Caribbean Coconut Muesli from The Four Seasons, Nevis

Someone from Four Seasons read my recent post on coconut yogurt and noticed I mentioned my kids liked the Caribbean muesli as well as the yogurt. I neglected to ask for the recipe when we were there so the chef at Four Seasons was nice enough to email the recipe to me recently. Four Seasons has been very generous in sharing their recipes. Thank you Chef Andreas Donnerbauer!

Let me warn you, this is sweet. Coconut creme is very sweet and frankly, I only added a very small amount of honey. As far as I'm concerned, it really doesn't need any honey at all. Taste before you add it. I do remember now my kids mentioned how sweet it was and said they could never have eaten an entire bowlful, but I noticed they sure made inroads! 

I also toasted my sliced almonds AND added some dried cranberries. This would be fabulous with fresh fruit which would certainly help cut the sweetness.  You muesli lovers can add or subtract anything you want.

Caribbean Coconut Muesli
Courtesy Andreas Donnerbauer, Executive Chef, Four Seasons Nevis

Ingredients:
1 generous cup quick cooking oats (I used McCanns)
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup yogurt (I used Fage)
4 ounces coconut cream
2 tablespoons coconut, toasted until golden brown (add more for garnish)
2 tablespoons raisins
3 ounces honey (I really don't think you need this)
1 tablespoons sliced almonds (I toasted these; hazelnuts would be good too.)

Method:
Soak oats in the skim milk overnight. The next morning add the yogurt and the coconut cream. Add the toasted coconut, raisins, almonds and honey, if using. Mix well and serve cold. Garnish with toasted coconut on top.         

               

Marion Cunningham's Custard-Filled Cornbread

Marion calls this recipe magic. She's right. When it's all cooked, there's custard in the center. This is an old recipe...from the 30's actually..... and as I've mentioned before, I'm slowly working my way through Marion's marvelous cookbook, The Breakfast Book. While we like cornbread, I've only made the old fashioned kind: muffins or those wonderful cornbread sticks made with bacon grease.

This cornbread is an entirely different cup of tea. With this one, there's cornbread on top and cornbread on the bottom with a lovely creamy center. Marion's only instructions were to serve it warm so I did some investigating. Most people served it for breakfast with maple syrup poured over it. Or honey. Almost everyone seems to think in terms of breakfast or brunch. But I read one blog that suggested serving  it with grilled meat, cutting down on the sugar a little, which you could do, but it's really not all that sweet to begin with. I liked that idea.

However you choose to serve it, it's definitely a recipe worth trying. I just couldn't bring myself to pour maple syrup over it so I took my first mouthful plain. And loved it. Then I took another mouthful with a little honey. Liked it that way too....but not quite as well.  I didn't want it sweet (because I'm so accustomed to corn bread as savory?) so that night, I reheated it and served it for dinner alongside some grilled meat. It made a fine side dish as it's rich and really doesn't need anything else, even butter. Besides, everyone wondered how the heck that custard got in there!

I didn't say this was low calorie! Whole milk AND heavy cream.  Yikes!

Custard-Filled Cornbread
From The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham

Ingredients:
2 eggs
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 cup flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup heavy cream

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350. Butter an 8 inch square baking dish that is 2 inches deep. Put the buttered dish in the oven to heat up while you make the batter.

Beat the eggs a little and add the melted butter. Beat well. Add the sugar, salt, milk and vinegar and beat well again. Sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and baking soda together and add to the egg mixture. Mix just until the batter is smooth with  no lumps.

Pour into the heated dish and then pour the cup of heavy cream into the center of the batter. DO NOT STIR. Bake for 1 hour until golden brown. Serve warm.

Maple Scones

When I start seeing pumpkin and maple recipes I know fall has arrived. In Florida, it's difficult to tell. We'll have heat for another couple months yet. A cold front is suppposed to go through soon (which in South Florida-speak means the temps will lower from 90 to 84.) but still, I'm in fall mode, just reading what all of you are posting.

I adore scones. All kinds, all flavors and make them all the time. This recipe, found on Luisa's blog, is a winner. Love that maple flavor with the pecans. Sheer heaven with a little butter OR if you happen to have some, my father's favorite: maple cream. Luisa made them pie-shaped. I just used my biscuit cutter. Your choice.

