Sometimes, donuts with quickly-designed flags are the only thing to get you through the last week of school.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Coping Through Pastry.
Sometimes, donuts with quickly-designed flags are the only thing to get you through the last week of school.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Chocolate making.
We've been making our own chocolate, something far more fun and satisfying than I had initially thought. The one above houses whole almonds, crispy rice cereal, chia seeds, and sea salt. Hayden wants to make a batch sprinkled with Fruit Loops cereal, which, I have to admit, sounds at least visually appealing, don't you think?
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Monday, December 16, 2013
how I make granola.
I get in these funks where I want to cook something, but I'm too tired/injured/filled with darkness to bother with complicated recipes. This is where granola comes in because, for myself and my family, it's an incredibly healthy and quick option, and also very versatile. And--man--do I love my oats.
Every person I know makes granola a different way. This is mine.
Granola
4 cups whole oats
2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cardamom
2 1/2 tbsp. powdered stevia
pinch of kosher salt
2 medium overripe bananas, mashed, then pureed in blender
1 tbsp. coconut oil, melted (I used the microwave)
1/3 cup raw honey
unsweetened rice milk
shredded, unsweetened coconut (I used Bob's Red Mill)
roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds
Preheat your oven to 300. Combine the oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, stevia, and salt in a large bowl. Mix until combined. In a separate bowl, combine the bananas, coconut oil, and honey, mixing well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a wooden spoon. Now pour in a little bit of rice milk at a time, mixing after each addition. I didn't make a note of measurement here because well, I never measure this part. I add enough that the granola is moist, but not sopping. Too wet and it won't crisp up in the oven.
Pour the mixture onto a large, non-stick baking sheet. I use my fingers and the back of a spatula to press the mixture down flat in one firm layer, all the way to the edges of the pan. Try to distribute it evenly. Now put it in the oven and set your timer for 15 minutes.
Take the mixture out and move it around on the pan. I try to put what was around the edges in the middle, middle to the edges and so on. Back in the oven, this time for 10 minutes. Check it again. Turn your oven down to 275. From this point, I do ten minute intervals, checking constantly, until it reaches a crispiness and a light golden-brown color. Then I simply shake a mixture of coconut and sunflower seeds all across the top, and put it back into the oven for about 8 minutes.
Breakfast. And elevenses. And dinner.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
carrot, ginger, and coconut soup.
Or, more accurately, carrot-ginger-coconut-pumpkin soup, but I feel like that's an awfully long name for such a simple recipe.
While this soup was definitely inspired by similar ones floating around on Pinterest, the end result is my own, tweaking it and adjusting the taste and adding dashes of this and that until I felt it was right. Feel free to adjust it to your own tastes--this is incredibly versatile, and you could make it sweeter or more savory, depending on what you add in. It's like (vegetarian) Thanksgiving in a bowl!
What You Need:
- one 13.5 oz can lite coconut milk
- roughly 1 cup pureed, canned pumpkin
- 1 tsp freshly grated ginger root
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 6 whole medium-sized carrots, peeled and chopped
- sprigs of fresh rosemary
- olive oil, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, sea salt, black pepper, and honey
What You Do:
Start by drizzling a non-stick pan with olive oil. Heat the pan on medium/high, then add the onion. Let the onion sweat it out for a few minutes, then add the carrots. Keep a little cup of water on hand, and add just a tbsp. at a time when the pan gets too dry. Cover and let the onions and carrots sizzle away, stirring every few minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, pour in your can of coconut milk. Add a dash of cinnamon and a very tiny dash of cayenne pepper. Heat the milk on very low heat--you don't want it to bubble at all. Check your carrots. When you can pierce one with a fork, pour this mixture into the coconut milk. Add the pumpkin and ginger. Finely chop a little rosemary and throw that in as well. Remove the pot from heat and pour into a blender. Blend the soup, slowly at first. --->Make sure you vent the lid just a bit to let the heat out.<--- You may need to add just a little water to make it thinner. Once you have a smooth mixture with no chunks, pour it back into your saucepan. Heat again on low, and add a drizzle of honey, and salt and pepper. You may have to add what seems like quite a bit of salt, but just keep adding a pinch and tasting, until the savory quality of these vegetable comes out. Just go slowly--if you over-salt, you can't really undo it.
