Hot cross buns

Hey! Life is super duper crazy, more so than usual. Oof! Anyway, real fast, my sister is here visiting for a second and I wanted to make something delicious, then I remembered about hot cross buns! Oh yeah, they're delicious. I haven't had them in ten years or something, and these are what I wanted. Happy Easter!

Hot cross buns


Ok so I'm not going to post the recipe, really, because it's just this recipe, but without the apricots and plus:
3/4 c raisins
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cardamom
1/4 t cloves
1/4 t nutmeg
zest of 1 orange

Add the spices and zest with the other dry ingredients, then after beating the dough stir in the raisins. I scooped the dough into muffin tins instead of trying to shape each glob nicely. Makes a little under 2 dozen.

For the crosses
1 T milk
1/2 c powdered sugar

Stir together, and spread over the top with spoons onto the cooled rolls.

Peanut butter banana bread

We're hoping to be moving soon, so I'm trying to clean out the freezer. Turns out there were bananas in there! I found five. That was exactly as much as I needed to make banana bread! Perfect.

This is a gluten free, edited version of Joy the Baker's pb banana bread. Alex is newly in love with peanut butter (after years of claiming he hates it), so I wanted to see if he could handle peanut butter and bananas together. Then I added in some chocolate chips. Then I sprinkled some pearl sugar on top because I just bought some.

Peanut butter banana bread with chocolate chips
Adapted from Joy the Baker

1 1/2 c mashed bananas
1/3 c buttermilk
1/3 c peanut butter
3 T melted butter (I used oil)
2 eggs
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 c rice flour mix
1 t baking soda
1/2 t xanthan gum
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 c chocolate chips
1 T pearl sugar

Preheat oven to 350, and grease a loaf pan. Stir together the bananas, buttermilk, peanut butter, butter, and eggs. In another bowl, whisk together the sugars, flour mix, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt and cinnamon. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then fold in the chocolate chips and scrape into the loaf pan. Sprinkle with pearl sugar, and bake an hour. Cool in the pan. Wait until the loaf is cool to slice it!

The breakfast I've been eating for a few weeks

A few weeks ago, gluten-free granola maker Bakery on Main contacted me to see if I wanted some samples. Sure, I said, but I can't promise a review. I'd seen the products in stores, liked that they're local to me (from one town over!) but had never tried them. I like regular granola, theirs looks more like cereal (it's made without oats). Turned out I was wrong, it's delicious. I've been eating it with Siggis yogurt, which isn't sweet at all, making a good backdrop for the sweet and crunchy granola. Yum!

*Bakery on Main sent me free product, but I wrote this on my own. Siggis had nothing to do with this post.

What to do with leftover boiled dinner (corned beef hash)

Hi! I made this a bunch of days ago, but then I went away with my sister for the weekend and then worked and some other things happened. Now I have a day off and despite how nice and sunny it looks outside, it's still winter. It snowed yesterday. Hmph.

Anyway, this is one of my favorite breakfasts, and there is nothing more sad than eating all your corned beef at night and then waking up in the morning and realizing it's gone and you can't make hash. Boo. It's easy and fast and good and you can even add in some spinach to make it healthier. If you want to do that, spread a few handfuls of spinach over the hash right before you add the eggs, then when it's wilted, stir it in and add the eggs. We did this for dinner last night.

Corned beef hash


a bunch of leftover corned beef
some leftover potatoes
maybe some cooked vegetables if you have any (I added carrots)
eggs
salt and pepper

Cube up your meat and potatoes and vegetables into little pieces. Heat up a pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil or butter, and toss in the cubed things. Press down with the back of a spatula, and cook without stirring about ten minutes over medium heat, until brown and crusty. Flip over the best you can, pat down again, and cook another few minutes. Crack an egg or two or three on the top and lower the heat, and cover. Cook until the whites are set and the yellow is still runny. Serve immediately.

New York style coffee/crumb cake

Yaaaaaay! I ripped this recipe out of a magazine and have been looking at it for a few months. I finally made it, and am so glad I did. Back in high school, I used to go to this deli and get sandwiches and coffee cake, and this is pretty close to the coffee cake that I used to love. Hooray! The cake is soft and moist and buttery, and the crumb top is sweet and crunchy and slightly cinnamon-ny.

