Ohhhhh my moly.

If I were the demanding type I’d demand that you make these immediately. I’m not, of course so I’ll just strongly suggest it.

The peaches are so good this year and I bought more than I’ll ever be able to eat, so I wanted to some up with something to do with [...]]]>

Ohhhhh my moly.

If I were the demanding type I’d demand that you make these immediately. I’m not, of course so I’ll just strongly suggest it.

The peaches are so good this year and I bought more than I’ll ever be able to eat, so I wanted to some up with something to do with them. This is based on the apple crisp recipe, but with more of the crumble part so that you end up with a crust. It is OH so good.

Gather:

• 2 medium-to-large peaches, chopped
• 1/3 cup Craisins
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder

To make:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and chop the peaches, then put them in a saucepan with the Craisins, cornstarch and sugar. Bring it all up to a nice bubble and let it cook till it thickens, then set aside
2. Cream butter and sugar, then mix in remaining ingredients — it will look coarse like a crumble topping
3. Take two cups of crumble mix and press into a greased 8×8 dish and bake till it’s lightly browned, around 10-12 minutes, then spread fruit mixture over crust. Sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture over the top and bake till that’s lightly browned, about another 15-18 minutes or so

Fast and good! How can you beat that?

Wondering how to add a few calories to your breakfast?

Allow me.

These are really super easy to make (along with, uh, everything else I ever blog) and are such comfort food for breakfast! You will need:

We’ve seriously never talked about how to make basic biscuits? This is mind boggling to me.

This is one of those recipes I make by throwing stuff into a bowl; I very rarely measure this at all, so I had to go back and make these again and actually pay attention. The sacrifice! I make pretty [...]]]>

We’ve seriously never talked about how to make basic biscuits? This is mind boggling to me.

This is one of those recipes I make by throwing stuff into a bowl; I very rarely measure this at all, so I had to go back and make these again and actually pay attention. The sacrifice! I make pretty small batches of this because I make small biscuits and I make them pretty often, so there are always more on the way; the recipe is easily doubled.

Gather this:

• 1 cup AP flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. instant/bread machine yeast (you can certainly leave this out; I like the little extra rise and the flavor of it)
• 1/4 cup cold butter, shortening, bacon drippings (seriously) or any combination thereof
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup milk or buttermilk (see directions)

To make ‘em:

1. Combine flour, salt, baking powder and yeast in a bowl or in the work bowl of a food processor, then cut in butter with a pastry blender or fork, or pulse in the food processor till the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal
2. Slowly add milk, gently stirring with a rubber spatula or your fingers; add just enough so that it turns into dough
3. Turn onto a floured surface (I do it right on the counter lately); knead it four times, folding it back over itself as you go. FOUR! Then STOP, no matter how much fun it is. Overworked dough = unhappy biscuits
4. Roll and cut out biscuits and bake at 400F till just starting to brown on top; I do these in a cast iron skillet, but any kind of dish or baking sheet with a little butter in the bottom works just fine
5. Tell everyone you slaved over a hot stove for hours making these, and shouldn’t someone bring you something lovely to drink?

Hello, lovelies!

Not to get all Bob Ross-ey on you, but these are happy little muffins. It’s a Paula Deen recipe (that involves only 3 Tbsp. butter, I might add) and were apparently quite a hit at The Yankee’s office. Yay!

You will need:

This is another one of those recipes that I have written down on a scrap of paper and tucked away. I have no idea where it came from, but it’s so yummy.

It’s also what I had for breakfast this morning. Is that wrong? It’s fruit, people.

Try this. Seriously. Gather:

Let’s start at the beginning. Don’t have anyone dying to give you some starter? You can make your own (recipe found here):

Okay, you have my attention. The truth is that I tried for years to learn to make omelettes and they were always, without fail, consistently awful. Rubbery and browned and thick and generally unappetizing. I don’t remember how who “taught” me to make them, but it involved flipping them [...]]]>

“How about dinner in half a minute?”

Okay, you have my attention. The truth is that I tried for years to learn to make omelettes and they were always, without fail, consistently awful. Rubbery and browned and thick and generally unappetizing. I don’t remember how who “taught” me to make them, but it involved flipping them like a pancake and the results were horrid.

One look at this video of Julia Child making omelettes and I’m converted. Did you know these could be so easy? I certainly did not! But it turns out they are. And in the time it takes The Kiddo to say “I don’t wike it” I’ve got my new standard breakfast almost ready to go. It’s insanely easy to throw in some chopped up whatever-was-for-supper-last-night and a little cheese and I’ve got a meal. This one has chopped colby jack cheese and some leftover turkey from Martin’s, one of middle Tennessee’s greatest treasures: a BBQ joint which you really, really must try at some point in your life. Anyway, the protein in this omelette keeps me going all morning, and the fresh eggs are amazingly nutritious, tasty and pretty. By the way, as long as you’ve made the trip down to Martin’s, you can’t leave without stopping at the Nolensville Feed Mill too. Julia child said she was very careful about where she buys eggs, and so am I –  the Feed Mill is the only place I’ll buy eggs. Don’t you love their gorgeous yellow color?

