More Sourdough Bread Than Egg Bake

More Sourdough Bread Than Egg Bake

I love rainy Sundays.  They make me feel much better about spending most of the morning drinking coffee & hanging out at the kitchen table after a run.  Why would anyone want to shower and spend their day doing errands when they could spend it eating breakfast?

This More Sourdough Bread Than Egg Bake recipe is one of my go to recipes when I'm having company for breakfast/brunch.  It's really forgiving and works with just about any combination of eggs + bread + cheese + add ins.  

More Sourdough Bread Than Egg Bake

(serves 6-9)

ingredients

2 1/2 C sourdough bread cubed

4 beaten eggs

1/4 C red onion ( garlic scapes are also delicious)

4 ounces chopped spinach (add more if you're feeling green or skip it all together) lightly steamed or sauteed

1 C grated cheddar (or feta)

1/4 C parmesan cheese (optional)

Combine bread, eggs, onion, steamed spinach, cheddar & parmesan.  Pour into an oiled 2 quart ceramic or silicone baking dish.  Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.

How are you spending your rainy (or sunny) Sunday?

Will Run For Motivation (& Chia Cereal)

just add milk

It seems that I've misplaced my motivation lately.  I don't want to take one more step in sleet, rain, or cold.  I'm clearly not the Jolly Postman.

Lucky for me motivation sometimes shows up at my doorstep in the brightest yellow running jacket that I've ever seen.  Sometimes, motivation is 20 seven and eight year olds who have asked me a million and one times if we're running around the block and how many times and if we're playing crackers and crumbs, and, and, and.  Sometimes motivation meets me at the end of a trail, or for a second loop plus some.  Sometimes motivation heckles me from the sidelines asking how my run went.

When I don't have a lot of motivation chia cereal is the way to go.  Throw some ingredients in a bowl.  Add milk or juice or water.  Wait patiently.  Add some frozen fruit if you wish.  Done.

Chia Cereal

(2 C approximately 16 servings)

1 C chia seeds

1/2 C hulled hemp seeds

1/4 C dried diced apple

1/4 C dried apple juice sweetened cranberries

1/4 C toasted buckwheat (also known as kasha if you're rummaging around the Bulk Barn)

Toast buckwheat in a dry frying pan for approximately 5 minutes. Allow buckwheat a few minutes to cool.  Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

To serve measure 2T of chia cereal + 4T of milk, juice, or water.  Wait patiently for 2-5 minutes.  Top with fruit, additional milk, or enjoy as is.

bouvier hurdles

Will Run For Berry Chia Parfaits

It's been a l-o-n-g week! 

The worst part of my week was getting stranded on the side of the highway and having to walk several kilometres in my gym clothes (and no jacket) after I just finished a run because I don't know how to change a tire (Unfortunately, the problem was MUCH bigger and more expensive than just a flat tire). 

 Who doesn't know how to change a tire?

  It turns out that everything Granny has ever said about having extra clothes in the car and carrying a cellphone is correct.

The week wasn't all bad.  There were visits with Granny, dinner with my dad, making home made healthy lunchables with my students,  some really great runs and of course good food.

Hello, berry chia parfaits!

Berry Chia Parfaits

Mason jars + flax chia vanilla pudding + frozen fruit + granola = a week of parfaits!

Flax Chia Vanilla Pudding

(serves 4-5)

ingredients

2 C soy milk (or milk of your choice)

4 Tbsp chia seeds

2 Tbsp ground flax (measure 2T before grinding)

2 Tbsp vanilla paste

1 tsp cinnamon

4 cups mixed fruit (e.g. strawberries, bananas, mango, pineapple)

1/2 tsp lemon extract (optional)

2 tsp maple syrup (optional)

Warm milk over medium heat milk until hot and steamy. 

 Add chia seeds, ground flax, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Allow to simmer for approximately one minute.  Remove from heat and whisk for several minutes. 

