Category: Breakfasts

Blueberry Buckle Muffins with Streusel Topping

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Blueberry Buckle Muffins with Streusel Topping
Recipe Type: Dessert, Breakfast
Cuisine: Muffins and Breads
Author: Claire McCormick of “Claire Tastes”
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 18
Easy, summery muffin recipe with a hint of lemon flavor! I used Greek yogurt and applesauce in place of the extra oil in this one, and it did not disappoint! Fresh, zingy, and a perfect streusel crumble for the top!
Ingredients
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 very ripe banana, mashed
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 cup lemon flavored Greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 cups blueberries
  • For the Crumble:
  • 5 tablespoons cold cubed butter
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar, oil, eggs, banana, and applesauce until smooth.
  4. Add yogurt and lemon juice.
  5. Gradually add dry ingredients until just combined.
  6. Fold in the blueberries and gently stir to combine.
  7. Scoop batter into a prepared muffin tin (I lined mine with holders first!).
  8. Top each muffin cup with about 1-2 tablespoons of the crumble topping (see below).
  9. Bake 3 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 22-23 minutes or until just starting to turn golden brown on top.
  10. Repeat with remaining batter.
  11. For the crumb topping, pour the flour, brown sugar and cold cubed butter into a medium bowl. With two forks or knives, cut the butter into the flour and sugar until you are have pea sized crumbs of flour coated butter. Sprinkle on top of each muffin as described above.

 

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His and Her “Crustless” Quiche

I never really liked quiche before… and I think that’s because of the icky store bought refrigerated pie crust that it gets baked in. For some reason, the sides of the pie always crumbled on my fork, and it never tasted like much anyway. I’ve realized since that I would really enjoy quiche (I mean, who DOESN’T like a baked mixture of eggs, veggies, and about three types of cheese?) if it didn’t have a crust. At the same time, there is something comforting about having some sort of shape to the slice- some kind of “crunch” at the bottom that makes it a bit more satiating.

The other night I was preparing two quiches for an event at church, but I also wanted to make one for home. The problem is that pie crust comes in packs of two at the store. Hmmmm… wheels went spinning. Why not use the leftover barley soup I had made the night before (which had sort of already sucked up all the liquid from the cooked barley I’d added!) and somehow beef it up a bit to turn it into a crust of sorts? After all, I’d heard of other people using quinoa as a base- why not barley?

The soup was still a bit too runny to serve as a sturdy crust, so I added some random dry ingredients I had on hand- I didn’t want to mess with clumps of flour in my dinner, so I decided on some good ol’ fashioned, wholesome oats, and Panko bread crumbs. I also added an egg together before pressing it down into the dish to help the crust set a bit better.

Then, layered in the rest of the quiche ingredients as per usual! Since Ben and I would both be eating this, I used diced ham and shredded cheddar on “his” side, and turkey and swiss on “mine.”

The result was exactly what I was hoping for- a lighter pie with a chewy crust on the bottom and crisped sides. Plus, with every bite you get a forkful of veggies from the original soup! Served over a spinach salad, this was the perfect addition to our regular “staples.” In fact, Ben even said it was the “best quiche I’d ever made!” Well, that seals the deal- definitely making this one again!

