Quiche Lorraine

If you saw my last post, then you know I made 

this quiche for New Years Day breakfast.

And while I wouldn't recommend getting up early while possibly hungover

to cook bacon, make and roll out dough, and whip up some eggs,

the recipe was pretty easy and turned out beautifully

with a flakey crust, and a light texture.

Quiche Lorraine

from Betty Crocker

Crust:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening

2-3 tablespoons cold water

Filling:

4 large eggs

2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup crumbled bacon (about 8 pieces)

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 cup (4 oz) shredded swiss cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

For the Crust:

Whisk together flour and salt.  Cut in the shortening until dough resembles small peas, using a pastry blender or two knives.  Add the water one spoonful at a time and combine, just until the dough sticks together.  Gather it into a ball, flatten it into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 45 minutes.

When ready, roll out the crust to fit a 9-inch pie dish with enough for a 1 inch overhang.  Place the pastry in the pie dish and press down firmly.  Fold under the overhanging edge and flute as desired.  Line the crust with foil or parchment paper and weight down with dry beans or pie weights.  Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.  Carefully remove foil and bake for another 2 minutes.  Remove and turn oven down to 325.

For the Filling:

Sprinkle the bacon, cheese, and onions into the baked crust.

Whisk the eggs and cream together.  Add salt, pepper, and cayenne.  Pour into pie crust (careful not to overflow).  Bake for 45-50 minutes until a knife in the center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

The bacon and whipping cream may  not make this a New Years diet-friendly recipe,

but I highly suggest you bend the rules a bit for a weekend breakfast

Enjoy!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

For my last day of work a couple weeks ago

I decided to make a coffee cake for my coworkers.

I found this recipe on one of my favorite baking sites

The Joy of Baking

and spent the previous afternoon baking away.

The cake turned out beautifully.

It was the perfect mix of cake, blueberries, and streusel topping.

Unfortunately, I left it on the kitchen counter 

as I ran out of the apartment that morning.

Oops.

So my husband's coworkers got to enjoy it instead.

The cake makes a great breakfast treat,

as long as you remember to bring it with you!

Enjoy!

Sunday Buttermilk Pancakes

Sunday mornings are one of my favorite parts of the weekend.

And there's no better way to enjoy an Sunday morning than having a yummy breakfast on our balcony.

A few weeks back I made some biscuits and had some leftover buttermilk in our fridge.
And I hate letting things go to waste.
So I did my obligatory google search, and found this recipe from Joy of Baking.
The Joy of Baking is one of my go-to sites for baking recipes -
They have an extensive list of recipes which always turn out beautifully,
and this was no exception.

These pancakes are super easy to make and came out so fluffy.
SO much better than boxed mixes, and only a few more steps.
I highly recommend these if you have some buttermilk.
And if you don't, you can make your own by putting 1 Tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice in a measuring cup and adding enough milk to equal 1 cup.
You learn something new every day, right?!

Buttermilk Pancakes
from Joy of Baking

1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons white sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup buttermilk
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
extra butter for greasing the pan

Heat oven to 200 to keep pancakes warm.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, buttermilk, and melted butter.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.  Pour in the egg mixture and stir until just combined.  Don't overmix - the batter will have some small lumps.

Heat a frying pan or griddle over med high heat.  A few sprinkles of water should sizzle when the pan is ready.  Lightly butter or oil the pan.  Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan.  When the bottom of the pancake is brown and the top is covered with bubbles, flip the pancake over.  Repeat with remaining batter.  Keep the finished pancakes warm in the oven.

Serve with maple syrup and enjoy!

Cheeto always hopes to catch some extra pieces, but he was out of luck this time!

Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins

We are going camping tonight by the Kern River.

Near Bakersfield,

in the middle of nowhere,

so we can go river rafting on Sunday morning.

Woo hoo!

Since we have to check into the rafting place at 7:45am

I knew we'd need some quick and easy breakfast options

because there is no way I'm waking up any earlier than I have to on a weekend.

So I looked up a few blueberry muffin recipes

and settled on this one at Epicurious.

Mainly because it had the fewest number of steps

and I already had everything needed.

And it included cinnamon.  Yum.

They turned out soooo good, 

Bursting with blueberries.

And super easy.

You just need a spoon, a whisk, and two bowls.

Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins - from Epicurious

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 400.

Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together butter, brown sugar, milk, and egg in bowl.

Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.

Add milk mixture to flour and stir until just combined.

Fold in blueberries gently

Spoon into muffin cups.

Bake about 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

And wish me luck that I don't fall out of the raft and get washed away!

Weekend Breakfast - French Toast

French toast has been one of my favorite weekend breakfasts ever since I learned how to make it in high school.  I've always used a very basic recipe - bread, egg, milk - and honestly never put much thought into changing it.  Until I recently ran across several different recipes while looking for something to make for Mother's Day.  Recipes that called for cinnamon, brown sugar, lemon, and good crusty french bread.  After seeing these I knew I had to kick my french toast up a notch.

I liked the sound of this Lemon Brioche French Toast from The Kitchn, but felt it was too much for just the hubby and I.  So I moved on to this French Toast recipe from America's Test Kitchen.  It looked perfect.

I bought a loaf of French bread from the store and sliced it into thick slices.

Don't they kinda look like bunny rabbits?

Then I soaked them in a mixture of milk, eggs, butter, salt, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. 

Next, I heated up my griddle pan, melted some butter on top, and threw the bread on for 4-5 minutes on each side.

Until they were nice and toasty brown on both sides.

When the toast is done, I smothered it with some more butter and poured syrup on top.  And Oh. My. God.  This was the best French toast I've ever had.  It was sweet and cinnamony, but not overly so.  And the thick bread soaked up the syrup nicely. 

 

I think this recipe forever changed the way I'll make French toast.  And it's a perfect way to surprise your sweetie with breakfast on Saturday.  Maybe in bed?  Just don't spill the syrup!

Enjoy!

Sunday Breakfast

Sunday morning.  

I had eggs. 

I had bread.  

I had an idea to make Eggs in a Basket.  

So I looked up this recipe on The Pioneer Woman site 

and in about 5 minutes had breakfast ready. 

Here's how it went:

Cut a hole in the middle of your bread

I used a heart shape cookie cutter since it was our 6 month anniversary

Melt some butter in a pan

Toss the bread in 

(I also buttered the bread in hopes it would brown up nicely

...and because I love butter!)

Pour the egg in the middle

Season with salt & pepper

Let it cook a minute or so until it sets up

Carefully flip it over and cook another couple minutes

This was a little tricky to not splatter the egg all over the place

Season with more salt & pepper

Cook until the yolk is still soft but not totally jiggly

The egg below is overcooked, with a hard yolk. 

Oops.

But still tasty.