Part of me cannot believe that the Superbowl is Sunday. I mean, that’s the end of football season until next Fall. I have to wait at least six months to watch another game after this. Sad. (If you know me, you know I’m being dead serious about how sad this is to me. Crazy football fan here!) A perk of Superbowl Sunday? Watching Millie run up to the TV when I randomly switch over to the Puppy Bowl.
To mourn celebrate the end of another football season, here’s some great recipes that will definitely disappear if you serve them at your Superbowl parties.
Doesn’t pain perdu just sound so fancy? It feels like one of those breakfast dishes that just screams “I’m fancy! Order me!” when I see it on a menu. But really, pain perdu isn’t that fancy. It’s french toast made using day-old french bread (rather than sliced bread). Now that I wrote that out, I no longer feel fancy after eating that on Sunday morning. Oh well.
The last time I enjoyed some pain perdu was at the Ruby Slipper in New Orleans. Their pain perdu is not just your average pain perdu….it’s BANANAS FOSTER pain perdu. If you’re ever in New Orleans, I highly recommend this place for a delicious brunch. It’s one of those places that you want to get there early for, though. We locals (well for me, former local since I live an hour away from NOLA now) know about this place, so it’s always packed as the morning goes on.
Since we had some leftover french bread from dinner the day before, I thought it would be a great start to our Sunday to enjoy some pain perdu. Also, it’s strawberry season out here, so there’s always a pint of local strawberries in the fridge. It was completely meant to be.
This pain perdu was just awesome. Next time, I might add more cinnamon and nutmeg though, but otherwise, this was delicious. It’s also a Cooking Light recipe which to me, made this dish even better.
Pain Perdu with Louisiana Strawberry Sauce
Source: mildly adapted from Cooking Light
Ingredients:
3/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
2 tbsp. sugar, divided
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. grated whole nutmeg
1/8 tsp. salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
8 (1-ounce) slices diagonally cut day-old French bread (about 1 inch thick)
2 cups of sliced strawberries
2 tsp. orange rind
4 tsp. butter
1 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar
Directions:
In a large bowl, add the milk, 1 tbsp. sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, nutmeg, salt and beaten eggs. Stir well with a whisk. Place the bread slices in a 13×9″ pan and pour the wet mixture evenly over the bread slices. After a minute or so, turn the bread slices to coat the other side with the wet mixture. Allow the bread to sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes, turning the slices a couple of times, until all of the wet mixture is absorbed in the bread slices.
Place the strawberries, remaining 1 tbsp. sugar and orange rind in a small pot over low heat. Cook the strawberry mixture for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In a large non-stick skillet, melt half of the butter over medium heat. Place 4 of the bread slices on the skillet and cook for about 3 1/2 minutes on each side (or until the bread is golden brown). Remove from the pan, melt the remaining 2 tsp. butter and cook the other 4 slices the same way.
To serve, sprinkle each serving with confectioner’s sugar and top with the strawberry sauce.
Am I the only person who is shocked that Christmas just passed? I can’t believe it. Neighbors are taking down lights, and our tree looks SO empty without gifts under it. My favorite holiday is over, and crazy enough, it’s time for a new year. 2012.
Time to take the shrink wrap off of the new planner and get used to writing “2012″ on papers/emails/etc. This is just crazy.
Also crazy…sometime in 2012, my 4 year blogiversary is happening and my 3 year wedding anniversary is happening too. WHAT?
It’s a lot to look forward to, but before everyone rings in the new year, I just wanted to share with y’all the top 10 posts of 2011.
9. Pecan Pie Macarons – Gotta love macarons. These were really a huge favorite for Thanksgiving, and the star shape (which was a happy accident) made them super cute and festive!
8. Restaurant Style Queso Blanco – This is it. The ultimate queso blanco. If you’re as addicted to queso as me, you’d understand how wonderful it is to FINALLY have a recipe for this!
7. Strawberry Cream Cake – I’m actually glad I compiled this top 10, because I sort of forgot about this cake. Since it’s currently strawberry season in Louisiana, I think I MUST make this cake again. Yum!
6. Peppermint Bark Cheesecake Truffles – This is the recipe that made my year, basically. I still can’t believe I won that recipe contest, and I’ve been told by a few friends who made this that these little truffles were a hit at their holiday parties! So happy to hear that!
5. Banana Nutella “Ice Cream” – Two ingredient “ice cream”. It’s basically awesome and couldn’t be any easier. Your food processor does all the work!
4. Grilled Corn Grits – I can’t be from the South, and not have a post about grits. I promise you if you make this, your hips may never be the same again, but your taste buds will tell you it’s completely worth it!
3. Easy Pasta Salad – My first (and so far, only) vlog. I might get the courage to make one again, since you guys seemed to like it so much!
