Ja cię kocham…

Well I’ve been pretty crappy at posting recipes this month – again.  I now have two jobs, which consequently have led me to leave for work early in the morning and get home after dark.  Needless to say, I have had zero time for cooking, let alone taking pictures when it’s light out.

That will change – I promise.

For now, I have this awesome oatmeal that adds flare to what can be a very blah but healthy breakfast.  If you remember my Coconut and White Nectarine Muesli post, I mentioned that it can be made the night before or in the morning with quick oats.  The difference is at night you can let all the ingredients soak in the fridge without using your stove top while making it in the AM requires using a saucepan and heating up the ingredients.  Your choice!  Either is delicious!

Chai Oatmeal

Serves 2-3
Ingredients:

3/4 cup quick oats
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 pinch nutmeg
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
1 1/2 cups milk (I used vanilla soy milk)
craisins or dried cherries
pumpkin seeds and/or sunflower seeds

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and cook according to the directions on your quick oats container.  Add a little extra cinnamon and nutmeg on top (I added shredded coconut flakes, too)!  And make sure to keep a close eye on it so the milk doesn’t burn in your sauce pan!

Move over Starbucks – here comes Do It Yourself Lattes for less!  Mind you, I love Starbucks.  They are convenient, offer fair trade coffees as well as a variety of seasonal and standard flavors to choose from!

See above for the Fair Trade certification logo.  This isn’t a Starbucks brand, but this gives you an idea of what to look for if you want Fair Trade products.  This logo designates this product as one that ensures sustainability and fair wages for producers that are typically marginalized in developing countries.  This logo makes a promise that citizens in developing countries receive a nice profit from their harvest. You can find coffees, teas, sugars, soaps, and much more that are are Fair Trade Certified.

Like I was saying, Starbucks is wonderful, but it is so gratifying to be able to replicate one of their drinks for pennies!  My sister Emily of Cleanliness is Next to Godliness (a food blog about eating clean) created this drink.  As a java junkie, I have become picky about my coffee and this one certainly passes the test!  It is sooooo good!  You have to try it.  You most likely have all of the ingredients already.  And if you don’t, you will spend next to nothing to acquire them!

This is a must for Autumn!

Emily’s Pumpkin Spice Latte

Source: Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

Makes 4 cups (depending on the size of your coffee mug!)

Ingredients:

½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk (I use soymilk)
2 cups freshly brewed coffee
1/4 cup pumpkin puree

**if you don’t have pumpkin puree… try pumpkin pie spice**

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, over medium-low heat, combine the pumpkin puree and milk. Stir for about a minute and a half. Then, add your vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the mix, and heat and stir until foamy! Pour in your coffee and stir until it is nicely meshed together!
Ladle it out into your favorite mug and enjoy!

These are too good to be true.

Just looking at these makes me want to eat the whole batch.

As I tell my friend Caren, overindulgence and I battle frequently over sweets.

Overindulgence is sitting next to me right now telling me to eat a cinnamon bun.  He’s a bad, bad influence.  Why must you tempt me?

I cannot give into him NOW.  I already had a cinnamon bun.  Ohhhh but they look so good.  I’ll just have a bite… or two.

No.  I must fight it.  I must.

I did fight the urge to put the ooey, gooey cream cheese icing on top.  Okay, I’m lying.  I just didn’t have any cream cheese, but they didn’t need them…

Be ready to stir, roll, bake, and eat in a little over 30 minutes.

Fastest Cinnamon Buns

Source: Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe made by The Kitchen Sink

Makes 8 cinnamon buns

Ingredients:

For the Buns:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup packed (5 1/4 ounces) dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

For the glaze
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 cup (4 ounces) confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

For the Buns:
Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 425°F. Brush a round 9-inch nonstick cake pan with 1 tablespoon butter. Spray a wire cooling rack with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine the brown sugar, 4 tablespoons granulated sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Add 1 tablespoon melted butter and stir with a fork or fingers until the mixture resembles wet sand; set the filling mixture aside.

Whisk together the flour, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the buttermilk and 2 tablespoons butter in a measuring cup. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until the liquid is absorbed (the dough will look shaggy), about 30 seconds. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead until just smooth and no longer shaggy about 30 seconds.

