Name: Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casserole
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 lb. sturdy bread, cut into 2-inch cubes (I like challah or brioche); 1 cup pecans - chopped; 4 tablespoons unsalted butter; 2 pounds apples - peeled and diced (about 4 cups of diced apples); 1/4 cup brown sugar; 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon - divided; 6 large eggs; 3 cups milk; 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; maple syrup, apple butter, and/or powdered sugar for serving

Halloween Candy Recipes to Make This Year

October 28, 2015

I dug up ten great Halloween candy recipes from some great fellow bloggers for you to make this Halloween, because can we all just admit that homemade candy is better than store-bought? Also, did anyone ever really find a razor blade in their candy apple?

When I was growing up in the great eighties, Halloween was about trick-or-treating in an uncomfortable plastic mask with an air hole that was barely big enough to breathe through and a costume that probably wasn’t flame-retardant. We knew not to eat the homemade candy, because the eighties were the age of the Halloween urban legend. You know what I’m talking about…razor blades in apples, poison in the candy; local fire departments and police stations sponsored candy inspections and candy companies rejoiced as they developed “fun-size” candies and candy jockeys scooped them up by the bags. The granny on the corner could no longer pass out her renowned popcorn balls…if she did, they’d just be tossed in the trash.

In the day and age of Trunk-or-Treats, there’s a good chance that you’re going to know the person who is putting candy in your bag, and in my opinion that’s a good enough reason to make your own candy. No, I don’t make my own candy…we live near three large subdivisions and trick-or-treaters don’t bother with our neighborhood and our church is too small to sponsor a trunk-or-treat. I really don’t need cute costumed kiddies knocking on my door or coming to get candy out of the trunk of my car to convince me to make candy. Here are ten tempting Halloween candy recipes you can make at home for your party, your trunk-or-treat, or, if you know them well enough, your trick-or-treaters.

1. Bacon Caramel Apples from My Name is Yeh

2. Pumpkin Fudge from The Girl Who Ate Everything

3. Peanut Butter M&Ms Truffles from Sally’s Baking Addiction

4. Pumpkin Spice Snowballs from Crazy for Crust

5. Chocolate Covered Mint Patties from Mom on Timeout

6. Raspberry-Almond Salted Chocolate Bark from Bright-Eyed Baker

7. Funfetti Marshmallows from Raspberri Cupcakes

8. Homemade Twix Bars from High Heels and Grills

9. Candy Apples from Bakers Royale

10. Butterbeer Brownie Brittle from Cooking and Beer for I Dig Pinterest

Soho Hibachi (Hixson, Tennessee)

October 26, 2015

Soho Hibachi is a popular hibachi and teriyaki restaurant that provides tasty food and quick service on Highway 153 (near Target) in Hixson, Tennessee.

As I type this, I am lamenting the fact that tomorrow is the last weekday of my Fall break. I love my job, but the chance to stay up late then sleep in (8 a.m. is sleeping in for this old girl) and hang out doing whatever I want is pretty much my favorite. On top of that I visited the Small Business Development Center earlier this week and got several ideas for building this blog thing into something larger than life.

Anyway, it’s Thursday right now and tomorrow we are going apple picking at Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia. We decided to go grocery shopping today so that we wouldn’t have to do our usual Friday night shopping trip after our day trip. Before we shopped, we decided to eat a late lunch at Soho Hibachi since it is right next door to Aldi, where we do as much of our shopping as possible.

I’ve been hearing good things about Soho for a while, but we generally only go to that little plaza on Friday nights when it’s pretty crowded, and if you know anything about me you know that we avoid crowds like the plague. It definitely wasn’t crowded when we got there at about 2:00 on Thursday afternoon so we waltzed right up and placed our order.

They have a lunch special of two Japanese spring rolls for $1.50. We generally order spring rolls, summer rolls, or egg rolls at any restaurant where we dine that serves them. The spring rolls came out quickly. They were small, wrapped in very thin spring roll wrappers and fried until shatteringly crisp (and mouth-searingly hot!!). They were vegetarian, filled mostly with cabbage, and were very good but not exceptional.

