Ruth's Recipe!

Today we're making... what are we making today, Ruth?

What is all this?

Well, you've gathered quite a few things, but these ingredients seem really random. Rice, whole-wheat flour, dried cranberries, Karo (corn) syrup... "Why do you have both brown sugar and molasses? There's molasses in brown sugar already."
"There is?" Black asks. "Oh. Well, maybe it's not enough molasses."
"I wanted dark brown sugar, but you only have light. So we add extra molasses," Ruth explains.
"I suppose that makes sense," I reply. "Um, Red, you do know that's mint extract, not the vanilla, right?"
"That's what Ruth asked for," Red tells me. He sounds a little confused as well.
All this, plus white chocolate M&Ms, sliced almonds, and marzipan. "I don't get it, Ruth. What are we making? You didn't give me a recipe, and I don't see how all this goes together at all."
Ruth looks up at me and starts laughing. "Indeed it does not, Miaka. The recipe is April Fool!"
"It is a Fae tradition," Hi-chan explains. "Mostly just an excuse to pull pranks like always, but one day of the year when no one gets punished for pranks."
"Robin gets away with pranks all the time, though," Black points out.
"Like the time with the pants," Red adds.
"That sounds like a story you'll have to tell me..."

April Fool! So there's no recipe today! Look forward to Sablée Cookies tomorrow, though!

Make-Ahead French Toast

Today's recipe for Make-Ahead French Toast comes from About.com. (Link will take you directly to the recipe.)
This isn't our usual fare, but it is baked, and this was a slightly crazy week for Archi and myself, which threw Ruth and the others for a bit of a loop as well.
"French toast sounds interesting," Ruth remarked. "I don't think I've done that before. What is it? And why is it called 'French'?"
I blinked, a little surprised at the question. "Um, I'm not really sure. No one seems to know if it's actually a French recipe, and it's got several different names in various languages. The French themselves tend to call it 'pain perdu' which means something like 'lost bread'. It seems to have been invented originally to use up stale bread without it tasting stale."
"Reclaiming stale bread?" Ruth asked, sounding intrigued. "That sounds like a good recipe to know. May we try it?"
"Sure!" I agreed. "It works best with extra-thick cut bread, or dried out or stale bread. Probably work even better with thick-cut half-stale bread."
"All your bread is wrapped up in 'plastic', though," Ruth pointed out.
I smiled. "If I pull some bread out of its plastic and stick it in the oven, I can dry it out a little fairly quickly." Sticking it in the oven keeps anything from getting at it, but still lets it dry. If you really want to speed things up, put the oven on very low heat, about 200°F/95°C.
So, with our dried bread prepped, let's get started!

Here we have nearly everything we need for the Make-Ahead French toast. I say 'mostly everything' because the bread is still in the oven drying--if you use fresh bread with this recipe it'll get really soggy and want to fall apart.
Ruth has the cinnamon and is standing on the brown sugar. Hi-chan has woven herself between the cream and vanilla to make sure Black has the eggs well in hand. One of the eggs rolled in front of the nutmeg and hit Red in the wing as he was wrangling the measuring spoons and measuring cup. "Hey!" Red objected. "Watch where you're rolling those!"
"It escaped, sorry!" Black apologized. "Why are you putting things in the baking dish anyway? Don't we need that to mix stuff in?"
"Oh yeah," Red answered sheepishly, picking the measuring spoons back up. "I forgot." Everyone started laughing.
"Well, it isn't like there's much counter space to put things on anyway," I reassure the small dragon.
It's probably a good thing the plastic wrap didn't get brought over--there's no space for it! Of course, we've also forgotten the whisk.

Once everything is pulled back out of the baking dish, Black perches herself on one handle to supervise while the others wrangle the four eggs.

Ruth hands me each egg, and I carefully crack them into the dish. Black finds the spread-pattern intriguing.

Ruth likes the whisk best for beating eggs. Make sure the yolks are broken and mixed in quite well with the whites.

Hi-chan adds 1/2 cup (118mL) of cream. You can use milk instead (same amounts), I just wanted to use up some of the cream.

Black happily adds 1/4 cup packed brown sugar (60g). She giggles as it lands with a soft plop beneath the measuring cup. Everyone else seems more interested in watching the spread pattern of the cream.

Red takes charge of the measuring spoon to add 2 teaspoons of vanilla. This gives a nice touch of flavor to the French toast. "Oh, that's neat," Red remarks, watching the pattern the vanilla makes in the milk as it spreads out.