Your turn! What would you put in an omelette?

Can one addition change a really great recipe into a really amazing recipe? You bet your Red Rider it can. Especially when that one addition is a bag of Craisins.

I started with the recipe for super simple bagels. You remember this, right? Flour, water, yeast, salt. I said they were simple! [...]]]> Oh my moly.

Can one addition change a really great recipe into a really amazing recipe? You bet your Red Rider it can. Especially when that one addition is a bag of Craisins.

I started with the recipe for super simple bagels. You remember this, right? Flour, water, yeast, salt. I said they were simple! But to the mix, toward the end of the kneading, I added a bag of Craisins.

They still puffed up just right.

They survived the boiling just fine.

And they baked up beautifully.

And I got to eat this for breakfast!

Hard to argue with that, isn’t it?

Here’s a quick run-down of the recipe; full details can be found at the original post.

Make a starter of:

• 2 1/8 oz bread flour
• 2 oz. cool water
• a pinch of yeast

and let it sit overnight at room temperature.

The next morning mix your bubbly starter with:

• 17 ounces bread flour
• 10 ounces cool water
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Then:

1. Knead with abandon. Bread flour is high protein and will take longer to develop gluten; I let the stand mixer have at it for about eight minutes
2. About five minutes into the kneading, add one bag of Craisins
3. Let the dough rise for one hour, then deflate it. Let it rise for thirty minutes more
4. Divide the dough into 12 roughly-equal parts, roll into balls, and let rise under plastic wrap for 30 minutes
5. Preheat oven to 425 and bring a pan of water with 1 Tbsp. brown sugar to boil
6. Poke your finger through the middle of the dough balls and twirl on your finger to shape into a bagel. Poke in any Craisins trying to escape
7. Boil bagels, a few at a time, for 2 minutes on one side; flip with chopsticks and boil for one minute on the second side, then move to parchment-lined cookie sheets
8. Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, but start checking after 15 — you want them browned, but not too crispy

Enjoy! These are great with cream cheese. They also mail rather well, which is a nice bonus.

This all started when I stumbled upon this article about cold brewed coffee. “Cold brewed” just sounded… odd. How does that work exactly?

Turns out: pretty well. It further turns out that it’s likely what you’ve been drinking from [...]]]> One taste of this and I promise you’ll think twice about dropping $6/cup for iced coffee.

This all started when I stumbled upon this article about cold brewed coffee. “Cold brewed” just sounded… odd. How does that work exactly?

Turns out: pretty well. It further turns out that it’s likely what you’ve been drinking from the mermaid all this time. AND it turns out that you can so easily make this at home!

Like all good drinks at my house, it starts in a Mason jar:

It’s like moonshine, but for morning.

Okay, write this down — it gets complicated:

1. In a one quart Mason jar, pour in 2/3 cup of coarsly ground coffee
2. Fill jar with cold water
3. Let sit for 12 hours at room temperature

Oh. Hmm. Not really that complicated, is it?

After 12 hours, strain the coffee. I strain it through a paper filter into another jar, but you can use a sieve or cheesecloth, too. Now you have coffee concentrate.  Strong stuff. Keep it in a jar or container in the fridge; mine has lasted up to three weeks still tasting great.

For hot coffee: mix 1/2 concentrate with 1/2 water (or part water part milk, depending on how you take your coffee) and microwave.

For iced coffee: mix half concentrate, half milk and pour over ice. If you want to get super fabulous, shake your milk and concentrate in a cocktail shaker with ice, which makes a nice little foam on top. I do this, and add a spoonful of sweetened condensed milk, too; this makes it a little sweeter and a little thicker.

Also fun for iced: make an tray of coffee ice cubes! Use half coffee ice cubes, half regular ice cubes and your drink will never be watered down.

Some notes:

• If you want your iced coffee sweeter add some simple syrup (sugar will never dissolve in there — go with the syrup)
• Go crazy with the add-ins! Vanilla? Caramel? Cinnamon? Chocolate syrup? Whipped cream? It’s yours. Go nuts
• Like it blended? Throw your concentrate and milk in a blender with ice and a little powdered milk to thicken it up
• Be sure to stop and snicker periodically at how much money you’ve saved

Spring yogurt is cuter.

The orginal how-to is here with all the details. But a quick run-down of the process, lest you be afraid: