Baked Pumpkin French Toast

This is one of our favorite cool-weather breakfasts. It is SUPER easy to make and perfect for breakfasts with guests or holiday mornings since you make everything ahead of time and keep it in the fridge overnight. The next morning, just preheat the oven to 350F, add the topping, pop the dish in, and head back to bed to lounge while it bakes! 

xxx Ivy & Eve

Some notes on this recipe: 

• We don't sweeten the french toast before baking because everyone has their own sweetness preferences. 

• We use those soft and fluffy "French bread" loaves you get at regular grocery stores, not real French bread loaves. These loaves are easy to find anywhere and are more porous to soak up the eggy mixture easily. We also love how the top bakes to a crispy crunch that works perfectly with the fluffy, moist center. 

• This recipe makes great leftovers. We usually make this for Sunday morning and reheat the leftovers for tasty weekday breakfasts! 

Ingredients:

French Toast

• 5 1/2- 7 1/2 cups cubed French bread (about 1 large loaf)

• 8 eggs

• 2 1/2 cups milk or half and half

• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not canned pumpkin pie), which is about 1/2 can

• 2 tsp pumpkin spice

• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

• 1 pinch of salt

Topping

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

• 6 tsp brown sugar

• 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

Pumpkin syrup

• 4 tbsp melted butter

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 2 tbsp milk

• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tbsp canned pumpkin puree (not canned pumpkin pie)

• 1 pinch pumpkin spice

Directions:

To make the french toast:

1. Grease a 9x13 glass dish or baking pan. 

2. Slice the bread into around 1.5-inch slices; then tear the slices into irregular cubes. 

3. Toss the cubes into the baking dish.

4. In a large mixing bowl, add the milk, eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, vanilla, and salt. Mix. 

5. Pour the eggy mixture over the cubes, gently fold the unsoaked bread under the soaked, making sure each cube is wet. 

6. Cover and keep in the fridge overnight (or at least 4 hours).

To make the topping:

1. Mix the chopped pecans, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice.

2. Cover and keep until you bake the french toast. 

To make the pumpkin syrup:

1. Melt the butter. 

2. Measure out the powdered sugar into a large bowl.

3. Add the melted butter, milk, vanilla, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin spice.

4. Whisk until smooth. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add a little more milk. If you have a hard time getting the syrup smooth, microwave it for 5 seconds and whisk again. 

5. Serve immediately or cover and keep refrigerated until serving. Then warm it in the microwave until it is a syrup consistency again. 

When ready to bake: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. 

2. Sprinkle the topping over the dish.

3. Bake 35-45 minutes, or until the eggy mixture is set and it has a lovely golden top.

4. Serve with melted butter, maple syrup, and pumpkin syrup.

5. Enjoy!

Caprese Salad for Every Season

We have sung praise and joy many times about the abundance of fresh fruit, veggies, and delights we have year-round in California. One thing we have had to adapt to since moving away is the idea of seasonal cooking. We're not saying we didn't cook seasonally back home, but we took advantage of the fact we could always find decent ripe tomatoes and other produce year-round. In Virginia, the tomato season is a HUGE deal. When the first Hanover tomatoes hit the grocery store and farmers markets, people practically run to buy them, and every restaurant's specials list includes some type of tomato dish. We took advantage of the tomato season this summer. With that wrapping up, we wanted to share our favorite recipe highlighting our beloved savory fruit: the Caprese Salad, with some tips and tricks to recreate this dish year-round. We recommend pairing Caprese Salad with unoaked or lightly oaked Chardonnay or nice crisp Sauvignon Blanc.

xxx Ivy & Eve

Tips:

Oil & Vinegar: 

Since this recipe is so simple, it's the perfect excuse to use your best olive oil and vinegar. We love playing with different oil and vinegar combinations from our favorite hometown producer of oils and vinegar: Quail & Olive. Some of our favorite combinations right now are Basil olive oil with Winter Ambrosia vinegar and Tuscan Blend olive oil with either Mission Fig or Raspberry Basil vinegar.

We use another of our favorite olive oils from Holman Ranch, which happens to make some of our favorite Pinot Noirs too! 

Seasoning:

This is also a perfect recipe to use fancy salts and fresh cracked pepper or swap them with those fancy seasonings you might have lurking in our spice drawer. We've been loving Clif Family's spice blends, Everything Spice Blend and Porchetta Spice Blend. For salt, we use Maldon or Hawk Head Whisky Smoked Chili Salt that we picked up the last time we were in Scotland.

Dressings:

Another fun way to dress your Caprese salad is to use a bottled dressing. We tend to use lighter, vinaigrette type dressings, and our absolute favorite is French Poodle Vinaigrette. The recipe originated from Cote d'Azur in 1870 and made its way to our hometown in 1961 when Marienette and Jean Beacham opened The French Poodle restaurant in Carmel, CA. The recipe remains a secret, and now you can buy it online or in select shops. 

