Super Easy French Toast

I love French Toast.  It is one of my favorite things to order when we go out for breakfast.  When Mom and I were on vacation in PEI, I ate french toast every morning and was in heaven!  For some reason I had it in my head that it was difficult and time consuming to make.  I'm not sure why because I'm fairly certain my mom used to make it for us growing up.  😂  I remembered her using Pepperidge Farm Swirl bread once and then it was on!

Strawberry Picking at Froberg's!

There are maybe two or three weeks in Houston each Spring that are perfect for being outside, where the sun is shining but it's not too hot, a breeze is blowing but it's not too cold.  When these weeks happen, I aim to take full advantage of being outside with the buds.

One activity that we all enjoy doing together is strawberry picking!  I have memories of helping my grandparents pick fruit and vegetables from their garden when we would be home for the summers.  Since I don't have a green thumb {God bless Vera my Aloe plant who is hanging with me!}, finding pick your own places around town takes me back to those days and allows the kids to experience the joy of reaping a harvest!  Strawberry picking is fun for all ages and at the end you leave with a bucket full of delicious goodies.

The boys and I, along with my Mom, ventured down to Froberg's Farm in Alvin.  They have a store full of homegrown vegetables, a bakery with the softest cookies, they sell barbecue and tamales.  After parking, everyone must walk through the store.  Here the buckets are purchased for $1.25 {you can bring them back year after year!} and tokens are 12 for $15.  Tokens are used for duck races, cannon shooting, and tractor rides!  You pay for the strawberries that you picked as you leave the store.  They are $3 a pound.    

Truman loved picking strawberries!  He was very diligent to show me every.single.strawberry he walked by! 😂  He was also a professional at telling me what color each berry was and proudly filled his bucket with the bright red ones!

After picking, we ventured over to the section of the field containing the games.  The boys both enjoyed the duck races {1 token each} and the tractor ride {3 tokens each}.  Winston loved the corn shooter!  For this time of the year instead of corn, tennis balls get shot out of the cannon.  This was 3 tokens for 3 tennis balls.

We had a fabulous time and left with three buckets full of scrumptious berries!  To ensure that we put them to good use, I made my first batch of homemade strawberry jelly and let's be honest, I was surprised at how tasty it turned out!  😂

Tips for Visiting Froberg's

• Check the website for availability.  Each day Froberg's website will let you know if they are open, listing the hours and availability of the berries.  
• Take cash.  While they can take credit card payments, cash is an easier form of payment for buckets and tokens.  
• Take along water.  It's easy to work up a thirst with all the picking you + your family will do!
• Go early.  We arrived at about 10:15 and there was still open parking spots.  We weren't overrun with other families.  We enjoyed a leisurely time picking and the activities as well.  
• Try the cookies!  Both of the buds were a little snacky and the cookies were deeeelicious!
• Bring a wagon.  If you have multiple littles or plan on picking bushels and bushels of berries, I would suggest bringing a wagon along to help with the aid of transporting everything to and from the fields.  Strollers are another great option too!
• There are bathrooms inside the store.

Donut licious for reals!

I keep seeing picture of fabulous gourmet donuts on instagram and other blogs.  I thought to myself, surely Houston has a few of these places as well!  So in my Google searching, I came across this article by Houston Press on 2013's Top 10 Donut Places.  While all of these places are now on my list to try, Donut licious caught my attention because it is just minutes down the road!

Tucked away off 45 Southbound and 2920 right by a UHaul rental place, a simple "Donut" sign is on the building.  Inside the shop is well decorated, clean and has plenty of seating for people who want to dine in. All of the staff was very friendly, greeting guests like old friends asking regulars about family members and discussing weekend plans.  It makes me happy when small business owners and their staff make people feel like part of their family!  

Benjamin ordered an Oreo donut and an Old Fashioned.  The vanilla frosting on the Oreo donut had a strong resemblance to the cream filling of an Oreo cookie!   

I had a Strawberry Cheesecake donut and a small sausage and cheese kolache.  The Strawberry Cheesecake donut was a delight to my tastebuds!  Not too overwhelming with the strawberry flavor - a perfect mix and a definite repeater!  The kolache was exactly how I think kolaches should taste which was very exciting to me because it had been years since I had one this good! Donut licious also serves good coffee - an extra bonus in the "we will return here" bucket!

