Vanilla Orange French Toast

This past weekend was my good friend LAuren's birthday and since we are roommates I got to create and make this AMAZING breakfast dish for everyone on a Saturday morning!  My inspiration came from a medium sized tube of orange vanilla sherbet my husband and I bought at the market!  The recipe is very easy and only takes about 20 minutes.  It was definitely a morning filled with "yums" and "oh my gosh, this is so good".  I would imagine this recipe would be pretty popular with kiddies as well, so please enjoy! This recipe will serve 4 people.

You Will Need

8 thick slices of toast - I use Fresh & Easy Texas Toast

2 tablespoons Vanilla

4 whole large grade A eggs

Few splashes of milk

Zest of 1/2 of an orange - medium sized

Juice of 1 whole orange - no pulp - fresh squeezed

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

2 tablespoons confectioners sugar - powdered sugar

4 scoops Orange Vanilla Sherbet - I used Dreyer's

Caramel sauce for drizzle - optional

- Mix eggs, orange zest, juice, granulated sugar, vanilla and milk in a bowl

- Preheat your griddle; hot enough to sizzle, but not scorch

- Evenly coat each slice of toast with the egg mix and cook until browned lightly on each side

- Add a 1 scoop of sherbet to each plate

- Drizzle with caramel (optional) and powdered sugar

- Serve hot

- Yields 4 servings 

Broiled Parmesan & Mozzarella Tomatoes

So simple, so yummy and totally veggie!  Tomatoes, cheese, butter, salt and pepper, that's it!  Anyone who has a love for tomatoes will definitely enjoy these.  Earlier in the day while trying to figure out what to add to my vegetarian meal I started thinking about my grandmother and how she would sit out in her yard and eat whole ripe tomatoes like apples!  As a child I always thought it was the weirdest thing, watching her add a little bit of salt to every bite has been a memory that's stuck with me since my childhood.  Now I am huge fan of tomatoes, I can eat a wedge or two here and there, but I can't devour a whole tomato, even if I tried! After running through these memories, I was left with a serious tomato craving, thus this dish was born!

You Will Need

2 cans whole peeled tomatoes; drained

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese - lightly packed

1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese - lightly packed

1 teaspoon salt & pepper

1/2 stick salted butter; softened



- Add tomatoes to baking dish

- Sprinkle with salt and pepper

- Drizzle butter over the tops of the tomatoes

- Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese

- Broil on high on the center rack of your oven for about 8 minutes; just before the cheese starts to brown

- Remove from the oven and add Mozzarella cheese

- Place back into the oven for another 3 - 5 minutes

- Serve immediately! Serves 5 - 6

- Enjoy!

Family Style Open Faced Grilled Cheese w/ Sweet & Spicy Onions

These were sooooooooooo good!  I really surprised myself and my guests! I was doing some research on vegetarian dishes to broaden my knowledge base and came across a "grown up grilled cheese" recipe.  Being a cheese lover my mind quickly filled with different ideas of how to make this my own creation and add more depth to my meal.  This was a part of another Vegetarian meal with broiled Parmesan tomatoes and stuffed vegetable pitas with a light lemon yogurt sauce.  Those recipes I'll post up later on, but for now here's what I did!  I hope you enjoy these as much as we all did!

You Will Need

1 - 1 1/2 cups smoked Gouda; shredded

1 - 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese; shredded

6 slices thick bread; I used Texas toast from Fresh & Easy Market

1/4 cup softened, salted butter

1/4 of a brown onion; diced

2 green onion; minced

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoons of the following:

Hot sauce - I used Chalula

Sweet paprika

Salt

Pepper

Red Pepper Flakes

Sea Salt; freshly ground

1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

- Add brown onions and green onions to 2 separate bowls

- To the brown onion add 1 teaspoon sugar; mix and set aside

- To the green onions add 1/4 teaspoon of sweet paprika, hot sauce, red pepper flake, salt, pepper and 1/8 teaspoon of Cayenne

- Mix onions and spices well; set aside

- Spread softened butter evenly to each piece of bread, only on one side for now

- Toast or grill the buttered side of each of the pieces of toast; I stuck them on a wire rack under the broiler until they browned 

- Add a generous amount of smoked Gouda and Mozzarella cheese to the untoasted side of each piece of bread

- Place back into the broiler until the cheese is bubbly and browning

- Serve immediately from the oven and garish with the sweet & spicy onion mixtures

- Serves 6