Sunday Morning

There is nothing better than waking up to a luxurious breakfast, the kind of breakfast that you need time for - time for making, time for eating, and time for slowly but happily digesting. This Sunday Morning breakfast has a layer of spiced and sauteed potatoes, topped with melted cheese, topped with strips of bacon, and topped again with fried eggs.  Just cutting into and serving this meal is a delight.

Ingredients
4 slices of bacon
1 1/2 lbs potatoes, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 shallot, diced
2 scallions, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup fresh parsley
½ teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon sage
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese
salt
pepper
paprika
3 eggs

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fry up the bacon and then set aside. Heat olive oil over medium high heat and sauté the potatoes with the onions, shallot, scallions, and garlic. Mix in parsley, thyme, oregano, sage, and bay leaves, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes become crispy. Place potatoes in an oven-proof pan and sprinkle cheese over the potatoes. Bake the potatoes until cheese is nice and melted, about ten minutes. Meanwhile, fry the eggs and season with pepper, salt, and paprika. Place strips of bacon side by side on top of the potatoes, and then set the fried eggs on top of the bacon. Then, of course, dig in!

Garlic Parmesan Tortellini Soup

Growing up, I would bug my mom constantly to make her tortellini soup. Cheesy stuffed pasta in a garlicky broth of cream and herbs - what could be better? This is my take on her household classic...

Ingredients
3 stalks celery, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons butter
32 oz chicken broth
8 ounces cheese-filled tortellini pasta
salt
pepper
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
3 tablespoons chopped basil
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
Sauté celery, onion, and garlic in melted butter over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Toss in the chopped herbs, salt, pepper, and tortellini, and cook for 3 minutes or until pasta is tender. Add heavy cream and heat through. Take off heat and stir in parmesan cheese.

Banana Matcha Muffins

Banana muffins are super easy to make. I just love the way the banana combines with the green tea to form this soft and luscious green delight.

Ingredients
4 bananas, mashed
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/8 cup matcha (powdered green tea)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins or line with muffin liners. Mix together mashed bananas, brown sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in flour, matcha, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Chai Latte

The weather has been rainy and chilly the past few days here in Southern California. This weather makes me want to curl up on the couch with a book, a blanket, and a mug filled with a warm drink. But what type of warm drink? Nothing sounded good enough, until I thought about chai. This chai latte recipe, with its smooth almond undertone and spicy and fragrant tea, is the perfect antidote to the cold-weather blues.

Ingredients
1 quart whole milk
1 teaspoon of toasted and ground almonds
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/8 teaspoon cardamom, divided
3 cinnamon sticks, divided
1 cup water
8 whole cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 peppercorns
1/2 of the peel of an orange
1/4 cup sugar
4 teabags

Instructions
Gently simmer milk, almonds, vanilla extract, 1/8 teaspoon cardamom, and a cinnamon stick in a saucepan for an hour. In another saucepan, bring the water, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, peppercorn, orange peel, and teabags to a boil. Let it boil for 5 minutes. Add sugar and the spiced milk and return to a boil. Serve in mugs and garnish with more cinnamon sticks.

Brigadeiros

These chocolatey, almost caramel-like candies rolled in sprinkles are a fun and playful snack. They are also super easy to make, so they are great treats when you are short on time!

Ingredients
3 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons margarine
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
chocolate sprinkles

Instructions
Combine cocoa powder, butter, salt and condensed milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring continuously, until mixture has thickened and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Spray some cooking spray on hands and form into small balls. Coat with chocolate sprinkles.

Apple Pie

Apple pie is the All-American dessert. Everyone loves it (except my husband!). With its sugary, cinnamony apples encased by a golden brown flaky crust, it is the ultimate sweet finale to a meal. One of my favorite apple pie recipes is in the September 2009 edition of Gourmet magazine. That recipe is incredibly simple but so innovative in its use of cheddar cheese in the crust. I was in the mood recently, however, for an apple pie that was a bit richer and had more of a molasses taste to it. Here is my attempt at capturing that taste.

Ingredients

Crust:

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening
6-8 tbsp ice cold water

Filling:

7 cooking apples - I like to use 5 Granny Smith and 2 Golden Delicious
lemon juice from 2 lemons
2/3 c Demerara sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 tsp brandy
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces

Whipped cream topping:

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Instructions

for crust:

Mix flour, salt and sugar in bowl and add the cold butter and cold shortening. Mix together with your hands until the mixture has pea-size lumps. Drizzle 6 tablespoons of ice cold water on the mixture. Mix until the dough holds together. If it doesn't hold together, add more water. Once dough holds together into a ball, separate into halves and refrigerate for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

for filling:

As I peel and cut the apples, I squirt lemon juice on the pieces and toss to prevent discoloration. After all the cutting is done, add the remaining lemon juice, brandy, vanilla, flour, salt and spices. Roll out the dough into a 13-inch disc and an 11-inch disc. Place the larger disc on the bottom of 9-inch pie pan. Pour the filling and dot the with pieces of butter. Place the smaller disc over the filling. Cut five 1-inch vents into the crust. Lightly coat the top with milk or cream.

for whipped cream:

I like to serve this with whipped cream infused with a bit of sugar and maple syrup. Beat the heavy cream with the sugar and maple syrup until soft peaks form. Sprinkle some nutmeg and cinnamon on top, and you are good to go!

Tres Leches Cake

Tres Leches Cake is a wonderfully creamy white cake soaked in a glaze of milky, alcoholic goodness and topped with fluffy white cream. Indulging in this three (in this case 4!) milk cake can make all your troubles go away.  Each bite is like a sweet piece of nirvana.

Ingredients

Cake:

1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
5 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze:

1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon rum or brandy

Topping:

1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Beat in egg yolks and sugar. In another bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add 1/4 cup sugar, and beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour into the greased pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. When cake is cool, prepare the glaze. Combine sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream, and rum and pour the glaze over the cake. Refrigerate for at least an hour. To make the topping, beat the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla until thick.