Seeduction Bread w/Nutella

I will never forget the first time I encountered Nutella--I was 16, or 17 years old (quite a while ago), and my friend Dan was visiting from England.  He had brought with him a load of stuff that he worried you couldn't find in America: Nutella, Earl Grey, and a spread akin to Vegemite.  It was incredible.

Dan told me about Nutella--a hazelnut and cocoa spread rich in protein and a distant cousin to our popular peanut butter in the states.  At the time, it had a famous basketball player on it (Kobe I think) and every time I went to the grocery store, I searched for it.  Surprisingly, it was EVERYWHERE, and with the same basketball player and all.  Crazy.

Now when I eat Nutella, I think about Dan and his Atlantic Ocean food smuggling.  Little did he know, he was creating a serious fan of the hazelnut cocoa spread.  I use it on toast, mixed fruit as a low fat, but protein rich lagniappe, and have even been known to add a tablespoon or two when making icing for a cake.  It's an incredibly versatile spread if used correctly, and extraordinarily tasty.

Seeduction Bread with Nutella
This recipe is, essentially, a glorified toast and spread dish.  Make it for breakfast, or a smaller serving as a healthy and sweet snack.  I like the use of Seeduction Bread as its hardiness plays nicely with the cocoa and hazelnut.


Ingredients:
* 2 tablespoons Nutella
* 2 slices Seeduction Bread, toasted

1.) Toast bread.  Spread nutella.  Eat.  Smile.

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Asparagus & Prosciutto Quiche

My friend Lydia LOVES quiche.  If she could eat something everyday, I'm pretty sure it would be quiche.  Ham quiche.  Spinach Quiche.  Or this recipe, her new favorite, Prosciutto and Asparagus Quiche. 

This asparagus and ham quiche is as flavorful as it is attractive: sauteed mixed greens with thinly sliced quality ham makes for a satisfying veggie-ham crunch.  Stir in your favorite seasonings (pepper, thyme, etc.) and you've got a breakfast dish that is Clearly Delicious.

Asparagus and Ham Quiche
This recipe comes from Elise Bauer and can be found here. The original calls for regular ham over prosciutto, and suggests you use Elise's all butter crust recipe (you can find it here and on Elise's blog).  However, when in a hurry, feel free to buy one of those pre-made pie crusts and just prepare the filling.  It's kind of like cheating...kind of...but makes the below process so much faster!

Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 bunch asparagus (about 10 ounces), woody stems removed
* 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
* 1/2 pound ham, or prosciutto thinly sliced
* 1/2 cup cream
* 1/2 cup milk
* 3 large eggs
* 1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
* black pepper, freshly grated, to taste
* 1 teaspoon thyme
* 1 pie crust (premade, or all butter pie crust recipe here)

1.) Preheat oven to 350F.  Line pie dish with pastry dough and prepare ingredients (chop shallots, asparagus, and ham).  Don't forget to remove the asparagus's woody ends.

2.) Warm olive oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat.  Add shallots and cook for 2-3 minutes and add asparagus, cooking for an additional 10 minutes, or until tender.

3.) Beat 3 eggs and combine with 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup milk.  Whisk together to fully integrate.

4.) Add asparagus, shallots, ham, and seasonings to egg/quiche mixture.  Once fully integrated, pour into your waiting pie crust dish.

5.) Put in oven and cook for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean (just like when you're baking a cake).

6.) Transfer to a cooling rack and let sit for five minutes.  Serve and enjoy!

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Cinnamon Scones

The setting: Saturday morning.  The meal: Brunch.  The menu: Eggs... bacon... frittata... and SCONES.  Let's just have a moment to meditate on SCONES... SCONES... SCONES....yum.  Few people I know have ever had a REAL scone--the dense, cake-bread hybrid popular in England (and even New England) from whole wheat flour, barley, and/or oatmeal, and leavening.  Scones were originally a Scottish dish that looked like a flattened plate and were lightly sweetened.  However, today's modern version of the scone has any number of sweetened and spicy recipes--blueberry, cinnamon raisin (like this post), buttermilk, etc., but overall, the scone is a basic fruit or spice flavored baked good.  Serve with jam, and/or butter, and you'll have a treat that is clearly delicious!

Cinnamon Raisin Scones
This recipe comes by way of Alton Brown over at Food Network (you can find the recipe here).  Alton's recipe is a basic scone recipe and can be adjusted in terms of flour, fruit, and spice.  The below version of Alton's calls for cinnamon, nutmeg, and raisins.  However, you can easily substitute any other dried fruit (i.e., cranberries) or fresh fruit (i.e., blueberries).  Regular flour instead of whole wheat will work nicely as well.

