Recipe: Blueberry Quinoa Pancakes with Lemon Crema

Blueberry Quinoa Pancakes with Lemon Crema

Saveur, issue?, p. 38
4.7 stars

This should be called a HEALTHY Dutch baby, not a pancake!!! There is not much sugar in this so it tasted super super healthy. Definitely need maple syrup on it!

Ingredients: quinoa, flour, buttermilk, eggs, whole milk, 2 cinnamon sticks, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, butter, Kosher salt; Mexican crema or sour cream, lemon, granola, maple syrup

Tips/Notes:

• Next time, make 1/2 the batter! This recipe made 3 LARGE Dutch babies
• Served with a side of bacon

Recipe: Buckwheat Pancakes with Compote and Sweet Cream

Buckwheat Pancakes with Compote and Sweet Cream

OprahDaily.com

4.6 stars

Pretty good for a pancake that is "healthy" -- I REALLY LOVED the texture!

We didn't make the compote and instead added walnuts and chocolate chips on top -- rest of the applesauce is on the side in the photo.

BTW, I didn't know that buckwheat flour is GLUTEN-FREE!

Pancake Ingredients: unsweetened vegan milk, unsweetened applesauce, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, extra-virgin coconut oil, maple syrup, light buckwheat flour, almond or oat or all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda

Compote Ingredients: seasonal fruit, coconut sugar, cinnamon, ground ginger

Ingredients for serving (all optional): almond or pistachio butter, maple syrup, toasted nuts, mixed fruit

Tips/Notes:

• Will use butter instead of coconut oil next time
• Used almond milk
• Used almond flour
• This makes 6 pancakes, not 12!

Recipe: Mushroom-Poblano Frittata

Mushroom-Poblano Frittata

Bon Appetit Magazine, May 2011, p. 58

4.8 stars

I have to be honest that I planned this dish for a Friday meal during Lent, and then we didn't make it. I thought about repurposing the ingredients for another dish and then thought -- no, we have all the ingredients, let's just make it. I'm so glad we did as this was a GREAT frittata recipe. 

While the ingredient list looks interesting (cumin and feta?) and that the dish would be ok, it was DELICIOUS. Restaurant-worthy. Plus, it was super easy to make! The cumin gave this dish an unexpected level of flavor. Will be making this again for sure. We had this for dinner, but this would be a wonderful brunch dish as well.

Ingredients: assorted mushrooms, poblano chile, scallions or chives, feta, eggs, cilantro, cumin, extra-virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, pepper

Recipe: Frittata-rama

Frittata-rama

Bon Appetit Magazine, May 2018, p. 132

4.8 Stars

I personally LOVED this frittata. Partner-chef-hubby-non-blog contributor the grandcruman prefers other frittata recipes that are baked. 

Regardless, the ingredients in this dish were delish: bacon, potatoes, cheese, eggs ... the perfect lunch/brunch frittata!

Ingredients: eggs, sharp cheddar, chopped bacon, onion, Yukon Gold potatoes, Swiss chard, olive oil, salt, pepper

Notes/Tips:

• Used kale instead of Swiss chard; had to cook the kale separately first
• Because we used more leafy greens (for us, kale) than was called for, we should have added more eggs than just the 8 

Recipe: Cheesy Spinach-Potato Egg Casserole

Cheesy Spinach-Potato Egg Casserole
Martha Stewart Living, Apr 2020, p. 109
4.5 stars

Breakfast for dinner! This casserole was great -- it has my favorite combination of ingredients.  We basically made the recipe but included more potatoes, cheese and spinach than what it called for.   

Ingredients: eggs, fontina cheese, spinach, onion, milk, thyme, nutmeg, butter, Kosher salt, pepper

Recipe: Polenta Dutch Baby with Ham and Swiss

Polenta Dutch Baby with Ham and Swiss
Food & Wine Magazine, Jan 2020, p. 81
4 stars

This was an interesting dish -- considered a "large-format pancake" if you read about it at foodandwine.com. This recipe is from 2015 Food & Wine Best New Chef Jonathan Brooks who owns the Indianapolis restaurant, Milktooth.

I love polenta, so I really liked the texture which was a bit unexpected -- it's not a light souffle and not an eggy dense frittata but something in between with polenta's grainy texture.  Surprisingly, the entire dish only used three eggs.

The SALAD was absolutely delicious and one that we'll definitely make again.