Divide pudding evenly amongst 4-5 mason jars.  Allow to cool until the pudding is no longer steaming.

waiting for the pudding to cool

Top with you favourite frozen (or fresh) fruits (mango, cherries, peaches, blueberries, strawberries, etc.) .  You can add lemon extract to the fruit if you are looking for a little extra zing.

add fruit

  Finish with several heaping tablespoons of your favourite granola.  We love maple granola, turtles granola and punchy granola (think ginger, cranberries, chocolate).

grab & gobble

  

Will Run For Macaroon Breakfast Cookies

Did you know that it's not a great idea to cram when it comes to running?  So maybe doing my Thursday run on Saturday and my long run on Sunday wasn't my best idea ever.  Adding a Monday morning workout also not brilliant. 

 It's not like I wore cotton socks.  

I had breakfast cookies, an updated playlist and a borrowed Garmin.  It was a running party!  Well, it was a party on Saturday.  On Sunday it was a cold, snowy death march followed by cookies.

Macaroon Breakfast Cookies

A bowl of oatmeal in cookie form.

(8 cookies)

2 over ripe bananas 

1/2 C quinoa flakes

1/2 C oats (whirled around in the coffee grinder for a few seconds)

1 T cocoa (Camino is my favourite)

1/4 unsweetened shredded coconut

1T peanut butter or nut butter of choice

Preheat oven to 350 F.  In a medium bowl mash bananas.  Add quinoa flakes, oats, cocoa, coconut and nut butter.  Stir until well combined.  Bake for 20 minutes on a baking stone covered in a silicone mat to prevent the cookie from fuzing to the cookie sheet.  Gobble up pre or post run.

keeping the bed warm and thankfully not drooling on my pillow

Will Run For Honey Apple Pancakes (& t-rex eyeball rings)

who needs syrup or a fork?

Grateful people are happier people.  At least that's what I've heard.

In an attempt to be more grateful I've been writing the things that I am grateful for on post-it notes and sticking them to the bathroom mirror (luckily 8 year olds for the most part don't care what you look like).

Some things that I'm grateful for this week:

1.  T-Rex eye ball rings.  A student thought that I was special enough to give a gummy rubber ring with a rolling t-rex eyeball in it to.  It was the best present that I got all week. Sure it was warm, grubby and had been on his finger but he was so proud. 

2.  A bed full of bouviers and/or a bathtub full of bouviers.

bouvier in the bath

bouvier in the bed

3.  Outdoor runs.  7 K outdoors is better than 7K on the treadmill even if it is -25, you have to slather your face in shea butter so your skin doesn't crack off and your running partner complains the ENTIRE time.  Maybe I'm exaggerating a little.

4.  Guinea pigs.  We adopted Simone & Soda Marcelle 5 week old guinea pigs from our local SPCA!

Simone

 Marcelle Marcelle or Soda Marcelle depending on who you ask

5.  Snow days.  Thank you. I've appreciated the quiet time but enough is enough.  You can keep your super snow ice storm(s) to yourself.

On snow days when I only have a handful of students we usually find our way to the kitchen and make healthier versions of some of their favourite foods (in the name of procedural writing of course).  This week it was pancakes & oatmeal cups.

Honey Apple Pancakes
(6-8 pancakes)

*1/4 C ground oats

*1/2 C whole wheat flour

*1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T warm water) or 1 chicken/duck egg

3/4 C + 2 T unsweetened apple juice

2 tsp honey

1 T olive oil

1 small apple peeled and grated (e.g. royal gala, macintosh)

Step 1: In a large bowl combine dry ingredients.  In a smaller bowl combine wet ingredients including grated apple.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until lumpy.  

Step 2:  Heat griddle.  Pour 1/4 C of batter on griddle for each pancake.  Cook 2-3 minutes on each side until surface is bubbly.  Turn pancake and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.

Step 3:  Serve with apple sauce, apple butter, syrup or honey. 

