Breakfast.  The most important meal of the day.  It also happens to be the most boring meal of the day for me most of the time.  I am not organized enough, and I don’t get up early enough to fix anything more exciting than a bowl of cereal and some fruit.  Every now and then I have enough time to scramble a few eggs, but that is rare.  So, when I have an opportunity to make something good for breakfast I make the most of it.

This weekend our great friends Carrie and Jason came up to visit.  We had such a nice and relaxing time together.  Sunday morning we had French toast casserole and migas for breakfast.  It was quite a delicious feast and something I plan to make again when we have guests.

The French toast is prepared the night before and allowed to sit in the fridge overnight to let the bread soak up the sugar, butter, eggs and milk.  I was pretty exhausted the night I was supposed to make the French toast and I almost felt like skipping it and just going to bed, but it took me less than 15 minutes to put it all together and pop it in the fridge so don’t let time be your excuse not to make this.

This breakfast is so very simple and easy.  In the bottom of a 9×13 pan goes a mixture of butter, brown sugar and corn syrup that has been melted together on the stove. The thick slices of French bread are placed atop this sugary sticky goodness, and the mixture of eggs, milk and vanilla is poured on top of everything.  Cover this in foil and go to bed.  When you wake up bake the dish for 45 minutes and voilà.  Breakfast.

The tops of the bread slices are golden brown as they come out of the oven.  The inside of each slice is creamy and delicious.  The bottom of each slice is covered in the rich buttery sugar sauce that has caramelized and become something very special thanks to its time in the oven.  So delicious.  Next time I will add some ground cinnamon and nutmeg to the milk mixture.  I served it with butter and syrup, and my husband had the ingenious idea of putting the sliced strawberries we had at the table on his slice.  Any kind of fruit or berry would be a good complement to this sweet, rich and crazy good French toast.  Make this some Saturday morning and make your breakfast guests very, very happy.

Overnight French Toast

Courtesy of allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, sliced
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Combine the corn syrup , butter, and brown sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until the sugar has melted. Pour this mixture over the bottom of a greased 9×13 inch casserole dish.
2. Place the bread slices over the sugar-butter mixture in the dish. In a bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt; pour this mixture over the bread. Cover the dish and let it stand in the refrigerator overnight.
3. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Uncover the pan and bake for 45 minutes. Serve while hot or warm or the French toast will harden in the pan. It can be reheated.

This obsession I have with macaroni and cheese may never end.  It is just too good.  How can you not love it?

My most recent mac and cheese adventure was a BLT version with bacon, leeks, tomatoes, colby jack cheese, and a toasted bread crumb topping.  While this did not quite live up to the deliciousness of other macs, it was still very tasty.  I liked the subtle flavor of the leeks, juicy tomatoes, salty bacon and creamy cheese.

The inspiration for this dish came while I was perusing recipes and found a BLT pizza that used arugala as the “lettuce” in the BLT.  I thought it could be changed a bit to make mac and cheese.  I searched BLT mac and cheese and found quite a few recipes, the top result being one from Rachel Ray.  It sounds pretty tasty, and I will probably try it sometime and see how it compares to this one.  She uses cream cheese in her recipe, and does not make a roux at all.  I like making the cheese sauce with the roux, milk and cheese, but maybe she’s on to something with the cream cheese.  I’ll let you know once I try it out.

All the recipes I found had a few basics in common.  All used bacon and tomatoes, of course, most used leeks, and arugala was the lettuce in most recipes that I found.  I could not find arugala at the grocery store, so my leeks became the “L” in this BLT.

