winter citrus fruit salad

February and I haven't always been on the best of terms. Grey short days with lots of rain don't do much to raise the spirits. This February (& throw in January too) has been nothing short of spectacular. Sunny, warm weather, cherry trees in bloom and snowdrops and crocuses in full colour. February, I'm starting to change my mind about you! Sure, there's a little thing called the Winter Olympics going on in our city as well and while this warm weather isn't boding well for the snow sports, it's sure making everyone smile a whole lot more.

Another thing that has been putting a grin on my face is this fruit salad. Normally, I'm not one to dive head first into the fruit salad bowl. I tend to be fruit-picky and shy away from things like pears and melons and other awful things that tend to overcrowd most fruit bowls. But if I'm making a fruit salad at home, it's going to play by my rules. So this salad uses up the best of winter fruits like blood oranges, grapefruits and Honeycrisp apples and it's perfect. Normally, I'd throw in a qualifier like "this winter fruit salad is perfect for me", but I made this for my friend and my husband (who readily admits that he isn't a fan of grapefruit), and it received rave reviews. So there, keep your melons to yourself.

In town for the Olympics, a soon-to-be tourist or a Vancouver native? Check out my top picks on where to grab a tasty & affordable bite over at ReadyMade. Got your own picks? Leave me a comment.

winter citrus fruit salad
2 pink grapefruits
2 blood oranges
1 Honeycrisp apple (or sub in another apple of your choice)
1 lime, juiced and zested
2 heaping T of sugar

With a sharp knife, remove the rind and pith of the grapefruits and oranges and cut them into rounds. Cut into quarters, removing any thick segmenty bits if necessary. Cut the apple into a bite-sized dice and throw them all into a medium sized serving bowl. Add the sugar and lime juice over top and give everything a good stir so that the sugar melts into the salad. Sprinkle with lime zest and serve. This salad also keeps nicely for a few days in the fridge.

better than from a bakery granola

I love granola for breakfast. Not only do I make it quite frequently, but I do often order it when going out for breakfast. I'm a bit of a granola snob and I definitely know what I like. This granola found in Baked: New Frontiers in Baking cookbook is great. Like really, really great.

Look at it, this granola has clusters! Every granola I have made, while delicious & wholesome, doesn't have the goodness that makes them clump up like the granola found at a great bakery. Look no further. This granola clumps, it's crunchy and it's easy to make. Sure, there's a bit more sugar than I'm used to putting in my granola, but it's worth the extra calories. Do it for the clumps!

Want to make your friends, co-workers and family really happy this holiday? Just bake up a batch, throw it in a large glass jar, top it with a bow, and call it a homemade gift made with love. Better yet, bake up a double batch (I've done it and it works beautifully) so you have some for yourself and a friend. Guaranteed happiness.

better than from a bakery granola
(adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)
2 c organic large-flake rolled oats
1 t cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 t salt
3 T plus 1 t canola oil
1/4 c honey
1/4 c firmly packed light brown sugar
1 t pure vanilla extract
2/3 c whole almonds
2/3 c raisins

Preheat oven to 325 F. In a large bowl, toss oats with cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla until blended. Pour the wet mixture in with the dry and use your hands to combine the two until everything is well coated and your hands are gooey. Lick them if you must, but wash your hands right after.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and pour the mixture over top. Spread it out evenly, but also keep in mind clumping is a good, good thing. Bake for 10 minutes and then use a spatula to gently flip the granola over. Sprinkle with almonds and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Add raisins and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan. Use your hands to break up the granola...but again, don't go overboard (remember the clumps!). Place in a tightly lidded container.

light & fluffy pancakes with maple apples

This past weekend, Cornelius wanted to go out for pancakes. I wavered. There's a diner in our neighbourhood that used to have the very best pancakes and good service, but the last couple times the service really was terrible and the pancakes weren't up to their usual par. So I put my foot down and make pancakes at home. It turned out to be a great option. The pancakes were light and fluffy and the apples simmered in maple syrup that topped the pancakes was liquid gold. They were perfect and they beat out the pancakes from the local diner hands down.

light & fluffy pancakes with maple apples
(recipe adapted from Bon Appetit)

maple syrup apples
2 T unsalted butter
2 large tart apples, like Bramley Seedings, cored and sliced
1 t ground cinnamon
1 T plus 1/3 c pure maple syrup

pancakes
1 c all purpose flour
2 T yellow cornmeal
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c buttermilk
1 c plain yogurt
1 t vanilla
1 large egg
1 1/2 T unsalted butter, melted

For maple syrup apples:
Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add apples, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and saute for a few minutes until soft. Add remaining syrup and stir until warm. Set aside.