* you can substitute whole wheat flour or all purpose flour for the flour combination. 

Will Run For Ms. John's Waffles

Pace Bunny & I often run for Ms. John's waffles.  Imagine having a 'fan' who  begrudgingly graciously agrees volunteers to make waffles almost any time you're racing in your home town. 

Sounds nice doesn't it? 

Ms. John I'm onto you!  Making waffles = not having to come to the race.

We usually celebrate the New Year with a resolution run of our own (imagine homemade bibs, partly eaten snacks and variety of regifted items in your race kit).  We basically resolve to stop eating and drinking crap and fight about what races we'll run during the upcoming year (more about that later). 

 The 'race' is usually followed with lots of coffee, waffles and various forms of breakfast meat (I'm not really sure why PB and I are friends).  This year while I went for a run PB was lying on her couch in her penguin pyjamas was walking the dog on the lake.

In keeping with tradition I decided to make Ms. John's waffle recipe for Farmer who likes to remind me how delicious Ms. John's waffles are every time I mention making wholewheat banana  waffles.

It turns out that Ms. John's waffles are much easier to make than I thought.  Don't let the yeast or the rising time scare you.

Ms. John's Waffles

(8-10 waffles)

ingredients

1 8 g package dry yeast (I used 2 1/4 tsp of Fleischmann's quick rise instant yeast)

2 cups lukewarm milk (I used almond milk)

4 eggs (from happy chickens), separated

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour (sifted)

1/2 tsp salt

2T sugar

1/2 C melted butter

In a medium sized bowl dissolve the yeast in warm (not hot) milk.    

In a separate bowl beat egg yolks with mixer (it's worth taking out the mixer).  Next, add vanilla to egg yolks and beat until well combined.  Add milk + yeast mixture.

Sift together flour, salt and sugar.  This was a good excuse to use my fancy sifter.  Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir.  Fold in melted butter (the original recipe says to stir in the butter carefully but feel free to be wild and crazy as you stir).

Beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  Fold egg whites into batter (this will help create light waffles).

Let mixture stand for 20 minutes or until it has doubled its bulk.

Grease your waffle maker.  Pour approximately 3/4 C of batter into waffle maker.  Cook for approximately 5 minutes.

sifting, sifting with my fancy sifter

fold in egg whites

cook for five minutes

enjoy with mixed berries, coconut cream, and amber maple syrup

Will (Not) Run For Quiche

disaster disguised as quiche

I should have know better than to attempt to make a quiche. 

I'm very particular about the way that I eat eggs if I eat them at all (poached eggs on toast, not runny, not boiled, sliced into nine pieces with copious amounts of ketchup on each piece, eaten as quickly as possible).  Not to mention that  it's entirely possible that you might have invited me over for brunch and I replied, "I would love too but only if you promise not to make me eat quiche". 

I had this idea that I could learn to love quiche if it involved a sweet potato crust (with grated onions and apples) and I liked the idea of having a week's worth of breakfasts ready to go. 

The crust looked delicious.  I probably should have just eaten the crust.  I put the egg mixture in the crust and placed my pan in the oven.   A few minutes later I could hear something dripping.  It was the egg pouring out of the spring form pan into the bottom of the oven!  Needless to say I now have a house that smells like burnt egg, an oven that is full of burnt egg and a quiche with only a hint of egg (but plenty of egg shells).  So much for that idea.

seriously?

Farmer being the good sport that she is decided to give the quiche a try only to bite into an eggshell.  I was just a little punchy at this point in time so I told her that eggshells are high in calcium.  Apparently so are milk, cheese and broccoli.

If you have a spring form pan that doesn't leak I'd love to hear about how this recipe turned out.  I'll understand if you don't invite me over for breakfast.

Crust

Oil a 9 inch spring form pan 

3 C grated sweet potato (drain some of the  liquid out of the potato with your hands once it is grated)

1 small grated apple approximately 1/2 C (drain juice from apple)

1/4 C grated onion

1 egg beaten

Combine and press mixture into pan and bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 F.

