Category Archives: Breakfasts
Guest Post on Loulou’s Blog
This is coming a day late but yesterday was Food Friday over on Loulou’s blog and I guest posted this delicious apple cinnamon muffin recipe!!
A big thanks for Loulou for hosting me and I hope everyone goes over there to check it out. While you are at it, check out her blog because it’s awesome and she is awesome too!
Posted in Breakfasts, Desserts, Guest Posts
Tagged apple cinnamon muffins, loulou downtown
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Hawaiian Smoothie
I’m a little blender happy because as I told you, I really, really missed having one in Lille. Yesterday I made this strawberry type dessert and the pictures turned out amazing but the recipe turned out kind of yucky so, because I have blog integrity, I couldn’t post that. I decided to make Wanda’s Lemon Meringue Pie instead but when I looked at the ingredients there was way too much sugar in it for an ordinary week day…I’ll save that for friends! In the same notebook as I was going to write the pie recipe in, I came across this old recipe.
In January, 2011, I went to Kona, Hawaii to a Holistic Healing Arts Centre for a week. All of the food there was organic and some of it grown in their own garden. All week long we had plate after plate of the healthiest most delicious food you could ever ask for! With the hours or swimming we did per day, the food was the perfect compliment really. My bum looked nice when I came home.
Anyways, I was so fortunate that the cook let me watch him and help him cook. I tasted the most delectable smoothie one morning and absolutely had to get the recipe. I also got the recipe for maybe 5 other dishes as well! The thing is, he was a “little bit of this, little bit of that” type of cook. I am too so it wasn’t a problem, but for building a recipe on a blog, it pretty much has to be in exact quantities…so here is my adaptation of the recipe with quantities for you!
Just follow below…
Et voila! Enjoy!
The Best Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins In The World!! (repost)
This recipe was one of the first posts to ever make this blog. Back then I was posting everything with tiny little pictures and I had no recipe cards at the end for you to print (those are great, aren’t they!)….There was also one big problem…
I was so new at this that I forgot to take an end photo after they were finished baking!
I really thought that these muffins deserved more since they are the best as their name claims. This is my go to muffin recipe and everytime I serve these to someone else there face lights up! This will be your go-to recipe as well!
You will need…
4 very ripe bananas (so ripe that you want to scream!), 1 egg, 1 teaspoon each of baking soda and baking powder, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/3 cup melted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and 3/4 cup chopped up milk chocolate bar (or milk chocolate chips).
Add the sugar to a large bowl…
Along with the melted butter. Stir those two lovebirds together.
Now beat in the egg.
In a seperate bowl, break the bananas into large chunks…
Then mash them fine!
Stir them into the butter/sugar/egg mixture and set them aside.
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and baking powder.
Add the chocolate into the flour mixture. I explain why to do this over here.
Now add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and stir it allllll together. Not too much though or the muffins will become chewy.
Evenly distribute the batter into 12 muffin cups and bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes.
Et voila!![amd-zlrecipe-recipe:56]
Good Morning Blueberry Muffins
Back in Canada, I sometimes woke up super early in the morning to surprise Max with muffins before he woke up. I thought I would do that again yesterday and so I made these perfect blueberry muffins!
They have a crumble layer on top which is delicious but you can omit it if you want.
To make them, do this…
You will need:
(This doesn’t include cinnamon which you will need for the topping) Sugar, butter, 1 egg, vanilla. milk, blueberries, baking powder and flour.
Begin by combining all the “wet” ingredients. Add the egg to a large bowl…
Add the sugar and whisk those two ingredients together…
Now whisk in the melted butter, vanilla and milk and set this bowl aside for a couple of minute…
Take out a smaller bowl and add to it the flour and baking soda, then stir them together…
Now add the blueberries to the flour mixture and coat them with flour.
This step is important. I saw it years and years ago on “Good Eats” on the Food Network and have done it ever since. When you coat the blueberries (or raisins, or chocolate chips) in the flour instead of adding them into the wet batter, they stay suspended in the batter rather than sinking to the bottom when the muffins are baking. Therefore the blueberries will be evenly distributed.
This trick works!
Now add this flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir it all around…
Evenly divide the batter into the muffin tray.
Silicone muffin trays are amazing by the way. They are non-stick and it’s so easy to pop the muffins out when they are finished and cooled.
Now let’s make the topping!