Pat the dough with your hands into a 12 by 9-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle the dough evenly with the brown sugar filling, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Press the filling firmly into the dough. Using a bench scraper or metal spatula, loosen the dough from the work surface. Starting at a long side, roll the dough, pressing lightly, to form a tight log. Pinch the seam to seal. Roll the log seam-side down and cut it evenly into 8 pieces. Turn the pieces over on their flat sides, and with your hand, slightly flatten each piece of dough to seal the open edges and keep the filling in place. Place 1 roll in the center of the prepared pan and then place the remaining 7 rolls around the perimeter of the pan. Brush the rolls with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter.

Bake until the edges are golden brown, 23 to 25 minutes. Use an offset metal spatula to loosen the buns from the pan. Wearing oven mitts, place a large plate over the pan and invert the buns onto the plate. Place the greased cooling rack over the plate and invert the buns onto the rack. Cool about 5 minutes before glazing.

For the glaze:
While the buns are cooling, line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (for easy cleanup); set the rack with the buns on the baking sheet. Whisk the cream cheese and buttermilk in a large bowl until thick and smooth (the mixture will look like cottage cheese at first). Sift the confectioners’ sugar over the mixture and whisk until a smooth glaze forms’ about 30 seconds. Spoon the glaze evenly over the buns; serve immediately.

Egg McMuffins from Mickey D’s rock my world.  I can eat one in a matter of moments.  I TRY to savor the taste of each bite but it never works because no sooner I bite the sucker, it’s gone.  My excitement is over.

I try to make “Egg McMuffins” at home but they are always so dry – even with the cheese.  I’ve sprayed/slathered the English Muffin with butter to try to moisten it, but nooooo, the sandwich remained disgustingly dry.  After making my Blue Stilton Cheese Sauce, which is essentially blue cheese with milk, flour, and butter (simple), I decided to use it to alleviate the over-crustiness of my sandwich.  Over-crustiness?  You get my point.

Since I’m “off” from work this week to focus on my thesis for grad school – being “off” is a whole other story in itself – I’ve been making heartier breakfasts.  This particular sandwich is for Jay because it’s really spicy, but the heat can easily be turned down for a heat-sensitive palette.  All that I did was add XXX hot sauce to the cheese sauce recipe.  It was really good but my mouth was on FIRE.  Perfect for Jay.  Then I threw some hot peppers on top.  He loved it.  I should call the sandwich Jay’s Inferno or eat this and your tongue will fall out.  Like I said, don’t do the hot sauce or the hot peppers, and there is no heat.  You’ll survive.  And so will your tongue.

Bacon Egg, and Spicy Cheese Sandwich

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 english muffins
2 eggs
4 slices reduced sodium, bacon (I like center-cut)
Blue Stilton Cheese Sauce + hot sauce stirred in it (hot sauce optional)
hot peppers (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook bacon in a medium/large skillet.  When it’s almost done, push bacon to the side of the skillet and cook the eggs.  If you want to saute your peppers, throw them in the skillet as well.

While eggs are cooking, toast your english muffins.

Place your toasted english muffins on your serving plate and spread the top half with the cheese sauce.  On the bottom half add the egg, bacon, and peppers.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Close them, arrange them so they look pretty on your plate, and enjoy!

Most mornings during the week I wake up so early that I don’t want to have breakfast.  Sounds bad, I know, but the reason is because if I eat at 5-5:30am, I’ll be ready for a full-blown lunch by 9am.  I try to hold off breakfast until 7… at least by then it’s a suitable breakfast time that allows me to have a noonish lunch.  Mind you my breakfast is a last minute thought every morning as I’m heading out the door.  “Oh crap, I need breakfast!”  Breakfast bars are my typical breakfast during the week.  As much as I love the convenience, it gets old.  I want something more substantial to start my day.

Then I met Muesli.

This recipe is wonderful because you mix all of the ingredients with the exception of the fruit in a bowl and let it sit overnight in your fridge.  When you wake up, you have a superbly healthy breakfast.

You can also make this an oatmeal.  By cooking the oats and milk for a minute, then throwing in the rest of the ingredients once the oats are  cooked, you can have a quick, gourmet-looking, hearty breakfast.  Your choice.  Muesli or Oatmeal.  I’ve done both and they are both good.

