Good Morning Food

I am often tickled by strings of words, when they can be interpreted in different ways.  For example, the title of this post:  Good Morning Food.  As in:

Mmmm...this is some goooood morning food!

Or:

Good Morning, Food!  Meet my mouth!

Or, perhaps:

Oh, Good!  Morning Food!  (Now I'm just getting ridiculous.)

A while back, I posted a recipe for Petite Crustless Quiches, from French Revolution.  Last weekend, I revisited that recipe, with a little twist.  The twist being in the form of kale, and bacon.  Yum.

We always have "special" breakfasts on the weekend, so called by the Kiddos.  Weekday breakfasts consist of either yogurt with frozen (and defrosted) berries, and homemade granola, or cereal.  So, come the weekend, we all look forward to a more leisurely meal, generally involving eggs, waffles, or homemade bagels.  And a good amount of coffee.  Of course.

The thing with preparing a special breakfast is, in my world, that while it appears to be time-consuming, it never really is.  If the natives (ie, Kiddos) are growing restless, I appease their hunger with a bit of fruit, or a small bowl of cereal, until the real meal is ready.  When guests stay over, there's nothing to it to whip up a batch of something that looks impressive, but is truly simple.  Like these mini quiches.

You could add absolutely anything to these wee bites:  some steamed, chopped asparagus, any variety of herbs, cheeses, proscuitto, pancetta...you name it.  Get creative.  These are delicious served hot, or at room temperature, for breakfast, brunch, or any meal, really.

Here's how I made them:

Mini Bacon, Kale, and Feta Quiches - adapted from French Revolution
-makes 12 mini quiches, serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
8 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup crumbled feta
3 or 4 slices of bacon
a few stalks of kale, ribs removed
a couple tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
sprig or two of fresh dill, fronds only, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
butter or vegetable oil, to grease muffin tin

First, cook your bacon.  I prefer to cook mine on a baking sheet in the oven, 400 deg F.  It takes around 15 minutes, turning once mid-way through. When crisp, drain on paper towels, then chop. 

While your bacon is cooking, prepare the rest of your ingredients, beginning with your kale.  Bring a small saucepan of water to boil, and add your kale, with the ribs removed.  Cook on a medium-high heat until tender, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Drain in a colander, and once cool, squeeze out the excess water.  You will have a small, handful-sized ball.  Chop this up.

Beat eggs, then stir in milk, salt and pepper to taste, herbs, and kale.

Once your bacon is finished cooking, turn the oven down to 375 deg F.  Grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

Add equal amounts of chopped bacon to the bottom of each muffin cup, then pour over the egg mixture.  Add the crumbled feta to the top of each mini quiche.  Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until the quiches just begin pulling away from the sides of the tin.  Leave to cool in the muffin tin for about 5 minutes, then remove gently, using a knife to loosen the sides, if necessary.

Easy peasy.  And serious Good Morning Food.

Our family is off for the weekend to the Island, to scout for a place to call home.  I'm whipping up two batches of these babies, to bring along for breakfast:

These bagels are another super simple, yet very impressive meal.  If you have a bread machine, seriously, break it out, and get a batch rolling.  It's a foolproof recipe, and who doesn't love fresh bagels and veggie cream cheese in the morning?

I know I do.  Happy Weekending, everyone!

Take It Where I Can Get It

I'm feeling rather pulled in too many directions these days.  All the normal day to day work, school, household stuff, piled on to that the decision to put the cabin on the market (eek), piled on to that my insane notion to join in on this season's KCWC...

Which sucks, because it's such a cool, and meaningful thing, sewing your kids' clothes, one teeny hour a day, for one measly, little week.  And I am having a major struggle with finding the time.  Also with finding the patience with these damn pants. 

I found the coolest tutorial on how to design your own pattern (which would be more useful to me if I could follow directions, and possessed the slightest inkling of precision), and the cutest pocketed pants, on Made.  And the coolest flannel-ish, houndstooth-ish fabric, for the Boy.  Alas, just when I thought I'd gotten things sorted, I realized I should have sewn those pockets on before I sewed the front and back together.  Damn.  How did I miss that?  I've kind of hit the wall here.  But I am at least (cross fingers) going to get a skirt for the Girl made before this week is out.  Sigh.  

Enough trials and tribulations, I do have a wee triumph for you.  Nothing monumentally earth-shattering, mind you.  Pretty sure I'm not up for any awards for this one.  But.  Considering how the week's going, I'll take it where I can get it.

Remember those delicious, homemade bagels we were eating recently?  Well, I've got a little veggie cream cheese for you.  Not rocket science, I know.  But it's good.

Here you go.

Veggie Cream Cheese - makes a bit over 8 oz

Ingredients

8 oz package of cream cheese, or neufchatel (the foil-wrapped kind, in the box), at room temperature

2 Tbs carrots, finely chopped

1 1/2 Tbs green pepper, finely chopped

1 1/2 Tbs celery, finely chopped

1 Tbs green onion, green parts only, finely chopped

pinch celery salt & freshly ground pepper

Toss everything into the food processor, and give it a whiz, until it's the consistency you like.  Mine is fairly smooth, with small chunks of veggies.  Taste for seasoning, then chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

How simple was that?  Thank goodness, I needed an easy one.

Have a good day.

Bagels

Alright, folks.  Today's recipe is a serious treat.  One that I wish I'd discovered years ago...because just think of all the time I've done without this one.  The very thought fills me with sadness.