When satisfied with the taste of the soup, turn off the heat and cover it. I let it sit around for about 45 minutes or so while I baked a loaf of bread and made my husband a pizza. I, of course, don't really expect you to do those things. I would however recommend letting it sit for at least a half hour, so the flavors can deepen. Also, as is the case with most things, this soup really does taste better when closer to room temperature.
To serve, drizzle a bit of plain yogurt on top, then sprinkle with a bit of salt and add a sprig of rosemary. There you go! (By the way, I'd say you could serve at least four people this, especially if paired with some crusty bread, good, hard cheddar cheese, and some salty, oily olives, but that's up to you.)
While this soup was definitely inspired by similar ones floating around on Pinterest, the end result is my own, tweaking it and adjusting the taste and adding dashes of this and that until I felt it was right. Feel free to adjust it to your own tastes--this is incredibly versatile, and you could make it sweeter or more savory, depending on what you add in. It's like (vegetarian) Thanksgiving in a bowl!
What You Need:
- one 13.5 oz can lite coconut milk
- roughly 1 cup pureed, canned pumpkin
- 1 tsp freshly grated ginger root
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 6 whole medium-sized carrots, peeled and chopped
- sprigs of fresh rosemary
- olive oil, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, sea salt, black pepper, and honey
What You Do:
Start by drizzling a non-stick pan with olive oil. Heat the pan on medium/high, then add the onion. Let the onion sweat it out for a few minutes, then add the carrots. Keep a little cup of water on hand, and add just a tbsp. at a time when the pan gets too dry. Cover and let the onions and carrots sizzle away, stirring every few minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, pour in your can of coconut milk. Add a dash of cinnamon and a very tiny dash of cayenne pepper. Heat the milk on very low heat--you don't want it to bubble at all. Check your carrots. When you can pierce one with a fork, pour this mixture into the coconut milk. Add the pumpkin and ginger. Finely chop a little rosemary and throw that in as well. Remove the pot from heat and pour into a blender. Blend the soup, slowly at first. --->Make sure you vent the lid just a bit to let the heat out.<--- You may need to add just a little water to make it thinner. Once you have a smooth mixture with no chunks, pour it back into your saucepan. Heat again on low, and add a drizzle of honey, and salt and pepper. You may have to add what seems like quite a bit of salt, but just keep adding a pinch and tasting, until the savory quality of these vegetable comes out. Just go slowly--if you over-salt, you can't really undo it.
When satisfied with the taste of the soup, turn off the heat and cover it. I let it sit around for about 45 minutes or so while I baked a loaf of bread and made my husband a pizza. I, of course, don't really expect you to do those things. I would however recommend letting it sit for at least a half hour, so the flavors can deepen. Also, as is the case with most things, this soup really does taste better when closer to room temperature.
To serve, drizzle a bit of plain yogurt on top, then sprinkle with a bit of salt and add a sprig of rosemary. There you go! (By the way, I'd say you could serve at least four people this, especially if paired with some crusty bread, good, hard cheddar cheese, and some salty, oily olives, but that's up to you.)
Sunday, February 12, 2012
cuppa-cakes.
Today we made Valentine's Day cupcakes, using this recipe, by Nigella Lawson. This is the recipe I go back to over and over again, especially when making cupcakes with the boy. They're moist, buttery, vanilla-infused confections that can be decorated in any way, for any holiday. The most important detail is to cut off any rounded tops you might get, so that the icing has a nice, flat surface to spread out on.
An added bonus of making cupcakes two days prior to Valentine's Day, is that I get to make something chocolate-laden on the actual day of. Got to have something to wet your appetite, right?
Now go kiss someone you love!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
rosemary loaf cake.
I love this time of year, this heading into winter, if for no other reason than this one: it gives me an excuse to bake excessively. I find myself giving away cookies and biscuits and halved loaves of homemade bread because there is seriously no way we can eat all of this by ourselves.
One of my favorite cookbooks is How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. Ahh Nigella, you do truly own a piece of my heart with your witty anecdotes and your habit of (very) shamelessly going back for seconds...thirds. She's such a babe, isn't she? Quite bodacious, and her recipes are out-of-this-world delicious, even the more humble ones.
