Eggy Cheesy Toast

My new favorite breakfast, like fried eggs already assembled with bread and cheese.

Eggy Cheesy Toast
1 slice sturdy bread (I used rosemary bread from our local bakery brushed with a little olive oil, fluffy white bread probably won't work)
1 egg
2 slices of cheese, enough to cover your piece of bread

(I liked mozzarella the best, but cheddar was good too)

Preheat the broiler.

Place the bread on an oiled pan (I use my cast-iron pan) break the egg on top, put the cheese on top of the egg, put the pan in the oven, not to close to the broiler flame (I put the rack on the 2nd shelf, about 7" away from the flame), let it cook for a few minutes. The cheese will get nice and bubbly and toasty, and you can cake it out when the egg is at your desired level of cooked-ness, you can let the yolk get firm or take it out when it's still runny. Let it cool off a little before you bite into it, and enjoy.

I'm thinking next time I'll put some caramelized onions between the bread and the egg, that would be good.

Autumnal Muffins

A few years ago I signed up for newsletters from the National Honey Board, "Honey Feast," because they have recipes. The most recent one had a recipe for pumpkin honey muffins which was perfect to go with the fall colors.

Honey Pumpkin Muffins (from the National Honey Board)

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon (or more) ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup softened butter

3/4 cup honey (I used buckwheat honey because it tastes like molasses)

1 egg

1 cup solid pack pumpkin

1 cup chopped toasted walnuts (I used almonds because that's all I had on hand, walnuts would be better)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 1 regular muffin tin, either grease or paper cups.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside. 

Beat butter with electric mixer, add honey, egg and pumpkin. Gradually add flour mixture to butter/honey mixture, fold in until just blended, stir in walnuts at the last second. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, bake for 25 to 30 minutes (I think mine took only 20 minutes). Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick in center of a center muffin, it should come out clean. Remove muffins immediately from pan and let cool on wire rack. Don't wait too long to eat them.

Columns at the National Arboretum

Cheese and Blueberry Filled Bread

It's nice to have a long, involved project to work on during Conference weekend so that I don't fall asleep listening to the nice talks. So this is what I made last weekend, I've wanted to try a sweet bread recipe and do something exciting with it. It worked pretty well, but I think I need to work on yeasted pastry dough recipe that will give me something more like the danishes from Pavel's in Pacific Grove, but I have no idea what to do differently. But this project was quite successful, so here's what I did.

Sweet Braided Bread with Cheese and Fruit Filling

SWEET BREAD DOUGH: (based on Cinnamon Bread recipe from "Beard on Bread")

2 cups milk
1 tbsp yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 cube) butter, divided
5-6 cups all purpose flour

Scald the milk by heating it gently until it just starts steaming, or you see bubbles forming on the sides of the pan, set aside and let cool. Mix together yeast, sugar, 3 cups of the flour, salt, and the scalded milk, and 1/4 cup of the butter, softened, cut into smallish pieces. Mix thoroughly, let rest for a few minutes, then add the remaining 2-3 cups of flour. Knead for a couple of minutes, it should be just a tiny bit sticky still. Form the dough into a ball and let raise in a greased bowl until doubled.

While the dough is rising, prepare the cheese and blueberry fillings. (I used these recipe for the fillings, with a couple changes.)

BLUEBERRY FILLING:

2 cups blueberries (I used frozen)
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch (or even less)
juice of 1 lime, or about 1 Tbsp
zest of 1 lime (optional)

Combine all these ingredients in a small pan and heat gently, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken, you may not even notice it boiling because there isn't a lot of liquid in there. Set aside and let cool.

CHEESE FILLING:
8 oz. cream cheese
1-2 Tbsp sugar, to taste
1 tsp lemon flavoring or vanilla, whichever you prefer

Combine all these ingredients in a small bowl, mix until smooth. Set aside.

Now back to the dough: Gently press the risen dough into a rectangle, smear half of the remaining butter (about 2 tablespoons) onto 2/3 of the dough, then fold the dough into thirds like a letter, then repeat with the remaining butter, this will layer the butter into the dough. Let rest in the fridge for a few minutes.

Roll the dough into a large rectangle, cut in half to make 2 rectangles, spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the middle 3rd of the rectangles, half on each piece of dough, then spread the blueberry mixture over the cheese, half on each piece. Cut 1 inch tabs at an angle along the two sides of the rectangles. Alternate folding the tabs over the middle, to make something that looks like a braid. Cover with plastic, let it raise in the fridge until they are risen a bit. They will also do a lot of rising in the oven so they don't need to be huge.