2. Cooking For Kids – The infamous post. Yup, who’da thought that a soda cupcake would get so much response from you guys (both good and bad)…yikes!
1. S’mores for a Shower – Nutella S’mores. I can see why you guys loved this one so much. I’m sort of craving s’mores right now, actually.
I hope you have a wonderful New Year with your family and friends, and thank you so much for reading The Nifty Foodie! See y’all in 2012!
One of the last things you think about in December is citrus. To me, citrus screams bright colors and summery flavors, but in Louisiana, the end of the Fall/beginning of Winter is our citrus season. Satsumas and Louisiana Navels and Meyer Lemons…oh my! I’m crazy about the local citrus, for sure!
A couple of years ago, my husband bought a Meyer Lemon tree for our little backyard, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled! Meyer Lemons are a special lemon…they are a lot sweeter and way juicier than your average lemon. They just scream, “Make me into a dessert, woman!” When our tree made 10 lemons this year, I was more than happy to make these into a dessert!
When I think about lemon desserts, I think about lemon bars. Since I’m personally not a fan of lemon desserts (I know, I’m a weirdo!), I made a batch of these for my husband and his coworkers. My husband told me that his coworkers absolutely loved them, and I need to send desserts more often! (In case they’re reading this, that’s definitely not the last of the desserts that I’m sending him with!)
To make the crust: Cream the butter and sugar in your mixer for about 2 minutes, until fluffy. In another bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until the crust is just mixed. Take the dough out of the mixer and roll into a ball on a well-floured surface. Pat some flour on your hands and flatten the dough. Then, press it into a 9×13 cake pan and make sure there’s about a 1/2 inch edge of crust along the edges of the pan. Chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
Bake the crust in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until it just starts to brown. Allow the pan to cool on a wire rack, and keep the oven preheated.
To make the filling: whisk the eggs, sugar, lemon zest/juice and flour in a bowl until well combined. Pour the mixture over the crust once it has cooled, and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the filling has set. Place the cake pan on a wire rack and allow to cool. Before serving, lightly dust the bars with confectioners’ sugar.
When I started my food blog almost 4 years ago, I never expected that I would make so many friends through this. While I’ve only met a handful of bloggers in real life, I consider so many of them to be dear friends of mine. When my friend, Amy of Sing For Your Supper announced that she was pregnant, I smiled and felt like I needed to run to Texas and give her a huge congratulatory hug. I know that sounds absolutely crazy, but I just feel like my friendships online are just as real as the ones I have face-to-face. I was absolutely flattered when Kelsey of Apple A Day asked me to contribute to Amy’s (all sweets) virtual baby shower! I knew that my contribution had to be pink, since Amy is expecting a little girl, so I decided to make cupcakes with a (super pink) strawberry swiss meringue buttercream!
I was actually slightly intimidated here, because this was my first official swiss meringue buttercream. I was armed with online pointers about what to do if everything goes wrong, since sadly, if something can go wrong with a recipe, it usually goes wrong for me.
Much to my surprise, though, the buttercream came together perfectly. I was waiting for the separation, the curdling, the “Oh dangit, I did it again!”, but no. It whipped up beautifully and tasted so so good! As in, I want to make all of my birthday cakes with swiss meringue buttercream from now on. Seriously. If you’ve never made a swiss meringue buttercream (also fondly known as SMBC) before, just try it. If you’re like me, and you’re scared of all of the things that can go wrong, read this awesome blog post by Confessions of a Foodie Bride to be a little more prepared.
As for the cake, this was actually a recipe I’ve made before, which is absolutely fabulous. I think it’s my favorite from-scratch cake recipe to date. The whipped egg whites just make the batter so light and perfect. It’s a good standard cake recipe to try.
If you want to check out what everyone else made for Amy’s baby shower, check out the round-up posts at Kelsey’s blog (the hostess for the baby shower) and Amy’s blog (go congratulate the momma-to-be)!
Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Source: Martha Stewart
1 cup of fresh strawberries, pureed in a food processor (using part of the adaptation mentioned on Martha’s website)
Directions:
In the heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, combine the egg whites and sugar. Cook, whisking constantly, until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch (about 160 degrees).
Pour the mixture into your stand mixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the egg-white mixture on high speed until it holds stiff (but not dry) peaks. Once it reaches that point and the mixture isn’t cool yet (just feel the sides of the bowl to find out), continue beating on low until the mixture is fluffy and cooled, about 6 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low speed, add butter several tablespoons at a time, beating a minute or so after each addition of butter. (If frosting appears to separate after all the butter has been added, beat on medium-high speed until smooth again, 3 to 5 minutes more.) Add in vanilla. Beat on lowest speed to eliminate any air bubbles, about 2 minutes. Stir in strawberry puree with a rubber spatula until frosting is smooth. If your frosting isn’t pink enough to your liking, add a touch of pink food coloring.
