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Weirdest breakfast ever? Probably!

Soli invented this concoction last weekend, and while it was perhaps the strangest breakfast sandwich I’ve had, it’s also one of the best. So here’s to trying new things, I guess!

The recipe is simple, if you dare give it a go yourself. Slice one baguette in half – toast it, and give it a good rubbing with a garlic clove. Top that with some beans you’ve had simmering away on the stove (Soli added sauteed some onions and vodka as a base for the beans), and at the end of cooking, toss in some cheese curds.

Prepare yourself some french style scrambled eggs, aka Ramsey eggs. There are various methods (it’s a method, rather than a recipe) floating around, but the basic idea can be found on this YouTube tutorial. The end result are eggs that are so light and creamy, you’d believe you’re eating buttery, rich clouds.

While all that’s going on, pop in some BBQ’ed eel in the oven (Soli sprinkled some brown sugar over the top) and bake it up until it’s moist and delicate inside, with a sweet crust on the top.

Got all that? Well, top your baguette with the beans, followed by some thick slices of eel, then a complete smothering of your dreamy eggs. It’s quite the taste sensations – full of rich sweetness, salty, melted cheese, robust beans and crunchy garlic bread. Heaven must be one weird place.

This is my go-to recipe. Need some fantastically sweet, rich blondies? These will do the job. Need a fast dessert, whipped up at the last minute with just a few ingredients? These will do the job. Need a sweet baked good that Soli will devour in just a few hours? These will do the job.

Blondies (or at least, these blondies) are not a gourmet dessert, but they are a great one. They will satisfy the greatest sweet-tooth, and will please anyone who loves dessert, especially when topped with ice cream. And blondies are always a nice variation from brownies…and just as versatile.

This recipe always turns out. The edges are crunchy and crispy, the middle chewy and most – you’ll please the entire table! Any nuts you have on hand can get tossed in. And if you don’t like nuts, leave them out! Wanna add some semi-sweet chocolate chips? Go ahead? How about some dried cranberries, or coconut, or dried apricots? Go crazy! That’s what I love about this recipe…you can toss in anything you like, and they are insanely sweet, and crispy, and dense, and moist, and sweet….well, you get the point.

Oh, and how can you go wrong with white chocolate? Mmmmm.

Blondies with White Chocolate & Hazelnuts
adapted from Robin Hood: Home Baking

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped hazelnuts (I’ve used pecans and walnuts as well)

1. Cream butter and brown sugar in a medium bowl until smooth and creamy. Add egg and vanilla, beating until smooth.

2. Combine flour and baking powder. Add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Stir in chips and nuts. Spread in a 8″ square, greased pan.

3. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until just set and golden. Cool completely in pan on rack, then cut into squares.

I loooove popcorn. I’m particularly a fan of the super-buttered, super-popcorn-MSG-laden-flavoured-sprinkled popcorn. However, we all know how bad for the health that style of popcorn is. Therefore, I’ve been looking for an equally delicious alternative. And I’ve found one.

This post is twofold; I have discovered the perfect way to pop popcorn, and I have found a way to dress them so they are packed with bright, interesting flavour.

I discovered the perfect popcorn popping method on Simply Recipes, and it does indeed pop popcorn perfectly. After doing this, I don’t see a reason to ever buy microwave popcorn again (which I have been very guilty of in the past) – for $1.50, I can get about 40 cups of popped popcorn – and can flavour it anyway I wish, without a ton of sodium, MSG or any other nasty stuff.

After popping the perfect popcorn, I needed a perfect way to flavour the stuff. I found what sounded like a delicious spice combo on The Kitchen Sink, a spicy rosemary-cayenne one. I upped the cayenne quite a bit, because I like things hot, and probably added more butter than was asked for. The end result was great – quite spicy, with strong rosemary tangs, and some nice sweetness from the brown sugar to round it all out.

I think I ate about 20 cups of popcorn before three days were done, it’s that good.

Perfectly Popped Popcorn
adapted from Simply Recipes

3 Tbsp canola, peanut or grapeseed oil (high smoke point oil)
1/3 cup of high quality popcorn kernels
Salt to taste

1. Heat the oil and a few pinches of salt in a 3-quart saucepan on medium high heat.

2. Put 3 or 4 popcorn kernels into the oil and cover the pan.

3. When the kernels pop, add the rest of the 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels in an even layer. Cover, remove from heat and count 30 seconds. This method first heats the oil to the right temperature, then waiting 30 seconds brings all of the other kernels to a near-popping temperature so that when they are put back on the heat, they all pop at about the same time.

4. Return the pan to the heat. The popcorn should begin popping soon, and all at once. Once the popping starts in earnest, gently shake the pan by moving it back and forth over the burner. Try to keep the lid slightly ajar to let the steam from the popcorn release (the popcorn will be drier and crisper). Once the popping slows to several seconds between pops, remove the pan from the heat, remove the lid, and dump the popcorn immediately into a wide bowl.

