playing breakfast catch-up

I'm trying to catch up on all of my recent recipes and figured a 2-recipe breakfast post would be a nice little bonus on this dreary day. Apparently Vancouver is in the midst of a wind and rain storm, charmingly called a "pineapple express". Such a sweet name for something so foul. There's nothing but grey clouds, darkness and enough rain to make me worry about our roof caving in. So what better way to spend the morning but baking muffins. I originally got this recipe off of Baking Sheet, but I made a few changes to the recipe. Although they do contain maple syrup as the sweetener, I didn't find them very maple-y tasting. They are still very delicious and very light in texture, even with the whole wheat flour.

whole wheat & yogurt cranberry muffins
1/3 c milk
2/3 c plain yogurt
1/3 c vanilla yogurt
1 large egg
1/2 c maple syrup
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t cardamom
2 T dried cranberries
2 T walnuts or sunflower seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 375F and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, yogurt, egg and maple syrup.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together flours, baking soda, and spices. Pour the dry ingredients into wet ingredients and blend gently. Add in the cranberries and nuts/seeds.

3. Pour batter into muffin tins and bake for 15 - 18 minutes until muffins springs back lightly when touched. Carefully remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.



I'm not sure why it looks like this plate of crepes is sticking out its tongue at me but it got eaten up anyway! The next recipe I tried was again from my "hmmm, what am I going to make" blog favorite, Baking Sheet. During my last year of university, my roomate at the time used to make crepes as a weekend breakfast treat. She filled them with raspberry jam and cottage cheese, rolled them into cigar shapes, packed them into a baking pan and then covered the whole thing with coffee cream and baked them in the oven until they got all warm and creamy. It was a delicious breakfast treat that I made a few times but somehow I managed to forget all about them. Lately, tho, crepes seem to be popping up all over my radar. There are several crepe places downtown that serve up nutella filled crepes and other sweet concoctions. I've always been able to resist their lure because, hey, it's just a rolled up pancake...what's the big deal? But then the other week, I stumbled onto Thimble's post about her portabello & asparagus crepes and I had to do a double take. Although I still haven't gotten around to making a savory dinner crepe yet, this past weekend I did take the crepe plunge and came up with these beauties. They were "scrumptious" (Cornelius' word for them) and kinda fancy which elevated our Sunday breakfast to extraordinary without much of an effort.

crepes with fresh apple filling
200 ml. milk
100 ml. water
3/4 c plus 2 t all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 t salt
1 t vegetable oil
1 t vanilla

apple filling:
2 granny smith apples, sliced relatively thinly into half moons
2 t butter
2 t rum
2 T sour cherry jam

1. Place flour in a large bowl, add milk and water gradually, whisking until the mixture is smooth. Beat in eggs, salt, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Make sure batter is very smooth, then set aside to rest for at least 20 minutes.

2. In a small skillet, melt butter for the filling. Add apples and sautee for a couple of minutes over medium heat. Add rum and cherry jam and stir about until the sauce thickens somewhat. Turn off heat and set aside.

3. Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly grease and pour batter onto the skillet, about 1/4 cup. Pick up the skillet and swirl the batter around until it even coats the entire bottom of the pan. Cook until the edges come away from the pan and the top of the crepe looks almost dry, about 3 minutes. Turn and cook the other side for about a minute.

4. Fill crepe with filling, roll or fold, and serve immediately. Makes about ten 10-inch crepes.

playing breakfast catch-up

I'm trying to catch up on all of my recent recipes and figured a 2-recipe breakfast post would be a nice little bonus on this dreary day. Apparently Vancouver is in the midst of a wind and rain storm, charmingly called a "pineapple express". Such a sweet name for something so foul. There's nothing but grey clouds, darkness and enough rain to make me worry about our roof caving in. So what better way to spend the morning but baking muffins. I originally got this recipe off of Baking Sheet, but I made a few changes to the recipe. Although they do contain maple syrup as the sweetener, I didn't find them very maple-y tasting. They are still very delicious and very light in texture, even with the whole wheat flour.

whole wheat & yogurt cranberry muffins
1/3 c milk
2/3 c plain yogurt
1/3 c vanilla yogurt
1 large egg
1/2 c maple syrup
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t cardamom
2 T dried cranberries
2 T walnuts or sunflower seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 375F and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, yogurt, egg and maple syrup.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together flours, baking soda, and spices. Pour the dry ingredients into wet ingredients and blend gently. Add in the cranberries and nuts/seeds.

3. Pour batter into muffin tins and bake for 15 - 18 minutes until muffins springs back lightly when touched. Carefully remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.



