Christmas Brunch

I love breakfast! Besides dessert it's my most favourite meal.  Christmas mornings tend to be a little rushed in our house, so an easy but filling breakfast is a must!  I was looking for a great overnight French toast recipe that I could just pop in the oven in the morning while we open gifts.  One of my best friends, who just happens to be an amazing cook, gave me this recipe.

It was my first time making it, but I didn't care so much as it was just for my family.  Then it turned out my little one's godparents were going to join us for breakfast, so I was a little nervous about serving a first time recipe.  But seeing as it was a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis, with some modifications from a very trusted friend, there was no way I could go wrong (I hoped!)

Overnight French Toast

Ingredients:
butter, for greasing
6 eggs
3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup maple syrup (plus extra for serving)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 lemon, zested
1 to 1-1/2 baguettes, cut into 1" cubes
3 apples, cored, peeled and chopped

Topping:
1 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp sugar

Directions:

1. Butter a 9x13" baking dish and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy.  Add the milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt and lemon zest.  Add the bread cubes and mix until coated.  Stir in the apple chunks.  Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

3. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 350F.

5. In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping.  Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the egg mixture in an even layer.

6. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is set.

7. Spoon onto serving plates and drizzle with maple syrup (and more cinnamon sugar if you like!).


This recipe was a huge success!!  There was no leftovers and everyone went for seconds (and even thirds!).  With the whole rush of Christmas morning, I completely forgot to take a picture, but I will definitely be making this recipe again.

Photo of French Toast from Giada's recipe made with
blueberries and not left overnight.

Chicken Enchiladas & Apple Crisp

Many, many years ago I was at my friend's apartment and she made this recipe.  I absolutely loved and saved it.  I've made it several times over the years.  Every once in awhile I have a craving for it and tonight was one of those nights.  It's also a bonus that everyone in my house loves it!  There's always leftover for lunch the next day too.

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped

2-4 tbsp butter

4-6 chicken breasts, chopped

1 - 1-1/2 cups salsa

1 pkg (125g) cream cheese

2 cups grated cheese (I like a mixture of cheddar, mozzarella and asiago)

6 large flour tortillas

Directions:

1. Chop chicken into cubes and fry on stove in butter until it is no longer pink. Remove from pan and set aside in a bowl.

2. Cook and stir onion in butter over medium heat for 2-3 minus until softened.  Stir in cooked onion, about 2/3 cup salsa, and cream cheese.  Cook until thoroughly heated.

3. Stir in 1 cup grated cheese.

4. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the chicken mixture in the centre of each tortilla.  Roll and place seam side down in large (13x9") baking dish.  Top with remaining salsa and cheddar cheese.

5. Bake in preheated 350F oven for 15 minutes.

Cooking the chicken cubes.

Adding in the salsa and cream cheese.

Snapping a picture just before I chow down!

Saving some leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

And now onto dessert - my favourite part of any meal!

Apple Crisp

The great thing about this recipe, is that you can make a large batch and portion it out to freeze.  If you are expecting a large crowd, put this in a large dish and make one portion.  But if you want to have some on hand to give to family or friends or save for another day, then you can do that as well.

Today I made this into 3-8x8" serving dishes.  One went to our neighbour, the other is being frozen for a work function and the last one is the dessert tonight.  My apple crisp recipes have evolved over the years, but this time the crumble part is true to a Barefoot Contessa recipe.

Ingredients:
10 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (fairly thinly)
1/2 cup sugar
the juice of one lemon

2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

For the topping:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 light brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup cold unsalted butter, diced


Directions:

1. If you are making a large dish, grease a 9x14" dish.  If you are making smaller portions, grease 3 8x8" dishes.

2. Peel, core and cut the apples into slices.  Combine the apples, lemon juice, sugar and spices.  Pour into the dish.  (I actually like to divide the apples into the three dishes and then squeeze the lemon juice over top.  I then mix the rest of the ingredients and evenly sprinkle it over each dish and toss.)

3. For the topping: Combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, butter in the bowl of stand mixer with the paddle attachment.  Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is small.  Scatter evenly over the apples.

4. If you are baking immediately, bake in a preheated 350F oven for 45 minutes, until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly.  Serve warm.  (Consider putting a sheet pan underneath for overflow if your dish is really full.)  If you are freezing, cover in foil and write the instructions on top.  Place in the freezer.  If you are baking one large dish, you will probably have to increase the baking time to 60 minutes.