For pancakes:
Combine first 5 ingredients in large bowl and whisk until blended. In another bowl, blend together buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla, and egg. Add wet to dry ingredients and stir until just blended but still lumpy. Gently mix in the melted butter.

In a large pan, melt a bit of butter or oil over med-high heat and drop in a large spoonful of batter. When bubbles appear on the surface, flip. When the underside is golden, remove and repeat process. Spoon maple apples over pancakes and serve.

apple cinnamon biscuits

Wake up to these babies. They are light, fluffy and perfect - and chock full of apples and spice. They taste like autumn, especially when eaten with an apple-cranberry-rosemary sauce. Or apple butter. Or smeared with cherry jam. Even plain, these biscuits are the bomb. Get the hot little recipe over at Poppytalk.

pear & ginger vegan scone

I make scones quite often on the weekends. It's a nice diversion from oatmeal or granola and it makes the house smell like a bakery which is as close the the heavenly ideal as I can get. This Saturday morning, I had scones on the brain and a few Asian pears from our CSA that I needed to use up. Now pears and me have a long history and to put it mildly, I hate them. Growing up we had 2 large and bountiful pear trees and either everyone in our family (but me) was snacking on them out of hand or my mom was in the kitchen baking up pear crisps like they were going out of style. We even had such an overflow of the fruit, that my dad suggested that my brother and I went around to the neighbours selling pears door to door. It was a humiliating experience.

I don't look to kindly to pears and I wasn't happy about receiving them in my CSA. But I hate ignoring something until it goes bad, so I decided that I could dice them up (nixing their mealy texture) and their inherent (gag-inducing) sweetness would bring only goodness to a scone, right? Indeed.

To put it gently, these scones rocked. I was a bit worried that not only was using pears, but that that I didn't have any eggs. But I plowed through and tweaked my usual recipe with pretty spectacular results. They didn't puff up like my usual scones, but otherwise, I couldn't tell a difference. And the pear? It worked beautifully with the ginger and cardamom. And just my luck, we received even more Asian pears in this week's CSA. Looks like there's going to be another Saturday morning scone in our future!

pear & ginger vegan scone
2 c flour
3 t baking powder
1 T sugar
1/4 t ground cardamom
1/4 c Earth Balance margarine*
2 asian pears, diced
3 T diced candied ginger
1 T vanilla extract
3/4 c non-dairy milk (I used almond) + 1 T for topping
2 T raw or demerara sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 400F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and sugar. Cut in the margarine and blend it into the flour so that it resembles oats. Stir in pears and ginger. Add the vanilla to the milk and pour into flour mixture. Use a wooden spoon to combine and then knead the mixture 4 or 5 times with your hands until it comes together.

Place dough onto parchment paper and pat into a round shape. Cut into 8 triangles, like a pie and place parchment paper and scones onto a cookie sheet. Brush with remaining tablespoon of milk and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops of the scones are golden. Serve warm with your favorite jam or a smear of buttery spread.

*Please note that if you do choose to make these with unsalted butter instead of Earth Balance, please throw in 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I find most vegan margarines too salty and got rid of the salt for this version.

make this now: tomato & corn biscuit pie

Three weeks vacation is a long vacation and we loved every moment of it. Well, maybe not getting bit by mosquitoes. If I'm thankful for anything about living in expensive Vancouver, I'm very thankful that there are no mosquitoes. Being bug-free, especially when camping for two out of three weeks, would have been miraculous. Highlights included driving the side roads in Quebec along the St. Lawrence, getting our feet mucky in the Bay of Fundy, driving the breath-takingly gorgeous Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, the fairy-tale village of Peggy's Cove, picking up shells off the red sanded beaches of PEI, and visiting the strangely deserted but beautiful city of St. John, NB.

I also fell in love with Montreal. Fell hard...and not just because of the poutine. It was exciting, relaxed, and perfect and I'm almost ready to pack my bags and relocate. French, do I really need to be that fluent? Honestly, it doesn't seem so! I also loved the Vermont town of Montpelier. It was beautiful and had everything I could want in a small town...except that it's not Canada. And as my friend Jason in Montreal beautifully put it, as long as you are in Canada, you are home.

