» breakfast

Lemon pancakes!

ryan — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:31:02 +0000

These babies were AWESOME. I’m not sure if I want any other style of pancake as long as I live. So fresh and so clean, lol. Amazing lemon pancakes, everyone loved them! I seriously can’t wait until the weekend to make them again. Do yourself a favor and make these soon.

Cool song by a band called Meadownoise.

Lemon Pancakes

Recipe from “The Joy of Cooking.”

Ingredients: 1 c. all-purpose white wheat flour; 1/3 c. sugar (I used 2/3 c. organic powdered sugar, will try brown next time); 1 1/2 t. baking powder; 1/2 t. baking soda; 1/4 t. sea salt; 3/4 c. sour cream (sub yogurt for less fat); 1/3 c. milk; zest of two lemons; 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice; 3 T. butter, melted; 1 egg; 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
Preparation

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients. Pour wet mixture into dry and stir quickly. The batter will be thick and bubbly. Use 1/4 c. batter for each pancake and pour onto hot skillet. You know what to do. Cook until golden brown then flip! Serve with honey or maple syrup (my favorite).

Olive oil granola.

ryan — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:57:24 +0000

We tried a new granola the other day. The girls let me eat it all meaning they weren’t all that impressed. I on the other hand loved it. I brought some to work for the coworkers to try and they all loved it too. I’ve actually had multiple requests to bring in more. I will make this again, I didn’t have anything for the dried fruit element so I think with that in missing piece in place the girls will love it too.

Very good as cereal. I just love ice cold milk over homemade granola.

The loving spoonful.

Olive oil granola

Recipe from In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite: 150 Recipes and Stories About the Food You Love by Melissa Clark. Everything I’ve made from this book has been wonderful. Highly recommended.

Ingredients: 3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats; 1 1/2 c. pistachios, (I used a mixture of walnuts, cashews and almonds); 1 c. raw pumpkin seeds; 1 c. coconut chips; 3/4 c. pure maple syrup (I used 1/2 c. maple syrup and 1/4 c. honey); 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil; 1/3 c. packed light brown sugar; 1 t. sea salt; 1/2 t. ground cinnamon; 1/2 t. ground cardamom or ground ginger; 3/4 c. chopped dried apricots
Preparation

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients except the apricots well. Transfer to an 11×17 baking sheet and spread evenly. Bake for about 45 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in apricots. Serve with fresh ricotta and berries. You can also pour some cold milk over it and eat as cereal or just eat plain as an easy snack.

Baby biscuits & gravy.

ryan — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:59:59 +0000

I was watching Chopped the other day and a girl (who had a horrible attitude and I hope lost) made a gravy that she said her mom or grandma used to make, I can’t remember which but it’s really not important. Anyway, she said it was equal parts butter and flour and enough milk to get your desired thickness. Oh, and salt and lots of pepper. I love simple easy to remember staple recipes and I LOVE a good white gravy so I couldn’t wait to give it a try. It turned out fantastic! J and Z both liked it and I love it when that happens. It’s definitely not vegan but it’s meatless, hearty, and scratches that itch.

If you have any left over biscuits they are great as a snack with some honey.

Biscuits & Gravy

Biscuits recipe adapted from the book 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles. I halved the recipe (Herbed Biscuits) and I got twelve baby biscuits. I also rolled them out to only be 1/2 inch thick since they were smaller. If you go with the full recipe it will make the same amount (10 to 12) of the standard biscuit size (2.5 inch biscuit cutter).

Ingredients – Biscuits: 2 c. white wheat flour; 1 T. baking powder; 1 t. baking soda; 1/2 t. sea salt; 1/4 c. butter, cubed small and cold; 3/4 c. buttermilk (I used whole milk with a few drops of lemon juice); dried oregano

Salad for breakfast & the soft boiled egg.

ryan — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:44:17 +0000

I wanted to make a salad with our breakfast so I just decided to make our breakfast a salad. I looked for ideas on the interwebs and found one with cinnamon toast croutons, sold.

Cut up some bread and toss with some melted butter, sugar and cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees until crunchy. Make a simple vinaigrette using 1 T. apple cider vinegar, 1 T. real maple syrup and a few T. olive oil and you’re pretty much set. Add some crispy bacon, walnuts and whatever you like and top it off with a soft boiled egg.

This was my first attempt at soft boiled eggs and they were awesome. Bring water to a boil, carefully add eggs and boil for about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and cool or eat right away. I’m addicted.

