French toasts!

I’m sure everyone has a good recipe for that…. but mine is better 🙂 don’t you think it’s like the spaghetti sauce recipe? everyone has the best one!

But my recipe for french toasts has a secret ingredient for it that is making a nice crunchy outer layer…

I always make it around this time of the year since my husband always get a loaf of bread from work in march… don’t ask, we don’t even remember why they are getting it 😉 And since it’s not a really good loaf I always use it to make french toasts, to my kids delight!

First thing, you need to have stale bread. Using fresh bread will make your toasts soggy and slump.  Since the bread we get is quite dry, i just let it sit unwrapped on the counter for a whole 24 hours. Switching side once in a while to make sure it dries evenly.

Next, you need to slice you bread about 1/2 inches thick. (if your bread is really moist, slice and let stale half a day or a whole day)

And then you make the eggs mix 🙂

here’s my recipe:

4 eggs

1 to 1 1/2  cup milk

a bit of vanilla

and …. a big table spoon of granulated sugar! (that’s my secret ingredient….!)

Whisk everything well in a big bowl.

heat a skillet over medium high with BUTTER! (do yourself a favor, and please use butter!)

when your skillet is ready, working quickly coat your slices of bread with the egg mix, you DO NOT want the bread to suck it up. You  really just want to coat it quick. and just do the right number of slices for your skillet. Do not prepare more bread in the mix if they are not ready to go into the skillet.

let the bread get as golden as you like it and serve with a good maple sirup!!! The sugar will make a nice crunchy outer layer 🙂

We had ours with a nice side dish of fruit salad Rachel made all by herself!

Ma petite recette de pain doré 🙂 avec un ingrédient secret qui vous fait une bel extérieur croustillant!
Premièrement, vous aurez besoin d’un pain rassis (qui a séché quelque temps, pas un pain frais et tout moelleux!)
que vous couperez en tranche de 1/2 pouces.
Mélangez ensemble dans un grand bol:
4 oeufs
1 à 1 1/2 tasse de lait
un peu d’essence de vanille
et…. une grosse cuillère à soupe de sucre granulé! (le sucre va vous donner une bel extérieur croquant!)
Faites chauffer un poêlon à medium-high avec du BEURRE! (ok, laisser faire le régime et faites-vous plaisir! utiliser du beurre!)
En travaillant rapidement, trempez vos tranches de pain dans le mélange d’oeufs, ne les laissez pas se gorger du mélange, une trempette très rapide seulement et ajouter à votre poêlon. Cuire des 2 côtés jusqu’au degré de doré souhaité. Ne préparez pas d’avance les tranches de pain dans le mélange, sinon vous aurez des tranches de pain détrempées et molles.
Servir avec une bonne dose de sirop d’érable! et une salade de fruits préparée avec amour par une petite fille de 5 ans!

Cookies… and more cookies!

I told the kids we were gonna make cookies yesterday…

not thinking they would all want  to do it!

and no way I do that with 6 more hands around 😉

so we ended up doing 3 recipes, one for each kids.

Let say I spent hours going to the oven every ten minutes lol!

but the house smelled amazing….

and I’ve got a head start on my holiday baking, and some of them will be munched for the girls tea party next sunday (I’ll be having 10 kids int the house, so please pray for me!)

If you need to know and want the recipes: cornflake cookies (from my grandma, and the best EVER!) chocolate cookies (some of the best I had yet from MADE) and your basic peanut butter cookies (peanut butter, sugar, egg)

 

J’avais dit aux cocos qu’on ferait des biscuits hier… sans penser que j’aurais 6 mains de plus à gérer! On a donc réglé le problème en faisant une recette de biscuits par enfant 😉  donc si vous voulez la recette des super biscuits aux cornflakes de ma grand-mère allez ici pour les biscuits au chocolat la recette est en anglais seulement, c’est ici!

Roasted squash and garlic apple potage

Kelly, over at Cobwebs, cupcakes and crayons asked me if I wanted to participate in her  Collectively Creative roundup  called The Thankful Edition. I was thrilled 🙂 and it got me thinking about thankfulness… Here in Québec we don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving the way people do in the USA and on the english side of Canada. I could say we don’t make special dinners or have more family get togethers during that time either. It’s seen more like a cool holiday that make us have a vacation day.

