A Breakfast Post

I am working and banking up a handful of posts upcoming, but I want to give you a little something to chew on for the week.  (In the literary world, that is called a "pun."  I hope you liked it.)

A while back I talked about breakfasts being the most important meal of the day.  I want to revisit that topic, as I've been in the habit of eating more breakfasts and eating better in general.  Almost every morning I get up and work out and then eat at the office.  And I eat all morning.  Spaced over the course of four hours I eat 3/4 cup green lentils with cinnamon and sugar (recipe, below), an apple, a banana, four ounces of non-fat Greek yogurt and one or two hard boiled eggs.  Maybe some almonds and dried blueberries. 

So what's the key to eating this much and this nutritiously everyday?  Planning and flavor.  Let's be honest, I'm not very motivated toward being responsible.  I'm a kid at heart.  I hate wearing a seatbelt (sorry Mom), I don't floss often enough (sorry Dr. Sadar) and I wouldn't eat my breakfast unless it's tasty and I don't have to work hard at that hour to make it. 

So, I keep it simple.  Sunday night, I put one and a half cups of dried lentils in a large bowl and add 2 cups water to soak over night.  Monday morning, when I wake up and start working out, I rinse the lentils and put them in the pot to boil.  I let them simmer and by the time I'm done with one work out, I have a week's worth of breakfast lentils.  Yipee!  (Ok, that's an over-reaction.  They are just lentils.)

This is simple, but meaning stuff.  Little changes make big changes possible.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll even start wearing my seatbelt. 


Green Lentil Breakfast
1 1/2 cups Dried Green Lentils (Pick through them. You never know what debris you'll find.  I've found other seed pods, stalks, even small rocks.)
2 1/2 cups Water
2 3/4 cups Water
1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
Cinnamon
Sugar

In a large bowl, soak the lentils in 2 1/2 cups of water for at least 8 hours. 

Rinse the lentils in a sieve and put them into a large pot, and sprinkle with salt and add the remaining water.  (For an extra treat, add 6-8 green cardamom pods.)  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20-25 minutes.  The lentils should be tender, but not mush. 

Sprinkle with a mix, 1:6 ratio, of cinnamon to sugar.  Stir in and eat hot or cold.  (I like to let the lentils cool and then store in individual serving containers.)


And just because you've been good:

How to Hard Boil an Egg
Most people abuse the hard boiled egg because they believe they can't screw it up.  You can screw anything up.  You know that rubbery egg white and a yolk that has a green lining around it?  It's over cooked.  This will help.

1 Egg
3 cups Water (at least)

In a sauce pan, add at least three cups water.  You want a lot of water so the temperature of the water doesn't drop when the egg(s) are added. 

Bring the water to a boil.  Add the egg.  Return the water to a boil as fast as possible (i.e. put the lid on the pot), reduce your heat to a low rolling boil and cook for 11-12 minutes.  (This is at my altitude.  I'm a mile above sea level.  You will only need about 9-10 minutes at sea level.)

Immediately drain the eggs and soak them in ice water.  You want to stop them cooking as quickly as possible.  Level them soak in ice water for 15-20 minutes. 

Eat them however you wish.  I like hot sauce on mine. 

Another Colorado Spring Break

Question: What do you do when you run out of milk but still want pancakes?  Milk is somewhat integral to the whole holding-a-pancake-together principle. 

Follow-up question: It's a warm spring morning and you want something to remind you of the high school Spring Break you never took took to Hawaii because your parents didn't have the money to go globe trotting, even though the cool kids would metaporically rub your nose in their glorious golden tans when everyone got back from the week off, and you secretly imagined rubbing coconut-scented suntanning lotion on Becky's back, but as soon as you thought these things you had to lock yourself in the bathroom stall and think about baseball until certain physical traits dissipated.  (OK, that's not a question.)

Answer:

Tropical Pancakes
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 tablespoons Sugar
3/4 cup Coconut, toasted to golden brown
1 Honey Mango, peeled and pitted
1 Banana
2 teaspoons fresh Ginger, grated
1/2 cup Orange Juice
1 Egg, beaten
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk together until well combined.  In another bowl, mash the mango and banana together.  Add the ginger, OJ, egg and vegetable oil and mix until it's a homogeneous soup. 

Stirring with a silicone spatula, add the liquid ingredients to the dry.  Stir until combined. 

