sticky orange cake with marmalade glaze (for breakfast)

sometimes you see something and you just NEED it. this was one of these things. becky crocker sent this recipe my way and no more than 3 days later and my entire apartment was eating it for breakfast. yup, cake and ice cream for breakfast! (as a spring cleaning reward).

although the cake itself is vegan, thekitchn (recipe source) recommended pairing it with pistachio ice cream, which is exactly what we did. yummmm. and i promise, this is one of those recipes that just happens to be vegan, as in, you aren't substituting anything unusual and it doesn't taste like anything has been "altered." the apple cider vinegar ensures a wonderfully fluffy texture.

sticky orange cake with marmalade glaze from thekitchn
makes 2 9-inch round layers

• 3 cups flour (i used a mix of spelt and gluten free)
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 tpns baking soda
• 1 tspn salt
• 1 orange, zested
• 2 cups orange juice
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tblspns apple cider vinegar
• 1 tspn vanilla
• 1/4 cup orange marmalade
• 1 tablespoons rum, vodka, or water

• preheat oven to 350°F.
  
• lightly grease 2 9-in rocun cake pans. line the bottoms with parchment and lightly grease the paper.
• make the cake batter: whisk together the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt, and orange zest. whisk until thoroughly combined.
• in a separate bowl (i, of course, ignored the separate part), whisk together the orange juice, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla. quickly mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones and whisk thoroughly.
• pour batter into cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes.
• let the cakes cool for about 20 minutes in the pan then cool outside of pans. glaze while cakes are still warm but not hot.
• to make the glaze, mix the marmalade and rum or vodka in a small saucepan. warm over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until the glaze is bubbling and hot. turn off heat and immediately glaze cake.
• place one cake layer on a plate. pierce the top with a toothpick a few times. pour about half the liquid over the first cake layer. place the second layer on top and repeat.
• serve with pistachio ice cream!
  

shakshouka and pita!

a recent trip to israel means many yummy food posts to come. a good place to start is the celebratory meal i cooked when i got back: shashouka and pita bread! i wanted to use the spices i brought back with me, paprika and za'atar right away.

so the deal is that there are a lot of ways to make shakshouka. i'm sure everyone has their preferred method. i went for something quite simple to keep things easy but also to let my newly acquired paprika shine. i looked up a bunch of different articles online and just used them as a guide to go at it myself. this is one of those dishes that is quite hard to mess up. really, no matter what you do, it's going to taste good.

the pita bread was surprisingly easy to make. especially considering i was making it while doing loads of laundry...i'm sure i messed up somewhere along the way. and yet, delish.

shakshouka

• 1 28-oz can tomatoes
  
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 large red pepper, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon paprika
  
• salt
• pepper
• parsley, chopped
• feta cheese
• 6 eggs
• olive oil

• add a couple of tablespoons to a large pan
• add garlic, onion, red pepper and cook until softened
• add tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, paprika
• cook until sauce slightly thickens, about 15 minutes
• make 6 indents in the sauce and crack eggs onto top of sauce
• cover and cook until the whites set, about 5 minutes
• top with parsley and crumbled feta
  

pita bread
adapted from mark bittman's how to cook everything and the mollie katzen's new moosewood cookbook

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
  
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
  
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 3 cups flour (i used spelt)

• mix yeast into warm water and let sit for a few minutes. it should foam.
• mix oil, salt, sugar, honey into water
• add flour and mix, 1 cup at a time. by the end, you'll probably need to use your hands.
  
• knead a bit and form dough into a ball. cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1-2 hours (or less, if you're rushed).
• punch down dough. cut into 6 pieces and cover. allow to rest for 15 minutes. apparently this helps them puff...
  
• flatten and roll each ball so that they're about 1/4-1/8" thin and somewhat circular. cover. allow to rest 15 minutes.
• bake on a baking sheet 5-10 minutes, flipping once, until lightly browned on both sides.
• good warm. or cold.
  

solstice brunch

subtitle: continuing the backwards holiday march


this particular brunch was made specifically for solstice (part II) but there's no reason it wouldn't work for any other time--special occasion or not. an indulgent king crab leg meal the night before yielded many more leftovers than we thought possible. the perfect thing to pair with those leftovers? eggs! well, eggs and quite a number of other things. hence the necessary trip to whole foods. the shopping trip left us with ingredients for the following: crab quesadillas with guacamole and eggs and a citrus fruit salad.

