Orange zest French Toast with Homemade Blackberry Syrup

Looking for a quick, straightforward brunch idea for a weekend at home? I have a perfect recipe for you then!
This morning, my fabulous husband made the family this meal and it was out of this world delicious!
Today is the official halfway mark of my pregnancy so this was a great way to celebrate this morning!
Joel used a recipe based off of one of my Ina Garten cookbooks but switched it up a little bit. The orange zest in the French toast makes all the difference. It really helps cut the sweetness of the batter and is the perfect harmonious partner for the blackberry syrup. You leave the table feeling refreshed instead of ready to take a nap!

Ingredients

French Toast:

6 Eggs

10-12 pieces of Dave's Killer bread (makes this recipe a little healthier!!)

1 cup cream, milk or half and half

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon salt

butter

vegetable oil

1. Mix together cream, eggs, zest, vanilla, honey and salt. Soak the bread for 5 minutes and then fry in batches with a mix of butter and oil. It's helpful to use a cast iron skillet so the heat is evenly distributed and is able to fry evenly.

Blackberry Syrup:

zest from 1 lemon

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 cup good quality REAL maple syrup

1 pint fresh or frozen blackberries

1. Mix together all ingredients in a pan and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. If it needs to thicken, add a cornstarch flurry to stiffen it up a little.

The finished Product:

AppleBees Maple Butter Blondie!

Let me start off by saying I think AppleBees has some of the worst, most bland food I have ever eaten. I have literally never had a meal there that I even half-way enjoyed. But, while I was pregnant, I happened to order their maple butter blondie one time on a whim and man was it good! Joel and I would order one serving and then share it so as not to go overboard with the calories for either one of us. We would always leave feeling fat and ashamed, but it was always worth it!
A couple of weeks after I first had the maple butter blondie, I received my Food Network magazine in the mail and low and behold- they had a featured "secret recipe" for the maple butter blondie from AppleBees. Making it at home sure beats paying $5.99 for it at AB!
Recipe and Picture of the finished product below:

1. 10 Tablespoons butter
2. 1 cup Pecans
3. 2 Cups AP Flour
4. 1Teaspoon Baking Powder
5. 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
6. 1 Teaspoon Salt
7. 1 1/2 Cups packed Brown Sugar
8. 3 Large Eggs
9. 2 Tablespoons Vanilla
10. 6 Ounces White Chocolate and Butterscotch Chips- mixed
11. 1/3 Cup Maple Syrup
12. 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
13. 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
14. 1/4 Cup Pecans

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9X13 inch baking pan with foil
• Pulse 3/4 Cups of Pecans in food processor until coarsely ground
• Beat 10 Tablespoons Sugar and the brown sugar together in a kitchenaid until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time to the sugar/butter until incorporated
• Add vanilla and dry ingredients until the batter is just combined
• fold in white chocolate and butterscotch chips
• Spread the batter in the pan (it will be very thick) and back for 20-30 minutes until top springs back when you push down on it.
• Meanwhile make the sauce- Combine maple syrup and 6 Tablespoons of butter and cook over medium high heat until it's bubbly. Add cream and reduce down for another 3-4 minutes until thick.
• Cut the blondies into squares, top with vanilla ice cream, maple sauce and  a handful of pecans!

The Best Buttermilk Biscuits

I LOVE biscuits. I love them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I love them smothered in butter and honey or blackberry jam. 
Every time I go home and wake up in the morning I can be guaranteed that my mom either made biscuits or waffles from scratch for me. I could seriously eat a dozen in one sitting. 
These biscuits are flaky, rich and they never last long in my house. My recipe is a variation on a Barefoot Contessa recipe after I experimented and changed it a little bit. For making these biscuits I highly recommend that you have either a KitchenAid mixer or a Cuisanart food processor. The texture of the biscuits will be better if made in either of these as opposed to mixed by hand. Another secret to a great, flaky biscuit is to use super cold butter and DO NOT OVER MIX the batter. You want to mix the batter until there are pea size pieces of butter throughout the batter. Those patches of butter create moisture and flakiness in the finished product!
This particular batch was used for my chicken pot pie :

Buttermilk Biscuits

1. 2 Cups AP Flour
2. 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
3. 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
4. 3 Teaspoons Sugar
5. 1 stick cold Unsalted Butter
6. 3/4 Cup Buttermilk
7. Egg Wash (1 egg mixed with 1 Tablespoon Water)

• Add all dry ingredients and mix together in Cuisanart. 
• Add butter and mix until butter is the size of peas
• Add buttermilk until JUST combined
• Roll out dough on well floured board until 3/4 inch thick (Do not over roll the dough) and cut into circles with a biscuit cutter
• Spread egg wash over the top of each biscuit
• Bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes until just browned on top

Chinese 5 Spice Chicken drumsticks and Pesto Salmon

Tonight's dinner menu is Chinese 5 Spice Chicken drumsticks and Pesto Salmon. The chicken is for the boys (since I still don't like chicken since I got pregnant- thank you Gus!) and salmon for me!
I will upload pictures of the finished product tonight, but for now here are the recipes!
Chinese 5 Spice Chicken Drumsticks

1. 2 Tablespoons Chinese 5 Spice Powder (I use the one from the spice shop in Florence in Old Town- it's super fresh and yummy and comes in a cute bottle that is reusable)
2. 2 Teaspoons sesame oil
3. 1 Teaspoon salt
4. 1/2 Teaspoon black pepper
5. 1 teaspoon sugar
6. 2 cloves garlic, minced
7. 2 pounds chicken drumsticks

• Toast the 5 spice powder in a pan for 1-2 minutes until the essential oils are released and you can smell the 5 spice.
• Add all other ingredients and cool to room temp
• rub all over chicken drumsticks and marinate for up to 5 hours
• After 5 hours of marinating, fry off the chicken in a little oil and then bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees until there is no pink in the center of the drumsticks
• Serve with white rice and Enjoy!

