Archive for the 'Breakfast' Category

Seeded Granola

Published on June 30, 2011 in Breakfast and Cookbooks + Cooks. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Sorry for such a lull in the posts, kids. Things have been a bit nutty around here. All our birthdays are clustered in a one-month period, plus we’ve been away for the last two weekends, plus it’s hot and when it gets hot, the kitchen shuts down at Casa Nitz. Not entirely, of course, but I just haven’t been particularly inspired to make anything that requires much of an effort.

Of course, I’ve been drooling over this and all its contents, but the idea of turning on the oven has stopped me from making anything…until now. I had to try the seeded granola. And turns out, while my original recipe is still delicious and healthy, this one is kind of ridiculous. Why? Well, I blame/thank the butter. Yes, everything really is better with butter. That’s not marketing; that’s the God’s-honest truth. And also the cooking of the syrup/wet mix. That gets everything really nice and crunchy.

I made a couple substitutions for things I didn’t have, which you can certainly do, but the key is to use mostly seeds (versus nuts, but nuts are okay too).  And the absolutely essential ingredient that really takes this granola over the top?  Cayenne pepper. It gives it just a hint of heat, but it’s more than that. It’s a smokiness which somehow fits so well with the seeds. Ridiculously good. In fact, going forward, I think I may need to make ALL of my granola with cayenne.

NOTES:  This recipe makes about 10 cups, which is a lot of granola. I halved it, but if you’re some kind of granola maniac, go for the whole batch. Also, the original recipe says to bake it at 325º, but I find that granola cooks better at a lower temperature, so I ended up cooking it at 300º and a bit longer than the 30 minutes called for. The important thing is to keep an eye on it and if it looks like it’s getting too dark, take it out. There’s really nothing worse than burnt granola. Well, maybe this.

Seeded Granola

Adapted from Kim Boyce’s Good to the Grain

DRY MIX:
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
4 cups whole rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced raw almonds
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flaxseeds
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

WET MIX:
1/2 cup honey or brown rice syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 325ºF/165ºC. Toast the pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet until light golden brown, about 10 minutes (the original recipe said it would take about 18 minutes, but mine were done much faster, so make sure to keep an eye on them!).

Combine the dry ingredients in a big bowl, adding the toasted pumpkin seeds when they’re done. Turn the oven down to 300ºF/149ºC. Butter two baking sheets (I used one small and one large rimmed sheet pan).

Meanwhile, combine the wet mix in a small heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir it once and then just let it sit until it comes to an even boil, which means the center of the syrup needs to be bubbling (not just the edges). Take the pan off the heat and pour it over the dry mix, making sure to coat all the dry ingredients with the syrup.

Spread the granola evenly onto the baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes. Take the pans out of the oven (closing the oven door to keep the heat in) and stir to bring the outside edges of the granola into the middle of the pan and push the stuff in the middle out to the edges. Rotate the sheets (meaning put the top sheet onto the bottom oven rack and the bottom on the top) and cook for another 10 minutes. Cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring and rotating as above every 10 minutes.

Remove the pans from the oven and allow the granola to cool completely on the pans; this allows those delicious crunchy clusters to form. Stored in an airtight container, it should last at least a week.

Granola

Published on May 23, 2011 in Breakfast and Kids. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .


I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile now. Especially in the summer months when you don’t much feel like eating a heavy breakfast, granola mixed in with some Greek yogurt (which gives you a good dose of protein to start the day) and fresh berries is delicious, healthy and light. Many years ago my oldest sister, Alicia, who has coined many words and expressions (yes, my family has our own language; is that weird?), dubbed this concoction “grunge.” FYI, this was pre-Nirvana, so don’t look for any Seattle-based tormented rock star connection because there isn’t one.

Anyhoo, the great thing about this is that it’s super healthy (low-fat, oil-free, maple syrup-sweetened), but it doesn’t sacrifice flavor because of all the goodies in there like walnuts, coconut and cranberries. And you can whip up a big batch, store it in an airtight container and you’ve got breakfast locked up for a few weeks (or a couple days if my husband gets ahold of it for a little late-night snacking). And it’s great for kids too.

And like so many things I make, you can tailor it to your likes and/or cupboard contents. Some other ideas: almonds, pecans, dried apricots, banana chips, dried strawberries, dried cherries, sesame seeds; spices like nutmeg, ginger or even a little black pepper; replace some of the maple syrup with honey, blackstrap molasses or brown rice syrup. Just mix it up (literally) and make it your own.

Low-Fat Coconut Cranberry Granola

2 cups organic oats
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pepitas
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup ground flax seed
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut (I used reduced fat because that’s what I had)
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 300ºF/150ºC. Mix the dry ingredients (with the exception of the coconut) in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites, water, vanilla and cinnamon. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix well. Spread the mixture on a Silpat- or parchment-lined cooke sheet. Toast for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to break up the mixture. In the last 5 minutes, add the coconut, stir to combine and return to the oven. It’s done when everything is lightly browned and crunchy. Remove and cool. Store in an airtight container. Will keep for a couple weeks.

Doughnut Plant

Published on March 4, 2011 in Breakfast, Desserts, Field Trips and New York City. 0 Comments

In case you don’t know about the Doughnut Plant, well, a) that’s really unfortunate and b) I’m here to tell you all about it, so don’t panic.

The original Doughnut Plant has been a mainstay of the Lower East Side since 1994, when owner Mark Isreal started making doughnuts based on recipes from his grandfather (who was also a baker) in a basement tenement building. They moved to a storefront location in 2000 and just opened a new storefront right next to the Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street (they also have nine Doughnut Plants in Japan).

