You are going to be SHOCKED at how easy it is to make roasted red peppers.  I always thought it was some mysterious chef-y thing ... but it is really quite simple.

They'd be great for an evening bbq ... but I'm pre-making them here for a breakfast recipe.

You'll need only two things ... red peppers and oil.

That's it!

Now, the type of oil you use will enhance the flavor (such as olive oil).  Or you could use just regular vegetable or canola oil. What ever taste you prefer. And you can do all kinds of fancy things with them in recipes after you've made them.  But this is just the basic how-to-roast instructions.

First, wash your peppers and then coat them in oil.  Smother them.  Make them glisten and shine.

Place them on a baking dish (with sides to catch any goop).  Make sure every little inch is covered in oil.  AND make sure you've removed all stickers.  You could use a pastry brush for this, but I was going for the multi-tasking-hand-moisturizing-manicure-while-cooking.  Some recipes say to just pop 'em in the oven or on the grill plain without oil, but I think this helps them stay moist.

They'll need to cook for about 45 minutes, but keep a watchful eye on them!  The goal is for the skin to char and get blackened. When it does, you'll need to rotate them with tongs.

These look just about done ...

When you first take them out of the oven, place them in a sealed container to let them "steam" themselves a bit more to make removing the skin easy.  Be careful of any liquid that drips from them ... it will be scorching hot!

After they've cooled (about 15 to 20 minutes) you can remove the skins.  They should peel off easily.

Brush off the seeds, remover the stems, slice up and serve!

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Okay. I know this has nothing to do with breakfast or inns ... but more of a day in the life of a small town. Our home base is in Mount Dora and we have a very very cool ghost walk. But for Halloween, they make it "extra special" with more creepy things lurking in corners ... more bloody goop ... more suspense ... and of course more to make the hair on the back of your neck stick up. To get everyone in the mood for hauntings, they led a "zombie crawl" though our Craft Festival last weekend. Whoa.

Good thing I didn't have to voice over this one! Between the Zombie Crawl, Jeepers Creepers and generally just getting jumpy and freaked out over nothing this Halloween week ... I think I've popped a lung and scrubbed my vocal chords with a brillo pad! If you're around town this evening ... you may just be scared the be-ge-sus out of by yours truly. Though, I doubt you'll recognize me in my zombie-wear! Muwahhahahah ...

We recently enjoyed a whirlwind weekend in San Francisco. It's a lot to see in only four days, but I'm really happy that we squeezed in drive out to Napa Valley where we met with the innkeepers at the Glass Mountain Inn, a gorgeous inn located in St. Helena.  My friend Vanessa and I were talking about what surprised us most about Napa Valley.  And that was ... well ... it was so brown!  It is Fall.  And I guess we both had visions of vineyards like the movie A Walk In The Clouds with rolling green hills full of vines and picturesque as-far-as-the-eye-can-see panoramic mountain vistas.  But we're both optimistic happy girls.  So rather than focusing on the quick feeling of disappointment from an unfulfilled expectation, we focused on the glass being half full ... with wine!  And wine is something that California does really really well.

After driving through the valley, the town of St. Helena was a sweet surprise.  It was green.  The town was reminiscent of a movie set ... only more real and organic.  And the road to Glass Mountain Inn was uphill, winding, and every turn had another view of a sparkly vineyard.  Yay!  And I do mean "sparkly" in the literal sense of the word.  The vines have little metallic tags that I suppose are there to scare away birds.  But I like to think of them as vine bling.  After all, something as magnificent as a pinot noir should come from something that sparkles.

So what's with all this wine talk on a breakfast blog?  I digress.  To find out how the Glass Mountain Inn got it's name and take a look at the Man Cave that gave Brian Pinot envy watch the fun little video we made. (Click here) And for a sample of our our San Francisco weekend  itinerary click here.

Alrighty.  On to the good stuff!  How about a little Grand Marnier with your breakfast?

