breakfast blogger

Yes, I know, I’ve been a very very bad blogger! I have neglected my breakfast blogger duties for WAY too long but with good reason I think. Between separating from my husband, fending off a stalker, raising my spawn, having to move back in with my parents, and spending time with my special gentleman caller, there just hasn’t been time enough for blogging. Things are almost starting to settle down and I seem to have found myself a spare moment to get online and blog a little. Even now my time is running out. I hear the tell tale tune of “I’m a little tea cup” playing in my sons room announcing his wakefulness from an all too short nap.

I actually got a chance to go out for a nice breakfast the other weekend with my special male friend. It was a treat and a much welcomed change from the usual pace of our lives. I have been challenging myself to try somewhere new every time we go out and I think Doc Willoughby’s just might be a brunch repeat.

Their menu wasn’t all that large, but there is nothing wrong with that as long as what you have is good. Both me and my gentleman caller had the egg Barcelona and it was better than I expected. They started off with 2 slices of fresh garlic and herb bread, added some chrizo sausage and topped it with a couple poached eggs with a salsa hollandaise on the side.

The sausage was nice ‘n spicy and the hollandaise was fantastic! With homestyle hash browns on the side, it made for a perfect brunch. We were both pleasantly full after. It was a great brunch for a couple of lazy bums barely out of bed on a Sunday afternoon.

*burp*

I have no doubts that I will be hit of the neighbourhood when my kiddo gets older. The kids are gunna love me.

After watching an odd chinese cooking show on mute where they were soaking boiled ducks eggs in all kinds of crazy saucy stuff, I got a brilliant idea. On this show they used a technique where they cracked the eggs shells before they soak the eggs in the sauce, leaving the shells on l. After an overnight soaking in the brine, the eggs were peeled and there was a pretty pattern where the cracks had let a brine seep through. Having watched it on mute, I had no idea what was in this mystery brown liquid, but I couldnt help but think that it would be just as easy to make eggs like that at home, but using food coloring, making bright pretty crackled eggs. So I tried it.

Step 1:

Boil eggs for 8 1/2 min. While eggs are boiling, fill a couple glasses with water and add a different color food coloring to each glass.

Step 2:

After eggs are cooked, run them in cool water till you can handle them and dont burn your finners. I learned that the hard way. I was too excited and didnt consider that something that just came out of boiling water might be hot. Ouch.

Step 3:

Crack the egg shells by hitting it with a spoon or cracking it on the counter. Just be gentle and try to keep it in one piece. The magic is all about the cracks.

Step 4:

Put one egg in each glass and let it soak. The longer you leave it in, the more color will be on the egg.

Step 5:

Remove from the food coloring and peel the shells off. Stand back for a moment and let the awe sweep over you, then eat. MMmmMMmm Dino-licious!

This was my first attempt. I only let it soak for about 20 min. The colors are there, but I was hoping for something a little more vibrant.

Attempt number 2 was more successful. I let it soak for about an hour and used more food coloring this time. More is definatly better in this instance. Either way, I thought it was a fun way to add some color to breakfast. Add some fosselized grain toast, some jurassic orange slices, a monsterous McCain hashbrown patty and a bowl of molten oatmeal and you have a perfectly prehistoric brekkie!

Enjoy!

*burp*

This sunday was truly a treat for me. My son was away on his first long distance sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa, hubby was in bed sleeping and the morning was all mine for the first time in over a year.

For once, breakfast didnt need to be rushed and designed around my young one and I could have anything my heart desired. I thought that I wanted crepes, but that just involved more effort that I really wanted to put forth and the thought of the pile of dishes after didn’t seem like a nice way to spend mothers day.

Instead I opted for a nice fresh semi-healthy breakfast of fresh baked alpine grain bread, fruit, and a big bowl of whipped cream for dipping. It was just what the doctor ordered.

I had visited the local produce the day before and loaded up on goodies. On my menu this morning was strawberries (you can’t have whipped cream without strawberries!), bananas, the biggest grapes I have EVER seen, some juicy sweet cantalope, tangelo, asian apple pear and even a couple squares of chocolate (hey, it’s mothers day, I’m allowed to have chocolate for breakfast!).

I laid my breakfast out for the usual blog shot on the kitchen table, but I eat there every day, I didnt feel like it this morning. Instead I opted for a nice warm sunbeam that was shining on my hammock outside.

The late morning sunshine along with the lake breeze and my fresh and delicious foodies, made for the best mother’s day breakfast ever. I lounged in my sunbeam and snacked to my hearts content for the better part of the early afternoon. Life just doesn’t get much better.

Happy belated mother’s day all!

With my trusty bag of Krusteaz by my side,

I have set out to make ordinary pancakes extrodinary! Im willing to try just about anything (within reason) and am totally open to suggestions.

This mornings brilliant idea was to add a couple tablespoons of Ovaltine

And some frozen strawberrries the I threw in the food processor to make frozen strawberry powder (handy for mixing in pancakes, muffins, yogurt and the like)

Mix mix mixity mix….

