Fried Tomato Sandwiches

YUM!  Buck's tomato plants are yielding beautiful, fresh tomatoes, and we couldn't wait to try them out.  These open-face sandwiches were delicious!  We had friends over and made two separate batches of these.  So good!

Notes about the recipe: The tomatoes tend to fall apart in the skillet, so slice them a bit thicker than you might normally.  Since I fried the tomatoes in butter, I wanted to save some fat somewhere, so opted for fat-free cream cheese on the baguette.  I also thought about substituting Laughing Cow cheese for the cream cheese; I might try that next time.  Also, you'll probably have to cook these in batches.  There's no skillet in my house big enough for so many slices of tomatoes, but I could fit half of what it called for.

I want to especially thank my aunt Carolyn and my wonderful cousins for giving me the cookbook that contained this recipe.  I appreciate it very much. :)

Fried Tomato Sandwiches

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
3-4 ripe tomatoes
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
Salt and pepper
1 baguette cut into thin (1/4" slices)

Melt butter in skillet.  Place sliced tomatoes in pan, and sprnkle with half of the sugar, salt, and pepper.  Saute for 4-5 minutes; flip and sprinkle with remaininng sugar, salt, and pepper.  If tomatoes seem runny, continue to saute on low heat until sauce thickens. 

Place baguette slices on a cookie sheet, and broil until golen.  Spread with softened cream cheese, and return to oven until cream cheese bubbles.  Spread friend tomatoes over open-faced toasted baguette.

Easy French Toast Casserole

This was an easy, make-ahead breakfast recipe that we both enjoyed.  I'm sure this would be even better with fancier bread (French bread, cinnamon-raisin bread, brioche, etc.), but I needed to use up several slices of good ol' wheat bread before it went bad.  Because I'm usually rushing around in the morning, I put everything in the casserole dish and let it sit over night, and then I baked it in the morning. 

It's an easily adaptable recipe.  Like I said, you can use different types of bread, or try half-and-half or cream or even egg nog (for a holiday twist) instead of milk.  It's also easy to double or triple, depending on the size of your crowd.  I hope you like it!

Easy French Toast Casserole

3 cups bread, cubed

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

2 Tbsp white sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cooking spray

Spray an 8"x8"  pan with cooking spray, and place bread cubes in the pan.  In a bowl, beat together eggs, milk, half the sugar, and vanilla.  Pour egg mixture over bread. 

If baking that morning, let the bread/egg mixture stand for 10 minutes.  If baking later, refrigerate the mixture at this point. 

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350.  Sprinkle bread/egg mixture with the cinnamon and remaining tablespoon of sugar.  Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until top is golden. 

Sunshine Upside Down Muffins

I just found a great blog called Eat 80/20; it's run by a dietician who recommends eating healthy 80% of the time and allowing yourself to indulge for the remaining 20%.  (This one is an 80-ish recipe.)  I can't wait to try more of her recipes, but these muffins looked so good that I made them over the weekend with just a couple of changes.

This recipe makes 12 muffins or 6 muffin tops; I know I've already professed my love for my muffin top pans.  I opted for the muffin tops here, which ended up making the whole family happy. 

Buck loves pineapple and breakfast breads and muffins, so I knew these would be right up his alley.  Little did I know that these are also right up Teak's alley.  While I was changing the sheets on the bed in the other room, Teak's Go-Go-Gadget-tongue managed to reach one of these huge muffin tops off the cooling rack on the kitchen counter.  Let it be known that these were not close to the edge of the counter.  Apparently the old adage is true: where there's a will, there's a way.

Sunshine Upside Down Muffins

1 (8oz) can crushed pineapple, drained and divided
1 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (all-purpose would be fine)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 large carrot, grated

Preheat oven to 350.  In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Add brown sugar and 3/4 can of pineapple.  Continue to heat over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, as the rest of the muffin batter is prepared.

In a mixing bowl, combine remaining pineapple, applesauce, egg, vanilla, and white sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and pecans.  Fold flour mixture into wet mixture until just moistened.  Gently stir in grated carrot.   