In a small bowl, add 1/4 cup flour, 2 tablespoons white sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 cup butter (cubed)…
Either use a fork or your finger tips, but mix these ingredients together to get a crumbly texture. I do this by gently rubbing the ingredients between my finger tips…
Sprinkle the topping over the unbaked muffins…
Now stick these guys in the oven at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes (check to make sure they are done by inserting a toothpick or a knife…if it comes out clean then they are ready).
Et voila!![amd-zlrecipe-recipe:52]
Posted in Breakfasts, Desserts
Tagged blueberry muffin recipe, breakfast recipe, muffin recipe
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Herby Feta Eggs
After making these three times in the past week and a half, I realized that they are share worthy and so I took some pictures.
Scrambled eggs may seem like a basic dish but just one or two different ingredients make them oh so special! And making the eggs with the right flavour combination makes a huge difference too!
I loaded these eggs with feta cheese, coriander and garlic…mmmmm!
And today I’m switching up the way I present the recipe so I hope you enjoy!
You will need:
Now do this…
- Mince the coriander
- Mince the garlic
- Crack the eggs into a large bowl
- Add the whole cream to the bowl
- Add the milk to the bowl
- Whisk the eggs, milk and cream together
- Heat up one tablespoon of coconut oil in a pan and saute the garlic for less than a minute…I forgot to add the garlic to the pan before hand, hence the no picture, so I added it in after I put the eggs in…Don’t do this! It’s sooo much better to saute them beforehand!
- Add the eggs to the pan
- Sprinkle the coriander and feta cheese on top
- Scrape the eggs from the bottom of the pan and stir them around to cook them. I like to let them sit for a couple of minutes to get a little brown before stirring them again
Et voila!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:49]
Posted in Breakfasts, Eggs
Tagged brunch recipe, egg recipe, scrambled eggs with herbs
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French Fruity Brioche!
This brioche recipe comes straight from Max’s maman. It’s something she makes every time Max visits and I love it too! Finally, I made the leap…however intimidating it may have been (it wasn’t intimidating. I just had to write that for effect) and made her recipe. It turned out pretty darn well!
The fruity part comes because there are a lot of raisins in it and candied orange peels on top as garnish. Other than that, it’s not really a fruity brioche!
This recipe is easy to make but it’s LONG and DETAILED. I am going to give the recipe in the original measurements (metric) but if you don’t have a food scale at home than just contact me in the comments section or by email and I’ll send you what I think are the correct imperial measurements (I imperially measured all of the ingredients after I weighed them out).
Here are the ingredients you will need:
For the brioche: Flour, 2 packets of dry-active yeast, milk, 2 eggs, vanilla sugar, butter, lemon juice, raisins and salt. I also forgot to add regular sugar into that picture which you will need!
For the garnish: Sugar grains and candied orange peels.
Begin by activating the yeast. It’s easy!
Add 2 teaspoons of flour into a glass or jar…
Along with the packets of yeast…
And 2 dashes of warm water (not too hot or you will kill the yeast…they are living bacteria!). Two dashes is 3-4 tablespoons…
Set that in a humid place like the microwave while it’s not running. Leave it there for 20 minutes to foam up.
In the meantime, prepare the other ingredients for the dough.
Place two eggs in a bowl and add the vanilla sugar (1 tsp or so) and the regular sugar (80g) to them…
Now beat these ingredients together and then set them aside…
Measure out 120g of butter…
Melt the butter and set it aside…
Measure out 150mL of milk and warm it up in the microwave or on the stove then set it aside…
Squeeze out the juice from half of a lemon. You will only need a teaspoon of the juice. Set this aside…
Here is the cast of supporting ingredients…
When the yeast is ready, add it to a large bowl along with the flour. Stir it about…
Then add the warm milk…
The egg mixture…
The melted butter…
And the raisins (I forgot to add the salt so don’t forget to add it…1/2 teaspoon!)…
Knead the dough. It’s going to be extremely sticky so if you have an electric mixer it may be better. I used my hands and it worked out well.
Turn on your oven to 150 degrees C and when it reaches the temperature, turn the oven off.
Place the dough in a clean bowl and cover it with a dry, clean cloth. Place the bowl on the middle rack of the oven.
Add boiled water to a shallow pan and place it on a rack below the bowl of dough…
Let the dough rise for about an hour and then take it out of the oven…
Turn it out into a round baking pan (I used a 9 inch) and begin to garnish it…
Sprinkle the sugar chunks on top…
Then evenly place the orange peels…
I replaced the water in the oven and let the dough rise for another hour or so because flipping it into the baking dish stressed it out and deflated it a little…
Bake it for 45 minutes at 155 degrees C…I had to turn the temp down to about 140 because the oven was too hot and I could sense that the brioche would burn at the original temperature. But start at 155 degrees and adjust the temperature if you need to!