One of the recipes in this book I always go back to is her rosemary loaf cake. This is a beautiful cake, so aromatic and comforting, with an interesting mix of sweet and savory flavors. It goes incredibly well with tea or strong coffee, or, if you're my son, chocolate milk. I've learned over time to let it sit for 2 days before even tasting it--a true exercise in will-power if there ever was one. But seriously, try to wait. It's gloriousness isn't quite there right after its baked. Just eat your weight in cheese or something while the cake sits and becomes amazingly damp and dense. Yum.
Rosemary Loaf Cake
1 cup plus 2 tbsp soft unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/3 cups self-rising cake flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
about 2 tsp chopped rosemary needles
4 tbsp milk
1-2 tbsp brown or white sugar
9 x 5 inch loaf pan, buttered and lined with parchment
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream soft butter and sugar.
Beat in eggs one at a time, folding in a spoonful of flour after each addition. Add the vanilla. Fold in the rest of the flour, then the rosemary. Thin the batter with the milk. Pour into the prepared pan, sprinkle the top with sugar and bake for about an hour. Cool cake in its pan. Serves 8-10.
One of my favorite cookbooks is How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. Ahh Nigella, you do truly own a piece of my heart with your witty anecdotes and your habit of (very) shamelessly going back for seconds...thirds. She's such a babe, isn't she? Quite bodacious, and her recipes are out-of-this-world delicious, even the more humble ones.
One of the recipes in this book I always go back to is her rosemary loaf cake. This is a beautiful cake, so aromatic and comforting, with an interesting mix of sweet and savory flavors. It goes incredibly well with tea or strong coffee, or, if you're my son, chocolate milk. I've learned over time to let it sit for 2 days before even tasting it--a true exercise in will-power if there ever was one. But seriously, try to wait. It's gloriousness isn't quite there right after its baked. Just eat your weight in cheese or something while the cake sits and becomes amazingly damp and dense. Yum.
Rosemary Loaf Cake
1 cup plus 2 tbsp soft unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/3 cups self-rising cake flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
about 2 tsp chopped rosemary needles
4 tbsp milk
1-2 tbsp brown or white sugar
9 x 5 inch loaf pan, buttered and lined with parchment
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream soft butter and sugar.
Beat in eggs one at a time, folding in a spoonful of flour after each addition. Add the vanilla. Fold in the rest of the flour, then the rosemary. Thin the batter with the milk. Pour into the prepared pan, sprinkle the top with sugar and bake for about an hour. Cool cake in its pan. Serves 8-10.
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| ~~~ |
Sunday, August 21, 2011
we jammin'...
Today I am making blackberry jam.
I might also be listening to a mix of Bob Marley, Kings of Leon, and Bon Iver.
I could be trying to cheer myself up.
Sometimes you lose someone close to you--and not in the permanent sense--and you start to see them everywhere. Not "them" in their body, walking around, but "them" in the objects you're surrounded with. The vintage purse, the pair of shoes, the pile of pink fabric that will never be sewn into tiny, little-girl clothes.
Sometimes there is absolutely nothing you can do about the situation. You cry and your husband hugs you for a while and then you decide to eat your feelings so you make some jam and slather it on a thick piece of bread with butter.
You have tea.
You're still sad, but not as sad.
Basic Jam Recipe
Ingredients:
- any quantity of any kind of berries you love
- sugar
- water
Put a splash of water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and turn the heat to med/high. Put your fruit in and bring it to a nice bubble. Cover the fruit with a thin layer of sugar and mix in. Let it bubble away for about 30 minutes, checking on it to make sure it doesn't burn or stick. You can add more sugar or less depending on your taste. Less sugar will make a runnier jam because it's the sugar that thickens the fruits juices into a syrup.
Once you've got it to the consistency and taste you're looking for, turn it off and let cool before putting into jars.
Life always gets better. Eventually.
I might also be listening to a mix of Bob Marley, Kings of Leon, and Bon Iver.
I could be trying to cheer myself up.
Sometimes you lose someone close to you--and not in the permanent sense--and you start to see them everywhere. Not "them" in their body, walking around, but "them" in the objects you're surrounded with. The vintage purse, the pair of shoes, the pile of pink fabric that will never be sewn into tiny, little-girl clothes.
