Mascarpone Stuffed French Toast w/ Strawberries

Not sure what to do with your strawberries? Need a new idea? Here's one. ...... Stuffed Mascarpone French Toast with Strawberries!

You may ask, what in the heck is Mascarpone? Mascarpone is a cheese - a triple cream cheese - the main ingredient in Tiramisu. All I know is that it taste very yummy.

This is really quite an easy recipe, and the variations are endless.

Not a big fan of strawberries? Then switch out the strawberries for raspberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, etc. One of my favorite varieties is with apples and walnuts over top.

So, if you don't already have your strawberries, head on down to your local farmers market, or roadside strawberry stand and pick some up. But remember to leave a few for the french toast :)

Ingredients:

Filling -

4 oz. Mascarpone Cheese (cream cheese will work too)

1 tsp. lemon zest

2 T. honey

Mix the cheese, zest and honey together in a small bowl with a spoon or spatula. Set aside.

Toast and batter -

8 slices day old French or Italian bread - (most often I just use the wheat bread I have in the house)

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon (cardamon would be a nice touch too)

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk eggs, mild, cinnamon and vanilla together. Set aside.

Topping:

Strawberries (or berry of your choosing)

Honey

Lemon juice

Slice the strawberries. Drizzle with honey and a little bit of the juice from the lemon you zested - to taste. Set aside.

To Prepare:

Spread one fourth of the cheese mixture on a slice of bread. Put a layer of strawberries on top of the cheese mixture.

Top this with another slice of bread, making sandwich.

Place the sandwich in the egg mixture as you normally would for french toast.

Place in a heated skillet or griddle. I like to put a little butter in the pan, or on the griddle for extra flavor. Cook on each side until golden brown - just like normal french toast.

To plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar. If you'd like, add some extra berries and almonds.

Now that's a tasty treat!

Enjoy!

Muffin Frittatas

Now here's a great idea for a Sunday brunch - Muffin Frittatas! It's time to pull out those old muffin pans, dust them off, and put them to good use.

The variations to this recipe are endless. You can saute the vegetables, you choose not to; you can choose what ever vegetables are to your liking; you can choose to use cheese - or not - or maybe a little; you can choose what kind of cheese. Like I said the possibilities are endless. I'll give you the basic recipe and you can take it from there. When I made these this morning, I used red and orange bell pepper, onion, and spinach. Because I was using spinach and wanted it wilted down, I decided to saute all of my vegetables. Again, the choice is up to you. One thing to keep in mind if you saute the veggies, is to make sure you drain the excess liquid before mixing the veggies in with the egg mixture. If you don't, you may end up with soggy muffins. Next time around, I think I'll do mushrooms, spinach, onions, and Feta cheese (if you use feta cheese, you may what to cut back on the salt in this recipe, as feta tends to be a bit on the saltier side). Yummy - I can hardly wait!

Muffin Frittatas:

Ingredients -

3 whole eggs

6 eggs whites

1/2 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 cup cheddar cheese (or what ever cheese is to your liking)

1 cup chopped vegetable of your choosing

1/2 small red onion (green onions would be lovely as well)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

If you are sauteing your vegetables, I would do that first. Add 2 Tbsp oil to medium skillet and heat on medium high heat. Add your veggies and saute for 2-3 minutes. If you are using spinach, I would saute the other veggies first. After a couple of minutes, add the spinach and saute for 1-2 minutes more, until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat to cool.

While the veggies are cooling, beat the eggs milk, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the cheese and veggies; mix well.

Spoon the egg mixture into 12 greased muffin cups (about 1/4 cup each).

If you are wanting to decrease the overall cheese content, you could choose to simply sprinkle a little on top of each muffin before putting in the oven.

Bake at 350 degrees F about 20 minutes (just until set). Cool on a rack for about 5 minutes. Remove each cup and serve warm.

I figure about 3 muffins per person, which will give you four servings.

Serve with a side of whole wheat bread; maybe a little fruit, and you have a wonderful Sunday Brunch for your family.

Enjoy!