The leading authority on basketball cupcakes and Basil-Lime martinis…
Girl asked for these apples recently, saying that she hadn’t had them in “a million years.” They are easy and very nutritious. They’re PERFECT with pork, but would also be great with chicken or even with breakfast.
Girl asked for these apples recently, saying that she hadn’t had them in “a million years.” They are easy and very nutritious. They’re PERFECT with pork, but would also be great with chicken or even with breakfast.
This was Boy’s special birthday request. We had a super busy morning on his actual birthday, so I made it for him for today, instead. This is his all-time favorite breakfast and he would have it every day if they made childrens’ chewable Lipitor.
This is super-easy to make:
Poach the eggs. I have a handy-dandy poaching pan from Wal-Mart that holds simmering water in the bottom and has little non-stick cups for 4 eggs, with a glass lid, so you can see when they’re getting done, but you can also do it in simmering water (add a little vinegar, I’m told, to help the whites hold together better).
While the eggs cook, prepare the Hollandaise sauce.
Toast the English muffins (lightly – I used whole wheat ones, because I’m THE MEANEST MOM EVER).
Slightly warm (microwave 15 seconds) the Canadian Bacon slices.
Put it all together:
One muffin half, topped with a ham slice, topped with an egg, topped with some sauce and then sprinkled with paprika.
Hubby sliced the kiwi for me and then got all cute and called it “Kiwi Constantine.”
Would you like some Juice Justinian with that?
Update 1-31-12:
I now poach my eggs directly in simmering water (add a little vinegar) and use this hollandaise recipe for Eggs Benedict, instead. MUCH better. Here’s an updated photo:
I forgot to mention that I made this for our “Ike” company, as well. It was really tasty and VERY easy. I forgot to take a photo of it after it was cut, so this isn’t the greatest illustration, but the one on Food & Wine’s website is better, anyway. This dish is great for … Continue reading “Potato Frittata with Prosciutto and Gruyere”
I forgot to mention that I made this for our “Ike” company, as well. It was really tasty and VERY easy. I forgot to take a photo of it after it was cut, so this isn’t the greatest illustration, but the one on Food & Wine’s website is better, anyway.
This dish is great for breakfast, but would also be a great lunch or dinner (with a little salad?) or a truly superb late-night snack. When we lived in Northern Virginia, I had a buddy named Mila (short for Milagros) from Spain who would make something very similar to this, called a “tortilla” (which is, of course, very different than a Mexican tortilla). We would have playdates together when the kids were small (she moved away from the DC area before I did) and she would always bring a freshly made “tortilla”, which the kids and moms all enjoyed. I regret not staying in touch with her and her adorable daughter.
I don’t remember how I originally stumbled across this website and this recipe, but I printed it out a million years ago and have had it filed in my “try soon” recipe folder. (Yes, I’m a hoarder, but I’m obsessively organized and can usually put my hands on the EXACT piece of paper that I’m … Continue reading “Blueberry Lemon (Almond) Muffins”
I don’t remember how I originally stumbled across this website and this recipe, but I printed it out a million years ago and have had it filed in my “try soon” recipe folder. (Yes, I’m a hoarder, but I’m obsessively organized and can usually put my hands on the EXACT piece of paper that I’m looking for in a minute flat…it’s a disorder, I know, but I usually use it to my advantage…) I happened to have all of the necessary ingredients on hand this morning, so decided to give these a try.
