Category Archives: Breakfast

Baked French Toast

11 Friday Mar 2011

Posted by in Breakfast, Entree, Meal, Recipe, Vegetarian

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Baking french toast makes this a fabulous dish for entertaining. I will never go back to making french toast on the stove top!

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large loaf organic fresh white or wheat bread (this is extremely important – fresh bread really makes this recipe)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups organic skim milk
  • 2 tbsp organic half and half
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp organic, unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

  1. Spray a 13-by-9-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. Cut loaf of bread into six to eight 1.5-2-inch-thick slices (reserve ends for another use). Arrange in a single layer in the baking dish
  2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
  3. Whisk together eggs through salt in a bowl until well combined, then pour evenly over bread. Let stand for 15-20 minutes, turning bread every 5 minutes, until all the egg mixture is absorbed by the bread. (It helps to poke the bread with a fork on both sides to speed up the absorption process.)
  4. Sprinkle bread with melted butter, sugar and cinnamon. Bake until bread is puffed and top is golden (about 20 minutes). Serve immediately with maple syrup, powdered sugar, and fresh berries.
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Sweet Potato Bread with Dried Cranberries & Walnuts

30 Saturday Jan 2010

Posted by in Breakfast, Dessert, Farmers' Market, Recipe, Vegetarian

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This recipe calls for applesauce and canola oil, creating an exceptionally moist bread. Serve with coffee and tea for a morning snack, or as a light dessert for lunch. The sweet potatoes used in this recipe are organic and come from Next Step Produce, and the free-range eggs from Waterview Foods, both purchased from the Dupont Circle Freshfarm Market.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 1/2 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour, organic
  • 3 cups sugar, organic
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon, organic
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg, organic
  • 1 tsp ground cloves, organic
  • 1/2 cup organic canola oil (such as Spectrum Naturals)
  • 1/2 cup all-natural, applesauce
  • 2 cups mashed sweet potato (about 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cooked in a pressure cooker until tender and soft, and then mashed with a fork or other tool), organic
  • 4 free-range, organic eggs
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped, organic
  • 1-2 tbsp turbinado sugar, organic

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
  2. Combine flour through cloves in a large bowl. Stir well and set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine oil through eggs. Whisk until eggs are fully incorporated into the other ingredients.
  4. Mix wet and dry ingredients together (be careful not to over stir). Then fold in dried cranberries and pecans.
  5. Pour mixture into 2 bread pans coated with cooking spray. Bake for 30 minutes, then sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for an additional 30-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle of each bread pan comes out clean.

Indian Chai Tea

03 Tuesday Nov 2009

Posted by in Beverage, Breakfast, Recipe

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My friend Justin shared this fabulous recipe with me while my husband and I were grad students in Virginia. Unfortunately, the first time I consumed this authentic tea, we had it at 5pm. I was up until 3am. If you want a strong jolt, skip the coffee and have some chai tea instead. It makes a fabulous winter post-breakfast beverage before a hike, studying, reading, or skiing. (Caution, this tea should be consumed in the morning or before 3pm due to its high caffeine and sugar content.)

ChaiTea

Servings: 2 (16 ounces) or 4 (8 ounce) cups

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups water
  • 6 cardamon pods, crushed
  • 3 tbsp fresh grated ginger
  • 4 spoonfuls sugar in the raw (use a small soup spoon or other equivalent silverware, not a measuring spoon)
  • 3 spoonfuls chai tea (try Teavana’s Masala Chai)
  • 1 ½ spoonfuls vanilla extract
  • 2 spoonfuls honey
  • 1 ½ cup non-fat milk

DIRECTIONS

  1. Add water through honey in a small to medium sized sauce pan. Bring mixture to a boil.
  2. Add milk, and return to a steady boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes. Use a tea strainer and pour into mugs or tea cups.

Enjoy!

Multigrain Pancakes with Fruit

31 Saturday Oct 2009

Posted by in Breakfast, Recipe, Vegetarian

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This is a hearty, breakfast pancake recipe. Unlike most pancakes, you won’t be hungry 2 hours after eating these. The recipe calls for fresh apples and raisins, but the pancakes are also delicious with frozen raspberries and/or blueberries.
INGREDIENTS
  • 1 ½ cup spelt flour
  • ½ cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup oats
  • ¼ cup yellow cornmeal
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 ½ to 1 ¾ cup skim milk (use less for denser pancakes or more for lighter, fluffier pancakes)
  • 2/3 cup plain, low-fat yogurt
  • 2 tbsp canola oil
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 large apple, peeled, and finely diced
  • ¼ cup golden raisins (optional)
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine first 6 ingredients; stir well and set aside.
  2. Combine milk through brown sugar in a separate bowl, whisk until combined well.
  3. Add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth. Fold in diced apple and raisins.
  4. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet. Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Serve with maple syrup.

(Mis)adventures with Quince – Quince Jam

21 Wednesday Oct 2009

Posted by in Breakfast, CSA, Farmers' Market, Lunch, Recipe, Vegan, Vegetarian

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QuinceDid you know that some historians believe that the apple, from the biblical story of Adam and Eve, might have actually been a Quince?  Did you even know what a quince was?

I had limited exposure to the fruit until today, having only been served a quince jam with some manchego cheese at a fancy tapas bar in Philadelphia.  I remember it having a unique, but pleasant taste.  I certainly didn’t know what it looked like in it’s natural state, which got me into a funny situation today.

The quince, as you can see in the photo above, resembles a pear.  When I got the CSA on Saturday, that’s what I assumed the green fruit was.  I packed it in my lunch today, and around 4:30 took it out as a late afternoon snack.  One bite told me something wasn’t quite right.  At first I thought it was not ripe, as it was extremely hard and bitter.  After another bite on the other side, I went to find Kim.

“I think you need to cook it,” she told me, taking one look at the hard fruit and the look of disgust on my face.  I coaxed her and another colleague into sampling a small piece, but no one could identify the taste – a mix of sour pear/pineapple/sour apple.  It was certainly not something we were accustomed to.

I finally decided to email the farm, and within minutes I got back a reply:

“John -It is a quince!!! and not to eat!! but to make jams with!”

On my walk home, I sheepishly Googled “Raw Quince Stomach Ache” from my phone and held my breath as the page loaded.  It turns out it’s OK to eat, it just doesn’t taste very good.

I saved the rest of the quince after our taste test, and decided to follow our farmer’s advice and make jam.  It was really easy, and the final product was much better than the raw stuff.

Quince Jam

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 quince
  • 5 teaspoons sugar (or to taste)
  • Water

Optional:

  • 1/4 tsp cardamom
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Peel quince and cut into chunks.
  2. Place fruit in a small sauce pot.  Add sugar, and fill with water just until the water reaches the top of the fruit.
  3. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
  4. Cook until fruit becomes soft and the mixture resembles applesauce.
  5. Remove from heat and cool.
  6. Stir in vanilla and cardamom, if desired.

The resulting jam was delicious.  A nice texture and familiar taste with exotic, lingering undertones.  I didn’t add the vanilla or cardamom, because I wanted to taste the essence of the fruit, but it made quite a bit so I may add it to half of the batch.

Quince Jam