Brie stuffed garlic bread

Potlucks always push me to try new recipes! I love to search Pinterest for new ideas and often come across some real winners. I hosted an event at my house and wanted to make something with brie cheese, but did not want the standard baked brie with crackers. I came across a recipe for brie stuffed garlic bread and it was perfect! So cheesy, gooey and delicious!

Day trip to Ulm

This weekend's day trip was to Ulm. We intended to go on Saturday, but the weather forecast was calling for scattered thunderstorms with Sunday's weather just a light rain throughout the day. Low and behold, Saturday's weather would have been a bit better for exploring Ulm, but how were we to know? 

We started our trip off with a visit to the Bread museum. This museum combined two things I enjoy--bread and art. What an interesting concept, right? I did not take many pictures inside, but the two pictures above were taken there. One of my favorite sections of the museum was a display with pairings of chairs and types of bread showing how design of chairs and design of bread can vary. 

The museum admission price was inexpensive and it included a self-guided audio tour. We didn't listen to many of the recordings, but it was nice to have them. It was offered in both German and English. Plus there was a parking garage right next to the museum. 

Ulm is known for this church. It was a little rainy when we walked up to it but you can still see that it is massive. 

I love visiting churches throughout Europe. Just look at some of the amazing art and craftsmanship featured! 

After visiting Rothenburg, it's hard to find the same beautiful setting around every corner. But Ulm had some fun buildings and streets. 

Charles enjoyed an espresso (so tiny) and I had an Aperol Spritz! Despite being in Germany, I felt very Italian with our beverages.

Our day trip ended with traditional German lunch and man was it delicious! It didn't hurt that it was a bit past lunchtime and I was hungry! Charles tried a traditional dish from this part of Germany (Swabian) called maultaschen. The story behind the dish is really fun. You can read about it here. I had lentils, spätzle and sausage. It was so filling and there was enough for leftovers. 

Unfortunately on our way home we hit quite a bit of traffic so it took us about twice as long to get home as it took to get to Ulm. All part of the journey, right?

Croissant Breakfast Bake

I recently spent the weekend in Asheville, North Carolina with nine ladies from the Alpha Omega Alumni Chapter. We had our first ever Alumni Retreat. It went so well and we had a fantastic time! We stayed in a cabin which allowed us to cook a few of our meals. 

For breakfast, I made a variety of muffins, but I also wanted something savory. I searched Pinterest and was originally going to make an egg casserole. Then I stumbled upon a recipe using croissants. Automatic winner! It was easy to make and everyone loved it! The original recipe is from Just a Pinch Recipes.

Almond Poppy Seed Bread

When I was growing up, I don't remember my parents hosting a lot of parties or attending a lot of things. Occasionally my mom would host or attend an event and would make Almond Poppy Seed Bread. I am sure she made it other times, but I always associate this recipe with parties. It is the most delicious bread on the face of the planet. If you do not agree, then you are just wrong. ;)

I have made it a few times thanks to the family cookbook my mom put together and gifted to me. Each time everyone says how amazing it is. Of course!

Today I hosted a spouse get-together. It wasn't well attended which was a bummer. But I made my bread and the three people that came all said it was delicious. The spouse event was a Potluck and Recipe Swap so I made a cute recipe card for everyone to take home. I figured it would be nice to share with all of you, too!

We eat well on Christmas

This Christmas was a simple one for us. It was only Charles and me. But I loved it! We each got some pretty amazing presents (even though that doesn't matter at all) and we enjoyed watching the kitties play with their Christmas gifts.

I did not put a whole lot of thought into Christmas dinner, but I did find some amazing recipes of new dishes to try (Pinterest, of course).

Our Christmas breakfast tradition is Chocolate French Toast. I have shared this on the blog before. It is such a yummy breakfast that I should make it more often. We made homemade Oatmeal Bread in the bread machine to use. It was a great choice.

Our dinner included smoked chicken. Charles did a great job with that! As our sides we enjoyed Sweet Potato Casserole, Garlic Pecan Broccoli and homemade Hawaiian rolls. Everything turned out delicious! The sweet potato casserole has a fantastic crunchy topping. The recipes makes a lot, so we have been enjoying this everyday since Christmas. The Hawaiian rolls were good...because what homemade bread isn't good, right? But I don't know if it really tasted like Hawaiian rolls. I might try another recipe to compare.

Normally, we have birthday cake for Jesus as our dessert on Christmas. This year Jesus wanted bread pudding. I found an amazing recipe for New Orleans style bread pudding with a coconut praline sauce. SOOOOO good! We also used homemade Oatmeal bread for this recipe.

Bread Machine: Peanut Butter Bread

I recently tried another new bread recipe from the good ol' Betty Crocker Bread Machine Cookbook. This time I made Peanut Butter Bread.

My loaf turned out kind of misshapen, but still tasted good. I  used it to make Chocolate French Toast. It was a good combination. But the bread is just as tasty toasted with a bit of Nutella on top. Mmmm!

