Mely's Knock-off Mcgriddles

I can't remember how this happened but one fateful day I stumbled across "French Toast Bread" at Safeway, purchased it and realized it reminds me of the bread McDonald's uses to make their breakfast McGriddle sandwiches because the bread has small bits of maple syrup (or maple syrup flavored pieces?) in it. So without further ado here's my knock off version of McGriddle Sandwiches featuring:

Safeway's "French Toast Bread"

Ingredients:

4 Eggs
6 Strips of Bacon (or two sausage breakfast patties, pick your poison)
2 Slices of American Cheese*
Butter for Cooking

Cook your bacon or patties to your liking. I'm a freak and I like my bacon soft so it doesn't take me long.

Fry up your eggs in some BUTTAH! Remove from pan and set aside with your chosen meat.

Now is the fun part, smear a bunch of butter on your hot pan and lay two pieces of your bread. Pile each piece with 2 eggs, 3 slices of bacon (or a sausage patty) and a slice of American cheese.

Top each off with another slice of bread. Let the butter brown on the bottom of the bread and carefully flip and let your flipped side brown, this should take no longer than 4-5 minutes total.

I like wrapping these in foil and taking one to work or wrapping one in foil for Tony.

*I love Cheddar and real cheese as much as the next food snob but American is a must in this recipe, do the American thing.

Creamy Tomato Pennes

This recipe is great with ingredients out of your pantry, the only thing I needed to buy was the heavy cream.

What you will need:

• 1 box Pennes or any kind of pasta you like! - Cooked and drained
• 1 small tomato diced or a small can of diced tomatoes (optional)
• 1/2 small yellow onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 TBSP Olive Oil
• 2 cans Tomato Sauce
• 1 Cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 to 3/4 of a pint of Heavy Cream
• Seasonings and herbs to taste, any kind you like! Salt, Garlic Salt, Italian Seasoning, Fresh Basil, Crushed Red Pepper --I used Italian Seasoning, Garlic Salt and Crushed Red Pepper

Start with a fairly large skillet and start heating your olive oil over medium high heat

While that's heating dice your onion and finely mince your garlic

Once your oil is hot add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent and the edges are golden

Add your tomato sauce, diced tomato and seasonings

Simmer your sauce on low to medium heat stirring frequently until thick and bubbly (about 7-10 minutes)

Add your cream, parmesan and diced tomato and mix really well and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add your pasta, mix and serve!

You could also choose to add any kind of protein you desire, Chicken, Prawns, or Italian Sausage but I kept it simple.

Enjoy!

2+3=5

Tony and I are one guinea pig away from becoming animal hoarders.

We couldn't help ourselves when we met Leonidas... He was fluffy with big eyes and beautiful chocolate fur, he also needed a home. Since we had purchased both Reptar and Maximus from pet stores I still had a yearning to adopt a guinea pig in need of a home. Leonidas fulfilled that want and got a kick ass life in exchange.

What a cutie...

 

This is a picture we got from the lady we adopted him from. His hair can get a little wild and long!

 

I feel like now we are very settled into our apartment. I'm happy to have my own space but I need to downsize furniture because just us two and the guinea pigs makes our 500 square feet apartment feel a bit cramped.

 

It's hard to get inspired to cook gourmet or from scratch when you have a small kitchen but I think I make the best of it. It also helps that Tony doesn't cook and I have the kitchen to myself. I do want to start decorating the place and making it more functional. I have some ideas but first I need to get rid of my huge kitchen table. My thoughts are I could get a smaller 2 person table and add some wall shelving in the kitchen. We currently have a bookshelf in our kitchen where we keep things such as documents, pens, mail and medicine. I need to move out that bookshelf!

 

I need this table. Perfect for Tony and I and will maximize our kitchen space!

 

I would also really love a wall pantry...

...and a sofa bed for overnight guests.

I'm all about functionality, if I'm going to decorate I want to decorate with something that has a function other than to look pretty. Also, since I've decided I probably won't be selling Partylite anymore I now have all these candles and candle decorative pieces I can use. I need to find a way to maximize our living space so that when I do decorate the place doesn't look cluttered.

I really need to start using Pinterest.

 

Best Banana Bread

I don't usually do Bananas. I buy them for Tony but I kind of dislike them. The other day I bought a pack of Bananas at Costco and left them in the plastic bag. Unbeknownst to me, Bananas ripen within days when left in plastic. I ended up with 4 brown Bananas and a Google search for a good Banana bread recipe. I was not disappointed, for somebody that hates bananas this banana bread recipe was ah-mazing. I didn't have walnuts so next time I'm using walnuts and an actual designated loaf pan. I had to share. This recipe is easy but does require a few steps. I promise it's worth it. (I separated the ingredients to make it easier whilst going through the steps)

1 2/3 Cups Flour
1 TSP Baking Soda
1/4 TSP Ground Cinnamon
1/2 TSP Salt

1 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs

3 1/2 Ugly Brown Bananas
2 TBSP Sour Cream
1 TSP Vanilla Extract

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

2/3 C Walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350

Sift flour, baking Soda, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside

Mash your bananas, sour cream and vanilla until smooth

Beat sugar and eggs until light and fluffy, about ten minutes and slowly add the oil whisking as you go

When sugar and egg mixture is combined add the banana mixture and whisk until combined

Fold your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients in large bowl. Add Nuts.

