Brunch with a frittata

At the end of April we had the pleasure of hosting Patrick's mother. She decided to fly down for a spring visit and to celebrate our belated birthdays as well as the announcement of our upcoming arrival. We had a wonderful weekend and, even though NC decided to display a bit of its unpredictable spring weather, we were able to enjoy some quality together on our deck (including this brunch).

Patrick and I love a good Sunday morning brunch so we planned a frittata with some fruit and pastry goodies. Originally I was planning to pick us up some Ninth Street Bakery biscotti, which I can usually find at a local Harris Teeter, but the grocery store was sold out of them. Fortunately our downtown Durham Saturday adventures walked us right past the storefront for the bakery and we left with something even better than the biscotti - a cinnamon bun and a blueberry cream cheese danish!

On Sunday morning while the frittata was finishing in the oven I sectioned orange halves and sliced a pear. We warmed the baked goodies in the toaster and then cut them into smaller pieces for everyone to share and nosh on as they please. Frittata recipe is below! We served it with toast from a Gulghupf loaf. We had some leftover bread after our Saturday morning breakfast which was homemade strawberry jam with toast.

Tomato Scallion and Cheddar Frittata inspiration from Martha Stewart
   Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
1 cup grape tomatoes (I'd recommend halving the tomatoes)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated cheddar

Directions
   Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a 10-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add scallions and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and cook about 5 minutes.
   Add eggs and cheese, season with salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Cook, undisturbed, until edges are set, about 2 minutes. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until top of frittata is just set, 10 to 13 minutes.
   Invert or slide frittata onto a plate and cut into 6 wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature.

We brought the baked goods platter out to the table and served the frittata on a cutting board. Everything was serve yourself and accompanied by the Sunday paper.

Perfect Sunday brunch if I do say so myself.

Homemade Granola

Today's post is no joke - I finally decided to tackle homemade granola! I had put it off for quite some time because there seemed to be a research learning curve I needed to tackle. When I start on new projects like these I try to find someone who does it so I can ask them questions and get some insider tips. Well I couldn't find anyone who made homemade granola so that led to many Internet tabs being open as I began my quest for figuring out how to make homemade granola.

As you might can imagine all of those open tabs had websites that were telling me different things. So this tells me that I really can't go wrong since most of the recipes / instructions were similar. I did, however, find this Buzzfeed article "How to make the best granola ever" most helpful. It is what I chose to reference for making our homemade granola. I liked it because it shares a template for how to make granola and then you can customize it however you want. For example, the recipe calls for grains and nuts but gives you several different options for what kind of grains and nuts to use. They share this idea in the article: Bottom line: All granolas are variations on the same simple formula. Definitely hop over to Buzzfeed if you're interested in making your own granola!

Here's my picture shortcut for the granola and below is the condensed Buzzfeed information. I have this printed and grab it whenever I'm making a batch.

How To Make The Best Granola Ever Source: Buzzfeed

With approximate amounts per batch, but feel free to tweak.
What we primarily use is noted below each ingredient.

GRAIN — 3 cups
   Plain rolled oats; use the “old-fashioned” kind, not instant or quick-cooking. Also consider: other rolled/flaked grains (rye, barley, etc); a couple tablespoons of (uncooked) quinoa, which bakes up nice and crunchy;a tablespoon or two of wheat germ or wheat bran, which are very good for you and will help bind the granola together.
   *We primarily use old fashioned oats.
NUTS — 1 to 1 1/2 cups
   The pecan may be the most perfect nut for any and all granola. Also consider: almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, or walnuts. If you have raw nuts, mix them in with everything else and bake normally. If you have nuts that are already roasted, wait until after baking and add them along with the dried fruit.
   *We use either raw pecans or almonds and add them in before baking; then sometimes we'll add pistachios after the baking.
SWEETENER — 1/2 to 3/4 cup
   Use a liquid sweetener (maple syrup, honey, agave or brown rice syrup). Maple syrup is much less globby than honey, thus easier to mix in. Combining the syrup with a little brown sugar can add a nice caramelized, crackly edge.
   *We prefer honey; I tried a batch with maple syrup and we didn't like it as much.
OIL — 1/4 to 1/2 cup
   Oil is important because it encourages the granola to get delightfully crispy-crunchy, keeps it from turning into a sticky mess, and makes it generally more delicious (fat carries flavor). Neutral oils like canola or grapeseed are a safe bet, but here’s a better idea: use good extra-virgin olive oil. It gives the granola a slightly bitter and very excellent complexity. Melted coconut oil is also a fun way to add flavor.
   *We use extra virgin olive oil
SALT — 1 tsp kosher or 3/4 tsp regular

