Streusel Topped Lemon Blueberry Muffins

These are my absolutely favorite kind of muffins that I love enjoying for breakfast on the weekends. With a tall glass of orange juice, my morning could not get any better.

Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes

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• I've never been a huge fan of pancakes, usually preferring crepes over them anyday. But when we dropped by D's brother's place last week and these pancakes were served I was delightfully surprised how fluffy and delicious they were. 

English Muffin Bread

This recipe changed my life! For awhile now I've been looking for a recipe for bread that D would like to toast for breakfast. Up until now all the recipes have been just ok, but this one he absolutely loves! 

The life changing part is that I don't have to buy bread from the store anymore. This one is for toasting, snacking etc. and the French bread is for making sandwiches and garlic toast, and for soup dipping. That pretty much covers all our needs. 

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

Last August, for our Anniversary, D took me to Williams-Sonoma and let me pick a few items for my anniversary present.

This is what I found.

It was time to make some quiche! (I actually made this in September, just forgot to actually post it)

I baked the crusts,

poured in the egg mixture,

baked again until golden and puffy,

and then I ate four of them. 

There's something about little individual pies, tarts and quiches that makes one feel special and appreciated.

I felt four times more special that day.

By the way, I used the blind baking method for baking the crusts so they would keep their shape. I didn't have any pie baking beads so I just used some old lentils I found in my pantry.

Please excuse my old baking sheet. I like to tell myself that it looks rustic...

If you don't want to use individual pans, or don't have them, the recipe works just fine in a 9 1/2-inch deep dish pie plate.

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche (adapted from epicurious.com)

2 cups steamed broccoli

2 large garlic cloves, minced

6 large eggs, beaten

1 1/2 half-and-half (I just used whole milk)

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 cups coarsely grated Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp salt 

black pepper, to taste

1 prepared Pie crust (see below)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2. Whisk together eggs, half-and-half, and seasonings. Add cheeses and broccoli and stir together.

3. Pour into baked pie crusts and bake until center is just set (40 to 50 minutes for a full pie, maybe around 20 minutes for individual ones. Just watch the quiche and take it out when golden and set). Let it cool at least for 20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Double Pie Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup shortening

6 Tbsp icy cold water

1. Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening. Add COLD water (I put mine in the freezer to chill while I prepare other ingredients) one tablespoon at a time. Mix until dough holds together. Do NOT overmix. Let the dough chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes or more.

2. Roll out and place in desired pans. Be careful not to stretch dough when putting in pans to prevent shrinking. Chill pans in fridge for about 30 minutes.

3. Poke holes in crusts with a fork. Cover with aluminum foil or parchment paper (don't forget to cover edges!) and fill with dried beans, lentils, or ceramic baking beads. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, until edges are pale golden. Take out of oven and carefully remove beads and foil/paper. Bake uncovered for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven, and let cool for about 5 minutes.

I use this pie crust recipe for both savory and sweet pies. You can add seasonings or sugar, depending on the filling. I've only blind baked for the quiche, otherwise I just use the unbaked crust as usual.

This recipe makes around six to eight 4-inch quiches.

Bagels

Here's a new recipe that I wanted to try. I had never even thought of making bagels until I happened on a recipe that uses breadmachine to make the dough. How simple is that?

The process was pretty simple but I made the mistake of placing the bagels on waxpaper to rise. I thought: "I can lift them off easier that way!" I do not know how that made any sense to me. Don't do that. They stick. You'll be pulling them off the paper and they'll resemble bagels no more. You'll have a gnarly used-to-be-shaped-like-a-bagel lump of dough. *Sigh* I must have been dehydrated/tired/low on sugar and chocolate that day.

Whether it was because of my waxpaper idea or some other glitch, my bagels turned out somewhat flat. First this deflated me (no pun intended), but after tasting one and making a tuna sandwich out of another one I really didn't mind the flatness. It was actually really good. AND (yes, there's more) I found this post by David Lebovitz on *drumroll* FLAT bagels! I must be really in with the food blogger crowd.

Now I tell myself that my bagels were flat on purpose.

Bread Machine Bagels

1 1/8 cup warm water

1 1/2 tsps salt

3 cups bread flour

2 Tbsp white sugar

2 1/4 tsps active dry yeast

3 quarts water

3 Tbsp sugar or molasses

Egg white/olive oil

Poppy seeds

1. Place water, salt flour, sugar and yeast in a bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle and start.

2. After cycle is complete, let dough rest on a sligthly floured surface. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Flatten balls and poke a hole in the middle with your thumb. Twirl the dough around your finger to enlarge the hole, and to even out the dough around the hole. (Make the hole pretty big, it'll get smaller during rising and boiling.) Let bagels rise, covered, for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a large pot bring water and sugar/molasses into a boil. Sprinkle an ungrease dbaking sheet with cornmeal. Carefully transfer bagels into the boiling water, few at a time. Boil for about 1 or 2 minutes, turning half way through. Drain briefly on a clean towel. Arrange bagels on the baking sheet. Glaze tops with egg white or olive oil if desired (I didn't), and sprinkle with poppy seeds or other favorite toppings.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until well browned. Enjoy!

Original recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bread-Machine-Bagels/Detail.aspx

Note: David Lebovitz's site is going through reconstruction and the link may not work for a few days. Sorry.

Raisin Bran Muffins

I found the recipe for these from Joy the Baker's blog. There one can find all kinds of yummy and funny things.

These ones are yummy, and funny considering the name makes you think they're all healthy. Hmmm... Anything with 'bran' in the name must be good for me. I shall thus eat three of them right now.

Four must be better than three. It's all that bran, baby.

Coated with sugar, but still bran.


Raisin Bran Muffins

2 3/4 cups Raisin Bran Cereal
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, stir together cereal, flour, sugars, salt and baking soda.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla.
3. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. If baking muffins right away, let the batter sit on the counter for 45 minutes so the cereal can soften. If baking throughout the week, store batter in an airtight container in the fridge.
4. When ready to bake, spoon batter into lined muffin pans. Sprinkle with sugar and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick insterted in the center comes out clean.

I'm thinking about adding a little mashed ripe banana to the batter, and replacing the oil with applesauce to make it a little healthier. And cranberries! Yes, cranberries combined with bran can probably save the world from anything imaginable! Or at least my world in the wee hours of the morning.

That's good enough for me.

Buttermilk Syrup

This goes perfectly with some yummy pancakes or waffles, right on time for a lazy Sunday morning.

Buttermilk Syrup

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup butter

2 tbsp corn syrup

2 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, buttermilk, butter and cornsyrup. Bring to a boil and cook for about 7 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Drizzle liberally on your waffles and enjoy!

Recipe modified from

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buttermilk-Syrup/Detail.aspx?prop31=4

Classic Waffles

Perfect for breakfast, with some buttermilk syrup, fresh fruit/berries and whipped cream.

Classic Waffles


2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp white sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups warm milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Set aside. Get your waffle iron ready
2. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks. Stir in milk, butter and vanilla. Pour in the flour mixture and beat until blended.
3. In a small bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly fold them into the batter.
4. Now just cook away on your waffle iron, until golden and crisp!

Recipe modified from
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Classic-Waffles/Detail.aspx

I know, I know. That's a lot of whipped cream on that waffle. It's all about the balance, and I did have a lot of fruit there too. Unhealthy whipped cream + Healthy fruit = A well balanced meal!