Oh, and the food! We ate some pretty wonderful meals and I even managed to discover a love of cucumbers, peaches, plums and I even tried scallops for the first time (but definitely not the last). And while it was fun trying new foods, eating at new restaurants and beach-side shacks, it also feels good to be in my own kitchen. The first real meal I cooked when I returned was this pie. I had seen the recipe in my August copy of Gourmet magazine and it just looked perfect. Comforting and homey yet full of seasonal, fresh ingredients. It was the perfect meal to come home to.


The beauty of this recipe is that it takes all the complicated pie-making stuff and throws it out the window. Instead of a tricky pie crust, this one uses biscuit dough which is so much easier to roll out into a round-ish shape. If I had some zucchini, I'd even toss in a layer of that for a pretty green, red and yellow pie. It seems like a forgiving dish. And it's the perfect thing to make on a weeknight and it's good enough to serve to guests for brunch. If you aren't in your kitchen now cutting up your fragrant garden tomatoes or gently stirring up a batch of biscuits, you are clearly in the wrong. This meal must be made. Now. Get to it, I'll be waiting.

tomato & corn biscuit pie
(liberally adapted from Gourmet)
1 recipe of your favorite biscuit dough (minus the dill, onion & cheddar - but add some 1 t fresh oregano if you wish)
2 T mayonnaise
zest of 1 lemon
juice from 1/2 lemon
4-5 med-large tomatoes, deseeded & sliced
2 tablespoons finely chopped basil
2-4 fat green onions (about 1/2 c), sliced
1 c corn (freshly de-cobbed or frozen)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
a pinch or two of kosher salt
1/4 c old cheddar cheese, shredded
egg wash, milk or melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix up your biscuit dough and divide the dough in half. Roll out one ball of dough into a circular shape and line it into a pie plate.

2. In the meantime, mix together the mayo with the lemon zest and juice and set aside.

3. Layer in half of the tomatoes to line the bottom and sprinkle with half of the fresh basil. Grind some black pepper over it all and a small pinch of kosher salt. Add half the corn and half the green onions and drizzle over half of the mayo mixture. Repeat. Sprinkle the top of the pie with cheddar cheese.

4. Roll out the remaining ball of dough and top the pie with it. Seal the edges and make it look pretty like Martha would (or be like me, cross your fingers and just try your best). Cut in a few vents to let the steam escape and brush the top with a bit of egg wash, milk or melted butter. Put in the oven to bake for about 30 minutes until the filling is bubbling and the top is golden. Remove from oven and serve.

strawberry muffins topped with cinnamon sugar

My freezer is full of berries from our berry picking adventures of last summer. Despite how much I seem to add to smoothies or baked goods, it's taking a while for the stash to disappear. Not that I'm complaining much, but soon enough there will be more berry picking to come and I kinda want my freezer space back.

These muffins are light and cakey and would make a perfect item for a lazy weekend brunch. Quick to put together and very delicious, they helped to make a tiny a dent into my strawberry stash. With a strong cup of coffee and half a grapefruit, these muffins made my weekday breakfast into something really special.

As Easter weekend is coming up (uh, starts tomorrow!), here's a few brunch ideas from my archives that might get you baking!

Hot cross buns with cinnamon icing
Ham & cheese spoon bread
Feather light drop biscuits
Bill's coconut bread
Breakfast pizza
Apple crumb coffee cake
Orange crumb cake
Blackberry muffins with crumble topping
Raspberry drop scones
Berry smash muffins

Elsewhere, visit Under the Highchair for more Easter brunch ideas, Coconut & Lime's ham & dill deviled eggs, Hungry Bruno's savory cilantro cake or this fantastic looking lime coconut cake from Pinch my Salt. Enjoy the long holiday weekend!

strawberry muffins topped with cinnamon sugar
(recipe adapted from Eggs on Sunday)
2 c all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1 t ground cinnamon
2/3 c sugar
zest of 1 orange
2 eggs
1 c yogurt
1 t vanilla
6 T unsalted butter, melted
1 c diced strawberries (frozen is fine)
cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease muffin tins or use paper liners. In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices together. In a small bowl, mix together the zest and sugar with your hands until fragrant.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and zest until fragrant. Add in the eggs, yogurt, butter and vanilla and beat until creamy. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until a batter forms. Do not over mix. Gently fold in the strawberries until evenly distributed.

3. Add batter to prepared muffin tins, filling each cup to 3/4 full. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake for about 20 minutes or until cake tester comes clean and the tops are lightly golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

get your egg cred here: apple cheddar omelette

Look at that photo! I made this breakfast a few weeks ago and when I look back to this photo, I think, damn, I've got some serious style here! Sure, I can make a mean oatmeal or scone but the eggs that come out of my kitchen aren't that photogenic. But now, I'm a believer. I gots skillz. Or maybe it's just that I bought a fancy (but inexpensive) Benriner Japanese Mandolin Slicer. Whatever it is, I feel like a pro.

