Make-Ahead Meal: Overnight French Toast

I just love a Monday.  Well, let me be more specific.  I just love a Monday when I already made dinner ahead the night before.  Make-ahead meals make me happy in much the same way that crockpot meals make me happy.  I can make them at a time that is more convenient for me, but my family sits down to eat them at dinner time.  I normally prepare crockpot meals after lunch or in the early afternoon, or I may prepare them in the morning, but keep them ready in the fridge to begin cooking later in the day.  Make-ahead meals I usually do the night before (and yes, that might mean making two dinners in one day, but the bonus comes when you don't have to do anything but put the food in the oven the following evening.  In this case, my husband took me out for dinner last night and the babysitter did dinner for my kids, so I only had to make the one meal.)

This meal is another idea I found on Pinterest (here's my pin).  You can view the original recipe here at Rach's Blog if you are interested.  I made only a few minor adjustments in my version.  The original recipe does call for using Texas toast, but I simply used cinnamon swirl bread (2 layers of 6 pieces each=12 pieces of bread total).

Overnight French Toast

Ingredients:
~1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
~2 cups brown sugar (additional brown sugar to sprinkle between layers)
~12 pieces cinnamon swirl bread
~4 eggs
~1 1/2 cups milk
~2 teaspoons vanilla
~cinnamon
~turbinado sugar

Directions:

Melt butter in microwave and add brown sugar.  Stir until mixed and spread into bottom of 9 x 13 pan.  Beat eggs, milk, and vanilla.  Lay single layer of cinnamon bread in pan.

Spoon 1/2 of egg mixture on bread layer.  Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon before next layer of bread.

Add second layer of cinnamon bread.  Spoon on rest of egg mixture.

I put a pat of butter onto each slice of bread and then sprinkled all with turbinado sugar and more cinnamon.

Cover and chill in fridge overnight.  Uncover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  We do not eat this with any syrup as it is certainly sweet enough on its own.  I did place each serving on the plate upside down so the brown sugar/butter mixture is right on top.  Yum is really the only word for it.

~nikki

Two Crockpot Meals: Fruit-Stuffed Pork Chops and Roasted New Potatoes and Carrots

Well, it's another two crockpot day here at my house.  All afternoon, my husband has been happily basking in the scents coming out of my kitchen.  I'm pleased to say that he thoroughly enjoyed the taste of the meal as well!  (The kids even liked it, too.)

Fruit-Stuffed Pork Chops

Ingredients:
~1 boneless pork loin roast
~1 cup dried fruits (I used cranberries and cherries)
~1 tablespoon minced onion
~1 teaspoon salt
~1 teaspoon thyme
~1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
~1/2 teaspoon black pepper
~2 tablespoons olive oil
~1 cup apple cider

Directions:

Cut pork horizontally (think hot dog bun).

Layer dried fruit and minced onion in opening.

Bring halves of pork together and tie at 1-inch intervals with kitchen twine.  In a small bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients and rub into roast.

Place roast in skillet with oil and brown roast on all sides.  Spray slow cooker with cooking spray and add the roast.  Pour in the apple cider.  Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours.

Roasted New Potatoes and Carrots

Ingredients:
~1 1/2 pounds new potatoes, unpeeled
~1/2 pound carrots (I took the very-easy route and used bagged carrot chips)
~1/2 cup butter, melted
~1 tablespoon dried parsley
~1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
~1/2 teaspoon salt
~1/2 teaspoon black pepper
~1/2 teaspoon paprika

Directions:

Spray inside of crockpot with cooking spray.  Add potatoes and carrots.  Mix melted butter and spices.  Pour mixture over potatoes and carrots and stir.  Cover and cook on high for about 3-4 hours.

~nikki

Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

A while back, I found an interesting recipe by way of Pinterest.  I printed out the recipe and didn't really look too closely at it until today when I was getting ready to prepare the meal.  I was pretty surprised to read directions instructing me to cook the chicken at 500 degrees!  After checking the original source (here) I confirmed that the recipe did indeed say 500 degrees.