My friends, Cori and Lisa, and I (and the hombrecito) decided to check out the new digs and sample the goods (forgive the crappy phone camera photos).

Doughnut Plant is famous for its jelly-filled square donuts made with homemade jelly (the ones above are pistachio yeast). They have a cake variety, which is more like a cake (hence the name) and a yeast variety, which is a lighter, airier typical doughnut. But the flavors are anything but typical. We tried the following:

Chocolate chip cookie cake, classic vanilla glaze yeast, triple chocolate cake, pistachio yeast (clockwise from top), plus the tres leches cake doughnut. The infamous peanut butter and jelly doughnuts weren’t available when we first ordered, but a fresh batch came out while we were there (prompting a very serious couple to high-five each other when they rolled the trays by). Cori picked one up for her husband, but it would’ve been rude to have several bites missing from it, so we restrained ourselves.

I actually didn’t even mean to order the tres leches cake donut, but I am thanking my lucky stars that it ended up in my bag o’ donuts. It’s apparently filled with milk cream (whatever that is — I’m guessing sweetened condensed milk was involved somehow, but don’t quote me on that) and was so incredibly moist and creamy and sweet, I almost went into a diabetic coma.

But I’m fine now. I survived. And will be heading back (or I just might do something crazy like try to make my own). As for you, dear reader, I highly recommend you get yourself to the Doughnut Plant (new or old, whichever is closer). And now you know about the Doughnut Plant. The End.

Have a great weekend — hopefully filled with doughnuts.

Cravings

Published on February 2, 2011 in Beans + Legumes, Breakfast, Cakes, Cookbooks + Cooks, Cookies, Inspiration, Mexican, pasta and Soups + Stews. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Hello, it’s me. Sick again. Yippee. It sucks really. I don’t know how mouth breathers do it. Breathing through your mouth is very unpleasant.

Anyway, I spent some time clicking away on some of my favorite food sites last night and wanted to share some things I’m craving…even though I can’t taste anything. But you go have fun. Really. It’s okay.

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Soup. More soup. We like soup. This soup. Smitten Kitchen delivers (as usual).

Post Punk Kitchen is cooking up some quinoa goodness here

I’m a sucker for poppy seeds. Tim at Lottie + Doof is too.

Matt (of Matt Bites fame) is an incredible photographer and going to his site always makes me hungry. Like, this. Hello.

Winter makes me want to eat potatoes. I’m particularly obsessed with sweet potatoes right now. Give me a sweet potato roasted in its skin, slathered with butter, and topped with a healthy grind of black pepper and a sprinkle of fleur de sel and I’m in my happy place. Gluten Free Girl has taken it up a notch, and I’m feeling happy in a whole new way.

Never met a chocolate chip cookie I didn’t like. And this one from Orangette is, um, healthy. Sort of. Not really.

More soup. Again with the soup? Yes. Again with the soup. It’s for sick people. Heidi says so. Thank you 101 Cookbooks (my online food bible).

Last and perhaps least, if you’re feeling virtuous and/or enormous, pop on over to Bon Appétit and get yourself on a cleanse for food lovers. Doesn’t sound so bad actually. There is no lemon cayenne water involved. And chocolate is still on the menu.

Mushroom Strata

Published on January 31, 2011 in Breakfast and eggs. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to have people over more and unlike some others (ahem, exercise regularly, cut back on wine consumption during the week, etc. etc.), I’ve really stuck to this one. Sunday brunch has quickly become our favorite time to have friends over. People can bring their kids, dogs — everyone’s welcome. It’s a good day to just hang out, drink wine (again with the wine…), play Kinect and nosh all afternoon.

And the perfect dish for Sunday brunch is this mushroom strata. It’s quick to prepare, can be easily adapted and you can make it the night before, so all you have to do the morning of is pop it in the oven for an hour and Bob’s your uncle.

That leaves you plenty of time to get everything else ready, clean the house or…drink wine (is there a theme emerging here?).

Notes: In terms of timing, the longer it sits, the less eggy it is, so I actually prefer to cook the mushroom mixture the night before and put the strata together in the morning and let it sit for about 2-3 hours.

It would also be tasty with the addition of ground faux sausage to the mushroom mixture (Yves makes a really good one).

Mushroom Strata

Adapted from Real Simple

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 onion, diced
10 ounces/6 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh herb such as thyme or sage (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 cup nuts (walnuts, pecans and almonds are all good), roughly chopped
1 cup dried cranberries, chopped (apricots are nice too)
1 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
2 cups milk (you can use soy/almond/rice/cow)
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Pepper
15-18 slices whole wheat bread (whole-grain/honey all work too)
1/4 pound Gruyère, grated (~3/4 cup)
1/4 pound provolone, grated (~3/4 cup)

Melt the butter in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for a few minutes, then add the mushrooms and the herb Cook until the mushrooms have softened, but still hold their shape, about 5 minutes. Stir in the nuts and cranberries, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste and take off the heat.

In the meantime, lightly beat the eggs in a bowl and add the milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste.

Lightly coat a 9″ x 13″ inch baking dish with olive oil spray. Using about 5-6 slices, place a layer of bread in the pan to cover the bottom. Spread half of the mushroom mixture on top of the bread, then top with 1/3 the cheese (you can mix the cheese or do layers, whatever floats your boat). Repeat with another layer of bread, mushrooms and cheese. Top with the last layer of bread; press the bread down to compact the layers.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread and top with the remaining cheese. Cover and refrigerate for minimum one hour or overnight. Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC and bake for one hour, uncovered (if the cheese on top gets too brown, cover with aluminum foil).