TNT #2: Pumpkin Pancakes

My second time cooking with pumpkin: canned pumpkin added to Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Pancake mix.. Half a can of pumpkin had previously been sacrificed in an attempt at crustless pumpkin pie which ended in failure. These pancakes were more successful and were tasty topped with crunchy peanut butter, but probably not a repeat due to the surprisingly vegetal flavour of the pumpkin.

TNT #14: Spam

Spam, fried egg on toast, sweet icy cold cantaloupe with French press coffee make a luxurious breakfast on this holiday weekend.

February Food Holiday Wrap Up: National Hot Breakfast Month

Not pictured here was the only new recipe I tried this month: coconut pancakes. Two variations on chye tow kueh.

Recipe: Coconut Yogurt Pancakes from everybody likes sandwiches
Substitutions: coconut milk and plain yoghurt instead of milk and coconut yoghurt.

Weekend Baking: Sweet potato and walnut bread

Leftover mashed sweet potato led me to this recipe from Chow for Pecan and Sweet Potato Bread.. Wanting to take this in a more savory and healthy direction, I substituted walnuts for the pecans, oil for the butter, vanilla yogurt for the milk, garam masala for the spices and cut way down on the sugar. Contrary to the comments this did not lead to a dense loaf. The bread turned out to be very moist and soft with a pleasant heat from the garam masala. Definitely a winner! A bonus was the very pretty orange colour of the bread. My baking so rarely turns out looking like the photo accompanying the original recipe, but in this case was almost identical.

TNT #5: Pizza crust

My first attempt at home made pizza crust. A very basic recipe (white whole wheat flour with salt, olive oil and water) produced a crispy but rather naan-like texture and taste. I guess I'm just used to my usual thin whole wheat pita crust. Topped with the usual cilantro chutney, mushrooms, walnuts and cheddar, it made an OK lunch.

Earlier in the day blueberry pancakes were an easy, tasty start to the day. Bisquick mix and icing sugar salvaged from the sugar coating my Turkish delight. Never let it be said I waste my leftovers.

Pancakes for breakfast

Nothing too exciting for most people here, but noteworthy for being my first attempt ever at making pancakes. This first batch was eaten with jam and nutella, but later batches were consumed with some fresh blueberries. Delicious, even if only from a mix.

First time French toast

My first ever attempt at French toast - basic recipe of egg and vanilla soy. Pleasant change from the usual toast and soy sausage. Could have been a bit saltier or sweeter.

Summer breakfast

The warm, warm weather has changed my breakfast habits somewhat. Today its iced coffee (coffee + soy cappuccino for that extra caffeine hit) plus melted cheese on bread and a sugary sweet donut peach. This was an indulgent weekend breakfast.

Quebec City and Ottawa Eats

Just a few photos from a recent trip. Ate lots more including gelato and pastries, but sadly no photos of those.

Another typical breakfast

Coffee from my French press [Kroger French Roast]
+ toasted bread product [half a cinnamon raisin English muffin]
+ protein [1 fried egg white]
+ fruit [Rio Star grapefruit]

This is a typical breakfast not just because I eat it practically 365 days a year, but because it typifies a lot of my food-related peculiarities. For example, the egg white. Growing up in a household of people with high cholesterol and during a time when egg yolks were thought to contribute to these problems, I've trained myself to eat as few yolks as possible. Notice how the white has a crust rather than being pure white as good cooking would require?

This is part of the First Breakfast Rule - no soft things at breakfast. Hence the toasted bread product as well. I can't eat soft or gooey things first thing in the morning. Everything needs to be hard and crunchy. At one point I used to eat plain toast, no butter or jam, as this was the only thing I could stand.

Second Breakfast Rule - no sweet things. You'll never see me eating cereal, pastries, donuts or anything sweet except on rare occasions. At this time of the morning it has to be savory/salty food. This is probably why I love untraditional breakfast foods like noodles, pizza and roti prata and curry, when I can get them.

Today was also my first taste of Rio Star grapefruit. Like everyone else who reads the papers, the articles about Rio Star grapefruit lowering cholesterol caught my eye. Coupled with a timely sale at Kroger, this was soon appearing at Typical Breakfast. Previous experiences with grapefruit have been bad ie sour so this was a revelation. This was sweet and juicy as any orange with just a hint of bitterness, which was fine given Second Breakfast Rule and my liking for slightly bitter/sour foods.

Typical breakfast

Coffee from my French press [Kroger French Roast]
+ toasted bread product [half a cinnamon raisin English muffin]
+ protein [1 fried egg white]
+ fruit [1 piece of apple]

Usually in front of the computer with the NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, and the Guardian to the sounds of NPR.