Steel cut oats.

ryan — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 06:28:54 +0000

This website is a journal of our families cooking experiences and more importantly a quick reference to recipes we want to cook again and again. I haven’t made steel cut oats for awhile now so when I went back to the intertubes to find my old go to recipe it was, well…. gone. I found basically the same thing by Alton Brown but I had to dig through several sites wasting valuable time as I was trying to get something in J’s stomach before she went to yoga. Somebody’s gotta workout in this house. So I figured it’s time to get this recipe in a safe spot.

Steel Cut Oats

Recently found recipe by Alton Brown.

Ingredients: 1 T. butter; 1 c. steel cut oats; 3 c. spring water; 4 T. unrefined sweetener (brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, or a mix like 2 T. brown sugar and 2 T. maple syrup) or to taste; 1/2 c. whole milk
Preparation

Melt butter in large heavy bottom saute pan. Toast the oats for a couple minutes constantly stirring. Add in water and bring to a low simmer for 20 to 30 minute or until the water is all absorbed. Add in the sweetener(s) and mix well. Stir in milk and cook an additional 10 minutes. Serve topped with cinnamon/extra milk/butter or whatever you wish.

Chocolate pancakes.

ryan — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:03:22 +0000

I asked Z if she wanted pancakes for breakfast this last Saturday, it was just the two of us because J had to work and was gonna hit yoga afterwords. She replied with “chocolate pancakes”. It caught me off guard at first but then I realized she meant chocolate chip pancakes like I’ve made a couple times in the past. But now I had chocolate pancakes burned into my mind and there was no turning back. I’m glad I went with my “gut” because these were totally awesome. It was actually like eating a birthday cake for breakfast, not something you should do often unless you want to blow up like the stay puft marshmallow man but very super tasty non the less. Everyone obviously loved them (we saved some for when J got home that afternoon). Three thumbs up.

They look so good cooking on the griddle.

Chocolate Pancakes

Recipe from here.

Ingredients: 1 c. whole milk; 1 egg; 2 T. butter, melted; 1/4 t. vanilla extract; 1 c. all-purpose flour; 1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder; 1/4 c. sugar, I use unrefined brown; 1/2 t. baking soda; 1/2 t. sea salt; powdered sugar to top (optional)
Chocolate sauce: 1/2 c. heavy cream; 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preparation

Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, sea salt and sugar and set aside. Beat egg and add milk, butter and vanilla. Then finally combine the dry and wet mixtures making a nice pancake batter. Pour onto a hot skillet and cook like any other pancakes. Toss in some whole chocolate chips if you want to take it even further.

For the sauce, and it’s all about the sauce FYI, just melt chips with the heavy cream over a low to medium heat in a small sauce pan continuously stirring with a wire whisk. Pour over pancakes and serve.

French toast & thick maple bacon.

ryan — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:50:28 +0000

Ina Garten is a lovely woman. She has to be one of my favorite celebrity chefs from the Food Network. Her show Barefoot Contessa is super awesome. I love the way she prepares a full meal and a dessert in every episode. Everything seems simple and I get so inspired with each show that I end up at the store grabbing the ingredients or cooking what she cooked right then if I’m lucky. I’d have to say that everything I’ve made of hers has been wonderfully delicious and with that I’m a huge fan.

This French toast came out amazing. I left the bread in the egg mixture a bit too long but all was good and tasty in the end. J loved it and Z, well I don’t know what’s wrong with that kid sometimes.

French Toast & Thick Maple Bacon

Taken from an episode of Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten on the Food Network.

Ingredients: 6 extra-large eggs; 1 1/2 c. half and half or milk; 1 t. orange zest; 1 T. honey; 1/2 t. sea salt; 1 large loaf challah or brioche bread (We used regular sliced bread); sliced almonds; unsalted butter; vegetable oil; maple syrup; preserves, strawberry or whatever (optional); confectioners sugar (optional)
Preparation

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Whisk eggs, half-and-half, orange zest, vanilla, honey, and salt. Slice bread into 3/4 inch thick slices and soak as many pieces as you can for five minutes flipping once.

Heat 1 T. butter and 1 T. oil in a very large saute pan over medium heat. Sprinkle one side of bread with sliced almonds and place in pan almond side down first cooking for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Put cooked French toast on a pan in the oven to keep warm while your frying the other pieces. Add butter and oil as needed. Top with maple syrup, preserves, fresh cut fruit and or confectioners sugar. Yum!

Oh, maple bacon! Bake some thick bacon in the oven at 350 to 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until done, just keep an eye on it. But first you must drizzle it with some pure maple syrup. Dang that’s good.

A very fine morning.

ryan — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 06:10:09 +0000

We have glass blocks in our bedroom walls and throughout the day we get some nice rainbows that beam across the room. This morning they were strong as J was stirring in bed.

J pulled out the pics we took in a photo booth at the wedding last night. Z was enjoying the sight of her parents enjoying themselves out for the night.

