Dear East Coast,

Please, please, pretty please, make a donut like this.

It can't be that hard. In California you literally can't go a block without driving past a place that makes these things fresh. No, this is not even remotely close to some stale Dunkin Donuts donut from a store that doesn't even appear to have an oven. 

It's always the little things that you miss, so if you could get right on this, that would be great.

love, 

Me.

Baked Eggs... in a Pepper!

How does that look? Pretty delicious, right?

It definitely looks 100x better than my first baked eggs attempt which involved very flat, dry eggs in ramekins, one of which had a sort of bizarre bubble like growth on it; I was saving that whole debacle for one of my kitchen disasters posts except that I never got around to it, so here you go:

Since a year or so has elapsed, I thought I'd get right back in there. I was partly inspired by my previously made Fancy Schmancy Springtime Eggs, a rare Pinterest attempt that worked pretty much like they said it would:

ANYWAYS... back to this weekend's brunch. I started with half a pepper, this sort of strange looking white bell pepper is some kind of Long Island pepper that I am entirely unable to find on the internet, but which exists in large piles at my produce stand. It is not quite as sweet as a red or yellow pepper but not as tart as green- you could use basically any pepper of your choice but colored yellow/orange/red would taste better.

As you can see, I lined the bottom with very thin slices of cheddar, which is optional. You could put almost anything in here- other cheese, (cooked) bacon, green onions, whatever!

I then carefully cracked 2 eggs into the pepper- from my disappointing ramekin experience, I learned that the eggs do puff very slightly, but not as much as you might expect. These eggs went basically to the very top, and it was fine.

You might notice that there is suddenly tinfoil in the picture- I used that to brace the pepper so it didn't roll and dump egg everywhere. I sprinkled the top with sea salt, pepper, rosemary, and parmesan cheese.

I cooked the eggs in a 400 degree oven- it really took a lot longer than I would have expected- about 35 minutes for the eggs to cook through. I would recommend checking the eggs frequently (just poke them- you want to be sure the white is set all the way through so that should be pretty firm). I don't like extremely runny yolks, so mine were a bit more on the done side.

Although it took a while to bake, this looked great- definitely brunch-worthy. In addition, it makes almost everyone happy- the vegetarians, the low carbers,  the paleos, the gluten frees- this, my friends, is a people pleaser. I think the vegans are out of luck, but that's about it. Give it a try!

I had it with some avocado, and a side of mango with lime (mmmmmmmmmm).

Cheater 'Eggs in Purgatory': Seriously, it Does Not Get Easier Than This!

You may remember this shakshuka (aka Eggs in Purgatory) from a few weeks ago:

It was delicious, and pretty easy, but it did involve some amount of chopping and having the right veggies on hand. I have now discovered a miraculous short cut that will change this from 'delicious brunch item' to 'emergency weeknight dinner'. What is this magical ingredient, you ask?

I bought this by accident, and it is now going on my grocery list forever. Here is what I did in version 2:
1. dump can of tomatoes in non-stick pan along with 1/4c water
2. sprinkle with smoked paprika (which is soooooo good) if you have it, or else cayenne. and salt.
3. cook tomatoes until they turn from bright red to darker, stirring periodically
4. make 2 holes, crack in 2 eggs.
5. cover pan and cook until egg whites are firm
(optional- grate some cheese on top)
6. Eat.

2 ingredients, 15 minutes, healthy dinner... this is what weeknight staples are made of!

Savory French Toast- A New Spin on Brunch

This weekend I had bread, eggs, and avocado, and found myself trying to think of something to make. Of course, there is always scrambled eggs and toast, but I wanted something a little different. I finally landed on some form of French toast, and this is what I got!

First, to make French toast, you basically take 2 eggs, beat them well, and if you have it (and, it's better this way) put in a little of whatever type of milk you have on hand. You could definitely use only egg whites, just use a bit more so the volume is the same. Then, soak the bread. Be sure to move it around so all the parts of both sides are in the egg mixture for a while. When the egg is all soaked up, you're ready to cook! If this was sweet French toast I'd sprinkle with cinnamon, but instead I sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Now, you heat a griddle, or a good sized frying pan, and spread around your butter product of choice (I used Earth Balance). I don't really think cooking spray is going to work here. Drop the bread on the pan, and cook until the bottom is brown, then flip. You want it to be brown on each side, but you don't want to cook it longer than you need to or else it'll be dry.

Now... the toppings!

