Daily Cooking Dilemma Leaves No Other Option But to Invent Blockbusters Or Flops

Something is cooking in the oven. Will it be worth eating or… I’ll keep you posted midway this post.

“Honey, what’s for dinner?” is not the irksome question anymore, these days it’s more like asking self “Hell, what do I cook today”! Every time this thought crosses my mind, I think about my Mom – How could she handle this everyday cooking dilemma so well? How could she manage dishes on the table every other meal and every other day without much repetition? I have never seen her losing her cool over an issue as silly as “what to cook”. Every day when we were at the dining table, there used to be at least 3-4 dishes. Probably she used to plan it well or had a weekly menu which she followed, but to us everything seemed perfect. Yeah, like any kid, we used to throw tantrums, but still she would find a way around, every single time. Respect and love!

That’s just not the case with me, never (I really should ask my sissy about it, we haven't really caught up on that side of affairs yet)! Now the scene at home is something like this - every night before going to sleep, along with a good night kiss, I ask my hubby a question. No! It’s not “Do you love me?” but, “What do I make for breakfast tomorrow?” The thought of what to cook for breakfast, lunch and dinner next day, is already there in my mind today. Next morning when I wake up and while still in bed, I ask him again “What do I make for breakfast?” Often the answer boils down to “boiled eggs”, sometimes sandwich, cereal with fruits etc. Breakfast is mostly hurried – he has to leave around 7.45 AM, we get up around 7 AM, he comes down dressed up around 7:30 AM, by that time I am already busy with my laptop browsing through my work email. The little time we get to chit chat in the morning is over breakfast and that has this mandatory question “what to cook for lunch and dinner?” Well, pat comes the answer “anything” and he sugar quotes it with, “anything that’s easy”. Oh yes, like that helps a lot!

Well, I got to admit this - I’m not very good with traditional cooking; all what I’m good at is what I inherited from that little handwritten recipe manuscript with a couple of recipes from my mother (by now, almost all pages have water smudges and I can hardly read anything, but I still have it and still use it). <3 That along with internet has helped me get so far; 6 years and everyone says he has only gotten fat and I think that’s the best compliment any wife can get! I keep wondering, is it just me or is it the case with others in my generation – I do not know, you got to tell me and help me be at peace, please! :P

The oven beeped and our breakfast is ready. So is it a blockbuster or a flop this time??? We just had a bowlful of blasting flavours and i guess that makes it a super duper blockbuster! Banana Caramel French Toast Casserole, and believe me, you’re in for a treat! Recipe included in this blog.

I love experimenting; yeah, the tried and tested ones are for those busy days, but I mostly like trying something new and probably that’s the reason why I have so much trouble deciding on what to cook. I love south Indian flavours and I also love continental – poles apart, but that’s what I’m. Thankfully, I've someone who supports me wholeheartedly with my experimental cooking spree and it’s his food scoring that pushes me to achieve more blah blah blah… So, the thing is, I need something new on dining table for every meal , which is impossible and to make it possible, I keep digging, digging like a gold miner, for recipes. Internet, I don’t know what will I do without you! Seriously.

Now what I like to make does not always go with what I have with me in the pantry – yes, that’s the biggest heart breaker moment! So I sort of improvise, mostly every time – 6 years of following my mom’s cookbook, reading up recipe blogs, working with food website, I got to be able to do at least that. When sometimes it is to use up something that’s in excess in my pantry, certain other times it has to do with mere necessity. 

So here is what came out of today’s necessity,

Banana Caramel French Toast Casserole

Before I get started with the recipe, sorry, I’m posting it without a photo. I will surely post it next time I make it, which should happen sometime next week.

So again, I have a bunch of bananas sitting in my kitchen counter and you guessed it right, this recipe is the outcome of another “mission bananas”.

The original recipe (link given at the bottom) was more elaborate, with regards to the list of ingredients it demanded and as usual, I did not have most of it. But I will give it another try when I have all the required ingredients.

So, if you’re looking for a quick, flavourful and filling breakfast, do try this. This recipe will serve 2.

YOU NEED:

For Banana Caramel

• Ghee (clarified butter), 2 tablespoon (original recipe called for butter, but since I am a huge fan of ghee and I had it with me, I used that instead)
• Sugar, 2 tablespoon
• Banana, 1 almost ripe, sliced

For French Toast

• Brown Bread, 4 slices, chopped into cubes (sides discarded)
• Eggs, 2
• Thick yogurt, 2 ½ tablespoon
• Milk, 50 ml
• Sugar, 1-2 tablespoon
• Vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon (optional)

HOW TO:

In a pan, melt ghee (or butter) and let the sugar dissolve in medium heat. Take care not to thicken it, so witch it off when it is still in syrup consistency. It would take hardly 1-2 minutes.

Mix together eggs, 2 tablespoons of yogurt, milk, sugar and vanilla extract; keep aside.

Grease a baking pan (I used 6 inch square baking pan) and pour the caramel, ensuring it evenly spreads on the surface. Arrange sliced banana over it. Top it with half the bread cubes, spread ½ tablespoon of yogurt over it. Arrange the remaining half of bread cubes over it and pour the egg-yogurt-milk-sugar-vanilla mix. Using a spoon, try to press down the bread cubes, so as to absorb the wet mixture.

As per the original recipe, till this stage you could make the previous night. But I did it the same day :-)

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Bake the casserole for 20-30 min, until the bread cubes get slightly crispy and browned. Let it cool before slicing and serving.

You could check the original here. This one is definitely worth a try as it is, but is more on the guiltier side. I surely will. Bon appetite! :-)