The idea for the apple omelette comes from Crave, a local Vancouver restaurant. I've been there twice for brunch and both times I had their omelette with goat cheese and apples. It was some serious love at first bite but I never tried to recreate it until I had my hands on the mandoline. If you don't have a mandoline, fear not, just use very thin slices of apples instead or julienne it with a knife. I used cheddar since it's what I had on hand and it was delicious...but using goat cheese will create some serious love. I also had a bit of prosciutto and added it in, but you could skip it if you wanted to keep things vegetarian. This weekend, try something different and put your autumn apples to good use. And why not wander over to the Food Network Canada blog, Eating Well and read my post on Seed Saving at the UBC Farm.

apple cheddar omelette
4 eggs
2 T milk
1 T olive oil or butter
salt & pepper
1/2 c grated cheddar cheese
2 T diced prosciutto
1 Granny Smith apple, julienned

Add butter or olive oil into a large cast iron pan and toss in the diced prosciutto, letting it get crispy. Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, milk and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly pour the egg mixture over the prosciutto and into the hot pan, tilting to spread the eggs evenly. Let eggs firm up a little, sloshing the mixture away from the sides and into the middle. Use your spatula to allow the remaining liquid to then flow into the undersides of the cooked eggs while still keeping the egg mixture even.

Continue to cook for another minute or so until the egg mixture holds together. While the middle is still a little runny, add grated cheese and then top with the julienned apples. Fold the omelette in half with your spatula. Cut in half and serve on a plate. Use any reserved matchstick apples as garnish. Serve with buttered toast and coffee while trying not to get a big head cuz dammit you just made a pretty spectacular omelette!

brown rice & broccoli cheddar pie

Last week, I had phone meetings, deadlines and trying to find time for breakfast was a bit much. Now, normally, I'm totally a breakfast kind of girl so skipping it is a bit usual. But when 12 noon arrived, and I had a break in my schedule, I was more than ready for some food. So I whipped up this pie/quiche kind of thing using leftover brown rice and the remaining broccoli from the previous night's meal.

The resulting meal was quick and tasty. I wasn't sure if the brown rice crust would actually hold up as crust, but it worked surprisingly well! The cheesy-eggy topping studded with broccoli made for a pretty comforting spread...just the thing for someone who hadn't had anything (but coffee) all morning! Served with a green salad and a topped with some fresh salsa, it made for a perfect midday break. Not a bad way to use up leftovers at all!


brown rice & broccoli cheddar pie
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red onion, minced
salt & pepper
a couple dashes of hot sauce
2 c leftover brown rice
1/2 head of broccoli, cut into florets and stems chopped
6 eggs, beaten
2 T milk
1 t chili powder
1/2 t dried basil
3/4 c grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet (or any other oven-proof pan) and add garlic and onions, sauteing until soft. Add in rice and stir until heated and slightly toasted. Season with hot sauce and salt and pepper, stirring to combine. Flatten rice to the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and set aside.

Steam broccoli and remove from heat when the florets are bright green and semi-crisp. Drain and layer on top of rice. Beat eggs with milk, chili powder and basil. Pour over broccoli/rice and then sprinkle with grated cheese. Put in oven for 5 minutes on the centre rack. Put skillet in broiler and broil for 2-3 minutes until the cheese turns bubbly and slightly brown. Remove from oven and cut into wedges. Top with salsa and serve with a tangy green salad.

waste not, want not: beet greens & fried potatoes topped with a poached egg

It's a real shame that people don't eat beet greens. When I was talking to my dad last weekend and I prepared him Swiss Chard for the first time (which he loved), I told him that the chard was very similar in taste to beet greens. "Beet greens?", He said, "I just throw those out at the supermarket!" What a waste. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret....beet greens are delicious. Really.

I made this meal after a trip to the green grocer. I bought two bunches of fresh local beets and I used the beets to make a tangy salad. I wasn't sure what I'd do with the greens, but when dinner reared it's head a couple days later, I pulled the greens out of the crisper along with a couple of potatoes and decided to fry the two together. The idea for the poached eggs came moments later when the beet greens shrunk considerably while sauteing, leaving the meal less hearty than I had hoped for. The eggs were a good call, making the meal an ideal rustic home-style dinner that would work equally well for a brunch.