5. Baking from frozen?  Thaw and bake uncovered at 350F for 45 minutes.

Prepping the apples in their foil dishes.

Check out the delicious crumble topping.

The apple crisp all bubbly and brown!

"It's so yummy mommy!"

And of course, we have to add Birthday Cake Oreo Ice Cream on top!

Gluten Free Apple Cake

Having a sweet tooth and a bag of apples normally meant lots of baking: apple crumble, apple pie, apple crumble pie, and so on.    Now this baking doesn't come so easily if I want to enjoy it.  I went on the search for a gluten free apple cake, thinking this would probably be easier than trying to make a gluten-free crust for a pie.  Most of the recipes I found called for xantham gum, which I didn't have in my kitchen (and probably won't ever have because of its cost and "synthetic" nature).

I found a recipe that I was able to tweak, and the end result was really quite good - and baked much faster than the recipe called for.  While I didn't try it, I believe this could easily be made dairy free as well if you substituted almond milk (or your go to milk) in place of the milk and your own butter substitute (or coconut oil).

The cake is really moist and tasted delicious warm.  It was a little crumbly - I'm not sure if that is because of the ingredients or the fact that we ate it warm. It doesn't rise very much, so next time I might consider baking it in a square pan and longer if necessary.  I may also add in some more apples to increase the flavour.  Overall though, it has a nice taste and definitely satisfied my cake craving.  I wouldn't guess it was gluten-free if I hadn't baked it myself.



Ingredients:
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp chia seeds (or flax seeds or half of each)
1.5 tsp boiling water
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs
3 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla
1.5 cups apples, peeled, cored and shredded (I used 3 small empire apples)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a 9" round springform pan with butter or coconut oil and dust with rice flour.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.

3. In a small bowl combine chia seeds and boiling water to create a gel; set aside.

4. Cream the butter with your mixer until it is softened and pale yellow. (I used about 1 tbsp less butter and added that amount in coconut oil.)  Add both the white and brown sugar and beat until well combined.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.  Blend in the milk (I used regular milk, but you could use almond or any substitute), vanilla and the chia seed gel, beating well after each one.

6. On low speed, add the dry ingredients in two batches, beating well after each addition until it is well absorbed.

7.  Gently fold in the shredded apples.

8. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake 30-35 minutes (the original recipe called for 40-45 mins but my cake was already browning in 30) or until the cake pulls away from the edge of the pan and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

9.  Serve warm or cooled.  If serving warm, cool in the pan at least 10 minutes before removing.

10.  Dust lightly with icing sugar if you like.

Gluten Free Apple Crisp

I love apple crisp - it is one of those easy comfort foods you can bake up in a matter of minutes.  I even have my little cheats - using oatmeal cookie mix mixed with cinnamon and a touch of brown sugar as my topping drizzled with maple syrup and corn syrup.

But my easy quick go to dessert is no longer possible on my gluten free diet.  So I went on a search for a gluten free version.  I mostly found recipes that used "gluten free oats" but this was not going to be an option.  I thought about the quinoa flakes I had sitting in my cupboard with all the other "gluten free" flours I bought and thought I'd be able to mimic the oats by using them.  So I narrowed down my search some more - and here is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

6 apples (I used Gala), peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice (to prevent browning)
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp tapioca or arrowroot starch
1 cup quinoa flakes
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup coconut oil (if you don't need to be dairy free, you can use butter - I find that it adds extra flavour.  For this recipe I used half butter and half coconut oil.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease the bottom and sides of an 8x11" baking dish.  Set aside.

2. Toss the sliced apples in a bowl with lemon juice.  Add the maple syrup and stir.  (At this point I like to sprinkle the apples with some brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to add some extra flavour.)  Dust with tapioca starch to coat the slices.  Pour the slices into the baking dish.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine the quinoa flakes, sorghum flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt and whisk to blend.  Add the coconut oil in pieces and cut it into the flour using a pastry cutter.  It should resemble a sandy mixture.

4. Spoon the mixture over top.  Drizzle with some maple syrup and dab with butter or coconut oil.

5. Bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes.  Cover loosely with foil paper and bake for another 20 minutes.  (Depending on the size of your slices, this could take longer.)  The apples should feel tender and the sides should be bubbling.

6. Allow to cool a bit before serving, but it is served best warm.

The results were pretty good. My husband and I definitely missed the bigger clumps/chunks that happen in the crisp when you use oats.  Maybe next time I would use more butter/coconut oil to make it a bit clumpier, but I think the size of the quinoa flakes are the main reason for this.  But for a gluten free version of apple crisp, you really can't go wrong.