 Winston had colorfully sprinkled, chocolate covered donut holes.  He was in heaven!

He was saying "cheese!" while enjoying his second breakfast.  You know a donut is good when you have chocolate all over your face!

All in all we had a very successful and enjoyable trip to Donut licious and will go back often if I have a vote!  Make sure you look them up for a yummy treat if you're in the area!

Donut licious

1535 Spring Cypress Road

Spring, TX 77388

Oh!  Another neat thing about Donut licious is that they also do special orders on donut letters to spell out messages!  Storing that away for a fun treat in the future!

Halloween Candy Review: Caramel Apple Milky Ways!

A month or so before Halloween candy even started coming out - I clipped a coupon for Milky Ways.  They were advertising their new flavor for the fall: Caramel Apple!  I love caramel apples and thought I'd store the coupon away for when the Halloween candy hit the shelves.

When Target first started stocking their shelves, I stalked up and down the aisle and came across the Caramel Apple Milk Ways, bought two bags, used my happy coupon and headed home.  

I wasn't quite sure what to expect for the taste - some things can taste really fakey and then there things that taste like those lollypops...I LOVE those lollypops that come out each fall, ya know the ones.  The Candy Apple ones that are the green apple lolly covered in caramel with the green wrappers.  The ones that most everyone who has tastebuds loves and hoards because they are delicious.  

That is what these tasted like!  Little bite sized morsels of caramel apple goodness wrapped in a chocolate blanket!  I like that they are small enough to satisfy the craving when it hits you and that you don't feel guilty when you eat 2...or 3 5 at a time!  

I figured that there were some cooking savvy people out there who had already whipped up something delicious with these little guys and my searching produced the following things - I think I need to head back to the store to pick up a few more bags because all of the recipes look AMAZING and perfect for fall!

Caramel Apple Milky Way Cupcakes by Java Cupcake
Caramel Apple Spice Milky Way Cookies by The Domestic Rebel
Caramel Apple & Chocolate Muffins by Lil' Luna
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars by BrewCru Life

Now, put these on your list and let me know if you try one of the recipes above!  I'd love to know how they turn out!

Halloween Candy Review: Cadbury Screme Eggs!

Welcome to a new segment on Crazy Cozads where I will unveil the awesomeness of the new Halloween candy for this season!  Here's the first one:

Friends!  I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was when I saw a post on our friend, Tally's facebook about the possibility of Cadbury Screme Eggs coming to the US for this Halloween season!  I love Cadbury Creme eggs!  Like love them!!  Also imagine my excitement when I rounded the corner at Target to see THIS:

I am fairly certain that a squeal escaped from my lips while I did a little jig in the middle of the aisle!  I of course followed that up with texts to both my Mom and Benjamin!  Then came the dilemma.  How many do I buy?  It wouldn't be right of me to buy the whole display, nope ...I needed to leave some for the other folks who would also be elated about this fall time candy debut!  So, I grabbed a handful and headed away from the display eager to get home to enjoy my first screme egg!

 Don't they look absolutely glorious in their fabulous purple and green wrapping?!  

So I unwrapped one and it looked the same as the original Cadbury Creme egg. 

Then the inside!  Instead of the normal yellow yoke filling, there was a bright green filling that oozed from the middle of the white center!  The creme had definitely gone GREEN!!  If you are a Cadbury Creme egg fan, then this treat is perfect for you!  So head to Target, grab yourself a handful... or two and celebrate the beginning of fall and the Halloween candy season!  If you need a good dentist after eating all of this year's candy...let me know, we can recommend a few good ones!

And just for kicks, if you have a Screme Egg sighting in your area, post a comment!  I'd love to see where they pop up at.

Confirmed sighting: Pearland, TX: Target

Massive Gummi Bear Give-A-Way!

That's right, we Crazy Cozad's are doing a

massive gummi bear give-a-way.  

No, we aren't giving away massive amounts of gummi bears.  We are actually giving away a MASSIVE gummi bear!

I was browsing through Fred Flare, came across this fabulousness, and thought we just had to do a give-a-way for it!  I mean, it's just too fun for words!

