Breakfast

Gluten Free Ratio Rally: Hazelnut/Coconut Pancakes

March 2, 2011
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Today starts the rally.

I am so thrilled to announce to you this brand new monthly collaborative blogging event, the Gluten Free Ratio Rally. Our goal? To determine the ratios of ingredients that work together to create successful, flavorful gluten free food.

Ruhlman taught the world the simplicity of ratios in his book – that if you know the ratios of ingredients, you can play with just about any recipe and then make it your own. We need that freedom in gluten free recipes as well. Nothing seems more daunting when switching to gluten free than dealing with feeling stuck by thinking about foods that can no longer be enjoyed. How often have we stood there in our kitchens, staring at our old family cookbook on the counter at a complete loss for how to go about making a dish gluten free? Or even just trying to find the right substitutions because our local grocery store doesn’t happen to sell teff flour or xanthan gum? And yet we do not have to feel limited! I owe a lot to my husband’s gluten intolerance – learning to cook without gluten has truly opened up the entire world of the kitchen to me.

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Daring Cook’s #20: Poached to Perfection

December 14, 2010
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Jill (jillouci) and I are so excited to host Daring Cooks for the month of December! For this month, we decided to focus on a technique that seems intimidating to many, but with a little practice it’s really not that hard at all – poaching. All poaching means is cooking something in simmering (not boiling) liquid. And what more perfect way to practice the skill of poaching than learning how to poach an egg? They can make a tasty breakfast or salad accompaniment; there are so many different ways to use poached eggs, and they are used in cuisines from a variety of cultures.

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Savory Buckwheat Groats Breakfast with Spinach, Sausage and Celeriac

December 10, 2010
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My husband is an 8 year old boy trapped inside a near 30 year old body (eek we are getting old!). It’s one of his most endearing qualities, because he is so completely expressive and playful with everything. He never lost his childhood wonder about the world (even when he tries to act like a grown-up), and I hope he never does. With that comes his major sweet tooth. The man would eat cookies and cake for breakfast every day if I let him. My last buckwheat breakfast of pure sweet maple fruity heaven? You can probably guess that one was mainly for him, and all the pears, currants and maple syrup really made it taste like a warm comforting morning candy delight – it certainly brought me back to my childhood memories of piping hot oatmeal :) But that same morning, while the snow laid unmelted on the streets and the Alps were capped in their familiar white vestiges, I cooked for myself a different sort of breakfast. A savory one, with spinach, celeriac, sausage and eggs.

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Gluten Free Hot Cereal – Maple Buckwheat Groats with Pears and Dried Currants

December 7, 2010
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Oatmeal is my comfort food. I particularly enjoy it with salt, cinnamon and maple syrup accompanied by chopped up apples and a little bit of cream poured overtop. It’s a good hearty food that “sticks to the belly”, and about this time of year when the temps start getting chilly and a foot of snow falls to the ground in span of 24 hrs, the tea kettle finds itself whistling its familiar tune a little bit more often, and my breakfast often transforms from the usual yogurt/granola to the comfort of hot cereal. There’s just one problem. My gluten free husband doesn’t get to enjoy oatmeal breakfasts.

This week, however, we found the answer to our gluten free hot-cereal quest – buckwheat.

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Vanilla French Toast for a Cool Autumn Day

October 15, 2010
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French toast is one of those “candy-for-breakfast” meals that I treasure on cool mornings. There’s just something so relaxing about sleeping in, shutting all the windows to block out the trains passing by and the traffic down the street, instead to just take it slow. And this past weekend is no exception. Why? Amidst all the bustle of our work-lives, the weekend is our time to relax. There are some times on Saturday when we don’t get out of our apt. until noon, and it’s a beautiful beautiful thing.

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Galettes de Sarrasin (Buckwheat Crêpes) – The French Pancake

September 28, 2010
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Living in a French-speaking region (and not too far from France), crêperies are easy to find. Unfortunately, because crêpe batter is usually not 100% buckwheat, my husband and I have never been to one because we were never sure if he’d be able to enjoy them and still be gluten free. Back when we lived in the States, one of our favorite French restaurants would serve crêpes filled with chicken and mushrooms that were out of this world. Then, when we ventured off to Paris a couple months ago, I had the privilege of enjoying a crêpe filled with four kinds of cheese (au quatre fromages) – I think there was comté, brie, emmental, and chevre – and odd combo, but delicious. Little tiny hole-in-the-wall place by the Louvre that made them to order, I think with the café, my total came to something like only € 5!

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