Spray the cups of a muffin tin generously with cooking spray (without flour).  Spoon about one tablespoon of the warm pineapple mixture into the bottom of each muffin cup, spreading evenly.  Spoon muffin batter on top of pineapple mixture, filling each cup about 2/3 full.  Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes on middle rack or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Remove from oven and use a sharp knife to run around the edges of each muffin.  While muffins are still warm, turn tin over onto cooling rack to release muffins. 

Bacon Jam Crescents

Back to the Bacon Jam from last week.  This couldn't get much easier.  If you went to the trouble of making the bacon jam, just smear a spoonful in crescent roll dough, and then bake them.  That's it. 

As with everything related to the bacon jam, you won't be sorry.

Bacon Jam Crescents

1 Tube crescent rolls
Bacon jam

Unroll crescent roll dough, and put spoonful of bacon jam on each crescent.  Roll up, and bake according to package directions.  Enjoy!

Banana Bread Muffins

To be more precise, I made banana bread muffin tops since my sister gave me two awesome muffin top pans (similar to the ones you can order here).  Thanks again, Amanda.

Buck loves breakfast breads and muffins, and I came through for him last week in a big way.  We couldn't get enough of these!  They were amazing!  (It probably had to do something with the sour cream in the batter.)  We highly recommend these.

I modified a recipe from AllRecipes, and it made 10 heaping muffin tops.  If you make it as a loaf of bread, bake it at 350 for 60 minutes in a 9"x5" loaf pan. 

Banana Bread Muffins

1 3/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon juice
3 bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray muffin top pans with cooking spray. 

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice; mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Stir into butter mixture until smooth.  Fold in sour cream and bananas.

Put two heaping tablespoons of batter into each muffin top cup.  Bake for 22 minutes, turning the pans after 12 minutes.  Cool pans on racks before removing muffin tops.

Cheesy Corn Puffs

This recipe is in this month's Food Network Magazine as a new twist on an old-fashioned kitchen staple: a can of creamed corn.  They were good, but I think they'd be even better with some sharp Cheddar cheese or some chopped jalapenos.  As much as I love pepper jack cheese, it doesn't have the kick that these need. 

Cheesy Corn Puffs

1 cup creamed corn
1 tsp salt
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) butter
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese, plus more for topping
3 eggs
1 Tsbp fresh chopped chives

Preheat the oven to 400.  Spray two baking sheets with cooking spray.  Bring the corn, butter, and salt to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat.  Reduce the heat to low, add the flour, and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 2 mintues.

Scrape the dough into a bowl; let cool slightly.  Add the eggs one at a time, stirring well between each addition.  Stir in the cheese and chives.  Chill the dough 15 minutes. 

Scoop tablespoon-size mounds of dough onto the prepared sheets, about 2 inches apart.  Sprinkle with more cheese.  Transfer to the oven and bake until golden brown and puffy, 20-25 minutes.  Serve warm. 

Apple Bread Pudding

I've made loaves of apple bread and banana bread recently, and both times we ended up with a few slices that get dry before we get around to eating them.  I really hate to waste them and throw them away, so I decided to try this bread pudding recipe with the leftover apple bread.  YUM.  This recipe would still be great with sliced bread or French bread, and you could just slice up some apples and add them in the dish for that flavor.  It would also be great with banana bread and some chopped pecans.  It was very easy to put together, and it was decadent and especially delicious with vanilla ice cream. 

Apple Bread Pudding

3 eggs
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 3/4 cups hot water
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups cubed bread

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, beat eggs.  Add sweetened condensed milk, hot water, butter, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Stir in bread, moistening completely.  Turn into a 9" square baking pan. 

Bake 55-60 minutes, or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Serve warm; refrigerate leftovers. 

Banana Bread Bruschetta

I saw this recipe in a Southern Living cookbook, and since I had just made banana bread, I couldn't help but try it out.  YUM.  This was delicious!  If you want to make your own banana bread, you can of course use the recipe for Almost No Fat Banana Bread, but you could easily just buy a loaf at the bakery.  This would be great at brunch with a mimosa, or you could use it as an appetizer at a party.  It's wonderful.

