breakfast blogger

Every once in a while, I come across a sweet find. This weekend I was at Home Sense in Kelowna I came across these beauties and almost squealed out loud. Circus animal pancake molds.

They came in a pack of 3 for about $12. There is an elephant, a lion and a seal with a ball on his nose. They are non-stick and pretty sturdy.

I just whipped up a batch of my fav pancake mix and filled em up!

I was worried about the tails and such breaking off when I removed the molds, but it is really good non-stick. They turned out beautiful!

Due to some careless flipping on my part, the seals ball fell off his nose

But after dressing them up in some butter and syrup,

they were more than enough to WOW my little man at the breakfast table.

He ate the whole plate worth!

*burp*

I know it seems like all I eat for breakfast is big and sweet and or gooey and more than likely filled with oh so delicious fat! I think if I really ate that way all the time, I would have already had my first heart attack.
This is a more accurate example of my normal everyday breakfast. I figure if I eat well during the week, I can let loose on the weekends and have some fun with breakfast without TOO much guilt. I call this Super Oatmeal!

You start off with 2/3 cup of oatmeal, add 1/2 cup all bran cereal, 1/4 cup 7 grain cereal, a pinch of salt and about 1 1/2 cups water.

Throw it all in a pot and let it bubble away on medium heat until thick and gooey. When I’m feeling particularly wild and crazy, I’ll add in a handful of raisins or dried cranberries.

A little handful of brown sugar and VOILA! Super Oatmeal! It has almost zero fat, low sugar (until you throw your brown sugar on top!) and about 90% of your daily required fiber intake. Add a piece of fruit and some juice or milk and you are good to go!

MMmmmMmmmMm FIBER-LICIOUS!!!

Burp!

Super yummy breakfast step one:

Make french toast batter (egg, a snosh of milk and cinnamon) and throw a few handfuls of mixed frozen berries with a bit of orange juice into a pot and bring to a soft boil.

Step two:

Dip bread of choice in batter and cook on griddle until golden. Don’t forget to take advantage of griddle space and throw on some bacon or turkon.

Step three:

While toast and berries are a’cookin, whip up some cream cheese, a little drizzle of milk and a little powdered sugar until desired sweetness is reached. Beat the living b’jesus out of it until it’s fluffy and creamy delicious.

Step four:

Assemble in this order. Important! Do not deviate from plans!!

Lay 1 piece of toast on plate, smear desired amount of cream cheese goo on toast (the more the better). Spoon on a good dollop of hot reduced berry sauce on cream cheese. Add one more piece of toast. Top with more cheese goo, more berry sauce, an orange slice and generous amounts of whipped cream. Serve with bacon or turkon on the side for a little salty contrast. Repeat until stuffed beyond capacity.

Burp!

I had the distinct pleasure of winning an all expenses paid trip to go to Vancouver to see the Canucks embarrass themselves on the ice not long ago. (We even left early, it was just too painful to watch!).

Now being in such a big city also gave me the chance to visit some new eateries!. Now my partner in breakfast had lived for a spell in downtown Vancouver and could not stop raving about a little place on Granville called the Ouisi Bistro. Really. Could not stop. From the time I had met him, he had spoken fondly, almost obsessively about the Ouisi (which when he said it, I thought he was calling it the Wheezy Bistro, it was later that I learned it was Oui-Si).There seemed no other option but to allow him to share with me that important part of his life.
We were lucky enough to catch some truly fantastic sunny winter weather while we were down there and even parked a little ways off to get some fresh air before breakfast.

I’m glad we worked up an appetite, the food was amazing. I had been told over and over again that The Ouisi was amazing and I was not disappointed.

It was just a little place tucked between an antiques shop and a large clothing store, but the deliciousness was not indicative of the size. Inside was like a small jazz club with a Cajun feel to it. The atmosphere was dim lit with a lot of the lighting being used to highlight the bright jazz-style art work on the walls. I particularly enjoyed the selection of hot sauces on the table. There seemed to be a different selection for each table.

The menu was totally unique from anything I have seen before. It took ages to choose something, and it all looked fantastic. See links for a better view of the menu and price lists.

I eventually settled on the Hash It Out which consisted of chorizo sausage, potatoes & creole sauce, two poached eggs and toast. I had no clue what creole sauce was, so I asked. It’s a Cajun tomato sauce, with spices, peppers and onion that they serve over their chunky home style potatoes. Let me tell you! Hash browns will NEVER AGAIN be complete for me with out a healthy spooning on creole sauce over top of them! It was BY FAR the single most exciting breakfast experience of my life (so far). I never knew breakfast potatoes could be soooooo good.

My hunky man opted for an old favorite of his, the Cowboy Breakfast: Two eggs, red beans, bacon, sausage, potatoes and toast. Because he is a wild crazy guy, he switched out the regular sausage for the chorizo.

EXTREME BEAN CLOSE-UP!!!

