Bagels with Vegetable Cream Cheese

It must be breakfast week on the blog.

I made these a few weeks ago, and now that they're gone, I'm living vicariously through this post. These bagels reminded me of Bruegger's Bagels. When I was in high school, I'd get a hot, fresh, plain bagel, nothing on it and unsliced, and eat it from the outside in. As in, I'd peel the crust off first, eat that, then eat the middle kind of like a donut. It's strange, I know. These bagels remind me of that.

These are kind of like my pretzel recipe. Probably slightly easier than my pretzel recipe, though equally tasty. I tried to make bagels using my pretzel recipe and failed miserably at it, but this one was much, much better.

As you might have guessed, making dough is strangely not my forte. I've had to throw entire batches of things out because I couldn't get the consistency right. I love my dough hook on my strand-up mixer, but it doesn't seem to love me. My bread maker, on the other hand, is a very close, good friend. We get along very well. Throw the stuff in, hit a few buttons, walk away, then poof! Dough in two hours.

I made these, boiled and baked them, and of course the smell brought Adam down the stairs. He tried one, responded with just "Yes", then took another one back up to his office. I guess that means that this is a winner? I'm ready to vary on the flavor, maybe a whole wheat, poppy, or everything, but this is a pretty simple enough recipe to be able to try 15 different ways if you want.

To go with it, I made some vegetable cream cheese. The first time I made this, it was because I had a basket of vegetables that my father had won at a family auction. I went up to congratulate him, noted how much was in it, and he promptly handed it to me, telling me I could probably do more with it than he could. So, one of the things I made with it was veggie cream cheese. Stupidly easy, and damn tasty. It helps that the base is regular cream cheese, and throwing in diced veggies and mixing it up are essentially the only directions. Who knew I could enjoy radishes so much?

Bagels with Vegetable Cream Cheese (recipes from allrecipes.com and foodnetwork.com)

Bagels (recipe adapted from allrecipes.com):

1 c. warm water (roughly 110 degrees)
1.5 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 c. bread flour (I didn't have enough bread flour, so I substituted 2 cups with regular white whole wheat flour)
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (one single serve package)
3 quarts boiling water
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. cornmeal
1 egg white
if you are interested in toppings, use 3 Tbsp. of your choice-poppyseeds, garlic, sesame seeds, etc.)

Place first five ingredients in the breadmaker with the liquid on the bottom and the yeast on the top. Select dough setting.

When dough is done, let it rest on a floured surface for about ten minutes. While the dough rests, boil the water and 3 tablespoons sugar.

Slice the dough into eight to ten equal pieces. Roll each piece into a small ball , then poke a hole in the middle using your finger. Make the hole and the bagel bigger by twirling it around your finger, then cover and let rest for ten minutes.

Sprinkle a baking sheet lined with parchment paper with cornmeal. Place bagels in boiling water for one minute, flipping over at the 30 second mark. Drain on a towel, then arrange on the baking sheet on top of the cornmeal. Brush the tops with egg white and sprinkle with toppings (if using).

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-15 minutes, or until bagels are nicely browned.

Vegetable Cream Cheese (recipe adapted from Food Network)

• 
  
• 2 8 oz. packages room temperature cream cheese
• 2 Tbsp. minced scallions
• 2 Tbsp. diced carrot
• 2 Tbsp. diced celery
• 2 Tbsp. diced radish 
• 2 Tbsp. diced red pepper
• salt and pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until blended. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Pumpkin Turtle Waffles

Contrary to popular belief, there are no actual turtles in this recipe.

This particular recipe combines two of my favorite flavors, pumpkin and turtle (pecans, chocolate, and caramel). It's also a recipe that allows me to feed into (ha!) my addiction for breakfast and brunch.

Years ago, I went to a place that specialized in pancakes. It was in New Jersey, so thankfully I can't get there often-but there was a particular pancake that I always ordered, the turtle pancake. Gigantic cakes, bigger than your head, filled with chopped pecans and chocolate chips, with a healthy side of real maple syrup. I loved those pancakes-but I could never finish them. Orders came with three of those cakes, and they were so large I was lucky I could finish half. Still, the thought of them makes my mouth water. Man, they were so good.

I found a recipe for pumpkin waffles on my favorite site a few years back and made them into pancakes instead the first time I tried them. We had gone to New Hampshire for the weekend, and we spent the time relaxing, enjoying the view, reading a bunch of books, and, at the end of the weekend, on a mad hunt to find Spirit who decided it would be great fun to race us to the woods (all was fine, by the way). Whenever I make these now, I'm reminded of this view and these pancakes.

