Apple Cranberry French Toast

Back at the beginning of June, I visited a beautiful scrapbook retreat for a 3D Travel Company training weekend. During that weekend, we were fed so well! One morning we are this delicious Apple Cranberry French Toast. I made it this week to feed my family. The kids did not eat the fruit, but loved the french toast. Hubby and I loved the whole meal!

  Psssttt…Don’t look at my ugly dishes…

Focus only on the lovely breakfast!

Apple Cranberry French Toast

by The Sisters’ Hideaway

• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. butter, melted
• 3 t. cinnamon
• 3 tart apples (Granny Smith) peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• 1/2 c. dried cranberries (Craisins)
• 1 loaf Italian or French bread cut into 1” slices (I bought a pre-sliced loaf of Italian bread.)
• 6 large eggs
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 1 Tbs. vanilla

Combine brown sugar, butter, and 1 tsp of cinnamon in a 13x9 dish. Add apples and cranberries, toss to coat well. Spread apple mixture evenly over bottom of dish. Arrange slices of bread on top.

Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and remaining 2 tsp. cinnamon until well blended. Pour mixture over bread soaking completely. Cover and refrigerate 4 – 24 hours.

Bake covered with foil at 375 for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Serve warm with syrup.

July Freezer Cooking

Yesterday was a rainy day here in Northern TX. I decided it would be a perfect time to stock my freezer with frozen meals. And, that’s just what I did. Here’s what I was able to accomplish yesterday. Below that list, I will list what I still need want to do.

• I made a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread for a quick breakfast. I sliced the loaf, bagged it, and popped it in the freezer.
• I made a batch of white bread dough in the bread machine. I made yeast rolls from this dough. After flash freezing the dough balls (prior to 2nd rise), I bagged them. When I’m ready to use them, I will take out the amount needed and let them rise on the counter. Then, I’ll bake them.
• I made 3 dozen strawberry muffins.
• I made pizza for dinner last night. I browned a lb of italian sausage. I used half for dinner, and froze the rest for a future pizza night. I also portioned out enough cheese and sliced onion for 2 pizzas. (Our 2nd pizza is always a pepperoni pizza, but I don’t freeze the pepperoni.) I bagged each ingredient in small zipper bags and froze them together in a larger bag.
• I made a crockpot full of pinto beans. I bagged beans in 2-cup portions. I also mashed half of the pot of beans into refried beans. These I will use in burritos during my next cooking day.
• I used THIS recipe to make a meat mix. From this mix, I made 2 meatloaves and several dozen mini-meatballs.

To do on my next cooking day:

• Add taco season to 2 lbs ground beef
• Use ground beef, refried beans (above),and cheddar cheese to prepare burritos.
• Make several marinades for chicken. I have 10 lbs of chicken to prepare. I plan to just use several marinades mixed in gallon-size zipper bags. I’ll add the chicken breasts, and freeze them. Then, I can pull the bags out to thaw in the morning and cook them for dinner.
• I also want to make some blueberry muffins or a blueberry loaf.

**COMING SOON: I made Cranberry Apple French Toast for breakfast this morning. I have pictures and a recipe to share. It was to.die.for!

S’mores on a Stick

I can’t remember whose blog I saw this idea on, but I loved it. I couldn’t wait to do it with my crew today. See, I’ve been a bit busy lately, and I couldn’t wait to have some ‘family time’ today! So, we headed to Walmart to buy the supplies, and came home to make our snack. We’ll take these with us tonight when we go watch fireworks.

These are super-easy to make:

Insert a lollipop stick into a jumbo marshmallow. Dip the marshmallow into melted chocolate or white chocolate. Roll the chocolate-dipped marshmallow in grated graham cracker crumbs and/or sprinkles. Lay on was paper to set. Enjoy!

Serve It Up Sunday

Sunday: Matt is grilling tonight!! WooHoo!! I love when it's his night to cook. We are having Cuban Mojo Grilled Porkchops. He'll also make asparagus and couscous or mashed potatoes for sides. I've got an apple chip cake in the oven for dessert.

Monday: Asian Chicken Sesame Salad with homemade breadsticks

Tuesday: whole wheat pancakes with fresh fruit

Wednesday: Meatball stew with homemade yeast rolls

Thursday: Country lemon chicken, roasted potatoes, salad

Friday: bean burritos, mexican rice, and black bean and corn salad

Saturday - We will eat left overs tonight.