This recipe calls for Penzey’s Baking Spice, which I thought would be easy to concoct on my own. I mean, why bother with buying some blend of cinnamon, mace, cardamom and anise, when I already have those things in my spice cabinet? I can figure out how much to mix in, right? The problem was, as I soon discovered, that I only had anise seeds in my spice cabinet, not ground anise, which I thought would be better for sprinkling into baked goods. Undaunted, I just figured I’d get some the next time I went to the store. I tried my regular grocery store. No luck (it’s a smallish store, in the suburbs and not terribly specialized, so I wasn’t shocked). So, I decided to try the health food store and the local gourmet foods store. Still no luck. OK, I was starting to think that was really weird. They finally opened a new gigantic foods store in my neighborhood (for my East Coast buddies, the new store is VERY much like a Wegman’s: you can buy your upscale olives, imported cheeses…they have an in-store sushi bar, even….but you can also buy Tide and 7-Up, unlike at the health food or gourmet store) and so I decided to try there. Still no luck.
Well, when we passed through Houston recently, one of the places that I wanted to go was to the Penzey’s Spices store. They have great prices on bulk spices and they have some delicious-sounding proprietary spice blends (about 4 different kinds of curry powders alone) that I was nervous about buying from the catalog (I wanted to be able to smell, etc.). Well, wouldn’t you know it…they had ground anise, so I ended up getting some there. I should have just ordered the Baking Spice from them in the first place.
10 packets (one packet was plenty for all of the muffins) for about 50 cents…
I found the vanilla sugar recently on a field trip to the Hong Kong Supermarket, which is odd because the sugar is from Germany. I think it’s made with artificial vanilla flavoring, but it’s still good. If you want to make your own, just chop a vanilla bean into 1/2 inch segments and place it in a sealed, plastic container with 2 cups of coarse sugar and let it sit for a few weeks, giving it a shake to blend every couple of days, or whenever you think about it.
These muffins were absolutely delicious. The polenta gave them a delicious crunch; the buttermilk made them very rich and moist and the batter was thick enough that the blueberries didn’t all sink to the bottom of the muffins (I hate that).
If you’re not as afflicted with OCD single-minded and determined as I am, feel free to substitute Chai Spice blend or Cinnamon Spice blend or just a couple of shakes of cinnamon to this recipe, instead.
Or just leave it out altogether.
That wouldn’t bother me at all.
Really. Not a bit.
Well………maybe just a little bit.
Well, how ’bout if you don’t use the Baking Spice, you just don’t tell me about it, OK?
I made these using this recipe from Cooking Light magazine (June 2008). I made a half-batch and cooked them in my mini loaf pan. If made this way, you’ll need to bake the mini loaves for 25 – 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out … Continue reading “Zucchini-Pineapple Quick Bread Mini Loaves”
I made these using this recipe from Cooking Light magazine (June 2008). I made a half-batch and cooked them in my mini loaf pan. If made this way, you’ll need to bake the mini loaves for 25 – 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
I didn’t try these because this sort of thing is absolutely verboten on the South Beach diet, but I put them in Boy and Girl’s lunchboxes for a snack and they were a big hit.
Speaking of lunchboxes, here are some great lunch-packing ideas for you moms in the crowd:
Epicurious lunchbox recipes
Laptop Lunchbox Website (I LOVE LOVE LOVE these cute little lunchboxes, but they’re really only good for elementary schoolers; once a kid gets to middle school, these cutie-pie lunchkits are a sure-fire “Kick my ass” invitation. That’s OK – when your kids reach that age, you can use these cute lunch kits for yourself!)
Cute ideas (mostly for younger kids) from familyfun.com (Disney)
A tutorial on a classic, kid-friendly breakfast. You’ll need: a griddle or large skillet butter or margarine (as much as I DETEST margarine, it’s actually better for this, because you don’t have to worry about it over-browning, like you would with butter) one and egg and one piece of bread for each person you’re feeding … Continue reading “Egg in a Nest”
A tutorial on a classic, kid-friendly breakfast.
You’ll need:
a griddle or large skillet
butter or margarine
(as much as I DETEST margarine, it’s actually better for this,
because you don’t have to worry about it over-browning, like you would with butter)
one and egg and one piece of bread for each person you’re feeding
(we used wonderful wheat bread from Weikel’s Shell station bakery in LaGrange)
a large cookie cutter (small enough to fit into your slice of bread)
large spatula
Use the cookie cutter to cut a shape out of each piece of bread. If you don’t have a cookie cutter the right size, you can use a drinking glass. Save the cut-out shapes.
