you have to add your own twists.  Which I do, of course.

Rarebit is a dish served with savoury cheese sauce over other scrumptious hot food items.  Our favorites are ham, english muffins, and eggs although other recipes call for different types of wheat breads or breakfast meats.

Fireball Granola

Last night my family was watching Diners, Drive-In's and Dives and I was an immediate fan of Darby's Cafe, a quirky little vegan / vegetarian spot in Olympia, Washington.

 I'm an immediate fan of true northwestern eats which can usually be described as bold, healthy, fresh, and playful.  This is how this northwestern girl defines "home cookin'".  Darby's Cafe embodied all these characteristics so I fell in love.

[Photo from http://darbyscafe.com/ ]

While I was salivating over each recipe shown, such as the Winter Squash and Apple Hash, I perked up as they began making granola.  I love granola!