coming adventure

i am excited to announce that for the next week, i will be attempting a raw food diet. recipes/ideas/preparation tips to come as i explore this food movement. I HAVE NO IDEA IF I WILL BE ABLE TO DO THIS.

brunch is best

i like to get a bit more creative than breakfast traditionally allows, and with brunch, anything is possible. it's alright for brunch to be especially savory; i feel like most people are anticipating eating a lot of food, and drink.

IF NOT, a warning: you might not want to eat all this if you have to go to work afterward.

1) frittata

a traditional frittata is a baked egg dish, usually with leftover pasta, and various vegetables/meats. i'm not too big of a fan of adding pasta-its texture is quite similar to the eggs after baked, and it doesn't seem to add any flavor. so, i leave it out. this particular frittata has arugula and mushrooms, two of my favorites.


ingredients:

5-6 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt
pepper
arugula
mushrooms
onions
garlic
EVOO
butter
parsley

first, combine your eggs and cream and add salt, pepper, parsley. heat some butter and olive oil and saute all the veggies (adding the arugula just for the last 1-2 minutes to wilt it), then add those to your egg/cream mixture, once they've cooled slightly. baking time on frittatas can be really variable (like most things). i start it out at 300 and cook for about 15, then keep an eye on it. sometimes it appears to need more time when it's already fully cooked. BE CAREFUL; they can dry out and it's not pretty.

2) biscuits

as you can see from the photo above, danielle's grandmother hooked me up with some homemade blackberry preserves. i used those pillsbury frozen biscuits and served those with high quality butter (please, do not use margarine. it's nasty, doesn't bake well, and isn't good for you), and the preserves. use toast if you don't have time to bake your own biscuits and don't want to cheat like me.

3) grits

i looooove grits. that being said, i've had some terrible renditions. grits need to be jazzed up a bit, in my opinion, so i usually always add cheese and herbs. for this batch i used quick grits and replaced half the amount of water typically called for with milk. after cooking, i mixed in:

fresh basil
goat cheese
white cheddar
coarsely ground black pepper (and lots of it)


at this point i imagine you may be thinking, "what about this brunch isn't a traditional breakfast?" well, nothing really. i still maintain that my introduction to this post remains true, however; i defend myself with the addendum that i usually serve roasted potatoes, or something traditionally prepared later in the day, with my brunches.

shroomies

People eat fungus. And LIKE IT.

like most of the recipes i've posted thus far, stuffed mushrooms can be done in a myriad of ways. there are certain vegetables that i tend to always buy, so those are the ones that tend to end up in my mushrooms, but you can use almost anything.

i would say that balsamic vinegar, garlic, and parmesan cheese all work amazingly well together, and with the portabellos. if you're stuffing baby 'belas, you can use just those three ingredients and they'll be delicious.

first things first: when you're making stuffed mushrooms, make sure you buy mushrooms that will be easy to prep (like these):




if they're kind of flat when you buy them, they're going to get even flatter when you bake them. they will look like pancakes with stuff piled on top of them, and it's weird.

before stuffing and baking, i coat my mushrooms in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and bake them at about 350 for ten minutes. while they're baking, i saute whatever vegetables i'm using to stuff the shrooms.

for these i used:

onion
garlic
carrot
tomato
arugula
broccoli
jalepeno
couple dashes of hot sauce
balsamic vinegar
dijon mustard
salt
pepper
parsley
basil

saute all the vegetables other than the arugula and tomato until soft, then add them along with dijon, hot sauce, balsamic, and spices (you can use fresh or dried, to taste. fresh basil is the bomb, though).

fill each mushroom about 2/3 full with veggies, then top with parmesan and panko bread crumbs. don't fill them too full or the cheese will bubble over, and you'll have a mess. i drizzle the tops with olive oil, too, after i've added the cheese and panko. you could do that either before baking or before serving. bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. baking time can vary greatly depending on the size (depth) of your mushrooms, though, so watch out.



i served mine with roasted potatoes/sweet potatoes. simply slice up a few of each potato variety and sprinkle with olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and chili power. they'll need to bake a little longer than the mushrooms, so if you're using the same pan (as i did) you may want to let the potatoes bake for 15 minutes or so and then add the mushrooms to the pan and return them to the oven.