Banana Bread Bruschetta

1 loaf banana bread
Goat cheese
Apricot or pear preserves

Slice banana bread into half-inch-thick slices.  Cut each slice in half, and arrange on a baking sheet.  Broil 6 inches from heat for 2 minutes.  Spread each slice evenly with 2 tsp goat cheese and 1/2 tsp apricot or pear preserves. 

Almost No Fat Banana Bread

Do you like how my natural reaction is to spread cream cheese all over the banana bread that has almost no fat?  I do see the irony. 

The bread really is delicious without any toppings though.  It's very moist and has a great banana flavor.  It's quick to put together, and it smells great coming out of the oven.  I'm sure it would be great as muffins, too. 

Almost No Fat Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs whites (or 1 egg)
1 cup banana, mashed (2 large bananas)
1/4 cup applesauce

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease and 8"x4" loaf pan.  In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Add egg whites, bananas, and applesauce; stir until just combined.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake in preheated oven 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Turn out onto wire rack and cool before slicing. 

Ham and Cheese Rolls

Oh my gosh.  You will thank me for these little gems.  They're completely delicious, pretty easy to put together, and perfect for breakfast, lunch, or a casual dinner.  They're really filling, too; the full recipe makes 12 rolls, but you could cut it to 6 rolls easily.

I slightly tweaked this Southern Living recipe, and I'll definitely make it again.  As the recipe below notes, you can make them in a 10-inch skillet or round pan or a 9-jnch square glass dish.  I tried to fit as many as I could (which was nine) in a 9-inch round pan, and the other three I put in my muffin-top pan.  They all tasted equally delicious, but the ones in the muffin-top pan browned more quickly than the ones in the round pan. 

Ham and Cheese Rolls

12 frozen biscuits (I used Mary B's)
All-purpose flour
¼ cup dijon mustard
1 Tbsp minced onion flakes
1 cup (4oz) shredded Swiss cheese
1 (9oz) container deli sliced ham, chopped or torn into pieces
Cooking spray

Arrange frozen biscuits, with sides touching, in three rows of four biscuits on a lightly floured surface. Let stand 30-45 minutes or until biscuits are thawed but still cool to the touch.

Sprinkle thawed biscuits lightly with flour. Press biscuit edges together, and pat to form a 12x10” rectangle of dough; spread evenly with mustard, and sprinkle minced onion flakes on top. Top evenly with the cup of shredded Swiss cheese and then with the ham.


Roll up, starting at 1 long end; cut into 12 (about 1” thick) slices. Place rolls into a lightly greased 10-inch cast-iron skillet, 10-inch round pan, or 9-inch square pan. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes or until center rolls are golden brown and done; cool slightly. 

Apple Bread

This is a tasty apple bread recipe.  My goal is to start making more fruity breakfast breads, so hopefully I'll get on that shortly.  It's great with a pat of honey butter, or you can indulge yourself and eat it with a smear of cream cheese.  Very good!

Apple Bread

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 apple, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
1/2 cup broken walnuts

Preheat oven to 350.  In a bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the applesauce, sugar, egg, vanilla, and apples.  Stir into flour mixture; add walnuts and mix.  Pour mixture into greased 8"x4" bread pan, and bake for 35-45 minutes or until done.  Cool on cooling rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan. 

Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pulls

I can assure you that this is not on the pre-wedding diet. 

This bread is just sinful.  It is SO good.  You should make it right away; I just recommend that you make it when several other people are around.  Otherwise, it would be too easy to pull off all the pieces and eat it all by yourself.

Thank you, Steph at Plain Chicken, for your amazing recipe!

Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pulls

1 round, unsliced loaf sourdough bread
8 oz Cheddar cheese, shredded
3 oz bag Oscar Meyer Real Bacon Bits (or crumbled cooked bacon)
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 Tbsp Ranch dressing mix

Preheat oven to 350.  Using a sharp bread knife, cut the bread in both directions, but don't cut through the bottom crust.  Sprinkle the cheese and bacon bits in between the cuts.  Mix together the butter and Ranch dressing mix, and pour it over the bread.  Wrap in foil and bake for 15 minutes.  Unwrap bread, and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese has melted. 

Crispy Cheese Twists

I love bread.  I made the mistake of making these before the rest of the meal was ready, which of course means that we ate several of them without stopping.  We discovered that, like most things, they're excellent with Ranch dressing or Marinara sauce on the side.  These were relatively quick to throw together, and they were good breadsticks.   If I do anything differently to them next time, I'll make them spicier--maybe with red pepper flakes or more ground red pepper; they weren't hot at all. 

Crispy Cheese Twists

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
1 (10 oz) can refrigerated pizza crust
Butter-flavored cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425.  Combine cheese, paprika, and pepper in a small bowl; set aside. 

Unroll dough; roll into a 12"x8" rectangle.  Lightly coat surface of dough with cooking spray, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture.  Fold dough in half to form an 8"x6" rectangle.  Roll into a 12"x8" rectangle.  Lightly coat surface of dough with cooking spray, and sprinkle dough with remaining cheese mixture.  Using fingertips, press cheese mixture into dough.

Cut dough into 16 (8-inch-long) strips.  Gently pick up both ends of each strip; twist dough.  Place twists 1/2" apart on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 425 for 8 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from pan; cool on wire racks. 

Honey Butter

This was the perfect fit for our cornbread muffins from yesterday.  Delicious!  It would dress up any regular bread.  This is Alton Brown's recipe, but I scaled it down from a pound of butter to a stick.  You can make the amount that works for you, but I promise you that you want to make this.  So quick and easy, and so very tasty. 

Honey Butter

1 stick butter, softened
2 Tbsp honey
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Cut the butter into chunks, and mix it on low speed with an electric mixer to loosen the butter.  Increase the speed to medium, and add the honey, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Mix until well combined, 3-5 minutes.  Remove butter from bowl and spoon onto parchment paper or plastic wrap.  Roll into a log and refrigerate for 2 hours. 

Sweet Cornbread

It was not my plan to make cornbread this week, but I accidentally opened a can of creamed corn instead of whole kernel corn, and I couldn't let it go to waste.  Luckily, I found this recipe, and it's instantly become one of Biz's favorites.  I made them as muffins, but you could make it in a skillet or an 8"x8" pan. 

This cornbread is good because of how sweet it is, and the creamed corn makes it really moist.  This is very tasty, and it was pretty quick to throw together.  We'll be making this again. 

Sweet Cornbread

1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, combine the egg, sour cream, creamed corn, milk, and butter, and mix into dry ingredients until just moistened.  Pour into a greased muffin tin, and bake for 15-18 minutes.  Serve warm. 

1/4 cup sour cream

1 can creamed corn

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup milk

1/2 stick butter, melted

Jalapeno Cheese Beer Bread

I'm betting you like all of the ingredients listed above.  If you don't drink beer, don't worry; you don't taste it in the bread.  It just provides the yeast that the bread needs to be successful.  If you don't like spicy food, don't worry; the jalapenos are very mellow.  This isn't hot at all. 

This is a quick recipe to put together, and it's great to serve warm with a pat of butter or with eggs and bacon for a savory breakfast.  Biz requested this bread this weekend since I hadn't made it in a while; he even suggested that we make it as muffins next time, which would be great.  Give it a try!

Jalapeno Cheese Beer Bread

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped pickled jalapenos
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup (4oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 (12oz) bottle lager-style beer (I used Michelob Ultra)
Cooking spray
2 Tbsp butter, divided and melted

Preheat oven to 375.  Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat.  Add jalapeno and green onion to pan; cook 3 minutes or until browned.  Add garlic; cook 1 minute. 

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; make a well in the center of the mixture.  Add jalapeno mixture, cheese, and beer to center of flour mixture.  Stir until just moist. 

