An extremely versatile Italian egg dish, a frittata can contain many savory ingredients. Don't be scared by the length of ingredients for this recipe - if you can use short cuts, feel free. I made it for dinner Sunday night and it made a repeat appearance last night for dinner (love leftovers!) Perfect for brunch, this dish can bake while you finish setting your table and get ready for guests. You won't miss a beat with this sure-hit, extremely satisfying meal.
Tip: Whole Foods didn't have any sun-dried tomatoes in stock, but they did have chicken sausages with sun-dried tomatoes in them. While the sun-dried tomatoes weren't as prominent, it did the trick! If you have leftover pasta, whether it be penne or another short cut, use that instead of making a whole new batch.
A breakfast sandwich is always a filling, satisfying way to begin the day--or, occasionally, end the night. One of the things I truly missed when I left New York City was the glory of the corner bodega breakfast sandwich. So, I'm always interested when one of the local West Coast, drive-thru, fast food franchise joints comes up with a new combo of bread, egg and cheese. The two most recent entries, Dunkin' Donuts' Egg White Turkey Sausage Flatbread Sandwich and Carl's Jr.'s Monster Breakfast Sandwich lie proudly at opposite ends of the spectrum. A clear-cut rivaly of health vs. indulgence, but what of taste?
Granola was one of the staples of my childhood. It was always in the house and we ate it with milk for breakfast, with yogurt for lunch and straight out of the jar as an afternoon or evening snack. Sometimes my mom would make batches of it up from this recipe but as life got busier, she would resort to buying bags of it from the bulk bins at the local health food store.
So going into this particular taste test of Bear Naked Native, I brought along with me my years of granola eating experience. My first encounter with these two new flavors (Mango Agave Almond and Yumberry Goji Currant) were during lunch. I settled down with a bowl of yogurt (Pequea Valley, to be precise) and sprinkled a few spoonfuls of the mango flavor on top. I crunched my way through and then did the same with the yumberry variety.
Lots of attention gets focused on the tobacco industry and how advertisements appeal to the kids, but that's not the only industry making the unhealthy irresistible. There is, of course, those cartoon characters that promote sugary goodness.
The BBC reports that a new report conducted by Which? is focusing on those cartoon icons and accusing them "of not aiding the fight against childhood obesity." They note that out of the 19 characters used by food companies, none of them helped promote healthier foods, and how the foods they promote easily suck up much of a child's suggested max for salt and sugar (nothing surprising there). But they are careful to note that they don't want us to lose the characters we've come to love over half a century, but rather to see them promoting some healthy products. Meanwhile, the Food and Drink Federation said it was "baffled as to why Which? wants to take all the fun out of food." Well that's just a bit of an overreaction.
I have to say, Which? has a point. I remember giving my parents a heck of a fight over the "no sugar cereal on weekdays" rule. I was obsessed with sugar cereals, the toys, the whole thing. I wanted Snap, Crackle, and Pop toys, I would've eaten Honeycombs 3 times a day if I could. And it certainly wasn't just cereal -- I can't count how many jugs of Kool Aid I drank to get a special pitcher and glasses....
For more than a year now, Starbucks has been working on improving their breakfast offerings. In spring of 2007, they launched a line of breakfast sandwiches, only to announce a year later that they were pulling them from the stores (they then changed their minds again, announcing that they were only going to retool the sandwiches). Earlier this summer, they started selling a line of whole grain pastries, cups of "perfect oatmeal" and a platter that lives in the refrigerated case that contains a hard boiled egg, a small whole wheat bagel, a few slices of cheese and some fruit.
This morning, they launched the latest addition to the breakfast line-up. Called the Piadini, this savory breakfast pastry comes in two varieties - Portobello Mushroom or Sausage, Egg and Cheddar. Energized by a Starbucks-led breakfast and coffee pairing event I attended last week, I stopped by my local Starbucks today to try out this new breakfast option.
For years, I believed that pumpkins were only good for carving. The thick, brownish-orange look and smell of a pumpkin pie was never appealing, so I generally stayed away from anything related to the orange squash. But then I tried an exclusive Williams Sonoma pumpkin spice waffle and pancake mix and fell in love. The mix made the best pancakes, and absolutely divine waffles. Then the buggers added pecans, which put the mix on my nut allergy-led Don't-Eat list.
Luckily, there are other options. First of all, you can make your own. We shared one version back in 2005, and there's also PinchMySalt's version and this one at Epicurious. Or, you can get other ready-to-go mixes. There are, thankfully, tons of options out there -- it's just a matter of picking one of the manychoices.
I'm always on the lookout for the mix or recipe that will replace my lost love (maybe it's above?), so please comment below with all tasty, nut-free suggestions!
One of the things I love about the internet is its ability to share the amazing things that people do with food on a far wide scale than might otherwise be possible. Take this bacon cinnamon roll, for example. Without the internet, how would I have learned that such a thing was possible? However, thanks to a digital camera and a simple web page, I'm able to appreciate the creativity of the folks over at Super Sized Meals and drool ever so slightly over the treat that they concocted. Delicious!
