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Breakfast

Recipe: Baked French Toast With Cinnamon Sugar Topping

April 10, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 17 Comments

I promised this recipe to a bunch of people last week, and I’m really sorry that I haven’t been able to post it until today. Last week was quite a challenge, as you know if you follow me on social media. (If you don’t, please do here, here and here.)

Instagrammed!

 

Anyway, better late than never, as I always say. Here’s a recipe for a super yummy and sweet breakfast treat, Baked French Toast with Cinnamon Sugar Topping. This is perfect with a mug of coffee, so start your day right by brewing some!

The best way to start the morning

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×9″ glass baking pan with cooking spray or butter. Use unsalted if you don’t want to have a salty crust on your French toast. Then, tear up about 5 cups of bread and arrange the pieces inside the pan. I used an assortment of regular loaf, whole wheat loaf and pandesal. I like to store bread in the freezer, and this dish is a great way to use up that stash.

I really had fun tearing up these bread pieces

In a bowl, whisk together 5 eggs (1 egg for each cup of bread), 2 cups of whole milk, 1/2 cup each of brown and white sugar, and 2 tablespoons of vanilla.

French toast basics: Eggs and milk

Yes, this is another fattening recipe, I’m afraid.

There’s no such thing as too much sugar

Pour the custard over the bread, making sure that each piece is moistened. I like to press the bread down, bringing some of the liquid up to the top. Refrigerate for a few minutes and allow to soak.

While this is happening, combine 1/3 cup each of flour and brown sugar , plus 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a separate bowl. 

Dry ingredients for the crumb topping

Take a stick of cold butter (must be cold, this is important), and mash it into the flour and sugar mixture until little pebbles are formed. Try your best to keep this cold, otherwise you will end up with boulders instead of pebbles. Again, if you don’t want this to be too salty, use unsalted butter. Or you can also opt not to add more salt to the mix.

See, my butter ended up warming up faster than I wanted it to, so I had rather large pebbles

Sprinkle topping over the entire casserole. Then, pop in the oven to bake. If you want the finished product to be soft and squishy, keep this in the oven for 30-35 minutes. For a more firm, slightly dryer French toast casserole, bake for 40-45 minutes.

One last look before going into the oven

That’s it! This is really nice eaten warm, but also good when cold. Next time, I’ll try to make a version with apples in it. Yum! Oh, one last note, this recipe is a cross between The Pioneer Woman, Rachel Ray, and one more recipe I found online that I cannot remember anymore. Enjoy!

Baked French Toast with Cinnamon Sugar Topping
2014-04-10 07:46:04
French toast, done differently.
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Ingredients
  1. 5 cups torn up bread
  2. 2 cups whole milk
  3. 5 eggs
  4. 1/2 cup brown sugar
  5. 1/2 cup white sugar
  6. 2 tbsp vanilla
For the topping
  1. 1 stick butter
  2. 1/3 cup flour
  3. 1/3 cup brown sugar
  4. 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  5. 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x9" glass baking pan with butter or cooking spray. Arrange the torn bread pieces in the pan.
  3. In a bowl, make a custard by whisking together the milk, eggs, sugars and vanilla.
  4. Pour custard over the bread, making sure that each piece is moistened. Refrigerate and allow to soak. You can actually prepare ahead up to this point and let the casserole soak overnight.
Prepare the topping
  1. Combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
  2. Mash cold butter into the dry ingredients using a fork to form pebbles.
  3. Sprinkle the topping over the soaked bread.
Bake uncovered for
  1. 30-35 minutes if you want a soft and squishy consistency, 40-45 minutes if you want your French toast to be more firm.
Notes
  1. Enjoy!
By Mrs C
Adapted from assorted online recipes
Adapted from assorted online recipes
At Home With MrsC https://blissbysam.com/

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Baked French Toast, Breakfast, Cinnamon Sugar Topping, Dessert, French Toast, French Toast Casserole, Recipe

Starting The Day Right at Acacia Hotel Manila

March 18, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 19 Comments

If you follow me on Twitter, you would know that I rarely wake up early on weekends. The boys usually allow me to sleep in on Saturdays, and on Sundays especially, since I’m up real early on school/work days to prepare breakfast and packed lunches for them. I only get up early on weekends when I have work, or for something very special, which was exactly the case last Saturday when I got together for breakfast with my amazing mommy blogger friends, Janice and Millie. This breakfast date was several weeks in the making, and I’m super happy that we finally pushed through. Making it even more special, my wonderful friends at Acacia Hotel Manila hosted us on that fine morning, and I was so happy to once again experience the incomparable warm hospitality that this hotel offers.

Ladies who brunch!