Pick your favorite milk – soy, skim, almond, rice (or just water)…
Pick your favorite nuts and dried fruits – almonds, walnuts, pistachios, sunflower seeds, craisins, golden raisins…
Pick your favorite fresh fruit – nectarines, peaches, cherries, apples, pears…
Mix in some coconut flakes and brown sugar (optional)

And you will have a delicious breakfast!

Coconut and White Nectarine Muesli

Ingredients:

Adapted from Daily Unadventures in Cooking

Serves 2-3

1 cup oats
1 cup soy milk or milk of your choosing
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut
2 tablespoons golden raisins and dried cranberries
2 tablespoons almonds
1 tablespoon flax (optional)
1 fresh nectarine
2 cherries for garnish

Directions:

Combine all of above up except nectarines and stir. Cover and put in the fridge overnight. In the morning chop up your fruit and serve on top.
**This will not be super sweet.  If you prefer it to be sweeter add some brown sugar on top.**

Man do we love homefries and hash browns in this house!  Normally we buy the frozen hash browns and have to stand around for 45 minutes or so for them to cook.  Today was a little different.  I had some left over potatoes from another dish that I decided to use for my OWN homefries.  Boy did they turn out good.  Even with the chopping, these were WAY quicker to make than our frozen hash browns.

There are only two rules that I must share with you when you embark on homemade homefries:

1.  You MUST use butter.  I used a butter/olive oil combo so the butter wouldn’t burn in the skillet, but it is the BUTTER that turns these babies into a beautiful, crispy, golden brown.  Do not skip the butter.  Even if it’s a tiny pad of butter… it’s a must to get the best results.  (And this is coming from a girl that usually uses olive oil for everything!)

2.  When you initially put the potatoes in your skillet.  Do not… I repeat, DO NOT stir them or move them for the first 5 minutes or so.  You want them to turn nice and crispy and this won’t happen if you constantly stir them.  So… place them in the skillet, go sit by the tv for a minute with your freshly brewed coffee and relax.  Let them crisp!  We don’t want mushy potatoes!

So go ahead… make your own diner deluxe breakfast.  Toast, eggs, bacon, and homefries.  It costs only pennies per person and it tastes soooo good.

Homemade Homefries

Serves 4

Ingredients:

5-6 small baking potatoes (I used butter gold potatoes), chopped into 1-inch cubes.
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. butter
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste (optional)
2 cloves garlic, finely minced

Directions:

Heat large skillet to medium-high.  Add olive oil and butter.  Once butter begins to melt, swirl it around coating the entire skillet.

Add potatoes in a single layer.  Add salt, pepper, and cayenne.  LEAVE ALONE for 3-5 minutes or until the one side is golden brown.  (Time varies depending on your stove top.)

Give them a good stir.  Let sit for another 2-3 minutes.  Repeat one more time.  Add garlic when your potatoes are almost done.  you don’t want it to burn.

**Once my potatoes were pretty much done, I scooted them over to one side of my skillet (mine is 14 inches) so I could cook up some eggs.**

Remove from heat once potatoes are nice and crispy on the outside and relatively soft on the inside.  Season with salt and pepper again.

One of the rare times that I use ketchup!

It’s pouring.  It’s dark and gloomy.  And I am lazy.  So lazy in fact that I didn’t take the normal 40-50 pictures of my food for you.  I took 3.  And they were all “eh”.  But it’s a lazy Sunday so I’m sure that you can forgive me.  Will you forgive me?

As lazy as I am on dark and rainy weekend mornings, I still want my big, cozy meal.  What is cozy and filling without all the fuss?  Pancakes, my friends.  The answer is pancakes.

You can do one of two things.  Create your pancakes from scratch like I did with my Homemade Carrot Cake Pancakes with Cream Cheese Frosting OR get out your pancake mix (mine happened to be the Fiber One Complete Pancake Mix) and add a little love to it.  My love of choice for this morning was fresh blueberries, lemon zest, vanilla and cinnamon.

My little fluffy pancakes tasted like a gourmet chef made them.  Mind you they TASTED gourmet-ish but the appearance was that of a lazy wife trying to squish all of her pancake batter into her large skillet at once.

Try it!  Give your pancake mix a little love next time.  You won’t regret it – even on your laziest of days.

