Breakfast of Champions

Some days you wake up and it's pouring and your roof is leaking and you have a lot of work to do but you left your keys in your office over the weekend and so instead you make a coffee cake and a chipotle bloody mary (or two) and call it a day.

I'm pretty proud of this coffee cake considering I made it up with things I have in my house and I've never made a coffee cake before. Also of note: the bloody mary probably doesn't go well with the coffee cake, but it sure goes down nicely while you're waiting for it to bake.

Coffee Walnut Coffee Cake
Ingredients
1 cup butter
1.5 cup white sugar
.5 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 Tbsp kahlua
2 Tbsp instant coffee mixed into 1 tsp hot water (or the minimum amount of water you can use to get it to dissolve)
2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
-
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp butter, melted

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350, grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. Cream butter and sugar on low until light and airy. Add eggs one at a time. Then add sour cream, yogurt, vanilla, kahlua and coffee.
3. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl, then pour into mixer while still on low speed.
4. Scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to make sure it's all mixed in and then mix at medium speed for one minute.
5. In a small bowl, mix the walnuts, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon with a fork. Mix in melted butter with a fork. The mixture should be clumpy.
6. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle 1/3 of the walnut mixture in the middle. Add the rest of the batter and then cover the top with the remaining 2/3 of the walnut mixture.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chipotle Bloody Mary
Ingredients
6 oz high quality tomato juice
juice of 1.5 limes
1 tsp horseradish
2 tsp adobo sauce from a jar of chipotle peppers
1 tsp chipotle powder
2 tsp Old Bay powder
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 oz vodka.

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients except vodka in a jar and shake thoroughly.
2. Fill a glass with ice cubes and add vodka. Pour tomato juice mix into the cup.
3. Stir and serve with celery!

Savory Cheese Pie

Yes, cheese pie. Genius, right? It is very close to being a quiche, but instead of being mostly egg it is mostly cheese. I started from this recipe, but I made it better. It's also one of the easiest pies I've ever made!

What you need:

1 single-crust pie dough recipe

1 1/2 cups grated cheese

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk

4 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp nutmeg

I used 3 cheeses in my pie: Beecher's Flagship for the majority, then a gruyere-cheddar blend from Trader Joe's, and a little bit of strong blue cheese. Obviously the only limit here is your cheese imagination!

What you do:

Make your pie crust and put the dough in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes. In a bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, eggs, and seasonings. Roll out your dough and put it in a well-greased pie pan. Put your pile of grated cheese into the crust, then pour the cream and egg mixture over the top. Trim the crust edges and bake at 425 degrees for 45 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheesy top is nicely browned. It should poof up real nicely by the time it's done, almost like a souffle.

If you discover midway through crust production that your bottle of vodka has all leaked out into your freezer and you have to use whiskey instead, be sure to put some foil around the edges of your pie to keep the crust from browning too much. Whiskey has more sugars than vodka, so the crust will brown much more than it normally would.

This pie is delicious warm, cold, or at room temperature! And if you bring it to any gathering, you will be a champion.

Grilled Black Bean, Quinoa, Spicy Sweet Potato Wraps

I was inspired by this post, found on foodgawker, but changed the recipe a lot.

Ingredients:

Two cups black beans, soaked for a day, then boiled to softness (About forty minutes, usually)

One cup quinoa

One sweet potato

Half an onion, sliced to strips

One green pepper, sliced

One red pepper, sliced

Goat cheese - about half a cup, crumbled

Wraps - large tortillas

Put the beans and quinoa to cook.

Dice the sweet potato into small cubes - about 1-1.5 cm square, and put in a pot of water to boil.

While these all are cooking, slice up the onion and peppers.

The sweet potato should take about ten minutes - once finished, drain and sprinkle with light vegetable oil (or butter), and sprinkle with spices - Old Bay, annato, or some sort of spicy crushed pepper works. Toss and set aside in small bowl.

Sautee the onions until almost clear (15 minutes or so) then throw in the peppers and sautee for a few more minutes.

At this point, everything should be done cooking - drain the beans, and simply toss all the cooked ingredients in a bowl, and mix gently.

Compile the wrap - use as much cheese as you´d like, and the mix of the vegetables and grains.

You can toast the wrap in either a panini press (that sounds very nice!), or in the same pan you sauteed the onions and peppers in.

There will be plenty of leftovers - good for a few more meals, very quickly prepared, now that everything is cooked and in your fridge, ready to go!

Enjoy!

NB: I unfortunately got tiny tortillas, so the picture shows more of a toasted tortilla than a wrap, which made it difficult to turn without everything falling!

No Bullshit Bloody Mary Mix

Until about a year ago, I'd never had a Bloody Mary. I thought tomato juice was gross, who wants not sweet juice? But then I ordered one on a whim at a happy hour and I never looked back! I love hot things and this definitely translates to Bloody Marys. When I order them, I usually add more Tabasco. I looked at a lot of recipes and sort of improvised and made it spicier, of course. This mix is spicy and thick. If you don't like it hot, you might want to tone it down a notch. Or maybe you should just order a mimosa, because you are clearly not a bloody mary person!