Use if you like, skip if you don’t.
SEEDS — 1 to 2 cups
   Mix in raw seeds with grains and nuts and they’ll toast while baking. Also consider: pumpkin seeds, sunflower, flax, millet, and sesame seeds.
   *Sometimes we add pumpkin seeds.
COCONUT — 1 cup
   Big unsweetened coconut flakes or “chips” will toast nicely without burning.
   *We're not big coconut fans so we don't add this.
DRIED FRUIT — 1 cup (add after baking)
   The most important thing to remember if you’re adding dried fruit to granola is that you should NOT mix it in with the other ingredients until AFTER baking. Bigger fruits you should slice/chop before adding: dried apricots, dried figs, dried apples, dried pineapple, dried mango. Little fruits you can throw in as-is: raisins or golden raisins, craisins, dried cherries, dried blueberries. Citrus zest is also nice - try lemon, orange, or grapefruit.
   *We typically add dried cranberries but have also experimented with dried blueberries.
SPICES — 1 tsp.
   Cinnamon is pretty standard. Nutmeg and ginger are very nice too.
   *We've experimented the most with spices; I try to complement whatever other ingredients I'm using.
CHOCOLATE - 1/4 cup cocoa and/or 1 cup chips
   Option 1: Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder along with other dry ingredients before baking.
   Option 2: Add 1 cup chocolate chips AFTER granola has been baked and is cool, unless you want them to melt into globs.
   *We added chocolate chips to one batch and they were really tasty.
EGG WHITE — 1 egg white (about 2 Tbsp.)
   If you want to feel more virtuous about your granola, lightly beat one egg white until it’s foamy, and mix it in as a replacement for some of the oil (2-4 Tbsp). This will help bind the granola together and make it crispy.
   *We have not tried this.

Directions
   Measure grain, nuts, seeds, salt, and spices into a large bowl. *I add them directly to my baking pan to save myself a bowl to wash.
   Add sweeteners, oil, and egg white (if using). *I mix them together in a measuring cup then add to the pan.
   Stir, stir, stir.
   Spread out on a large rimmed baking sheet. You can line the sheet with parchment paper to guarantee zero sticking (helpful if you’re using less oil), or not worry about it.
   Bake at 300 degrees for 30-45 minutes, giving it a stir after about 20 minutes. All ovens are different, so check yours at the earlier end of the time range to see how brown it is, and keep a nose out to make sure it’s not burning. Keep in mind that it won’t be crunchy even when it’s done baking; the granola will set and harden as it cools. *I usually don't keep it in the full 45 minutes.
   Stop when the granola looks toasty brown and smells incredible.
   Let the granola cool completely in the pan, then store in an airtight container. *See below for clusters; we don't like big chunks / clusters so I give the granola a stir about 5-10 minutes after it's come out of the oven.

If you want big chunks/clusters of granola for snacking…
1) Definitely use egg white. Whisk in a small bowl until it’s foamy, then add to the granola mixture. Pat the granola into an even layer on a baking sheet.
2) Do NOT stir the granola while baking it. Just bake normally (45+ min at 300 degrees), let it cool completely in the pan, and then break into whatever size chunks you fancy.

We have fun experimenting with various granolas!

Patrick had really gotten into eating granola but I guess I was the one who wanted to venture into making homemade granola so that it could be a bit more cost effective and we could control what went into it. Here's Patrick's thoughts on the granola: "I was really surprised with how much better the homemade granola was than the various store-bought brands we had tried. I keep a jar at my desk to snack on when I get hungry in the late afternoon, and it's very filling and delicious (with some nutrition too!)." 

As Patrick mentioned he primarily snacks on his granola at work. I like adding the granola to a dollop of yogurt and have it at breakfast. Or we'll do this during the weekend as an afternoon snack too. Check out some of the flavors we've tried; they all use old fashioned oats and extra virgin olive oil so the nuts, sweeteners, and spices are what I changed. 

Nuts: Pecans (added before cooking)
Dried fruit: Blueberries
Sweetener: Maple syrup
Spices: Cinnamon
Thoughts: The maple syrup is stickier than the honey and makes the granola a bit more clustery than we like.

Nuts: Almonds (before cooking)

Dried fruit: No fruit, added mini chocolate chips

Sweetener: Honey

Spices: Cinnamon

Thoughts: This one is dangerously addicting but a bit on the sweet side.

Nuts: Almonds (before cooking, pistachios after cooking)

Dried fruit: Cranberries

Sweetener: Honey

Spices: Nutmeg and ginger

Thoughts: This is a bit more savory with the extra nuts and lack of cinnamon. Patrick requests this one the most.

