A little too much ground pepper

I have been storing my organic ground pepper in a jar and for some reason haven’t gotten around to refilling the shakers.

Now I wish I had!Opps! That’s a little too much pepper with my morning eggs. I made the mistake of shaking it from the open jar instead of just taking a pinch or two.

Clean-up when fairly well. The egg was edible, a bit peppery, but edible. I sneezed quite a bit too.

What type of mishaps have you had lately?

Sincerely, Emily

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Dark Days Week 19: Breakfast Challenge for the EAST

Last week we had had a chance to see what the WEST cooked up for the Dark Days Challenge. This week, the final week for the Dark Days Challenge, we get to see what the EAST brought to the table. Breakfast…

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South Region (MD, VA, NC, SC, GA) with Emily from Sincerely, Emily

Annie (MD) from AnnieRie Unplugged is turning into her father, but she’s blaming it on Mark Bitman (you’re going to have to read her post) She made a local version of scrapple for her breakfast challenge. Using cornmeal, local sausage and fresh sage from her garden her scrapple took shape. She made it the day/night before and then cut it into slices and fried it along with her local eggs the next morning. She has some advice about the recipe, so head over to her blog to read more and see her local resources.

Annie (MD) from AnnieRie Unplugged has also put together a post summarizing her Dark Days Challenge experience. It is really fun to read about what she learned and about the new resources she found in their area. She also touched on her highlights throughout the challenge and about learning to work with some vegetables in a different way and being more creative. Hear over to her post to read more! It is worth your time.

Victoria (MD) from The Soffritto has spring fever and decided to bring as many fresh herbs into her Breakfast Challenge as she could! She snipped the dill, chervil, and chives, and her husband prepped and cooked the beautiful herbed omelets. It wasn’t complete without the toast with homemade tomato and basil jam. Victoria said it tastes like spring. Stop by her blog to read more and see her local ingredients. She also talks about her experience throughout the DDC and how it has changed their approach to eating and cooking with local foods

Susan (VA) from Backyard Grocery made some fantastic baked eggs. But not just any baked eggs, she made cups out of bacon and filled them with sautéed radish greens and mushrooms and then topped them with eggs and baked! Her baked eggs look wonderful; love that little twist with the bacon cup. Susan also talks a bit about how the DDC affected her. Going in, thinking this would be a hard challenge and coming out realizing that she is fortunate to live in an area that produces a variety of whole foods – year round. She has learned a lot about what grows seasonally in VA. Visit her blog to read more!

Rebecca (VA) from Eating Floyd is cooking breakfast Appalachian Mountina-style and biscuits are a must! To go along with the biscuits she made a milk gravy loaded with local flavors. She used wild garlic paste, serrano peppers from the garden last year and  a bit of bacon fat. On top of her biscuits she put some salty country ham and poached eggs, topping it all off with the flavorful gravy. Stop by her blog to read about it all and see her local resources.

Even though Liz (VA) from Family Foodie Survival Guide cooked up a nice breakfast last week she still cooked up breakfast for this weeks challenge. She had some blueberries in the freezer and used those to create a luscious blueberry pudding cake.  She adapted the recipe to use more local ingredients – she used local honey and flour. The beautiful breakfast  was served with some local bacon and apple cider. Head over to her blog to read more.

Jessica (SC) from Eat.Drink.Nourish. is not much of a breakfast person, so this “breakfast” was more of a brunch that really turned into dinner. She is excited her local spring CSA is starting up again and many small farm stands are starting to open up in her area. She made roasted egg stuffed tomatoes garnished with fresh dill, spring onions and served with strawberry, pecan and blue cheese salad. That sounds good from Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner to me! Head over to her blog and read more about her meal and local resources.

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Eat Local 365 made a fabulous looking Dark Days breakfast for the challenge, who doesn’t love poached eggs over greens?

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As the Dark Days Challenge comes to a close, it is incredible to look back to the beginning in November and think about all the “dark days” ahead of us all. To think about the nourishing winter foods that store well and get us through the winters. Many participants had access to year-round farmers markets; buying seasonal vegetables that were grown in their area. Other participants relied on what they produced in their gardens and canned and froze to use throughout the winter. Other participants had beautiful winter gardens of their own.

Did you cook a local breakfast this week? Tell us about it and share a link.

