Sriracha Avocado Hollandaise

Serve over roasted potatoes, roasted asparagus, and poached eggs. 

Ingredients

• 2 avocados, chopped roughly
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp sriracha sauce
• 1 tsp black pepper 

Instructions

1. Drop avocado and lemon juice in a blender. Blend till smooth.
2. Pour in hot water, pepper, and sriracha. Blend again.
3. With the blender ‘on’, drizzle in olive oil. Blend till smooth.
4. Season with pepper.

Sunrise Surprise Smoothie

This is a Weathertop original recipe - we came up with this during a long week of cold weather, coughing, and leftover fruits in the fridge. 

Ingredients

• 1 banana, ripe and peeled
• 1 mango, ripe and peeled
• 1 can of mango slices, dump the syrup
• 3 cup of Banilla yogurt
• 1 cup of orange juice

Steps

1. Toss the banana and mango into the blender.
2. Add yogurt and blend on puree for 20 seconds.
3. Add orange juice and puree for 20 more seconds.

Serves 4 with a 1 cup serving.

Shakshuka!

This is one of those classic Middle Eastern recipes that every nation claims and every nation has a different version of.  Our variation is based on the David Lebovitz's hybrid recipe (I have read both of the source recipes he cites and neither is as good as his version).  So, good, even the next day, so make sure you save half a loaf of crusty bread or baguette for the next day.

Also, we sub different greens - collards, spinach (fresh or frozen), and kale all work well here.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 Anaheim chile pepper, stemmed, diced
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp chile powder
• 1 tsp caraway seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 quart of tomato puree, OR 1 quart of diced or crushed tomatoes
• 1 pint of chile-heavy salsa (no simple salsa need apply)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 cup greens  kale, collards, or spinach), coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 4 to 6 eggs

Steps

1. In a wide skillet or heavy-bottomed pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and the garlic and cook for 5 minutes, until soft and wilted. 
2. Add the chile pepper, the salt, pepper, and spices. Cook for a minute, stirring constantly, to release their fragrance.
3. Add the tomatoes, honey, and vinegar, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened somewhat but is still loose enough so that when you shake the pan it sloshes around.  Stir in the chopped greens.
4. Turn off the heat and press the cubes of feta into the tomato sauce. 
5. With the back of a spoon, make 6 indentations in the sauce. Crack an egg into each indentation, then drag a spatula gently through the egg whites so it mingles a bit with the tomato sauce, being careful not to disturb the yolks.
6. Turn the heat back on so the sauce is at a gentle simmer, and cook for about 10 minutes, taking some of the tomato sauce and basting the egg whites from time-to-time.

We get leftover sauce here - next day we add more puree or good chile-heavy salsa to boost it out.  Either way serve it ladled into bowls with plenty of crusty bread or baguette slices available.

Home Fries - We sow the seeds

We love potatoes, oh the potato.  Today is potato planting day for our Zone 4b garden and it is Earth Day, so we all thought of the same planting joke this morning at breakfast:

So, go grow the seeds and then you can eat the seeds.

Ingredients

• 4 good sized potatoes, 
• 2 onions, sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup of olive oil (peanut oil would work well too)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Steps

1. Cube the potatoes into 1/2" pieces - we leave on the skins, it doesn't matter.
2. Rinse the potatoes in cold water and leave them to drain in a strainer.
3. Put a 1/4 cup of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat (we love cast iron here) and toss in the oil.
4. Cover the skillet for 10-12 minutes and let it cook.
5. Remove the cover and add the onion.
6. Toss again and saute for another 10 minutes.
7. Serve and soak up the glory.

We like to serve this with scrambled eggs and a piece of good bacon.  Serves 4 hungry potato-vores.

Creamy Maple Oatmeal

We found this recipe at Quaker Oats website and posted it here, mostly the same. The "craisins" work as well as raisins normally do, but they kick it up a notch with a more rounded flavor. You can substitute water for some or all of the milk, but our most Notorious Non-Oatmeal Eater prefers at least half milk. Plus you can get your calcium this way.

Ingredients

• 3-1/2 cups low-fat milk
• 2 cups aats (we preferred old fashioned)
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup good maple Syrup
• 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ or bran cereal

Steps

1. In medium saucepan, bring milk to a gentle boil.
2. Add oats, dried cranberries and maple syrup.
3. Return to a boil for 1 minute and then reduce heat to medium.
4. Cook 1 minute for quick oats, 5 minutes for old fashioned oats or until most of milk is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir in wheat germ or bran cereal

Yields 4 servings

Calories: 360

Buttermilk waffles

After this, I may never go back to straight 'milk' waffles again. Umm, so delicate and tasty.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups of flour (you can go as high as 3/4 cup whole wheat with no issue)
• 1 tbsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk
• 4 tbsp of oil
• 1 tsp of vanilla

Steps:

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs well. Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla and mix very well.
3. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just mixed (like brownie batter).
4. Let sit for 5 minutes - I like to plug in the waffle iron at this point.
5. Once hot, spray the iron with veg oil or rub with some butter.
6. Cook the waffles just to being done - with the sour buttermilk and the baking powder, these will rise and be delicate.

Birthday Belgian Waffles

This is our favorite waffle recipe (found here almost randomly several years ago)- it usually shows up on birthdays topped with whipped cream, strawberries, and maple syrup. The trick is the rise time, it needs 60 minutes which translates pretty cleanly to make it before and then cook it after farm chores in the morning.