If you're a granola eater I promise trying a homemade batch will be easier than you think!

Update to buttermilk pancakes

Pancakes occasionally make it into our home brunch rotation. I used to shy away from them when I didn't quite have the technique down, but now that I've improved we make them on a more regular basis. We've tried several different recipes but our go-to is the Cook's Country buttermilk pancakes recipe, featured here.

One morning recently I came into the kitchen to find that Whitney had already made the pancake batter, and that it was a bit browner than usual. I feared that she might have prepared this unleavened disaster of a pancake recipe, but thankfully it turned out she had just substituted half the flour in our regular recipe with whole wheat. This was still a bit of a risky move given that whole wheat flour can alter the texture and moisture content, but in this case it ended up working perfectly and I couldn't tell a difference from the original recipe.

I'll also add some thoughts on making pancakes based on my experience thus far. The keys to cooking them right are determining the proper heat level for the stove (somewhere around "medium" so that it's hot enough to brown the outside, but not so hot that it burns before fully cooking through), and then waiting long enough for the pan to properly pre-heat before adding the batter (it takes forever!). I'm still working on my flipping technique. I don't know how you cleanly flip a disc that's half liquid, but at least part of it is leaving enough room around the pancake to slide the spatula in, and sliding it in fast. Anyone have tips for the actual flip?

Anyway, here's the recipe with Whitney's whole wheat flour substitution.

Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes Inspiration from Cook's Country
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 egg
3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
vegetable oil

Directions
   Whisk the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl to combine. In a separate bowl whisk the egg and melted butter into the milk until combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; pour in the milk mixture and whisk very gently until just combined with only a few lumps remaining - do not over mix.
   Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot (about 3-5 minutes). Add 1 tsp oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake and cook until large bubbles begin to appear (1 1/2 to 2 minutes). Flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown (will need slightly less time than the first side). Serve immediately.

Grits and corn muffins

Patrick and I hadn't made grits in awhile for brunch so, when meal planning, I added grits for our weekly brunch meal recently. The corn muffins, however, were a late addition and quickly made from scratch that morning.

I was able to whip up the corn muffins because Patrick had already eaten a light breakfast. Let me explain why Patrick has two breakfasts. Sometimes our weekend brunch meal can be later in the morning than Patrick would like. Despite having the meal plan written he doesn't like jumping in the kitchen and starting to cook so he waits for me to fix breakfast. But I like lazy mornings and don't prefer to start my day immediately with cooking. After some "hangry" Patrick mornings we learned that Patrick needs to come down after waking up and eat something light, typically a bowl of cereal, and then we'll have a bigger breakfast together in a little while. I, on the other hand, can hold over my breaking of the fast in the morning and don't mind a later breakfast. If you're curious my "hangry" times are having a late dinner without an afternoon snack.

So when I came downstairs this morning and saw that Patrick had eaten his breakfast snack I knew I had a bit of extra time to make corn muffins. The grits are a quick cooking grit so they don't take much time. I stumbled across a honey corn muffin that sounded delightful and off we set to make them!

For the grits I sauteed an onion and added some frozen corn kernels before adding in the chicken stock and grits. We finished them with some milk and parmesan cheese. The grits were served with the corn muffins and avocado.

Honey Corn Muffins from the Neely's and Food Network
   Makes 12 muffins (we cut in half)
Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
Special equipment: paper muffin cups and a 12-cup muffin tin

Directions
   Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
   Into a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the whole milk, eggs, butter, and honey. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.
   Place muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. Evenly divide the cornbread mixture into the papers. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden.

Quiche Updates

It's no secret that Patrick and I turn to quiche for a brunch option. We typically reserve quiche for when we're having guests over because we can bake it the day before. Although we will sometimes make a quiche for a weekend brunch for just the two of us and enjoy the leftovers over the next couple of days.

Today we're updating the blog with some quiche thoughts. Over time we've altered the recipe a bit - primarily with the liquid because it overflows out of the pan a lot. And for the first time, with this quiche shared in this post, we used a homemade pie crust that we had frozen. I'll include all of our tried and true tips for quiche making at the end of the post!

One reason I love keeping quiche in the brunch rotation is because the filling options are limitless! We've made ham and caramelized onions, sundried tomatoes and spinach, butternut squash and caramelized onions, ham and cheese, leek and sun-dried tomatoes, only cheese, and most recently spinach, mushroom, and goat cheese. Below is our updated information for making quiche!