Generously butter the griddle. Heat it to medium-ish.
Place the bread slices and reserved cut-out shapes on the griddle (or in the skillet – use what ya got!).
Turn ’em over the get the other side cookin’. Add more butter margarine, if you need to. Turn the cut-out shapes over, too. Keep a close eye on them, because they will cook quickly and may need to be removed from the griddle.
Gently crack an egg into each bread-hole “nest”.
Dot each egg with a tiny bit of nasty, yellow, oily stuff margarine.
Sprinkle each egg with salt and, if desired, pepper.
Keep watching the little cut-out shapes!
Lower the heat, if necessary, to keep the eggs from overcooking. If you like your eggs cooked into submission firm, like Boy and Girl do, turn the toast/eggs over. If you like your eggs still a bit runny, watch them carefully and remove ’em from the heat shortly after the whites of the eggs are opaque.
Serve ’em up with some fruit, topped with the little cut-out shapes, if the cook doesn’t eat them first if desired.
OK….I know that I said I wasn’t going to be cooking this week, but I was craaaaaaaving this…. Adapted from this recipe in Food & Wine magazine. I’ve made this before, but wanted to try to make a smaller version, since it will just be the two of us eating it this week. When I’ve … Continue reading “Chai-Spiced Crumb Coffeecake”
OK….I know that I said I wasn’t going to be cooking this week, but I was craaaaaaaving this….
Adapted from this recipe in Food & Wine magazine.
I’ve made this before, but wanted to try to make a smaller version, since it will just be the two of us eating it this week. When I’ve made the full 9 X 13 pan version of this before, it was delicious, but it took 5 kids and 4 adults 3 breakfasts to polish it off. I also felt that the original recipe was a bit too rich and could use some more spice flavor, in addition to the cardamom, so I used skim milk and added a few more spices. The next time that I make this, I may try to incorporate a cinnamon “swirl” layer into the cake itself. That could be really good. This might also be good baked as muffins, instead of as a cake. Drat – just might have to test this recipe some more. Mmmm….
Chai-Spiced Crumb Coffeecake
Crumb topping:
1 cup pecans
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
6 Tbsp light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp Chai Spice Seasoning Blend
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup skim milk
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Chai Spice Seasoning Blend
Glaze:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 to 5 tsp skim milk
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
small sprinkle of Chai Spice Seasoning Blend
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Butter an 8 X 8 inch baking pan.
Make the crumb topping:
Spread the pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and toast for about 8 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly browned. Let coat, then coarsely chop the nuts. In a medium bowl, stir the melted butter with both sugars, the spice blend and salt. Add the flour and stir until clumpy. Stir in the chopped nuts.
Make the cake:
In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the sugar, baking powder, spice blend and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk, melted butter and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan, smoothing the surface (the batter will be very thick). Scatter the crumbs in large clumps over the cake; the crumb layer will be quite deep. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the crumbs are golden and firm and a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. If the crumbs brown before the cake is done, cover the cake loosely with foil. Transfer to a rack to cool before pouring glaze.
Make the glaze:
In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, spice blend and 2 tsp. of the milk until smooth. Add more milk, if necessary, to reach desired “drizzling” consistency. Drizzle the glaze over the cake; let cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature. Can be kept, covered, at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Serves 9.
NB: You can use Cinnamon Spice Blend, instead of the Chai Spice Seasoning Blend, if you’re not a big fan of cardamom, or if you just want a simpler flavor.