i love citrus, so this salad gives it something a little bit extra but pretty much just hangs onto the integrity of the fruit. and it's incredibly festive. to make it even better, you really can't go wrong with crab, cheese, guacamole and eggs. it's a match made in heaven (the perfect thing to share).

citrus salad

• a mix of citrus (we used grapefruits, navel oranges and blood oranges), segmented
• honey
• chopped mint
• champagne vinegar (champagne)
  

• whisk together honey, mint and vinegar. start with about a tablespoon of each and adjust to taste.
• mix with citrus.
  

crab quesadilla with guacamaole and eggs

• eggs
  
• 2 corn tortillas per quesadilla
  
• small handful of cheese per quesadilla (something mild), grated
  
• crabmeat
  
• 2 avocados
  
• 1 small tomato, finely chopped
  
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)
  
• juice from 1 lime
  
• salt and pepper

• make the guacamole: mash the avocados and add salt to taste. add tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice. mix well.
• heat both sides of the tortillas in a pan. once warmed, put cheese and crab in between tortillas and heat until cheese melts and tortillas brown. keep warm while you make the eggs.
• make eggs any way you like (i prefer over easy)
• assemble: place quesadilla on a plate. top with guacamole then eggs.
  

squash pancakes and pumpkin waffles

i've done the pumpkin pancake thing before. but for some reason, taking my fresh csa squash and mixing it into a pancake recipe seemed fresher, healthier and more innovative. especially considering it was a winter squash--something that in my mind doesn't automatically belong in a pancake. and i had a squash i need to use. a scenario that tends to be my motivating factor.

thanks to a squash site, i identified my winter squash as a delicata squash. it resulted in a wonderfully moist pancake with a great texture. the squash was not overwhelming in flavor and provided much more of a desirable consistency than anything else. and it was easy too. i just took my normal pancake recipe, added a freshly roasted and pureed winter squash to the batter and threw in some chopped walnuts for good measure.

you want another breakfast squash recipe? and what's that? you don't want healthy-feeling pancakes?


pumpkin waffles (aka pumpkin pancakes meet waffles)

i am confident in saying that the best way to serve these is layered with cheddar cheese (so that it melts) and topped with maple yogurt. yes, you heard me right. now go forth and conquer the cheddar-maple-waffle world that lays before you! or throw that squash you've been saving into your sunday pancake batter.

squash pancakes or pumpkin waffles

because of the similar consistency of squash and pancake or waffle batter, i merely added a cup of squash to a batch of batter. depending on the type of squash you use, you may have to thicken (add more flour) or thin (add more liquids) out the batters. in my case, i used canned pumpkin with the waffles, which left no adjustments. in fact, i added some extra pumpkin without having to adjust anything else. for the pancakes, i added some liquid to the squash to get it to more of a puree, since it was rather thick after roasting.

glorified grilled cheese

when is grilled cheese okay for breakfast? when it has an egg on it! (or all the time). in any case, a wonderfully crusty spelt loaf and aged cheddar were beckoning and i couldn't wait until lunch.

i topped my sandwich (instead of stuffing it) with an egg, heirloom tomato slice and a ginormous basil leaf, because i was really looking for a grilled cheese vehicle and wanted to keep my cheesy goodness purely intact as possible.

if you're gonna go this route (extra toppings or not), there are very few ingredients involved so quality is crucial. i mean it! do no skimp. save your wonder bread and american cheese for something else. and as we transition to the fall season, read up on your heirlooms, if you haven't already. i must say, they were absolutely out of control at the santa monica farmers market a couple of weekends ago.
glorified grilled cheese

• cheese: a nice aged cheddar made me happy
  
• bread: crusty, please!
  
• nice thick slice of tomato
• a couple of basil leaves
  
• fried egg: over easy, lots of yolk, please

• combine as desired. in my case, this involved buttering two slices of bread, frying them butter side down with cheese on top, cooking until the cheese melted , sticking them together and topping them with the rest of the ingredients.

summer waffles

i would argue that there aren't many better ways to start a morning than waffles with frozen yogurt and peaches. especially farm fresh peaches. and so, with a little help from some friends (bittman and how to cook everything included), i whipped up a batch of waffles and threw on the best things i could find in my fridge/freezer.

it was a joint effort and i can't take credit for the whole idea but i do maintain that if it weren't for my awesomely stocked kitchen (aka endless supply of froyo and stone fruit), this meal never would have come to fruition.

