Dutch Babies!

One or more of the girls have been sick with a head cold in the last two weeks. It finally caught me and the last few days have been miserable. Last night was the first decent sleep I've had in about 4 night. So today with some newly found energy, I decided to make a yummy breakfast treat! Dutch babies! Apple cinnamon Dutch babies to be exact. And while I was at it, why not make an apple syrup to go with?! It came out so good, and while it has a lot of steps it really didn't take that long and it was SOOO worth it! My littlest declared it "Dwishes Mama!" Don't you just love toddler speak? Anyhow, here is a drool worth picture and the step by steps. Please try it and let me know what you think.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Meyer lemon

3/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon 

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 large apple

3 eggs

1/2 cup half and half

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup AP flour

4 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup apple juice.

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 425*

2) Into a small sauce pan add the zest from the lemon, juice from 1/2 the lemon, 1/4 cup of the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Set asside.

3) Peal and core the apple (I used Fuji). Cut it into quarters, then each quarter into 3 wedges for a total of 12 wedges. Then chop each wedge into 1/4 pieces. Add the chopped apples to the sauce pan, tossing to coat. Place over medium low heat and let simmer, stirring occasionally.

4) Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and set aside. Add remaining 2 tablespoons to a large 10 or 12 inch cast iron skillet (or any frying pan that can be used in the oven), and place in the oven to melt the butter and preheat the skillet.

5) This is a good time to check on the apples and stir them. Next, beat the eggs, half and half, and almond extract in a large bowl. Add the flour and whisk until thoroughly combined. I like to use an immersion blender but a whisk will work just fine. Lastly add the melted butter and whisk or blend forming the pancake batter. Set aside.

6) Drain apples, returning liquid to the pan. Set aside.

7) Remove cast iron skillet from the oven. Tilt to coat with the melted butter. Add the pancake batter into the skillet. Sprinkle apples on top. Return the skillet to the oven and bake until a medium brown and puffed up (10-12 minutes). Turn off the heat and let the pancake sit in the cooling oven for an additional 10 minutes. Pancake will puff up during cooking and deflate while it cools.

8) While the pancake is cooking, finish the apple syrup. Add the 1/2 cup apple juice and remaining 1/2 a cup sugar to the the liquid from the cooked apples. Squeeze the remaining 1/2 a lemon into the mixture & heat over medium low heat, stirring occasionally. The syrup will be ready when the pancake is ready.

9) Slice the pancake, drizzle with the apple syrup, and enjoy!

Fall is finally here!

It is my favorite time of year in Northern California! The mornings are cool, crisp, and sometimes foggy. The afternoons are still warm and clinging to the last bits of summer's heat. The leaves are beginning to turn colors, and the houses in our neighborhood are decorated with pumpkins in anticipation of Halloween. It's time for jeans, and boots, and light weight sweaters. It's time for soups, and apples, and the flavors of pumpkin pie spices.

This weekend I tried out a new baked oatmeal recipe. There are three reasons I love this recipe, (1) you make it the night before and bake it in the morning, (2) the house smells spicy and delicious when it is baking, and (3) it has a crispy sugary caramely topping like creme brûlée! Plus it's heart healthy oats! Can't go wrong with that!

INGREDIENTS:

2 eggs

1/4 cup raw honey

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 small apple, grated

1 1/4 cups coconut milk

3 cups old-fashioned oats

brown sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1) Grease a square baking pan. I like to use my Anchor Hocking 9 x 9 covered glass casserole dish.

2) In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients in order except the brown sugar until thoroughly combined.

3) Poor mixture in your baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

4) In the morning, pull it out of the fridge and preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

5) Bake for 25 -30 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven, sprinkle brown sugar evenly over top of the oatmeal and place back in the oven under the broiler. Broil for one minute, or until sugar melts and begins to caramelize.

6) We like it served warm with a drizzle of more coconut milk. And it reheats in the microwave beautifully! 

Strawberry Cornmeal Pancakes

Today is Sunday and my husband is playing on the worship team at church. He got up at six and left the house long before any of the children were stirring. Normally about now I would be issuing orders to the girls to quickly finish eating their cereal and get dressed so we are not late for the first service. But today the girls are getting over a nasty cold and our youngest is still sleeping. So the Hughes girls will be staying in pajamas this morning, playing with toys, and eating a leisurely pancake breakfast. I created these tasty vegan Strawberry Cornmeal Pancakes using Martha Stewart's basic pancake recipe as a template. I bake all my pancakes in a large casserole dish so we can all eat at once. No more flipping pancakes while everyone else eats! 

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup corn meal

3 Tbsp brown sugar

3 tsp baking powder

2 cups coconut milk

2 Tbsp flax meal + 6 Tbsp water (or 2 large eggs)

3 Tbsp canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sliced strawberries

Non stick cooking spray or butter 

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a medium sized casserole pan with non stick cooking spray or butter.

