Nutella French Toast

Nutella-stuffed french toast, topped with bananas or fresh strawberries and drizzled with pure maple syrup, is out of this world good.  A perfectly delicious breakfast, brunch, or breakfast-for-dinner treat.

This creation was a total one-day-I-got-a-wild-hair experiment that sooooo worked!!  I had seen some postings out in blogland about peanut butter and jelly french toast and about chocolate french toast.  As usually happens with me, I started to wonder ... I'm always wondering ...

My wonder was (which you've probably already guessed), if you can make french toast with things like chocolate or peanut butter and jelly, I wondered if it would work with Nutella?  Well, it did!  Oh, it more than worked - it's delicious.

I love "wonderings."  In my 1st grade classroom I call them "I wonders."  I love to hear my little 1st graders wonder.  When we do our first science experiment of the year, I just start wondering aloud about things we could test and try.  They quickly catch on, start wondering themselves, and I start testing out their "I wonders."  It's so fun. 

Our first science experiment of the year is always dealing with force - the students are learning about pushing and pulling as the two types of force.  We take various objects and see if the force from a common, personal fan is strong enough to push them.  Who would think such a simple activity would be so much fun for the students?  But they love it!  One of the objects I always use is a balloon.  I take it straight out of the package, deflated, and see if the fan can move it.  No deal.  It never takes long for one of the students to say, "I wonder what would happen if you blew up the balloon?"  Ahhh, music to my teacher ears.  They're thinking.  They're wondering.  I love it.

And so it went with this Nutella French Toast.

I started out dipping some French bread slices in an egg-and-milk mixture, just like you would for traditional French toast.  Then on to testing out my first "I wonder" ... I slathered Nutella on each piece and stuck the pieces together in a stack ... tasted it ... and it was fabulous!

"I wonder" #1 - French Toast slathered with Nutella

Then the experiment continued with another "I wonder" --- I wondered if Nutella and maple syrup are good together?  I'm a Vermont girl, so French Toast without maple syrup just seems wrong.  I had to give it a go.  So, on went the maple syrup ...

"I wonder" #2 - Nutella French Toast with maple syrup

... and Oh.  My.  Word.  Nutella and maple syrup are indeed very good together.  Like truly indescribably good. 

And then the experiment continued with another "I wonder" --- I wondered how it would be with banana and strawberry slices?  On went some bananas and strawberries ...

"I wonder" #3 - adding sliced bananas and strawberries

... and it's even better!!  Of course, when I ate it, my plate was certainly not as neat looking as the plate in this picture.  I cut up the French Toast, bananas, and strawberries and made sure everything was all swirled in with the maple syrup.  Yum.

And that's how this treat came to be.  A Nutella-y, maple syrup-y, banana, and strawberry swirled-up concoction that is oh-so-yummy for my tummy!  This will become a staple in my breakfast-for-dinner line-up.  I foresee frequent appearances.  Very frequent appearances.

Thank you for stopping by The Kitchen is My Playground. We'd love to have you back soon!

Nutella French toast recipe, Nutella stuffed French toast, recipes with Nutella

Breads

American

Yield: 4 slices (about 2 servings)

Author: Tracey | The Kitchen is My Playground

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Nutella French Toast

Nutella-stuffed french toast, topped with bananas or fresh strawberries and drizzled with pure maple syrup, is out of this world good. A perfectly delicious breakfast, brunch, or breakfast-for-dinner treat.

Prep time: 15 MCook time: 10 MTotal time: 25 M

Ingredients:

• 4 (1/2"-thick) slices French bread
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 T. butter, to coat pan
• Nutella (about 1/4 c.)
• Maple syrup (preferably pure Vermont maple syrup!)
• 1 banana, sliced
• 4 strawberries, sliced

Instructions:

1. Combine beaten eggs and milk in a wide shallow dish. Dip a bread slice in the egg mixture; turn and dip the other side, coating well. Repeat with remaining bread slices.
2. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter to the pan, and coat the skillet surface with the melted butter. 
3. Place coated bread slices in the pan and cook each side until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes per side.
4. Remove bread slices from the pan and place on a plate. Spread two of the slices generously with Nutella; place the remaining two slices on top to form sandwiches. 
5. Top with maple syrup, sliced bananas, and sliced strawberries.

TRACEY'S NOTES:

1. Adjust quantities up or down to make desired number of servings.
2. We have also made this with regular sliced bread. It's good that way, too.

https://www.thekitchenismyplayground.com/2011/09/nutella-french-toast-with-maple-syrup.html

Created using The Recipes Generator

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Neapolitan Sheet Cake (a.k.a. ~ my birthday cake!!)

Today is my birthday!  Happy birthday to me!!  So, I made myself a cake.  Neapolitan Sheet Cake to be exact.  See, this has been my birthday cake ever since I can remember ... I can't recall ever having something different on my birthday.  With the classic Neapolitan combination of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, along with a light-and-fluffy vanilla mousse-y frosting, why would I ever have something else??

No matter where I've been in life ... college, graduate school, living in a different state from my parents, ... Mom has always made me my cake and gotten to me with it somehow.  She's sweet like that.  Well, one year she was at the beach 1,500 miles away on my birthday, so she arranged for my boyfriend at-the-time to make my cake.  I think that counts.

