Sourdough Cherry Bread Pudding

What did you make?

This is my first attempt at bread pudding! I used sourdough bread from my recent trip to San Francisco, some dried cherries, and the egg and milk mixture. I used 3 eggs and 2.5 cups of milk along with 1.5 cups of a honey and sugar combo, cinnamon, and vanilla. I poured on some melted butter and sugar from the leftovers of my graham cracker goodness leftovers from Breakfast for Dinner as well.

Once roughly 6 cups of sourdough bread were added to the pan, you pour in the

How long did it take?

This took the 50 minutes to bake as well as 15 more to tear apart the bread and mix together the wet ingredients.

How did it taste?

This was initially very very good! It smells great too! I would rate it an 8. The one flaw is it is a little too sweet for me. I think I underestimated the extra honey and the extra sugar and butter. The crusts are my favorite part because it provided a nice chewiness.

Wiener Schnitzel

Thanks to Nina from Germany

What did you make?

This was typical weekend-dinner in my family: Wiener Schnitzel, french fries, and for vetables: fried endive with cheese and fennel.


How long did it take?
tba


How did it taste?
Yum!

Couscous Tomato Chicken Soup

What did you make?

I made a soup base from the rotisserie chicken carcass. Then I sauteed garlic, onions, corn, and kidney beans. After letting the chicken simmer, I added the sauteed vegetables along with the canned tomatoes. I also added couscous to thicken the soup. To turn this into a Mexican chicken soup, you can add crushed tortilla chips instead of couscous.

How long did it take?

This takes around 45 minutes because you want to let the soup simmer. The preparation can be simultaneous because the stock can be simmering as the rest of the ingredients are being prepared.

How did it taste?

I would rate this a 7.5. I usually use tortilla chips which help season this soup. This time something was a little off because of the seasoning.

Shrimp Dishes (by Mom)

What did you make?

My mom in San Francisco made a few shimp dishes for the week. The first is roughly translated to "Hot Oil Shrimp". The dish just uses a Chinese wine, pepper, scallions and some oil. The second dish uses shrimp that is marinated in pepper and cornstarch. The interesting trick about washing shrimp is to wash it in warm salt water until it doesn't feel slimy. It is then sauteed with these pea shoots.

How long did it take?

My mom is very efficient in the kitchen so she claims this took her around 15 minutes. The actual cooking takes 15 minutes or less but it might take more time to prep depending on whether you've done this before.

How did it taste?

It tasted like sunshine, love, and San Francisco-- just kidding. It tasted very good-- I'd rate it a 9.5. The first dish is a bit more complicated because you have to either eat the shrimp shell or peel it. The second dish is tasty and better than most restaurant shrimp dishes.

German Dumplings

Thanks to Nina from Germany

What did you make?

Really easy and quick to make dumplings: take flour, (about 200 grams) and put two eggs in the middle, a teaspoon of salt and then mix with a mixer/whisk. Add some sparkling water (if you want, also a bit milk). Ready! Serve with semolina that was fried in butter....add some apricots.

How did it taste?

This always tastes great, I would give it a 9 for being to easy and quick to make and so tasty with the buttery semolina. The apricots make a nice juicy addition. Lovely!

Happy Belated St. Patty's Day!

What did you make?

A guest had a Bailey's craving and added Bailey's over crushed ice. Chocolate shavings topped off the drink.

How long did it take?

Less than 5 minutes

How did it taste?

It tasted good. The chocolate gave it extra texture.

Breakfast for Dinner!

What did you make?

We had a few menu items.

First there was the yogurt apple cake (look to the "Life is Sweet" post for the recipe). I added some lemon juice and lemon pieces on the apples before adding some honey and then the rest of the batter.

I also found an interesting graham cracker recipe aka graham cracker goodness (found it http://www.cookthink.com/) that called for equal parts melted butter and sugar to be put on the cracker. Then chocolate was added and finally it was baked along with the cake until the butter and sugar hardened and chocolate melted.

We also made some crepes. I found the recipe online. I used 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of flour, and 3 tablespoons of butter.

Multigrain banana chocolate pancakes were also made.

We also had scrambled eggs and salad to balance out all the sugar.

How long did it take?

This took around an hour but it is hard to say since we ate as each dish was made. There was (somewhat) organized chaos in the kitchen.

How did it taste? Would you make it again?

It tasted great! It was truly a team effort to make these dishes. Sometimes it felt more like dessert than breakfast for dinner :) The graham cracker goodness was particularly different and the multigrain pancake mix from Trader Joes was also very delicious.