Pass the bacon and eggs...

This week, I am busy entertaining a few long lost friends. Or maybe I should say they're entertaining me. With another Chef in the house, I've enjoyed a big breakfast every morning.

Now, we haven't gotten very fancy.

Only bacon, eggs and pancakes have been served but you know what they say, beggars can't be choosers (I'm the beggar in this scenario).

Because I'm so busy enjoying a big plate of pancakes right now, I will turn my blog over to my Mom. She emailed me over the weekend with a yummy recipe for Captain Crunch French Toast. Here's what she said:

Good Morning!

Your father and I watched Diner, Drive-ins and Dives recently and saw a dish we just had to try-Captain Crunch French Toast. We used thick slices of hearty bread and after dipping them in the standard egg and milk custard, we dipped them in mashed up cereal and served them with fresh fruit. Dad cooked them over a low medium heat.On the TV show they also served them with whipped cream but we didn't have any. Delicious anyway!

Love, Mom

Here are the photos she sent:

Thanks so much Mom! We'll enjoy this tomorrow...

Homemade Pizza Recipe

After posting Dough and a Dream I realized, I shorted you guys.

I gave casual advice on how to make cinnamon pretzels and a recipe for a frozen bread dough coffee cake. I did NOT reveal my pizza recipe though. Sorry.

Below is my version of homemade pizza:

Homemade Pizza

Ingredients:
1 loaf frozen bread dough
olive oil
any blend of shredded pizza cheese (at least 3 to 4 cups)
red sauce (if it suits you)
any toppings you plan to use

Method:

1. Thaw and let rise frozen bread dough for at least 6 - 8 hours. Check out directions on the bag for shorter or longer methods in thawing and rising dough. Dough should be doubled in size.
2. When dough is ready, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. Punch dough down (to release air) and divide into equal parts per person. If you are making 2 medium to large pizzas, divide in half. If you are making 3 or 4 pizzas (the max would be four) divide equally.
4. If you are making 3 or 4 pizzas, get out cake or pie tins to form individual pizzas in. This is what I would recommend doing for kids.
5. If you are making 1 very large or 2 large to medium pizzas, get out a pizza pan or cookie sheet to bake it in.
6. Stretching dough, (add flour to your hands and work surface) form a round pizza with your dough. Don't worry about a few holes. Small ones are okay.
7. With a fork, poke holes around the dough. This helps the dough stay flat as it bakes.
8. Top with a light brushing of olive oil.
9. Top with sauce and anything else you want.
10. Bake for about 12 minutes for a small pizza and 15 - 18 minutes for a larger pizza.
11. Pizza should be lightly browned and cheese should be melted. Slice and serve!

Make sure your hands and work surface are clean, clean, clean.

My kids love their own pizzas. They all have different ideas on what tastes good. This makes a family meal and the entire family happy.

Dough and a Dream

If you haven't figured it out already, my last "guess what" image was frozen bread dough. That night I was making mini pizzas for the kids. Tonight we made cinnamon pretzel sticks with frosting.

The kids LOVED getting there hands dirty

I had to remind them, "not too much cinnamon and sugar!"

Into the oven it went

We topped our messy treats with homemade confectioners sugar frosting.

They didn't look very pretty, but I heard a lot of satisfied munching goin' on at the table. Clearly, a success in the Hanek household!

As I surfed the internet in search of creative ways to use bread dough, I found more than I bargained for. I asked my friends and family what they did with their frozen bread. My favorite responses were from my mother and my friend Heather.

Mom reminded me of her calzone recipe. She simply makes a small pizza and fills it with cheese and veggies before folding in half.

Heather made me laugh with her childhood memories.

She said, "My aunt used to make bread dough for us to fish with instead of worms. Yep, it fell off pretty quickly, but with the rate with which we casted and reeled in and casted again, a worm wouldn’t have had much chance either."

Very funny Heather! I'm glad the fish ate well, anyway.

Below is one of the most creative recipes I found, involving frozen bread dough. Give it a try and let me know how you did!

Frozen Bread Dough Coffee Cake

from http://www.cooks.com/

Ingredients:

2 loaves frozen bread dough
1/2 c. melted butter, cooled
1 c. brown sugar
1 (3 3/4 oz.) pkg. vanilla instant pudding
2 tbsp milk
cinnamon

1. Allow bread to thaw.
2. Cut 1 loaf into about 12 slices and press into greased 9 x 13 pan, forming a solid bottom layer.
3. Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients, except the other loaf, in order listed.
4. Cut second loaf into 1 inch pieces to place on top.
5. Let rise until double (about 1 hour).
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 -35 minutes.
7. Frost with confectioner's sugar frosting or glaze.
8. Serves 20.

Peaches ... as far as the eye can see!

For the past week I've seen peaches and peach recipes crop up everywhere. While watching the Food Network and online too.

It IS peach season, after all.


The most creative recipes I've seen so far were just posted on Lindsey's blog, The Fridge Magnet. Roasted peaches with mascarpone cheese... yum!


As promised, I made peach crisp this week. Here's a picture and below is the recipe. It was adapted from what I found in my Joy of Cooking book. I couldn't believe this recipe didn't have nuts OR oatmeal! So, I made up my own variety.

Peach Crisp
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

1/4 cup of oats

1/4 cup of chopped pecans

1/2 cup of brown sugar

6 tbsp of butter, softened

1 tbsp of cinnamon

4 cups of peaches, cut into large bite-sized pieces.