This year, Mom and Dad are at the beach again for my birthday, and we truly don't have any weekends where we're both free for us to get together until about mid November.  While Mom has promised to make my cake as soon as we can get together, I decided not to wait for her.  (Note to Mom - that doesn't mean you're off the hook!  I have no problem having two cakes this year!  That's totally fine with me.) 

This cake uses a chocolate-vanilla marble cake mix and the Jello "poke cake" method to create it's Neapolitan goodness.  Mix up your cake mix and put it in your baking pan, according to the package directions.

Then gently swirl a knife through the chocolate and vanilla batters to create a marbled effect.  You want to just swirl, not stir.  If you stir, you'll mix the two batters together instead of getting a nice marble-ing.

Bake up the cake, and then use a fork to poke holes all over it.  Be careful to stop your fork before you get to the bottom of the pan!  You want the Jello to go all in the cake, not create a layer at the bottom of the cake.  Slowly pour strawberry Jello over the cake into the holes.

Refrigerate over night, and then whip up a light-and-fluffy vanilla frosting from Dream Whip and vanilla pudding.  After chilling for just a bit more, you're reading to serve it up.  And mmmmm, mmmmmm, it's good!  I wish I could share a piece with each of you to celebrate my birthday!

Neapolitan Sheet Cake

Source:  My Mom (she adapted the recipe from a magazine a looooonnngggg time ago!)

(Printable recipe)

Ingredients

Cake:

1 package marble cake mix + ingredients specified on cake mix package

1 large package strawberry Jello

1 1/2 c. boiling water

1/2 c. cold water

Frosting:

1 envelope Dream Whip

1 package vanilla instant pudding

1 1/2 c. cold milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

For the cake:  

1.  Dissolve Jello in 1 1/2 cups boiling water.  Add 1/2 cup cold water.  Set aside at room temperature.

2.  Mix and bake cake, according to package directions.  Bake in a 13x9-inch pan.  After removing cake from the oven, cool for 25 minutes.  

3.  After cooling for the 25 minutes, use a fork to poke holes all over the cake (be careful not to go all the way through to the bottom of the cake).  Slowly pour Jello into the holes.  Refrigerate  over night.

(NOTE:  Marble cake mix can be a bit tricky to find.  In a pinch, as happened for me this time, try this method:  Buy a yellow cake mix.  After mixing up, reserve about 1/4 of the batter.  Melt a 1 ounce block of unsweetened baking chocolate; mix into reserved yellow cake batter to create the chocolate batter.)

For the frosting:  

4.  In a chilled deep bowl, whip Dream Whip, pudding, milk, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy and stiff, about 5 minutes.  

5.  Immediately frost cake. 

6.  Store cake in the refrigerator and serve cold.  

Enjoy!

15

Okra Creole

Fresh or frozen okra meets corn, tomatoes, onion, bacon, and a little Old Bay to create this tasty Okra Creole.

Am I the only one not yet ready to succumb to fall?  I'm seeing a flood of apple and pumpkin 'fall-ish' recipes around the blogosphere, but I'm just not ready to go there yet!  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the fall flavors of juicy apples, rich pumpkin, cinnamon, gingerbread ... and all those other 'warm' tastes we associate with fabulous fall.  But I'm just not ready for them.

I'm still hanging on to cooking with the produce of late summer.  The last few tomatoes.  Not-quite-gone-by blueberries.  Yummy fresh figs.  And straggler okra. 

I'm told that the okra plants will continue to produce until the first frost.  I have no idea whether or not this is true, since I've never attempted to grow okra myself.  But since bags of this wonderful stuff continue to appear on my desk at school from our very generous custodian Clayvon (a.k.a. Mr. Clay), I'm going to take people's word for it!

Keep it comin' Mr. Clay, and I'll keep on a-cookin' it up.  Maybe when the okra's done, I'll finally be ready for fall.

Thank you for stopping by The Kitchen is My Playground. We'd love to have you back soon!

okra creole recipe, stewed okra recipe, okra with Old Bay, recipes with okra

Main Dishes

Southern

Yield: about 6 servings

Author: Tracey | The Kitchen is My Playground

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Okra Creole

Fresh or frozen okra meets corn, tomatoes, onion, bacon, and a little Old Bay to create this tasty creole.

Prep time: 10 MCook time: 25 MTotal time: 35 M

Ingredients:

• 3 slices bacon or turkey bacon
• 1 (16 oz.) package frozen okra or about 1 lb. fresh okra, sliced
• 1 c. chopped onion
• 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
• 1 c. frozen corn kernels
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook bacon in a Dutch oven until crisp; remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon and set aside. (Note: If you use turkey bacon, I recommend putting a small dab of olive oil in the pan.)
2. Add remaining ingredients to bacon drippings in the pan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer about 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Top with crumbled bacon.
4. Serve over hot cooked rice or cous-cous.

https://www.thekitchenismyplayground.com/2011/09/okra-creole-because-im-hanging-on-to.html

Created using The Recipes Generator

2

Stovetop Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese

Creamy Smoked Gouda Macaroni and Cheese is made extra creamy and tasty with 2 kinds of cheese. And it's made extra-easy on the stove top!

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S'more Pralines (aka: S'mores Cracker Candy)

Who says you need a campfire to enjoy delicious ooey-gooey S'mores?  Not with these made-in-the-oven S'more Pralines!  Whip up a tasty pan at home today, no campfire required.

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