What I love about this recipe is how easy it is to make ... but it tastes oh-so-good and is easy to fancy schmancy it up.  I've already made it now half a dozen times this month when we had friends or guests over for breakfast (or dessert!)  The ingredients are simple and easy to remember if you're running quickly through the grocery story to pick up a handful of things.   All you need is some croissants, sugar, milk, eggs, Grand Marnier, and berries and powdered sugar for garnish.

Spray your ramekins with some non-stick spray and tear your croissants into bite sized pieces, filling each ramekin as you go.  Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet or some other edged pan to catch anything that spills.

Next, mix your other ingredients in a large bowl (excluding berries and powdered sugar)

The Grand Marnier has an interesting effect to the milk.  Start bubbling and making all sorts of fun swirls.  This sparked my curiosity to find out what in the heck was the cause of this little chemistry experiment. I Googled it and found 3 possible answers.

1) "I'd say that when you add the milk-coffee mix to alcohol the concentrated alcohol must be able to denature the milk proteins initially (similar to acid in cheese making but a different mechanism - hydrophobicity), alcohol added to coffee/milk must not ever be concentrated enough to do this." Uh-oh!

2) Then someone said it was "curdling" ... but then wouldn't we have a bunch of cheesey White Russians served in bars?  Baileys and milk don't seem to have the same effect.

3) Then I found this random strange video "milk to alcohol" where someone turned milk into alcohol.  It's really bizarre.  With a train going by several times in the background sound, someone adds sugar, yeast and milk together in a cup and pours it from one cup to another. After awhile it turns orange and then a cat comes up to drink the milk.  WEIRD!

I'm totally off subject now.  Damn internet and it's endless supply of useless trivia.  Back to the recipe ...

Whisk everything together ...

And pour on top of croissants.  Soak em good.

Let them ist for at least 15 minutes so the bread can soak up all the liquidy egg mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.  Mine took just a tad longer since I put them on a baking stone.  That think absorbs heat like nobody's business.

After they've cooled for about 5 minutes, take a knife around the edge to loosen them up and then turn over onto a plate.

Mmm.

Garnish with raspberries and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Take a bite.  Pause.  Make Mmm noises.  Enjoy!

Whole recipe from Julie at Glass Mountain Inn is listed below.

Julie's Croissant Bread Pudding

Glass Mountain Inn

St. Helena, CA

(yields 8 servings)

Ingredients

8 store bought croissants, torn into medium-sized pieces

8 whole large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

2 Tbsp Grand Marnier liquor

1 Tbsp superfine sugar

Powdered sugar and fresh raspberries, blueberries and/or blackberries for garnish

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Generously spray 8 ramekins with vegetable oil.  Add one torn croissant to each ramekin.

2) Whisk eggs, milk, sugar and liquor in a bowl.  Pour egg mixture into each ramekin, making sure there is enough liquid to soak bread.  Let ramekins sit for 15 to 20 minutes to allow bread to soak up egg mixture.  Place ramekins on parchment covered baking sheet, preferably a jelly roll pan with sides to avoid sliding.

3) Place ramekins in preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes until golden and puffed.  Using an offset spatula, gently turn out each bread pudding on a serving plate.  Top with powdered sugar and fresh berries.  Chicken-apple sausage or bacon is a perfect accompaniment to this dish.

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Find out who/what is a Penny Farthing ... my favorite place to catch a view of the Florida coast ... where you might find paranormal activity ... and the easiest Berry French Toast you can make at home.

A few weeks ago, Brian met a couple in Mount Dora (our hometown) that were taking a vacation from the vacation business.  They are the innkeepers at the Penny Farthing Bed & Breakfast in St. Augustine.  So naturally, when we were driving through St. Augustine last week we had to stop in for a cup of coffee and say hello.

I have to confess ... I was a little confused about who "Penny" was and I kept adding an extra syllable to the end of their name as in "Farthing-ton."  I've since been enlightened.  Take a look here at the video.

Marie (not Penny), gave me a fantastic recipe for a Berry French Toast.  I love breakfast made in a ramekin since you end up with nice little individual servings of goodness ... and ... if you have extra you can just put a lid on it or cover in saran wrap, stick it in the refrigerator and save it for later.