I was also surprised to read in the comments section the number of people who actually followed that instruction, though they seemed to know it wasn't a good idea going in.  I think there's a larger lesson here that has little to do with cooking, and more to do with life.  Listen to your own instincts.  You don't have to be a Follower.

I'm happy to say that my version turned out perfectly.  Everyone in the family enjoyed it, and that is always a plus for me.  The original recipe called for boneless skinless chicken breasts, but I preferred to use boneless skinless chicken tenderloins.

Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

Ingredients:
~9-10 boneless skinless chicken breast tenderloins (or 4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts)
~4 garlic cloves, minced
~4-6 tablespoons brown sugar
~olive oil (I didn't measure... original calls for 3 teaspoons, but I definitely used more...probably a couple tablespoons)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray casserole dish with cooking spray.  Saute garlic in the olive oil until tender.  Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar.  Place chicken the the casserole dish and cover with the garlic and brown sugar mixture.  Bake uncovered for 25 minutes.

Recipe Update (Feb. 21)
So, I made this recipe again today, this time using chicken breasts instead of tenderloins.  I also discovered that my garlic was bad, so I substituted minced garlic from my spice collection.  Not only did the recipe taste great (we didn't notice the absence of fresh garlic at all) but it was easier prep for me.  (I may never go back...)

~nikki

Make Ahead Meal: Apple-Stuffed Strata

Tomorrow night for dinner we will be enjoying another breakfast meal.  I love having breakfast for dinner!  This is a recipe I have made before, and everyone in my family enjoyed it.  It is a meal that you have to make ahead, which to me is really great.  I made it tonight after my daughter was already in bed.  Now it is fully prepared, just waiting to be cooked tomorrow.

Last fall, I gave myself the gift of a magazine subscription (got to love those school fundraisers) to Cooking Light.  This recipe comes from their December 2012 issue, and you can view the original here.

Apple-Stuffed Strata

Ingredients:

~2 teaspoons butter (okay... well, I know this comes from Cooking Light, but I definitely used more than 2 teaspoons... use your own judgment/preference here)
~4 cups sliced peeled apple (recipe called for Golden Delicious, which I used last time... this time I only had Fuji on hand, so Fuji it is)
~6 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
~cooking spray
~12 sliced cinnamon swirl bread, cut in half diagonally (I used Pepperidge Farm)
~3/4 cup chopped pecans, divided
~1 1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk (again, I didn't have 1% milk this time, so I actually used half skim, and half 2%)
~1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (seriously... only 1/2 teaspoon?  I just couldn't do that... I used about 1 tablespoon, but that's my own preference.)
~5 eggs
~1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (this is also called sugar in the raw, but you can use regular granulated sugar if you want... it's just not quite the same, but that's just me)

Directions:
1. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add apple and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar to pan; saute 8 minutes or until apple is tender and lightly browned.  Remove from heat; cool 5 minutes.

2. Coat an 11 x 7-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.  Arrange half of bread in dish.  Top with apple mixture; top with 1/2 cup pecans.  Arrange remaining bread over pecans.

3. Combine the remaining 5 tablespoons granulated sugar, milk, cinnamon, and eggs in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Pour milk mixture over bread, pressing down to submerge.  Cover and chill overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Uncover dish.  Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup pecans and turbinado sugar evenly over bread.  Bake for 48 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Full nutrition facts can be found on the magazine's website.  But the basics are that they say it serves 8, with 337 calories per serving.

So I'm a happy Momma tonight, because my family's Monday night dinner is already done!  All I have to do is add the rest of the pecans and my turbinado sugar, and bake this dish.  I'll also be serving some bacon with this, but that will be super easy.

~nikki

Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken and Crockpot Cinnamon Carrots

Yes, that's right... It's a 2 crockpot day here in my kitchen.  Because sometimes one just isn't enough!

So, here's what's cooking:

Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken

Ingredients:

~4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
~1 package Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix
~1/2 cup water
~Fat free cream cheese, 1 (8 oz) block, cubed
~1 can cream of chicken soup, 98% fat free

Directions:

Spray crockpot with nonstick spray.  Place chicken in crockpot, mix Italian dressing mix and water, pour over chicken.  Spread cream cheese cubes out over chicken.  Pour can of soup over all.  Cover.  (I cook this on low for about 4 hours.)