For a good Bloody Mary, you need good ingredients. Buy expensive, thick, organic tomato juice. Use Tabasco brand hot sauce. It's vinegary and spicy without adding too many other random flavors. Use Old Bay. Other seafood seasonings are imitators! Taste your lime juice to make sure it tastes right. Some limes don't actually give good juice. Keep extras of everything around to adjust your seasonings to make sure it's perfect!



A really good Bloody Mary mix is made the night before (or a few days before). This allows the flavors to blend so when you take a sip, you're tasting everything. If you forget the night before, or if you suddenly have brunch guests, you can still make this last minute. But the earlier the better!



Ingredients
32 oz. jar of tomato juice, the best kind you can buy! spluge, it's worth it!
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (lime is best, but you can use lemon or a mix of lemon and lime juices too)
2 Tbsp horseradish
2 Tbsp Tabasco
1 Tbsp Worcester sauce (Worcester sauce is usually made with anchovies and so is not vegan/vegetarian, I sometimes make it with vegan Worcester sauce but use 1 tsp soy sauce and 2 tsp vegan Worcester because the vegan version is a little sweeter)
4 tsp Old Bay
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp brown sugar
vodka or tequila
celery and/or pickled vegetables for serving

Directions
1. Pour out about a cup (8 oz) of the juice, but don't throw it out or drink it (yet!)
2. Add all of the rest of the ingredients to the jar and shake thoroughly.
3. Taste it. If it's not salty enough, add 1/2 tsp Old Bay at a time until it's salty enough! Same for hot (add tabasco or horseradish!) and sour (lime). I wouldn't add more brown sugar or black pepper.
4. If there is still space in the jar, add some of the juice back. This might dilute it a little bit, so make sure you can add more flavors if you need.
5. Let the jar sit overnight in the fridge. It will last about a week in the fridge.
6. To make a Bloody Mary, fill a tom collins glass (or whatever glass you'd like) about halfway with ice. Pour in 1 part vodka or tequila (Bloody Maria!) to 3 parts bloody mary mix. You can add more or less depending on how alcoholic you want your drinks to be. Garnish (a MUST!) with celery and/or pickled vegetables (green beans, carrots, asparagus are all great!)

Savory Butternut Squash Pie

Heather is definitely the queen of pie! She alerted me to the National Pie Day which was on January 23. I know, I know, you've missed it for this year, BUT March 14 (aka 3.14 aka the REAL Pi day) is coming up soon, so all these pie recipes are going to come in handy!

This is one of my favorite savory pie recipes. I love squash. I love cheese. Perfect!



Ingredients
single crust pie dough (I like the vodka pie crust recipe that Heather previously wrote about)
2 lb butternut squash (I usually opt to buy two 1lb squashes because I think the smaller ones taste better!)
2 eggs
generous 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
pinch cayenne pepper
2 tbsp butter, softened (optional, this makes a rich pie even richer, but it's so good!)

Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 400. Roll out your pie crust into a 9 inch pie pan.
2. Cook the squash. I prefer to cut it in half, put the cut half down on a large plate and microwave it for 20 minutes. You can also roast the squash in the oven for a richer flavor, but this takes longer! Once the squash is cooked, allow it to cool (if you're using the microwave, it's going to be HOT. You may want to put the plate in the fridge or freezer to speed up the cooling process. Once it's cool, scoop out the flesh into a large bowl and mash it with a fork, this should be easy and you don't want large clumps.
2. Add the eggs and mix well.
3. Add the cheese, salt, nutmeg, cayenne and butter and mix until the filling is homogenous. You don't want to blend this, it should still have a little texture!
4. Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes or until the squash juuuust starts to brown a little.
5. Allow the pie to cool for at least an hour before serving, though you may rewarm slices in the oven or microwave before serving.

Beer Bread (aka, how to get rid of old cheap beer in your fridge)

Let me tell you about something called Blanco Basura. Blanco Basura is a special product that my friends discovered that proudly claims how its name is Bad Spanish for "White Trash." So yeah, if you actually speak Spanish, it's not my fault. Anyway, Blanco Basura is a special party pack that comes with five beers, a pint of tequila and a shot glass.


(if you're wondering, yes that's an image of a dog peeing)

What a great idea! We knew it wasn't going to taste good, but $10 for a party? Awesome. But the tequila. is. awful. And I really like tequila. So we do the shots of tequila and chase it with a Blanco Basura beer. Hey! After that urine cleverly disguised as tequila, this beer is pretty good! We should totally buy this again! And again! And again! But really, Blanco Basura beer is not that good. So it sits and sits in my fridge for weeks... months even!



Until I decide enough is enough, I gotta get rid of this beer.

Beer bread is so good and so easy! It's hearty and a little sweet and gets rid of that crappy beer no one wants to drink. I've made beer bread with different kinds of beer, but I think lagers work the best. They give the least flavor. Bread is ok if it's a little yeasty, but you don't want it to be too strong. And you really don't want to waste good beer on bread! So use the cheap stuff leftover from that last party.

This recipe is easy and very basic. You can play around with sweetener, use some wheat flour, add butter, spices, cheese, whatever!

