Easy Parmesan Risotto

Posted on February 18, 2012 by jgisvold

Wow, I was watching Food Network this morning and there are a lot of really good recipes that I want to try now. Especially all the ones that the Pioneer Woman had on her show. I have no clue where to go looking for a hamhock though, hopefully the meat department has one. I also thought that all the recipes on Ina’s show looked really good too. I had all the ingredients for this one so I thought I’d give it a try. If you’ve ever thought that making risotto sounded intimidating well it isn’t anymore. Ina made it look really easy like she always does and this sure was. It probably could have cooked in the oven a bit less than 45 minutes. The rice was done but it wasn’t really creamy after adding all the other ingredients in like when you make risotto on a stove top. Overall, it was pretty good though. I had a bowl of it for lunch.

I plugged in the points for the original recipe and it came out to be 11. I got it down to 7 points per cup by using light butter, and only 4 tablespoons of parmesan cheese. It still tasted really good too.

Recipe from Ina Garten

cals: 263 cal | fat: 6.77g | carbs: 40.85g | prot: 8.15g | fiber: 1.2
points Plus: 7
Servings 6 (1 cup)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
5 cups simmering chicken stock, preferably homemade, divided
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup frozen peas

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the rice and 4 cups of the chicken stock in a Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset. Cover and bake for 45 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente. Remove from the oven, add the remaining cup of chicken stock, the Parmesan, wine, butter, salt, and pepper, and stir vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes, until the rice is thick and creamy. Add the peas and stir until heated through. Serve hot.

Spaghetti and Meatball Soup

Posted on February 16, 2012 by jgisvold

I just love soup. Can you tell? I think it actually helps with weight loss and I’m considering going on an all soup diet. I especially love soup when I see someone make over a classic dish like take for instant Enchiladas, Tacos, or this one: Spaghetti and Meatballs. Yum! What else are they going to think of next that hasn’t been done before? Dessert soup? Pizza Soup? Burger soup? You can’t go wrong with soup that’s for sure.

About a week ago my store had these mini meatballs on sale so I picked them up, thinking I’d be using them for my next treat day. They were so tiny, I didn’t think it would serve a lot. When, I saw this recipe, I was like great, I have something new to try and make with the meatballs I just bought at the store. This soup comes together really fast if using frozen meatballs. If you were really dedicated, you could make your own meatballs. I just like the convenience of these though. Try this one soon, and put it on your menu for next week. It’s a keeper.

Don’t have a food processor? You’re missing out. It chops veggies so fast and can do so many other things!

cook the veggies, including the garlic.

Add in the liquids, noodles and meatballs.

Recipe From Iowa Girl Eats
serings: 8
Calories 267 | Fat 10.98g | Carbs 29.65g | Fiber 2.2g | Protein 12.76g
Points Plus: 7 (1 cup)

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large carrots or 10 mini carrots, shredded
1 small zucchini, shredded
1/2 onion, shredded or finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt & pepper
42oz low-sodium chicken broth
24oz marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
1lb mini meatballs
1 cup cut spaghetti or other small pasta

Directions:

Heat oil in a large soup pot, add vegetables, season with salt & pepper, and saute until soft. Add in chicken broth, marinara sauce, Italian seasoning and red chili pepper flakes and bring to a boil. When boiling, add in meatballs and spaghetti. Simmer until pasta is cooked. Ladle into bowls and top with parmesan cheese, if desired.

Hash Brown Quiche

Posted on January 3, 2012 by jgisvold

This is a great dish to make if you’re a fan of breakfast for dinner. I’m not a really big fan of quiches, but I thought having hash browns as a pie crust was a pretty good idea and I love hash browns. Food Network has been having a lot of shows about brunch lately, and there’s so many things I want to try now like making making own Hollandaise sauce and Dutch Baby. I saw Paula Deen making this dish on her show and just had to try it.

Speaking of Paula Deen, her son Bobby is going to have his own show on Cooking Channel now and it looks pretty good. He’s lightening up his mother’s meals. Which, I already try to do anyway and I’m sure I’m not the only one. I think that’s pretty awesome too. Going to have to watch that. Just wish the Cooking Channel was in HD.