New York style coffee/crumb cake
From America's test kitchens best-ever recipes

Crumb topping
8 T melted unsalted butter, still warm
1/3 c white sugar
1/3 c brown sugar, packed
3/4 t cinnamon
a pinch of salt
1 3/4 c rice flour mix
1/4 t xanthan gum

Mix together butter, sugars, cinnamon and salt together, then stir in the flour and xanthan gum. Set aside to cool and harden a bit.

Cake
1 1/4 c rice flour mix
1/4 t xanthan gum
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
6 T softened butter, cut into slices
1/3 c greek yogurt
1 whole egg plus 1 yolk
2 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Line an 8x8 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Whisk the flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in the bowl of a mixer. Add the butter, one slice at a time until mostly incorporated. Add in the yogurt, eggs, and vanilla and beat on medium-high until batter is light and fluffy. Scrape into the pan, and smooth the top with a spatula. Break up the crumb mixture with a fork, leaving as many pieces that are about the size of a dime as you can. Spread the crumb mixture over the top of the cake, and bake for 40-45 minutes on the shelf on the top third of the oven. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 9 servings.

Buckwheat granola

I've been eating a lot of yogurt and granola lately at work. I've discovered this expensive, delicious raw buckwheat granola, but am sick of paying $9 for a bag. I wanted to make my own, but I don't have a dehydrator to make this raw, plus I have too many raw food allergies. I found a few recipes online for regular granola with buckwheat in it, so I decided to just go for it. This was a good life choice, this granola is delicious and crunchy. I did add in some oats, but next time I might skip them. The buckwheat gets all crunchy, the millet puffs a little and is crunchy, and it's not too sweet. 

You guys know buckwheat is not a wheat-y gluten grain, right? 

Buckwheat granola


2 1/4 c roasted buckwheat (kasha)
1 1/2 c oats
1/3 c millet
1/2 c almond slices
1/2 c raw sunflower seeds
1/2 c unsalted pistachios, chopped
1/3 c honey
1/3 c olive oil
1/4 t salt
2 t cinnamon
1 t vanilla
1/2 c chopped prunes
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c dried blueberries

Preheat oven to 300. Combine buckwheat, oats, millet, almond, sunflower seeds, and pistachios in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine the honey, oil, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla, and whisk together. Pour over the grain mixture, and stir well. Spread over a cookie sheet, and bake for 40 minutes, stirring twice. Remove from the oven when the granola is golden brown. Stir in the dried fruit, and let cool.

Sprinkle granola over yogurt and eat eat eat.

Eggs over salsa and avocado

Good news! I got my stitches out and now I can eat regular foods again. Hooray! I'm sure everyone is sick of soft foods. Too bad, here is one last one before we progress back to regular food.
Obviously the Superbowl was yesterday. I'm sure you all remember. The best part about the Superbowl is that all the delicious foods associated with snacking and beer are on sale, including avocados. I love avocados. Since I can't eat things like chips and guacamole, I improvised and made this super quick dinner, which was so awesome. Really. If you're too lazy to make guacamole, cube up an avocado and dump some salsa on it and eat it like that. That's a good snack. Add a soft boiled egg into the equation? Oh boy. If Alex had made this for me I would have swooned, but I made it for myself so he'll have to think of something else.

Eggs over salsa and avocado


2 eggs, room temperature
2 avocados
3/4 c your favorite salsa (my all time, #1 favorite is any of Rick Bayless's Frontera salsas)
salt and pepper

Bring a small pot with enough water to cover your eggs to boil. Carefully slide in the eggs (I use tongs to place them in the water so they don't crack), cover, then turn the heat down to low. Set a timer for 4 minutes, assuming you want solid whites and runny yolks. Cut your avocado in quarters, peel the skin off, then cube up. Place each cubed avocado in a bowl. Top with salsa. When the timer goes off, take the eggs out of the water and run under cold water until cool enough to handle. Carefully peel each egg, place in the bowl on top of the salsa, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Breakfast smoothie!

This is easy and good. And fast and filling. That's all I need to say, I think.

