I seem to be relying on my Iphone for taking pictures lately! I do have my camera, however I don’t always remember it or carry it around with me all the time! And, it’s just so easy to use your phone. So here’s another mobile phone photo post for mother’s day.

This year we decided to do a brunch for mom and make delicious french toast. I don’t know about you, but I was somewhat amazed at french toast when I was growing up. My dad would make it a lot, and I never quite knew how to make it until I was older and beginning my baking experience. Dad’s cooking is definitely something I miss. It is a really easy dish that you can make look like you it’s difficult. You can prepare it in advance and then make it and keep it warm until you need it. There were eight of us for breakfast – my mom, brother, me, her ‘manfriend’ (hehe) and his two kids and their cousin, and brother’s gf. So I made quite a lot of french toast! I decided I would make it, and then keep it warm in the oven while I decorated the plates and we set the table.

Don’t be turned off of french toast if you’ve never tried it! It’s a slow cooking process and you’ll want to cook it over low-heat for a longer period than heat it on high so it cooks all the way through. I know my mom enjoyed it! And I hope she had an excellent mother’s day =) Love you mother!

You can make as much or as little as you like, I usually say at least one or two eggs per piece of toast. I used two loaves of french bread this time, but you can make as little as a half of a baguette!

Easy French Toast

Ingredients:

• 2 loaves French Toast
• 10-11 Eggs
• 1/2 cup Skim Milk
• 2-3 tbs. Vanilla
• Lots of Cinnamon
• 1 pkg. Strawberries
• 3 tsp. Sugar
• 1 tsp. Corn Starch
• Whipping Cream

Directions:

1. Cut French Baguettes into 1 inch slices. Stack them ontop of eachother and put to the sid
2. In a large baking dish ( I use a glass pyrex dish ) break eggs and add milk and vanilla.
3. Whisk until it is thoroughly mixed, you don’t want to have any whole yolks. Add as much cinnamon as you like and continue to whisk.
4. Lightly spray pan with pam and heat skillet on medium-low.
5. As the pan is heating, dip as many pieces of bread as you can into the egg mixture and soak on one side for about 5 seconds  and flip it over to coat both sides. Next pierce it with a fork to allow it to absorb as much as it can and then stack it onto a plate. You want the bread to be soaked, but not soggy.
6. Repeat with all the slices of bread and continue to stack onto one another so they all stay moist and soak up all the egg.
7. Once you’re ready to cook them, place a few pieces at a time onto the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes until browned on both sides.
8. If you are serving lots at a time, to keep them warm you can pop them onto a tray in the oven on very low heat. Or place them into a warming dish.
9. When you are ready to serve, you can sprinkle it with powdered sugar and top with fruit!

To make the decorative plates

You will need:

Directions:

1. Cut the stems off the strawberries and place into a blender or magic bullet. Pulse until they are purreed, add sugar and cornstarch and pulse again.
2. Whip the cream until it is slightly thickened, you don’t want it to be full out whipped cream.
3. Using a small spoon, place a small amount of the strawberry puree onto the plate and shape it into a half-moon crescent. Using another spoon, dot on a small circle of whipping cream three times in a row.
4. Take a skewer or tooth pick, and draw it down in a straight line from the first dot to the third. And Voila! Little cream hearts. You can use the leftover strawberry puree to drizzle on top of the toast as well!

Hope you all enjoyed Mother’s Day!

My brother Nick, our mom Andrea and Me!

Mom, Alicia and Alysha!

First off Happy Mother’s Day to all the yummy mummies out there!

This mother’s day I wanted to bake something a little more special than just a cake, and seeing as how I had just made my mom a Carrot Cake for her birthday a couple weeks ago, I thought I would hold off on another cakey creation, that we would eat for about a week… So I thought about what my mother might like instead, and then it came to me. A Cheesecake!

A couple reasons for this is because a. my mom had actually came home from work one day a while back with a brand new springform pan for me, cause she knew I didn’t have one, and b. because every time my mom has gone on a cruise ship (and believe me, she’s been on a million) she always says she loves having the NY Cheesecake.  I remember she would go to High Tea every day on the ship just for the cheesecake, and was rather dissapointed once when they didn’t have any! Shocking, a cruise ship with no Cheesecake! So I thought it would be nice to bake her one from scratch, non of this no-bake, pre-bought cardboard tasting cheesecake. Nope, it would be straight fom the oven! And, even though It was hard, I waited the agonizing million hours for it to bake, and cool completely, and store in the fridge over night. Luckily she wasn’t home at the time so I could do all this without her knowledge, and have it ready for the reveal on mothers day morning. Along with pancakes for breakfast and of course home made strawberry coulis! I also found the cutest mothers day card, which I thought was quite fitting! (see below)

Now, I think I had only ever made a cheesecake once before for thanksgiving, a pumpkin one, and it didn’t turn out so great. But! this one is definitely a winner and a great basic like Dorie says. You can add many variations to it or have it just plain. I stuck with plain, and made some strawberry coulis to go with it. The recipe is super easy to follow, and I highly recommend the water bath, and hair dryer technique!.. you’ll see.  Enjoy! Love you mom! (more…)