The husband decided to subscribe to Weight Watchers online this weekend in order to help him lose a few pounds. I’m still trying to get a hang of the recipe builder on the website and it’s nice to be able to look up an ingredient to find out how many points it is. Oh yeah, and we’re also doing 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michael’s everyday up until we go to Jamaica. I took my waste measurements to see how I’m doing too. So maybe I’ll give some updates on here too. We just finished day 2 tonight and my muscles arm muscles are really sore.

mix unthawed hash browns with butter in a bowl and press them down into a pie plate. Bake 450 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile brown bacon while the pie crust is baking.

Mix the eggs, cheese, bacon, milk, salt, pepper, green onions, and parsley into a bowl.

Browned hash brown crust. Sorry these pictures are quite bad.

The finished quiche, and it was so so good. Makes me change my mind about quiches.

Ingredients from Paula Deen

7 points plus

serves 8

3 cups, shredded frozen hash browns, thawed and drained
2 tablespoons butter
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup diced cooked ham
1/2 cup diced green onions
1/2 cup of reduced fat cheddar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Gently press the drained hash browns between paper towels to dry them as best as possible. In a 9-inch pie plate, toss the hash browns with the melted butter into the plate. Press them into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and starting to crisp.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. When the hash brown crust is ready pour the egg mixture over it and return to the oven.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 minutes until the quiche is light golden brown on top and puffed.

Fruit Cake

Posted on December 11, 2011 by jgisvold

Believe it or not, this is my first time ever having a fruit cake. There was an Iron Chef episode on one night last week, and the secret ingredient was fruit cake. Alton Brown’s fruit cake to be exact. He made a ton of them and the chefs were doing crazy things with the fruit cake like wrapping it up in sushi. Ummmm…. ???? That doesn’t really sound good to me, but I’m willing to try anything.

I looked at what was all in a fruit cake and it was mostly dried fruit, rum, and spices. How can people not like that and since when did the fruit cake get a bad rep? The smell of the fruit cake almost made me feel like it was Christmas right now, and that’s probably from the ginger ginger and cinnamon. I hope that I’ve inspired you to make a fruit cake for the Holidays and bring some to your next Holiday party. This fruit cake was really moist and it’s amazing how much dried fruit can plump back up after being macerated in rum all night long. Rum, dried fruit and spices, can’t go wrong with that.

Calories 277.7, Fat 8.1 g, Carbohydrates 42.1 g, Fiber 2.1 g, Protein 3.1 g

Servings 16 (if using bundt pan)

Points Plus: 7

Ingredients from Alton Brown

1 cup golden raisins
1 cup currants
1/2 cup sun dried cranberries
1/2 cup sun dried blueberries
1/2 cup sun dried cherries
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
Zest of one lemon, chopped coarsely
Zest of one orange, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
1 cup gold rum
1 cup sugar
5 ounces unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks)
1 cup unfiltered apple juice
4 whole cloves, ground
6 allspice berries, ground
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 to 1/2 cup toasted pecans, broken
Brandy for basting and/or spritzing

Directions

Combine dried fruits, candied ginger and both zests. Add rum and macerate overnight, or microwave for 5 minutes to re-hydrate fruit.

Place fruit and liquid in a non-reactive pot with the sugar, butter, apple juice and spices. Bring mixture to a boil stirring often, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for at least 15 minutes. (Batter can be completed up to this point, then covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before completing cake.)

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients and sift into fruit mixture. Quickly bring batter together with a large wooden spoon, then stir in eggs one at a time until completely integrated, then fold in nuts. Spoon into a 10-inch non-stick loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Check for doneness by inserting toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If not, bake another 10 minutes, and check again.

Remove cake from oven and place on cooling rack or trivet. Baste or spritz top with brandy and allow to cool completely before turning out from pan.

When cake is completely cooled, seal in a tight sealing, food safe container. Every 2 to 3 days, feel the cake and if dry, spritz with brandy. The cake’s flavor will enhance considerably over the next two weeks. If you decide to give the cake as a gift, be sure to tell the recipient that they are very lucky indeed.

