Category Archives: breakfast

Cooking with beer

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I’ve been working on a story about cooking with beer and now I’m slightly obsessed. It’s really amazing how many recipes you can add a little beer to. And how well just one tablespoon can compliment the dish. It can add richness to soups, breads and, even, desserts.

You can caramelize onions in it and put them on top of a steak or burger. Use it in sauces and gravy. Or to batter shrimp. Steam a bratwurst in it. You can even dump a couple tablespoons in your pancake mix. There’s the obviously beer breads and chocolate stout cupcakes. But you can also add a Belgian fruit lambic to a berry crisp.

And that’s just to name a few. Isn’t that awesome?!

But first, one of our favorite beer recipes: Stout Chili.

Stout Chili
(makes 8 servings)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
3/4 pound beef sirloin, cubed
1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle stout beer
1 cup strong brewed coffee
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
4 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans
4 fresh hot chile peppers, seeded and choppedHeat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onions, garlic, ground beef and cubed sirloin in oil for 10 minutes, or until the meat is well browned and the onions are tender. Mix in the diced tomatoes with juice, dark beer, coffee, tomato paste and beef broth. Season with brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, cocoa, oregano, cayenne, coriander and salt. Stir in 2 cans of beans and hot chile peppers. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 ½ hours. Stir in 2 remaining cans of beans and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Eggs baked in an avocado

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I love trying new recipes, especially simple ones. We finally got around to making these eggs baked in avocados this morning. I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t as good as I had hoped. It was missing something. We sprinkled some paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper on top. For the second half, I added a slice of cheddar on top and put it back in the oven for a minute to melt. That definitely helped. And I ate it on homemade bread, which, in my opinion, makes everything taste better.

I will make this again. I’m determined to make it mouth-watering.

Eggs baked in an avocado

Preheat oven to 425 degree. Slice avocado in half and remove the pit. Place the avocados, cut side up, in the pan and crack the egg inside the hole. (Warning: some of the egg white will likely spill out, so it might be helpful to scoop a bit of avocado out to make a bigger hole) Sprinkle any seasonings on top and bake in oven until the eggs are done the way you like them. Good by itself of on top of toast.

Chilean cuisine

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I love food. And even more when I travel. It is one of the things I love most about traveling. I’m fascinated with the culture of food, the meals, the flavors, everything.

We recently made a trip to Chile where we had some fantastic meals: empanadas, ceviche, rolls, pisco sours and fish. It was all amazing. Delicioso!

Now that I’m home and it’s a new year I’m inspired to recreate some of these dishes at home.

Homemade Chai

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I can’t completely give up my coffee but there are several days a week when tea (with a little milk and honey) sounds so much better than a cup of strong, dark coffee. I’ve been making some homemade chai for a couple years since a friend sent me some of hers as a birthday gift. Because I never really measure anything, it comes out slightly different every time, but here’s a good start.
About equal parts:
Cardamom seeds, from the pod
Fennel seed
Black peppercorns
Star of Anise
A slightly less:
Whole cloves
Coriander seed
One vanilla bean, cut in pieces
And lots of:
Candied ginger, cut in to small pieces
And optional is:
Tea, I use Sadaf’s special tea blend with cardamom flavor
Throw all the ingredients but the vanilla bean, candied ginger and tea in the oven at 300-degrees to toast. When they become fragrant, they are done. Add the vanilla bean, candied ginger and tea.

Banana bread French toast

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Banana bread French toast is nothing new. But, I forgot how yummy it is and fun to make. I had a craving this morning (and very overripe bananas), so I got up a bit early to make a couple of loaves. It hit the spot.

Banana Bread
4 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 over ripe bananas, peeled
1 egg
1/3 to 1/2 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add bananas and mix thoroughly until mashed and blended. Beat in the egg and yogurt. In a separate bowl mix the remaining ingredients and add to the wet ingredients. Stir until all flour is mixed in a moistened and it becomes doughy. Put the batter in a greased, loaf pan and bake at 350-degrees for 60 minutes. Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes before taking out and cooling.

French toast
5 thick slices banana bread
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk the eggs, milk and vanilla together in a bowl. Dunk the banana bread so soaked pretty well on both sides.
Cook in a buttered pan on the stove until golden brown on each side.

Apple bread

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With two 100-year apple trees, we spend our Fall eating meals and meals of apples. Apple salad. Apple bread. Apple pancakes. Apple fritters. Apple muffins. Apples and honey. Applesauce. Dried apples. But one of my favorites is apple bread. It’s the way I start my day and the way I end my night. I usually make a big batch and freeze half to eat in the middle of winter after a long day on the slopes. That’s, of course, if half even makes it to the freezer.
Fresh Apple Bread
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 oatmeal
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled apple
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Grease the bottom of a loaf pan and set aside. In a medium bowl 
combine first seven ingredients.
In another medium bowl combine egg, sugars, apple and oil. 
Add apple mixture all at once to the flour mix. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). If adding, fold in nuts and spoon batter into  prepared pan. 
Bake in 350-degree oven for 50 to 55 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.
(Instead of apple, you can also use zucchini. Prepare the same as above)