Spinach, mushroom, and goat cheese quiche in a homemade crust

Quiche

Make the crust
   We're still loving the Martha Stewart Classic Pie Crust that is made with butter, flour, a bit of sugar and salt, and some water. Here's the recipe:

   In a food processor pulse together
      1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
      1/2 tsp salt
      1/2 tsp sugar
   Then add 1 stick butter (cold, unsalted and cut into pieces) and continue to pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with just a few pea-size pieces remaining.
   Sprinkle with 2 tbsp ice water and pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed with fingers. If needed add up to 2 tbsp more ice water, 1 tbsp at a time. I usually find that I need the additional water.
   Turn dough out onto a work sugar and form into a 3/4" disk. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate until firm. Martha recommends an hour but I don't always do that.
   After the dough has been chilled, flour your work surface and place the disk here. Roll dough to a 14" round. Gently place over the pie plate. Trim overhang to 1" and fold under to form a uniform edge around the rim. Refrigerate for an hour.
   We usually always blind bake a crust now. To do so place pie weights (or dried beans) into the crust and bake in a 350F preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until slightly golden. This prevents the dough from becoming too soggy. The crust is now ready for filling!

As mentioned in the introduction we've had success with freezing this crust. In December when I was making a quiche I made two crust and froze the second one. Two days before making this quiche I removed the crust from the freezer and let it thaw in the refrigerator. Rolling it out and eating it seemed just like a freshly made crust! From now on I think I'll be making two crusts every time I need one.

Assemble the filling
   After the crust has been made and blind baked we assemble the filling. We find it easier to layer the filling on the bottom of the pie before pouring the egg mixture over it. This ensures that the filling is evenly distributed throughout the quiche. After spreading the vegetables and protein we sprinkle cheese over top. If a vegetable contains a lot of moisture like mushrooms we like to saute those first before layering on the crust. Sometimes we'll also place cheese under the vegetables / protein.

Prepare the custard
   Finally we top the quiche filling with this egg custard from a local cookbook.

   Combine and whisk together: 4 eggs, 1 cup dairy* (may use milk or half & half or a combination), dash of salt and pepper. Other seasonings as they complement the filling.
*The original recipe calls for 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup half & half. We've reduced the dairy to 1 cup to prevent the custard from overflowing the pie crust. Our pie pans are not deep dish and I imagine this is not necessary for deep dish shells.
   Pour over filling. To prevent making a mess place the pie pan on a baking sheet to help move the quiche to and from the oven. The last quiche we made had a little bit of overflow that was baked on to the pan (and fortunately not dripping in the oven). Patrick suggests placing the quiche on the extended oven rack, pouring in the custard, and pushing the rack back into the oven but when I tried this the movement of pushing the oven rack in caused the custard to splash out. Just some extra info!

Bake the quiche
   Bake the quiche in a preheated 375F oven for 45 minutes or until firm and brown. Allow quiche to set up for at least 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Faux Latte with Cold Brew Coffee

Are you familiar with cold brew coffee? It seems to be gaining quite a bit of popularity. I was vaguely aware of cold brew coffee and wondered out loud to Patrick if it could be a good option for us to have on hand for our Cookies & Cocoa party. Since we only have our Keurig we needed to be able to have a pot of coffee for our guests. Patrick hadn't heard of cold brew coffee and after some research we decided it wasn't a good option for the party. Our neighbor's coffee machine / pot saved us for that! Part of why we didn't do it for the party was because I only asked him the night before and we would've needed a trial and error research period.

Back to cold brew coffee. I had piqued Patrick's interest in the technique when I was wondering aloud before the party. So we figured out what it was:

"Cold brew ... refers to the process of steeping coffee grounds in room temperature or cold water for an extended period. Cold brew coffee is not to be confused with iced coffee, which generally refers to coffee that is brewed hot and then chilled by pouring over or adding ice, though iced coffee can refer to cold brew coffee served on ice. The cold water extract process requires grinding: coarse-ground beans are soaked in water for a prolonged period of time, usually 12 hours or more. The water is normally kept at room temperature, but chilled water can also be used. The grounds must be filtered out of the water after they have been steeped using a paper coffee filter, a fine metal sieve, a French press or felt in the case of the Toddy system. The result is a coffee concentrate that is often diluted with water or milk, and can be served hot, over ice, or blended with ice and other ingredients such as chocolate." [Wikipedia] 

We followed the procedure highlighted on this website: 1 part coffee grounds to 4 parts water. Into a one quart mason jar we place 1 cup of coffee grounds and fill the rest with water. We then place the jar into the refrigerator and let it "brew" overnight. Finally strain out the coffee grounds through a coffee filter and sieve into a pitcher and put it back into the quart jar to store.

