Blueberry Muffins

This must be my favorite kind of muffins ... I never seem to make any other kind!

Eggah 

(Middle Eastern-Style Omelette)

This is based on a Middle Eastern egg dish, with olive oil, chopped onion, herbs (cilantro, parsley, and mint), and salt. (Here it is pictured with rice.) The recipe is from Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. You could use frozen onions and dried herbs, if that's easier. (You could also add some butter, "for flavor," as my grandma would say.) This was very simple and quick to make (especially with the shortcuts I mentioned), and very yummy. Yay!

Ebelskiver 

(Danish Pancakes)

After several months of using my ebelskiver pan to make other things, I decided to make ... actual Ebelskiver! (The recipe is from House of Nash Eats.)These are traditional Danish pancakes, which are round and puffy. They can be filled with something sweet, so I tried to fill them with strawberry jam, but it kept running out and burning onto the pan. Oops! (Pic #2 above shows some of this batch, with whole-milk yogurt.) After that, I didn't attempt to fill them, but instead served them with jam on the side. Either way was yummy, but not stuffing them was much easier. I'm glad I finally tried this! 

House of Nash Eats, Aebleskiver | Danish Pancakes

Upma 

(Savory South Indian 

Cream of Wheat)

This is a savory South Indian breakfast dish. I remember my friend's mom making it for us (but I can never get it just like hers), which is how I was introduced to it. The ingredients here are basically rava/sooji/cream of wheat, oil, mustard seeds, urad dal (legumes, to add flavor), onion powder, and green peas. Sometimes, I want something fairly quick and easy. This is also very warm and comforting. It fits both descriptions. Win-win! 

Instant Rava Kuzhi Paniyaram 

(South Indian Savory Dumplings)

These were from the recipe of Hebbar's Kitchen. These dumplings are made from rava/sooji/farina/cream of wheat, mixed with yogurt. They are "instant" even though the batter must rest for 20 minutes, as this is still much quicker than the traditional version. I cooked these in an ebelskiver pan, as I don't have an appam/paniyaram pan.

The results were amazing! Even with using little oil, they were still a bit crispy. The leftovers kept in the fridge weren't crispy, but were still spongy and yummy for the time they lasted. They were good just by themselves with whole-milk yogurt.

Hebbar's Kitchen Website, Instant Kuzhi Paniyaram Rava Appe 

Hebbar's Kitchen YouTube, Paniyaram recipe | Instant appe recipe | Instant rava kuzhi paniyaram 

Baked Pancakes

The idea for baking pancakes in a muffin tin came from Kitchen @ Hoskins and their recipe for Pumpkin Streusel Pancake Cups. As I didn't have any pumpkin, I decided to use the basic pancake recipe from Lauren Chattman's Mom's Big Book of Baking, instead. Of course, these are different kinds of pancakes, and I ended up having to bake mine for longer than the new recipe. I think next time I make it like this, I'll try baking it at a higher temperature (maybe 375 F). 

These pancakes were fun to eat, drizzled with honey, and sprinkled with cinnamon. They contained a little sugar, but weren't too sweet. I actually had them sometimes with a savory meal. Perhaps next time, I'll leave out the sugar. Or not. 😊 Baking pancakes like this is a great idea!

Kitchen @ Hoskins Website, Pumpkin Streusel Pancake Cups

Quinoa Flakes Granola, 

with Whole-Milk Yogurt

I was advised to add more protein to my diet with quinoa flakes. When I read about it, it seemed like it might be good for granola. After I bought a box, I realized that it listed its own granola recipe ... so it wasn't a totally crazy idea! I left some things out, and added tahini as well as date syrup; the recipe already included some honey. It was extremely easy to make, and is good with yogurt for breakfast. Yum! 

Ancient Harvest Website, Honey Nut Quinoa Flake Granola

Dalia 

(Indian breakfast of warm grains, milk, & sugar)

The recipe is from Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking. My version uses sooji/rava/farina/semolina/like cream of wheat, instead of actual dalia (a kind of cracked wheat) or the bulgar wheat the recipe calls for. So, I guess I should really call it Sooji? Here it is pictured with honey and ground cardamom. 

Toast topped with 

Date Syrup (Silan/Dibs al-Tamar) 

& Tahini

The toast on the left is with the toppings combined, and the toast on the right shows the two before being combined. I was inspired by Cooking for Fun's description a while ago on Instagram, of bread with tahini and date syrup, as similar to a Middle Eastern peanut-butter-and-jelly combination. (I hope I'm remembering that right!) I couldn't try it then, as I had no date syrup available. The tahini has a nutty taste here, and the date syrup makes it taste better, I think.

Cooking for Fun's helpful comments, on how best to enjoy this, were : 1) don't overmix, and 2) just add a little of the syrup, so you can enjoy the taste of both.

Cooking_for_Fun_Page Instagram, Tahini Paste & Date Syrup

Cooking for Fun Facebook 

Cooking for Fun YouTube

Mini-waffles 

I made these with my new Nordic Ware Silver Dollar Waffle Pan. (Nobody paid me to say that. 😉 I just mention it for anyone who's curious.) This was the first time I'd had waffles in years, so it was nice.

The first photo is of a waffle with melted coconut oil and honey, and bhujia (crispy Indian snack). The third photo shows the pan.

While the waffles weren't perfectly round, I didn't mind, as this was my first attempt, and they tasted good. The batter was from the buttermilk waffle recipe that came with the pan. I used lower heat for a little longer, to brown the waffles. The leftovers were easily crisped up a bit, in the next few days, in the toaster oven.

Dalia 

(Cream of Rice Porridge 

with Dried Apricots)

This is based on a breakfast porridge from the Northwest Frontier area, now in Pakistan. The recipe is from Julie Sahni in Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking. She says that the dish is usually made with an untreated cracked wheat, and suggests a substitute of bulger cracked wheat (which also cooks more quickly). As I can't have either, I used Cream of Rice, instead. The other ingredients I used are: coconut oil (instead of butter), milk, water, dried apricots, brown sugar (instead of jaggery), and ground almonds. I drizzled some honey on the dish in the photo, as well as sprinkled on a little cardamom. Sahni refers to its "lovely milk-fudge aroma," while I noticed the milk-fudge-y flavor. Yum! Good any time of the day, for a sweet and satisfying meal. 

Breakfast to Treat a Cold 

(Tomato Rasam, Handvo, Mashed Potato, Lemon Juice)

Breakfast to Treat a Cold (L-R, counterclockwise): Tomato Rasam (South Indian soupy dish), Carrot Handvo Muffin (Gujarati Indian snack of fermented ground rice and legumes, with veggies, baked), plain mashed potato, and squirts of fresh lemon juice (for the rasam and handvo.) I sure hope this works! If not, it still tastes good and is healthy.

I had some leftover rasam (see photo from Dec 21), and handvo (see photo from Dec. 8), in the freezer; some lemons in the fridge that need to be used; and a package of Bob's Red Mill potato flakes (no artificial ingredients or preservatives) in the cupboard. The potato flakes are easy to make into instant mashed potatoes, with boiling water from the kettle, and are good for a snack or side dish when I'm not feeling well (or when I don't have energy to make something else).