I used proscuitto in this recipe, but you could easily leave it out for a vegetarian dish or sub in some salty feta instead for a nice bite. I've made beet greens before and I'll make them again. Hopefully you will too.

beet greens & fried potatoes topped with poached eggs
2 large potatoes
1-2 T olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 slices of proscuitto, diced
1 large bunch of beet greens, rinsed thoroughly & roughly chopped
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 T fresh rosemary
2 T fresh parsley
salt & pepper
4 poached eggs

Boil potatoes until tender. Slice into rounds and set aside. Heat olive oil in a large skillet and saute garlic, onions, and proscuitto add in sliced potatoes and fry until golden on both sides.

Boil water in a medium sized pot and start poaching your eggs. Meanwhile, move potatoes to one side of the pan and add in beet greens, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. When beet greens get wilty, about 2 minutes or so, toss with fresh rosemary and parsley and stir around the potatoes into the mix. Divide mixture onto 2 plates and top with poached eggs.

100 breakfast proof: pina colada fruit salad

Pineapples are one of my favorite fruits. I love them plain, grilled or shoved into a burger. It doesn't take much to transform the pineapple into something special. When we were couch-surfing in Utrecht last September, our hosts had served pineapple tossed with fresh mint. That's it. It was a very memorable end to a great evening.

This morning I had a small pineapple that I had found on special for 99 cents in Chinatown. I also had some strawberries that were a little past their prime. So I cut them up and created a boozy syrup out of rum and honey and vanilla. A little shredded coconut sprinkled about and it was perfect! It lifted what could have been a ho-hum fruit salad into the realm of fancy pants-ness. The heady scent of rum, vanilla and coconut is seriously intoxicating without being down-right boozy. It definitely made my Monday morning, but it's more suited for a light summer dessert or weekend brunch item. This would be great with waffles, scones or pancakes or tossed with a bit of fresh mint or, oooh, even pistachios! Imagine the pineapple possibilities.

pina colada fruit salad
1 small pineapple, diced
1 basket of strawberries, sliced
3 T unsweetened angel flaked coconut
3 T honey
4 T amber rum (I used my favorite Appleton Estate from Jamaica)
1 t vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whisk together honey, rum and vanilla. Add fruit and coconut and toss. Serve in small bowls.

Want more pineapple recipes? Dig into my archives:
African yam & peanut soup
Ginger pineapple chicken
Jerk chicken pineapple skewers
Pineapple baked beans
Pineapple-coconut vegetable curry
Strawberry-pineapple popsicles

build me up, buttercup: the best french toast ever

It's been one of those crazy weeks. Work has pretty much swallowed me up whole and there's not much left of me for anything else. Not that I'm complaining because the work I'm doing is fun and exciting and I'm using all my skills and honing them into lean, mean machines. Which brings me to this post. French toast. I've been making it for years. As a kid, I would help my mom make it and when I got a little older, I took over the task. It's simple breakfast that almost seems too simple (which is probably why I've never posted a recipe for it here on this blog). I didn't think I had anything to learn about french toast.

I was wrong.


This Saturday morning french toast was on the agenda*, but I decided to go about things a bit differently. First off, I had some really, really wonderful day-old sourdough bread that I purchased from a little shop 3 blocks away. A sliced it up thick but instead of doing the same ol' dip and dunk into the egg mixture, I decided that this thick bread really deserved a good soaking. Once it had it's luxurious egg bath, I fried it up as usual, but decided to take extra care that it was cooked through by plopping the whole shebang onto a cookie tray and into the oven for a bit of solid heating. Little did I know that baking had the effect of puffing up the toast into wondrous bites of deliciousness hereby unknown to me! How could french toast — which has long been a breakfast staple, suddenly blossom into this sophisticated dish? Whatever happened, I can now call this the best french toast I have ever had the pleasure of eating. It's sweet and fragrant with cinnamon and vanilla and the smells coming from your oven will rouse the most sleepiest head. Divine!


thick cinnamon french toast (aka the best french toast ever)
1 small day-old sourdough loaf , sliced 1" thick
5 eggs
2 c skim milk
1 T vanilla
1 t cinnamon
1/4 c brown sugar
unsalted butter

Place sliced bread in a large baking tray. In a large bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients (not the butter!) until foamy. Gently pour egg mixture over the bread and let sit for 15 minutes. Turn bread over and let sit for another 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. In a large skillet, melt 2 T of butter. Working in batches, add bread to skillet and cook until golden on both sides — about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to baking sheet and bake until french toast is slightly puffed and golden, about 15 minutes. Serve with maple syrup or fresh berries.

