An Old Favorite, A New Mug, And a First!

This breakfast was inspired by one of our favorite places in Phoenix, The Farm at South Mountain.

It is such a special place, with pecan groves and fabulous restaurants that use their own freshly grown ingredients. Just thinking about it makes me anxious for summer to end so we can go!



I could eat this every morning!

French toast with a crusty french bread... carmelized bananas with brandy... vanilla-cinnamon syrup with toasted pecans... and whipped cream!

And this is my new favorite mug. When I saw it in Starbucks it said, "I'm super cool." So I bought it, cuz that's what you do when you come across a talking mug!

And the First...

Trip to the lake for Will!

The first of many to come.

He kind of resembles Sponge Bob on his lifevest.    ; )

Happy Summer!

For the how-to on the french toast refer to the Go Nuts with French Toast! post from August 2009.

Enjoy!!!

Red, White, and Blueberry Pancakes!

This delicious pancake recipe is from Martha Stewart Living.
It uses part flour and part cornmeal and it is goooood.

July is one of my favorite issues of the year.

 The recipe wasn't in this month's, but I wanted to include it because it's so beautiful!



Here are the pancakes fresh off the griddle, with warm juicy blueberries.

First I spread orange honey butter on them, using orange juice that has been reduced until it is thickened.

And then top them off with whipped cream, berries, and cinnamon maple syrup with pecans.

Happy 4th of July!!!

 

 

Blueberry-Cornmeal Pancakes - Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients-

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for griddle
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 cups (1 pint) blueberries

Directions-
1.Whisk together flour, cornmeal, 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, milk, butter, and egg. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (mixture will be lumpy).

2.Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Heat a griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Toss blueberries with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Brush griddle with melted butter. Spoon batter onto griddle 1/3 cup at a time. Sprinkle with sugared blueberries, about 2 tablespoons per pancake. Cook until edges are set, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip, and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter and blueberries, adding more butter to griddle and keeping prepared pancakes warm on a baking sheet in the oven.

Orange-Honey Butter- Bobby Flay
3 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
2 sticks butter, slightly softened
2 tablespoons honey
Pinch salt

Place orange juice in a small non-reactive saucepan over high heat and reduce to 3 tablespoons. Place butter in a bowl and add the orange syrup, honey, and salt; mix until combined. Scoop into a large ramekin, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Crepe Crazy and the Kid Cave!

Look out! This is one of the best desserts ever!!!

I had a dessert similar to this one at a restaurant and have never forgotten it. They used puffed up pizza dough baked in a brick oven, incredible!

It is warm crepes with nutella, carmelized bananas with brandy, vanilla ice cream, and almonds.

Sometimes only the Best will do!

I'm not even a banana person, but these absolutely make the dish!

A few days earlier we had crepes filled with warm sweet cream cheese topped with fresh strawberries and blackberries soaked in a bit of sugar.

And a few days before that... we had crepes with melted dark chocolate chips, cream cheese and fresh blackberry sauce.

To make the blackberry sauce, mash them through a sieve, add sugar, and reduce over the stove until thickened slightly.

Oh Crepes... I've never met one I didn't like!

And this is the kid cave!

We decided to make the kids there own little space in the closet under the stairs.
We prepared it secretly and sent them on a scavenger hunt to find it.

 Of all the kids, Will thinks it's the most magical : )

Poor guy, his work is never done.

What's a cave without a bear?!

( He was a Costco steal. I couldn't stop laughing as I was by myself pushing the shopping cart with his huge arms hanging out the sides. )

Also among the amenities is a  Hi-Tech Quaker Oats Messaging System.

Dom humored me and let me screw two giant eye hooks into the wall for their pulley system : )



It's been so much fun.

'Til next time!!!

For the crepe recipe that I like to use, refer to the post Dessert for Breakfast Any Day, June 2009.

Aebleskiver and a Happy Easter!

Aeble-what? Aebleskiver!

Or ball pancakes as the kids and I like to refer to them : )

Some of them we made with sweet cream cheese filling, and others with white chocolate chips. You can go crazy with these, with any sort of filling you can think up!

Top them with blueberry sauce...

And enough whipped cream to lose them in!

I bought this first pan a couple of years ago for about $10. When black flakes started peeling off the pan with the pancakes I thought maybe I should've gotten a nicer one. It scared me a little.

So I caved and bought the good one.

Definitely worth it.

The USA on the bottom was so reassuring after the scary pan.

I made half of the recipe with wheat flour, and half with rice flour and it worked out perfectly.

Bella was so excited!

Yummmmmmm!

Every year we sit at this table it feels like such a treat.
My sister Amy hosts Easter and it is so special!

Each egg shell vase was specially dyed, filled with water, and given a coordinating flower from her own garden.
They were so beautiful!

And the Hostess with the Mostess!     : )
Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the feast because I was too busy enjoying it.
I could just kick myself, but it was gooooooooooood!

Happy Happy Happy Easter!

Ebleskiver - Williams-Sonoma.com

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

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


In a small bowl, lightly whisk together the egg yolks and buttermilk. Whisk the yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined; the batter will be lumpy.

In another bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff but not dry peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter in two additions.

Put 1/2 tsp. butter in each well of a filled-pancake pan. Place over medium heat and heat until the butter begins to bubble. Pour 1 Tbs. batter into each well and cook until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add your filling in the center of each pancake and top with 1 Tbs. batter. Using 2 wooden skewers, flip the pancakes over and cook until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter. Dust the pancakes with confectioners' sugar and serve warm with maple syrup. Makes about 40.

A Sweet Afternoon Pick-me-Up!

This little snack is made up of vanilla yogurt, honey, lavender sugar, and cinnamon and sugar flour tortilla chips. It's very light and refreshing.



I use the uncooked tortillas, cook them lightly on the stove top, then butter them, cover in cinnamon and sugar, slice them, and put in the oven until crisp.

My sister's lavender sugar was the perfect finishing touch!

And Sprinkler Season has begun!

'Til next time!