Step 1 - Place 1 cup of ground coffee into a quart jar

Step 2 - Fill with water

Step 3 - Refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours

Step 4 - Strain out coffee grounds and store in refrigerator (not pictured)

Patrick is a bit more of a coffee snob than I am and didn't enjoy the cold brew coffee concentrate. He did like adding it to his homemade mochas though. I, on the other hand, am not a coffee snob and have really enjoyed making faux lattes with cold brew coffee. To present the cold brew coffee as a traditional cup of coffee you would mix it with water in a one to one ratio. When I make the the faux latte it's at least a one to four ratio of cold brew concentrate to milk.

Faux Latte with Cold Brew Coffee
   In a small pot (I use a butter warmer) add 1 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of cold brew coffee concentrate and bring to a simmer. Serve immediately.

What do you think?? Have you tried cold brew coffee? This faux latte is my new go-to coffee drink in the mornings... when I'm not drinking tea of course!

Banana peanut butter and chocolate crepes

These crepes were a fun holiday brunch splurge for us at the end of the month. Even though they were a splurge they still allowed us to utilize ingredients from the fridge and pantry. I didn't buy anything special for the filling. The crepe batter calls for whole milk so I had purchased a pint of that in preparation of our crepe brunch. All of those sweet things (marshmallows, peanut butter, chocolate chips, ...) were all leftover from our holiday cookie baking. We served the crepes with bacon and fresh orange. Read on to see what we did for the filling!

For the crepe batter [serves 2-3]
   3/4 cup all-purpose flour
   2 eggs
   1 cup whole milk
   1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
   pinch of salt
   Place the flour in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking to combine. Add the milk bit by bit and whisk to combine until all the milk is incorporated. Whisk in the extra virgin olive oil and season with salt. Refrigerate overnight.

For the banana peanut butter-chocolate filling
   To prepare the peanut butter-chocolate drizzle, place a glass bowl over a pan with boiling water to create a double boiler. Warm 1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Once they begin to melt stir in 1/4 cup peanut butter. Stir constantly until all of the chocolate chips have melted and the peanut butter is incorporated.
   To assemble the crepes, place sliced banana down the center of the crepe and throw in some mini marshmallows. Drizzle with the peanut butter-chocolate sauce. Wrap the crepe and finish with the sauce and whipped cream.

Want more crepes? Bananas foster | Fresh strawberries | Balsamic strawberry and mascarpone | Raspberry nutella | Savory with leek and mushrooms

Warm Lentil Salad with Sausage and Apple

It's no secret that Patrick and I take pleasure in weekend brunch. We love trying new brunch recipes (or sticking with old favorites) and having a relaxing morning in our home. On this particular morning for today's featured recipe we were hosting my parents for brunch before going to see a DPAC matinee. I'm not quite sure where I ran across this recipe but it's a warm lentil salad with sausage and apple and thus a new recipe. We served it with a cheese quiche which is an old favorite - grab the quiche recipe here.

Knowing our brunch would be more on the "lunch" side of things rather than the "breakfast" end we decided to steer towards a more lunch-based brunch with this salad that I think is perfect for brunch! I think it's so perfect that I wanted to share it before Christmas because I think it would be great to prepare around the holidays with family around. You can pair it with a quiche like we did and also add something sweet to the plate if you'd like. It's got sausage and lentils so it's quite filling too. It's a nice way to lighten up some holiday fare but still imparts lots of flavor and can please traditional palettes.

Warm Lentil Salad with Sausage and Apple
   Serves 4
Ingredients
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
3 links hot or sweet turkey sausage, casings removed (we subbed pork breakfast sausage)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cooked or canned (rinsed) lentils
1 small bulb fennel, finely diced (we subbed green onions)
1 Granny Smith apple, finely diced
2 stalks celery with leaves, finely diced
6 cups arugula or mesclun greens

Directions
   Whisk 3 tablespoons oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
   Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook, stirring often and breaking up, until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds more. Stir in lentils and heat through, about 2 minutes. Stir in 5 tablespoons of the dressing and remove from the heat. Stir in fennel, apple and celery.
   Toss greens with the remaining dressing. Serve with the warm lentil mixture on top.

Happy brunching!

Oatmeal and biscotti

We have a favorite baked oatmeal recipe with one big problem: by the time we decide to make it, and then prep it and bake it, I'm super hangry and half the day has been wasted. This was the big motivation to start experimenting more with stovetop oatmeal. The main difference is that you have to cook it in boiling water instead of slowly in the oven with milk, so you lose some of the tastiness of the milk base and it's easier to cook it improperly and end up with tasteless runny mush.