The pictures really don’t do our meal justice, but we were getting the hairy eyeball from some of the other patrons so i took what I could get without becoming too much a pain in the butt. I must say, the this was probably the best breakfast I have ever eaten. It was unique, flavorful, delicious and satisfied all senses. It’s only a shame that I will have to travel 400km to enjoy it again!

Burp!

I think we can all agree that a breakfast is usually better when you don’t have to cook it yourself. Let me offer example: Last Sunday.

I will never regret getting involved with a man that can cook. After being chased from my kitchen a few dozen time for wanting to help prep, I conceded and allowed him full control of the kitchen and my camera. This is what I was given to blog:

Step one: Get stuff. Namely eggs, good mozza cheese, chorizo sausage, fresh baby spinach, chopped red, green and yellow peppers and some buttuh.

Step two: Beat eggs and chop stuff up.

Step three: Heat pan, give sausage and peppers a quick little sizzle to release oils and flavors. Set aside.

Step four: Slap some buttuh in pan and add beaten eggs. Sprinkle spinach on top. Let cook for a bit on lowish heat. Add sausage over half and mozza cheese on top of that. Flip non sausaged half over sausaged half. Cook until cheese melts.

Step five: Serve to loved ones.

(Be sure to explore the EXTREME stringability of a good mozza cheese. Please be sure to stretch with caution!! I was stretching a forkful to maximum arm length and it snapped and hit me in the eye and went up over the back of my head!! Delicious but dangerous!)

Not only did I not have to cook it, but it was super delicious to boot. The spicy chorizo added just the right amount of heat to the omlette and with the crunchy peppers, soft gooey cheese and super nutrient rich spinach, it covered all of my breakfast needs.

Now if I could only get out of doing the dishes after….

After a enchilada feed 2 nights previous, I found that I had a bit of a surplus of leftover black beans in my fridge. Now I’m a big fan of the delicious little high fiber bean beasties, so why not add them to breakfast. So I did. May I present: spicy egg and black bean breakfast wrap.

I beat up some eggs and mixed in some chili seasoning, chive, salt and pepper and some other spicy stuff and made a spicy scramble.

I pan fried the beans to warm them through and threw the eggs, beans, some old cheddar cheese ( and by old I mean aged. I have issues with moldy cheese) and a splat of hot sauce in for good measure into a nice whole wheat wrap.

Add that to the book du jour and it was a most satisfying and fiber rich mid week breaky.

*Burp!*

 If ever there was a use for milk that wasn’t going to be drank in time, it’s making a batch of sunday morning crepes.

 For a change, I had my whole little family home for breakfast this morning, so a nice big breakfast was definatly on the menu. I sent my man and the boy child out on a mercy run for coffee, cream cheese and whipped cream while I prepared the crepes.

 Now for those faithful readers out there, you know crepes are my thing. Since I was a young lass, I was always in the kitchen with my father on saturday or sunday making crepes. After so many years, I have gotten a feel for the batter and can’t even remember if there even was a recipe anymore. I will share with you, as best I can, how to make them.

I start with about 2-2.5ish cups of flour, about a tablespoon of baking powder, a goodly pinch of salt and about 3/4 of a handful of sugar. Mix in a big bowl. In another largish bowl beat 4 eggs and about a litre of milk and a splash of vanilla. Add to flour and whisk to get the lumps out. a few little lumps are ok though.  It should be fairly thin, like a cream soup. I like to let it sit for a bit on the counter, or even overnight in the fridge is ok. Be sure to skim the frothy junk from the top before cooking. It’s personal choice if you want to add some melted butter to the batter. Butter never hurt anything!

 Now there is a lot of crepe cooking devices out there, but I’ve always used just a large frying pan. A little cup of melted butter and pastry brush are needed beside the pan too. I keep it on the stove top so the butter stays melted. A quick brush on a hot (med-high) frying pan and you are ready to pour in your batter. Pour in about 3/4 of a ladle full and twist and turn the pan to coat the bottom. There should only be enough batter to make a thin layer in the bottom. You can just pour off the excess. The batter should stick if the pan is hot enough, if it doesn’t, turn up the heat. Let cook for about 30 sec or until it starts to go light golden. Now some of us can flip by just flicking the pan, I strongly suggest using a flipper. Only a few seconds more on the other side and off to the plate in the warming oven. (just turn on your oven as low as it goes). Then repeat, repeat, repeat… This makes a fairly large stack, enough for 4-6 people comfortably, possibly more. I always make a large batch for snacking on.

 Then the fun; filling and topping! There is no limit but your imagination. You can make them sweet with fruit fillings, jams, cottage cheese, my childhood fav of butter and sugar, butter lemon juice and sugar, maple syrup, fried bananas and rum, etc. Or savoury with scrambled eggs, ham, greens peppers and onions, cheese, seasoned meats, etc.