Weight Watcher Recipes – Tortellini & Vegetable Soup

Posted on December 4, 2011 by jgisvold

I grew some bell peppers in my garden this summer and froze them and I think that’s the best thing to have in your freezer during Winter time. I did try growing some onions too, but for some reason they … Continue reading →

Beef and Bean Chili

Posted on November 7, 2011 by jgisvold

I read some of the reviews before making this chili first, and decided to cook the chili for a bit longer. The reviewer said that they couldn’t really taste any of the flavors. The recipe said to cook it for 30 minutes, but I cooked it for an hour. If you really wanted the flavors to meld together, you could cook the beef and then cook the chili in the crock pot for a long time. I was planning on doing that, but had poor planning. Should have taken the beef out the morning before to let it defrost.

I had bought some jalapeno peppers at the grocery store on Friday, and on Monday when I made this, the peppers were moldy. That kind of upset me, but I had some frozen bell peppers in the freezer from my garden. That saved me. If you like spicy chili then you’ll really like this. Served mine in a homemade bread bowl.

Weight Watchers Recipe
Points Plus: 7
Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 spray(s) cooking spray
1 pound(s) lean ground sirloin
2 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion(s), diced
2 stalk(s) (medium) celery, diced
2 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced
1 small jalapeٌo pepper(s), seeded and minced**
2 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
2 leaf/leaves bay leaf
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or more to taste
28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
1 cup(s) canned beef broth, reduced-sodium
8 oz canned tomato sauce
30 oz canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup(s) shallot(s), chopped

Instructions

Coat a large stockpot with cooking spray; set over medium-high heat. Add beef; cook until browned, breaking up meat as it cooks, about 5 minutes. Remove beef from pot; set aside.

Add oil to pot; set over medium-high heat. When oil begins to shimmer, add onion, celery, garlic and jalapeño; sauté until tender, about 4 minutes.

Add reserved beef, chili powder, cumin, oregano, bay leaves, salt and red pepper flakes; stir to coat vegetables and beef with spices. Add tomatoes, broth, tomato sauce and beans; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes.

To serve, discard bay leaves, ladle chili into bowls and top with chopped shallots. Yields about 1 heaping cup per serving.

Lasagna Soup

Posted on October 8, 2011 by jgisvold

Raise your hand if you’ve ever made lasagna before, and it turned out more like a soup? I have plenty of times, until I found the right recipe to use. This soup is no accident. It’s another one of those hearty soups and very filling, great for Fall or Winter if you’re ever craving lasagna and don’t want to spend the time layering everything. Just throw everything into one pot and let it simmer. I topped mine with some ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Servings: 8

Points Plus: 7 (using turkey sausage, one cup per serving)

Ingredients from A Farm Girl’s Dabbles

for the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage
3 c. chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 T. tomato paste
1 28-oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 c. chicken stock
8 oz. mafalda or fusilli pasta
1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:
8 oz. ricotta
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente. Do not over cook or let soup simmer for a long period of time at this point, as the pasta will get mushy. Stir in basil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy yum. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

To serve, place a dollop of the cheesy yum in each soup bowl, sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top and ladle the hot soup over the cheese.

Servings: 8

Granola with Honey-Scented Yogurt and Baked Figs

Posted on September 10, 2011 by jgisvold

I saw this recipe in the latest issue of Cooking Light and had to try it. It looked so good, at first I didn’t get the magazine but then, I kept on thinking about that recipe. So, I finally went back and got the magazine. It’s almost like finding an article of clothing, at the store, and not getting it right it away. Then, you end up thinking about it, and thinking about it, and go back to the store and get it. Cooking Light normally has a recipe index for each month, but for some reason they never put it up there for this month. I hope they don’t keep on doing that, or else I might have to get another magazine subscription. This was almost $5.00 and I thought that was a little ridiculous. It was worth it though, cause there’s just tons of really good recipes in the September issue. I plan on making some more of them this weekend.

