Make Mom Breakfast
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Mother’s Day is this weekend. Are you ready?
Finances may not be what you want them to be, so one option is to forego flashy cash spending and use sweat equity instead.
Wash the windows! Do the laundry! Cook something good!
Connie Fairbanks, author and former Emporian (her book “Scratch That: Seasonal Menus and Perfect Pairings” is available at the Town Crier down on Commercial Street) was thinking about Mother’s Day — as was I — and she sent some tasty recipes that you might consider cooking up for your mom (or the mother of your children).
You could start your breakfast with a little dish of cream and berries. In this case, low fat yogurt instead of heavy cream will help Mom keep the pounds off. This recipe makes four to six parfaits. Connie says to use whatever is in season!
GRANOLA PARFAITS
2 cups mixed fresh berries,
reserving some for garnish
2 cups low-fat vanilla yogurt
2 cups homemade granola
(recipe below)
In small parfait dishes, layer the berries, yogurt and granola. Repeat the layers and garnish with leftover berries. Serve immediately.
CONNIE’S
HOMEMADE GRANOLA
4 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
2 cups shredded coconut
2 Tbsp. flax seed
1 Tbsp. wheat germ
2 cups sliced almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup honey
1 1/2 cups apricots,
coarsely chopped
1 cup dried figs,
coarsely chopped
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup roasted unsalted cashews
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, add the oatmeal, coconut, flax seed, wheat germ, almonds, sunflower seeds, oi, and honey. Mix together well. Spread this mixture in a lined large sheet pan (17-x-12), and bake for 12 minutes.
Remove from the oven and stir. Return to the oven, and bake for 12 more minutes, or until golden brown. The granola burns quickly so watch it carefully. Remove from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes.
In the same large bowl, add the rest of the ingredients, and the cooled oatmeal mixture. Mix together, and place in a covered plastic container. Serve with yogurt or milk.
This recipe makes 12 cups of granola.
Connie says, “Use whatever dried fruits you have available. Line the sheet pan with parchment paper for easy cleanup. Granola also makes a quick snack for automobile and plane trips.”
Thanks!
VVV
After your appetizer parfait, it’s time for the main course: pancakes and sausages. Put on a fresh pot of coffee because you’re going to love these.
Connie wrote to me about these pancakes that her mother used to make. Connie lightened up the recipe, and she says you can’t taste the difference. They are so fluffy and the fresh blueberries just explode in your mouth.
MOTHER’S
BLUEBERRY PANCAKES
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup cottage cheese, low fat
3/4 cup sour cream, low fat
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1–2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
6 oz. package fresh blueberries,
washed and picked over
In a separate bowl, beat eggs until fluffy. Stir in cottage cheese and sour cream. Sift dry ingredients, and stir into the batter. Do not over mix. Let the batter rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. While the batter is resting, prepare the griddle with a little bit of vegetable oil, and heat until sizzling hot.
Divide the dough into six to eight 4-inch pancakes. Top each pancake with blueberries. Brown on one side, flip, and finish cooking on the other side. Top pancakes with powdered sugar and warmed maple syrup. Serve immediately or keep them warm in a low-temperature oven on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper.
VVV
Ever since Santa Claus brought Andrew and me a meat grinder, we have enjoyed not only making our own ground beef, but specialty sausages. Although we don’t quite have the casing technique down, I can pat out a patty with the best of them. When we tried this next recipe, we even ground our own chicken meat!
CONNIE’S HOMEMADE CHICKEN SAUSAGES
2 lbs. ground chicken
2 eggs, beaten
2 small Granny Smith apples,
peeled, cored, and shredded
6 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
In a medium size bowl, lightly mix all of the ingredients. Form into eight patties. In a large skillet, just cover the bottom of the skillet with olive oil. Turn on the heat to medium high.
When the oil is hot, add the patties and sauté on both sides, about 10 minutes per side, or until brown. You may need to add a little more oil because there is so little fat in ground chicken. Serve immediately.
VVV
After that, if you’re still hungry, I see no reason not to have a hot fudge sundae. It’s Mother’s Day after all, and calories don’t count.
HOT FUDGE
SUNDAY CAKE
1 cup flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp. salad oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 3/4 cup hot tap water
Mom’s favorite ice cream
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In an ungreased square pan (9-x-9-inch), stir together flour, sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, baking powder and salt. Mix in milk, oil and vanilla with fork until smooth. Stir in nuts.
Spread evenly in pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa. Pour hot water over batter and bake 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes. Spoon into dessert dishes and top with ice cream and hot fudge sauce and strawberries (or cherries) and whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles — oh, you get the idea!
VVV
Next week, some tips on graduation party food. Will you be feeding the family or the entire Class of 2009? I’ll have some recipes to help you out.
Do you cook when there’s only one of you? It can be really hard to get up the energy to cook for one, and just as hard to control your portions. There’s nothing worse than eating lasagna for a week! Do you have ideas or recipes on Cooking for One? Send them to me at 517 Merchant St. or murphysmenu@yahoo.com. You’ll be famous. Let’s get cooking!