A Warm Sandwich On A Cold Day: Ingredients Count

Izzy and I had this for lunch..good for breakfast too...

Crack a fresh egg from Tello's Green Farm into a small cast iron pan, to which a bit of butter has been added. Allow to set slightly and then stir to break yolk. Flip and cook a minute or two on the underside. Place on top of one slice of bakery fresh bread or roll. Shave a bit of Bobolink Dairy Cave-Aged Cheddar on top, along with a few slices of ripe avocado and some baby spinach leaves.

What Did Izzy Eat Today?

Days go by and I don't post recipes or what we have eaten. So what did Izzy actually eat today?


Breakfast: Oatmeal with Berries, Cream and Maple Syrup

Lunch: Turkey Sausage, Potatoes and Lentilles de Puy

Snack: Bananas with Sour Cream; Oatmeal, Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dinner: Omelet, Salad and Roasted Carnival Squash

Dessert: One piece of dark chocolate from a special box of chocolates his Papa brought back from Paris

Doughnuts For Breakfast? What is a Health-Conscious Mama To Do?

Indeed that is what the children in a certain preschool in JC are served on a regular basis. My friend L. just cannot wrap her head around the fact that three year olds are given such fatty, sugary foods to start their day. And this by the very people who are charged with taking care of them. When she pressed for answers, she was told that these doughnuts were not just any doughnuts, they were Super Doughnuts. After careful research, I know I wouldn't be to pleased to find Izzy eating them for breakfast either.

In her own words:

"Yesterday it was doughnuts and today "Coco Roos". While the menu says there is supposed to be fruit every day with breakfast, and I was told when I asked, that they get "fresh fruit" not canned with their meals, they have not been serving any fruit at all with breakfast. When I inquired about whether they would give the kids fruit with their "breakfast" (if you call chocolate doughnuts and chocolate cereal breakfast) on one particular day, I was politely told that if I wanted my son to have fruit with breakfast, we could bring our own!"

L. is struggling with how to handle this situation. On the one hand she recognizes the importance of her child eating healthy foods, while on the other, she would rather not have him feel uncomfortable eating something different from his peers. She is attempting to enact change from within but that could be slow in coming.

In the meantime, what do you think she should do? You can surely imagine what I might say but I will hold my tongue for the moment. I would love to hear from others.

A Good Egg: A Day In Williamsburg, Brooklyn

From the moment I heard about it, egg was irresistible. How could I not be attracted to a place which devotes itself to American breakfast, using organic, local ingredients? No matter that I would have to breakfast in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which isn't exactly around the corner, breakfast is served until three.

The existence of egg is old news, years old in fact, but thoughts of that breakfast remained in my mind and surfaced the other day. I called my friend R. and said, "We are going on a jaunt to Williamsburg, Brooklyn tomorrow, to eat at egg and wander around." She was immediately on board as I explained that not only would there be good eats but great shopping.

It is a super quick trip from Jersey City. We took the Path to the L train and were there in about 40 minutes. We agreed to wander first in order to build up an appetite.

Our trip was not all about the food. Williamsburg boasts several kids' shops and our shopping radar led us immediately to The Flying Squirrel. This welcoming store is ideal for mamas and babies, up to age/size 5-6. There is a great selection of both new and used items. Kids can play in the back room (and play they did), while the mamas rifle through the exciting finds. My friend R. were fighting over the sale items, squealing as we unveiled yet another "find". There are even a few adult sizes and Izzy and I were both thrilled with the unique back to school clothes I found for him, in the new and used sections.

We finally dragged ourselves out, bags full and made our way towards our late breakfast, when we happened upon another beckoning children's store, Sweet William. I tried not to stop there but R. and I couldn't help ourselves. The artfully arranged toys and clothes were both lovely to behold and touch, fine fabrics being the order of the day. Izzy and his friend M. had fun playing with some strategically placed playthings while R. and perused the beautiful offerings. We both found a few things and then it was finally time to move on to eat.