summer WAFFLES! (adapted from mark bittman's everyday buttermilk waffles) makes 4-6 servings

• 2 cups flour (spelt here)
  
• 1/2 tspn salt
• 2 tblspn sugar
• 3 tspns baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups milk (i used soy)
  
• 2 eggs
• 4 tablespoons butter melted and cooled
• 1/2 tspn vanilla extract

• if you're being proper, you might mix all of the dry ingredients together, than all of the wet separately, and combine the two. i tend to mix all of the dry and then just throw the rest right on top and whisk until everything is just combined.
• heat up your waffle maker, give it a little lubrication and let it rip.
• top your golden waffles with frozen yogurt, sliced peaches and just a bit of maple syrup.
  

back in the kitchen: french toast with raspberry syrup

there's nothing like spending a week and a half without being able to cook that will inspire me to get back in the kitchen. a trip to the farmer's market for the first csa pickup of the season certainly also helps. as does being resolved to hang out at home on a saturday afternoon to watch some world cup soccer...

so, to whet my appetite for a day of cooking and futbol watching, I decided to start with some french toast. the catch was that i decided whatever i cooked needed to include at least one piece of csa bounty. for the french toast? raspberry syrup, of course!


french toast with raspberry syrup
serves 1

• 2 slices of your preferred bread (or more if it's small!)
  
• 1 egg
• some milk (or soymilk)
• dash of vanilla
• dash of cinnamon
• 1/2-1 cup raspberries
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• dash lemon juice
• about 1/2 cup water

• combine egg and some milk to create a slightly thick mixture. add vanilla and cinnamon, stir. dip bread in egg mixture and allow to soak.
• meanwhile, combine water and sugar in a saucepan. cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture thickens slightly.
  
• stir in the raspberries, and stir occasionally (the more you stir, the more the berries will break down). bring to a boil and continue cooking until mixture thickens slightly more about 5-10 minutes. add lemon juice towards the end of the cooking time and stir.
• cook toast in a buttered pan over medium high heat until golden brown on both sides.
  
• top with syrup!
  

low-fat cranberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

subtitle: more oatmeal

by now, we all know that i'm oatmeal obsessed. (but not quite so obsessed as this guy.)

another birthday called and therefore another baked good. trying to respect the health concious, i stuck with the recent low-fat theme. AND since bday boy was going to be leaving the office early, i figured oatmeal cookies counted as breakfast cookies. because you just can't bake someone muffins for their birthday. and just to anticipate any griping, there really isn't anything boring about cranberry chocolate chip cookies.

if you're feeling my current oatmeal addiction, the serious eats' oatmeal roundup is not to be missed. now back to the bday baked good...

low-fat cranberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies
(adapted from baking bites; original recipe from foodfit)

• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter, room temperature
• 1/4 c plain unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
  

• preheat oven to 375F. line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• cream butter and sugars. beat in the egg, vanilla and applesauce.
• stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and oats until just combined.
• add chocolate chips and cranberries and stir.
• drop tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. bake for about 9-12 min at 375F.
  

makes 2 dozen cookies

low-fat pear oat muffins

subtitle: a health conscious muffin for an otherwise carb obsessed office

toto, we aren't in kansas anymore. shocking how the food expectations rapidly decline from soho, ny to secaucus, nj. okay, maybe not that surprising. anyways, i decided the polite thing to do would be introduce myself with muffins (duh). i wanted them to have oats (more breakfast like to me), be low-fat (because, well, muffins can be scary), and have pears (because they're delicious and would add flavor in case everything else went to crap). clearly, i had a lot of requirements, so it may not be surprising that i had a hard time finding a preexisting recipe. it was easier to just take a base muffin recipe (bittman!) and make the adjustments that i wanted.

i subbed some of the fat with unsweetened applesauce, added fruit, and swapped out half of the flour for instant oats. what resulted was a deliciously sweet, flavorful and moist muffin. the only downfall was that i didn't have turbinado sugar to sprinkle on the top...


low-fat pear oat muffins
adapted from mark bittman's muffin recipe in how to cook everything

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup instant oats
• 1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tspn salt
• 3 tspns baking powder
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
  
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 egg
• 1 cup low fat milk
• 1 cup pears, finely chopped
  

• preheat oven to 355 degrees
  
• combine dry ingredients
• combine wet ingredients and mix into dry
• stir until just combined (don't overmix! lumps are good)
  
