Weekend Cooking

During the weekend I like to take a little longer with my cooking adventures.  I am usually able to do this because (1) I am not rushing home from dinner to try to feed starving people and (2) The Husband can entertain The Toddler while I am cooking.

One of my favorite things to make over the weekend is brunch.  If people are coming over (like my parents or in-laws), I'll set out fixings for bloody mary's.  There are a lot of good brunch recipes, but these are a few that I love:

picture courtesy of allrecipes.com

 
Baked French Toast (courtesy of AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, cut diagonally in 1 inch slices
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Directions

1. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange the slices of bread in the bottom. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup; heat until bubbling. Pour over bread and egg mixture.
3. Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.

I also serve Hash Brown Casserole.  I originally got this recipe from a co-worker years ago.  Whoever thought of this is a complete genius!  I have gotten raves about this recipe.  It is so easy and so yummy!

In addition to the above, if people are coming over and it is a true brunch, I like to add a protein, fruit and a salad.  The protein can be an egg dish, a chicken dish, or, if you are feeling brave or fancy, you can try your hand at boiling some lobster!  Pop on over to my friend Lauren's blog to watch her cook up some lobsters and give you some tips!