Category Archives: Breakfast

The Secret to Better Iced Coffee

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Consider this a public service announcement.

Usually I don’t care what you eat.  You only eat foraged foods?  You only eat Cheetos?  You’re on a cabbage-based fad diet?  Ok.  Cool.  I can work with that.

But there is one thing that bothers me.  (You have something that bothers you too, right?  Something?  Feel free to make me feel better by sharing in the comments.) Mine might be the world’s strangest pet peeve, but at this time of year it’s everywhere I look.  It’s this business of the ice in summer’s ubiquitous iced coffee.

Here in Seattle, it does get warm enough to enjoy iced coffee occasionally in the summertime.  I really prefer to make my own, though, because even Seattle’s own coffee shops, which should know better, commit a grave offense in serving their otherwise-delicious cold brew: they put actual ice in it.  Ice as in frozen water.  No!Coffee should be a strong, black brew, tempered only by something creamy or something sweet if your tastes incline that way.  Adding water to my coffee, even in the form of ice cubes, is unforgivable.

The solution, of course, is simple.  Take the time to freeze a tray of coffee ice cubes, and plunk a couple in your cup next time you want your coffee cold.  As they melt, instead of creating a watery, undrinkable mess, they make…more coffee.  You see how this is a winning proposition?

You can hot-brew or cold-brew your coffee, sweeten it or don’t.  I like a spoonful of cinnamon mixed into the coffee grounds, myself.  But I wouldn’t presume to tell you how to make your coffee.  What I will tell you is this: the secret to making better iced coffee is now in your hands. Continue reading The Secret to Better Iced Coffee

Easy Cheddar and Onion Egg Bake for a Crowd

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Now that I have confessed that I have a minivan, I might as well tell you about another way in which I’ve become an old fogey without even noticing: these days, I like having parties in the morning.  The kids are in good moods, the house hasn’t been wrecked yet by the the daily tornado of  family life, and you can drink mimosas.  But most of all, brunch is such an easy meal to prepare for a crowd.  All you need are big bowl of fruit, a cake (or two, in the case of J’s recent birthday) these eggs, and lots and lots of coffee.

This dish, or something like it, is one of the easiest ways I know to cook up a dozen or more eggs at once.  You can vary the filling by adding any vegetables, cheese, or meat you’d like.  I kept this one simple because I love the flavor combination of sharp cheddar and cooked-until-sweet onions…and also, I will admit, because monochromatic foods are usually a hit with the kids and we were expecting many, many kids. Continue reading Cheddar and Onion Egg Bake for a Crowd (click for recipe)

Honey-Almond Granola with Orange Zest

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I have a confession.

I did it.  You guys, I bought a minivan.  A beat-up old minivan, of course, because we’re just going to beat it up more and I don’t event want a minivan anyway, but there it is.  And it’s unarguably a minivan.  It has about a zillion cupholders and fits carseats galore and I am going to have to practice obsessively to be able to look cool casually spinning the wheel with one hand while I effortlessly parallel park the hulking monster.

Oh, who I am kidding, I will never look cool again.  I’ll be driving a minivan. (To be clear, YOU look cool in YOUR minivan, of course.  This is not about YOU.)

I don’t think of myself as the minivan type, obviously.  But I hear that lots of people fall in love once they have one of these large, convenient, family-friendly vehicles.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

I do think of myself as the granola type.  This one is no crisp, salty maple-y Olive Oil Granola, or buttery, delicate Walnut and Currant Granola.  This one is health food.  It’s almost aggressively crunchy, barely sweetened with juice and honey, and has no oil whatsoever.  It bakes into addictive crunchy clumps that you will probably find yourself eating by the handful each time you pass the jar.  That’s ok, it’s super healthy.

I’m going to eat this granola in my Birkenstocks while I pretend that my minivan is a 1960’s VW bus. Continue reading Honey-Almond Granola with Orange Zest (click for recipe)

Single-Serving Frittata with Mushrooms, Arugula, and Feta

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I am not a morning person.

On weekdays I often scramble downstairs just as J is walking out the door.  He and the girls have been up and dressed for an hour, breakfast is over, art projects are often underway.  I burst onto the scene and immediately start searching for three tiny pairs of shoes and three even tinier pairs of socks so I can herd the kids straight out the door to get my oldest to kindergarten.  Which starts at almost 9.  This should not be a hardship.  (In my defense, my baby has been waking up all night long lately, and so have I.  But, honestly, I’d be sleeping until the last possible second no matter what.)

