Brunch – Page 2

Category: Brunch

02
Dec
2013

Lemon Currant Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze

There’s nothing I like more than a good baking challenge & this holiday season Donsuemor contacted me again with a challenge to make something out of one of their new products.

In case you haven’t heard of Donsuemor, they are a California-based company that specializes in making delicious French madeleines & cakes. This company has a special spot in my heart because they were one of the first companies to show interest in my “little-blog-that-could”.

Two years ago I made these “accidental” Almond Roca Mocha cake bites (…let’s just say there’s a weight limit to a cake pop…so the pops became bites!) & the year after that I had a Peruvian Tea Party with my family where my dad ate about 10 madeleines before he fell asleep on the couch. Ha!

This year I decided to get back to basics & used their new Lemon Currant scone mix to bake something a little different 🙂

I figured after about 2 years of constant baking for my business, I could handle a new challenge & decided to take their scone mix & make myself a pound cake.

Why a pound cake?

Well, first of all because I love ’em & second of all, because I wanted a cake that would travel well to a friends’ holiday party. This cake came out absolutely delicious! It was like a scone-cake hybrid. The Lemon Glaze added another level of tartness & sweetness that made it perfect for a big ol’ cup of coffee at the end of the night. The scone mix already had most of the ingredients in it that I needed for pound cake (flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, etc) so with a couple of little additions, I had a ridiculously easy yet visually pretty treat!

So get your mix here, get a pretty pan like mine here & make yourself a

Lemon Currant Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze!

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01
Nov
2013

Café de Olla (Mexican Spiced Coffee)

categories: Breakfast, Brunch, Cinnamon, Cloves, Coffee, Drink, Mexican

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

Happy Day of the Dead! Ok, I’m not just being morbid, there really is something called Day of the Dead.

On November 1st & 2nd of every year in Mexico, other Latin countries as well as the U.S., families & friends gather together to pay their respects to passed loved ones. They dedicate brightly decorated alters full of marigold flowers, sugar skulls, candles, & photos of those that have passed. The idea is that during these two days, the dead come back to the living world & therefore we celebrate them & welcome them home. I think it’s a great way to remember those that we have lost in a celebratory fashion instead of being all sad & weepy about it. Families will often celebrate into the wee hours of the night, praying, telling stories about their loved ones & eating delicious treats & coffee to help keep them awake well into the wee hours of the night.

A type of coffee that is typically consumed on this day is called:

Café de Olla.

Café de olla literally means “Pot Coffee” getting its name from the clay pot (or olla de barro) that it’s traditionally made in.

It wasn’t until two years ago that I heard about & tasted this concoction of spices & coffee for myself. I fell in love with it despite not liking coffee at all. It tasted like someone poured a warm blanket, cinnamon & love into a cup. So of course I set out to learn more about this delicious drink & how I could recreate the love at home. This post is all about what I learned & how you can share the goodness that this simple little drink holds with your own loved ones, both past & present.

Enjoy!

A Little Background:

Café de olla is a traditional Mexican style of coffee made in clay pots & flavored with raw cane sugar (called piloncillo in Mexico or panela in other Latin American countries) & spices such as cinnamon & cloves. The coffee beans typically used for this recipe are Viennese-type dark roasted beans. When brewed, the coffee is medium-bodied & has a bit of a kick to it. This kind of coffee gives the café de olla a rich base for the spices to accent upon.

Café de olla can be made in saucepans, french presses & other pots but it is most definitely at it’s best when made in a clay pot called an “olla de barro“. These clay pots (like the one pictured above) are tan in color & tend to have a distinct smell to them that I can only describe as “earthy”. The very thing that gives the pot that earthy smell is also what imparts a unique flavor into the coffee, giving it a “homemade” taste. These pots can also be used to cook a variety of foods that require slow cooking over low heat like stews (guisados) & beans.

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24
Aug
2013

Breakfast Farro: Dried Fruit & Apple Infused Farro w/ Sweet Greek Yogurt

categories: Breakfast, Brunch, Healthy, Low Fat

I love me some carbs.
It’s not my fault. I was exposed to carbs at an early age.

Heck, my father would hide cookies in his nightstand, doling them out for tasks well done.
I carried over this “carbs-as-a-reward” idea well into college.
I was a GREAT student…
and hundreds of “rewards” later, I was also 20lbs heavier.
Thanks, dad.
First, I tried the whole no carb Atkins diet thing…

Turns out that Die-Hard-Atkins-Carb-free me = Homicidal-Rage-filled me.
No bueno.

It wasn’t until I started doing some real research on this Atkins thing, that I found out that
NOT ALL CARBS ARE BAD!

I couldn’t believe it.

You mean I could eat a carb & not feel like I was doing the devil’s work?!
Yeah, you can totally sign me up for that.

However, with knowledge comes great responsibility.

