So people are making a big deal over how much Olympic phenomenon Michael Phelps eats in a day. All over the news they have been showing what he typically eats for breakfast everyday:
3 Fried-Egg Sandwiches (complete with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayo)
5-Egg Omelet
Coffee (2-3 cups)
Bowl of Grits
3 Slices French Toast topped with Powdered Sugar
3 Chocolate Chip Pancakes
I think with proper training, I could work up to that. Though I think I would have to have my eggs scrambled for the fried egg sandwiches and I would substitute the tomatoes and fried onions with bacon. How can he not eat bacon? Why I could be half way to being an Olympic athlete.
Apparently though he works that all off by working out 8 hours a day. Heres where my Olympic dreams might be dashed. Eight hours in a day? I can get that in a week…surely that counts, eh? After looking at all of the Summer athletes I am thinking I could still hold out for Discus, Archery or one of the Shooting events. No offense to some of the competitors but they don’t seemed to be in quite tip top shape as some of the other athletes there at the games. And of course for the Winter Olympics I could always do curling. I’m not bad…unless you have me keep score. Somehow I can’t do that. But I do throw me a good stone I tell ya.
So many people when watching the Olympics get inspired to get in shape. Me, I got inspired to make Michael a meal he could get his 4000 calories in without having to eat so much. I’m here to help you Michael, let me help you. Let me help you. My only request(husband don’t read this part) is that you have your shirt off while while you eat my French toast in front of me.

Mascarpone Maple Syrup Stuffed Brown Sugar Pecan Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread French Toast with Maple Syrup Cinnamon Honey Sauce

1 loaf Brown Sugar Pecan Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread(recipe follows)
1 batch custard(for dipping french toast in)(recipe follows)
1 batch Mascarpone Maple Syrup Filling(recipe follows)
1 batch Maple Syrup Cinnamon Honey Sauce)recipe follows)

Brown Sugar Pecan Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread

1 ½ cups rolled oats
1 cup boiling water
¼ cup water
2 tsp dried yeast
1 ½ cups buttermilk
½ cup canola oil
½ cup lightly packed brown sugar(I use dark)
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 spray bottle of water

bread filling:
1 TBSP melted unsalted butter
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup brown sugar

 
Set aside ¼ cup rolled oats. Place the remaining oats into a medium bowl. Cover with boiling water. Mix with spoon to moisten all oats. Let bowl sit, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Place ¼ cup of warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer and sprinkle yeast on top. Mix with a whisk to dissolve yeast. Let rest for 5 minutes. Add soaked oats, buttermilk, canola oil, brown sugar, both flours, and salt. Using the hook attachment, mix on low speed for 1 or 2 minutes to combine ingredients. Increase speed to medium and mix for about 10 minutes. Dough will be wet at first, but will eventually from a ball. Ball will have a satiny finish and will bounce back quickly when poked with finger.
Place dough in an oiled, medium bowl and over with plastic wrap. Proof in a warm room, 70-75F, for about an hour. Dough will almost double in size.

Pull dough from bowl onto a floured surface and flatten it with your hands, releasing excess air bubbles. Form dough into a 12 x 6-inch rectangle and position it so that a long side is facing you. Spread melted butter evenly(as best you can) onto the rectangular dough. Sprinkle the brown sugar, followed by the cinnamon and then pecans. Fold the 2 short ends of the dough onto the top so they meet in the middle. Starting with the closest end, roll dough away from you into a log. Let loaf rest on its seam for a few minutes.

Transfer dough to an oiled 9 x 5 x 4-inch loaf pan, seam side down. Using your hands, push down on the dough to make sure it extends to all corners of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof in a warm room for 35-45 minutes. Loaf will rise to slightly above the top of the pan.

While loaf is proofing, preheat oven to 385F.

Remove plastic wrap and mist top of loaf with spray bottle of water. Sprinkle with remaining oats(I skipped this part this time around). Place pan on center rack of oven an bake for approximately 1 hour(I put a pan under the loaf pan since there was brown sugar and butter in the bread filling, good thing as I did get some dripping). Top and sides of finished loaf will be deep golden brown. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes, then run a sharp knife around the sides of the loaf to release from the pan. Invert to remove loaf.