Polenta Dutch Baby Ingredients: all-purpose flour, sugar, uncooked polenta, whole milk, eggs, unsalted butter, deli ham, Swiss cheese, Kosher salt

Salad Ingredients: baby arugula, red grapes, Dijon mustard, Champagne vinegar, pure maple syrup or honey, grapeseed oil

Tips:

• Use a non-sweet ham (not a honey ham, for example) because there will overall be too much sweetness in the dish
• Used extra-virgin olive oil instead of grapeseed oil

Recipe: Mushroom, Leek and Fontina Frittata

Mushroom, Leek and Fontina Frittata
Bon Appetit Magazine, Feb 2013, p. 43
4.5 stars

We made this for dinner, but it also would be perfect for breakfast or brunch.  Only takes 9 ingredients and was very easy to make -- I can see us making this recipe again but using different ingredients (e.g. different cheese, adding meat).... it's a good base recipe.

Ingredients:  leeks, baby bella mushrooms, eggs, creme fraiche or sour cream, Fontina cheese, parsley, olive oil, Kosher salt, ground pepper

Tips:

• Used 10 eggs instead of 12
• Used regular curly leaf parsley instead of flat-leaf

Enjoy!

Recipe: Smashed-Banana Bread

Smashed-Banana Bread
Food and Wine Magazine, Nov 2017, p. 118
4 stars

Now I know what to do with bananas that get overripe... freeze the bananas and make Smashed-Banana Bread with them later!  This was an easy recipe but surprisingly took 1.5 hours to bake.  The outcome was good -- I love the outer crispy crust, but it wasn't a blow-my-socks-off amazing recipe.

Ingredients:  pecans, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, fine sea salt, eggs, smashed very ripe banana, sour cream, vanilla extract, banana liqueur or dark rum, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, confectioners' sugar

Notes:

• The recipe calls for banana liqueur or dark rum, though it's so little (3/4 tsp), I'm not sure what it actually does as that flavor doesn't come through at all.  
• 1.5 cups of smashed very ripe banana turned out to be about 5 medium bananas (3 that I froze and thawed + 2 non-frozen ones).

Recipe: Coffee-Flavored Belgian Waffles

Coffee-Flavored Belgian Waffles
Bon Appetit Magazine, Mar 2017, p. 14
2 stars for waffles, 4 stars for pancakes

This was a 'r.s.v.p' recipe that someone requested from Kapnos in Washington, D.C.  The flavor of the waffle was good, but it was SOGGY coming out of our waffle iron.  I'll try making it again, but the batter actually was perfect for pancakes.

Note:  We used a regular waffle iron.  Be careful not to overfill it as the batter is light and fluffy and will overflow and seep out of the sides and all over your counter!

Ingredients:  flour, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, eggs, whole-milk ricotta, buttermilk, espresso powder, butter, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt;  maple syrup and whipped cream for serving

Recipe: Carrot Cake Pancakes

Carrot Cake Pancakes (a Bobby Flay recipe)
People Magazine, Oct 5, 2015, p. 100
4.5 stars

I totally missed making the Maple Cream Cheese Drizzle (syrup!) and will have to make that next time to top the pancakes.

This was in one word, delicious.
Fluffy pancakes.  Somewhat healthy (there are carrots in this!).

Pancake Ingredients:  all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, fine sea salt, eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla extract, carrots, orange zest, candied ginger, toasted pecans or walnuts

Maple Cream Cheese Syrup Ingredients:  cream cheese, pure maple syrup

Tips:

• Instead of candied ginger, I added 1/4 cup of raisins
• Next time, I think a pinch of cinnamon would add to the flavor

Recipe: Amanda Freitag's Buttermilk Pancakes

Amanda Freitag's Buttermilk Pancakes

Food and Wine Magazine, Nov 2015, p.163-164

5 stars

If you like light and fluffy pancakes, this recipe is for you.  This is the best pancake recipe I've made; I could eat these all day!

It's 6 ingredients for the pancake batter:  all-purpose flour, baking powder, eggs, buttermilk, butter, kosher salt.  I'd add vanilla next time, so that makes it 7 ingredients.

Then, there's the confectioners' sugar and maple syrup for serving (not shown in the photo above).

This takes a little time more time than normal pancakes since you have to beat the eggs in a mixer for 4 min, but other than that, it's pretty easy.  This made 6 medium sized pancakes.

The recipe at the link above has a quince and cranberry compote recipe as well; didn't make it since that's more of a fall/winter compote but will try it at some point and will report back.

