My Breakfast Phase

*Update - this recipe won me ice cream for a year from Sassy Cow Creamery in Columbus, Wisconsin. Yay for ice cream!

I've been on this breakfast kick lately and I just can't get enough of it. There's something about waking up in the morning to the smell of coffee brewing and either oatmeal in the crock-pot or something in the fridge that can be baked in the next half hour. I'll include the oatmeal recipe soon - it's not perfected yet.
I have perfected this recipe though - or so I think. I've made it so many times that my husband automatically checks the oven when he comes in from milking cows in the morning. He's somewhat disappointed if there's nothing there. I'll need to find a new recipe to try.

My dad wasn't quite convinced of this 'sweet' version, so I made a savory one for him this morning (included below). My mom is wanting the recipe so she can make it herself. Though I haven't minded having someone to share it with to avoid too many leftovers. It's pretty good re-heated, but not everyone can enjoy leftovers.
So what should I try next? My only requirement is that it has to be able to be prepared the night before.



Strawberry, Banana and Croissant Breakfast Bake

4-6 medium croissants, cut in half
2 bananas, sliced
1/2 cup strawberry preserves
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar or honey
4 eggs, beaten

In an 8×8 square baking dish, evenly place bottom halves of croissants, face down. Next, spread around the banana slices over the croissant halves. Top the banana slices with spread-out dollops of strawberry preserves.

In a glass measuring bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, sugar and eggs. Pour half of the mixture over the croissant/banana/preserves. Top with the remaining croissant halves, round side up. Evenly cover with remaining egg mixture.

Cover dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, up to overnight. *I make it the night before so it’s ready for breakfast the next morning.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place dish in oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes. It should no longer jiggle.

Serve warm.

Savory Version: 

Use the same recipe above, but do not add strawberry preserves, sliced bananas and sugar. Instead, use cooked sausage and shredded cheese. I used about 6 diced sausage links and about 1/2 cup shredded Pecorino Romano cheese. You could use any kind of cheese you like as well as any type of sausage (Italian would be tasty).

The Perfect Dessert

Sharing this recipe is long past due. I've gotten multiple requests for my winning grilled cheese sandwich recipe from the 1st Annual Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Contest that happened back in April. While the picture above is not the exact winning sandwich, it's pretty darn close. The winning recipe used an apple drizzle that I had bought while living in Vermont. Since I did so many practice rounds for the contest, I ran out of drizzle for my photo shoot. So I decided to use a local spread the second time around. This one is a fig and black tea preserve from a maker in Madison, WI. It's heavenly.

Figgy Pudding Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:

4 slices cinnamon-raisin bread
4 slices Les Frères or 2 Petit Frère, caps removed and sliced
8 Tablespoons fig and black tea preserve, or your favorite fruit spread (apple is perferred)
Powdered sugar, for garnish

Directions:

Pre-heat fry pan to medium heat.

Lather two slices of cinnamon-raisin bread with fruit spread. Place two slices of cheese on top of the jam and finish with the second piece of bread, jam facing inward. Repeat for second sandwich.

Carefully butter the fry pan only where you will be placing the sandwiches. Place each sandwich down onto the pan. Cover with a lid (this helps the cheese melt faster).

Once the first side is browned and crisp, carefully flip the sandwiches over with a spatula and brown the second side. Re-cover with a lid.

When both sides are crispy and hot - take sandwiches off of the heat, slice in half, dust some powdered sugar on top and serve with a big cold glass of milk.

The Potato Salad Grilled Cheese

American cheesed grilled cheese doesn't exist in my kitchen. In fact, I'm not sure that we've ever had the same grilled cheese sandwich. That is, until I decided to enter in the Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship. I may have made the same sandwich on at least four different occasions. I had to make sure I had the timing down as I only had 15 minutes during the competition. And, well, they were really tasty.

I will post about my dessert grilled cheese later on, as it was the Best of Show and simply sinful. You'll find out why at a later time. I didn't place in the competition with the Potato Salad Grilled Cheese. My reasoning is that the cheese didn't melt all the way through for the judges. It was very difficult to get all of the cheese to melt because we couldn't use a cover over the frying pan. That was my trick! We had to improvise.

