I’ve stopped drinking coffee for a bit. It’s too hot and it was bothering my stomach. But I still want something to sip in the morning before I sit down for breakfast. On cooler mornings a cup of tea does the trick, but lately it’s been too hot to want anything warm to drink.  I’ve switched over to making a sweet lassi. Sometimes I’ll make a large one and that’s all I need for breakfast, but usually I just want a little something to tide me over while I read a bit, put away dishes, and check my email. Then I’ll fix some toast and sliced tomatoes or a scrambled egg or something.  If I keep doing this reguarly, I’ll get back into my yogurt making habit too.

For a smallish lassi:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup ice water
• some ice
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• a dash of salt
• a sprinkle of rosewater (optional, but a nice touch if you can find some)

Blend all this in a blender, then drink. For me, it’s got a perfect balance of tartness and sweetness. It would also make a nice afternoon pick-me-up.

Hi, I’m Allison, Ellen’s youngest daughter. Tonight, my sister was out, so I decided to make dinner for my mom. It was my first time cooking a meal on my own, and mom enjoyed it so much that she told me I had to blog it.

I decided that my meal was going to be a breakfast for dinner type thing. I made fresh squeezed orange juice in our Vita Mix, and I fried up some potatoes that my mom had already cubed, parboiled, and frozen. (When the potatoes were cooking in a bit of olive oil and butter, I sprinkled on garlic powder, a pinch of salt, and seasoned pepper.)

For my main dish, I wanted to make an omelet, because I have never had one before. I mixed up a lot of different recipes and techniques from a book called “How to Cook Without a Book” and I made my own recipe.

• 5 eggs
• 1/2 a chopped up onion
• 4 slices of bacon
• handful of chopped parsley leaves
• 2 table spoons of plain yogurt
• salt and pepper

cooking bacon

I started out by putting all the bacon pieces in my omelet pan and letting them cook until they were dark brown, flipping them over every couple minutes.

While they’re cooking, crack open all the eggs into a medium sized bowl and mix them until all the colors blend together. Set aside.

Chop the onion into about 1/4 inch pieces, put in a bowl, and set aside.

By the time you have done those, your bacon will probably be done cooking. Lay out a paper towel on a small plate and put the bacon on top, then cover them with another paper towel.

Leave all the grease in the pan and add the chopped onion, and saute until they become limp and darken a bit in color, then put them back in the bowl and dump out some of the grease.

Then you will pour your egg mixture into the greased up pan, still gently until it starts to set, then leave it alone until it’s a little soft and wet on the top, but not liquidy.

Take the bacon out and chop or tear it into small, half inch pieces.

On half of your eggs, sprinkle on the bacon, then the parsley leaves, then the onions and the yogurt.

When I put the yogurt on, I scooped some into a spoon and shook it gently over my omelet so that small portions could be distributed equally.

Then, fold the empty half of the eggs on top of the other half.

Mine broke, but it still tasted delicious.

When I was looking through the Scarpetta cookbook, I spotted Marino’s Breakfast Bagel Sandwich and noted it mentally. Then when I went shopping the prosciutto just about jumped into my shopping basket. NOT cheap cooking. But very delicious.

I bought some onion bagels, prosciutto, and Swiss cheese. Split the bagels in half and toasted one half, then buttered it. Topped it with a slice of prosciutto and a slice of Swiss cheese and ran under the broiler for a minute or two.

Youngest declined to even consider them this morning and went with her usual egg salad sandwich for breakfast. I made mine and it came out from under the broiler right as my eldest came downstairs. She looked at it and said “What is that?” I told her and offered it. She took it and said “Oh, this is REALLY good!” I made myself another sandwich from the bottom half of the bagel.

And I said not  cheap cooking, but I think if you compared it to a box of sugared cereal, you’d find it not that outrageous on a per serving basis and probably more nutritious. Not healthy either, but I’d rather eat this than what a lot of people seem to eat for breakfast!

But tomorrow it’s probably back to homemade granola and yogurt. Well, maybe the next day. I have enough prosciutto and bagels for at least two more of these!

This is good for a fairly quick but yet special breakfast. It served 3 of us about perfectly. You spend a few minutes getting everything ready, then pop it in the oven for 20 minutes.

• 6 Tbs butter
• 2 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 3 Tbs lemon juice
• 5 Tbs powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 425.

Melt the butter in a 10 inch oven proof skillet while you get the apples ready. Take 2 Tbs butter out and put in a small bowl for the batter. If the butter is melted before the apples are ready, turn the heat down. Put the sliced apples in a bowl, sprinkle with lemon juice and toss, then toss with the sugar and cinnamon. With the heat on medium, add the apples and stir, cooking about 3-4 minutes until the apples are tender.

In a blender, mix the eggs, milk, flour, reserved melted butter and salt. Spread the apples so they’re evenly distributed in the pan and turn the heat off. Pour the batter over the apples and put the pan in the oven to bake for 20 minutes.

Turn onto a plate so the apples are on the top, sprinkle with a bit more powdered sugar if desired and serve.

I’ve been cooking from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great and have several great new additions to my repertoire. I picked this book up on the basis of a recommendation from one of the blog readers and want to say “Thanks!” It’s as fantastic as her other books. The recipes are delicious, easy to follow and very flexible, with lots of ideas for adaptations and swapping out of ingredients.

First, for breakfast my kids have been enjoying her soy milk smoothies. I’ve been using fresh bananas rather than the frozen she recommended because the kids like them a bit more drinkable rather than thick. We tried once without the banana but even though neither of the girls are big banana fans they both found the smoothie too overpowering in the other fruit flavor.