Look at that baby bear!  It's 5" tall by 1.75" of pure gummi goodness!  This little bear packs half a pound of  flavor with many to choose from: cherry, lemon, green apple, blue raspberry, grape, cola, pineapple, orange and pink bubblegum!

This gummi bear is just like the tiny bears, but bigger... 88 times bigger!!

Here's how you can enter... 

You will have two chances to win, so be sure to enter 2 separate comments

1. Follow my blog and leave a comment saying that you do!

You have to be a follower of our blog through Google Friend Connect or "like" us on facebook by clicking here.  You 

must be a follower of one of those two places in order to win!  Tell me where you follow!

2. Leave a comment stating what flavor you would want and why?

The give-a-way will end on Saturday, February 12th and the winner announced on Sunday, February 13th.

Project 52: Week 2

Week two was a week dominated by snow for us here in North Dallas!  I turn into a kid every time I am around snow.  I cannot help myself.  I just get giddy with excitement and start chunking snowballs!  Some of these may look familiar, but they are my favorites out of the over 120 that were taken!

Clockwise: Lulu and I enjoying the warmth of our new electric blanket!  It's her new favorite place to be in the evenings.  Homemade donuts.  Bailey Bear eating snow. Sweet Lulu.  The Beazleys.  My oil + water project.  Hubs and I in front of a snow covered Allen house.

Until next week...

Turkey Mango Panini

I love this sandwich.  It's a great combination of flavors that is great for a summer day!

Ingredients:
1 avocado
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1 Tablespoon of lime juice
2 teaspoons of sour cream
Bacon
1 mango
Sourdough bread
Turkey
Ham (I know it says Turkey Panini...but it works great with ham too!)
Cheeses

Avocado Spread
Puree the avocado, garlic powder, salt, lime juice and sour cream together until it is a spreadable consistency.

While your panini grill is heating up, peel the mango and slice into thin pieces while the bacon is cooking.  Or, you can use the microwavable bacon too - tasty and quicker to make!

Assemble your panini
Each person creates their sandwich in unique ways.  Be sure to add cheese to make sure your sandwich sticks together during the heating process.  Add each ingredient to your preference!  You will need to spread olive oil on both sides of your bread in order for the bread to brown and be panini-ized!

Serve with chips and fruit!
Enjoy!

Spicy Chicken!

Today was the day that I was able to try Chick-fil-a's new Spicy Chicken Sandwich!  Andrew, Loriane, Benjamin and I ate had our reservations at the Collin Creek Mall.  When we stood in line we all received coupons for a free order of medium fries and a free medium drink!

Jackpot!!

The sandwich was really tasty!  It had the normal pickles as well a pepperjack cheese!  While I enjoyed trying it out and getting to have the experience, I will probably stick with the original chicken sandwich. 

While we were chatting it up, we were also offered free samples of their peach milkshake!  Could this lunch get any better?! 

"This sandwich is so spicy, Mr Cow had to dress up like a firefighter to put the hot out!"

Vapiano means Delicious!

On Tuesday evening Benjamin and I went down to Mockingbird Station to meet Jonathan and Kim for dinner.  They are going on the Bolivia mission trip with Benjamin in a week.  We wanted to meet for dinner before they all left on their journey.  Benjamin found Vapiano for us to eat at. And I am glad that he did.

Upon entering the restaurant, we were handed a Vapiano's card.  This card kept track of the food that we ordered.  When ordering there, you walk up to the counter of the type of food you would like to eat - salad, pizza, or pasta.  The chef is behind the counter waiting for your selection.  He types it into the computer, you swipe your card and he sets out on making your dish. 

Benjamin chose the a dish made of Alfredo sauce, chicken and his choice of pasta.  I chose a dish with pasta, Sicilian sausage and craisins.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Craisins.

It was fantastically surprising!  The presentation of the food was very well done and the taste was spectacular!  Jonathan and Kim both enjoyed their selections as well.

When you are done eating for the evening, you take your card to the front and pay for your selections.  

I definitely recommend going and giving it a whirl.  It has now found a place on our "Favorite Places to Eat" list!
 