• bake for 20 minutes or until golden on top and cooked through
  

practically healthy banana oat waffles

not only is this the first time i have lived with a waffle maker but my apartment currently houses two of them. until now, i was a pancake person. but when you know that there are waffle makers (plural!) just itching to be used, it tends to shift the focus. now i will admit that sometimes i experience a certain pang of guilt when consuming mass quantities of baked carby goodness as my first meal of the day, although you probably wouldn't have guessed that from reading the blog.

conversations of waffles over the weekend provided a) oat waffles and b) hey, let's use this mushy banana i have, or i'm going to throw it out. how did this decrease my guilt? practically healthy banana oat waffles! the banana subbed in for any fat that i would have added to the batter and a combination of flour and oats was way better (think whole grain) than flour alone. and since we didn't have any syrup, my holy trinity of toppings for the day was homemade raspberry jam, peanut butter (crunchy, of course) and honey. yummmmmmm.

practically healthy banana oat waffles

bear with me here. this is one of those not so exact recipes. once you know the kind of consistency you're looking for (a relatively thick but no too thick batter) i don't think accurate measurements are necessary.

• one mashed banana (it needs to be ripe! the mushier, the better)
  
• 2 eggs
• about 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup quick cook oats
• 1 cup spelt flour
• some brown sugar (a few tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
  
• cinnamon

• mash banana in the bottom of a bowl
• add remaining wet ingredients (soy milk, eggs, vanilla) and mix
  
• this is where i really break the rules: dump in the dry ingredients (flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon) and sort of mix them together on top of the wet ingredients with a fork, before blending everything together. really, i see no need to dirty 2 bowls when 1 gets the job done. don't overmix.
• waffleize!
  

what to do when you find yourself in a house alone on a sunday morning

french toast with stewed apples.

whole foods makes an awesome spelt loaf on the west coast. i have yet to see it in new york.

coconut pancakes

we talked about crazy gluten-free low carb flours before with the almond meal microwave cookie adventure. now another gluten-free flour, brought to you by The Baker: coconut flour. now, if you're like me, you're probably saying, now how the hell does a coconut turn into flour? there's nothing dry about the stuff. my second reaction was, how the hell is coconut flour healthy? i know that coconut is a good cooking alternative, however, because of the fat, it isn't exactly the obvious healthy choice. well, apparently, all of the fat is extracted in order to make the flour. so what results is something that's gluten-free, high protein, high fiber, low carb and low fat. another one of those wonder foods, if you will.

what to make with this wonder flour? coconut pancakes, of course. now it just so happened that when i was making these (the only time i've made them for myself and didn't have The Baker make them for me), i was also making them for someone on a super restricted diet (low fat, low calorie, low sodium, low everything). so if these turned out well with those modifications, then you know the original ones are splendid.

coconut flour pancakes

• 4 eggs (i used egg beaters)
  
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk (i used low fat)

• mix ingredients and let them sit for five minutes.
  
• oil or grease a pan and heat over medium heat.
  
• pour about a 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe, allowing each side to brown before flipping it.

baked eggs with kale (december csa)

i had promised my csa pickup partner (you try carrying 15-20 pounds of goods by yourself in the freezing cold, it ain't fun) brunch as a thanks for helping out. as i was searching for a dish that would celebrate the fresh bounty, i came across baked eggs.

one of my favorite csa items that i get are eggs. although the eggs from my farm aren't not currently certified organic, they are pastured and from free-range chickens that are grass-fed without hormones or antibiotics. once you try them, you won't go back to your standard supermarket fare, i promise. however, if you are trying to buy a better quality egg at the store instead of a local farmer's market, there are a variety of label factors and some really don't quite matter. i could go on and on about this as it really gets rather complicated but this article sums up some key differences nicely. and if anyone has some information to shed here, please, fire away.

we sauteed some kale with olive oil and garlic until it got soft, then placed it in the bottom of a ramekin, topped it with an egg, parmesean cheese, salt and pepper and baked in the oven at 375 degrees until white of the egg set. the part that got me was making sure the whites of the eggs were cooked without overcooking the yolks. with these amazing farm fresh guys, the last thing you want is rubbery, overcooked eggs. you can really throw anything in here with the guarantee that it will be delicious!

