Baguette and eggs

I had another restless night last night. 

What to do when sleep seems to be an unreachable goal? 

Make bread, of course!

My French baguette.

I find making baguettes a bit of an intimidating task. And while my baguette ended up looking more like a loaf of bread rather than a baguette - the bread did have decent texture.

And I do have to say, it would be hard to pick a more delicious way to start the day than a slice of warm bread straight out of the oven.

I poached two eggs and made a simple hollandaise sauce by mixing Vegenaise, yellow mustard, lemon juice and almond milk.

The baguette came out crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

The yolk and sauce soaked into the warm bread and made each bite better tasting than the next. Yum!

Oranges on the side.

If you want to try making a baguette you can find the recipe I modified here. Basically, I halved the recipe and only let the dough rise once (I did fall asleep for about 3 hours - hence only one rise:-).

Now I am going to try and get some sleep. Happy Thursday all!!

I feel like Jackie O

I did my run in Central Park!!!

What was meant to be a leisurely 3 mile run turned into a 7.5 mile run because I have zero sense of direction and I ended up running in loops. But it was no matter because I had tons of company for the whole run.

In addition to the buckets of runners there were lots of people exercising their dogs.

I entered the park at 5th ave and ran through most of the park to get to the Jackie O reservoir.

It really is a great running path - it has a dirt/sand surface that is easy on the knees.

To back track a bit - I woke up at around 5:45 am because I was so excited about running in Central Park - I know, I am a goof.

Since I had to wait for the sun to come up before I could head out, I ordered a quick breakfast:

A poached egg and crispy hash browns.

Coffee

I did discover some surprising things on my run.

I had no idea that there was a zoo in Central Park - a really teeny tiny zoo but a zoo nonetheless.

The seal pool - Yes, there were seals in there

There are statues and surprising touches all throughout the park such as this:

It is a statue of a crouching panther and it sits on top of a boulder that is right beside the running path. It really looks like it is ready to pounce:-)

And I found places that I would not dare to go even in broad daylight with lots of people around:

Happy Wednesday!

 

Pisto Manchego

Pisto Manchego.

I know I have been a bit egg-centric lately. Sorry for that - but at the moment eggs are one of the only protein sources I have in the house.

I really must look into getting a protein powder of some kind.

But back to the recipe of the day - Pisto Manchego. Pisto Manchego is essentially a vegetable stew - usually including tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini with a poached egg on top.

As usual, I didn't have all the ingredients so I just made my own version.

My favorite part of the dish was that the egg came out perfectly cooked.

The whites were well set and the yolk was still just a little bit runny - perfect!

My favorite restaurant, Iberia, used to serve a version of this dish that they called 'Peasant's stew' which I loved but when they closed their second restaurant it never showed up on the menu at the other location - Boo!!((

On the bright side, I now have a nice starter recipe that fills my craving for Peasant's stew :-)
 

Pisto Manchego (Spanish vegetable stew)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup of canned chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup of  cannelli beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup of stale bread chopped into small cubes
1 green onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 cup of chopped yellow bell pepper
1 tsp of olive oil
2 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup of water
one pinch of oregano
1/2 tsp of dried parsley
2 eggs
1 tsp of Siggis plain yogurt
salt and cracked black pepper to taste
a pinch of paprika for garnish

Instructions:

Put the olive oil into a sauce pan on low heat. Add in the green onions and let cook until translucent. Add in the garlic and let cook for another 2 minutes.

Next, add in the tomatoes, beans, bread, vegetable broth, carrot, yellow bell pepper, water and spices. Turn the heat up to medium and when the pot begins to simmer turn the heat back to low, cover and let cook.

When the vegetables are tender and the mixture begins to get thick, make two wells in the pot and carefully crack an egg into each well.  Cover the pot and cook another 5 minutes. This should result in set whites but with a slightly runny yolk. Adjust this final cooking time depending on how you like your eggs cooked.

When the eggs have set up, pull the pan off the heat and carefully scoop out the eggs and set aside. Spoon the vegetable stew into two bowls and stir in 1/2 of a tsp of Siggis plain yogurt into each bowl. Then gently place an egg on top. Sprinkle with a bit of sweet paprika.

Enjoy!

Savory mashed potato pancake

My non-stop craving for veggies seems to have abated a bit.

Thank goodness.


This morning I wanted pancakes.

Mashed potato pancake.

I will let you in on a secret. I have, in the past, been fairly obsessed with the mashed potatoes they make at Draeger's.

Their mashed potatoes (which can be picked up at the deli counter) are creamy and rich with a nice onion bite from a generous addition of green onions.

While I love those potatoes they do contain cream AND cream cheese (which is why they are so wonderful) but now a days they are, unfortunately, a little too rich for me. 

So I decided to make a mashed potato pancake using the ingredients (the ones I could remember) that make the Draeger's mashed potatoes so wonderful.

Mashed potato pancake with a side of sauteed broccoli rabe.

