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Archive for the ‘Breakfasts’ Category

Crunchy Granola

Posted in Book Club, Breakfasts, Learn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 10, 2012 | 17 Comments »

A stay-at-home mom with the most contagious smile I’ve ever seen, who lives on our block, made a New Year resolution she won’t regret.  She decided to hang out with the neighbors more.  It’s understandable, we are pretty awesome…  I was so excited I got a new friend!  She loves pastries, and I love to bake!  She has a cleaning lady, I hate cleaning too!  Our daughters bonded over a puddle by our house right away!  It was meant to be!

Imagine my surprise when the husband disapproved of the relationship! Apparently she is a bad influence.   He is afraid she’ll corrupt me with all the cleaning lady business!   

I married an exploiter!  He doesn’t deserve this healthy and delicious breakfast! Not one little bit!

Well, unless he buys my dream KitchenAid of course.  Wink-wink! Honey! It’s finally on sale!!!

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CRUNCHY GRANOLA

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • ½ cup wheat germ
  • ½ cup sunflower seeds
  • ½ cup pumpkin seeds
  • 1 cup walnuts coarsely chopped
  • 4 tbs sesame seeds
  • 2 tbs flax seeds
  • ¼ tsp brown sugar
  • ¼ cup honey
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tbs pure vanilla extract
  • 2 tbs vegetable oil
  • ½ cup raisins

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 325⁰ F / 170⁰ C.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Mix all the ingredients but raisins and lay flat on the baking sheet.

Bake for about 20 minutes.  Mix the raisins in.  Voilà! 

It’s been quiet here, as I’ve been planning a huge birthday party for my now 3 year old, playing a hostess to my father-in-law, and trying to finally finish this book… while chasing the kids, of course.

I’m finally done with the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini.  My old flight instructor in Paradise Valley, Montana told me about his grandson who wrote a book about a dragon, and when I stumbled upon it in Borders I couldn’t resist.  That was years ago.  The 4th and final book was recently published.  I was pretty excited, but it just seemed to be dragging on forever!  May be I finally got too old for dragon books.  May be they got too bloody for me, but it just wouldn’t click…  So, this week I decided to get over and done with it for good!  

You know how iPhones have this new feature where they color-code SMS blue or green if it was sent via special iPhone network or as a usual text message.  As a user I really don’t care as long as my message was received.  Same was with this book.  There were too many runes neither Eragon nor I comprehended, too many doors that shouldn’t have been opened…   Nevertheless, I love Christopher’s language.  It’s reach and beautiful, and even this Russian, gets mesmerized by it! So, if he writes another book, I will give it a try.

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Hustle-Free Whole Grain Breakfast

Posted in Breakfasts, Crock Pot, Make Ahead, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 31, 2012 | 15 Comments »

My baby is turning three this weekend. Sniff-sniff…

A couple presents from our friends arrived while he was napping today. One of them is this adorable Responsibility Chart. It includes cute little magnetic goals (such as “Load Dishwasher”, “Set Table”, “Make Bed”, or “Take Out Trash”) and little magnetic scores ( “You did it!”, “Looking Good!”, etc.) .  Ohm, I was so tempted to re-gift it to my husband, and then I turned the board around, and found even more goals: “Take a bath”, “Stop Whining”, “Say Please and Thank You”… It’s settled – the board is going to the husband, not the child! Sorry, guys!

Anyways, this friend who sent us the gifts should be the one writing a cooking blog. She can make gasoline taste good; and since they had a baby, she took the whole “healthy eating” concept up a level!.. or two… or three… nah, more like twenty levels…
So, today’s recipe is inspired by her. All my kids (including the husband) love it!

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MAKE-AHEAD WHOLE GRAIN OATMEAL

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup of whole grain steel cut oatmeal (such as Bob’s Red Mill Organic)
  • 4 cups of water
  • 1 tsp of butter
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar (optional)
  • 1/4 cup milk (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Place all ingredients (minus milk) in a crock-pot or an oven-proof cast-iron pot.  I like to add cold milk right before serving (to quickly chill the oatmeal).

Set the crock-pot to cook on low or place the cast-iron pot into the oven, preheated to 175° F/80° C for 8 hours.

If desired, replace sugar with honey, sprinkle with cinnamon, add nuts, and/or your favorite dried or fresh fruit.

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Coffee Cake

Posted in Breakfasts, Cakes and Tortes, Desserts, Make Ahead, tagged , , , , on January 30, 2012 | 22 Comments »

Another workout milestone successfully achieved and celebrated accordingly this weekend! with lots of carbs! obviously…

I craved morning buns.  They are heavenly…  But that dough is a whole different story… It requires so much work! 

This quick fix has a different texture, but all the right ingredients.  Lots of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and orange zest.  It’s really reach and moist.  We ate it ourselves, fed it to 4 neighborhood families, and still have half of the cake in the freezer waiting for spontaneous guest invasions.

What’s your favorite dessert that takes too much time to make?

Adopted from Carole Walter’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake.