Brush with an egg wash or milk just before baking. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and continue to bake for 30 minutes or a little longer (I lost track of how long the second one was in, and it didn't collapse as much as the first one, which is the cooked one pictured. Let the loaves cool before slicing.

banana pancakes

Here's something else to do when you have over-ripe bananas and don't want to make banana bread or muffins. Take your favorite basic pancake recipe (this should work with pancake mixes too) and mash up 1 or 2 bananas (I did 3 the first time and it was super banana-y, so if you like that, go for it). Add mashed banana to the liquid. Mix together liquid and dry ingredients and cook pancakes as usual. The pancakes turn out very tender and so delicious. I've had a little problem with the very middle not being cooked all the way, so be careful of that. These are good with fruity toppings-syrups or jams or just cut up fresh fruit, honey and butter, maple syrup, ginger syrup (I bet, I don't have any right now to try, though) or ice cream.

banana pancake with blackberry sauce

Here's the exact recipe I made, in case you don't want to experiment with your own. (Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens "Buttermilk Pancakes")

Banana Pancakes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon and/or other favorite spices
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. cooking oil (optional)
1 or 2 over ripe bananas
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. sugar

Mix together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices) in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

Mix together egg, milk and oil. Mash bananas, sprinkle with lemon juice and sugar, stir it around, add it to the egg/milk/oil mixture. I do this all in my pyrex liquid measuring cup so I don't have to wash another bowl, and it all fits.

Start heating up your griddle, when it's just about warm enough, add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir gently, getting to the bottom, but don't over mix. The batter might be lumpier than usual because the bananas don't always get mashed completely smoothly. Cook the pancakes like normal, eat with your favorite toppings.

banana pancake with vanilla ice cream and blackberry sauce

Apple Harvest Phase 1

I had high hopes of preserving a lot of apples yesterday, but I first had to learn if fuji apples would make a good pie. After reading here that they are good for eating fresh and good for a sauce that needs no sugar added, I wasn't sure if making ready-to-bake frozen pies would be a good idea. So I whipped up an apple crisp for breakfast that turned out okay. The apples didn't fall apart or shrink too much, so I was assured that they would bake well in a pie, and there are now two rustic tarts now residing in the freezer.

I like to make this kind of pie because it's easy and quicker than assembling a regular 2-crust pie and you can usually get two almost whole pies out of it instead of just one. There was some leftover pie filling, and this morning it was simmered on the stove and used as a topping for French toast. It was really sweet, so I can certainly be sure that the applesauce I (hope to) make today will not need any extra sugar at all. I am a tiny bit concerned that the pies will be too sweet . . . . . but they'll still get eaten.

Peach Hotcakes

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find good peaches at the grocery store? We've gotten lucky and our not-as-close neighborhood grocery store has had really good peaches lately. We went there to get some emergency ice cream rations to prepare for the coming hurricane and the peaches reached out and grabbed us and we bought a couple pounds. That hurricane was a bit of a let down for us (the earthquake was scarier), but the peaches were quite good.

I made some peach pancakes based on the buttermilk-blueberry pancake recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I used cardamom instead of cinnamon, and it was okay, but it didn't have a spectacular flavor. I would just go with cinnamon for this one next time. But if you want a recipe for pancakes with cardamom, here's one from Mark Bittman. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds delightful. 

Oh, and for some reason in my family we call them hotcakes instead of pancakes, I've always figured it's because they're bigger than the usual pancakes. If you're reading this and you know the answer, please comment and let me know!

cooked peach pancake

We like them big, but this one was almost unflippable

Peach Hotcakes

1 c. all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. semolina flour or cornmeal

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (or your favorite complementary spice)

1 Tbsp. honey (or sugar)

1 egg, beaten

1 c. buttermilk or yogurt or whey from draining yogurt or a combination

2 Tbsp. cooking oil

1 peach, cut into blueberry-size pieces, peeled if desired, covered in lemon juice to keep from browning

Mix together flour, semolina/cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon (and sugar, if using) in a bowl, set aside.

Mix together the honey (if using), egg, buttermilk/yogurt/whey and oil. 

Start heating up a griddle for cooking, then mix together the wet and dry ingredients until they are just barely mixed and still lumpy, then add peach pieces gently. 

Cook pancakes on lightly oiled griddle, eat with your favorite topping. 

Brioche Cinnamon Rolls

Here's some cinnamon rolls I made with the other half of my brioche dough. They were quite delicious and gone the same day. My favorite cinnamon/sugar proportions are 3 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon, in case you were wondering.

