Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Coconut French Toast

Breakfast and Coconut are two things I love. I thought I’d make them one with Coconut French Toast!

Alright I’ll be honest- I was just going to make plain toast, but my George Foreman (which I use as a toaster) was beyond dirty. The stove seemed like the second easiest place in my kitchen to make toast. That’s when inspiration hit me, people do this! I had no syrup or powdered sugar, so regular French toast was out the window. That’s when I covered my bread in egg juice and dipped it in a haphazard mix of coconut, sugar, and flour. The result: Decent Coconut French Toast.
It accomplished the goal of interesting, but was only OK tasting. I think if I had some of the pina colada dip Red Lobster uses for their coconut shrimp I would have been in breakfast heaven. Next time…

Any suggestions or better French toast recipes?

I’m not going to lie I was wishing & dreaming of Kate’s Pecan-Crusted French Toast the whole time. Mmm.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Couples Dinner: Tortilla Soup & Enchiladas

Mexican food for dinner was a big hit! It included Tortilla soup, enchiladas, and a lot of guacamole. Of course- Pie for desert.

It was planned in advance to have our friends Chris and Kathleen come over for dinner and Justin decided he wanted to cook his enchiladas. Cooking these involves opening a bag of frozen burritos, a can of chili, a can of enchilada sauce, cheese and olives as a topping. I was tempted for a minute to just volunteer for all the cooking, but it’s so charming to have him want to cook at all.

I decide on something I’d never done before to compliment the enchiladas. Tortilla Soup! I’ve never made a soup from scratch. Just that morning I had asked my friend Elsa, “What is that liquid in there?” and she was able to teach me of the diversity of broths. I checked out AllRecipes.com and found the #1 Tortilla Soup recipe (that didn’t involve a slow cooker) and went shopping.

I had a lot of ingredients at home and only had to get a few, but what really stumped me was the Hominy. I was scanning the produce section with no luck. Justin looked it up and decided corn nuts would be a good substitution, but I just ignored him(as usual). He eventually found it in the Mexican food section of the commissary. The effort paid off because it ended up being one of my favorite ingredients in the soup!
It wasn’t too difficult to make, mostly just a lot of ingredients that my pot was exactly big enough to hold. It simmered for a long time as I whipped up some guacamole and put together a plate of soup toppings. I was happy to find I do own 5 bowls and served up the soup. Dinner was delicious for everyone.

Kathleen had made a Blueberry Maple pie for desert. Wow was it delicious, not a combination you hear of often either. What a baking goddess she is. I’ll get the recipe from her if anyone wants.

What should my next soup be- since I’m such a pro now?