Star-Spangled Blueberry Banana Bread

July 03, 2018 by Veronica Kablan in At Home

Guys, it's taking all my willpower not to title this post "Star-Spangled BANANNER Bread." Everything I know about SEO is telling me that I really, really shouldn't, but everything I know about puns is telling me that I really, really should. Practicality wins again.

Speaking of practicality, this recipe is oozing with it. Ok, maybe not the banana stars (which are excruciating to cut out, but make for an oh-so-festive touch on the Fourth of July), but everything else about it is exceedingly practical. For one, it's full of healthy ingredients that almost no one could argue with, and for another, you make the batter in your blender. That's right, you just dump all the ingredients in the blender and whizz to combine. And hey, if you're short on time, you can skip the banana stars. As my old pal Ben Franklin used to say, "employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure." So he'd understand if you skipped the stars. Nobody's calling you un-patriotic.

Star-Spangled Blueberry Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas, plus 2 more sliced or cut into star shapes for garnish (optional)
2 cups rolled oats
2 eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard loaf pan with parchment paper, and lightly coat with cooking spray.

2. Place bananas, oats, eggs, maple syrup, baking soda, vanilla, and salt into the blender, and blend until just combined. Be careful not to over-blend! Fold in blueberries gently with a rubber spatula.

3. Pour batter into the prepared pan, and arrange banana stars or slices on top. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 35-45 minutes.

4. Let cool in loaf pan for 15 minutes, and then using the edges of the parchment, gently lift the loaf out of the pan and place it on a rack to cool. Cool completely before slicing. Serve with butter, jam, or almond butter.

Recipe adapted from Delish

Spiced Tahini Granola

August 15, 2017 by Veronica Kablan in At Home

The old days of granola are gone: it's no longer a food reserved for hippies and flower children, instead it's just about as common as Corn Flakes in the average American's breakfast rotation and the variety of available flavors is vast. While grocery store shelves are stocked with any number of delicious options, we find that granola is best made at home, because it's incredibly simple and produces excellent results.

Granola is one of those recipes that is endlessly customizable; it can be easily adapted to suit just about any taste or dietary restriction. Using a really simple formula, you can fill in the blanks based on your preferences, and have a little fun experimenting in the kitchen at the same time.

Below is one of the recipes that's in continuous rotation at my home, and it speaks to our personalities and preferences pretty clearly: I like to keep things on the savory side with a kick, so this recipe isn't overly sweet and has just a hint of heat. My husband avoids coconut in his diet, so you'll see this is coconut-free. And we are both tahini fanatics, so we thought, why not try adding that, too? Of course, you can switch this up as you please, adjusting the sweet-to-salt ratio as you prefer. Or go totally off the rails and try something that's completely your own! Have fun with it - granola is like a blank canvas, waiting for your personal stamp to make it all your own.

Ingredients

1/4 c tahini
5 tbsp honey
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 c gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 c quinoa flakes
1/2 c crisped quinoa
1/4 c pepitas
1/4 c walnuts
1/4 c pine nuts

Method

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the rolled oats, quinoa flakes, crisped quinoa, pepitas, walnuts, and pine nuts.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the tahini, honey, olive oil, and vanilla. Add in the cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper and whisk until well combined. Pour over the oat mixture and stir until entire mixture is well coated.
Pour the granola mixture onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, and spread out evenly using the back of a flexible spoon or spatula.
Bake until crispy, about 45 - 50 minutes, stirring and re-smoothing halfway through (note: smoothing and flattening out the mixture will allow for large chunks, so don't skip this step if you enjoy big clumps of granola).
Remove from oven and let cool completely before eating. This is going to be difficult, because it smells amazing, but do yourself a favor and hold out! It will be so nice and crisp once it's cooled, and you can crumble it into big or small chunks, depending on your preference. Store in an airtight container for one to two weeks.

Eggnog Coffee Cake Muffins

December 24, 2016 by Brunchographers in At Home

Do you remember that feeling you'd get as a kid, waking up on Christmas morning, knowing there was a little bit of magic waiting for you underneath the Christmas tree? It was pretty much the most exciting moment of the year; you'd rush to wake your parents, then run to the living room as fast as your little feet could take you. Then, of course, you'd savagely rip into your gifts, scraps of paper flying through the air like a tornado, while your parents sipped their coffee and silently cursed the clock for the early hour (sorry, Mom and Dad).

As an adult, there's still something a bit magical about Christmas morning. Even if there's not a rush to rip open gifts, it still feels special to laze around in pajamas and enjoy some coffee (or tea) with your family. And having a pre-prepared, simple breakfast to enjoy together always helps.

This year, we found a few great options for delicious, make-ahead breakfasts for Christmas morning. The first was the blueberry cream cheese French toast casserole that we made for our Yuletide brunch. Another is a recipe for eggnog coffee cake muffins that we found on a blog called Two Peas in Their Pod.

These muffins were perfect for enjoying with a cup of coffee on a lazy morning. They're dense, crumbly, and have the perfect balance of sweet and salty. The eggnog flavor is subtle, but adds a little extra something perfect for Christmas morning.

You can also top them off with a bit more eggnog flavor by adding a drizzle of some eggnog glaze. The glaze is super easy to whip up - just whisk a couple tablespoons of eggnog into some powdered sugar to your desired consistency, and voila! Drizzle to your heart's content. They're delicious either way.

Thank you for stopping by, and spending a little bit of your holiday with us! We hope you have a warm and wonderful holiday, full of fun, joy, and love. Happy (holiday) brunching!