Here's what you'll need!  Simple ingredients ... yum-mee flavor.  I used some fresh raspberries and also some froze mixed berries since berries are not in season at the moment ... I had to elbow a few people at the grocery store to even get my hands on a pint of raspberries!

I could actually just take the bread, cheese and raspberries and go have a picnic!

When we visited Paris, everyone had a baguette in hand, under arm, or in a basket.  It was like, if you didn't have one you were missing out!  That memory pops up every time I slice into "French" bread.

My large cutting board was in the sink, dirty, and my no-slip cutting board was in the dishwasher ... also dirty!  So, I used my simple el cheapo cutting board and placed a dish towel underneath to prevent sliding.  It also came in handy for cleaning up the crumbs afterward!

You'll need four slices, and you want them to be in small bite sized bits.  The quickest way to do that is to cut it in half ... then flip one side over so you have the crusts facing the same way.  That makes it easier to slice through.

Also slice up some cream cheese.  Careful ... it's sticky!

After you have the bread and cheese chopped and ready to go, layer them into the ramekins. Bread first, then berries, then cheese, then more bread.  Cause, ya know, you can never have enough bread!

Mix together 3/4 cup of milk, 3 tsp of maple syrup and 2 eggs.

Pour the egg mixture on top of the layered bread, cream cheese and berries.  Cover and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator.

The next morning, bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

I think I followed directions pretty well all except for one ...

... greasing the ramekins!!!  AAAAAARRRRGGGH!

Since I made a crappy move by forgetting to grease my ramekin, it made me think of a friend of mine's son who had a great phrase for making a turd.  And that was ...

Taaaah Daaaaah!

Well, it might not look pretty, but it tasted GREAT!

Good thing I had a few more to spare.  We'll just keep them in the bowl, shall we?

A little dash of some berry sauce ...

(I had this sauce on hand. Marie at Penny Farthing has a couple ingredients listed below to make some sauce from scratch)

... and now we've got some good looking AND great tasting Berry French Toast.

Here's the whole recipe.  Enjoy!

Berry French Toast

from Penny Farthing Inn

Ingredients

4 slices of French bread cut in 1/2 inch cubes

3/4 cup raspberries or blueberries

2 ounces of cream cheese cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

3 tbsp maple syrup

(Sauce)

2 tbsp raspberry preserve

1 cup maple syrup

Directions

(prepare night before)

1) Grease two ramekins and line with half the bread cubes

2) Cover with raspberries or blueberries (or both!), top with cream cheese and cover with remaining bread.

3) Beat together eggs, milk & 3 tablespoons of maple syrup.

4) Pour egg mixture over bread/cream cheese/berry filled ramekings and place in the fridge over night.

5) In the morning, bake at 350 for 25 to 35 minutes.

6) Cut round the edge of the ramekin and turn the French toast over onto a plate.  Cover with sauce and serve!

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Here are 4 recipes in under 4 minutes. It's 2.5 minutes to be exact. Does your life ever feel like it's moving this fast? Mine does! It was certainly a crazy day of baking and eating ... thank God for neighbors and friends to help gobble up the goodies we made during this little time lapse experiment ...

As the weather cools, my afternoon espresso pick-me-up is sometimes replaced by hot chocolate.   Or I'll make a big batch of it for hanging out by the fire pit in the back yard.  Though my night-time version usually has a little extra something to warm us up.  Such as shot Grand Marnier or Bailey's Irish Cream.  Yum.

I recently posted a recipe for homemade marshmallows that goes perfect with a cup of hot chocolate.

So I thought, why not post a couple different ways to make hot chocolate?  You know, besides ripping open a packet, pouring it into a mug and nuking it in the microwave.

We're talkin gourmet baby!

For a single serving quick and easy, here's what you mix ... 2 tsp cocoa (Hershey's, Ghiradelli, Nestle, etc.), 2 tsp sugar, and a cup of boiling water or heated milk.  That's it!  Easy, huh?

If you want to get fancy, you can also add a 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract , or a 1/4 tsp of peppermint oil or extract, or a 1/4 tsp of almond extract.  Catch my drift?  Pick your flavor.  If you want to make a big batch, just double up on the ingredients for each additional cup you want to make.

