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pumpkin stuffed french toast
I had some mascarpone in the fridge, and I wanted to make something really special out of it. Something that would say fall. My mind got to work, and I decided something pumpkiny and breakfasty would be the right way to go. So I came up with this. The longer name for this is Almond-Crusted Pumpkin Mascarpone Stuffed French Toast. That’s what I announced when I made it last Saturday morning.
blueberry sourdough pancakes
These are my new favorite pancakes. The sourdough creates little bubbles in the batter, resulting in spongy pancakes that soak up all the pure maple syrup and butter. The slight sour tang balances out the sweetness.
Some of you may know that I am in the process of moving (again!!!), and life is crazy, to say the least. So this post will just be a quickie. I can’t wait until we’re all settled in, and can get started on bake sale week! Any suggestions?
rosewater yogurt with white peaches and blueberries
I spent the morning looking for inspiration for these gorgeous white peaches—the first I had ever found that actually tasted as beautiful as they looked. I searched through all my cookbooks, and dozens of magazines, but couldn’t find anything that didn’t require baking something. As much as I love baked goods, I was feeling a bit fat that morning, so anything baked would have taken me over the edge.
mango lime crêpes with crème fraîche
A tub of crème fraîche in my refrigerator inspired this dish. I had actually never owned a tub of crème fraîche until then. It’s one of those things that I could never find when I wanted it, and whenever I did see it, I would forget why I had ever wanted it. I bought this container when I had nothing in mind to make, but knew I would want to do something with it later.
I have since learned that making it at home is really easy, but I’ll post about that another time . . .
Now, on to the recipe.
toast and eggs with goat cheese
My mom and I spent the morning daydreaming about the pumpkin patch I plan on having someday. Up until few months ago, my dream included a modest farm in New England. The kids and I would grow the pumpkins, sell them, and maybe make pies to sell in our small country store. Oh, and in that dream is a Golden Retriever. My five-year-old won’t let me budge from that part of the dream.
But recently, this little vision of a pumpkin patch is starting to spill in every direction, and i must say one of the catalysts is the group of fresh eggs the neighbor children sell me every week. Certainly, a few chickens near my pumpkin patch would be a welcome addition—I’ll certainly need the eggs if I’m to be baking all that pumpkin pie.
Mostly, though, I just find eggs utterly fascinating. Though more fragile than the most delicate china, when turned on end, an egg’s two natural arches can support surprising amounts of force.
I love them, of course, for their endless kitchen uses, not to mention their rumored beauty uses I’m still afraid to try. But I also love them for how they played a key role in the invention of duplicatable photographs.
As this is Friday, and we try to talk about power foods, let me enlighten you on some of the other reasons to love eggs. They are an excellent—not to mention inexpensive—source of protein, and they’re rich in B vitamins, selenium, and iodine.
Whenever the neighbor kids bring me blue eggs, I start plotting immediately what I can make with them, and how I should photograph them. I had been ogling for some time over a photograph of eggs and toast in a donna hay magazine (issue 51, page 126), and couldn’t make anything with those blue eggs until I had tried something like hers. I recreated my eggs dish with big slices of rustic toast spread with goat cheese, drizzled in olive oil, and topped with bright centered soft boiled eggs, flowing onto the plate.
What do you love about eggs? What is your favorite thing to make with them?
whole wheat oatmeal pancakes for power food friday
Three congregations (we call them “wards”) meet in our church building on Sunday, and each year our wards are assigned a different time. Some years church has been at 9:00, or worse—8:30 am. As a single mom (and even as a wife of an airline pilot), getting three kids clean and dressed—which all my kids mysteriously forget how to do on Sunday—before 9:00 is insane.
Luckily for us, this year our ward meets at 1:00. You’d think with so much more time we’d always be on time, but sadly, no. It could be due to the fact that since I think we have a lot of time, we dawdle a bit. Well, more than a bit. Usually my kids get out every stuffed animal in the house to play school, then they get out every chair and blanket to make a tent village. Then they yell at each other. Then I try not to yell at them to stop yelling (I usually fail).
chia seeds for power food friday
Apparently chia seeds are for eating, not just growing in pottery shaped like porcupines. I’ve been doing a bit of reading about chia seeds lately, and was thrilled to see them in the bulk section of my grocery store.
They are our new favorite ingredient. My daughter loves them—which is saying something. She loves to mix them into yogurt and smoothies, or just eat the runaway seeds from off the counter. My favorite way to use them is to grind them up in a spice grinder
You might wonder, though, what is so great about chia seeds, the latest trend in the health food scene.
vanilla almond granola
I’m curled up with my laptop watching The Prince of Persia. Somehow, seeing Jake Gyllenhaal on my TV screen makes me feel a little less lonely on a Friday night. When I first saw him in October Sky, I remember thinking, “Wow, I didn’t know they made them like that.”
Anyway, enough of that. I was going to talk about power foods, and granola.
This granola is not that different from the lemon scented cherry granola I posted a couple of years ago. I took out the fruit and lemon this time, and added in almond flour and flax meal.
As far as nutrients go, the almonds add protein, vitamin E, and calcium, while the flax meal holds a wealth of B vitamins and fiber. The oats, which are probably my favorite grain, have both insoluble and soluble fiber, which can help lower cholesterol and balance out the blood sugar.
raised doughnuts with pomegranate glaze
Thank goodness for my friend Angie. She loves homemade doughnuts, and owns a fryer, so anytime I want to make some, she lets me go over to her house and stink up her kitchen with hot oil. She also lets me use her oil—I think it’s about time I bought a big container of it for her.
While we were munching on our doughnuts, yesterday, I told her that when I was a kid, I never admitted to anyone that I liked doughnuts—especially in high school. To me it seemed like people would think I was fat if I told them I liked them. Weird. I know. I don’t think it was until I started writing this blog, tweeting, and surfing through pages on StumbleUpon that I even started to be a public doughnut lover. But here I am.
My name is Jaime. And I love doughnuts.
cherry panettone with candied lemon zest
Panettone is one of mine and my kids’ favorite things to eat at Christmastime. When I was planning my posts for Valentine’s Day, I had a big bag of tart cherries from Costco that I wanted to use. I thought it would be really fun to make panettone with them.
Though it’s normally made in Italy at Christmastime, I couldn’t think of a better way to make it than with little bursts of bright red cherry flavor. To balance out the taste, I also added some candied lemon zest.
