Breakfast Anytime

So it is common knowledge to anyone that knows me that I am not a morning person. Mornings suck. This being said, I love breakfast food. I will make it any time of day and have even hosted breakfast for dinner parties. They are killer and I highly recommend giving breakfast for dinner a try. It used to drive my mother crazy that I never eat breakfast in the morning so the first part of this post goes out to her. The second part of this post is a riff on a breakfast dish that I serve as a dessert at a breakfast for dinner meal. I hope you dig them.

            Since I have moved to Victoria BC, I have been asked by pretty much everyone that I know who doesn’t live here if I have been converted into a granola munching hippy. As for the hippy part, I still bathe daily, I have never been the biggest Phish fan in the world, and it seems I can’t afford love even if it is free. So, the hippy part is out. The granola part however I am digging right now. Dead easy to make and really tasty I have played with this recipe until it fit my taste. It is one of those recipes that you can remove certain ingredients or add others to tailor it to fit what you like. This is the one I like.

Granola to the tune of   “In The Meantime” by Spacehog.

3 cups rolled oats

2 apples grated

½ cup wheat germ

½ cup honey

½ cup water

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

½ cup shredded coconut

½ cup chopped almonds

½ cup dried cranberries

-Preheat oven to 325 and grease a sheet pan

-In a sauce pan combine honey and water and bring to a boil. Whisk the snot out of them to combine completely. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and set aside.

-Mix the rest of the ingredients except the cranberries in a large bowl and then add the liquid and stir.

-Spread evenly on the sheet pan and pop in the oven for about 45 minutes stirring every once and a while until golden brown

-Let cool and then add your Cranberries. Toss into a airtight container and store in the fridge. It’ll keep for about 2 weeks.

-Throw some into yogurt for a quick snack and we are done.

            Now on to the sweet stuff, I am talking French toast. This recipe comes from two things that I love: fried bread and Bailey’s Irish cream. I serve it as a dessert or as part of a late brunch. When you eat it is up to you but it is awesome any time.

Bailey’s French Toast to the tune of “Howling for You” by The Black Keys

The toast part

8 slices of good French bread

3 eggs beaten

1 tbsp granulated sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream

1 tbsp butter

-whisk eggs, sugar, vanilla, and Bailey’s together in a mixing bowl

-in a large frying pan melt butter over medium heat. Dunk the slices of bread into the mixture and then place in the pan. Fry until golden brown and then flip and fry until golden brown on the other side. Repeat the process with all of the slices and you are good to go. Top with the whipped cream that is up next.

Bailey’s Whipped cream

 1 cup whipping cream

1 tbsp super fine sugar

3 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream

-beat all the ingredients together until stiff peaks form. Spoon onto the toast and you are set. Enjoy.