Tag: Brunch

Fantastic Frittata for your Valentine

Carrie1 Comment

On Saturday, I had some wonderful ladies over for a Valentine’s brunch.  Everyone deserves a Valentine’s Day treat.  I made sure to have a nice tablescape as well as a delicious menu.  I couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out.  I featured chocolate dipped strawberries in the center of the table because nothing says “I appreciate you” like a chocolate.  I created free-form white chocolate hearts out of Wilton candy melts to place intermittently on the tray with the strawberries.  I also made chocolate-dipped Oreos as well.  I placed a heart napkin in the center of each place setting to make the place setting a bit more festive.  I used fabric in the center of the table which is an easy way to create a runner and can often be cheaper than buying a table runner.

IMG_0404For the menu, I made overnight blueberry french toast, scalloped potatoes, and an egg frittata.  This was the first time I made a frittata and I must say it was a success.  I used Ina Garten’s recipe and doctored it up slightly by adding turkey sausage to the original recipe.  You can really put anything you would like into the frittata as long as you keep the egg base the same.  Below I will give you the adapted recipe for Ina’s roasted veggie frittata and then you can alter it as you please.

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Roasted Vegetable Frittata

ingredients

1 small zucchini, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 1 red onion, 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 tsp minced garlic, 12 eggs, 1 cup half and half, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon butter, 1/2 cup grated cheese (swiss, mozzarella, gouda, asiago…really whatever you have on hand will do just fine)

1.  Preheat oven to 425.

2.  Dice the vegetables and place on a sheet pan.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic.  Toss the vegetables around on the tray to make sure the vegetables are evenly coated.  Bake for about 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and turn the oven to 350.

3.  In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half, parmesan, grated cheese, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper.

4.  In a 10 inch ovenproof saute pan, melt the butter and saute veggies for one minute.  Pour the egg mixture over the veggies and cook for 2 minutes over medium heat.  DO NOT STIR.  Transfer the pan to the oven and bake the frittata for 20 to 30 minutes until it is set in the middle.  You can flip the frittata out of the pan for the table presentation.  It will be brown on the outside but perfectly cooked on the inside.  Enjoy!

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Weekend Brunch: Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

CarrieLeave a comment

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If you have a special guest for breakfast on the weekend, this is a simply and impressive dish to prepare for the morning hunger pangs. Take your favorite loaf of bread (in this case, I used cobblestone bread from Ward’s Pastry in Ocean City). Brioche bread also works well. Make sure you have a whole loaf so you can cut the slices extra thick. Here is the recipe to make two stuffed pieces. You can double, triple, or quadruple the recipe depending on how many guests you have to feed.

Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

Ingredients
Strawberry Cream Cheese, Two 1-inch thick slices of bread, 1 egg, 3 tbsp milk, 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla extract, sliced fresh strawberries, canola oil and butter for frying

1. Make an incision in the bread to create a pocket for stuffing.
2. Stuff about a tablespoon of cream cheese into the pocket.
3. In a pie dish, mix together the egg, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.
4. Soak the bread in this mixture on both sides until the egg mixture is absorbed into the bread.
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5. Heat a small frying pan with one tbsp canola oil and a small pat of butter. Place the two stuffed slices of bread in the pan. Flip over after about three minutes and cook on the other side.
6. Place french toast on a plate and top with sliced strawberries. Now you are ready to enjoy this delightful treat! Happy Saturday everyone!