Tag Archives: breakfast

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Apple Stuffed Challah

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Man I miss my fancy camera.  (It’s in the shop.) FBF isn’t the same with ye olde iPhone camera.  But guess what?  The sad and lonely days (weeks) of lame FBFs have come to a glorious end with a very fancy challah bread that I stuffed with apples, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

I’m not going to give you the recipe because I am way to lazy right now to type it up and “make it my own” so just buy the Smitten Kitchen cookbook or get it from the library and then make the changes I suggest.  Oh, but guess what, I found the recipe online.  So instead of fig+olive oil + sea salt, I did apples, cinnamon and brown sugar.

This idea came to me when I noticed my neighbor’s apple tree was going crazy and I stole as many good looking, worm-free apples as I could without feeling like maybe I should knock and ask if it was OK.  This was about 5 apples.  Then I sliced them thinly, and sautéed in butter, put about 2 T of brown sugar in and then looked around for a recipe for something to braid around the apples.  The challah looked like I winner so I went with it.

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I actually forgot the cinnamon at first so I just sprinkled a little on the apples after I spread them on the dough.

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I promise you, my counter was very clean before I started, and that is just butter, sugar and flour that you see.  I thought this part would be stressful, getting the dough rolled out to counter width (about 30 inches at my house) but the dough was so smooth and stretchy it was no problem.

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I’m thinking I went wrong somewhere with the braid, but what can you do?

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I sprinkled the top with turbinado sugar after brushing it with egg.  I made this all the night before because there was nowhere in the recipe that said, “refrigerate this and just bake in the morning.”  I also had to add at least 15 minutes to the bake time, but thankfully the recipe said to get the internal temp to something like 190 which prevented me from taking this out way too early.  Kids would have been late to school if I tried to make this one in the morning.

We ate a delightful dinner while this sat on the counter and wafted under our noses.  I said, “Why not have a slice now for dessert and another slice in the morning for breakfast?”  Dave was in favor of waiting, which comes as no surprise because he doesn’t like the opening of any gifts before or after the day of your birth or the birth of Jesus.  Whereas I would say, “Why don’t we exchange gifts now, before we travel so our suitcases will be lighter?”  But that’s just me being practical.  And also not being into delayed gratification.   The thing about Fancy Breakfast Friday is, it doesn’t need to be confined to Friday.  Already it’s bleeding into other days because I have improved my breakfast game over the last year.  FBF for dessert on Thursday?  Yes.

So now I can also say it is delicious warm, and also delicious at room temperature the next day.

And yes I did take some to my neighbor to thank her after the fact for the apples.  But I gave it to her teenage son, so I’m not sure if it made it in the house.

*** This is the 53rd FBF.  I was going to do a 1 year anniversary special but I guess I missed it!  Look forward to that coming soon.

 

 

 

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Breakfast for Dinner

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Last Friday morning we stumbled out of bed at 5:30 am and staggered to the airport for what would be a three day party celebrating the wedding of the century.  I thought long and hard about what to make for an early breakfast that day, but then my friend Melanie came for a visit and an afternoon rose turned into happy hour then dinner and then before you know it, it was time for bed.  Fortunately, I had an inkling that I would have fun with Melanie (based on 29 years of experience) and I had already packed everything for our trip.

It was the first FBF where there was nothing special prepared or purchased.  But it was also the penultimate wedding of the century day, so it was still pretty special.  And after almost a year of Fancy Breakfasts I assumed that I could easily whip something up between then and my deadline to publish, and guess what?  I did.

We got home from the airport late Monday night after a whirl wind weekend.  I had been walking a fine balance of fancy meals, cocktails, skipped meals, and junk food.  The last thing we wanted to do was go out to eat.  The second last thing we wanted to do was go to the grocery.  I opened the fridge and basically performed a miracle.

Menu:  Frittata, roasted potatoes, and cantaloupe 20 minutes past ripe.

I’ve been making frittatas for years and I have finally achieved the “don’t need a recipe” level, but I will share what I did with approximate measurements.

Frittata:

4 strips of bacon
7 eggs – more or less depending on how hungry people are and what size your skillet is.  I have a 10 inch cast iron
1 cup of cheddar cheese, grated
2 T milk – aka a splash of milk
1 cup of broccoli (or whatever veggie you want – I usually use spinach but I didn’t have any)
1/2 onion, sliced
Feta – optional
salt and pepper

Put bacon in cold skillet and cook to taste as the skillet heats to medium high.  I like my bacon on the verge of burnt.  I had planned to put the bacon in the frittata, but it was pretty cooked so I let everyone just have a piece of bacon on the side.

