Once Upon a Tine
Monday, February 18, 2008
Breakfast at Tiffany's
The work week is shaping up to be a busy one. I have a record 1,400 connectors in inventory to complete in the next day or two. I find myself eating breakfast in the truck a lot lately, always on the commute that time of day. This morning I dunked a cinnamon roll in milk, had one bite and vowed to eat later. Mel called during my drive to coordinate schedules for the day. We ran an errand that eventually led us to downtown Glendale, the antique shopping capitol of Arizona. The place is far removed from the city around it. With quaint shops, streetlights and tourists crawling around it was endearing. We found our hungry selves at a nondescript Mexican restaurant named Bitzee Mama's for breakfast. They do a stellar breakfast for under $5. Much to my dismay, Mel ordered chicken fried steak with country gravy. I supersceeded his selection by asking for a bowl of fruit. A little ruffage after all of that lard would be in order. The food was exceptional. They rivaled grandma's cooking right down to the pre-buttered white toast of death that I enjoyed every bite of.
Spell checker is still not working. I'm sure I will hear about it.
I found an over-the-top French toast recipe that I'm going to try out on Mel, as the man loves his breakfast. By using croissants instead of regular bread, and cream instead of milk, it is enough to harden anyone's arteries. But since we participated in chicken fried steak this morning, this almost seems healthy in comparison.
INGREDIENTS:
5 eggs
5 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup Triple Sec - yes, not kidding
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
Stale croissants
Maple syrup
Fresh berrie
Butter
DIRECTIONS:
1 Beat eggs and milk together. Add the Triple Sec, orange zest, and cinnamon. Whisk until well blended. Pour into a shallow bowl.
1 Beat eggs and milk together. Add the Triple Sec, orange zest, and cinnamon. Whisk until well blended. Pour into a shallow bowl.
2 Dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture, allowing bread to soak up some of the mixture. Melt some butter (or use vegetable oil) over a skillet on medium high heat. Add as many slices of bread onto the skillet as will fit at a time. Fry until brown on both sides, flipping the bread when necessary.
3 Serve hot with butter, maple syrup, and fresh berries.
Wait for your applause.
Labels: Breakfast
Monday, February 04, 2008
Huevos Rancheros
- Olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped (about a half cup)
- 1 15-ounce can whole tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted, if you can get it (or 1 -2 large fresh vine-ripened tomatoes, when in season)
- 1/2 6-ounce can diced green Anaheim chiles
- Chipotle chili powder, adobo sauce, or ground cumin to taste (optional)
- 4 corn tortillas
- Butter
- 4 fresh eggs
- 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
- Make the sauce first by softening the onions in a little olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Once translucent, add the tomatoes and the juice the tomatoes are packed in. Break up the tomatoes with your fingers as you put them in the pan. If you are using fresh tomatoes, chop them first, then add. Note that fresh tomatoes will take longer to cook as canned tomatoes are already cooked to begin with. Add chopped green chilies. Add additional chili to taste, either chipotle chili powder, adobo sauce, regular chili powder, or even ground cumin. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and let simmer while you do the rest of the cooking, stirring occasionally. Reduce to warm after it has been simmering for 10 minutes. Add salt to taste if needed.
- 2 Prepare the tortillas. Heat the oven to a warm 150°F, place serving plates in the oven to keep warm. Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet on medium high, coating the pan with the oil. One by one (or more if your pan is big enough) heat the tortillas in the pan, a minute or two on each side, until they are heated through, softened, and pockets of air bubble up inside of them. Then remove them and stack them on one of the warming plates in the oven to keep warm while you continue cooking the rest of the tortillas and the eggs.
- Fry the eggs. Using the same skillet as was used for the tortillas, add a little butter to the pan, about two teaspoons for 4 eggs. Heat the pan on medium high heat. Crack 4 eggs into the skillet and cook for 3 to 4 minutes for runny yolks, more for firmer eggs.
- To serve, spoon a little of the sauce onto a warmed plate. Top with a tortilla, then a fried egg. Top with more sauce, sprinkle with cilantro if desired.
- Serve either one or two eggs/tortillas per plate, depending on how much you want to eat. I'm a 2-egg 2 tortilla person myself.
http://www.grouprecipes.com/38282/huevos-rancheros.htmlLabels: Breakfast
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Waldorf Hysteria
A crunchy, sweet and hearty salad of apples, celery, nuts and mayonnaise. This salad can easily become a summer luncheon main dish by adding cooked, diced chicken. You will probably need to add a little more mayonnaise. Another nice variation is halved grapes in addition to the apples, or pears as a replacement for the apples. Add fresh chopped vegies of your choice.
