Breakfast Goodies Archives | finding time for cooking

5-Minute Healthy Breakfast Tacos

October 21, 2020

These healthy breakfast tacos have been giving me *life* the past several days!

I’ve been on a bit of a “detox” the last couple weeks, nothing super extreme but the kind where you tell yourself you need to LOCK. IT. UP. I’ve been focused on eating simple, unprocessed foods as much as possible, lots of fruit and veg, largely staying away from alcohol…you know the drill.

And these easy breakfast tacos have been playing a big role in enabling my “being good”. I can be on a conference call, taking notes and speaking up, and still whip these babies up in 5 minutes. They’re a great fast lunch when on the go.

I also love how simple they are, yet how satisfying they are…I don’t feel cheated in any way, and I’m full for hours.

They’re also really versatile, so you can get as creative as you’d like with extra toppings or seasonings. Even calling this a “recipe” feels like it’s overstating things a bit—they’re that easy.

If you’re timing this, here goes…READ THE POST

Addictive Peanut Butter & Jelly Babka

October 18, 2020

Y’ALL. Peanut butter and jelly babka. This is just such an all-time flavor combo, and I’m kind of obsessed with it right now to be honest (stay tuned for a boozy pb&j milkshake comin’ at ya…).

It’s no secret I’m into basically peanut butter anything, but there’s something so comforting about a classic pb&j…this peanut butter and jelly babka is basically a fancy, addictive pb&j sandwich from when you were a kid. It’s what you WISH your sandwich had been.

Don’t be put off by the seemingly-long list of instructions…I’ve been super detailed to help make everything go well, but while this needs plenty of time in rising and baking, the actual *hands-on* parts are not difficult or time-consuming at all.

There *will* be a point when you’re trying to twist the two cut parts together where everything is falling apart, jelly and peanut butter oozing everywhere, and you’re like WHAT HAVE I DONE??? But just push through, the mess doesn’t matter. It’ll be fine. Lick your fingers when you’re done.

One other note of importance, I found I only needed just over 2 1/2 cups of flour to get the right consistency, as I didn’t want to make the dough too dry and tight. Personally I often find babkas drier and denser than I prefer, so I wanted to keep this one light and soft.

So let’s dive in, shall we??READ THE POST

The Best Iced Coffee Ever…Using An Aeropress

September 29, 2020

I have a deep and abiding love for great coffee. But historically I haven’t had a lot of iced coffee. One here or there, but it wasn’t a habit. Until the last six months of being at home due to coronavirus, when all the sudden I became a total master at making iced coffee at home using my Aeropress.

And I somewhat accidentally discovered my hack for the best iced coffee ever…using sweetened condensed milk. Now it’s not like I’m the first person to ever think of that (in fact, it’s a staple of Thai and Vietnamese coffee and iced tea).

But I had some sweetened condensed milk sitting in my fridge from making a delicious bourbon milk punch cocktail, and wasn’t sure what to do with it. On a whim I decided to use it instead of simple syrup, and realized that it added a lovely rich velvety quality, enough sweetness, and didn’t water down the end result like milk does.

A long, long time ago I posted about the Pioneer Woman’s cold brew iced coffee recipe, and hadn’t really tried anything else until this Aeropress style. It tasted fine enough but not amazing, and was kind of a pain to make, so I just never ended up doing it often.

Just as I was about the publish this post, I found this article on Epicurious that explains why cold brew *doesn’t* give you the best tasting iced coffee, and it finally made sense to me. It creates a more deadened, kind of stale flavor, uses way more coffee beans, and gets oxidized over time. READ THE POST

Salmon Potato Hash With Fresh Herbs

August 16, 2020

Some of the best recipes result from trying to use up an ingredient, and that’s definitely the story of this AMAZING salmon and potato hash.

I’d bought a couple giant salmon filets, but the week kind of got away from me and they were smelling stroooong. I was trying to figure out what to do, since throwing $20 worth of salmon away did not appeal. But just eating the filet itself kind of freaked me out. So I decided to just bake it up and figure it out later.

Then I got a brainwave about a salmon and potato hash, since I also had a bunch of red potatoes to use up. After looking up a bunch of recipes nothing struck my fancy, so I just made it up.

And this has become a new fave, a hearty and healthy lunch option that makes great leftovers and is the perfect way to use up leftover salmon.

The recipe is super flexible, so you can add other veggies or adjust the seasonings based on your mood. Just don’t add anything too wet (like fresh zucchini or squash)…it’s meant to be dry and get kind of caramelized.

You’ll actually notice through this recipe that I alternate between two sets of photos. I’ve made this a few times, and once I added in some roasted butternut squash that was just sitting around. Don’t let it confuse you!

To really level it up, serve with some fresh salty feta, goat cheese, or capers, or top with poached or basted eggs. READ THE POST

Snickerdoodle Banana Bread

August 7, 2020

I have accidentally been keeping this recipe secret waaaaay too long. I know, it’s not the deal we’ve made. So without further ado, I bring you this cinnamon sugar banana bread goodness…that’s right kids, today we’re talking snickerdoodle banana bread!

It’s a long-established fact that I am a sucker for a cinnamon-sugar combo. Seriously. I have a deep, abiding love affair with both cinnamon and almond extract, and I tend to add them to recipes with abandon if I feel it’s warranted.

So it was a no-brainer when I ran across this recipe, was definitely going to happen at some point. And “some point” was definitely going to be during the early days of quarantine.

The original recipe had way too much sugar for my taste, so the biggest change I made to the recipe was backing that off quite a bit. I really like the cinnamon to come through in this banana bread, and the sugar will tend to overpower it if you’re not careful.