Meanwhile cook your veggie in the microwave to slightly tender.  Whisk eggs in a bowl while the veggie cools a bit.  Add a splash of milk, most of the cheddar cheese (save some for the top) and add the veggies.  Add a little salt and pepper.

Cook the onions in the bacon fat until softened.  If half your family hates onions, push them to all one side of the skillet and remember which side.  (Handle side is how I remember.)  Poor the egg mixture into the skillet starting on the non-onion side and allow it to ooze to the onion side.  You may have to rearrange some veggies if they all end up in one place.  Put the rest of the cheddar on top.  Add feta to the onion side for people who also like feta and onions.  Cook the frittata on top of the stove until the eggs are set.  Wiggle the pan and if there is a lot of movement in the eggs, they aren’t set.

Once the eggs are set, slide the skillet into to oven under the broiler.  (On high if you have a good attention span, low if you are easily distracted.)   It’s done when the cheese has browned slightly and the frittata is puffed.

Serve from the skillet or slide the whole thing onto a plate.

This is delicious and wholesome and you can make it any time you want as long as you have some eggs and some wilted veggies in the fridge.  It’s my go to meal when my giant box of spinach is about to be wasted.  We had one slice left over and I ate it for breakfast the next morning.

 

 

 

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Camping 2.0

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Remember about 3 weeks ago when I said I had officially covered all the versions of blueberry and cornmeal and I had found the solution and now I could move on?  Well my friend Laura commented “but have you tried the Martha Stewart ones?” and I didn’t answer, but in the back of my head I thought, hmmm.  Then when I was eating cold oats on a camping trip and looking at my phone I saw on instagram that she had made the Martha Stewart muffins with some sort of fancy tall muffin maker and they were beautiful and glorious.  I thought, OK, fine, I see how it is.  Now I have to make those.

But when I looked up the recipe I thought, “actually that looks like a hassle” and I made a different version of the Martha Stewart muffins, oh, and I was out of flour, so I had to use whole wheat.  Why was I out of flour?  Because Luke made these pancakes earlier in the week, and they were totally amazing. I would have just photographed them and called them my own, but I have already made them.  Luke did a great job, these were so yummy.

IMG_0398But still, we were out of flour.  These muffins were nothing to write home about, so I won’t bother sharing the recipe that I didn’t really follow.  I did allow everyone to pick out their own cereal for the camping trip, but we were at the new Lucky’s and I said the cereal had to cost $3.00 or less so the boys choices were limited.  I had already purchased Dave’s fave – Captain Crunch.  I had an idea about making cookies with captain crunch in them, but there wasn’t any left.

Fortunately I packed three boxes of cereal and a dozen muffins because guess what I forgot?  Lunch.  When we go to the campground I started to make sandwiches and all I had was bread.  No one complained about cereal for lunch though.

I did serve an amazing dinner of meatball bahn mi subs from cook smarts that were seriously the best things ever.

Long story short, we camped for 10 days, then were home for 3 days, then camped again for 1 day, and had a fancy breakfast of muffins and cereal.  Oh, and we saw a lot of shooting stars.  It was quite beautiful.  And cold.  But also beautiful.  Even with forgetting lunch, and not bringing warm enough clothes, it was way better than last year.

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Fancy Breakfast Friday: Cornmeal Pancakes

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I chased that cornmeal and blueberry dream combo one more time and at last I found the perfect recipe.  (Note – I gave up on the lemon aspect.  See other attempts here.)  But these pancakes were very good.  Easy to make, I had everything on hand, they were delicious and everyone liked them.  I have also been very interesting in recipes that don’t require an oven, because it has been as hot as the surface of the sun lately and we don’t have air conditioning.

These pancakes are based on the cookbook Feed Zone Portables which I have been using a lot lately!  (Waffles, baked eggs,  and frittata)  I highly recommend this book for homemade snacks you can eat at school or for breakfast or on runs/bike rides/hikes if you want to avoid a prepackaged bar and you are not a fan of peanut butter and jelly.

Usually with cookbook recipes I say to just buy the book but I am going to share my version here because I changed a lot and I want to remember this one.  You’ll definitely want the book if you want to make this dairy free and not gluten free, but made with interesting flours.  I’m also going to share my method for using the least amount of tools and dishes. (When a recipe says to whisk, 99% of the time I use a fork. Why get the whisk out for stuff that doesn’t need to be fluffy?  Whisk dry ingredients?  Never.)

Cornmeal Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce

Blueberry Sauce

1/2 Cup Frozen blueberries
2 T sugar (or to taste)

I just defrosted the blueberries and then mixed in the sugar and let it sit while I made the pancakes.  Pretty easy.