Source: Bread recipe is adapted from Macrina Bakery and Cafe Cookbook by Leslie Mackie with Andrew Cleary, 2003

Dipping Custard

4 eggs
½ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup maple syrup
½  tsp vanilla
½  tsp cinnamon

Combine all the ingredients with a whisk in a medium bowl until fully incorporated. Place mixture into a 9-x-13 inch pan to make dipping easy.

Mascarpone Maple Syrup Filling

½ cup Mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
½ cup cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup brown sugar
¼ cup maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a mixer with a paddle attachment. Beat until fully incorporated.
Making the French Toast
Spread about 1 ½  TBSP of  the mixture on a slice of bread. Top with a second piece of bread (like a sandwich). Repeat this process 10-12 times until the mixture is all used.
Dip the “sandwiches” into the custard mixture. Cook on a lightly greased(with butter) griddle until golden brown, turn to cook the other side. Keep the cooked “sandwiches” warm by placing them on a baking sheet in a warm oven(200F) Top with Maple Syrup Cinnamon Honey Sauce.

 
Maple Syrup Cinnamon Honey Sauce

¼  cup unsalted butter (½  stick)
¼  cup brown sugar
¼ cup creamed cinnamon honey(or just regular honey with 1 tsp cinnamon)
¼  cup maple syrup
¼ cup heavy whipping cream

Combine the butter, brown sugar, honey and maple syrup in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add heavy whipping cream and whisk until fully incorporated. Remove from heat and pour over French toast.

Well this weeks TWD pick was by my food blogging friend Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity. I think Dolores makes more of my baked goods for her office mates than any other reader of mine. She chose Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream. Which would be great minus the whole I am allergic to blueberries thing.
So I looked at the recipe. I decided I would do my own this week. Another inspired recipe like I was doing there for awhile. A Vanilla Bean Marionberry Caramel Swirl Ice Cream to be exact. It’s a vanilla bean base(still using some sour cream like the original recipe) with crushed marionberries added and then ribbons of caramel folded it. It was darn tasty. I ate it for breakfast. Afternoon treat. And some after dinner.
There really isn’t much to say about this ice cream other then damn it was good. End of story.

Vanilla Bean Marionberry Caramel Swirl Ice Cream

Vanilla Bean Base

2 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
½ cup organic sour cream(I use Nancy’s)
1 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
2 vanilla beans, split and beans scraped out, reserve pods

Place 1 cup cream into a medium saucepan.
Add the vanilla beans and pods. Bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and let vanilla beans steep for about 30 minutes.
Place back on medium heat and add sugar and salt. Whisk until sugar has dissolved.
Add sour cream and whisk until incorporated. Add remaining cream and heat for another 2 minutes over medium heat.
Pour mixture into bowl and let chill mixture for at least 3 hours.
Transfer mixture to the frozen ice cream maker bowl using a strainer to discard the vanilla pod.
Churn ice cream according to your ice cream makers manufacturer’s instructions.

Marionberry and Caramel Swirl

1 cup marionberries(or blackberries), crushed with a fork
½ cup caramel sauce(I use Fran’s), warmed so that it is fluid

After the ice cream has churned. Remove from ice cream maker bowl and place in a large bowl. Stir in marionberries so that they are fully incorporated and the majority of the ice cream has turned a purple color. Using a spatula, gently fold in the caramel.
Pour into a freezer container and freeze until hard, about 2 hours.

Now I am not usually one to go for look over taste, but when I saw these cupcakes on Martha Stewart.com(and then realized I OWNED the cookbook they came in) I soooo wanted to make them. These are definitely a case of more cute than tasty, as a mix of pina colada, coconut, buttered popcorn, and lemon jelly beans just don’t taste all that great on a cupcake. But if you scrape off the jelly beans you are left with a basic vanilla cupcake, and that taste good.
Having just completed my backyard I have been in the BBQ mood(ironically we do not own a barbecue yet). I thought that these would be the most adorable dessert to present to your guest!
I must say they are about as tedious to make as real corn is to shuck. Placing the little pieces of “corn” takes up a lot of time, as does rolling out Starburst. BTW, it doesn’t say so, but I found it useful to microwave the Starburst for about 15 seconds to get it to be more pliable.
So the next time you fire up the grill, and there are kids around(because you know they would eat the cupcake with the jelly beans on top, no problem), you should totally make these. And if you think these are cute, you should see all of the different cupcakes that are in Hello Cupcake. One day I plan on making the TV dinner one(when I have lots of time on my hands!)

