Dippy Overnight Oats

One of the best ways to save money is to never waste food. It's also good karma. My (temporary?) profession working in a couple of restaurants exposes me to a lot of food wasting. I can't understand why people don't want to take their leftovers home. Is it not "classy"? You know you'll be hungry again in a couple hours. At least, I usually am.

Anyways, I bought this peanut butter at the dollar store, because it was $1.50 for 500g, and that's really cheap. I tried to find the brand on the internet but it doesn't seem to exist. But it's called Dippy and there's a cute little elephant on the label and it says it's a product of India. I got down to the bottom of the jar and needed a way to use up the last extra bits of peanut butter. Enter: overnight oats.

Dippy Overnight Oats (serves 1)

1 almost-empty peanut butter jar
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup almond milk
1/4 cup water
dash of cinnamon
sweetener, to taste

Stir all ingredients together in the peanut butter jar and stick it in the fridge before you go to sleep. Wake up, grab a spoon, and enjoy! It may look a little gross, but it is tasty and refreshing because it's cold. And now you have a super-clean peanut butter jar that's ready to be recycled.

Blueberry Orange Scones

I get the urge to bake the way some people get the urge to lace up their sneakers and go for a run or pop into the nearest cafe for a steaming cup of coffee.  That's why on a recent Saturday morning I rolled out of bed - hair untamed, make-up unapplied - and began making scones in my pajamas.

Now I'd be lying if I said I hadn't had visions of baked goods dancing through my head since the beginning of the week.  But there's nothing like starting out a weekend with warm, doughy goodness straight from the oven.  It's a small miracle that I had the self-restraint to stay away from the oven that long.

These blueberry-orange scones aren't like the scones I've encountered before (but maybe that's because I was spoiled by having my first-ever scone in Dublin).  But that's fine by me, since these scones remind me of one giant, albeit oddly shaped, muffin top.  They're very moist, so moist, in fact, that you don't even need to butter then (that being said, everything really is better with butter).

Blueberry Orange Scones (yields 8)
Adapted from Food Network

For scones:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into chunks
1 cup milk, plus extra for brushing scones
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

For glaze:
1/2 cup orange juice, freshly-squeezed
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl.  With two forks (or a pastry cutter), cut butter into the mixture of dry ingredients, until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in milk and mix until just incorporated.  Fold blueberries into the batter; be careful not to crush them, or you will have purple scones.

Press out dough on a lightly floured surface and cut into eight equally sized triangles.  Place dough on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

While scones are baking, prepare the glaze.  Mix orange juice and confectioner's sugar in a microwave-safe bowl until well-combined.  Stir in zest and butter, and then microwave  the mixture for 30 seconds.  Whisk glazes to remove any lumps, then brush over the slighty cooled scones.  Let the glaze sit for a minute, then serve and devour scones.

Banana-Nut Waffles

Because of late-night fun times, I did not want to get out of bed on Saturday morning. So instead of sucking it up, I started to imagine what the best hangover cure would be. It involved a facial, because I always fall asleep in my makeup, and a foot massage, because my shoes hurt my feet. Then someone would bring me coffee in an obscenely large mug, and only then would I be up and at 'em.

Unfortunately, I do not have a team of personal estheticians at my disposal, so I thought of the best hangover cure that's also remotely possible: waffles! I also like saying, "I'm making waffles!" like the donkey in Shrek. I had to dig my waffle iron out of the basement and spend a significant amount of time cleaning it (there are spiders in my basement), but it was totally worth it.

This batter comes together quickly and it tastes like dessert. I have yet to learn exactly how much batter to put on a waffle iron, so mine always come out a bit wonky. I guess it just takes practice.

Banana-Nut Waffles (makes 14 waffles)
Adapted from Veganomicon

1 3/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 very ripe bananas
3 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons agave syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup walnuts
nonstick cooking spray
Strawberries (for garnish)

Preheat your waffle iron. Pour milk, water, and vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, mash the banana and stir in the milk mixture, oil, syrup, and vanilla.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg and mix with a fork until just combined. Finely chop nuts (I used a food processor) and fold into the batter.

Spray your waffle iron with nonstick spray, pour on some batter, and cook waffles the way your waffle-iron manual tells you to.

Serve with lots of strawberries and extra agave, and don't forget the coffee.

It's the friendship mug! ha ha.

Cottage Cheese & Apple Pancakes

I'm a firm believer in the fact that breakfast doesn't have to be a mornings-only event.  Give me eggs, pancakes, waffles, and I will eat them - anytime.

Before leaving for work one afternoon (yes, afternoon - I work bizarre hours),  I decided that I wanted pancakes for lunch.  But not just run-of-the-mill buttermilk variety.  I wanted a hearty pancake that was still simple to make.

The addition of cottage cheese and grated apple to pancake batter created a whole new species of pancake.  These have a chewier texture, which in my opinion makes for a much more satisfying meal, and a slightly tangy flavor.  Topped with vanilla yogurt, they made for a satisfying light meal, although I also suspect they'd be delicious with maple syrup or powdered sugar.

Grating time aside, these guys are quick to make and equally quick to eat (unless you know how to exercise self-restraint; I don't).  The batter can be kept refrigerated for a couple of days.  I didn't feel like breaking out the skillet twice in a span of two days, so I made all my pancakes in one go, and I can assure you they are just as tasty reheated the next day.

Cottage Cheese & Apple Pancakes (serves 4)
Adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook

4 eggs, separated
1 cup cottage cheese
2 granny smith apples, grated
3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
butter, for frying
maple syrup or yogurt, for topping

Beat the egg whites until stiff.  In a separate bowl, combine all ingredients except for toppings and butter.  Mix well, then fold in egg whites.

Heat butter in a skillet  When hot, spoon in batter.  Fry on both sides until lightly browned and firm.  Serve immediately with your choice of topping (although they're still quite tasty the next day reheated).

Morning Glory Muffins

Muffins have held a special place in my heart ever since I saw the Seinfeld episode where Kramer tries to give away  muffin stumps to the homeless after Mr. Lipman opens "Top of the Muffin to You!"  Now, as a lover of all carbs, it's a travesty in my mind to let a perfectly good muffin stump go to waste - especially if it's from a Morning Glory Muffin.

These muffins are exceedingly moist and tender, and the crunch of the walnuts gives a delicious contrast to its cake-like texture.  Even better, with the combination of carrot, walnut, and raisins, Morning Glory Muffins are as close as you'll come to eating carrot cake for breakfast without eating the cake itself (although I do suspect these babies would be delicious with a dollop of cream cheese frosting).

My version of Morning Glory Muffins includes apple, carrot, coconut, raisins, and walnuts.  Feel free to omit or swap ingredients according to your taste.  Substituting part of the regular flour for whole wheat in the recipe would make a heartier version of this muffin.  I ended up replacing part of the oil for applesauce to make a slightly "healthier" a.k.a. less fatty muffin, since I knew I would end up scarfing them down.

 

Morning Glory Muffins (yields 12)

Adapted from Whole Foods

1 1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup canola oil (I ended up using 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1/3 cup canola oil)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Fuji apple, cored, peeled, and diced

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dried, flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix together flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.  Break up any lumps of brown sugar.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, and vanilla (and applesauce, if you're using it).  Stir into flour mixture until just combined.  Stir in apple, raisins, carrots, walnuts, and 1/4 cup of the coconut  until combined.

Spoon batter into a muffin tin lined that is lightly greased or lined with paper wrappers.  Each cup should be about 2/3 full.  Top with remaining coconut and bake for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through.