Something strange is going on. It’s late October. The trees are confused. Why are their hues of red, orange, green and yellow speckled with white dots?

Could it be… snow?!

I have no idea what is going on, but I don’t like it one bit. SNOW IN OCTOBER?!

It looks like a cappuccino once the cream mixes in but it’s not!

It’s 35 degrees F outside. I’m not sure how the snow is sticking, but it is. That means, sans heating, our house is roughly 56 degrees F. You know its bad when I take out the socks. I hate socks.

Given that I can’t quite wear gloves and be completely functional, I decided to make some coffee.

Awhile back, Peet’s Coffee sent me two bags of coffee through Foodbuzz’s Tastemakers program. I decided to crack out the Café Domingo, named after Peet’s third café on Domingo Avenue in Berkeley, California (opened in 1980).  Peet’s describes the coffee as “a smooth and balanced medium roast with hints of toffee sweetness and a clean, crisp finish.” I concur.

From personal experience, the drip brew naturally times the drip in such a way that it takes around 6 minutes. The water temperature should be around 200 degrees F. I mean, most of us don’t really measure the temperature of the water, so what I do is let the water sit for a bit under 10 minutes after it boils before pouring it into the drip.

And by taste, the drip brew method produces a much better cup of coffee than you conventional $20 coffee maker from Target. It’s also cheaper (paper filters + funnel). Booya.

For the whipping, you can change it up by adding cinnamon instead of chocolate or even espresso powder. Check this link for some more flavors.

You should also check out:

• Banana-stuffed french toast with streusel topping
• Quick baked eggs and potatoes
• Crêpes with sweet yogurt and raspberry
• A Chinese inspired breakfast burrito
• Strawberry flapjacks with Kodiak Cakes

Oh, drool!

This past Wednesday, I was invited into the city for a press event for Simply Orange held at the Institute of Culinary Education. To be honest, at first, I had no idea what Simply Orange was. But when I walked into the room, I saw this giant umbrella with a parked green cart and two giant stacked boxes of oranges. Two guys were handing out OJ like they do on the streets, and I thought to myself, “Ohhhh! THAT Simply!”

Some Simply cocktails, mixed with Prosecco

But then I became even more confused. Why was this orange juice company sponsoring this “Brunch for Dinner” event? Turns out that Simply recognized that they need to ride the social media marketing wave, and hence is reaching out to bloggers. They set up this event where they invited all of these bloggers for a brunch course. Only one dish on the menu used the Simply juice and none of us were in any way obligated to blog about Simply.

I had a couple of minutes to chat with the marketing representative from Simply. She was an intern from Australia. Here were some key takeaway points:

• Simply’s concept is farm to table. In other words, freshly squeezed orange juice. Because there are no preservatives, the recommended shelf life is only 7-10 days. The orange juice is “gently pasteurized.” I’m not sure what that means.
• The company was founded by MinuteMaid (hm… interesting)
• No concentrate or water added. Simply orange.

While the OJ is delicious, my favorite flavor had to have been the Limeade. It was a bit tangier than the lemonade. The mango was too mango-y and the pineapple was nothing to write home about. I ended up buying another 59oz and while Mark and I both loved the OJ, we really couldn’t tell the difference between Simply and Tropicana. However, it’s sold at BJ’s so for the minimal incremental extra cost, I think I’ll stick to the one that has less preservatives (aka Simply).

I thought that was clever- they used the Simply bottles as vases!

Now onto the stuff that you came for- Banana Stuffed French Toast with Streusel Topping! The recipe is from Zoe’s in NYC which has unfortunately closed down.

This french toast is sweet and hearty. No extra maple syrup required. What it does require is a stretcher and a few EMTs to haul you out of the place. Since the french toast is made with thick challah bread, I think that for most people, one is more than sufficient to fill up your stomach and for your daily heart attack simulator (just kidding). All joking aside, this was one of my favorite dishes of the night. The french toast came out light, airy, and so flavorsome.

A recipe like this is reserved for special occasions. Because its so easy to make in mass quantities, it’s an easy dish to entertain with if you’re having a group of people over for brunch. It’s also super easy and quick to make (well relative to Osso Bucco). The best thing about the recipe is that you just pop the french toast into an oven and move on with life. What I also love is how the french toast keeps dry. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not dry to the point where it lacks moisture. It’s just not soggy. Amazingly, the filling is reminiscent of a cream cheese filling but it’s actually not! (surprisingly, it’s actually healthier!)

Shaved almonds add the final finishing touch!

Banana-Stuffed French Toast with Streusel Topping
Recipe from Restaurant: Zoe, NYC (serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 large ripe bananas, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds
• 1 loaf of challah bread (or brioche), sliced into 6 slices (1 1/2 inches thick)
• 2 cups WHOLE milk
• 6 large eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups thinly slices almonds, toasted
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup quick cooking oats
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter into a large skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of water and stir until the sugar dissolves. You want to stir until the mixture is foamy, for about 2 minutes. Add in the bananas and cook until tender. Stir occasionally for about 5 minutes. Then, transfer to a small bowl and let it cool. This can be prepared 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill.