Corn on the Cob Cupcakes

Ingredients
Makes 24 cupcakes or 8 “ears of corn”
Vanilla Frosting
Yellow liquid food coloring
24 Vanilla Cupcakes, baked in white paper liners
3 ½  cups small yellow, cream, or white jelly beans, such as Jelly Belly
4 pieces yellow fruit chews, such as Laffy Taffys or Starbursts
1 tablespoon white decorating sugar
8 sets of corn holders (optional)
Directions
Color the frosting pale yellow with food coloring.
Working with 3 cupcakes at a time, frost cupcakes with yellow frosting. Arrange 5 rows of jelly beans, close together, on each cupcake. Place the 3 cupcakes side by side on a corn dish or serving platter to resemble an ear of corn. Repeat process with remaining cupcakes, frosting, and jelly beans.
Cut the fruit chews into eight 1-inch squares. Soften the edges slightly by hand so that they look like melted butter. Place 1 square on top of each ear of corn. Sprinkle with sugars. Insert a corn holder in the end of each ear of corn, if using. Serve.

*Please note that I made mini cupcakes. They take 15 minutes to bake at 325F.

Adapted from Martha Stewart.com originally from Hello Cupcake by Karen Tack

I can’t say easy as pie, as I am a huge hater of making pie crust(cream cheese pie crust aside), but crisps…those are for real easy. Just like my parents marriage…or so they make it seem.
Today is my parents(pictured above in the swanky 70′s wear*) wedding anniversary. 37 years of successfully not killing each other and I am pretty sure successfully not wanting to kill each other either.
My parents are still very much in love to this day. They still hold hands everywhere they go. They still go and do things together(though they can do separate things just as easily). They are kind and considerate to each other. I never really saw/heard them fight, the exception being when my grandmother lived with us(and that can cause even Gandhi to get cranky). Like me, my parents courtship was quick and so I think to this day that is why my mother never pressured me to get married, she knew I would just find someone and I would be hit hard…just like she was.
When I was in college I broke up with my first real serious boyfriend( I even had a promise ring…and btw, how stupid are those?). I was 18 and very devastated(everything is devastating at that age), sure that I was never to love again(vomit). My father wrote me a letter telling me how sorry he was that I was having to go through this pain but that it would pass. And that all he could hope for was that “I could find someone who loved me as much as he loved my mom.” I wish I still had that letter, I thought I did. I had planned to read it at my wedding to let my dad know that I had found someone who loved me as much as my dad loved my mom. It’s probably best I didn’t as my dad and I are criers and were already bawling through a lot of it(and I had already eloped…we are such saps)
We still have some good local strawberries right now and before the go away I thought it best to use them in something. It’s great way to represent my parents marriage, sweet and easy(though I know they have had their rough spots from time to time, everyone does)…and a little nutty on top.
Happy Anniversary parental unit, keep on keeping on(70′s flashback…had to be done with that clothing they were wearing).

* I am sure my father would like for me to point out that my mother not only had a beehive hair-do(with hat) AND was also wearing heels and therefore looks taller than my dad which she is not.

Strawberry Crisp

1 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
¼  cup chopped walnuts
½  cup unsalted butter, cold
1/3 – ½   cup granulated sugar(depending on how sweet your berries are)
3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1 ½ TBSP all-purpose flour

Mix together oatmeal, flour and brown sugar. Add nuts. Cut in butter until crumbly. In another bowl, mix strawberries, sugar and flour together.
Grease an 8-in. square pan. Place strawberry mixture into pan. Spread crumb mixture over top. Bake in 350ºF. oven for 45 minutes.

Makes about 6 servings.