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I was looking at the DailyBuzz Moms site today and stumbled across my Strawberry, Sage and Grapefruit Granita on their Top 9!
Loving that I'm featured and can't wait to try the Blackberry Lime Tarts from Thyme of Taste's website.
Click on over to see the feature and check out some of the other recipes while you are there.
Grits, fried green tomatoes and bacon were the first combination that came to mind when I started work on this installment of our Cook The Book project.
We are covering cereals from Marion Cunningham’s The Breakfast Book. There are six of us participating in the project: Rachel of Ode to Goodness, Sammy of Rêve du Jour, Emily of The Bon Appetit Diaries, Aimee of Homemade Trade and Claudie of The Bohemian Kitchen.
I've never made either of these dishes before. Both turned out to be very easy and very satisfying. I was surprised at how much I loved the grits. They are a cross between traditional polenta and a warm grain cereal, like cream of rice or farina. Those were two of my favorite warm cereals growing up, so it makes perfect sense that the grits made me so happy. It's such a filling dish that I think I can get six to eight servings out of each batch.
The recipe said you could serve the grits as a sweet dish with milk and sugar. Savory breakfast is more my taste, so I tried the grits two ways: one just with butter and one with black truffle oil and bacon.
The black truffle oil was my favorite, but way too rich to eat very much of it. The fried green tomatoes were nice and crispy, as an alternate cornmeal texture against the smooth silkiness of the grits. I have plans to make a ton of this, and will likely experiment with some other combinations.
adapted from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book, copyright 1987, Alfred A Knopf
Raw juice made with strawberry and vegetables is tastes great and gives you a great energy boost in the morning. I'm reposting this Raw Spinach, Carrot, Beet, Avocado, Peach, Strawberry and Banana Juice recipe this week because I'm in New York and it's about 30 degrees warmer than I'm used to in San Francisco and I need some relief!
I'm thinking of juicing every day, in addition to the great food my parents are making for us, and will start with this recipe as soon as I get everything together.
Here's what you'll need. Make this juice, or any other combination of fruits and veggies you may have around. It'll cool you off from the summer heat.
Enjoy!
Better than beignets, these cinnamon butter puffs really knocked my socks off.
In this installment of our Cook The Book project, we are covering quick breads from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book. There are six of us participating in the project: Rachel of Ode to Goodness, Sammy of Rêve du Jour, Emily of The Bon Appetit Diaries, Aimee of Homemade Trade and Claudie of The Bohemian Kitchen.
After my wonderful cinnamon buns, I was prepared to commit at least eight hours to making these. The butter puffs were made, start to finish in just over thirty minutes. They came out of the oven just as we finished eating dinner, so instead of these being a breakfast treat, we ate them as desert.
This perfect marriage of sugar and spice yields moist, fluffy muffins with a kick of nutmeg. The gluten-free flour mix I used did not take away from the fluffiness of the muffins, which was my main concern. My daughter loved the flavor and texture of them so much that even after I told her they were gluten-free, she said they tasted just right.
Enjoy with tea, cafe au lait or hot chocolate. The lip-licking coating and the downy interior elevate these muffins beyond traditional breakfast offerings.
You may also want to give these fig, ham and butter sandwiches from the same book.
adapted from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book
Topping:
Meethod:
See those biscuits down there? They're gluten-free. I ordered these for breakfast at Radish in San Francisco.
I had eaten at Radish several times and only on this particular day did I notice the gluten-free biscuits on the menu. They are just as good as everything else I've had at Radish.
The poached eggs were perfectly prepared. I loved the choice of salad greens instead of potatoes, too. It's always a good idea to give me a reason to walk away from the fried potatoes.
I have had their french fries on another visit and thought they were great. My friends rave about the mac and cheese (being gluten-free and dairy-free, I can't eat it) and the bottomless mimosa's at brunch are always a big hit.
A statement from their website confirms that they use all local, seasonal ingredients and make most everything in their kitchen:
"We feature an eclectic American menu with high quality, seasonal, and locally sourced ingredients taking some inspiration from Adam's Southern roots. We make the majority of our products in-house from our baguettes and biscuits to our spreads and sauces. For everything else our tiny kitchen does not allow us to create we partner with other local companies who share our hands-on approach. Our ice cream is from an up and coming local favorite, Mr. and Mrs. Miscellaneous; our coffee is organic and locally roasted from Mr. Espresso; and our tea is loose-leaf, fair-trade organic sourced from another up and coming tea company, Sartori tea, based out of San Jose."
Take yourself over to Radish for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The service is outstanding, the food is delicious, fresh and flavorful and the light-filled dining area is relaxing and beautiful.
Radish is located at 3416 19th street on the corner of Lexington and 19th in San Francisco.
I've liked okra for a long time, but have never made it before.
When I was in second or third grade, we had to bring in a regional American dish. I asked my mom to make okra, which I believe was cooked in a tomato sauce. I loved it.
The other day, my co-worked showed up with an Indian spiced okra. I hoped she would share the recipe with me, which she was kind enough to do.
Here is the first of what I hope will be the first of many entries that feature some delightful Indian flavors. Thanks, Reshma!
recipe courtesy of Reshma Iyer
as featured on The Fruit Guys website.
