French toast, the right way?

It's been weeks since I made this French toast.

Maybe even a month. But... boys and girls... my mouth is watering as if I were sitting in front of this decadence right now, after having fasted for a week.


What's so great about it?

Well... in addition to the fact that it is French toast made with PUMPKIN BREAD (I knoooow!), it is French toast that I actually made the right way.

I didn't know I was making it wrong all these years, but I was.


The right way starts out as I thought... A couple of eggs, some milk, and whatever flavoring sounds good to you. This time I shook in some cinnamon and splashed in some vanilla.

But... then... you let the bread soak in it. Now... this... for me... is different. I've always been a dunk, dunk, pan person myself, but... no longer! Let that jank soak!

When it does make it to the pan, just brown it. Don't worry about the innards, they'll get their due in a minute, when you...


bake it.

That's right, kittens. This is where the magic happens.

All that cinnamon vanilla custardy mix that crept into the the crevices of that soaking bread earlier, is now going to souffle up and make for the most wonderful, fluffy/firm French toast experience you've ever had.


Just look at that heft! That crumb! That sweet, pumpkin, cinnamon, vanilla, eggy goodness!

Ugh. Ima need a minute.

Rainbow French Toast (and a Moral)

Things happen.


But when they do... you usually have new options. (Like removing the icing and starting again...


By soaking cupcake slices in a custardy, almond flavored mixture.



And frying them up. And baking them for a few minutes after that.)


This time, I found out that though rainbow cupcakes are tasty, rainbow cupcake French toast is amazingly, woah Nelly delicious.

So, I guess what I'm saying is... it gets better.

(I'm also saying that this happened on a lazy weekend morning that demanded brunch. My cabinets, however, were ridiculously bare... so the cupcakes had to stand in for breads.)

Cupgaykes for all!

Today (October 11th) is National Coming Out Day!

So, I think it's time I share something with you.

This cupcake...

And this one...

All of these...

And even these unbaked cupcakes... are gay.

And it would make about as much sense to turn down one of these cupgaykes for being different as it would to do the same to a person.

Dear cupgaykes,

I love you just the way you are.

Love,

Amanda

Oh, and for a touch of irony... these cupgaykes came from a box. :)

Fries of a Different Type...

Not everything is what it seems. If you know me, you should know this.

If you've read my blog, you should also know this. C'mon... I'm the girl who eats (and likes) facon. And turkey burgers. And carrot fries.

But today I have some uh-ther fries to tell you about. They're made of...

*drumroll, please*


Bagels!

Hahaha... You're excited. I can tell. : ) I can hear you buzzing on the other side of the screen.

Truth be told, I had tried bagel fries on campus last week, so this experiment was more of a recreation than anything else.

Whatever the case... I started by slicing a bagel into steak fry-like shapes. Then I tossed them into a skillet of butter and garlic...

Let them hang out and toast a bit...
Flipped them a couple of times to toast on all sides... (salting as I turned)

And la-tee-freakin-da. Bagel fries.

Mmm... delicious and buttery. So awkwardly decadent. I couldn't decide if I should be savoring the moment or... ya know... treating it like a bagel.

In the end, I decided that if decadence arrives in a bagel fry package, then it's not my place to question it.

I used some of my bagel fries to scoop up some forty spice hummus too. That, also, was not a bad call.

*drools on keyboard*

Oops. Sorry. Anyway... gotta run! Hundreds of cupcakes hang in the balance!

(Not kidding. Keep your eyes on the blog and twitter for updates!)

Sausages, of link and patty

Alright, so there are no links... but patties! I made sausage patties! ME... the girl who doesn't like to touch meat!

INCONCEIVABLE! (you say)

Not so, kittens! (now we're back to me again)

Here's the sitch: I had 1/2 lb of leftover ground pork from the meatloaf meat-rubbing experience you read about a bit ago. (Don't worry... this post is a little late. The meat was very much still fresh when I sausaged it.) So I thought about what ground pork on its lonesome was actually good for. And... I had no idea. So I consulted allrecipes.com's ingredient search.

Are you familiar with this tool, kittens? Because it's awesome and you should be.

You just list the ingredients you do and don't want (I wanted neither a breakfast casserole or liverwurst) and voila! It gives you options. I saw sausages popping up all over the place, so I went in that direction.

I read a bunch of sausage patty recipes and decided that few of them had everything I wanted. And as far as the ones that did... well, I didn't have everything they wanted. (Such is life, right?) So I finagled and guessed... and came up with this:


To my 1/2 lb of ground pork, I added:

1/3 teaspoon thyme
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 teaspoon crushed red pepper
few shakes of hot sauce
a good drizzling of butter maple syrup

Then I put my hand in a Ziploc bag...


(Aren't those things versatile?!*) And I mixed up the meat without having to touch it or thoroughly devastate it with a spoon.

After spending some quality time in a skillet on medium high heat...


My sausage patties were ready for action. And they were quite good! Spicy and sausagey without being too greasy or heavy. I loved them. So much so that I...


cut up a patty the next morning, cracked an egg over it, and made a sausage, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich that made my work lunch. And, let's be honest, my whole day.

* My mom, who is of the I'm-not-going-to-look-so-you-just-narrate-for-me camp of scary movie watchers, has come up with a particularly genius way of watching scary movies through a ziploc bag. I'd explain... but she might never forgive me to putting just this part on the interwebs. Point is... ziploc bags are the bomb.

Video Post: Halloween Prep

Just in case you've ever wondered what it would be like to be my mirror...



Now you know.

Any guesses regarding my Halloween costume??

(P.S. If I've told you, then it's not a guess. Play fair!)