Breakfast Done Yesterday

Breakfast is by far the hardest meal for me to turn out in real time.  I am NOT a morning person, and the feral monsters that emerge from my children's bedrooms at 7 am every day do not morph into pleasant little people until after they've been fed and watered.  Every minute counts, and saving even a few minutes saves a lot of my sanity.

Homemade frozen pancakes and cereal are great for the kiddos, but I like something a with a little more staying power for myself.  Neither the Morning Power Drink nor Breakfast Muesli to Go can be frozen really well, but they can be made in large batches (on Sunday night, say) and kept for a week or so in the fridge to cut a snooze-button's worth of time off your breakfast prep.

Morning Power Drink (makes 6 servings)

2 1/4 cup milk
2 1/4 cup orange juice
3 6-oz. yogurt cups (any flavor, or plain)
3 bananas
1 cup soy protein powder or non-fat dry milk powder
Optional: 3 tbsp flaxmeal

Blend all the ingredients together and refrigerate.

Breakfast Muesli To Go (makes 5 servings)

5 cups rolled oats
1 32-oz. tub low-fat plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups low-fat milk
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
5 cups assorted berries (fresh or frozen)
Optional: 1 banana, apple or kiwi per serving

Stir together the oats, yogurt, milk, honey or maple syrup and berries.  Divide into 5 sealable containers.  If desired, slice a piece of fresh fruit just before serving and stir it into one serving of the muesli.

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Yeast-raised vs. quick-raised pancakes

Pancakes are one of the major food groups at our house.  I have got more ways to make ‘em than you can shake a stick at, but it boils down to two main types: quick-raised and yeast-raised.  Both can be prepped the night before for a quick breakfast or frozen in their prepped state.  You can freeze them fully-cooked, too, for feeding instant breakfast to ravenous toddler beasts (Little Mister eats them fully frozen...chacun à son goût). 

The basic quick-raised recipe is from Better Homes & Gardens.  

Buttermilk Pancakes

Makes 10 4” pancakes

1 cup flour (white, whole wheat or half and half)

¼ cup buttermilk powder

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 cup water

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl (or freezer bag) and whisk wet ingredients in another bowl (or freezer bag).  Cover bowls and put in fridge for next-day use, freeze bags for later use, or mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients for immediate use.  Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto hot greased or non-stick griddle.  Cook on a griddle over medium heat for 2-3 minutes per side.

Yeast-raised pancakes (aka Flannel Cakes)
Makes 10 4" pancakes

1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tsp yeast
1 2/3 cup flour
pinch of salt

Whisk egg and milk together the night before you want to make pancakes.  Stir in yeast, flour and salt to form a thick batter.  (For prep-ahead freezing, put dry ingredients in one container and wet ingredients in another to freeze.  Thaw and mix together the night before cooking.)  Cover with a kitchen towel and let stand overnight.  You can hurry up the process by putting the bowl on a heating pad for a couple of hours, but the longer the batter stands, the more flavorful the pancakes will be. 

In the morning, stir down the batter.  The batter will be very thick and spoonable but not pourable.  Use a 1/4 cup measure to spoon out pancakes onto preheated greased or non-stick griddle.  Cook on medium heat 2-3 minutes per side.

Sweet Variations

Almond: add ½ tsp almond extract

Strawberry: add 1 tsp strawberry extract and 1 cup fresh or frozen sliced strawbs

Blueberry: add 1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries and ½ tsp cardamom

Citrus: add 1 tsp grated citrus zest

Cinnamon: add 1 tsp cinnamon

Honey: use 1 tbsp honey instead of sugar (or add to yeast-raised batter)


Maple: use 1 tbsp maple syrup instead of sugar (or add to yeast-raised batter)

Banana: mash 1 ripe banana and add to wet ingredients, add ½ tsp nutmeg

Chocolate (quick-raised): Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder, increase vanilla to 1 tbsp, increase sugar to 3 tbsp, increase oil to 3 tbsp

