I am a Honey Bee

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Eggnog and Cranberry Croissant Bread Pudding

I will be the first person to tell you that I was not ever going to sign up with twitter. I ended up caving out because of this article and the rest is history. I love how twitter has put me in touch with such great blogs and people. Through twitter connections I have gotten to know Pam, and last month when I was on her blog I saw this post I learned about the Improv Cooking Challenge Group.

 

I could not pass up a fun group that prompts you monthly with 2 ingredients to develop a recipe from. Starting with December the 2 special ingredients are: Eggnog and Cranberries. I toyed around with this combo for a bit…. an eggnog flavored bread with a cranberry glaze, an ice cream, or even a pasta dish. I decided to go with a bread pudding with an eggnog base and the cranberries would be mixed throughout the bread pudding.

 

 

This worked out perfectly. The day I planned on making this, I went to the bakery and they had day old croissants so I picked them up instead of getting a day old loaf of bread. The croissants being lighter and sweeter than a baguette, had me reduce the amount of liquid and sugar I had originally planned on using, based upon bread puddings I had made in the past. The texture was softer than a typical bread pudding and enjoyed the difference. I feel you can’t ever go wrong with eggnog, so this was really a no brainer. The cranberries added a nice bit of tartness every now and then which was nice to break up the rich eggnog,

 

Eggnog and Cranberry Croissant Bread Pudding

*serves 5-6*

Ingredients

  • 5 day old croissants
  • 1 cup light cream
  • 1 cup eggnog
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar, plus more for top of bread pudding
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup cranberries, plus more for top of bread pudding
  • garnish: whipped cream or ice cream (of both!)

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a baking dish, and set on a sheet pan. Set aside dish.
  2. Cut 1″ cubes out of the croissants. Set aside in a large bowl.
  3. Combine the light cream, eggnog, eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Mix well to combine.
  4. Give the cranberries a rough chop. In a small skillet, heat the cranberries on low for 5 minutes, or until they start to get warm and softened.
  5. Add the cranberries to the liquid mixture.
  6. Pour the mixture over the pieces of croissant. Gently mix to combine. Let sit for 15 minutes.
  7. Pour the bread pudding mixture into the greased baking dish. Sprinkle the top with sugar and raw cranberries,
  8. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the bread pudding is golden brown and when you gently separate pieces in the center they are not excessively moist.
  9. Let sit for 15 minutes prior to serving, serve warm.



Oh Harry, how you’ve grown

my mom suggested that I pick a Broadway show for her, price, and me to see as our christmas gift. which worked out wells since i would much rather do something than get something for a gift. i ended up picking how to succeed in business without really trying. umm… daniel radcliffe in it… sold! the weekend of the show finally came so we headed down to greenwich.

we caught an early afternoon train into the city. before we left grand central we checked out the vanderbilt market. there was a photo printed on gold leaf that i loved but i didn’t want to get it then since i knew it would be destroyed in the crowds (smart choice), but now i am going to need to track this guy down again since he doesn’t sell online… whaaaaa?

 

after leaving grand central we walked over to bryant park to check out the winter market and watch the skaters. it was packed in the market so we just waited for hot chocolate and cookies at max brenner’s booth. hot chocolate was amazing (little too sweet for my preference) and the cookies were monsters. I want to make cookies like him. so many chocolate chips, so many walnuts.

bank of america tower on the right. I think this is such a beautiful building

Chrysler building. Spotted while searching for a bathroom

 

o christmas tree , o christmas tree…

30 rock

  

 

winter window display at sak’s fifth avenue. it had to do with a little girl named holly exploring the basement of sak’s and what she discovered, which were all these tubes, tubs, pulls, and levers that made batches and batches of bubbles. mom was not impressed. i liked the rabbit.

after getting through the crushing crowds around rock center, we continued down 49th st. we spotted this store, rain africa, that sold bath salts, lotions, and soaps. i loved this display.

breezed right through times sq. we stopped at the al hirschfeld theater to pick up our tickets, then we headed up 9th and 51st to empanada mama. i saw this restaurant on food trip with todd english. everything we had was incredible- the plantain chips with guac to the entrees to the 4 desserts empanadas we shared. i highly recommend this place.

back at the theater.

i love old theaters.

curtain call. 🙂

the show was incredible. daniel worked his ass off as j. pierrepont finch hroughout the whole show. he worked hard to sing and dance and the performance was that much better for it. I love when you can see effort, passion from stage actors. jon larroquette (j. b. biggley) was also in it. i didn’t like the character rosemary, but the actress was amazing. ellen harvey as miss jones… holy cow that woman can sing!