Pumpkin has been abundant in our house the last few weeks, and Spirit, in particular, loves it. I thought that having these waffles on Sunday morning would be a perfect compliment of the weekend. I decided to make a couple of variations: traditional pumpkin, pumpkin pecan, and pumpkin turtle.

After I added the pumpkin, I was nice enough to let Spirit lick the measuring cup. I see it as the equivalent of giving your child the beaters after you make chocolate mousse. He, of course, was not disappointed (and no, I wasn't planning on using that cup again in anything until it had been through the dishwasher, if you were worried).

It's a damn good thing I'm the only one in the house that likes chocolate. I was not about to give anyone a bite of these suckers.

This recipe, though easily made for both pancakes and waffles, are so much better in waffle form (plus, waffles have such nice pockets for filling with butter, syrup, or whatever). The whipped egg whites really made a difference in making the waffles light and fluffy, and the combined taste of the pecans and chocolate chips were incredible. I used mini chocolate chips, which are much better than traditional sized when using them in a waffle maker. It's like these waffles were made for Sunday (though I made extra so on Thursday I can think, "man, these waffles were made for Thursday!").

I also tried something different this time, and didn't use real maple syrup (what???). Instead, I found some maple creme from this place at the farmer's market a few weeks ago. It's awesome, and just melts into the pancake or waffle I decide to have with it. They sell at a few other places in Winchester, etc., so if you get the chance and want to try it, I highly recommend it!

Don't have dinner plans yet? Go out and buy some pumpkin and make these for dinner. Then call me so I can come and join you. :)

Pumpkin Turtle Waffles (recipe adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen)

2 1/2 c. flour (I used white whole wheat)

1/3 c. brown sugar
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
4 eggs, separated
2 c. buttermilk
1 c. canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!)

3/4 stick (6 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
chopped pecans

miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cooking spray

Preheat waffle iron. Mix together all dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl with the other wet ingredients in another bowl until smooth. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until fully combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a handheld mixer until they hold soft peaks, roughly 2-3 minutes. Folk the whipped egg whites gently into the waffle batter, until just combined together.

Spray cooking spray lightly on waffle iron and ladle batter into waffle iron, starting in the middle and spreading toward the sides (do not fill every crevice, as it will spill out over the sides. Just do about 3/4 of the way around the iron). Sprinkle the top with chopped pecans and miniature chocolate chips. Cook according to instructions on waffle maker.This mixture makes approximately 9 Belgian waffles.

Put a bit of butter and real maple syrup or maple creme, and dig in.

Zucchini cranberry walnut pancakes

Zucchini, like tomatoes, have been aplenty in our CSA crate recently. We got two huge ones last week, three the week before, and two this past week. I love zucchini as much as the next person, but there were only so many times I could saute and grill it and not want to do something else with it.

A while back I came across a recipe for zucchini pancakes from smitten kitchen. When zucchinis kept on showing up on Thursdays, I knew exactly what I had to do with them, but the recipe I saw wasn't quite exciting enough for me. I needed something more. I'll admit, sometimes I don't know to stop when I'm ahead, and I'll make something and add so much stuff to it that it doesn't taste right anymore. This time, though, I looked at the recipe and thought, "nuts! fruit!" and hoped I'd be safe.

Safe I was. These things are unreal.

I was so pleased with these. I couldn't get enough (and yes, I'll probably make them again this weekend!). The addition of chopped walnuts and dried cranberries give this pancake a little more sweet and tart, and a bit of crunch. To be honest, they remind me a little bit of these muffins; but I'm a firm believer that pancakes trump every breakfast item, so in my mind, they're better.

These pancakes can be a little soft, and if you're not careful, can be a little doughy inside (though we actually don't mind that). The textures are really wild-the soft zucchini, the crunchy nuts, the chewy cranberries-it's fantastic. It does make me think of fall, which makes me a little sad, but then I remember that it's still August, and it's 80 degrees outside and I'm wearing shorts, and it makes me feel better.