I went with a trio of toppings.... 1. smashed avocado (yes, that is like half an avocado, I didn't want to waste it! as a side note, in order to preserve the other half the avocado, rub a lime or lemon wedge all over the cut surface and it won't turn brown) 2. salsa 3. cheezy mixture- mine was a wedge of laughing cow cheese smushed up with a little salsa. you could also use cottage cheese, or ricotta, or cream cheese- any soft cheese to add some creaminess. Since there is no syrup, you want to be sure you have enough topping to make it all moist.

This was slightly weird, but really pretty good- it was definitely a nice change of pace from the usual scramble I always make, and it definitely highlighted the avocado (mmmmmmmm avocado. when I was a child, I was afraid of avocado and refused to eat it- I now refer to those as 'the lost years'.). 

If you were having a brunch, you could even make the base French toast recipe, and then provide different toppings (sweet vs savory) for people to choose from. If you're going to make a lot of French toast, I'd stick with the 1 egg/bread piece, but you can soak more pieces in a 9x13 pan.

Give it a try!

Eggs in Purgatory

Well, there has been some blizzard cooking going on around here for the last few days. I'm not even going to show you my one millionth attempt to make bread (other than my faithful beer bread). I actually was so irritated that it didn't work (why why why won't my bread rise in the oven???) that I made a second, only mildly better, batch. But, what DID emerge from all of this is what I think will be a new go-to recipe that I'm pretty excited about.

I went to brunch this morning and on the menu was "shakshuka", basically eggs poached in a tomato mixture. The version I had was based on tomatillos (side note: spell check would like me to change 'tomatillos' to 'automatism'), so was green and spicy and delicious. I knew I had to try to make it myself!

I didn't have tomatillos, I actually only had cherry tomatoes, but this recipe does not seem to be very picky.

The stuff (generally speaking):
1 tomato, chopped (or, a bunch of cherry tomatoes)
1/2 bell pepper, chopped fine
onion, chopped (I only had spring onions, and used 2)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp paprika
salt to taste
oil for cooking veggies
2 eggs
bread, to sop things up

What to do with it:
This amount of veggie worked for 2 eggs, if you want more eggs, increase as needed.
Pan selection is actually relatively important- since the egg will be cooking in the tomato mixture, not on the bottom of a pan, you want a pan that is small enough that a reasonable amount of veggies will pile deep enough to sit the egg in.  I used my little cast iron pan that I normally use for eggs.

Heat the oil, put in the garlic and onions for a minute, then throw in the tomato, pepper, and spices. Cover, and let it cook together until it tastes like the tomatoes are cooked. Honestly, all of my vegetable volume selection was geared towards filling the pan, but keep in mind they will all cook down a bit too. Once they are cooked, clear a spot for each egg and crack it in gently. Turn down the heat, cover, and heat. You really want to be sure the white gets firm, but the yolk should be soft or runny. I did a lot of poking the white with my finger to figure this out.

What's really good is that the yolk kind of runs into the tomatoes and makes them really rich and delicious. It's also good to have some bread handy, to sop up the tomato and egg.

This is one of those things that I can imagine being really flexible- you could probably throw in almost any choppable vegetable, and I'm sure you could make it with canned tomatoes, which puts it in the magical realm of things you can make on the fly with stuff from the pantry. You can also get away with pretty minimal oil which makes this both delicious and healthy! I'm sure I'll be having it again!

Fancy-schmancy Springtime Eggs- aka Brunch in 5 Minutes

Ok, in terms of cuteness vs. easiness, these eggs pretty much have all the odds in their favor. I saw them (of course) on Pinterest, and they originally came from Apron Strings. If you can get a 4 lobed pepper, they're not just cute, they look like little flowers! (and they'd be a lot cuter if I liked my eggs less cooked like the rest of the world seems to)

Anyhow... basically, here is your giant ingredient list, hold onto your hats!
Eggs
Bell peppers.

All you do here is slice the pepper into about 1/2 inch thick rings (through the widest part of the pepper). Heat up the pan on medium heat, spray with cooking spray or put in a little olive oil, put in the pepper, and crack the egg right into the pepper. A little egg will leak out, but it's easy to remove later.

You can flip them but you have to wait until the egg has cooked enough to stay together when you flip it. If you like runny eggs (which I don't) you could actually cook it on low until the egg seems solid and then serve as is! Use salt/pepper/chili sauce and whatever you normally would put on a fried egg.

Basically, it's not necessarily out of the ordinary in terms of taste, because it's still just a plain egg and bell pepper, but it definitely is an easy way to make eggs a little more special!

Scones: Not for the Faint of Heart

Here is another recipe that got buried in the depths of my iPhoto. THIS one dates way back to when I decided that the most appropriate food for watching the Royal Wedding was clearly English Scones (I'll note, I watched the wedding on DVR the next night, not having the stamina to stay up until 3am on the actual day) . I found a recipe on the internet (over at Delicious Days), and promptly realized I didn't have half the ingredients. Not one to let that stand in the way, I persevered.