The girls and I got together at 8am, and we were seated at a nice and bright table by the window. Angie from the hotel’s F&B team was there to welcome us, and to make sure that we all had our much-needed cups of coffee. After a few minutes of chatting, we went off to the buffet tables to get plates and plates of yummy food. I let the two ladies go ahead and explore the breakfast selections while I had a second cup of coffee and read the hotel’s March to May newsletter, which they were kind enough to furnish us with. These actually get mailed to me at home, too, but I don’t think I’ve seen this latest one yet. I was excited to read about the new bar that just opened at the topmost floor of the hotel called Tree Top. I’m definitely adding this to my list of date night options.

Muni muni moment
Saw this, too, on our table! Super well-deserved!

A great activity that’s happening soon at Acacia Hotel is the Acacia Junior Chefs summer program for kids. These are a series of cooking classes for kids aged 6 to 12 years old, taught by the hotel’s culinary team. Oh what I wouldn’t give to have my little boy prepare food like this for me every day! The fee is Php6,000 for 10 cooking sessions, and enrollment is ongoing until March 21. To register or for more information, you can call the hotel’s Marketing Department at 720-2000.

Here is the list of classes for the Acacia Junior Chef Summer Program

So finally, my turn came to go and see what was available for breakfast. Compared to my last breakfast experience at Acaci, this one was a bit more limited for me because, as you know, I’m skipping meat with feet for Lent. But let me tell you, the ham and bacon were really calling out to me. It took a ton of self-control for me to say no. Instead, I went straight for the fruit table and loaded up my plate with the sweetest melons ever, some yogurt, a couple of pastries, a breakfast roll and some cheese to go with my fruit. I also picked up a super yummy zucchini and mushroom omelette, which I have been craving for since! To wash everything down, I had a glass of kiwi juice, which was super yummy and refreshing.

Breakfast, round 1

Apparently my appetite has gotten smaller since I started on this Lenten diet of mine. While this is a good thing in general, it also meant that I was already full after my first round at the buffet! I wasn’t going to leave without having some danggit soaked in vinegar, though. So when Angie informed us that the buffet would be closing soon, I really got up and got a plate of dried fish for myself. Without rice, mind you. 

Danggit is LOVE!

It was already a perfect morning, when suddenly the Acaci staff made it even more memorable by surprising me with a belated birthday cake with matching song number! Oh my gosh! I was not expecting this, and I found the gesture to be super duper sweet. This isn’t the first time that they so generously became part of an important celebration in my life. Remember when they surprised MrC and I with a cake during our first wedding anniversary? Seriously, Marla, Angie and the rest of the Marketing, Guest Services and F&B Teams, you guys never fail to make me feel special. This is why I keep coming back to Acacia.

Thank you, Millie and Mike of Lightworkz Photography for this photo!
Thank you, Angie and the rest of the F&B staff! You guys are all so nice!

I had a fabulous time with Janice and Millie, and I am so happy that they got to try one of my favorite places in the south. I am actually already planning to do this again soon with other mommy blogger friends and readers. I would totally love to treat you all to a taste of the south, and of course I am excited for fun bonding moments and lots of chikahan. I really hope we get to do this, and I will keep you all posted in case this blogger dream of mine comes true! I’d like to know, though, are any of you up for a date sometime soon? Please say yes!

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Disclosure: We were generously treated to this breakfast buffet experience by the wonderful people of Acacia Hotel Manila. However, all opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone, and not influenced by anyone or anything. The Acaci Restaurant at Acacia Hotel offers an Asian and International Buffet daily for breakfast (6AM – 10AM), lunch (12NN – 2PM) and dinner (6PM-10PM). For reservations, you may call 720-2000 or 588-8888 loc1911 or email enquiry@acaciahotelsmanila.com. For the latest promos and updates about the hotel, follow them on Twitter and on Facebook.

Also, please check out Janice’s post about our morning here, and Millie’s post as well, here.

Filed Under: Food & Recipes Tagged With: Acaci Restaurant, Acacia Hotel Alabang, Acacia Hotel Manila, Acacia Junior Chefs, Breakfast, Breakfast Alabang, Breakfast Buffet, Cooking Classes for Kids, Hotel Breakfast, Summer Classes, Summer Classes for Kids, Summer Program

Breakfast at The Manila Hotel

August 1, 2013 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan Leave a Comment

Kukuruku! Umaga na! Good morning! What did you have for breakfast? Eggs benedict? At si Umberto ba ang nag-serve?

-Jennifer Cortez as Suzanne Reyes, Temptation Island (1980)

I actually had Eggs Benedict for breakfast at the Manila Hotel last week with a friend . It wasn’t served by Umberto though. Lol. We were there for a shoot, and since we had a long morning ahead of us, we decided to eat before getting to work. Breakfast was on her that day, and I’m really grateful for the treat because the food was on the expensive side, and not quite worth the price in my honest opinion.