But if you cook with just enough water and just enough time and add delicious mix-ins, you can get a really good result in less than 15 minutes total. The one pictured below was pretty much a direct imitation of the baked oatmeal recipe along with a splash of half and half. I've also experimented with pecans, peanut butter, crunchy granola, and chocolate.

This post also features some tasty hazelnut biscotti that Whitney picked up from Ninth Street Bakery. I was initially leery of them as I thought the texture would be too dry, hard, and crunchy for my liking, but I found that they are awesome when you dip them in coffee and couldn't get enough. All in all we had a great breakfast that day!

Cheese ravioli

Well it looks like Mother Nature was waiting for the calendar to turn to a new month before rolling out a new weather pattern! Our Thanksgiving was unseasonable warm and now it seems like we're back on track weather-wise for this time of year.

Even though we had a few cold streaks throughout fall it's been mostly warm and moderate. This means our CSA farm box was able to offer summer produce for a little longer than usual. You may remember that a few weeks ago we were able to get yellow squash and made this squash and fontina casserole. That left some fontina cheese hanging out in the refrigerator.

When Patrick and I decided the following weekend that ravioli would be delightful I rummaged through the refrigerator to see what would go well into our filling. The fontina won the filling contest and went into our cheese ravioli. We've made cheese ravioli before so I was loosely basing it off that. This was one of our best raviolis to date! We finally feel like we're over the learning curve hump and can make a good product that doesn't bust while cooking, the pasta is the right consistency, and everything turns out well.

We served our cheese ravioli on a bed of arugula with roasted cherry tomatoes and garlic then finished with a balsamic glaze.

Apparently the was the fontina that just keeps giving! There was some cheese filling leftover from the ravioli so I put it on toast and made egg-in-the-holes the next day for breakfast.

Bread diary - Banana bread

This banana bread is my new go-to banana bread recipe! I've dabbled with a few banana muffin recipes before (see here and here) but this blew them out of the water. This banana bread is really tasty and if you eat it right out of the oven then there might not be any for later.

The first time we made the recipe I baked them in silicone mini loaf pans. But the cats have since gnawed on the silicone mold and I'm back to using aluminum pans. I knew making two large loaves would be too much for us so I decided to slice all the loaves up and freeze them in individual slices. Now we'll have yummy banana bread for breakfasts when we need something quick!

Recipe may be doubled for two loaves!

Banana Bread inspiration from Cook's Illustrated New Best Recipe

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well (~1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
   Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x5 loaf pan; dust with flour and tap out the excess.
   Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and pecans together in a large bowl; set aside.
   Mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
   Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

Breakfast of champions - banana bread, eggs and bacon, strawberries
Served to Patrick before his road trip to a bachelor weekend

It's Always Caturday

Dupree taking over Patrick's side of the bed

Breakfast with cherry tomatoes

You may have noticed that Patrick and I really enjoy brunch! When I'm doing the meal plan I try to make one nicer weekend breakfast a more relaxing brunch with something we don't usually eat on the weekdays. Waffles, pancakes, quiches, and crepes are all in our rotation. And then sometimes we jazz up a weekday breakfast so it can be a more vibrant brunch - oatmeal and bacon and eggs, for example. 

On this particular occasion we were able to kick up bacon, eggs, and toast a notch. Artisan cherry tomatoes from our farm CSA and basil from our herb garden assisted us that morning. I viewed this as a loose "BLT" for breakfast - bacon, basil substituting for the lettuce, and cherry tomatoes.

Here's what we did:
   In a medium fry pan cook 4 strips of bacon. Remove from pan once at desired crispness. Fry 2 eggs in pan with a little bacon grease.
   Meanwhile, slice cherry tomatoes (~1/2 pint). Mix cherry tomatoes with minced fresh basil, small glug of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Also be toasting two pieces of bread.
   To serve top toast with eggs and bacon alongside. Spoon tomato mixture over the egg.

Buttermilk pancakes with warmed maple peaches

Double team brunch! This buttermilk pancakes with warm peach topping brunch is a great example of Patrick and myself working together in the kitchen. Sometimes we split up different parts of a recipe and combine things together, sometimes one of us is "in charge" and tells the other how to chip in, or sometimes, as in this case, there are two different components to the meal and we can work independently as we both prepare our portion. While Patrick made the pancakes I worked on the peach topping! 

