This month's food-capades

Here are some of our adventures in the world of food from the past month or two.

We found a breakfast/brunch place near our house called 'Snooze.'  We went there twice, ordered two things and shared each time, but our favorite was called the 'Bella Bella Benny,' which is sort of an italian take on eggs benedict.  The dish consists of poached eggs on ciabatta with hollandaise sauce, prosciutto, and baby arugula, all with a balsamic glaze.  Below is our version we made at home after eating two times at the restaurant. It is as much work as it seems, but quite good.

I have long since loved the idea of chicken and waffles.  We finally tried it in all its glory on our recent trip down to California for my little brother's wedding.  This was at Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles.  We haven't made it at home yet, we are scouring thrift stores for a thin waffle iron. (We currently only have the thick belgian one)

This is the overnight french toast when we made it (recipe in an earlier post).

We went to Crave with all of my siblings and their significant others.  This was the first time I got a shake after the burger heaven.  This shake was called the "Velvet Elvis."  It was caramel praline ice cream with peanut butter, bananas, and what else?  Bacon.

For my little brother's Colorado wedding reception, we were in charge of making mini cinnamon rolls.  We left the house with the dough rising, and this is what we came back to.  Oops.

Becca found some salmon on sale, so we made cedar plank salmon with orzo and fried zucchini.  This was also topped with balsamic glaze, naturally.

Also something that you wouldn't believe:  Becca and I had never made burgers in our married lives until this week.  Almost 5 years!  We were both kind of of the opinion, why buy ground beef if you can get chicken, steak, pulled pork, ribs, etc. for a good deal?  Ground beef went on sale, and we decided it was time to reintroduce it, and I am so glad we did.  Turns out when you do it right, you can make a mean bacon cheeseburger at home! (I made a leftover one with Jalapeno cream cheese instead of cheese...you should try it.  Or just come visit us, I'll make it for you.)

Legit Delicious French Toast

Becca wants to share this yummyness with all of you.  It is sweet like unto the gospel.  Or it will at least make you want to sing gospel music.

The best part is you just make it the night before and all you have to do is put it in the oven and wait.  Though waiting is pretty difficult once you start smelling it.

Overnight French Toast

An easy overnight French toast casserole that can be prepared in under ten minutes. Great for serving company!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) butter, melted
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 loaf brioche or challah (a French bread loaf can a used) sliced into 1 1/2 inches thick slices
• 8 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 cup pecans, measured then chopped
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• (optional) maple syrup and powdered sugar for topping

Directions

1. 1In a small bowl combine brown sugar and melted butter and pour on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
2. 2Arrange slices of bread in the baking dish overlapping if necessary.
3. 3Combine milk, eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a bowl and pour evenly over bread slices.
4. 4Sprinkle chopped pecans over bread slices.
5. 5Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 4-12 hours.
6. 6In the morning, take the casserole out of the fridge for at least 10 minutes while you are preheating your oven to 350 degrees.
7. 7Bake casserole for 30-35 minutes. If top starts browning too quickly place a foil loosely over the top of the casserole for the last 10 minutes or so. You want it to cook long enough to make sure the bottom part is cooked but don't dry it out completely.
8. 8Remove casserole from oven and let it cool slightly before serving. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup.

In case you love this a lot and want to find other ideas, we got the recipe from this blog: http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/

Besides that, wouldn't you trust any recipe that came from someone called "The Girl Who Ate Everything"?  I certainly would.  -- Becca