Unfortunately, perseverance does not always pay off. At the Royal Wedding, Kate Middleton looked fresh, sophisticated, and absolutely beautiful.

At the time I watched the Royal Wedding, my scones looked and tasted like deformed, flat, burnt, rock hard cow patties (with a lovely decorative sliced almond topping).

I decided that kind of turn of events was best coped with by drinking a large glass of wine and settling in for hours of dress ogling, which I'm still pretty sure was the right decision. But I woke up in the morning bound to set things right. And oh, I did. This was batch number two. So good!

First I'll give you the good recipe, then let you know where I went astray.

What you need:

200g WHITE all-purpose flour, plus more for when you deal with the dough
1.5 tsp baking powder
2.5 tbsp white sugar
.5 tsp  salt
60g cold butter (yes, butter)
140-150g milk (I used almond milk)
some kind of fruit- raisins, cranberries, (I used dried cherries).

You'll notice that these measurements are in grams, which isn't normal for me, but that's how the recipe I found was, and part of going astray was not just sticking with it. So, I used my trusty food scale and did things right.

What to do with it:
Preheat your oven to 425, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. I used my food processor for this, but if you go back to the original site, there are directions for doing it by hand.

Put in the flour, the baking powder, the sugar and the salt and pulse briefly until well mixed. Make sure your butter is really cold, and cut it in to small pieces. Pulse that in with the dry ingredients until it forms a crumbly mixture with no large chunks of butter. Toss in whatever fruit you decide to use, pulse some more until it's chopped up and mixed. Distribute the chopped dried fruits and pulse once or twice, then add the milk of your choice and pulse again. Do this just until the dough comes together and the flour is incorporated- don't over mix. It can be a little wet, but you can always add a little more flour.

Dump out the dough onto  a well floured board. Sprinkle with more flour and knead it with your hands a bit, just enough for it to come together into a real dough. Now, smush/lightly roll the entire thing out so it is about 1.5 inches thick. You need something round to cut them- I just used a juice glass, but probably a cookie cutter is what's called for. Put each piece on the tray. Bake 13-15 minutes until golden brown.

Mine were delicious with butter and jam, but do with them whatever you like! They kept well in a ziplock baggie for about a week.

NOW... where did this all go so sadly wrong. My mistakes were:
1. wax paper can NOT (not not not!) be swapped out for parchment paper. Don't even try it. If I wasn't desperate for scones and already in my pajamas, I wouldn't have done it either.
2. apparently in this recipe, wheat flour is not a good thing. it just made it too dense- the difference in how well they rose in the wheat and white versions was remarkable. If you have some major baking mojo and know other ways to adapt this recipe around the wheat flour (I did add a bit more milk), it might work.
3. apparently, also in this recipe, Earth Balance (my butter substitute of choice) is vastly inferior to good old butter. (Julia Child would be proud)
4. I didn't trust the dough, and added too much flour. Then, I decided not do bother with using a cookie cutter or anything, and just cut them into triangles, which involved a little sawing, which apparently interferes with even rising.

What is the take home message? Basically, when baking, you have less leeway. Also, when something like Royal Wedding treats are on the line, just follow the recipe! Best of luck to you, may you learn from my mistakes!

The Famous Donut Muffins

I feel like I have been reading left and right on the internet about these donut muffins. I love donuts as much as the next girl, but they're not exactly something you can have on a regular basis. So, I figured I'd give this whole donut muffin thing a shot- I used a recipe from over at For The Love of Cooking, which you should totally check out if you don't read it already.

The Stuff:
- 3/4 c white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 cup of flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup of milk (I used almond milk, it didn't matter much)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

sugar topping:
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Basically, just mix everything together (I am not organized about that, but you can do wet and dry ingredients separately if you're really vigilant). Grease the muffin pan with cooking spray- don't use muffin cups because it'll ruin the whole ultimate donut-like effect. If you want them to be really round, just make about 9 muffins, or you can be more frugal and make 12. Bake them 15-18 minutes.

Now, for the topping. I made some rolled in cinnamon sugar mixture. Just wait a few minutes after cooking, then roll them around in the bowl. I also decided I wanted some glazed because to me, that is what actually makes a donut. I found this Alton Brown glaze, and it was really good. Now, the recipe he has is huge, I only had half my muffins to do anyways, so used a tablespoon of milk and half a cup of powdered sugar (and there was still extra). I put them on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath, and slowly spooned the glaze over. You can see both types in the picture.

