Easter Treat: Monkey Bread Muffins

My favorite little sous chef helped me make some Easter breakfast treats last week. Yes she is wearing headphones plugged into an iPad. She just got the headphones as a gift and wants to wear them all the time. Sometimes the cord just drags behind her as she plays in the house. I saw a funny meme on facebook with a toddler doing something silly and it read, "Motherhood, when you stop asking questions." So true!

Going Bananas

Yes, I'm going b-a-n-a-n-a-s today! and everyday for that matter...

When you have an abundance of bananas or a few that are about to go bad, don't let them go to waste. I have a couple suggestions for what you can do with them. Jim peels them and puts them in a airtight container and into the freezer. Then he makes smoothies with the frozen fruit. They are so yummy, no need for ice that can water your smoothie down.

Moving in the opposite direction is this warm and comforting Aunt Holly's Banana Bread recipe from epicurious.

I love how very short the list of ingredients are:

3 to 4 ripe bananas
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
Chocolate chips (as many as you want! Jim did not want me to add these...)

Mash the bananas in a bowl first, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir to mix well.

I buttered this silicone bread pan (probably not necessary with the silicone pan, but butter any other metal pan you would plan to use), pour in the batter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean - about 50 minutes to an hour.

You can't beat the smells that will fill your home, it is completely warm and comforting.

Croque Monsieur/Madame (Ham and Cheese Sandwich)

I was watching the movie "It's Complicated" the other day, and I laughed out loud at the scene where Alec Baldwin comes into his ex-wife's kitchen, played by Meryl Streep and devours her leftover Croque Monsieur. In the movie, her character says it was the first thing she learned how to cook when she lived in France because the ingredients were so cheap.

Croque Monsieur is basically a fancy ham and cheese sandwich. Croque Madame is a similar sandwich with an egg on top.

Basic Croque Madame from Epicurious
8 slices white or whole-wheat sourdough bread
8 ounces Gruyère cheese, sliced into 24-32 1/16-inch-thick slices
12 ounces smoked ham, such as Black Forest, sliced into 12-16 1/16-inch-thick slices
4 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Fleur de sel or kosher salt, to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

To assemble the sandwiches:
Set half of the slices of bread buttered side down, and cover them with the cheese slices, folding them back in toward the middle if they extend past the edges of the bread. Place 3 or 4 slices of the ham in an even layer over the cheese, and place the top slice of bread over the ham, buttered side up.

Grill the sandwiches in a two-sided grill or on a heavy-bottomed pan, using clarified butter and turning once. Place on serving plates.

To fry the eggs:
Crack two eggs into two separate bowls to check that the yolks aren’t broken. In 2 6-inch non-stick skillets, melt half of the butter over medium-high heat, until it starts to bubble. Pour 1 egg into each pan, being careful not to break the yolks. Add a teaspoon of water to each pan, sprinkle the eggs with fleur de sel, and cover the pans with lids. Cook the eggs for about 3 minutes for a soft-cooked egg and 5-6 minutes if you like your eggs firm. Wipe out the skillets, and fry the other 2 eggs in the remaining butter in the same manner. Center a fried egg over each of the grilled sandwiches and sprinkle with pepper.

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Now when I saw Paula Deen make her Croque Madame Casserole, my mouth watered. I can do that! I have a leftover honey ham in the fridge and think it is destined to be sandwiched between layers of Gruyere cheese and béchamel white sauce.

Croque Madame Casserole by Paula Deen
6 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, plus 2 tablespoons for eggs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
1/2 teaspoon pepper, plus more for seasoning
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
10 to 12 slices white bread
3/4 pound deli ham
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) grated Gruyere, reserve some for top of casserole
6 eggs

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over low heat until bubbling. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook until thick and bubbling, 3 to 5 minutes more. Whisk in the mustard, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Pour a thin layer of the sauce into the prepared baking dish and cover it with 5 or 6 slices of the bread, then slices of the ham and an even layer of the Gruyere. Repeat the layers once more, ending with a third layer of sauce to cover all. Bake the casserole for 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven and cut into 6 equal pieces.

Working in 2 batches, melt 1tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Crack 3 eggs into the skillet and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook until the whites are nearly set, about 3 minutes. Carefully flip the eggs and continue cooking until the whites are completely set, about 1 minute more. You're going to top each portion of the casserole with a fried egg. Repeat with the remaining 3 eggs and 1 tablespoon butter. Top with Gruyere and it in the oven for a few minutes until cheese melts.

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I hated that we were out of eggs, so technically I'm striking out on my own and making a Croque Monsieur Casserole based on Paula Deen's recipe in conjunction with Ina Garten's Croque Monsieur recipe. The bechamel sauce is key in my opinion to her Croque Monsieur recipe as is the Gruyere cheese. The cheese is melted between two pieces of bread with ham, and then the sauce is poured over the top of the sandwich, sprinkled with more cheese and broiled until the cheese is bubbly and brown. Ina's recipe produces a wonderful french fork and knife sandwich and would be divine served for brunch.

My ingredient list:
1 C milk
1/2 C parmesan cheese, shredded
6 slices sourdough bread
8 ounces Gruyere, grated
2 T dijon mustard
3 slices honey baked ham
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
pinch cayenne

Because I was cooking for Jim and I, six slices of sourdough was plenty. I used my small glass baking dish and these slender slices fit perfectly for three sandwiches. The ham slices are from a leftover Christmas dinner - I just LOVE repurposing leftovers.

We are going to make a béchamel sauce so I heated a cup of milk in the microwave until hot.

I'm going to add 1/2 c of greyer and 1/2 c of parmesan to the béchamel f sauce, so I went ahead and grated it before I began.  The sauce comes together quickly, so you want to have everything you need right in front of you before you begin.