Add some scrambled eggs with cheese, some apple juice and orange slices and voila! You have some kick ass eggs accompanied by some rather uninteresting ovaltine pancakes.

Im not really sure what it was about them, they weren’t bad by any means.. just not nearly as good as I had invisioned. But after a quick repair of plain yogurt, banana slices and a little brown sugar, they were most scrumptious.

Im not sure if I would be in a hurry to try Ovaltine in my pancakes again, but after the quick patch job, they did go down quite nicely.

Ca-Ching!

*burp*

I woke up this morning and discovered I was quite hungry. I thought about it for a bit and decided my usual breakfsat just wouldn’t do. I needed something more substancial and a little different. And voila!

Like any good breakfast there is bacon. MMmmmMM bacon, crispity crunchity bacony goodness. I used the fat from the bacon to grease my griddle for my corn bread griddle cakes. I probably could have skipped on the extra fat, but when you break through the crispy exterior to the fluffy corny goodness inside, it makes it ALL worth it. Throw a couple medium poached eggs with hotsauce on my plate and a couple slices of yellow watermelon and its a breakfast fit for…well.. ME!

MONEY SHOT!!!

*burp*

It has been becoming a bit of a habit to go out for a sunday morning breakfast with the hubby and kiddo. The past couple weeks have been pretty uninteresting, just the usual run of the mill, major breakfast places like IHOP (my personal fav) and Denny’s and such. ZZzzzZZzzz

Now there is nothing wrong with these places. They serve a good filling breakfast at a decent price. The real problem lies in the time we usualy get our stuff together and head to these places. There is a HUGE church population that seems to flock to these places after service, so after 10am, you are guaranteed at least a half hour wait for a table and the slowest service imaginable. I dont have the patience for it, specailly with a one year old in tow. So this morning we heading downtown so scope out the little cafes and such on the strip. This morning we found this little gem.

It was one of those places that you have walked by a million times, but never really noticed before. Im glad we did. The place was empty when we first walked in, but people did start trickling in shortly after. We were greeted as soon as we walked in and I couldnt help but feel right at home. It wasnt like the usual plastic, mass produced greeting you get at the large chain places, it was genuine and warm. It had a sweet homey feel to it. Nothing fancy, but charming none the less.

We didnt have to spend too much time looking over the menu, we found what we wanted right away. I usually have a picture in mind of what I want for breakfast anyway.

I ended up getting the Soleil de-lite, which consisted of 2 eggs any style (I had poached) toast, homestyle hashbrows and *drum roll* BAKED BEANS!!! Yes Peabody, I found a place here that serves beans with breakfast. I couldnt wait to blog about it, just for you!

Mark had a ham and cheese omlette with hashbrowns. It looked yummy.

My little Nabob just helped himself to both our meals, stuffing his little face faster than I could keep up with, enjoying the beans best of all.

Overall it was quite a good breakfast for a good price.

Yeah, Im a wuss, I couldnt quite finish it. But it was pretty darn yummy none the less.

*burp*

I have recently learned that the addition of a cuppy thing of Mott’s applesauce makes regular Krusteaz super moist and delicious. Todays addition was raspberry-apple which turned my pancakes pink.

They were very good, but confused the heck out of my one year old son. He just kept looking at his pancakes and looking at me, then back at his pancakes then back at me. The pink pancakes were not a hit. I think he was too manly to eat pink pancakes. Sheesh, kids these days.

This is a pretty typical breakfast for myself and my spawn. I even tried to hide the offending pink pancakes under some vanilla yogurt and some banana slices. My attempt was thwarted and I was punished by having to clean yogurt, banana and pink pancake off the floor and walls. I have learned. Oh boy have I learned.

Long time no blog y’all!! I’m still eating breakfast everyday, but I don’t think it’s all that interesting. Just the same old eggs, toast and fruit, hardly blog-worthy I think. But this morning I decided I needed a change. Thanks to my handy (although questionably named) Krusteaz pancake mix:

With some apples, raspberries, whipped cream and caramel sauce, I came up with something a little more entertaining for breakfast.

I topped my extra large pancakes with a quick apple-cinnamon compote I threw together, topped with some whipped cream, a few fresh (and heavily over priced!) raspberries and a generous drzzling of caramel sauce. I got all tingly in the pants with anticipation while I was taking the pics for it. It was truly worth the wait though.

I even made some mini pancakes and threw a little mini version of my breakfast for my little one. Judging from the huge mess all over the floor and all over my son, it was a huge success!

And look everyone! I got new place mats!! WOOOO!

Sir Inland of Shipwreck a.k.a. Will, planted a bug in my mind the other day. He was telling me all about having an omelette for breakfast. I quickly realized that it has been a long time since I have prepared an omelette in my kitchen. I realized even faster that if I did prepare an omelette, I would have some new blog material for breakfast blogger!!! YIPPIE!!
So here I go. My blog on the making on an omelette.

