Recipe: Tiramisu French Toast

I ran across this recipe for Tiramisu French Toast last Friday. It was just before I was planning on eating lunch and was hungry. Not a good time to check out decadent recipes on-line. I immediately printed out the recipe and made a grocery list. Its not something I would ever make for just Mister and me at home. But, Mister and I were going to spend the weekend with my family and it would be a perfect time to try out a new and hopefully delicious recipe.
It was really good. I made some tweaks though, you know how I am. I mixed up the mascarpone the night before to allow the flavor of the espresso powder to meld with the cheese. And I only used about half the amount of espresso powder and tripled the amount of the honey. I used almond milk instead of cream in the egg mixture and again halved the amount of espresso powder. For us, it was plenty of coffee flavor. Oh, I sifted the cocoa powder with 1/2 cup powdered sugar for sprinkling on top and served with strawberries and blueberries. I also warmed up real maple syrup. Mister didn't eat the mascarpone and thought it was really good. I spread just a bit of the coffee'd cheese on mine and was in heaven. My brother and his wife spread a bit more and said it was delightful. We actually made enough for two entire loaves of challah bread. We placed the leftover fried up bread in the fridge and later that night, it was really good cold (or warmed in the toaster) with the cheese spread across it. De-lish for either breakfast or dessert.
Oh me! Oh my! Decadent and heavenly.

PS - Just for fun (fun for me anyway) this bottom photo is the original of the top photo. The top photo being photoshopped. A bit of fun contrast for this Friday in April.
Ok, so here's my version of the recipe. Let me know how it turns out for you.

Tiramisu French Toast 

serves 4

• 1 loaf challah bread
• 8 whole eggs
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp instant espresso or coffee powder
• 4 Tbsp butter (for frying French toast)

TOPPING FOR AFTER FRYING: [make this the night before]

• 1 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1 ‐ 3 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp instant espresso or coffee powder

FOR SERVING:

• 2 tsp cocoa powder sifted together with 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• warmed maple syrup
• sliced strawberries and blueberries

DIRECTIONS:
The night before serving the French toast, mix mascarpone cheese with honey (amount depending upon your personal taste) and 1 teaspoon coffee powder.
Slice one loaf of challah bread into 1‐inch thick slices.
In a large baking dish, combine eggs, cream, vanilla extract, sugar, cinnamon and 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder and whisk together. Lay bread in dish and let soak in the egg mixture for about 30 seconds each side.
Heat a skillet on medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of butter. Add French toast and fry until golden brown. Flip (adding more butter if needed, use your judgment) and fry on other side. Repeat with remaining slices of bread and tablespoons of butter.

Spread the mascarpone/honey mixture on French toast slices while warm. Sprinkle with cocoa/powdered sugar and serve with berries and warmed syrup.

Life is too short to drink bad wine

Life is too short to drink bad wine. That may be my newest motto. Not that I've had an older motto. Have I?

That said, you can easily find a good (decent and drinkable) wine for under $10. In fact, Mister and I often look in the $7.99 range for vino. I do sometimes find wine in the $11 - $15 range to be slightly better.

Lately we've tried brand called Peachy Canyon. The 2007 was delicious. We had planned to actually buy a case of it, for the case discount don't you know, but when we tried to find it, all we can find is 2008. We must have purchased one of the last bottles. The 2008, not case worthy in our estimation. Another we've tried recently that we actually like is (hmmm, Zin maybe... not certain) the label, Gnarly Head. I just love the name.

When I look for a wine, I look for a couple things: Syrah, Petite Syrah, Merlot but only if its Argentinian, Chardonnay but only if its steel casked, Zinfandel, Montelpuciano, Chianti but not that often, red table wines from either France or Italy, Cabernet blends and wines from Paso Robles and or the Russian River Valley. Sometimes I just look for an interesting label on a bottle of wine that fits into the categories above (hence the Gnarly Head find).

That is all for now my friends. Enjoy your Thursday.

Just Watched: Catch Me if You Can

Leonardo DeCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken... need I say more?!

This isn't the first time I've seen this movie, but I hadn't seen it in a very long time. Its really a good, good movie. Amazing talend in the actors and its inspired by real events.

Frank Abagnale, Jr. doesn't have the most stable upbringing but learns amazing (if not illegal) lessons along the way. The boy is a sponge for information and has such interesting original ideas. He translates nearly everything he sees and hears into a money making scheme. He's clever enough to avoid capture for years and then smart enough to turn it into a future.

I think we all could learn something from that. Well, maybe not the illegal stuff, but, you know what I mean.

Something to Ponder: Friends

I spent last weekend in Lincoln City in a house, on the beach with six lovely women. It’s an annual trip we take as a group. Sometimes the group is larger, sometimes the group is smaller. I think it’s an anomaly for a largish group of women to stay close for a long period of time.

I have worked in my office for 22 years. There are a group of people here who have been here over 20 years also. Needless to say, while we don’t spend much, time together outside of the office, I have grown quite close to them. One of the lovely women with whom I am particularly close, lives alone with her 35 year old autistic son who has seizures. This very morning, she didn’t show up for work, she didn’t call in to say she’d be late. This is extremely out of character for her. After much concern and many phone calls to many people, she was found, by a concerned individual, in her apartment, she’d had a stroke. As I write this, she is being transported by ambulance to the hospital.

I have a friend whom I will always adore, I only really got to know her for a short while (all things considered), when she moved to another state, got married, had kids and is living what I presume is a happy, fulfilled life. Oh we try to stay in touch, but, I’m not good at it. I sometimes have trouble staying in touch with my husband, and we live together.

I have a friend from days-gone-by, 30+ to be inexact. Our contact over the years has been spotty and at times non-existent. Our lives have taken us in very different directions. We haven’t lived in the same town for 22 years. We don’t live similar lives (I don’t think so anyway, she has children and all the responsibility that comes with that and I don’t). I still adore her. I still think back to the whacky adventures and plans we had together. I still smile when I hear her voice on my voice mail.

Former friends with whom I’ve had a specific falling out. Past friends who just sort of slipped away due to proximity or convenience sake. Happening upon an old friend in the airport in another state with the same foreign destination. Friends I’ve actually lost at the bottom of my mental filing cabinet contacting me out of the blue. There are a zillion scenarios in my nearly 43 years of life on this planet.

I’m doing my best to treasure, love and support those whilst they are in my life. That doesn’t mean I’m doing a great job, it does mean I’m trying.

Friends are in our lives for different purposes.

A reason, A season or A lifetime.

There is no real way to know which category someone will fall into.

Calendar - April 2011

CLICK HERE for the larger version. As you may be able to glean, I've not been inspired by all the rain and cold and gray.

Working on it though.

Happy April Fool's day. Play any fun tricks on anyone today?