Blueberry Pancakes with Lemon Zest

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

1 1/2-2 cups of pancake batter
handful fresh blueberries
1 tsp. fresh lemon zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

Mix all ingredients into a medium bowl and cook pancakes as directed.  Top with confectioner’s sugar and extra lemon zest.

Well hello wonderful sandwich that is figure friendly, sweet, and simple.  Thank you for being so incredibly satisfying in that roaring belly of mine.  You make me happy, very happy.   I want to have you on my plate every night for the rest of my life.   Would you mind that?

This cute treat was a spectacularly light and satisfying dinner for Jay and me.  Typically this recipe is for a brunch but it worked well for us as night time.  I always have a huge craving for dessert after dinner but this sammie was nice and sweet and satisfied the Sugar Monster that visits me around 8 o’clock every night.  He looks remarkably similar to the big, hairy, orange Hunger Monster on the Weight Watchers commercials.  Sugar Monster doesn’t bother me all day, but as soon as dinner is over he throws Hershey kisses and ice cream sandwiches at my face.  Crazy monster.  Will you ever leave me be?  Probably not – unless, of course, I eat this sandwich for dinner every night.

Speaking of Weight Watchers, this sandwich is only 3 points (per full slice of bread with topping).  I recommend using the Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Raisin Bread because it is only 80 calories a slice.  )

Hands-on prep was all of 10 minutes and cook time was as long as your toaster takes to make your toast.

If you’re a mom or dad, Mom-Mom or Pop-Pop, you’re (grand)kids will love these!  They can be cut into hearts, stars, or whatever cookie cutter shape you’ve got!  This recipe reminds me so much of my Mom-Mom and Poppy.   I used to go on summer vacation for a week at a time at their house, and they always made me sliced strawberries mixed with sugar.  Mmmmmm…. I love the fond memories.  This takes me back to the 1980s…

I regret that I didn’t have the required raspberries for this recipe, but I definitely added some lime zest for a kick and some contrasting coloring.

Berry and Cream Cheese Open-Face Sandwiches

Source: Weight Watchers All-Time Favorites Cookbook, p. 75

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 large strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup raspberries
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar (I used turbinado)
1/2 tsp. grated orange zest
2 tsp. fresh orange juice
4 Tbs. light cream cheese
2 tsp. honey or agave nectar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 slices cinnamon-raisin bread
lime zest for garnish

Directions:

Combine the berries, sugar, orange zest and juice in a small bowl.  Let it sit for 5 minutes (or until sugar dissolves) while stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, combine the cream cheese, honey, and vanilla in another small bowl.

Toast the bread; let cool about 30 seconds.

Spread 1 Tbs. of cream cheese mixture on each slice of bread.  Cut each slice in quarters and top each quarter wtih about 2 tsp. of berry mixture.  Sprinkle with lime zest.  Serve immediately.

So cute!  Enjoy guilt-free!

Okay, I have a husband that is obsessed with only a few things as far as food is concerned – milk, english muffins, and fiber one bars.  Milk is an absolute must, so we always have at least a glass of milk in the house, but english muffins can be rather expensive.  I try to buy them during a “buy one get one free” deal, but I haven’t seen one in a while.  So I decided to make my own in the form of bread.

This recipe comes with the nooks and crannies found in a typical english muffin, but it is made with ingredients that we all have in our cabinet.  YES!!!  There is nothing more gratifying than to find a recipe that I want to make, AND I have all of the ingredients.

You can make pizzas, french toast, McDonald’s “egg mcmuffins”, and much, much more with this bread.  You need to make this.  Even if you have never set foot in the kitchen, you can’t go wrong with this recipe.

English Muffin Bread

Source: Donalyn Ketchum

Yields 2 loaves

Ingredients:

5 cups all purpose unbleached flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
2 packages dry yeast
1 Tbs. sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Pam, butter, shortening (or whatever you may use to grease your baking pans)
cornmeal for sprinkling pan and loaves prior to cooking

Directions:

Grease 9×5 pans with Pam and then sprinkle cornmeal in and tilt the pans to coat all surfaces and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 3 cups of the all purpose unbleached flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

Heat the milk and water until it’s very warm but not too uncomfortable to touch.

Stir it in the flour mixture.

Add the final 2 cups of all-purpose flour and knead into a ball.

