My mom used to make breakfast for dinner every Thursday night when I was growing up and I always looked forward to it. Really, is there anything better than a big plate full of cheesy eggs, pancakes with melted butter and maple syrup, and fruit salad? I would love to continue this tradition with Apolinaras, but unfortunately, he isn’t a fan. I think it’s partly because he actually gets up early enough to make eggs every morning, while I prefer to savor every last minute of sleep and usually just have cereal. I end up getting my egg fix on weekends or nights when I’m on my own for dinner. It’s so easy to whip up a broccoli cheddar omelet with whole wheat toast and turkey bacon for one – yum!

I made a frittata the other weekend with a fajita twist. It contained chicken strips seasoned with cumin, ancho chile powder, and oregano, and plenty of browned onions, bell peppers, and cheddar cheese. I topped the frittata wedges with a fun guacamole starring sun dried tomatoes. Mmm, it was the perfect breakfast! So, you can imagine my surprise when I saw Apolinaras warm up a leftover piece up for dinner one night. I had to call him out on it – he was enjoying breakfast for dinner! He tried to convince me that this frittata wasn’t just for breakfast and should be enjoyed anytime, to which I just smiled and nodded – I will convert him yet!

Fajita Frittata
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Fajita Frittata:
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized strips
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 yellow onion, cut into long strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into long strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into long strips
10 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Guacamole with Sun Dried Tomatoes:
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and mashed
Juice of half a lime
1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Mix cumin, ancho chile powder, oregano, and salt in a small bowl and rub spice mixture evenly onto chicken strips. Heat canola oil over medium heat in a 10-inch oven-proof nonstick skillet and sauté chicken for 5 minutes or until cooked through and no longer pink in the center. Put chicken in a bowl and add onion and bell peppers to the skillet. Saute 15 minutes or until veggies are tender and browned. Remove from heat and stir in chicken breast strips.

Meanwhile, whisk eggs, milk, and salt together in a large bowl until frothy. Stir in cheddar cheese and pour egg mixture into the pan over the other ingredients and bake at 350˚F for 30 to 35 minutes or until eggs are set.

Meanwhile, make guacamole by mixing mashed avocado, lime juice, sun dried tomatoes, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut frittata into wedges and top evenly with guacamole. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 339 calories, 22.4g fat, 3.4g fiber, 26.2g protein per serving
Cost: $1.47 per serving

My good friend Renee got me a gorgeous cookbook for Christmas called Sarabeth’s Bakery. Have you heard of it? It’s filled with recipes for sophisticated bakery treats and I spent an entire evening drooling over all the lovely step by step photos. It was actually this book that inspired my resolution this year to become a master at whipping up fancy breads and pastries.

I was originally planning on baking the croissants first, but spontaneously decided to make the challah bread this weekend instead, mainly because I was in the mood for some French toast! I don’t have much bread baking experience (although our class at King Arthur Flour was really helpful!), but the recipe in the book was really detailed and easy to follow and my challah turned out perfectly! I was so proud. This is my favorite shot because it looks just like the one in the book – yay!

The next day I turned most of the loaf into classic French toast, but of course I couldn’t resist coming up with a fun winter twist. I topped it with a compote of pomegranate arils, dried cranberries, clementine juice, and a touch of brown sugar. I also made a lovely clementine syrup. I really think one of my favorite parts of winter is that clementines are in season. They are one of my very favorite snacks and I probably average at least three a day! I think people usually boil the juice down with sugar to make a fruit syrup, but I was feeling lazy and only had a few clementines left, so instead I just stuck a bit of zest in some maple syrup and let is seep for awhile. Then I strained it out – success, the perfect clementine syrup!

French Toast with Pomegranate Cranberry Compote and Clementine Syrup
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Clementine Syrup:
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
Zest of 1 clementine (1 teaspoon)

Pomegranate Cranberry Compote:
1 1/2 cups fresh pomegranate arils (from 1 large pomegranate)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Juice of 2 clementines (1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

French Toast:
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 slices challah bread (I used 14 ounces)
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:
To make the syrup, mix syrup and clementine zest in a small bowl. Allow to sit for 20 minutes, then strain the syrup to remove the zest.