Ingredients
3 cups white flour
1.5 Tbsp baking soda
1.5 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar (if you want to substitute alternative sugars like honey, agave or molasses, I recommend using at least 1 Tbsp dry sugar)
12oz. beer

Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 350 and grease and flour a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
2. Whisk together all the dry ingredients.
3. Add the beer slowly while stirring with a wooden spoon. If you're adding a liquid sweetener, add half of the beer, then add the sweetener, then the rest of the beer. Stir the dough for about 2-3 minutes. The dough should be sticky.
4. Pour the dough into the prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until the top of the loaf begins to brown. The bread will rise quite a bit.
5. Remove from pan immediately and allow it to cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes (better if you can wait 30!) until cutting.
6. Enjoy alone or with butter and honey!

Devil's Food Bat Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

It may seem like it's all pie, all the time in my kitchen, but that's not the case. Sometimes there's cake!

My birthday was earlier this month, and this clearly called for cake. I wanted to use my Christmas gift, the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book. Yes, you read that right: whole grain cake. This book has an entire chapter devoted to whole grain cakes (and other chapters for cookies, and pies, and oh my!), and I was dying to find out how delicious they could be. Don't worry, this cake is not health food!

What you need:

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp backing soda

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup plain low-fat or whole-milk yogurt

3/4 cup water

What you do:

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour your pans (2 9-inch rounds, 3 8-inch rounds, or one 9x13).

Cream together the butter, sugars and salt in a large mixing bowl till fluffy and light, at least 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa and baking soda. Make sure there are no lumps.

Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well (at least a full minute) after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Add half the flour mixture and mix until evenly combined. Add the yogurt and water, and mix again. Add the remaining flour, mix, and stop to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl once more, to make sure the batter is evenly moistened. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes if making a layer cake, or 35-40 minutes if making sheet cake. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Place on a rack to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting!

I used the frosting from the carrot cake recipe in the same cook book. To make it, let 1 8-oz package of cream cheese and 6 tbs of butter get to room temperature, then cream them together with 1 tsp of vanilla until light and fluffy. Then add (gradually!) 4 cups of confectioner's sugar. To get the intense blue color seen in the picture, add an entire bottle of blue food coloring. Noel (my partner in cake crime!) was not the biggest fan of this frosting, but I thought it was great. More cakes with different frosting are in the future!

The usual response when I mentioned that this cake is whole wheat: "Sweet, I can have another piece!" I can not recommend the KAF cookbooks enough for baking; they are reliable, and prioritize making delicious baked goods above all other considerations. I can't wait to try more whole wheat cakes!

Orange Ginger Muffins

Makes 12 muffins.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup orange juice (about 2 oranges if using freshly squeezed)
1 tablespoon navel orange zest (about 1 orange)
2 teaspoons fresh minced ginger
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans

Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Spray a 12 mold regular size muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, egg, and juice. Add the orange zest, ginger, honey, and vanilla, and whisk until just combined. Add to the flour mixture and stir quickly until well combined. Fold in the pecans. Spoon the batter evenly into the 12 molds.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing each muffin and placing on a wire rack to cool.

Butternut Squash, Spinach and Bread Salad

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash

1 small onion or ½ large onion

½ to 1 bunch spinach

about ¼ a loaf of preferably rustic bread

Asiago cheese

salt

pepper

Peel and chop the butternut squash into one-inch cubes. Toss with salt and olive oil and roast at 450 F until tender when pierced by a fork, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Chop onion and sauté on medium for 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook another 5 minutes until onions are tender. You can also cook until onions are caramelized.

Chop day-old (or older, as long as it isn’t moldy) bread into cubes. Toast in a skillet with a bit of olive oil until a bit brown.

Chop spinach into ribbons. Toss all the cooked ingredients and spinach together in a bowl. The heat of the squash will slightly cook the spinach. Add cheese, salt and pepper to your taste.

Potato Onion Cheese Pie

This picture is from a similar pie I made last summer, but the concept is the same! I wanted a nice savory pie for a pie party, and nothing says "comfort food" like potatoes and cheese. Noel chose the spices for this one, and they were genius. The pie had a beautiful yellow color and a warm, almost mustard-y, flavor. Whip up this pie on a gloomy day; it's the pie equivalent of a cozy blanket!

I used baby yellow potatoes, so the slices were bite-sized. If you use larger potatoes, you might want to cut it up so that it's smaller sliced. Of course, that would be completely up to you!

What you need:

Chilled dough for a double-crust pie

3 cups of sliced yellow potatoes

2 medium onions, diced

1 cup of crumbled sharp cheese (I used Gloucester)

2 eggs, beaten

1 tbs turmeric

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

What you do:

Combine all your filling ingredients in a bowl and toss together until everything is evenly distributed.

Roll out the bottom crust and place in a well-greased pie dish. Spoon the filling into the pie. Roll out the top crust and cut a few vents into it, then place on top of the pie. Pinch the edges shut.

Bake at 350 degrees until the crust is golden, the cheese melted, and the potatoes soft - about an hour. Wait at least 15 minutes to slice into this one.

Eat your amazing pie!