It was a great day in the city.

PS- when we were hauling ass back to grand central to catch our train back, I overheard a woman point out the chrysler building to her son and call it the empire state building. then she proceeded to sing the chorus of empire state of mind. oy!

Big Blue Cocktail

I live in the land of Patriots. But I am not a fan of these Patriots. No, I am sticking to my roots and I get flack for it up here. But I grin and bear it since I can always fall back on this game, this play. Bliss.

I am a Giants fan. I grew up in the tri-state area so they were always on in my house. I would cheer when I had no idea what was going on just to join in. I wore my dad’s oversized shirts to bed. Now, I have my own Giants shirts that I wear during games. (My brother has a Giants tattoo on his leg… now that is commitment!) I know they are having a rough season right now. But I’m not a fair weather fan! I am still cheering them on. Maybe those cheers are peppered with foul language but still I’m stinking to my men in blue. Especially after they were robbed last week with a bad call. I know they have it in them.

I had recently been going through old magazines and pulling out recipes. One was a really old issue of the defunct Blueprint Magazine. (Oh, how I miss that magazine.) I came across a Blueprint Martini on one of the pages and I knew I would have to make to enjoy while cheering on the G-Men. I made the cocktail form the magazine and it was just too much! Shocker here- I don’t like drinking straight vodka. Sure I’ll do a shot but this recipe called for 4 oz of it. I would have been on the floor! So I ended up reworking it and making it delightful! Now if only the Giants had won that game I would have been so happy. Let’s hope they beat the Cowboys today!

Big Blue Cocktail

*makes 1 cocktail*

Ingredients

  • 1 oz of vodka
  • 1 oz of Curaçao liqueur
  • 1 tablespoon of triple sec
  • 4 oz of seltzer
  • garnish with blueberries

Process

  1. Put the vodka, Curaçao, and triple sec together in a chilled cocktail shaker, and mix to combine.
  2. Pour the seltzer in a martini glass and then add the contents from the cocktail shaker.
  3. Garnish with blueberries.

My partner in crime

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Today is my best friend’s 25th birthday.

I could embarrass her with the funniest video ever. But i think I will save that one for her 30th. It’s a classic :-). Instead I’ll be nice and just wish her a fantastic birthday and year filled with joy, happiness, and adventures!!!

Ribbit LO- Studio Calico 4.10.11 Sunday Sketch

–4/10 Studio Calico Sunday Sketch–

This layout has been sitting on my desk at work waiting to for journaling, then for it to be scanned and edited, photographed and edited, and then blogged for months. Well today is the day that it is finally getting done!

Ribbit! I used to only scrapbook big events- birthdays, holidays, parties, etc. But that was back when I had to buy film. Over time when digital cameras got better and developing became super easy, I have changed my outlook on scrapbooking. this is a quirky post about Pricer catching frogs in E’s backyard. What’s the big deal? Well, I want to look back at this page years and years from now and remember that moment. I was something that kinda took my breath away. I was so excited that I had Price repeat this over and over to the poor froggies for my amazement and for photo taking. I feel that I was not properly educated at camp… how did no one teach me how to pick up frogs?!?! Silly I know, but it totally made my morning.

(close up photos to come)

How to catch a frog:

1. Appoach it from the side, be careful not to cast a shadow on it or make sudden movements.

2. Carefully put your hand in the water. Slowly move your hand to be under the frog.

3. Slowly raise your hand under the frog until touching. If all has gone well at this point, lift frog out of the water slowly. Ta-da!!

Lemon Ginger Marmalade

In keeping with the random things that Emily and I do, we spent last Saturday making and canning jam. Last years adventure was so much fun and successful that we decided to make another day of it and make more jam to gift for our families and friends.