Okay, kidding.  Little flair for the dramatic there.

Here's what we're making today:

Homemade Bagels.  With our trusty bread machine.  And Oh.  My.  Word.  These are actually bagels. These are not glorified rolls with holes in the center, that we're optimistically dubbing bagels. The texture is spot-on.  Just the perfect density; lovely and chewy on the inside, crusty on the outside.  I am beside myself about these bagels, truly.

I can't help but lament the fact that I didn't discover this recipe years ago, back when we lived in New Zealand.  There I was, heavily pregnant, and I mean heavily, largely, huuuuugely pregnant, overcome by an obscene craving for bagels.  And no bagels to be had.  That's rough, people.  I tried to make my own, with a recipe or two, with no success.  Those fetal cravings went unmet.  Tragic, I know.  But now, I've got it.  And if any of you are experiencing similarly overwhelming bagel lust, and dwelling in a bagel-free zone, have no fear.  I'm here to help.

This recipe comes from Rustic European Breads from your Bread Machine.  A massive find I happened upon at the library, and now absolutely must own.  Every recipe I've tried from this book has turned out great.  That doesn't usually happen with breadmaking books.  At least not in my twisted little world.

Bagels - adapted from Rustic European Breads
 - makes 8 bagels

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups warm water
3 tsp kosher salt
3 Tbs sugar
4 tsp bread machine yeast (I use Red Star Active Dry Yeast, not bread machine, and it's perfect)
3 1/2 cups bread flour

2 quarts boiling water
2 Tbs malt syrup *

* The recipe states, emphatically, to use malt syrup, no substitutions.  I, however, tend to chafe at rigid instruction, so of course I substituted...because of course, I had no malt syrup.  I used 1 Tbs maple syrup, and they were lovely.  Do what you feel is right.  Follow the rules.  Or rebel a little.  Your choice.*

Place the ingredients (except boiling water, and malt syrup) in your bread machine pan according to your machine's instructions.  Set for the dough cycle, if you have it.  Otherwise, just let the machine do the kneading work for you, stop the cycle, and leave the dough to rise for one hour.

Toward the end of the rising time, bring a large pot of water, with the syrup, to a boil, and preheat the oven to 425 deg F.  Lightly grease a large cookie sheet, and sprinkle with cornmeal.

When the dough is finished rising, turn it out onto a lightly floured board, and knead a couple of times to deflate any air bubbles.  Evenly divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.  (I use my dough scraper and cut the dough in half, then each half in half again, etc.  Equal parts, easy peasy.)  Roll each piece of dough into a ball, and flatten slightly.  With your thumb, or fingers, poke a hole through the middle of the ball.  Pull and stretch the dough until it's roughly donut-sized.  The dough will pull back in a bit, so stretch it a little larger than you'd like the final product to be.

Adjust the heat under the boiling water to a low boil.  Gently drop 4 bagels into the water, and allow to boil for 30 seconds.  Using a skimmer, or slotted spoon, flip them over and boil for another 30 seconds.  Remove and drain on a clean towel, while you boil the other 4 bagels.

Place the drained bagels on the baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for 11 minutes.  Working quickly, remove the sheet from the oven, flip the bagels over, and bake for another 11 minutes.  This is key to the crust-to-chew ratio, as the recipe states.  And I did listen on this one.

After 22 minutes, the bagels will be lightly browned and shiny.  If not, continue baking for another minute or so, but watch carefully so they don't burn.  Cool for at least 10 minutes on a rack.

Gorgeous, aren't they?  These are best eaten the day they're made (obviously), but will keep in a plastic bag for a day or two.  Keep it simple and serve with some cream cheese, or make it more of a meal with some smoked salmon, or fresh veggies.  Yum.

I'm looking forward to trying a few adaptations on this recipe this weekend, for brunch.  And I'm going to be testing my claim of authenticity on East Coasters...New Yorkers, in fact.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Go make some bagels!

Surprised Myself

Some weekends don't go according to plan.  Like the tomato cluster* a few weeks back.  This weekend, my fine friends, stuff has been accomplished.  I've surprised myself.  Nary a bombed meal, a knitting project to be ripped out and restarted, a dough that failed to rise...That's a good weekend.  I wouldn't be so self-congratulatory right now, by the way, if I didn't regularly have innumerable blunders and faux pas, learning curves - shall we say - in my homemaking adventures (and misadventures).  That's not to say that I bungle everything...but you know, I do muddle through some days.  So, just let me have this one.

Here's what's been happening around these parts, over the last couple of days:

Homemade Bagels.  Wha wha what?!  Yeah, can you believe this?

I'm stoked.  Stay tuned for the recipe, coming your way soon.

The best damn cookie you've ever eaten, from Not Without Salt.  

Not lasting so long around here.  Go make some.

Using up my plenitude of tomatoes, a la Molly's Slow Roasted Tomatoes, 

from Orangette.  Heavenly.  Go make some.

Making serious progress on my Genevieve sweater.  Check it out!

It's starting to actually look like a sweater, people!

And I even took it off the needles to try it on...get this...

It fits.

(So far.)

Look what the Mister's up to:

Painting his board...the very first board he's ever shaped (under John Carlson's awesome tutelage!).

He'd like me to point out that it's a work in progress.

I say it's a work of art.

A Stu-Art board.  Haha.

And just see what was happening at the cabin today:

Sunshine.

What a great weekend.

I hope your weekend has been just as fabulous.