Divide the bread dough into two even groups and place them in the prepared bread pans.  Sprinkle with cornmeal.

Let the bread sit in a warm location for 45-60 minutes to rise.  (I used a halogen lamp since I turned the heat off.  I like my house relatively cold.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F while bread is rising (with 15 minutes left or so).

Place pans in the oven for 30 minutes.  (Since my bread was placed in dark pans, I placed a cookie sheet under them and only cooked them for 20 minutes.)  My oven tends to cook faster than others.  With this in mind, it doesn’t hurt to check your bread after 20 minutes.  Check with a toothpick and when it comes out clean, remove bread from pans and allow to cool on a cooling rack or plate.

Enjoy!

I saw this recipe and just HAD to try it.  Melted butter, cinnamon, and sugar all enveloping warm dough that just falls a part on your plate – count me in!  These muffins are incredibly delicious and quite a yummy treat for breakfast.  If you plan on making these, please be sure that you are not in a rush and have time to love your dough and give it the attention it needs to turn into these beauties.   It’s a little time consuming because it involves fresh dough that needs to rise, be flattened, and rise again.  The actual hands-on part isn’t so much work.  You just need to have the time to allow the dough to rise.

You can even make extra dough and set some aside for a lovely pizza crust.  )

I did alter the recipe a little.  Half of the flour that I used was whole wheat (that’s the maximum amount allowed for this recipe to turn out), I used natural cane sugar instead of brown sugar, and turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw) instead of white, granulated sugar.   I try my best to steer clear of processed and bleached foods.

The muffins literally melt in your mouth as you eat them.  I recommend eating them warm with a nice cup of tea.  It’s a great start to your day.

Monkey Bread Muffins

Adapted from Joy the Baker

Yields roughly 12 muffins

Ingredients:

For the dough:

3 cups flour (can replace up to half of this with whole wheat flour)
2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more)
2  tablespoon olive oil

For the mixture that keeps it all together:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cup brown sugar or natural cane sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar or turbinado sugar
3 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
handful of golden raisins (optional)
more flour, granulated sugar and cinnamon for dusting

Directions:

Stir dry ingredients, including yeast, in a large bowl. Add water and olive oil, stirring mixture into as close to a ball as you can.  Make sure to include all of the floury bits into the ball.

Knead it for just a minute or two. Lightly oil the bowl where you had mixed it.

Place the dough back into the oiled bowl and toss it in the oil so it’s completely covered.

Cover it in plastic wrap and leave it undisturbed for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size.  Joy mentions that you may place the dough in the fridge overnight.

Place the dough on a floured surface and gently press the air out of the dough with the palm of your hands. Fold the piece into an approximate ball shape, and let it sit under that plastic wrap for 20 more minutes.

Joy’s advice for the overnight dough: If you’ve left your dough in the fridge overnight like I did, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, place the covered bowl of dough near the oven, or on a stovetop burner that doesn’t get too hot, bringing the dough to room temperature faster.  After it’s been out of the fridge for about 30 minutes, dump it onto a floured counter, press the air out and knead the dough into a smooth, happy ball.  Return to the down to warm up a bit more, and rise just a bit more, about 30 minutes more.  Your dough should be doubled in size from the previous night.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a muffin pan and dust it with flour.  Set aside.

On a well floured work surface, dump out the dough.  Press out with your hands until your dough is about 3/4-inch thick.

Cut into tiny chunks – about 3/4 of an inch and sprinkle with a bit of flour, a handful of granulated or turbinado sugar and a generous dusting of ground cinnamon.  Toss on the counter top.

In a separate bowl, combine brown or cane sugar, granulated or turbinado sugar, butter, flour, cornstarch, raisins (if you feel inclined to do so) and cinnamon until well combined.

Fill the muffin tin to the halfway point with dough chunks, softly packing them in.  Top with about a tablespoon of the sugar mixture, then top with more dough chunks, packing lightly.  Finish with more sugar mixture.  That’s four layers for each muffin.

Place a large cookie sheet under your muffin tin to avoid any dripping onto the bottom of your oven.  Don’t want a smoky mess!

Bake for about 12-15 minutes, keeping an eye on them after 12 minutes.  Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes.  Run a sharp knife around the edges of each muffin then gently scoop out of the muffin tin.