Desperately Seeking Gina

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…How to stay warm!

There’s nothing like a sweet, warm bread pudding to keep you cozy on a cold Thursday night!



You’ll need:

  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 5 large beaten eggs
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 3 cups cubed Italian or french bread, allow to stale overnight in a bowl
  • 1/2 cup golden raisins
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
  • 1 cup chopped pecans



Sauce:


  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup whiskey
  • 1/2 cup milk
Method: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease, butter, or spray a 13X9X2 pan.

Place cubed bread into prepared pan. Sprinkle raisins over bread, set aside.  In a medium bowl, mix together sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla.  Pour over bread cubes.  Tap down cubes so that all is covered.  Let sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix brown sugar, pecans, and softened butter until crumbly.  

After 10 minutes, sprinkle brown sugar mixture over bread cubes and bake for 35-45 minutes until set.  

For the sauce:

Over medium heat mix sugar, egg, and vanilla and cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring constantly.  Add whiskey and bring to a boil.  Slowly add milk until desired taste.  {original mixture was too “alcohol” tasting for me, hence the additional milk}.  Stir constantly and boil for one minute.  If your egg starts to curdle strain mixture before using. Serve warm over bread pudding.

**Notes:  As I mentioned, the sauce was too alcohol tasting for me, so I added 1/2 cup milk and brought it to a boil.  This made the sauce creamy and butterscotch-y with a slight whiskey flavor that, when added to the bread pudding, was awesome!
 
**Notice the little brown flecks in the sauce in my pic above?  I’ve been using vanilla bean paste instead of extract-makes sauces so pretty!

You can find the original recipe here.

…Let Shutterfly Brighten Your Holiday!

It’s beginning to look a lot like….Fall down here in Arkansas! I was excited to break out my most favorite fall jean jacket and sweater hoodie this morning.  And, then, by 5:00, when the wind was bringing a chill to my bones and my nose was as red as Rudolph’s, I found myself uttering words of disdain for the cold weather.  I guess I’ve become quite accustomed to the warmth of the South, after all.

Now that cooler temps have descended and Halloween has passed, it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming holiday season.  I’ve roped Thom into humoring me with a little family photo shoot so that we’ll have fun, new pictures for this year’s Christmas cards.  Now…if only I could wrangle up Hop & Scotch as easily.

Speaking of Christmas cards, have you checked out Shutterfly’s 2010 collection of holiday cards?  They have an amazing array of hip, modern, and fun templates to choose from and their cute collection of Christmas invitations are perfect for holiday gatherings.

It’s easy to drag & drop your own photos into their photo cards, desktop calenders, and even photo books.  The process is quick and user friendly making holiday gift giving convenient. Last year I had such a hard time coming up with a gift for Thom and I was able to put together a photo book of our trip to Petit Jean in no time at all.  You can see it here.  From my past experiences with Shutterfly, you can expect high quality, great customer service, and a quick turn around time-from ordering to receiving your goodies.
Can’t wait for Christmas?  They have a collection of Thanksgiving cards, too!

**disclaimer**  The opinions expressed are based on my own personal experiences with Shutterfly, it’s products, and customer service.  Normally, i would highly recommend their products and services based on said experiences, but in this instance I may receive free holiday cards for sharing this post.  I hope that you are as satisfied with Shutterfly as I have been!

…Culinary Confessions No. 1

I have a confession to make…but first…a little backgound:

I’ve spent the last three plus years waxing poetically about Thom’s cooking-about his insane ability to take almost nothing and make something.  Something incredibly delicious and satisfying-something I actually do write home about, complete with pictures and mouth-watering details.

His process goes something like this:  He’ll ask what I want for brekky, lunch, dinner, etc.  After about three rounds of “I don’t know, what do you want?”  I’ll generally give a general answer like, oh, black beans and flour tortillas. Now, granted, I haven’t lived with a lot of men {okay, none before Thomas} but I’m sure their response to this would be to open a can of black beans and plop some on a cold flour tortilla and call it good.  Not Thom, though.  I usually just let him do his thing in the kitchen without much regard to the whole process.  I hear cupboards opening and closing.  I hear the spices being scouted.  I hear sizzling, and steam, and sauces boiling away.  I smell unusual scents wafting my way…and I never turn down a sampling spoon when it’s offered. I can almost always count on a fabulous meal.  Black beans & flour tortilla jacked up and  tasting so good I want to slap my grandma.

But this post isn’t about black beans and flour tortillas.  In fact, it’s about scrambled eggs.  Scrambled eggs so light and fluffy.  Scrambled eggs that melt in your mouth.  It’s about scrambled eggs that I ask for at least twice a week-for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

And the confession?  Well…it has a little something to do with scrambled eggs.  One night about a year ago, I requested Thom’s awesome eggs for dinner and I wandered into the kitchen while he was scrambling them up.  And what I saw was horrifying to me.  So much so that I shouted, startling Thom.  What did I see?  Butter.  A huge, gigantic mound of margarine sizzling away in the skillet.  A scary amount of butter that suddenly made my arteries ache.  So much butter, in fact, that all I could do was stare and stammer.  I’m positive my reaction offended my love. We went on to have a heated debate over the use of so much margarine.  And after half the margarine was unceremoniously dumped into the trash I had to admit, the eggs just didn’t taste the same.  And so…I don’t question Thom’s method any more.  I don’t question the amounts of fats, oils, and the not-so-good for me ingredients.  I mean, really…who I am to talk, with all the baking I do I shouldn’t be calling the pot black, now should I?