Spoon mixture into greased 9"x5" loaf pan; drizzle one tablespoon of butter over batter.  Bake at 375 for 35 minutes.  Drizzle remaining tablespoon of butter over batter, and bake an additional 25 minutes.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan, and cool completely on wire rack.

Bacon Cornbread

This was very good!  I love Claire Robinson's five ingredient recipes, and this one was tasty.  How could this not be tasty?  I was so pleased that I had all the ingredients on hand.  Try this with some honey butter.  YUM.

Her recipe says to fry the bacon in a pan and then put the rendered bacon grease in the cast iron skillet before pouring the cornbread in.  Well, that's messy and takes too much time, so I take the short cut of microwaving the bacon and Pam-ing the heck out of the cast iron skillet.  No, it's not the proper way to do it, but it was much faster and it still tasted good.  If that offends you, do it the old-fashioned way.

Bacon Cornbread

6 slices bacon

1/2 cup self-rising flour

3/4 cup fine cornmeal

Pinch salt

1 egg, plus 1 egg white

1 (14oz) can creamed corn

Preheat oven to 400.  Put a cast iron skillet in the oven to heat while the oven is heating.  Cook the bacon and allow it to cool before dicing it.  In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, and salt.  In a larger bowl, mix the eggs until frothy and add the creamed corn.  Fold in the dry ingredients and combine until just mixed.  Fold the diced bacon into the batter.  Pour the batter into the greased cast iron skillet, and bake until golden in color, about 17-19 minutes.  Allow the cornbread to cool slightly before serving.

Strawberry Pecan Bread

This is an excellent recipe from a cookbook I have on the best recipes from Louisiana.  (My picture does this recipe no justice.  It really is so good.)  I really enjoyed eating a slice with some cream cheese for breakfast in the mornings, and I bet it would be great if you baked it in a muffin tin, too.  It will be wonderful when fresh strawberries are out.  This is a nice change from banana bread, but I'm sure it would be awesome to add some mashed bananas, too.  Delicious!

Strawberry Pecan Bread

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 (10 oz) package frozen strawberries, thawed

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda; set aside.  In a small bowl, beat eggs and oil; add pecans and strawberries.  Add strawberry mixture to dry ingredients.  Grease and flour a (9"x5"x3") loaf pan.  Pour mixture into loaf pan and bake for one hour (or 45-50 minutes for smaller pans). 

Cheddar Biscuits

(One picture of two different recipes means that we have two posts in one day.  Yay!)

These biscuits are so easy and delicious, and you probably already have everything at your house.  If you want a good breakfast biscuit, you can just make them plain, or you can have a great side for your dinner with the savory onion and garlic flavors.  They're so good either way.

Cheddar Biscuits

4 cups baking mix
1 1/3 cups milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp dried parsley

Preheat oven to 375.  Lightly spray a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.  In a mixing bowl, combine the baking mix, milk, and cheese.  Mix until dough is firm.  Using a small scoop, place dough on the prepared pan.  Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.  Combine the melted butter, garlic powder, salt, onion powder, and parsley, and brush over baked biscuits immediately upon removing them from the oven.

Lazy Sausage Bread

I made this recipe my own after being insprired by several similar recipes.  I called it lazy sausage bread because I was too lazy to make my own dough, chop up a real onion, and measure out other spices.  I took the easy way out all the way.    I would have used refrigerated pizza dough if the bread dough hadn't been on sale; I'm sure it's still just as good. 

Lazy Sausage Bread
1 can refrigerated crusty French bread dough
1 lb hot breakfast sausage
1/2 Tbsp minced onion flakes
1 egg
1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Cook sausage in skillet until browned; drain and cool on a plate lined with paper towels.  When cool, Mix with egg, cheeses, onion flakes, and Italian dressing. 

Unroll bread dough on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  Spread sausage mixture within one inch of each edge of the dough, and roll up jelly-roll style; seal edges.  Bake on greased cookie sheet for 30-35 minutes at 350.  Serve warm.