Breakfast smoothie


1 packet whey (or soy or rice protein), berry or vanilla flavored
1 scoop greens (I used Green Vibrance)
2 scoops berry or mango sorbet
1 c juice (I used pear nectar)
a handful of frozen berries (I used a mix of goji, strawberry, and blackberry)

Toss everything in the blender and process until smooth. Drink up!

Banana and blueberry waffles

Do you guys have a foot and a half of snow? We sure do. Alex spent a while digging out the driveway so I could go to work so I made him waffles. These ones are the same batter as the chocolate chip waffles I made the other day, but with chunks of bananas and blueberries in them. Mmmmm.

Blueberry and banana waffles

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking 

1 3/4 c rice flour mix

1 T baking powder

1/4 t xanthan gum

1 T sugar

1/2 t salt

3 eggs, beaten

4 T melted butter

1 1/2 c milk

2 bananas, mashed or chopped

3/4 c of blueberries (I used frozen, since it's winter and we don't have blueberries)

Heat up your waffle maker. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, pour in all the wet ingredients, and mix well. Stir in the bananas and blueberries. Pour however much your waffle maker needs, and cook according to your waffle makers specifications. Makes about 3 1/2 cups of batter, which makes however many waffles that is for your waffle maker (about 6 for mine). 

Chocolate chip waffles

My sister Dana and I both got waffle makers from our significant others for Christmas, so there have been a lot of waffles around lately. I've been using waffle mixes, but today I decided I should make them from scratch. It's just as easy as a mix, but with maybe one or two more steps. These are as good as any mix I've tried, and so much cheaper. 

Chocolate chip waffles

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking 

1 3/4 c rice flour mix

1 T baking powder

1/4 t xanthan gum

1 T sugar

1/2 t salt

3 eggs, beaten

4 T melted butter

1 1/2 c milk

1/2 c chocolate chips

Heat up your waffle maker. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, pour in all the wet ingredients, and mix well. Pour however much your waffle maker needs, sprinkle in chocolate chips, and cook according to your waffle makers specifications. Makes about 3 1/2 cups of batter, which makes however many waffles that is for your waffle maker (about 6 for mine). 

French toast

I haven't had French toast in a while. We're talking a couple of years. I've been eating pancakes and toast with cinnamon-sugar butter. Or yogurt. Anyway, Rudi's sent me a box of bread to try* and while I haven't been loving it as much as Udi's, I thought it might be good for French toast. I was right! My problem with Rudi's is mostly that if you toast it straight from the freezer, it stays a lot softer than I'd like. However, it's been redeemed with French toast!

French Toast
I used cinnamon raisin bread, you can use whatever kind you want. 


2 slices cinnamon raisin bread
1 egg
1/4 c milk
1 t cinnamon-sugar
1 t butter
optional: cinnamon-sugar butter

Beat the egg with the milk and cinnamon sugar. Melt the butter in a pan over medium low heat. Dip each side of each slice of bread well in the egg mixture, then repeat to use up extra egg. Cook soggy bread for a few minutes on each side, until starting to crisp and brown. Flip. Optional step - spread the cooked side with some cinnamon sugar butter, then flip and cook just until the butter melts and the sugar becomes a little crispy. Repeat.

Serve with maple syrup, if you want. Serves 1.

*disclaimer: product was free and I am only reviewing it because I wanted to. You could use Udi's bread instead. Or your own bread.

Pancakes!

All right, this isn't really going to be a recipe, since I used the recipe on the back of the box and then recycled it.

 The good news is, though, that the Bisquick pancakes are good. My favorite pancake mix is still Kinnikinick, but this is different. The Kinnikinick mix makes kind of thinner, a little bit sweeter (and vanilla-y) pancakes, while the Bisquick mix makes less sweet, thicker pancakes.

The Bisquick mix is wicked expensive and in a tiny little box, which is my main gripe with the mix so far. Pancakes are good, though! I ate them all.

**Disclaimer: I got the Bisquick for free, was not paid for this post or anything.

Cinnamon sugar butter!

I saw this post, and remembered this one. I have been meaning to do this for a while, and finally did. I rarely eat breakfast but when I do, it's almost always cinnamon toast. Usually I make the toast (with bread straight from the freezer), spread it with butter, then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, which I keep mixed up in a jar next to the toaster. This will not only make things easier but tastier too.

Look how good that looks!