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SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE WITH TOASTED WALNUT FILLING

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 tbs softened unsalted butter

STREUSEL TOPPING:

  • 4 tbs unsalted butter
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
  • 4 tbs brown sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp table salt

FILLING:

  • 1 cup toasted walnuts
  • 6 tbs brown sugar
  • 2 tbs cinnamon
  • 2 tbs orange zest (about 3 mid oranges)

CAKE:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¾ tsp table salt
  • 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter, slightly softened
  • 1 2/3 cups superfine sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups sour cream

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350⁰ F /175⁰ C (325⁰ F/160⁰ C if using dark nonstick pan).  Generously butter a 10-inch tube pan with a removable bottom.

Prepare the topping: melt the butter.  Remove from the heat and cool to tepid.  In a medium bowl mix flour pecans, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to the butter and stir till moist and crumbly.

Prepare the filling: pulse all ingredients of the filling in a food processor till combined.

Make the cake: whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  In a mixer bowl beat the butter with a paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth and creamy 1-2 min.  Slowly add sugar and beat to incorporate.  Through the entire process of mixing scrape the bowl when necessary.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Blend the vanilla. On low speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients and sour cream, adding the flour in pour parts and the sour cream in three parts.

Layer the cake.  Spoon 2 generous cups of the batter in the prepared pan, smooth it over.  Sprinkle about ½ cup of the filling.  Repeat the layers, ending with batter layer.  Run the knife around the pan two times, without lifting up the blade, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart.  Smooth the top with the back of the soup spoon.

Layer the topping on the cake and lightly pressing it into the batter.

Bake for 70-75 minutes till the wooden stick come out clean.  Let cool for an hour on a wire rack.

Make ahead: This cake keeps for up to 5 days at room temperature under a cake dome or could be frozen for up to 3 months.

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Farmers Cheese Pancakes

Posted in Breakfasts, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2012 | 52 Comments »

Oh… I’m hurt!  Yesterday morning some wise guy hinted I should take better care of myself!  How rude! So, instead of chasing the kids, I loaded them into our duallie BOB and spent an hour chasing my dreams… of getting back in shape.

Thanks a lot, Miro, your poem was truly inspiring and I feel good about myself even though I cannot move my limbs!      

For tolerating mommy’s slow jogging, the kids were rewarded with farmers cheese pancakes.  There are tons of variations of this recipe, and my favorite one is actually soft and savory, with semolina.  But the kids prefer this sweet stuff.  Who would have expected THAT!? If you haven’t seen farmers cheese in your usual supermarket, you can always find in European grocery stores (or you can make it yourself).

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FARMERS CHEESE PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS:

  • 425 g farmers cheese
  • 3 eggs
  • 50 g flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 tbs sugar

Yields about 20 small pancakes

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients and mix together with a fork.  Once everything is incorporated, make pancakes with your hands.  Shape pieces of dough into golf-ball sized balls, and then flatten with your palms.

Preheat the frying pan and grease it with oil.

Bake the pancakes till golden brown on each side on mid-low heat, covered.

Traditionally served with sour cream, honey, or jam.

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Farmers Cheese

Posted in Breakfasts, Make Ahead, tagged , , , , , , on January 24, 2012 | 28 Comments »

You know that moment when a certain taste or smell makes your heart skip a beat and brings you to THE happy place?  This weekend I took such trip down the memory lane.  It was very well planned, but nevertheless immensely pleasant.    

No, I didn’t order my father’s favorite cologne from Russia (though I’m sure it’d do the job!).  I prepared farmers cheese.  Savoring it brought me right back to my babushka’s house.  Sweet and nostalgic at the same time… Anyways, I hope I just planted that magic trigger into my kids’ hearts, and they would think of us every time they stumble upon this cheese.

It’s not very common in the States.  The texture is really close to goat cheese though has a milder flavor.  Making it is a journey by itself. 

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HOMEMADE FARMERS CHEESE

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 gallon (3.78 liters) raw milk
  • 1/2 pint (236 ml) buttermilk

Yields about 700 g

DIRECTIONS:

Combine raw milk and buttermilk in a large jar (I used this 5 Liter glass canning jar).  Leave at a room temperature to ferment for about 12 hours).  Cover with a lid but don’t clamp it.

At the end of the fermentation some cream will separate and the mixture will become very thick.

Fill a large pot 1/2 way with water and warm it up on the stove.

When the water is almost boiling (about 180° F /approx. 80º C or higher) carefully place the jar into the pot.  It doesn’t matter if the water is below the milk level.  Let it heat up for about 10 minutes.  The milk will start separating into curds (solid) and whey (liquid).

Line up a large colander with a large cheese cloth folded twice.  Carefully dump the milk mixture into it and drain.  You may have to use a spoon to empty the jar.  Tie a knot with a cheese cloth and hang it above a dish or your kitchen sink for a couple hours.

If you don’t fully drain it, the farmers cheese will be very soft and tender, ready to eat.

A drier farmers cheese is perfect for cooking (I’m sure the recipes will follow).

Store in the fridge, also could be frozen for future use.

Enjoy!

You can enjoy your farmers cheese as is, mix it up with milk or sour cream to spread it on your bagel, sweeten it with honey, or sugar, or jam, or bake with it, add it to salads, make it salty, add herbs.  The options are unlimited and Russians have gazillion recipes to prove it!

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