Ice Cream Battered French Toast

I love breakfast. And I love ice cream. This morning's recipe combines the best of both worlds. With only 3 main ingredients, you too can make decadent french toast without the fuss. 

What You'll Need
1 small loaf french or cuban bread, sliced
2 large scoops vanilla ice cream, melted
3 large eggs
Butter for frying
Cinnamon, nutmeg + powered sugar to taste
Maple syrup

What to Do
Arrange your sliced bread in a large baking dish. Stale bread soaks up the batter best. Mix the melted ice cream and eggs and pour over bread. Allow the bread to soak for at least an hour (or overnight if you really have it together!). 

Fry soaked bread in butter until golden brown. Dust with cinnamon, nutmeg and powdered sugar. Douse with maple syrup. Personally, I like frying some bananas to serve over warm french toast. 

Merry Christmas Eve!

Hashbrown Casserole

It's been a crazy week shopping, wrapping, baking, movie-watching and visiting with friends. With so much Christmasing going on, I needed something easy and delicious to kickstart the weekend. Enter hashbrown casserole. 

I've took a few liberties with a recipe from a co-worker and here's how it turned out (thanks Meredith!). This would be perfect for Christmas brunch. Or to cure your hangover. Whichever. 

What You'll Need:

1 32 oz bag frozen shredded hash browns

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz sour cream

1 onion, chopped

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 stick butter, melted
1 lb sausage (spicy preferred)

salt and pepper to taste

What to Do:

Cook the sausage and onions. Combine the hasbrowns, soup and sour cream. Sprinkle with cheese and dot with butter. Bake at 350 until bubbly throughout and crispy on top (about 30-40 minutes). You can also toss everything into the crock pot on low for 3-4 hours. 

For a southwestern flavor, you could substitute pepper jack for cheddar and add chopped bell pepper and green chillies. 

Eat up!

Weekend at Lake Rabun

I grew up going to the mountains in northeast Georgia. My grandfather built a cabin on Lake Burton when my dad and his brothers were young and the family has spent summer holidays there ever since. So the mountains seemed like a fitting place for everyone to get together for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary.

Since our place isn't winterized, we stayed on near-by Lake Rabun at the Lake Rabun Hotel for the weekend. The leaves were changing and the weather was simply perfect.

Rustic and homey, the hotel's cottage, where most of the family stayed, came complete with dried okra decorations and delicious peanut butter cookies in the afternoon.

 

The Hotel's award-winning chef, Jamie Allred, cooks up a mean breakfast each morning for guests using local ingredients. I'm still drooling over the creamy, stone-ground grits and the awesomely thick bacon.

Some of the featured farms Allred works with to create his delicious dishes include:
Chattooga Belle Farms
Flat Creek Farm & Dairy
Gibson Farms
Leah Lake Farms
Ladybug Farms
LoganBerry Heritage Farm
Osage Farms
Springer Mountain Farms

You can also find local mountain produce at the Simply Homegrown Market in Clayton during the warmer months. If you're ever near North Georgia, I highly recommend stopping by the Lake Rabun Hotel for a bite!