(Giving credit where credit is due, I found this recipe on my SparkRecipes free iPhone/iPod app.  You can find the web version here.)

Crockpot Cinnamon Carrots

Ingredients:

~2 (16 oz) pkg carrots (I used the crinkle cut slices, but you could use baby carrots instead)
~3/4 cup packed brown sugar
~1/4 cup honey
~1/2 cup orange juice
~2 1/2 tablespoons (1/3 stick) butter, melted
~3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Spray crockpot with  nonstick spray.  Add carrots.  Combine in a bowl: brown sugar, honey, OJ, butter, and cinnamon.  Pour mixture over carrots.  Cover and cook on low about 3 hours or so.  (Stir twice during cooking.)  About 20 minutes before serving, transfer carrots (with slotted spoon) to serving dish and cover to keep warm.  Pour liquid from crockpot into a saucepan; boil for several minutes until reduced by half.  Spoon over carrots in serving dish.

(Just a note, this recipe makes a lot, so I froze half of it to use again another time.  You also could prepare just half.)

~nikki

Crockpot Pork Chops with Apple-Cranberry Stuffing

I found a recipe a while back using a free app from SparkRecipes.  You can view the original recipe, "Slow Cooker Pork Chops with Apple-Cranberry Stuffing," here.  I was intrigued by the recipe, but I was surprised that it called for apples and dried cherries, but no cranberries.  (After all, "cranberry" is in the recipe's title... so I wanted to use cranberries.)  Also, my family does not care for celery and I don't happen to like onion, so those ingredients needed to come out for us.  Here's what I ended up doing with it:

Slow Cooker Pork Chops with Apple-Cranberry Stuffing

Ingredients:
~1 package (6 ounces) herb stuffing mix
~1 cup apples, peeled and chopped
~1 cup dried cherries
~1 cup dried cranberries
~minced onion (honestly, I can't remember how much...  maybe a couple teaspoons?)
~1 cup chicken broth
~5-6 boneless pork loin chops (about 1/2 inch thick)

Directions:
Spray inside of slow cooker with cooking spray.  Mix all ingredients except pork.  Place half of the stuffing mixture in slow cooker; top with pork.  Spoon remaining stuffing mixture over pork.  Cover and cook on low heat setting until pork is tender (I think I did about 4 hours or so).

p.s.
My family really enjoyed this meal!  My son, Geoffrey, though, didn't know what it was when he found it in the crockpot after school (I was out taking his sister to her dance class, so I wasn't there for him to ask).  Since it didn't look that good to him, he opted to make himself some Easy Mac in the microwave.  When I got home, I told him what was in the crockpot (he loves pork, by the way!)... Boy was he surprised!  Though he was full when we sat down to eat, he did reheat some for himself a little later.

~nikki

Mini Nutella Cookie Cups

About these cookies, let me just say this... yum!  Steve & I made these together a couple of days before Christmas, and they were so good!  It was nice making them together, too.

You can visit the original source of this recipe here.  I found it at Daisy Chubb's Tea and Treats, via Pinterest (another one of my new favorite things).

Mini Nutella Cookie Cups

Ingredients:

~1 cup butter, softened
~1 cup white sugar
~1 cup packed brown sugar
~2 eggs
~2 teaspoons vanilla extract
~3 cups all-purpose flour
~1 teaspoon baking soda
~1/2 teaspoon salt
~Nutella (you'll need at least one jar)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease mini muffin pan.  Combine dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) in small bowl and set aside.  Cream butter and both sugars in bowl until light, smooth and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until fully incorporated.  Gradually add dry ingredients and mix until all the flour is mixed in.  Roll dough into balls about 1.5 inches thick.  Place them in the mini muffin tin and bake for 10-12 minutes.  When done, remove from oven and let sit for about 2 minutes.  Then make wells for the Nutella with a shot glass (or similar object).  Add about 1 tablespoon Nutella to each cup.  (This is where it was handy to be working together... I made the wells while Steve filled them.  And, by the way, our cookies came right out of the tin as I lifted the shot glass, so I immediately transferred them to wax paper to cool.)

