Super Fine Muesli

Shout out to Catherine and Jess, homegirlz supreme. Let's get down girls.

Sensible breakfast love all up in here... cuz sometimes bitches be cray.

Bachelor life, trying to be sincere and sensible in my efforts to eat minimally processed, fresh, delicious food that fits reasonably into a super busy day-to-day, fly by the seat of my pants lifestyle. Swiss muesli changed my life. Requires no cooking and it's flexible, like a dream come true.

Just like Heidi Swanson. Who doesn't LOVE that dreamgirl? Her cookbooks have been inspiring me to make delicious food - beautiful and simple - since '03. Super fly classy lady. A regular hott tottie.

Nothin' but love.

Muesli

My recipe is modified from the super fine recipe in Heidi's cookbook.

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup dried cherries/golden raisins/black raisins/get cray
• 1/4 tsp fine pink sea salt
• Milk or "milk" (I like to use unsweetened almond milk)
• Apple butter or maple syrup to taste

Combine oats, almonds, cherries, and sea salt in a large mason jar. Have a proper fitting lid on hand if you're tryin' to act like a baller.

To prepare one serving, add 1/2 cup of the mixture and 1/4 cup milk/"milk" to an appropriately sized mason jar, with dat sugar (apple butter).

Chill in fridge, at least one hour, preferably overnight. 

Get some.

 white sand beaches and fly mamas
<3

ballin, shot callin' errday <3

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!

Pizza Night

Hold on to your butts! I was so inspired by pizza night that I started a blog! This pizza is so dang delicious, your friends might think you're trying to seduce them. Seriously. It's like handing out a slice of heaven.
One of my dinner guests said this pizza reminded him of Cinnamon Toast Crunch! with bacon. That may be one of the best compliments ever.

Hand-tossed dough topped with homemade Fuji apple butter, fontina cheese, sliced apples & red onions.

Why is this pizza so dang delicious (SDD)? First of all, the combination of apple butter, bacon, fontina cheese, more apples & red onions is brilliant. Furthermore, when you combine all these flavors on top of a cold-fermented, hand-tossed crust, and cook it in a cast iron skillet, the result truly is a party in your tummy. I should have taken more pictures.

The most important advice I can give when making this pizza is to use homemade apple butter. Even if you're not a fan of apple butter. Until recently, that super smooth brown paste never appealed to me. I would always try to be a good sport about it, but never understood why anyone would choose apple butter over jam or preserves or maple syrup. Last month, during my mom's visit to Florida, I was introduced to the magic that is homemade apple butter. Thank you, Mom! When you make it yourself, you can use your favorite kind of apple and you control how much sugar is added. Woohoo! Here is the recipe I use, from the MCAS Beaufort Federal Credit Union Community Cookbook, with my own modifications:

Apple Butter

• 6 lbs. peeled and cored apples
• 1.5 - 2 cups of demerara sugar
• 2 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp grated nutmeg

It is best to process the apples into small pieces before adding them to the slow cooker. You can chop them into small pieces (1/4") by hand or you can use a food processor to accomplish the same effect. No big deal if there are a few big pieces here and there. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until apples are completely coated. Transfer mixture into a slow cooker.

Cook at low temperature for 10-12 hours, until mixture is thick, stirring occasionally. Alternatively, you can cook the apples on high for 8 hours, but you have to stir more frequently.

When done, place apple butter into hot canning jars and seal with hot seals and lids. Process sealed jars in almost boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Place sealed jars in sink full of room temperature water for 10 minutes. Once the lids pop, let the jars cool completely before storing.

Please refrigerate after opening.

I can't stop making it, and my friends can't stop eating it.

SDD on pizza, toast, english muffins, pancakes, vanilla ice cream, in your oatmeal, in your smoothie, on a spoon, etc. etc.