Peanut butter: Add 1/2 cup peanut butter to wet ingredients

Apple: add 1 cup chopped apple and 1 tsp apple pie spice

Pumpkin: add 1/2 cup pumpkin puree and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Heart-healthy: use whole wheat flour, add 1/4 cup ground flaxseed and 1/4 cup oatmeal

Grape (quick-raised): omit buttermilk powder, increase baking powder to 2 tsp and use 1 cup grape juice instead of water, optionally add a drop of red and blue food coloring

Cranberry: plump 1 cup dried cranberries in a few tablespoons of orange juice or orange liqueur (zap it for 10 seconds in the microwave to speed things up) and add to batter, add 1/4 tsp almond extract

Savory Variations

Parmesan-pepper: omit sugar and vanilla for quick-raised, add 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese and 1 tsp black pepper

Savory herb: omit sugar and vanilla for quick-raised, add 2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs

Saffron: omit sugar and vanilla for quick-raised, crumble a pinch of saffron into the liquid in the recipe and let stand for 5 minutes before adding to the mix

Cheddar-bacon: omit sugar and vanilla for quick-raised, use 2 tbsp melted bacon fat or sausage drippings instead of oil, add 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Tomato-basil: omit vanilla for quick-raised, reduce water to 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp (or reduce milk to 1 cup + 1 tbsp for yeast-raised), add 1/4 cup tomato sauce and 2 tbsp minced basil 

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Egg Substitutes & Olive Oil Cake

Thanks to the Midwest Icepocalypse plus a "light" snow that's put 5" on my driveway, I am snowed in and out of eggs.  A few moments on the Googles, however, offered a potential baking solution to the no-egg situation using ingredients I have, ground flaxseed and water, with the promise of "light, fluffy cakes!!" 

I decided to test this proposed mixture on Giada deLaurentiis' Almond Citrus Olive Oil Cake since I am also nearly out of butter (I'm also subbing dried fruit for almonds because...surprise!...I'm out of those too).  The use of flaxseed instead of eggs, in combination with the olive oil, should make this a fairly heart-healthy cake as well...apropos since today is Go Red For Women Day.  Serendipity! 

The results are mixed...it's a good moist cake with a nutty, not-oversweet taste, but not surprisingly the slice doesn't hold together well.  The cake broke slightly in turning it out, so it looks rather "rustic" LOL  Probably baking in a springform pan for a few minutes past the toothpick-comes-out-dry stage would solve that problem.  In any case, the two-year-old taste tester scarfed it down, so it's a winner in spite of the aesthetic shortcomings.

Finished product:

The extra bonus of this recipe is using my frozen stash of citrus zest (a prep-ahead freezer staple) and my husband's stash of ground flax.  And the double-extra bonus...the accompanying compote recipe uses orange blossom water,one of those ingredients that I bought because I needed 2 tbsp for a recipe and am now constantly on the lookout for ways to use it up.  Thanks to my on-hand ingredients, this cake has literally taken less than 10 minutes to whip up.

  So here is my egg-less version of Giada's cake...

Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons ground flax
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon water
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted, coarsely crumbled

Citrus Compote:

• 2 tablespoons grated orange peel
• 3/4 teaspoon orange blossom water, optional
• 3 oranges, segmented
• 2 pink grapefruits, segmented

To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8-inch-diameter cake pan. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, eggs, and zests in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the milk. Gradually beat in the oil. Add the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in the almonds. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Place cake pan on baking pan to collect any possible spills. Bake until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool for 15 minutes. Remove cake and place on serving platter, top side up. Sift powdered sugar over the cake.


To make the citrus compote: Stir the orange peel, blossom water, and 2 tablespoons of accumulated juices from the segmented fruit in a small bowl to blend. Arrange the orange and grapefruit segments decoratively in a wide shallow bowl. Pour the blossom water mixture over. Cover and let stand 15 minutes for the flavors to blend.

The cake after the liquid combination step:

In the oven:

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