Now that I have that off my chest…this post really isn’t about scrambled eggs either.  It’s about homemade onion rings.  Really, really good onion rings.

You’ll need:

4 large eggs, beaten
2/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne {optional}
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cups Panko crumbs {Japanese style bread crumbs}
1 large white onion  {ours was HUGE}
Vegetable Oil {for frying}
Salt {for finished rings}
Method:
Prepare 4 separate bowls/plates:
In bowl 1:  water
In bowl 2:  whisk together flour, salts, peppers, garlic powder
In bowl 3:  eggs, beaten
In bowl 4:  panko crumbs
Start by slicing the onion into 1-inch-thick slices.  Dunk rings into water.  Dredge in flour.  Dip rings into egg mixture, coating thoroughly.  Dredge in panko crumbs. Set aside {don’t stack, or your breading may fall off} and continue the  process until all rings are coated.  
Add enough vegetable oil to your pan to cover your rings {about a 2-3 inch depth}.  Heat oil to 350 degrees.  In batches, fry onion rings until golden, about 2-3 minutes.  Drain on paper towel and season with salt.  Serve warm with your fave condiment!
{and, for the record….after reading this in it’s unpublished state, Thom is, at this very moment, making me scrambled eggs as a midnight snack}

Pecan Caramel Corn with Reese’s Pieces

My Pecan Caramel Corn is a deliciously sticky sweet snack that can be made for any occasion, but it’s especially fun at Halloween. It’s all about the props!

Deliciously sticky pecan caramel corn with Reese's Pieces is a fun party snack for any party. Make it an espeically spooky snack for Halloween by adding fun Halloween props.
with pecans only

So I gave up Month of Pumpkin- even after my slightly panicked search for cans of pumpkin back in September.  And, while I missed out on trying out new-to-me pumpkin recipes,  I did savor last year’s finds.  And…I enjoyed baking up some fun Halloween treats.

Even though Thom & I have no fun Halloween festivities to attend, I couldn’t let this last day of October slip away without goodies to enjoy.  This Caramel Corn recipe is so quick, easy, and good….it’s scary!!

Pecan Caramel Corn

You’ll need:

  • 10 cups of popcorn, popped {about 1/2 cup kernels}
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 stick of butter, cubed
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup light corn syrup
  • 1/2 nuts {I used pecans}
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup Reese’s Mini pieces
  • vanilla wafers or white chocolate for drizzling

Method:

Add nuts to popcorn in a large bowl, set aside. {I divided my popcorn in two-nuts & popcorn in one bowl.  Nuts, Reese’s mini pieces, & popcorn in another}

Place brown sugar in a microwave-safe dish.  Throw in pinch of salt.  Add cubed butter.  Pour corn syrup over this mix.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Remove & stir.  Microwave for an additional 2 minutes. Remove & stir. Heat for another 2 minutes until mixture is hot & bubbly. Remove & stir once more.  Handle with care!!

Add vanilla & baking soda and stir to combine. Mixture will foam, rise, and lighten in color.

Pour mixture over popcorn and stir until all the nuts & popcorn are covered in caramel-y, gooey goodness.  If you divide your batch in two, like I did-eyeball it & add half the caramel mixture into one bowl, and half into the other bowl.

Now to finish:

Place caramel corn on a parchment lined baking sheet or a pan coated with butter flavored cooking spray {this is how I did it}.

Bake at 250 {preheated} degrees:  10 minutes for chewier caramel corn, or 20 minutes for crunchier.  Stir every 5 minutes! Remove from oven.

Melt vanilla wafers or white chocolate on high for 1 minute.  Stir to gently melt.  Drizzle over caramel corn and allow to cool.  Once the chocolate has set- break apart and serve.  Enjoy!

with pecans and Reese’s Minis

*Adapted from the lovely lady over at Get Off Your Butt and Bake!

…where did the week go?

I’ve been working “big girl hours” these last couple of weeks, and let me just say-  I feel old.  I feel old and sore. And tired.  Did I mention old?

This past weekend, however, was very much relaxing and restful.  I did a little crafting.  I did a little baking.  I stalked the cats in the driveway.  I played nature/wildlife photographer and spotted a baby armadillo foraging for bugs in the piles of leaves in the driveway while Thom so nicely whittled away at the hickory tree in the driveway, carving out our initials for a little photo idea I’ve been cooking up.  I love having a vision and having someone who is able to bring it to life.

I baked up a batch of Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins with Pecan Streusel {awesomely delicious!} and crafted up a nice little box of muffins for Thom’s nephew’s family.

And now…it’s the middle of the week and after 3 full days of work, I’m back to being tired.  Such is life.  I’m prepping for a Halloween potluck at work on Friday.  I have a few last minute Halloween treats I’d like to try out….and one I’d like to give another shot- cake pops.  I’ll be sure to check back and let you know how it goes.