With that change made, this bread is basically perfect…not too sweet, warm cinnamon shining through, a ripple of the cinnamon-sugar winding around, and with a really tender crumb.

READ THE POST

How To Baste Eggs: Basted Eggs with Caramelized Shredded Brussels Sprouts

August 1, 2020

What are basted eggs, you ask? Well, friend, prepare to fall in love. It is a super fast and easy way to cook eggs, but strangely flies under the radar. It’s somewhere between fried (which I never ate growing up) and poached (which is complicated and challenging). Basting eggs takes like five minutes total, and you can choose whether the yolks are runny or firm. So let’s talk how to baste eggs.

And then I’ll share a “recipe”…which isn’t really a recipe so much as a meal combination that I stumbled upon many years ago in the throes of desperation, trying to avoid yet another meal of cereal and wine.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

I’ve already shared my love of brussels sprouts, including this delicious, easy caramelized shredded brussels sprouts (and much faster than roasting them in the oven!).

So one night, I had a few brussels sprouts sitting in the fridge I knew I could make up, but that wasn’t going to cut it for dinner. So I decided to baste up some eggs for a protein kick. What was great was how the egg yolk (I like mine on the runny side) mixed in with the brussels sprouts. Think of these brussels sprouts like you would a vegetable hash, a wonderful base for eggs.

READ THE POST

Easy Basic Crepes Recipe

April 11, 2020

It’s weird that I’ve never made crepes. For many people these are one of the most basic cooking (or baking?) recipes, a starter classic. For many of my friends these are a traditional must-have during the Days of Unleavened Bread in the spring. Whatever the reason, they just haven’t really been a part of my life.

If I’m being completely honest, the thin delicacy hasn’t given me the cravings that heartier, more satisfying carbs do (lookin’ at you apple fritters…). But after this, consider me a convert!

This basic crepes batter is crazy easy, and comes together in about 30 seconds. Let it rest for a bit (or make it up the night before), and then like…two minutes for cooking?? It’s crazy how easy this is.

It’s a blank slate flavor-wise, with just a tiny hint of sweetness. So you can keep it simple or dress it up with various sweet or savory flavors that complement your fillings. Ideally stick to herbs or spices, as they won’t affect the texture of the batter. A hint of dried mustard for savory could be interesting, and for sweet I tested out cinnamon and cardamom.

This is a perfect breakfast for one person as well…I made a half batch of the batter, cooked up three crepes, and then saved the rest of the batter for the next day. It’s flexible by nature.

Top with my homemade lemon curd (or grapefruit or blood orange), fresh berries, whipped cream, nutella and bananas, or anything else your heart desires. I bet this salted honey custard would be amazing too!

READ THE POST

Apple Butter Cinnamon-Sugar Babka

February 2, 2020

This is one of those places where I cram a lot of my favorite things into one recipe and see how it comes out. Apple butter, check. Cinnamon-sugar, check. Soft delicious challah dough in a twisty babka bread?? Check.

And I’ll be honest…halfway through making this I was pretty sure it was going to be a disaster.

I can’t remember what gave me this particular brainwave, but it was very likely when I made a new batch of my amazing homemade apple butter and was thinking of all the different ways it could be used.

I’d been browsing challah and babka recipes including peanut butter and jelly, tahini and pistachio, and so many more, and thought…why not apple butter??

So I started looking for apple butter babka recipes and really kind of came up empty. Which I found surprising, because it feels like such a logical and beloved flavor combo. So after finding a few different things that were in the right direction, I set out to figure out something on my own.

I think you’re going to like it…

READ THE POST

Raspberry Skyr Cake With White & Dark Chocolate

December 26, 2019

When I went to Iceland last year, I was delayed for 24 hours and so my friend V had a whole day on her own to explore. When I picked her up in the rental car, she greeted me with coffee and pastries (smart girl!) and the first thing she said was “Wow, Iceland men are like real MEN!” The second thing she said was “Also, the milk here is so good!” True story on both counts.

She was seriously obsessed with all their dairy products (and apparently there’s a scientific reason), and we drank and ate a ton of it while in the country. Skyr is one of the most well-known of their dairy products, a lot like Greek yogurt (though interesting, produced more like cheese).

You’ll find skyr cake in Iceland but it will be more like a no-bake cheesecake. And DELICIOUS. But I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of gelatin sheets and all, so I decided to make a slightly different kind of cake with skyr…using it the way you’d use sour cream or yogurt to give some tang and moisture.

(Side note, if you’d like to see some of the AH-MAZING things we saw and did in Iceland, I’ve got you covered!)

This skyr cake is packed full of raspberries and both white and dark chocolate chips, and is even better than I thought it would be. The white chocolate isn’t really present as a flavor, but kind of melts into cake to provide extra moistness and texture. I sliced myself off a few pieces and then called my sister to come take it away from me and have her family eat it!

READ THE POST

Dark Chocolate Olive Oil Skillet Banana Bread

August 24, 2019

This is a continuation of my long love affair with cake breads. Cakes masquerading as bread. I’m all about things being more awesome than they say they are, so I bring you this delicious skillet dark chocolate olive oil banana bread. It’s a mouthful in more ways than one…

But don’t be fooled into thinking this is truly dessert. It’s moist, dark, fudgy, but is a bittersweet flavor and not too sweet. I like to use white whole wheat flour to add a bit more health (and a nuttiness), and the quality of dark chocolate chips you use (and the cocoa powder) does make a difference.

I like to use my old school cast iron skillet, and it slides easily out of the pan. But I’ve used a simple non-stick cake pan and it cooked just as evenly. I’ve tried this recipe a few different times to get the amounts right, and I always take it to work…where it gets devoured almost immediately.

READ THE POST