King Cake

Happy Mardi Gras! Being from New Orleans, this is one of my favorite times of year, though it's always a little sad when I don't get to go home for it. To make up for it though, I always bake a couple king cakes throughout the season. The Mardi Gras season officially starts on Epiphany, which is January 6, and lasts until the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. (In case you don't know, Ash Wednseday is always 46 days before Easter, which traditionally falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. It's complicated, I know.) Depending on when that is, Mardi Gras day can fall anywhere from February 3 to March 9, giving me anywhere from just under a month to just over 2 months to bake king cakes to my heart's content.

At this point you might be asking yourself, "What is a king cake anyway?" Well, dear reader, a king cake is traditionally served during the Mardi Gras season--in case you hadn't figured that much out already. It's not really a cake per se; it's actually much more bread-like. Flavorwise, it's a bit like a giant cinnamon roll, though don't let anyone fool you into thinking that it is just a giant cinnamon roll because it's not. The differences are subtle, yes, but it's still not a cinnamon roll. A plastic baby is also placed inside the cake, and finding it in your piece is good luck (and symbolizes the wise men finding baby Jesus in the manger). Typically when we would have Mardi Gras parties in school and such, whoever finds the baby also brings in the next king cake, in which case you may not feel it's so luck after all. Also, take it from the voice of experience here, when you go to cut the cake, try to remember where you put the baby so that you don't cut it in half. Nobody likes finding half a baby in their cake.

Amish Friendship Bread

Justin and I went to our 10 year high school reunion this past summer. In addition to getting to hang out with people we haven't seen in 10 years, I also picked up a tasty new recipe. After leaving the official reunion, a few of us went back to a classmate's home where she offered us some Amish friendship bread. I'd never even heard of it, but I'm not one to turn down something that sounds awesome. It may be called bread, but it's really more of a cake--and I've hardly ever met a cake I didn't like. I'm glad I tried it because it really is quite yummy. I immediately asked for the recipe, and when the weather turned cooler this past weekend, it was the first thing I thought to bake.

The reason that this is called friendship bread (I'm not sure about the Amish part, and neither is Wikipedia apparently) is because you're supposed to make several cups of a starter mixture and then share the starter with friends so that they can make their own bread, retaining enough to make some for yourself as well, obviously. You can also just make the starter for yourself, one batch worth at a time, if you don't feel like sharing. I've included the instructions for both versions of the starter below, so you're free to make it however you like.

Chopped Challenge #5, Part 2: White Cheddar Bread Pudding

When I worked at the coffee shop, my boss would always talk about taking the leftover croissants and making a savory bread pudding with them. He never did. He'd make chocolate bread pudding but never a savory one. Going into this challenge, I knew because of that that savory bread pudding was a thing, but I'd never actually had it. (I'd never even had normal, dessert bread pudding until I made this one for Thanksgiving last year.) I knew that this is what I wanted to try to make though, but I wasn't sure how it would come out.

Now that I've made it, I think it might be one of my new favorite things. Justin seemed a little weirded out by it because he said that the texture reminded him a little bit of quiche. (He doesn't like the texture of baked eggs at all, which is really sad because I love quiche.) That being said, he still ate it, so I guess that's something. I, however, can't wait to make this again. It was fluffy and flavorful and filled with cheese & garlic goodness. I might have to try to adapt it into a dinner recipe of its own. Throw in some more veggies and some meat and see where it takes me.

Braided White Bread

Working in a coffee shop, you get to know your regular customers. You get to actually like some of them, too, to the point that you actually enjoy making their drinks and talking to them when they come in. On my first day of work at the coffee shop, my boss introduced me to a lovely couple who came in for a cup of coffee or two pretty much every afternoon. They're big into baking (and are generally super awesome people, too), so we hit it off pretty well. They're baking speciality is bread. Lots and lots of bread. Every now and then they'd bring some in to the shop for us to try out, and oh my. There really is nothing like fresh, homemade bread.

Grilled Three-Cheese & Rosemary Sandwiches

Justin and I love grilled cheese. First of all, who doesn't like cheese? It's pretty spectacular. Then it's also just so easy to make. Slap some butter and cheese on some bread and toss it in a hot pan. Voila, dinner. Tangent alert: I don't like it when people make "grilled cheese" with meat on it. That's not grilled cheese. That's a grilled sandwich with cheese on it. That's a poor man's panini. I'm sure it's still freaking delicious, but it's not grilled cheese. I can make an allowance for veggies I suppose, but even that's a little iffy to me; you're still verging on grilled sandwich territory there.

Sorry about that. I get really passionate about my grilled cheese. Anyway, in my book, you really can't beat the childhood favorite grilled cheese, white bread with Kraft singles. However, sometimes we like to pretend to be adults and fancy it up a bit. That's where this grilled cheese sandwich comes in. It still has the American cheese in there to give it that classic, gooey creaminess, but it also adds sharp cheddar for a little bite and Swiss cheese for a rich nuttiness. The rosemary butter gives it a hint of freshness. While this will never be my absolute favorite grilled cheese, it's a good alternative for when I want to feel a bit more sophisticated. My one major tip for this sandwich is to put the American cheese in the center of the other two slices. Being harder cheeses, they'll take a bit longer to melt, so having each of them right up against the bread should help with that a bit.

Bourbon Bread Pudding

I came across this recipe on Bon Appetit's website while browsing around one day last year. Knowing that Justin's dad loves bread pudding and that we all love bourbon in just about anything, I decided that I would attempt to make this for Thanksgiving. I made it as the original recipe stated with the exception of leaving the crust on the bread and omitting the poppy seeds. It was insanely amazing. Justin's dad declared that I have to make it every time we come to visit. I talked him down to at least making it a new Thanksgiving tradition. It really was that good. (Confession time: I'd never had bread pudding before that. Every restaurant in New Orleans has bread pudding on their menu, but as a kid, why would you want to order a dessert with bread in the name when you could order something with ice cream, cookie, brownie, or cake in the name instead? Having had this as my first one, I judge all other bread puddings based on this one; they have a lot to live up to.)

Roast Beef Foldovers

This is one of my absolute favorite sandwiches. I make it for lunch fairly often and dinner occasionally. For me, the thing that makes this sandwich more awesome than a regular roast beef sandwich is the bread. I always use garlic naan. If you haven't had naan before, you don't know what you're missing. It's a type of flatbread, but it's puffy and soft; it's not tough like some flatbreads can be. Once you heat it up and all that garlic aroma gets released, mmmm...

Texas Toast Pizza

Justin and I saw an ad for Pizza Hut's new garlic bread pizza, and the ingredients to make it at home immediately went on our grocery list. For toppings, I went with crumbled, all-chicken Italian sausage, and Justin chose crumbled chorizo. We also used slices of fresh mozzarella, my absolute favorite thing to put on pizza.

This is an extremely quick and easy weeknight meal, especially if you go with toppings that don't need to be cooked separately. All you have to do is cook the Texas toast, top with sauce, cheese, and whatever other toppings you desire, and pop them back in the oven until the cheese melts. Aside from cooking the sausage, this took literally all of 10-15 minutes to make.

Fiesta Chicken Bread

Justin was browsing through the Chive one day last month and found this food post. When we saw number 20, we decided we had to know A) what exactly it was, B) how to make it, and C) how awesome it would taste. Analyzing the photo, I decided that it obviously included bread of some sort, bacon, cheese, and what I thought might be some sort of ranch dressing. I googled bread bacon cheese ranch, and voila, I found myself at the recipe for Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pulls on Plain Chicken.