Seasonal Produce:

When tomatoes are out of season, we love to play with different produce. Here are a few of our favorite combinations: 

Spring/Summer:

• Traditional Caprese - Tomato + Mozzarella + Holman Ranch Olive Oil + good balsamic

• Nectarine or Peach + Burrata + Tarragon (Previously featured here)

Fall/Winter: 

• Roasted Tomato + Burrata or Mozzarella torn into small chunks (we roast cherry tomatoes with fresh thyme tossed in olive oil at 400F for about 40 minutes)

• Persimmon + Mozzarella + Quail & Olive Basil Olive Oil + Quail & Olive Winter Ambrosia Vinegar

Make it a Meal:

When we're serving this as a main dish and want to make it more substantial, we like to serve it on a bed of arugula, add shredded rotisserie chicken, and double the oil and vinegar. It would also be delicious with some homemade croutons to soak up a bit of the dressing!

Here is our tried and true recipe for a classic (but delicious) Caprese Salad. Feel free to add or sub any of the ingredients with your own favorites!

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 medium ripe tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick

• 1 ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds

• A handful of fresh basil leaves

• Flaky salt

• Freshly cracked pepper

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 tablespoon good quality balsamic vinegar (this is the time to break out the good stuff)

Directions:

1. On two salad plates (or one large serving dish if serving family-style), arrange the tomato and mozzarella slices in an alternating pattern. 

2. Tear and scatter basil leaves on top of the tomatoes and mozzarella. 

3. Season with fresh cracked pepper and flaky salt. 

4. Drizzle with olive oil first, then balsamic vinegar. 

5. Enjoy! 

Icebox Pumpkin Pie

As much as we love autumn, for us Californians, fall weather really doesn't begin until pretty late in the season. On the Central Coast, we still enjoy weekends by the pool and lots of warm sunshine until late October. We wanted to make a pumpkin pie a few weekends ago, but it was so hot out that we didn't want to turn the oven on! We loved our Magically Delicious Pie so much that we decided to make a pumpkin version. We chose to use Cinnamon Toast Crunch for the base, which works wonderfully with the pumpkin filling. We like to serve ours pretty frozen, but if you want more of a soft and fluffy texture, just take the pie out a little longer than we suggest. This is a perfect potluck dish because since you freeze it until serving, you can keep it in the freezer until you leave and let it defrost on the way!

We are sure this recipe is soon to be a new favorite!

xxx Ivy & Eve

Makes one pie with 12 small slices.

Ingredients:

• 1 box Cinnamon Toast Crunch

• 8 tablespoons melted butter

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

• One 7 oz. jar of marshmallow fluff (about 1 1/2 cups)

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin

• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. 

2. Melt the butter in a small bowl.

3. Add 6 cups of the cereal to the food processor. Pulse until you get fine crumbs. Pour in the melted butter and pulse until all the crumbs are moistened.

4. Pour the crumbs into a 9-inch pie pan and press mixture on the bottom and around the sides to form the pie crust.

5. Place the crust in the oven and bake for 5-7 minutes until it is slightly golden. Then place the crust in the freezer to cool while you prepare the filling.

6.  Whip the heavy cream in a mixer until it starts to thicken and then add powdered sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form. Place the whipped cream in the refrigerator while you make the other mixture.

7. Beat the softened cream cheese and marshmallow fluff with an electric mixer until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add the pumpkin and pumpkin spice then mix until incorporated. Fold in the whipped cream. 

8. Pour the mix into the chilled pie crust and smooth with a spatula.

9. Lightly crush 1/2 cup of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in a Ziploc baggie and sprinkle on the edges of the pie filling.

10.  Freeze for at least 3 hours. When it is time to serve, take it out of the freezer and slightly let soften for 10 minutes.

11. Slice and serve! 

Pumpkin Palooza at Trader Joe's

Pumpkin season is in full swing and nobody does it better than Trader Joe's. They have a whole section including over 60 different items made with pumpkin. They call this area "Pumpkin Palooza"! We decided to go to our local Trader Joe's market and try out as many pumpkin goodies as we could. Here's only a fraction of what they carry. Hurry to your local store to test them out yourself!

xxx Ivy & Eve

Not technically pumpkin but SO delicious!

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Autumn Veg

Growing up, we had dinner as a family every week night. We helped cook sometimes, and learned a lot of great recipes and techniques. Now we are older, we understand the importance of eating a full meal each night. Not only is cooking a great way to wind down from a busy day, but having a full balanced meal helps keep us away from over snacking and eating delicious but super unhealthy things (like a bag of chips or a pint of ice cream). 

This is why we created a recipe that is healthy, tasty, and super quick and easy! This one-pan recipe has all our favorite fall flavors and seasonal vegetables. Pork tenderloin is also one of the easiest meats to cook. Adding it on top of some simple roasted veg makes this one of the simplest recipes we've made! We are sure this will become a fall staple of yours. We serve it with a simple salad with our favorite balsamic dijon salad dressing. 