Et voila!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:47]
Cheat Crepes
I call these “cheat crepes” because number one they are not made with crepe batter and number two, the batter is slightly thicker than crepe batter so it is great to practice your crepe flipping skills with it. Crepe flipping has never been my strong point but with this recipe and technique it is a cinch. The point is that it tastes like crepes, looks like crepes and it’s easy to make, so you must make them. That is the point.
Now for the recipe:
You will need…
Flour, butter, eggs, milk, sugar and maple syrup.
Measure out 1 cup of flour into a mixing bowl…
Make a well in the centre of the flour. It should look like this…
Now crack two eggs into that well. Take 1 1/4 cups of milk and add just a little at a time to the centre as well…
Now the reason you only want to add a little at a time is so that you can slowly incorporate the flour from the sides of the bowl and whisk it together. This method prevents lumps in the batter although we are going to strain it later anyways but still do it…
As more flour gets incorporated you can stream the milk in faster while you are whisking away…
Take some butter and put it into a dish that you are cool with microwaving. And I use the word “some” as a loose term. You will need 2 tablespoons of butter for the batter but melted butter works better when you need to cook the batter in a pan. I needed the amount below plus another tablespoon or so, all melted..
Microwave it…
And add 2 tablespoons to the batter.
Some people may want to add it into their well in the flour but I don’t do it that way. I like to always add the hot melted butter in after the batter has been whisked together. I have a bad tendency to curdle my eggs if I don’t do it this way…
Now strain the batter just to ensure that it is as smooth as smooth can be. This is one of the secret ways to ensure success in the end…
Voila! Crepe batter!
Speaking of “secret ways” which I did speak of above, remember when I was telling you about straining the batter. There is one more secret to ensuring success of the crepes. I mentioned it earlier but now we are here, at the step.
Add already melted butter (a teaspoon should be enough) to a hot pan and coat the pan evenly. An evenly coated pan is essential and the problem with swirling around solid butter is that I find it never really quite coats the pan as thoroughly as I want it to…
Add 1/4 cup of the batter to the pan and swirl it around…
Let it be for approximately 1 minute…
Then flip it! The batter is slightly thicker than actual crepe batter and so it is very easy to flip it with an ordinary spatula. Although, by the last 2 crepes I has flipping them without a spatula just for the fun of it and for practice and to try to beat FBF at his flipping because he was in on the fun too and he was really good at the crepe flipping. I didn’t win the crepe flip competition this time but I assure you that there will be other times and I will not disappoint.
Oh, and p.s., this side only needs 30 seconds…
Remove it from the pan and sprinkle it with a teaspoon of sugar…
Then fold it for into a quarter size (2 folds) and drizzle it with maple syrup…
Voila! Cheat crepes that taste so real! I served them with a segmented orange (great combination!!!)…
Enjoy!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:19]
French Toast in France…by a Canadian
The name for French toast in France is not a direct translation. It is called Pain Perdu, which is confusing to me because I swear that perdu means “lost”. I even confirmed that it means lost with FBF. Oh well. I guess I can just assume they named it Pain Perdu to be uberly romantic and creative as the French are known to be.
Another thing about the French pain perdu is that is it baked in the oven for a long time. The French toast I am making is the traditional Canadian fried style and it is so amazing!
I took inspiration to make this today when I was wandering through the Encyclopedie and saw their recipe for pain perdu which is completely different from what I have put together today.
I made it with a French twist though, although it is such a Canadian version…I made it with the most delicious sweet bread in the entire world, brioche. Have you had brioche before? You haven’t? Ok, go to the store or bakery or whatever and buy some, taste it and then cry for all that you have missed over the years.
I served this amazing French toast with a maple caramel banana sauce which I will also post up today! That recipe sure is a keeper! They both are!
You will need:
Milk, heavy cream, butter, brioche and eggs.
