Corned Beef Hash

Well, this is finally the last of my posts from all of the Irish American food that we had last week to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I used the last of my corned beef to make a simple corned beef hash with some diced potatoes and some seasoning.  Topped with a sunny-side up egg, this made for a great weekend breakfast with the last of our leftover soda bread and a glass of cold milk. This is nothing fancy, but it sure is delicious!

Corned Beef Hash
Source: No source, but not an original recipe, either, as everyone makes corned beef hash this way!

3-4 slices corned beef, diced into small cubes
1 potato, peeled and diced into small cubes
1/2 Vidalia onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
2 eggs

1. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan over medium high heat. Add the onions, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and mix.

2. Add the potato and the corned beef to the pan, and mix well.  Season with salt and pepper. Cover and let cook, stirring every few minutes, until the potatoes are softened and all of the ingredients are browned, approximately 15 minutes total.

3. When the corned beef hash is just about finished, crack two eggs in another pan, season with salt and pepper, and cook just until the egg whites are set. Serve the eggs over the corned beef hash.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

These are the best muffins that I’ve ever made, and they might just be the best muffins that I’ve ever eaten. They are seriously delicious. I made them to eat for breakfast in order to finish up some extra cream cheese in the fridge and some pumpkin puree that I had in the freezer from last fall, and I’m so excited about how great these turned out. The muffin itself is really soft with all of the cinnamon-spicy flavors of pumpkin, and the filling is so rich and creamy. It’s almost like biting into a pumpkin cake with a nice filling of cream cheese frosting inside. So unbelieveably good!! And the streusel topping of sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon tastes delicious, too, as any streusel does. This recipe really is perfect, and it tastes as good in the winter time as it would in the fall :) I love the fall time, so it’s actually kind of fun to enjoy a little something in the middle of winter that reminds me of that time of year.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Source: Annie’s Eats

I cut this recipe in half to make 12 muffins. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

For the muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground clvoes
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
Just over 3/4 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree

For the filling
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar

For the streusel topping
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter, cubed
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and the powdered sugar, and whip until smooth with an electric mixer. Form the cream cheese mixture into a log on plastic wrap, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan. Wrap the log up tightly, and freeze it until it is slightly hardened, approximately 1-2 hours.

2. To make the muffins, combine the flour, spices, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In another bowl, combine the eggs, canola oil, sugar, and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined.

3. To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix together with two forks until crumbly.

4. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a muffin pan (with 12 muffin wells) with paper liners. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well halfway with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer, and slice it into 12 equal slices. Place a slice in each muffin well. Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, spooning it on top of the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

French Toast Strata

On our honeymoon, B and I stayed at a bed and breakfast in Napa Valley that offered amazing breakfasts every morning. Each breakfast was really decadent with three courses and all kinds of new foods that I hadn’t had before, and I remember those breakfasts as some of the best breakfasts that I’ve ever had. Since Valentine’s Day fell on a Saturday this year, I decided to use it as an excuse to cook a fancier breakfast that I wouldn’t normally make. I made this French toast strata remembering that we had eaten something similar for the first time at the bed and breakfast. We haven’t had anything similar since, so I was really excited to try it out on my own. It turned out amazing! This recipe is basically a casserole version of French toast with cream cheese, raisins, and cinnamon sugar added in, and it’s a great comfort food. You make the casserole the evening before cooking it, giving the syrup mixture time to soak into the bread, and the end result is a really indulgent dish with a cinnamony rich, syrupy flavor. Served with some fresh strawberries, this is a fancy little breakfast that tastes wonderful.

French Toast Strata
Source: How Stuff Works (random, I know)

4 cups day-old Italian bread, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1/3 cup raisins
3 oz cream cheese, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Additional maple syrup, for serving
Fresh strawberries

1. Spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place the bread cubes in the dish, and then sprinkle the raisins and the cream cheese evenly over the bread.

2.  Beat the eggs in a bowl until blended. Add the milk, 1/2 cup maple syrup, and vanilla, and mix well. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the strata.

4. Bake the strata, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until it is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Serve with additional maple syrup and fresh strawberries.