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Dark Days Week 18: WEST Breakfast Challenge

This week the Dark Days Challenge participants to a Breakfast Challenge. It is said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Let’s see what the WEST is making for breakfast this week. Join us next week to see what the EAST participants brings to the table for the Breakfast Challenge!

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West Region (CA, CO, TX, UT) with Emily from Sincerely, Emily

Julie and Eric (CO) from d.i.wine and dine prefer savory breakfast treats, but decided to go the sweet route for this weeks breakfast challenge meal. They made a beet and carrot cake (heavy on the local beets) and used egg replacer and soy yogurt to make the recipe vegan.  The recipe went together well using 100% local whole wheat flour too. Stop by their blog to read more about the breakfast challenge cake and see the recipe.

Teresa (CA) from Not from a Box made up two breakfast options for this weeks challenge.  She prefers a savory breakfast over a sweet one any day. First up is a “wallet egg.”  What the heck is a “wallet egg?” Well, it looks wonderful, sounds wonderful and is easy to make. I won’t give away all the secrets, but basically take eggs, rice and some green onions….now head over to her blog to read more.

For Teresa’s second breakfast option she has made mushrooms on toast. I am a big fan of things “on toast” so this one is right up my alley. She starts by sauteing up some local shitake, oyster and cremini mushrooms (in local olive oil). You can use a splash of local beer or wine if you have it. Sprinkle in some fresh chopped parsley – don’t forget the toast. Stop by her blog to read about her local resources and more.

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Northwest Region with Miranda from Pocket Pause

wow! The breakfast challenge for the PacNW was tackled by only one: Methylgrace. Frankly, I (the recapper) have been remiss in reminding my blogging neighbors about our challenges, and have been experiencing some major challenges of my own – including being kicked out of WordPress with no explanation or chance to query or appeal to the ‘staff.’ Methylgrace captures so much of what myself and several other bloggers have been feeling during this challenge in her breakfast post. This post was just so great. I wish everyone would go and read it. Right now! I can’t really blurblet it, as it deserves complete reading.

So please head over to her blog, drool over her breakfast crepes and share with her and with us your feelings on choosing foods in your grocery store, providing meals and money for your family, grappling life as a homesteader, housewife or working mom, and help us answer the questions we’ve been grappling during this challenge.

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Upper(ish) Midwest with Xan from House of the Blue Lights

We got a treat and and a breakfast from the errant MNLocavore, and Woohoo got turned around by the calendar, partly because we’re all completely thrown by this strange warm weather, and partly because she was trying to time a St. Patrick’s Day meal with the Challenge. And it’s a good one–a traditional Irish Colcannon, and a homemade, local Shamrock Shake. And I totally don’t see why you couldn’t have that for breakfast. MN Locavore made a shortbread with strawberries (which also sounds like breakfast to me), and wraps up the Challenge with breakfast–whole grain pancakes served as a breakfast sandwich with eggs and sausage. She also includes a wonderful wrap-up list of all her challenge posts.

What did you make for breakfast this week? Tell us about it!

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Dark Days Week 18: EAST recapper individual meals – Breakfast Challenge

Earlier today,  in our companion post, you can see what the WEST cooked up for the Breakfast Challenge.  To add to that, here are what the EAST recappers cooked this week for the Dark Days Challenge.

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I (Emily from Sincerely, Emily) kept my breakfast Challenge meal pretty simple this week.   Eggs are what I usually eat for breakfast, so this is a true glimpse at a normal breakfast, for me, in our house.

I have a new local egg source that is a lot closer to me. The other eggs I was getting were also good (and local) but I am happy to find an individual a lot closer to me. That puts a big smile on my face.

I also used some chard from the garden and some caramelized onions from the freezer that came from the garden last spring.  Using some left over pork and some local cheese,  this omelet was a perfect breakfast.  I am methodically trying to use things out of the freezer to make space for things that we will be harvesting in the next few months. I want to make sure there is adequate space and I always have a tendency to “save” things when I really need to be defrosting and eating them.

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What is your “normal” breakfast?