Egg Mixture

10 eggs

1 T Better Than Salt or your favourite dried herbs (oregano, basil, rosemary, marjoram, etc.)

Using a whisk combine eggs and herbs.

Pour egg mixture on top of the crust.  Reduce oven temperature to 375 F and bake until egg mixture is firm (20-45 minutes or so I would imagine).

I'll be opening my windows and cleaning my oven before I enjoy any almost eggless quiche.

Will Run For Pumpkin French Toast

good morning, good morning

Surprise another pumpkin recipe!  You didn't see that coming did you?

  It's farmer's birthday today and she's all about the pumpkin.  She did request pumpkin cupcakes filled with cream cheese frosting  (thanks for nothing pinterest) but after having an upside down cake debacle I thought that maybe french toast was the way to go. 

 Note to self: why would you want to add the bowl of dry ingredients to your cake batter before you put it in the pan when you could spend your time trying to scrape the batter (but not the peaches or caramelized sugar) out of the cake pan?

This recipe is quick enough to make in the morning before heading out to work (at least if you regularly get up ridiculously early).

Pumpkin French Toast

2 medium ripe bananas

1/2 C hubbard or pumpkin puree

2 T maple syrup (not table syrup)

1/2-1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/8 tsp grated fresh nutmeg

1/8 tsp dried ginger

2/3 cup milk (unsweetened soy, almond, coconut, dairy)

6 slices of wholewheat bread

In a high speed blender combine bananas, pumpkin, maple syrup, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg,ginger and milk.  Blend until smooth.  Place puree in a shallow rectangular dish and quickly dip bread.

1, 2, 3 blend without waking anyone up

 Wipe off excess batter with a knife, spoon, etc.  Do not let the bread become soggy.  Place bread in a oiled frying pan over medium heat.  Cook until first side has browned (3 minutes or so) and then flip and cook until second side is browned. 

It's time to rise and shine

Serve with apple butter, maple sugar, maple syrup, etc.

Happy birthday Farmer!  Maybe we need to start celebrating 1/4 and 1/2 birthdays too.

Will Run For Maple Granola

breakfast of champions

For the past couple of years I have been happily calling an old pair of running shorts and a tank top my bathing suit.  Then I got the crazy idea that it would be fun to join a triathlon clinic and thought  that it was probably time to buy a proper bathing suit. Note to self: maybe you should make sure that you can ride a bike and swim before signing up to do either of these things for an extended period of time.  Oh, and maybe rethink activities that require you to wear small pieces of spandex.  

Buying a bathing suit was even more fun than you might imagine.  I think that Speedo has it out for me.    Who knew that their sizing had little to do with your waist or bust size.  After wedging myself into EIGHT bathing suits (that's eight larger sizes than what I thought I should wear) that made me want to run screaming (as if that was possible as various body parts were being compressed in ways that they never should be) I managed to find a suit.  It isn't pretty but I figure it's better than losing my shorts as  I swim (I might change my mind about that).

What does swimsuit shopping have to do with granola?  I figure granola is the breakfast of champions and I need something to look forward to after my first swim.

Maple Granola

(approximately 5 cups of granola)

ingredients

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup dried apples

1 cup raw walnuts

3 slices candied ginger (approximately 3 T)

1 T coconut oil

1 T maple syrup

1/4 C maple syrup flakes (I found these at the Bulk Barn)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp cardamom

In a large bowl combine rolled oats, chopped dried apples, chopped raw walnuts, chopped candied ginger, cinnamon, allspice and cardamom.  In a saucepan or microwave melt coconut oil and add maple syrup.  Add coconut oil mixture to oat mixture.  Bake at 350 for 14 minutes stirring half way through.  Add maple flakes.  Allow to cool and then store in a sealed container (mason jars are my favourite).

share with a friend