Oatmeal and Eggs

Oatmeal and Eggs

With the weather turning a little cooler, a hot bowl of oatmeal is a great way to start off the day.  Add some milk and honey, top off with a fried egg, and a simple breakfast gets a lift.  If you have the time, get your hands on local honey; the depth of flavor is incomparable to your grocery store variety and unique to your community.

 

Ingredients

1c rolled oats

1c water

1c goat milk

2Tbsp honey

1tsp salt

4 eggs

½ Tbsp butter

1 Roma tomato, sliced 

Directions

Serves 2

Add water, milk and honey in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add salt and oats to warm liquid and bring to a simmer.  Let cook for 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

While the oatmeal is cooking, add butter to a hot skillet.  Once the butter is melted, crack the eggs directly into the skillet giving each yolk as much room as possible.  (In an 18”skillet we can fit four eggs; any smaller than that and it would be best to cook in batches.)  Cook the eggs for 2-3 minutes for a runny yolk, or longer depending on your preference. 

Spoon the oatmeal into a bowl.  Top each bowl with two eggs and two slices of tomato. 

Cost

Oats: $0.50

Milk: $0.78

Honey: $0.30

Eggs: $0.80

Tomato: $0.65

Total: $3.03

Per Serving: $1.52

Apple Ginger Scones

Apple Ginger Scones
Breakfast for the work week usually consists of Brandon grabbing a scone on the way out the door.  Unfortunately, these had always been store bought.  A couple weeks ago, we figured we should learn how to make them ourselves.  It turned out to be surprisingly simple, and one fewer item on the weekly grocery list.  This makes about 16 scones.

Ingredients

2 ¼ cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 ½ tablespoon baking powder
1 ½ sticks butter, chilled (or frozen) and cut into ½ inch squares
Zest of 1 lemon
1 Gala Apple, diced
1 inch fresh ginger, finely chopped
¾ cup buttermilk

Directions

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, butter and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl.  Beat with electric mixer until the mixture is the consistency of a fine meal.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together with your hands until combined.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and hand pat, or roll out until ½ to ¾ inch thick.  Cut out circles and place onto a baking sheet.  Pull together trimmings and cut out remaining dough.
Cook at 400F for 16 minutes or until the surface cracks.

Leftovers

The dough can be made the day ahead.  Cooked scones will last in the refrigerator for a week.

Zucchini Mini Muffins

Zucchini Mini Muffins

Like most kids, Greer didn’t like eating vegetables growing up.  And like most mothers, she had to find ways to sneak vegetables into foods.  These muffins served that purpose quite well, and Greer eventually grew up to enjoy eating vegetables.  We recently made these for a weekend brunch for some of Brandon’s family, and everyone enjoyed them.  With a recipe endorsed by two different families, how can you go wrong?  With compliments to Greer’s mom, here is the recipe.
 

Ingredients
½ C Honey
6 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Eggs
½ Teaspoon Vanilla
1 7/8 C Whole Wheat Flour
2 ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
½ Teaspoon Allspice
½ Teaspoon Nutmeg
½ Teaspoon Cinnamon
½ Teaspoon Salt
3 C Zucchini, finely grated (approx 3 zucchinis)

Directions

Cream together honey and melted butter, add eggs and vanilla and beat well.  In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking powder and spices.  Add honey mixture to dry ingredients and blend well.  Fold in zucchini.  Spoon into mini muffin pans. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.
Makes approx 30 muffins.

Leftovers

They taste best straight out of the oven, but reheat really well the next couple of mornings. 

Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict
We have certainly had adventures making this – from scrambling the eggs to loosing an oven while making biscuits.  Nevertheless, it is delicious and we continue to make it.  The hollandaise sauce did need some practice, but it was worth learning.  This makes two pretty good sized servings.





Ingredients:
Hollandaise Sauce:
3 egg yolks
½ lemon, juiced
½ cup butter
1 pinch each: salt, pepper, nutmeg

4 slices ham

4 eggs
2 English muffins

Directions:

To make hollandaise:

Heat water in a saucepan, and place a mixing bowl on top of saucepan to heat.  Melt butter in saucepan. Once melted, add egg yolks and mix together.  Add lemon juice and spices and whisk together.  Make sure the sauce does not get too hot or the eggs will scramble.  Sauce can be set aside.  Mix in a ¼ teaspoon of warm water (if needed) to bring the sauce back to a creamy texture prior to serving.

Cook ham and toast muffins.  Poach eggs.  To poach the eggs, make sure the water is hot but not boiling so the yolk and whites will stay together.  Place the ham and poached egg on top of the toasted muffin and pour sauce on top. 

Cost:

7 eggs: $1.16
Lemon: $0.33
Butter: $0.50
Ham: $1.14
Muffins: $1.50
Total: $4.63
Per serving: $2.32

Changes:

Restaurants have a large number of varieties, our favorite additions are asparagus and crab.

Banana Nut Bread

Banana Nut Bread

Greer has always been a big fan of baking and loves banana nut bread.  This was going to be somewhat of a challenge since Brandon typically doesn't like breads with nuts included. Luckily, the walnuts were chopped up enough that he still enjoyed it. This recipe is based from a recipe I found on Epicurious.com. http://epi.us/GOr7mM.

The ingredients are for one loaf, but we did make two so one could be given to friends.




Ingredients:

2/3 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (normal flour can be substitued)

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 medium bananas (very ripe)

3 oz walnuts,chopped finely (1 cup)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9- by 5- inch loaf pan or use a nonstick pan. Mix together milk and lemon juice and let stand until milk curdles, about 2 minutes. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. In an additonal bowl, beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, beating until combined, then beating bananas until combined. (Mixture will look curdled.) Add flour mixture and milk mixtures to the banana mixture, mixing at low speed until smooth. Stir in walnuts. Pour mixture into the loaf pan and bake until a knife comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool bread in pan for about 20 minutes, then invert the bread onto a rack and let cool completely.

Cost:
Bananas- $0.90
Cake Flour- $0.99
Walnuts - $2.50
Milk- $0.50

On Hand (baking powder, salt, baking soda, sugar, eggs, butter)-   $1.00          
Total: $5.89 per loaf                             

We kept this in the fridge, and were able to enjoy it over the course of the past week.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Greer spent many Saturday mornings growing up eating cloud cakes with her dad at the Dream Café, and this recipe is based on those pancakes.  We still enjoy going to the Dream Café occasionally, but these are great for a lazy Saturday breakfast with a big mug of coffee.  These are really quick to make, and makes plenty for the two of us.  Makes 8-10 pancakes.  

Ingredients:

1 c flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 c milk
Zest of 1 lemon
1/3 c ricotta cheese
2 teaspoons fresh dill, finely chopped

Directions:

Mix flour, baking soda, salt, egg, lemon zest and dill together until batter is smooth.  Fold in ricotta cheese.  Pour ¼ cup batter onto a heated skillet and cook until golden brown, flip once.

Cost:

1 egg $0.20
1 c milk $0.75
Zest of 1 lemon $0.33
1/3 c ricotta cheese $1.98
2 teaspoons fresh dill, finely chopped $0.15
On hand (flour, baking soda, salt): $0.50
Total: $3.91
Per Pancake: $0.39-$0.49

These really don’t keep very well, so eat up.