Method

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees


2. Using a square pan (or small casserole dish) fill the bottom with peaches


3. Mix topping (flour, oats, pecans, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon)


4. Carefully drop and spread topping over peaches evenly


5. Bake for 30 minutes or until brown and bubbly


6. Top with ice cream

I think this dessert would have tasted even nicer in individual ramekins. The official Joy of Cooking recipes recommends baking the individual desserts for 20-25 minutes.

Also, after a week of trying one after another, crisp, cobbler, crisp, cobbler, crisp... well you know what I mean. I still haven't decided which I like better. Being a cake fan, I am leaning toward the cobbler though. I loved the dough, mixed with peaches.

btw: I had so much fun playing "Open Sesame" I decided to play again.

Many of you may recognize this as bread dough. Yes, that's true. It's actually frozen bread dough, thawing. I love buying this stuff as the possibilities are endless.

I have a special meal planned for tonight.

Can you guess what it is?

Cobbler or Crisp?

Okay, so here's a picture of my very delectable peach cobbler.

The recipe will be posted at the bottom. It called for self-rising flour and I am an all-purpose girl, so my husband picked me up a small bag of the right stuff. I am sure this made all the difference in the world in the body and density of the dough.

Now, I am from up North (upstate NY) originally so I grew up with crisps. Brown sugar mixed with chopped pecans and oats top your baked fruit in a crisp. The great thing is, with all of these peaches, I can have my cobbler AND my crisp. Which are you? A crisp or cobbler person?

This recipe came from Pearson's Farm:

Georgia Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

4 cups of sweetened Pearson's sliced peaches

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Melt the stick o f butter in a square baking dish in the oven.

3. While the butter melts, combine flour, sugar, milk and vanilla.

4. Remove baking dish from the oven and add flour mixture. DO NOT STIR.

5. Spoon Pearson Peaches into the flour mixture without much juice. DO NOT STIR.

6. Bake until brown and bubbly, about 40 minutes.

7. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or boiled custard for a delicious addition!

Serves about 4-6

Make your cobbler or your crisp and let me know how it turns out!!

Peachy-Keen

That's how I felt when this huge box of carefully packed peaches arrived to my front door yesterday.

Ed, a friend of my husband's sent them. And my peach-lovin' man ate one over the kitchen sink immediately - before I could even get a picture.

These peaches arrived fresh from the Pearson Farm in Georgia. They tasted like they had been picked yesterday. Delish...

This morning, my doorbell rang again and ... you guessed it! There was ANOTHER box of peaches from Ed. I felt the pressure of rotting fruit crushing in from all around me. Torn between laughter and tears, my husband handed me a recipe for peach cobbler.

So, I guess I will be adding that to my things to do today. When I've finished, I will take pictures to share, with the recipe.

Until then, does anyone know what I can do with the rest of my supply? Help!!!

Birthday Wishes and Chocolate Angel Food Cake Dreams

(I promise, this will be the last cake entry for a while. You must be sick of hearing about my cake obsessions by now!)

This past week, I celebrated my birthday with my twin sister. Well, it was the day before our birthday, but still we celebrated together.

We met our parents at the Valley View Mall Buffalo Wild Wings for a little casual dining and fun. The cousins all enjoyed sitting together. The older girls chatted quietly about ... well, I'm not sure what they said. They were so quiet. The younger two skipped around the table and ducked under the table every once in a while. My son, the middle boy, took my five-year old nephew to the bathroom about a hundred times. I'm sure they were playing, but I hope it wasn't with the blue water!

After a delicious meal of wings, ribs, sandwiches and salads (I enjoyed the boneless wings with an Asian sauce - yummmm), we had dessert. I brought vanilla cupcakes - straight from the Kroger bakery. The kids really enjoyed them.

My sister brought a chocolate angel food cake. It was really soft and really chocolaty. It was even better when she topped it with whipped cream, strawberry sauce and strawberries.

I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Then I realized, I was still a year older - ugh.

As a big lover of all types of cakes, angel food cake has to be my favorite.

What was your very favorite birthday cake?

Do you like whipped frosting or buttercream? Chocolate or vanilla?

Dish it...

Turning Lemons into Lemonade

This past month, our local delivery service (Homestead Creamery) added something new to their order sheets - lemonade.

I was curious to say the least and ordered a half gallon. Arriving in the same type of glass bottles reserved for their milk; I fell in love immediately.

One day, just after this yummy lemonade arrived, I bought a frozen concentrate of Minute Maid's Pink Lemonade to see how it compared. Immediately tasting the artificial sweeteners and flavors, I returned to the real stuff in the glass bottles.

Summer never tasted so sweet!!

Tropical Dining

As the sun heats up and you head out to eat, where do you like to go?

A favorite tiki bar near the ocean? A quiet picnic spot atop a mountain, along the Blue Ridge Parkway? Dairy Queen?

I used to live in Florida and took this picture while on vacation in Key West (three years ago). My husband and I grew spoiled there and always ate along the Gulf of Mexico.

Now, I live near Smith Mountain Lake and still enjoy a view of the water, whenever possible.

This month's issue of Prime Living will showcase some of Smith Mountain Lakes premiere restaurants along the docks.

Let me know what you think of the places I reviewed and tell me...

... where you go to eat when the temps rise?