slacking!

So I've definitely been slacking on posting my new recipe experiments on here, but I really have still been trying new things! One of the most recent things I've tried to make was tortilla shells. I didn't actually intend to make homemade tortillas though. The only reason I did was because the tortilla shells that I had at home were expired and not too soft anymore. So I immediately went to google to try and find the quickest and easiest ways to make some tortillas with stuff that I already had on hand. This is what I found, and I must say that they were pretty delicious:

Soft Tortilla Shells

Ingerdients:

3 cups all-purpose flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt Pinch of sugar (optional) 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (more for softer tortillas) 1 cup water

Instructions: Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and oil. Add water and mix with hands. Divide into 10 small balls. Roll each flat with rolling pin and cook on very hot ungreased griddle until lightly brown on each side. Makes 10 tortillas. I think next time, I will try rolling them thinner though because these turned out a little thick and heavy. ---------------------------------------------------------------- On Saturday, DJ left for Orlando for a few days, so since I had the house to myself, I decided to have a little girls night. Danielle sugggested that we have breakfast food for dinner so I decided to try and find some new breakfast recipes to try out. I've been wanting to try a french toast casserole since I knew those could be made ahead of time which helps me out a lot when cooking for company. I found this recipe and it turned out really yummy! Overnight French Toast Casserole 

Ingredients:

1 loaf sourdough bread (I used Pepperidge Farm)
8 eggs
2 cups milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. vanilla

Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces

1.  Grease a 9x13 pan with butter.  Tear bread into bite-size chunks and place evenly in the pan.
2.  Mix together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla.  Pour evenly over bread.  Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours (You can do this overnight, but mine was probably only in the fridge for about 6 hours)

3.  In a medium bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender (I just used two knives) until it all looks nice and crumbly.  Place in a ziploc bag and put in fridge.
4.  When ready to bake, take pan and bag out of fridge.  Remove wrap and evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top.  Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees (or 45 minutes if you like it more soft and pudding-like).

You can serve this with syrup a powdered sugar and milk glaze, which I'm definitely going to try next time!

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To go with the casserole, I also decided to try making a hashbrown casserole. The recipe I found was good, but I think I will use less hash browns next time. The recipe calls for two pounds of hashbrowns but I think a one pound bag may work better with the recipe since it didn't seem like there was a lot of cheesy goodness for all of the potatoes. Here is the original recipe though:

Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole

Ingredients:
1 2 lb. pkg. frozen Hash Browns
8 oz. Sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 stick butter
1/2 C. Chopped onion
2 C. grated Cheddar Cheese

 

Directions:

1. Place potatoes in a greased 9×13 inch pan. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Melt butter in the microwave. In a bowl add minced onions, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup, and melted butter. Mix these items together.
3. Pour soup mixture over potatoes; sprinkle with Cheddar Cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until all is completely warm, and the cheese begins to melt.

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Although I didn't take a picture of them, I did make a little "breakfast appetizer" that I loved because it had one of my favorite combinations: cinnamon and sugar! These little cinnamon sugar bites were pretty easy to make. The picture and recipe is from here.

Cinnamon Sugar Breakfast Bites

 

Ingredients:
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup crisp rice cereal, coarsely crushed
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup sugar, divided
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter-flavored shortening
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:
1. Mix flour, crushed cereal, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl.

2. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk and stir just until moistened.
3. Roll dough into approximately 2 1/2 dozen 1 inch balls.

4. Mix cinnamon and remaining sugar in a small bowl. Drop balls into melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture.

5. Place balls onto greased 8 or 9 inch round pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in pan on wire rack before removing.