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Bundled Up Breakfast

December 4, 2013

Stacked French Toast

With the temperatures dropping and the cloudy mornings in full force, nothing is better than a cozy breakfast to start your day.    My hubby is a big french toast fan, so I’ve been working on perfecting my recipe.

French Toast Ingredients

Honey

Honey French Toast

French Toast Adapted from Alton Brown’s Recipe 

  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup half & half
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 Tablespoons honey (warmed in microwave for 30 seconds)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 Tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 loaf of sliced day old bread (I used challah) – slices about 3/4 inch thick
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Whisk milk, half and half, eggs, honey and salt in a shallow bowl (or a 9×13 pan in my case).
  3. Soak bread slices for 15 seconds on each side and transfer to a cooling rack (that is placed on top of a sheet pan to catch any drippings). Let rest for 2 minutes.
  4. Spray some Pam in the pan and then heat a tablespoon of butter in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat and cook french toast slices for 2-3 minutes on each side in batches.
  5. Transfer cooked slices to a sheet pan and bake for 5 minutes.
  6. Remove and serve with powdered sugar and maple syrup.

Challah Bread

French Toast Batter

Dipped French Toast

Cooked French Toast

Also, I tend to mess up french toast 90% of the time, so I am constantly learning from my mistakes and trying to correct my wrongs.  Here are some tips I’ve learned so far:

  1. Mix the custard thoroughly – you want to make sure not to have chunks of egg in your french toast… so make sure to really get in there and whisk your mixture well
  2. Choose the right bread – you want to make sure it is sturdy yet still spongey.  I prefer challah, but brioche or croissants are some other great options.  Also make sure to slice them around 3/4 inch thick (too thin and they will be flimsy, and if it’s too thick it won’t cook through)
  3. Using JUST butter – spraying a little PAM in the bottom of your pan will coat it and allow the butter not to burn.  Also make sure to wipe out your pan with each batch.
  4. Pan temperature – Make sure to preheat your pan and cook at medium heat.  Anything too high and it will burn your toast, and anything too low will dry out your final product.

Pour Milk Cracking Eggs Pour Honey

Happy breakfasting!

Powdered Sugar French Toast

Be sure to check out more Laundry in Louboutin’s recipes here!

Tasty

Sunday Dinner

December 2, 2013

Goat Cheese Tomato Biscuits

I hosted a family dinner yesterday and was excited to spend the afternoon whipping up some comfort food for my favorite people.

Menu 

Kale Cherry Salad

I have spoken praises of Deb from Smitten Kitchen for quite awhile now and her blog is always at the top of my reading list, so when she came out with a cookbook, I knew I had to get my hands on it.  It is filled with an amazing line-up of yummy dishes and they are the types of meals you want to share with loved ones.  So get yourself a copy and start working your way through her amazing creations!

Tomato Glazed Meatballs

Tomato Glazed Meatballs (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Glaze

Ingredients:

  • 4 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, and whisk constantly over low hear until well combined.
  2. Remove from heat and set aside while preparing meatballs.

Meatloaves

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices sandwich bread, torn up
  • 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
  • 1 medium stalk celery, coarsely chopped
  • 1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt, and more to taste
  • Black pepper, to taste
  • 2 1/2 pounds ground turkey or beef
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

  1. Set the oven at 350 degrees.
  2. Put torn bread pieces into a food processor and pulse until breadcrumbs are formed.
  3. Transfer breadcrumbs to a large bowl.
  4. Pulse the veggies (onion, garlic, celery, and carrot) in the processor until finely chopped.
  5. Coat a large pan in olive oil and heat over medium heat.
  6. Add the vegetable mixture, salt, and pepper.
  7. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes – until the vegetables begin to brown.
  8. Mix the vegetables into the breadcrumbs.
  9. Add the meat, tomato paste, paprika, mustard, and Worcestershire.
  10. Use your hands to thoroughly blended mixture (don’t over mix!).
  11. With wet hands, form the mixture into meatballs (about 2-3 inches wide – whatever your preference is)
  12. Place meatballs in a 9×13 baking dish.  Make sure they are at least an inch away from one another.
  13. Brush each meatball with a generous brush of tomato glaze.
  14. Bake for 20 minutes or until they are cooked through.
  15. Serve with additional glaze, atop browned butter mashed potatoes.

Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

  • 2 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes
  • 1 stick unsalted butter (8 Tablespoons)
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp table salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
  1. Peel potatoes and chop into 1/6ths.  Immediately transfer to a large pot filled with salted ice water.
  2. Once all potatoes are peeled and transferred to the pot, boil them over high heat until tender (about 20 minutes) – you should be able to easily pierce them with a fork.
  3. Drain potatoes and transfer to a Kitchen Aid bowl.
  4. Brown butter and transfer final product to potatoes.  Also add buttermilk and turn Kitchen Aid on at a low setting.
  5. Stir until combined and add salt/pepper to taste.
  6. Enjoy the most decadent mashed potatoes ever!
Tasty

Feezor Family Secret Recipes

November 25, 2013

Turkey Dinner

I’m sure everyone feels their family’s Thanksgiving meal is the best… and I hate to break it to you… there is some stiff competition at the Feezor household.  Every year my mom whips up the best meal of all time, and today I am going to share our (not so) closely guarded family recipes.   Here we go (click the links for full recipes)!

Tumbled & Marinated Turkey

Thanksgiving Potatoes

Praline Sweet Potato Casserole – my favorite!

Pomegranate Salad

Cranberry Conserve

Not Your Mother’s Green Beens

Thanksgiving Meal

(please excuse the lameo iPhone photo from last years Thanksgiving – I’ll update with more current photos after this year!)

Tasty

Pressed Juicery Review

November 24, 2013

So I did a juice cleanse… and I completed it!   With ZERO cheating (might I add) and I couldn’t be prouder of myself (can’t you tell?!).

Pressed Juicery

Before my wedding I attempted a cleanse that was comprised of a protein shake in the morning and lettuce with a protein and lemon juice for lunch and dinner. Needless to say this five day cleanse was cut short on day 3 after my parents had an intervention and said I was becoming something resembling the span of Satan.

Ever since then, I’ve been intrigued by the whole juice cleanse and really wanted to complete something like this.  Some of my coworkers do the master cleanse once a year (the lemon juice, cayenne pepper, maple syrup, water cleanse) and have done it for 20 days straight in the past!  They gave me some advice/tips, one of them being a lot of it is in your head.  Also, you have to be doing it for the right reasons (ex. not to just lose weight).

I’ve been in a bit of a workout/body image slump and wanted something major to re-boot my system and thought what better time than now!?  I have always been turned away by the price and told myself I would make the juices on my own… but over a year later I cannot say that I have ever done that… so I put my wallet where my heart/mind was and paid up!  (I also did the math and if I ate meals out for those 3 days I would definitely be paying more!)

I drink a green smoothie every morning for breakfast, and often pick up green juice when I’m in Whole Foods… and I cannot tell you how gross some of those are.  I wish I was more hardcore, but I am honest enough to admit that I cannot eat a “juice” that tastes like watered parsley… so when I was deciding which cleanse to proceed with I knew Pressed Juicery was the direction I had to go.  I go with my sister to their Ferry Building location whenever I am in SF and die for every drink I’ve tried of theirs – I can’t wait to try their holiday sampler!

Day 1

I woke up at 6am to check my front door for my juice delivery (I was surprised by how excited I was for this… Is this what being an adult is?! Getting excited for juice?! Anyways…). I OCDly organized them in my fridge, moving all tempting items out of eye view (ie wine).

I started the morning with hot water and lemon and had my first juice at 9:30.  I drink a green smoothie every morning, so I am not scared of green juice… But I definitely have had my share of juices that were a struggle to consume – fear not Greens 3 is delicious! I would have this delivered to my front door every morning (if I won the lottery)!