When ordering you are given two menus from which to choose: hibachi or teriyaki. The lunch special is chicken, either teriyaki style or hibachi style, for $5.95. I am a fool for teriyaki, so I chose teriyaki. You can choose steamed white or brown rice, fried rice, or noodles. I decided on the noodles. The chicken was white meat chicken, cut into thin strips and seared till brown along with broccoli, zucchini, and onions, then tossed with a sweet but not overly so teriyaki sauce. It is definitely not the thick and sticky sauce that you get at a store and was quite delicious. The noodles (udon, for the record) were a little chewy, well-seasoned, and delicious, mixed with wilted Napa cabbage.

Philip decided to go for the hibachi-style filet mignon with fried rice for $9.25. The filet was cut into small chunks and seared on the hibachi along with broccoli, zucchini, and onions. Everything was seasoned well and cooked to a perfect texture. The fried rice was also well-seasoned, with carrots and peas, and cooked to a good “chewiness” level.

Soho Hibachi has a “serve yourself” condiment bar where you can get white (yum-yum) sauce, ginger sauce, duck sauce, Sriracha, etc. We tried the white sauce (of course) and thought that it was quite good-a little salty, a little sweet. Not as good as what is served at Typhoon of Tokyo, which will always be our gold standard for quick hibachi food, but good nonetheless.

The decor in Soho Hibachi was nice…simple, basic, clean with a few embellishments. The service was quick and professional and there were quite a few people picking up carryout orders while we were there. At $18.03 before tip, the price is competitive with other similar restaurants in the area. For a quick hibachi or teriyaki-style meal in the Hixson area, definitely check out Soho Hibachi!

Soho Hibachi is located at 5510 Highway 153, Chattanooga, TN 37343. There are open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. You can all them at 423-877-8808. They do not have a website or a Facebook page.

Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casserole

October 23, 2015

Apple cinnamon French toast casserole is an easy-to-prepare breakfast with lots of familiar “Fall” flavors! You can make it ahead so it’s great for guests.

I’ve been thinking about something lately: stuffed French toast. Specifically, apple cinnamon stuffed French toast. I was imagining diced apples cooked down with butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar, piled between slices of challah or brioche, dredged in eggy batter, fried on the stove top.
And then…then I thought better of it.

The problem with food like that, you guys, is flipping. It’s like when you make a grilled cheese with any filling other than the cheese. You flip it, you lose half the filling. Besides that, French toast has a tendency to evoke in me those food tantrummy feelings that are also evoked by pancakes. I feel like it always gets too dark in some spots, not dark enough in others…it can be dangerous for me to embark on adventures like this. I was envisioning spotty sandwiches with gooey (in a bad way) centers and apple filling burned in the pan. Not ideal.

Enter apple cinnamon French toast casserole. We’ve been down this road before, in a way anyway. Cubes of slightly sweet challah (or whatever sturdy bread you’d like) drenched in that eggy batter I mentioned before, with brown sugar and cinnamon glazed apples and toasted pecans, baked and served with maple syrup? Why, yes please. This a great make-ahead breakfast dish, so it’s perfect when you have houseguests or, like me, you just know that on Saturday morning bacon and eggs are really all you will be able to manage if you don’t think ahead. Don’t let the long cook time scare you….most of it is just the bread cubes drying or the casserole baking. This apple cinnamon French toast casserole is totally worth your time!

Yield: 8 servings

Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casserole

10 minPrep Time:

1 hr, 10 Cook Time:

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Ingredients

1 lb. sturdy bread, cut into 2-inch cubes (I like challah or brioche)
1 cup pecans - chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds apples - peeled and diced (about 4 cups of diced apples)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon - divided
6 large eggs
3 cups milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
maple syrup, apple butter, and/or powdered sugar for serving

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Spread the bread cubes on a large baking sheet. Place the bread in the oven until dry and crusty but not brown-about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Preheat a 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Place the pecans into the skillet and cook until they JUST begin to brown and smell "nutty"-don't let them brown completely because they will end up burning.
Add the butter to the skillet and allow it to melt. Add the apples and cook until tender. Add the brown sugar and 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon and cook until the sugar melts and glazes the apples.
While the apples are cooking, whisk together the milk and eggs until homogenous. Place the bread cubes in a large bowl and pour the eggs and milk over the bread. Stir to completely incorporate. Spread into a 9 x 13 baking pan.
Evenly distribute the apple & pecan mixture over the bread cubes. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
To bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the casserole from the refrigerator and remove the foil. Combine the two tablespoons of granulated sugar with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the casserole. Bake for 30 minutes or until no liquid appears when you press on the bread. Serve immediately with maple syrup, apple butter, powdered sugar, etc.