WALDORF SALAD
1 1/2 cups apples, diced
1 1/2 cups apples, diced
Grapes (whatever is in season - seedless)
3 tablespoons French salad dressing
3/4 cup celery, sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons of walnuts, coarsely chopped*
lettuce
Miracle Whip salad Dressing, ** see note
1. Wash, quarter, core, and pare apples, and then dice.
2. Mix thoroughly with French dressing.
3. Add sliced celery, salt, and coarsely chopped English Walnuts.
4. Toss with a fork to coat all ingredients with the French dressing.
5. Arrange on lettuce leaves.
6. Garnish with mayonnaise or cooked salad dressing if desired.
Labels: Appetizer, Breakfast, Starters, Vegetables
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Banana Bread
4 cups white flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup butter (soft room temp. or it doesn't blend right)
3 cups banana pulp (mashed ripe banana's)
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Put butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar and banana's into a large bowl and blend with an electric mixer.
Add flour, cinnamon, salt and baking powder, cinnamon and vanilla.
Beat for 1-2 minutes with the electric mixer until well blended.
If using fold in nuts at this point.
Pour into two sprayed or greased 9x5x3" loaf pans.
Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Remove, cool in pan for 5 minutes. Then on racks for 20 minutes. You must must must NOT let it cool too long, I wrap it when it's barely cool enough to handle. The longer it cools the more moisture it will lose.
Using a large knife (I use a large butcher knife) carefully slice into portions, then wrap very tightly with plastic wrap.
Freeze.
To reheat for a quick bite in the morning, microwave for 1.30 to 2 minutes.
Add flour, cinnamon, salt and baking powder, cinnamon and vanilla.
Beat for 1-2 minutes with the electric mixer until well blended.
If using fold in nuts at this point.
Pour into two sprayed or greased 9x5x3" loaf pans.
Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Remove, cool in pan for 5 minutes. Then on racks for 20 minutes. You must must must NOT let it cool too long, I wrap it when it's barely cool enough to handle. The longer it cools the more moisture it will lose.
Using a large knife (I use a large butcher knife) carefully slice into portions, then wrap very tightly with plastic wrap.
Freeze.
To reheat for a quick bite in the morning, microwave for 1.30 to 2 minutes.
Ingredients
3 very ripe bananas
2 tbsp soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips and /or coarsely chopped nuts – pecans or walnuts work well (optional)1.Preheat oven to 375°/190°C2.Mash bananas in a bowl and add rest of the ingredients. Stir just until blended. 3.Pour into greased 9"x5" loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out dry.4.Cool for 10 minutes on a cake rack before removing from pan.5.To bake muffins, prepare the batter as above and bake for 20-25 minutes at 400°F/200°C, in center of ovenRuth's Tips & Variations-This is a great breakfast or mid day snack. -Instead of chocolate chips (or with them, if you prefer) try chopped walnuts or pecans, dried cranberries or cherries-Just make sure these ingredients add up to one cup. More than that will lose the bread/cake texture.
3 very ripe bananas
2 tbsp soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips and /or coarsely chopped nuts – pecans or walnuts work well (optional)1.Preheat oven to 375°/190°C2.Mash bananas in a bowl and add rest of the ingredients. Stir just until blended. 3.Pour into greased 9"x5" loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out dry.4.Cool for 10 minutes on a cake rack before removing from pan.5.To bake muffins, prepare the batter as above and bake for 20-25 minutes at 400°F/200°C, in center of ovenRuth's Tips & Variations-This is a great breakfast or mid day snack. -Instead of chocolate chips (or with them, if you prefer) try chopped walnuts or pecans, dried cranberries or cherries-Just make sure these ingredients add up to one cup. More than that will lose the bread/cake texture.
Labels: Breakfast, Comfort Food
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Shortcut Cinnamon Rolls yet Homemade
This ingenious recipe rivals the like of Cinnabon restaurants. Yet you can make them at home in less than 30 minutes time altogether. My son wanted homemade cinnamon rolls for his 17th birthday breakfast. So here's what I did:
Purchase frozen bread dough loaves. Take 1 loaf and wrap it in a slightly damp towel and leave it in the refrigerator until it thaws. When you are ready to bake, roll out the loaf in to a rectangle on a floured work surface. Melt 1/2 of a stick of butter and brush it across the top of the flattened dough. Sprinkle dough surface with 1 cup brown sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon combined (or to taste). Roll up the dough in jellyroll style. Pinch it together and cut into 1 inch circles. Place the circles cut side up on a greased baking sheet. Let rise until doubled. When they are fat and puffy, bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes. If the tops are browning to fast, cover lightly with foil.
When done, remove to cool. Drizzle frosting made of powdered sugar and a tiny bit of milk.
(Frosting: 1/2 cup of powdered suger and 1 tsp milk mixed make a good consistency. If to dry, slowly ad milk a few drops at a time. It takes very little milk to make the sugar in to frosting)
Serve warm and humbly accept your applause.
Labels: Breakfast, Comfort Food