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His and Her “Crustless” Quiche
Recipe Type: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Cuisine: Healthy, Savory
Author: Claire McCormick of “Claire Tastes”
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8
A crustless quiche recipe light enough to satisfy the lady’s mind and hearty enough to satisfy the man’s stomach! Read on to find out the secret ingredient!
Ingredients
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup leftover vegetable soup (I used an organic “rustic bean and vegetable” boxed soup from the “simply balanced” line at Target- link in the intro above!)
  • 1/2 cup cooked pearl barley
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
  • 1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup raw old-fashioned oats
  • 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • raw spinach
  • handful of chopped broccoli or cauliflower (or both)
  • handful of sliced grape or cherry tomatoes
  • diced ham
  • shredded deli turkey
  • shredded cheese (any kind, but I used a “casserole” blend)
  • sliced Swiss cheese, torn into smaller pieces
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together soup, barley, and 1 of the eggs.
  3. Add bread crumbs and oats. Stir to combine.
  4. Using fingers or back of a spoon, press the crust mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a lightly oiled pie plate.
  5. Layer spinach (I torn mine into smaller pieces first) into dish, followed by broccoli and tomatoes. In half the dish, sprinkle ham. In other half, add the shredded turkey.
  6. In the mixing bowl, beat the remaining 3 eggs, milk, cottage cheese, spices, salt and pepper. Pour into the dish.
  7. On ham side of the quiche, sprinkle a handful of shredded cheese. On other half (turkey side), place the Swiss cheese slices.
  8. Bake uncovered at 350 for 40-50 minutes, or until eggs have set and cheese is bubbling.
  9. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving

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Banana Nut Bread

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Banana Nut Bread
Recipe Type: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: Breads, Baking
Author: Claire McCormick of “Claire Tastes”
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12
A moist, nutty loaf perfect for a rainy Saturday morning or a grab n’ go breakfast!
Ingredients
  • 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil (you could also substitute applesauce here!)
  • 3 1/2 bananas, very ripe, mashed
  • 3 tablespoons vanilla Greek yogurt (you could also use plain)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecan pieces
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (375 for muffins). Grease the bottom and sides of a loaf pan or muffin tin with cooking spray.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with a whisk until fluffy. Stir in the oil (or applesauce). Add mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla.
  3. Fold in dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in nuts.
  4. Pour into prepared loaf pan or muffin tin and bake, 45 minutes to 1 hour (for bread) or 15-20 minutes (for muffins), or until a toothpick comes out cleanly and you get that lovely little crack on the top! 🙂

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Claire1 Comment

Savory “Snowmageddon” Crêpes

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Snow Day: Take Two! Last snow day I made a batch of french toast with caramelized bananas, raisins, and honey. This time, more snow and ice. More eggs, milk, and bread. Fridge is dwindling. Husband is hungry. Claire needs an indoor project. We still have power (thank the Lord).

All this = the need to up my game. None of this lame french toast stuff. This time, we’ll do another French recipe (seriously, what is it about those Frenchmen and their yummy breakfasts?) but we’ll do crêpes. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the heavenliness of these, crêpes are a very thin pancake that one fills with fruit, yogurt, meat, greens, cheese… basically anything in the world you could possibly be in the mood for. Actually, my very first dish cooked for Ben was an assortment of brunch crêpes! Pictured below 🙂 Ohhh, how young and inexperienced in the kitchen I was. I served them with very overcooked scrambled eggs, but I have to say I did a good job with the crêpes. And they’re not easy to do! I think I did a few ham and cheese, one with cottage cheese and berries, and one with PB and banana.

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Okay, so I didn’t have the nice camera I do now… but pretty good for my first meal ever, right? It was the thought that counted. And Ben loved them! Sweet memories of our dating years and his visits to Duke while he was in grad school at CMU.

This morning I thought to myself, “hey- I have nothing to do, and lots of leftovers to use up! Why not make crêpes?” Yes, they’re a bit high maintenance, but since I had the time, I went for it. I decided to go in the savory direction rather than sweet (based on a poll that some of you may have seen on my Facebook page) and fill them with different types of savory things I already had on hand.

First I had to make the batter, which is a simple mixture of flour, milk, eggs, water, salt, and butter. Couldn’t be easier. The trick is to get the batter nice and even (lumps are not okay like they are in pancakes, so keep whisking even after you start cooking them!). The batter should be very thin, because when you spread it in the pan, it spreads really quickly onto the bottom- which is crucial because these babies cook SO FAST! One flip after about a minute and you’re done. Also, make sure to coat your pan with cooking spray between each crêpe, and make sure the pan doesn’t get too hot, or else you’ll have burnt crêpes and the fire department trudging through the snow because your smoke detector won’t shut off and the neighbors called 911. If the oil starts to burn, turn down the heat a bit and dab off the burnt oil with a dry paper towel.

