California Girl's French Bread Pizza

I love buying the day old french bread from Wal Mart. I pay as little as 60 cents a loaf for this beautiful bread, which is still perfectly delicious. I have to give a shout out to the absolutely lovely girls working in the bakery who do such a wonderful job putting out all the wonderful goodies like it's nothing. My favorite thing to do with it is French Bread Pizza. Out of this world yummy and so simple to make. There's no right or wrong here. Use what you have on hand or like best...Italian sausage, ground beef, pepperoni, peppers, onions, olives...you name it, you can't go wrong. Add a  little cheese and pasta sauce and dinner is done! And next time you're in a bakery, think of all the hard work that goes into all the baked goods we take for granted. I hope you enjoy this idea! xx

Ingredients:
1 loaf French bread (1 pound loaf)
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced 
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, ground beef or a mixture of (or, ground chicken, pork or turkey, also)
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
12 to 15 ounces pasta sauce (you favorite, chunky or plain)
 1 8 ounce package shredded mozzarella cheese or your choice

Add your favorites: pepperoni,  mushrooms, black olives, tomato slices, jalapenos, etc.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 
Slice French bread into length wise. Set aside. In a large skillet, add 1 tablespoon olive oil. When oil is hot, add onions, garlic and peppers. Stir and cook until vegetables are tender, but still have a slight crunch. Remove from pan. Set aside. To the same skillet, add ground meat and cook until no longer pink.Return the vegetables to the pan and stir Add Italian seasoning. Add pasta sauce and stir to combine. Let cook an additional 3 to 4 minutes.

To Assemble:
Spoon meat and vegetable mixture on each slice of French bread equally. Add on other toppings as desired. Sprinkle cheese on each slice and bake in a 400 degree oven for 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and bread is toasted. To serve, slice each piece of bread into 4 pieces. Serve with red pepper flakes and a crispy salad.

Seafood Crepes

Serves 4
Whenever I make this dish, I can’t help but remember that there was a time that I couldn’t boil water. And it wasn’t for the lack of my Mom and Grandmother trying to teach me. One day it all clicked and I fell in love with the art of cooking. This was the first recipe I made that everyone loved, especially my Mom.

While working at a gourmet café and bakery, many years ago, I learned to make seafood crepes, from a Dutch Chef named Jan. He was temperamental, self absorbed and an amazing chef and teacher.

I have tweaked this recipe quite a bit to suite my taste and laziness, but the base recipe was the work of Jan. Thanks Jan, it has been my all time favorite. I can still hear you yelling to this day : ). I did master sauces, despite you!

A side note: I like to make my crepes first and set them aside. They will be going into the oven, anyway, so it really doesn’t matter if they cool a bit. You can use any seafood you like in this recipe. I trade (cheat) and use a ½ pound of seafood salad in lieu of a package of crab meat. It adds even more creaminess to the dish. You can use lobster, calamari, any firm white fish, even fried potatoes. OMG! Do I need to say versatile and incredible? Try it. Make it your own. Customize the recipe to your taste. Enjoy!

Crepe Ingredients:2 eggs
1 ¼ cup milk
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tbs melted butter
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon baking powder

Crepe Directions:In a bowl, whisk all crepe ingredients together until smooth. Cover mixture and chill for 1 hour in refrigerator.

Heat an 8 to 10 inch non-stick skillet on medium heat for about 3 minutes. Spray pan well with non-stick spray. When hot, pour ¼ cup of batter into pan and swirl the batter around to coat the bottom of the pan. When edges begin to brown, loosen the crepe with a spatula all the way around. Guiding the spatula under the crepe, gently flip the crepe using your fingers and the spatula. Brown other side (maybe 15 seconds )and continue process until you have used all the batter. Make sure you spray the pan between each crepe!

Make crepes as suggested.

Note: Crepes freeze well for up to a month or so. Separate crepes with parchment and place in a Zip lock baggie. You can freeze the seafood filling as well, in a airtight container.

Ingredients for seafood filling:2 tablespoons butter or margarine
¼ cup shallots, diced small
¼ cup mushrooms, sliced
1 large piece (jarred) sweet red pepper, diced
½ cup scallops, rinsed and chopped into small pieces
¾ cup small cooked shrimp
2 tablespoon capers
1 teaspoon dill weed (or More…or less if you don’t care for dill)
1 teaspoon old Bay seasoning
¾ cup half-and-half
1 8 ounce brick cream cheese, cubed small for easy melting
2 teaspoons fine lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
6 ounces seafood or crab salad or 6 ounces imitation or real frozen crab meat
1 to 1 ½ cups Monterrey or Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
8 crepes (for 2 each)
*If you like a little spice, add chopped jalapenos or cayenne pepper to the recipe : }.

Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a frying pan, add butter and melt on medium heat. Add diced shallots and mushrooms and cook until shallots are translucent and mushroom are tender. Add red pepper, scallops and shrimp and cook for 3 minutes. Add capers, dill and seasoning, half-and-half, cream cheese, zest and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until the cream cheese is melted and sauce is smooth. Add seafood salad and stir to incorporate.

Place 2 to 3 tablespoons of the filling down the center of each crepe. Roll the crepe and place in a baking dish. Repeat until all the crepes are made. Spoon any leftover filling on top of crepes and sprinkle generously with cheese.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese on top is melted and stringing.

Garnish with dill and Serve hot with a side salad.

　

Potato Pancakes

Growing up in a southern household in the middle of Southern California, I ate a few things my friends never even heard of.  Fried frog legs, venison burgers, tuna and eggs and good ole southern potato pancakes. Yep. Latkes, you say? NO! Mashed potato cakes. YES!…and Yum! You have to try these. It’s comfort food for me : ).

Ingredients:
Oil for frying
2 cups mashed potatoes
2 eggs
¼ cup flour
Kosher salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons fresh chives cut small

Directions:
Mix all ingredients for potato cakes in a large bowl. If mixture is too thin, add more mashed potato or if you have to, add a bit more flour.
Heat a few tablespoons of oil at a time in a frying pan or less oil if using a griddle. When oil is hot enough for frying, scoop about ¼ cup batter in a measuring cup and drop into hot pan. Cook both sides golden brown and lacy.

Serve with sour cream or apple sauce.

Potato and Asparagus Tart with Gruyere

Ingredients:
2 to 3 red potatoes, washed and sliced into rounds, medium thin
Olive oil
Kosher salt
1 ½ pounds asparagus spears, washed, thick woody ends removed
1 shallot, sliced thin
8 ounces filo pastry
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 ½ cups Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 (8-ounce) container heavy cream
1 tablespoon flour
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon Greek seasoning or see my *Greek Seasoning Recipe below*

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place sliced potatoes in a dish a sprinkle with olive oil and lightly with salt. Toss to coat. Arrange on plate and microwave until fork tender for 3 to 4 minutes or longer, depending on your microwave. Work in batches, if need be.

Snap off the end of one asparagus spear. Lay that spear along side the others and use it for a guide to cut the other ends off with a knife. Where ever it naturally snaps off will be the woody part of the stem.

While potatoes are cooking, add a teaspoon oil to a sauté pan and cook asparagus and shallots until just limp. This dish does not cook for a long time, so it is a must to

In a casserole dish, layer the filo pastry sheets in the dish and brush them with melted butter between each layer. Brush the top of the last layer with butter, as well. Do nothing with the pastry edges until all ingredients are in the dish. The pastry need to be about 6 sheets thick.

Using even amounts for layers, work fast to keep dough from drying, add a layer of potato slices, a layer of cheese and top with a layer of asparagus. You can cut your asparagus into smaller pieces or not. It’s up to you. Continue to layer the dish in this order until all ingredients have been used.

Cover with a wet paper towel while you make the egg custard. In a bowl, whisk cream and flour until smooth. Whisk in eggs and Greek seasoning. Pour into tart. Try not to over fill. Tuck pastry ends under all the way around and pinch between your index and middle finger to flute.

Set casserole dish on a sheet pan and place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Check custard filling for doneness. Allow to cool and set up for about 15 minutes, un-refrigerated. Serve pie slices with your favorite soup or salad.







California Girl’s Greek Seasoning
Makes about ½ cup of spice mix
 Ingredients:
 3 teaspoons salt  1 ½ teaspoons black pepper3 teaspoons garlic powder  3 teaspoons onion powder 3 teaspoons dried parsley, finely crushed 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano, finely crushed 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil, finely crushed1 ½ teaspoons dried rosemary, finely crushed 1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme, finely crushed  1 ½ teaspoons fennel seed, crushed 1 ½ teaspoons marjoram leaves, crushed 1 ½ teaspoons dried mint, crushed 
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
Store in a labeled airtight container.
Use in soups, stews, chicken, beef, lamb, turkey, casseroles, eggs.