Step 1
Preheat your oven to broil.
Grab a couple eggs, cheese, pan lube of your choice and tools of omelette construction. If you are like me, you need a mixer. I’m kinda lazy. I’m not really into beating egg whites by hand. I could be doing other things, like watching the butter in my pan melt, or chasing my cat around the kitchen with chopsticks.

Step 2.
Separate the white into the mixer and the yolk into another bowl. Be sure to pick the big white chunk of under developed chick embryo umbilical cord off your yolk. Eeeeeww. I hate that bit.

Step 3.
Beat the living *&$% out of your egg whites. Give your yolks a good whoppin’ too. Feel free to add your seasonings to your yolks while you are massacring them. They like that. Then, when your whites are nice and fluffy and stiff, fold in your yolks gently, very gently, they have been through a lot, be nice. You can throw in some over junk too if you like. Things like shredded ham, peppers or herbs are nice, but I was lacking in appropriate fillings today. I had some wieners in the fridge, but somehow, I can’t see that working so well.

Step 4.
Pour your still fluffy puffy eggs onto a preheated frying pan, greased with your lube of choice. Let them cook there for a little while, but just until the sides are starting to look like they are dry and the bottom is browning.

Step 5.
Add cheese. LOTS of cheese. Man do I love cheese!! WOOOO! Then stick it under your broiler till cheese is all gooey. Mmmmmm cheese.

Step 6.
Cut yourself off a slab of your fluffy puffy omelette and enjoy with the usual breakkie sides.
My sides of choice today consist of: Bacon (cause you can never have too much bacon!), a banana muffin with some butter (which went oddly well with the bacon), some strawberry yogurt with banana in it and a glass of apple juice. Yum. Well balanced and nutritious. Oh.. and some Frank’s hot sauce on the omelette. Life is just better with a little Frank’s.

I did learn a few things this morning tho and I’d like to share with you.

First of all, I’m a poor judge of cheese. I used a little too much and my fluffy puffy omelette went PPBBTT. The cheese was a little heavy. It was still pretty awesome, just not as fluffy and puffy as it usually is.

Secondly, I need some new place mats. I’m getting bored with these one.

Thirdly, I should stop bothering to put a knife out. I never use it… I just use the side of my fork. I only really put it out for B.B. pics and that’s just silly.
But then again, I’m a silly gal.

And last but not least, I need to clean my oven. The light burnt out a long time ago and I didn’t realize how dirty it looked until I looked at the pic. The flash really lit up the crusty burnt goodness inside. MMmmmMMm

MONEY SHOT!!

Burp.

Nothing satisfies a morning of shopping quite like a late breakfast. With myself, my mother and little Nabob in tow, we headed for De Dutch Pannekoek House. Of course I am rather biased of this Netherlandish eatery being of freak deaky Dutch decent myself, and favour eating there. It was also voted “Best Breakfast in Kelowna” for several years running and is legendary for it’s pannekoek.
I love the atmosphere there. It’s so clean and bright and comical. There are tacky little euro toys and gifts and everything has a play on the whole “De Dutch” theme. Most of the menu items begin with “De.” For example: De eggs and De bacon. Even the sugar packets were custom.

Even the cutlery was De Dutched.

For those who don’t know what a pannekoek is, it’s a Dutch pancake of sorts, kind of like a crepe, but thicker. It is generally the size of a dinner plate and is served with a variety of toppings both sweet and savoury. I thought I would jump outside the box and do something a bit different. I went with De Windmill pannekoek.
It sounded pretty good when I read it. Fresh pannekoek topped with BC smoked salmon and imported edam cheese served with hollandaise sauce. MMmmMm yummy.
This is what I got…..

Perhaps my expectations were a little high. I was expecting more of a presentation I think. Maybe something with nice little bits of salmon, sprinkled in shredded cheese and melted all over. Or perhaps with the hollandaise sauce underneath all the fishy and cheesy goodness.
It really hurts me to say it, but I was disappointed. I couldn’t have it all in one bite. It was either salmon, or cheese. All I really wanted was to have both, mingling together in harmony on the end of my fork. Rejoicing as their flavours blended together with perfect balance. *sigh*.
But no.. it was just fish…cheese…fish…cheese. I didn’t feel that the hollandaise worked very well either. It was too rich and hid the flavours of the smoked salmon too much. I opted to leave it off. I did my best to eat what I could, but the disappointment got the better of me and I just couldn’t get to that infamous money shot.

Nabob, on the other hand, totally scored! He got the apple cinnamon kids pannekoek. Hot damn it looked yummers!!
Nice big chunks of apples, cinnamon all over and a big pile of real whipped cream. MMmmMMmm…

Somehow he managed to make it all disappear too! I don’t really know how a 10 month old could eat that much food when I wasn’t looking. It is just a mystery. I guess we will never know.
BURP.
hehehe