Breakfast

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Eggs Baked in Pattypan Squash

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I first saw this on TheKitchn and knew immediately that I had to make it.  First of all, who doesn’t love pattypan squash?  They’re like little flying saucers!  It had never occurred to me to bake eggs in them, but wow, what a genius idea!  And the taste – oh, man, out of this world.  (Pardon the joke.  Sometimes I just can’t stop myself.)  The sweet roasted squash, caramelized shallots, and creamy baked eggs combine to form a perfect union of flavors and textures.  The folks over at TheKitchn are right; this would make an excellent vegetarian brunch entree.  But we ate it for dinner and you know what?  It was pretty darn good then, too.

Eggs Baked in Pattypan Squash

4 medium pattypan squashes
4 eggs
2 shallots
extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
chives, for garnish (optional)

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cut tops off pattypans and scoop out the insides with a spoon; discard.  Arrange pattypan shells and tops on a foil-lined baking sheet and drizzle olive oil over.  Season with kosher salt and black pepper.  Roast 20-25 minutes.
  • While pattypans are roasting, slice shallots into rings.  In a nonstick pan, saute shallots with a litle olive oil and salt until golden.  Turn off heat and allow shallots to sit.
  • Remove pattypans from oven.  Set tops aside, leaving shells on baking sheet.  Spoon equal parts sauteed shallots into pattypan shells and top with one egg in each shell.  (Be careful; the egg whites might overflow a little.  It’s not a big deal, but if you know your eggs are too big to fit into the shells, open them over a bowl and allow some of the white to run into the bowl before adding the rest of the egg to the shell.)
  • Sprinkle with more salt and pepper, if desired.  Return to oven and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, until whites are set.  (The yolks will be about half-set at this time.  If you want your yolks completely runny, like a soft-boiled egg, make it closer to 15 than 20.)
  • Remove from oven; garnish with pattypan tops and, if desired, with chopped chives.  Serve with toast points and green salad.

Yield: Serves 4 for brunch with sides, or 2 for dinner.

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Source: Adapted from Sunset Magazine, originally seen on TheKitchn.

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Raisin Spice Oatmeal

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When I was growing up, breakfast was a fairly predictable pattern – cereal in the summer and fall, instant oatmeal (or, as we called it, hot cereal) in the winter and spring.  When I stayed over at my grandma’s house and had her oatmeal, it was always a fantastic treat – of course, I later realized that she made hers from whole rolled oats rather than a package, which was why it was so good.  In an effort to incorporate more whole grains into my eating,  I have been eating more oatmeal lately, and I’m remembering how much I loved real oatmeal as a kid.  In experimenting with different ways to flavor my oatmeal these days, I remembered my childhood favorite flavor of “hot cereal” – Raisins & Spice.  The following is a combination of my new method of cooking oatmeal and my old favorite flavor – a perfect fusion of creamy oats, juicy raisins and warming spices.  Enjoy!

Raisin Spice Oatmeal

Ingredients for a single serving of oatmeal
1/3 cup raisins
1 tablespoon agave nectar
scant 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

  • Follow the instructions on the packaging of the oats you buy (I used Quaker today, but I also like McCann’s and the Whole Foods 365 Organic Rolled Oats) to make a single serving of oatmeal.
  • Take off heat and stir in agave nectar, raisins and spices.  Taste and make adjustments as needed.

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Yield: Serves 1

Source: Inspired by Quaker Instant Oatmeal, Raisins & Spice.

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Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

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How’s this for a contradiction?  I love to bake, but I also value healthy eating.  Baked goods and healthy foods don’t always seem to go hand-in-hand.  Usually, I bake according to the principle that everyone needs a little indulgence (and you can always run it off), and I’ll have just one serving of whatever it is I bake and then give the rest away.  But I do like the challenge of taking baked goods and making them healthy… or at least healthier than they would otherwise be.   This weekend, I challenged myself to come up with a healthy alternative chocolate zucchini muffin.  I swapped out the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat and most of the sugar with agave nectar.  Just with those two steps, I incorporated whole grains and lowered the glycemic index of what would have otherwise been delicious, but pretty unhealthy, muffins.  They also have zucchini in them – obviously – so there’s a vegetable for ya.  And I cut the fat by substituting organic applesauce for butter.  You’d never know.  So there you have it – a delicious muffin recipe that’s heavy on the chocolate, light on the guilt.

