Swiss Eibrot (French toast bites)

It's been quite some time since I posted a recipe, so for my return, I thought I'd post a recipe I have loved since my childhood. My grandmother's parents immigrated from Switzerland and brought with them some of their favorite dishes. The one I remember the most growing up was Swiss Eibrot (egg bread), though we called it something else that I have no idea how to spell. Eibrot is basically French toast in bite size pieces. It's really that simple.

Ingredients:
5-6 pieces of heavy bread (don't use Wonder as it won't hold up well)
4 eggs
1/4 C milk
dash of cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl, break the bread into bite size pieces. In a separate bowl, mix all other ingredients. Pour over bread and mix until it is well coated.

Coat bottom of fry pan with cooking spray and heat on medium.

Pour bread and egg mix into pan and fry, stirring frequently (almost constantly) to ensure that all sides of the pieces get cooked and turn a nice golden brown.

Serve with syrup, powder sugar, or whatever you like on your French toast.

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Braided Rosemary Bewitchment

I got the idea for this from Jamie Cooks It Up! I started with the rosemary bread recipe and went from there. Next time, we'll try pastrami and Swiss cheese.

Ingredients:
1 batch rosemary bread
1 Tbl melted butter
sliced turkey
sliced medium cheddar cheese
1 Tbl rosemary
grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare the bread up through the first rise.

Spread parchment paper out large enough for your loaf. Lightly grease the paper. On the paper, roll out the dough in a long rectangle.

Using a pizza cutter, cut one inch wide strips along both long sides of the rectangle, leaving about a gap down the center uncut for your filling.

Place the turkey and cheese down the center of the dough.

Over lap the dough strips in the center over the top of your fillings.

Place the braid (with parchment paper) on a cookie sheet and allow to rise in a warm place for an hour.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Melt the butter and brush over the braid.

Sprinkle with rosemary.

Grate Parmesan cheese over the loaf.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.

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Pumpkin Bread

Because we have so much pumpkin, I thought I'd try making pumpkin bread. It was very easy and tasty. It's especially easy if you have a standing mixer.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 C sugar

1 tsp soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp salt

1-2/3 C flour

1/2 C oil

1/2 C water

1 C pumpkin

2 eggs

1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix all ingredients well.

Pour into greased loaf pan or pans.

Bake:

• Large loaf pan: 1-1/2 hours
• Small loaf pans: 30-35 minutes

Check with toothpick. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove and finish cooling on rack.

Great with butter or frosted with cream cheese frosting.

One Crazy Girl's Note: Although the chocolate chips taste great in the bread, they all sank to the bottom during cooking. Next time, I will try chopping them up a bit before putting them in the batter. Or using mini chips instead of regular sized ones.

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Sweet Carrot Bread

As we were harvesting veggies from our garden one day, my husband asked me if I would be willing to try the zucchini bread recipe with some of our home-grown carrots instead of squash. Carrot cake is his favorite, so he thought that carrot bread would be wonderful, because zucchini bread is really more of a cake than a bread, as we all know. I said, sure. And voi la! We had carrot bread. And we saw (and tasted) that it was good.

So, the short and simple is: make zucchini bread, but use carrots instead. And, if you're lucky and have a wonderful husband, he'll grate the carrots for you. (It was his idea, after all.)

Ingredients:

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar, firmly packed

1 C oil

3 eggs

2 C grated carrots

3 Tbs vanilla

3 C flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

3 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 C nuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugars, oil, and eggs. Add rest of ingredients. Mix well.

Pour into ungreased loaf pan or pans. Bake:

• Large loaf: 1 hour
• Small loaves: 20-25 minutes

Check with toothpick. Cool on racks. Wrap in plastic wrap and then foil. Freeze or refrigerate.

Great with cream cheese frosting.

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Zucchini Bread

From the kitchen of Carol Berlin

I know that gardening season is almost over. And I really know that summer squash had its day in the sun. But I couldn't resist sharing my favorite zucchini bread recipe.

Ingredients:

1 C sugar

1 C brown sugar, firmly packed

1 C oil 3 eggs

2 C grated zucchini

3 Tbs vanilla

3 C flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

3 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 C nuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream sugars, oil, and eggs.

Add rest of ingredients.

Mix well.

Pour into ungreased loaf pan or pans.

Bake:

• Large loaf: 1 hour
• Small loaves: 20-25 minutes

Check with toothpick. Cool on racks. Wrap in plastic wrap and then foil. Freeze or refrigerate.

Great with cream cheese frosting.

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Delicious rosemary bread

I found this recipe at allrecipes.com. This is the first time I've had to prime my yeast in about 25 years, but I wanted to try making bread without my handy-dandy, trusty bread maker. The whole house smelled wonderful while the bread was raising and baking. My husband now has a new favorite bread.

1 Tbl white sugar
1 c warm water
1 (.25 ounce) pkg active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
2 Tbl butter, softened
2 Tbl rosemary, divided
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3 c bread flour, divided (2 c, 1 c)
1 Tbl olive oil
1 egg, beaten (optional)

Dissolve the sugar in warm water in a medium bowl, and mix in the yeast. When yeast is bubbly, mix in salt, butter, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and Italian seasoning.

Mix in 2 cups flour.

Gradually add remaining flour to form a workable dough, and knead 10 to 12 minutes.

Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil. Place dough in bowl, cover, and allow to rise 1 hour in a warm location.

Punch down dough, and divide in half. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly grease paper. Shape dough into 2 round loaves, and place on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary. Cover, and allow to rise 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Brush loaves with egg.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

One Crazy Girl's notes: I messed up reading the instructions and didn't save half of the rosemary for sprinkling. Instead, I put both tablespoons into the dough. It turned out fine.

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