Easy Like Sunday Morning

Mother's day is tomorrow if you have a mom you'd like to make breakfast for may I suggest this lovely, easy meal.

Make the pancake batter first, shake up some Bisquick or make this delicious fool proof recipe from Deep South Dish. I found some expired milk lurking in the back of the fridge. (What? Like that never happens to you? I'm not here for your judgement.) Sour (not spoiled) milk makes a great substitute for buttermilk and is perfect for baking too. Let the batter rest while you make the rest of the breakfast. That nice crispy bacon gets cooked first. Having made bacon in a variety of ways, stove top, oven, microwave, I have to say the crispiest bacon is often made on a flat cooking griddle. The greater cooking area and precise heat control means you get the best results. While the bacon is frying get out a small sauce pan and make some blueberry compote!

1.5 pints of blueberries, separated into 3 half pint measures.
3 tablespoons of water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Take a half pint of blueberries, and put it in the sauce pan with the lemon juice, water and sugar, stir and heat on medium heat for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add the second half pint of blueberries, cook an additional 3 minutes and then add the last half pint of blueberries and cook for 5 more minutes. Take off of the heat and set aside until ready to serve.

The potato rosti come frozen in a box from IKEA. When the bacon is done they are simply fried in a little cooking spray on each side for two minutes, when serving top with a little bit of sour cream and a sprinkle of parsley. Keep warm, wrapped in foil and a towel until breakfast is ready.

Finally cook your pancakes, smaller cakes cook faster and are more fun to eat. Top with compote and enjoy with a nice cup of coffee or tea.

Have a great weekend!

Blueberry Oatbran Muffins

Ingredients:

1 2/3 C. fresh blueberries
2/3 C. of sugar
1/3 C. vegetable oil
1 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 C. oat bran
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Use muffin cups or grease muffin tin well. Mix berries with sugar, oil and eggs until mixed. Stir in dry ingredients just until moist. Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes on rack, loosen sides of muffins and take them out of the pan. Makes 6-8 muffins.

Now for the alternatives. If you do not have oat bran, use 1/2 C. of whole wheat flour or oat flour. Oat flour can be made by buzzing some whole oat meal in the food processor for a few seconds. I have also used strawberries in this recipe. Canola oil can be substituted for the vegetable oil. Also I use a scant 2/3 C. of sugar in the mix and add a dusting of sanding or sparkling white sugar (a coarse grained sugar) on the tops of the muffins before baking. It adds a lovely crunchy, shiny top.

Last Night's Dinner: A Festival of Antioxidants

Leftover "Soup"er Green Soup
Baked Salmon Patties
Sauteed Spinach
Fresh blueberries (for dessert)

The green soup is kind of a family legend at this point. Any green vegetables (and curiously always leeks) make it into the soup. You boil all your gorgeous green veggies in chicken or veggie stock, along with onion and carrot for sweetness. When everything is nice and soft, add salt/pepper to taste and blend it all together with a stick or immersion blender. Sometimes I top it with a little parmesan cheese or perhaps a spoonful of pesto. Any green herbs that take your fancy can be added as well, fresh towards the end of cooking time, dried herbs go in at the beginning. Examples of green veggies I have used include kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, peas, green beans, leeks, and green onions. This soup is wonderful for veggies that are starting to get a little past their prime. Alternatively, if you have some cooked broccoli left over from dinner the night before it can be thrown right into this.

The salmon patties were a HUGE gamble, but one that paid off. I loooove salmon so much, it's kind of sick, but I worry over environmental concerns associated with farmed salmon. Wild caught salmon is very expensive... unless it is canned. Canned salmon is kind of dicey in how you prepare it. You don't want it to taste canned or "off". These salmon patties went together very easily, and baked up beautifully. I think all the fresh ingredients, especially the lemon juice added a nice flavor and kept things moist. Recipe is included at the bottom of the post.

I sauteed the spinach with diced yellow onion in bacon fat I have been saving in the fridge. Yeah, I did, and your grandmother probably did too. Maybe she just kept an old Crisco container on the back of the stove filled with "drippings". One tablespoon of the stuff won't kill me, and it won't kill you either and it adds silky, yummy, clingy fat and a lovely smokey flavor. So there.

Salmon Patties (found this on about.com, but it was uncredited)

Ingredients:

1 can (16 ounces) salmon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
cold water
2 med. eggs, beaten
dash pepper
1 slice bread, fine crumbs
1/4 cup finely minced celery (with leaves)
2 tablespoons finely minced green onion
1 tablespoon finely minced bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (canola)
Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Drain salmon, reserving liquid. Discard skin, but save bones. Flake salmon lightly, but well, with a fork. Crush bones and mix with the salmon.
Add the lemon to the reserved salmon liquid and enough cold water to make 1/2 cup liquid; add to the salmon. Add all remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Form into 4 patties. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

** I used three 6 oz. cans for a total of 18 oz. of fish. I lacked bell peppers, added diced carrot. I lacked green onions, subbed in green shoots from a sprouting onion growing in my garden. I was also missing celery entirely. I could have used some celery seed spice, if I had any. I crumbled up fresh bread to make crumbs but it kind of disappeared. I added in 1 tablespoon of seasoned bread crumbs also topped patties with those crumbs to add some "crunch". Also re-reading this recipe today I never saw that it called for baking powder at ALL! Apparently you won't miss it. Hm. Next time I will lightly oil the pan as the patties kind of stuck a little.