Cinnamon sugar butter
1 stick of butter
1/4 c cinnamon-sugar*

Let the butter soften for a little while on the counter. Smash in all the cinnamon-sugar, and store in a little bowl in the fridge.

To make toast: two options, if you're gluten free and keep your bread in the freezer. The first way is to spread the frozen toast with the cinnamon-sugar butter, then toast it. The second, which I do because I forget, is to toast and then spread with cinnamon butter.
MMMMM.

*I eyeball cinnamon-sugar, usually about 1 part cinnamon to 3 parts sugar.

Granola for a long car ride

Alex and I are going on vacation soon. Wait, let me say that again correctly. Alex and I are going on vacation soon!!!!! Soon is Monday. We're driving to Milwaukee to see my best friend, and camping along the way. We will eat Kopps burgers, go to thrift stores and flea markets, eat, take a billion photos (both film and digital! I bought another film camera) and have lots of fun.

Milwaukee is a long drive away from here. About a thousand miles long drive. In preparation for this drive, I have made granola. This granola is full of protein, good fats, fiber, omegas, energy, and delicious fruit. It's not too sweet. When I first tried it I wasn't sure I liked it, but then I kept eating and then almost couldn't stop. I packed a little bag to put in yogurt with some honey for breakfast tomorrow, but the rest is for the road.

This granola was an experiment. I tried some things I've never tried before. I added chia seeds before cooking the granola, which I was nervous about because I wasn't sure if they'd do their gel thing with the oil/honey liquid I poured over. I added protein powder so this granola will fill me up a little more, and faster. I've never baked with protein powder before, and was a little nervous. I know you could, some packages even say 'add to breads and cakes and pancakes!' but I wasn't sure. I added finely ground flaxseed at the end, with the fruits, so it wouldn't lose its omegas and the other good things flaxseeds contain besides fiber.

I added maca powder, because I love it so. Maca, if you've never heard of it, is a root that helps give you energy and balance hormones. It has a malty, distinct taste. I used coconut oil for half of the oil in the granola. Coconut oil is full of good fats. I used two kinds of nuts and three kinds of fruits. See?

Long car ride granola


4 c gluten free oats
1/2 c raw almonds, chopped
1/2 c raw pistachios, chopped
1/2 c raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 c coconut flakes
2 T chia seeds
2 T maca powder
3 T protein powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 c coconut oil
1/4 c olive oil
3/4 c honey
2 T finely ground flaxseed
1/2 c each dried strawberries, tart cherries, and apricots, chopped

Preheat oven to 300. Mix together everything except the oils, honey, flax and fruit. Warm up the coconut oil so it's liquid, then warm up the honey a little so it's runny. Mix them together, then mix in the olive oil. Pour over the oat mixture, then spread into two cookie sheets. Bake 20-30 minutes, stirring once or twice until lightly brown. Once the granola is out of the oven, sprinkle with flaxseed and stir in the fruits. Let cool fully, then eat! Yum.

Eggs Benedict

Alex and I thought that today we probably needed to eat all our fat for the week this morning. It was worth it, but won't happen again for a while. I perfect the art of poaching eggs, made my favorite English muffins, and tried out blender hollandaise. Alex cooked some super thick cut bacon, and all together, oh my gosh. This is a special breakfast, and didn't even really take that long. All together it took about an hour - way more than I'd spend on breakfast on a regular day but very worth it, especially if you have guests to impress. Sorry I'm not posting recipes, I don't want to lift off Simply Recipes and I've already posted about English muffins.

Eggs Benedict

for two

2 poached eggs (to make absolutely, positively perfect poached eggs, Elise at Simply Recipes wins)

a few pieces of bacon

an English muffin (I make pretty easy ones that take about 45 minutes)

Hollandaise (again, Elise at Simply Recipes nails this one)

Thick bacon is the best, but make sure you cook it enough that it can break apart, and it's not too chewy.
To assemble, place an English muffin on your plate. Top with some slices of bacon, a perfect poached egg, and some Hollandaise. Try not too inhale it.
Blender hollandaise is genius. No more whisking over a water bath and the fear of breakage. Hooray!

