Almond, Dried Cherry & Vanilla Granola

Confession that will not surprise anyone who knows me:  I talk to myself.  Frequently.  And now that I'm preggo, I like to think that my kid is sharing in on these conversations, but if that's true - the kid is going to think that Mom is a nutter.


Today I talked myself into making some homemade granola.  Nah - it wasn't too much of a mental battle.

Vanilla bean Greek yogurt with fresh raspberries and homemade granola. Makes me a happy camper.

This recipe comes from the wonderful Dragon who published this last winter.  My only modification on what could rightfully be called perfection is that instead of dried cherries, I use a dried berry medley from Trader Joe's.

Sunday Morning Kitchen Sink Frittata!

First thought:  I hate snow.  (After about a week of 40 degree weather, we're getting about six inches of snow.  ARGH.)

Second thought:  I really like cheese.  And eggs.  And sauteed vegetables.

So what if ... you combine those things?  Including the odds and ends in your fridge that aren't enough to make a proper recipe.  And the spinach that's about to become a science experiment in your refrigerator?  And those artisan cheese curds that you bought at the Farmers Market that were cool in theory but lack flavor otherwise?

That's how you come up with a Sunday Morning Kitchen Sink Frittata!  The exclamation point is extremely necessary.

This was instinctual, so there are no exact measurements ... just a sense of what would taste good.

Preheat oven to 400.
Grease pie tin, muffin tins or in my case - the scone pan my mama gave me for Christmas.  (I have not actually made scones yet, but I wanted individual servings that I could wrap up and freeze for meals throughout the week.)

Broccoli florets, rough chop (probably about one cup)
Cauliflower florets, rough chop (also about one cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
Button mushrooms, sliced (1/2 package)
Spinach
Salt and pepper

Saute these together in a skillet with olive oil, until the mushrooms are lightly browned.  Wilt in handfuls of spinach (I had about 3/4 package of bagged spinach that I needed to use.)

6 eggs
splash of milk
1 T. dijon mustard (**totally optional)
more salt and pepper

While the veg cooks, whisk together six eggs with a splash of milk, mustard and salt and pepper.  When the vegetables are finished, fold them into the egg mixture.  This is where I added about a handful of the crappy artisan cheese curds I acquired recently. 

Spoon evenly into prepared dish.  Top with cheese - in my case, it was a handful of parmesan and some leftover Swiss cheese I had (about 1/4 c.).  Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes, until top is set and lightly browned. 

Currently, the leftover wedges are cooling on a rack upstairs.  I want to make sure they are totally cool and that the bottoms are not soggy so I can wrap them up individually and freeze them.  I'll let you know how they reheat.

Cornmeal Pancakes

All I can really say about these are that they are quite tasty, but really not spectacular enough to make a repeat appearance in my kitchen.  Because Ryan loves Bisquick.  And pancakes aren't my favorite breakfast food in the world.

Having said all of this - this is a great, gluten-free alternative to a breakfast classic. 

Cornmeal Pancakes
adapted from The New York Times

1 1/2 cups fine or medium cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk, or more as needed
1 T. vegetable or olive oil, plus more for frying (**It will not surprise anyone that I used ... you guessed it - bacon grease.  I really need to break this habit.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Blueberries - optional (for me!)
Maple syrup and butter, for serving.

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees. Combine the cornmeal, salt and 1 1/2 cups boiling water in a bowl and let it sit until the cornmeal absorbs the water and softens, 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Stir in the milk, a little at a time, until the batter is spreadable but still thick. Stir in oil and the vanilla.
3. Put a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. When a few drops of water dance on its surface, add a thin film of oil and let it become hot. Spoon out the batter, making any size pancakes you like. Cook until bubbles form on the top and burst and the underside is golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes; turn and cook on the other side until golden.  (If you're going to add blueberries, do it after you've put the batter on the griddle.) Serve.

Yield: 4 servings (or two hungry Mahannahs.)

Nigella's Breakfast Bars

I think I've told you all that I'm kind of in love with Nigella Lawson. Right?  Right?

I've been wanting to find a good recipe for granola bars for some time.  And although my friends were shocked that I didn't go my usual Ina route - they clearly don't understand the absolute love affair I have with sweetened condensed milk.  I can't really explain why I love sweetened condensed milk, but I always remember being slightly disappointed that my mom was really good at scraping every last bit of milk out of the can when I was a kid.  And I would always risk cutting off my finger to get some of its gooey goodness off of the lid.

I lived life on the edge - what can I say?

Now that I've told you all of that childhood nuttiness, you maybe understand why my inaugural attempt at homemade granola bars was courtesy of Nigella's easy-peasy recipe that contained a bunch of pantry ingredients and featured a binder of ... you guessed it - sweetened condensed milk.

Nigella's Breakfast Bars
from Nigella Lawson's "Nigella Express"

1 14-fl-oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 1/2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried cranberries (**I used 1/2 c. raisins and 1/2 c. dried cherries)
1 cup mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame - I just had sesame on hand)
1 cup natural unsalted peanuts (I used mixed nuts ... again, it was what I had on hand.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and oil a 9- x 13-inch baking pan.  Because I knew this was going to be pretty messy, I actually lined mine with parchment paper so I could easily lift out and cut the bars when they were finished.  Warm the condensed milk in a large pan.  Meanwhile, mix all the other ingredients together and add the warmed condensed milk, using a rubber spatula to fold and distribute. Spread the mixture into the pan and press down with a spatula to make the surface even.

Bake for 1 hour, remove, and after about 15 minutes, cut into four across and four down, to make 16 chunky bars. Let cool completely.  Makes 16 bars.  I wrapped mine up individually in waxed paper to share with some of my co-workers.  The rest, I stored in an airtight container.  And they didn't last long ... :-)

Texas-Style Breakfast Casserole

In an attempt to lose a few pounds, I've been with Weight Watchers since around my birthday last year.  (I think that's the occupational hazard of being a food blogger ... you eat what you cook and if you're a good cook, you tend to eat a lot.  Or as a dear friend would say about her gut, "I've earned this.")

And although I have my thoughts about things such as low-fat anything, I have found some pretty decent recipes on the WeightWatchers.com site and have adapted them to reflect my tastes. 

This breakfast casserole is one that I've made for my in-laws and on some lazy Sundays when I want something substantial and want to use up some of the veggies that are threatening to become science experiments in my refrigerator. 

On this particular day, I had some leftover spinach and tomatoes that I needed to use.  This casserole is a good way to use up some vegetables that might be in danger of expiring in your refrigerator.

Texas-Style Casserole
adapted from WeightWatchers.com

2 cup(s) frozen hash brown potatoes  
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup green or red pepper, diced
8 oz turkey sausage, thinly sliced (I use the kielbasa-style sausage for some extra kick)  
1 cup milk (we are a 1% family, the original recipe calls for skim)
2 large eggs  
salt and pepper to taste 
3/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese  

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a medium square or rectangular baking dish with cooking spray.  Place potatoes and then vegetables in baking dish; top with sausage.  In a small bowl, beat together milk, eggs, salt and pepper; pour over sausage and then sprinkle with cheese.  Bake until casserole is hot and cheese is browned, about 45 minutes. Cut into 6 pieces and serve.

Homemade Blueberry Muffins

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had the "southern Mahannahs" up (that's how we refer to our brother and sister-in-law.)  For Saturday morning brunch, I cut up a bunch of fresh strawberries and mixed them with red seedless grapes and blueberries.  And because I had a ton of fresh blueberries on hand, I decided to mix up a batch of blueberry muffins.  This recipe is adapted from Land 'O Lakes.

Homemade Blueberry Muffins

1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Coarse sugar for sprinkling on top (used about 1 T.)

Heat oven to 375°F. Combine milk, 1/2 cup melted butter and egg in large bowl. Add all remaining muffin ingredients except  blueberries; stir just until flour is moistened. Gently stir in blueberries.

Spoon batter into greased or paper-lined muffin pan.  Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar (I use raw sugar from Crystal.) Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly; remove from pan. (**Note, because I wanted HUGE muffins, I used a Texas-style muffin pan.  I increased the cooking time to 27-30 minutes.)

Breakfast Casserole

I suck and I'm blurry

I found this recipe on Recipezaar.com when I was searching for some brunch recipes in anticipation of company.

Yeeaaah - although Ryan ate the leftovers and my friend Anne assured me that it was a good casserole - I thought it stunk. Especially when I went to my mom's house the next day and had a taste of her egg casserole. That was what egg bake should be - mine was a runny, icky mess that was redeemed by copious amounts of cheddar cheese and plenty of bacon.

The problem was that the recipe called to sit overnight and I think if I made this again, I would have not had it sit overnight and that I would have just made it the morning of.

Let me know if any of you have better success.


Overnight Breakfast Casserole
from Recipezaar.com

1 lb. bacon, cooked crisp and chopped
1/2 lb. of sausage, cooked (I used Italian turkey sausage)

Cook both of these ... I did it separately so I could use the bacon grease for sauteeing stuff.

While your meat is cooking, lightly toast chunks of white bread. Enough to line the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. (I used French bread, my mom told me I should have just used plain ol' white bread.) Also - start choppping up:

1/2 onion
8 oz. of mushrooms

When the bacon was done, I sauteed these both in the bacon grease. Oh man that was good.

After your bread is done toasting, put it in the 9 x 13 pan. Then grab a large mixing bowl and whisk together 8 eggs and 4 c. of milk. Add to this 1 T of dijon mustard (I used horseradish mustard because it's all I had ...)

When the veg is done, dump that over the toasted bread in the 9 x 13 pan. Top with 1 chopped tomato. Then pour the egg mixture over all. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Next day: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Top casserole with about 1/2 c-1 c. of cheddar cheese. Bake for 45 minutes or until eggs are set. This could take longer than 45 minutes.

Like I said - not my favorite. Much love to my friends and company for actually eating this crap!

Homemade Pancakes: You Don't Need No Bisquick!

Prior to my life with my future husband, I actually learned how to make pancakes from scratch. OK - so that isn't rocket science, but considering I came from a household where pancakes came out of a box (whether it was powder or frozen), I consider this to be a huge achievement. But the reason I know how to make homemade pancakes is because of my dear friend and former roommate (and future bridesmaid) Gretchen. I lived with Gretchen when we went to Malta during our junior year of college. On Sunday morning, Gretchen would treat the flatmates to a breakfast of homemade pancakes. And even if she went out the night before and decided to not get up until afternoon the next day, she'd come home, make a bowl of batter and leave it in the fridge for the early risers. Gretchen learned to make pancakes from her father Rick and when I asked her for the recipe she said it was probably from Betty Crocker. But it's all good.


Homemade Pancakes

1 1/4 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 T sugar
1 egg
1 c. milk
2 T oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients together. Cook on a griddle that's heated to 340 degrees or in a frying pan. (If the pan is not hot enough, you'll know ... trust me ... you'll know.)