Yield: about 48 cookies

~nikki

Crockpot Apple Butter Pork Tenderloin

This is another very easy meal which I prepare for my family using my crockpot (one of my favorite things, for sure).  Seriously, my daughter helps me make it, it's that easy!

Slow Cooker Apple Butter Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

~1 pork tenderloin (about 2 lbs)

~1.5 cups unsweetened applesauce

~1/4 cup butter, melted

~2 tsp minced garlic

~2 tsp worcestershire sauce

~1 tbsp ground ginger

~1 tsp black pepper

Directions:

Place the thawed tenderloin in the slow cooker.  Mix the other ingredients in a separate bowl, then pour over tenderloin, rolling meat to ensure all sides are coated.  (As a note, Hope & I did increase the amount of applesauce and melted butter, but we kept the amounts of the other ingredients unchanged.)  I cooked this on low for about 4 hours.  When you serve this, it's nice to ladle some of the applesauce mixture onto the pork slices on everyone's plates.

~nikki

Crockpot Oatmeal

I have made this recipe for my family a number of times now.  Each of us enjoys it (a big plus), and it is super easy (another big plus).  I am a big fan of eating breakfast foods for dinner, and this meal is an example of that.  There are always leftovers, too, which is nice.  At least a few bowls are served at breakfast in the days following this meal.

Served plain

With toppings: brown sugar,
granola, and diced strawberries

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats & Apples

Ingredients:

~2 cups steel cut oats, dry
~2 cups apples, chopped
~3 cups water (be prepared to add more water to your crockpot later on, if your oatmeal starts to look too thick)
~1 cup low-fat milk
~1 tablespoon cinnamon
~1 teaspoon apple pie spice (the original recipe called for pumpkin pie spice... you could use whatever you like or have on hand)
~I also added about 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, about 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves, and about 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~margarine (for greasing inside of crockpot)

~optional toppings:  cranberries, dried cherries, raisins, pecans, brown sugar, granola

Directions:

Grease slow cooker with margarine.  Add ingredients to slow cooker, except the toppings.  Stir to mix and cover.  I cooked mine on the low setting for about 3 hours.  As I mentioned, I did need to add more water later as the oatmeal became too thick.

~nikki

Welcome to My Kitchen

A couple of things I never would have thought I would do:

1.  Enjoy cooking.
2.  Have a blog devoted to recipes.

Yet, here I am...

I married my husband Steve when we were only 22 years old.  I certainly didn't know much about cooking, and really can't say that I even liked it.  Last summer we marked our 15th anniversary, and I can honestly say that this is the first year when that first statement from above ("enjoy cooking") was actually true.  And I really shouldn't say "year," because it is really only in the last few months that I have begun to enjoy cooking.

Obviously, we were eating before.  And I was preparing most of those meals.  But, cooking?  No, not my thing.  So, no one was more surprised than me when I started to enjoy looking for new recipes and trying them out in my kitchen.  And I'm finding that I'm actually not a bad cook!

To keep myself motivated and my recipes organized, I decided to create this new space here.  I already enjoy writing about our family life at my blog, Notes From a Blessed Life, so this seemed like a natural choice for me.

I've already started adding page tabs at the top, and I'm sure I may end up expanding that list later.  For now, you can see I've included "Crockpot Cooking," "Desserts," and "Everything Else."  First, I use my crockpot (or both of my crockpots on some days) at least 3-4 days every week.  I seriously love my crockpot.  Secondly, I may not make them often, but I do love desserts.  It's likely that many of the recipes I may end up including on the "Desserts" page may not be ones I've actually made yet.  They may be recipes that I simply think look good, that I would like to save for myself.  The last tab is for "Everything Else" and that is self-explanatory.

So, welcome to my kitchen!  As I find (and cook) recipes I enjoy, I'll record them here.  Stop over any time!

~nikki