Customizable Muffins 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 egg 1 1/4 cup milk 1/4 cup canola oil 1/2 tsp. McCormick Vanilla Butter & Nut extract 1 scoop ground flax seed Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all dry … Continue reading “Customizable Muffins”
Customizable Muffins
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 tsp. McCormick Vanilla Butter & Nut extract
1 scoop ground flax seed
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all dry ingredients (flours, sugar, baking powder, flax seed, salt) together. Stir all wet ingredients (egg, milk, oil, extract) together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend until just barely combined. Add your choice of ingredients (see list below). Pour into paper or foil-lined muffins tins and bake for about 20 minutes. This only makes 12 muffins, but it doubles easily.
Possible Stir-in Ingredients:
Chopped Banana
Chopped Apple
Chopped Nuts: Pecans, Almonds, Cashews (maybe even pine nuts?)
Chopped Dried Fruit: Raisins, Apricots, Cherries, or Cranberries (soaked beforehand in a little water to soften them, if you have time)
Poppy seeds
Grated citrus peel
Cinnamon
Blueberries or cranberries (fresh or frozen, thawed)
Peanut butter
Chocolate Chips (regular or mini-sized) or mini M & Ms
Granola
Shredded Coconut
Jelly or Jam (fill cup halfway with batter, spoon in a dollop of jam and then cover with more batter for a jam filling, or put a dollop on the very top of the batter before baking)
This batch didn’t turn out particularly picturesque, but they were quite tasty. Usually when I make these with kids, I give each kid a smallish mixing bowl with some batter in it and let them add their own ingredients before pouring their completed batter into the muffin cups. But when I made these with Boy and Girl and 2/3 of their cousins today (boy cousin C was sick today and couldn’t come), the kids had expressed some interest in making more than just one combination of ingredients and I had some cute heart-shaped disposable foil muffin cups that I wanted to use up, so I poured a bit of batter in each foil cup and then let the kids stir it together before baking. Funny thing is, they forgot about different flavors and make each of theirs the same (each kid made 4 muffins), so if I do this again, I will go back to the original method. I highly recommend coming up with some way (Post-Its, sticker labels) to mark which tins belong to which child if you are making these with a group of kiddos.
A word on ingredients and practicality:
You’ll need to strike your own balance on ingredient prep for these muffins. It’s a pain to drag EVERYTHING out of your pantry and fridge to set it up for the kids to browse through (I usually put each ingredient in a small bowl with a soup spoon to pour it into the batter with), BUT I do find that they are more likely to add more of the healthy ingredients if there are more there for them to choose from. If there are only 1 or 2 ingredients, they’ll have a tendency to just use banana and chocolate chips, but if there’s a smorgasbord, I find that the kids are more likely to try a greater variety of combinations (and probably end up with a healthier muffin). Know your audience and prepare accordingly. Don’t spend 10 minutes grating orange peel if you know that no one will use it.
Some yummy combo suggestions:
Peanut butter and banana
Peanut butter and jelly (natch)
Lemon peel and poppy seed
Orange peel and cranberries
Blueberry and banana
Blueberry and lemon peel
Peanut butter and chocolate chip
Banana and Nuts
Apple, Cinnamon and Nuts
Cousin J and Boy
Cousin A and Girl
Steff’s Homemade “Cran-crazy” Granola I came across this granola recipe on Canadian Steff’s blog. (WARNING about Steff’s blog: In addition to a few good recipes, it also has some adult themes. If you are easily offended, DO NOT poke around on the blog past the granola recipe.) Her recipe was adapted from this one on … Continue reading “Homemade Granola – two yummy versions”
Steff’s Homemade “Cran-crazy” Granola
I came across this granola recipe on Canadian Steff’s blog. (WARNING about Steff’s blog: In addition to a few good recipes, it also has some adult themes. If you are easily offended, DO NOT poke around on the blog past the granola recipe.) Her recipe was adapted from this one on allrecipes.com.
I’ve adapted the recipe a little bit, too:
I took Steff’s suggestion to up the flax seeds to 3/4 cup.
I used sliced almonds instead of chopped (I think they’re prettier).