Red also insists on being the one to add the cinnamon, and neatly dumps in 1/4 teaspoon. Spices can be adjusted to taste. Archi and I both like cinnamon, so that quarter-teaspoon was a touch bit heaping.

"Oops," says Hi-chan as she loses control of the 1/4 teaspoon measure. "I didn't mean to add the spoon."
"Hi-chan!" Red objects, upset. "You were only supposed to add the nutmeg!"
"Sorry... I'll fish it out."
"No fish!" Red yelps. "Just nutmeg! And no spoon either!"
Hi-chan gives Red a confused look for a moment. "What fish? I'll get the spoon out. The nutmeg is in already at least, and there isn't anything else we need that measuring spoon for."
"Fortunately," I agree, grabbing the spoon before Hi-chan has a chance to. "And the spoon washes easily enough, Red, calm down." He continues pouting.

Ruth sets the whisk down long enough to add a pinch of salt. He really likes the whisk!

The salt was the last of the ingredients that go in the 'batter', so Ruth takes up the whisk again to mix everything together. Make sure it's all mixed in well so you get a consistent color throughout, or you'll wind up with patchy French toast that won't taste quite right. The picture was taken just as Ruth finished mixing.

I pulled the partly-dried out bread from the oven, and the dragons immediately pounced on the chance to inspect it. "It isn't a thick cut," I explain, "but this should work well enough."
"Dry bread!" Black observes as she hops up on the end piece.
"So this is the kind of bread you use for 'French toast'?" Ruth asks, watching the others make a close inspection. "It looks like normal bread."
"That's sort of the point, Ruth," I explain. "Actually, you can make French toast with any kind of bread you want. This bread just caught my eye in the bakery section of the grocery store. Any slightly-dried bread will make decent French toast. I've heard of making it with cinnamon-raisin bread, which would give a really rich and very cinnamon flavor to it."
"Ooo, that sounds yummy," Hi-chan agrees. "Maybe we should try that sometime at home, Ruth!"
Ruth nods. "I'd have to scale the recipe up significantly, but it could be a good thing to add to the menu."
"It's made of dried-out bread," Red says, still trying to wrap his head around the idea. "This is definitely dry bread. Ruth usually throws away the dried-out bread. Mom saves it to feed to birds."
"You could probably feed half the birds in Draconaria City with the dried-out bread from Baked Treasure," Ruth remarks. "I'd rather let other people have a chance to feed the birds."

Four slices is all I can get to fit into the baking dish I have. Hi-chan is having fun making sure the bread is decently submerged on one side. Red has decided he doesn't care to risk dipping his wing in the egg mixture, and Black is trying to decide if she wants to jump down or not.

The bread needs to soak on this side for about 3 to 5 minutes, so Red sets a timer to make sure we don't forget to flip it.

The timer went off, so now Ruth is flipping each piece of bread over, so that the other side can soak.

Everyone is looking at the flipped bread, which is now coated with the egg-mixture. Wait, where's Ruth? Oh, he went to get the plastic wrap.

Black holds one edge of the plastic wrap down while the others stretch it over the baking dish and cut it. With the soaking bread thus covered, it's time to stick it in the fridge. Since this is 'Make-Ahead', the idea is to make it up the night before so that it can be baked up for breakfast in the morning with very little prep.
That's it for today! The next part will start in the morning...


You didn't really think I'd cut the post off there, did you? Of course not. From here on out, it's the
Next Morning.

Black sets the oven for 375°F (190°C). It needs a bit of time to heat up while we get everything ready.

Peel the plastic wrap off the baking dish and toss it out, as its job is done. Everyone is taking a moment to look at the soaked bread. "It doesn't look dry at all now," Red remarks.
"No it doesn't," I tell him. "That's the point. Now we bake it."

Everyone pitches in to line a cookie sheet with aluminium foil. Once they're all out of the way, I spray it with non-stick cooking spray. You do need the non-stick spray, or you'll end up with foil stuck to the finished French toast. I'm all for getting plenty of minerals, but that's not the way to do it! If you don't have non-stick spray, use a little bit of oil, butter, or margarine to coat the foil, creating a thin barrier that keeps the egg-mixture from attaching itself to the foil.