Just don't forget the marshmallows.

Do you have a favorite way you like to make your hot chocolate?  A secret trick or recipe?  Do share!  Comment below.

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Meet Vanessa. She's a good buddy of mine. We met at the Travel Channel Academy and I'm lucky to have her working on Inn The Kitchen with me.

Earlier this year she submitted a video for Tourism Queensland's Best Job In The World. And while she didn't go to Australia ... I think it's because we already HAVE the best job in the world.

I wanted to share this video of her because I think her personality and passion for life really shines through.

More "Meet The Crew" videos coming this week ...

Last week I caught up with my long time friend and college buddy, Eric.  In college we had a PR writing class at the godawful hour of 7 am.  Which, to actually get a wake-up coffee and a parking space on campus at UCF meant I had to be leaving my house dressed, ready, backpack stuffed with all the necessities by 6:00 am.  What was I thinking when I signed up for that?  I'll tell you what I was thinking ... I need this class to graduate and it was the only time it was offered!  At least the professor was cool.  But every once in awhile he'd painfully wake up our sleepy morning brain with some sort of stressful/deadline/writing type of drill.  Writing early in the morning is my typical routine ... I just don't usually push myself to perfection in under an hour.  It takes a least a  2nd pot of coffee before I can go back and edit.  It seems so crazy long ago now.  Back when my cell phone was huge and all email was dominated by aol.  We were at the top of our class.  And now here we are ... I'm obsessed with breakfast and Eric is wondering why YouBentMyWookie.

Eric always had some good treats baked up.  So when he told me he had a recipe for Marshmallow I begged him to share!   He had  me asking ... WTF is actually IN a marshmallow?  You mean they're not magically produced by Willy Wonka?  There are ingredients I can buy at the store to make these?  Awesome!

He suggested instead that I do a themed Halloween breakfast in full costume.

Aaaah. No.

So ... in lieu of dressing up like Chewbacca and baking wookie cookies ... I tried some marshmallow instead.  And they're unbelievably easy!  The timing was perfect since we finally got our Fall cold spell here in Florida.  Hot chocolate and marshmallows is a great morning or afternoon treat and we like to have Smores in the backyard fire pit with our guests.  Yum.

I'll walk you through it step-by-step with photos and post the full recipe at the end.

Here's what you'll need to get your fire-roasting-smore-making-hot-chocolate-dipping marshmallow on.

Some non-stick spray for the dish/pan.  A cup of light corn syrup.  A cup of sugar.  (Been to see your dentist lately?) A half cup of water.  Gelatin. Vanilla.   And cornstarch and powdered sugar to get the sticky suckers off your fingers.

Pour 3 packets of unflavored gelatin in a bowl followed by a 1/2 cup of water.  Let it sit while it magically turn into jello-like mini pearls while you make the sugar mixture.

It will start soaking up the water and grow.

This is what it will look like after about 10 minutes.

While your gelatin is expanding ... pour 1/2 cup of water, sugar and corn syrup in a small sauce pan on MEDIUM heat.

Stir briefly with wooden spoon and then let it come to a boil.

Approximately 7 to 8 minutes.

You want the mixture to reach 240 degrees ... and then immediately remove from the stove.  Sounds precise and scientific, huh?  I know, I told you this would be easy, so here is where I confess ...

I'm not a candy maker. Not. At. All.  I do love sugar, if that counts. So I didn't have a candy thermometer.  I used a meat thermometer instead.  Buwhahahah!  I told my mom that over the phone ... and she said I was lucky it didn't blow up in my hand.  I was careful though!  I really watched the time on the clock to follow Eric's instructions of "7 to 8 minutes."  At about 4 minutes, it was at 180 degrees.  A 7 minutes it went immediately to 220 degrees ... which is the max on my thermometer ... so I guessed that meant it was ready and removed it from the heat.

(now my mom has a candy thermometer in the mail to me this week)

CAREFULLY and slowly pour it into a large bowl on top of your gelatin.

You can use a big fancy schmancy mixer or just a hand mixer.  Either will work just fine.