Sometimes there is absolutely nothing you can do about the situation. You cry and your husband hugs you for a while and then you decide to eat your feelings so you make some jam and slather it on a thick piece of bread with butter.
You have tea.
You're still sad, but not as sad.
Basic Jam Recipe
Ingredients:
- any quantity of any kind of berries you love
- sugar
- water
Put a splash of water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and turn the heat to med/high. Put your fruit in and bring it to a nice bubble. Cover the fruit with a thin layer of sugar and mix in. Let it bubble away for about 30 minutes, checking on it to make sure it doesn't burn or stick. You can add more sugar or less depending on your taste. Less sugar will make a runnier jam because it's the sugar that thickens the fruits juices into a syrup.
Once you've got it to the consistency and taste you're looking for, turn it off and let cool before putting into jars.
Life always gets better. Eventually.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Chai.
I remember the first time I drank chai tea. Luckily, I was at a very ethereal, spicy-smelling, seemingly authentic Indian restaurant, and the (hot) chai they served was out-of-this-stratosphere. I was spoiled by that first experience, wanting every cup of chai afterwards to taste exactly like that one. But eventually, I gave into the conveniences of the tea-bag, a trend that has continued for years.
So I can't explain why, when, over the holiday weekend, I woke up and inexplicably craved chai--delicious, fattening (because of the cream), fragrant chai. I rummaged through the cupboards and realized I didn't have absolutely every single ingredient, but I improvised, not willing to make a grocery trip on the fourth. This is what I came up with, and while it isn't perfectly authentic, it's still pretty damn good. I had mine iced.
Not-Quite-Chai Tea
Ingredients:
(you can obviously up the quantites as much as you want--I was making this for myself and the husband.)
- 2 cups almond milk
- 1 cup half-n-half (yes, I said one cup. That's right.)
- four tea-bags of black tea (try to get the highest quality you can find)
- 1 vanilla pod
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- literally a pinch of freshly grated ginger root
- pinch of cardamom and nutmeg
- sweetner of your choice (I used stevia and tasted the mixture frequently)
In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, pour in the milk and half-n-half. Bring the mixture to just bubbling--you don't want to scald the milk. Add the tea bags, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla. Let this bubble away for about 7 minutes, adding just a tiny amount of water to the mixture if you think it's getting too thick. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, and sweetner. Allow the mixture to cook for about 5 minutes, then take off the heat and let cool. When no longer piping hot, strain the mixture into another pan or a glass bowl--you don't want any spicy bits floating around in your drink.
To serve, fill glasses with ice and (just because) an extra splash of half-n-half. Ladle the tea into the glasses and swish the ice around briefly with a spoon. I like to leave the cream just slightly uncombined--it looks all swirled and pretty in the glass. But that last part is up to you.
 |
| Holy Yum. |
Sunday, June 5, 2011
a blessed weekend (complete with crepes).
We are having a very good weekend here. Or perhaps I should be more specific: Hayden and I are having a very good weekend. Vincent is unfortunately stuck shooting a wedding and some other things all weekend long. He's missed some pretty magical stuff.
On Friday, we had my brother over for dinner--a good, homey meal of spaghetti with homemade sauce, meatballs, and garlic bread. After he left, I got a little restless, and took Hayden out to the bookstore for some playtime. He zoomed rockets and airplanes while mommy browsed through her favorite magazines. We shared a giant cookie and afterward walked down to the old covered bridge to see the ducks. At first there weren't any to be found. Then, suddenly, a dozen flew in over our heads, like they were crash-landing, splashing into the pond. Hayden squealed and jumped up and down in joy. I could smell someone grilling steak and see the sunset streaking the sky orange. A good end to the day.
On Saturday I woke up early and found it to be overcast and grey. I got my workout over with and took a long bath while Hayden watched some cartoons. Then I opened the fridge, starving, searching. I didn't know what I felt like eating until a thought popped in my head: crepes. Yes. With the fresh, organic eggs I was just gifted.
Usually, I fill my crepes with mushrooms and cheese and other stinky goodness, but this time I craved sweet over savory, topping them with a honeyed strawberry sauce.
I think I like making crepes because it's such a leisurely process, perfect for the weekend. Oiling the pan, pouring in the batter, swishing it around, and waiting. Over and over, one by one, until you have a stack of beautiful, sunny crepes.
Crepes with Honeyed-Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients:
for the crepes
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1 1/2 cups milk (I used almond)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp. honey
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- cooking oil/butter
for the honeyed-strawberry sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 4 tbsp. honey
- juice 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 cup chopped strawberries
Combine eggs, milk, flour, honey, and lemon juice. Heat a well-oiled or buttered non-stick pan over medium/high heat. Ladle in one scoop of batter, then tilt the pan all around until spread thin. Allow to cook until browned on one side only. Gently remove to a paper-towel covered plate. Repeat with remaining batter, oiling or buttering your pan as needed. Make sure to watch your heat throughout the process, turning it down a notch if the crepes are browing too fast.
For the strawberry sauce, heat the water to boiling in a small, heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Add the honey and the lemon juice. Let boil for about 30 seconds, then add strawberries. Stir, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.
To assemble your crepes, select as many as you'd like and fold them into quarters on a plate, drizzling with the strawberry sauce between each one. You can add dark chocolate shavings and real whipped cream if you're eating these as dessert.
As for what's left of the weekend, I will be:
- watching Gnomeo and Juliet with the boy
- finishing a landscape I've been working on
- listening to Bon Iver
- making tuna salad and granola (not to eat together, at least, I hope not)
Hope you're having a splendid Sunday. <3
On Friday, we had my brother over for dinner--a good, homey meal of spaghetti with homemade sauce, meatballs, and garlic bread. After he left, I got a little restless, and took Hayden out to the bookstore for some playtime. He zoomed rockets and airplanes while mommy browsed through her favorite magazines. We shared a giant cookie and afterward walked down to the old covered bridge to see the ducks. At first there weren't any to be found. Then, suddenly, a dozen flew in over our heads, like they were crash-landing, splashing into the pond. Hayden squealed and jumped up and down in joy. I could smell someone grilling steak and see the sunset streaking the sky orange. A good end to the day.
On Saturday I woke up early and found it to be overcast and grey. I got my workout over with and took a long bath while Hayden watched some cartoons. Then I opened the fridge, starving, searching. I didn't know what I felt like eating until a thought popped in my head: crepes. Yes. With the fresh, organic eggs I was just gifted.
Usually, I fill my crepes with mushrooms and cheese and other stinky goodness, but this time I craved sweet over savory, topping them with a honeyed strawberry sauce.
I think I like making crepes because it's such a leisurely process, perfect for the weekend. Oiling the pan, pouring in the batter, swishing it around, and waiting. Over and over, one by one, until you have a stack of beautiful, sunny crepes.
Crepes with Honeyed-Strawberry Sauce
Ingredients:
for the crepes
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1 1/2 cups milk (I used almond)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp. honey
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- cooking oil/butter
for the honeyed-strawberry sauce
- 1/4 cup water
- 4 tbsp. honey
- juice 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 cup chopped strawberries
Combine eggs, milk, flour, honey, and lemon juice. Heat a well-oiled or buttered non-stick pan over medium/high heat. Ladle in one scoop of batter, then tilt the pan all around until spread thin. Allow to cook until browned on one side only. Gently remove to a paper-towel covered plate. Repeat with remaining batter, oiling or buttering your pan as needed. Make sure to watch your heat throughout the process, turning it down a notch if the crepes are browing too fast.
For the strawberry sauce, heat the water to boiling in a small, heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Add the honey and the lemon juice. Let boil for about 30 seconds, then add strawberries. Stir, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.
To assemble your crepes, select as many as you'd like and fold them into quarters on a plate, drizzling with the strawberry sauce between each one. You can add dark chocolate shavings and real whipped cream if you're eating these as dessert.
As for what's left of the weekend, I will be:
- watching Gnomeo and Juliet with the boy
- finishing a landscape I've been working on
- listening to Bon Iver
- making tuna salad and granola (not to eat together, at least, I hope not)
Hope you're having a splendid Sunday. <3
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
spring cleaning and busy-food.
Whew.
Our house has been a vacuuming, drilling (that would be the husband), teapot-whistling, scrubbing, choo-choo train-chugging (and that would be Hayden), coffee-pot-gurgling chorus. We're purging A LOT of stuff at the moment, not to make room for more, but just to make room for room. In between doing all I can--which I'll admit has been hard for me lately; I'm having several health issues--I've been in my studio/office, slowly organizing and pulling out long-forgotten treasures, and even fashioning a bare corner into an altar and meditation spot for my yoga. It's all turning out quite nicely.
