Journey Into Deliciousness

Egg Nog French Toast

Grade: A

Time it takes: 20 minutes

Yield: Serves 4

Source: Adapted from both The Curvy Carrot - a food blog (Baked Eggnog French Toast) and Pinch My Salt - a food blog (Spiked Egg nog French Toast)

This was made for Christmas breakfast. I had higher aspirations for breakfast that morning, but sickness brought me low and I had to content myself with just making french toast. It is a good thing this french toast was seasonally delicious and quick and easy to make. I had plans to make the baked version from The Curvy Carrot, but I never got around to soaking the bread in the egg nog over night. Instead I combined ideas from two recipes for a quicker more immediate version on Christmas morning. I'd grab that last bottle of egg nog before it is all gone, and take a few minutes in the kitchen to have a sweet and scrumptious breakfast.

Click below to expand for the recipe!

Biscuits and Gravy

Grade: B

Time it takes: 35-40 minutes

Yield: Serves 2-4, depending on your level of gravy intake because the gravy lasted 3 servings

Source: Pink Parsley - a food blog (biscuits and gravy)

Biscuits and gravy is not a dish I've had often, or really ever...maybe a bite once or twice...in my life. I'm not entirely sure why. They sound delicious, but I've just never ordered them or made them.

I have quiet a few food blogs bookmarked that I check in with about once a week, and this biscuits and gravy recipe popped up on Pink Parsley's blog. It instantly sounded like a great idea to make biscuits and gravy. I can't for the life of me think why it took so long for me to finally get around to making them. I dangled the prospect in front of Chris' nose and he was excited enough about it to remind me almost daily that I should make the recipe.

I've never made regular ol' biscuits before nor have I ever successfully made gravy. Maybe that is why it took me so long to make these, I was afraid of failing miserably at gravy making. Well, I started by accidentally leaving the biscuits in for a good 4 or 5 extra minutes because the oven timer beeped while I was man handling sausage and then I forgot about them completely, so the bottoms ended up being hard. The tops were delicious though, so not a total loss. It took me a super long time to get the gravy smooth as well, but it tasted fantastic. My only problem overall was that the dish was too light on the gravy for the amount of sausage. It was more like sausage and biscuits with a bit of gravy. So, next time more gravy and less sausage would be perfection...and also not leaving the biscuits in for an extra 5 minutes would probably help as well.

No complaints about the taste in this household. They were gone faster than the flashiest of flashes - hard biscuit bottoms and all.

Click below to expand for the recipe!

Breakfast Braid

Grade: A

Time it takes: 50 minutes (30 minutes prep, 15 minutes baking, 5 minutes to stand)

Yield: Serves 4-6

Source: Elizabeth's Edible Experience - a food blog (Braidy Brunch)

This was such a big hit in this house. A perfect breakfast for the weekend - unless you are a morning person, and I am not. It is not overly complicated, it doesn't take all morning, and it looks fun.There isn't anything much to the braiding process, just taking your ends and laying them over the filling - no pinching or complicated twisting or precise folding techniques required. I used a third of my regular pizza dough recipe, and it was a little thin (making the braid a little flimsy - it may not have looked spectacular but it tasted just the same) so next time I will use a half. If you don't want to make dough, or you don't have the time, just use some refrigerated premade dough from the store.

And, you can really tailor it to your own tastes or preferences on a given day. Start with some scrambled eggs and add whatever meats, veggies, or cheeses you want. The chicken sausage I used was absolutely perfect in this. The combination of jack cheese and mozzarella gave it a nice spice; I omitted the jalapenos, but if you like it hot you could certainly chop some up and toss them on top with the cheese. Chris suggested I make one of these every other day, so he was a fan.

Click below to expand for the recipe!

White Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

Grade: B

Time it takes: 40 minutes (20 minutes prep, 15-20 minutes baking)

Yield: About 15 biscuits

Source: The Curvy Carrot - a food blog (White Cheddar Garlic Biscuits)

I have seen these biscuits all over the food blog world. Who doesn't love those biscuits from that national seafood chain? You know that is the only reason you go! However, I didn't think these were as good. And, I thought they were very salty. Chris thought they rocked and ate just about all of them. I think that the melted butter and garlic salt mixture that I painted on top of the biscuits right out of the oven is the culprit behind the saltiness. Next time I will just use garlic powder.