This recipe is for either a 1 lb loaf or 1.5 lb loaf. I didn't realize that when I put the ingredients in and only put ingredients in for a 1 lb loaf at first. My bread machine does not have a 1 lb option. So I had to put more of each ingredient in to make a 1.5 lb loaf. This is probably why (or part of the reason why) my loaf turned out looking funny.

Ingredients
1 lb loaf
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups bread flour
1 T packed brown sugar
3/4 t salt
1 1/4 t yeast

1.5 lb loaf
1 cup plus 1 T water
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups bread flour
3 T packed brown sugar
1 t salt
2 t yeast

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

Select Sweet or Basic/White cycle. Use Light or Medium crust color.

Bread Machine: Vanilla Sour Cream Bread

I have not posted a bread recipe in a while. With the move, homemade bread was on the back burner (not literally, of course). :)

My most recent loaf was a Vanilla Sour Cream Bread from the Betty Crocker bread cookbook. I chose this specifically to make French Toast with it. It was very yummy as French Toast and plain.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb loaf
1/2 cup water
1 T vanilla (seems like a lot to me, but it gave a good vanilla flavor)
1/3 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 T butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
2 T sugar
1 1/4 t salt
2 t yeast

2 lb loaf
2/3 cup water
1 1/2 T vanilla
1/3 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 T butter, softened
4 cups bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 t salt
2 t yeast

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients in bread machine plan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

Select Sweet or Basic/White cycle. Use Light crust color. Do not use delay cycles.

Bread Machine: Caramel Apple Pecan Bread

I apologize in advance, but I do not have any pictures to share.

We decided to make some bread specifically to use for French toast. I gave Charles a few options from the Betty Crocker bread machine cookbook and he chose Caramel Apple Pecan Bread. I have to say he made an excellent choice.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb loaf
1 cup water (of course we had to add a little extra because it is so dry here)
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup chopped unpeeled apple (like a Granny Smith)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans (it says toasted, but we didn't toast ours)

2 lb loaf
1 1/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons butter
4 cups bread flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast
2/3 cup chopped apple
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Place all ingredients, except apple and pecans, in bread machine pan in order recommended by manufacturer. Add apple and pecans at the Raisin/Nut signal.

Select Sweet or Basic/White cycle. Light crust color. Do not use delay option.

I used the Betty Crocker Big Red recipe for french toast. I am a recipe follower, but french toast batter can usually be done without one. I did add cinnamon to the batter.

Oatmeal Bread

My next recipe to try in the bread machine was Oatmeal Bread. So far this is the yummiest bread I have made so far. It is really simple, but tastes good. The recipe came from the Betty Crocker bread machine recipe book.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb
1 1/4 cups plus 2 Tablespoons milk
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup oats (either old fashioned or quick cooking)
3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast

2 lb
1 1/2 cups milk
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
4 cups bread flour
2/3 cup oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons yeast

Place all ingredients in bread machine pan in the order suggested by manufacturer. Select Basic/White cycle. Light crust.

Pecan Pie Bread Pudding

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently made bread pudding. It is not the first time, but my first bread pudding was made with croissants. From what I remember it tasted good but was really rich. And coming from me that means the average person would go into a sugar coma from eating it.

This time I gave Charles two recipes to choose from. One had a ton more ingredients which probably means it was extra yummy. He did not choose that one. He chose Pecan Pie Bread Pudding. The recipe is from Something Swanky. 

Mine did not turn out like what I imagine bread pudding to be. It was VERY dry. I may have used a little  more bread than called for, but I don't know if less bread would have helped out that much.

Picture borrowed from Something Swanky

Ingredients
8 cups bite-sized bread pieces
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
 1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup pecan, halved and chopped
(I also threw in about a cup of chocolate chips because I love chocolate)

Prepare an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish by spraying with cooking spray. Place all of the bread pieces into the baking dish. Pour the melted butter over the bread.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the pecans (and chocolate chips if you are like me).

Pour evenly over the bread pieces. Use a spatula to push the bread pieces around in the dish until all are coated in the syrupy mixture. Bake at 375º for 45 minutes.

Bread Machine: White bread

Charles has become a fan of bread pudding. We have had it a couple times recently at restaurants. There are so many different kinds! I decided to try my hand at it, but first I had to make the bread with our handy dandy bread machine! I kept it simple and made regular white bread.

The first time we attempted the bread we were not paying attention to it and it needed more water. By the time we realized this it was too late to add any more. The bread came out looking pretty funny. Charles still ate the soft, white middle.

The second time I made it I was more vigilant and everything came out great!

I followed a Pinterest recipe, but it was not too different from the recipe in my bread machine's manual. Here is a link to the one I used: Easy Bread Machine White Bread

Ingredients
1 cup warm milk (microwave about 1 minute)
3 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast
2 Tablespoons butter, cut into 4 pieces
(you may need to add extra water. I added about 1 1/2 Tablespoons)

Add ingredients in the order listed. Make a well in the middle to add yeast. Tuck the butter pieces into the 4 corners.

Set for basic/white cycle, Medium crust, and 1.5 lb loaf.