Pesto Salmon

1. 1 bunch of fresh basil
2. 2 garlic cloves
3. 1/3 Cup parmesan cheese
4. 1/4 Cup pine nuts
5. 1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6. 1 Teaspoon salt
7. 1 6 oz salmon filet

• Put basil, garlic, cheese, pine nuts and salt in Cuisanart and pulse until all ingredients are blended
• Add olive oil slowly until the pesto is formed

Take salmon filet and top with 1-2 Tablespoons of the pesto. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes until slamon is slightly pink in the middle.

**Photos taken by Mr. Robert Hanenkrat and his iPhone4**

My Love for Food

It's so effortless for me to write about cooking because it's something I truly love. I can cook in the kitchen all day long and be happy as a clam. If I'm having a bad day, my husband knows that I will most likely be cooking an elaborate meal to make me feel better. Works every time.
Food is unique in the way it can bring everyone together, no matter their differences. Democrat or republican, male or female, Jewish or Catholic- we all eat and food brings us together! I can't think of anything else that is such a common denominator among cultures across the world.
My love for cooking and food started at a very young age. Many of my childhood memories revolve around cooking in the kitchen with my mom and eating with our large extended family. My Grandma Huff is an amazing cook, known for her killer mashed potatoes (which I am sure have 3 pounds of butter in them) as well as pretty much everything else she makes. She makes a strawberry pie that I could eat every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of it. Her meals are epic. I remember the first time I took Joel and some of my friends down to Florence one year for Christmas and we went up to her house for breakfast one morning. As we sat down, dish after dish after dish came out. Sausage, bacon, eggs, potatoes, cottage cheese (she ALWAYS has cottage cheese on her table for meals, usually with tomatoes in it), pancakes, toast, fruit on and on. Anyone who knows my Grandma knows you don't leave her house hungry. And people are always treated like family in her house.   That is something I have learned from her that I always do myself. People who walk in my house will be well fed and treated as family.
My Great Grandma Eliot was also an amazing cook. Her gingersnap recipe is one that has been passed around the family and is literally the best cookie I have ever eaten. I remember going to her house and the entire table being filled with all sorts of food. 
Our Eliot family reunion every year was filled with lots and lots of family and lots and lots of food. My Aunt Barb always brought her 7 layer dip which was always gone after about 5 minutes because it was so good. Grandma always brought baked beans and there was always chicken and little sandwiches (like tea sandwiches). 
My mom is also a great cook and I always remember her making homemade dinners growing up. I never really liked beef at all as a kid (and still don't) but I do remember the only way I would eat beef was in my mom's famous beef stroganoff. About once or twice a year when I really need comfort food I make a version of beef stroganoff and it instantly perks me up. The way my mom made it (and the only way I like it to this day) is with cream of mushroom soup, egg noodles, boiled potatoes and then it was all topped with sour cream. Instead of beef, I use turkey. It is seriously the most comforting meal ever! 
My mom's minestrone soup is really, really good too. I will post her recipe for that on here sometime soon. Every time I go home, my mom will either make me waffles from scratch or biscuits from scratch for breakfast and I end up eating my weight in both. They are comforting and they taste like home. No matter how many times I make them at my house, they never quite taste the same as when mom makes them.
I have always been surrounded by good food, and I wouldn't want it any other way. I secretly feel sorry for people who grew up never eating homemade, GOOD food. My husband basically grew up on boxed dinners, miracle whip and Wonder bread so when he started dating me, he was taken on a whirlwind ride of homemade food. I hope I pass on my love and passion for food onto my son. He will grow up helping me cook in the kitchen and eating fresh, organic made from scratch food. He will be raised knowing the importance of being hospitable to guests and making them feel welcome and at home. He will learn that our family gathers around food and meals and that is how we connect and spend time together. I can only hope that when he grows up, he comes back home often because he misses mama's food!

Easy French Inspired Dinner

I caught a small portion of Hubert Keller's cooking show on OPB this morning and totally got inspired to do a French themed dinner. Generally, French food is much too fussy and dignified for my taste, but I decided to go with 2 rustic French classics that are incredibly easy to make; Salmon filet en papillote and ratatouille.

• Entree: Salmon filet en Papillote 
• Side Dish: Ratatouille
• Appetizer: Onion Rings with Spicy Aioli

Entree: Salmon Filet en Papillote
Ingredients

• 2- 6 oz salmon filets
• 2 lemons (sliced)
• 2 teaspoons fresh or dried herbs (I used dill, marjoram, savory, lemon zest and pepper)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 shallot minced
• 1 sheet of parchment paper

Put sliced lemons on bottom of salmon. Top salmon with herb mix, more lemon slices, olive oil, garlic, shallot and lemon zest. Close the parchment paper and cook @375 for 15-20 minutes.


Side Dish: Ratatouille

• 1 eggplant diced
• 3-4 small zucchini diced
• 1 large sweet onion or red onion sliced
• 2 large tomatoes diced
• 1 red pepper diced
• 1 green pepper diced
• one handful fresh basil chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 bunch parsley chopped

Roast all the Veggies in the oven for 20-25 minutes @ 400 degrees. Take them out and saute them in a pan with the garlic for 2-3 minutes. Add vinegar. Toss with parsley and you are done!

Appetizer: Onion Rings and Spicy Aioli
The onion ring recipe can be found on Hubert Keller's website.
For the Aioli I used Julia Child's recipe for mayo and then added in 1 garlic clove, 1 Tablespoon of Siracha and 1 Tablespoon of lemon zest.

Onion Rings and Spicy homemade Aioli

Salmon and Ratatouille