A Green Smoothie

A few days ago my tummy was upset, but I was hungry, so I thought something super healthy with yogurt might help.  I gave in to the green smoothie fad and made one with kale, peaches and yogurt for breakfast. I've heard that the flavor of the greens is not noticeable in a green smoothie, but I want to tell you that depends entirely on how much you use. My first batch of smoothie was great, and so for my second breakfast I put even more kale in it, and this time it was overly "green" flavored. So I recommend not overdoing it on the greens. The peaches were nice, they gave it a nice flavor and sweetness and the colors did not clash to make something completely disgusting looking. I didn't measure the ingredients, but I took a picture of the second batch before blending, the one with too much kale, which is as close as I can get to writing down a recipe for a smoothie. But if you want a real recipe with real measurements, there's a ton out there within searching range, they've been very popular lately.

green smoothie-too much kale in this one

Buckwheat Crepes

In Russian these are called blini (блыли) which is also a mild curse word, because you know how when you make crepes or pancakes, the first one off the griddle usually doesn't work right, so you say "блын!" like you would say "darn it!"

filled with mushrooms spinach and feta cheese

Buckwheat has an interesting flavor, not interesting in a bad way,  just different than whole wheat flour. It is still very mild, though. And it has a strange color to it, especially when mixed into the batter. I would recommend trying it for a nice change of pace from regular wheat things. It is nice to get some more variety when it comes to the grains we eat.

note the strange color of the batter - it's supposed to look like this

I think you can just substitute buckwheat flour for all-purpose flour in your favorite crepe recipe. But I noticed that the batter was very thick after resting, so I added about 1/2 cup more water. I used a 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour, I thought they would need a little of the gluten to help them hold together, but now I think they will hold together just fine with just the eggs, they would be a little more delicate, but still manageable. So theoretically they can be gluten-free and I think you could also use just water, no milk and make them dairy-free too. But I have not tested either theory yet. ** see edit below **

Buckwheat Crepes (adapted from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian) 
1 c. buckwheat flour
1/4 c. all-purpose flour (optional)
1/2 c. milk
1 1/2 c. water (approximately)
pinch of salt
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. melted butter, cooled

Blend everything together really well. Let rest for at least an hour or overnight. Add more water if the mixture thickens too much. Heat up a crepe pan or your favorite pancake griddle to medium hight heat (you'll probably need to turn it down a little after the first 4 or 5) and pour on a little less then 1/4 cup of the batter (depending on your griddle size) turning the pan as you go to coat the whole surface with batter before it sets up too much. Let it cook for a minute or two - the top will be dry and the edges will start loosening and curling up - then flip it over and let the top cook for another 30 seconds or minute. Flip it onto a plate and repeat the process with more batter. Fill the crepes with your favorite savory filling and either eat as you go, or put them in a pan in the oven on low heat until they are all assembled. We ate some leftovers the next day with scrambled eggs. I think that these would be good as a dessert crepe with something fruity, but we have not tried that yet either. ** see edit below **

cooking the second side of the crepe

** edit ** I made these again with just buckwheat flour (1 c.), eggs (2), water (2 c.) and salt (pinch) and they worked great. So they can be gluten and dairy free, I even forgot the butter. And they were delicious with both apricot jam and Nutella as dessert-y crepes.

Pull-Aparts

Today, Christmas Eve, we are spending time with Pricklypear's family, watching movies, making weird food, and making our favorite -- pullaparts. We call them pull-aparts because they you pull them apart to eat them. Pretty clever name, eh? This is the only food tradition that we really have at Christmas and we eat them on Christmas morning. This year we ate them on Christmas Eve for dessert.

making the pull-aparts

Raw pull-aparts after rising for 30 minutes, see the cinnamon coating splitting?

There isn’t really a recipe. Motherdear always just used leftover bread dough of her whole wheat bread and dipped blobs of it in melted butter and cinnamon and sugar. I think the best ratio of cinnamon to sugar is 1:3, so 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to 1 tablespoon of sugar. The batch size we made today needed a cup and a half of sugar, which would need half a cup of cinnamon.

Baked pull-aparts, so yummy!!

This Christmas, I am very glad to be able to come see my family and eat fun food with them. I love them so much! Happy Holidays to everyone!

Fruity Yogurt: or some ideas for using the sweetened condensed milk you opened by mistake