But going back to that thankfulness. We try to teach our kids to help others whenever we can even if it’s costing you a bit, because we are thankful someone did for us when we needed it. we try to teach them to be kind and say thank you because it’s a way to show our appreciation and that it meant something for us. I’m thankful we kept diseases and illness at bay, that we have everything we need and that I’m surrounded by lovely and caring people. That my dad in law is now feeling better after a big surgery. That my kids are happy…. Being thankful is such a nice and warm feeling! Being thankful is humbling too, I think….

I thought for a bit and knew what I wanted to do for that roundup! Nice and warm, easy, tasty and rustic…. What better than a Potage?    (potage is the french word for puréed soup) It’s THE fall staple, cheap and quick to make, full of flavors… and it’s giving me that warmth feeling too!

So I present you the :

A friend told me about a potage she was making with a roasted butternut squash and I went like : how come I never thought of roasting it instead of peeling the thing??! (i hate peeling that stuff!) so I decided the day after to try my own recipe…. yep, I made up this one as I was going and sooo glad I did! Even my hubby, who is not  a soup fan, hate half of the pot!

so here goes…. (recette en français au bas de la page….)

6 servings.

• 2 medium butternut squashes, halved and gutted (remove the gucky thing in the middle with the seeds)
• 1 head of garlic
• olive oil
• 2 onions, halved and  sliced
• 3 tablespoon butter
• 3 medium apples, peeled and coarsely cut
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon or so of minced fresh  ginger
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• chicken broth (I use the powder one)

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cut the top part of your head of garlic and sprinkle with a bit of olive oil. Separate it in about 3 or 4 chunks Distribute on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Sprinkle a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper on top of your halved butternut squash. Put them,cut side down, on the baking sheet so the garlic chunks are in a squash cavity. Put in the oven for about 50 to 1 hour. (bake until the squash and garlic are soft).

When the squashes and garlic are done, remove squash flesh and press garlic in a bowl.

Meanwhile. heat about your butter in your soup pot over medium heat and add your onions. Cook until onions begin to be translucent. Add your sliced apples and ginger and cook until apples are beginning to soften. Add cinnamon and stir well. Remove from heat if your squashes are not ready.

If your squashes are done, add the flesh and pressed garlic to the pot. Add chicken broth until your soup seems smooth enough (i think I needed like 6 or 7 cups for mine) and simmer for about 10 -15 minutes.

Blend your soup to make your potage with a blender or a hand mixer (love my hand mixer!) and enjoy!!

I really like having small bits of crunchy apples in my potage, so don’t blend it too well if you want that too.

Here’s the links to go and see what other great bloggers have come up with the term THANKFUL! thanks Kelly to come up with such a great theme and round up and to invite me in!

Our Family’s Thankful Journal (Cobwebs, Cupcakes & Crayons)

Mrs. Hetherington’s Thanksgiving Pageant (Pillows A-La-Mode)

Creating a Thankfulness Photo Album (Organizing Living Essentials)

T.H.A.N.K.F.U.L. for my Kiddos! (Neaten Your Nest)

DIY ‘Thankful’ Dry-Erase Board (Inspire & Indulge)

What I’m Thankful for: Grandparents and Cinnamon Rolls (The Thing About Joan)

Healthy Chicken Sausage and Apple Stuffing (My Healthy ‘Ohana)

Roasted Squash And Garlic Apple Potage (Cul De Sac)

Vegan Creamed Corn Cornbread (The Pancake Princess)

Holiday Entertaining: Gifts For Your Guests (Green Door Hospitality)

Thanksgiving Requests (Ponytail Kind of Day)

Rustic DIY Thank You Cards (NorthStory)

Mrs. Hetherington’s Thanksgiving Pageant (Pillows A-La-Mode)

Recette de Potage aux pommes, courge et ail rôti

6 portions

• 2 moyennes courges Butternut, coupées en 2 et évidées.
• 1 tête d’ail, le dessus coupé
• huile d’olive
• sel et poivre
• 3 c.s. de beurre
• 2 oignons émincés
• 3 pommes moyennes pelées et coupées en lamelles
• 1 à 1 1/2 c.t. environ de gingembre frais haché
• 1 c.t de cannelle
• bouillon de poulet (j’utilise celui en poudre)

Chauffer le four à 375F.