I am pleased to see to my family’s sweet faces in the morning, of course, but you know what else I’m always happy to see?  COFFEE.  J, inexplicably, does not drink coffee.  Which is either virtuous or insane.  But he does make it for me, a perfect French press pot of dark roast beans, ready to plunge the moment I get downstairs.  It is an act of love.

So maybe now you’re thinking that this should be a coffee recipe, but I only have one and it only involves glossy, dark-roasted coffee beans and hot water, plus maybe a pinch of cinnamon or cardamom in the grounds–try that!  Instead, my point here is that sometime it is rather late in the day before I get around to breakfast. 

A single-serving frittata is a great way to get your vegetables in at breakfast.  You can also make a big batch in muffin tins to grab on your way out the door all week, have you tried that?  I am usually not that organized, so today I made mine in my 8″ cast iron skillet.  You can use any small ovenproof skillet, or even one that’s not ovenproof, since a frittata this small is easy to flip and finish on the stovetop.

The key here, as far as I’m concerned, is to load up on the vegetables, using the egg to just hold it all together.  And since I actually used egg whites this time instead of whole eggs (the yolks went into the crust for mini Strawberry-Rhubarb cornmeal tarts), I made sure that all my ingredients were extra-flavorful and well-seasoned.  Egg whites are a great source of protein, but flavor?  Not so much.  Enter savory mushrooms, peppery arugula, and salty feta–now we’re talking. 

Continue reading Frittata with Mushrooms, Arugula, and Feta (click for recipe)

Poached Scrambled Eggs, or, The 40-Second Breakfast

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And here is where I abandon all pretense of not making scrambled eggs.  (For those of you too lazy to click, let me just share that this blog started as an attempt to motivate myself to cook something besides scrambled eggs for dinner all the time.)  I made these for breakfast, but you?  You who have made no promises about making scrambled eggs for dinner could certainly get away with serving these as a light supper, maybe drizzled with a nice olive oil and sprinkle of herbs, alongside a crisp salad.

Sometimes you just need something simple.  This is simple.  Perfectly textured scrambled eggs, no added fat, negligible clean-up, 20 seconds of egg-whisking plus 20 seconds of cooking.  Courtesy of that Genius Recipes feature I love from Food52.

Continue reading Poached Scrambled Eggs (click for recipe)

Blueberry Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes (Vegan)

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Let’s just get something out of the way: I am not posting this recipe because these pancakes are the easiest-to-flip pancakes in the world.  (They’re not.)  I’m posting it because they’re some of the more delicious pancakes I’ve ever eaten.  (They are.)  And with Mothers Day coming up on Sunday, you just might want a special pancake recipe up your sleeve.  Sweet with juicy blueberries, a bit of crunch from the cornmeal and crispy edge, lemon zest singing the high note.  You can make them even if you’re not brunching with your mom, you know.

A word about vegan pancakes, and vegan baking in general, really: I used to always think in terms of how to “replace” the eggs in recipes, but Isa Chandra Moskowitz & her Post Punk Kitchen empire have changed that for me.  I don’t get the science, I just follow the recipes, but hey, they work.  (Have you baked out of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World?)  This recipe is from her book Veganomicon.

Back to the pancakes.  Give them room, people.  The batter is thin, and it spreads quite a bit. If I had a nonstick pan, I would have used it here, but I don’t.  Instead, I oiled my seasoned cast iron griddle well and waited until the pancakes were well-browned and released (more) easily with the help of a thin metal spatula.  It’s a fine line between well-browned and burnt, however, so keep a close eye as that pivotal moment approaches.  And if a pancake buckles as you scoop it up, just flip it and smooth it back out on the other side.

Continue reading Blueberry Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes (click for recipe)

Rhubarb Cake with Crystallized Ginger Crumb

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Remember when my backyard rhubarb was barely poking its head up through the ground?  I was happy to see the first signs of spring, sure, and new life unfurling is always inspiring, yada yada, but really?  I was excited because I was already thinking about this cake.

It’s sweet and light, with barely-tart shards of rhubarb nestled in every bite.  It’s topped with a crystallized ginger crumb that gives it a bit of a coffee cake appearance, which lets you get away with serving it for breakfast.  (I’ve never understood why topping a sugary cake with MORE sugar makes it into breakfast fare, but I’m not complaining.)  It’s a family favorite.

