Archive for the ‘Breakfast’ Category

When I was in high school, French class was a favorite. You can imagine how French spoken with a Southern accent is like honey to the ear.

Someone’s ear.

Somewhere.

At each year’s end we would have a class party celebrating with French cuisine – each student preparing a dish to share. I don’t recall what drove my compulsion for overambitiousness at such a young age, but, while others were bringing crepes and chocolate mousse, I decided upon coq au vin. AND French onion soup. The soup was a breeze and the coq au vin, for a 15 yr. olds first attempt, was okay. Of course the complexity of the flavors was wasted on my classmates.

I should’ve made French toast.

Vous vivez et vous apprenez.

(Yes, I looked that up. High school was a long time ago.)

French toast had been part of my repertoire for years at that age, along with banana boats, hobo packs and anything you can cook on a tuna can stove – Girl Scouts rocked!

French toast is simple breakfast fare, and, with a few additions and modifications, can easily be turned into an even more delightful start to a new day as stuffed French toast. Stuffed French toast sounds fancy, quite the contrary. There’s really no stuffing involved – just some spreading. The ingredients are basic, and the technique, simple. In addition, everything can be prepped the night before so you’re ready to go in the morning, even if you’re not so bright eyed and bushy tailed.

You’ll need: eggs, heavy cream (or half and half), orange zest, orange juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, sugar, salt, bread of choice (something heavy duty), cream cheese, preserves or jam of choice and butter. Powdered sugar and syrup are optional for dusting and serving.

I used a blood red orange and blueberry preserves because that’s what I had on hand. This is my favorite brand of blueberry preserves. All of their preserves are very tasty. I just like blueberry.

Certainly use whatever citrus you’d like and choose your favorite preserves or fresh fruit with a little sweetener added. And mascarpone or even cottage cheese could be substituted for the cream cheese if you’d prefer.

Also, I used a multigrain bread from a local bakery but any bread you can cut thicker that will hold up to the dunkin’ will do.

Begin with a shallow baking dish and add the eggs.

Then the cream.Next, the orange zest and juice. I just love the color of blood orange. It’s always so shockingly vibrant to me.

Finally add the cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, sugar and salt.

Whisk together lightly to combine.

In a separate bowl combine cream cheese and preserves.

Make 4 sandwiches using the cream cheese mixture.

Dip each sandwich in the egg mixture, carefully covering all sides completely. Place sandwiches on heated griddle or skillet that has been lightly buttered.

Cook 3-5 minutes per side, until golden brown.

Cut in quarters or halves and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and/or syrup.

What a way to start the day – on the sweet side!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup heavy cream (or half and half)
• Zest of one orange, approx. 1-2 teaspoons
• Juice of one orange, approx. 1/4 cup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1/4 cup blueberry preserves (or favorite preserves)
• 8 slices of sturdy bread, sliced thick (I used a multigrain)
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

- Lightly whisk the eggs, cream, orange zest, juice, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar and salt together in a shallow baking dish to combine.

- In a separate bowl mix together cream cheese and preserves.

- Make 4 sandwiches using the cream cheese mixture.

- Carefully dip each sandwich in the egg mixture; be sure to flip being careful to cover all sides completely. Let them rest on a plate while you prepare the griddle or skillet.

- Heat griddle or skillet over low-medium heat. Depending on how much room you have to cook each sandwich, you’ll need to split the butter between batches, roughly using 1/2 tablespoon per sandwich.

- Place sandwiches on heated griddle or skillet, and cook 3-5 minutes per side, until golden brown.

- Cut in quarters or halves. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and/or syrup.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you try it and what combinations you come up with. I can’t wait to try it with fresh strawberries during summer. Yum!

The “Turn the Tub Around” campaign is spreading the word that I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter has been reformulated – among other things, no hydrogentated oils, no cholesterol and 460 mg of Omega 3 (ALA) per serving. (If you have yet to read my post about our foray into the world of music videos, check out this post about our “Turn the Tub Around” video.)

I don’t know about you, but I can use all the help I can get cutting fat and calories. Plus, around here, trying to get the essential Omega 3 in our diet is difficult. So I decided to test I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spread out on my unsuspecting son, Hank. He’s a picky eater; my daughter, not so much, but my son, ugh.

