Ultimate Cinnamon French Toast

Last weekend, Mike and I decided that our Sunday goal was to not have to leave the house.  We both chose a movie the other hadn't seen [he picked The Usual Suspects and I chose Remember the Titans], we worked on some projects around the house, and made a fantastic brunch.  French toast was my favorite as a child, my mom had a fantastic recipe and always used Pepperidge Farm Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread.  After a few attempts, I came up with a delicious recipe that combines the deliciousness of the cinnamon raisin bread with even more cinnamon and nutmeg spice in the batter.

Ingredients:

6 slices of cinnamon raisin bread

3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

- Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg and whisk until well-combined.

- Pour egg mixture into 9x13 pan.

- Soak bread slices in egg mixture for about 2-3 minutes on each side.

- For each 2 slices, add 1/2 tablespoon butter and 1/2 tablespoon oil to a skillet on medium-high heat

- Once butter is melted, add slices of french toast to skillet.

- Cook on each side for about 3 mins to start, then flip back and forth every minute or so.  You will know when it's done when the toast is crispy and bounces back when you touch it [depending on your cook top, anywhere from 8-12 minutes].

Directions in Photo Form:

What the bread looks like when it's done.

Enjoy!

Because mid-week dates are the best

...especially when they last for 14 hours!
Who doesn't like spontaneity?  Oh, we love it.  So when we were watching the UConn Women's March Madness First Round game on Sunday and were sad to see how little Gampel Pavilion was filled, we decided to grab tickets and go to Round Two!  How often is an NCAA Regional  tourney in our backyard?  Well, we kept adding things to our date and it became legen - waitforit - dary. [Alright, who else besides me and Mike is going to ball their eyes out with the end of HIMYM on Monday?!]
Here's the rundown:
1. Drive out to UConn.

2. Pick up DP Dough: the best calzones ever.  Barbecue chicken for him and bacon-chicken-ranch for her.

3. Watch the UConn Women kill it against St. Joe's.  Oh, and eat some awesome Dairy Bar ice cream.

Great seats - so close to the bench! Thanks, Mike!

4. Drive home and watch Revenge, Full House, and 24.

Roxy's best Jack Bauer impression

5. Wake up early and drive to Taco Bell for their exclusive Breakfast Club preview - thanks for scoring that, Mike!

#whatweddingdiet?

Linking up with H54F, Friday Five, and Insta Friday!

Bliss {March Edition}

What's your Bliss? What are you loving this month that you just can't live without?

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Join Heather and me for Bliss! On the last Wednesday of each month, we host a fun new link up to share your "favorites" of the month. Not sure what to write about? It can be anything from a favorite product, to a favorite moment, or a favorite new blogger, to even a new favorite quote! Include as few or as many "favorites" and don't forget to take photos!

Ask yourself, did it bring you #bloggerbliss this month? If you said yes, then we want to read about it!

Don't have time to write a whole post or don't have a blog and are just a blogger at heart? Hashtag a photo #bloggerbliss on Instagram and simply link to that photo on the day of the link up!  Our hope is that Bliss and #bloggerbliss will help ladies across the country find new and fun ways to make their next month even better!

Thank you to everyone who made February, our first month of Bliss such a success!

Now here's what's bringing me Bliss this month:


Family Games:  We love games at our house.  We like going out, but we also like staying home and just spending time together.  Here's what we've been playing lately: (1) Racko; (2) Sequence; (3) Cribbage; (4) 4-Way Countdown [great kid game!]; (5) Logo Board Game

Sketching: I always loved art in school.  It was always my favorite subject, and I liked getting to express myself.  Lately, I've been loving it again.  When I'm bored, I love to draw.

I made this card for my mug swap partner, Kerry.  

Sometimes during parties at our house, I might zone out and sketch on whatever I can find.

This one's a bit older, but it still hangs near our front door from the 2011 Halloween blizzard

Vaseline Lip Therapy: I don't know about you, but this is the time of year when my lips are the driest.  I bought this earlier this winter and haven't lost it love it!  

Bossypants:  I can honestly say I've never actually laughed out loud at a book before.  Tina Fey is amazing and confident and beautiful and perfect.  Seriously, you need to read this book!

PLL: Ugh this show.  I JUST NEED TO KNOW!!  I remember I actually started watching it by accident the summer after my junior year of college when I was home sick one day and watched a full-day marathon.  I won't get too much into it here, but if you wanna talk PLL with me, definitely leave me a comment.  I don't think I can wait until the fall to find out who A is!!

My next door neighbor's nephew is Cody Christian [Mike Montgomery], so he sent me these awesome autographs!!

Kitchen Mix Up #6: The Tasting

Welcome back to the sixth Kitchen Mix Up!