Candied bacon....Need I say more? Mine accompanied a lovely platter of egg in brioche with cheddar cheese. The bacon is addictive and I watched as Izzy's friend M., turned a side order of it, along with a salad, into her meal, leaving her poor mother to finish her fried oyster sandwich. Meanwhile Izzy scooped up his artisanal grits and eggs, though was less than wild over his homemade sausage patties which were a tad to peppery for him (not for me but I had to try not to finish them). R. ordered pancakes, which I would shy away from at a place called egg but they were better than expected. Aside from a somewhat unpleasant server, our meal was delightful.

When we finished, we managed to find a nearby playground since the kids deserved some entertainment after enduring a bit too much shopping.

Now that you know about egg (if you didn't already), no reason to wait to go. Hop on the L for a great day of shopping and eating. We will definitely be back soon for egg's lunch menu and to check out the women's shops, which are supposedly pretty great too!

Blueberry Buttermilk Brown Sugar Scones (or How Breakfast Morphed Into Dessert)

If you must know, I probably have enough food in my house to survive for weeks without emerging. Yet upon awakening this morning, it occurred to me that there was no bread in sight for breakfast, or for that matter, lunch and dinner. If it were up to me I would have jumped on my scooter and zoomed off to the bakery first thing but Izzy will never leave the house without a bit of breakfast in his belly, so I had to prepare something before venturing out. I decided on scones, meant to use up some aging buttermilk and blueberries before they turned vintage.

When they were ready, we brought our basket out to the stoop, shared some with the neighbors and were ready for our bakery mission. But I was still left with about over a half dozen scones. Good thing I didn't give them away as they came in quite handy this evening when, after an impromptu dinner, we lacked for dessert. The kids wanted gelato but we didn't feel like going out to get it.

I thought about what I could whip up quickly and remembered the scones. I concocted this shortcakey surprise. I sliced the scones down the middle, slathered them with macerated blueberries topped with honey-whipped cream and mini-chocolate chips.

As you can see, all thoughts of gelato were squelched.

Blueberry Buttermilk Brown Sugar Scones

2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1/2 cup fresh blueberries tossed with tablespoon flour

cinnamon sugar

1. Combine dry ingredients.
2. Add butter and mix until butter
3. Mix buttermilk, egg and orange zest.
4. Add blueberries to flour mixture and stir.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir to incorporate, just enough to turn into dough.
6. Turn ball of dough onto floured surface. Cut in half. Roll each half out to about an inch thick. Cut into 6 triangles.
7. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
8. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 12-15 minutes.

A Lunchtime "Eggsperiment"

Eggs fit ever so seamlessly into our Saturday lunch menus. Which are generally eggs, beans and toast. This makes an ideal weekend meal because there is nothing to think about, all ingredients are nearly always on-hand.

This past Saturday, Izzy decided he wanted to veer from the usual sunny-side down eggs and he made a special request for a poached egg, like Frances. Now I believe Frances sang about soft-boiled eggs (and I am too lazy to go upstairs to check) and he agreed that what he really wanted was, "The egg in the egg".

Some "eggsperimentation" was clearly in order. So I soft-boiled an egg for Izzy, I poached an egg for myself and I scrambled some eggs for Izzy's papa who seemed repulsed by the other two types.


Izzy was unexpectedly smitten with his lovely, orangy, soft-boiled egg. I think it was extra-delicious as it was only quite recently plucked from an Amish chicken (thanks to Abner and my dairy connection). Although he had to make do with a shot glass this time, I foresee a need for some egg cups in our future, don't you?

Scrounging In The Kitchen: Making Do

In preparation for our trip, I had cleaned out the fridge, save for a few things that could remain for a week or so, without incident. That was Friday and it seems that I haven't shopped in days. I missed my regular Wednesday jaunt because of bad weather though I did manage to sneak into Whole Foods on Thursday and pick-up some of my favorite in-house roasted turkey, which is a lunchtime staple. I suppose that is when I picked up groceries for Valentine's Dinner but even though I probably spent over $50, I didn't really buy anything for daily consumption.