Zucchini Pancakes (adapted from smitten kitchen)

2 eggs
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp each of milk and plain greek yogurt, mixed together well
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini (I used one gigantic zucchini, but you can probably do it with two medium ones)
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

1/2 c. dried cranberries

In a large bowl, add eggs, olive oil, sugar, the milk/yogurt mixture, and vanilla until smooth. Mix in zucchini shreds. In another bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.. Stir dry ingredients into zucchini batter, mixing until just combined. Add cranberries and walnuts.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and spray with a butter spray to keep the batter from sticking. Once hot (flick a few water drops over the pan-it's ready if the water dances), ladle the batter in pan-I used a medium ice cream scoop. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip pancakes and cook another few minutes until golden brown underneath. Serve with real maple syrup, or with a mixture ratio of 1 Tbsp. syrup to 3 Tbsp. greek yogurt. I used the greek yogurt mixture to make me feel like it wasn't quite as bad for me, and to be honest, I liked the yogurt with this much more than I thought I would (maybe because it reminds me of whipped cream?). I'll have to figure out which is better when I make them again this weekend. 

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

I decided to make these pancakes this morning for a lazy Saturday breakfast (well, it was almost lunch when we finally ate them. Ah well.). Adam took one bite of these, declared them "so good you don't need syrup" and then suggested to me that I should post these on the blog.

Ask, and ye shall receive.







I've spoken before about lemon pancakes. How I kind of felt them to be a little too tart for my taste. I tried making meyer lemon pancakes and found them to be much better, much more subtle. And then there were the lemon blueberry pancakes. I'm still not sure why lemons and blueberries match so well together, but yet, there they were, a perfect pair. Another thing that was great about it was that the blueberries were directly in the batter, something I've admittedly never tried. I've always put the blueberries in as they bake on the griddle. Never again.

This recipe calls for evaporated milk, and like an idiot, when I went to the store I bought sweetened condensed milk instead. Figuring that this might make the pancakes overly sweet, I decided to ditch the condensed milk and use up some leftover buttermilk I had in the fridge. It worked like a charm. We decided that they seemed crepe-like...but maybe a touch thicker. Next time I try these, I'd like to mix it up and try different things: evaporated milk, sour cream, maybe even yogurt!





I thought that maple syrup might overpower these pancakes and that it might make them too sweet. I thought that I might need my raspberry syrup to continue with the fruit theme. I don't know, maple syrup and lemon seemed weird to me. But it worked. I loved it. Let's be honest anyway: Maple syrup (REAL maple syrup, not that fake Aunt Jemima stuff) is the best thing known to man. Of course it would make these pancakes even more awesome.



We ate all of the pancakes in one sitting. Clearly a win-situation for us, and a first when it comes to pancakes. Though I might need to go outside for a run after doing that. :)

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes (recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman)
1-½ c. cake flour, plus one additional TBSP
¼ tsp. salt
1 T. baking powder
3 T. Sugar
1-½ cup Evaporated Milk (I didn't have it, so I substituted buttermilk instead)
1 lemon
1 large egg
1-½ tsp vanilla
2 T. melted butter
Zest From 1 lemon
1 heaping c. Blueberries

Heat heavy skillet or grill over medium low heat.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar together. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix evaporated milk, juice of 1 lemon, and lemon zest. Sit aside for five minutes, then add egg, vanilla, and melted butter. Mix to combine.
Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients. Stir gently to combine. Stir in blueberries. Make sure mixture isn’t overly thick. If it is, add more milk, buttermilk, or whatever liquid you might be using.
Melt butter in heated skillet. Flick some water over the top to see if it's ready (water should dance across if it is). When the skillet is ready, ladle batter in 1/3-1/4 c. amounts, and fry for about 3 minutes a side, or until golden brown, whichever comes first. Add butter to the top and douse in copious amounts of maple syrup.

Meyer Lemon Pancakes with Raspberry Syrup

What better way to start the new year than with something that reminds me of summer? I think there's no better way; with snow on the ground (albeit also at 50 degrees in January) the only thing I want to think about is warmth, sunshine, and summer. These pancakes accomplish that.



The weird thing is that I've made lemon pancakes before. When I made them, they were so tart that I spent more time with my mouth puckered than I did with a mouth full of pancake. I wanted to really like them but the best I could say was that they were just "okay". I'm still not totally certain I'd make that recipe again, but I will say they were really bright. Not just in color, but in taste. I'm still not so sure that real lemon pancakes were my favorite, but they weren't bad.

Yesterday, I saw this recipe on the food network for Meyer lemon pancakes. Every time I'd seen a recipe for Meyer lemons I just substituted regular lemons, thinking that there wasn't much of a difference.