Recipe: Dirt Bombs

Dirt Bombs
Bon Appetit Magazine, May 2014, p. 20
4 stars

This recipe was in the 'r.s.v.p.' section of Bon Appetit where readers request their favorite restaurant recipes.  This one is from Bantam Bread Bakery in Bantam, CT and is described as a 'cinnamon-sugar doughnut in muffin form.'

I had to try making these.

I read the reviews, and they were mixed so I wasn't sure how these were going to turn out.  They turned out great; people at work asked for the recipe!  What I really like about it is the density of the cake -- it's like a cake doughnut.

Tips:

• One change I made to the recipe based on the reviews I read:  Add at least a teaspoon of vanilla to the batter.
• Dipping the tops of the muffins in melted butter and then cinnamon sugar didn't work well for me.  Instead, I brushed the tops with the butter and then sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar.
• They're best when served warm so reheat them and serve with coffee -- yum.

Recipe: Cocoa-Pepper Waffle Cookies

Cocoa-Pepper Waffle Cookies
Food and Wine Magazine, Feb 2012, p. 74
3.5 stars

Cookies these are not.  They're not sweet enough to be called cookies;  however, these would be a fun breakfast/brunch item -- I mean, they're chocolate waffles!

I was going through all of the dessert recipes I've torn out of magazines over the years, looking for an easy cookie or cake recipe to make on Sunday.  I came across this no bake recipe.  (You use a waffle iron!)  We had all the ingredients except for buttermilk which we procured.

Ingredients include:  stick of unsalted butter, light brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 egg white, vanilla extract, flour, unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, baking soda, ground pepper, buttermilk, Confectioners' sugar

Basically, you mix up a bunch of the ingredients and put them in the waffle iron for about 3 minutes and voila -- waffles (not cookies).

Note:  I didn't mix the pepper into the batter.  As you can see from the photo above, we created a sundae using the waffles.  We had black pepper ice cream in the fridge from the past week which imparted the pepper flavor.  So, in the end, we made the waffles dusted with powdered sugar, topped with black pepper ice cream and drizzled with chocolate ganache (which we made to increase the sweetness of the dish).

I'd make the waffles again . . . but for breakfast or brunch next time.

Recipe: Blue Lagoon Pancake

This morning, I woke up and wanted pancakes, but not just any pancakes!  I wanted a Blue Lagoon pancake based on my favorite "Blue Lagoon" crepe from the crepe cart in Breckenridge. 

Here's my recipe:

• Make a pancake (however you make them ~ out of a box or from scratch)
• Drizzle a tablespoon or so of Bailey's Irish Cream over it so that it soaks into the pancake
• Spread (or smother!) the pancake with Nutella
• Sprinkle some brown sugar over it
• Add blueberries on top

It is amazingly delicious!!!!

Recipe: The Ultimate Sticky Buns

Bon Appetit- April 2012 issue

How mine turned out

This weekend, I attempted to make the mouth-watering Ultimate Sticky Buns that are on the cover of Bon Appetit magazine's April 2012 issue.  It was a daunting recipe, requiring many steps and lots of time.  (If you try this recipe, make the dough the night before.  Altogether, including the time needed to allow the dough to rise, requires about 4 hours.) 

They turned out quite lovely and delicious but not as scrumptious as I had hoped.  Here are some tips:

• The milk gets hot FAST, so make sure you don't overheat it.  I overheated mine and should have started over because I think I killed the yeast in the process.  The buns did rise in the oven, though.
• I made a half-batch but used the same sized pan.  However, because there was space in between the buns, they cooked more quickly.  I didn't check on them early enough and slightly overcooked them.  (Note:  People who reviewed the recipe on epicurious.com said that the pan size was too small ~ for a full batch; however, my America's Test Kitchen-watching-husband explained that it's necessary to have the buns touching and as close to each other as possible so that there isn't air between them and they don't cook so fast.)
• The buns need a white icing on them to make them 100% scrumptious.

I'll definitely try making these again -- next time, a full batch!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/The-Ultimate-Sticky-Buns-395092

I'm getting the hang of making souffles

Here's my cheddar, scallion, sausage & bacon souffle with a side salad.  The souffle is deflating already, though, as I'm taking the photo.  You know, I don't understand the fear people have of making souffles -- it's really not difficult!

I'd recommend this one if you're in a breakfast-y mood:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cheddar-Bacon-and-Scallion-Souffle-12789