Orange Brunch Toast

Ingredients:

6 eggs

½ cup orange juice

½ cup half and half cream

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

8 slices Texas toast or 1 inch thick French bread

4 to 6 tablespoons butter

Powdered sugar

Maple syrup

Orange marmalade or strawberry jam

Orange slices and strawberries (optional)

Directions:

Whisk first 6 ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Arrange bread in 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour egg mixture over bread, making sure each piece is saturated with the egg mix. Cover dish with plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. You can dip and go if your time is limited, but soaking is best to meld flavors.

On a griddle or in a large skillet over medium high heat, add a tablespoon or two of butter at a time. When butter is melted, add the bread slices and cook in batches until golden light brown.

Serve with powdered sugar, syrup and jam. Garnish with fruit.

Dilly Tuna Salad in a Tomato Bowl

This is one of my all time favorite brunch recipes.  Looks elegant and takes only minutes to prepare. Not to mention it is so tasty!

Ingredients:

3 large tomatoes, hollowed out *(reserve all the inside meat and chop to go into salad)
1 can 6 ounce light tuna in water
1 can 6 ounce can white flake tuna in water
tomato meat from hollowing out tomatoes
1 tablespoon red onion, minced
1 tablespoon dill pickle, minced
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoon yogurt
1 tablespoon capers. chopped (optional)
2 teaspoons dill weed or 2 sprigs fresh dill chopped

Directions:

Mix all together and stuff inside tomatoes, Garnish with dill or parsley and serve with crackers or on top of a salad.

Enjoy!

Poached Eggs Over Turkey Potato Hash

Ingredients:
1/2 pound slab bacon, diced and fried
1/2 white or yellow onion, diced
3 russet potatoes, washed and microwaved for 5 minutes, then diced
2 cups leftover turkey pieces, diced
16 jalapeno slices
2 eggs per person, poached or fried
Salt and Pepper to taste 
1 small tomato, diced (optional)

Save time by using a frozen bag of diced or O'Brien potatoes.Other additions or substitutions are: Broccoli florets. greens. leeks, ham or steak instead of turkey.

Directions:
Remove all but 2 tablespoons bacon fat from the large skillet that you fried bacon in, and add onions and diced potatoes.  Cook until tender and potatoes are lightly browned.  Add turkey and jalapeno slices and stir to combine.  Cook until turkey is lightly browned , as well. Heat a skillet filled 1/3 full of water. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to water. When water is hot, gently drop 6 to 8 eggs in the water and poach eggs to desired doneness over medium high heat.
Stir in bacon and divide equally among plates and place eggs over potato turkey hash. Garnish with tomatoes, if desired.

Banana's Foster Pancakes

We love this recipe for banana pancakes. As a side note, I'm well known for buying on sale , markdown and in extreme quantity :) Someday I'll tell you guys about my great pumpkin buy. But that's a story for another day. This time I got this really good bargain on a big bag of nanas and had to use them quick. So I came up with a recipe I like for banana pancakes with banana sauce. We had them for brunch this morning and boy were they good! A dollop of whip cream and a side of bacon and you'll be good until dinner.

Pancake Ingredients:
2 large bananas or 3 small
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoon butter, melted
Cooking spray

Directions:
Heat griddle to 375 degrees or a skillet on medium high. Watch your temp. as these pancakes will burn easily. Lower heat if necessary. On a plate smash bananas, leaving some chunkiness. In a mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients and stir to incorporate. Stir in milk, eggs and butter. Mix well. Add smashed bananas and mix. Don't over mix ingredients. Spray or oil your cooking surface. Use a ¼ cup measuring cup or pour 4 to 5 inch pancakes on hot griddle. When cakes are bubbly on top, turn over. Always slide spatula under pancakes and lift slightly to check for brownness of underside. Repeat until all batter is used.

Banana Sauce:
2 Ripe bananas cubed
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon milk or cream

Directions:
Cube bananas small. Heat butter in a skillet on medium high. Add bananas. Saute bananas for 3 minutes. Add brown sugar and stir. Let cook until bubbling. Stir in milk. Reduce heat and cook for another minute. Remove from heat. Top pancakes and add a dollop of whipped cream if desired.

Cooks Notes: If you’d like to top with fresh strawberries and whip cream instead.