This recipe comes from Rustic Fruit Desserts, a book by Portland baker Julie Richardson and chef Cory Schreiber.  If you don’t have it already, you might want to run out and get it right now.  I know I’ll be using my copy all summer. Continue reading Rhubarb Cake with Crystallized Ginger Crumb (click for recipe)

Granola with Orange Zest, Currants, and Walnuts

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I mean to bring something nice over when you invite me to your house. Hopefully I will at least show up with a bottle of wine or a six pack of drinkable beer. But sometimes getting out the door with shoes and coats and all three children is all I can handle and on those occasions, sorry, I owe you. I’m lucky to have understanding friends (and reciprocity agreements in place).

Last weekend, I got about halfway to my goal of bringing some kind of nice baked good to our weekend hosts. Which brings us back to the topic of traveling with oats. I didn’t manage to actually bake the batch of granola I meant to take to our friends in Portland, but I did get as far as packing two jars with the ingredients for this olive oil granola: one big jar of dry ingredients and another smaller jar of wet ingredients. It wasn’t quite like showing up with a perfect cellophane-wrapped treat with a ribbon on it (just kidding, I’ve never done that), but at least the house smelled good while it baked.

We have eaten a lot of that olive oil granola in recent months.  (Here’s a variation with pistachios, dried apricots, and cardamom.)  J claims he could eat it for every meal, but it’s so sweet that his teeth might fall out. Here’s another option, a bit less decadent and perhaps therefore better suited to eat as an everyday breakfast.  Or for three meals a day, your call.

I am an orange zest junkie (have you made this bread yet?), so this recipe appealed to me immediately. Orange zest, currants, walnuts. I was intrigued by the fact that the recipe (mine is adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day) calls for butter in place of oil, but I really didn’t taste any difference and will probably just make it with oil next time. Maybe even olive oil.

Continue reading Granola with Orange Zest, Currants, and Walnuts (click for recipe)

Overnight Oats with Apple, Currants, and Walnuts

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When we travel, we like to have a fridge in our hotel room.  You know?  Scoping out the local restaurant scene is all well and good, but a family of five (with three members under the age of six) emphatically does not want to spend too much time in restaurants.

So we stock up on arrival: milk and cereal for the morning, PB&J fixings for lunch, a pile of fruit and some choice snacks to keep everyone’s energy up for adventuring.  But this time I had a little idea when I stopped into the natural foods store and I swung by the bulk bins for the fixings to make overnight oats.

A handful of oats, milk and/or yogurt (both could easily be vegan–or water or juice, for that matter), toppings.  The oats get creamy with an overnight soak in the fridge, and although I sweetened mine with fruit, it wouldn’t be wrong to drizzle a little maple syrup or honey on your bowl.  If you travel with that sort of thing.

This is definitely going to be my new breakfast of choice on the road.  What’s yours?  What are your travel tips for eating well?  I am really enjoying all the good ideas and advice I am getting in the food blogging world.

p.s. I should really let you know about the great latte and ace baked goods I found at Sleepy Monk Coffee Roasters in Cannon Beach, OR.  Check it out if you’re passing through!

Continue reading Overnight Oats with Apple, Currants, and Walnuts (click for recipe)

Southwestern Frittata with Peppers, Black Beans, and Cheddar

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Speaking of glorified scrambled eggs, a frittata is one of my favorite quick dinners.  (Although of course it would not be out of place at an elegant brunch. You know, should you have the occasion to host or attend an elegant brunch.  Around here on weekends it’s more of a race to see if I can just snag a pancake before the kids eat them all.)  A frittata has a significant advantage over scrambled eggs when it comes to dinner, in fact, because it can be made ahead and served at room temperature, or even cold.

Some of my favorite people went tootling around New Mexico recently, and knowing that they were in the land of chiles left me dreaming of the flavors of the Southwest.  They hadn’t yet come back to deliver my stash of frozen roasted Alcalde chiles, so I was stuck making this frittata with ingredients available to ordinary mortals.

But now those chiles are in my freezer.  What should I do with them?! They’re like gold. Or at least truffles.

Anyway.  Back to the I’m-not-in-Santa-Fe frittata.  I knew that I wanted to make a thick frittata, packed full of vegetables and a big scoop of drained pico de gallo salsa.  I was a little worried about getting my frittata to cook through, so I turned to the experts on nitpicky culinary concerns, Cook’s Illustrated.  And, as usual, they had good advice for me: cook the eggs as if you are scrambling them until they are nearly set, then finish them under the broiler.  Which I did. Continue Reading Southwestern Frittata with Peppers, Black Beans, and Cheddar (click for recipe)