Notes

Prep time does not include overnight rest in the refrigerator. Cook time assumes that you will cook the apples and pecans while the bread cubes are drying in the oven.

https://chattavore.com/apple-cinnamon-french-toast-casserole/

Click here to print the recipe for apple cinnamon French toast casserole!

Apple cinnamon French toast casserole is an easy-to-prepare make ahead breakfast with lots of familiar "Fall" flavors! | chattavore.com

Spinach & Sun Dried Tomato Mac & Cheese

October 21, 2015

Spinach & sun dried tomato mac & cheese is extra creamy and packed full of delicious vegetables. No baking required! You can serve it right from the pan.

Let’s get down to the nuts and bolts of the life of a blogger. I work full-time then I come home and, well, work another full-time job. After I work out, it’s time to make dinner, which is often a something I’m blogging about. That means pulling out the light and the reflectors, napkins and dishes, taking photos, trying to make sure that the little sliver of my kitchen that shows up in photos looks presentable.

Then, of course, we eat dinner. We clean up the kitchen, then I shower and get down to business. Writing, editing, social media…that’s what I do until it’s time for bed. I’m sure you can guess what that means. You guys, I’m tired?.

As much as I love cooking and blogging, all that activity (essentially, my workday starts at 6:45 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m.) means that a lot of days I just.don’t.want.to cook. Do I feel guilty about it? YAAAASSSS. I publish a website all about all my cooking adventures and half the time I just want to order a pizza. For all of you who feel like that on every day that ends in Y, just know that you aren’t alone.

Cooking for me is more of an undertaking than it is for most people…I get that. Most people don’t write down every measurement of every recipe that they make and don’t stop mid-vegetable-chopping to snap a photo. Still, everyone can use simple recipes that don’t use every pot and pan in the kitchen. Those are the recipes I cook. This spinach & sundried tomato mac & cheese only uses 2 pans, so it requires minimal clean-up!

It took me a couple of tries to get this spinach & sun dried tomato mac & cheese right. The first time, I didn’t use enough milk. I baked the mac & cheese. It was tasty, but it was drier than I wanted it to be. I did a little research and decided to up the milk and cut out the baking step. It was just the change that I needed to make for the perfect spinach & sun dried tomato mac & cheese. This makes a ton, so feel free to cut the recipe in half!

Yield: 8 main dish servings

Spinach & Sun Dried Tomato Mac & Cheese

This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart

5 minPrep Time:

20 minCook Time:

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Ingredients

one 13.25-ounce box of small pasta (I used tiny shells, but you can use elbows, rigatoni, penne, or whatever works for you)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, diced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (1.5 ounces or 42 grams)
4 cups (32 ounces) whole milk
one 9-ounce bag spinach
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, julienned
4 ounces Fontina cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain but do not rinse or shake dry; return to the pan and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter over medium heat in a large skillet (I used a 12-inch cast iron skillet). Add the onion and cook until translucent and just beginning to brown around the edges. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook for one minute, until it begins to brown slightly. Slowly drizzle in the milk, whisking constantly. Cook for several minutes until the mixture begins to thicken and reduce.
Add the spinach to the pan a few handfuls at a time, stirring after each addition. Cook until the spinach has wilted completely. Stir in the sun dried tomatoes.
Add the cheeses, a handful at a time, stirring until each addition melts completely. Taste and adjust seasonings. Combine the cheese sauce with the pasta (you can do this in the pasta pot or, if you are using a large enough skillet, carefully stir the pasta into the cheese sauce in the skillet you made the pasta in). Serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/spinach-sun-dried-tomato-mac-cheese/

Click here to print the recipe for spinach & sun dried tomato mac & cheese!