Spicy Rosemary-Cayenne Popcorn
adapted from The Kitchen Sink

2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced rosemary (I used dried rosemary – 1 tbsp)
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or more, to taste) (I added at least one teaspoon!)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 cups popped popcorn

In the bottom of a large bowl, mix the butter, rosemary, parmesan, brown sugar, cayenne and salt. Pour the popcorn into the large bowl. Stir the popcorn to evenly coat the kernels with the seasoning.

I saw this recipe on two of my favourite food blogs – I figured if both of them liked it, I was bound to love it. And love it, I did.

It’s no secret that I love citrus desserts…so when I heard rave reviews from star bakers, and since I’ve loved everything that I’ve made from Dorie’s cookbook so far, this recipe climbed the top of my must-bake charts. And thank goodness it did!

I tried the rum drench on a different cake I made, and wasn’t entirely impressed. This entire recipe, due to that, would’ve been stricken from my bake-list, but on faith, I gave the entire (lemon version) a go.

This is a divine and grown-up cake. Its texture is perfect – airy, with a bit of sophisticated crumb, and a dense, chewy top (due to the lemon syrup). The cake itself wasn’t super-lemony (even after I changed the recipe a bit to include lemon juice in the cake itself), but lightly lemony. Combined with the tart lemon glaze on top, it makes for a fantastic, light cake with bits of dense tartness. Just perfect!

If I am to judge desserts by the Soli-proclaimed non-dessert lover Soli, then we have a winner. He ate half of a loaf in one sitting!

And I will eat the other half.
In half a sitting. Or less…

Lemon Drenched Lemon Cakes
adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

CAKES
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
2 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 plump, moist vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved, or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
2/3 cups heavy cream
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
zest of two lemons, finely grated
1 stick, plus 7 Tablespoons (15 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

SYRUP
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
juice of two lemons

CAKES
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8 1/2-4 1/2-inch loaf pans, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Even if the pans are nonstick, it’s a good idea to butter and flour them. Place the pans on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular sheets stacked one on top of the other.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Put the sugar and the lemon zest in a large bowl, working with your fingers, rub them together until the sugar is moist and thoroughly imbued with the fragrance of lemon. Add the vanilla bean seeds and work them into the sugar. If you are using vanilla extract, add it later, after you have added the eggs.

4. Add the eggs and whisk them into the sugar, beating until they are thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the extract (if using), then whisk in the cream, followed by the lemon juice. Continuing with the whisk, or switching to a large rubber spatula, gently stir in the dry ingredients in 3 or 4 additions; the batter will be smooth and thick. Finish by folding in the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions. Pour the batter into the pans, smoothing with a rubber spatula.

5. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. As soon as the cake goes into the oven, make the syrup. After about 30 minutes in the oven, check the cakes for color- if they are browning too quickly, cover them lightly with foil tents.

SYRUP
1. Making the syrup: Stir the water, two strips of lemon zest and sugar together in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar melts, then bring to a boil.

2. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Pour the syrup into a heatproof bowl and let cool.

1. When the cakes test done, transfer them to a wire rack to cool for 5 (the first one stuck – I suggest leaving them until completely cooled…) minutes before unmolding them and turning them right side up on the rack. Place the rack over a baking sheet lined with wax paper and, using a thin skewer, cake tester or thin-bladed sharp knife, poke holes all over the cakes.

2. Brush the cakes all over with the syrup, working slowly so that the cakes sop it up. Leave the cakes on the rack to cool to room temperature.

I love french fries and I love sweet potatoes. Common sense says I would of course love sweet potato french fries, and I really do.

These were thrown together at the last minute, and were wonderfully satisfying. I spiced them up to make them even more delicious (sweet potatoes are completely delicious without anything, so of course adding a spice or two would make them more interesting. A drizzle of vegetable oil and a spice concoction of paprika, Mexican chili, cumin and some salt played nicely with the sweetness of the potato. While they didn’t crisp up the way white potatoes tend to do, it was okay – I’ve always preferred softer fries.

Baked in the oven with just a bit of oil, these are a very healthy alternative to french fries. I loved this spicy combination!

Spicy Sweet Potato French Fries

3 – 4 sweet potatoes
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp Mexican chilies
Vegetable oil
Salt

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2. Slice the sweet potatoes into french fry size. Toss them in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil or olive oil.

3. Combine spices (you can use any spice blend you like, and in any amount you like – it’s all to taste!), and add to the bowl of potatoes. Toss until they were evenly coated with oil and spices.

4. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Flip the fries and bake for another 10-12 minutes. Turn on the oven’s broiler, and broil the fries for about 8 minutes.