Now we’re going to create the “pockets’ for the french toast for the filling. Using a small sharp knife, cut 2 inch long slit in one side of each bread slice, cutting 3/4th the way through the bread and creating a pocket that leaves 3 sides of the bread intact.

Divide the banana mixture equally among the pockets. Then, whisk milk, eggs, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar in large bowl to blend. Pour into a large glass baking dish. Place the bread in the egg mixture and let it soak 10 minutes, turning occasionally.

Place almonds in a shallow bowl. Carefully remove bread from the egg mixture and coat both sides with almonds. Then, place the bread on a heavy large baking sheet. Mix the brown sugar, oats, flour, and remaining 2 teaspoons of cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the remaining 1/3 stick of butter and rub in, using fingertips, until moist clumps form. This would be the struesel filling that you sprinkle over the bread.

Bake until bread topping is golden brown and filling is hot. Should take about 25 minutes. You can serve with maple syrup, but totally unnecessary!

You should also check out:

• Superbowl wing recipes (from a Top Chef!)
• Cheddar and onion smashed burgers
• Faux cappuccino (coffee with glorified whipping)
• Panko-peppered chicken
• Vicky & William’s delicious dumplings

The main reason why I rarely cook one of my favorite dishes- roast potatoes- is because they simply take too long. Softened red potatoes  require a good 20-25 minutes of boiling in the pot, and that’s pre-oven time. But seeing as how Angela made the trek from Jersey City and Esther from Morristown, I decided it’d be worth the extra effort and time.

If I had actually started preparing brunch on time, I would have followed the recipe. But because I was strapped for time, instead of cooking the potatoes in a pot of boiling water in their wholesome form, I pre-sliced them into chunks and then let them soak in the pot for 12 minutes. A few minutes in, the water turned cloudy white from all the starch. I was a bit worried, but even when I transferred the potatoes into a casserole dish, they didn’t crumble as I had feared they would. That’s when I realized the shortcut- cut your potatoes before cooking them in boiling water, and you’ll reduce your cooking time by a good 10-15 minutes.

So, I ended up creating a breakfast version of the classic roast potatoes you find at dinner next to your steak. The potatoes are seasoned with sea salt and pepper but topped off with pieces of turkey bacon and caramelized onion. Then, before the casserole dish goes into the oven to roast for an additional 15-20 minutes, you crack a few eggs and shred some cheddar on top.

Barring the time involved in making this dish, it’s actually really simple. It’s the perfect dish to make if you’re trying to multitask. In fact, I probably spent under 10 minutes in total on the potatoes, and the oven did the rest. So while the potatoes were roasting, we made the crepes and the meal was timed perfectly.

Quick baked egg and potatoes
Adapted from FOOD & WINE

Ingredients:

• 5 (or more) red potatoes, quartered into chunks
• 6 slices of turkey bacon, cut into 1 inch wide pieces
• 1 medium sized onion, sliced into half rings
• Olive oil for drizzling
• Salt & pepper
• 3 eggs

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 375°. Slice the potatoes into chunks and transfer into a large saucepan. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil and cook over moderate heat until tender (about 10-15 minutes); drain and let cool. After, transfer the potatoes into a casserole dish. Season with salt & pepper and toss them in a generous coating of olive oil.

Meanwhile, your skillet. Slice the bacon into wide pieces (about an inch thick) and slice the onions so that you get half rings. Drizzle a tiny bit of oil and cook both over moderate heat, about 8 minutes. Transfer the bacon and onions into the casserole dish, so that they are evenly scattered amongst the potato.

Crack three eggs (or more) into the casserole dish, on top of everything. You can wait until the end to grate cheddar over it, or you can do so before the dish enters the oven. Me? I like my cheddar slightly melted so I wait until the end. Bake for 15 minutes or until the egg whites have cooked. If you don’t like runny yolks, you can cook it a bit longer so that the yolks also cook all the way through. The dish will be extremely hot, even 10 minutes out of the oven, so you’ll want to let it set for at least a few minutes before serving.

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FOOD & WINE is giving away a year-long subscription to a lucky reader from Savory-bites.  Click here to enter and read official rules here.

This post is part of a series featuring recipes from the FOOD & WINE archive.  As a FOOD & WINE Blogger Correspondent, I was chosen to do four recipes a week from FOOD & WINE.  I received a subscription to FOOD & WINE for my participation.

You should also check out:

• Superbowl wing recipes (from a Top Chef!)
• Cheddar and onion smashed burgers
• Faux cappuccino (coffee with glorified whipping)
• Panko-peppered chicken
• Vicky & William’s delicious dumplings

So crêpes. Thin pancake like layers that can be made to satisfy the savory or the sweet tooth. This morning, Esther and Angela came over for brunch. Proper brunch needs to have at least one salty and one sweet dish. Otherwise, you always end up craving the other at the end of the meal. For the sweet dish, I went with a crêpe filled with a sweet yogurt cream.

