breakfast

Recipe: Caramelized Apple Dutch Baby

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Carmelized Apple Dutch Baby on a plate.

Happy New Year! We’re living in the future! Well, actually the present. But that number — 2020. It seems like the future. Like when we were going from 1999 to 2000. It’s really just one day apart, but mentally it feels like a big jump. Going from one century to the next and one decade to the next. Also, now we’re really deep into the 21st century. It feels big.

So I decided to begin this first morning of the year and decade by doing something that I’ve been planning to do for quite some time. I made a Dutch baby for breakfast. These German pancakes were the darling of the food blogger world for many years. As I was reading yesterday, the main character in the novel just happened to make one. That sealed it for me.

A Dutch baby is similar to a popover, which I have made before. The dramatic thing about both is that they puff up without using any leavening. When I made popovers, they puffed up.

The Dutch baby did not puff. I have to admit that I was disappointed. Now I realize that the instructions in the recipe that I used didn’t stress using a blender or electric hand mixer to combine the ingredients. That vigorous mixing would have added more air prompting the puff. I forgot about this until looking at my popover recipe. Next time I’ll remember.

Also, just to let you know about the coloring. I keep a mixture of white flour combined with other healthier flours (ingredients) for better nutrition. The current combination is coffee flour and flaxseed meal. So the brown color of the Dutch baby might not be the same if you use plain white flour.

I’ve adapted this recipe from one on the blog Simply Scratch. Let me know if you try it and Happy New Year! 🎉

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Single Serving Caramelized Apple Dutch Baby

INGREDIENTS:

Caramelized Apples:

  • 1 apple cut up
  • 1 T butter
  • 2 T brown sugar

Dutch Baby:

  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • 1 T butter (for the skillet)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Put the butter in a small skillet on medium heat and coat the sides. Add the apples and brown sugar. Stir and cook the apples for about 10 minutes. They will become tender and caramelized.

While the apples are cooking, combine the ingredients for the Dutch baby in a blender or use an electric mixer in a small bowl. Stirring with a whisk or a spoon is fine, but unless you whisk for longer than I did, it won’t be enough to get a lot of air into the mixture so that it will puff up in the oven.

Put the butter in a medium cast iron skillet on medium heat and coat the sides. When the butter sizzles, pour the batter into the pan and place in oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from the pan with a spatula and place on a large plate. Pour the apples on the Dutch baby. Sprinkle cinnamon and powdered sugar over the top. Enjoy!

2-Ingredient Banana Pancake Experiment

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2-ingredient banana pancake breakfast.

This past week, I saw a recipe on The Kitchn for 2-ingredient banana pancakes. It looked like a good idea for a quick high energy breakfast that might taste incredibly good. So this morning I decided to try it.

While the recipe is technically just two ingredients, there are several other ingredients mentioned as optional extras. I got a bit carried away and should have kept it simple.

I added a tablespoon of leftover granola, which is probably fine. I added a pinch of salt, some vanilla and baking powder. Also probably fine.

Here is where I veered off the road with my breakfast. Last year, I read an article in Brandeis Magazine about coffee flour.

Coffee flour, developed by Brandeis biophysicist Dan Perlman ’68, got media outlets and many other observers buzzing this winter.

Two decades ago, Perlman and nutritionist K.C. Hayes developed the “healthy fats” blend in the Smart Balance buttery spread. Now, on his own, Perlman’s invented and patented what he says is a healthier form of coffee.

Needless to say, I was intrigued. So I searched for coffee flour and ordered some from Nuts.com. The coffee flour has been sitting in my fridge lonely and unopened for months. So I decided to put a couple of tablespoons into this recipe. Well. It didn’t really work.

My excitement over this new recipe, and probably and ironically my lack of coffee, caused me to forget that the coffee flour should be mixed with regular flour.

Anyway, I took a picture of the pancakes. Not my best work! The flavor wasn’t great, but it was edible. Next time I’ll just stick with the two ingredients!

For the coffee flour, I’ll add it to the flour mixture that I keep in the fridge. Have you ever tried coffee flour?

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Photo Credit: The Kitchn

Gimme Lean Veggie Sausage vs MorningStar Farms Sausage Patties

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Gimme Lean Veggie Sausage

My go to product for veggie sausage, veggie burgers and other veggie based foods is usually MorningStar Farms. I’ve tried so many different veggie products and always come back to them.

But I like mixing things up a bit sometimes and trying new products. I noticed Gimme Lean Veggie Sausage on sale this past week and decided to buy it. This morning I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised.

It’s a teeny bit more work making Gimme Lean sausages than MorningStar. It comes in a package where you scoop out the mixture, form patties, then cook it on the top of the stove. The cooking time was pretty quick though – about five minutes. The flavor and texture are quite good.

I imagine that I could cook it up without forming patties and using the sausage in a stir fry, sauce, frittata, quiche and more.

During the week, it’s much easier and faster to use MorningStar Farms sausages, because I microwave them for a minute and they’re done. But for other times, I can see using Gimme Lean. The company that makes them is Lightlife Foods and they have a wide array of foods, from pasta, to bowls and other snacks.

Have you tried any of their foods?

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Photo Credit: Lightlife Foods

Sunday Morning at Wollaston Beach

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Collage of six pictures, sandy beach with water, sea grass, a book with travel mug, a hand holding an egg sandwich, feet with grey sneakers over the sand.I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’d like to spend my summer mornings.

In my fantasy life, I would sit on the front porch, back deck or balcony sipping my coffee, eating my breakfast and reading a good book.

In my real life, I don’t have a front porch, back deck or balcony. But I have to be grateful for what I have and work with what I’ve got.

Wollaston Beach is just a five minute drive from me. So I started thinking. Why don’t I just make my breakfast and bring it to the beach? So I made a spinach, kale, fried egg, Parmesan cheese sandwich with rosemary and olive oil flatbread.

Then I made my coffee and used my What Would Olivia Pope Do? travel mug. It makes me wildly happy. The little things! I put on my favorite sneakers and headed out the door.

The salty beach air smelled wonderful. I mostly ignored a few ants. After all, I was in their territory. And I really enjoyed my breakfast and reading my book.

It was a nice start to my day and I enjoyed taking a few pictures while I was out there. Since I started blogging, I stopped keeping a regular diary. Instead I keep a notebook with goals, random thoughts and things that I want to remember.

Instagram is slowly becoming a daily diary of sorts. Not that I’m sharing my deepest feelings and thoughts. But I am documenting my life and being mindful of all that I have to be grateful for.