Samuel Sewall Inn's Maple Scones
Via Luisa at The Wednesday Chef

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans (I used pecans)
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk or as needed

Method:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine both flours, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry blender, or two knives scissor-fashion, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles fine crumbs.

Add nuts. Stir in the maple syrup and egg and just enough milk so that dough leaves side of bowl and forms a ball. Turn dough onto Silpat-lined baking sheet (I used parchment paper) and pat (with floured hands) into an 8-inch disk; cut into wedges, but do not separate.

Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Immediately remove from baking sheet and carefully separate. Serve warm. Makes 8 scones.

Coconut Yogurt: Quickie #2

When we were in Nevis recently, I had fresh fruit for breakfast every morning. Each day, there was a new yogurt flavor on the plate. One morning, it was coconut yogurt. I'm a sucker for anything coconut and this yogurt was so good it would make you think "island time" all year round. I requested it every morning and before we left, I asked if there was a recipe of some sort they might be willing share. The sous chef was sweet enough to bring it out to me in person along with her card. Later, when I opened up the envelope with the recipe, I did not expect to see just two simple ingredients: Greek yogurt and cream of coconut. Talk about quick! (Although as you'd expect from Four Seasons, their fruit plate was much more glamorous than the one I made below....just for me.....with whatever fruit I had in the fridge.) 

So I bought a little can of cream of coconut and some Fage Greek yogurt and mixed until I got the proportions exactly as I remembered them. You can fiddle with them to your taste; you want it to be dipping consistency. Not too thick but not runny. Taste it as you slowly mix in the coconut cream. You'll find a point where it's somewhat sweet and tastes like coconut. Greek yogurt is thick enough so you can add a surprising amount of cream of coconut. A thinner yogurt would not work.

My kids frequently ordered the coconut muesli there and raved about that as well. I imagine that recipe is a little more involved (and I neglected to ask for the recipe), but I'm working on it and will let you know. Or perhaps, if I send this post to Allison, she'll be kind enough to email me that recipe too?  :)

Coconut Yogurt
Courtesy of Allison Smith-Mason, Sous Chef at the Four Seasons, Nevis

Ingredients:
Brands I used:
Fage brand Greek yogurt
Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut

Method:
Combine to your taste

Importance of breakfast

What is the importance of breakfast?

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” is probably one of the most common phrases you’ve ever heard. This is because most health experts often go on and on, about breakfast and its importance, for people of all ages. As the name suggests, when you eat breakfast, you “break” the “fast” that your body was going through, during the night. In general, after dinner, the human body generally goes without food, for an approximate period of 9 to 11 hours or so. Hence, when you wake up in the morning the level of glucose in your blood will be at its lowest, as compared to any other time of the day. Glucose can be described as the basic fuel that your body and your brain require in order to function properly. This level of glucose is usually replenished after you eat something. Therefore, eating a good breakfast first thing in the morning, before beginning your day, is as important as adding fuel to a car that is low on gas, before starting on a long journey.

Unfortunately, breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, it is also the most commonly skipped meal of the day. There are several people who avoid eating breakfast, due various factors, such as hectic schedules, lack of an appetite in the morning, running late, and so on. One of the main reasons of this could be the fact that most people do not realize the importance of breakfast completely.

The importance of breakfast

There are some people who realize the importance of breakfast, but do not have the time to cook in the morning. Fortunately, there are hundreds or maybe even thousands of different breakfast ideas, which are high in nutrition, but take only a few minutes to put together. Alternately, it is absolutely fine to save some leftovers of the night before, or cook something the prior evening and keep it in the refrigerator, for the next day. People who are very health conscious make it a point to at least grab some fruit if nothing else, in the morning, before they get started.
The importance of breakfast for children

There are some children, especially those of school-going ages that do not have an appetite and cannot stomach anything, before they go to school. There are several parents who allow them to skip breakfast, probably because they do not want to force the child to eat. However, these parents generally underestimate breakfast’s importance for kids. Studies indicate that children who eat breakfast on a daily basis perform better in almost all aspects of their school life. Given below are some of the tips that highlight the importance of breakfast to academic performance in children:

• Better performance on mental tasks and challenges
• Fewer behavioral problems in school
• Higher grades, especially in subjects like math
• Improved performance on standardized tests

Apart from the importance of breakfast on academic performance, there are several other reasons why children should eat breakfast on a daily basis. Given below are some of the facts that highlight the importance of breakfast for kids and students:

• Children who do not eat breakfast are less active and burn fewer calories in the day
• They tend to be hyperactive, which affects their performance in school, especially when it comes to subjects like math
• They may feel low on energy and lethargic, which could cause them to miss school on occasion, which will eventually affect their grades.

