breakfast blogger

Oh my. Here’s something our kids don’t need:

And this on the heels of the announcement that Kellogg would phase out advertising to kids 12 and under unless their product is of certain nutritional value. I’m suspicious about that considering that it’s up to food manufacturers to come up with what constitutes a “portion.” Have you ever tried to compare the nutritional value of things while at the store? You might want to bring a calculator because it’s anything but straight forward. And then try convincing your kids to eat just one “portion.” I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, I’d eat two huge bowls of Rice Krispies in the morning. The whole thing stinks.

My suggestion? Screw the kids breakfast cereal industry and make some granola at home and serve it with no fat yogurt and berries:

Homemade granola:

6 cups rolled oats (not instant)
2 cups of chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, cashews, sesame seeds, etc… go nuts!
1 cup of dried unsweetened coconut shreds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A wee bit of salt
1/2 to 1 cup of maple syrup (or honey or a combination of both)

In a large pan, cook the oats, stirring every once in a while until they change colour and start to smell nice. Around 4 or 5 minutes. Use two burners if it helps.

Add the nuts and seeds, stirring often. 2 minutes later add the coconut and stir some more for another 2 minutes. Add the salt, cinnamon and sweet stuff then stir some more.

Throw that into the oven at 300 F for 20 minutes, stirring a couple of times during that period.

Once it cools, store it in a sealed container and put it in the fridge.

Starting your kids off with a breakfast like this is the way to go. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the sugar in commercial breakfast cereal is contributing to the behavioral disorders we hear about…

Link to the Froot Loops Cereal Straws story. Via boingboing.

I cannot believe I didn’t have my camera with me.

This morning I ate at THE Montreal Breakfast LEGEND!

The Lady and I had some free time this morning, so we cruised westward to NDG and hit Cosmos. I had recently written a small piece on Cosmos for Hour Magazine and I figured I owed them another visit - this time to show my Toronto-born ladyfriend what a Montreal breakfast is all about.

I walked in and was instantly greeted by Tony’s son, who remembers just about every face that sits at his counter, although it helped that I’ve been eating there since the late 80s. I wish I could remember his name but all those years of eating all those greasy potatoes have robbed my memory of his name. I was also very glad to see Tony at the flat-top. There were rumors that Tony had retired, but there he was, silently minding the flat-top, which was weighted down by a very large mound of Cosmos famous potatoes.

Since it was my Very Special Ladyfriend’s first time there, I wanted to order everything on the menu, but settled on a “creation” on challah and a salami/cheese omelet. The “Creation” is one of the best breakfast sandwiches you will ever come across. This super-sandwich is made on your choice of bread (some eggsellent examples would be a bagel, black bread or marble) and is stuffed with fried egg, grilled salami, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I was so overwhelmed that I can’t remember if it also contained bacon, but either way - this was a fabulous experience. The omelet was exactly what you would expect - grilled salami folded inside some eggs and melted cheese.

I guess we’ll have the “mishmash” next time, and I promise to remember my camera.

The bacon pancakes seemed to be a sizzle and it got the bacon section of my brain craving more bacony goodness. In my search to satiate my bacon needs I came across some of the more bazaar influences of bacon.

New car smell is soooo out! Welcome the wave of the future! Bacon air freshener. Nothing like opening your car door after a long day at the office and getting a whiff of the welcoming smell of fresh cooked bacon! I can feel myself starting to drool just thinking about it!

Ow! MOM! I skinned my knee! Better get the bacon strips! Yep, bacon bandages. For those die hard bacon lovers who like to patch their owies with adhesive bacon. It even comes with a free toy!

And for those who like a little variety in their breakfast booboo covers, they come in bacon and fried egg packs as well.

Perhaps I’m a little late with this one, but at least all the young men out there will have a whole year to save up and put an order in for their very own bacon print scented tuxedo! Thats right, you can not only go to prom looking like bacon, but you will have the girl drooling over your crisp bacon smell!

Last but certainly not least is my personal favorite. There is nothing quite like waking up to the smell of cooking bacon and now you can have that smell every morning at your bedside table! No more screaming alarm clock, just the gentle sounds of sizzling bacon and the aroma wafting from your clock to rouse you from sleep. That’s right. Some die hard bacon fan has created the Wake’n'Bacon. The wooden construction worries me a bit, but I’m sold!

My hat goes off to all those amazing bacon inventors! HAZAH!

[ed: Don’t forget The Bacon Show: ONE BACON RECIPE PER DAY, EVERY DAY, FOREVER! …Since November 12, 2005]

Are you a self destructive kind of person? Willing to take health risks for the sake of something tasty? Looking for new and inventive ways to use up old bacon fat? Got a vendetta against your heart and want to make it PAY? Well I have a breakfast goodie for you. Behold the wonder that is bacon pancakes.

Fry yourself up some of your favorite bacon, the more the merrier. When your bacon is nice and golden crisp, remove the bacon, but leave the fat in the pan.

Next, whip yourself up some of your favorite pancake batter, homemade or any of your fav insta-mixes ( I prefer Krusteze myself) will do. Be sure to make it a little runny so it can be drizzled.

Spread the fat evenly all over your pan then drizzle your pancake batter all over. Watch in amazement as the hot bacon fat magically disappears and your batter becomes bubbly and golden. Flip. I have no advice as to how to flip this crunchy mess, just take your time. Tongs help.