Ingredients
* 2 cups whole wheat flour, and extra for dusting and dough texture (i.e., if dough is too moist)
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 4 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons shortening
* 3/4 cup cream, or half and half
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1 cup raisins, craisins, or blueberries*
* 1 tablespoon cinnamon*
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg*
(*ingredients can be adjusted according to personal preference)

GLAZE
* 1 egg yolk, beaten
* 1 tablespoon milk

1.) Preheat oven to 375F.  Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl and mix well.  Cut in butter and shortening (in very small pieces) and mix with hands until flour mixture resembles course meal.
2.) In a separate bowl, mix beaten egg and cream.  Stir in fruit and spices.
3.) Combine wet and dry ingredients.  If you have a Kitchenaid mixer (or other electronic mixer), mix wet and dry ingredients with the flat dough paddle.  Pay close attention to the texture of the dough during this step--if it's too wet, like a cake batter, you'll want to add more flour.  A good technique to use when making any scone or bread-like dish (i.e., a pie crust especially) is if you pinch the dough between two fingers and it holds together, but does not stick to your hands like glue, you've got a fantastic batter.
4.) Flour surface and place dough in a well molded ball onto surface.  Roll out to 1/4-1/2 inch thick and cut into circular rounds, triangular cuts, or any other shape you have available (we used a heart-shaped cookie cutter).
5.) Transfer dough to a well greased baking sheet.
6.) Prepare glaze by beating one egg yolk with one tablespoon milk.  Brush over scones in a thin, but consistent layer.
7.) Bake for 15-25 minutes, or until "done": golden brown, stiff, and clearly delicious.
8.) Transfer to serving plate or cooling rack and enjoy!

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Oatmeal with Fruit & Walnuts

Practically every morning, I make myself a bowl of oatmeal.  I love oatmeal--it's so much heftier than a regular bowl of cereal and you can really customize how you prepare it.  What do you mean? Customize oatmeal? Isn't oatmeal a brown blob of gross that was only eaten by pilgrims and prairie people before we had processed sugary treats like Captain Crunch and Lucky Charms? Well, no.  Actually, it's a complex carb that is GOOD for you, keeps you fuller longer and is indeed, quite tasty, if you know how to prepare it correctly.  Like all dishes in cooking, oatmeal can be clearly delicious with the right ingredients, combinations, and preparational techniques.

Knowing how to make oatmeal can be a challenge, however--do you make it with milk? water? what is the proper oats to liquid ratio? how long do you cook it? is it supposed to be milky like cream of wheat? 

For me, these answers are simple: always prepare oatmeal with water, but feel free to add splashes of milk to the oats in the final dish; the ratio is usually 2:1 (1 cup water to one half cup oats; or 2 cups water to 1 cup oats), and the consistency should never be milky unless you add some milk during the cooking process.  Also, I need to point out I'm talking about steel-cut oats, or regular oats here, not that instant crap that is pre-sugared, processed, etc.

Essentially, what this recipe calls you to do is very simple (heat up water, cook the oats, etc.), and then it makes a judgment call on what I like to add to the oats--fruits and nuts, brown sugar, and spices.  However, you can practically substitute anything for the fruit and nut combo here that you like, you'll just have to tweak the recipe to your preferences.  I've known people to add cocoa powder when cooking oatmeal ("chocolate oatmeal") and even to make the dish into a kind of loaf and bake it in the oven.  However you prepare oatmeal, the right ingredients and techniques will always be clearly delicious!

Oatmeal with Fruit & Walnuts
You can really add any fruit or nut here.  My recipe calls for bananas and walnuts, but apples, craisins, raisins, berries (blueberries! raspberries! blackberries!) as well as pecans and almonds can all be substituted.

*1 cup water
*1/2 cup steel cut oats
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar
*1 teaspoon nutmeg
*1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
*1 banana, cut into circular pieces, optional
*1/4 cup walnuts, optional
*1 teaspoon vanilla/almond extract, optional

1.) Bring 1 cup of water to a boil and add 1/2 cup steel cut oats.  Cook for one minute, stirring occassionally, and remove from heat.
2.) Now, fix the oatmeal with your favorite ingredients: add brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, nuts, and fruit.  Stir to integrate.
3.) Pour into a bowl and splash with milk (optional).  Serve immediately and enjoy!

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