Therefore, it is absolutely essential for parent to realize the importance of breakfast in our brain and make sure that their children eat at least something, like a bowl of cereal, some milk and a piece of fruit, before they begin their day.
The importance of breakfast for teenagers

Studies indicate that an alarming 33% of teenagers do not eat breakfast everyday. In fact, according to the findings of similar studies, most teenagers have unhealthy eating habits and skipping breakfast could be one of the root causes. Therefore, most teenagers can avoid reaching out for sodas, burgers, candies, pies, cakes and other junk food, if they begin their day with a substantial breakfast, which keeps them full.

Importance of breakfast for adults

In today’s world, juggling a demanding job, family and the house has become very common, especially in women. Many people leave home early in the morning, so that they can reach work on time. In such cases, grabbing even a simple bowl of cereal before work may seem like a difficult task. However, breakfast can provide the body with energy and can also increase a person’s concentration and focus. These factors usually result in better professional performance.

Importance of breakfast and weight loss

Some people who are trying to lose weight mistakenly believe that they can do so, by skipping meals. As a result they tend to miss the first meal of the day. However, this leads to hunger attacks during the later part of the day, which could also result in overeating during lunch. Moreover, breakfast importance includes metabolism too, as the consumption of food first thing in the morning can kick start a person’s metabolism. Therefore, in case you do not eat breakfast, your metabolism remains low until lunchtime, or whenever it is that you do eat. Therefore, you can lose more weight by eating breakfast, than skipping it.
Importance of breakfast for athletes

Most of the top professional athletes and sports personalities understand the importance of breakfast and avoid skipping this meal. This is because most athletes spend several hours a day, engaging in strenuous physical activity. Beginning the day on an empty stomach could lead to dizziness, stomach gas, lack of energy and other similar problems, which cab lead to poor practice and performance. Therefore, to avoid situations where athletes feel low in energy and cannot work out properly, it is absolutely essential for them to eat foods that will boost their energy levels first thing in the morning.

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Pancake Soufflé Muffins

Last month I discovered these little gems. You can make the batter a couple hours ahead of time and bake when you want. When I made my first batch and bit into one, it was a surprise to find it wasn't very sweet. You expect a muffin to be sweet. But you've got to remember one word in the recipe name: pancake.
And that's what these taste like. Pancake in flavor, but light and airy like a soufflé and shaped like a muffin. All bases covered. You're gonna love these for breakfast or Sunday brunch. You can serve them with only maple syrup of course, but it's interesting mixing the syrup with fresh fruit...or, if you prefer, top with jam and some crème fraiche. Keep thinking pancakes here. Anything you like on your pancakes, you're going to like on these. 

They were a hit with my troops and you should have seen the surprised looks when everyone thought they were biting into a muffin! 
Pass the maple syrup, please!

Pancake Soufflé Muffins with Strawberry-Maple Syrup
Recipe from Bill Telepan via Fine Cooking

Ingredients for the muffins:
Nonstick cooking spray 
10-1/2 oz. (2-1/3 cups) all-purpose flour 
4-1/2 oz. (1 cup plus 2 Tbs.) cake flour 
2 tsp. baking soda 
2 tsp. baking powder 
1 tsp. kosher salt 
6 large eggs, separated and at room temperature 
3/4 tsp. cream of tartar 
3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly 
6 T bs. granulated sugar 
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 
3-1/3 cups buttermilk, at room temperature 
Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling

Ingredients for the syrup:
1 cup pure maple syrup 
1 cup quartered, hulled ripe strawberries

Method:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 400°F. Liberally spray two 12-cup muffin pans with the cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In a large, clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric hand mixer on medium-high speed to firm (but not dry) peaks, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
In another large bowl, beat the egg yolks with the mixer on medium-high speed until thick, ribbony, and lemon-yellow, about 6 minutes. Add the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla; mix on medium-low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add one-third of the dry ingredients and mix on low speed. Add one-third of the buttermilk and mix to combine. Alternate adding the remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk, ending with the buttermilk and mixing until just combined.
With a large rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter, leaving some streaks.
Scoop about 1/2 cup of the batter into each muffin cup—you can fill the cups to the rims. Bake, rotating the pans after 10 minutes, until browned on top and puffed, and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out dry, 20 to 25 minutes total.

