Baked Oatmeal for Breakfast means you can work ’till lunch! Yum!
I love the flavor of oatmeal. But I loathe its texture. And texture is an important thing! So, when Xenia raved about the baked oatmeal at the dining hall, I was a bit reticent to try it. But, when I did, I could see what all the fuss was about!
Filled with apples, dried fruit, and oaty goodness, baked oatmeal is tasty, satisfying, and a breakfast that will stick with you. It’s great for breakfast before heading out to cut firewood on a chilly day. Continue reading →
I wish I could make pecan rolls as good as Joann McCormack, “The Cinnamon Roll Lady.” Alas, I must limit myself to those little sticky plops of ambrosia to summer, when I can get them at the Tuesday evening Culver Farmers’ Market. Mine, though, are still pretty durn sticky-good. My version is also easy and quick to make. I can put it together in time for breakfast even on a busy Sunday with parade, chapel, or other commitments. Continue reading →
Make and refrigerate (or freeze) a large quantity of brioche dough, and you can make a wide assortment of fresh goodies in little time
Things have been a bit really crazy lately, allowing not so much time to cook, let alone bake. Yet the ducks kept laying eggs, even as the days get shorter and colder. Normally they would have slowed nearly to a stop by now. The result? I’m running out of egg storage space!
So, on a stormy Sunday with no work duties(!) and a lot of studying to do, I decided to do something about it. I made up about a 4 1/2 pound batch of refrigerator brioche dough!
Brioche is a (very) enriched bread dough, with lots of egg and butter, and sweetened with a bit of honey. It’s often baked in a typical loaf shape, but can be substituted for challah, made into cinnamon rolls, or beignets filled with chocolate or jam (though that requires deep frying, a mess I seldom want to deal with). Continue reading →
I really love tromboncini squash. And, we’ve had quite a surplus from the garden this year.
So, pondering what to make for dinner, and looking at tower of squash, then looking at the onions I had just harvested, then over at the stack of lugs filled with peppers, the muse hit me with fajitas. Continue reading →
So, I wanted something a little different for the daily zucchini adventure today. Something a bit more filling. Something savory and rich. And I enjoyed the squash and Italian Sausage flavor combination from my Rotini Tromboncini the other day.
Well, our main zucchini variety is Costata Romanesca, an Italian heirloom variety that we really love. Italian zucchini, Italian sausage…. What could be more faux-Italian (yet really American) than pizza? Continue reading →
Back to creative outlets for our zucchini glut. Zucchini for breakfast (or brunch)! Pancakes are an underutilized food group. They can be savory or sweet, salty or caramelized. Eggy, floury, or, in this case, loaded with zucchini. This is a great way to boost the nutritional profile of your pancake, yet still good with berries and maple syrup (grade B, of course!). Continue reading →
Tromboncini Rotini – A tasty, colorful, and unique summer dinner
Taking another break from the mass influx of zucchini, it’s time to play with tromboncini squash again. I love Troboncini – they are extremely versatile, functioning as both a winter and a summer squash. Their flavor is somewhere between a zucchini and a butternut. And they have a long, seedless neck.
The parmesan tromboncini discs I made the other day were really yummy. But let’s face it, that’s an appetizer. We needed something more substantial for dinner. And colorful. Time for squash and pasta! Continue reading →
Even though we’re getting slammed with zucchini, the Tromboncini squash are also starting to come in. Tromboncini are uncommon, but I’m not sure why. They’re very productive, at least in terms of pounds of food produced (though most of the squash tend to be large, so you don’t necessarily have large numbers of them). They are easy to use – they have a long neck that is entirely seedless, then a bulb on the end that contains all of the seeds, and a skin that’s only slightly thicker than zucchini, so most recipes don’t need peeling. They are versatile – they can function both as a summer squash and as a winter squash (though they don’t store quite as long as, say, a butternut). And they are very tasty, with a flavor somewhere between a zucchini and an acorn squash.
Anyway, we have converted a few true believers at market. Most people are afraid to try them, but those who do usually come back for more. But, due either to the massive pile of zucchini on our table, or too few brave culinarians, we had a few left after this week’s markets. So, yesterday was a day to be creative with Tromboncini. Continue reading →
Another round in the Great Zucchini Conundrum of 2017… I remembered back to the late 1980’s, when my mom made a very popular Chocolate Zucchini Cake. She is at home recovering from rotator cuff surgery, so I gave her a call. It took her a bit to dig up the recipe, but she did!
I was flipping through The Flavor Bible, looking for ways to use my excessive zucchini harvest, and I noticed several flavors I love being highly recommended, including thyme, parmesan, cream, and black pepper. Wait a minute! Those plus bacon (which makes everything better) are all the flavors that make the classic pasta carbonara sauce!