Here's a truth: cleaning makes you ravenously hungry. It also makes you bone-tired. Which is why I've been making what I like to call "busy food"--good, wholesome food, done with short-cuts and downsized in scale. Which is where my Mini English Muffin Pizza's come in.
I make mine with some very expensive ham and ricotta cheese, but you can obviously alter the toppings to suite every person you're serving (an excellent bonus if you have children). And because they're tiny, they're fun. Why is everything more fun in miniature?
Mini English Muffin Pizza's
Ingredients:
- 4 whole-grain english muffins ( I actually really like Fiber One's )
- homemade pizza sauce ( I usually have some on hand in the freezer ) OR your favorite brand of organic marinara sauce
- 1 cup ricotta cheese ( fat content of your choosing )
- 3 spring onions, chopped
- one garlic clove, peeled and sliced in half
- about 3-4 slices of very high-quality ham
- olive oil, for brushing
- sea salt and black pepper
Preheat your oven to 275 F. Separate your english muffins and lay out. Brush with olive oil, rub with the halved garlic, then sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Place on a non-stick baking sheet and place in the oven for 7-10 minutes. Watch them closely--you're just looking to lightly toast them.
Remove from oven, and leave heat on. Chop the ham slices into strips. Top each muffin half with as much pizza sauce as you like, a dab of ricotta, a few strips of ham, and a scattering of spring onion. Place the pizza's back into the oven and cook for about 10 minutes, until the cheese is gooey, and the edges of the muffin and ham are browning. Remove and serve.
Serves 4 people two mini-pizza's each. (You can obviously up the amounts very easily, if needed.)
Nosh-nosh. :) Enjoy!
Our house has been a vacuuming, drilling (that would be the husband), teapot-whistling, scrubbing, choo-choo train-chugging (and that would be Hayden), coffee-pot-gurgling chorus. We're purging A LOT of stuff at the moment, not to make room for more, but just to make room for room. In between doing all I can--which I'll admit has been hard for me lately; I'm having several health issues--I've been in my studio/office, slowly organizing and pulling out long-forgotten treasures, and even fashioning a bare corner into an altar and meditation spot for my yoga. It's all turning out quite nicely.
Here's a truth: cleaning makes you ravenously hungry. It also makes you bone-tired. Which is why I've been making what I like to call "busy food"--good, wholesome food, done with short-cuts and downsized in scale. Which is where my Mini English Muffin Pizza's come in.
I make mine with some very expensive ham and ricotta cheese, but you can obviously alter the toppings to suite every person you're serving (an excellent bonus if you have children). And because they're tiny, they're fun. Why is everything more fun in miniature?
Mini English Muffin Pizza's
Ingredients:
- 4 whole-grain english muffins ( I actually really like Fiber One's )
- homemade pizza sauce ( I usually have some on hand in the freezer ) OR your favorite brand of organic marinara sauce
- 1 cup ricotta cheese ( fat content of your choosing )
- 3 spring onions, chopped
- one garlic clove, peeled and sliced in half
- about 3-4 slices of very high-quality ham
- olive oil, for brushing
- sea salt and black pepper
Preheat your oven to 275 F. Separate your english muffins and lay out. Brush with olive oil, rub with the halved garlic, then sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Place on a non-stick baking sheet and place in the oven for 7-10 minutes. Watch them closely--you're just looking to lightly toast them.
Remove from oven, and leave heat on. Chop the ham slices into strips. Top each muffin half with as much pizza sauce as you like, a dab of ricotta, a few strips of ham, and a scattering of spring onion. Place the pizza's back into the oven and cook for about 10 minutes, until the cheese is gooey, and the edges of the muffin and ham are browning. Remove and serve.
Serves 4 people two mini-pizza's each. (You can obviously up the amounts very easily, if needed.)
Nosh-nosh. :) Enjoy!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
breakfast.
I can't even tell you how much I adore breakfast. I actually go to bed the night before, looking forward to fresh espresso and english muffins the next day. As much as I love food, and all its meals of the day, I have to admit, I get excited about breakfast the most. I always wake up hungry.