Then the fun part. I made 4 combos: 1) hummus/ham/spinach/cheddar cheese; 2) leftover fondue cheese (gruyere and fontina blend), more ham, fresh parsley, and some pepper; 3) quinoa salad filling (leftover from last weekend, dijon mustard, chopped broccoli, parsley, feta, and balsamic drizzle); and last but not least, since it’s a classic and SO GOOD, 4) PB, banana, and raisin drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.

It’s easiest to just fill one half of the crêpe, and to not get overzealous with how much you try to pack in. It won’t taste better, I promise. You’ll be left with filling spilling out of every possible direction, onto your fingers, all over your floor… not sexy. And crêpes should definitely have some sex appeal. 🙂

For the first three that were filled with savory goodness, I baked at 300 degrees for about 8 minutes, until the crêpes got nice and crispy and the cheese had melted nicely. No need to do this for the PB & banana, unless you really want your peanut butter melty.

Basically, you can have fun with these! After all, it’s Snowmageddon! Who knows where we’ll be tomorrow!? Okay, we will probably still be in the exact same place, doing the exact same thing. Because we can’t get out our door. But it’s still a good day to live like it’s your last 🙂

Happy crêpeing!

DSC00638Batter all mixed up and ready to pan-fry

DSC00648Cook for about 1 minute on each side, until they look just like this! (air bubbles are okay)

DSC00649Crêpes all done and ready to be filled! You can stick them in the fridge or freeze them for filling later!

DSC00651A perfect assortment of crêpes. They’ll only get better from here!

DSC00660An assortment of savory fillings.

DSC00666Crêpe #1: Hummus, ham, spinach, and cheddar

DSC00663Crêpe #2: Fondue cheese, ham, parsley

DSC00668Crêpe #3: Leftover quinoa salad, broccoli, dijon, feta, balsamic drizzle

DSC00674Crêpe #4: Peanut butter, banana, raisin, cinnamon, honey drizzle

DSC00669Fold them in half, or quarters if you can.

DSC00670Bake at 300 degrees for 8 minutes or so, until crispy and cheese is melted.

DSC00685Fancy crêpes for a snowy morning! What’s your favorite crêpe combo?

Savory “Snowmageddon” Crêpes
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6-8
An easy recipe for French crêpes- fill them with something sweet or something savory, or freeze them for your next snow day!
Ingredients
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted
  • Filling ingredients ideas:
  • Sliced deli ham or turkey, chopped broccoli, shredded cheese, fondue cheese, hummus, leftover quinoa salad, feta, dijon mustard, spinach, parsley, pepper, peanut butter, jelly, chopped banana or strawberries, honey, raisins, cinnamon, powdered sugar
Instructions
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and eggs. Gradually add milk and water.
  2. Add salt, cinnamon, and melted butter, and stir until very smooth. Batter will be thin!
  3. Heat a circular pan on medium- low heat. Coat with cooking spray or oil.
  4. Using a ladle or measuring cup, spread about 1/4 cup batter into hot pan. As quickly as you can, turn the pan in a circular motion so that the filling spreads across the entire surface (it will begin cooking immediately!).
  5. Cook each side about 1 minute. Remove from pan and keep warm in oven at 200 degrees or so.
  6. Continue with the remainder of the batter, making sure to continue oiling the pan and whisking the batter throughout the cooking process.
  7. Refrigerate/freeze crêpes for later, or start filling now!
  8. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
  9. Spread filling combinations of your choice (using my suggestions above or your own ideas!) on one half of crêpe. Fold in half (or quarters) and pat down lightly.
  10. Bake at 300 degrees for 8 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
  11. Serve warm with a salad on the side!

