There are few combinations that I love more than chocolate and hazelnut. Let’s cut to the chase – Nutella is super delicious and I could eat it straight out of the tub, but it is super high in sugar with artificial flavors, palm oil, and emulsifiers. I actually find it too sweet now. But I have found higher quality “Nutella” options and I can’t stop using them on everything! This French toast casserole is just one winner that I am sharing with you!Continue reading
Not all pumpkin recipes have to be sweet! This Roasted Pumpkin Fondue is an old recipe from Gourmet Magazine that I made back in the day but shelved it because it was too rich and heavy. My friend Katie Morford lightened it up and it’s even better than the original version! Think soft and gooey cheese on the inside with cubes of whatever bread you like + tender pumpkin. It’s comforting and delicious and could be a full meal with a simple salad on the side. After shooting this with an amazing dark multi-grain, seeded bread, I realized that a lighter color bread looks more appetizing. But this tasted phenomenal!Continue reading
I hope you had a fantastic 4th of July weekend! There’s a good chance if you hosted a party, that you have some leftover hamburger or hot dog buns lying around. What were you planning on doing with them? Bread crumbs? Great idea. Croutons? Another great idea. Putting them in the freezer for the next time you make burgers or dogs? Good luck with that one. My freezer is basically one-third buns. They’re all freezer-burned too, because I was lazy and threw the bags in there and didn’t bother to wrap the buns tightly in foil first. And my kids reject previously frozen buns. They would rather eat a hot bog or a burger without a bun over one that has been previously frozen. It’s kind of annoying since we’re a family of 5 and you can’t buy a bag of 5 buns. And I cannot handle wasting food, even a silly hamburger bun.
So I came up with this strata using leftover hamburger buns that had been sitting in my freezer and that I absolutely knew would end up in the compost bin. Stratas are kind of like savory bread puddings, more bread-y than an egg-y quiche or frittata . I actually prefer a frittata, but my husband and kids love their bread! I posted a strata on my site a few years ago with spinach, tomatoes and feta. Super delicious and I love that you can put it together the night before to soak in the fridge and then you bake it in the morning easy peasy.
I essentially took what I had — a large tomato, half a red onion, a handful of baby mozzarella balls and a jar of roasted peppers in the fridge, plus some basil from my patio, and combined them with eggs and milk and voila! No one had any idea that I used leftover, previously frozen buns. And no one had any idea they were all different, including a whole grain sprouted bun! Of course, gluten-free buns work equally well. A strata is so versatile that if you had some leftover roasted zucchini, you could throw it in there too. Or a link of leftover sausage or a handful of corn kernels. And if you wanted a higher proportion of eggs, go for it. Just bake until the strata feels “set.” So no liquid gushes out when you push on the center of the strata and it kind of bounces back a bit.
What’s also cool about this is that you can make it for breakfast, lunch or (Meatless Monday) dinner. I served it in these photos with some lightly dressed arugula and I think that’s the best accompaniment or just a simple green salad. But any non-starchy vegetable, like green beans or summer squash, would be great, too. Because bread is the main ingredient, I wouldn’t serve another starch with a strata. But I would serve it with a cold glass of rosé. Happy summer!
When I think back to my childhood, I don’t think “deprivation” or “missing out.” But the fact that I didn’t know about and had never had a Dutch Baby until I was an adult makes me a little sad, like my family was out of the loop. So many people recall fond memories of leisurely Sunday family breakfasts with Mom pulling a puff of sweet heaven out of the oven. Wow. My mom did not get that memo. My husband came home when we were first married with a small pizza box from a restaurant called Dinah’s by Los Angeles International Airport. Inside was a very buttery, cinnamon and sugar-covered disc of sliced apples held together with a minimum of batter. “It’s a German apple pancake. Have you never had one of these before?” Wow. No, I had not. A Dutch Baby pancake, similar to the German apple pancake, is a puffed, kind of ugly pancake that is more egg-y than flour-y. It’s not quite like a pancake that you make on the stove in that it’s a little denser, but very delicious it its own way and so much easier because you make the batter in a blender and then bake the whole thing in the oven.
The best part of a Dutch Baby oven pancake is when you first pull it out of the oven. It goes in as a thin batter in a skillet, and comes out as an irregularly puffed, golden, warm pancake with a sweet aroma of vanilla. The. Best.
The Dutch Baby pancake recipes I have seen involve the regular suspects: white flour, white sugar, milk, eggs and butter. Those suspects are easily changed to whole grain or even gluten-free flour, maple syrup, almond milk, but I still keep the eggs and butter. You can change the butter to Earth Balance if you need to. But I’m not quite sure how to make a Dutch Baby without eggs. Plus that’s where the protein comes into play if you are wanting to serve this for breakfast on its own.
What you put on a Dutch Baby can vary from lemon juice and butter (very popular actually,) to fresh or cooked fruit to powdered sugar or maple syrup. We keep it simple in our house with seasonal fruit, like sautéed apples and pears in the fall/winter and berries in the summer. It is incredibly good with fresh blueberry sauce. Recipe here and you can make it with frozen blueberries!
I always take two weeks off around Christmas and New Years to spend with my family. Maybe you have a little time off too, or perhaps you are having friends for brunch on New Years Day. These are the days that I like to make breakfasts that are a little more special, that we can sit a savor for a bit longer. Hoping you can find some time to do just that this week. And if you do, this Dutch baby recipe is the perfect one to try.
Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, peaceful and joyous 2015!
I love teaching people how to cook and I love working with food, but one business I don’t see myself in is the restaurant business. That just seems like waaaaaay too much work! But if I did open a restaurant, I would have a little casual breakfast and lunch place called “He Said, She Said.” The menu would be split down the middle with dude food on one side and lady food on the other.
I’ve seen plenty of women eat just as much as a man and I am one of them. BUT it’s the food choices that men and women make that I find so interesting, and different. My husband and I are the perfect example. We have been married for almost 19 years and I don’t think we’ve ever ordered the same thing in a restaurant. And I can usually predict what he will get!
I tend to graviate towards salads, vegetable-based dishes, lentils, beans, and ethnic foods and away from things that are fried, greasy and heavily sauced. He, on the other hand, will order anything with melted cheese and/or lots of tomato sauce plus a side of fries or onion rings. My husband is a meat-guy too, and doesn’t think about how he’s going to get his veggies at every meal.
Since I do all the cooking in our house, I tend to make what I like. However, when it’s my husband’s birthday or Father’s Day, I will think about his favorites and go that direction. Father’s Day is coming up, on Sunday, June 15th to be exact. And even though I would prefer a veggie frittata or a yogurt and homemade granola parfait, I know my husband would be THRILLED if I bought him doughnuts. But since doughnuts are probably one of the worst possible foods you can eat, there is no way in the world that I would ever give them to someone with whom I would like to grow old. I hate to be a party pooper, but doughnuts are completely non-nutritive, full of empty calories, high in simple carbohydrates which spike your blood sugar and are deep fried in the most damaged pro-inflammatory fat EVER. So not good.
I will, however, make baked doughnuts with some higher quality (but I didn’t say healthful) ingredients. They still taste delicious and won’t put anyone in a sugar coma afterwards! Yippee! I am giving you plenty of time to order this doughnut pan because unfortunately you can’t make doughnuts without a doughnut pan. I like this one the best because it is coated with silicone for a nonstick finish that doesn’t leach like toxic PFTE’s and PFOA’s. You can also scoop the batter with an mini ice cream scoop into mini muffin pans for doughnut holes.
I recommend making these the day you want to eat them and I am partial to serving these alongside a hearty, high fiber and high protein breakfast and not alone because even though they are significantly better for you than traditional doughnuts, they’re not health food! I kept these pretty simple with a cinnamon-sugar topping, but if you really wanted to throw in the towel, you could go for a glaze instead. Fun!
If you read my last post, you know that we haven’t gone out for Mother’s Day in several years and this Sunday will be no different. Truth be told, I couldn’t be happier for several already mentioned reasons. I am, however, definitely not cooking on Sunday, but instead leaving that to the men for this one and only day. But if I were cooking, I would make these fabulous savory muffins and serve them with a very veggie frittata. Can you tell I am pushing a low-glycemic agenda this week?
Have you ever had too much sugar and carbs at brunch that the entire rest of the day you just felt “off?” Done it, hate it. I always have a hard time bouncing back after starting the day with chocolate chip French toast, a blueberry crumb muffin, fruit salad and a mimosa. No, friends, that is not a balanced meal. Instead, I make a concerted effort to balance out the token coffee cake with plenty of protein and hearty, savory fare.
If my husband brings in bagels, I make sure there’s wild smoked salmon and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes. Yogurt gets placed next to the homemade granola and there’s always a savory egg dish of some sort. Even if I’m serving a crowd, I’ll double frittata recipes and bake them in large rimmed sheet pans. Yes, you can do that!
Muffins and quick breads are very popular for brunch, and I have several recipes on this site, but I think these with spinach and roasted peppers are so delicious and a fresh change of pace from the ones you would normally expect. They’re also fairly easy to put together. In fact, you can combine your dry ingredients the day before and have your spinach, feta and peppers prepped and ready to go, so that all you really need to do is stir everything together and bake the morning of Mother’s Day. Like most muffins, these are much better fresh out of the oven, but if you have leftovers, just store them in the fridge and warm them in the oven for a few minutes. These are also the perfect match with any egg dish, whether simply scrambled or baked in a fritatta. My most favorite frittata is this one with Swiss chard, but the one I just posted the other day with asparagus and artichokes is a close second. Certainly, these muffins aren’t just for brunch, but make a great little extra something with a bowl of soup or in the next day’s lunchbox.
