Banana-Apple Buckwheat Muffins

Weekend breakfasts are wonderful! I love taking my time in the kitchen cooking up some bacon and fried eggs, an omelet or the occasional batch of pancakes, but I am always on the hunt for good weekday breakfast recipes. Because I have to be at work at the bright and early hour of 7 AM, I don't have time or energy in the morning for a long leisurely breakfast, and even cooking something quick like eggs turns me off because of the dishes it dirties cooking them. These banana-apple buckwheat muffins are a perfect solution. They can be made a couple of days in advance, they are healthier than regular muffins as they are pretty low in sugar (and the sugar comes from natural sources- honey, banana and apple), and to top it off, they are very tasty! This is my first time cooking with buckwheat flour, but it definitely won't be my last. It's a great source of protein and is naturally gluten-free!


Banana-Apple Buckwheat Muffins
Makes 4 Muffins

Ingredients:
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp coarse salt
2 large eggs
1/2 mashed banana
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup sweet apple finely diced (honeycrisp or pink lady would work well)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a muffin tin, place 4 baking cups.
2. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt to a bowl and whisk together. In another bowl, mix together the eggs, banana, and honey. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together. Add the apples and walnuts, and fold in.
3. Split the batter between the 4 baking cups. Fill the empty cups with water. (This will help the muffins to bake evenly.)
4. Bake for about 30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Remove from the muffin tin and let cool on a rack.

Source: Whole Living, January/February 2013

Here are some other recipes using buckwheat flour that I've come across in my search so far that I'm itching to try:

Chocolate Buckwheat Cake (David Lebovitz)
Vegan and Gluten-Free Vanilla Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes (Oh She Glows)
Yeasted Buckwheat Pancakes (Not Without Salt)
Buckwheat Crepes (Gluten-Free Girl)

Potato Frittata with Feta and Scallions

Whelp, remember when I said that I was hoping for a snowy winter?  Looks like I got my wish, plus some!  As I'm sure everybody know, Connecticut got a gigantic storm over the weekend, starting Friday morning, and ending Saturday morning.  We got about 3 feet of snow! That's the most I've ever seen in one shot. I couldn't even see my car when the storm was done, and we were stranded in our apartment for a few days. Luckily we never lost power, and so we were able to stay inside all warm and cozy, with an excuse to be totally lazy. We did get outside and shovel, which was extremely exhausting, and my arms feel dead now because of it, but other than that, this was the perfect time to just relax. As I am a hoarder of food, we had no problem keeping ourselves well-fed. We even decided to risk salmonella poisoning, and made a batch of cookie dough and no cookies. Here's to snow!

So this is something I cooked last week before the blizzard hit. It's the second recipe I've made from Deb Perelman's wonderful cookbook, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. (The other was her flat-roasted chicken with tiny potatoes- something I will be making again and I will make sure I share it with you were when I do.) Her blog is one of the best out there, and I urge you to check it out! Ron got me her cookbook for Christmas, and over vacation I read the entire thing, front to back. I am now slowly working my way through the archives of her blog. I love her writing, and reading both the cookbook and her blog make me feel like I'm sitting right there with her in her tiny kitchen listening to a good friend tell me a story.

I made this frittata for dinner and Ron and I devoured it! I busted out my cast-iron skillet to cook this, and as I did, I resolved to not fear this skillet. I don't know why, but cooking with cast-iron really intimidates me. I decided that I have to get over this once and for all, especially since this frittata turned out so beautifully in it. This frittata reminds me of another dish I love, Ina Garten's Omelet for Two, from her cookbook Barefoot Contessa at Home. I love that recipe and that cookbook. I don't think I've ever made an Ina Garten recipe that I've disliked! While that omelet (which really is more of a fritatta also), uses cheddar cheese and diced potatoes, this one uses feta cheese and sliced potatoes. Other than that they are very similar and are both awesome! I'll post that recipe soon.

Potato Frittata with Feta and Scallions
Serves 4 (as a dinner) or 6-8 as a breakfast

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 3/4 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/4-1/2-inch slices, and then into half-circles
1/2 tsp table salt, plus more for roasting potatoes
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 pound bacon, thick-cut, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 bunch (3-4) scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
2/3 cup (3 oz) crumbled feta cheese
6 large eggs
2 Tbsp milk or cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a baking sheet or roasting pan with 1-2 Tbsp of oil. Place the potatoes, on the pan, and season with salt and pepper. (They do not all have to be in one layer). Roast about 30 minutes until the potatoes are mostly cooked through, tossing halfway. Remove from oven, and let cool down a bit.
2. Place a cast-iron or other 9-inch oven-proof skillet over medium heat, and cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels. Add the remainder of the oil to the skillet with the bacon drippings (1 Tbsp), and reheat on medium. Make sure you swirl the oil and drippings around in the skillet to coat the sides of the pan.
3. Place the potatoes in the skillet, browned side up. Then sprinkle on the bacon, scallions and feta.
4. Whisk together your eggs and milk, adding 1/2 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour over the potatoes.
5. Cover your skillet with aluminum foil, and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil, and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the eggs are set in the center, and the edges have puffed up.

