Hearts of Pom: French Toast Style
So like I mentioned in the last post, Pom Wonderful sent me another free batch of their pomegranate juice to see what I could do with it. I love when this happens. I like having to be creative with something. Especially something free. And plus, you know, I figure that pomegranate juice is so healthy for you that it totally trumps all the egg and cream that’s in this french toast recipe, plus the breakfast meats (with an ‘s’) that I served it with.
Ok, maybe not. Maybe it won’t instantly unclog your arteries but it is full of antioxidants and hey, every little bit helps.
Oh, also it’s really tasty. And let’s be honest here. That’s the most important thing. What did Lennon used to say? “All you need is love deliciousness.” I’m pretty sure that’s what he said. It sounds right.
So anyway…I came up with this on kind of a whim this past Sunday. I come up with most things on a whim. And a prayer….Who could it be? Believe it or not, it’s just meeeeeee…..
Sorry. Had a “Greatest American Hero” moment there for a second. Where was I?
Oh, right, right, french toast. With pomegranate.
Josh is a big fan of french toast. I’m really more of pancake gal myself, but Josh, he loves him the pain perdu. He makes a mean french toast casserole. The only downside is that french toast casseroles take some planning and work. And you know me–I like to do things on a whim. And a prayer. Who could it be? Sorry, I’ll stop now. Anyway, I like to do things on a whi–er, more spontaneously, and with few ingredients. I honestly was just preparing a basic french toast batter and I thought, hmm, maybe I could just throw in some of that pomegranate juice and add a little flavor without any real work. Turns out, yes I can. Read the rest of this entry »
Banaberry Streusel Muffins
Where do banaberries come from, you may ask? Well *pats seat* come here and sit down. We should talk.
You see, when a banana and a blueberry love each other very much, they go out on a date. Sometimes drinking is involved and they end up doing some things they don’t remember in the morning, which is probably for the best as it’s most likely somewhat uncomfortable and disgusting. Banana sneaks out in the morning to avoid awkward conversation. And shortly later the fruit of their love is born: the banaberry.
Or…
In coming up with a more succinct name for these muffins I baked yesterday, I shortened the original lengthy moniker of “Banana Blueberry Muffins with Walnut Streusel” by combining the terms “Banana” and “Blueberry” into “Banaberry.” But that’s hardly romantic now, is it?
Anyway, so I was home all day yesterday. It was a planned day off to wait for FedEx to drop off my new iPhone (yes, I’m one of those). What was not planned was that FedEx dropped it off a day early on Tuesday. But hey, I’d already taken the day off. Might as well be productive and bake something delicious.
Three somethings, actually. I made a couple batches of les petits pains au chocolat for Josh, some more cornbread (sans the prosciutto this time) for both of us (but mostly me, really) and a batch of these rather lovely little muffins, which I took to work. Read the rest of this entry »
Green Eggs…and some ham
Sam-I-Am would approve
So you know that I’m not a huge fan of breakfast foods (my friends tease me because my favorite workweek breakfast is a bagel with chicken salad on top), but I do occasionally like eggs. If I’m going all out, I like to scramble them slowly over low heat with cream, olive oil, herbs and parmesan for a very unhealthy delicious and creamy dish served over asparagus and next to bacon or ham. And sometimes I like eggs in purgatory served next to black beans and tortillas. But sometimes I just want simple, low-fuss eggs but with high-end taste. And Sunday was one of those days. So I threw together this little dish.
This is more of an idea than a recipe. A no-recipe recipe, if you will. Guidelines. Suggestions. You know. Read the rest of this entry »
Step One: Learn How to Make a Basic Pancake
I’ll be honest—I have difficulty making good pancakes. I chalk it up to not doing it that often, partially (well, mostly) due to my aversion to breakfast foods. Plus if I have to eat something breakfasty, I prefer French toast most days and Josh does make an awesome French toast casserole. I used to be good at pancakes….when I was ten….and we bought boxed mix. Because let’s face it–those boxed mixes have the chemistry down; that’s because they spend millions of dollars on research and design. But making pancakes from scratch was never my forté.
But Josh likes pancakes. And I imagine I should learn to try to like breakfast foods more—at the very least, to make it less awkward when going out to eat and everyone else is ordering bacon, eggs, french toast and bagels and I’m ordering chicken caesar salad. Yeah, I’ve done that. At Angelos. You can get the chicken caesar there anytime. Also, I often get deli chicken salad and bread at Amer’s or Cafe Zola. But anyway—we’re talking about breakfasty foods here. So in an effort to be a more “breakfasty” person, I decide that what I need to do is just jump feet first into the syrupy pool of carbs and starches that everyone else seems to know and love.