Coffee. Always a must at breakfast time.
Coffee. Always a must at breakfast time.

[Read more…] about Breakfast at The Manila Hotel

Filed Under: Food & Recipes Tagged With: Breakfast, Eggs Benedict, Manila Hotel

My Favorite Crispy Corned Beef Recipe, As Told On Instagram

June 25, 2013 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 8 Comments

There are perks to following me on Instagram, like those mornings when I decide to share step-by-step instructions for preparing my favorite meals as I cook. I actually did that for the first time a few weeks ago, and I had a lot of fun with it. I prepared crispy corned beef for brunch that day, and I thought I’d share the recipe here too, in case you and I aren’t friends on Instagram yet. But yeah, we should be friends!

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Step1: Straight from the can, no oil, simmer over low heat until all the liquid evaporates.
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Step2: stir-fry until super dry and flakey. Move the corned beef around a lot or else it will burn. Remember, low heat.
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You know you’re almost done when it starts to get stringy and flakey. It starts to smell toasty too.
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Be careful towards the end coz there is but a fine line between toasted and burnt. Aaaand the crispy corned beef is done!
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Crispy corned beef is best paired with garlic rice and pork and beans!

Yes, I know, this looks really unhealthy. And it is. But hey, it’s really great comfort food. Try it, and I swear you’ll understand what I’m talking about!

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Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Breakfast, Brunch, Crispy Corned Beef, Recipe

Recipe: Cheesy and Milky French Toast

July 18, 2012 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 4 Comments

Good morning!

One of the great things that’s come out of my leaving the workforce to focus more on being a mom is my learning to become a morning person. Waking up before 8AM has always been a challenge for me.

You would think that I’d be up and about by 7AM at the latest considering my 9AM clock in time at the office. But in truth, I’d be lucky to be out of bed and functional before 8:30. That explains why I was always late for work.

It wasn’t as bad when I started working close to home as it was when I would report to a Makati office. But anyway, enough about my delinquent past, after all I think I’ve been making up for it in recent weeks.

I now typically get up – as in functioning and moving about, not just awake – between 5:30 and 6AM! Can you imagine that? Yeah, never thought I’d be able to do that either. But my weekdays have been starting out that early for the last two months, with, of course, the occasional lazy morning exception.

Since I’ve been up so early, I’ve actually learned to start my day by eating breakfast. Yay! I think this is a tremendous breakthrough from having started my mornings with a hurried cup of coffee for the last five or so years. I’ve never been a morning person, so this is a definite first for me.

The only downside is I find myself tired and sleepy by 6PM, but amazingly I manage to pull through until after the little guy is fast asleep. Next up on my agenda is finding out how to have more energy throughout the day, and I already know that the answer is exercise. Lol.

So anyway, the point of this post is that I prepared a really great breakfast for my kiddo today. We both love French Toast, and I thought I’d make ours a little more exciting in the form of (his) Cheesy and (my) Milky French Toasts.

Of course, this is nothing more than cheese spread or condensed milk sandwiched in between two slices of bread, dipped in egg and milk and cooked with a little margarine (I use margarine because I don’t like the taste of butter *gasp!*).

I tried the cheesy version once with sliced cheese and found that it was tough keeping the bread slices together when dipping and flipping, so I shifted to cheese spread. The milky version is inspired by my oh so favorite Milk Toast from Kopi Roti but with the condensed milk sandwiched instead of on top of the bread. I love condensed milk. Uh-huh, this is why I’m fat.

I also prefer to use frozen old bread for French Toast, since it doesn’t go all soggy on me. I usually place old bread in the freezer straight away for mornings like this one. 

Cheesy and Milky French Toast

You will need:

  • Frozen Sliced Bread – I used both wheat and white bread, mostly ends!
  • Cheese Spread – I used Cheez Whiz
  • Condensed Milk – I used Carnation Condensada

  • Two Eggs
  • About 1/3 Cup of Milk – I used Magnolia low fat milk
  • Plus: Margarine and Pancake Syrup!

Step-By-Step:

  1. Whisk the milk and eggs together in a bowl until it becomes pale yellow and frothy.
  2. Spread condensed milk or cheese spread between two slices of bread. Don’t put too much or it will run over the sides of the bread and make a mess in your pan.
  3. Dunk the sandwiches into the egg and milk mixture. You will need to soak these a little longer than usual because there are two slices of bread that you need to moisten, plus the bread slices are frozen.
  4. Heat a frying pan, spread some margarine (or butter, if that’s what you prefer), wait for it to sizzle then place the bread on top. I like to put a little bit more margarine on the slice that’s facing up so that it browns nicely when I flip it.
  5. Brown to your liking, and you’re done!
Ready to flip!