Pour into a greased loaf or Bundt cake pan. Bake 45 minutes to an hour until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Happenings

I realize it's been almost 6+ months since I've posted but I've been so busy that some days I barely have a chance to catch my breath.

The first most important thing that happened was we became guinea pig parents. I grew up owning a couple of hamsters so I have always been partial to small, cute fuzzy creatures. In December, while my in laws were in Mexico, Tony and I went to the pet store. I wanted to check out the hamsters, not necessarily to buy one but just to look since I have been known to go to pet stores to fantasize about my next pet. We ended up walking out of there with not a hamster, but a guinea pig. Unlike hamsters, guinea pigs are naturally docile and diurnal (they are active during daytime). Tony suggested a guinea pig because "they are big enough to fit in his hands" and after seeing a fuzzy guinea pig with chubby cheeks I couldn't resist.

Meet Reptar....

After having Reptar for a couple months we knew one guinea pig wasn't enough. We checked out a few different guinea pigs but we landed in this old local petshop that had one guinea pig by himself. Immediately when I saw him I was charmed. He was a guinea pig that had been caged with his siblings and all his siblings had already been purchased. What was left was just him.

Meet Maximus Beau...

Admittedly I have more pictures of Reptar than Max and many say Reptar is my favorite. The truth is Reptar is just a much easier guinea pig. He is easier to pick up and he is very used to being held. Reptar also has the spunkiest personality and he's the most vocal. Maximus is my sweet piggy, he runs away if he sees us approach and he is impossible to pick up. We'll eventually get him to warm up ;)

Case in point: Reptar thinks it's funny to show us his manly bits. He's like a peacock, he likes to be seen.

I've had pets before but I don't think I have ever loved a pet as much as my guinea pigs. Guinea pigs are full of personality and they are so much fun. Bonus: Loads of cuteness.

 

The second most important thing that has happened since I last posted on this online journal of mine has been Tony and I have moved into our first apartment together. When we first married I moved into my in laws house so we could save money and get settled into newlywed life. In our culture it's not uncommon for married couples to live with in-laws, it saves all parties involved money and it's not looked down upon as it is in other cultures. We lived with my in laws for about 9 months before I decided it was time for us to get our own place. I ran it by Tony and he approved so in true Mely fashion, after deciding we had the budget for it, we had our applications in, approved, holding fee and deposit paid in the span of two weeks. We moved in to our apartment March 1st.

We've also begun little garden... I supervise and Tony works. I'm also quality control for our micro-strawberries.

We also have tomatoes, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers and peppermint.

I've also cooked a fair amount of meals in my tiny kitchen...

 

 

I apologize for the large size of these food pictures, Blogger doesn't let me resize them.

 

I've also become a subscription and online shopping addict. I love anything that comes in the mail...

 

 

 

Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Julep Maven, Birchbox and Sample Society plus more Guinea Pig products I'd like to admit to from Prime...

 

 

I've also been settling in quite nicely to my sorta new job. It's been five months and I finally feel like I get it, sometimes, most of the time...

 

I'm glad we had this talk.

~Melissa

Fancy Quiche

Note: I was having technical difficulties uploading pictures so I will add a pic as soon as I can because recipe posts without pictures suck.


Last night I made a Quiche, I considered it fancy so I named it Francois. Quiche is great because you can have it as breakfast, lunch or dinner. I've made an American style Quiche before, you can find that here. It's also fun to customize and play with the ingredients, meats and cheese. Heavy cream makes a quiche fluffy without having a heavy egg flavor. Quiches are not meant to feel like you're eating egg in a crust!

What you will need:

7 large eggs

2 cups finely grated Gruyere (or any other sharp cheese you'd like such as white cheddar)

1 Cup of Heavy Cream

8 Slices Thick cut Applewood Smoked Bacon

1 cup fresh Spinach Leaves

4 small or medium mushrooms (I used Portabello or Crimini)

1 teaspoon salt or garlic salt

1 deep dish pie crust in a tin (sold in the frozen section at the store)

*I sometimes make my own pie crust because I feel real dedicated, I use this recipe and my own pie dish

Preheat your oven to 375

Cut your bacon until small bite size pieces and fry until chewy not crispy. Drain the fat and set aside to cool.

Wash your mushrooms and spinach. Slice your mushrooms into thin slices (about 1/4 of an inch thick).

In a large mixing bowl combine your eggs, cream and salt and beat the living crap out of it with a spoon until nice and smooth and all the yolks are broken and mixed in.