The above pic is from the Interweb, not ours, but the banana slices and powdered sugar are a nice fancy touch. We love these and we talked it over and this is just a little more intensive than normal waffles - just that rise time.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups water, blood-warm
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (one packet)
• 3 cups sifted flour
• 3 large eggs (separate 3 yolks and 1 egg white)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk

Steps

1. Dissolve the yeast in the water (I like a 4 cup measure) and let stand for 10 minutes.
2. Melt the butter in a small pot.
3. Sift the flour and salt in a large bowl; stir to blend and reserve.
4. To the yeast-y mixture, add the 3 egg yolks, one of the egg whites, and sugar.
5. Add the milk, melted butter, oil, and vanilla to the liquid. Stir until the mixture is smooth.
6. Add the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and beat until the mixture is smooth.
7. Beat the 2 separated egg whites until stiff peaks form.
8. Fold the egg whites gently into the batter.
9. Let the batter stand for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
10. Preheat the waffle maker; the light will turn off when preheated.
11. Add 1 cup of batter - it looks like too much and it seems too runny to me, but it makes a nice full, fluffy waffle.
12. For best results, do not open the waffle maker and peek - the light goes out when it is done, early views will cause it flop more (and we like 'em tall and fluffy).

Makes about 8 waffles. We can eat 1 each topped with whipped cream, berries, and syrup. Maybe more if you were really really hungry. Like after farm chores.

THE Banana Muffin Recipe

I am always on the hunt for the perfect muffin recipe - a base recipe that you can add any base flavor and it still turns out great. I think it found it here - this base recipe uses bananas (and matches them against pecans and chocolate chips!) and makes a great earthy base to the bananas sweetness and moistness. This recipe has much less sugar than usual muffins call for, but remember that the chips and the bananas both give some sweetness.

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup of chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and oil together. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together flour baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. Mix wet and dry ingredients all together until just mixed. Lumpy is good.
4. Add pecans and chips - mix just enough to disperse them.
5. Pour into greased muffin tins, and bake in 350 degrees oven for approximately 20 minutes.

Variations:

1. Substitute 1 cup of pumpkin or squash puree for banana. Add cinnamon and nutmeg (1 t of each for our spicy household) to kick it up - skip chips and add raisins. Keep pecans.
2. Substitute 1 cup of applesauce for the banana and the oil. Add cinnamon (2 tsp) and skip the chips but add 1/2 cup of raisins instead.
3. Substitute 1 cup of grated zucchini for banana. Definitely keep the pecans, but add raisins, 1 tsp each of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. Also possible to skip raisins and add the chocolate chips (zucch and choc - woohoo!).

Nana's Gooseberry Coffeecake

Gooseberries are a member of the currant group - small fruits on upright bushes that make "mushroom" shaped shrubs that are just this side of indestructible. They do have trouble with white pine blister rust around us (they are an alternate host species that doesn't die, just looks crappy come August), so we choose a resistant variety after NYS allowed gooseberries to be sold in state again.

Gooseberries are a source of much face-puckering around the house - Carol is not a fan of gooseberries at all. Why not? Because they are intensely sour when cooked and must be given some sugar or they will twist your yer face right off.

But they are very dependable - they don't have mast years and weather doesn't seem to make a difference on yield much at all. In fact, we neglect these shrubs intensely (the thorns help with that) and the deer completely ignore them. 3 shrubs yield about 3 gallons of berries every year. Every year.
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of fresh or thawed, frozen gooseberries, topped and tailed
• 1/2 cup sugar (less or more to taste)
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp of good cinnamon
  

STEPS:

Gooseberry Filling:

1. In a saucepan, combine gooseberries and sugar.
   
2. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes. This should break open the gooseberries and make a multi-colored, seed-y stew.
   
3. Bring to a boil and then remove 1/2 cup of juice and mix with cornstarch; stir into saucepan.
   
4. Let sit on heat for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and set aside.

Cake Batter:

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
   
2. Cut in butter until dry mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
   
3. Beat together buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and then stir into crumb-y mixture.
   
4. Spread half of the batter evenly into a buttered 9 inch cake pan.
   
5. Carefully spread gooseberries on top.
   
6. Then drop the remaining batter by tablespoonfuls over filling, sealing it in.
   

Topping and Baking:

1. Melt butter over low heat. and then remove from heat.
2. Stir in flour, sugar, and cinnamon until mixture resembles crumb topping.
   
3. Sprinkle over batter evenly.
   
4. Place coffee cake on middle rack; bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes.
   
5. Cool in pan. Cut in squares.
   

Yield: 8-10 servings.

Super-Everything All Grain Waffles

We love breakfast - especially weekend breakfasts where waffles and pancakes rule. Sometimes we go "breakfast for dinner" and waffles show up there too.

We are trying out the SuperFoodsRx cookbook and there are no waffles, but this one is definitely in the spirit - 1/3 cup of batter servings, but since our waffle iron needs two 1/3 cup scoops to make one waffle, we think one serving is probably half a waffle PLUS 1/2 cup yogurt and 1/2 fruit to top it off. Booyah!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup wheat bran
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 cup yogurt (low fat and plain)
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 cup low fat milk
• 2 eggs, beaten (free-range and fresh, if you can get it)

1. Sift together the flours and powders.
2. Make a well and drop in the yogurt, applesauce, milk and eggs.
3. Mix all together, do not go past the "just mixed" stage.
4. My secret - let the batter sit for about 10 minutes as the waffle iron heats up. Waffles seem to get fluffier.
5. Cook waffles as you normally would.

Top with whatever fruits you like - we thawed some strawberries from last summer, keep the thawed juices and put them on top of yogurt on the waffles. Yummy!