oatmeal with apple and pears (csa week 8)

if you've read the blog before, you've undoubtedly read more than one oatmeal rambling. i've become quite a fan of it for breakfast since i discovered trader joe's quick cook steel cut oats. what is it about steel cut oats exactly? their texture is just so much more satisfying than rolled oats. i'm thinking it's a mush factor. these ones just don't get as mushy. cook them in soymilk (rather than water) and you're really talking. so on my most recent csa pickup, i got all of these apples and pears. and sadly, didn't have the time on my hands to make a crisp or any other sort of baked good. the perfect solution seemed to be a quick stew for some morning oatmeal!

i threw a bit of salted butter in the bottom of a pot, then threw in chopped apples and pears, added some brown sugar and cinnamon, stirred, brought to a simmer and allowed it to cook until the fruit softened into a syrupy bath.

starbucks valencia orange cake - gluten-free!

alright everyone, here it is: the gluten-free cake promised by starbucks. for the record, the spring st. soho starbucks was out of them when i wandered over at 11:00. my valiant coworker and i trekked on in the rain to soho's number 2 starbucks on broadway and broome. victory! the cake was proudly displayed in the pastry shelf. at $1.95, it seemed like starbucks was dishing out bargains. ahem. i mean, valencia orange cakes.

it seems that this gluten-free cake stemmed from what i will call starbucks' grassroots marketing attempt. the site provides a forum for customer feedback where one of the hot topics became gluten-free offerings. the site introduced a voting option and it seems that this spread around the gluten-free community like wildfire!

the ingredients are pretty simple: eggs, orange pulp, almonds, sugar, orange peel, gluten-free baking powder, and orange oil. at 290 calories, 140 calories from fat and 16g of fat, this is certainly not any healthy alternative. HOWEVER, i am hoping that since almonds are one of the main ingredients, this is the type of fat you can feel good about. riiiight....the cake does come individually wrapped "for gluten-free goodness" as declared on the package. "you wouldn't even know it's gluten-free!" i exclaimed, overtaken by the cute cake's moist and spongy texture. "yes, yes you would," sighed my valiant coworker. we agreed that the cake had a texture rather corn bread like (not necessarily in a bad way) but after my initial excitement wore off, i was slightly disappointed by the cake's lack of flavor. the moral of the story here is that i'm not expecting everyone to go crazy over this cake but it's pretty awesome that this is a readily available starbucks product.

spelt banana bread french toast (banana bread experiment part II)

you have not read about some of my other experiments (such as the brownie pancakes) because they were complete and utter disasters. but you've got to keep trying because every so often something amazing like this happens. yes, amazing. sadly, i cannot take full credit for this but i can claim execution rights. now, a google search just revealed 280,000 results for "banana bread french toast" but i honestly never thought of it-the boy did.

what to do with that pan of banana bread that's been occupying the counter for the better part of the week THATIDIDNOT eat all in one sitting (i'm proud)? frrreeennccchhh toast! so obviously, you'll need some banana bread. the one i used was similar to that of the original banana bread experiment. i guess the bread doesn't have to be stale but it will certainly help with that whole holding together factor. then just whip up a simple french toast batter.


spelt banana bread french toast

• banana bread
  
• 2 eggs (for a small batch)
  
• milk (yes, i used real live low-fat cow's milk but i'm sure soy would work well too. use this to make it as rich (half and half) or not (nonfat) as you want it.) i don't measure the milk, i just add a bit more than a splash; you want it more eggy than milky.

• beat together egg and milk in a shallow bowl.
• i did not add cinnamon nor vanilla because the banana bread was already so sweet-but you certainly can.
• let it sit for a few minutes (especially if your bread is spelt based).
• heat a pan and add some butter. fry bread on both sides until golden brown.
  

the urbanite's costco

i had been told about amazon and their grocery savings before but couldn't quite figure out how to use it to my advantage. sure, i love to shop online and even use freshdirect but couldn't quite cross into the land of dry goods. my first thought was to buy my lactaid in bulk. think of all the money i'd save! but then it turned out that it wasn't so cheap online and purchasing $70 worth of lactaid in one sitting made me feel....pathetic.