Cook’s Notes: 1 bunch of okra should fit into your hand when held up vertically. Wash okra before cutting or they will get pasty.
Oatmeal is really the breakfast of champions. I love oatmeal made just with water. No toppings, no butter, no sugar. We used to get those prepackaged cinnamon sugar oatmeals, but I never loved them. Plain oatmeal is my favorite.
There are many health benefits to eating oatmeal: lowers cholesterol, adds a good amount of fiber to your diet and stabilizes blood sugar. An extra benefit that I love most: if I eat oatmeal in the morning, I'm full until well into the afternoon.
I have to admit that I not only eat plain oatmeal, I also top mine off with bacon. It sounds a little crazy, but the salty bacon adds just the right something-something to my morning oatmeal. I do love to have a cup of tea and a hard boiled egg alongside my oatmeal.
Yesterday I experimented by freezing a few portions of my slow cooker oatmeal in small containers. Defrosted in the microwave for just a minute and I had a nice bowl of oatmeal at my desk. It's handy for me to be able to pre-cook a bunch of oatmeal and pack it into single servings to bring to work with me. I suppose you could just use the instant kind of oats and make them in the microwave, but I prefer a slower-cooked oatmeal.
However you eat it, do eat oatmeal. It's just so good for you, it's tasty and satisfying, too.
We love a good family dinner around here. The preparation and final product are as important as the conversation around what we're having and what went on in school that day. We may eat dinner at our house at our kitchen table, or in front of a show we’re catching up on. Either way, our family meal starts the moment I start cooking.
Growing up, we'd eat dinner together as a family every night of the week. Some meals were more elaborate than others, but there was always a full table with all seven of us around it. We'd take turns cooking the main dish, since both of our parents worked. For Gran Fran, my mom, it was a new dawn, as a working mother of five, she had to depend on us to pitch in to get the dinner on the table. In her childhood, the nonnas (her grandmas) would spend the day going to market and getting the dinner made.
If there was a roast beef in the oven, baked potatoes with an x cut into them to release the steam would be put right on the oven rack. GranFran would make Lasagna ahead of time, on Sunday, to be reheated as needed. In my book, reheated lasagna was better than when it was fresh out of the oven. On quick dinner nights, Gran Fran would come home and make us an egg and potato frittata. There was always a vegetable of some sort, broccoli stands out as something that was on our plates a lot, as well as green beans.
We eat at our house a few times a week and at my sister's house once or twice a week. The rest of the time my daughter is with her dad. Dinner at my sister and brother-in-law's house is great. They are both awesome cooks and wonderful and generous hosts. Isabella tells my sister Nicole (I like to call her Nikki, but she does not like that nickname, so I'm trying to be respectful here) that she loves coming to their house for the company, but mostly because she just loves the food they make for her. It's a rare night when you'll find just one main dish. There is always plenty to choose from and lots of good conversation, highlighted by Isabella and her two cousins' conversations about their days.
The kids all go to school together so there is a lot to talk about: which kid got a pink slip, who hit whom on the playground, what event was coming up next at school. I feel very lucky that we live just ten minutes away from my sister and her family. Our family dinners really make the week that much better. When I know we're going over, I usually bring a nice bottle of wine for the grown-ups, something for the table, and sometimes wacky stuff like coconut water direct from a coconut with the shell on , a whole punched in the top and a straw stuck in. I've often wondered if they know exactly how much it means to both of us to be included in their family on such a regular, unquestioning basis. I do love spending time with my brother-in-law (Fran Q) especially when it comes to making food. He has an innate talent for preparing delicious meals out of just about anything, and is even great at desserts
My immediate family now consists of me and my thirteen year old daughter. Meals are still a big deal, just like when I was little, albeit with way fewer people. Dinner is a time for me and my daughter to catch up. We keep the computer in the kitchen so that we can be together after school while I cook and Isabella does her homework. She and I discuss ingredients, choose our favorite dishes, and I start cooking. No matter how tired I am from working all day (and blogging all night), mealtime is a tradition. I will not give up. It's our time to connect and relish each other’s company.
My BBQ Vegan Skewers are featured on today's Top 9 on DailyBuzz Food.
Loving this! The site, DailyBuzz Food is an update and add on to FoodBuzz. I love the new format, and am excited to be included.
There is a tab on the top of the site for Special Diets. Until today, I hadn't really thought my recipes would fit into this. Upon further inspection into my list of posts, I guess I do talk a lot about alternatives to dairy and gluten. And now vegan. You can track my eating habits through the last 3+ years of posts to see just when all these exceptions to my very full diet began. Blogging is interesting in that way. Sometimes you repeat and repeat (you'll see roast chicken here and any number of smoothies appear over and over). Sometimes you change and update (no more cheese for me: make the pesto without it, it'll be just as good).
Take a look at the collections they have featured so far (the new format just started this month). It's really nifty.
Thanks, DailyBuzz Food (I still want to call you FoodBuzz, is that ok?)!!
My Almond Milk Iced Cappuccino was featured in the July 18th edition of the DailyBuzz Moms Top 9!
It is always a great surprise to be featured. I love finding my images on the DailyBuzz, especially because it's great to see what everyone else comes up with.
Click on over and see the other entries in their Summery Drinks collection.
Thanks, DailyBuzz Moms!
