I'm fairly certain my husband and I fell in love over breakfast. Not a particular breakfast...just breakfasts in general.
You see, there are many people out there who skip breakfast. Maybe they are short on time, or cutting calories, or just can't eat a big meal first thing. My husband and I do NOT fall into that category. I will happily eat carrot sticks and salad for dinner and lunch, so long as I started the day with a hearty breakfast. While many couples start their relationship on fancy dinners, the husband and I found ourselves at Denny's. And no, this wasn't after some late-night rendezvous (get your head out of the gutter). It's just something about the meal that started a perfect day.
In the early period of our relationship and marriage, we also ate meat. A typical "good" breakfast usually included bacon or sausage. I learned to make a pretty mean gravy, too. You can imagine that breakfast lost some of the luster when we swore off meat over a year ago.
Several weekends back, I wanted to make something different for breakfast. Pancakes are great, but I was looking for hearty and savory. I got the idea to re-create a gravy using vegetarian ingredients - basically making a white sauce with the right herbs. As it turns out, it hit all the right notes.
The Biscuits.
I used the recipe here, but substituted butter for shortening. What I LOVE about this recipe is how quick and easy it is. No kneading, rolling and cutting. And really, if you're just smothering it with gravy - who cares how uniform it is?
The Gravy:
1/2 a stick of butter
3 heaping tablespoons of flour
about a 1/4 cup of finely chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced or grated on a micro-plane
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Milk to thin
Salt and pepper to taste
If desired: Morning star crumbles (for a more "sausage like" consistency)
1. Melt butter in heavy bottomed pan, add onions, and saute until translucent
2. Add garlic, sage, and thyme and saute for about a minute more.
3. Add flour, and with a whisk, saute until it turns lightly golden and bubbly.
4. Add milk to desired consistency. Add crumbles (if desired) and heat. Salt and pepper to taste.
To serve - crack the biscuits in half and smother with gravy. If the potatoes look good to you, I just chopped up some red potatoes, tossed with some olive oil and grated garlic, and baked in the same oven as the biscuits (450 for 20-30 minutes). Salt when done.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Great Starts..
Friday, May 8, 2009
One of the two kids has a birthday.
I am one of those lucky people who has exactly one boy and one girl. It is SO MUCH FUN to have one of each - as I get to experience the joys of raising both genders.
One of their most favorite things to do is pour through my cupcake cookbook: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The bright pictures and mouth watering cupcakes are better than any Dr. Suess book we have. About a month ago, they had managed to find the book (again) and go through the pictures one-by-one. Knowing that little bit boy's birthday was coming, little bit girl told me that her brother wanted the "cookie cupcakes" for his birthday. What a nice older sister she is.
Sure enough, little bit boy agreed. However, he ALSO told me he wanted BLUE cupcakes. So, I settled on two batches: "cookie" cupcakes for the family and "blue" cupcakes for the kids where he plays during the day. Thankfully, with the most diverse and complete cupcake cookbook ever - I was covered!
All recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take over The World.
Basic Vegan Fluffy Buttercream
You'll use this for both recipes
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons extract (usually vanilla - but GO WILD!)
1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer
1. Cream butter and shortening together.
2. Add in a cup of flower, beat steadily by hand - or even better with hand or stand mixer.
3. Add in the extract, beat well.
4. Add in the rest of the sugar, slowly, mix well.
5. Add in the soy milk or creamer, and beat until smooth and fluffy.
For little bit boy's "blue" cupcakes
1. Mix soy milk and vinegar, set aside for curdling (basically, you're making butter milk)
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tin with liners
3. Mix liquid ingredients and sugar together.
4. Place dry ingredients in sifter and sift into wet ingredients. Mix until just barely incorporated and no large clumps remain.
5. Divide into cupcake tin evenly, bake immediately for 20 - 22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool completely and top with butter cream. For "blue" I used cake decorator's coloring, but you can use food coloring or natural dyes (blueberry). I've made "pink" cupcakes using strawberries. I bought the Wall-E decorations at Target.
Chocolate Cookie Cupcakes1 cup coarsly chopped chocolate sandwich cookies (like Newman-Os)
1. Whisk soy milk and vinegar together, set aside (again, buttermilk)
2. Preheat oven to 350 and line the cupcake pan.
3. Add sugar, oil, and extract to milk mixture and whisk until foamy.
4. Sift cocoa powder, soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir into batter in two batches.
5. Fold in chopped cookies, pour into cupcake liners evenly, and bake for 20-25 minutes. Toothpick should come out clean.
6. After cooling completely, frost with the vegan butter cream frosting mixed with another 1/2 cup to one cup of crushed cookies (depending on taste). These sort of go on like clouds, so you can't expect even perfection. Top with 1/2 of a cookie for garnish.