I’m always looking for new ways to make breakfast, especially eggs. I love the sous vide egg bites from Starbucks, and there’s a local coffee shop with egg muffins. I wanted something I could make at home but something that wasn’t as dry as most egg muffins or egg muffins you find….
Savory Baked Eggs
Guys, this is a special recipe! It is 1) quick and easy to make, 2) is healthy, and 3) tastes amazing! Silky, just-set eggs nestled in a savory tomato sauce (with a little spice, if you like), with some wilted greens and Parmesan melted and just beginning to brown on top—it’s heaven! And you can also have these savory baked eggs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
…
Breakfast Baked Apples with Granola Crumble
- 6 semi-sweet apples
- 1 cup of granola, either homemade or store-bought
- ½ cup of vanilla yogurt or Greek yogurt
- 1 cup of water
- 2 Tbsp. softened butter
- 1 Tbsp. flour
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- ½ tsp. nutmeg
- ¼ tsp. ginger
- ¼ tsp. nutmeg (You can also use 1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice and 1 tsp. cinnamon)
- ¼ tsp. salt
- Heat the oven to 375°.
- Combine the spices in a small bowl.
- Core the apples then set into a baking pan or casserole dish. Sprinkle the spice blend, salt, and vanilla on top of the apples, dot with small bits of butter, then pour the water into the bottom of the pan.
- Place the apples in the oven for half an hour to forty minutes, or until the apples are soft.
- While the apples are cooking, combine the granola with 1 tablespoon of butter and the tablespoon of flour with either a fork or your fingers.
- Take the pan out of the oven. The water will probably have evaporated, but if not, take the apples out and pour out the water. Put the apples back into the pan, fill with the yogurt, and top with the granola crumble mixture.
- Place the apples back into the oven for 10 more minutes, or until the granola crumbled mixture is cooked through (you’re cooking the flour and butter).
- If you’d rather not have the yogurt warmed, you can cook the apples and granola crumble mixture together, then pour the yogurt over top.
- Serve!
When you cook the apples the night before, make the granola crumble, add it and the yogurt to the apples and heat them for ten minuts! You’ll have a fun, decently healthy breakfast on the table in ten to fifteen minutes!
Swaps:
- Instead of apples, you can use pears
- To make this recipe gluten-free, you can use a gluten-free flour and a gluten-free granola.
- To make this recipe paleo-friendly, use a paleo granola and an alternative flour like coconut or cassava (almond flour probably would not work, however), and yogurt made with alternative milks.
- To make this recipe dairy-free, use yogurt made with alternative milks like coconut, almond, or cashew.
So, there you have a delicious fall breakfast or brunch, and the apples in the stores right now are so good and perfect for this recipe—nothing mushy or tasteless.
‘Till next time!
Warm Summer Berry Compote
This summer on the blog is, apparently, all about berries. I made a berry compote to top a sweet cornbread for Fourth of July a few weeks ago and let me tell you, it was a miracle any of it made it to the top of the cornbread. It took a lot of self-control not to eat the entire pot with a spoon. It’s like eating the filling of a berry pie, which is really my favorite part.
This compote is also super, super simple to make. I know, I always say that. But, really, all you do it pour whole berries into a pot, squeeze honey over them, turn on the heat and let them simmer down to sweet, sweet goodness. It’s sweet and slightly tart and bursting with berry flavor.
So good!
You can use this berry compote:
- In pie
- In a hand pie or turnover
- Spooned over ice cream
- Mixed into a milkshake or smoothie
- Frozen in a homemade Popsicle
- Over grilled angel food cake or pound cake
And, really, this compote is just as good on its own, served warm in a bowl with just a spoon.
And although I’m making this with fresh summer berries, frozen berries are also a perfectly good option! (You can get more information on choosing summer berries at the store in last week’s blog, by the way.) Also, I’m adding a few ideas for add-ins that aren’t needed, but add some extra layers of flavor.
- 2 cups of fresh or frozen mixed berries (like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and cherries)
- 3 Tbsp. honey
- 1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
- ½ tsp. vanilla (optional)
- 1 tsp. lemon zest (optional)
- Pour the berries in to a heavy-bottomed pan and squeeze 3 tablespoons of honey over top. Stir to combine.