Fuzzy's Tacos

On Sunday a group of friends joined Benjamin and I for lunch at Fuzzy's Taco Shop in Richardson.  The majority of us had never been and we all were up for the culinary adventure!  Fuzzy's just opened a new location on Campbell around UTD.  When walking into Fuzzy's, you are greeted by brightly painted walls, festive tables and crazy fish.  Known for their Baja style tacos, Fuzzy's also serves up a mean fish taco which I know nothing about because the idea of fish tacos is very unsettling to me.

I ordered ground beef hard tacos.  They had ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, feta cheese and a garlic sauce on it.  While the taste left my taste buds confused as to what I was eating, the food itself did not sit well for the rest of the afternoon....

We also ordered the chips and queso.  It was fantastic!  Probably some of the best queso that I have eaten in a while.

In conclusion, eat at Fuzzy's at least once - try out the Baja style Tacos, go back for a breakfast taco and make sure to take along some good company.  Good Company makes every experience better!

Urban Crust

Today I was hungry for pizza or salad, I couldn't quite decide.  Andrew suggested Urban Crust, a local pizza place in old downtown Plano.  Benjamin was able to come and along with James and Kamran, the five of us went on a culinary adventure.

Located on 15th Street, Urban Crust is in one of the old brick buildings which gives the restaurant character.  We were seated upstairs in one of their booths - it was all cowboy themed.  The benches of the booth were so plush and comfy that I sank into it and didn't ever want to move!

The menu offered a variety of dishes, including the Urban Chop which was my selection for lunch.  It was fantastic - like a party of flavors for my taste buds!  To drink I had peach mango ice tea - I downed at least 4 glasses.  The boys all got pizza which looked and smelled heavenly!  By the end of the meal, no crumb of anything was found!

The strawberry-rhubarb pie caught my eye while we were looking at the menu, so of course I had to order one for dessert.  Kamran ordered their chocolate cake.  The pie was a perfect combination of sweet and tart that hit the spot.  The chocolate cake must've been good because none remained by the time we left!

The prices were reasonable and the food was delicious!  I highly recommend this place for lunch or a nice date night dinner.

One side note:  If you are a lover of ranch with your pizza....this might not be the place for you.  They don't have ranch.... what?!

Margaret's Chicken

I have an Aunt Margaret who lives in Pennsylvania.  She is robust, funny, and growing up she would call me "Little Donna" because to her, I looked almost exactly like my mom did when she was little.  Visiting her house normally meant an opportunity to go swimming in her pool!

Recently I have been introduced to a second Margaret...  well, not exactly to her, but to her chicken.  I came across her recipe in one of my cookbooks and it has become a favorite of ours.

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken breasts
4-6 pieces of Swiss cheese
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 soup can of dry white wine
slivered almonds

First off, preheat your oven to 350.  Clean your chicken and place in a greased baking dish.  Cover the chicken with Swiss cheese.

Next, mix together the wine and cream of chicken soup in a bowl.  I am no wine connoisseur, so when a recipe calls for it, I normally pick one with a fun label!  Fish Eye works great!

Pour the mixture over the chicken.
You can either add the slivered almonds before or after you bake the dish - I have tried both ways and it tastes delish however you choose to do it!

Bake for 1 hour.  You will smell deliciousness and want to take it out early - but don't as it's worth the wait!

Serve with rice, some veggies and rolls.

It's been my pleasure to introduce you to Margaret's Chicken!  Hope that it becomes a favorite for you as well!

The Little Things for Wednesday

Today is Wednesday.  The middle of the week.  I have a love/hate relationships with Wednesdays.  On the one hand, they are marvelous because the signify that half of the work week is over!  On the other hand, they remind me that there is still half of the week to go...

Here are the things that made this Wednesday great!

I ate at Del's Charcoal Burgers for lunch.  They have homemade root beer (which was fabulous!) and burgers that were perfectly done.  I plan on taking Benjamin to share in the awesomeness of Del's soon!

Today was JA day.  And there is just something fantastically simple about Nilla wafers.  Kids love 'em.  Adults love 'em.  They are just simply declicious!

Benjamin has to work at the Ortho office this evening, so I will be able to catch up on my Dancing with the Stars!  And for those of you that are wondering about Xanadu.... It was funny and entertaining!  If you are able to get tickets - I say do it!  It's a spoof off of the 80's movie with Olivia Newton-John.  If you like the 80's, roller skates and musicals, you will like Xanadu!