So what have we eaten since Thursday you ask?

Friday
Lunch:
Izzy: Green Split Pea Soup
Me: Turkey sandwich with romaine lettuce and mayo
A.: OTL

Dinner
Izzy: Turkey sandwich with mayo
Me: Leftover lamb and mashed potatoes
A. Leftover Zans Cans Chili

Saturday
Breakfast
All of us: Whole Wheat English Muffins with cream cheese and jam

Lunch:
Izzy and I: Roast turkey sandwiches again
A.: Wasabi peas (apparently he doesn't always need to eat)

Dinner
All of us: The worst rendition of pasta with bacon and eggs (next time it is good, will post the recipe)

Sunday
Breakfast
All of us: Blueberry Belgian Waffles with Diced Mango

Lunch
Grilled A. and I.: Avocado/Cheddar Cheese Sandwiches
Izzy: MORE Roast turkey, this time with romaine and mayo

Dinner: Saved from facing an empty fridge by Grandma Laurie who invited us for dinner. Zipcar came in handy for a quick trip to Grandpa Joe's house.

We were greeted with these decadent little appetizers ( if I had only known we would not have had grilled cheese for lunch!). Mini-truffled grilled cheese squares..


The meal continued with a large salad, full of raw mushrooms, radishes, cucumbers, peppers and other tidbits that we usually don't have at home. Izzy was somewhat suspicious and only agreed to a few choice tidbits. He was clearly concerned about the rest of the meal and asked, "Is this all we are having for dinner?" It occurred to him that if he didn't eat the salad, there might not be anything else.

Lucky for him, a big casserole full of chicken vindaloo arrived beside him, with a smaller casserole of basmati rice. He was happy to indulge in a large portion of the vindaloo which contained plenty of vegetables, including parsnips and broccoli. It was definitely amongst one of our healthiest meals this weekend (if we forgot about those truffled grilled cheese bites... ) Thanks to Grandma Laurie, we managed to have at least one proper meal this weekend.

Definitely an odd weekend in the food department. I imagine that tomorrow the days of self-imposed scarcity will end and I will manage to get to the supermarket.

Waffle-Iron Meets Untimely End

Someone left the waffle-iron out in the rain. Okay, that someone was me. I was trying to eradicate a little moth problem and the box seemed to have an infestation. I placed the box and waffle iron outside in my yard, along with a few other infested items and promptly forgot about them.

I remembered it was out there well after the rain had drenched my poor electric appliance, one of our favorite wedding gifts. This waffle-iron met an unfortunate end but one of the lights was broken and it may have been time for a new one anyway.

Izzy and I eat waffles regularly so I was certain I would find a replacement soon enough. Sadly, weeks have slipped past and my search for the perfect waffle iron has come up empty. Izzy and I looked at a few in Zabar's but I passed them up.

This weekend, Izzy had a hankering for some waffles and he reminded me that we do own another waffle iron. A non-electric, stove-top model. We have never used it together because I became lazy, so accustomed to awaiting the beep beep beep of my electric model. The stove-top model requires greater effort but on Sunday we discovered it was worth the trouble.

Izzy and I made a batch of Belgian Waffles and Izzy seemed to like them even better than our usual recipe, for me it was a toss-up. I envision a waffle-tasting in our future.

Belgian Buttermilk Waffles (From Epicurious)

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups well-shaken buttermilk

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

2 large eggs

Vegetable oil for waffle iron

Directions

Put oven rack in middle position and put a large metal cooling rack directly on it.

Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk together buttermilk, melted butter, and eggs in another bowl, then whisk into flour mixture until just combined.

Brush hot waffle iron lightly with vegetable oil and pour a slightly rounded 1/2 cup of batter into each waffle mold (see cooks' note, below).

Cook waffles according to manufacturer's instructions until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer as cooked to rack in oven to keep warm, keeping waffles in 1 layer to stay crisp. Make more waffles in same manner.

Makes 8 squares, depending upon size of waffle-iron.