Heat a skillet (or two) to medium high on the stove top.  Spray with cooking spray.  When hot, add about 1/2 cup of the batter to the skillet.  Reduce the heat to medium.  Cook on that side until the bottom is evenly browned.  Flip over and cook until the other side is done and the center is cooked through. 

Repeat with the rest of the batter. 

Keep them warm in a 100 degree oven.  Serve with sliced fruit and syrup. 

Dumbing It Down vs Guilty Pleasures

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'  --Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Today I feel a good rant coming on.  I gotta get some things off of my chest.

Language is exceptionally powerful.  It's true that the mind thinks in pictures and raw emotions, but words stimulate the mind into creating a tangible image to grasp.  If you doubt what I mean, think about the pronoun in each of the following sentences: "She became the president of the company."  "One never knows."  "He left the station at 3:00."  Who were the "she," "one," and "he" mentioned?  What did their faces look like?  Was the "one" male or female? 

So, if you follow my argument, and agree that the words we use change the audience's world by giving them new mind pictures to experience, what happens when we start simplifying the language we use?  It's subtle.  For example, a Martini is a beverage that has 5 parts gin, 1 part dry vermouth, and garnished with a lemon twist or an olive.  So a patron walking up to the bar and asking for a martini made with her favorite vodka is akin to asking for a hamburger but replace the meat with tofu.  We've changed what's in it, therefore, we cannot name it the same thing.  At the very least we should now call it a vodka martini or a tofu burger.  And yes, vodka is the tofu of the alcohol world.  (Tilapia is the tofu of the fish world, but that's another rant.) 

I also see generic over-generalizations, for example "cooking dinner."  "Cooking" demands a procedure of steps to take a set of basic ingredients and combine them into a common mass that is greater than the sum of its parts.  Cooking is NOT opening a can or a package and heating the contents inside.  Even if you closely follow a recipe, "cooking" involves some level of risk.  It allows for both failure and serendipity.  "Cooking" is art and therefore how much of yourself you put in is a variance of degree--analogous in range of a paint-by-number to Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel.

And if you think I'm being melodramatic, I would further suggest that our over-simplification of "cooking dinner" by opening a package and (perhaps) applying heat has gone a long way to contributing to the "food deserts" that lead to both poor nutrition and obesity.  Andrew Zimmern writes a rather scathing and insightful article on the very topic.  Please read it.

Food and language are the mediums about which I most enjoy being self-righteous, but we can all find numerous idiocies that give us crazy eyes.  Television programming (how can there be that many shows about hoarders/antique treasure seekers/ghost and monster hunters/dating rituals of the self-absorbed/B-list celebrities gasping for one last breath of fame?); or driving through the city, dodging a never ending slalom of construction during rush hour; and American political rhetoric.  The list can go on, ad nauseum. In short, we--probably all humans, to some extent, but many Americans, in particular--have institutionally (and lingually and cullinarily) sacrificed the absolute glory and majesty of what's available for a silver bullet of the least common denominator. 

But here we come to the irony of Humpty's statement, above.  Humpty Dumpty is a jerk.  By being so persnickety in his use of language, he would entirely alienate himself from everyone else, and in his isolation would miss out on one of life's greatest joys: the Guilty Pleasure. 

Most of the inane television listed above exists solely to satisfy our guiltiest of pleasures, Shadenfruede.  I confess that I, too, can find myself engrossed in a good episode of Cops.  But remember, I am also quite fond of Spam.  Both are satisfying on occasion. 

That's where I will leave this conversation.  With the idea that, in responsibility and recognition of what we doing, bad things can be really good.  But if we simply accept the banal and lazy ways of the herd, we are destined to be treated as cattle.  Life is too rich not to enjoy it all.  Or as a great man once said (maybe it was Shakespeare, Walter Cronkite or Hagar the Horrible), "Everything in moderation.  But don't overdo it." 

For breakfast, a by-definition-not-cooking-breakfast:

A cheese platter of
Gran Queso
Stilton with Mango
Vermeer Reduced fat Gouda
Menage
Saxon Creamery Big Ed's Cheese

Sliced White-flesh Freestone Peach

Farmers Rye Bread, toasted in a skillet

Applewood Smoked Bacon

Yellowtail Bubbles Sparkling Rosé


P.S. I recognize that I'm neither the first nor the best in ranting about the dumbing down of food or language. "It is what it is," is a phrase that needs to be done away with all together so that we might actually have a conversation about what "it" is. "Have a good one" is a throw-away dismissal that could be so much more rewarding if the receiver heard, "Have a wonderful afternoon." My all time favorite commentary about American's poor writing skills is one writer's passion for Alot. Read it. Laugh out loud. No, I mean seriously laugh out loud, not just LOL.