I was inspired to make a potato salad grilled cheese sandwich during work one day. We were making a potato salad with bacon, pesto, mascarpone and some other elements. What intrigued me the most was the pesto. Pesto adds such great flavors and minimizes chopping up all sorts of fresh herbs, if you're in a hurry. I used a store-bought pesto, but if you want to make your own version, please do. The potato comes from the bread. I love potato bread - it's dense and moist with a little bit of sweetness. The texture of the dill pickle is what really sets this sandwich apart. Who can deny a juicy, crisp pickle? Not this girl.

Salivating yet? Sorry, here's the recipe:

Potato Salad Grilled Cheese

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 4 slices potato bread
• 2-4 tablespoons basil pesto
• 4 slices tomato-basil Farmers cheese
• 4 slices Provolone cheese, plus a few slices for garnish
• 4 dill pickle slices
• 2-4 slices bacon, cooked
• 2 cherry tomatoes, garnish

Directions:

Pre-heat fry pan to medium heat.

Lather two slices of potato bread with basil pesto. Place two slices of Farmers cheese on top of the pesto followed by the bacon, pickle and Provolone cheese. Finish with the second piece of bread. Repeat for second sandwich.

Carefully butter the fry pan only where you will be placing the sandwiches. Place each sandwich down onto the pan. Cover with a lid (this helps the cheese melt faster).

Once the first side is browned and crisp, carefully flip the sandwiches over with a spatula and brown the second side. Re-cover with a lid.

When both sides are crispy and hot - take sandwiches off of the heat, slice in half, top with a speared cherry tomato and curled up piece of cheese. Serve with a big cold glass of milk.

Pie-Baking Contest: Strawberry-Ginger Pie

I've taken on the habit of entering recipe contests at area farmers market lately. I can't help it - I can finally participate in something competitive. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy playing in my two volleyball leagues, but there's something about bringing out food from my own kitchen - and having some random stranger tell me whether or not it tastes good. Two weeks ago, I brought my Raz-Express Chocolate cookies in to a chocolate baking contest. I was actually nervous as I waited to hear the results - I'm starting to lose it, I thought. When I found out that I won the cookie category I thought, could I win the whole thing? No, no I couldn't - and I didn't. We won our volleyball game that night though!

So tonight, I entered a pie-baking contest. How do I make something unique, yet my co-worker will like? My co-worker? Yeah, she was the judge. Not a big deal. My pie got a blue ribbon and looked great, in my opinion. I wasn't able to stay for the auction because I had another volleyball game to catch - we didn't win this time. But there were at least 20 pies and a nice crowd for the auction. I was impressed.

So here it is folks, my Strawberry-Ginger Pie. I might just enter it in next week's pie contest - unless you have any other ideas?

Strawberry-Ginger Pie

Filling Ingredients:

2 pounds sliced strawberries

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Pie-Dough Ingredients:

(borrowed from America’s Test Kitchen)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces and chilled

6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

For the pie-dough:

Process the flour, sugar and salt in a food processeor until combined. Scatter the shortening over the top and process until the mixture has the texture of course sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the top and, using short pulses, process the mixture until it resembles course crumbs, about 10 pulses. Transfer to a bowl.

Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture. Stir and press the dough together, using a stiff rubber spatula until the dough sticks together. If the dough does not come together, stir in the remaining water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does.

Divide the dough into two even pieces and flatten each into a 4-inch disk. Wrap the disks tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Let the chill dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it out and fitting into a pie plate.

For the pie:

Heat the oven to 375*F. Roll out one disk of dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness, and transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Set aside in the refrigerator. Roll the remaining dough to 1/8-inch thickness and use a sharp knife or fork to cut slits in it.

Combine the straberries, ginger, sugar and flour in a large bowl and transfer to the prepared pie pan; drap the pierced rolled-out dough over the pie. Trim the edges of both crusts, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fold the dough under, lightly pinching to seal. Crimp around the rim and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Bake on the center shelf of the oven until the crust is golden brown - 45-55 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.