Rather than offer one set recipe, I thought it would be better to share a master recipe that can be easily adapted to your tastes and whatever ingredients are in the pantry. Please experiment and post your favorite variations in the comments!

Master recipe prepared with walnuts, almonds and cranberries

Master Granola Recipe

3 c old fashioned rolled oats to act as the base
1 c unsalted nuts, chopped
½ c unsalted seeds or nuts (not the same nuts!) chopped – for variety
½ c texture component – flax meal or unsweetened coconut or wheat germ
½ t cinnamon
½ t dried spice of a second type – nutmeg or cardamom or additional cinnamon
½ c olive or canola oil
¼ c maple syrup – to sweeten and add depth of flavor
3 T honey – to sweeten and bind
1 t vanilla extract
2/3 c dried fruit – for color and texture

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients (except dried fruit) in large bowl and stir to combine.

Combine oil, maple syrup and honey in small sauce pan. Cook on medium until just beginning to bubble. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour syrup onto dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to combine.

Pour granola mixture onto large sheet pan, spreading evenly. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until golden brown. Stir every 5-7 minutes to ensure even browning.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Stir in dried fruit. Allow granola to cool completely and store in air tight container.

Recipe as pictured includes: walnuts, almonds, flax meal, cardamom and cranberries.

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1. Flax Muffins – A Delicious Way to Get Your Omega-3’s

Why not start your day with a true dietary powerhouse like flax? It’s packed with heart healthy omega-3 oils, powerful antioxidants called lignans, and fiber. Even the folks at WebMD think flax is a super food and you should trust them, they’re doctors. And the best part about flax is that when ground into meal it practically disappears into batter. Alright, I admit that you have to sift it to ensure no big pointy seeds remain, but that’s really all it takes to add a lot of nutrition to a baked good.

Try these muffins made with flax, fruit and nuts for a heart healthy start to your day. The dieticians out there might complain that muffins contain sugar and white flour, but hey, it has to be something you actually want to eat to get the benefits of the flax!

Cranberry Walnut Muffins with Flax

1 c raw walnuts
¾ c sugar
1 c whole wheat flour
1 ½ c all purpose flour
½ c flax meal
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
2 t cinnamon
2 eggs
1 ½ c milk
½ c oil
1 t vanilla
1 ½ c cranberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Generously spray muffin tin with nonstick spray.

Roughly chop walnuts and divide in half.

Place sifter or fine mesh strainer over large bowl. (Yes, sifting is important for this recipe to ensure that no sharp bits of unprocessed flax end up in the muffins!) Measure the dry ingredients into sifter: sugar, flours, flax meal, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Sift dry ingredients together and discard any large bits of flax that remain.

In a separate bowl beat eggs until homogeneous. Add milk, oil and vanilla and beat until combined.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir gently just until combined – pockets of flour are not a problem. Add cranberries and half the walnuts to the batter, stirring gently to incorporate. Be careful not to over mix or muffins will become tough.

Scoop batter into muffin tin and top batter with remaining nuts. Recommend using a large spring loaded ice cream scoop to evenly portion the batter. Bake muffins at 400 for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before eating.

This recipe can be easily adapted to use blueberries, cherries or chopped apples instead of cranberries. You can also replace the walnuts with almonds, hazelnuts or pecans.

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Who knew that while I was eating a ham and cheese sandwich in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico I was connected by a thread to California, including San Francisco…a twisted, tenuous thread more than 250 years old, but a thread nonetheless.

The ham and cheese sandwich in question was, of course, not just a ham and cheese sandwich. It was a whole experience. We were seated counterside, elbows on linoleum and backsides on plastic covered swivel seats at a diner that opened its doors in the early 1900s. Fascinated by the mechanical orange juicer, as large as a soft-serve ice cream machine and as complex as a watch movement – methodically slicing the spheres in half, squeezing each simultaneously and dropping the empty rinds into a basket below – we had barely looked at our menus before the ancient server came over to ask for our order. But we knew what we wanted. This was La Bombonera, home of the famous “mallorca.”

You can order it plain or with butter, but we both ordered the hearty ham, cheese and egg version – heated through on the griddle like a panini. The “mallorca” itself is a sort of sweet roll and the whole sandwich arrives dusted in powdered sugar.  Although I wasn’t sure I’d like it, the salty, savory and sweet combination is delicious.