2) In a large bowl mix together flour, corn meal, brown sugar, and baking powder. Set aside.

3) In another bowl, mix together coconut milk, flax meal plus water mixture, oil, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.

4) Pour into prepared baking dish, top with sliced strawberries, and bake for 35 - 40 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

You could easily make substitutions - whole wheat flour for the corn meal, or regular milk for the coconut, or sliced peaches for the strawberries. I happened to be out of eggs, so I subbed in the flax meal and water. Use your imagination and let me know what you think!

Night Before Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal

We are at the end of the month and getting low on groceries. Last night I was racking my brain trying to figure out what I could make for breakfast. I scoured my pantry and then Pinterest. Apparently I'm late to the game with this whole baked oatmeal thing. There are tons of recipes out there and I will definitely be trying out more. And as usual, I tweaked a few recipes to come up with something that worked for our tastes and what I had in the house. I really liked that I can make this the night before and then just pop it in the oven in the morning. Everyone loved this for breakfast with a dollop of jam (the kids had apricot while I indulged in some peach bourbon vanilla jam. Oh so good!) You could change it up by adding dried fruit like cherries. Or I could also see adding chocolate chips for an afternoon snack. Mmmm. Peanut butter and chocolate. I might have to make me some of those tomorrow!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup milk

2 Tbsp butter, melted

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups old fashioned oats

DIRECTIONS:

1) Liberally grease an 8 x 8 inch pan with butter. 

2) In a bowl, whisk the wet ingredients until combined: milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, peanut butter and brown sugar. 

3) Add in the oats, baking powder, and salt, mixing well. Pour into your prepared 8 x 8 pan.

4) Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

5) In the morning, take it out of the fridge, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake it for 30-40 minutes.

Crunchy Granola!

A few weeks ago I made a double batch of granola and I honestly remember blogging about it, but either it wasn't saved or I dreamt it. I even told a friend who tried it a few days ago that the recipe was posted on my blog. And guess what?!? She couldn't find it. And neither could I. So... ANYWHO!! Here it is now!

This is truthfully the best granola - and not because I made it.  It has the right balance. It is a lovely concoction of toasty, salty, sweetness that is quite addicting. We've been eating it sprinkled on Greek yogurt, as a topping with fresh fruit on hot oatmeal, in a big bowl with milk, or just as a snack straight out of the jar. My husband says this is the best batch yet and THIS time I actually wrote down the recipe! Yay me!

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup slivered Almonds 

1 cup Pecan pieces  

1/2 sesame seeds (flax seeds would be good too!)

3/4 cup unsweetened Coconut 

1 tsp salt  Kosher salt

1 tsp Cinnamon  

 1 cup Honey 

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup Peanut butter

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 300* and lightly grease a deep 9 x 13 baking dish.

2) Mix all the dry ingredients - oats, nuts, coconut, seeds, salt, spices -  in a LARGE bowl.

3) In a separate bowl mix the honey oil, and peanut butter until combined.  4) Pour over the dry ingredients and stir until everything is coated and spread evenly in your prepared baking pan.

5) Bake for a total of 50 - 55 minutes, stir at 25 minutes, and again at 40. You'll know it's done when it is a lovely golden brown and  smells heavenly!

NOTE: The granola WILL NOT be crunchy at first. Let it cool and harden completely in the pan. Then transfer & store in an airtight container.

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Easy Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Cake

Laying in bed this morning, trying to wake up pre-coffee, I began to mentally walk through my pantry contents to figure out what to serve for breakfast. My girls are like their mama and LOVE carbs for breakfast. I had cereal with milk almost EVERYDAY of my childhood. And I like cereal, but I cannot hack it every day. And we had cereal yesterday.

A few months ago I found this recipe for "pancake squares"  done in a 9 x 13 baking dish. The major benefit is that I'm not standing in the kitchen flipping pancakes while everyone else devours them. Plus, while the pancakes are in the oven doing their thing, I can focus on making my much loved coffee and reading a story to my kiddos! The square pancakes are made from scratch, and I figured if homemade from scratch pancakes can be baked up in the oven, why not boxed pancake mix? 

So this recipe is the tasty results of my laziness combined with my daily desire for something different. Pancakes baked up in the oven are a little more cake like and less pancake like. I took advantage of that texture and baked it up in an 8 x 8 pan instead of a 9 x 13. You could easily double the recipe, and it might be fun to try different fruit and spices. All 3 of my little girls seemed to really like this light, not too sweet breakfast cake.

Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Cake

INGREDIENTS:

1 apple

1 1/2 cups pancake mix

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 T. oil 

1 t. vanilla extract

2 t. cinnamon

Non-stick cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

1) Preheat oven to 350*. Spay sides & bottom of an 8 x 8 inch baking pan.