Cornmeal Pancakes

1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup milk
1 egg lightly beaten
2 tablespoons melted butter

Add all dry ingredients to a bowl and mix with a fork.

Measure the milk in a glass measuring cup and heat for 30 seconds in the microwave.  Crack the egg into the measuring cup and stir well with a fork.  Melt the butter in the microwave (make sure it isn’t too hot, you don’t want to cook the egg.) and add to the egg and milk.  Stir well with the fork.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with the fork until just mixed.  Allow to rest for a second while you heat the griddle.  It may seem a little runny.

I make these pancakes in a cast iron skillet, adding a little butter occasionally to get that yummy pancake look on top.  Ladle about a 1/4 a cup of batter for each pancake onto the skillet, flipping when you see a lot of bubbles and the sides look a little cooked.

Serve with blueberry syrup, but offer maple syrup for weirdos who don’t like blueberries.

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Fancy Breakfast Friday: Grandma’s Oatmeal

imageI’m not going to lead with the oatmeal pic because it is not very glamorous.  But please enjoy these water lilies that I observed while recovering from a crazy weekend.  Speaking of crazy weekends, I should have written this blog post immediately after breakfast last Friday because at this point, almost a week later, the details are hazy.

I went to be the night before with a lot of ideas for breakfast, but each had a high chance of going horribly wrong.  I finally settled on a concept of “bananas foster as an oatmeal topping, but without alcohol or fire, or a recipe for bananas foster.”  But that was too long a title for this blog post.

I melted some butter in a sauce pan, and I added brown sugar and cinnamon.  I was going for a caramel type syrup and I got more of a crust.  But the crust tasted exactly like cookies my grandma used to make by mixing butter and brown sugar and baking it over graham crackers.  So it was a win for me.  I mixed milk and oats and heated them in the microwave, then topped them with bananas and brown sugar crust.  I thought it was very yummy! Luke said it was “good” and Jack said it was “fine I guess.”  I was happy with the surprise-grandma-cookie memory and the easy breakfast.

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Fancy Breakfast Friday: Liège Waffles

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Last Friday I planned ahead for the first time in a while and made Liège Waffles from Feed Zone Portables.  These are raised waffles (contains yeast) and they rise in the fridge overnight.  In the morning I split the dough into 12 pieces and rolled them in turbinado sugar before putting them in the waffle maker.  I cut up all the strawberries I had (overbought at Costco and then had to use before they went bad.. Or as they were going bad.) and added a little sugar to make a syrup.  Waffles were served with strawberry syrup, strawberries and a mint leaf.

I woke up early enough to make my own waffle and do a little reading before anyone was up.  (I was reading LaRose by Louise Erdrich.)

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I had a pre-bachelorette party hair appointment early that morning, so I started to leave instructions so each person could make their own waffles as they woke, but everybody was up just in time for a waffle before I left.

Poor Lucy had to wait until I took photos and ate before she got any breakfast.

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Fancy Breakfast Friday: Lazy Scones

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Last Friday I officially made a Fancy Breakfast Friday without a plan.  I just got up in the morning and made something fancy.  The menu was Bacon, Scones with Jam, and a Watermelon Smoothie.

The scones were easy because they called for melted butter instead of using a pastry tool to cut in cold bits of butter.  When I was reading the recipe I was thinking it was heavier on the fat and lighter on the sugar that then my usual scone recipe from cooking light.  And I was thinking about how extra sugar can be a way to improve flavor in “low fat” recipes, blah blah etc.  I was proud of myself for embracing butter.  But in the end… it wasn’t sweet enough for me.  The boys loved these scones though.  And they were very easy to make… So I will probably keep them in the repertoire.  These are from Mad Hungry, as is the recipe for cooking bacon in the oven, which I love to do.  Of course the recipe is also available online, but if you are a cookbook person, I think this is a good one.  The Mad Hungry Coffee Cake recipe has also made a debut here on FBF.

The Watermelon Smoothie was just a burst of genius I had about how to make the breakfast more filling, colorful, full of lycopene, and also… to make room in the fridge by using up the watermelon.  I have mixed feelings about smoothies. On the one hand, they seem to be a way to incorporate more fruits and veggies into breakfast.  On the other hand, why not just chew your food?  Regardless, these were very delicious and refreshing.  I made them to order as the boys woke up.  Dave declined a smoothie.

Watermelon Smoothie

1 cup of chopped watermelon
2 frozen strawberries
2 mint leaves.
Add everything to the blender and mix until smooth.

Do you see the big fat novel in the background?  There should be a book club post coming Monday.