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Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

2 eggs (preferably organic)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup blue agave nectar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups grated zucchini
2/3 cup organic applesauce
1/4 cup skim milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder (such as Green&Black’s Organic)
2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • In a large bowl, beat the eggs.  Add the sugar, agave nectar, vanilla extract and milk, and stir to combine.  Mix in the grated zucchini and the applesauce.  Sprinkle the salt and baking powder over the top, and stir that in too.
  • In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, and Chinese five-spice powder and whisk to combine.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two batches.  Stir until combined.  The batter will be thick, but if it gets too difficult to stir, add a bit more milk to loosen it up.
  • Prepare a muffin tin with liners, or spray it with a baking spray that contains flour (such as PAM for Baking).  Using an ice-cream scoop, fill the muffin wells until you run out of batter.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the top of one muffin comes out clean.  Allow to cool.

Yield: 12 muffins

Source: Loosely adapted from Simply Recipes

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Tomato and Goat Cheese Frittata

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Frittatas are a standby in my kitchen – one of the easiest dinners imaginable, with endless variations so you never get bored.  You can throw absolutely anything into a frittata, and it’ll be delicious.  Well… maybe not anything.  Chocolate cake, for instance, would make a pretty weird frittata.  But almost anything else is welcome.  I’ve made frittatas with chicken sausage, feta cheese, and all kinds of other ingredients.  They are one of my favorite fridge-clearing meals and one of the simplest things to whip up after a long day at work.  I load them up with lots of veggies to make them filling and boost the nutrition.  They are also good at room temperature, which makes them great for brunches, and they are surprisingly delicious cold in a sandwich for lunch the next day – essentially, my perfect go-anywhere-do-anything dish.  To make them even easier, I oven bake them rather than cooking them on the stovetop and flipping them – a method I saw on “Everyday Italian.”  Bless Giada for making my life so much easier and filled with frittatas!

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Yes, I really love my Emile Henry Artisan baking dish in Pommeterra.  Why do you ask?

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Tomato and Goat Cheese Frittata

7-8 large eggs (try to get organic, free-range brown eggs if you can)
1/4 cup milk
2 scallions
3 Roma tomatoes
2 ounces Chevre
1/4 cup Parmesan (freshly grated if possible)
salt and pepper

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray an 8×8 baking dish with Pam and set aside.
  • Crack eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk quickly to break up the yolks.
  • Add milk, salt and pepper and whisk vigorously to combine.
  • Slice scallions thinly and dice tomatoes coarsely.  Add to mixture.  Break Chevre into mixture and grate in Parmesan cheese.  Stir gently to combine all ingredients.
  • Pour into baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, until center of frittata is just set.  Let cool briefly and then slice.

Serves 4 for a light dinner with a green salad on the side.

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Note: You don’t have to oven bake this frittata, of course.  I like it because it’s pretty much as easy as falling out of bed.  But if you’re a frittata traditionalist or just have a super cool frittata pan that you like to use, feel free to follow your usual method for stovetop cooking.

Source: Covered In Flour, inspired by Giada de Laurentiis

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Peach Oatmeal Muffins

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Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  How many times have we heard that one?  It might just be that the truest truisms are also the most often repeated, because breakfast really is important.  It jump-starts your metabolism for the day, fills you up so that you are less likely to overindulge at lunch or on snacks, and provides a foundation for healthy eating throughout the day.  For me, breakfast is especially important because I am a morning person, and I need that jolt of nutrition to power my running around until 1:00 or so.  But I don’t really care for cereal – so where does that leave me?  Usually, I grab a yogurt out of the fridge in the morning, stir some granola into it at my desk at work, and get going.  But there are some mornings when I need something special, something homemade, something that reminds me of the weekend.  And it doesn’t hurt if it’s healthy, too.  That’s where muffins come in.  I load them up with fruit and whole grains and bask in the fiber I’m getting – and these are perfect, only very lightly sweet, with bits of juicy peach floating throughout.  If I close my eyes, I can even convince myself that it’s Saturday morning.  Then my desk phone rings and shatters the fantasy… but at least I’ve still got a muffin.

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Peach Oatmeal Muffins

1 cup white whole wheat (or all-purpose) flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup honey (or pure maple syrup)
2 large eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 peaches, peeled and diced

  • Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Fit paper liners into a 12-well muffin tin.  Place the muffin tin on a baking sheet.
  • Whisk together flours, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, honey, eggs and melted butter.  Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to blend.  Stir in diced peaches.  Scatter additional oats over top of muffins, if desired.
  • Divide batter evenly amongst muffin wells and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tin, then lift muffins out and cool on a rack.

Source: Loosely Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s “Great Grains Muffins”