- Turn the heat to medium-low and let the berries simmer, stirring frequently, for about twenty minutes, or until the berries are melting and the liquid is reduced and thickened. Don’t let it go too long or you will burn the berries.
- Serve.
Tada! That’s it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I think I’ll go make some more, actually.
‘Till next time! (Sneak peek: next week I’ll be posting a recipe for you to serve these berries over…)
Green Chile Breakfast Tacos
If you follow me on the Flurries of Flour Pinterest, you may have noticed that I love breakfast. I may even have mentioned it before, possibly in my baked oatmeal recipe, but I can have breakfast for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in-between. I’m always up for pancakes, waffles, egg-and-cheese muffins, toast, scrambled eggs, potatoes and peppers, pastries—it’s all good to me.
When I married my husband, he introduced me to a whole new variety of breakfasts: New Mexican! Not that I didn’t love my breakfast burritos, but even though I mostly grew up in New Mexico, coming from an East Coast family, I didn’t really have much experience in the way of New Mexican breakfasts.
Thankfully, I don’t have that problem anymore, and I love these breakfast tacos. They’re full of soft, fluffy eggs, crispy bits of chorizo (or bacon), potatoes topped with melting cheeses, a creamy, slightly sweet and cooling avocado cream sauce (my addition), and, of course, green chile! We use Hatch green chile that we roast in August and keep in the freezer (you can also find it in the frozen section of Trader Joe’s, I believe, as well as in cans), but you can use other types of chile like Anaheim. The Hatch green chile is really what makes it New Mexican, though, and gives it that authentic taste.
If you see this in photos, by the way:this is a comal. It’s a flat griddle used to cook and heat tortillas (and maybe some toast every once in a while…). It was given to us by my husband’s mom and I’m not sure how old it is.
Also, while you can make potatoes just for this recipe, my husband usually makes his perfect brunch potatoes that I featured on the blog last week!
This breakfast is completely delicious, completely satisfying, and comes with a little New Mexican kick to get your morning going!
- Tacos:
- 8 Small Flour or White Corn Tortillas
- 10 Eggs
- 2 Tbsp. milk or milk alternative
- ½ pound of sausage, like chorizo, or 4 strips of bacon
- ½ C. of grated cheddar cheese
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil or other cooking oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Salsa of your choice
- 1 recipe of hotel brunch potatoes
- Avocado Cream Sauce:
- 2 ripe avocados
- 1 C. coconut milk or Greek yogurt
- Juice of ½ a lime
- ½ tsp. salt
- Heat a pan over medium heat with 1 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Sautee the chorizo in the pan until cooked through. Take the chorizo out of the pan and place onto a plate lined with a paper towel and set aside. Alternately, you can cook the bacon any way you choose.
- While the chorizo is cooking, make the avocado cream sauce. Combine the avocados, coconut milk or Geek yogurt, and salt in the blender and blend until a smooth cream forms. You can add more coconut milk or yogurt if you want a more creamy consistency. Set aside.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl with the milk, salt, and pepper and whisk until a froth forms.
- Heat an oiled non-stick pan over medium heat and pour the eggs in. Keep stirring gently until the eggs are soft, fluffy, and curds are sticking together.
- Heat a pan over medium heat. Heat the tortillas until warmed through and slightly colored.
- It’s assembly time! Place the tacos onto a serving plate or platter. Spoon over the eggs, bacon, potatoes, then sprinkle the cheese and green chile on top, then drizzle over the avocado cream and salsa on top.
And you have a completely satisfying breakfast! Believe me, it’s a fantastic way to start your day, especially if it’s a lazy Saturday morning or Sunday brunch!
Enjoy, and ‘till next time!
Perfect Brunch Potatoes
As a child, my grandfather would sometimes take me to the country club where he and my grandmother played golf and we would share a special brunch. They had the shiny hotel pans filled with steaming eggs, bacon, pancakes, and waffles along with plates piled high with fruit, pastries, and desserts. But the one thing I would make sure to put on my plate every time were those savory breakfast potatoes with peppers and onions. For some reason, though, and even though they’re ubiquitous at hotels and brunch places almost everywhere, I never learned to make them myself.
Fast-forward twenty or so years and, thankfully, my husband makes perfect country club/hotel brunch potatoes, and that’s the recipe I’m sharing today (that he is so graciously allowing me to post—thanks, love!).