What a gourmet breakfast, this was! It looked so fancy after I put it all together, that I didn’t want to eat it. I made the granola the night before, so that all I had to do this morning was roast the figs in the oven.The title describes this very well. Honey vanilla yogurt mixed with crunchy maple granola and topped with roasted figs. Your house with smell amazing after roasting the figs and baking the granola in the oven. The granola recipe is one of the best one’s I’ve tried so far.

serves: 6
Calories: 277, Fat: 5.6g , Carbohydrate: 45.7g , Fiber: 4.2g , Protein: 13.3g

Ingredients from Cooking Light

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 large egg white
1 1/8 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons honey, divided
9 firm, fresh dark-skinned figs, stemmed and quartered
3 cups plain fat-free Greek yogurt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 300°.
2. Combine oats and pecans in a small bowl. Combine egg white and 1/8 teaspoon vanilla in a medium bowl; beat egg mixture with a mixer at medium speed until foamy. Fold oat mixture into egg white mixture. Combine brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and nutmeg; fold the sugar mixture into oat mixture. Fold in maple syrup.
3. Spread granola evenly on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 300° for 25 minutes, stirring once. Remove granola from oven; stir to loosen granola from foil. Cool on a wire rack.
4. Increase the oven temperature to 350°.
5. Combine 2 teaspoons honey and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla in a large bowl, and add figs, stirring gently to coat the fruit. Arrange the figs, cut sides up, in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle figs evenly with the remaining 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon and remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt.
6. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until the fig juices begin to bubble. Remove from oven, and cool completely. Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons honey and yogurt in a small bowl. Spoon 1/2 cup yogurt mixture into each of 6 bowls; top each serving with about 2 1/2 tablespoons granola and 6 fig quarters.

Steak Tacos with Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad

Posted on June 6, 2011 by jgisvold

This idea, actually came from a multiple number of recipes. I was browsing the June recipes from Cooking Light and saw Flank Steak Tacos. Then, I saw chipotle-rubbed flank steak. I ended up using the spice rub from the chipotle-rubbed flank steak recipe, which was just 2 spices: ground chipotle and paprika. I also came across a recipe for a Tomato, Avocado, and Corn salad and I thought that would be great on some tacos. Sure enough it was! The only thing I thought this taco could have used was some creamy chipotle sauce, but it was still good. More dressing from the salad could have been good also.

Do you watch the Next Food Network Star at all? I’ve watched every season since that Amy won, but she ended up not wanting a show anymore. I was bummed, because I really like her. The new season started last night and there was more drama on that show than normal. I thought that lady who wants the show Stilettos in the Kitchen was a real bitch and I would never watch her show just because of her attitude problem. I also see they have another Asian cook on that show this season and her name is Orchid. I really liked her and would like to see an Asian cooking show on the Food Network. I would also like to see more healthy cooking shows too.

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Serves 6

Calories: 256 | Fat: 10.7g | Fiber: 2.8g | Carbohydrate: 20.7g | Protein: 20.9g

Points Plus: 7

For Steak from Cooking Light

8 corn tortillas
1 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed

Grilled Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad from For the Love of Cooking

pint grape tomatoes cut in halves
1 ripe avocado, roughly chopped
2 ears of fresh sweet corn
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Honey Lime Dressing:

Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp honey
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
Dash of cayenne pepper

Directions:

Combine first 3 ingredients for the steak. Sprinkle steak with chipotle mixture. Place on a grill; cook 5 minutes on each side. (We only did 3 minutes per side
since it was a thin steak) Let stand 5 minutes. Cut thinly across grain.

Slice the tomatoes in half. Remove husks from corn and grill over medium heat for 10 minutes. You can grill the corn during the same time the steak is cooking. The corn should have some brown spots and be tender and not mushy. Cut the corn off the cob then scrape the cob with the back of your knife to get the juices. Set aside and let cool. Dice the avocado and chop the cilantro.

Add all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.

Combine the sliced tomatoes, avocado, cilantro and grilled corn and honey lime dressing and mix gently so everything is evenly coated. Be careful not to mash the avocados. Let the salad sit for 10-15 minutes to let flavors mingle. Enjoy.

Spicy Garlic Shrimp

Posted on May 17, 2011 by jgisvold

I started c25k again and my feet are KILLING me. They’re really sore in front and it hurts to walk on them sometimes. Hopefully my feet get used to running again. I’ve been trying not to bake a lot of sweets either, but I might just have to break down and make this recipe for cake batter blondies that I found . I love almost anything with cake batter in it, especially ice cream.

You can bake or grill these shrimp. We ended up grilling them and there was a nice dipping sauce on the bottom of the tin foil that was left over. I ended up pouring that on the shrimp, but I wish I had a nice chunky piece of bread to dip the sauce into. They were really spicy too. I served these with some parmesan baked tomatoes, but like I said I wish that I had a piece of good bread with these.