All the Sexy, Without That Silly Gilligan

From almost as early as I can remember, two things have aroused my attention like nothing else.  The first was fine food and drink.  The second was redheads.  Today, I fill my life with as much of the former as my wallet and liver will allow.  The latter, however . . . .

Born in 1969, I spent my formative years watching such afternoon and Saturday morning educational gems as Tom and Jerry (take away: mice are smarter than cats), School House Rock (learning is fun with rhythmic music and easier with simple pictures) and Gilligan's Island.  The very beautiful, very leggy and very sexy Tina Louise played the very sultry Hollywood starlet, Ginger Grant.  Oh, Tina--the criminal effects you had on this poor eight-year old boy should have landed you in jail.  I discovered hormones in the midst of your breathy words whispered into Gilligan's ear.  (Looking back on it now, I understand why I felt an uncontrollable need to press my crotch against the hard arm rest of the sofa.  As an eight year old, I couldn't really express it in words; and gratefully to all, I couldn't yet express it in other ways.)

I learned that Ginger represented all that was sexy, spicy, exotic and even a little forbidden. 

Her namesake, the rhizome ginger, shares all of her best qualities without me having to abuse the furniture.  Medicinal, culinary and horticulturally, ginger provides numerous benefits.  It's flowers are stunning and given the right conditions, are easy to grow.  Eating ginger (not Ginger) treats the symptoms of many forms of nausea including motion sickness and morning sickness.  But it is in cuisine that ginger really commands attention.  Add the juice to rice while cooking for a pleasant aroma and tingle on the tongue.  Add ginger beer or ginger ale to a beverage to make it even more refreshing.  Add slices, shavings or diced ginger to meat or vegetarian dishes for an Asian flair. 

Ginger is best when it's peeled and because of its fibrous texture, either grated, juiced or cut up very fine.  It's also inexpensive.  Buy it fresh at nearly any supermarket.  I recommend against buying the dried powdered ginger sold in the spice aisle as the flavor of dried ginger disappears within a month or two of grating it.  And because ginger is quite fiery, it pairs well with sweet ingredients. 

I have grown up a lot since the mid-70's.  Tom and Jerry isn't as entertaining as I once thought, and mice are really pretty dumb (but then, so are cats).  School House Rock is even better now.  Gilligan's Island became the giant on whose shoulders other television shows stood (MacGyver and Seinfeld owe a debt of gratitude).  And although Ginger is still hot, the furniture is now safe.  BTW, my lovely wife has dyed her hair red.

For breakfast this morning, I made:

Cinnamon Pancakes with Apple and Ginger
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Egg, beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons Butter, melted and cooled slightly
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons finely diced fresh Ginger
1 large sweet Apple (I used a Fuji), peeled and finely chopped

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Mix the liquid ingredients together in another bowl.  Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mix by hand until combined.  Add the apple and ginger and stir until evenly distributed. 

Cook on a medium hot skillet as you would other pancakes.  Serve hot with butter and Ginger Maple Syrup.


Ginger Maple Syrup
1 can Ginger Ale
1 tablespoon fresh grated Ginger
1/2 cup Dark Maple Syrup

In a large, open sauce pan on medium high heat bring the ginger ale and grated ginger to a light boil, stirring constantly.  Add the maple syrup.  Bring back to a light boil, stirring constantly, then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Continue to stir regularly until the syrup mix is reduced by half. 

Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. 

This would also be great on ice cream.

Caution: Children Playing

We had a little family reunion this weekend.  It was the first time all 3 siblings and all of our families could be in attendance, because it was the first time we've all been together since my nephew was born.  I learned a LOT about children, and a little about myself.   

My niece is almost 3 years old.  We'll call her Milly.  My nephew, lets call him Baxter, was just learning to crawl, so I think that makes him somewhere between 5 and 7 months old.  Certainly less than 1 year.  And since he was born sometime in 2010, I think that's a pretty safe guess. 

Now, my niece and nephew are the most beautiful children in all the land.  Not at all lizard-like.  Additionally, they are exceptionally well behaved--unless they want something.  Then, the otherwise sweet and demure children scream like banshees.  I also now know that these two are always in some state of undress: When Baxter was completely dressed, Milly would be peeling off her pants.  Milly likes to be completely dressed for dinner, but Baxter needs to be in his all-together. 