but everyone is looking to save a few bucks these days, so come with me my friends, learn all that amazon has to offer! hint #1 - amazon does not seem like the place to pick out a couple of fun looking snacks and order. hint #2 - it seems to be most useful for those expensive staples (i.e. my favorite organic wheat-free cereal and tea). so, if you are one of those people who has a favorite gluten-free pancake mix that you use every sunday morning, this would be the perfect place to find it. amazon even has a gluten-free section AND a nifty ordering feature where you save even more money if you order the same gluten-free item regularly. i shall be subscribing to cereal. more subscriptions to come. and yes, you have to have somewhere to store 6 boxes of cereal at once but it really isn't as bad as the costco size toilet paper or tide.

and don't forget free cone day tomorrow at ben & jerry's!

back to the oatmeal thing...

there's nothing quite like oatmeal on a 12 degree morning. that's why I decided to use my $1 jamba juice oatmeal coupon earlier today. i realize that to an outsider it may seem that i'm a bit obsessed (see oatmeal post 1 and 2) but seriously everyone, oatmeal is great and jamba is kicking starbuck's ass on this one. these steel cut oats taste like just that. cooking them with soymilk gives them an additional creamy taste. and the topping! i'm usually not a fruit compote fan but in this case, my apple cinnamon topping had the perfect balance of tart apples and a sweet sauce. my vote is to omit the brown sugar topping. not only does it have wheat in it but the topping was sweet enough for me.

what's that? you want one of those coupons? okay, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page. you're welcome.

jamba vs. starbucks
jamba oatmeal (plain)
180 calories
3g fat
5g sugar
topping options: bananas (50 calories), berry compote (70 calories), apple cinnamon topping (70 calories), brown sugar crumble (40 calories)

starbucks oatmeal (plain)
140 calories
topping option
3g fat
0g sugar
toppings: mixed nuts (100 calories), brown sugar (50 calories), or dried berries (100 calories)
price: about $3

dutch baby

i was reminded of a intriguing recipe that i saw on good eats now that i have my cast iron cookware. get ready, alton, i can actually make these things now! the recipe was for a "dutch baby," which i blame not knowing anything about on growing up in southern california. upon further research, i discovered that a dutch baby is the same as a german pancake, which is pretty much a large pancake baked in the oven.

the recipe looked fairly simple, so i decided to give it a go this morning. 30 minutes later, i had one of the most delicious breakfasts i have ever had. i used spelt flour for this (i'm fairly certain that substituting your favorite gluten-free flour would work just fine). the pancake rose up very high and browned on the sides but stayed soft in the center. what emerged was a wonderful baked confection that had a buttery, crispy layer on the top, was smooth in the middle, and chewy on the bottom. i couldn't stop verbalizing how much i enjoyed it. MMMMMM!


to alton brown, the amazing man he is, thank you for this EASY, uncomplicated, delicious recipe!

• 3 tablespoons of butter, melted
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk (i'm going to try lowfat next time)
• dash of vanilla
• 2 eggs
  

• preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• place 2 tablespoons of the melted butter into a 9 or 10-inch cast iron skillet and place in the oven to heat.
• wait a few minutes for the skillet to heat up, then assemble the remaining ingredients.
• mix flour, vanilla sugar, salt, milk, eggs and remaining tablespoon of melted butter in a bowl.
• pour batter into skillet. bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the edges are puffed and brown. (according to alton) sprinkle with additional vanilla sugar and serve with lemon wedges. (I didn't do this part)

airport breakfast

Eating wheat-free can be hard enough. Traveling and eating wheat-free is even harder. Eating wheat-free breakfast on-the-go, while traveling can be nearly impossible.

I always travel with food but sometimes I rather die than eat yet another granola bar from my purse or am just in the mood for something different. Who would have thought that STARBUCKS, out of all places, would be the place to save me the other day in the airport at 7:45 am. With oatmeal! Genius! (Although beware, not gluten-free.) Starbucks now offers oatmeal, with a choice of toppings (brown sugar, dried berries, or nuts). Thanks to the friendly midwest attitude, my barista gave me all 3 toppings. The plain oatmeal is instant and poured into a cup with hot water. At less than $3, you can't really go wrong. For the record, I do not conceptually support Starbucks but they are the only place I can rely on for almost guaranteed soy milk stock (and now oatmeal, too!) Think of all the trips I can go on without worrying about bringing breakfast supplies!

Even though it's instant, the oatmeal tastes pretty good. It doesn't get that gloppy, overcooked consistency that you might find in oatmeal that has been stewing for hours. The dried fruit and nuts are a welcome accompaniment, especially compared to your standard raisin topping. It made waiting for an early morning flight positively pleasant--not an easy thing to do.