I could eat a carb sure, but now I had to pay attention to the type of carb I was ingesting.

If I was going to eat rice, brown was better than white.

If I was going to eat bread, multigrain high-fiber was better than potato.

If I was going to eat a breakfast porridge, farro was better than oatmeal.

Um…what the heck is FARRO & how is this supposed to substitute my delicious microwavable apple cinnamon oatmeal with the dehydrated fruit??

So once again, I turned to the internet & here’s what I learned:

Farro (also known as emmer) is a type of whole grain that had once been widely cultivated in the ancient world but up until recently was mostly grown & consumed in Italy. Like many other obscure & delicious things, the United States has begun to take notice & now you can find this nutrient-rich grain in most specialty stores.

Farro (also known as “emmer”) is a type of whole grain that had once been widely cultivated in the ancient world but up until recently was mostly grown & consumed in Italy. Like many other obscure & delicious things, the United States has begun to take notice & now you can find this nutrient-rich grain in most specialty stores.
It is a complex carb containing twice the fiber & protein than modern wheat, low in gluten & rich in antioxidants, phytonutrients, lignans & betaine (click on the links for more info than I care to type).

I found mine at Whole Foods…(shocking, right?) They have some pre-packaged boxes which are about $8.99/lb or you can head over to the bulk bins & get it for about $3.54/lb. I have to say, I didn’t notice a difference between the fancy boxed kind & the kind I took home in a bag. I treated the grain like I would quinoa or barley, boiled it in a 50/50 mix of apple juice & water, added some spices, honey, yogurt, sautéed dried fruit & voila! Healthy breakfast carbs!

Enjoy!!

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12
Aug
2013

Whiskey Sours …Why Not?!

categories: Boozy, Brunch, Cocktails, Drink

It’s been a busy, busy couple of weeks.

Family visits, fighting “the man” to get my business paperwork pushed through, a near death brush with a rouge mixer paddle, wedding planning, menu development, stepping up my workout schedule due to an unfortunate run in with my bedroom mirror while wearing last years’ ill-fitting shorts

& thinking about writing a new blog post…

Um, yeah…

This blog is going to be about whiskey.

Strong, delicious whiskey.

Yeah, I know it’s Monday….
Don’t judge.

Now don’t go signing me up for any AA meetings just yet.

I’m just not your typical “fruity drink” kinda gal.

I’ll take a smooth whiskey on the rocks over anything with an umbrella any day.

I hate to admit it, but sugary drinks started to give me headaches
& heartburn sometime after I hit 26.
I know, I know. I’m a grumpy ol’ bitty with a sensitive GI tract.
But I accept this about myself & embrace it.

Gone are the days of sticky Midori Sours, Washington Apples,
& the mystical, magical concoction that is a Purple Hooter shooter.

(Yes, it’s a thing. Google it.)

But every once in a while, a girl likes to feel a little fancy.

So I took my precious whiskey on the rocks & gave it a deliciously simple yet sophisticated upgrade.

I’m not saying this is now my go-to drink, I’m just saying it’s been a long week, Mondays are my weekend, & I could really use some fancy so why the heck not??

Whiskey Sours

This post is going to be short & to the point.
Whiskey, sugar, lemon juice, club soda, ice & a maraschino cherry to step up the fancy.
That’s it.

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06
May
2012

Tea Party Time with Donsuemor and Davidson’s!

categories: Brunch, Uncategorized

A while ago I was contacted by Donsuemor & Davidson’s Teas with a great proposition…
They liked the work I did on Dessert-A-Day so they told me to use their products and
“Have a tea party on us”!

Don’t tell me free tea & madelines because it is ON.

The only problem was who to have this tea party with?

I don’t have kids.

And I don’t own any stuffed animals (besides the stuffed Chlamydia I got in Microbiology lab but who wants to drink tea and eat cakes with a microbe?)

By the way: His name is Charlie. He makes you itch. lol.

But I digress…

So who was going to help me scarf down all this yumminess?!

I could only think of one group of people who love tea & cake more than me.

And that’s my family.

We grew up drinking tea. Since I can remember, tomando un tecito (or drinking a little tea) in our household has been a tradition.

But it’s not just our tradition.

You see, tea parties happen almost every night in South American households all over the world, but we simply don’t call them “tea parties”. They are just another meal & yet another excuse to get together with the ones you love.

I have images of my whole family gathered around the table, hot steaming cup of tea in our hands, eating cakes & sandwiches, chit chatting about the days events & just enjoying each other’s company after a long day.

Tomando un tecito.

It reminds me of simpler days.

It reminds me that after a long day full of madness, I just need to slow it all down.

It reminds me that I need to get back to some of that.

So I did.

I packed up my Donsuemor Madeline’s & Davidson’s Teas & hit the road back to Fresno for a little family time, nostalgia, and tecito.

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