This one-pan recipe pairs perfectly with Louis Jadot Pinot Noir. This Pinot Noir comes from the Burgundy appellation of France and has notes of cherry, plums, and a hint of earthiness. We think it goes perfectly with the earthy roasted veg and the slight sweetness of the pumpkin pie spice rub. 

xxx Ivy & Eve

Serves 4

Pair with Louis Jadot Pinot Noir

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pound pork tenderloin
• 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 red potatoes
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 bulb fennel, sliced
• 2 pears
• 1 onion
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 bag of Arugula
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F
2. Rinse and dry the pork tenderloin.
3. Combine the spices in a small bowl and rub onto the pork tenderloin.
4. Peel and cube the potatoes and sweet potatoes.
5. Slice the onion and fennel bulb.
6. Core and slice the pears.
7. Toss the vegetables with tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
8. Roast the vegetables in a large roasting pan for 30 minutes.
9. Rub the pork tenderloin with 1 tbsp olive oil and place on top of the vegetables.
10. Turn the oven up to 425F and roast for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reads 160F on a meat thermometer.
11. Let the pork rest for 3 minuted before slicing.
12. Combine all the olive oil, balsamic, mustard, and honey and whisk.
13. Season with salt and pepper.
14. Drizzle over a large bowl of arugula and toss.
15. Plate the pork, veg, and salad and enjoy with a glass (or two) of Louis Jadot Pinot Noir!

Autumn Harvest Pizza

This autumn, we are taking full advantage of all the delicious produce we can find at our local farmers market. This pizza combines the warm comfort of pureed butternut squash, creaminess of the cheese, the saltiness of the prosciutto, the sweetness of fresh pears, and for a bit of added freshness, it is topped with arugula and pomegranate seeds. The crust has the added subtleness of sage, which goes perfectly with the autumn flavors.

We usually would pair pizza with red wine, but since this pizza has no tomato sauce and lots of creamy cheese, white wine is the way to go! We paired this tasty pizza with Louis Jadot Pouilly-Fuissé. Pouilly-Fuissé is a vineyard appellation in southern Burgundy that produces mainly white wines. This wine is made from chardonnay grapes and has delicious citrus, peach, and crisp apple notes. The subtle oak really rounds out this white wine, making it very versatile. We would also pair it with chicken, fish, and creamy cheeses.

xxx Ivy & Eve

Makes four individual-sized pizzas.

Ingredients

Pizza Dough

• 4 cups flour

• 2 tsp salt

• 2 tsp dried crushed sage

• 1/8th tsp pepper

• 1 2/3 cups warm water

• 1 packet dry yeast (1/4 oz. or 7 grams)

Toppings

• Butternut squash

• Goat cheese

• Mozzarella, grated

• Prosciutto, torn into small pieces

• Pear, thinly sliced

• Pomegranate seeds

• Arugula

Directions

For the Dough

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl or mixer and make a well in the center.

3. Add the yeast and water and mix well.

4. Knead until the dough is silky and elastic (If you have it, use a standing mixer with a dough hook attachment).

5. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and set in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise.

6. Divide the dough into 4 balls and place on a large baking sheet lined with parchment. Place the balls 3 inches apart and rub the tops with a little olive oil.

7. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (if you're in a rush, skip this step and let rise for another hour).

8. When you are ready to make the pizzas, take out the dough at least 1 hour before baking.

For the Toppings

1. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees.

2. Peel and cube the butternut squash. Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and roast for 30 minutes, or until tender.

3. Place the roasted squash in a blender or food processor and puree. Add 1 tbsp of water if the puree is too thick.

4. Preheat the oven to 500F degrees (525F if your oven gets that hot).

5. Generously sprinkle pizza sheet or upside-down cookie sheet with cornmeal.

6. Using floured hands, take 1 ball of dough and stretch into an 8-10 inch circle on the cornmeal surface (re-flouring when needed).

7. Spread the butternut puree on the dough like you would pizza sauce.

8. Top with grated mozzarella, prosciutto, dollops of goat cheese, and pear slices.

9. Bake for 7-9 minutes until the crust is golden and toppings are melted and bubbling.

10. Top with 1/2 arugula and 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds.

11. Repeat with the remaining 3 balls of dough.

12. Slice and enjoy with a glass of Louis Jadot Pouilly-Fuissé!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fall is one of our favorite seasons because we love comfy sweaters, the leaves changing color, and most of all...pumpkin recipes! There are so many different pumpkin recipes we love to make this time of year and we cannot wait to share some with you. Up first is the BEST pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. With the added pumpkin puree they stay more moist then your average chocolate chip cookie. These are seriously delicious and the flavor is exactly of how we imagine autumn to taste. You may want to make 2 batches as they disappear before your eyes!

Warning: We are not responsible for any cookie addictions this post may create!

xxx Ivy & Eve

Ingredients:

• 15 oz. pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Combine pumpkin, vegetable oil, egg, and sugar in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.
3. Dissolve the baking soda into the milk. Mix this into the bowl of wet ingredients.
4. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture.
5. Add the vanilla and chocolate chips. Mix well.
6. Drop heaping spoonfuls of the dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Bake for 8-12 minutes (depending on the size it may be more, we make ours BIG).
8. Remove from oven, let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes.
9. Place on cooling rack.

Enjoy!

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