The Good Plate

Archive for the ‘Sunday Mornings’ Category

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Eggnog French Raisin Toast – Christmas in July

• Eggnog French Raisin Toast

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is eggnog. Spane and I love eggnog. I like mine with a little Jack Daniels, Spane likes his plain. If we have any left, I make French Toast with it. Well, it’s July now, and no hope of going to the market and getting eggnog.

What do you do when there is no eggnog at the store? You make your own. Some eggnog tastes strange – last year I wound up giving one I didn’t like to an unsuspecting neighbor – they liked it, so no harm done. Based on what I made today, I’m confident that this Christmas, I’ll be making my own eggnog. I have a friend who raises chickens, and always has fresh eggs – he even has a big orange chicken that I am waiting to get old – I’ve named her Coq au Vin (seriously).

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On September 24, 2011, I gave you the recipe for the Shabby Chic Apple Raisin Crostata, but it did not have any pictures. That crostata was so good I decided to make another one, but this time, I got a combination of raisins and dried cranberries, and instead of pie dough, I bought ready made frozen puff pasty.

This was my first time working with puff pastry, other than making Chicken Cordon Bleu a la Wellington, so this was more of an experiment that anything else. I had enough dough and filling to make a turnovers, too, but, I wasn’t paying attention, and they got a little over cooked. No problem, the others turned out fine, and the over done ones will still get eaten.

Let’s start cooking:

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Stuffed Barbari Bread

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• Stuffed Barbari Bread

I have a friend who is a cab driver. A long time ago, when taking me to work one morning, he introduced me to Babari bread. I fell in love. Barbari bread is a fluffy, flat Iranian bread with sesame seeds on top. It is wonderful with butter and honey in the morning, or a quick lunch of Barbari bread and cheese. The loaf is flat and long, and often the checker at the store will fold it in half to fit in your grocery bag – it doesn’t hurt it. Barbari bread, because it has no preservatives will dry out rather quickly. If it does, cut it up and use if for croûtons, bread crumbs or stuffing.

This morning, as I was looking for something to make for breakfast and not wanting to heat up my kitchen, I thought it was be very good stuffed. It was, Spane had four pieces!

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• Scrambled Burger Quiche

Many years ago, we used to go to a restaurant that had something called Scrambled Burgers. I loved them, being a mixture of ground beef, spinach, onion and cheese. I thought that combination would make a wonderful quiche. Read the rest of this entry »

I love you so much. You are my heart. Thank you for spending time with me.
Love, Spane

Being the mother of a small child can make you crazy when you have asked your child to do something three times, and they look at you like you have two heads.  But, when your child says “Mommy, I’m sleeping in the living room tonight so I can make breakfast for you for Mother’s Day”, your heart melts.  And, when you wake up the next morning, and discover that your child with the help of your room mate, has set a formal table and has breakfast all prepared, well, your heart just explodes with joy.

My son, Spane, got up at 5:00 this morning, and with Maria’s help, he cleaned up the living room, then they set the table together, put fresh flowers on the table, put the card he had made at my place setting, put my presents from our room mate, Maria, on my desk, and then, finally went back to sleep exhausted until I got him up at 7:30am.

He didn’t feel too good when I woke him up, so he asked me to please help myself to coffee, and he would get up in a little while to make breakfast. I was shocked when I saw the lovely table.  Last night, I made a pot of coffee and left it on the counter – Maria didn’t know I have a coffee service, so I put the coffee in that, and grabbed my camera to take pictures.

Rolo sitting patiently waiting for breakfast – Her cat door is seen in this picture.

Spane’s place setting – with Rolo sitting in Spane’s chair.

My place setting with the "Transformer" card!

Flowers fresh from the garden

The complete table

A long shot of the complete table

Shortly, Spane felt better and made me sit at my desk while he prepared breakfast.  We had cantaloupe, strawberries, toast with your choice of butter or Nutella, and Build Your Own Breakfast Parfait.  My “Transformer” card was an umbrella that opened up to be a lovely flower with a wonderful message, “I love you so much.  You are my heart.  Thank you for spending time with me.  Love, Spane” 

There cannot be any other Mother’s Day better than this one.  I love my son, I love my son!

Spane’s Build Your Own Breakfast Parfait

Ingredients

1 cup Plain Yogurt
1 tablespoon Sour cherry preserves, or fresh peach preserves
1/2 cup Muesli

Instructions

In a nice glass, or pretty bowl, put the yogurt, then the muesli, and finally top it with the preserves.

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• Waffles
• Buffalo Chicken Wings with Grandmother’s Blue Cheese Dressing

Definition of SERENDIPITY:

the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for; also : an instance of this
Merriam Webster

My friend, Amber, and I went to a local garage sale, and I only took five dollars with me, mostly because I did not really want anything.

I spied with my little eye, a shiny thing with black handles. I asked “How much for the waffle iron?”  The man said, “How much do you want to pay?”  Not wanting to sound eager, I said, “Well, how much to you want for it?”  and he said, “Oh, just give me $5.00 (Five Dollars) and take it away!”  I quickly handed him the $5.00 I had, knowing this was a steal!  When his mother came over and started extolling the waffle iron, and showing me that it had reversible plates (something I really wasn’t expecting), he was disappointed that he had already the $5.00 from me.  Later I looked on Ebay, and say that my toaster goes anywhere from $35.00 to $70.00.  Wow!  What a deal!
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