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Here was March's KMU theme:

original background image via

It seems like this may be the last KMU for a while, while my BFF Amanda goes on a little blogging hiatus.  Thank you to all of you who have participated with us over the past 6 months.  I know I've had so much fun concocting in the kitchen!

The Guidelines:

- "Open The Basket" on the first Tuesday of the month to see the theme.  

- Cook/Bake/Fry/Grill an original recipe related to the theme or search through your blog archives for an old recipe that fits the theme!

- Link up with our "Tasting" on the last Tuesday of the month with your recipe and/or photos of your creation.

- Use our button if you wish!

Here's what I made with green ingredients: 

Strawberry Mojitos

I thought a drink would be perfect this month, since it is the month of St. Patrick's Day and all, and even though this drink didn't turn out green, it definitely had some green ingredients!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup Bacardi Mojito

- 1 tablespoon lime juice

- 4 to 5 whole frozen strawberries

Directions:

Put all ingredients and blend for about 30 seconds.

&

Outfit of the Month: March

Thank you all so much for your kind comments on last month's first "Outfit of the Month."  They really gave me the encouragement and guidance to shop for this month's outfit.  To be completely honest, I was really busy this month, so I didn't really have time to go to the mall.  Luckily, we have a TJ Maxx near our house, so I found this great outfit [blouse and pants] for only $40! I know the colors are similar to last month's, but I just really liked that this is an outfit I can wear to work or to be comfortable on the weekends.  Here it is:

Blouse: Nine West brand from TJ Maxx

Pants: Cynthia Rowley brand from TJ Maxx

Flats: American Eagle Felix Flat

Earrings: Filigree Drop 3-pack from Claire's [I lose earrings ALL THE TIME, so I have to buy $4 earrings!!]

added Cardigan from LL Bean and Scarf from Chinatown in NYC since it's still a bit cold in CT!

I wore this outfit to visit my cousin's last week.

Now, just like last month, I want honesty, so leave me some suggestions!
Linking up for Funday Monday, Mingle Monday, Manic Mondays and Monday Morning Gossip!

Review: Gorton's for March Madness

How's your bracket doing?  Yeah, mine's not doing so hot either; at least I'm beating Mike and UConn's in the Sweet Sixteen!  I loved the notification I got from Yahoo Sports on my phone Friday night that said that after the Memphis win versus GW, there were officially no more perfect brackets left in the Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge.  "Better luck next time, world." Thanks, Warren.  Oh well, we still enjoy watching the games with snacks and drinks!  Yesterday, we picked up a package of Gorton's new Snack-It Buffalo Shrimp Bites.  

These tender full shrimp in a crunchy coating had just the right amount of buffalo spice to kick up our March Madness.  They were delicious and the perfect addition to our Saturday night.  You definitely need to try these little guys.  They will definitely be seen again at our house for future tournament rounds!  

Don't forget, I'm giving away two full-price Gorton's coupons so you can try Buffalo Bites or any other Gorton's product as well as a Gorton's cutting board.  Click here to enter before Tuesday!

I received the reviewed products complimentary from Gorton's in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are my own.

High Five for cute babies!

Hooray, we made it to Friday! Mike and I are in for a low-key weekend, and we are so excited just to spend time together.  Here's what I'm high-fiving this week:
1. St. Paddy's Day: I'm half Northern Irish, but I still celebrate with the best of those "real" Irish folk.  It's also March Madness season, and for the past 3 years, Mike's been all about the Irish Car Bombs to cheer on his UConn Huskies.  Oh, and I'm a really bad Italian girl because I definitely [along with every other Irish/Italian person out there] don't celebrate St. Joseph's Day as well as St. Patrick's.

his and hers [and hers] drinks for the AAC championship

I might have come home at 2:30 after work on St. Paddy's and made myself a drink.  Alright, so it didn't turn out green, but I did use green ingredients, so look for the recipe next week in my and Amanda's Kitchen Mix Up tasting!  Come on, you had to make something green this month, so link up with us!!

2. Babies: Just look at these faces - holy cuteness!  My cousin's twins Sofia and Ava are 10 weeks now and I am in love!  Mike and I visited them last weekend and loved every minute of it.

Miss Ava

and Sofia

3. Ring Bearer: And, of course, I got to hang out with the girls' big brother and our ring bearer, Sammy!  He discovered my phone and was loving the selfies!

4. Bliss: The second month of Heather and my Bliss linkup is coming up on Wednesday!  Thanks to all of you who made our first month a success; we hope you'll all return to share some of your favorites again this month.  This week's #bloggerbliss was putting out my Easter decorations!  I love the spring colors, and I'm hoping the weather takes the hint that it's finally spring!!

5. Giveaway: Did you see that I'm hosting a Gorton's Seafood giveaway this week?  We had more Gorton's last night in the form of butterfly shrimp - yum!

Linking up with H54F, Friday Five, and Insta Friday!