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4 Minute Spicy Garlic Shrimp posted by QuilitingBarbie on Weight Watcher Recipes Review forum.

Serves 2
Ingredients
12 shrimp (Jumbo sized, peeled, deveined, & tails intact)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves (crushed with the side of a knife)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon steak seasoning (Montreal Seasoning by McCormick is recommended)
1 teaspoon lemon, zest of
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh parsley (chopped)

Directions
1 Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.
2 Add olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and shrimp.
3 Season with grill seasoning or salt & pepper.
4 Cook shrimp 3 minutes or until just pink.
5 Toss with lemon zest, juice, & chopped parsley.
6 Remove shrimp to a serving platter, leaving the garlic cloves in the pan.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 283.8
Total Fat 15.8 g
Carbohydrate3.7g Dietary Fiber 0.3 g
Protein 30.3 g

Weight Watcher Recipes

Oven Baked Parmesan Fries

Posted on May 16, 2011 by jgisvold

Yesterday, I was busy. I got my garden planted. I still need to plant the onions and snap peas and buy some herbs. I also planted watermelon and I’m so excited for that. There’s a recipe I found for watermelon jam that I want to try. I also made three recipes since our kitchen is finally back to normal again, and boy I tell you what, it’s nice to have a dishwasher again!

One of the recipes I made were these tasty parmesan fries. I followed the recipe to a T and thought that the fries could have used some more parmesan in the end. They were still very good though. It’s also nice to have a mandolin when making homemade fries because you get even cuts. If you don’t have this kitchen tool, I suggest that you go out and buy some a long with a popsicle mold. Thinking of starting a must have kitchen tool essentials on my blog.

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Calories 244 | Fat 7.9g | Carbohydrate 39.1g | Fiber 3g | Protein 5.9g

Serves about 3

Ingredients: from Playing With Sugar

1 pound of medium russet potatoes (approx 3 medium potatoes)
1 1/2 TBSP of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Dried Thyme
1/4 tsp Dried Oregano
1/8 tsp Dried Rosemary
1/4 tsp of Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp of Old Bay Seasoning
2 TBSP of Kraft Parmesan Style Grated Cheese (I used reduced fat)

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 425.
*Wash and cut potatoes into 1/8ths.
*Place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with foil (I used Reynolds Release foil so that they will not stick, but you could also either use non-stick cooking spray or lightly grease the top of the foil with extra virgin olive oil).
*Mix all of the spices and the parmesan cheese in a small bowl.
*Place all of the potatoes (remember we are talking about one pound at a time) into a gallon size freezer bag, add olive oil and the parmesan cheese/spice mixture to the bag.
*Seal the bag and shake until the potatoes are evenly coated.
*Once thoroughly coated dump onto the prepared cookie sheet and spread in a single layer.
* Bake 30-45 minutes or until tender and lightly golden brown. (Baking times will vary depending on the amount of fries that you make and the size that you cut them). For the ones shown in the picture they were baked at 425 for 45 minutes.

Strawberry Creamcheese Stuffed French Toast

Posted on May 9, 2011 by jgisvold

This weekend on Food Network, all I saw were recipes for french toast. All of them looked so, so good. I’ve made french toast casserole, and just regular french toast using sour dough bread and just plain old bread. I have never made stuffed french toast. Stuffed french toast will change your french toast routine, I’m pretty sure of it.

Too make this recipe a bit healthier, I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and 1% milk. This would be great with that egg casserole that I made this weekend or just for brunch.

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Calories 270 | Fat 11.44g | Carbohydrate 30.51g | Fiber 2g | Protein 9.37g

Serves 6

Points Plus: 7

Ingredients from Paula Dean

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used 1% milk)
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat cc)
12 slices white bread
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

Maple syrup, for serving
Strawberry Syrup, for serving, recipe follows
Confectioners’ sugar, for serving

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and granulated sugar. Spread the cream cheese on half of the bread slices and top with strawberries. Top with the remaining 6 bread slices and press around the edges to seal.

Melt butter on a griddle over medium-low heat. Dip the sandwiches in the egg mixture for a few seconds on each side. Cook the sandwiches until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve with maple syrup, Strawberry Syrup, or confectioners’ sugar.