 

We set out looking up different recipes to try, so a flurry of emails went back and forth deciding which ones sounded best. In the end we settled on 3 jams, one of which was Lemon Ginger Marmalade from The Bitten Word (originally from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving) I had made marmalade previously but was not satisfied with the results. Trying a new recipe was really interesting for me then.

 

When making this jam, keep the following in mind- the ginger will take a very, very long time to grate. Do this step first. Be patient and it will be worth it. While a cup of ginger appears to be a lot, it does mellow out as it cooks. You notice the ginger when you first smell the jam. As you take a bit of it you really notice that just casts a light flavor to the Meyer lemons, which seems to get you as it lingers. The resulting jam is the perfect combination of being fragrant, sweet, tart, and smooth. It is a great accompaniment to a sugary pastry.

 

Lemon Ginger Marmalade

-makes 7 jars-

Ingredients

  • 7 small Meyer lemons (or regular lemons)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • 1 cup coarsely grated ginger root (suggestion: purchase 1 pound)
  • 1 package (1.75 ounce) regular powdered fruit pectin
  • 6 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Process

  1. Prepare jars, and lids in dishwasher or in boiling water. Fill canning pot with enough water to completely cover the jars when processing.
  2. Peel the ginger and then grate 1 cup, set aside.
  3.  Remove yellow lemon peel in long strips with a vegetable peeler. Dice the pieces, set aside.
  4. Over a bowl, remove the pith from the lemons and then supreme the lemons, be separating the fruit from the membranes. Squeeze the left over membranes into the bowl to collect as much juice as possible. Measure 1 cup of the lemon segments and juice, and set aside.
  5. In a large deep stainless steel saucepan, combine the diced lemon peel, baking soda, and water. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat, cover, and boil gently for 5 minutes to soften the peel. Remove from heat for 5 minutes.
  6. Add the grated ginger, lemon segments, and pectin to the pot with the peel mixture. Wisk the mixture over medium heat until the pectin is dissolved. While wisking, bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Add the sugar all at once and bring back to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Once the jam has boiled hard for 1 full minute, remove from heat and skim off any foam.
  7. Using a funnel and ladle, add the hot marmalade into hot jars, but leave 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles with a bubble remover, as needed. Wipe the rims with a wet towel. Place the lid on the jars and gently the band on, just until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
  8. Process the jars in a canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove from water, set upon a towel covered surface. Jars will pop when process correctly, this time can vary from a 1 minute our of the water to several hours.

Fried Eggs and Bacon

 

In a follow up to my recent breakfasty/brunchy post about Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Hash, I’m sharing with you my favorite way to make eggs. I love over-easy eggs because the white is completely cooked but the yellow, bright yolk is ooey gooey runny. But cooking the eggs in left over bacon grease takes them out of this freaking world. Needless to say that I don’t do this often- maybe once every 6 months.

 

Bacon is one of those simple things that we treat at a luxury. I much prefer to buy a good quality bacon that is thick cut and pretty lean. (In the case with this photographed bacon, it was leftover from Thanksgiving. We cover our turkey in bacon so the highest quality would be wasted in that case.) Since it can easily be $9-10 a pound I tended to save it for leisurely weekends in when we can really enjoy the paper. Also, when Price and I make bacon we make a lot of it all at once so the leftovers can be used in BLT’s, added to sandwiches, and sprinkled over salads… makes for a good week!

 

Cooking eggs this way makes for a very airy egg that some salty, smoky favor. Since the eggs are frying they are some what suspended in the grease,  the egg has light, crunchy pockets. I really enjoy the texture of the egg this way, especially the crunchy edges.

 

Fried Eggs and Bacon

Ingredients

  • bacon
  • eggs
  • salt and pepper

Process

  1. Fry bacon in a non stick pan. Save enough bacon grease to generously coat the bottom of the pan.
  2. Placing no more than 2 eggs in your pan at the time, fry eggs on medium/medium-low heat.
  3. After a minute of cooking cover with a lid to the top of the egg will cook.
  4. Eggs are complete when the top is cooked, while the egg yolk is still light, and therefore runny.
  5. While still really hot, sprinkle salt and pepper over the eggs.
  6. Serve with bacon and your favorite breakfast sides.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive. 