Make the syrup: 
While the muffins are baking, bring the maple syrup to a boil in a small pot over medium-high heat. Put the strawberries in a medium serving bowl. Pour the syrup over the berries and set aside in a warm spot.
With an offset spatula, pop the muffins out of the cups and arrange on a platter. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and serve with the syrup.
Makes 24 muffins.

Waffles!

I have been meaning to try this recipe for ages (you are all proabably way ahead of me on this), but because my kids are grown, I don't make waffles very often. I had the chance a while back and jumped all over it.

When I used to make waffles, I always depended on my mother's waffle recipe. It was excellent, everyone was happy, so why look further? But when I started blogging, I kept running across a recipe for raised waffles by Marion Cunningham. Cunningham is an award-winning food writer and prolific cookbook author. I read about her waffles first on David Lebovitz's blog, then on Orangette  (Who, by the way, didn't like them!). I think you'll enjoy reading David's article if you have time.

The idea sounded great to me for two reasons: 1) I love yeast-based pancakes so why wouldn't I love raised waffles? and 2) you do all the work the night before so it's perfect when you have guests.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, these were delicious! I'm throwing Mother's recipe away; that's how good these were. Marion's are light as a feather with a very slight yeasty taste which I love. And if I hadn't told my guests they were raised waffles, they would never have known. (Well, they put butter and maple syrup on them before tasting and I tasted them plain before garnishing!) Such a morning time-saver to throw them together the night before and let them do their magic while you sleep! And it IS magic.

Marion Cunningham's Raised Waffles

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water
1 package dried yeast
2 cups warm milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Method:

Use a  large bowl; the batter will rise to double its original volume.
Put the water in the mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let stand to dissolve for 5 minutes. Add the milk, butter, salt, sugar, and flour to the yeast mixture and beat until smooth and blended.

Cover with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature.
This  is what it looked like when I got up (you can see how much it raised during the night and then fell a little):

Just before cooking the waffles, beat in the eggs, add the baking soda , and stir until well mixed. The batter will be very thin. 

Pour about 1/2-3/4  cup batter into a very hot waffle iron. Bake until golden and crisp. This batter will keep for several days in the refrigerator.


Look at this texture!

Fathers and Grandfathers

You didn't often find my father in the kitchen. But there were three things he did know how to make to perfection: pineapple sherbet, caramel popcorn and something we all called Houseboat Special. (Hamburger meat broken up and browned, with a can of mushrom soup added and the entire thing poured over toast.)

                                                                                Grandpa and Dad at the cabin, late 40's

And his father, my grandfather, made only one thing: buckwheat pancakes. Which is what this post is all about.
 

                                                                                                   Grandpa at the cabin, 1937
 
My grandfather owned some property and a cabin on Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay. It was prime wooded area with a great deal of marshland. I loved visiting the cabin; it was a child's delight with its double bunk beds, all kinds of wildlife, labrador retrievers to play with, the river to explore, a small pond with plenty of fish, marshland to paddle around and acres of forest to wander in.

                                                                                  The cabin, after two additions, 1989

Grandpa had canoes, duck boats, small outboard boats, (in later years an air boat), to use on the Rifle River and in the marshes. He was always into some project or other, but took time to help us search for beaver and muskrat lodges, black walnuts (which my mother loved), berries and grapes to make jams and even took us frog hunting; we all learned at a really young age to skin and prepare frog legs for our dinner.

My grandmother was quite an artist and she set up her easel in locations all over the property. My sister and I have some of her work, in watercolors and chalk, which we treasure greatly.

But what I remember most are my grandfather's buckwheat pancakes. He used a starter dough and made them every morning for breakfast along with side pork. To this day, I prefer side pork to bacon anytime I have pancakes, although it's not readily available in Florida markets. And bacon and side pork are not interchangeable. Fresh side pork is basically bacon without the curing and salt. It's thicker, takes longer to cook (sometimes we added a little water at first) and the rind is quite chewy. The aromas of side pork and bacon are entirely different.

Slowly, over the years as grandpa aged, the starter dough disappeared and my Mother developed a similar pancake recipe without the starter, which grandpa used the remainder of his life. It's nearly as good as the original and Grandpa thought so too.