For the record? Don't do that. Meyer lemons make SUCH a difference. I never knew! (I'd never even seen one until yesterday, either). I read up on them and found out they were more similar to an orange-they even look a little bit like them. Much more orange than yellow, much more circular than...well, whatever shape a lemon is...and much more subtle than a regular lemon.

Last night I threw together the batter (I totally recommend that by the way, if you're making a lazy breakfast), made the syrup (which I've made before and will touch on later) and this morning, clad in my new feety pajamas I got for Christmas (thanks to my brother in law for those!) I used my new pancake batter dispenser (thanks Christie!) and made a whole mess of Meyer lemon pancakes, which were then doused in fresh raspberry syrup.







These were so good that A and I both went back for seconds. I thought about going back for thirds until I remembered that the rest could work for breakfast tomorrow.



These had a very mild lemon flavor, and they were incredibly light. Although the batter isn't something that's that quick to do (whipping egg whites, what?), it's not hard-just has extra steps! It's worth it, in my opinion-having whipped egg whites in a pancake batter really changes the texture of the pancake. I loved them.

This pancake recipe came with a strawberry coulis recipe to go on top. I decided to scrap it and use a tried and true raspberry syrup that I loved (and, ironically, went with the earlier version of lemon pancakes that I wasn't the biggest fan of.). It's a pretty simple recipe-put frozen raspberries in a pot with some sugar and lime juice concentrate, and let it boil and thicken, then strain out the raspberries to get a nice smooth syrup.





As A so aptly declared: 'tis good. Yes, yes it is.



Meyer lemon pancakes (recipe from Anne Burrell and foodnetwork.com)
2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 heaping tsp. baking powder
4 eggs, separated
1 heaping c. ricotta cheese
3/4 c. milk
2 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced

Mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the egg yolks, ricotta, milk and lemon zest and juice, and mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix well.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks using an electric mixer. Fold the egg whites into the rest of the batter. If you are making this for the next day, feel free to stop here and cover the bowl and refrigerate until the next morning. If not, continue forward.

Spray a griddle with nonstick spray or put a pat or two of butter down, and turn the heat to medium high. Test the readiness of the griddle by flicking a bit of water from your fingers; if it dances across the pan, it's hot enough. If it just sits there, wait! When the pan is ready, ladle the batter onto the griddle. Let it cook for about three minutes, or until bubbles pop through the batter. Once it bubbles, flip the pancake and cook for approximately three minutes or less on the other side. Drench pancakes in syrup and go to town. :)

Raspberry Syrup (recipe from Nantucket Recipes from the Fog Island Cafe, by Mark and Anne Dawson)

4 c. fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 c. sugar
2 T. frozen lime juice concentrate

Combine all ingredients in a pot and cook over a low heat, stirring often. Let the sauce cook until the berries are soft and the sauce is thick. This could take up to 20 minutes, but has for me sometimes taken a half hour.

Take the pot off the heat and strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer. Then refrigerate until you are ready to use it. This should get you roughly 1.5 cups of syrup.

Cider Donuts

Okay, kids. I promised.

Ah, cider donuts. Or, in this case, the ever so elusive cider donut.

Cider donuts remind me of college. About ten minutes down the road from us was this farmstand called Atkins. Oh, how we all loved Atkins. Sometimes our parents would send us care packages from there during finals. Sometimes we'd go there to wander. But always, always, we came out of there with an Atkins cider donut. This past fall, a friend of mine brought me a half dozen, which were promptly consumed (I actually don't think they made it past the next day, actually.). There's also Wilson Farm, a place I hold near and dear to my heart that also makes exceptional cider donuts, and sometimes on the weekend will actually set up a table and make fresh donuts to order-so for about a dollar or two you can eat a hot fresh donut. Heavenly.

For years I've wanted to make donuts. Seriously. Why I never tried before is beyond me-although I probably was worried about how much time it would take to make them. Up until about two years ago, I also didn't have a fryer. I know, I could have used a pot and a candy thermometer, but I never did. Ah well.




This weekend, I decided it was time to go forward and make the little buggers. I got myself some apple cider and set up the dough. I let it chill overnight and yesterday I got to work.

And that's when I realized why I had waited for so long. It is incredibly difficult to make an authentic looking donut. I tried with the first batch and the dough fried itself onto the bottom of my fry basket. The second go-around I just dropped them in the well and let them fry kind of like fritters. Cutting them was a whole other story-it was damn near impossible to get the dough to come out with my circle cutter, so much so that I just wound up dropping spoonfuls in. Some of them were slightly larger than I anticipated, making some donuts the size of my fist. An authentic looking donut these certainly weren't. I also made a mistake with one or two and pulled them out early and set them to dry on a paper-towel lined plate and found later that the inside was still raw, and oozed out. Sigh.



