Good Morning!
Aaron and I are going to Kennywood a little later today. It’s my company’s picnic and the weather looks like it’s going to be great! I’m not sure why I’m up at 7 AM when I stayed up too late last night making these:
They weren’t quite finished in that picture. I’ll update you on why I was making a million cake pops in a post very soon. I have to work on my master plan first.
Anyway, last weekend we had our friends Gina and Jason over for a little brunch on Saturday. Apparently once you get married, this is what you do.
I think I was MADE to be married.
We had a baked French toast casserole (Elie Krieger), quiche (concocted by me and the constraints of my refrigerator) and a berry salad made by Aaron:
I also made salad dressing with orange muscat champagne vinegar, honey, poppy seeds, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Blueberry – Almond French Toast Bake
Serves 4
Original here
* Cooking spray
* 8 slices whole-wheat bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (I used TJ’s WW Tuscan Pane)
* 4 large eggs
* 4 large egg whites
* 1 cups 1 percent lowfat milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
* 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
* 1/3 cup sliced almonds
* 2 tablespoons raw sugar
Spray a square baking pan (8 x 8 or 9 x 9) with cooking spray. Arrange the bread in a single layer in the baking pan. Whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and maple syrup. Pour the egg mixture over the bread in the pan, spreading it around so the liquid saturates the bread. Scatter the blueberries evenly on top and sprinkle with the almonds and sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover the baking pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature.
The blueberry almond French toast tastes great and it’s really easy and fairly healthy. I’ve made it twice now. Last time I made it in a 13 x 9 inch pan and used a bag of frozen berries. I think I liked the frozen berries even more. It added a little more liquid. Also, assembling brunch items the night before is awesome.
This past Friday night, Aaron and I stopped at the North Side farmer’s market again. They had some live hip hop on the stage. Funny.
We picked up the following:
- 3 eggplants $2
- 1 cantaloupe $2
- 6 tomatoes $3.50
- 2 zucchini $1
- pint of blackberries $3
Once home, I was STARVING so we grilled a bunch of veggies and two chicken breasts marinated in TJ’s Island Soyaki marinade. I love that stuff. I also love slightly burnt grilled veggies.
Aaron grilled while I sat inside reading blogs and then eventually came outside to photograph.
We finished that whole entire plate of food! 2 yellow squash, 1 onion, 1 eggplant plus 2 chicken breasts. I ate half a piece of chicken and probably half that stack of veggies then I was hungry 30 minutes later and ate something else.
Yesterday morning, I got up, messed around on the internet for too long, got back in bed for a little while longer and then finally drove down to the trail to conquer 8 miles. As soon as I got out of the car, my garmin battery died! NO! How did I ever function before I had that thing? I almost threw in the towel and pushed the run back until Monday but then decided to just do it thanks to a pep talk from Aaron. I set the stop watch on my ipod and just ran for 1 hour 20 minutes. I figured (hoped) that I would run at least 10 minute miles so 1 hour 20 minutes would equal 8.
Who knows what distance I actually ran but whatever. I felt good about it. It was a great little run with no run-ins with crazy people and nice, cool weather. I drank two bottles of water with 1/2 cup orange juice mixed into each throughout the run. That seems to help sustain my energy levels. Next weekend is 9 miles! woooo
Alright time to go get some more coffee and watch some Good Morning America. Have a nice, restful Sunday!