I was really stumped on how to describe these to you so I asked my sister. The texture is not fluffy or cakey like most pancakes, but more dense. She thought I should describe them as a little like crepes, but thicker. The batter is definitely thinner than most pancake batter and the pancakes are about 5 inches across. Best to use the freshest buttermilk you can (which is a little thicker) and be sure to shake it well. I like them with buckwheat flour, which is the way my grandfather made them, but my sister uses only all purpose flour. She is the only one of us who still makes them and usually only when she has company at her Leland cabin. I don't make them anymore either but sure am happy to chow down on hers when I visit. And I made a batch for this post. Dad always liked to put brown sugar and butter on them; I like warm Michigan maple syrup.

Grandpa Smith's Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
2 tablespoons crisco oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup hot water


Method:
Mix the first six ingredients. Mix the soda with the hot water and add to the flour mixture. The batter will be quite thin.
Cook on an oiled pancake griddle. When you see the bubbles appear in the pancakes, it's time to flip. Cook only about 3 more minutes.

The only photo I have of the three of us together.

Rifle River, 1960's

Happy Mother's Day!

My mother is no longer with us, but this is still her day as far as I'm concerned. Imagine I'll always feel like that...it's a day of remembering for my sister and me. We often celebrated Mother's birthday at the same time as it was also in May, on the 16th. And you'll love this: her first name was May! And she had a sister named June. And another sister named Fannie. Well OK, so maybe that one didn't work out so well....Fannie was also born in May. Anyway, my family always had a double remembrance in May. This is one of my favorite photos of my mother. As you can see, she was a really good sport about wearing those ridiculous paper hats that come in the Christmas poppers. We liked this photo so much we even put it in her funeral program. It really pleased my dad, who had never seen it before.

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought it might be fun to give you Mother's (really old) recipe for her very favorite lunch/brunch: Eggs Benedict. The two of us went out to lunch a lot and if Eggs Benedict was on the menu, she'd order it. Her eyes would light up when the plate was put in front of her. She was fussy about it too. It had to be perfect hollandaise or her nose would crinkle just a little. As she grew older, she no longer made it at home for herself, but I still have her recipe to share with you. Nothing fancy, only plain and simple Eggs Benedict. Just the way she liked it. Perhaps you could add a little fresh fruit or a lovely fruit salsa to add another element on the plate.

The dish begins with an English Muffin. Now every layer of this dish is important and Mother introduced me years ago to Wolferman's English muffins. Have you heard of them? They are hands down the best, unless you make them yourself and even then, maybe not. So I started my dish with those. (I loved having an excuse for a new order... their flavors are wonderful and I was completely out of them.)

And then, of course, you brown some lovely Canadian bacon to put on top of your buttered muffin (Nobody said Eggs Benedict was a health food.) Next, poach two eggs. Perfectly. You know, the way Julia Child says to do them. Put those on top of the Canadian bacon and top with Mother's Hollandaise Sauce, which is perfection itself and so light it almost floats away. I've never made hollandaise any other way. After you taste this, you won't either. Some things just don't need improving.


Mother's Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients:

2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon cold water
Pinch of salt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Dash of hot sauce
Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Method:

In a medium heatproof bowl set over (but not in) a large saucepan filled with 2 inches of simmering water, whisk the egg yolks with the cold water and salt until warm to the touch. Slowly drizzle in half of the melted butter in a thin stream, whisking constantly until incorporated. Continue whisking in the melted butter until the sauce is thick and emulsified. Whisk in the lemon juice, hot sauce and Worcestershire and serve warm. Serves 2.

Make ahead: The sauce can be kept warm over the hot water bath off the heat for 30 minutes. Whisk occasionally and reheat over hot water.

Take a Breakfast!

Breakfast is a very important meal time for the entire family. Sometimes we skip it, or eat junk food instead of enjoying a nutritious and yummy meal!

Here is a list of great breakfast ingredients for the entire family:
- Natural fruits: jazz it up by making fruit salads, or cutting slices of apples with peanut butter.
- Granola and milk: great source of iron, fibers, calcium and vitamins. A great option is homemade granola bars.
- Fruit and yogurt smoothies: so delicious!
- Eggs: can be prepared in so many different ways. Organic eggs are a great source of protein.
- Whole grain bread: with cream cheese, or homemade jelly....definitely a family favorite.
- Milk, soymilk, yogurt or fruit juices: make your drinks count as sources of good nutrition!