First, however, I need to master the basic pancake. You know, sweet, fluffy, light, nicely browned. Not too doughy, not too flat. Pancakes. You know, pancakes. Read the rest of this entry »
Quiche Chic: the Tale of the Drunken Goat
Josh’s office held a potluck this week, which his coworker Sophia was kind enough to tell me about in advance (Josh is not very good about giving me advance notice of such things…it’s often a, “Oh, honey, I need a dish that feeds 20-30 people for a potluck…this afternoon” kind of thing. But anyway…potluck! Apparently this one had an international theme, in honor of the Winter Olympics. Ooh là là.
Immediately I thought, “I’ll do something French.” It’s my usual fallback. I credit this to five years of French class and billions of hours spent watching Pepe LePew cartoons in my youth. That crazy Pepe. Doesn’t he realize that’s a kitty?
I had the perfect recipe in mind, too, something I saw recently on FoodTV: balsamic chocolate truffles. While technically a recipe from Everyday Italian, I consider truffles French. And even if they were Italian….still fits the international theme. Also: chocolate. Win-win. But then I actually read the recipe and realized it would take like 4 hours to make those things and there was no guarantee they’d come out right the first time, and it’s a weeknight and well—maybe those were better left for a weekend project. C’est la vie.
So now I had to think of a real dish. Go go gadget brain! So to speak. I scrolled through the 15 or so recipes in my Evernote cookbook that are tagged “French” until I found one for a Roquefort quiche.
Hmm. Quiche, you say? Read the rest of this entry »
This is it. The very last Sunday spent in my apartment. Might as well celebrate it eggcellently (snicker).
Shortly before Christmas, my grandmother gave me a cast-iron skillet. Gorgeous one, too, with nice high sides. I have no idea how old it is but judging by the facts that it had been laying in the back of a cupboard, she couldn’t quite remember how she got it it and that the average age of items in her home is 53, I’m going to assume it’s probably about as old as me. But it’s nice high sides, ability to maintain a constant high heat and ease of going between the stove and the oven made it perfect for this morning’s potato and spinach frittata.
I’ve made frittatas before but I just want to reiterate how fantastic they are. You can put anything into one, they’re fast and easy to make, very filling, easy to expand for as many people as you like and best of all, easily done in one pan. Read the rest of this entry »
Apri-can: Apricot Crumbcake
I found a recipe in Cooking Light for Strawberry Jam Crumb Cake. It just sounds scrumptious, doesn’t it? It looks pretty good too. I have the week off and you know I can’t go more than a few hours without getting bored and baking something. My immediate thought was to make cookies, and then brownies, and then I thought that maybe I should try and wean myself just a little bit off my dependence on the black gold that is chocolate and try something new. And I’ve never made a crumb cake before (as least, I don’t think so, and if I ever did, I guess it was so terrible that I blocked it out) so I figured, why not?
Of course, I didn’t have any strawberry jam because what fun is baking if you actually have all the ingredients you need? I did have apricot preserves, though, since I’d needed it for my spicy apricot chicken. Works for me. Read the rest of this entry »
Apple French Toast Casserole
Well since Lauren hasn’t been feeling well I decided to make breakfast this morning. Oh, by the way I’m Lauren’s husband-and I can occasionally cook. So I went ahead and tried something new today-French toast casserole with apples and a caramel (like) glaze. This is AMAZINGLY easy and was fantastic.
So, yeah, I don’t really eat breakfast foods, per se. I know, I’m odd. I’m told that on a regular basis. I used to eat breakfast foods. I used to eat pancakes, french toast and waffles until I realized that those delicious yet sugary carbs were exactly the reason I was crashing and feeling crappy by midmorning. Again, I tend to have low blood sugar and reactive hypoglycemia and the worst thing I can do is start out the day with a metric ton of sugar pouring into my bloodstream. So I stopped eating those. Eggs tend to make me sick, and I only ever ate them scrambled anyway and not very often. And breakfast meats like sausage and bacon are full of fat, which I tend to avoid not only due to my preference for eating somewhat healthy but also because meat tends to make me sick to my stomach for some unknown reason, and the fattier the meat, the worse it is (I know, I know, I’m so oddly delicate, right?). So I avoid breakfast foods. We go out to brunch on the weekend and my husband gets an omelet or french toast…I get a chicken caesar salad. Or a gyro. Go out with coworkers during the week; they get bagels and cream cheese, I get chicken salad. That’s just sort of the way I am. Besides, in my opinion, lunch foods are way superior–and more varied–than breakfast anyway. Read the rest of this entry »
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