Begin by slicing 5 very large pieces of brioche off the loaf and setting them aside…
Now add 100ml of cream into a large bowl…
…followed by 100ml of milk…
Now add two whole eggs…
And two 2 yolks, just to ensure that the final product will be super uber rich…
Now scrape 1/2 of a vanilla pod into the bowl. I did this just because I had it on hand and it made the French toast so good that you now have to as well. If you don’t than that is ok too but do add some sort of vanilla extract…
Now whisk it all together…
Heat up your frying pan on medium heat (no more!). I usually use a medium-high heat to cook and fry but because the batter needs to cook all the way through the brioche, if you cooked it on high the outside would be burnt by the time the inside was cooked enough.
Press a piece of brioche down into the batter for only a couple of seconds…
Now flip it over and do the same on the other side…
Shake off all of the extra batter and place it in a frying pan. It will need to cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side…
That dark golden brown is exactly what we are looking for! It looks yum!
Et voila! Enjoy!! Again, see that jar in the picture full of deliciousness? It’s the caramel maple banana sauce to serve it with and I definitely recommend that you do serve it with this!
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:15]
Posted in Breakfasts
Tagged french toast, french toast with brioche, the best french toast in the world
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The Perfect Easy Pancake Recipe
These pancakes are so, so easy to make and they always turn out perfect! I have made them countless number of times over the past year or so and over that time I have tweaked them to perfection. I don’t add any fancy ingredients, just basic things you will probably have in your own kitchen so you can make them all the time!
They are banana pancakes but in my mind, there is no other pancake than a banana pancake (well, unless it’s a blueberry pancake…YUM!).
The most important thing in making these pancakes turn out perfect is the technique you use and the intuition you use when cooking them. What is the perfect temperature to cook them at? When is the perfect time to flip them? When do I know when they are ready to take off the frying pan and serve up? I have a few tricks that I’ve picked up from making them so often, that I’ll tell you about!
You will need:
- 1 banana
- 2 tablespoons of melted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 cup of all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
- 1 cup (or a little more) of milk
- Additional butter for cooking (a must!)
First, break up you banana with your hands as you add it to a bowl…
Then mash it smooth with a fork…
Melt your butter. I always guestimate the amount of butter to melt and then measure it out when it’s melted. I never care too much if it is exactly 2 tablespoons as long as there is butter in there somewhere!
Now add your butter to the banana. I add it in with the banana to cool it down a little so when I add the egg it won’t cook!
Then I add an egg. I have yet to figure out how to capture a great picture of me cracking an egg into the bowl. A tripod and self timer would probably help…
Mix this up and set it aside. In another bowl, measure out your flour…
…and your baking powder…
…and your sugar. I roughly measure the sugar with a regular spoon…
Now stir it together…
Add it to the banana mixture…
Now measure out a cup of milk (any % is fine) and add that in as well…
Now whisk it together really fast!
Now add butter to your pan. The pan should be on medium (riiight in the middle) and let it heat up for 4 or 5 minutes before you add your butter. Starting with a cold pan will surely cause your first pancake to not turn out well…
Now add a ladle-full of batter to the pan…
In 1 or 2 minutes it should start forming little bubbles and that is how you know it is ready to flip!
Give it a quick flip and cook on the other side for only 30 seconds or so. When you shake the pan, it should move freely and that is how you know it is ready…
Eh voila! Serve it with delicious maple syrup (the real stuff!)…
Mmmmmmm, yummy!
One more for your pleasure 
Oh! P.s. it makes about 6 pancakes depending on the size!
Holy Freshness Omelet
When I took one bite of my omelet this morning I yelled out to the world, “HOLY FRESHNESS!!”
I originally did not plan to sprinkle some cheddar cheese on top but after I put in on the plate I knew it would add that “Je ne sais quoi”!
You will need:
- 1/4 onion
- 1/4 tomato
- A handful of spinach
- A handful of cilantro
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon or so of heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon or so of butter
- Salt
- A pinch of grated cheddar cheese (to top)(optional)
Chop your onion…
Melt half the amount of butter in a pan…
Now add the onion to the butter and saute for around 2 minutes or until soft…
Remove the onion from the pan and set it aside…
Now crack your three eggs into a bowl…
Add your cream and beat it…
Now add the rest of the butter to the pan…
Add your eggs…
In the meantime, dice your tomatoes, spinach and cilantro…
Sprinkle the onions over the eggs…
Now sprinkle some salt on top…
Then your tomato…
And the greens…
Make sure you add the veggies in that order so the onion and tomato can kind of “stick” to the egg and the greens can be a nice, loose, fresh filling…
Give the thing a fold…
And sprinkle cheese on top…
Et Voila! An omelet that will leave you yelling “Holy Freshness!!” after your first bite