Gooey cinnamon buns

I got a box of Better Batter flour at work. I've been hearing fabulous things, but I really don't use pre-mixed flour mixes much. This morning I woke up late, and wanted to make cinnamon buns. I figured that was a tough test for a flour blend. Cinnamon buns need to be light and fluffy and easily pulled apart; a tough test for any gluten-free blend.

And let me tell you- the Better Batter flour blend passed. I used recipe for gluten cinnamon buns, switched a few things up, and baked them off. Then I might have eaten four, trying to decide if I liked them.

I'm not sure if this recipe will work with regular flour mix, but I will try it eventually. The only differences between my basic flour mix I use for almost anything and the Better Batter mix is that the BB mix has pectin (gelling agent) and potato flour (which I've never used). I bet you could make this with regular flour mix, with maybe 1 1/2 t xanthan gum and then about 1/3 c teff flour too.

Gooey cinnamon buns

I used Elise's recipe for cinnamon buns, with a few changes.

The buns:

1/4 c warm water (around 110 degrees)

1/3 c sugar

1 packet of yeast (2 1/4 t if you don't use packets)

3/4 c milk

4 T butter, melted

1 egg and a yolk

1 t salt

3 c Better Batter flour

Combine the warm water, sugar and yeast in a small bowl and let proof for 5 minutes. Beat together the milk, butter, eggs, salt and yeast mixture. Stir in the flour mix a cup at a time. The dough will be pretty thick.

For the cinnamon filling:

2/3 c brown sugar

1 T cinnamon

4 T butter, melted

Divide the dough in half. Set one half aside, and roll out the other half on a well floured surface. Don't roll too thin, about 1/3" is good. Half an inch is ok too. Brush the top with butter, and sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over the top. Roll up, and cut with a sharp knife into 3/4"-1" slices. Repeat with the other dough half.

For the topping:

1/4 c brown sugar

3 T butter

3 T honey

1 T corn syrup

Combine the ingredients in a small bowl, and microwave until butter is melted. Stir to combine, and pour into the bottom of a 13x9 glass pan.

Place the sliced cinnamon rolls on top of the sticky sauce, spaced evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise for about 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 while the rolls are rising. Bake 30-40 minutes until topping is bubbling around the sides and the tops are brown. Turn out onto a plate and try not to eat them all at once. Makes about 20.

Cream cheese and blueberry coffee cake

Once again, we're snowed in. Seriously snowed in. The highways are closed, the public transportation system is shut down, and no one has even bothered to start shoveling. It's serious. Although I'll be hurting a little bit if work is cancelled again tomorrow, I've had too many (unpaid) snow days.

I searched high and low on the internet for a recipe like this, and I couldn't find any. I wanted a basic coffee cake, but with berries, a cream cheese layer, and a crunchy streusel-y topping. Why doesn't this exist besides in my mind?

The good news is that my ideal recipe translated perfectly into reality. This is a hell of a coffee cake. The base cake is light and fluffy, the blueberries fit right in between the cake and the creamy layer of cheese, and the streusel topping is thin and crunchy.

Cream cheese and blueberry coffee cake

Cake base and streusel layer adapted from the Joy of Cooking 1975 edition

For the cake base:

1 1/2 c rice flour mix

1/4 t salt

1/4 t xanthan gum

2 t baking powder

1/4 c butter, softened

1/4 c sugar

1 egg

2/3 c milk

1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. In a small bowl, blend together the flour mix, salt, xanthan gum, and baking powder, then set aside. Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg, followed by the milk. Add the vanilla, then stir in the flour mixture. Blend well, then spread into a 8x8 pan or an 8" pie/tart pan.

For the berry layer:

1/2 c to 3/4 c fresh or frozen blueberries (don't thaw them if they're frozen)

1 T sugar

Toss the berries in the sugar, and sprinkle over the cake layer.

For the cream cheese layer:

8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used low fat 'Neufchatel')

1 egg yolk

1/4 c sugar

2 t lemon juice or vanilla

Smoosh the cream cheese together with the egg, sugar, and lemon juice. Beat until smooth, and drop big spoonfuls on top of the berries.

For the streusel layer:

2 T rice flour or almond meal

2 T butter

3 T sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

Mash together all the ingredients with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over the cheese layer.

Bake the cake about 45-60 minutes, until no longer jiggley in the center, and starting to brown. Cool completely before serving.