When done, remove from pan and sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon mix. Add bacon to the side and voila! A meal fit for a coronary.

Burp!

I’m going to get me one of these. Then I can have perfect pats of butter on my pancakes and toast. No more smearing globs of butter for this Breakfast Blogger, just add a stick of butter and *click* it’s perfectly square pats from here on out baby!

Here’s a cute little breakfast idea, perfect for the summer months because the bulk of the work can be done ahead of time, keeping you from spending too much time over a hot oven on a hot day.

These can also be served as desserts, though they were originally created as breakfast treats, inspired by danishes and sweetbreads made by my mom every spring and summer.

I call them Strawberry cream cheese breadlets, because the texture of the bun underneath is much closer to bread than a muffin or a biscuit. They’re sweet with a solid base, light but filling. In short, they’re delicious.

So, here’s how you make them!

For the breadlet base, I used a pretty generic white bread recipe similar to this one. I’ll normally use about half of the dough for the breadlets, and freeze the rest before the second rise.
The cream cheese filling is easy to make, just add 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to a full cup of cream cheese. Mix well.

After the second rise, roll the dough out flat (under an inch thick, but not too thin) and use a 3″ round cookie/biscuit cutter for each breadlet. Before the dough begins to rise again, take one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture and spoon it into the center of the dough, using the back of a greased teaspoon, press an indent into the cream cheese, where you’ll place a teaspoon of strawberry jam or preserves. Allow the dough to sit and rest for about 10 minutes before baking.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is fully cooked and slightly golden.

Allow to cool before serving. You can cover them loosely with cling film and refrigerate them up to 3 days at this point.

To serve-

For an added touch, take a small clean strawberry, slice off the top and place it point side up in the center of the cream cheese once the breadlets have cooled completely. Drizzle a bit of agave nectar over the top and/or sprinkle with a tiny bit of sugar.

Eat, and enjoy!

-A.

p.s. Of course, you could use any seasonal fruit for this. Just make sure you coordinate the flavour of jam to be compatible with the flavour of fruit you use!

This one is dedicated to KJ who is moving to a new office in Ottawa. Nat and I managed to get a breakfast with her at the Bistro Renoir last Friday on her last day:

All of the sudden I saw it… those giant toast ears and yellow yolk eyes were staring down on me… It was THE BREAKFAST MONSTER!

Was I about to become the eater or the eaten?

Your guess ;)

One of my old favourites recently got a face lift. Time for a follow-up from the breakfast doctor (that would be me, of course).

The outside didn’t change much.

New Claudette vs. Old

It’s weird that they would make these changes and not erase the old look. You can still see where the old vertical sign used to be because they didn’t bother to repaint the metal siding. The exterior doesn’t look any better, it just looks a little different. I wonder who their designer was?

I’m not exactly sure why they renovated. Usually it means that the new owners want to make more money so they slap on some paint, throw in a few new light fixtures, and jack-up the menu prices. This does not seem to be the case.

It seems that the ownership may not have actually changed hands, as the staff was the same, and the food - as good as ever - tasted exactly the same, so the cooks must have survived this strange unnecessary make-over. Miraculously, the prices did not go up. The old look was a hodge-podge of red and white checkered tablecloths and unmatched furniture, appropriate for the type of restaurant that is Chez Claudette. The new look seems to be going for the imported, assembled restaurant furniture picked out of a catalog look, which they have achieved. The interior is a little classier than it used to be, but lacks any character.

If you look closely, you can see that the red brick wall is actually some sort of glued-on plastic sheeting that looks like bricks. Very classy.

The poster on the wall is a replica of The Last Supper, but Jesus and the apostles must have missed their reservation and have been replaced by Elvis, Marylin, Bogey, and other Hollywood stars.

The place will look perfect in 15 years or so, once the new look ages a bit.

The Lady had big eyes and ordered the “Brunch”, two over-easy eggs, sausages, home-fries, brown toast, and…

…a side of french toast ($8.95). Whoa, la - dats a lot of food.

I ordered the “mini choice of meat”, which is just one egg (over-easy) with bacon, and brown toast…

…and opted to “Quebec’ my breakfast and morph my home-fries into a home-fries-poutine ($6.50).

Dynomite!

If you work in the Portage complex in Gatineau, there is a little spot in Phase III called Teri-Q that serves up the best breakfast bagel around:

Made with cheese and homemade mayo, this thing is one tasty little sucker. I like how it’s made with the bacon extended on one end.. they look like little bacon legs ;-) $2.85

Since the Senators won last night, I thought it would be appropriate to find breakfast somewhere along Elgin a.k.a. the Sens Mile.

I kept my eyes open for a place I hadn’t tried yet (not easy!) and saw the Lieutenant’s Pump at 361 Elgin was overflowing with people:

Since it was just me, I thought they could possibly squeak me in somewhere and I was right, however it would have to be inside at one of the bars. Once again, I had my fingers crossed that I would have enough light for my pics. I ordered a regular breakfast with bacon and sausage and relaxed reading up on the game and sipping a coffee. I chatted a bit with the bar maid about how nuts it must have been around there last night and after a bit, breakfast was served:

Mmmm yummy. You can’t see it there, but hidden behind the bacon, sausage and home fries is a nice portion of fresh fruit too. $8.99.

GO SENS GO!!