Protéger une plaque à biscuits avec du papier d’aluminium. Verser un peu d’huile d’olive sur la tête d’ail coupée et séparer en 3 ou 4 gros morceaux et déposer sur la plaque. Badigeonner les demies courges d’huile d’olive. Saler et poivrer. Déposer les demies courges, côté coupé vers le bas, de manière à ce que les morceaux d’ail soient dans les cavités. Enfourner et cuire environ 1 heure ou jusqu’à ce que les courges et l’ail soient tendres.

Faire chauffer le beurre à feu moyen dans votre chaudron à soupe et ajouter les oignons. Cuire jusqu’à ce que les oignons commencent à devenir transparents. Ajouter les pommes et le gingembre et cuire jusqu’à ce que les pommes commencent à ramollir. Ajouter la cannelle et cuire 2 min.  Retirer du feu.

Défaire les courges en purée et presser l’ail dans le chaudron. Remettre sur le feu et ajouter du bouillon de poulet jusqu’à ce que la soupe ait la consistance que vous voulez (j’ai mis environ 6-7 tasses). Cuire un 10-15 min et retirer du feu. Passer le mélange au blender . 

Pinteresting: Lettuce wrap.

Here’s the pin that got me drooling…

Source: ohsheglows.com via Josée on Pinterest

I made that for our 10th anniversary dinner… and it wasn’t a hit.

I mean I loved it! A lot! that was the problem… I was the only one 😦

The recipe was not difficult to make, the dip was easy and tasted great. And I really like the different textures.

And the spicy side of the dip. But I was happy I tried it once as I was literally drooling over this one.

Get the recipe here!

Essai d’une recette prise sur Pinterest. Je la trouvais très intéressante, beaucoup de couleurs, de textures, avec du tofu… Je salivais juste à regarder les photos 🙂 J’ai beaucoup aimé, mais c’est là le problème, j’étais la seule à aimer le souper… La recette est facile à faire, la trempette au beurre d’arachides était vraiment bonne, piquante juste ce qu’il faut. Je suis contente de l’avoir faite, mais on passera à un autre appel finalement…

Pinteresting: No sugar oat drops

A new recipe! Gluten-dairy-egg-sugar free…. cookies!

I tried those yesterday night, as I was craving something sweet without the guilt.

YUMMY!

If you like coconut 🙂 the 2 youngest loved it too. Not that much for hubby as he thought it was tasting too healthy for cookies 😉

I froze a bunch to keep for later. And they are holding quite well so they’ll be good for transportation snacks too.

I used the cool cookie maker my friend Kim sent me with the Bento stuff… they were a breeze to make with that!

Find the recipe here!

De supers bons biscuits! sans farine-oeufs-lait-sucre… Les enfants ont beaucoup aimé ainsi que maman! Mais l’homme de la maison a trouvé qu’ils goûtaient trop santé pour des biscuits 😉 Je me suis trouvé une collation très bonne au goût et santé! (J’en ai mis au congélo pour plus tard!) vous pouvez trouver la recette ici! 

Je vous la transcris en français pour ceux que ça intéresse…

• 1 1/2 tasse de gruau à l’ancienne.
• 1 tasse de coconut râpé non-sucré
• 1/2 c. à thé de sel
• 1 c. à thé de cannelle moulue (j’en ai mis moins)
• 1/2 c. à thé de tout épice (all spice)
• 1/4 tasse d’amandes moulues
• 1/2 tasse de noix hachées
• 1 tasse de fruits séchés coupés (J’ai mis des abricots, dattes, raisins et pomme séchée)
• 3 bananes mûres en purée
• 1/4 tasse d’huile
• 1 c. à thé de vanille

Préchauffez le four à 350F. Mélangez les ingrédients secs ensemble. Mélangez, dans un autre bol, les bananes,l’huile et la vanille. Versez les ingrédients humides sur les secs et bien mélanger.  Formez de petites galettes et déposez sur une plaque à biscuits. Cuire 20 minutes. On peut congeler les biscuits pour plus tard aussi!

Pinteresting: Vitamin Water

I don’t know if this really infuses your water with vitamins but…. Since I don’t drink juice, coffee, wine, beer or whatever I thought that this might add some pizazz to my plain everyday glass of water 🙂

Here’s the pin that made me want to try it:

Source: mygreendiet.com via Sandra on Pinterest

You can find the recipe here on the mygreendiet blog.

I did the recipe accordingly but add some zucchinis for the fun of it (and omitted the basil)!