Savory little red potatoes are sautéed with spices, sweet red and green bell peppers, and onions. As with most recipes on this blog, it’s simple and quick to make and it’s perfect for breakfast and brunch. They also pair perfectly with next week’s recipe: New Mexican Breakfast Tacos!
- 5 red potatoes
- ¼ of a white or yellow onion, chopped
- ½ red bell pepper, chopped
- ½ green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. garlic salt or dehydrated garlic (optional)
- 1 tsp. paprika
- ½ tsp. cayenne (optional)
- 2 Tbsp. oil, like olive
- Cut the potatoes into eights, chop the quarter onion and half bell peppers, and place all in a bowl. Add the seasonings and toss to combine.
- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat to get it hot. You want a pan that will be big enough to fit everything in one layer so everything cooks evenly.
- Once the pan is hot, turn the heat down to medium-low and put all ingredients into the pan.
- Cover and cook for fifteen to twenty minutes, stirring frequently, until potatoes are soft and slightly browned.
And that’s it—potatoes just like you’d find at a hotel brunch buffet. And, thankfully, if you love them as much as I do, you can whip them up in less than half an hour with minimal effort and just a few dishes to clean!
Check back next week for a companion, and very New Mexican, recipe, those breakfast tacos I talked about above!
‘Till next time!
Apples-and-Cinnamon Crisp Oatmeal
I’ve found that there are two types of people in the world: sweet breakfast people and savory breakfast people. I am definitely one of the former (have you seen the Flurries of Flour breakfast board on Pinterest?) while my husband is usually one of the latter. One thing we can always agree on is oatmeal, especially this apples-and-cinnamon crisp oatmeal.
This apples-and-cinnamon crisp oatmeal is sweet, but not too sweet, but not too sweet, easy to make, and is actually pretty good for you as far as sweet breakfast foods go (I’m looking at you, coffee cake!). It’s a perfect way to celebrate special days (say, for instance, the end of the week…). Plus, apples+cinnamon=always good in my book! This recipe is also gluten-free and egg-free!
The Recipe
You won’t need anything special for this recipe, but we still look forward to having the sweet, crispy crust and creamy oatmeal for breakfast.
Also, I’ve made this a gluten-free recipe, but you can substitute the almond flour for any flour you’d like, gluten-free or otherwise, including oat flour, a gluten-free flour mix, or AP flour. The ratio should remain the same for most flour substitutions.
I also increased the amount of liquid used for the oatmeal to ensure it doesn’t dry out in the oven, so yes, it will seem like a lot of liquid at first.
- For the Oatmeal:
- 4 C. oats (GF to keep this recipe gluten-free)
- 4 C. water
- 3 C. milk of your choice (I used almond)
- 1 ½ apples, cut into pieces (peeled or not)
- 1 to 2 Tbsp. maple syrup or honey
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- For the Crisp Topping:
- ¾ C. almond flour or flour of your choice
- ½ C. oats
- ½ C. brown sugar
- ⅛ C. granulated sugar
- 3 Tbsp. chilled butter, cut into cubes
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. salt (if using unsalted butter)
- Preheat the oven to 375° F and grease a 9x9 baking dish.
- Chop the apples into small pieces. You can peel them or not. Scatter them across the bottom of the baking dish.
- Pour the water, milk, maple syrup or honey, vanilla, and cinnamon into a large pot and bring to a boil. When the mixture comes to a boil, stir in the oats and cook for half the time indicated on the packaging (for me it was about five minutes). You want them semi-cooked to prevent sogginess later on.
- While the oatmeal is cooking, combine the butter, almond flour, oats, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt (if using) in a bowl. Combine with a fork, your fingers, or a pastry cutter until the mixture comes together.
- Once the oatmeal is half cooked, pour it into the prepared baking dish over the apples.
- Using your hands or a spoon, place small chunks of the crisp mixture over the oatmeal. Don’t worry, it won’t sink.
- Place the baking dish into the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the crisp mixture is golden.
- Let the oatmeal cook for ten minutes and serve in bowls!
And that’s it! You have a sweet, filling breakfast that is gluten-free, egg-free, and a pretty healthy way to celebrate your weekend or just make your weekday a little more special!