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A Nourishing Breakfast

Last week we talked about Why you wouldn’t just eat an egg?, instead of a processed bowl of cereal full of sugar and GMO ingredients. I mentioned that we eat custard for breakfast or snacks and a few people requested recipes. The custard we eat is a bit different than what you may be used to since I make mine barely sweetened (it is breakfast after all). Most people view custard as a sweet treat, but it can be made very nourishing with a few tweaks. It is the ultimate simple nourishing breakfast, if made with eggs, milk, spices and the tiniest bit of natural sweetener. If your family members are sweet lovers, you can always give them an extra spoonful of maple syrup on top of the custard, but really do try to wean them off eating sweets for breakfast, even of the natural kind. If you simply like things sweeter, double the amount of maple syrup or honey in the recipe below.

Custard couldn’t be easier to make, it mixes up in a flash and then spends the majority of it’s time in the oven while you can do other things (like read blogs). I often mix mine up in the evening pulling it out of the oven right before bed to cool
overnight.

There are a few different options for making this custard. If you want to make it super quick, simply whisk all ingredients together, pour in dish or cups and bake. If you want extra flavor and nutrition, steep milk with vanilla beans and true or sweet cinnamon sticks*.

BASIC NOURISHING CUSTARD
(recipe is easily halved, but believe me, you’ll be wishing you hadn’t)

6 eggs, from pastured chickens (or ducks which have larger yolks & make creamier custard)
1/4 cup organic maple syrup or local raw honey (double this for sweeter custard)
2 teaspoons organic vanilla or 2 vanilla beans**
4-6 sticks of true or sweet cinnamon*
5 cups whole raw milk
dash of salt
organic ground nutmeg or cinnamon for top if desired

Preheat oven to 325 F for dish or 350 for cups.

If you want extra healthful and flavorful custard, steep milk with vanilla beans and cinnamon sticks (see below for sourcing for these). Whisk eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla if using in bowl, stir in milk. Pour into a glass baking dish or six custard cups. Sprinkle top with nutmeg or cinnamon if desired. Set the baking dish(es) in a pan of hot water, as you can see by my photo, I use 6 small Pyrex Rectangular Glass Containers nested in a rectangular glass baking dish for large single servings. Bake large dish at 325 degrees for 1 hour; bake cups at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Custard is done when a knife inserted off-center comes out clean. Serve warm or cold, add an extra drizzle of maple syrup if you want it sweeter.

You can also make this even more healthful by adding some pumpkin to make pumpkin custard. Essentially all you need to do is swap out half the milk for pureed pumpkin. What a wonderful way to get a serving of vegetables first thing in the morning.

What’s your favorite nourishing breakfast?

I can also be found at Chiot’s Run where I blog daily about gardening, cooking, local eating, beekeeping and more; I also blog at Eat Outside the Bag blogging about all things food & cooking. You can also find me at Your Day Magazine, Not Dabbling in Normal, and you can follow me on Twitter and on Facebook.

*true or sweet cinnamon is different than the regular cinnamon you buy at the store (unless you have access to a hispanic store), it’s much sweeter, less cloying, and blends so much more beautifully with sweet dishes like this one. You can buy organic true cinnamon from Mountain Rose Herbs for a great price, I always have a big bag on hand. Cinnamon is a healthy addition to your diet, containing lots of manganese, calcium and iron. It also contains trace minerals that help regulate blood sugar. Here’s some great info on the health benefits of cinnamon.

**Vanilla beans can be quite pricey in the grocery store, but if you buy in bulk from Saffron.com it’s very nicely priced. Vanilla is also a healthy addition to your diet adding a wide variety of minerals and vitamins, it’s a natural anti-depressant and it help you relax (good for nighttime beverages). Here’s a great article about the health benefits of vanilla. You can also rinse and dry vanilla beans after using them in this recipe and throw them in your sugar crock to impart flavor. Or add to a bottle of brandy, bourbon or vodka to make your own vanilla.

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Sunday Photos…Breakfast Edition

“A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one’s husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it.”

Anne Spencer

Here at Chiot’s Run breakfast is usually a piece of toast, a scone or something similar along with a cup of coffee. Once or twice a week we have bacon, eggs and potatoes, and once or twice a month we enjoy sourdough pancakes. In the winter we love soaked oat groats topped with all kinds of things like cinnamon, raisins and ginger. It’s kind of funny when you think about the fact that we have “breakfast” food, kind of weird really. I wonder if there’s something to that?






I could pretty much eat anything for breakfast, although I’m more of a savory eater than a sweet eater, so I prefer eggs, bacon, toast with butter. One thing I must have with my breakfast is coffee, no ifs ands or buts about that!

