a study in breakfasts

In Spain (every day)

 

Toast with coffee and milk

In the U.S. (Christmas Day)

Maple smoked bacon, spinach and caramelized onion quiche, bread machine cinnamon rolls, hot chocolate.

Hehe. Yum.

what i'm eating right now

Definitely NOT the greatest picture - I wanted to snap a quick photo of it before eating because I'm running tight on time today, so I used my phone.

Today's breakfast: sliced kiwi, cranberry English muffins (my favorite!  Price Chopper had them on sale from the holiday stock), blueberry acai YoPlus, and chocolate milk.  Yum!

And yes, I'm eating in bed :-P.

lazy sunday afternoon brunch

My favorite way to spend a Sunday morning:  wake up around 9-10am, check email/blogs/ims while lazing under heated blanket, watch some TV (Bravo usually has some kind of marathon of crappy shows I'm addicted to!), then think about making breakfast/brunch around 12pm.

Airborne (wooo staving off colds), coffee, plain yogurt w/honey and bananas, toast with apricot jam and SmartBalance, and omelette with sauteed tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini.  Yummm!

new year's spread

  Chris and I decided to spend a quite New Year's Eve in at the apartment.  Good thing we didn't make any plans that didn't involve lounging around and making food - we got snowed in!  Happy (late!) 2009 :).

Blueberry waffles, and banana white chocolate chip waffles. Mmmm.  Plus some bacon (YUM), cherries (still not as good as the Washington ones, but pretty good!), and coffee made with my new stovetop percolator and espresso cups from Nina!  Plates from an old woman's closet at a craft fair Heather and I went to a few weeks before Christmas.

Yum.

Making Ham and Cheese Scones (recipe coming this weekend!), and to the right, fresh spinach artichoke dip.  I use this recipe for the dip, and usually replace all/part of the mayo with ranch dressing (I usually don't have mayo in the house).

Everything on the coffee table!  We also had olive oil + spices for bread dipping, and the Scharffenberger brownies. If you're wondering what Chris is doing...our couch ate the TV remote :(. 

Happy (sleepy!!) 2009!

pancake paradise

After the series of ice storms at the end of the semester, we were lucky enough not to lose power, unlike the other half of the city.  Over the course of the weekend a few friends ended up staying over because they didn't have power, and on Sunday morning Heather and I made pancakes for a bunch of our friends.  There's no better way to spend a Sunday than with friends and breakfast foods! :D

 

(This is how I know we go to a tech school.......)

We used Joy the Baker's Oatmeal Raspberry Pancakes recipe, with a few substitutions.  I had no buttermilk, so in place of that I used a mix of plain yogurt and regular milk.  I also doubled the recipe, and used instant oats (the recipe doesn't specify), and it turned out great!  I love pancake recipes because they're so flexible - almost all of the non-pantry ingredients (like milk, eggs, buttermilk) can be substituted with whatever you have in the fridge.  It's so easy!

My friend Jeremy took over the reins in pancake-making during the second round.  He claimed he never did this before, but take a look at some of the pancakes he made! ;)  He had it down to a science, forming the shapes piece by piece so the layers cooked in order, and taking requests from the crowd.  So cool!

Skull and crossbones

 

Flipping the dragon...

...and here it is!  I need to learn how to do this stuff ;)

  

I may have had a 30 page paper hanging over my head that day, but for me it was one of the most memorable ways to end the semester.  :)

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Oatmeal Raspberry Pancake recipe here, from Joy the Baker.

my meals today, since i didn't get anything else done!

Although I did shrink wrap my window this afternoon...

Breakfast

 

Lunch (Trader Joe's Brown Rice California Sushi, toasted English muffin with cheese, clementine/grapefruit/mango fruit salad with fig balsamic vinegar)

 

Dinner (Turkey soup/stew with wild rice, recipe coming soon!)

my latest and greatest favorite breakfast!

1/3 cup Bob's Red Mill Spice N' Nice Hot Cereal

1 cup milk

1 tbsp butter

2-3 tbsp packed brown sugar

 

Heat milk in saucepan until just starting to bubble.  Add hot cereal and butter, cooking until absorbed to your liking (for me, after about 6-7 minutes I'm happy with it).  Stir in brown sugar, and eat!

 

Yum.

omelette omelette omelette

I've been attempting to write this post about omelettes for about two weeks, but something's just not clicking.  So without further ado, I give you...omelettes for dinner!

 

Saute some onions in butter until they are almost caramelized, then throw in tomatoes, ham, and spinach leaves.  Then sprinkle the cooking eggs with cheese and fold over the filling mixture.

 

This one was made with feta cheese, ham, and arugula leftover from a Trader Joe's trip when visiting my sister.  I wasn't as much of a fan of the arugula in this omelette - I found it tasted much better in a whole wheat pita with feta cheese, maple champagne mustard, and ham.

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Basic Omelette Recipe

makes one omelette

Heat up a small skillet with 1 tablespoon of butter on medium heat.

Once the butter is melted, crack 2 eggs into the pan and beat with a fork until smooth.  At this point, to make a fluffier omelette, add about 2 tsp of milk to the eggs.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper.

When the eggs begin to bubble on the surface, and the edges of the omelette are dry, flip with a spatula.  Add desired omelette ingredients on top of the omelette.  Cook for a few minutes more, then fold the omelette in half with the spatula and let cheese melt.  Enjoy!

sanity, please?

In the midst of all this.....

 

This is how I cope...

yum

I love when I'm getting ready to make breakfast, and accidentally put together something really delicious.  This time it was Archer Farms Organic Flax Seed Waffles (picked up at Target a few weeks ago on clearance!), with Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter, All Natural Peanut Butter, a banana, and (not so good) day old coffee.

 

I wish I had a picture!  But it all disappeared too fast..oops!

a weekend in québec city

 

 

 

 

and of course.....