Source: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

Sweet Potato Latkes

After eating the same thing for dinner three nights in a row, I really needed a change. Since I've been trying to use up what is in my pantry, and Ron has been working the last three nights, I ended up making very simple cheese and jalapeño quesadillas with rice and beans for myself for the past few nights. Very yummy, but even quesadillas get old after having the same kind three days in a row, I suppose.

So for this dinner I needed something vastly different using ingredients I had in the pantry. I had a few sweet potatoes that I really wanted to use, and so after searching through some of my favorite blogs for ideas, I came upon these sweet potato latkes on Eat, Live, Run. Just a few staple ingredients, a little mixing together, a little frying, and bam, done. I don't generally like to fry things in my kitchen, but because you only need a little bit of oil for these, that wasn't a problem. I ate them with a little bit of pure maple syrup on top and they were so satisfying! I guess you probably would normally serve these as breakfast or as a side dish to a meal, but since it was just me, I decided to just make these my main dish and eat a simple salad on the side. I will definitely be making these again! I also would love to experiment with these a bit too- I'm thinking chipotle sweet potato latkes... And I also really need to make traditional potato latkes sometime as well.

Sweet Potato Latkes

Makes about 8 latkes

Inredients:

2 small to medium sweet potatoes, peeled and shredded

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Canola oil, for frying

Maple syrup, optional

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the shredded potatoes, eggs, flour, salt and cinnamon. 

2. Add about a tbsp of canola oil to a large skillet, and heat over medium-high heat.  When hot, using wet hands, form your latkes, and place in skillet.  (This will probably take you two batches- four latkes per batch). Fry about 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown.  Repeat with remaining latkes.

3. Serve warm. Drizzle with maple syrup if desired!

Source: Eat, Live, Run

Migas

So I've been making a lot of enchiladas lately (if two types in two weeks equals a lot that is), and so I had some leftover corn tortillas that were about to go to waste.  I really hate to waste food, and so I decided I should make something with them... there weren't enough for more enchiladas, and so the second thought that came to mind was to make migas- something I've been wanting to try to make forever!  I went with a Tex-Mex version which traditionally is pretty much eggs scrambled with corn tortillas, cheese, chiles, salsa, and some other ingredients- like cilantro, for example, and is traditionally a breakfast dish.  After searching for a good recipe to try, I came upon one on Chaos in the Kitchen that was linked through Tastespotting (if you haven't been to this website I highly recommend it- fair warning though- it will make you VERY hungry!).  This was excellent and just what I was craving!

Migas

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp oil

2 cups corn tortilla chips or chopped corn tortillas

1 bunch green onions (green and white parts) or 1/2 onion, diced

2 jalapenos, diced (can be de-seeded, depending on how spicy you like your food)

2 oz melting cheese, shredded (i.e. Cheddar, Colby, or Jack)

1 cup fresh salsa 

1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl combine eggs and milk, beat lightly with a fork.

2. Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat.

3. Fry tortillas in oil until crisp and starting to brown.  Add onions and jalapenos.  Saute until soft.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Pour egg mixture into the pan with tortillas and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5. Stir eggs gently until soft-set.  Sprinkle with cheese and stir to combine. 

6. Make a well in the center of the skillet and add salsa.

7. Allow salsa to warm up in the center of the skillet for a minute before gently stirring in the egg mixture.

8. Taste, and season with salt and pepper to your liking.  Turn off the heat and stir in fresh cilantro.

9. Serve immediately.

Source: Chaos in the Kitchen

Notes:  

• I didn't have any fresh salsa or ingredients to make fresh salsa in my apartment, so I used a generic salsa that I had in the fridge, and it was good, but not quite as good as I imagine it would be with fresh salsa.  Next time I make this I will definitely be making fresh salsa to stir in!  I imagine that red and green salsa would be equally delicious, but  I'm leaning toward Tomatillo salsa for my next batch.  
• When crisping up the corn tortillas I actually ended up adding a little more oil than it called for, as the tortillas began sticking a bit.  I'm not sure whether this was due to the size of the skillet that I used (12.5 inch), but in any case, I wouldn't worry if you need to add a little more oil.  Even though mine stuck a bit, they didn't end up burning.