Buttermilk Pancakes with warmed maple peaches inspiration from Cook's Country Cookbook & food.com
Serves 2

Ingredients
   For the pancakes
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 egg
3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
vegetable oil
   For the peaches
3-4 peaches, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
good sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice (or combination of cinnamon and nutmeg)

Directions
   Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl to combine. In a separate bowl whisk the egg and melted butter into the milk until combined. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; pour in the milk mixture and whisk very gently until just combined with only a few lumps remaining - do not over mix.
   Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot (about 3-5 minutes). Add 1 tsp oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake and cook until large bubbles begin to appear (1 1/2 to 2 minutes). Flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown (will need slightly less time than the first side). Serve immediately with peach topping.
   While the pancakes are cooking, prepare the peach topping. In a medium skillet over medium heat melt butter. Add peaches, maple syrup, lemon juice, and pumpkin pie spice. Toss to coat evenly and simmer for about 5-10 minutes. The peaches will soften and a sauce will come together.
   Top with whipped cream - shaped in a heart if you made these for your significant other!

It's Always Caturday

Dupree being Patrick's sous chef

Chorizo - egg bake

I was feeling like we had gotten into a bit of a brunch rut - lots of waffles, eggs and toasts, some oatmeal recipes, pancakes, and other recipes that are in our rotation. So maybe there was variety in our brunch rotation but nothing new! And I was ready to try a new brunch recipe. Our CSA routinely offers chorizo which is a fresh sausage typically with Mexican spices added into it and can be a bit spicy. We've never gotten the chorizo before so I found a recipe to try with it and thus begins our chorizo bake adventure! Patrick was a little skeptical at first because the last time he had chorizo it was too spicy and he didn't like the dish.

This turned out really well! The chorizo from our CSA was on the mild side and the flavor profile of the dish was quite tasty. It does take a bit of time to prep but the potatoes can be boiled ahead. We actually had a smoothie while the potatoes boiled, went for a 3 mile walk while they cooled, and then made the chorizo bake when we got back from the walk. We had never baked eggs so that was fun to try as well.

Baked Eggs with Chorizo and Potatoes
Serves 8 [we halved and had leftovers for breakfast the next day]
Ingredients
2 lbs medium Yukon Gold potatoes
1 1/2 lbs fresh chorizo, casings removed
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 large eggs
Toast and hot sauce, for serving - we also served with an avocado

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375°. Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook over moderate heat until tender, about 25 minutes; drain and let cool. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 3/4-inch pieces. Meanwhile, heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Add the chorizo, break it into chunks with a wooden spoon and cook over moderate heat, turning, until cooked through and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Scrape the chorizo mixture into a bowl and wipe out the skillet.

Heat the oil in the skillet. Add the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until golden and crispy, about 6 minutes. Stir in the chorizo mixture. Remove the skillet from the heat. Using a ladle, make 8 indentations in the potato-chorizo mixture about 1 inch apart; crack an egg into each one. Bake the skillet in the middle of the oven for about 12 minutes, or until the egg whites are just set but the yolks are still runny. Serve at once with toast and hot sauce.

Happy 4th! If you're looking for a weekend brunch recipe then this would surely fit the bill.

Strawberry Biscuits

During the height of strawberry season - which wasn't too long ago - Granny sent me some delicious fresh strawberries right out of the patch. I knew I wanted to try something special with the strawberries and thought this strawberry and cream biscuit recipe from Smitten Kitchen was just the right splurge!

The biscuits tasted wonderful. Unfortunately they didn't rise quite as much as I was expecting but I'm not the best biscuit maker ever so maybe I overworked the dough. The recipe below is pasted exactly from the smitten kitchen website so all the notes are hers.

Thanks for the strawberries, Granny! If it's not too late in the season and you can find fresh strawberries then these will be a great addition to your July 4th weekend.

Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry and Cream Biscuits
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (15 grams) aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold, unsalted butter
1 cup (about 130 grams) chopped very ripe strawberries (I quarter small or medium ones and further chop larger ones)
1 cup heavy cream