Also I thought the bake time was a bit insane. I put them in at the recommended temperature and time and when I checked them about four minutes prior to the timer going off they were overly brown. The next batch I lowered the temperature and put them in for less time, and they turned out much better.

I'm not a big salt fan; my husband is. I think that without painting salt on the top they would taste much closer to the seafood chain's biscuits. But, they are not as soft, which really is a key factor for me in the deliciousness of the biscuits. All that being said, they are rather yummy when they didn't get too brown and probably even better with less salt. I would still recommend these when you are in the mood for biscuits.

Click below to expand for the recipe!

Honey Yeast Rolls

Grade: A+

Time it takes: 3 hours and 20 minutes (20 minutes prep, 2 hours and 40 minutes rest, 20 minutes baking)

Yield: 10-12 rolls

Source: recipe from Annie's Eats - a food blog

These are delicious! I think they disappeared within a day and a half. The burger buns were fantastic because of all the things you could put on them, but these were amazing in their own right, all by themselves. Chris has been asking me to make more just about everyday since I made them. They are the picture next to nomnomnom in the dictionary.

I made 12 balls with my dough, but then could not get them to fit in my pan. So, I put them into two pans, but then each ball was too far apart. The honey butter ran down into the bottom of the pan and caused all the buns to stick. Next time I will make 10 balls or use a bigger pan, that way they are all friendly with each other and the honey butter stays on top.

Make these with your next meal and you won't regret it!

Click below to expand for the recipe!

Burger Buns

 

Grade: A

Time it takes: 5 hours (45 minutes prep, 15 minutes bake, 4 hours rest)

Yield: 8 buns

Source: recipe from Annie's Eats - a food blog, via Smitten Kitchen and The New York Times

These were so good! Definitely better than store bought burger buns. They didn't stick to the roof of your mouth, and they were huge and perfect. My grandma loved them, I loved them, Chris loved them.

Click below to expand for the recipe!

Hot Dog Buns

Grade: A

Time it takes: 2 hours and 40 minutes (35 minutes prep, 1 hour and 45 minutes rest, 20 minutes baking)

Yield: 9 buns

Source: recipe from Annie's Eats - a food blog

I love hot dogs. I get the hankering for hot dogs all the time. They were buy one get one free recently and I got some, but I forgot to grab a pack of hot dog buns. They sat in my refrigerator for a while - I'd see them and think oooh I want a hot dog and then realize I didn't have any buns. So, finally I decided just to make my own hot dogs buns...because apparently that seemed easier than going down the road to the store and buying a pack at the time. But, bread making is always an adventure so why avoid it!

They turned out very hot-dog-bun-like. Soft and you pull them apart from the bun next to it and they felt like they had more substance to them than store bought. They were obviously homemade so that automatically makes them a lot better than store bought. The amount of work involved versus the convenience of just going to the store is still a debate in my head. They were better, but not out of this world ohmygosh I'm never buying these again better. As it stands, probably a combination of the two. I'd make them from scratch again if I were having company over for a cookout, or in a bread making mood, or just very bored. When I make them again the only thing I would change is to roll them out a tad bit longer, and try to make them more equal in length...mine were a little all over the place in length.

Click below to expand for the recipe!

Garlic Knots

Grade: A

Time it takes: 2 hours and 50 minutes (45 minutes prep, 1 hour and 45 minutes rest, 20 minutes cooking)

Yield: 10 knots

Source: Annie's Eats - a food blog (recipe)

Bread making is fun guys, try it sometime! Especially after you discover your grandma has a dough hook attachment for her kitchen aid =) I don't own the best kitchen appliance in the world (aka a kitchen aid) so I ninja my grandma's. I am use to making my bread doughs by hand, which really isn't that bad - it is good times getting your hands into the process. But, when you are making more than just bread it is nice to be able to dump your ingredients into a mixer and have it do the work for you while you are busy prepping and cooking other parts of the meal. That being said if you don't have one just insert a big bowl, a spoon and your hands for the dough hook attachment.

I really enjoyed these little bread wonders. They were soft, great for wiping up extra red sauce with, and tasty. A must have for pasta nights - I'm picturing these babies with a homemade lasagna sometime soon!

Tying the knots is not as hard as it looks; at least they were a tad bit intimidating to me, because I tried making garlic knots a good 8 years or so ago and the knot tying was most definitely fail. I got the hang of it after two knots and went to town making the rest. They look so nice when they come out of the oven, something you wouldn't be ashamed to serve to your company.

Click below to expand for the recipe!