Banana Bread

I love making quick breads during this time of the year. There’s something about having a few pieces of bread for breakfast with a glass of milk that is just so comforting. This banana bread is another recipe from my Mom, and it’s fabulous. The outside gets almost crispy from the butter, and the inside of the bread is so amazingly soft and moist. More so, I think, than any other bread that I’ve had. And if you use really overripe bananas, the banana flavor is awesome. I love to eat this bread plain, but I’ve also tried it heated up in the microwave for a few seconds and spread with some peanut butter. That is really delicious, too. My house smelled so completely sweet and wonderful while this was baking. Just thinking of it makes me so excited to have another piece :)

Banana Bread
Source: Mom

1 2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter
1 1/4 cup bananas (3)
2/3 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1. Cream together the sugar, butter, and bananas.

2. Add the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until combined.

3. Stir in the flour, baking soda, and baking powder until well blended.

4. Bake at 350 degrees in two greased loaf pans. Cool for 20-30 minutes in the pans, and then turn out onto wire racks to continue cooling.

Pumpkin Bread

This bread is legendary in my family as being one of the most important parts of Thanksgiving day. It’s my Mom’s recipe, and for my entire life she has always made a million loaves on the day before Thanksgiving for the big meal. We all pile it right on the dinner plate, alongside the turkey and stuffing and gravy and everything else that is so delicious. As a kid, we’d eat it for days after Thanksgiving for breakfast or for dessert with whipped cream on top. These days, B and I usually eat Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house and then move on to another Thanksgiving dinner at his parents’ house before heading back home, so I usually only eat maybe a half of a slice. It’s just not right. So, last year, I started a little tradition of making a couple loaves of this bread a few weeks before Thanksgiving. I love doing this so much and have been counting down to it for weeks now :) I can’t do it too early, because it’s like my own official little start to the holiday season. As soon as I smell that bread cooking, it just feels like happy, and in my mind the holidays are here. I’ll be splurging on this for breakfast up until Thanksgiving, alongside a nice glass of cold milk. It’s the little things :)

So that’s my little story. About the bread itself, though, it really is as good as I make it seem to be. It’s incredibly moist and soooo flavorful. It tastes like cinnamon and cloves and everything that Thanksgiving time should be. My favorite part is that little section on the top of the bread (you can see it in this photo) where the crust breaks apart while cooking. After cooling and sitting wrapped up for a day, it gets super soft and gooey right there. I always save that bite for last with every piece that I eat :)

Thought: I want to make a sandwich with leftover turkey and cranberry sauce and use this bread. And gravy. Why have I not done this??

Pumpkin Bread
Source: Mom

2/3 cup shortening
2 2/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
16 oz can pumpkin
2/3 cup water
1 1 /2 teaspoon salt
3 1/3 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves

1. Cream the shortening and sugar together in a large bowl.

2. Mix in the eggs, pumpkin, and water.

3. Mix in the salt, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves.

4. Bake at 350 degrees in 2 greased loaf pans for approximately 60 minutes.

Cinnamon Buttermilk Bread

I made this bread to use some extra buttermilk that I had in the fridge. I made some adjustments to make it a little healthier, and I think that it came out well….there’s a nice sugary coating of cinnamon on the outside, and the bread is almost wet with cinnamon swirls on the inside. Mmm..breakfast all week.

Cinnamon Buttermilk Bread
Source: Adapted from All Recipes, Cinnamon Buttermilk Bread

I’ve made this bread according to the recipe once before, and I thought that it was way too dry. Following is the recipe with the adjustments that I made for a moister bread and a healthier bread. I still think that it’s a bit too dry – maybe next time I’ll up the applesauce to 3/4 or 1 cup and see what happens. This makes enough for two loaves.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar, divided
2 cups low-fat buttermilk
2/3 cup applesauce
2 eggs
2 tablespoons cinnamon

1. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2. In another bowl, combine the applesauce and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Add the buttermilk and eggs, and mix well.

3. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.

4. Fill two greased bread loaf pans approximately 1/3 full. Combine 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon, and sprinkle half of the mixture over the batter in the two loaf pans. Top with the remaining batter, and then top with the remaining cinnamon mixture. Swirl the batter with a knife.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.