Normally with something like this, I would do things like replace the eggs with egg whites, and reduce the oil, and other similar things. But, I figured the whole idea here was that the texture would be similar to a cakey donut, and I didn't want to mess that up. So, I left it as it was. Honestly, it actually did taste pretty donut like, I don't think you'd fool anyone, but the glazed ones in particular could definitely work for a craving... give it a try!

Homemade Granola Cherry Parfait

I've posted before about making granola, but I hadn't done it in a while, and man, was that a mistake!
This time, I just threw something together with stuff I had on hand, which admittedly wasn't that exciting. Basically, I had dates (which you've seen as a component of the green breakfast smoothies and the little date gorgonzola appetizers) and almonds (which you've just recently seen in the Lemon Almond Bulgur).

Granola:
-4 cups plain oatmeal
-.5 cup honey/molasses mixture (purely because I didn't have enough honey)
-.5 cup water with a half a lemon squeezed in (would be orange juice if I had it)
-.5 cup chopped almonds
-a bunch of chopped dates (look at the mixture and see if you want more or less)
-quite a bit of cinnamon (but, I really like cinnamon)

Mix everything together, and bake for about half an hour- then let sit and cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
Out of this, I made a delicious parfait for dessert (could have been breakfast):

-1c plain nonfat yogurt
-.5cup chopped fruit (for me, fresh cherries)
-granola, to taste

YUM!

Lemon Curd, Holy Smokes

I'm not sure what made me pick up some Lemon Curd on a trip to Trader Joes, but OMG am I ever glad I did.

Fruit curd is apparently meant for a dessert-like spread on scones and tarts. I am 100% on board with this, but I don't really eat enough scones to make this a viable way to make my way through this jar. I wouldn't have thought it was such an emergency... until I tasted it. It is like distilled down lemon meringue pie, and let me tell you, do I ever have a weakness for lemon meringue pie.

At any rate, in addition to the traditional uses, there are some other possibilities. One is to add a small teaspoon to sweeten up a green smoothie (by the way my green smoothie kick is still going strong). But my new favorite way is to really make oatmeal into something awesome. I've mentioned before about how much I love oatmeal, but this, this adds something special. Try it. You'll like it.

Breakfast Quinoa

I've been looking for some new breakfast ideas (although I'm not really over the whole smoothie thing quite yet, it seems good to diversify). So, over at Cara's Cravings I found this recipe for breakfast quinoa, which I had never really considered... its appealing because quinoa is so good for you, and I thought it might fill an oatmeal type role but with more protein.

She recommends using Almond milk, which I've been curious about but never tasted, so, I went for it! I cooked 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups water, with a splash of Almond milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Then, I let it cool a bit and stuck it in the fridge, and poured a bit more Almond milk to soak in overnight. In the morning, I put some in a bowl, topped with some cinnamon, a few frozen blueberries, and a drizzle of honey, and microwaved it.

It was pretty good! I think tomorrow I might put in some nuts or something to add a little different texture, and I also got some awesome plums at the farmers market and I'm planning to cut one up and throw it in there. I think I also just have to get used to the taste of quinoa as a breakfast thing. But, its worth continuing on (and, I have a lot left over so will be eating this for a few days, so there are more chances to try!). Give it a shot...

_____
****UPDATE!*****
I did get to try this with the awesome farmers market fruit, and it was much better (or maybe I just liked the fruit?). I also added additional almond milk. Anyways, check out how beautiful it was, here!

Easy Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Last Saturday, while in the midst of a massive spring cleaning, I started craving muffins. Since I was in my workout clothes, knee deep in the contents of my closet, with a ponytail sprouting directly out of the top of my head, I wasn't about to go to the grocery store, so the recipe had to involve things I actually owned. Luckily I found this recipe over at the ever-reliable For the Love of Cooking.

One note- I didn't have a lemon, and as I said, I wasn't going to the store, so I had to make do. The closest thing I had to lemon juice was Trader Joes margarita mix, which is kind of like limeade. I also only had plain nonfat yogurt rather than what the recipe called for (vanilla), so adjusted some other things accordingly, here is my version:

2 cups flour
.5 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
.25 tsp salt
.25 cup TJs margarita mix
1/8cup tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain fat free yogurt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1.5 cups frozen blueberries
.5 cup nuts
extra sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 400. Mix dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients. Once its mixed, stir in the berries and nuts. Divide into greased muffin cups, and top with a sprinkle of sugar. Bake about 18 minutes.

(once again, until the new camera arrives, this was taken with my cell phone so I apologize!)

These were really good, and totally satisfied my muffin craving without much work and definitely without a trip to the store. I actually liked the limey-ness of the margarita mix (maybe I'm still fixated on the loss of my lime...). You should try it!