I like my French Toast extra toasted, so it may look overdone to you, but it’s just right for me. So sorry for the out-of-focus photos. The Blackberry camera sucks bigtime.

Milky French Toast made with whole wheat bread
Cheesy french toast made with white bread

Serve hot with more butter or margarine (if you wish, but I don’t add any more) and topped with pancake syrup!

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Breakfast, French Toast, Recipe

The Food Coma That Was This Weekend

November 20, 2011 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 2 Comments

I’m supposed to be on a diet, but it’s really hard to do that when the de Castro family is celebrating. Birthdays in our family have always been treated as week-long occasions, a cause for prolonged partying, wating, drinking and all-out merriment. This weekend, we celebrated 3 birthdays and a death anniversary in true de Castro fashion – with great food and family.

Friday Night – Dinner in Sanlo
November is a big month for my dad’s side of the family. He and his three siblings celebrate their birthdays this month, and we also get together for my grandfather’s death anniversary. Each year at around this time, we have dinner in my grandparents’ house in Makati. For this year’s potluck, we had a huge spread consisting of a tossed salad, a nice turkey with bread and apple stuffing and cranberry jelly, meat and cheese lasagna, vegetarian lasagna, chicken and garlic sotanghon, and a mango pavlova for dessert. The food was lovingly prepared by my mom, Tita Nini and Tita Chiqui. I was actually pretty tired that night and didn’t really move much, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Mr C took photos of the all the food. I think I’m starting to rub off on him.

Turkey
Mom’s Cheesy Beef Lasagna
Garlic and Chicken Sotanghon
Tita Chiqui’s Veggie Lasagna
Tossed Salad
The Entire Spread

Saturday Night – Dad’s Birthday Dinner at Dampa

My friends Gina and Salie from Frontrunner Productions always make sure that I didn’t go hungry when I do events with them. Last Saturday, I did the script and live continuity for my a project with them at Cuneta Astrodome. I was treated to styro packed prod meals prepared by Salie’s mom. Styro meals bring back memories of fun times with good friends from the events agency I used to work for, and so I enjoyed my lunch and meryenda oh so much. To think I wasn’t all that hungry since Mr C and I had a drive thru Mc Donald’s breakfast meal on our way to the event. After the show, we grabbed some coffee at Starbucks on our way home. I was actually pretty stuffed from all the eating, but then dad announced that he wanted to have dinner at Dampa for his birthday. And who can say no to chili garlic shrimp?

La Familia
Time to order!
Hungry?
Being silly while waiting for the food
Pow! Pow! Pow!
The birthday boy
Starting to get hAngry
Sawsawan condiments
Tempura
Toyo calamansi dipping sauce
Pancit for long life
Grilled Liempo
My favorite chili garlic shrimp!

Sunday Morning – Breakfast with the Boys at Starbucks

I was hoping to visit Soderno this morning, but since schedules were a bit tight, I’m gonna have to postpone that visit for another day. Instead, because I was so excited to get my 2012 planner already, I treated the boys to a late breakfast at Starbucks Madrigal. Got to eat my fave sandwiches, have yummy Christmas coffee, and take home my new planner. Totally a great start to my Sunday! I thought today would be the start of my detox but I was completely wrong. After our big breakfast, we had leftover lasagna and homemade lemon merengue pie for lunch, then Chicboy takeout and chocolate cake for dinner.

Starbs Madrigal – still my fave branch in Alabang
Got free Peppermint Mocha Frap shots
I ordered the Spam classic, egg and cheese on cornmeal bread
The kiddo had a Belgian waffle with strawberry syrup
Liking his breakfast
Toffee Nut Latte for me, Double Espresso for Mr C
Mr C’s choice was the Spinach and Artichoke, Mushroom and Mozzarella on Rye

It’s been a fun, calorie-filled weekend. Diet and detox starts tomorrow for real. Tomorrow marks the start of my 12-month membership at Gold’s Gym and the first day of my Zumba Fitness class. Gotta get ready for the calorie fest that Christmas is certain to be.

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Aling Tonya’s

Seaside, Daang Hari Road
Brgy Almanza Uno, Las Pinas
(02) 846-9699

 
Starbucks Madrigal

Molito Commercial Complex, Madrigal Ave,
Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa
(02) 772-3533

Filed Under: Everyday Life Tagged With: Aling Tonya's, Breakfast, Dinner, Entertaining at Home, Foodtrip, Molito, Party, Seaside Daang Hari, Starbucks, Starbucks Madrigal

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Hi, I'm MrsC, a happy wife and mom, a help-less but not helpless homemaker, who is learning to live simply in this complicated world.

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