French Toast Casserole( cooking light).....

I put this casserole together before I went to sleep on Saturday night. It was super easy to make and the best part was that I used up ingredients I already had on hand. I substituted a mixed berry fruit jam for the marmalade and almonds for the walnuts. I cut the recipe in half too. I really liked it, but Robin said it was just "ok"


Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 (16-ounce) sourdough French bread loaf, cut into 24 (1/2-inch) slices
Cooking spray
1 (12-ounce) jar orange marmalade
2 3/4 cups 1% low-fat milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 large eggs
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts


Preparation
Spread softened butter on one side of each bread slice. Arrange 12 bread slices, buttered side down, slightly overlapping in a single layer in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread marmalade evenly over bread; top with remaining 12 bread slices, buttered side up.
Combine milk and next 4 ingredients (through eggs), stirring with a whisk. Pour egg mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sprinkle casserole with walnuts. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until golden. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Yield
12 servings (serving size: 1 piece)

I cooked( and I baked).....

Yay!! and I didnt even wait until the label came off the oven. I made a simple dinner tonight, Pork Tenderloin with apples and sage( Cook's Illustrated), baked sweet potato and brocoli. It was so nice to be able to cook again. Robin brought me home a wonderful cookbook called The Great Canadian Cookie Cookbook.
. She got it for $9.00, so it was a great deal too. I did notice the Great American Cookie Cookbook has the same cover, its most probably the same book. Anyway, I digress. I baked some simple peanutbutter toffee cookies from the book( can you guess who requested them?) and they were well received. The best part? I can bake the entire recipe at once. No more waiting for 1 rack of cookies to finish before making another. I used the convection feature and the cookies came out perfect.

What shall I bake next?

The correct floor....

Did I mention that the floor people installed the WRONG FLOOR??? This happened last Wednesday and could not be corrected until today because the cabinets were installed for 3 days. We're waiting on the appliances. I need to make a decision regarding the backsplash and I'm waiting on a pendant light( coming from Oregon).

I think I'll be able to cook tonight. Keep your fingers crossed.

So close......

Our appliances are being delivered tomorrow. I'm this[ ] close to being able to cook and bake. I miss it so much.

Be back soon!!

All I wanna do is cook!!!!........

But I can't!!! They started tearing down our kitchen yesterday. While I'm very excited about our new kitchen, I can't cook. Yesterday I had cereal for dinner. It's like we're camping in our living room, but we're not. In order to get to the bathroom, we have to walk thru the very dusty torn apart kitchen. Its not fun.

Our flooring and cabinets go in next week. The appliances will be delivered on Friday Oct 19th. The granite wont be ready for 3 more weeks, but we'll have a temporary sink and countertop so at least I can make dinner.

Rancho Gordo Hominy Stew.....

While in SF, I picked up 4 kinds of Heirloom dried beans from Rancho Gordo at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. I'd been dying to try these beans since reading about them on Egullet. Yesterday, I whipped up this hominy stew for Robin. Since meeting me, she's turned into a bean lover. She absolutely loves Black Beans. For this recipe, I used Yellow Indian Woman beans. I also reduced the water as I only had canned hominy. I also used a jar of red chili sauce( less products to pack away). I didnt eat this as you all know by now that I despise dark meat chicken. Robin loved it!! It would be great with a sprinkling of cilantro too. Robin grated some sharp white cheddar over it. Not traditional, but very good.

Spiced pumpkin muffins.....

I donated 2 dozen muffins to the agency I work for( the senior dining program). They're having a meeting on Oct 22nd and needed some muffins. I needed to bake these yesterday and deliver them because of our upcoming 2 weeks without a kitchen. I told them if they froze them, they'd be fine for the meeting. I used this recipe from Libby's. I used Kroger brand pumpkin though. The muffins smelled so good while baking, hopefully they taste good too.

Appetizers......

These are pictures of the appetizers I did for the wedding on Sept 22nd. Things have been crazy here with the addition and the kitchen renovation.

Next week( Tuesday) they're tearing down our old kitchen and we'll be without a kitchen for 2 weeks. If we were in a big city it wouldnt be a big deal. However, there is NO WHERE to eat out in our small town( unless you count McDonald's, KFC and Subway). I'm trying to cook a few things and freeze them, but I dont know how that will work if I dont have a place to wash the dishes or silverware.( I suppose I could use the bathroom).