Spinach & sun dried tomato mac & cheese is extra creamy and packed full of delicious vegetables. No baking required! You can serve it right from the pan. | recipe from Chattavore.com

Mercier Orchards and Blue Ridge Brewery

October 19, 2015

A short drive from Chattanooga, Tennessee is Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia. It’s great for apple picking! Nearby Blue Ridge Brewery offers a great lunch.

In the life of a teacher (or school system behavior analyst), Fall break is easy come, easy go. Easier go, for sure. The nine weeks leading up to any break don’t really feel so easy come! This year, we decided to forego any real traveling and instead just hang out around Chattanooga and save our money for a trip we’re planning to take next summer, to visit friends who will be living in Maine by then.

We thought about visiting Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House in Lynchburg (and one of these days we’ll get around to it) but I’ve been wanting to try apple picking for some time now so we decided to take advantage of this being apple-picking season and instead go to Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia. They extended their “u-pick“, which usually is only available on Saturday and Sunday, to Friday through Monday for Columbus Day weekend, so we went on Friday.

So did a lot of other people. We got there early, though, so we didn’t have to stand in line; we just paid $3 apiece for apple picking and $12 for a peck-size bag for our apples (you have to purchase a bag from them, so you don’t need to take your own bag). We jumped on a trailer behind a tractor and took a little tour around the orchard, learning about the family that owns the orchard (it’s still owned by the same family that started it, and almost all of the children and grandchildren work there in some capacity).

The day that we went, the apples ready for picking were Fuji, Ambrosia, Suncrisp, Cameo, and Corail. Our tour guide told us that Ambrosia apples were his second favorite (after Pink Ladies, which were not available yet) so we tried to get some of those little yellow & red gems, but we really had to look for them! Most of them had been picked or fallen off of the trees, but we did manage to find quite a few. The others were more plentiful, and it didn’t take too much for us to fill our little bag up. We got to taste an apple fresh off the tree (you are free to eat anything you want in the orchard) and learned that most of the apples that we buy at Publix come from Mercier, but by the time they make it to the store they’ve been in cold storage for at least six months. Wow.

And then…and then we went to the store. The store at Mercier Orchards is kind of like what I imagine that the Cracker Barrel in hell might be like. Okay, obviously I am exaggerating…but it was wall to wall people and crowds like that make me a little edgy. I survived, but I didn’t get any fried pies because we were not about to stand in that line. I’ll live to see another day, though. I did get some cider doughnuts (just the cinnamon sugar kind…the powdered sugar kind don’t really do anything for me) and some apple butter. Philip got a couple of bottles of hard cider. He’s not a hard cider fan, so we’ll see how that goes.

After we left Mercier Orchards, we headed to downtown Blue Ridge to eat at Blue Ridge Brewery (you can eat lunch in the deli at Mercier but it was way too crowded for us to even consider that). Philip tried a flight of their in-house brews (their brewer was out of town, so they only had 3 beers available and there is some odd law that because they don’t distribute their beers that they cannot mix them in a flight with other brands). He tried a hefeweizen, a kölsch, and two glasses of the stout. He also tried the burger, which was large, well-cooked, and juicy, with a side salad and roasted potatoes. I had a Philly cheesesteak (the lunch special) with roasted potatoes. The sandwich was delicious, with tender steak and well-cooked, caramelized vegetables.

After lunch, we took a little jaunt around downtown Blue Ridge. You can take a ride on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway, and downtown is kind of like a mini Gatlinburg. There are tons of restaurants and quite a few little shops. Apparently, there’s another brewery, Grumpy Old Men Brewing, just a few blocks down from downtown. We didn’t go there, but if we go back to Blue Ridge we’ll definitely plan to check it out.

Okay…the point of this? Chattanoogans (or Southeast Tennesseans, or North Georgians), if you are looking for a great day trip, apple-picking at Mercier Orchards and just “being a tourist” around downtown Blue Ridge are a great way to spend a day!

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