My son is 5 yrs. old and is only recently starting to want his breakfast a.s.a.p. Over the years, it's been a progression from breast milk to formula to regular milk to warm milk with cinnamon and a little sugar. That last one has been his "breakfast" for the past 2 years, at least. But now he's all, "I am boy. Food.", much in the way my husband meanders around saying, "I am man. Food. Yum." So in celebration of my son's new hunger pains, I've been looking up breakfast recipes online, and buying gloriously marked-down cookbooks at Borders, searching for those that are kid-friendly. Some of these cookbooks have me mightily confused. I won't name names, but dates stuffed with spiced cream cheese? Baked french toast with caramelized orange liquor? I don't know...maybe these chefs have children with truly adventurous palates. I, to a degree, do not. There certainly won't be any dates in my son's future (har har) because really, they're too weird looking for him.
So--muffins! They're like cupcakes sans icing! Perfect. I found a recipe for Blueberry Bran Muffins in a little golden book titled Just 4 Kids. I tweaked it a little--okay, a lot--and came up with the following recipe:
Chocolate Chip Coconut Muffins
Ingredients:
- heaping 1 cup white all-purpose flour
- scant 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tbsp. wheat germ
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup packed raw sugar
- pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom
- 2 heaping tbsp. grated unsweetened coconut
- 1 tbsp. honey
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup milk chocolate/carob chips (use at your discretion, of course)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
Mix together the flours, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar. In a measuring cup with a spout, whisk together the honey, egg, and buttermilk.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until JUST combined. I can not reiterate this enough: DO NOT OVERMIX. It makes muffins tough and horrible. If there are a few little lumps of flour floating around in the batter, it's okay. Then with a spatula, gently fold in the chocolate chips and the coconut.
Spoon the batter into the muffin cups until about a third full. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the muffins have risen and are a light, golden-brown. You can eat these cooled or--my favorite--fresh from the oven with creamy, unsalted butter. Makes 12.
I smell a new weekend breakfast ritual in the works. Right now it smells a heck of a lot like chocolate and spices.
My son is 5 yrs. old and is only recently starting to want his breakfast a.s.a.p. Over the years, it's been a progression from breast milk to formula to regular milk to warm milk with cinnamon and a little sugar. That last one has been his "breakfast" for the past 2 years, at least. But now he's all, "I am boy. Food.", much in the way my husband meanders around saying, "I am man. Food. Yum." So in celebration of my son's new hunger pains, I've been looking up breakfast recipes online, and buying gloriously marked-down cookbooks at Borders, searching for those that are kid-friendly. Some of these cookbooks have me mightily confused. I won't name names, but dates stuffed with spiced cream cheese? Baked french toast with caramelized orange liquor? I don't know...maybe these chefs have children with truly adventurous palates. I, to a degree, do not. There certainly won't be any dates in my son's future (har har) because really, they're too weird looking for him.
So--muffins! They're like cupcakes sans icing! Perfect. I found a recipe for Blueberry Bran Muffins in a little golden book titled Just 4 Kids. I tweaked it a little--okay, a lot--and came up with the following recipe:
Chocolate Chip Coconut Muffins
- heaping 1 cup white all-purpose flour
- scant 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tbsp. wheat germ
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup packed raw sugar
- pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom
- 2 heaping tbsp. grated unsweetened coconut
- 1 tbsp. honey
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup milk chocolate/carob chips (use at your discretion, of course)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
Mix together the flours, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar. In a measuring cup with a spout, whisk together the honey, egg, and buttermilk.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until JUST combined. I can not reiterate this enough: DO NOT OVERMIX. It makes muffins tough and horrible. If there are a few little lumps of flour floating around in the batter, it's okay. Then with a spatula, gently fold in the chocolate chips and the coconut.
Spoon the batter into the muffin cups until about a third full. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the muffins have risen and are a light, golden-brown. You can eat these cooled or--my favorite--fresh from the oven with creamy, unsalted butter. Makes 12.
I smell a new weekend breakfast ritual in the works. Right now it smells a heck of a lot like chocolate and spices.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
it was delicious.
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| heaven is a chocolate bar |
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| goat cheese and spinach omelet |
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| olive-oil and lemon loaf cake |
Asparagus, maybe. Roasted with sea salt and olive oil.
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