In the same way I love looking at what’s in people’s grocery carts (is that creepy?), I love hearing about your menus for holidays and special occasions. Do share with me what you’re planning or what you would love someone to make for you!! Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful mamas!
My favorite thing about the weekends and vacations is lingering over breakfast. Weekdays are (sadly) so rushed that we don’t really have more than 10 minutes to sit down and enjoy our morning meal. Not only are we lacking time to relax and enjoy, but the five of us never eat breakfast together during the week since we’re all on different schedules. Of course, I’m guilty of the worst offense of all which is eating in my car on the way to work. I keep thinking getting up earlier is the answer, but somehow that hasn’t been the solution. It’s a dreadful habit and I am completely embarrassed that I don’t walk that talk, but I would rather eat my porridge slowly in my car than inhale it in 30 seconds at the kitchen table.
The weekends are a whole different story. I love making breakfast foods that take a little more time. Just the smells of something wonderful from the oven make me giddy with anticipation while I sip my tea out of a real mug, not portable one, and the newspaper spread out everywhere. Typical weekend creations are baked frittatas with lots of veggies, whole grain waffles (who has time to wash a waffle iron on a Tuesday morning?), and this amazing, versatile Baked Oatmeal recipe. I make steel cut oats once or twice per week, but the weekend demands something a little more special. I originally spotted this recipe by Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks fame in Whole Living Magazine a few years ago and instantly knew this would become a regular for us. I have made this recipe with mixed berries and with thinly sliced apples on the bottom — both delicious — and on my to-do list is to come up with versions using coconut and pumpkin puree and spices. Mr. Picky likes this enough that I think I could sell this as an after school snack if I tossed in a few chocolate chips. Heidi’s originally called for sliced bananas on the bottom, which were great if you love a super sweet intense banana flavor.
Oats are super hearty and filling and make a great start to the day. If oatmeal tends to raise your blood sugar too much, make sure you pair it with some protein and fat like nuts. Walnuts are in this recipe, but I’ve used sliced almonds and pecans too. Of course, if you’re nut-free, feel free to omit them altogether and enjoy this recipe all the same. Baked Oatmeal can be easily adapted for dairy-free people by using an alternative milk and coconut oil or Earth Balance; and for vegans by dropping the egg. It doesn’t slice as nicely without the egg, but it’s no big deal.
My family seems to eat this straight as is, but I love pouring on some extra almond milk or (when I wasn’t dairy-free) dolloping a little yogurt on top. I have access to fresh blueberries grown in a hothouse all year so I decided to splurge and use them here, but if you are only working with citrus and bananas at this time of year, you can always use frozen fruit. Although, I just saw the first fresh strawberries at the farmer’s market last weekend which means good fruit is on the horizon and more delicious Baked Oatmeal possibilities await you.
There are a few recipes I make on Thanksgiving that I call “one-hit wonders.” That is to say I don’t make them on any of the other 364 days in the year. I’m no fan of stuffing, for example, so I keep the masses happy by making it on the holiday and then we forget about it until next year. My Maple-Glazed Sweet Potato Gratin was in the same category for no other reason than it just seemed a little decadent to serve on a day that isn’t considered the biggest meal of the year.
Just for fun, I recently tried a new sweet potato recipe which my kids absolutely flipped for. Not only has this Sweet Potato Casserole bumped the former gratin out of the coveted spot, but my kids have begged me to make it multiple times since then. My girls have even eaten it for breakfast and as an after-school snack. I am crazy for sweet potatoes any which way and I am perfectly content with a nice big juicy one plain and simple. So when recipes start adding cups of brown sugar with marshmallows or oatmeal cookie dough on top, I can’t take them seriously. We’re going to try and keep things classy over here, ok?
But there was something intriguing about this recipe from Food & Wine that I had to try. Despite the pureed sweet potato base mixed with eggs, milk, butter and an obscene amount of sugar, I saw potential. The topping is what really had me since I just love a contrast in textures. I could already taste the silky puree with the light and crispy cinnamon-nutmeg flakes and nuts. Even after I cleaned up this recipe by cutting the sugar by almost two-thirds, the casserole was still absolutely divine and a perfect complement to your Thanksgiving buffet. It’s also super easy to make if you have a food processor and can be done in advance (Thanksgiving magic words!) By the way, I have also made this recipe dairy-free with success by using coconut oil instead of butter and unsweetened hemp milk instead of regular. Since it’s already gluten-free, everyone’s happy!
What? Did you just call me “trashy” behind my back for using cereal in a Thanksgiving recipe? Guilty. Maybe I deserve it. You know what I say? Worth it!