So how is this mallorca from Puerto Rico connected to California? First, we go to Spain. Turns out the mallorca is a type of roll that originated on the island of Mallorca/Majorca, located off the east coast of Spain. In Mallorca, it’s called an “ensaimada” (I guess calling it a mallorca in Mallorca would be like calling a muffin an English muffin in England). In addition to this particular sweet roll traveling with the Spanish to the Philippines, where it became an “ensaymada” made with butter instead of pork lard, it made its way to Puerto Rico.

View from El Morro (Spanish fort), Puerto Rico

Ok, so the connection. Pan de mallorca originated in Mallorca, Spain. One of the island’s famous sons is Friar Junipero Serra, the founder of the missions in California. Tah-dah. Like I said, tenuous. But pretty interesting.

This weekend we recreated ham, cheese and egg mallorcas at home. You could try making the rolls yourself, but I found that Hawaiian sweet bread rolls were a pretty good stand-in and available at my local grocery store. Now that I know about ensaymadas, next time I’ll purchase some at a Filipino bakery.

Ham, Cheese and Egg Mallorcas

- makes 2 –

¼ lb. sliced ham
4 slices mild cheddar cheese
2 eggs
2 hamburger-bun-sized Hawaiian sweet bread rolls
butter
vegetable oil
powdered sugar

Fry eggs in 1-2 T vegetable oil, flip over easy, season with a little salt and pepper, and cook until yolks are just cooked or slightly runny. Butter the inside of the rolls and layer on 1 slice cheese, half of the ham, 1 piece of cheese and the fried egg.

Toast sandwiches in a non-stick pan or on a Panini grill. If in a pan, press sandwiches with a spatula or weight down with a smaller pan to flatten somewhat (don’t break the egg!). Toast until cheese is melted, sandwich is heated through and bread is crispy. Plate and dust sandwich with powdered sugar.

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“I’m still here, El Guapo,” shouted the mustachioed bandit to his distraught jéfe, as they caught sight of the rest of their outlaw gang fleeing in panic, away from the tiny Mexican village defended hysterically by the Three Amigos (and a band of Three Amigos look-alikes).

Never mind that after he said that he promptly got shot.

The point I’m trying to make is that, despite being an outlaw, he was a faithful sidekick. A Robin to his Batman. A Watson to his Sherlock. An Iceman to his Maverick. He gave him a sweater for his birthday, for God’s sake.

The type of friend who’s always there for you. In the kitchen, when all seems lost, when it seems there’s nothing to eat, I imagine a tiny voice coming from the vegetable drawer (no, I’m not insane): “We’re still here, La Guapa” (because, of course, I’m female and very good looking).

Tomatoes, onions and garlic. The Three Amigos of so many dishes – including those from the Italian part of my family and the Mexican part of my husband’s. A true marriage of the old and new worlds. It’s amazing how different these three ingredients can taste, even when you don’t do much different to them. Think: pasta sauce, salsa, bruschetta.

This recipe is the latest incarnation of the Trinity. During a recent visit to my in-laws, I got a front row seat to the alchemy that is one of my favorite Mexican breakfasts: huevos ahogados. I was very excited to find out that it’s a really simple dish to make and would be perfect for feeding a crowd for brunch.

Serve with refried black beans and warm corn tortillas.

Huevos Ahogados

- serves 5-6 -

1 chile poblano
8 tomatoes (plum or regular – juicy tomatoes are good)
½ onion
2 cloves garlic
2 cubes Knorr chicken bullion cubes (or equivalent to make 4 cups broth)
Water
¼ c. vegetable oil
Eggs (as many as you need to feed your crew, up to about 10-12)

In a dry sauté pan over a high flame, roast the tomatoes, onion and garlic until skin is blistering and brown. On another gas burner flame, blacken the chile poblano, turning with tongs until blistery and black.

When the chile is roasted, put in a plastic bag to sweat for 10 minutes. When tomatoes, onion and garlic are done, cut tomatoes into quarters and put tomatoes, onion and garlic in the blender, along with the 2 cubes of chicken bullion and a splash of water. Blend until you get a sauce.

Take the poblano chile out of the plastic bag and peel off the blackened, blistered skin. Then cut open to remove the stem and all the seeds. Cut into strips (called “rajas”).

In a dutch oven, heat the ¼ cup vegetable oil on high (don’t use olive oil, flavor won’t be right). When the oil is hot, put in the rajas and fry for a minute to flavor the oil. Then add the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil. If it looks too thick (should be consistency of a typical salsa, or thinnish tomato sauce), add a little more water. Cook for 5 minutes.

