Sunday, December 26, 2010

I heart Sunday Brunch

I love Sunday brunch so much I want to marry it. I mean, if we're talking about Sunday brunch with truly adorable friends, homemade cornbread, eggs from the farm, my favorite kale salad, pork sausage, homemade apple butter, and maple syrup, well...


Tell me you're not kind of falling in love right now.

If I remember correctly, these eggs were fried in bacon fat. Saving bacon fat has been a new thing for me, and I'm really happy about it. When I ran out of olive oil for a whole week, bacon fat saved the goddamn day, not to mention that it's insanely delicious. If you're gonna eat bacon, you damn well better save your bacon fat.

Have I mentioned that I work at a beautiful organic farm in town? Dang, I love that place so much. At the farm we grow some incredibly delicious kale. In fact, the following recipe, for the kale salad shown above, was given to me by one of our customers when I was a cashier at the farm stand back in 2004.

Kale Salad
  • 1 bunch of kale
  • 1/4 cup roasted pine nuts*
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries or golden raisins
  • 1 lemon, squeezed (you may only need half, depending on the size of your lemon)
  • 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
Allow the cranberries to sit in warm water for approximately 10 minutes. Rinse the kale and remove the stems. Layer and roll kale into easy-to-manage roll-up. Slice into ribbons. Drain the water from the cranberries and add to kale. Add salt, lemon juice, and olive oil. Massage the dressing into the kale until it is well coated. Let sit for 10-20 minutes.
Top with pine nuts and drizzle with more olive oil.
*I roast my pine nuts in 350 degree toaster oven, for about 10 minutes.

The cornbread is also worth mentioning... the cornbread was covered in real butter, apple butter, and maple syrup. Out of control. My cornbread recipe came from this book.

Brunch is a leisurely event in my house - in other words, it takes forever for me to get it going. We were halfway starving while my friend gave me a sneak-peak preview of a new book being released by the local Gold Lamé Bandits - absolutely stunning. We needed to have breakfast before brunch: peanut apple butter-tastic oatmeal. I used whole oat groats, which take so much longer to cook compared to rolled oats, but are so worth it. Totally the bees knees.

Peanut Apple Butter-tastic Oatmeal
  • Whole oats groats*
  • Your favorite peanut butter (to taste)
  • Homemade apple butter (to taste)
  • Suggested: Organic raisins, sliced fruit, nuts.
  • Your favorite milk (I used raw cow's milk, milked 2 days before!)
Combine. Enjoy. Smile.
*I cooked my oats according to the directions on the bulk container at the grocery store. I forgot to write them down. Details to come.

Sunday brunch with neighbors and friends should be an institution, no matter where you are. Viva community Sunday brunch!

Passing Moons

Were you up at 3am on the 20th for the full moon Winter Solstice lunar eclipse? Me too!! So dang out of control. "The light comes from all the sunsets and sunrises, seen from a lunar perspective around the edges of a silhouetted Earth." -apod.nasa.gov

What a gem.
This actually happened.

Happy (belated) Winter Solstice y'all! Hooray for longer days to come! More time for food mavens to cook AND blog. I hope all of you lovely stars are shining bright out there! Shining bright with love, breaking bread and celebrating joyfully with your family, friends, and neighbors. I wish for your 2011 to be more delicious than 2010. Yeah, you heard me. Make it happen!