Use a pancake turner or other spatula to pick the bread up from the baking dish and place it on the prepared pan. This is the point at which bread that isn't dried enough will fall apart the most. Soggy bread can be rescued, but it's easier to just prevent the problem from occurring by using dried-out bread. Make sure to place the slices of bread a bit apart on the sheet, so that they don't stick themselves together when baked. You want about a half inch (1cm) or more between slices.

Once the oven is preheated, Ruth puts the pan of egg-mix-soaked bread in. Don't worry if some of the egg-mixture has leaked out of the bread, that's normal. It's also why you don't shove the bread all together on the pan.

Black sets the timer for 10 minutes. Like pancakes, the French toast will need to be flipped halfway through cooking. Each side gets 10 minutes.

Everyone gathers to watch Ruth flip the half-cooked bread over. (Black blends into the top of the stove slightly, as it matches her coloring.) This is where you'll find out if you used enough non-stick.
Now they go back in the oven for 10 more minutes!

After the second 10 minute stint in the oven, our French toast is ready to eat! Let's plate it up!

Mm, French Toast! You can top it with quite a number of different things. Jam, marmalade, powdered sugar, or various types of syrup. My home is in sugaring country, so we tend to top it with pure maple syrup from a local sugar-house. Dig in, everyone! Oh, wait, let Ruth cut you a piece first.

Moroccan Stuffed Squash

Today's recipe is Moroccan Stuffed Squash!
This recipe comes to us from a mailing list, PureWow recipes. Find it here. It's adapted from a recipe in "The Sprouted Kitchen" by Sara Forte (Ten Speed Press).
This is a savory recipe, something for dinner or a side-dish instead of a dessert dish. It's a vegetarian but not vegan recipe--there's cheese in here.
Let's get started!

Once again, there are a number of things that go into this dish, so I've split up the ingredient lists. Ruth has brought in the acorn squash, though one of them is hidden under the parsley and behind the package of mint. The round reddish fruit next to Hi-chan is pomegranate. Black brought the lemon and then got distracted--he's positive he has forgotten something. Red brought in the quinoa. The orange juice sort of got shoved in the back and forgotten about--maybe that's what Black is looking for.

Here's the rest of what we need, once again in front of the forgotten orange juice. Black has decided that the coconut oil gives him a good vantage point to observe the others bringing in the spices and such. Ruth brought in the feta cheese and set it next to the salt and coconut milk. Hi-chan and Red have the rest of the spices arranged--paprika, cumin, coriander, and black pepper.

And of course we can't cook without measuring cups and spoons! Hi-chan has those under control. Ruth brought the medium-size saucepan and its lid, along with his favorite stirring spoon. Black has the aluminium foil, and Red has lined up fork, knife, and spoon on the edge of the baking sheet. Wait, we're not ready to eat yet! We do need these for getting the squash prepared, though. Of course, none of us remembered to grab the knives and cutting board...

Step one is to preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Black likes to work the oven controls.

Let's line the baking sheet with aluminium foil to make clean-up faster and easier. Everyone is helping out!

Now that the oven is warming up and the pan is ready for us, let's start cooking! First, we need to cut each squash in half lengthwise. Ruth is holding the squash still for me while I cut it. The skin of the squash is pretty tough, so I do need both hands on the knife like this, and I press my whole weight into it--none of the dragons weigh enough in our world to accomplish that part of the trick.

With the squash cut, we need to get the seeds out. Ruth scoops them out with the large spoon while I hold the half-squash over the compost bin for him, allowing him to dump the seeds with a minimum of mess.

Once all four squash-halves are cleaned out, take about 1 tbsp (roughly 15 mL) of coconut oil and rub it over the exposed surfaces of each piece. Ruth is handling this with the knife, as our coconut oil is solid like butter.

Place the squash cut-side-up on the baking sheet and sprinkle on a pinch or so of salt and pepper, to taste. We want to bring out the flavor of the squash, not overwhelm it. Doing this over the pan means less clean-up later, as whatever doesn't make it onto the squash will be caught by the pan.

Now that the squash is seasoned, turn each piece over so that the cut sides are down, as Hi-chan has just finished doing. Ruth has jumped right in to the next step, poking a few holes in the skin of the acorn squash with a fork, to let steam escape as the squash cooks.

I put the squash in the oven as Black set the timer for 20 minutes so we don't accidentally overcook it.

With the squash in the oven, it's time to get to work on the stuffing! Red sets the burner to medium-high heat. Hi-chan already put the medium saucepan onto the burner.

