Bayless's Black Pepper French Toast

After we realized so many of our all time favorite recipes were all from the same book (via TONI sharing!) my friends and I decided to cook our way through our favorite cookbook "The 150 Best American Recipes" By Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens. Lets just get started! We're only posting reviews of recipes so that it's not a problem with copyright (right girls? or not? let me know, maybe it doesn't matter...) Maybe we will convince you to buy it too. Last night Josh made Bayless's Black Pepper French Toast, which is actually from the editors forward! So technically it's not from the 150. D'oh. Anyway, it was really yummy. He used Challah bread, which was perfect for it. If your worrying about the pepper making it spicy, don't. It was a slight after taste, and not spicy. A nice compliment to the honey. Big thick slices, just the right amount of crusty and soft.

Raspberry Almond Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Best. Ever. Yum! From my GraME's Highschool friend Joyce.

INGREDIENTS

Crumb Mix, cut in butter
2 ½ cups flour
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup butter

Reserve 1 cup crumb mix, then add:
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup Sour Cream
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract

Cream Cheese Mixture:
8oz cream cheese softened
¼ cup sugar
1 egg

Carefully spoon over:
½ cup Raspberry Preserves

Add Almonds to crumb mix and top:
½ cup sliced almonds

Grease and flour bottom and sides of a 9 inch spring form pan. Combine Flour, ¾ cup sugar, and cut in the butter. Reserve 1 cup crumb mix. To remaining crumb mix, add baking powder, soda, salt, sour cream, 1 egg and almond extract. Blend well. Spread batter over bottom and 2 inches up the sides of prepared pan. Batter should be about ¼ in thick on sides. Combine cream cheese, ¼ cup sugar and 1 egg. Blend well. Pour over batter in pan. Carefully spoon preserves evenly over cheese filling. Combine 1 Cup reserved crumb mix and sliced almonds. Sprinkle over top. Bake 350 45-50 min till filling is set and crust is golden. Cool 15 min. Removes sides of pan. Serve warm.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I make these AT LEAST weekly. "Healthy" (whole wheat, and fruit) and tasty (chocolate chips). Garner asks for these EVERY DAY. So go ahead, make some. I know you probably have two banana's turning brown on your counter. I know I do.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/banana-chocolate-chip-muffins-recipe

Just going to link it rather than type it from my book. Thank you KA website!

Vermont Oatmeal Maple Honey Bread

Very lightly sweet and moist. EASY. Smells INCREDIBLE when baking.
From "King Arthur Flour, Bakers Companion."

2 1/4 to 2 1/2 Cups Boiling Water
1 cup Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Maple sugar or brown sugar
1/2 tsp maple flavor (optional)
1 Tablespoon Honey (or Maple Syrup)
4 Tablespoon's Butter melted
1 Tablespoon Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon instant yeast (or one packet)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
4 cups all purpouse flour

In a large mixing bowl, combine the water, oats, maple sugar, maple flavor, honey, butter, salt and cinnamon. Let cool to lukewarm.

Add the yeast and flours, stirring to form a rough dough. Knead (about 10 min by hand, 5-7 my machine) until the dough is smooth and satiny. Transfer to lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise 1 hour it should be double in bulk.

Divide in half and shape each into a loaf. Place the loaves in two greased bread pans. cover and allow to rise till they've crowned about 1 in over the rim, about one hour.

Preheat oven to 350, bake 35-40 min. Remove from the oven when golden brown, Can check with thermometer, internal temp should be about 190.
ENJOY

Nutty Bar Cheesecake

This is to die for. Literally...cause there's cream, butter, cream cheese and candybars in it. Made this for Josh's birthday, it was a big hit. The filling was nice and smooth, not too sweet. Presentation was very cool!

Ingredients:

24 Nutty Bars (little debbie cakes, 2 boxes)

2 8oz packages cream cheese

1 4oz package Instant Vanilla Pudding

2 cups chunky peanut butter

2 cups milk

1 cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

Unwrap 12 nutty bars, chop in blender until finely crushed, pour into bowl. Add butter and mix well. Press into bottom of a 12in spring form pan, set aside.

Unwrap remaining bars, and cut in half. Line the rim of the pan with the bars, standing up on end, creating the rest of the crust.

In a seperate bowl, whip cream cheese, milk, peanut butter and sugar together till fluffy.

Add whipping cream, pudding mix, vanilla to cream cheese mix and mix two min.

Pour filling into crust, Chill overnight.

Lemon Pancakes

EASY and delicious. Reminds me of the Lemon Pie in my previous post.
From Joy of Cooking (Keep reading Toni! It's worth it!)

LEMON PANCAKES
Prepare and preheat your griddle
Whisk together in a large bowl:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Whisk together in another bowl:
3/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and gently whisk them together, mixing until just combined. Fold in:
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
The batter weill be thick and bubly simialr to cake batter. Spoon 1/4 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake nudging the batter into rounds. Cook until the top is spekled with bubles and some have popped, then turn and cook until underside is lightly browned. Serve immedieately or keep warm in a 200 oven.
Serve with
Honey or
Sweetened sour cream (with honey or sugar)

Chicken and Vegetable Rice-One skillet, and use up leftover chicken

This is one of Josh's creations, and a staple at our house. It basically chicken and rice soup, without the soup part. He was trying to re-create something he saw on a travel show about Thailand. A basic rice chicken and veggie dish that you can put any kind of sauce on. We like Hoisin, or Sweet Chili Thai sauce. Plain is great too.

Saute in a skillet in some olive oil:
1 onion
3 carrots
1-2 stalks of celery
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopping them small with a chopper makes the veggies cook quicker, also Garner will eat carrots etc if they are small enough.
When veggies are tender, put in 1 cup rice uncooked, and let it toast with the veggies on med high for a min or so.
Add 2.5 cups of whatever you prefer of a water/broth/stock combination.
Bring to a simmer, then cover and turn all the way to low. Let it cook about 15 min, or until all the water is gone. DON'T Stir it during cooking. That's the secret to great rice. Dig into a corner to check the water level if you simply must.
Stir in leftover cut up chicken or turkey, enough to warm it up.
Serve plain, or with any number of sauces!