Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

My kids love the packets of apple cinnamon oatmeal, but I always feel funny about them.  Like, what is really in them?  And, oatmeal is so easy to make, does it really need a shortcut?  I get the whole traveling, camping utility of oatmeal packets, but I also like knowing I can spell everything in the food I serve my family.  So, I came up with this recipe as an alternative.  This is super quick and tastes so fresh.  Right away you'll notice the true apple taste is nothing like the store bought flavor.

Ingredients

2 Apples

2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar

3/4 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1 C. Oatmeal

2 1/4 C. Water

2 pinches Salt

Instructions

Peel apples and grate them over a medium sauce pan.  Add brown sugar, cinnamon, oatmeal, water and salt and stir to combine.  Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to medium low.  Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until water is absorbed.

Makes 2 large servings, 4 kid-size.

Fried Eggs and Asparagus

Last weekend Scott and I were in a mountain town celebrating my birthday without kids.  We stopped into a place that is renowned for breakfast.  Admittedly, I wasn't in a great mood.  But, when a breakfast place can't get the coffee right, weeeeell...  I had considered just going for the bread pudding because, hey, it was my birthday and there are eggs in it, right?  I decided to behave and get the two eggs, bacon and potatoes instead, but when I asked the waitress to cook the eggs sunny-side-up, but make sure the white was cooked, while the yolk is runny...  (I know what you're thinking.  I am that person.)  Suffice it to say we had a disagreement about what can and cannot be done with eggs and before things escalated I settled on the bread pudding and decided to mooch bacon from the man who doesn't dine on the swine.

Growing up we called fried or sunny-side-up eggs "dip eggs" because they are so good to dip your toast in.  Remarkably many of my childhood memories center around soft-yolked eggs and eating them with family members and neighbors I love.  Without question they fit into my comfort food category.  These days they go by the name flat-eggy and my middle child gobbles them up.

Now, I love cooking - it's often the quiet part of my day when school is done and the kids are playing outside or entertaining themselves and I get to huddle in the kitchen and cook and putz around mostly in peace.  But there are some days when I am lacking the energy, time, or creativity to whip up something fancy.  On these days I love resorting to breakfast for dinner and one of the easiest and most balanced ways to do this is to cook up some veggies and throw a fried egg over the top of it and serve it with toast.  I love how the soft yolk runs over the veggies.  

Fried Eggs and Asparagus

Serves 2

This isn't so much a recipe as an idea - adjust the quantities of asparagus and eggs to suit your needs.  

1 bunch Asparagus

4 Eggs

1 Tbsp.(ish) Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse and trim the dry ends off the asparagus.  Place on a dishtowel and blot dry then transfer to a cookie sheet.  Pour olive oil over the asparagus and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Rotate the asparagus and make sure it is coated with the oil and seasoning and arrange in a single layer on the cookie sheet.  Roast for about 20 minutes, or until your desired tenderness.

Meanwhile, when you have about 5-10 minutes left on the asparagus, heat up a non-stick skillet over medium heat and spray with non-stick spray or a touch of oil.  Crack eggs into skillet and reduce heat to low.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and allow them to slowly cook until they reach desired firmness.  As we now know, my preference is for them to have a runny yolk, but firm white that isn't burnt on the bottom, which can best be achieved by cooking them low and slow.

To serve: place 1/2 portion of asparagus on each plate and top with two eggs.  Don't forget the toast.

Cold Brewed Iced Coffee

It's been a couple years since I've started making iced coffee.  The truth is, this is my favorite way to drink coffee.  This recipe is adapted from one I found on pinterest.  Typically, I don't like sweetened coffee, but this cup is served best with a little milk and the little bit of sugar goes a long way.  You'll need a french press some means of filtering the coffee after it has finished the cold brew.  This is what we use: http://bodum.bodum.com/us/en-us/shop/detail/K11081-01/

Ingredients

1 1/4 C. Coarsely Ground Coffee (French Press or Percolator setting)
1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
Cold Water (I just fill to the top of the french press, but I am assuming it would be somewhere around 40 oz)

Instructions

Guys, this is a really complicated process.
Place ground coffee in the bottom of the coffee press.  Add cinnamon, brown sugar and water.  Stir with wooden or plastic spoon (according to Bodum - do not use metal).
Place flat cover on (or cover with plunger kept up) and set on counter to brew for 4 hours (8 hours in fridge).
Press the plunger down.
Get a glass with ice (preferably something cute), pour coffee over leaving room for cream.  Add milk or cream.  Enjoy.
Store coffee in the refrigerator.

