IHOP French Toast

So I went to Great Harvest Bread Today and bought a loaf of white bread. I NEVER eat bread unless its from Great Harvest. They make bread exactly the way I like it: Thick and chewy. And then tonight I noticed a carton of fresh whipping cream in the fridge. And I started thinking back about the IHOP french toast recipe off of thesisterscafe.com that Iv'e been wanting to try forever, so I knew I had to make it right then, and I'm so glad I did! The results were more than perect. And I'm not sure if it is because this is such an amazing recipe or if its just because great harvest bread makes awesome french toast, but whatever the reason, it really was the BEST french toast EVER. So I'll for sure be making this one on the regular.

IHOP FRENCH TOAST

(original recipe: thesisterscafe.com)

(my modifications are printed in red, and of course they're just optional)

2 eggs (I used 1 whole egg + 2 yolks)

1/2 cup whole milk (i used 1/4 C vanilla almond milk + 1/4 C cream)

1/8 t salt

1 t vanilla

3 or 4 Tablespoons Flour 

4 slices Great Harvest white bread

Whisk ingredients together in med size bowl. Dip bread front and back allowing each side to soak a couple min. Fry bread in butter in nonstick skillet over med heat till lightly golden on each side. Sprinkle w/ powdered sugar. Top with Coconut syrup and whipping cream or whatever other toppings you'd like.

Topping Ideas:

buttermilk syrup, strawberry syrup, marshmallow fluff, peanut butter, butter, whipping cream, bananas

((tonight I got carried away and used all of the above(: except for the bananas))

Oreo Pudding Cookies

These are so good! I don't think I can ever eat regular chocolate chip cookies again after trying these):

Oreo Pudding Cookies

(recipe adapted from thegirlwhoateeverything)

1 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 small package instant Oreo Pudding mix

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups Hershey's cookies&creme drops

1 1/2 cups mini m&ms

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour and soda in a small bowl and set aside. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in pudding mix until blended, then eggs and vanilla. Add flour and soda mixture. Stir in cookies n cream drops and m&m's. Using a cookie dough scooper, place dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before moving to a cooking rack. Store in air-tight container. Makes two dozen.

The Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe

Tonight I also stopped at The Cocoa Bean Cupcake Cafe. Their cupcakes are way better than sweet tooth fairy's cupcakes. Actually ALL of the cupcakes at cocoa Bean are better than sweet tooth fairy cupcakes especially their Ultimate Brownie cupcakes (which they only have on Mon, Wed, and Fri.) The Ultimate Brownie ones are hands down the best, that's why I bought 2 and nothing else. They don't sell cookies and other treats at Cocoa Bean, just cupcakes, so I guess that's their only draw back. But they do sell keychains. The purple one in the picture above is cocoa bean, and the pink one is sweet tooth fairy

Sweet Tooth Fairy

Lately Sweet Tooth Fairy is my favorite bakery. Not because of their cupcakes, but because of their sugar cookies. I LOVE soft sugar cookies, and this bakery definitely has them. Today I bought 2 giant flower sugar cookies, 2 small sugar cookies, a Cranberry Bliss Bar, a Fairy Fetti cake bite, a Fairy Fetti cupcake, a peanut butter cupcake, a smores cupcake, and a cupcake key chain. I'm having to freeze most of it cuz no way could I eat all that in one night. My favorite treat there is for sure the giant flower sugar cookies. Everything else is just OK.

SHRIMP MAC&CHEESE

1 box Kraft sponge bob mac&cheese
1 box Kraft Velveeta shells&cheese
Seapak shrimp poppers
Kraft Shredded Italian 5 cheese blend

Boil sponge bob mac for 11 min. Drain. Return cooked pasta back to pan and stir in velveeta cheese pack (from shells&cheese box.) Save cheese powder mix and dry shells for later use on something else. Bake 24 shrimp accrding to pkg directions. Stir shrimp into mac&cheese mixture. Sprinkle cheese over each individual serving. Makes apx 3-4 servings.

Chicken Enchiladas Creamas Verde

ORIGINAL RECIPE: CLICK HERE


Chicken Enchiladas Creamas Verde

Ingredients:

• vegetable or canola OIL for frying tortillas
  
• 1 lb. cooked chicken (a shredded rotisserie chicken would work well)
• 3 T butter
  
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 jar tomatillo salsa divided (my jar was 16 oz.)
• 1 small can diced green chilies
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 doz. flour tortillas
• 1 cup cream
• 3 cups shredded itallian cheese blend
• 1 small can (mild) green or red enchilada sauce
  

Directions: Pour apx 1 cup oil into deep(ish) frying pan. Preheat oil over medium high heat for about 10 minutes. Deep fry each tortilla in oil 10 seconds on each side (or till tortilla bubbles up.) As you go, Stack tortillas w/ a paper towel square between each fried tortilla, and then set tortillas aside. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9x9 or 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; Saute onion 5 minutes. Add chicken, 1/2 jar salsa, cream cheese and chilies. Reduce heat to medium; stir, melt cream cheese and blend mixture well. Heat tortillas briefly, then fill each with about 1/3 cup of chicken mixture and a handful of shredded cheese. Roll up tightly and place in baking dish, seam-sides down. Combine remaining tomatillo salsa with cream; pour over enchiladas and top with shredded cheese. Bake 30 minutes or until cheese melts. Microwave enchilada sauce in glass bowl for 60sec. Pour over baked enchiladas.

Peanut Butter Chips & Jelly Bars

The 1st time I made this recipe was like 5 yrs ago. and then i came across Ina Garten's and Martha Stewarts peanut butter and jelly bars but never could get myself to make their recipes because this one is just too good to give up on.and granted their recipes for PBj bars probablly are really really good too, but I promise this recipe is fabulous. Obviously it is, otherwise I would have stopped making it or tried a different one by now. Its real simple, here's the recipe link for the actual recipe, and I also wrote the recipe down below. Oh and you have to use Smucker's seedless jam. its the best. i prefer the strawberry over the grape but either is good!! (BTW, the picture in the middle is of my brother shoving a spoonfull of it in is mouth, right after it came out of the oven. Too impatient to wait for it to be cut into bars.)

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups + 1 T all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick)cold butter
  
  3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
  1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips, divided
  
  3/4 cup Smucker's grape or strawberry seedless jam
  
  

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 375°F. Grease 9-inch square glass baking pan.
   2 Stir together flour, sugar and baking powder; cut in butter with
   pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
   Stir in beaten egg until blended.
   3 Reserve 1 cup mixture; press remaining mixture onto bottom
   of prepared pan. Stir jelly to soften; spread evenly over crust.
   Sprinkle 1 cup peanut butter chips over jelly. Stir remaining 2/3 cup chips
   into reserved crumb mixture; sprinkle over top.
   4 Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
   Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. About 16 bars.