Add your cheese, mushrooms, spinach and cooled bacon. Gently mix together.

Pour your mixture into your pie crust *


Loosely cover your Quiche with foil and bake on the top rack for 30-35 minutes covered. Then removed foil and bake for another 20-25 minutes until Quiche is golden and only slightly jiggly.


Let your Quiche cool.

*You will probably have some leftover mixture. This is because I haven't put forth the effort to exactly determine what quantity will fill up exactly one deep dish pie crust. Don't freak out, usually those frozen pie crusts come in sets of two at the grocery store. Or if your grocery store sucks, they don't provide deep dish pie crusts they only provide regular pie crusts in which case you have two regular pie crusts and can fill both to make two quiches. If you only have one pie crust you can pour the leftover mixture into a baking tin or a muffin tin for a few leftover mini crustless Quiches. The point is you can get creative with what you do with the leftover.

Enjoy!

Happenings

 

I should start off by saying I have no idea how some women (bloggers I read) are able to find time to raise children, have full time jobs and blog perfectly beautiful blog entries 3-5 times a week with dozens and dozens of pictures. I have been super overwhelmed and haven't blogged weekend recaps in a couple weeks. I figure that's okay since my blog doesn't have heavy traffic along with people that expect me to blog every day and most of the people that do come to my blog are people that see me cooking on Facebook and want to get my recipes.

 

Since I am an Accountant by nature, I love pretty summarized paragraphs so that's what I will do!

 

ANNOUNCEMENT!

I was offered an accounting position at a local winery on the third of this month. This just so happens to be a winery owned by Francis Ford Coppola, for any of you that aren't Sonoma County locals or live under a rock Francis Ford Coppola is a famous hollywood director (think The Godfather trilogy) and he owns a company called Francis Ford Coppola Presents which has three wineries, several resorts around the world, a restaurant in SF and a fine foods line. So techinically I will be working for the mother company of all these entities. It's a dream come true, I can hardly believe it's happening but it is! I realized a few months ago that non-profit accounting is not my calling and I had been searching for something more my fit for a few months. I start my new position on the 22nd (the week of Christmas, YIKES!) but I am so so grateful for the oppurtunity to work here. Dream come true for sure!!!

 

7 Monthiversary

Yesterday marked 7 months of being married to my hunky, tall, strong, brown husband. Whenever I talk to people my own age (early twenties) I always relay to them that marriage is the hardest thing I have ever done but it is the most gratifying. I can candidly admit that Tony and I are very different and our personalities are almost opposite but the one thing we have in common is the same fundamental beliefs and one common goal: to make our lives better because we are together.

 

 

Casa Gudino

My Momma is getting ready to put up her and my Dad's home for sale. My parents bought this big home on a golf course in the suburbs of Santa Rosa (my hometown) when I was 14. I lived in this home that I loved so much until I got married at 24. My whole adoloscence and early adult years were spent in that house so it's kind of sad to know that it won't be ours anymore but this is the best move for BOTH of my parents and I fully support them.

 

Christmas

I've been slowly buying Christmas gifts for my family. My list of people to buy for has grown this year and it's Tony and I's first Christmas as a married couple. My Christmas list looks like so:

Momma, Dad, PK, My brother, Brother's GF, my nephew, my two nieces, my cousin and her husband, Tony's parents, Tony's sister, Tony's brother. I have bought gifts for everybody except my Dad, Tony's Dad, Tony's brother and one of my nieces. I'm excited to do some more Christmas shopping this weekend! I also have a few friends I want to buy something small for! The recurring theme for my presents this year has been small but thoughtful instead of buying one large thing for each person I've been focusing on getting a few useful things for each person like:

 

 

I LOVE The Body Shop and so of course I had to share my favorite product with my loved ones for Christmas!

 

I also had to throw in some PartyLite product, especially for my peeps that I know love some candles!

 

I don't usually like Bath and Body Works since I find skincare products from The Body Shop are far superior but they have good bundle deals on hand soaps so I got a few of those!

 

 

I think I might go back and get a few more for myself ;)

 

 

And can I get an AMEN for all of the cool gift ideas Starbucks provides every year?! I mean Starbucks is my go-to for gifts.

 

On the Cooking Front...

Monday I tried to recreate Chic-Fil-a's Spicy Chicken Sandwich and although the results were delicious, the sandwich wasn't spicy enough. I look forward to tweaking this chicken this weekend and posting the perfect copycat Chic-Fil-A spicy chicken sandwich recipe for you!

 

 

 On the Social Front...

My in laws are leaving to Mexico on the 18th, while I am kinda bummed I won't be able to hang out with them and joke around like we do while they're gone, I will be able to cook and bake without getting in my Mother in Law's way! Saturday we are having my friend and her boyfriend over for an all american meal, Steak or Ribs, Corn on the Cob, Baked Potatoes and Rolls!

See you on next Monday when I post my weekend story and my spicy chicken sandwich recipe!

~Mely