Claire2 Comments

Caramelized Banana Raisin French Toast

What do you call it when the lines at the grocery store are three miles long and the shelves are wiped clean of milk, eggs, and bread? It must be a SNOW DAY in Durham! I can’t remember the last time we got enough snow to cause Duke to actually cancel class… my sophomore year as an undergrad, we actually got a few inches and a ton of ice and we STILL had to go to class. I think they think we’re here to learn or something. Anyhooooooo, today I have no complaints. Classes canceled for the whole university, which means I get to stay in and BLOG!- er, I mean, be extra submissive and sacrificial by hand-feeding my wonderful husband delicious morsels while he works hard to make us money. 🙂

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 A view of my snow-covered Jeep from the upstairs office in our townhouse!

I love making brunch foods. And I love making Ben happy with yummy things. So when we woke up and I asked, “French Toast or Pancakes?” I was extra-pleased when he immediately answered “French Toast!” instead of the usual “ohhhh you don’t need to make me anything!”

So downstairs I clamored, anxious to please. And take pretty pictures!

I got a little inventive with this recipe to make up for the fact that we didn’t have the best bread for “french toasting”- ideally I’d want a crustier white bread that’s just a TAD stale to prevent the batter from making the bread fall apart, but I had to make do with what we had. (After all, we are snowed in. Good thing I got that extra bread, milk, and eggs yesterday!)

Snowed in, and only two ripe bananas left in the entire house (seriously, ya’ll, the bananas in this house disappear like hot cakes!). I needed to stretch those bananas! Instead of just topping the french toast with bananas after it’s cooked like I usually do, I decided to actually incorporate them into the recipe. But it didn’t seem like a good idea to put the bananas right in the batter, since I’d be dipping the bread and all the bananas would probably just slide off on the journey to the griddle. No one likes slidey-bananas. So instead, I decided to press the bananas and raisins right into one side of the toast while it was cooking, and while it was still “soggy” enough to be able to press right into the bread. I also decided to sprinkle a little more brown sugar and cinnamon on top, to (hopefully) result in a nice sticky caramelization when I flipped it!

The result was (almost) just what I’d hoped for! It was a bit difficult to flip the bread, but not so much because of the bananas falling out- it was more due to the fact that the sandwich bread I used got so moist when dunked in the batter that it wanted to fall apart when I was flipping. In the future, I’ll try using a crustier loaf. The caramelized bananas, though, were magical. They formed this beautifully thick, sticky glaze over one side, so that it was almost like cooking syrup right into the french toast!

Hope you enjoy your snow day, wherever you are!

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Caramelized Banana Raisin French Toast
Recipe Type: Easy, Breakfast
Cuisine: Breakfast
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 2-3
An easy and delicious spin on your traditional French Toast! By pressing sliced bananas and raisins into the bread just after it’s been dipped, and sprinkling with a pinch of brown sugar, you get a beautifully caramelized topping that adds the perfect touch of elegance and fun to this Saturday morning (or snow day!) staple!
Ingredients
  • 6 slices whole wheat or day-old French bread (I only had regular Arnold multigrain, so it resulted in a bit more fuss and sogginess, but use whatever you have! I would recommend something that stays together better when dipped!)
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup milk (I used a combo of vanilla almond and regular 1%)
  • 1 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 banana, sliced
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • Extra cinnamon and brown sugar for topping
  • 1 tbsp butter
Instructions
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk, sugars, and cinnamon.
  2. Heat griddle to medium. When hot, add a small pat of butter, making sure that it melts (but not burns!). Spread to coat pan.
  3. Douse two slices of bread in batter, coating both sides. Gently shake excess and lay both slices on griddle.
  4. Gently press banana slices and raisins into the top of the bread. Sprinkle with additional brown sugar and cinnamon.
  5. Cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Carefully flip bread and cook on the other side, 2 minutes.
  6. Flip again so that banana-raisin side is on top. The bananas should look nice and sticky!
  7. Remove from pan and place on plate. Keep warm in oven at 200 degrees while the remaining slices are cooking.
  8. Repeat with remaining slices of bread.
  9. Serve with a dollop of plain greek yogurt, a drizzle of honey, syrup, or (Ben’s favorite) peanut butter!

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When is it not a good morning for french toast?

Claire1 Comment