Eat: Berry Galette

The birthday of a grown-up can often be...underwhelming. The odds are that you're working that day, which most likely means that the majority of it will be hum drum. You go about your business, maybe treat yourself to a candy bar from the vending machine, and hope have a nice dinner that night. In an effort to combat this regular-day-syndrome, Matt and I have a lovely tradition of Birthday Breakfast. It is a relatively low key affair: the birthday boy or girl gets a special breakfast complete with candles and a solo serenade of "Happy Birthday". It makes for a surprisingly awesome morning and puts both of us in a great mood for the day.

This year, to mark Matthew's birthday I made a beautiful galette with strawberries and blueberries along with a side of greek yogurt. Galette is a generic French term for flat, round, and flaky pastries. As with many of my breakfast dishes, you can switch this up with whatever mix of fruit you prefer. On the 4th of July I made it with blueberries and raspberries. This dish is a quick snap to make, especially if you use a pre-made pie crust. It presents and tastes like a pie but is much healthier  because it doesn't have a syrup loaded with refined sugar. The fruit naturally creates a syrup when mixed with cornstarch. We were both crazy about this dish and I immediately added it to my regular-rotation-recipe stash.

Berry Galette

1 pie crust dough, homemade or store-bought (thaw ahead of time)
2-3 cups of mixed berries
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cornstarch
Egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 400 °F.

Roll out the pie crust flat onto a greased (or parchment paper-lined) baking sheet. In a large bowl, mix together the fruit, cinnamon, and cornstarch.

Spoon the mixture onto the center of the pie crust leaving about a 2-inch border of dough. Gently fold the edges of the dough over the filling.

Brush the top edges of the dough with a beaten egg. If desired, sprinkle with a bit cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Let it cool on the pan for a couple minutes before cutting.

If serving for breakfast, include a few scoops of yogurt on the side. For dessert, this pairs nicely with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Eat: Muffins Galore!

 

Courtesy of Britannica ImageQuest

A few weeks ago, I shared a basic scone recipe that can be modified a number of ways depending on your mood and on-hand ingredients. Well, I've come to love that concept so much that I sought out something similar for muffins and quick breads. The possibilities are as limitless as your imagination–or your online searching skills. This recipe is much quicker than my scones, since you don't have to cut-in butter (I task I strongly dislike and often leaves me with sore wrists). When I'm feeling particularly lazy, I opt for the loaf version of this recipe instead of muffins. The differing instructions and baking times are included below.


Base Muffin Recipe (Betty Crocker Cookbook, 2005 edition)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 18 minutes
Yield: 12 muffins or 1 (9”) loaf 

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
Extras (see below for ideas) 

1. Preheat oven to 375° F if making muffins OR 350° F if making a loaf. Grease your pan. 

2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl combine the egg, milk and oil. Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened and lumpy. Incorporate any extras (see list below). 

3. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups or loaf pan, (muffin cups should be two-thirds full). 

4. For muffins, bake 18 to 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.

For a loaf, bake 50 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. 

6. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and transfer to wire racks to cool a bit more.


Easy Muffin/Bread Variations

Apple Cinnamon: Stir in one chopped apple (with or without the skin depending on your preference) and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Substitute packed brown sugar for the granulated sugar.

Bacon: Add 2-4 strips of bacon, fried crisp and crumbled, to the batter.

Banana-Nut: Decrease the milk to 1/3 cup, stir in 2-3 mashed bananas (around 1 cup) and 1/3 cup chopped nuts with the milk. Substitute packed brown sugar for the sugar.

Blueberry: Gently stir 1 cup fresh or frozen berries and, if desired, 1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon zest into the batter.

Raisin Bran: Pour the milk on 1-1/2 cups whole bran cereal and let stand for 10 minutes. Add this to the egg and oil. Decrease the flour to 1-1/4 cups and add 1/2 cup raisins. Optional: add 1/4 cup of molasses.

Cheesy: Stir 1/2 cup shredded cheese. into the flour mixture. Great options include Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Feta.

Double Chocolate: Stir in 2-3 T cocoa powder and 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips. You can also add a splash of vanilla or almond extract.

Cornbread: (Do not use whole wheat flour.) Decrease flour to 1 cup and stir in 1 cup cornmeal with the flour.

Cranberry: Combine 1 cup coarsely chopped cranberries (fresh or dried) and 2 tablespoons additional sugar. Gently stir this into the batter. You can also add 1 T finely grated orange peel.

Date Nut: Stir in 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates (or raisins) and 1/3 cup chopped nuts.

"Donuts": Stir in 1/2 cup ground nutmeg with the flour. Once baked, immediately dip the hot muffins in about 1/2 cup butter, melted, then in a mixture of 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

Oatmeal: Decrease flour to 1 cup and stir in 1 cup quick-cooking oats, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon with the flour.

Pecan: Use 1/4 cup sugar. Add 1/2 cup chopped pecans to the batter. After filling the cups, sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and more chopped nuts. 