 This morning was homemade strawberry and blueberry compote with cream cheese and whipped cream. The compote was nothing but a couple handfuls each of stawberries and blueberries, a couple tablespoons of sugar and a little splash of fresh OJ, cooked slow and low until it reduces.

 We had a nice assembly line set up on the table. My son perfers his with butter and sugar and a little maple syrup. 4 crepes later, he rolled himself from the table.

Myself, on the other hand, prefers something a little more. I started with some nice soft cream cheese, threw on a dollup of the berry compote and rolled it into a nice tight bundle, then repeated 2 more times.

Topped off with more fruit sauce and whipped cream and served with a glass of sparkling orange juice and a coffee, it was a perfect lazy sunday breakfast.

And just like magic…

*POOF* they’re gone!

*burp*

 Does this super yummy cheddar jalapeno bagel with stringy mozza, ham and a fried egg on top still count as breakfast if I eat it at night? I hope it does, because it was fabulous! The little bit of burn from the jalapeno cheddar bagel was smothered nicley by the miles of melted stringy mozza cheese and the salt from the ham was just enough seasoning that I didn’t need to salt my egg. *drool* MmmMmmmm so good.

The bagles were a bit of a pleasent mistake though. My man and I decided to try a bakery we had walked past a a million times and I was drawn to the cheddar and herb bagels. I have yet to find one that tops the Great Canadian Bagels Cheddar Herb. And,alas, during the great Atkins craze, the Great Canadian Bagel became exstinct along with all but one bagle shop, which has a far inferior cheddar herb bagel. Anywho, there they were, sitting in the little basket marked cheddar herb, and I knew they must come home with me. They were so cheddary and herby and beautiful… *sigh* but when I got home and toasted one up, I realized at first bite that they had a bit more burn to them than there should have been. They were accidently switched up with the jalapeno cheddar ones. They weren’t what I was hoping for, but a pleasent mistake none the less. It just means I will have to go for another stroll downtown and try again.

Thanks to Peach City Bakery for the yumy bagels! I shall return!

*burp*

Thanksgiving. The holiday of two of my 3 favorite three deadly sins: Gluttony and sloth. I’ll leave the third unnamed.

Like most Canadians, we spent the last night feasting with family or friends and wake to find a fridge jam packed with leftovers. I am no exception. There was but two of us this holiday and a 20lb turkey that was prepared with all the trimmings. That’s 10lbs of turkey each to be consumed over the next few days, not to mention the trimmings. Some will be turkey sammiches, some will be turned to soup and/or pot pies and some will even become breakfast. This morning was day one of turkey for breakfast.

I started with leftover bacon (which was used to keep the turkey moist) and used the leftover mashed potatoes for tater pancakes.

Then I threw some leftover roasted potatoes in a pan with some butter and got them warming.

I then chopped up some turkey meat and stuffing, yes stuffing, and added a few eggs and a small spalsh of milk.

Once it hit the pan, I threw in some S&P, savoury, majoram, thyme, sage and parsley and cooked it like scrambled eggs. The smell eminating from the pan was savoury delicious and instantly made my tummy groan with hunger. (It was noon after all!)

All that was left was to plate it all and enjoy our refurbished turkey dinner. A little dolup of cranberry sauce made my strange breakfast concoction perfect.

I have to admit, the stuffing in the eggs added a bit of an unusal texture to the whole thing, but it was still a tasty addition to my eggs.

All thats left is clean up, figuring out how to incorporate pie into breakfast tomorrow and a nap. Darn turkey and its tryptophan laden goodness!

Burp!

What better use for leftover mashed taters than pancakes. Making fried mashed potatoes for breakfast is pretty good too, but I was in the mood for tater cakes this morning.

Once again, my trusty bag of Krusteaz pancakes mix come to the rescue. I added 1 part leftover mashed taters to 1.5 parts Krusteaz pancake mix and added just enough water to make a thick batter.

The potatoes tend to soften up and spread when they cook, so I made the batter a little on the thick side. I also threw in some chives, parsley and paprika for a little interest.

They are also really good plain, or I think they would go well with cheese chunks in them too. MmmmMmm cheese. Everything is better with cheese.

I then added far too much butter to my griddle and slapped on my cakes. I’m usually trying to cut corners on fat and such, but there is just something about tater cakes that screams crispy edges! Take note of the fat bubbling around the edges. Sometimes it must be done! And so it was. And they were golden and crispy and perfect, and they were glad and rejoiced.

Now tater cakes are great on their own, but I’m more of a full meal deal type of person when it comes to breakfast. There happened to be just enough room for a couple strips of turkon on the griddle and a mess of scrambled eggs with cheese. There was even some grape tomaters left on the counter from one of the last pickings I will get form my plants this year too. And so there was breakfast, in all it’s potato pancaked glory.

Just incase you feel that there was one needed, here is an…

EXTREME BREAKFAST CLOSEUP!!!

Burp!