I used pecans instead of walnuts (personal preference).
I added 2 scoops of milled flaxseed, in addition to the whole flax seeds.
I used a Cinnamon Spice Blend, instead of just plain cinnamon. The recipe can be found here.
It’s QUITE yummy. This granola can be eaten on its own as a cereal, or sprinkled over the top of other cereals (or ice cream, yogurt, etc.). I had never used safflower oil before, but I will definitely keep it on hand from now on. It’s amazingly light and I think would adapt to lots of different uses.
My friend Kathleen’s Almond-Coconut Granola
(originally from our mutual hairdresser, Monique)
Equal parts of:
Sliced almonds
Coconut “chips” (large shreds of unsweetened coconut)
Old-fashioned oats
Granola ingredients, before being coated with maple syrup and baked.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir in enough maple syrup to just BARELY moisten the ingredients. Spread into a large, flat baking pan.
Bake for about 20 minutes, watching very carefully and turning and stirring about every 5 minutes, until the granola is evenly golden-toasted.
For the batch that I made yesterday, I used 3 cups each of almonds, oats and coconut, with about 3/4 cup maple syrup, plus I added 3 Tbsp wheat germ and 3 scoops of milled flax seed.
Because this granola is pretty sweet, is a better “garnish” granola than it is a “eat a whole bowlful” granola. I like to mix it with Cheerios (2 parts Cheerios to 1 part granola).
We had a great Turkey day meal yesterday. We went to Hubby’s mom and stepdad’s house. Everyone in Hubby’s family loves to cook and is really good at it, so everyone brings a potluck dish to share and we rotate from house to house each year. I had signed on to bring a salad, but … Continue reading “Post-Thanksgiving Breakfast Crepes”
We had a great Turkey day meal yesterday. We went to Hubby’s mom and stepdad’s house. Everyone in Hubby’s family loves to cook and is really good at it, so everyone brings a potluck dish to share and we rotate from house to house each year. I had signed on to bring a salad, but ended up bringing a baked brie appetizer (scroll down for the recipe), a butternut squash spread appetizer and some pumpkin eclairs, too (like I said, we all like to cook). This food-a-philia has also apparently been passed on to the next generation. The kids (well, the girl cousins, anyway) set up a hot beverage stand with homemade Mexican hot cocoa (semi-secret ingredient: REAL Mexican vanilla and a touch of cinnamon) and made-to-order coffees (we brought our Capresso machine). The drinks were customized with marshmallows, sprinkles of cinnamon and/or chocolate, squirts of whipped cream, etc. One gourmand grandfather suggested that the girls should also be offering Kahlua, Bailey’s, etc, but we were unprepared. Maybe next year.
We wanted to continue the festive holiday food atmosphere this morning, so I decided to make this recipe. I served them with melted strawberry preserves (thinned with a bit of apple juice) and a squirt of whipping cream leftover from the girls’ hot beverage stand.
I’ve had crepes on my mind recently, because there’s a little crepe place not far from us that is getting some great reviews lately, but I wasn’t sure if it would be open this morning and also, it’s in a little Airstream trailer, with adjacent outdoor seating, and I thought that it would be too COLD this morning!
These were a great stand-in, though, and were very easy (my mom used to make crepes when I was little, so I’d seen it done before, but it had been YEARS). I didn’t have any plain brandy in the house, so I used apple brandy. Hubby and I really liked them and Boy liked them okay, though he wasn’t wild about them. I think this may be due to the fact that he’s not a fan of strawberry preserves. Girl really liked them and cleaned her plate, but said “Mom, something in these tastes the way that nail polish remover smells”. Umm, I’m guessing that would be the brandy. Of course, the alcohol was all cooked out, but I will still probably look for a non-alcoholic version the next time that I make crepes. I’m going to experiment soon with some savory crepe fillings, too (maybe leftover turkey?).
Crepe, cooking, in the pan.