 

Kombucha Gingerale

It's been over a year since my dear friend Mandy was offering up some SCOBYs.  My husband has a little thing for kombucha, but I never got on the bandwagon until we started making our own.  I thought this might be a nice thing to do for him and this is the kind of thing I do.  So, I picked up the "Mothers" from her and set to work.  There's a lot of variation about making 'buch on the interwebs, so at some point you just have to take a stab at it and see how it goes.  After making it for over a year, we have found our method that is tried and true.

Update: we had some trouble after the hot some with imbalanced SCOBYs, so I've updated the recipe with less sugar and more flexibility.  5-days worked for us for a long time, but then just started not working anymore.  One of the most important things you can know about making kombucha is that it's not a static process.  Sometimes you'll need more time to ferment, sometimes less.  Sometimes more sugar, sometimes less.  Keep experimenting until you find the right balance for you!

For each SCOBY you will need:

• 2 - 4.2 qt Hermetic Jars ($13 at Container Store) 
• 1 C. White sugar (most of it converts during the process, but sugar is necessary) 
• 5 Irish Breakfast tea bags (any black tea will do, research if you'd like to use green or herbal as I believe you need to modify the recipe.) 
• Water 
• SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast)  or "Mother."  Search around because most kombucha makers have an excess.  I've been known to advertise them on freecycle and craigslist for free.  If you live in LA, contact me. I'll give you one.  
• Ginger (lots) - we buy several pounds at a time from the chinese market.  It is fresher and much less expensive than the regular store.  Process it in the food processor, skin and all, until nicely chopped.  I use a mini loaf pan to mold the ginger into 1/4 C. portions and then freeze.  Once they are frozen I transfer them to a freezer safe container.  If you don't want to use ginger you can use anything that has sugar in it - fruit, juices, etc.  Although, I've heard citrus juices have extra conditions, so read up on it if you want to use citrus.
• Rubber band 
• Wooden spoon 
• Mesh strainer 
• Funnel
• Iced Tea pitcher and extra glass or plastic jars for storage of finished kombucha.  Be cautious with glass containers as they have the ability to explode if they are stored too long.  

Directions for First Ferment:

1. In your glass jar pour 1 C. sugar and 5 tea bags. 
2. Boil water and pour into jar about 2 inches full so it is enough to dissolve sugar and steep tea. 
3. Stir tea and sugar with a wooden spoon and let it sit for 10 minutes. 
4. Fill up the rest of the jar with cool water and take tea bags out. 
5. Place SCOBY on top. 
6. Cover top of the jar with a dishcloth or cloth napkin and fasten with a rubber band.
7. Set in a dark place at room temperature for 5 days (this is really a minimum time - most important is that you notice a sour, vinegar-like smell).  The balance of a SCOBY can be disrupted by a number of factors, so you will want to pay more attention to the color (golden brown) and smell than the number of days.  
8. At the end of 5 days (or however long it takes to achieve your brew), prepare your second jar (repeating steps 1-4). 
9. Transfer SCOBY from your 5-day batch into the newly prepared Jar.

This is what it should look like after 5 days.  The color will change to a light golden brown.  Notice all the things dangling from the SCOBY - this is good.

Directions for Second Ferment:

In your first jar with the completed first ferment add 1/2 c. grated ginger or other flavoring.

Seal the jar with the air-tight lid and let it sit for at least 2 days minimum - Usually we let ours sit for five days and do both steps together.

Directions for Storage:

This is what the 'buch looks like when the second ferment is done.

Strain out the fruit or whatever you added with a mesh drain and use funnel to transfer to storage bottles.  Store in a cool dark place until needed.  We usually keep an iced tea pitcher in the refrigerator and replenish with the stored 'buch as needed.

These are some of the jars we use for storage.  The Arizona Tea jar is awesome.

A word to the wise: 

Be careful when you open your air-tight container. The longer the kombucha sits, the fizzier it gets. I have had kombucha sprayed all over my ceiling twice.  Twice.  So, go slow when you open.

Another Word: 

A new SCOBY forms with each step in the process.  You can separate the SCOBY from the larger SCOBY in the first batch and share with friends. The ginger will usually get caught in the SCOBY from the second stage and should be discarded.  In the final storage containers there will be a very small SCOBY-like formation that can easily slip into your drink undetected.  I speak from experience when I say it can even be slurped up through a straw.  Do yourself a favor and look for it before you get it accidentally.  I call it a slug.  And, well, you can imagine what it's like to get that thing in your mouth.