I'm not sure why it looks like this plate of crepes is sticking out its tongue at me but it got eaten up anyway! The next recipe I tried was again from my "hmmm, what am I going to make" blog favorite, Baking Sheet. During my last year of university, my roomate at the time used to make crepes as a weekend breakfast treat. She filled them with raspberry jam and cottage cheese, rolled them into cigar shapes, packed them into a baking pan and then covered the whole thing with coffee cream and baked them in the oven until they got all warm and creamy. It was a delicious breakfast treat that I made a few times but somehow I managed to forget all about them. Lately, tho, crepes seem to be popping up all over my radar. There are several crepe places downtown that serve up nutella filled crepes and other sweet concoctions. I've always been able to resist their lure because, hey, it's just a rolled up pancake...what's the big deal? But then the other week, I stumbled onto Thimble's post about her portabello & asparagus crepes and I had to do a double take. Although I still haven't gotten around to making a savory dinner crepe yet, this past weekend I did take the crepe plunge and came up with these beauties. They were "scrumptious" (Cornelius' word for them) and kinda fancy which elevated our Sunday breakfast to extraordinary without much of an effort.

crepes with fresh apple filling
200 ml. milk
100 ml. water
3/4 c plus 2 t all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 t salt
1 t vegetable oil
1 t vanilla

apple filling:
2 granny smith apples, sliced relatively thinly into half moons
2 t butter
2 t rum
2 T sour cherry jam

1. Place flour in a large bowl, add milk and water gradually, whisking until the mixture is smooth. Beat in eggs, salt, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Make sure batter is very smooth, then set aside to rest for at least 20 minutes.

2. In a small skillet, melt butter for the filling. Add apples and sautee for a couple of minutes over medium heat. Add rum and cherry jam and stir about until the sauce thickens somewhat. Turn off heat and set aside.

3. Heat a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly grease and pour batter onto the skillet, about 1/4 cup. Pick up the skillet and swirl the batter around until it even coats the entire bottom of the pan. Cook until the edges come away from the pan and the top of the crepe looks almost dry, about 3 minutes. Turn and cook the other side for about a minute.

4. Fill crepe with filling, roll or fold, and serve immediately. Makes about ten 10-inch crepes.

thanksgiving is pretty much all about food.

I love three day weekends...especially the sunny kinds in October that are also known as Thanksgiving. It's definitely true that a three day weekend is much more meaningful when you actually work away from home. For that 3-day break, I'm so thankful! It was a wonderful weekend filled with bike rides, boardgames, and food. For once, I didn't host the Thanksgiving dinner at our little 400 sq. ft. apartment. Instead, we stuffed our panniers with sauteed brussels sprouts topped with pecans*, spicy cranberry chutney**, green salad with apple dressing***, and of course, pumpkin pie**** topped with maple whipped cream all the way to our friend's lovely home. All of this plus our host's amazing coca-cola ham, roasted roots with bocconcini, and lots and lots of delicious mulled wine. Definitely a meal to be thankful for.

* I love brussles sprouts and I see no reason to gussy them up with extras, but this recipe from Elise was simple and lovely. If you're not a fan of the humble sprout, try this recipe and become a true believer! As for my own interpretation of the recipe, I substituted lime juice for the lemon and added pecans instead of almonds. Delicious!

** Every wintery holiday, I make this chutney. It's a time-honoured favorite that I've tweaked and twiddled with until it reached perfection. This time around, I was all out of oranges so I couldn't add the juice. I could have subbed in some plain ol' water, but oh lucky me, I found a half bottle of reisling in the fridge! Saved the day and the chutney. Yum!

*** I love green salad and I love apples in salads. This was a winner. Of course I didn't have the walnut oil the recipe called for, so instead I added olive oil with a couple drops of sesame oil for added flavour. Again, I added some toasted pecans for crunch. And who eats Red Delicious apples? Not me! Granny Smith all the way. I'll definitely be making this salad again.

**** I've made this recipe for a few years now and it's never failed me. In fact, dare I say it, it's the best damn pumpkin pie I've ever eaten. Did I mention it's way too easy to make?

thanksgiving is pretty much all about food.

I love three day weekends...especially the sunny kinds in October that are also known as Thanksgiving. It's definitely true that a three day weekend is much more meaningful when you actually work away from home. For that 3-day break, I'm so thankful! It was a wonderful weekend filled with bike rides, boardgames, and food. For once, I didn't host the Thanksgiving dinner at our little 400 sq. ft. apartment. Instead, we stuffed our panniers with sauteed brussels sprouts topped with pecans*, spicy cranberry chutney**, green salad with apple dressing***, and of course, pumpkin pie**** topped with maple whipped cream all the way to our friend's lovely home. All of this plus our host's amazing coca-cola ham, roasted roots with bocconcini, and lots and lots of delicious mulled wine. Definitely a meal to be thankful for.

* I love brussles sprouts and I see no reason to gussy them up with extras, but this recipe from Elise was simple and lovely. If you're not a fan of the humble sprout, try this recipe and become a true believer! As for my own interpretation of the recipe, I substituted lime juice for the lemon and added pecans instead of almonds. Delicious!

** Every wintery holiday, I make this chutney. It's a time-honoured favorite that I've tweaked and twiddled with until it reached perfection. This time around, I was all out of oranges so I couldn't add the juice. I could have subbed in some plain ol' water, but oh lucky me, I found a half bottle of reisling in the fridge! Saved the day and the chutney. Yum!