My feedback? (I couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning to have a sip so I tasted it after a couple of hours in the fridge… )

WOnderful! the cucumber tastes great with the lemon and mint! I don’t think the zucchinis added something more. I can see myself having pitchers of that all summer long! I think it will make me want to drink more of the H2O… And I think it’s healthier than the flavored water you find on the market. And quick to make!

Le p’tit résumé habituel…

Un autre essai d’une recette trouvée sur Pinterest! C’est supposé être une eau vitaminée (pas sûre pour les vitamines) et j’avais le goût de boire autre chose que juste de l’eau pure… C’est très bon et on goûte vraiment le concombre (les zuchinis n’ont pas donné plus de goût qu’il le faut, c’était mon ajout et je vais omettre la prochaine fois) Je pense que je vais m’en faire plusieurs pichets cet été!

Pinteresting: Grain-free brownies

I think I may start a “new” topic on the blog that I’ll call Pinteresting, where I’ll blab about us trying some of the pins on the ever popular Pinterest… What do you think? We see some really cool crafts and recipes without knowing if they really works or are as tasteful as stated.

I already tried some of the stuff so I’ll link to them at the end of the post if you are interested 😉

Let’s start with some yummy grain-free brownies that look really promising! Fresh from Pinterest, the pin that got me started…

Source: delightedmomma.com via Josée on Pinterest

I promised Julien that I would do this recipe with him….

*Just a note about pictures of my son… He was shocked to see I was putting pictures of him on the blog and said really quickly that he was not at ease with that. So, from now on, you will only see parts of him as  I will respect his wishes. (my 2 daughters said they didn’t mind…)*

So we got started!

Smashing zucchinis…

Blending stuff…

and eating it!

You can find the recipe here on the delighted momma blog. I did the recipe as written but changed the honey for Agave sirup.

Our feedback?! It was GOOD! really good. The kids loved it and so did mom and dad. BUT…. it was not tasting like brownies. More like a chocolate chips cake. Maybe next time I’ll try adding cocoa powder to the mix.

Here’s some other Pinteresting tries…

Recycled Crayons

Bird Feeder

Résumé pour la belle fille de ma connaissance!

Je pense que je vais faire une série sur le blog sur les choses que je trouve intéressante sur Pinterest. En voyant toutes ces bonnes recettes et artisanats super cool, j’ai envie d’en essayer plusieurs et je me suis dit, pourquoi pas donner un feedback en même temps?! Donc, ici, nous avons essayé, Julien et moi, de faire des brownies sans farine. Le résultat fut délectable même si ça ne goûtait pas vraiment les brownies. Toute la famille a beaucoup aimé!

Bento crazies…

Have you seen all the Bento box pictures that are exploding all over the internet?? Lemme show you some….

The artful kind…. just not for me. But oh my so cute!

picture by mymealbox.com

mybentolicious

The ones for your everyday kind of person: (just me!)

by hapabento.com

by diners journal

I liked the way bento boxes were looking and the fun they add to a simple lunch box. this is what I came up with… Nothing fancy, but hey it’s still fun!

Bought some divided boxes at the dollar store (2$ each)

and found some silicon molds at Maxi et Cie

(3 for 2$… which is cheap since I was looking for silicon molds for weeks and thought they were too expensive)

I have 4 different mold forms and 3 of each form! (I’ll be making my own lunches with them too when it’s back to school time for me 😉 The kids haven’t complained about their new lunches! What I like is I can put small bits of everything and I can buy wholesale cookies and crackers and such (not the individual portions) without using billions of containers. And I sneakily  cut on the sweets at the same time without them noticing! Amazing! The containers fit in their lunch box (from costco) but I have just enough space to put the ice pack and the yogurt.

I’m sure my kids would love these too!

by coffeeandvanilla.com

And we had….

Ah! I had pizza on my dinner list for this week and I wasn’t feeling like doing the pizza crust I habitually do… with allergies and a cold… so I peeked inside my big freezer and… Yeah! there were a bunch of half emptied bags of hot dog and burger buns 🙂 The kids love it when I do it with hot dog buns, it gives pizza another shape. Since I had enough of everything to make 2 cookie sheets and a half I will have some to freeze for school lunch! This is what I call a win-win situation 😉

As you can see I’m having a blast with picnic! I’m almost feeling that my pics are as beautiful as the ones I see in other blogs!

If someone wants the recipe for the easy and yummy pizza crust just howler! I might put the recipe for the cornflakes cookie everyone is asking for up tomorrow if I have time to whip some with the help of Rachel!