I did wind up with about eight donuts though, and am pleased to say that all hard work and oversized amounts aside, they were quite incredible. Much better hot and fresh, but still okay a day later (I just had one for dessert). With practice, I think these can get much better looking-but the taste is spot-on. Maybe not a Wilson's or an Atkins' cider donut, but pretty damn close.





Cider Donuts (recipe from The Phantom Gourmet)
4 c. flour
1 c. plus ½ c. sugar (separated)
2 tsp. plus 1 tsp ground cinnamon (separated)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 c. apple cider
¼ c. milk
2 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ c. (4 TB) butter, melted
Canola oil for frying


In a medium sized mixing bowl mix all of the dry ingredients together, save for ½ c. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon. In another bowl whisk the eggs, then add all of the remaining wet ingredients. Combine the wet and dry ingredients together and mix well to create a thick dough. Line a baking dish with parchment paper, and evenly spread the dough into the dish. Cover the pan and refrigerate overnight. Mix the remaining ½ cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon, and set aside for rolling the donuts after they are cooked.

When ready to cook the donuts, heat an inch or two of oil in a medium sized saucepan or a deep fryer to about 360F. Cut donuts using a knife or a circular cutter, or even scoop it using an ice cream scoop, and carefully place in the oil. Fry for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes per side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels, roll in cinnamon sugar, and eat up!

Potato Frittata

I found this recipe a few weeks ago, and have been itching for a good morning to try it for brunch. The problem lies in the fact that most mornings I'm not home to make brunch, let alone enjoy it. I leave for work every weekday morning before 7, on Saturdays I've been trying to get to the barn which means I need to leave the house no later than 10:30, and Sundays I'm working at the gym at 9. See what I mean? The only brunches I'll be having for awhile will be at places like The Restaurant or Ball Square Cafe. If I make it myself I'd be having brunch at 4 PM.



For some reason, I decided I had to have breakfast for dinner tonight. Again. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I knew immediately I had to make this particular dish(if for no other reason than I needed to use my potatoes and I needed to clear out some eggs from the fridge). I couldn't wait for this.







This meal is So.Perfect. It has all my favorite ingredients-eggs and potatoes and caramelized onions-and based on recommendations from the original recipe, I added 3 slices of crumbled, cooked bacon on top while it baked. It smells awesome in here. I'm pretty sure I heard the Comcast guy's stomach rumble while he fixed my cable connection-I almost felt bad.

(By the way, did you know that Comcast will come out for repairs on Sundays? It's amazing. No more need to take off a half day to wait for them to show! It has made my day that much better.)




This meal is simple, easy to throw together, and goes well with nearly everything. I'd say try a nice salad but quite honestly I was perfectly happy eating it on its own!


Potato Frittata (recipe from Joy the Baker)
5 Tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/8 inch thick (a mandolin is great for this if you have one)
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Salt and Pepper
7 large eggs
2 Tbsp diced flat-leaf parsley
2 Tbsp. diced chives
2 Tbsp. heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a skillet over medium high heat and put in 2 Tablespoons of the canola oil. Add the onions and cook until caramelized, roughly about 8 to 10 minutes. Make certain to not burn the onions and make sure the onions are all roughly a uniform brown color.

Toss the onions with the raw sliced potatoes in a roasting pan (I used a glass pyrex dish, in case you needed a reference!). Add 1 tablespoon of butter and the remaining 3 Tablespoons of oil and toss together in the pan. Season generously with salt and pepper. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, and then set the potatoes aside to cool for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 350 degrees F.

Before the potatoes are done, whisk the eggs, herbs and cream together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium high heat. Grease the skillet with the remaining 2 Tablespoons of melted butter. Add the cooked potatoes to the pan, and combine with the egg mixture. Cover the skillet with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more. (**I adapted this, because although I do have a cast-iron skillet, I also have a glass-top stove, which means many cast-iron skillets are a no-no. I adapted this by using a pyrex glass pie pan instead, and this worked just fine. Whatever you have will be fine as well-no need to go out and get a cast-iron skillet for this-although I will say that I think everyone should have cast-iron in the kitchen somewhere!)

Enjoy for Sunday dinner, Monday breakfast, or Tuesday lunch. Heck, enjoy it for all three!