‘Till next time!
Roasted Strawberries
I’m all about Valentine’s Day this week, and so are my recipes! This recipe for roasted strawberries is perfect for almost any Valentine’s Day dessert, plus, it’s really easy to make. It’s sweet, tart, warm, and fragrant with a sticky, molten syrup. Roasted strawberries are an incredible topping for ice cream, cake, chocolate lava cake, zabaglione, mashed in a cupcake and topped with icing—it’s really up to your creativity.
And if you’re making a meal for Valentine’s Day, it’s a set-it-and-forget-it type of dessert. Once all the ingredients are made, just stick it in the oven. It will be done by the time you finish dinner and ready to be spooned whatever you choose. Plus, the sweet, bright, slightly tart smell will fill your kitchen with such a perfume!
The Ingredients
The first ingredient is strawberries. This time, I used frozen strawberries. The strawberries at the store didn’t look very good and were expensive. Frozen strawberries are a good alternative because they’re usually picked at the height of the season and frozen immediately, preserving taste and quality (promise I’m not on the strawberry marketing board). The only thing is, frozen strawberries can be a bit tart and so the recipe requires some sugar. If the strawberries are sweet enough, you may not need any.
I also use balsamic vinegar. After reduction, it turns sweet but retains a bit of the acidic bite that plays nicely against the strawberries and sugar.
- ½ bag of frozen strawberries or a pint of fresh strawberries
- 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- ½ to 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 Tbsp. sugar, if using frozen strawberries
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Toss the strawberries together with the balsamic vinegar, cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar.
- Place the strawberries onto a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper and place into the oven.
- Roast the strawberries for 35 to 45 minutes, or until soft and dark with molten juice.
- Take the strawberries out of the oven and let rest for five minutes. Serve immediately or place, covered, in the fridge to reserve for later.
I have one more blog ready to go this week. I suppose I’m making up for the past two months (or trying to, anyway!).
I hope your week is going well so far. ‘Till next time!
Sweet Valentine’s Smoothie
I always forget how much I like Valentine’s Day until we get to February. I have to admit that I enjoy it a lot more now that I actually have a valentine, but I’ve always liked it (plus all the corny movies that come along with it…). What can I say? I’m a huge romantic.
This breakfast Valentine’s Smoothie is sweet, chocolaty, and a beautiful way to treat either your Valentine or yourself on Valentine’s Day morning. Plus, it’s actually decently healthy, especially if you choose to add greens to it!
The Smoothie
A few notes about the ingredients for this breakfast smoothie. The greens: I usually use spinach because it’s the mildest green and full of great stuff (I know, very descriptive). I also use frozen strawberries and frozen raspberries because it helps keep the drink frosty like a smoothie is supposed to be. Also, cacao vs. cocoa powder—either is completely fine. The only difference is that cacao adds additional benefits, which you can read about in the homemade hot chocolate blog. And, if you haven’t had it before, kefir is a Middle Eastern yogurt drink. It comes in many flavors and you can find it at most stores, now.
- 1 medium banana
- ½ C. frozen strawberries
- ¼ C. frozen raspberries
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ½ - 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 Tbsp. cacao or cocoa powder
- ¼ C. strawberry kefir
- ¼ C. chocolate milk or almond milk (optional)
- ¼ cup of spinach (optional)
- 1 Tbsp. chocolate chips (optional)
- Place all ingredients together in your blender of choice.
- Blend, pour into a cup, and enjoy!
So put on those cheesy movies, sit back, and sip as you celebrate! And have fun with whatever other plans you have, if you have any. It’s our tradition to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and have a Die Hard marathon.
Do you have any Valentine’s traditions? What’s your favorite way to spend Valentine’s Day? Let me know in the comments below!
‘Till next time!
Sweet and Spicy Maple Roasted Butternut Squash
This sweet and spicy maple roasted butternut squash is a little bit sweet and a little bit salty with a pinch of heat. Roasting brings out the deep color and richness of the butternut squash, and the crispy edges from roasting add an extra layer of flavor. It’s a perfect fall side dish next to almost anything, even mixed in with a salad!
Autumn is definitely squash season, and this recipe is the perfect way to celebrate! Not only that, but I’ve included a tip that makes cubing butternut squash so much simpler!…