Most sweet crepes will use whipped cream, so this is a great alternative. You’ll want to use a thick yogurt, like Greek yogurt so that the filling doesn’t get too runny. You can make your own Greek yogurt by straining out regular yogurt for 8-12 hours in a cheesecloth. It should be the consistency of sour cream.

We realized we forgot… confectioner’s sugar!

The other thing to take note of for crêpes is that you need to allot at least 20 minutes for the batter to sit. You want a thin layer, so by letting the batter sit for 20 minutes to even overnight, you allow the flour particles to expand and absorb more water. The first few crepes that come out of the pan are always duds. It takes a couple of tries to get used to how high the heat needs to be and how much batter you need for just the right thickness.

Instead of using preserves like the original recipe suggested, we felt the sweet yogurt filling was sweet enough. We drizzled some maple syrup and garnished it off with fresh raspberries. Definitely a winner. It’s a very light and somewhat of a healthy breakfast (considering we’re using Greek yogurt instead of whipping cream).

Crêpes with Sweet Yogurt and Raspberry
Adapted from FOOD & WINE

Makes around 8 crepes

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups plain Greek-style yogurt
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Maple syrup for drizzling
• Raspberries

Recipes:

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with 1/4 cup of the milk and the salt until blended. Whisk in the flour until the batter is smooth, then whisk in the remaining 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of the melted butter. Let the crêpe batter stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes. In another bowl, mix the yogurt with the brown sugar and vanilla.

Heat a 10-inch crêpe pan or nonstick skillet over moderate heat. Brush the pan with some of the melted butter. Pour in a scant 1/3 cup of the crêpe batter and immediately rotate the pan to evenly coat the bottom. Cook the crêpe until lightly browned on the bottom, about 45 seconds. Flip the crêpe and cook until brown dots appear on the other side, about 15 seconds longer. Transfer the crêpe to a large baking plate covered with parchment paper. Continue making crêpes with the remaining batter, brushing the pan with the remaining melted butter as needed.
Spoon 3 tablespoons of the yogurt onto each crêpe and roll them up. Transfer to plates. Serve with fresh raspberries.

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FOOD & WINE is giving away a year-long subscription to a lucky reader from Savory-bites.  Click here to enter and read official rules here.

This post is part of a series featuring recipes from the FOOD & WINE archive.  As a FOOD & WINE Blogger Correspondent, I was chosen to do four recipes a week from FOOD & WINE.  I received a subscription to FOOD & WINE for my participation.

You should also check out:

• Superbowl wing recipes (from a Top Chef!)
• Cheddar and onion smashed burgers
• Faux cappuccino (coffee with glorified whipping)
• Panko-peppered chicken
• Vicky & William’s delicious dumplings

How many of you out there think that tortilla wraps are good, but don’t made the cut for flavor? Honestly, they taste like a thinner version of sliced sandwich bread to me. Well, I guess you can wrap stuff in them. That’s just about the only perk wraps have going for them (and I guess they’re more conscience for people watching their weight?)

Me? I’ve always loved layers in my wraps. Unfortunately, the Western world doesn’t quite agree with me in that aspect. Growing up, my mom would make scallion pancakes and we’d slice scallions into thin long strips, scatter them in the center of the pancake, top it off with some hoisin sauce, and then roll. There’s something just so warm and inviting about that dish. Perhaps it was the flaky top layer or the subtle flavor for each speck of scallion, but whatever it was, it was delicious.

This morning I really wanted a breakfast burrito. I had turkey bacon, shiitake mushrooms, and eggs in the fridge- all just sitting there for me to consume. The one caveat was- I didn’t have bread or wraps! That’s how this Chinese inspired burrito came to being.

Appetite for China does a wonderful pictorial step by step guide to making scallion pancakes. I don’t remember my mom ever using yeast, but there’s plenty of variations on this recipe out there. We used to make an inhumane amount of pancakes (they do take a long time to make), wrap in them saran, and then stuff them into the freezer. You don’t even need to thaw them. Instead, zap them in the microwave for 30-50 seconds. Lately, we’ve been getting lazy and have been buying them packaged from the store. Either way works.

But really, this is such a simple and quick recipe. This is what I put in, but you can put in whatever your heart desires.

Chinese inspired breakfast burrito

Ingredients:

• Scallion pancakes
• Bacon
• 1 Egg
• Chopped mushrooms
• Grated sharp cheddar

Recipe:

In a skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Scramble an egg. Cook the mushrooms. Stack on burrito. Sprinkle a generous amount of cheddar. Wrap.

Done!

See didn’t I tell you it’d be quick?

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This meal was inspired by a FOOD & WINE recipe

FOOD & WINE is giving away a year-long subscription to a lucky reader from Savory-bites.  Click here to enter and read official rules here.

This post is part of a series featuring recipes from the FOOD & WINE archive.  As a FOOD & WINE Blogger Correspondent, I was chosen to do four recipes a week from FOOD & WINE.  I received a subscription to FOOD & WINE for my participation.

You should also check out:

• Superbowl wing recipes (from a Top Chef!)
• Cheddar and onion smashed burgers
• Faux cappuccino (coffee with glorified whipping)
• Panko-peppered chicken
• Vicky & William’s delicious dumplings