*** I love green salad and I love apples in salads. This was a winner. Of course I didn't have the walnut oil the recipe called for, so instead I added olive oil with a couple drops of sesame oil for added flavour. Again, I added some toasted pecans for crunch. And who eats Red Delicious apples? Not me! Granny Smith all the way. I'll definitely be making this salad again.

**** I've made this recipe for a few years now and it's never failed me. In fact, dare I say it, it's the best damn pumpkin pie I've ever eaten. Did I mention it's way too easy to make?

thanksgiving is pretty much all about food.

I love three day weekends...especially the sunny kinds in October that are also known as Thanksgiving. It's definitely true that a three day weekend is much more meaningful when you actually work away from home. For that 3-day break, I'm so thankful! It was a wonderful weekend filled with bike rides, boardgames, and food. For once, I didn't host the Thanksgiving dinner at our little 400 sq. ft. apartment. Instead, we stuffed our panniers with sauteed brussels sprouts topped with pecans*, spicy cranberry chutney**, green salad with apple dressing***, and of course, pumpkin pie**** topped with maple whipped cream all the way to our friend's lovely home. All of this plus our host's amazing coca-cola ham, roasted roots with bocconcini, and lots and lots of delicious mulled wine. Definitely a meal to be thankful for.

* I love brussles sprouts and I see no reason to gussy them up with extras, but this recipe from Elise was simple and lovely. If you're not a fan of the humble sprout, try this recipe and become a true believer! As for my own interpretation of the recipe, I substituted lime juice for the lemon and added pecans instead of almonds. Delicious!

** Every wintery holiday, I make this chutney. It's a time-honoured favorite that I've tweaked and twiddled with until it reached perfection. This time around, I was all out of oranges so I couldn't add the juice. I could have subbed in some plain ol' water, but oh lucky me, I found a half bottle of reisling in the fridge! Saved the day and the chutney. Yum!

*** I love green salad and I love apples in salads. This was a winner. Of course I didn't have the walnut oil the recipe called for, so instead I added olive oil with a couple drops of sesame oil for added flavour. Again, I added some toasted pecans for crunch. And who eats Red Delicious apples? Not me! Granny Smith all the way. I'll definitely be making this salad again.

**** I've made this recipe for a few years now and it's never failed me. In fact, dare I say it, it's the best damn pumpkin pie I've ever eaten. Did I mention it's way too easy to make?

thanksgiving pt. 2

It seems that good food and good boardgames go hand in hand at my house. I'm sure my downstairs neighbours never want to hear "Corner on wheat!!!" at 2am ever again, but a good, roaring (and perhaps drunken) game of Pit rounded out a great Thanksgiving meal.

I love this recipe! It's the perfect compliment to any meal and I get rave reviews everytime I make this. This Thanksgiving meal was meatless, but this chutney tasted great alongside the richness of the baked macaroni & cheese and a couple of people used the chutney to top their greens instead of salad dressing. Oh yum.

cranberry chutney
1 12oz bag of fresh or frozen cranberries
1 granny smith apple, chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1/3 c cider or red wine vinegar
2/3 c packed brown sugar
juice of 1 orange
grated orange rind from 1 orange
½ t salt
½ t cinnamon
½ t nutmeg
1/8 t cloves

1. Combine vinegar, sugar, salt, spices, orange rind, celery, onion, apple, and orange juice in a medium saucepan. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

2. Reduce heat to a simmer, and stir in the cranberries. Cook until the skin begins to pop, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Store in an airtight container, refrigerated, up to 4 weeks.

---

Seeing that I was busy on one side of the kitchen making the chutney and preparing the brussel sprouts, I had Cornelius make this delicious recipe. I have no idea where I found it (it definitely was online somewhere), but I'm making this again. Too delicious for words! I also planned on taking a photograph of this beauty (Cornelius baked it in a pretty bundt pan), but it went really fast. You'll just have to use your imagination.

Pumpkin Chocolate chip cake

1 ¾ c flour
1 t baking soda
2 t pumpkin pie spice*
½ t salt
½ c margarine
1 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
¾ c pumpkin purée
¾ c semisweet chocolate chips
¾ c walnuts, finely chopped

* If pumpkin pie spice is not available, use 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg and ¼ teaspoon each of ginger and cloves.

Grease bottom and sides of 9 x 5-inch loaf pan*. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour with baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Cream margarine in large mixing bowl. Gradually add sugar and cream at high speed of mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs; beat well. Turn mixer to low speed and add dry ingredients, alternating with pumpkin. Begin and end with dry ingredients; blend well after each addition. Stir in chocolate morsels and chopped walnuts and pour into prepared pan. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched in center. Cool, then glaze with Spicy Glaze.

Spicy Glaze
½ c confectioners' sugar
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 to 2 tablespoons light cream

Combine confectioners' sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Blend in cream until the consistency desired (should be thin).

* We greased and floured a bundt pan.