A few days ago I needed some milk for a recipe, and didn't have any regular milk, so I went to my trusty pantry and opened a can of what I though was evaporated milk, so that I could dilute it to make it regular milk, but as soon as I opened it, I realized my mistake, it was sweetened condensed milk. So I dumped it into a jar and put it in the fridge and found a can of evaporated milk and went on to do my thing.
I had to think for a few days to figure out what to do, it would be such a shame to waste sweetened condensed milk, something I hardly ever buy. I though of making dulce de leche, but I'm afraid of explosions, and I don't know exactly what to do with dulce de leche. I remembered this thing we had from an asian bakery/cafe that was sort of like a slurpee, but it had chunks of mango with shaved ice and sweetened condensed milk drizzled over it, it was very yummy, but there were not any mangoes at the grocery store. And then this recipe that looks like Almond Joy candy bars caught my eye as well as this other candy, called brigadeiros, from Brazil, but both of them seem way to sweet for me to handle right now. I will probably still make the almond joy things sometime, but do them the same as I did my macaroons, with unsweetened coconut. And then I saw this recipe for vietnamese yogurt, and it is the solution to (almost) all of my problems. Lovemuffun and Pricklypear both eat a lot of yogurt, and I am always fighting with the Lovemuffin because he eats his with a ton of jam, the jam that I made all by myself, and then there is never enough jam or yogurt for me, which frusterates me. So, here's what I did:

Fruity Yogurt
1 Large tub of plain yogurt with no added weirdness (no gelatin or corn starch for thickening)
1 Bag of frozen fruit of your choice
Some sweetened condensed milk, to taste (I used about 1/4 of the can)

Drain the yogurt over a sieve lined with cloth or just a paper towel. Let it drain for several hours till the yogurt is nice and thick, like greek style yogurt. It is nice to have it thick because the fruit will add more fluid and this is an easy way to keep it from turning into drinking yogurt. Unless you want drinking yogurt, that is okay with me, this is a very flexible recipe. Thaw the frozen fruit while the yogurt is draining, then blend the fruit up a little, so that it is chunky, not too fluid. Add the fruit to the drained yogurt, and add sweetened condensed milk to taste. You could, of course, just sweeten your yogurt with sugar, but where is the fun in that? Also, I think that would make it runnier, because of the way sugar pulls the juice out of fruit.
This large batch will last us about 3 days and I like it so much more than the pre-fruited and sweetened yogurt at the store. You can make it the level of sweetness you desire, and you can be sure that there is real fruit in there, not just artificial colors and flavors. So far I have used blackberries and a fruit medly containing strawberries, blueberries and blackberries, and I still have plenty of sweetened condensed milk. Up next is peaches.

The place I will take you for breakfast if you come and visit me

We just discovered this bakery in Pacific Grove called Pavel's Backerei, and I think it is the best bakery I have ever been to. That chocolate-filled croissant was like heaven! The donuts are humongous! Just look at these monsters!

They also had the best danishes I have ever eaten. Better than anything I had even imagined. Right now they have hot cross buns with Easter coming up, my Lovemuffin says that these are the bestest hot cross buns he's ever had,  I've never had them before, but I thought they were delightful! We've gone there three times now and it is becoming our new Saturday morning tradition to ride our bikes out there, grab two or three delectables, eat them down by Lover's Point, then pretend like we're burning off all of the calories on our bike right home. Next time I want to get a loaf of bread, but it's going to be hard to move away from the sweets. I feel totally inspired now to start my baking experiments again. I've been slacking off in that department lately, and it's places like this that make me want to do a baking a pastry program and open my own place.

Granola

Here's another recipe that my mom invented. She used to make a huge batch of this granola for our annual backpacking trip. Her batch made 4 times as much as the recipe that I'm giving you now, it was pretty amazing. And it is much cheaper than buying granola at the store. This recipe is really easy to change the flavors by using different spices, or adding nuts or coconut or anything you like. Today I even added some soaked cracked flaxseed. You could make it taste like gingersnaps by using ground ginger and replacing some of the water with molasses, or you could use maple syrup and eat it with bits of dried apples. You may want to add even more spices than I call for here if you find that it is too bland. If you want to add dried fruit like raisins, you should just add them to your bowl when you eat it. I once tried adding raisins to the mixture before baking, and they soaked up all the moisture and then burned, even though the rest of the granola was fine. But if you add dried fruit to the granola when it is dry and packaged, the remaining moisture will soak into the granola and in a couple of days you will have damp or even moldy granola. But the options are endless, so go crazy!

Granola

9 cups regular rolled oats, or a mixture of regular and quick cooking oats

1 cup chopped almonds, lightly toasted or raw

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup oil or butter

1 tsp salt, or more to taste

3/4 cup water

1 tbsp cinnamon

other spices to taste

In a large bowl combine the oats and almonds and any other dry add-ins you want. Heat the sugar, water, oil, salt and spices in a small saucepan, stir until sugar is dissolved and butter (if using) is melted. Pour the liquid mixture into the oats gradually, a little at a time, and stir it thoroughly. Divide the mixture between two or three cookie sheets and bake slowly at 250 for about 1 hour, turning with a spatula every 15 minutes. Let it sit in the oven to finish drying in the residual heat and then cool completely.  Store the granola in an airtight container.