Updated to add: It appears we credited the wrong folks with the creation of the bacon cinnamon rolls. It belongs to the folks at Bacon Today (that link will take you to the original post).
You'd think that by the year 2008 there wouldn't be such silly notions as "men's food" and "women's food." Guess not! Epicurious' Epi-Log has linked to a forum post asking what is suitable for a breakfast that will be attended mostly by men -- as if there was a distinct separation between the two, or certain foods that aren't suitable or desirable to a specific sex.
I've lived in rural hick areas and a big metropolitan city. I've been friends with a myriad of men and women with many tastes. While some might take the Paula Deen mentality and shun "prissy foods," I have never had anyone tell me that a certain food was a man's food or woman's food. Portions -- definitely, but what is on the plate -- never. I know a guy who loves riding his motorcycle as much as making his signature eggs with homemade hollandaise breakfast, and an ex bar owner who could make nice California rolls. I know women who drink mass amounts of beer and win burping contests, and others who would prefer hearty lumps of meat over small portions of gourmet fare. It's all relative.
As for the original poster, I think it would be safe to assume that any men who would go to a friend's house for a specially made breakfast wouldn't be the type who would think: "Darn, look at all this girlie food." But maybe I'm in the minority with my love of both small bon bons and bloody rib-eye steaks. What do you think?
As a kid Rice Krispies was one of my favorite cereals largely due to its onomatopoeic spokescharacters: Snap, Crackle and Pop. As for flavor, I never though it was all that great, but I was always fascinated by this musical cereal. It was a treat to pour the milk over the little bits of crisped rice and sit back and enjoy the show.
Apparently Kellogg's thought that kids in the '80s needed a little more stimulation than the percussive trio provided and released a promotional record with catchy tunes covering musical styles ranging from gospel to New Wave. This bizarre excercise in branding starts out with a rollicking gospel number that includes the lyrics, "Waking up, waking up, you and me waking up to that Snap, crackle, pop. We've got the whole wide world waking up waking up." There's also a country tune that features a twangy voiced guy singing, "You see it's downright fun to pour the milk on top to put snap, crackle, pop into your morning."
It's worth going to WFMU's Beware the Blog, to check out the wacky tunes. The last tune is a pitch-perfect New Wave rocker. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at breakfast cereal.
Being a bit of a bread friend, I try to keep some on hand at all times -- fresh when possible, and always at least a few slices in the freezer. But sometimes you just run out. Usually when that happens, I'll whip up a pizza with that quick and tasty dough I posted about before. But the other day, I was in the mood for eggs, and I just don't like having them without some sort of bread.
So, I decided to make a bowl-shaped calzone you see above. It's simple. After rolling out some dough, I sprayed a french onion soup bowl with non-stick cooking spray and used it to make a bowl out of my dough. I then put in a collection of ingredients that included eggs and cheese. I joined the dough at the top to seal it in, cut off the excess, and threw it in my toaster oven. The bowl allowed me to keep the gooey eggs and ingredients together without spilling, and the spray let the nice calzone slip out of the bowl with complete ease.
This can also work in a myriad of ways -- imagine using the same technique in small muffin tins and making pizza pockets or other hors douvres pastries, or putting a whole meal inside one -- like meatloaf with a good gravy, a tuna melt, or even a sort of pizza-themed pot pie.
In politics, it's sometimes it's hard to find the line between legitimate criticism and immoral or unfair attacks. For example, the Starr report toilet paper that my aunty gave me a few years back might not have been the most adult or reasonable critique of Bill Clinton's famed detractor; ditto the John Kerry and George Bush wipes offered by the same company. In a political climate where one man's lipstick-bedecked pit bull is another man's prettified porker, it's pretty clear that taste, morality, and dignity often depend upon where one is sitting.
The recent unveiling of Obama Waffles is a good case in point. The basic message is that Obama "waffles," much like John Kerry, who is also featured on the package. While I don't necessarily agree with this assessment, I have to admit that the statement is fair game within the context of a political souvenir. The same goes for a cartoon of Michelle Obama saying "For the first time in my life, I'm proud of an American waffle." Given her earlier foot-in-mouth gaffes, this is both reasonable and somewhat funny.
What is neither amusing nor fair is the box's depiction of Obama dressed as a Muslim and its statement that the container should be oriented toward Mecca. Similarly, the drawing of Obama clad in a serape and sombrero, erasing the border on a recipe card seems like a general-purpose critique of the Democratic party, not a fair attack on Barack Obama. Both images play on the lowest standards of racism and xenophobia, and both are particularly tasteless when applied to this particular candidate.
Regardless of your politics, illegitimate attacks have to leave a bad taste in your mouth. With that in mind, can I offer you a bottle of John McCain Viagra? It will keep your poll numbers up AND give you an economic stimulus!
