Super Brunch Sunday: Baked French Toast

Last weekend, I knew I wanted to make french toast.  But how to make french toast fancy, worthy of the Super Brunch Sunday name? We were already using special bread, so that was a start, but we knew there had to be more.  Ephraim suggested a sauce, and when I found THIS Martha Stewart recipe for Baked French Toast with Raspberry Sauce, I knew it was what we needed; along with our special raisin challah! Some bananas and maple syrup on top of that, and we were in business.

Raspberry Sauce

Ingredients

1/4 cup sugar

1 bag (10 to 12 ounces) frozen raspberries (or strawberries), thawed

Directions

1. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine raspberries and remaining 1/4 cup sugar, mashing lightly with a fork. That's it.  Yummy.

Baked French Toast

Ingredients

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 thick slices challah, brioche, or other egg bread (1 inch thick)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon (or more) cinnamon

Directions

1. In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, whisk together eggs, milk, 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla, and salt.
2. Arrange bread in dish in a single layer; let soak 15 minutes. Turn bread over; cover, and refrigerate until most of the liquid is absorbed, at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a rimmed baking sheet with butter. With a spatula, carefully transfer soaked bread to sheet. Bake until French toast is set in center and lightly browned on the bottom, 25 to 30 minutes.
4. Remove French toast from baking sheet with a thin metal spatula; serve with raspberry sauce and, if desired, sausage.

What are you making for brunch this Sunday?

--Erin

Autumn Leaves

Here are a few shots from my walk to work yesterday.  I love the colours of autumn (who doesn't?), but these days the ground is covered in crunchy leaves as the trees themselves become more and more bare.  It's sad to know that the words warm and sunny are soon to leave our vocabularies for a few months stretch.  I'm not ready for another small town winter.  Already, the shops are open only on weekends, and there are no people on the street.  You know it's bad when even my favourite coffee shop is closed by the time I finish work.  Just a few of the things I can't stand about how this town functions.  A pretty place to visit, and a lousy place to live.  The beauty and activity of the summer is fleeting.

-- Erin

Spotted Collars, Red Lips and Riding Boots.

Here's a little outfit I wore out to the movies and to run errands this past weekend. I picked the spotted top up on sale at Anthropologie a couple months ago, and love the challenge of working a sleeveless piece into my autumn and winter wardrobe. I just love having that cute bright collar peeking out of a cardigan or another shirt.  

The boots are my favourite boots to wear in the fall! Too bad they're not the least bit water-tight, so I have to be careful not to get caught in the rain with them! Still, for $7 at Value Village, I'm willing to put up with whatever shenanigans I have to. 

Also, check out that rose! I bothered to learn a little bit about roses this year as the house I am living in has a couple rose bushes out front.  Looks like I'll be enjoying blooms well into November!! I'm so happy, they're so nice to see as I leave for work every morning!

The Deets:

Collared Shirt: Anthropologie

T-Shirt: J Crew

Cardigan: Target

Landscape Skirt: Anthropologie

Tights: Hue

Boots: Thrifted

Apologies, dear readers, that things have been a little quieter than normal around here.  I'm deep in model making mode at work, and it tends to satisfy my creativity pretty well.  If you want to see some peeks into what I'm working on, follow along on instagram: @efgerofsky.  If you don't have instagram, you can still check out what I've been posting if you click the camera button on the left sidebar.

Happy Wednesday everybody! Soon, we can rest!

--Erin 

Recipe: Fried Rice with Tofu

One of my favourite things to make for dinner is fried rice.  It uses up the veggies in my fridge that are on their last legs, keeps day old rice interesting, and is full of protein.

Ingredients:

Assorted Vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, broccoli, peppers etc)

Day old rice

Soy sauce

1/2 Cup tofu, cubed.

1 egg, scrambled

Sesame oil

Method:

1. Fry your tofu in sesame oil until browned.  Flip, and let brown again. Remove from pan to a bowl.
2. Scramble egg, then set aside with tofu.
3. Crumble leftover rice into pan, using chopsticks to break clumps apart. Drizzle with sesame oil
4. Add vegetables to rice according to cook time.  
5. Add soya sauce to taste
6. Reintroduce tofu and egg.  Stir until heated through.

Enjoy! This super easy meal is quick to prepare, and mighty satisfying.  Plus, it can be very easily modified to be vegan; just omit the egg! 

--Erin

Super Brunch Sunday: Pumpkin Pie Waffles

I know, it's Friday.  Well, Super Brunch Sunday is going to be my Friday post for the next couple weeks.  *GASP* a regular feature?!! Crazy, I know, but this is happening!! I'm doing these brunch recipes on Friday, so if you're like me and shop for the weekend on Friday night or Saturday morning, you can pick up what you need to make this weeks recipe on your weekend grocery shop.

As you know, I am not going out to restaurants for the month of November.  If that's news to you, you can read about it here. One of my absolute favourite meals to go out for is breakfast.  Ephraim and I can get whatever we want, including meat for him (which I seldom make at home). Giving up brunch was just not really a thing I could do for a month.

The only solution is to make an elaborate brunch at home each week, in place of going out. I'm calling it Super Brunch Sunday.

The debut recipes for Super Brunch Sunday are Pumpkin Pie Waffles and Spiced Candied Pecans, which were used as a topping!

I recommend you make the pecans ahead of time.  But not too far ahead, or you'll snack them all away.  They're shockingly addictive!

Spiced Candied Pecans (from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

• 1 pound unsalted pecans
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme (optional)
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and toss to combine. Spread nut mixture in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined with a nonstick baking mat. Bake, stirring frequently, until browned, 12 to 15 minutes; let cool. Pecans can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container up one week.

I like to chop some of the candied pecans up before using them on waffles.  They're good halved in a salad as well!!

Alright, on to the really good stuff.  I was originally just going to make pumpkin waffles following Smitten Kitchen's recipe.  I ran short on time and had to go to the corner store for a couple ingredients and had to substitute pumpkin pie filling for the pumpkin, sugar and spices in the original recipe.  I don't know how the originals taste, but this was delicious. Like, really good.  Here's Smitten Kitchen's recipe, with my substitutions at the bottom!

Pumpkin Waffles (Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil for brushing waffle iron or cooking spray

** for Pumpkin Pie Waffle variation, substitute canned pumpkin, sugar and spices with a can of pumpkin pie filling (because the corner store didn't have those other things.  And this was TASTY!)**

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron. 
2. Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices. 
3. Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl with buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. 
4. Whisk in dry ingredients just until combined.
5. In a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Fold them gently into the waffle batter, until just combined.
6. Brush waffle iron lightly with oil and spoon batter (about 2 cups for four 4-inch Belgian waffles) into waffle iron, spreading quickly. Cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.
7. Transfer waffles to rack in oven to keep warm and crisp. Make more waffles in same manner. 

Top with blueberries, spiced candied pecans, maple syrup, and a dollop of whipped cream.  This is pumpkin pie, after all.

So, what are you making for brunch this Sunday?

--Erin