Pulled Pork Banh Mi

Pulled Pork Banh Mi is a unique and delicious way to re-purpose leftover pulled pork. A fusion of French and Vietnamese cuisine, the Banh Mi sandwich is a flavor powerhouse that gives all five senses a workout!

French Onion Hot Dogs

French Onion Hot Dogs are just like your favorite French Onion Soup, but in a handy bun and extra delicious because it's a hot dog!!

How To Make Pastry Cream

Pastry Cream is a silky, sweet French custard that is quite easy to make. Today I'll walk you through my tutorial on How To Make Pastry Cream that can be used in many different dessert recipes. 

Strawberry Clafoutis

Strawberry Clafoutis is a twist on the scrumptious french dessert traditionally made with black cherries. This simple, yet impressive, dessert is brimming with sweet, fresh strawberries encased in a light and fluffy custard-like filling. The smooth, creamy texture of this strawberry clafoutis makes me close my eyes and savor every delectable bite! I bet you'll be surprised at how ridiculously easy this is to make...

Red Wine Chocolate Truffles #SundaySupper

Red Wine Chocolate Truffles are bite sized pieces of chocolate heaven. Traditional French Truffles are made with a simple chocolate ganache and rolled in cocoa powder. I flavored my chocolate ganache with red wine and rolled some in crushed almonds to mix things up a bit!

French Dip Sandwiches and Baked French Fries

This is a simple dish I've been making for years.  It is a family favorite!

You'll want to make the french fries first.  I always use Yukon Gold potatoes - I just really like them.  I also bake my french fries.  It is so much better for you, and we have come to enjoy our non-oily fries over the years. 

You can watch a how to video of my recipe on allrecipes.com just click here - Best Baked French Fries video

I use about 1.5-2 potatoes per person.  Slice the potatoes lengthwise into about 4 slices. Then slice each individual slice lengthwise again into 4 strips.  These are the size of steak fries.  You can see from the picture about the size I make them. When all the potatoes are in strips, place them in a container or a Ziploc baggie. Add about a tablespoon of sugar - seal and let sit for about 30 mins to an hour.  This will release the water in the potatoes and make them a little more crunchy than you normally expect from a baked french fry.

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees.  Drain potatoes and pat dry. Line a baking sheet with foil (double line for easier clean-up). Spray with cooking spray.  Toss those potato strips on the foil. Salt and pepper generously, and I like to add some garlic powder too.  Now you'll want to drizzle them with olive oil and toss them around a bit to make sure each wedge is coated with oil.  The amount of oil will depend on how many potatoes you are making, but start with a tablespoon and add more as needed.  Don't worry if it seems like you oiled them too much, you can drain them on a paper towel after they are cooked.  It is also important to make sure they are in a single layer with space between each fry.

Place the baking tray in the oven and bake for 30 mins. Remove from oven and flip the potatoes - I like to turn each individual one over - it really doesn't take a whole lot of time and results in a crispier fry, but if you don't feel like doing that - just move them around a bit and try to get as many of them flipped over as you can (keeping them in a single layer with space between each fry).  Bake them for 10 more minutes and remove from the oven. Drain on paper toweling if needed.

You can start the sandwiches after you put the fries back in the oven for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.  You'll need 1lb rare roast beef, 1 can french onion soup, water, 4 onion kaiser rolls, 4 slices swiss, provolone, or whatever cheese you prefer.  

Heat the french onion soup in a sauce pan with 1/2 a can of water. Add the roast beef and heat through. Meanwhile toast the rolls in the oven. When toasted top with roast beef and a spoonful of the soup. Add cheese on top of the meat and melt in the oven.  Serve with extra juice and french fries.

Madison's Angel Food Cake French Toast

Perfection on a plate!

You. Will. LOVE! This!

...nothing left to say

Madison's Angel Food Cake French Toast

Ingredients

Angel Food Cake Box Mix (just add water!)

4 eggs

1 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch salt

butter

Directions

Make the cake the day before you plan on making the french toast. Follow the directions on the box.  Madison likes to make this in a 13"x9"x2" cake pan (a smaller pan will overflow).  If you prefer to save time, I'm sure this will be just as good if you purchase the angel food cake from the bakery.

In the morning, whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Slice the cake into desired sizes and dip each slice into the egg mixture to coat - do this about 3-4 pieces at a time (whatever will fit in your skillet). Heat a large skillet to medium heat. Melt enough butter to coat pan. Add cake slices and cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side. The french toast should be golden brown. Continue until you've cooked all the cake pieces. Add butter to the pan as needed. Serve with fresh fruit and pure maple syrup.