Throughout the day I consumed the 6 drinks on a two hour schedule, drinking a bottle of water in between each juice.  I also ordered the chlorophyll and aloe juice (although one aloe was missing from my delivery 🙁 ) that I drank between juice 4 and 5 and after 6 respectively.  All of this drinking results in necessary access to a bathroom – I highly advise against starting a cleanse before you get on  no transatlantic flight or a 3 day hike.

I have read how people get energy boosts and I thought that was a load of baloney… But honestly it’s true! I haven’t had that productive of a Sunday in forever! It was so great to not have to think about what to eat/make/clean up – although I did spend the day at the farmers market, grocery store and cleaning out my kitchen cabinets and fridge… All while prepping my produce for week (not the best idea in theory but I was surprised I wasn’t tempted to cheat – just excited to finish the cleanse and enjoy my farmers market goodies!).

Day 2
I was wide awake at 5:00am – I was NOT expecting my energy levels to be like this.  So I started reading cleanse reviews (I told myself not to as to not be swayed by other people’s experiences… but I couldn’t resist).    I had another hot water and lemon to start my day and then my first juice at 6:30am (I didn’t want to start too early, and would have preferred to start later, because I didn’t want to be done with my juices at 5pm and be starving the rest of the night – there really is a science to this!).

I went into work at 9am and sipped on my Citrus 2 on my way in.  I brought juices 3-5 to have throughout my work day along with the Chlorophyll water (which tastes the worst of all of the drinks). My energy levels were still great, I wasn’t experiencing any symptoms of past cleanses (ie headaches, fatigue, sleepiness) – which I think I can attribute to my pre-cleanse prep – easing myself off of sugar, caffeine, meat, alcohol, etc.

By the time I got home I was ready for the vanilla almond milk (the only source of fat for the day), but tried to chug a bottle of water so I wouldn’t be eating my last meal at 6pm.  I had it an hour later and then crashed at 8pm and slept for 12 hours (I guess detoxing is exhausting!).

Day 3

On the home stretch!   Still feeling good, but ready for some yummy food (I’ve been recipe reading – not the best of ideas).    I was a little juiced out, so by Juices 4-5 I only had about 75% of them… they still tasted good, but it is just SO MUCH LIQUID.  Skin is looking clear, I’m feeling lean and I’m ready to try out my rebooted metabolism (on a burger and fries. – just kidding).

Pressed Juice

Summary: Success!   All the drinks are delicious and easy to drink… The most difficult part is not chewing on something (I think this is the first day of my life not doing that… Which is kind of weird to think about). My sister gave me great advice before I started – “keep yourself busy.” It kind of ruined my whole plan to have an excuse and stay in bed watching TV all day… But I think it was the best idea ever.  Keeping my mind focused on my to-do list proved to be a huge help!  I also was advised to start a cleanse on a weekend. It’s probably never a good time, but I choose a weekend when my husband would be out of town and I couldn’t be tempted by his steak loving, cocktail drinking ways 🙂  Overall this was a great experience of trying something new.  It was empowering to successfully complete it and while I didn’t experience a state of nirvana or anything, it was great to detox and give my body a little reboot.  I also have tried to adjust my food habits – I’ve been eating predominately gluten free and vegetarian, and eliminated most processed foods.  The cleanse helped to curb any cravings I normally would have for these foods and I’m excited to start a more whole diet moving forward!

Tasty

Lacinato Kale Salad

November 13, 2013

Lacinato Kale Salad

I came across this salad a few months ago and have been addicted ever since.  I can’t believe I haven’t shared it yet, because my routine as of late, has been to go to the farmer’s market and get 3 bunches of kale for $5 and whip up this salad Sunday night for work lunches for the week.

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I love this salad for many reasons… mainly because a. it tastes great, b. it’s easy to make, and c. you can make it days before you eat it (how many salads can you do that for!?).

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So make sure to head on over to MarinMamaCooks.com and check out my favorite salad recipe!  I also like to use ricotta salata instead of Parmesan to mix it up!

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*It is also recommended that you don’t use any paper-like leaves in your salad… so tune in next week to see what you can do with that leftover kale!