I put the six slices of sourdough on a baking pan and into a 400 degree oven for five minutes, then flipped and toasted for another three minutes.

Meanwhile, let's make the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, then throw in the all purpose flour and stir to combine. Continue stirring until the flour begins to cook slightly.

Next, add the hot milk a little at a time, stirring after each addition to incorporate well.

Once the milk is all incorporated, begin adding the 1/2 c parm and the 1/2 c greyer. I found a whisk worked better for mixing during this step.

Next, I added a T of dijon mustard.

1 t salt and 1/2 t pepper.

For "kicks" I added a pinch of cayenne pepper.

To build the Monsieur, I put a little bit of my white sauce in the bottom of my baking dish.

After the sourdough was toasted, I slathered three slices with the remaining dijon mustard.

Start the bottom layer with the bread that has the mustard on it, top with a slice of ham.

Top with grated greyer cheese.

Top with the other slice of toast.

Slather with the white sauce.

Top with remaining greyer cheese.

Into the 400 degree oven for five minutes and then turn on the broiler for another 5 minutes, or until the topping is bubbly and lightly browned.
 

Serve hot with a fork and knife! Yummy French comfort food!

Christmas 2009 Recap and my Dad's French Toast

We really had a great Christmas in Austin and in Houston.

On Christmas day, we opened gifts together as a family. Here is my dad opening up one of five watches. He got one for every day of the week.

My beautiful mother opening up the new Tim McGraw CD. That reminds me, I need to ask for a copy of it.

Brad and Jim had to open these gifts together.

Jim is trying to figure out what it is.

Oh! He gets it. It's a counter size kegerator that keeps a pony keg cold and you serve beer through a tap.

Brad is still trying to figure out what it is - or reading the details on the box.

For lunch we went to my mom's parents' home, and you guessed it...she made Grandmamas Stuffing. It's my favorite thing on the Christmas table!

My Pa-Pa.

My Uncle Jeff. (He's single!)

My Dad's mom, Grammy.

My mom made her Deviled Eggs.

I made a creamed spinach dish.

There was also this beautiful fruit salad.

All served on my grandmothers Christmas plates which I really love.

My grandmother's mantle looked so festive. She made us each a stocking and stuffed them with Starbucks gift cards. Perfect for my "Soy-Pumpkin-Spice-Latte-with-Whip" obsession.

The smoked turkey made by my Uncle Johnny, a shining star on the table this Christmas.

Honey baked ham too.

Drum roll please. My favorite - Grandmothers Stuffing! I made this last year, see her recipe here.

Here are my babies after a bath. They took off out of the bathroom and ran around outside in the sunshine. Madeline looks like a poodle model here as she swings her wet ear around to look at the camera.

Cole just wants to play with his new toy, a stuffed flea.

That looks just kills me.

Now, onto my Dad's French Toast. I always ask for it when I'm in town. I grabbed my camera and shot away as he made us all breakfast.

He makes his own cinnamon sugar mixture first.

He uses white bread, a couple of eggs, milk, butter, pam and his cinnamon sugar mixture.

In a wide bowl my dad beats about three eggs with a cup of milk. There is a perfect timing to the way he dunks the bread. The first slice of bread goes in, then it gets flipped right away, then the second slices goes and gets flipped. I call it the ballet of the home slice.

Next, he sprays a non-stick pan that is heated to medium-high with some pam, then places the slices in.

Just after they begin to brown, he flips them.

Mmmm... this smells so good, reminds me of growing up in their house. I love his French Toast.

See, I would never have done this...but my dad, the French Toast expert, uses his spatula to press the slices.

And he repeats the process, two at a time until everyone has a plate.

When they come out of the pan and onto the plate, each person gets to sprinkle the toast with cinnamon and sugar and top with a pat of butter.

Serve with syrup and dig in.

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Now! Just to mix you up a little bit, I have another French Toast recipe that was given to me by a friend in San Antonio. He swears by this recipe, and although I haven't tried it yet I wanted to share it with you. Here are the ingredients and method, in Nestor's own words:

• Texas Toast sandwich bread or any other thick cut (tip: try to buy it some days or a week prior)
• 3-4 eggs (tip: pour on a rectangle Ziploc container-the ones used by most companies for ham.)
• Salt-to taste... less than a 1/2 teaspoon for sure-to taste
• Whole or 2% fresh milk (tip: pour enough milk to make the egg mix look a "light yellow" color. all depends on how much of egg taste you like on the toast)
• 1-1 1/2 teaspoon of sugar-to taste (white or brown, I use white)
• Cinnamon-use shaker and put as much as you want up to your personal taste, you can always add directly to the bread loaf when cooking
• Vanilla-if using pure vanilla 2-3 drops should be enough, if using imitation use close to a teaspoon

Ok, mix should be ready.... taste it and make adjustments as necessary

Set your range to mid-low temp. (I set it up at 3) You want enough heat so that when you put the toast you can hear a low sizzling but do not over heat because it will burn the outside but it will not cook the inside. Also, I use PAM... spray and dry up excess with a paper towel.

Now, cut the bread slice in half in order to create "triangles" and cut some fresh strawberries.

Use a semi-flat plate in order to pour the mix just enough for two triangles-one at a time(do not dip in mix bowl as bread will get too soggy (mojado).

Ready!!!!

Take a slice and put into your semi-flat plate (do not let sit-just turn fairly quick to each side including the new third edge).

Put on pan (salten) and let it cook for approximately 1 minute per side until toasted or golden brown.

After both side have been cooked, stand up slice in order to cook the new edge.

Take out and let it site for a minute, do not serve right away.

Add butter to taste, add domino (white powder) sugar, add syrup, and don't forget the strawberries!

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Thanks Nestor!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday, a merry christmas and a happy new year.