Vegetarian Foodie

Coffee Cake

I love a crumbly breakfast coffee cake. I recently made the coffee cake shown above and it was...good- but I find myself shrugging my shoulders when I say, "Good" as if it must not have been that good. The recipe was from The Art and Soul of Baking... a tome of a cookbook that checked out from the library.

So I am still in search of the perfect recipe...you know, the one in my back pocket that I have memorized and it never fails. The one the kids will clasp their hands together on a Friday night and say, "Please make Saturday morning coffee cake Mom"....

To-do and In search:

Pioneer Woman claims to have the Best Coffee Cake

Smitten Kitchen rarely fails me so I must add this recipe to my to-do: Big Crumb Coffee Cake

and a Raspberry Crumb Coffee Cake with Vermont Maple Frosting looks like it deserves a chance.

That should keep me busy for a few Saturdays.... To Be Continued.... 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Brunch Menu

As I sit menu planning here I am nursing a hole in my mouth where a tooth once was.

While backpacking in India about 18 years ago a tooth of mine cracked. I ignored it... and ignored it and being the stubborn gal that I am... I have let it crack and chip away since. Well, finally I decided to take care of business (after a few days of bad bad toothaches). Goodbye troublesome tooth. I received an odd look when I asked the oral surgeon if I could photograph the broken and bloody bits of tooth (don't worry, I won't post it). 

While having a tooth removed is not half as scary or uncomfortable as I thought it might be....Pass me the vicodin.

Brunch Menu

Apple Orchard Punch -Coffee- Tea 

Roasted Tomatoes with Olives

Chopped Green Salad with Vinaigrette (Alice Waters- 1 part red wine vinegar, 2 parts olive oil, salt and pepper)

French Fries (Potatoes sliced and fried in grape seed oil never disappoint)

Leek Pie

Spinach Quiche (Thanks once again Smitten Kitchen)

Brownies  (Thanks once again Smitten Kitchen)

Strawberry Jam

• 2 Lbs Fresh Strawberries
• 4 Cups White Sugar
• 1/4 Lemon Juice

Crush the berries into a mess!

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix together the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil, stirring often.

We did not add thickener (pectin) so this really is more of a strawberry drizzle and begged to be eaten within a day or so.

So, we made Crepes..... with bananas and strawberry drizzle.... YUM!

Popovers (or, what you should make for breakfast tomorrow!)

From The Tassajara Bread Book

• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Use a popover pan or  regular muffin tins.  Mix ingredients thoroughly.  Butter the muffin tins and heat in the oven for 5 minutes.  When hot, fill each cup one-third full with popover batter.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325 and bake another 10-20 minutes.  

Mushroom and Swiss Cheese Quiche

Quick, get a photo before it disappears! That good.... thanks Mollie Katzen of Moosewood!

Crust

1/4 cup (half a stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup flour, can be part whole wheat
Dash salt
3 tbsp. buttermilk

Use the processor to prepare the crust: dump flour, salt, and butter chunks in the processor. Give the gadget a whirl. Dribble in cold, cold liquid starting with lesser amount and adding until the dough sticks together. Whirr between additions.

Take dough out of processor. On a nicely floured tea towel roll out the dough until it is slightly larger than the pan. It should be about 1/8" to 3/16" thick. Transfer to pan and turn edges under, pressing against wavy sides of pan and cutting dough where necessary so that the edges are not too thick.

After preparing the crust, there are three more steps before baking the quiche at 375°F.

Quiche

• 1 tsp butter
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1/4 lb mushrooms, sliced or minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard (If you don't have this in your pantry a squirt of regular mustard will work fine)
• a pinch of thyme
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375° 
2. Melt the butter in a small pan.  Add onions, and saute over medium heat for a few minutes.  Once the onions are soft, add the mushrooms, salt, pepper, thyme and mustard.  Saute for another 5 minutes and remove from heat.
3. Whisk together the eggs, milk and flour.  Beat well.
4. Press your pie crust into a pie pan or a springform tart pan.  Spread the grated cheese over the bottom of the unbaked crust.  A little tip from me...get sliced Swiss from the deli and then just cut it with a knife into "shreds" to save time shredding.  Pour the mushroom onion mixture on top of the cheese.  Pour your egg mixture on top of all that.  Top with paprika if you wish.  I decided to add some thin tomato slices to the top for color.
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes (until the eggs get solid in the center of the quiche.  Serve at any temperature for any meal of the day.

HomeMade Chcolate Pop Tarts

It is almost embarrassing how many recipes I must try by Deb at Smitten Kitchen. Love her, feel inspired by her, Thanks again.... Homemade Pop Tarts

Cream Biscuits

 

from the Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters

Preheat the oven to 400F. Stir together in a large bowl:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
4 tsp sugar (optional)
2 tsp baking powder
add:
6 tbls cold butter cut into small pieces
Cut the butter into the flour with your fingers or a pastry blender until they are the size of small peas.

Measure:
¾ cups heavy cream

Remove 1 tablespoon and set aside. Lightly stir in the remainder of the cream with a fork until the mixture just comes together. Without overworking it, lightly knead the dough a couple of times in the bowl, turn it out onto a lightly floured board, and roll out about ¾ inch thick. Cut into eight 1 ½ inch circles or squares. Reroll the scraps if necessary.

Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and lightly brush the tops with the reserved tablespoon of cream. Bake for 17 minutes or until cooked through and golden.

Toaster Waffles (Homemade)

I am a cheater cheater pumpkin eater. Thanks to this fabulous mix (below) from Trader Joes (I am sorry if you do not live near a Trader Joes). The Pumpkin Waffle and Pancake mix shapes up just fine as I make dozens of waffles, freeze them, only to invite them into my toaster in the near future for an instant snack.

 

Home Made Granola

 

Making Granola at home is easy, cheap and fun. There are so many recipes available-I opted for a simple one:

Use a cookie sheet and mess: Oats, Sunflower Seeds, Sliced Almond, Cashews (any nuts of choice really), and drizzle with honey. Stir, top with fresh grated coconut and bake for 35 minutes at 375 F.

Once cooled add dried fruits of choice- I like cranberries.

Eat! I like mine best with a creamy Greek yogurt. Also delicious on ice cream or just as a snack.

Donut French Toast

I know, yet another Nigella sampling.... Pretty soon she may earn her own category 'Tried Nigella'. For now, this one gets a shout out and falls in 'Breakfast'. Okay, first let me say YUM-this breakfast was super good. Certainly worth consiering for your week end breakfast.

One of the reasons that it was delicious, I used the leftover dinner bread recipe loaf.  However, any delicious bread will do.

I plan to give an overview but also here is the link to Nigella's You Tube video or the written version here.

The recipe requires your usual bread, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, butter ...you know french toast. Soak the bread in the egg and spice mix longer than perhaps normal-again good bread is important here. A cheap bread slice may fall to bits and the soaking is important.

 
The topping, is lemon, fresh strawberry and powdered sugar in a blender. Smooth and sweet it is great with the french toast instead of syrup.

The daughter described Donut French Toast as, "Nothing, I am grumpy." Well, and truth be she stuffed her face with Donut French Toast and asked for more.