We need the whole 13.5oz (400mL) can of coconut milk. Ruth was having a little trouble holding the can, so I gave him a hand to pour it into the pot. Once it's all in there, we add a pinch of salt and pepper (to taste) and wait for it to come to a gentle (not rolling!) boil.

As soon as the milk starts to boil, Ruth adds 1c (170g) of quinoa. Make sure you're using plain quinoa, as we'll be adding our own set of spices to it later. Check the 'bulk foods' section of your grocery store, or perhaps your local health-food shop, if you're having trouble finding plain quinoa.

As soon as the quinoa is in, Ruth puts the cover on the pan, to trap in all the moisture. Quinoa cooks much like rice, so we now turn the heat down to low and leave it there, covered, for about 15 minutes while we get other things ready. The parsley and mint need to be chopped, and we have to get the seeds out of the pomegranate.

Hey, the timer went off on the squash! Now we pull them out and Ruth handles flipping them over to expose the cut side. They're starting to look good already, and they aren't even done yet! Once they're all flipped, they go back in the oven for about another 10 minutes, so that the whole squash is cooked all the way through.

Now the timer on the quinoa has gone off, so Ruth takes it off the heat. Leave it covered and let the quinoa steam for another 5 minutes without the heat before you start adding the rest of things to it. The burner you just took it off is hot, though, so be careful not to step on it! Burns aren't fun.

Now that the quinoa is done steaming, Black is adding 2 tbsp coconut oil. We'll be mixing up the stuffing right in the pan, no need for extra bowls.

Red adds 1/4 tsp cumin to the oiled quinoa. Mm, spices!

Hi-chan has 1tsp paprika, which will give it a bit more color as well as nice flavor. Not too much color, though.

1/4 tsp corriander is the last dry spice, and Hi-chan has that under control too, while Ruth gets ready to stir and I've pulled the smallest two for another project.

Ruth is mixing the spices into the quinoa evenly before we add the colorful ingredients. At this point the quinoa should have an even color throughout. Don't mix too long, though, we don't want our quinoa all squashed up!

Red is the perfect size to help pull the seeds out of the pomegranate. He's having fun where I found mostly frustration. Pomegranate seeds are about the same size as a corn kernel or a pea, and they squish pretty easily.

"Cheese!" Hi-chan grins at the camera as she adds the 1/2c (80g) feta cheese. She finds the pun amusing, especially since she usually tells the camera "ni!"

We've managed to extract 1/2c of seeds from that pomegranate! About half the seeds in the medium-size fruit I bought went into the cup Ruth is pouring into the stuffing mix. (I was going to measure it on the scale, but I lost my tare because it took too long to get the seeds out of the fruit!)

Black helps me add 3tbsp of chopped parsley. We put it in the little bowl to free up the chopping board. The actual recipe calls for cilantro instead of parsley, but I've made the substitution because I don't care for the taste of cilantro. The two herbs are similar enough that it won't really change anything.

Red is knocking the last of the 2 tbsp lemon zest out of the other little bowl.

Since the mint was the last to get chopped up, Ruth scrapes 2 tbsp chopped mint leaves off the cutting board into the mix.

We used the smallest bowl again to measure 2 tbsp orange juice so it wouldn't get spilled. Hi-chan is tipping it in while I help her control the bowl.

With everything in the pot, Ruth stirs it up carefully, until it is just combined--we don't want this all the same straight through anymore! This is stirred well enough. It looks tasty!

The squash are out of the oven, and Ruth has grabbed the knife to test them and make sure they're cooked all the way through. Poke it gently with a knife in the thickest part, if the knife slides in easily to the skin, your squash is all done!

Everyone gathers around to watch as Ruth scoops stuffing into the squash halves. Don't be stingy, now, fill them all the way up!

Here we have 4 stuffed squash halves! You can garnish them with a bit of extra feta cheese and some rough-chopped toasted pistachios, but we've left that off because our squash are already very overflowing. There's still stuffing left in the pan, too! Why? The recipe asks for medium-size squash, but I forgot that when we were at the grocery and bought small squash. Oops.

Plate it up and dig in! Ruth is trying to figure out how to grab a bite without hitting anybody by accident. Black found the stuffing that fell off when the squash was put on the plate and has claimed that for himself. This is good stuff! Archi was a bit surprised at the sweetness of the pomegranate seeds, though, as it's the first time he's ever had them and he wasn't really expecting it.