Enjoy the Holidays, and experience pleasurable breakfast time with the family!

Traditions

On Christmas morning we pretty much follow what has become a family tradition: coffee, juice and miniature muffins to assuage growling tummys, then we move (with the former in hand) to the living room and take down the stockings, which Santa hopefully filled with goodies and not coal. Often, depending on the age and impatience of the kids, we let them go and peak at their stockings right away. We're not Scrooges, after all.

Gifts under the tree come next. We adults leisurely take turns, keeping half an eye on the kids who are at this point madly ripping and tearing. Long about 10 or 10:30, someone suggests Bellinis. Ah yes. Good timing. Excellent thinking. I'm up for that. Mmmmmm. We follow with brunch around 11 or 11:30.

This year we're going to start with some Limoncello-drizzled fruit and a heavenly lemon curd/yogurt topping. I served it for the first time last year and it was a smash hit. You can find the recipe HERE. Then out comes our "souffle". Now my brunch dish is another tradition in our family... I have been making it since my kids were little. I must confess other than the egg to milk to bread proportion, I kind of fudge with the cheese and bacon amounts- sometimes using more than called for. And I often double or at least 1 1/2 the recipe. Everyone likes to pick at it in the kitchen all afternoon. You make it the night before and it bakes while we are opening gifts; the bacon and cheese aroma wafts through the house...can anything smell better in the morning? I think this year, just to add insult to injury, I may serve Ina's sticky buns. You will find Ina's recipe HERE. Do you think I've planned to serve enough fatty foods so far? On the 26th we're all going to need those wretched green drinks that (supposedly) cleanse our systems! And yet there is more to follow: we have our main Christmas meal in the evening!

Now I love to fuss over table settings. Do you? There were only six of us last year, but here's what our brunch table looked like.

Any traditions in your family? Please share.

My Christmas Brunch "Souffle"

Ingredients:
7 big slices bread- I use challah
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
3 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3 strips bacon, cut in half
6 large eggs, beaten

Method:
Tear the bread in pieces and put them in a buttered baking dish. I use an oval one...see the photo. Beat eggs, add milk and then add the remaining ingredients. Sprinkle the cheese over the bread and pour the milk/egg mixture over everything. Lay bacon on top. Seal and refrigerate overnight. Bake 350° for 50 to 55 minutes. I bake it on a foil-lined baking sheet in case there is any spill over. Serves 6-8.

Decisions, decisions.....

My daughter is staying with me for a few weeks so life has changed around here. Well to be honest, life changed quite a bit when I had my hip replaced 5 weeks ago too! (I’m doing very well, thank you.) At any rate I am now into planning meals, something I don’t do very often since I live alone. Nor does my daughter for that matter, as she lives in New York City and ends up eating out a lot.

It’s amazing how spoiled we get when a decision about dinner involves only one person- do I get take out? Try a new dish? A Lean Cuisine? Just eggs? A PB& J? Now that there are two of us, Tracy and I actually sit down at some point every day and have one of those "I don't care, what do you want" conversations about dinner. Sometimes we end up trying some of the recipes in my “save to try” file which is fun and ambitious of us. And I have introduced her to some of my recent recipe discoveries and inventions that I think she might like.... I love getting her opinion. We seem to be spending a great deal of time (and money) poking around various grocery stores and our heads are swimming with ideas gleaned from friends, cookbooks or my old files.

I have discovered that trying out new recipes for my blog is way different than being pinned down to plan a complete meal every single night- something I haven’t had to do since the kids grew up and moved out. The exception being holidays, when everyone’s here and demanding an organized meal of some kind three times a day.

Now back to all those decisions.... luckily we don’t plan breakfasts as we don’t eat at the same time; I am an earlier riser than Tracy and anyway, we don’t like the same things. I am happy with an Ultra Meal vanilla shake with strawberries (greatly encouraged by my nutritionist) or grapefruit and an egg white omelet. Tracy likes granola, fruit and yogurt. Plain and simple. And the occasional croissant- a result of living in Paris for 6 years in the 90’s.

Shortly after her arrival Tracy asked if I had a good granola recipe. Well I do, even though I don’t like granola and never eat it. No accounting for tastes, I know. I have made it often for company or morning coffee/meetings and everyone raves about it. I’ve never even tasted my own granola, do you believe? The recipe really is a combination of several recipes that sounded good to me so I guess I can call it my own, sort of. I remember beginning with a recipe from Sarah Chase’s Open House Cookbook and adding things from other recipes over the years.

