FFwD: Deconstructed BLT with Eggs

It has been a beautiful day!  After I picked up my children from school, we spent the afternoon on the beach... taking full advantage of the British heat wave!  A simple, delicious salad for dinner was perfect.

I love BLTs or anything with bacon for that matter.  This was super easy to pull together as you can make all of the components ahead of time.  I made hard boiled eggs per the recipe, but also made one with a fried egg just for fun.  The fried egg definitely gave it a breakfast feel, but was nice.  Next time I may try adding avocados, yum!

Happy Weekend!

FFwD: Honey-Spiced Madeleines

I did make my madeleines on Friday, but just getting time to post.  Yesterday, I participated in an event to sell baked goods so my kitchen has been a total disaster all week.

I was looking forward to making these because they're one of my daughter's favourite cookies/cakes.  After refrigerating the batter overnight it seemed light and almost foamy. Not sure if that's normal because that's about the time we realised our fridge was on the blink!  I won't fill my tins so full next time, most of them went over the sides and they didn't really have the indentations that are characteristic of a madeleine.  They were nice and I will give them another try when I haven't just baked: 6 dozen cupcakes, 4 dozen cookies, 14 brownies and 50 cake push-up pops!

Happy Sunday!

Over-filled tins

My madeleine pan was angled, so I wonder if I didn't put it on
another baking sheet they would have browned more on the bottom?

My disaster of a kitchen

My madeleines weren't a huge success this week,
but the bake sale was!

FFwD: Cinnamon-Crunch Chicken

I'll have to admit I wasn't quite sure what a Speculoo cookie was until about a week ago.  I was having coffee with a friend and noticed the name Specullo on the wrapper of the cookie that came with my coffee.  So funny, I can't even imagine how many of those cookies I've mindlessly eaten and never knew their name.

Tonight my dinner audience consisted of my 6 year old son and 9 year old daughter.  So, when I said we were having chicken with cookies they were beyond excited!

I used a low fat creme fraiche because that's all I could find today.  I wasn't sure if 2 cookies would be enough, so I added 2 more and crushed some to sprinkle on top of the finished dish.  Served with sautéed asparagus and sugar snap peas.  It was super easy to make and a big hit in our house tonight!

Remembrance Cakes for 9/11

While clicking through food blogs I enjoy reading, I invariably find new ones to read.  Last night I came across Family Fresh Cooking .  Lovely website with a wonderful idea, to bake in remembrance of those lost on 9/11.  My heart will forever go out to all those that lost a loved one or friend on that day.

So today I baked...

Apple Custard Tart

This is a Julia Child recipe that I came across posted on My Baking Addiction.  I cook at a residential home for 14 and they love anything baked with apples and custard!  This one went down a hit with just a dollop of cinnamon whipped cream.

Classic Brownies

I unfortunately found the Tuesdays with Dorie online baking group after it had closed because they'd already baked through half the book.  But, I have the cookbook Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan and bake along unofficially.  This was a delicious brownie, but I may have under baked mine just a tad.  Classic chocolate, would be great with a scoop of ice cream!

Risotto Cakes

Tonight I used up my leftover cheesy, garlicky rice with spinach in risotto cakes.  They were so tasty, I thought I'd share the idea incase you still had some in your fridge.  I used a recipe from Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics cookbook.  Shape the rice into cakes, coat with panko bread crumbs and pan fry with a little olive oil.  Made a really easy Sunday night dinner.

No dredging in egg, just press the
bread crumbs onto the cake

Dinner in 15 minutes!

FFwD: Cheesy, Garlicky Rice with Spinach

I was really interested in trying this one after years of making risotto the Italian way.  I'll have to say the French version is a little easier to make and turned out creamier.  It was nice to not have to stand over the pot ladling the broth into the rice.  Vegetarian meals don't go down well in my house so I pan fried some chicken breast with mushrooms to go along with the rice.  I think fish would complement it better, but we're having fish tomorrow night so I went with the bird since we had crab last week.  I thought it was really tasty, loved the gruyere and I added a little bit of nutmeg to the spinach.  Will make this again!

Liquid almost completely absorbed

Rice with the cheese and onion & spinach 

Supper time!

FFwD Corn Soup

Corn and crab meat soup is one of my favourite dishes to order when we go out for Chinese food.  So, I was really excited to try this one.  A very easy soup to make and it didn't disappoint!  The saltiness of the bacon, creme fraiche and crab meat really made it for me. Definitely tastier than the Chinese version.

My husbands first comment when he tasted it out of the pan was that's really sweet.  After his first bite when it was served with all the goodies was that's lovely!  And it was lovely, perfect way to start the weekend!

all the veggies

corn milk

Everything in one pot.  The herbs smelled wonderful
once they went in.  But, the rosemary was really
strong, so I took one sprig out and added a
little more thyme.

For toppings I went with green onion, fresh chilies,
bacon, creme fraiche and fresh crab meat.

Delicious!