Monday breakfast date

I am working on Mondays now in exchange for having Sunday's off. Monday is Jeremy's other day off so he asked if I wanted  to go out for breakfast before work. We went to Charlie's, an old restaurant in Capitol Hill that we used to go to often.

Jeremy got the chicken fried steak with hash browns and scrambled eggs. I got fried eggs served on a tostada with black beans, pico de gallo, cheese, avocado, and tortilla chips and a side of hash browns. I also got some orange juice. We spent a total of $29 including tax and tip.

We thawed out some spaghetti sauce from the freezer for dinner and Jeremy cooked some egg noodles with a little butter to eat with it. It was better than I thought it would be. Egg noodles don't seem to go with spaghetti sauce in my mind.

Breakfast: huevos rancheros, hash browns
Lunch: left over habanero mac and cheese, clementine
Dinner: egg noodles with leftover spaghetti sauce
Snacks/desserts: lime sherbet
Beverages: orange juice, water

Recipe for chocolate banana oatmeal bread

A few months ago I bought a huge bottle of banana liqueur on impulse. It tastes like burning, and I don't really like it at all, so I added a little to this banana bread in an attempt to use it up.

Adapted from this recipe.

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe banana
2 oz banana liqueur (optional)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix, but not too much or your bread will be tough. As soon as everything is incorporated, stop mixing. Most recipes tell you to mix the dry ingredients separately from the wet ones and then combine them. I don't bother with this step, and have never noticed a difference, but you can if you want.

Pour batter into a non-stick loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool ten minutes.

Tip: it's easier to cut if you wrap it in plastic after letting it cool a little. This softens the crust on the outside. It will keep for a few days wrapped in plastic or in a large zipper bag. Nutrition info is for 1/10th of the loaf.

French toast with cherry pear compote

This is worth getting up early for, people.

French Toast

4 slices of bread (we used Franz old fashioned buttermilk)
2 eggs
1/4 cup half and half
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1 T oil

Beat together eggs, half and half, and seasonings. Pour half of it into a plate or shallow bowl. Heat a skillet on medium. Add half of the oil. Soak two slices of bread in the egg mixture, and cook until each side is golden brown. Add the remaining oil to the pan, and egg mixture to the plate, and repeat with the other two slices of bread. This recipe makes two servings. Nutrition info is for two slices of toast. You can add powdered sugar on top to taste. The NI does not include powdered sugar.

Cherry Pear Compote

1 cup pitted cherries
1 ripe pear, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup water
zest and juice of one small lemon (about 2 T juice)
1 T cornstarch
1 t honey

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes until fruit is soft and sauce has thickened. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. Nutrition info is for 1/2 of the recipe.

This compote would also be awesome on it's own, served over a scoop of vanilla ice cream, on top of your oatmeal, whatever. The lemon gives it a nice tangy summery flavor.

Carrot and cranberry granola

doesn't taste like carrots

This pan of granola has two whole carrots in it. It tastes nothing like carrots. It really just tastes like granola. Heck, you can barely even see the carrots. If you have a kid who refuses to eat carrots, but for some reason they love granola, put grated carrots in their granola. They will never ever know.

This is the exact recipe I used, but I ran out of both cinnamon and nutmeg making this. If I had had any more I'd have used more. It's not bad as is though.

2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup steel cut oats
1/4 cup whole grain teff
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 scant T cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 whole egg
5 T melted coconut oil
2 grated carrots
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients except for cranberries together in a large bowl. Spread mixture evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes. Allow granola to cool, then break up into chunks, and mix in dried cranberries. Makes about 6 cups of granola. Nutrition info is for 1/2 cup.

Leftover chili for breakfast

This morning I heated up some leftover chili with a slice of muenster cheese, and put a fried egg on top. I do this with leftover beans as well. It's very hearty but still feels breakfasty.
For lunch I brought one of the strawberry Greek yogurts I bought yesterday, and made a salad with lettuce, grilled chicken, strawberries, gorgonzola, and raspberry walnut vinaigrette. I have bananas and peanuts at work if I need a snack.

French toast with peaches

I made myself French toast for breakfast. I used one egg, two T of half and half, a little cinnamon and nutmeg and two slices of buttermilk bread. For the topping I thawed out the last half cup or so of peach slices and put them in a saucepan with a dash of cornstarch and cinnamon. I also topped it with a heaping teaspoon of powdered sugar. Yum!

Oatmeal with teff grain, peanut butter and banana

1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 T whole grain teff
1/2 cup water
1 T honey
1 T crunchy peanut butter
1 banana, sliced

Mix oats, teff, and water together in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes. Stir in peanut butter and honey, and top with the sliced banana. This breakfast with stick with you a good long time. Makes one serving.