1 cup vanilla soy milk
2 tsp honey
2 tsp lemon juice
1 banana (frozen or not)
1 cup frozen fruit

Blend this up in the blender and drink.

I’ve been buying the shelf stable soy milk which is great to have around in a pinch. We’ve used frozen mangoes and raspberries so far. I also had some leftover frozen jello and fruit things that no one liked so a few times I used one of those instead of honey.

Anyway, I think it’s a great breakfast for those that don’t actually like to eat much in the mornings. For me, I’m sticking with my toast and fresh tomatoes from the garden until the tomatoes are gone! Or on the weekends, I might add a scrambled or fried egg.

Another hit from The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, a crustless quiche with chicken apple sausage and apples and sage. I cheated a bit and used all whole eggs rather than half eggs and half egg whites. Mainly because I’m just in it for the good food and not the weight loss! So I don’t buy egg beaters.

2 tsp olive oil
1 tart apple, diced
2 chicken apple sausages, diced
pinch of dried sage

4 eggs (or 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of egg whites or egg substitute or egg beaters type thing)
1 15 ounce can evaporated milk
2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 and lightly spray or grease a 9″ pie pan or quiche dish.

Heat the oil in and saute the apples for about 4 minutes, then add the sausage and cook another 2 minutes or so. Sprinkle with sage and remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, evaporated milk, and mustard. Stir in the cheese and the apple-sausage mix.

Pour this all into the pie pan and put it in the oven. Bake about 30 minutes. Let it sit about 5 minutes before serving.

Serves about 6 if you don’t have big eaters or have a side dish. Salad or just sliced tomatoes go great! We’re eating the leftovers for breakfast tomorrow. Mmmm!

I will use the powdered buttermilk when I haven’t planned ahead and it works fine…but it’s not as good as real buttermilk. I bought some real buttermilk last week and hadn’t gotten around to using it in anything. This morning, freshly returned from a nice Spring break at Disneyland, I decided buttermilk pancakes were in order for breakfast. This comes from one of my perennial favorites authors, Marion Cunningham, who I believe is quite local (Walnut Creek, just about 25 minutes north of here). Breakfast Book has a great collection of breakfast recipes.

1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
3 Tbs melted butter
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt (she calls for a 1/2 but I typically do a rounded 1/4)
1 tsp baking soda

Mix together the buttermilk, egg, and melted butter until smooth.

Add the flour, salt, and baking soda (sprinkling the soda and salt so you don’t get clumps), then stir until just blended. Lumps are okay.

Heat a griddle or skillet. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour the batter on. Cook until the bubbles that form stay a bit and break open. Turn and cook another short bit.

This would be best with slightly stale substantial bread I think, but it came out great with some not stale whole grain white bread too. If you like rice pudding, you’ll probably like this. It’s the same basic custard cooked with bread instead of rice. Some folks remove the crusts on the bread for stuff like that. I take it as an opportunity to turn the ends of the bread, which are often not the favorites for sandwiches, into something everyone will happily eat.

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
6 slices bread, buttered on one side

Preheat oven to 350. Put a kettle of water on to boil.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and salt.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk until scalded (just below the boiling point). You’ll see bubbles forming around the edge. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour the egg mixture in, whisking all the while. Stir in the vanilla and raisins.

Place the bread, buttered side up, in a 9×9 pan, just fitting in a few layers as evenly as possible. Pour the milk and egg mixture over the bread.

Fill a 9×13 pan (or something else that will hold your 9×9 pan) half full with boiling water. It’s easier to slide your oven rack out, put the larger pan on the rack, put the pan with the bread pudding in it in the larger pan, then pour the boiling water in the outer pan so that it comes up to the halfway point of the smaller pan. Slide your rack carefully back into your oven. Close the door and bake for 30 minutes or so, until the custard is set.

I’ve seen this recipe called several different things. It is essentially hard boiled eggs in a white sauce on top of toast. We like food on bread, two notables being Welsh Rarebit and tuna melts. This is the plain version, suitable for breakfast or dinner, especially when rounded out by a cup of vegetable soup at dinner. (I served the infamous Frog Eye Soup with it tonight. The little pastas look like frog eyes somehow.) I saw fancier recipes that included brie or curry but I went plain.

6 hard boiled eggs
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne to taste
buttered toast

Peel the hard boiled eggs and cut them in half. I went to the extra step of separating the yolks from the whites, but will skip it next time. If you want, separate the yolks into a small bowl and mash them up. Chop the whites (or the whites and yolks.)

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then mix in the flour with a whisk, cooking a few minutes until it just lightly browns. Watch it carefully. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook a few minutes, stirring, until thickened. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Mix in the egg (whites or whites and yolks).

Make your toast and butter it. Spoon the sauce over the toast (and sprinkle the yolks over the top if you didn’t mix them in with the whites.)

This probably serves 6 as a light supper, especially with soup. I know I’ve got leftovers from the 3 of us.

School has started and the need for quick breakfasts is upon us again. I made these mini quiches from 30DayGourmet in muffin tins the other day and they were a big hit. The first time they stuck pretty badly to my muffin tins. I’d used shortening to grease the tins but evidently not quite enough!

This morning I sprayed the tins with Pam, a bit more than I might have normally, and they came out great. I let them cool a few minutes after baking as they’re to likely to fall apart otherwise.

Mine took a few minutes longer to cook than the recipe and it definitely fills 12 muffins tins completely. I left out the onions and used about half the amount of bacon called for. I haven’t frozen mine yet but assume that would work great, as 30DayGourmet is a freezer cooking site. If you have any interest in cooking ahead, their book is one of the best I’ve found and the recipes are all scaled as you see on this one so it’s easy to try out a recipe in a small batch before fixing up too much.