Milly is very fond of the lime light--if she's singing and you're not paying attention, well . . . attention must be paid.

I learned that kids can be very finicky eaters, but that they will also put anything in their mouths.  I learned that kids can swing from laughter, to screaming, to laughter again in a matter of moments.  I learned that my Mom really likes being a Grandma. 

More than anything else, I learned that my younger brother and his wife are great parents. 

I get to be a great uncle.  Who teaches the kids inappropriate behavior.  And maybe a little cooking. 

For meals this weekend, we enjoyed:

Aussie Burger

This is my brother's award-winning recipe based on a recipe found in Gourmet magazine.  This is another case of taking a good idea and making it better.  Side note: I'm not sure why it's called an Aussie Burger.  Unless you believe the Australians enjoy things larger than they need to be (think: cans of Foster's Beer) or you think they are a sloppy nation.  But I don't think that's fair.  Shame on you, you racist.

1/2 lbs Hamburger Patty

Toasted Hamburger Bun

1 leaf Lettuce

1 slice of Tomato

3 medium Green Chilies, roasted and skins removed

2 slices Pickled Beets

1 slice Pineapple, grilled

1 Egg, fried, over easy

2 tablespoons Chili Aioli

Grill the burgers to your liking.  Toasts the buns.  Assemble.  Eat it as best you can.  Use lots of napkins. 

Salt Crust Roasted Chicken
10 lbs Rock Salt (coarse sea salt is fine but very expensive.  Ice cream salt also works well and is much cheaper.  Just be sure it's a kind that you can eat, and not a poisonous de-icer for sidewalks.)

1 Frier Chicken (3 lbs) 

1 large sprig Thyme
6-7 large leaves Sage
3/4 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper 

About 2-3 hours before cooking, completely rinse the chicken, inside and out.  Pat it off with paper towels, season inside and out with pepper, and let stand to dry.  (Like we did in the Duck recipe.) 

About 1 hour before cooking, put the salt in a deep baking pan and put it in the oven set to 400 degrees.  Salt is a rock and can withstand very high heat.

About 10 minutes before cooking, stuff the herbs into the body cavity of the bird and truss its legs and body closed.  Clip or tuck its wings.

When the salt is heated all the way through, remove 2/3 - 3/4 into another large metal bowl.  BE CAREFUL!  With a wooden spoon or paddle, even the salt back out over the bottom of the pan.  Lay the bird in the middle of the salt and then pour the hot salt from the bowl over the bird.  Completely cover the chicken.

Put the pan back in the oven, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and cook for an hour and 30 minutes. 

By this time most people are thinking, "Great idea!  I've completely ruined this chicken by dumping 10 pounds of salt on it."  Not so, good reader!  Allow me to lay a little science on you: Drying the skin and heating the salt allows the cooking to begin without dissolving the salt into the water in the meat.  As the meat heats up, steam escapes and there is a subtle interplay of steam dissolving small amounts of salt and the chicken taking on the perfect amount of seasoning.  If the salt grows to too high of a concentration, the steam from the cooking meat forces it back out again!  Ain't science great?

Pull the pan out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Carefully brush the salt away until you come to the hard crust.  Gently crack through with a heavy knife handle and let some of the steam escape.  You should be able to then remove the rest of the crust with your fingers.  This will be the juiciest, most tender and most perfectly seasoned roasted chicken you've ever tried.  One word of caution, however.  If the salt grains are too fine, you may have to discard the skin and only eat the meat beneath. 


Sausage Gravy
1lbs of Pork Sausage (plus up to 1 tablespoon bacon fat)
3 tablespoons All Purpose Flour
Salt and Ground Black Pepper, to taste
3-4 cups Milk

In a heavy skillet, on medium high heat, brown and render the fat out of the sausage.  Drain the sausage, reserving the fat and the drippings in the skillet.  There should be about 3 tablespoons of fat.  If not, add additional bacon fat to the pan, reduce the heat to medium and lightly sprinkle in the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or wire whisk. 

Keep stirring until the roux darkens to a deep chocolaty, caramelly brown.  Reduce the heat to medium low.  Slowly add the milk, stirring the entire time.  If you aren't using a wire whisk, yet, do so now.  Pour in 3 cups of milk and keep stirring as the roux dissolves into the milk.  Season with salt and pepper.

Stir and stir.  This is an exercise in patience and love.  When the milk begins to boil (15 minutes or so) there won't be that raw flour flavor.  Let it cook and start to thicken.  If the gravy gets too thick, add more milk.  If the gravy is too thin, let it cook a little bit longer.  It will thicken.  As it starts to cool, it will thicken more.  Don't forget to scrape the bottom and the sides of the pan.

About 5 minutes before serving, taste and finish seasoning with salt and pepper.  Add the sausage to the gravy and stir.  Serve on top of buttermilk biscuits. 

Stovetop Cobbler

Stovetop "Cobbler"
3 large tart Apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 tablespoon each of both Butter and Olive Oil
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
pinch of Salt
3 tablespoons Brandy
1/2 cup Rolled Oats
1 tablespoon Butter
your favorite Nuts, chopped (honey roasted almonds are good)


Melt the butter in a medium frying pan. Add the oil and let get hot. Add the apples, stir and reduce the heat to medium/medium low. Add the sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Stir occasionally. The sugars will get syrupy.


In another pan, heat the butter and oil on high. Add the oats and nuts. Reduce the heat to medium and saute until the oats are toasted and aromatic.


Add the brandy to the apples. Ignite with a match and burn off some of the alcohol. Stir in the oats, and reduce heat to low. Stir and let cook for 5 minutes or so. Serve hot!

The Weekend Breakfast

Like all good college bachelors, there was once a very pragmatic reason for my learning to cook a fine breakfast.  Now that I am married, however, I still enjoy the weekend tradition of a leisurely breakfast. 

They say it's the most important meal of the day, but most of us (including me) skip it most often.  "Too busy," "I'm not hungry, yet," "I can wait until lunch."  These are some of my very good reasons for not eating breakfast during the week.  But on weekends, breakfasts are a celebration.

This may be a two-part blog, but today I want to talk about the joys of a good breakfast on the weekend.  (I'll be soliciting ideas for weekday breakfasts later--please help!)

A few things that make breakfast my favorite creative meal is the versatility of eggs and bread.  The interplay of sweet and savory.  And really good coffee.

Coffee first: We use a French Press, so the weekend morning ritual begins by putting a pot of water on to boil.  While the water comes to a boil, we fill the press pot with hot water to take the chill off.  We grind our own beans--a coarse grind allowing for the mesh in the press.  As the water comes to a boil, we take it off the heat; empty the press and then add the coffee and the near-boiling water.  We let it steep for 4 minutes and while it does, we heat the cups.  When the coffee finally lands in the cup, the little droplets of the volatile oils release their rich aroma.  This is a perfect start of the day--worthy of a Norman Rockwell painting and a place on future calendars which will reminisce of those halcyon days of yester-year.

When you have a set-up like this, almost any breakfast would be delicious.  But truly great breakfasts demand more.

My favorite breakfast restaurant of all time is Cafe Pasqual's in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  (They do great lunches and dinners, too.)  It's not uncommon to wait 45 minutes to more than an hour for a seat, but they also have a community table where you can meet others and maybe sit sooner.  The waitstaff are informal, busy, and moving through so quickly they could be mistaken as rude.  They aren't.  They are the ninja rockstars of the food service industry.  And they will be your best friends, if you are willing to work with them.  The food is the main attraction, however.  From the unconventional house-made granola, to the very peculiar Smoked Trout Hash, all are delicious and presented perfectly and complete as they are.  If you enjoy a sweet breakfast, try the Tamal Dulce with a cup of Mexican hot chocolate.  If you desire a more savory dish, try the Eggs Barbacoa with Chile d'Arbol.

I love being inspired by great foods from great restaurants.  "Name That Flavor" is my favorite restaurant game, and when I come home it's "What Was That Flavor?"  I try to recreate--and when possible, even improve upon--the meals I've had.  Here's a few of my favorites:

Breakfast Rice Pilaf
1/2 cup Long Grain White Rice
1/2 cup Wild Rice
2 tablespoons White Sesame Seeds
2 tablespoons Butter
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 cups Water
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
1/2 teaspoon Red Chili Powder
1/4 teaspoon ground Allspice
1/2 cup of Dried Fruit (Golden Raisins, Plums, chopped Apricots, etc)
1/4 cup Honey
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract


Melt the butter in a medium sized pot over medium-high heat.  Add rices and sesame seed and stir constantly until the sesame seed starts to smell toasted.  Add the water and salt and increase the heat to high and quickly stir in the spices, fruit and honey.  Cover, let come to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer.  Let simmer for 30 minutes, covered. 


Remove from the heat, let stand for 5 minutes (still covered).  Add the vanilla and fluff the rice with a fork.  Serve hot with milk and a sprinkle of brown sugar or maple syrup. 


Bombay Potatoes
this is a recipe from my friend Lisa Grant
"Omg, it's heaven. Peel and rough chop a mixing bowl full of potatoes. Put 'em in a hot skillet with a bit of oil. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until soft. While that's cooking, get your spices ready. Turmeric, coriander, cumin, paprika, crushed red pepper, garam masala, fresh grated ginger, salt and pepper. I tend to be kinda generous with my spices and I like a slow after-burn, but use however much works for you. When the potatoes are soft, throw in the spices and a good knob of butter. Sizzle, wiggle and dance in the kitchen. When it smells so good that you just about can't take it any more, throw in 1/4 cup of water and mix it all around really well. Crispy, spicy, smushy, and lovely. Mmmm..."

Huevos Motuleños (as inspired by Cafe Pasqual's)
ingredients are per person
2 Corn Tortillas
1/2 cup Black Beans
2 teaspoons Mild Red Chili Powder
1 Red Banana
2 tablespoons Green Peas
1/4 cup crumbled Queso Fresco (or a mild feta cheese)
2 Eggs, cooked to your perfection (I prefer a light poach)
Red or Green Chili Sauce, to taste

Cook the black beans with the chili powder, for flavor.  (This is a fine time to use canned black beans.)  While they are cooking, warm the tortillas and lay them on a plate.  Slice the banana in half, length-wise and heat in a HOT skillet.  Red bananas are good to use  because they are a little more starchy than traditional yellow (Cavendish), but sweeter than plantains. 

Cook the eggs.

Assemble, from bottom to the top:  Tortillas on the plate, black beans, banana, peas, queso fresco, eggs and chili sauce. 

German Apple Pancake
3 large Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons Butter
1/4 cup Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon grated Nutmeg
3 Eggs, beaten
3/4 cup Milk or Half and Half
1/2 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Heat the oven to 500 degrees.

In an oven proof skillet (but starting on the stove top) melt the butter on medium-high heat.  Saute the apples until they are evenly coated in butter.  Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Continue to stir occasionally. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat the remaining ingredients into a batter. 

When the oven hits 500 degrees, pour the batter over the apples, starting around the edges and moving into the middle.  Immediately place the skillet into the oven and reduce the heat to 425 degrees.  Bake for 16-17 minutes.  The batter will puff up and turn a yellow-golden-brown. 

Using a spatula, loosen the pancake as best you can from the sides and bottom of the pan.  Being careful not to burn yourself, place a plate, upside down, on top of the skillet and flip.  (It's like turning out a pineapple upside down cake.)

Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.  Serve with warm maple syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar. 

Now, if you've got good breakfast ideas for "on the go" folks like myself, please give me your best!

What's for breakfast?

We're making Johnny Cakes this morning with bacon and eggs.

Basic Johnny Cake recipe:
1 1/2 cups Yellow Corn Meal
1 (light) teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Sugar
a pinch of Cayenne Pepper
2 1/4 cups Boiling Water
Butter or your favorite fat

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Carefully and quickly add the water, whisking the entire time to break up the lumps. Let the batter stand for 10 minutes.

Preheat a skillet to about 325 degrees (I love my electric skillet for this!) Melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet. Drop in spoonfulls of the batter until the cakes are about 4 inches across and about a 1/4 inch high (or so). Cook for 6 minutes. Flip them over cook for another 6 min. They should be golden brown on both sides, crispy on the outside and tender (maybe even a bit mushy) inside.

We serve Johnny Cakes with maple syrup, but they go well with savory sauces as well. Or serve with porkchops during dinner.

Makes 8-10 cakes

For a variation, you can add diced jalapenos or corn kernels.



Oven Bacon

Place strips of bacon on a cookie cooling rack on a sheet pan. Make sure the sheet pan has at least 1/2 inch sides all the way around or you will have a smokey grease fire in your oven. I tried it, you won't like.

Put the pan in a cold oven and set the oven for 400 degrees. When the oven comes to temperature, start checking the bacon every few minutes, because the bacon will get burned in a heartbeat.

This is a great way to cook bacon because it eliminates splatters on the stovetop and each strip comes out straight and flat.

For a variation, try adding a thin sprinkle of brown sugar to the bacon before putting it in the oven!


We cooked everything in bacon fat this morning instead of butter--in part because we were out of butter and partly because bacon fat makes everything better.