I love working in a kitchen. One of the fringe benefits is that I get to work with people from all different backgrounds. One of my co-workers from Mexico one day made chilaquiles, and I've been a fan ever since.
Chilaquiles is a breakfast dish made from stale tortillas, Mexican-style tomato sauce, and chiles that sometimes also includes cheese and eggs. My co-worker sprinkled on diced onions and Monterey jack cheese and placed a poached eg on top. It was heaven. I tend to prefer foods with softer textures, and the softened tortillas just melted in my mouth. The combination of chiles, onions, cheese, spicy tomato, and egg were just so wonderful and very filling, it's no wonder that this is such a popular breakfast dish.
Gourmet Sleuth.com has this page with a great recipe for chilequiles, as well as some history and background on the dish. It's popular throughout Mexico, and that means there are plenty of variations. A few of the variations are freatured here, along with links to recipes. I haven't made chilequiles at home yet, but now that I have some recipes to work with (my co-worker refused to tell me how to make it) it is definitely on the menu.
While I regularly lose my keys, often misplace my wallet, and have been known to forget my own name, I pride myself on my impressive ability to remember completely random facts. My wife calls me the largest repository of useless knowledge in the Western Hemisphere, and I have to admit that my mind is a steel trap, at least when it comes to completely meaningless trivia.
With that in mind, I was eager to take Mental Floss' cereal trivia test. Having spent much of my youth sucking down mass quantities of sugary slop while watching Saturday morning TV shows, I figured that I could easily take whatever Mental Floss had to dish out.
I received a humbling 50%. If you get a chance, take the quiz and let me know how you did. I need to know if there's anybody else out there who's feeling the icy hand of trivial humiliation!
Last time I reviewed Starbucks (for their Vivanno Smoothies) a comment kerfuffle ensued. Well, friends, Starbucks has introduced a new line of "nutritious breakfast options" so strap yourselves in for Sbux Redux.
According to the java junket, "Starbucks will offer six new delicious and satiating breakfast items made with wholesome ingredients that include whole grains, real fruit, and healthy fats from nuts, seeds and Omega-3's to help you start your day the right way."
Hey, awesome! But do they taste any good? Reviews after the jump.
Bacon candy is one of the most popular recipes at aol.com, which is as good a reason as any to salute bacon. While you're candying your bacon, order up some bacon salt with which to anoint summer's last grilled veggies, french fries, chops or steak.
A bacon keeper is an inexpensive and indispensable feature for the frosty landscape inside your refrigerator. Now you than you're set to preserve and prepare your bacon, start cooking with it. Cobb Salad isn't Cobb Salad without bacon; here's a great recipe for this American classic. Once you've mastered your Cobb, explore additional recipes at The Bacon Show -- but be warned: after you sample your homemade bacon-infused vodka, you will probably need one of these.
While bacon is nourishing your interior, insulate your exterior with a bacon scarf. Outfit your breakfront, office cubby, or any other environment you choose (bacon-themed bathroom, anyone?) with a selection of novelties from the bacon collection at Archie McPhee. Finally, if you're wondering wherefore this depth of scholarship concerning bacon, consider this: aside from being namesake for one of art's masters, bacon inspired the art of no less a master than Salvador Dali.
A breakfast sandwich is always a filling, satisfying way to begin the day--or, occasionally, end the night. One of the things I truly missed when I left New York City was the glory of the corner bodega breakfast sandwich. So, I'm always interested when one of the local West Coast, drive-thru, fast food franchise joints comes up with a new combo of bread, egg and cheese. The two most recent entries, Dunkin' Donuts' Egg White Turkey Sausage Flatbread Sandwich and Carl's Jr.'s Monster Breakfast Sandwich lie proudly at opposite ends of the spectrum. A clear-cut rivaly of health vs. indulgence, but what of taste?
Lots of attention gets focused on the tobacco industry and how advertisements appeal to the kids, but that's not the only industry making the unhealthy irresistible. There is, of course, those cartoon characters that promote sugary goodness.
For years, I believed that pumpkins were only good for carving. The thick, brownish-orange look and smell of a pumpkin pie was never appealing, so I generally stayed away from anything related to the orange squash. But then I tried an exclusive Williams Sonoma 
As a kid Rice Krispies was one of my favorite cereals largely due to its onomatopoeic spokescharacters: Snap, Crackle and Pop. As for flavor, I never though it was all that great, but I was always fascinated by this musical cereal. It was a treat to pour the milk over the little bits of crisped rice and sit back and enjoy the show.
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In politics, it's sometimes it's hard to find the line between legitimate criticism and immoral or unfair attacks. For example, the 
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While I regularly lose my keys, often misplace my wallet, and have been known to forget my own name, I pride myself on my impressive ability to remember completely random facts. My wife calls me the largest repository of useless knowledge in the Western Hemisphere, and I have to admit that my mind is a steel trap, at least when it comes to completely meaningless trivia.
New York Times Magazine's food issue
Chicken McNuggets frolic at New York City pet store
Eat your broccoli orbs! 