* Uh, I don't have a breakfast agenda...but wouldn't it be wonderful if I did? Mmmmm.

a blanket of richness: ham and cheese spoonbread

This past week, I spent a lot of time opening and closing cupboards in the hopes that something would grab my attention. I was trying to eek out a couple of meals out of my barren cupboards and I wanted something to take the chill out of this winter weather. My cards were selling like hotcakes because of a certain February holiday and a recent mention on the blog, Mighty Goods, plus my own busy work schedule didn't leave a whole lot of time for grocery shopping. I ended up eating a lot out of cupboards, including making polenta more than once since I seemed to have a huge stockpile of cornmeal hidden away in vintage glass jars.


A few years ago, I made this polenta casserole, which was delicious, but sometimes my polenta experiments are a bit bland and less than ideal. But this time 'round, I struck gold and discovered my new favorite cornmeal-based recipe: spoonbread. Spoonbread is very much like polenta only way, way better. It's light and fluffy because of the added egg and it could easily resemble a fancy souffle but without any of the fuss. This recipe is stuffed to the gullet with cheese (which is never a bad thing in my books) and I like to think of it as a soft and savoury corn pudding...comfort through and through. The added spices add a nice bite too.

This meal could easily be eaten for breakfast or brunch but we ate it for lunch (and again at dinner) with some sauteed rapini. The richness of this dish kind of calls out for something sharp and bitter but it's also really yummy on it's own, kinda like watching a few episodes of Friday Night Lights (I'm halfway through season 1) wrapped in an afghan. A guilty pleasure, maybe, but totally comforting and oh so worth it.

ham n' cheese spoonbread
I used a mixture of fontina and asiago since that is what I had on hand, but either would work well. A strong cheese is essential here to combat the dreaded blandness.
2 c water
1 c milk
2 T butter
1 t salt
1/2 t smoked paprika
1/2 t sweet paprika
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/8 t nutmeg
3/4 c cornmeal
1 c ham, cubed
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c grated fontina or asiago cheese
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese

In a large pot, mix the water, milk, butter and spices and bring to a boil. Gradually whisk in the cornmeal. It will bubble and pop and get thick. Once it gets nice and thick, remove from heat and stir in the ham, cheese (reserve 1/2 the parmesan for the next step) and egg. Oil up a baking dish and pour in the cornmeal mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan cheese and bake in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes or until the dish gets a bit brown on top. Remove and dig in.

the contessa's voluptuous breakfast: orange yogurt

A couple of weeks ago, I had company for brunch and I wracked my brain trying to figure out what to make. After consulting recipe books and perusing my blogroll, I decided to keep things familiar. I made some almond & cherry scones, whipped out my apple butter, put out my huge glass jar of homemade granola and I fancified some yogurt. You see, last year (when I had cable tv), I saw the Barefoot Contessa make a fancy brunch for her fancy friends in her fancy kitchen. I was impressed. But I was most impressed by her tricked out orange yogurt. It seemed so easy....drain store-bought yogurt overnight and then throw in some add-ins. She transformed a runny breakfast stand-by into something voluptuous, decadent and still healthy.

So the night before my morning guest was to arrive, I set up my coffee pot and filter and drained my yogurt in that. In the morning I was rewarded with thick, really thick, yogurt. I added in some honey, coconut and of course fresh orange juice to rehydrate and zest. Because I was serving this with granola I didn't want to add in the nuts and raisins the original recipe called for. It didn't lack for a thing...it was amazing as is!

Yesterday morning, I decided to try the yogurt again, but since I was planning on eating it with some fresh fruit, I stayed on the Contessa's side and added some dried fruit and nuts for a bit more depth. Once again, I was blown away! Sure, it requires some advance planning to drain the yogurt, but the results are truly outstanding. I use my favorite 0.3% local Fraser Meadow organic yogurt and you'd never guess it was low fat by how it looked. Spoonable and swoonable, indeed.


orange yogurt
1 large container of plain yogurt
1 orange, zested and juiced
1/4 c coconut
1/4 c almonds, roughly chopped
2 T dried cherries, chopped
1-2 T honey

Line sieve with cheesecloth and suspend over a bowl — or just use a coffee pot and filter like I did. Add yogurt and let drain 3 hours or overnight. Throw out liquid and place the thickened yogurt in a bowl and add remaining ingredients, stirring well. Serve plain or top with granola and fresh fruit.