CEiMB: Cranberry French Toast Bake

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly is from Liz of The Not So Skinny Kitchen. She chose for us to make Peach French Toast Bake from The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Krieger. Since I had a lot of cranberries left over from my Cranberry Orange Applesauce, and since cranberries are more in season than peaches, I decided to make my French toast bake with them instead.

I made a few additions and substitutions since I was using cranberries instead of peaches. Since cranberries are much tarter than peaches I added an additional tablespoon of brown sugar to the egg mixture and an additional 1 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar to the cranberry topping. I substituted orange juice for the lemon juice in the recipe, and added the zest of half an orange to the egg mixture. Based on the reviews on the Food Network, I added some spices to the egg mixture as well. I added 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon and ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.

This dish was incredibly easy to throw together, and you can make it the night before, and bake it off in the morning for a quick breakfast. I actually only let mine rest in the refrigerator for about 4 hours, but that seemed to be plenty of time for the bread to soak up the egg mixture. My French toast took about 50 minutes to bake. The orange flavor went well with the tart cranberries, which were still quite tart, but when I drizzled maple syrup over the top, it was a nice combination of sweet and sour. This recipe is very versatile, I would like to try it with blueberries and almonds or plums and crystallized ginger. There are really a lot of combinations that would work well with the French toast, but I think it is really important to add a lot of flavors to the egg mixture or the French toast will probably come off as a little bland.

Cranberry Orange Applesauce

I was trying to think of an easy side dish for a fall meal, when I came across a recipe for Cranberry Applesauce over at Simply Recipes. I changed the recipe a little bit by reducing the sugar in the recipe and adding some orange juice and zest. This recipe was very easy to throw together, you simply just throw everything into a pot and let things simmer until until the apples are soft. The sauce has a great sweet-tart flavor to it. It would make a great side dish for roast pork or a Thanksgiving meal.


Cranberry Orange Applesauce

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 pounds of peeled, cored, roughly chopped (Gala, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp)
• 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
• the zest and juice of 1 large orange
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

-Place all of the ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a
simmer and cover. Cook about 20 minutes, or until the apples can easily be mashed.

-Remove from heat. Mash the apples and cranberries with a potato masher to desired
consistency

CEiMB: Pumpkin Pie Muffins

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly is from Oddball Oven Mitt. She chose for us to bake the Pumpkin Pie Muffins from The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Krieger. These are quick and easy to put together, and you don't even need an electric mixer.

After reading the reviews on the Food Network website, I decided to add a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice to the batter to increase the spiciness. I also substituted 1 1/2 tablespoons of maple syrup for 1 1/2 tablespoons of the molasses because some reviewers said that the molasses was overpowering, and I think the combination of the two gave a great flavor to the muffins. I didn't have any pumpkin seeds on hand, but I did have some chocolate covered sunflower seeds, so I sprinkled them on top instead. The batter actually could make about 13 or 14 muffins if you fill them 2/3 the way full like the recipe suggests. I just decided to fill my muffin cups to the top because I don't mind if the puff out over the top of pan.

The muffins were light and more "cake-like" than "muffin-like", and adding the extra spices really helped, i think. The pumpkin flavor wasn't as prominent as I would have liked, but they were still delicious, more like a spice cake. I would make these again, maybe next time I will add some chopped apples or pears to the batter, I think both of those would make great additions.

Happy Halloween!

CEiMB: Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadilla

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly is from Marthe of Culinary Delights She chose for us to make the Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas from The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Krieger. This recipe is extremely easy to throw together because the ingredients cook quickly, perfect for a weeknight meal. The filling is very flavorful and doesn't seem heavy at all. I am always looking for new combinations of veggies and meats to throw into a quesadilla, and I will be making this again.

I made a few substitutions to the recipe. I added some frozen corn and cilantro to the filling, and I substituted scallions for the onion in the recipe. Instead of the white button mushrooms, I used cremini because I think they have more flavor. Check out the other bloggers at Craving Ellie in My Belly to see their creations!

Smoky Black Beans and Corn

I am always looking for quick and easy side dishes. I love black bean and corn salsa, so I thought I would make something similar with a little more body as a side dish for some chipotle chicken skewers I got from Trader Joe's. This dish is easy to throw together, and you can do almost anything you want to it to suit your tastes. You can stir in some cheese and cilantro, or add mor spice by including jalapenos or minced chipotle peppers from a can (in this case, I just use the adobo sauce from the can, but I have added the chipotle pepper as well to increase the spiciness). It is really simple to make this side dish your own.


