out of oatmeal

This morning I woke up craving oatmeal, only to find the oatmeal jar sadly empty.




So I used what we had on hand, and made something even better.

• 1/3 cup quinoa
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
  
• 1/4 cup coconut flakes
• 1/4 cup almonds
• rice milk

1. in a heavy bottomed pan combine all ingredients and just cover with rice milk
2. cover pan and simmer until rice milk is absorbed, about 10 minutes
3. uncover and stir in enough water to make it on the liquidy side
4. simmer until water is mostly absorbed
5. serve with diced peaches or other seasonal fruit

Curried Winter Greens

• 1 tsp oil
  
• 1 bunch chard (or kale), cleaned and chopped, stems removed
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1-2 tsps your favorite curry powder
  
• 4 ounces coconut milk
• 3 cups broth
• 2 eggs for poaching, optional

1. heat oil in wok
2. add onions and garlic, saute until fragrant
3. add curry powder, saute until fragrant
4. add greens, saute until wilted by 1/3-1/2
5. add broth and coconut milk, simmer until greens are tender
6. if poaching eggs, make 2 little wells in the curry, crack 1 egg into each and cover wok, letting simmer a few minutes until eggs are done
7. dive equally into 2 bowls and serve with naan.

I made a spicier, larger version of this the next day which included beet greens, carrot greens, green garlic, broccoli, purple cabbage and ginger; it was also delicious.

easy-peasy cold weather breakfast

These are super-cute super-easy little breakfast casserolettes I've made a couple of times for cold-weather Sunday brunch.

They're quick to make, take minimum attention and leave almost no dishes to wash (which is ideal to me; who wants to wash dishes after champagne?)



This kinda strikes me as some ultimate mid-west diner fare, completely anti-gourmet but surprisingly delicious; I love the contrast between the salty bottom and sweet top.

You will need:

• a ramekin per person (or other small bowl that can take relatively high oven temperatures, my new dutch oven came with two mini-ovens that work perfectly)
• 1-2 strips bacon per person
• a small batch of your favorite pancake batter
• 1 egg per person
• maple syrup

1. using kitchen shears snip bacon in small pieces into ramekins
2. put ramekins in oven at 400 degrees
3. cook bacon in ramekins until crispy, pouring off fat as needed
4. meanwhile make up a batch of pancake batter
5. after bacon is crispy remove from oven and pour off fat again (or sop it up w/ a paper towel)
6. spoon pancake batter over the bacon, until ramekins are about 1/3 full
7. crack an egg over pancake batter an put lids on ramekins (if you don't have lids you can tightly cover them with tin foil, carefully 'cause they're hot)
8. put covered ramekins into oven and reduce heat to 350
9. bake 5+ minutes, until egg is cooked how you want (in the picture I left them in to long and had completely hard yolks)
10. remove from oven and pour maple syrup on top
    
11. serve on an oven-mitt or other heat-proof surface & enjoy!

What are other people's favorite cold weather comfort breakfasts?

biscuits!

Woke up thinking these biscuits would taste great, and they did. I used that staple of the American diet Bisquick, but I'm sure they'd be even more delicious from scratch.

• Make your favorite drop biscuit recipe-
  
• (since I used Bisquick I added a table spoon of walnut oil)
  
• add diced ripe green d'Anjou pear to batter.
• add a few crushed cardamom pods to the batter
  
• serve warm with a potent blue cheese. ( I used Bleu d'Auvergne)
  

Yum!