Rebecca Davis 10/13/16 Rebecca Davis 10/13/16

Apples and honey stuffed french toast

Apples and honey french toast | Me & the Moose. This french toast combines fall flavors of apples and honey for a delicious breakfast or dinner. #meandthemoose #fall #frenchtoast #roshhashanah #apples #honey #breakfast

Even if you aren’t celebrating Rosh Hashanah, apples and honey are a superb combo and mixed with cream cheese and stuffed into buttery challah French toast? **Chef’s kiss**

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You could absolutely eat this French toast for a special holiday breakfast, but I love a breakfast-for-dinner situation and holidays with breakfast-for-dinner foods are especially fun, no? Also, might I add, this fancy-seeming French toast is extremely easy to whip up for a Yom Kippur break fast in a few days.

Apples and honey stuffed french toast

Time: About 20 minutes
Yield: 3-4 extra large slices

Adapted from this stuffed french toast recipe
Leftover challah (Cut into 3-4 very thick slices)
4 eggs
½ cup milk
½ tsp cinnamon (heaping)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp butter (for the pan)

Stuffing
3-4 oz cream cheese
2 Tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
2-3 tsp honey
1 small apple, chopped into very small pieces (about 1/3 of a cup)
Large pinch of salt

To make the stuffing, combine the softened cream cheese, apple sauce, honey, and salt. Put the cream cheese mixture into a plastic bag or piping bag and put in the fridge until needed.

Starting at the top crust, make a cut down the middle of each thick bread piece but stop an inch from each side and the bottom to create a pocket in each slice. Cut enough so that you can get some filling into the pocket, but leave enough room around the edges that the bread won't break and spill the filling.

In a frying pan, melt 1 Tbsp of butter on low heat.

In a separate container, whisk together the eggs, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Take out your bag of cream cheese mixture and cut one bottom corner to make a piping bag. Open each slice of bread and fill with about 2-3 Tbsp of cream cheese mixture. Squish the bread and filling together a bit.

Working with one slice at a time, dunk both sides in the egg mixture and let the bread soak in the liquid. When the pan is hot, cook the bread slices until golden brown. Flip and repeat until golden brown on both sides.

Serve immediately with a drizzle of honey on top.

A couple of recipe notes:

If you need/want to sub whipped cream cheese for regular cream cheese, omit the apple sauce in the filling and add a little bit of extra honey. Whipped cream cheese is much thinner and wetter, so you don’t need the apple sauce to thin out the mixture.
Once you’ve filled your bread, give it a little squeeze to ensure that the mixture stays inside.
Feel free to increase the egg mixture. Once you’ve dipped all of your bread slices, the leftover eggs can be cooked like regular scrambled eggs for a sweet, cinnamon-y egg-y treat.

Rebecca Davis 9/18/16 Rebecca Davis 9/18/16

Stovetop mac and cheese

Get dinner on the table in about 25 minutes with this easy stovetop Mac and cheese. Throw in whatever veggies your family likes and whatever cheeses you’ve got in your fridge.

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This is our go-to recipe for stovetop mac and cheese. I prefer stovetop over the baked variety because a) it saves a step; and b) at least when I make it, it's creamier. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Now listen, I know people have extremely strong opinions when it comes to mac and cheese, so I’m not claiming that this is the “right” way to make it. This is just how I make it and so far, we haven’t had any complaints.

Also, it’s so easy and a good way to use up cheese odds and ends. Also, my kids will eat broccoli, zucchini, and peas when they’re in the Mac and cheese, so it’s a win all around.

A couple of notes:

Roux can be intimidating, but let me tell you, I’ve made this dish 1000 times and my roux looks slightly different every time. Don’t worry too much about how it’s “supposed” to look or how thick it’s “supposed” to be. Adding cheese to this sauce hides a lot of imperfections! It’s okay to wing it!
I like to finely chop any veggies that I’m going to add (unless it’s peas and then I don’t do anything to them) and throw them into the pasta water three minutes before the al dente time listed on my pasta package. Check the pasta at the al dente time, but know that you might need another minute or two to get the pasta fully cooked because adding the veggies to the water lowers the temperature.

Stovetop Mac and Cheese

Time: 25 minutes, all active
Yield: 4 adult dinner servings, plus leftovers

16 oz Pasta
2 cups whole milk
4 heaping cups cheese (mixture of cheddar, gruyere, muenster, gouda, whatever you have)
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea salt + more to taste, depending on the saltiness of your cheese and add-ins
1/4 tsp black pepper
Any veggies you plan to add

Heat your salted pasta water over a high flame.

Measure the milk and microwave for 30 seconds or until it no longer feels chilly to the touch.

Grate the cheese and prep any veggies you plan to add.

In a separate pan, melt butter over a medium-low flame. Add flour, stirring constantly to combine. Keep whisking frequently. When butter and flour are bubbling, turn flame all the way down and continue stirring until the mixture has turned a slightly darker shade of brown (bubbles go from large to small and the color is more of a wheat/blond than white/cream).

Add the garlic powder, salt, and pepper and whisk to combine.

Slowly stream the milk into the flour and butter mixture and whisk vigorously until combined. Stir very frequently until mixture thickens, about 5-8 minutes. Add cheese and stir to melt. Stir frequently until the sauce is as thick as you’d like, about 3-4 minutes more.

While the sauce simmers, cook pasta according to package directions. When the pasta is 3 minutes shy of al dente, add the veggies to the boiling pasta water. Once the veggies and pasta are done cooking (check at the al dente time, but you may need 1-2 more minutes because the temperature dropped when we added the veggies), drain and return the noodles to the hot pan. Immediately add the cheese sauce and stir well. Check seasonings and serve.

Rebecca Davis 7/23/16 Rebecca Davis 7/23/16

Orange, peach, mango smoothie

Oranges, peaches, and mango combine in a delicious smoothie full of vitamin C. Freeze the fruity concoction for a sweet treat. Orange, Peach, Mango smoothie | Me & The Moose — Orange, peach, mango smoothie | Me & The Moose. #Meandthemoose #Orange #Peach #Mango #puree #popsicles

Remember that flavor of orange, peach, mango juice? I was obsessed with it in college until I mixed it with vodka one too many times. But since that was 20 years ago (UGH), I decided to give it another try. Can confirm: still delicious.

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This smoothie, like a lot of the smoothies on this site, started its life as a baby puree, but transitioned to a drink as my kids got older. I used to add carrots, but they’re a lot of work if you’re trying to make this more liquid-y, so I would just add some store-bought carrot juice if you want to go that route.

Orange, peach, mango smoothie | Me & The Moose. #Meandthemoose #Orange #Peach #Mango #puree #popsicles

This one is great as a smoothie or a juice, but I also love freezing it as popsicles or turning it into a fantastic sorbet (I use this method from Zoe Francois).

Orange, Peach, Mango smoothie

Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 2 smoothies

1 orange, squeezed
1 cup mango, fresh or frozen
2 large ripe peaches, 3-4 small ripe peaches, or 1 cup frozen
1/2 cup carrot juice (optional)

Combine the fruit in a blender and blend until totally smooth. If using frozen fruit, thaw it in the microwave for a few seconds before blending. Pass the mixture through a fine mesh sieve if desired for a smoother texture.

This puree is also delicious with 1 Tbsp of melted coconut oil thrown in for a bit of extra fat.