Smoky Black Beans and Corn
serves 4

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1-15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon Goya Adobo with cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons adobo sauce from canned chipotle peppers
• 1 1/3 cups corn, fresh or frozen (If frozen, don't thaw)

• Heat olive oil over medium to medium-high heat, add the onion and poblano pepper, and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute about 1 minute longer.
• Add the black beans and the water, smashing some of the black beans with a spoon or the back of a spatula to thicken the sauce.
• Mix in the Goya seasoning, cumin, and adobo sauce. Reduce the heat to a low and allow the sauce to thicken and the beans to heat through, about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  
• Stir in the corn, and continue to cook until the corn is warmed through, add more Goya seasoning if necessary. Serve immediately.

CEiMB: Sweet and Spicy Grilled Cheese

I haven't been able to post a Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe in a few weeks. First I was on vacation (see below), then two days after I got home my brother and sister-in-law welcomed a baby girl into this world (also see below). It is their first child, and I am now an aunt! Between all of that and trying to catch up on things at work, I haven't been able to blog as much as I normally do. So I was glad to get back to with this recipe for Sweet and Spicy Grilled Cheese from The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Krieger. This particular recipe was chosen by Leslie of Lethally Delicious.

I am really glad she chose this recipe because it is quite different from the way I usually make grilled cheese. I like my grilled cheese the way I had it as a child, two slices of Kraft singles sandwiched between two slices of white bread slathered with butter. Serve that up with some Campbell's tomato soup, and I am happy. However, I was glad to get a chance to try something different. This sandwich combines two different cheeses (I used colby and pepper jack), with caramelized onions and tomatoes. It really is a great combination, the spicy cheese with the sweet onions and juicy tomato. It is a quick and easy snack, and I would definitely make it again

Badlands National Park

Devil's Tower National Monument

Grand Teton National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Sunset in Montana

and...my beautiful niece Julia Marie

Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

I was deciding on what to make for a coworker's birthday when I came across this recipe for Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting. I am a huge fan of the food blog smitten kitchen, in my opinion, it is one of the best food blogs out there. Deb always makes interesting and delicious-looking dishes, and the food photography is just beautiful. I hope that one day when I have more time (and better lighting and a better camera), that I can take pictures and create recipes that are half as good as hers.

Anyway, these cupcakes are fairly easy to put together, you simply sift the dry ingredients together, cream the butter and sugar, add the wet ingredients, then incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. It is a pretty standard recipe for a cake. The cupcake is light and fluffy and Deb recommended cutting the peaches into pretty small pieces, so they wouldn't sink to the bottom of the cupcake. I really appreciated that tip, and the peaches were nicely incorporated throughout the whole cupcake. I typically make a cream cheese icing with just powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. This recipe uses brown sugar as well as powdered sugar. In order to get the icing to set up a bit better, cornstarch is added to the icing.

Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 24 cupcakes

• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup dark or light brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, sour cream or full-fat yogurt (I used low-fat buttermilk)
  
• 3 large peaches, peeled, cored, and chopped smallish (about a 1/3-inch dice)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with 24 cupcake wrappers

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices and set aside. Cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition, and then the vanilla. Gently mix in the buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt. Mix in the dry ingredients, until just incorporated and fold in the peaches.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes for five minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch and powdered sugar, breaking up the clumps of brown sugar. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the sugar-cornstarch mixture and vanilla, beat until frosting is smooth and light. Chill the bowl in the refrigerator until it thickens back up a bit, about 30 minutes, then spread or dollop on cooled cupcakes.

Notes: These cupcakes were very light, and the little bits of peaches throughout each cupcake is really delicious. I would use this batter again with other fruits like apples, plums, or berries. The brown sugar icing was good, but it didn't add anything to the typical cream cheese icing for me, next time I will stick to my original recipe or add some peach puree to the icing to enhance the peach flavor. I recommend checking out the smitten kitchen blog. It really is one of the best out there.

Also, I had A LOT of frosting left over, to the point that I could have probably halved the recipe and still had enough to frost the cupcakes. I don't like a lot of frosting on my cupcakes, so that is probably why.