Beer Nut Bread

For our second loaf of bread we chose Beer Nut Bread. The recipe came from a Betty Crocker Bread Machine cookbook that I borrowed from the library. I don't remember the last time I borrowed a book from the library. It came out really well and did not collapse like our first loaf! Here is how you can make it!

Ingredients:
For 1 1/2 lb
3/4 cup beer (it says you can use nonalcoholic beer)
1/3 cup water
3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 cup shredded smoked cheddar cheese (we used regular cheddar cheese)
1 Tablespoon butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons quick active dry yeast
1/2 cup salted peanuts

For 2 lb 
1 cup beer
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup cheddar cheese
2 Tablespoons butter
4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 teaspoons yeast
2/3 cup peanuts

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except peanuts in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Add peanuts at the Raisin/Nut signal. Betty Crocker recommends that if you do not have this signal, to add the nuts 5-10 minutes before the last kneading cycle ends. Your manual should be a guide on this.

Select Basic/White cycle. Use Medium or Light crust color. Do not use delay cycles. Remove baked bread from pan, and cool on wire rack.

Bread Machine: Honey Wheat

We recently acquired a bread maker. Working with yeast doughs has always intimidated me, but we loved the idea of homemade bread. A bread maker was the solution!

Our first attempt came out pretty good, in flavor. It was not perfect, though. The recipe gave the option of a 1 or a 1.5 lb loaf. Since it was our first bread, we went with the 1 lb. After putting all the ingredients in, we realized our bread maker only allows for 1.5 or 2 lb loaves. Instead of wasting all the ingredients, we selected 1.5 lb to see what would happen. Our bread collapsed in the middle, but still tasted fine.

I used this recipe from Cooking Nook.

Calvin loves bread!

Bananas Foster French Toast

Once, back in college, my school cafeteria had some culinary students making things. One station had bananas foster. It was so delicious! Charles and I made it once since then, but we didn't get it quite right. For some reason lately I've been thinking about making it again. We finally bought some Rum and had a bunch of bananas, so I was going to make some for dessert, but then I remembered that we did not have any vanilla ice cream to enjoy it with.

The next morning, I wondered if there was a recipe for Bananas Foster French Toast. Thanks to Pinterest (yes, I'm obsessed just like everyone else), I found a great recipe! I was going to take a picture of my delicious breakfast, but the camera battery was dead. But it was definitely worth sharing. Here's the picture from Pinterest and a link to the recipe.

Source: I added a tablespoon or so of rum in mine. Yes, it was for breakfast, but the alcohol cooks out. And it's not bananas foster without it.

Chocolate French Toast

I discovered this recipe a few years ago and fell in love. Chocolate French Toast has been our Christmas breakfast tradition since Charles and I have been married. It's so easy and so yummy!

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 oz chocolate, chopped (you can use semi-sweet, dark or milk chocolate...whatever you like best)
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
bread
2 Tablespoons butter

Place milk and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until chocolate is soft, about one minute. Stir to combine and let cool.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, vanilla and chocolate mixture.

On skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Proceed to make French toast as usual.

We love to serve this with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar!

Garlic Knots

As part of my Christmas dinner, I made Garlic Knots. I found the recipe on a blog; I honestly do not remember which one, though. There was an Italian restaurant called Italiano's that we frequented often when we lived in Texas. They served the best garlic knots. These were pretty good, too!

Garlic Knots

Ingredients:
40 mini refrigerated buttermilk biscuits or 20 regular refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup canola oil
6 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling after baked
3 teaspoons garlic powder
3 teaspoons dried oregano
3 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Open the canned biscuits. On a dry work surface or cutting board, take 1 biscuit at a time and roll each biscuit into a long rope. Gently tie the biscuit rope into a knot and tuck the ends under. Place two inches apart on a greased baking sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Once baked, remove the knots from the oven. Place them on a wire rack with a paper towel under them to catch the excess oil.

In a bowl, combine the canola oil and seasonings. Brush the knots with the oil and garlic mixture while they are still hot. Sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.

Banana Bread French Toast

I had a few bananas saved in the freezer and Charles wanted me to make banana bread. A week or so after he asked me, I finally made it. Banana bread is simple and easy to make. As if banana bread isn't amazing on its own, I made banana bread French toast! I had it at a restaurant outside of San Antonio in October and I've had a recipe for it sitting on my computer for a while now. 

Here's how you can make it, too!

Ingredients:
1 loaf of Banana bread (I used the Betty Crocker recipe, but feel free to use whatever recipe you would like)
3 eggs
3 Tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (I didn't have any, so we just used milk and some sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk the ingredients together. Slice the banana bread. Heat a skillet on medium high. You can butter the skillet. I didn't and it didn't make that much of a difference. Dip the slices in the mixture so they are fully coated. Place on skillet and cook until each side is golden brown.

The banana bread French toast on the griddle

The finished product with some powdered sugar...just like the pros.

Later this week, I'm going to share my no-sew cushions for my kitchen chairs. Super easy project!