December Daily Book (Before)

20111130-225458.jpgLast year I started to prep my December Daily album but I bailed at the last minute in participating the documenting my month. My fall was less than stellar so I didn’t feel like celebrating everything going on. I talked myself out of it ‘what do I have to document?!? I feel crappy and it’s not like I do anything exciting. I’m busy with work- great I’ll take a photo of my desk every day. I don’t have kids so there are only so many things I can take photos of.’

20111130-225513.jpg

Well this year I am so damn determined to stick to it! I dug my kit out where I left it and ripped most of it apart. I did a new cover quickly last night. I started to play around with the pages inside it but decided that I should make that my 5 minute creative outlet every night and go with the flow.

I am going to use my Fuji Instax camera for the process. It’s going to be hilarious going to yank this massive play school like camera out of my bag every time to take a picture… Pricer will cringe. I have to admit that I’m totally stealing Kelly Purkey’s idea since she did this last year for her Dec Daily album. Looked amazing so I’m going to give it a try this year.

Can’t wait for tomorrow!!

You can follow tweets about other crafters and scrapbookers doing this with the hast tag #decdaily

 

Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Hash

There is a restaurant and catering place a few blocks away from us called Bakers’ Best Cafe. We are typically so busy or away on the weekends that we don’t stick around our neighborhood, so it took us a few months to find it and go there. But since then we have been hooked! I order the Hash and Eggs (crispy homemade corned beef hash topped with two poached eggs and hollandaise sauce $9.50). It’s so good! My favorite brunch thing to get is Eggs Benedict, so this is a great spin on it.

While I would love to go there whenever we are in town and not going at break neck speeds, I can’t always justify a $30+ brunch bill. And that not including the mimosas I have a habit of throwing back, which I can make at home for a fraction of the price. So I decided to make something at home that reminds me of the delicious meal I enjoy there. Making this sweet potato & squash hash is a simple way of doing so.

I make this hash without corned beef in it because I don’t just have that laying around (who do you think I am?) and I’m looking for a simple recipe that I can do in my sleep. I think the key with this is letting the potatoes rest after being roasted because it softens up this crunchy pieces a bit. I don’t know about you but I hate super crunchy potatoes with my eggs, so letting them relax in the fridge over night solves that earth shaking problem. Also, it means you don’t have to get up super early to make this. After so the dinner clean up, cut up the squash and sweet potatoes, ditch them in the oven to roast while watching SNL (& skipping the bits Kristen Wiig is in), throw them in a container and in the fridge before going to bed. While making bacon, cut up and onion, then while your eggs cook sauté the onion and then add the rest of the hash to warm up.

I did use bacon grease to cook the onions in to pass on some flavor and is it was easy- basically dump out the leftover grease and don’t clean the pan… Win! Of course you can make this vegetarian by butter, vegan you say?… Use oil. Problem solved. No matter what, it’s gluten free! (Well, check the bacon.)

Sweet Potato and Squash Hash

-serves 4-6-

Ingredients

  • 1 large butternut squash
  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons Lawry’s seasoned salt
  • pinch of crushed red pepper, optional
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 tablespoon bacon grease, or 1 tablespoon oil

Process

  1. Cut squash and sweet potato in 1/2″ to 3/4″ pieces.
  2. Toss with oil, seasoned salt and crushed red pepper to evenly coat.
  3. Roast at 375 for 40-45 minutes, stirring half way.
  4. Refrigerate over night, or at least cover and refrigerate for an hour
  5. Prior to serving, chop up an large onion. Saute in bacon grease until soft.
  6. Add the cooked potato and squash mixture to the skillet and gently warm through.
  7. Serve with eggs and bacon. And a mimosa or bloody mary can’t hurt!


Vegetable Enchiladas with Easy Homemade Sauce

These Vegetable Enchiladas are packed of flavor from the colorful vegetable filling and an easy homemade enchilada sauce that will knock your socks off!

Original post from 11/28/11, pictures updated 1/16/19

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE 

I love making healthy comfort food. It makes enjoying a big filling meal, less guilt inducing. Cozy without the conflict, which is perfect for me.

Really, who doesn’t love hearty meals!?!? I want to enjoy them, but I don’t want it to impact my waist line. Sure, salads are crave-able, but really, let’s focus on what we really want: some yummy enchiladas! 

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