To make the compote, mix pomegranate arils, cranberries, clementine juice, and brown sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is gone.

To make the French toast, whisk milk and eggs together in a shallow dish and dip the bread slices in the egg mixture, two to three pieces at a time. Allow to soak for a few minutes, then heat ½ tablespoon butter over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet. Place soaked bread in the pan and fry until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining bread and butter. Spoon compote over French toast and drizzle with clementine maple syrup. Makes 5 servings.

Nutrition: 478 calories, 11.2g fat, 3.0g fiber, 13.6g protein per serving
Cost: $1.57 per serving

Happy Halloween! After dressing up as Jem, my favorite 80s TV character for the past several years, I decided to fast forward to the 90s this year and go as Angela Chase from My So-Called Life, which is seriously one of the best shows ever! I was a little nervous no one would get my costume, but all the girls immediately squealed in recognition after I directed them to read my shirt. My mom found the skirt in my closet at home and mailed it to me, so I was able to rock some plaid that I actually wore in high school, how fun is that? Too bad she didn’t keep my Doc Martens!

Apolinaras even got into the act this year and dressed up as an internet troll (troll ears, green wig, and a shirt that said “Your blog sucks” – haha). And Shannon was a naked chef – so fun!

I’d like to think Angela’s dad, Graham, would have whipped up these scones during the culinary class he ended up teaching (yes, I remember these things!). They’ve got a lovely light texture and I really enjoyed the contrast of the sweet apple and savory brie.

And as promised, here’s a picture of my lab as the cast of Glee – I was Mr. Shu! Hope everyone had an awesome Halloween!

Apple Brie Scones
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped into small chunks
4 ounces brie, chopped into small chunks

Directions:
Heat oven to 375˚F. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Use a pastry cutter or fork to work butter into the flour until a coarse meal forms. Mix in cream, egg, and vanilla extract until soft dough forms. Knead in apple and brie chunks.

Place dough onto a greased pizza pan and form into an 8-inch circle. Cut the circle into eight wedges and separate the scones on the cookie sheet so they are each at least 1 inch apart. Bake at 375˚F for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes and serve. Makes 8 scones.

Nutrition: 338 calories, 19.1g fat, 1.6g fiber, 7.4g fat per scone
Cost: $0.51 per scone

Apolinaras and I spontaneously headed to the grocery store a few weeks ago around 11pm to satisfy my sweet tooth, which is really rare for us. I usually just have a few chocolate chips if there are no treats in the house and I’m craving dessert, but that just didn’t do the trick this time because I really wanted to sink my spoon into some Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby ice cream! The outing reminded me of when my girlfriends and I used to stock up on goodies in the middle of the night to fuel our study sessions in college. But unlike my junk food filled college days, I was immediately excited when I noticed that blueberries were buy one pint get two free – yay! I scooped up three containers and began happily brainstorming about how to use them. And when I saw our huge tub of strawberries from Costco sitting in the fridge when we got home, I decided to combine the two types of berries to make a purple very berry muffin!

Ok, you can see they turned out a little more brown than purple, but they definitely delivered on the berry flavor because I packed 5 cups of berries into 12 muffins! I blended 3 cups of berries into a puree that went into the muffins after being reduced to half a cup of liquid on the stove and then I folded the remaining 2 cups right into the batter. The muffins disappeared quickly and were pretty healthy too.

p.s. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win 4 bottles of Girard’s salad dressing!

Berry Muffins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 cups strawberries, hulled
2 cups blueberries
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cups. Place 2 cups strawberries and 1 cup blueberries in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Place berry puree in a small nonstick pan and cook over medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes or until reduced to 1/2 cup, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Mix cooled puree, sugar, oil, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Coarsely chop remaining 1 cup strawberries and fold chopped strawberries and remaining 1 cup blueberries into the muffin batter.

Scoop muffin batter evenly into the 12 prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350˚F for 24 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins.

Nutrition: 169 calories, 5.3g fat, 1.9g fiber, 2.4g protein per muffin
Cost: $0.57 per muffin