What are your breakfasts like? Sweet, savory, breakfasty, or normal food?

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Whole Grains Slow Cooker Breakfast

When we did our ‘Real Food’ challenge here at Not Dabbling we gave up processed cereals.  Toast with homemade bread, eggs from our chickens, and oatmeal replaced the out of the box stuff.

I have recently taken it a step farther and have started making breakfast the night before with whole grains and my slow cooker.

Here are a few things I’ve learned…

Although most recipes seem to call for a ratio of 4 to 1 water to grains…I prefer 4.5 to 1 for a creamer dish.

I had trouble with the edges getting a little burnt and crispy, so I found that if I put water in the slow cooker and put another bowl in it (like a double boiler) there are no burnt edges.

Coating the bowl with a touch of oil will save on clean up.

We have used the following grains so far…

Whole oat groats

Hulled barley (not pearled)

Quinoa

Wheat berries

Millet

Brown Rice

Wild Rice

You can cook these in water or a combination of water.  Just put your liquids, your grain (try different combos), and a touch of salt in your slow cooker set on the lowest setting.  Turn it on right before bed and you have hot whole grain porridge in the morning!

You can also jazz it up with dried fruits and spices like cinnamon!

There really is no end to the yummy concoctions you can come up with whole grains and your handy dandy slow cooker!

So what about you?  Have you tried whole grains for breakfast yet?

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Potato Patties with Garlic & Onions recipe

I don’t know about you but I have a lot of potatoes that are just at the brink of not being good for eating anymore.  So we have been scrambling about here to try to use them up asap!

A lot have gone into Baked Potato Soup since out weather is still cool and wet.  The morning after we are likely to use some of the leftover baked potatoes for potato patties…one of our all time favorite things!

The trick to these is to use a potato that has not been over cooked since you are going to grate them.  You can use baked, boiled or steamed.  Just make sure they are fairly firm and have been refrigerated…it is much harder to grate a warm potato!

Ingredients…

6 to 8 medium russet type potatoes, cooked, cooled, peeled (if you want) and grated

1/2 sweet onion grated

2 to 3 cloves finely minced garlic

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Optional herbs alone or in combination to taste…

Thyme

Celery Seed

Oregano

Cayenne

Chili Powder

Another option is adding freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Mix all the ingredients together. Using about 1/2 cup of the mixture for each, form into patties.  Place in frying pan and press with spatula to form.  Fry in hot oil or butter until nicely browned, flipping once.  Keep patties in warm oven until they are all fried and ready to serve.

So if you have left over cooked potatoes this is an simple way to please your whole family…these are seriously good!

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Pumpkin Pudding recipe for Breakfast.

Since last week was homemade granola I decided to continue with the breakfast theme.  Since I grew and preserved a lot of pumpkin this year we have been having pumpkin pudding for breakfast quite often.  The kids love it, I like baking it the night before and having it ready for the next day’s breakfast…the kids think I rock for serving them pudding for breakfast!

I just make the innards (this is the proper term for the yummy soft middle part) for a pumpkin pie, cut down on the sugar just a tad and up the spices just slightly.  Instead of pouring it into a crust I pour it into little ramekins and bake.

For the topping we use vanilla yogurt with a sprinkling of cinnamon.

You get your shot of vitamin A from the pumpkins and a good dose of protein.  Most importantly it makes you feel like a rebel  knowing that you are eating pudding for breakfast…which as we  know breaks all the rules!!!

PS. If you really want to live on the wild side…try a vegan recipe. Here is one that you make in the blender, so very easy to make.  It is from here…

Blend in a blender:

2 c. solid-pack canned pumpkin (if you use home-cooked pumpkin, drain it for
several hours hanging in a cloth bag, so it’s thick like canned pumpkin)

1 c. non-dairy milk (preferably a rich soy milk or a nut milk…I use homemade cashew milk)

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. cornstarch

1 T. molasses or blackstrap molasses

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. EACH ground ginger, nutmeg and salt

1/4 tsp. ground allspice or cloves

Bake at 350 for 1 hour, cool and refrigerate overnight to firm up…this couldn’t be easier and we all love it, well except hubby who won’t even try it!

So go ahead, live on the edge…I dare you!

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