2) Peal and core the apple. Slice it into 8 wedges. Then cut each wedge into thin bite size slices. It is important to keep these thin so that the apples cook all the way and are nice & soft. 

3) Toss the apples with 1 t. of cinnamon in a bowl until all the apes are coated with some cinnamon. Spread the apples out on the bottom the prepared baking dish.

4) In a mixing bowl, combine the pancake mix, milk, egg, oil, vanilla & remaining cinnamon to form a smooth batter. 

5) Pour the batter gently over the apples, and bake for 20 minutes. Slice into squares and serve with butter & syrup.

Manly Quiche

Last night was another of my Family Dinner Nights.  We had a bunch of left overs from my daughters 1st birthday party - deli meat, cheese, and veggies galore!  We made a truly delicious gluten free quiche with a hash brown crust that was inspired by a goat cheese and arugula quiche recipe found here. I tossed a bunch of the left over crudité with some spring lettuce mix for a tasty salad. To quote my husband, "Real men eat quiche. Especially when it is made with hash browns and bacon!" There was not a spec left!

INGREDIENTS:
cooking spray
2 tablespoons butter, melted - plus more for pan
1 pound package frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
8 large eggs
sea salt and ground pepper
½ cup light sour cream
1 cup half and half
sea salt
8 - 10 oz  grated cheese (I had left over deli cheese so I just chopped it roughly) 8 - 10 oz  chopped deli ham
1/2 cup red onion - small dice
3/4 cup cooked and crumbled bacon (4 - 5 slices)

DIRECTIONS:
1)  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2)  Spray a 9-by-2 1/2-inch spring form pan with cooking spray. Line the sides of the pan with strips of parchment paper (trim to the same height as pan). Spray the parchment with more cooking spray - this part is essential, it will give you a beautiful golden crust and as well as keep the crust from sticking to your pan.
3)  Place hash browns on 3-4 thicknesses of paper towels and fold paper towels over potatoes. Hold over sink and squeeze excess moisture from hash browns.
4)  In a large mixing bowl whisk  melted butter, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add squeezed hash browns and mix until all the butter egg mixture is coating the hash browns. Pat into bottom and up sides of prepared pan, using your hands. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until set, 15 to 20 minutes (we did 18 minutes in our convection oven).
5)  In a large bowl, whisk 7 remaining eggs, sour cream, half and half,  cheese, ham, onion, bacon, 1 teaspoons sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until well combined. Pour into crust, and bake until set, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove outer ring of springform pan, and gently peel off parchment paper.
6)  Let rest for 10 minutes and serve.


NOTES: you could sub any meat and cheeses you like.  Spinach, arugula, chopped broccoli, chopped asparagus, or green onions would be good too.

(photo curtsey of Sarah Germain)

Healthy green breakfast...

I'm kind of obsessed with two things right now. Spinach and dates. Both are crazy nutritious! Go ahead, Google the nutrition facts! Crazy good for you, right?

Here is a breakfast smoothie that showcases both. And boy is it TASTY and filling! My picky 4 year old sucked it down! This makes 2 generous adult sized smoothies or in my case, 1 adult smoothie and 2 kiddo smoothies.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup cold cooked oatmeal (I had some left over from yesterday's breakfast)
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 cup date paste (recipe)
1 cup frozen strawberries
2 handfuls baby spinach

Blend until combined and smooth... This is a smoothie after all ;-)  Enjoy!

Please let me know what you think! Do you have a favorite breakfast smoothie? Post it in the comments below, I'd love to try it!

Steel Cut Overnight Oats!

Ok, confession time... I love canning jars! and I like anything that saves me from thinking too hard before I've consumed my morning cup of coffee. So what could be better than this recipe?!?!!

These can be eaten cold, straight from the jar, but I prefer them hot. They can also me made several days in advance & make a fast, healthy breakfast! Below is the basic recipe. You can change it up to suit your tastes and what you have on hand- use regular milk instead of coconut milk, flavored yogurt, rolled oats instead of steel cut, flax seed meal instead of chia seeds... And you can stir in anything that floats your boat... Nut butters, honey or jam instead of date paste, chocolate chips, dried fruit... The possibilities are endless! I hope you'll try it and let me know what you think!

STEEL CUT OVERNIGHT OATS
(Single serving)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup steel cut oats
1/4 plain NF Greek yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 T. chia seeds

Toppings:
1 T. date paste
1 T. Unsweetened shredded coconut
1 T. papitas
1/2 cup fresh blackberries

1) Measure oats, yogurt, coconut milk, & chia seeds into your container.

2) Stir to combine. Pop the lid on and refrigerate overnight.

3) In the morning, give the oats a stir and pop the jar into the microwave for approximately 90 seconds.

4) Stir in your toppings, and enjoy! How easy is that?

Doesn't this look yummy?