The apples

The crumble part

The prepared crumble prior to baking.

The final product (well half of it!)

Crepes

I love crepes! I can eat them all day, every day.  My favourite tends to be Nutella with bananas or strawberries, but while I was in Paris I ate a lemon sugar crepe every night.  I woke up one morning and decided I was going to make crepes for breakfast and introduce my 15 month old daughter to the beauty of a crepe.  I have adapted this recipe to be non-dairy as well, but that will be for another post.
You can use any filling/topping you'd like, but this morning I decided to do cooked apples.  Prepare the apples first as they can cook while you are making the crepes.
And don't worry if the first crepe doesn't turn it - it never turns out for me so I researched it once and apparently it is a myth that the first crepe never turns out!

Crepes:
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
3 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
splash of vanilla
salt to taste

1. In a small bowl combine the eggs, milk, butter, vanilla, baking powder and salt. Add flour, blending well. Heat heavy skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Brush with shortening or oil (or spray with non-stick cooking spray).

Batter starts to bubble and
curl on the edges.

2. Pour batter, about 1/3 cup at a time, into pan.  Tilt and swirl pan to spread batter very thin - to the edges of the pan.  Brown about 1-2 minutes (until it starts to bubble), turn and brown the other side.
3. Transfer crepes to a plate and cover with foil paper or place in warm oven to keep warm.
4. When all the batter is cooked, place a crepe, one at a time back into the pan and fill with the filling (below). Fold in half (or thirds) and briefly heat through.
5. Dust with icing sugar and garnish with whipped cream or syrup and serve.

Makes approximately 8 crepes.

The final product - yum!

Filling #1:
5 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced.
2 tbsp butter
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp cinnamon (to taste)

Heat skillet over medium heat.  Melt butter in the pan and add apples.  Squeeze lemon juice over top and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Cook until the apples are soft and starting to break down.

Filling #2:
Nutella
Sliced Bananas

Spread nutella over half the crepe. Once it starts to melt, place the sliced bananas over top.  Fold the crepe over and flip to heat the other side.

Filling #3:
Nutella
Sliced Strawberries

Spread nutella over half the crepe. Once it starts to melt, place the sliced strawberries over top.  Fold the crepe over and flip to heat the other side.

Filling #4:
1 lemon, juiced and zested
sugar

Sprinkle the crepe with sugar, lemon zest and juice.  Fold over and serve.

Pork tenderloin with caramelized onions and apples

Today's dinner was a little rushed and last minute. This recipe comes together pretty fast with manageable prep.

I don't have any sides with recipes for you, but we had cream of broccoli soup. I would also recommend roasted vegetables or scalloped potatoes (recipe to follow at a later date) and even a nice salad.

My recipe was adapted from this one here:

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/pork_tenderloin_with_caramelized_onions_and_apple.php#comments_anchor

Basically I made less, and had to find a substitution for the apple cider and beef stock.

INGREDIENTS:
2 onions
3-4 tbsp extra-virgin olive_oil
1 apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 pork tenderloin, about 500g
pepper
1.5 cups beef stock (I added about 3/4 of a beef bouillon cube to boiling water and whisked till it dissolved)
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp (10 mL) cornstarch

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F. Season pork with pepper. In large ovenproof skillet, heat about 1-2 tbsp oil over medium-high heat; brown pork all over. Transfer to oven; roast until juices run clear when pork is pierced, about 25-30 minutes. Transfer to carving board; tent with foil and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

While pork is cooking, cut onions in half lengthwise; thinly slice crosswise. In large skillet, heat about 2 tbsp of the oil over medium heat; fry onions, stirring often, until tender and golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in apple; cover and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.

Dissolve the bouillon cube in boiling water, whisking. Add the sugar and water, allowing the sugar to dissolve. When the pork is done and resting, pour fat from skillet. Add beef-flavored liquid; bring to boil over medium-high heat, scraping brown bits from bottom of pan. Boil until reduced to about half. Dissolve cornstarch in 2 tbsp (25 mL) cold water; stir into skillet and cook until thickened.

I added the onion-apple mixture to the pan to slightly reheat then spooned it over the plated, carved pork.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture right now (like I said - dinner was a little rushed and hectic!) but will post something next chance I have to take one!

This pork was nice and easy to prepare, and with my modifications still turned out nice. It had a nice sweet flavor and the pork wasn't dry at all. This is a definite must-try. I will be making this one again!