HomeMade Pizza

We love pizza!  We used to order pizza from a nearby pizza place quite often.  That was until Madison made her first homemade pizza!  Madison spoiled us with her culinary creations before she left for college - we weren't quite sure how we would get along without her!  It seems like just last week I was crying my eyes out heading west on I-16 after leaving my only baby alone in a strange city for her first year of college!  Now she's gearing up for finals week and saying goodbye to her Freshman year!
She survived! and, more importantly, so did I

Madison always used Bridgford Ready Dough for her homemade pizza, and it is a very good choice for the dough! Easy to use and very tasty!

Publix carries it in the freezer case

For this recipe I used the the Homemade French Bread.

This is the first time I used this dough to make pizza, and we liked it a lot.  I did not use a breadmaker - I made the dough by hand. After punching down, I spread the dough out on a large pizza pan.  Then I set it aside to rise. I like a thick crust, so I let this rise a couple hours to get it nice and puffy. You can let it rise until it looks good for your tastes.  Here is what mine looked like after rising a couple hours

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. When the dough is nice and puffy, poke some holes in the center of it with a fork. I try to leave the edges nice and puffy, so I don't attack them with the fork! Now you want to mince up some garlic in a small bowl and pour some olive oil over it - about a tablespoon will do - whatever looks good! Use the back of a spoon to crush the garlic a bit, and then gently brush the garlic olive oil all over the pizza!  Then put it in the oven for about 10 minutes. You just want to get it lightly browned.

Once your pizza is a little toasty you are ready to top it as you like. Here's what I did...

While the dough was toasting in the oven, I sauteed some fresh baby spinach in garlic and olive oil.  I used about 1-2 teaspoons olive oil with a clove of garlic (sliced). When that was warmed, I added a 10 oz bag of baby spinach and sauteed until it just started to wilt. It doesn't take long. I also sliced up some fresh plum tomates and set them aside until ready to top the pizza.

I topped the pizza with about 6 slices of Mozzarella first. Then I added the spinach and tomatoes. After that, I topped with about a cup of shredded Mozzarella and some shaved Parmesan cheese.

Now that my pizza is topped just the way I want it, I put it back in the oven for another 8-10 minutes. Take the pizza out of the oven when the cheese is melted and the crust is nicely browned.  Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing! ENJOY!

Easy Homemade French Bread

Allrecipes French Baguettes

If you have a bread maker then go ahead and follow the directions as printed on the Allrecipes site

If you don't have a bread maker, don't feel left out!  Just keep on reading....

I realize  you might think I'm crazy to say this is easy, but believe me I have tried and tried to make good bread to no avail!  I figured it just wasn't in my wheelhouse and decided to stick with the frozen bread dough...UNTIL I found this recipe.  I don't use a breadmaker, and I still find it easy.  It turns out perfect every time!  Few ingredients, only 1 kneading for about 10 mins, and let rise a couple times.  Sorry to say, but you have to put some muscle into good homemade bread 
 it  IS worth the effort!

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour (I like the King Arthur Brand Bread Flour best)
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon water
• 
  

Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl and let sit for bout 15 minutes.  The mixture should look frothy like in this picture...

DO NOT add the salt at this time or you will kill the yeast - that would be sad!

Now add the salt and flour and combine to form a dough...like so (mad rhyming skills haha)

Now it's time to take out some aggression!  Flour your work surface lightly and get some of that flour on your hands too!  Turn your dough out onto your work space and KNEAD. Knead for at least 10 minutes. Think of something (or someone) that frustrates you and take it all out on that dough!  The dough will be a little sticky at first, so keep adding flour as needed to the work surface and your hands, but don't overdo it!  Kneading will work out all that stickiness and aggression too! Multi-tasking - Love it!  If you have a stand mixer and a dough hook you can let that do all the kneading until no longer sticky.

Next place the dough in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the dough with the grease.  Cover and let rise for at least 30 mins or until doubled in size

More aggression?  No worries!  Now that the dough has doubled - give it a good punch!!

On a lightly floured surface, roll your dough into a 16x12 inch rectangle

No need to get a ruler out here!  Just eyeball it - close is good enough - no worries!

Cut dough in half, creating two 8x12 inch (approximately) rectangles. Roll up each half of dough tightly, beginning at 12 inch side, pounding out any air bubbles as you go. Roll gently back and forth to taper ends - and now you have 2 baguettes!

Place baguettes at least 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet (I prefer to use parchment paper, but buttering up the cookie sheet works well too). Make deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 inches, or make one lengthwise slash on each loaf. 

Cover, and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). 

Mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water; brush over tops of loaves.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.