Bacon, Leek and Tomato Macaroni and Cheese

• 1 lb. short tubular pasta, such as penne
• 12 slices of bacon
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 12 ounces shredded cheese, cheddar, Monterey jack, etc
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 medium leeks, white and light green parts
• 4 roma tomatoes
• ¾ to 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 3 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and place cooked pasta in a large bowl; set aside.
3. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat 8-10 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet, leaving drippings in the pan, to paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool.  Chop bacon into ½ inch pieces then place in the large bowl.
4. Slice leek in half lengthwise, then submerge halves in cold water to rinse out any dirt.  Remove from water, pat dry and slice into ½ inch pieces.  Saute the leeks in the skillet with bacon drippings over medium heat. Cook, uncovered, just until it softens up and place in the large bowl.
5. Cut tomatoes into ¼ inch slices.
6. In a sauce pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Once it’s completely melted, add the flour and whisk to create a roux.  Allow to just come to a boil and then slowly stir in the milk, then the garlic. Allow the milk to come to a simmer and thicken, whisking frequently to avoid clumps. Once it thickens up to coat the back of the spoon, turn off the heat. Carefully stir in the cheeses until melted. Add the garlic powder and salt & pepper to taste.
7. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and other ingredients in the large bowl and mix well to combine.
8. Spread half the pasta mixture into a pan, then layer half the tomato slices on top.  Cover with the rest of the pasta, then the rest of the tomatoes.
9. In a small skillet, melt the 3 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat.  Add the bread crumbs and stir until the crumbs are slightly golden brown.  Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the casserole.
10. Bake for 20 minutes until bubbly and the top has browned slightly.  Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Rice pudding has an incredible number of variations.  It is eaten in many different parts of the world.  Each type of rice pudding uses slightly different ingredients and flavors, but most come together in the same way and have similar textures.  In Sweden, rice pudding (Risgrynsgröt) is eaten at Christmas.  Coincidentally, Christmas is when my family eats rice pudding…we just can’t shake those Swedish traditions!

I’ve made rice pudding using the recipe given to me by my mom.  It is delicious.  We have always, and will always, eat this delicious dish cold sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, which is also traditionally Swedish.

I did not know until later in life that there were many ways to eat rice pudding.  You can eat it warm or cold.  You can eat is plain, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, served with fruits or fruit sauce, with or without raisins and nuts, or if you live in Iceland you might top off your pudding with blood sausage.  I will stick to cinnamon sugar.

Most rice puddings include these basic ingredients which are used as a springboard for all types of puddings:

• Rice
• Milk
• Sugar (or some sweetener)
• Flavoring (vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.)

What about eggs, you ask?  My family has never used eggs.  I never even really considered the use of eggs in rice pudding, until I came across a rice custard recipe.  Being one who enjoys trying new things, I decided to make this Scandinavian baked rice custard this past weekend.  Could it live up to real rice pudding?  Or would it surpass all my expectations and be…God forbid…better than real rice pudding?

This rice custard was definitely different than rice pudding and definitely delicious.  I liked the texture that the eggs provided.  It kept its shape when served, unlike my mom’s rice pudding which had a tendency to spread a little.  The flavor was incredible.  The combination of the vanilla and almond extracts is wonderful.  I would recommend adding in about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

I served this with a cranberry sauce that I put together on a whim.  Lingonberry jam, if you can find it, would be good as well.  Or you can eat is plain, which is wonderful.  I tried it warm after a little cooling time, and the next day after it had been sitting in the fridge.  Either way is yummy.

The question is, was this custard better than the pudding?  No.  They are both very good and I will make them both in the future, but there are just too many great memories attached to eating the rice pudding.  Try both and let me know your opinion, though.  I am biased.

Scandinavian Rice Custard

Courtesy of Group Recipes

Ingredients

• ½ cup medium grain white rice
• 4 cups boiling water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• dash of salt
• 3 eggs, beaten just slightly
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract
• dash of cinnamon, if desired

Directions

1. Add rice to boiling water; boil for 10 minutes.
2. Drain rice in a colander; rinse and drain well.
3. Put rice into a well buttered baking dish; stir in the butter and salt.
4. Mix the beaten eggs with the sugar and salt.
5. Stir egg mixture into the milk.
6. Add the extracts and cinnamon ;pour over the rice.
7. Set rice dish in a larger pan that is half filled with hot water (be sure to use HOT water).
8. Bake at 325 degrees for 60 to 90 minutes (center of pudding should still be jiggle-y in the middle, but rice must be done).
9. Stir rice every 10 minutes the first 30 minutes of baking.