Recently I’d posted some recipes for compound butter – one of them for honey cinnamon butter. Hank likes cinnamon toast for breakfast. It’s easy and basic. Why not replace the butter in the honey cinnamon butter with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spread and use that for his cinnamon toast? Just tell him it’s the same ingredients, only mixed together so it’s easier to spread. And since the honey cinnamon butter recipe calls for honey instead of sugar, if it worked, the health benefits from the honey combined with the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spread would be a much healthier choice.

I mixed up the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spread with the honey and cinnamon – so easy. He gobbled it down. He even said it was better than normal. Score!

And you know what? I’ve gotta say it, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! No loss of flavor – just the loss of fat and cholesterol. I can imagine many compound butter flavors you could substitute I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spread with. Herbed butter on steak or fish would be fabulous.

Honey Cinnamon I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spread Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter original spread
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

- Mix all ingredients together well.

That’s it! Easy peasy!

So if you’re trying to make some small changes or have special dietary restrictions, go get some I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, turn the tub around and check it out for yourself. You might be surprised at how great it tastes.

Nowadays you can find recipes galore online (here for example) and print or bookmark ’til your hearts desire. But there’s just something about being able to hold a book in your hands. The feel of the pages. The wholeness of someone’s work – someone’s creation.

With that said, a few years ago I picked up Nigella Lawson’s, “Nigella Express” as a Christmas gift for my sister. My sister, Carole, has yet to see it as I kept it for myself after looking through it more closely before wrapping. Merry Christmas to me, huh? Don’t worry, she did get a nice replacement gift.

Like many other cookbooks or cooking sections of my favorite magazines, I enjoy perusing the photos and stories that accompany the recipes, rarely recreating a recipe to the tee. But I think that’s the sign of a well done cookbook – to inspire, to push you forward in creating wonderfulness in your own kitchen.

“Nigella Express” is no exception. Nigella weaves her personality and wit throughout every page of yummy goodness in a down to earth, approachable way. The book’s concept is “good food, fast” and there truly is a great compilation of quick entrees, desserts and party foods that are sure to impress the taste buds and not leave you a harried wreck in the end.

Lately I’ve been trying to think about the holidays. Planning ahead some “go to” dishes and do a little freezing. So a few nights ago as my husband watched baseball, I pulled out Nigella’s cookbook and with pencil and paper started looking for inspiration. While late night is horrendously known for sweet cravings, Nigella’s Ouefs En Cocotte (baked eggs) caught my eye.

I’m so terrible about regularly eating breakfast but this looked too easy to pass up. So while in town the next day I looked for some ramekins (which I found at Marshall’s for $7.99/set of 4) and prepared to bake some ouefs.

Basically all you’ll need is eggs, some half and half (or heavy cream) and some favorite combination of herbs. Of course, as Nigella mentions in her book, you can get creative with these adding cheese, ham, bacon or whatever strikes your fancy.

I decided to make my own version with dill, along with a little spice and replacing the recommended heavy cream with half and half.

These ouefs were outstanding! Quick, simple but a little fancy looking, these would be a great morning welcome for any overnight guests. And “toast sticks” (or whatever you want to call em) are the perfect compliment.

The prep couldn’t be easier but I ended up playing with the temperature and cook time to get it just right for us. If you want your eggs a little underdone you’ll have to adjust and vice versa. One thing to keep in mind is that the carry-over cooking can take them from just right to overdone quickly. So I’d recommend doing a trial run before testing it on guests.

Basic Baked Eggs
(Adapted from Nigella Lawson)
(serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 6 half cup ramekins
• butter (for greasing ramekins)
• 6 eggs
• 6 tablespoons half and half
• dill (enough for a pinch for each dish)
• ground cayenne pepper (enough for a pinch for each dish)
• salt (enough for a pinch for each dish)

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350° F and put a full kettle (or pot) of water on to boil.

- Grease each ramekin with butter.

- Crack one egg into each ramekin.

- Add a tablespoon of half and half to each ramekin.

- Into each ramekin put a pinch of dill, ground cayenne pepper and salt.

- Place ramekins baking dish and fill baking dish halfway up ramekins with the boiling water.

- Place baking dish in oven and bake for 15 minutes.

- Remove from oven and carefully take each ramekin out of baking dish.

- Serve warm.

Enjoy!

(P.S. I’ll be talking about a new cookbook, “The Pioneer Woman Cooks” later this week and there will be a giveaway! So be sure to check back so you can enter.)