Finally succumbed to the whole green smoothie thing...

OK, lets get this out of the way first-- I apologize on 2 fronts: 1. these pictures are STILL taken with my cell phone given the untimely demise of my camera. 2. I'm STILL sick so I can't post anything new other than smoothie recipes. But even so, its a good one, don't you worry.

There has been a lot of hype about adding dark leafy greens to smoothies. This is supposed to supply all kinds of extra nutrients, in addition to increasing energy levels and keeping you full longer. I have loved spinach since I was just a wee little child (I was apparently a weird wee little child- we have a copy of a Dr. Seuss book, "My Book About Me", in which I claim spinach is my favorite food. as a 4 year old). So, I went with spinach (don't get all excited about the camera, this is a free stock photo from http://www.sxc.hu/).

I was highly suspicious, but this was actually very good. I'm not going to go so far as to say you'd never know the spinach was in there. But I will say that you probably won't mind.

-1 cup fat free plain yogurt
-1 cup frozen blueberries
-1 cup baby spinach, washed and all that jazz
-2 tbsp walnuts
-1 squirt honey (I leave it to you to determine the volume of the squirt)
(see, now this is a camera phone picture).

Blend it either in a blender, or with an immersion blender, which is what I did.
The verdict: it is pretty good! It definitely is nutrient packed with the spinach, yogurt, blueberries and walnuts giving you plenty of antioxidants, vitamin A & C, iron, calcium, and omega-3's. Also, I really was full (but not overly full) for the entire morning, after sipping this. Don't be scared- I highly suggest you try it! I liked it enough that I've made at least 3 of them by now.

AN IMPORTANT WARNING: it is important to remember that you have just blended spinach and blueberries into tiny bits. I do NOT suggest drinking this at work unless you also bring a toothbrush. I also suggest not smiling at anyone until you have the opportunity to do a tooth check. Just saying.

*** ADDENDUM: I just made one this morning (these pictures are from a few days ago). I added Trader Joes lemon curd, to give it a little kick. holy smokes. I highly recommend either that or some lemon zest, it really brightened it up!

Pancake Time!

You know, sometimes you just want pancakes.

These pancakes are easy, pretty guilt-free, and yummy- what else can you ask for? It also makes a perfect sized batch, and doesn't require boxes of mix or any of that extra stuff that I never seem to have around at the exact moment I'm craving these.


The stuff:
1/4c oatmeal (NOT steel cut oats)
1/4c cornmeal
1/2c nonfat yogurt
1 egg white (or one egg)
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp baking soda
cinnamon

optional:
blueberries (just dump the frozen ones in there, still frozen)
half a banana
chopped nuts
vanilla
anything else you can imagine

What to do with it:
Basically, mix everything up in a bowl. Heat up a skillet/griddle, with some butter-like substance (I use Earth balance). I divide it up into 4 pancakes, because they fit on my griddle, but these are substantial! Cook on a fairly low temperature- when bubbles appear in the middle of the pancakes, flip. Cook until they're brown and done.

I topped them with Cranberry-apple butter from Trader Joes, because I freaking love that stuff. But, you could also use syrup, jam, microwaved frozen fruit which becomes kind of juicy, peanut butter, or whatever else it is you like on your 'cakes. One note- this doesn't make tons, but it is easily pancakes for 2- the pancakes in the picture are from an (approximately) 3/4 batch, and it was still a lot. But, you could easily freeze any extra ones if you wanted. Or, just eat a lot of pancakes, they're not that bad for you anyways!

These are really good- they kind of have a multi-grain like vibe to them, and especially if you load them up with delicious fruits and things, they're much more filling and substantial than plain pancakes... try them, they're good!

Tumeric Scramble

Today, I was reading an article on "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating". Although, actually it turns out I'm eating a lot of them. Except beets. Beets are gross.

At any rate, one of them is tumeric, and as you may remember I am the new owner of half a pound of tumeric. I use it for curry-type dishes, but the article suggested mixing it into eggs. I love eggs on the weekend, so figured why not.

Basically, I browned a bit of onion in olive oil, tossed in some frozen spinach, and added eggs (well, really, part egg whites, and 1 whole egg), salt, pepper, and tumeric.



You can tell there is something in there because the eggs are a bit more yellow that you'd think, given that they're mostly egg whites. (one of my secret favorite things about tumeric? if you squirt it with cleaning fluid, if it gets on the counter, it changes from bright bright yellow to bright red). These were really good, the flavor was subtle, but it really added a little something extra to the eggs... this is the kind of thing secret recipes are made of! try it!