I wanted to make ebleskivers but J requested waffles. I haven’t busted out the waffle iron in ages so I agreed it was a great idea. Whipped up some homemade waffle batter from scratch and we were eating in no time.

Little Z got the first plate and was multitasking during breakfast. The whole house smelled so good with waffle wafting through the air. Don’t worry, it wasn’t long before we all joined her at the table for a very fine morning.

No crust quiche.

ryan — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 06:26:18 +0000

I love basic recipes/formulas that have a million possibilities and this no crust quiche is one of them. The no crust part makes it a low calorie yet high protein breakfast (whole pie: 830 cal. 55 g. protein). Since there are three of us I divided it into six portions so we could have it again for breakfast tomorrow. Cutting it into sixths, each serving is almost 10 whopping grams protein and only about 140 calories. Come on man, that’s just awesome! J and Z both loved how these turned out, J actually said it was cooked perfectly. We easily could have eaten the whole thing, and still would have been under 300 calories with 20 grams of protein each, sorry but I love doing the math on this one because it always comes out a win.

It’s a no crust quiche but a nice baked crusty edge does present itself.

What I love about this recipe is that you can basically sub out any veggies/cheeses/meats/milks you want so the combinations are endless. Ours was sort of a Mediterranean style with the feta and all though some black olives, fresh basil and tomatoes would have been nice too. You could go a little more Mexico with it and use chorizo, pepper jack and black/pinto beans. Again, endless. This is now and forever on our morning menu.

I’m seriously surprised we didn’t just finish the whole thing right then.

No Crust Quiche

From the book Simple Food for Busy Families. The whole life nutrition approach. by Jeannette Bessinger and Tracee Yablon-Brenner. A wonderful guide to whole food understanding chock full of great information in an easy to digest way.

Ingredients: 5 free range organic eggs; 1/3 to 2/3 c. unsweetened milk (cow, rice, almond, soy, etc.) (I used 2/3 c. cow); fresh herbs and spices (I used a handful of dill); sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste; 1 c. vegetables, chopped (I used red bell peppers); 1/4 to 1/2 c. meat or cheese (optional) (I used 1/2 c. feta *4 oz.)
Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Oil or butter a pie pan then chop veggies and meats into small pieces. Mix the eggs, milk and herbs and spices. Add the chopped veggies/meat/cheese to the bottom of the pan then gently pour the egg mixture over top. Sprinkle top with extra herbs and spices if you wish. Cook for 30 to 50 minutes/until set and lightly browned on top. If you notice the top browning to early cover with some foil.

Buttermilk pancakes.

ryan — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 05:24:34 +0000

I’ve continued to use this recipe for pancakes ever since the first time I tried it. The girls and I just can’t get enough. They’re just “so fluffy I’m gonna die!” – Despicable Me. I’ve actually made them so many times now I almost can make them by heart. The only problem is that there are three of us and we always end up with extra batter that goes to waste but when I halve the recipe we each feel a little bit hungry still. This amount would be perfect for a family of four. Pancakes are fun to me because you can make them super BIG or tiny little coins stacking them to the ceiling or if your like my dad you can make them into somewhat recognizable shapes like Mickey Mouse or a wiener dog. As I’m writing this I’m actually getting the urge to write words of endearment using a super thin batter. Oh the glorious pancake. This recipe is becoming somewhat of a Saturday morning treat around here, a nice break from our weekday oatmeal and smoothies. Once again I feel blessed to have found “the” recipe that I will be using from now on.

Buttermilk Pancakes

This recipe is from The Joy of Cooking cookbook.

Ingredients: 1 1/4 c. unbleached all purpose flour; 1/4 c. whole wheat flour; 1 t. baking powder; 1/2 t. baking soda; 1 t. sea salt; 3 T. unrefined sugar/sweetener of choice (I used 1 T. sucanat sugar and 2 T. agave nectar); 2 free range eggs; 3 T. butter, melted; 1 1/2 c. buttermilk; 1/2 t. vanilla extract
Preparation

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Combine wet ingredients then add to dry ingredients. Fold/mix gently stirring no more than twenty times, just enough to wet the dry ingredients. There should still be lumps. Over mixing will make pancakes dense not fluffy. Let the mix sit for 5 minutes to a couple hours in the fridge. Pour onto hot griddle (about a 1/4 c. batter for each pancake). I sometimes add 1 or 2 T. spring water to the mix just because I like my batter a little more “pourable”. Cook on each side for a couple minutes. You can toss in some chocolate chips if you’ve been a good little boy/girl but I like mine plain and simple with the traditional maple syrup. No need for any extra butter as they are good an buttery as is.