Mix for 12 minutes.

Yes, I said 12 minutes.

At about 5 minutes I got all impatient and pouty ... thinking ... this isn't working.  It's clear and bubbly.  I must have not let it boil long enough.  Pout. Cross arms. Tap foot.  Pout some more.

Since I still had 6 or 7 minutes to wait while the marshmallow becomes marshmallow, it was a good time to distract myself by preparing the pan.

Spray your pan with a non-stick cooking spray.  I got smart and started doing this over the sink after my friend Jim did a knee-slide across my kitchen floor.  Yeah.  Pam mist on the floor could equal a disaster.  Or as it did for us, one heck of a belly laugh.  I'm just sayin.

Anyway, after lightly spraying with a non-stick spray, sprinkle with equal parts corn starch and powdered sugar and then cover with plastic wrap.

Press TIGHTLY across the edges.  Otherwise your going to have one fun mess to clean up.  Also, if you didn't have one on before, now is a good time to sport an apron.

Shake it.  Shake it until the entire surface is covered in white.

Pour the excess into a bowl for later use.

Ah!  What's this?  While I was distracted by shakin sugar the marshmallow is ...

becoming  ...

MARSHMALLOW!  At this exact moment I ran around the house shouting, "I MADE MARSHMALLOW" the same way Tom Hanks yelled "I made fire" in Cast Away.  After it being yellow/clear/bubbly for so long I was really "wowed."

The recipe calls for a tsp of vanilla.  But Eric said to be liberal with the vanilla so I added 2 tsp. Is doubling it going overboard?  Naaaaah!

Make sure the vanilla is good and mixed.

Looks like vampire fangs, doesn't it?

Pour into your prepared pan and smooth out with a spatula.

Now's a good time to lick the bowl.  If you've got some nutella and banana on hand, you could even make a marshmallow sandwhich.  Mmm.

Cover and let the marshmallow sit overnight to harden. Or, if you make these in the morning they should be ready by the evening for S'mores.

Take a knife around the edge of the pan to help lift out the marshmallow.

It will feel a little "spring loaded" so rather than thinking of slicing, think more of separating it from the side.

It should be fairly easy to lift out if you did a good job sugar shaking.

Place onto a cutting board and sprinkle with the left over powdered sugar/corn starch mixture you used to coat the pan.

Now here comes the fun part.  Slicing marshmallow.  It's a little like trying to nail jello to the wall.

I remembered that Eric suggested using a pizza cutter so I switched and that helped a bunch!

Once you have your marshmallow squares, roll them around in bowl with the powdered sugar/corn starch mix.  This will keep them from sticking to your fingers ... the plate ... the wall ... pretty much anything they come into contact with.

And there you have it ... MARSHMALLOWS!  Enjoy in your hot chocolate, S'mores, or just on there own.

Thanks Eric!

Marshmallow

Ingredients

3 packages unflavored gelatin

1 cup of ice cold water, divided

12 ounces granulated sugar (1 1/2 cups)

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch

Nonstick spray

Directions

1) Place the gelatin into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water.

2) In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and the salt. Place over medium heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes.  Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the panand continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees, approximately 7 to 8 minutes.  Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

3) Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture.  Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high.  Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm (approximately 12 10 15 minutes).  Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping.

4) While the mixture is whipping, prepare the pan.  Combine confectiners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.  Lightly spray 13 x 9 inch baking pan with a nonstick cooking spray.  Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture, cover with plastic wrap, and mover around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan.  Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

5) When marshmallow is ready, pour into the prepared pan, spread evenly with the spatula, and dust the top with some of the remaining sugar adn cornstarch mixture to lightly cover.  Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours or overnight.

6) Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inc squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture.  Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining sugar mixture, using additional if necessary.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

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Rachelle and Brian escape to San Francisco for the weekend and take a road trip up to St. Helena in Napa Valley. Discover this charming town, find out how Glass Mountain Inn got it's name, and take a peak at the wine cave that gave Brian pinot envy. Take a look at the recipe we picked up from Glass Mountain Inn, Julie's Croissant Bread Pudding.