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together. Add butter, either by cutting it in with two knives or a pastry blender (alternatively, you can freeze the butter and grate it in on the large holes of a box grater; a tip I learned from you guys) cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, breaking it up until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal with tiny pea-sized bits of butter about. Gently stir in the strawberries, so that they are coated in dry ingredient, then stir in heavy cream. (I like to use a rubber spatula to gently lift and turn the ingredients over each other.) When you’ve mixed it in as best as you can with the spatula, go ahead and knead it once or twice in the bowl, to create one mass. Do not worry about getting the dough evenly mixed. It’s far more important that the dough is not overworked.
Generously flour your counter. With as few movements as possible, transfer your dough to the counter, generously flour the top of it and with your hands or a rolling pin, gently roll or press the dough out to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2 1/2-inch circles with a floured biscuit cutter or top edge of a drinking glass, pressing straight down and not twisting (this makes for nice layered edges) as you cut. Carefully transfer scones to prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between each.
You can re-roll the scraps of dough, but don’t freak out over how wet the dough becomes as the strawberries have had more time to release their juice. They’ll still bake up wonderfully.
Bake the scones for 12 to 15 minutes, until bronzed at the edges and the strawberry juices are trickling out of the biscuits in places. Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Do ahead: Biscuits are generally best the day they are baked. However, if you wish to get a lead on them, you can make them, arrange them on your parchment-lined sheet and freeze them. If you’re prepping just one day in advance, cover the tray with plastic wrap and bake them the day you need them. If you’re preparing them more than one day in advance, once they are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag or container. Bring them back to a parchment-lined sheet when you’re ready to bake them. No need to defrost the froze, unbaked scones, just add 2 to 3 minutes to your baking time.

Quiche

Here's a quiche we made. I don't remember what it was for but I'm sure it was good!

We've really improved our quiche game over the years. Used to struggle with soggy crusts and overflowing filling but have gotten much better. We've been making our homemade pie crust, rolling it out in a pie bag, and parbaking it, which ensures it doesn't get soggy when the filling is added. When adding the filling I usually pour in the last bit of filling when the quiche is already on the oven rack so it can't spill while I'm moving it. The next step is to figure out how to make a nice-looking crust edge. We've tried making a wavy one with our fingers but by the end of the baking process it gets kind of warped.

Anyway, we like quiche.

Apple oatmeal pancakes

Last month we shared a recipe for oatmeal pancakes and enjoyed them so much that we decided to make them again! This time around we added in one of the "stir ins" which was finely diced apple to make apple oatmeal pancakes.

Quaker Oats' Favorite Oatmeal Pancakes
Makes 12 4" pancakes [we halved the recipe for just the 2 of us]

Ingredients
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cups old-fashioned or quick Oats, uncooked
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp salt, optional
1-1/4 cups fat-free milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Optional stir-ins
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
1 medium-size ripe banana, mashed, and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
** 3/4 cup finely chopped apple, 1/4 cup chopped nuts and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
In large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder and salt; mix well. In medium bowl, combine milk, egg and oil; blend well. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. (Do not overmix) Add one of the stir-in options, if desired; mix gently. Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly grease skillet. For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter into hot skillet. Turn when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Turn only once.

Omelet and grits

The other morning I decided to make omelets. Omelets are a rare breakfast in the Eibl house because they usually turn into scrambled eggs and who wants to start the day being defeated by breakfast?! The past few times I've made omelets for us they haven't morphed into scrambled eggs so I'd say I'm perfecting my technique. This omelet was filled with ham and cheese and served over grits.

I had never put an omelet over grits before and that was a fun way to serve them! You should try it this way next time you make an omelet and grits :-)

Outdoor Luncheon

At the beginning of May Patrick and I hosted a few of his coworkers for an outdoor luncheon. It was a gorgeous spring day and we were able to have the luncheon on our back deck. The weather was lovely, the food was the perfect complement to spring weather, and the company was very enjoyable.

Patrick and I made a caprese salad (grape tomatoes, fresh basil, marinated mozzarella, and balsamic), this watermelon-and-goat cheese orzo salad, and chicken salad with mini croissants. We had fresh strawberries and pimento cheese with crackers as an appetizer as well. Our guests contributed meatballs and a variety of fruit.

We set up our small outdoor table to be used as the buffet table. This is great for two reasons - 1) the food is outside with the people so everyone can help themselves as they wish and 2) the food is outside with the people and not inside with the cats so the cats can't help themselves as they wish.

The centerpiece of where we were to dine included flowers and our drinks. We had bloody Mary fixings and a cocktail available.

We look forward to hosting many more meals on the deck! It's such a joy to sit outside and listen to nature while partaking in good food and good company.

Quick weekday breakfast

Sharing pics from one of our first breakfasts at our new dining room table! Patrick also happens to be eating a quick weekday breakfast.

For the breakfast
Toast topped with a fried egg (in olive oil), avocado, and tomato served with fresh pineapple and coffee.

We are loving our new table! You may have noticed that the backdrop for our dishes has changed. The dark stain really makes everything pop. I'll have a post soon on the table and buffet. We had a local company handcraft the pieces and we couldn't be more pleased with them!

Patrick enjoying breakfast