I threw some things together and ended up with a crispy pancake that was deliciously rich and creamy in the center. Wow! It was amazing!.

The recipe made a huge pancake and I only used one medium/small red potato.

Shallot, red potato, Tofutti cream cheese, Tofutti sour cream, broccoli rabe, green onion and eggs.

The pancake looked a bit lonely sitting on the plate so I topped it with a poached egg and added some broccoli rabe sauteed in some olive oil.

Then the egg looked a little too naked.

Black pepper and fresh chopped parsley.

And you can guess what happened next...

I enjoyed all this with a small espresso with soymilk.

The potato pancake is a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. 

I also think this would also make a great dish to bring your significant other when you bring them breakfast in bed:-)

 Savory mashed potato pancake

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 medium red potato, chopped
1 shallot, minced
1/4 of a green onion, chopped
1/2 tsp of fresh chopped parsley
1 egg white
1tsp of All Purpose Flour
1 tsp of Tofutti sour cream
1/2 tsp of Tofutti cream cheese
a pinch of salt
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp of olive oil

Instructions:

Chop up the potato and place it in a steamer over med-high heat for 10 - 12 minutes. Obviously you can skip this step if you have some leftover mashed potatoes. I would suggest using about 1 cup of mashed potatoes.

When the potatoes are tender mash them with a fork and stir in the shallot, onion, parsley, egg white, flour, Tofutti sour cream, Tofutti cream cheese, salt and pepper. It will be a slightly sticky mixture.

Put a skillet on the stove on medium heat and add in the olive oil. Take the mixture and flatten it between the palms of your hand. You want a thick pancake at this point. Place the patty into the pan and use the back of a fork to gently press the mixture till it is approximately 1/4" thick.

Flip the pancake when you see the edges begin to brown. Flipping the pancake can be tricky if you went with one big pancake so make sure to have your largest spatula handy. Cook the pancake until the other side is brown.

Plate your delicious golden brown pancake and top with anything you like. 

Suggested toppings: a poached egg, a dollop of sour cream or if you are feeling very decadent a dollop of sour cream with a spoonful of caviar.

Note: You can easily substitute regular sour cream and cream cheese in this recipe.

Crab egg florentine

Crab egg florentine with lime mustard hollandaise.

I woke up this morning wanting Eggs Benedict but the pickings are pretty slim in my cupboard and fridge at the moment so I made some substitutions.

The dish started with a layer of cooked quinoa.

Then I layered on a big handful of fresh spinach.

Next came a generous layer of canned crab meat.

Everything was topped with one perfectly poached egg.

Lastly, the star of the show appeared!

Lime mustard hollandaise sauce.

This was a very comforting and delicious breakfast.

Lime mustard hollandaise sauce

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of unsweetened soymilk
1/4 cup of water
1 Tbsp. of Earth Balance spread
1/2 Tbsp. of all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. of nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. of yellow mustard
The juice from 1/2 of a small lime
a pinch of garlic powder
a pinch of onion powder
a pinch of salt
ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Melt the Earth Balance spread in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add in the flour and stir until the roue slightly darkens then add in the water and soymilk.

Add the rest of the ingredients and let the sauce come up to a simmer. Stir frequently. When the sauce starts to thicken turn the heat to low. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Why no one will want to sit next to me in the theater

Quinoa with caramelized onions, a poached egg, lemony basil pesto and roasted red bell pepper.

I do know that no one will want to sit next to me in the theater after this breakfast (because of the garlic and onion) but some things are worth it.

No recipe or instructions for this one because I need to leave in about 5 minutes but you will get to enjoy the pictures.

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday!

A lemony morning

This morning I was craving lemons. And the dogs? The dogs were craving grass.

I dealt with my cravings first. Cue the lemon pancakes:

I used my favorite pancake mix.

I followed the package directions with these substitutions:

- I only added 1/3 of a cup of water (instead of 1/2 cup).

- I also added the juice and zest of one lemon.

 The pancakes turned out great. 

 One looked like a fish - 

 These ended up being even more perfect with a poached egg on top.

A sprinkle of lemon zest on top.

And because you know I love the yolk shots - 

Then I doused everything with syrup because the world is always a better place with the addition of maple syrup.

To fulfill the dogs cravings, I made my green mix.

1 Tbsp. of Kyo-Green, 2 Tbsp. of yogurt and 1 Tbsp. of Udo's oil.

The dogs go nutty over this mix. Both dogs get excited when they see me reach for the Kyo-green bottle. I know, it is the oddest thing.

Connor did steal a lick while I was taking pictures.

Did you notice the new plate?

The plate isn't really new. This plate was considered the 'children's' plate when I was little. I have vivid memories of eating holiday dinners and watching the picture at the bottom of the plate be revealed bit by bit and bite by bite.

When my mom passed, I asked for some of these plates. 

This is the first time I have taken them out. I hope you like them :-)

Happy Tuesday!!