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Fancy Breakfast Friday: The Perfect Muffin

DSC07123 (1)I think I have created the perfect muffin for my family.  Texture-wise it was amazing.  It was also yummy, and on the healthy side.  (Sort of.)

I stayed up until incredibly late last Thursday so that the muffins would be ready in the morning because Dave and Jack were going to a baseball tournament in Englewood and Luke and I had to be in Commerce City for his tournament at 7:00 am.  The muffins, as I said, were delicious.  But I somehow managed to forget my coffee, my wallet, my chair, and my camera.  And guess what else?  I had the times wrong.  I thought the games were at 8 and 10 but they were at 8 and noon.  I really could have used coffee, a wallet, a chair and a camera. I finished my book about 5 minutes into the 2.5 hours between games.  It’s weird that I forgot everything since this was about the 7,103,503 baseball game I had attended this season.  No photos of the perfect muffin, because… I was a spaz last week.  But I did bring my camera the second day of the tournament and Jack took this great photo. (above)

At least I packed a bunch of muffins for the games.  (And other food as well for our 9 or so hour day.) This is based on the banana bread recipe from Cooking Light, which I highly recommend.

Perfect Banana Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
3 overripe bananas
1/2 cup  cream top vanilla yogurt ** not low fat
2 Tbs chia seeds (optional)
1/2 cup granola (optional, but so good)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Coat muffin pans with nonstick spray or use liners.
This makes 12 large muffins, or 12 smaller muffins and 12 mini muffins.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, chia seeds, stir with a whisk.
Cream together butter and sugar, add the eggs, 1 at a time.  Scraping down the sides after each addition.

In a separate bowl mash bananas to desired consistency. Add the bananas, yogurt, and vanilla to the sugar/butter/eggs and blend until completely mixed together. Slowly add the flour and mix on low until just blended, don’t over mix.  Last, mix in the granola.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes (i started checking at 25 minutes but I recall it took significantly longer.) Or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

 

Fancy Breakfast Friday: Portable Baked Eggs

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Last Friday we were lounging in our hotel room, easing into a day of baseball games.  By “we” I mean Jack and I.  Luke and Dave had to get up around 5:30 am.  Jack and I took the leisurely route and showed up for the second inning, or sometimes the second game.  I knew our hotel didn’t have a free continental breakfast, but did have a restaurant.  I was feeling thrifty and organized, so I pre-made some FBF before we left.  Then I beautifully arranged them on a plate for a photo before I put them in a tupperware and then into a cooler for our trip to Steamboat Springs.

I have to admit that I was feeling a little cheap by pre-baking breakfast, but it worked out really well.  Hotel restaurants aren’t super highly efficient at 5:30 am, and even if they are, who has time for a sit down meal before an 8:00 am game, with a 7:00 am warm up that’s a 45 minute drive away?  Long story short, Fancy Breakfast Friday saved the day.

I didn’t want to do a pastry because I was looking for something a little more substantial.  Baseball games can be exhausting so protein is important.  I turned once again to Feed Zone Portables.  Last time used this cookbook, I made frittata, but I wanted to go for something with more kid appeal. (no veggies)  This recipe is basically just 6 eggs baked in a muffin tin.  I did three scrambled and three unscrambled.  A little salt and pepper.  When they came out, I topped them with bacon and parmesan cheese.  In the hotel we reheated them one at a time for about 30 seconds in the microwave.  I had to eat them between a bagel, but Luke ate his “as is”.  These were not eaten off china but rather with a paper towel as a plate, over a snack strewn hotel table, surrounded by exploded suitcases.   It wasn’t pretty.  But guess what?  SO GOOD!  And I wasn’t eating my lunch before the second game started. Hearty. Total win.  For the breakfast – the team went 1 and 3.

I recommend Feed Zone Portables..  It’s a great book for healthy snacks.  (If you like homemade rice cake.  It’s heavy on the rice cake recipes.  Last time Jack took one of the rice cakes to school for snack, his teacher was so impressed that she said, “Your dad must be an amazing cook!”  But what about meeeeee?  I’m the amazing cook! But Dave does make the rice cakes.  I need to make more rice cakes I guess.)    The cookbook does mention that the eggs will be hard to remove from your non-stick muffin tin.  That is a true fact.  I greased the tin with butter and bacon grease and still had to work so hard to clean the pan that I thought I burned more calories than the baked eggs could possibly supply.  But I still think I will make these again.  It always seems like a great idea to bring hard boiled eggs on camping trips or road trips, but then no one feels like eating them when the time comes.  These were good.

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I also brought homemade granola, yogurt, and garden strawberries.  Jack got a yogurt parfait for breakfast because he lives on oats and yogurt.

 

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