"F it" Brunch (brunch foods that start with "F") Part 2

A great dish to make when you're having people over, because it doesn't create a lot of dishes. You can serve it right in the pan you cooked it in! I was inspired by a recipe from Martha Stewart, but altered it, because I wanted to use spinach instead of zucchini.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2/3 small onion, finely diced
• 1/3 cup frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 6 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons cup milk
• 1/4 cup shredded shredded white cheddar
• 2 medium vine ripe tomatoes, cored and thinly sliced crosswise

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a 10-inch skillet over medium heat, warm oil. Add onion,  and thyme; cook, covered, stirring often, until tender but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Uncover, add spinach and cook until all the liquid in the pan evaporates. Season with salt and pepper; remove skillet from heat.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk, and cheese, salt, and pepper. 
3. At this point, since I don't have a non-stick skillet, I removed the onion mixture from the pan, and oiled it well. If your pan is non-stick, you could get away with skipping this step.
4. Pour egg mixture into pan, then add back onion mixture (or, if using non-stick, gently lift the mixture to allow eggs to coat bottom of pan). Arrange tomatoes in an overlapping pattern on top.
5. Return skillet to medium-low heat, and cook until sides are set yet still slightly runny on top, 15 to 20 minutes. Place in oven, and cook until the center is cooked through when tested with a wooden skewer, and the tomatoes are browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven; gently slide a heatproof spatula around the edges and underneath to loosen from skillet. Serve immediately.

October goodies - Apples

The next installment of October treats centers around apples. So go pickin'!

Apple Sauce

Apple Oat Bars

Apple turnovers

Slow-cooked Apples

Wine of the Week - Carivintas "Pico" 2006 Barbera

An excellent bold red wine with flavors of anise and tobacco, along with subtle red fruits - strawberries, cherries and a little bitter cranberry.  Highly recommended.
14.7% alcohol

"F it" Brunch (brunch foods that start with "F") Part 1

We were having friends over for brunch this past weekend and I wanted to impress without having to, you know, slave in the kitchen all morning or especially while they were here. So I knew a French Toast casserole was in the cards - something I could prepare ahead of time and pop in the oven.

Baked Apple Cinnamon French Toast (I halved the recipe from the website, because there were only 4.5 of us. This version is my adaptation)

1/2 loaf of challah bread (I used homemade, because I made a rocking, but giant one for Yom Kippur)

3/4 cups non-dairy milk (soy, almond, rice, hemp, etc.)
1 1/2 tbs. cornstarch
2 tbs. white whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice or nutmeg
Topping:
1 1/2 tbs. vegan margarine (I like Earth Balance)
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 tbs. brown rice syrup
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice or nutmeg
3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (use a firm variety)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Slice bread into 2" pieces. Place into a 9"x9" glass baking pan. In a large bowl whisk together milk, cornstarch, flour, vanilla, cinnamon and allspice. Pour mixture over the bread in the baking pan and turn the bread over a few times to make sure the mixture is equally absorbed.
Melt the margarine in a large skillet over medium heat and stir in the brown sugar, brown rice syrup, cinnamon and allspice. Add in your apple slices and toss until they are coated in the brown sugar sauce. Pour the apple topping over the bread in the baking pan and evenly distribute. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove pan from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes

Serve with maple syrup.

October goodies - Pumpkin

Happy October! A monthly of ghostly parties and monstrous treats! To start the month, here's a list of our Eat Well and Prosper blogger's pumpkiny desserts:

Chocolate-soled Pumpkin Cookies:

Pumpkin Apple Muffins:

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin Bars

Pumpkin Pie Cake