Somebody, somewhere along the line, suggested keeping the fruit and granola separate as storing them together makes the granola soggy. Up until now, I have always made the granola, combined everything and served it right away. But Tracy is eating a little every morning so we are keeping the fruit and nuts in one container and the oatmeal/granola part in another. It has stayed nice and crunchy. So unless you are serving a crowd, I suggest you store it this way. Well, have fun with the recipe; make it your own by adding or subtracting things according to your taste.

My Granola

Ingredients:

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut

2 cups sliced almonds

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 cups diced dried apricots

1 cup diced dried figs

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup roasted, unsalted cashews ( we used whole cashews but you might like them halved instead)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Toss the oats, coconut, and almonds together in large bowl. Whisk together the oil and honey in a small bowl. Pour the liquids over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oats and nuts are coated.

Pour onto a 13x18-inch baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the mixture turns a nice, even golden brown, around 45 minutes. Remove the granola from the oven and cool, stirring occasionally to break up the bigger pieces.

In the meantime, dice your dried fruit and mix with the cashews.

If you are not going to use the entire recipe at one time, store the apricots, figs, cherries, cranberries and cashews in airtight container separately from the granola. Makes about 12 cups.

Grandma Doherty's Potato Pancakes

My mother’s mother was of German ancestry and, as I have mentioned before, a brilliant cook -you know- homemade noodles ( I would come home from school and see hand cut noodles drying on tea towels draped over open kitchen cabinet doors), potato pancakes, dumplings, kuchen… all those divine things. She was my much loved Grandma Sarah Rhyff Doherty and owned a bakery in Detroit many years ago with her sister Carrie; so need I say her pastries, breads, cakes and pies were also heavenly? And did she ever know how to make perfect long johns! Does anyone else remember what those are? Lord, no wonder I am always on a diet!

When I was a child, potato pancakes were a family favorite and not for breakfast either. We always had them for dinner. We usually had bacon or even side pork (a heavenly fattening pork item that I can find once in a while in Florida, but more readily available in the north country). And I made potato pancakes for my kids too- always for dinner. They loved them.

Oddly enough, Grandma never used onion in her recipe which is quite uncommon and she also always served warmed maple syrup, not applesauce, another break from German tradition. But it was a tradition we grew up with- therefore the way I still make them.

So, the next time you look in your larder and find it empty except for couple of potatoes, dinner is right in front of you. Could any meal be cheaper? Or easier? Or more delicious? Or quicker? I mean there are lots of things you can do with potatoes, but just wait until you try this potato pancake recipe; it hits the spot. Better than waffles. Better than regular pancakes except, perhaps, for my Grandfather’s buckwheat pancakes, which I promise to discuss in another post. And we didn’t have potato pancakes on a regular basis- it was always a special treat.

I suppose grating the potatoes would be a snap now with food processors, but there is something special about hand grated potatoes- so that is still how I make them. You have to be careful with your knuckles, but the finished product is just plain better. You need a little egg, a little flour, and vegetable oil to fry them, but that’s about it. Syrup, of course, although you might prefer applesauce or some other fruit puree. I am a Michigan syrup person- we made our own from time to time, but if not, homemade syrup was for sale roadside just about everywhere in the fall. Lucky us. Anyway, most of these ingredients are already in your pantry. Bacon or side pork is not necessary, just icing on the cake. I am in heaven with just the pancakes.

This is going to be a difficult recipe to post because I always make it by look, not by measurement. So last night, my daughter and I had them for dinner and I sort of eye-balled what I put in just for you.

Grandma's Potato Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 large Idaho potato

1 small egg

1/4 to 1/3 cup all purpose flour

pinch salt

Vegetable oil for frying

Method:
Peel and hand grate the potato. Beat the egg and add to the grated potato. Add a pinch of salt and start with 1/4 cup flour- adding up to 1/3. You want the consistency to still be slightly runny, not too thick.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, add a heaping spoonful of pancake batter and spread it out a little. I can fit three at a time in my skillet. Cook until golden and then flip and cook until brown on the other side. Keep warm in a slow oven while you finish the rest and then serve with heated maple syrup.

This recipe served two of us.