Panko Crusted Fish

I made this recipe ALL THE TIME until I started to write this post about 9 months ago.  It was at that point that I learned striped pangasius is most definitely not kosher.  This fish works so well with this recipe that I've been unmotivated to try something else.  Seeing as how I am an all-or-nothing kind of gal it's been taken out of the rotation.  Look, it's not like we keep a kosher house, but if I'm going to keep the hubby happy I can at least keep unkosher meat out of the house.  Boo for all the glorious recipes with pancetta that we are missing.  Anyway, this really is a great recipe and the kids gobble it up.  I suppose the kid-friendlyness of it is what kept me coming back to it - even though it meant a three step breading process.  I think you'll like it.

1/2 C. All-purpose flour
4 1/2 tsp. Chili powder
1 Kosher salt 1 tsp.
Black pepper
3 lg. Eggs, well beaten
1 1/2 C. Panko bread crumbs
1 lb Striped Pangasius, petrale sole or other thin white fish fillets (8 to 12 fillets), cleaned, skinned
Vegetable Oil for frying (I use grapeseed oil)
 

This is striped pangasius from Trader Joe's.  Very mild.

In a pie plate, baking dish or wide bowl, blend the flour, chili powder salt and pepper

Add eggs to another bowl and beat until well mixed.  Add panko to a third bowl.  Notice I have three separate forks for each bowl. 

Using your first fork spear the fish and place in the flour mixture and cover with flour.  Make sure it is coated, but you do not want blotches with extra coating.  Use the first fork to help shake the fish free of excess coating and place it in the second bowl with the beaten eggs.

Using the second fork, pick up the fish and coat it on both sides.  Before you transfer it to the panko let the excess egg drip off.  Use the second fork to place the fish in the panko.

Using the third fork, coat the fish with panko breadcrumbs.  You can stack the coated breadcrumbs on a plate as you finish the other pieces.

Heat vegetable oil in a 12-inch skillet over high heat.  Working in batches, add fish pieces.  Be careful not to over crowd the pan.  Cook fish for two minutes or until lightly browned.  Turn fish and cook for another minute or so until browned.  Keep cooked fish warm in an oven set to the lowest setting while you finish cooking the remaining fish.

Apricot Charoset

Several years ago, when I thought it made sense to host two Seders with over 20 people each, I had a happy little discovery. See, the first night was a family Seder. I forget things a lot. I was planning to do a flourless chocolate cake and an apricot almond torte each night, but I forgot that Scott's Grandma always brings treats, too. We had a lot left over. Enough that I decided not to make the second torte, but I had already ground the apricots, almonds and spices together into a brown paste. Yes, you can see where this is going. It was a paste that resembled mortar. A very tasty mortar. And there you have it.

8 oz Turkish Apricots
8 oz Toasted (not salted) Almonds
2 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
Zest of 1 lemon
Manischewitz or other liturgical wine or grape juice

Place first 6 ingredients in food processor. Add 2 Tbsp. manischewitz. Process until ingredients are finely ground, about 60 seconds. Empty paste into Tupperware. Add more wine if paste is too dry. Keep in refrigerator. It's best when made at least 1 day in advance.

Potato Latkes

I'm not typically a purist.  I'll try variations on just about anything.  I don't even mind instant coffee.  But, there is something about plain potato latkes that I just don't want to mess with.  I've had my share of amazing fritters, but when it comes to Hanukkah, I just want those plain old crispy latkes.  You can use potatoes and grate them, which probably makes sense since you have to process the onions, as well.  But the shredded potatoes for hash browns work nicely, too.  No shredded, squeezing or discoloration.

Ingredients:
2-1/2 Lbs. Potatoes (I use simply potatoes from the refrigerated section of the grocery store)
2 lg. Onions
3 Eggs, beaten
1 tsp. Baking powder
3/4 C. Oil
1 C. Flour
2-1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper
2 C. Matzo meal
oil for frying

Instructions:
If using whole potatoes, grate or use food processor to shred them and squeeze out excess water.  Fine-grate onions and mix in a large bowl with potatoes.  You want to drain these, but do not need to squeeze them like the potatoes.  Add eggs, baking powder, 3/4 C. oil, flour, salt, and pepper; mix well. Fold in matzo meal making sure that everything is very well blended - this is best done with your hands.

Heat oil in a deep skillet. Spoon batter (use a large kitchen spoon) into the pan to create pancakes about 31/2 inches in diameter.  Use a second spoon to help get the batter off the first and pat the latkes  down into a patty. Fry on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes until underside is a deep golden brown, turn and fry for another minute or two.

Drain on paper towel.

Serve with applesauce and/or sour cream.

 This year we got a little fancy and served them with creme fraiche and homemade persimmon jam.