Poppy Seed: Increase sugar to 1/2 cup and add 1 tablespoon poppy seeds to the flour mixture.

Pumpkin: (Don’t use whole wheat flour.) Stir in 1/2 cup pumpkin puree and 1/2 cup raisins with the milk and 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice with the flour. Sprinkle the tops with sugar before baking if desired.

Spiced: Stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and a pinch of ground cloves and ground nutmeg with the flour.

Zucchini: Stir in 1 cup grated zucchini (squeezed dry to remove excess moisture) and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts with the milk.

Many of these ideas can be combined, like Spiced Pecan, Blueberry Poppyseed, or Chocolate Oatmeal. So far, I've only tried the Double Chocolate (with a handful of oats thrown in), but I'm planning to make a batch of Spiced Pecan this week!

Eat: Scones, Scones, Scones!

Our family recipe binder is bursting at the seams, so lately I've been focusing on simple "base" recipes that I can easily build on or diversify. This scone recipe is a great example. I would not recommend making this recipe as-is, that is to say without "dolling it up" a bit (unless you enjoy plain baked goods). No, these scones are meant for a dash of this and handful of that — whatever you fancy or have in your kitchen!

See below for a variety of "dolling up" ideas; just incorporate the additional ingredients as you prepare the base recipe.

Simple Scones yields 8-10 scones
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

2 cups self-rising flour
     OR 2 cups all-purpose flour with 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
6 Tablespoons butter
2/3 cup milk

Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Gradually add the milk and mix into a soft dough. Place on a floured (or greased) baking sheet and roll into a flat circular shape. Cut the dough into wedges (like you are slicing a pizza) but do not try to separate the scones. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400°F.


Variations

Bacon Cheddar: 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 cup grated cheddar, 8 slices of bacon (cooked, crumbled), 2-4 green onions (sliced), leave out the sugar!

Spinach & Feta: 4 ounces feta (crumbled), several handfuls of fresh spinach, salt & pepper to taste, leave out the sugar!

Mediterranean: 3/4 cup roasted red peppers (diced), handful of kalamata olives (sliced), 2 ounces feta (crumbled), salt & pepper to taste, leave out the sugar!

Lemon Blueberry: 1-2 tsp lemon juice, 1 cup blueberries

Cinnamon Sugar: Mix together 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp milk. Spread on scones prior to baking.

Honey Raspberry: 1/4 cup honey, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 cup raspberries

Pecan Streusal: Mix together 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup oats, 1 T all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 T melted butter, 1/4 cup chopped pecans. Sprinkle on top of scones prior to baking.

Pumpkin Pie: 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, a pinch of cloves, and a pinch of ginger. Also, substitute the white sugar with brown sugar.

If all else fails, throw a handful of chocolate chips into the dough!

Eat: Blueberry Pancakes with a healthy twist!

I am not a morning person. If you do not believe me, just ask my husband. However, my dislike for the morning has never swayed me from my love of breakfast food. This recipe for blueberry "bran-cakes" was appealing because 1. It sounded healthy and 2. It did not require a trip to the grocery store. Considering how busy the weekend was, the latter of these two held a lot of weight. I had hoped that my first recipe post would feature something really exotic or challenging, but my hectic schedule just did not allow for such indulgence...

Truthfully, it felt like it took forever to make these pancakes but that is likely because I am a Bisquick mix kind of girl. That being said, they were so fluffy and delicious that it is definitely worth the extra time. Also, do not be afraid of the bran element in this dish, I promise that you cannot taste it at all!

TIME: 20-30 minutes (including preparation and cooking)
YIELDS: approximately 15 pancakes
MY SOUNDTRACK: Baby Dayliner, Andrew Bird


1 cup bran flakes
1 egg, beaten
1 + 1/4 cups milk (we use skim)
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 cups blueberries (if using frozen, thaw ahead of time)

After you gather all of the ingredients, crush the bran cereal. For some reason, I started out crushing each flake individually with my fingers. After two flakes it became very apparent that this was a horribly inefficient idea, so I put all of the cereal in a ziplock bag and channeled any pent-up frustration I might have had into smashing.

Next, stir together the cereal, egg, milk, and oil. Set the mixture aside for approximately five minutes to let the batter soften. You can spend these five minutes reflecting on how wonderfully domestic you are. You can also turn on your griddle or cook top to medium heat.

Add the remaining ingredients (except the blueberries!) and stir until well blended. If the batter is too thick, add just a bit more milk.

Lastly, stir the blueberries into the batter.

Pour ¼ cup of batter onto heated griddle. Once you notice little bubbles appearing, flip the pancake. You may need to flip it a few more times until it is golden brown on both sides.

Side note: If you have a griddle like mine, it adjusts by specific temperatures instead of settings. I did a little research and found that anywhere between 250°F to 350°F is considered “medium”.

This week’s recipe came from Zorba’s Paster’s website .

Sneak peak for next week: tofu!