With the sauce at a boil, carefully crack eggs into the sauce. When the whites start to turn opaque, using a spoon, “bathe” each egg with some of the sauce, to help cook the top and then cover the pot with a lid. Cook eggs until desired consistency – soft or hard boiled.

You can make the sauce a day ahead of time and then heat it up when you are ready to poach the eggs.

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In our household of American mutts (no, we don’t own Chihuahuas, I’m talking about me and my husband), the quarter that is Mexican has the odds on breakfast, because, really, we’re both hard-pressed to find a better breakfast coming from any other part of the world (feel free to comment on that one, I want to hear it!). Whenever I visit my in-laws in the States or in Mexico City, I feel especially spoiled at breakfast, which typically consists of some sort of savory eggs, warm tortillas, fresh papaya or other fruit with a squeeze of lime, juice and coffee with milk.

There are lots of more time-consuming savory egg dishes to make (my favorite being huevos ahogados), but when I wake up on a Saturday morning the cantankerous gnome that is my stomach usually has been up hours before me and is hungry. It. Must. Be. Fed.

Huevos a la Mexicana is the fastest and likely most fool-proof egg dish to make on a weekend morning when you’re bleary-eyed and impatient to get to the couch for some Saturday morning cartoons. It is great for brunch. It would also be fine for dinner. Of the hundreds of times I’ve eaten this dish, it never gets old. Maybe that’s because my husband usually makes it for me!

As our Mexican cookbook, El gran libro de la cocina Mexicana states, this dish has the characteristic flavors of Mexican cooking: the Trinity of chiles, tomatoes and onions. To get a taste of the flavor – before you really get a taste of the flavor by cooking the recipe – you may want to dial in a little background music while reading this post. Or this, depending on your taste.

We like huevos a la Mexicana served with a side of black beans and tortillas that have been toasted over a flame. Don’t forget the café con leche. Provecho!

Huevos a la Mexicana con Frijoles Negros
- 2 generous servings –

Eggs
4-5 eggs, scrambled
1 roma tomato, diced*
½ c onion, diced
½” serrano chile, minced (may vary, depending on how hot the chile is and how spicy you like your food – make sure you give the raw chile a little taste on the tip of your tongue before adding to the pan)**
2 t canola/vegetable oil (don’t use olive oil)
1T cilantro, chopped (optional)
Salt, pepper

Beans
1 14-oz can black beans, with liquid
½ c onion, diced
2 t canola/vegetable oil (don’t use olive oil)
Salt
Milk (optional)

2-4 flour tortillas

To make the eggs: Season the eggs with salt and pepper. In a sauté pan, heat the canola oil and sauté onions and chile on medium heat until the onions just start to turn a little soft. Hopefully your eyes are watering a little bit from the chile fumes. What a way to wake up in the morning! Add the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Turn up the heat and add the eggs. Depending on how you like your scrambled eggs (small bits or bigger chunks), stir accordingly. We like bigger, fluffier chunks, so we don’t stir as much.

To make the beans: In sauté pan #2, heat the canola oil and sauté the onions on medium heat. When they start to turn translucent, turn up the heat and add the can of beans with the liquid (I know, a lot of sodium, but these beans aren’t as good without the salt!). Heat the beans through and then, with the back of a wooden spoon, smash about ¾ of the beans and continue to simmer until you get a nice, creamy consistency. Taste and add more salt if needed. If they get too thick, add a splash of milk (yes, milk) and stir in well.

To toast the tortillas: If you don’t have gas burners, I guess you could put the tortillas in the toaster or toast in a dry pan. If you DO have gas burners, I recommend toasting the tortillas this way: turn on the gas burner. Flop a tortilla onto the flame. Using tongs (not your fingers!), move the tortilla around until the side is browned and then flip.

* Sometimes tomatoes have too many seeds or are too watery. Since you don’t want watery eggs, you may want to remove the seeds before dicing.

** You can keep whole serrano chiles wrapped in plastic in the freezer for weeks.

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Fast, Healthy, Delicious.

It’s the holidays. One. Big. Meal. After. Another. If you’re not cooking a feast that was days in the making, you’re eating one prepared by friends or family. As much fun as it can be, sometimes you need a break. Although I first had this dish for brunch at Public in New York last fall, it’s become a favorite weeknight dinner in our apartment, and it’s perfect for the holidays: satisfying, simple to prepare — less than 30 minutes start to finish, including all the prep — and relatively healthy, despite being rich.

I was skeptical, too. I had to have the waiter talk me into it after significant back and forth. I was wrong. He was right. It’s simply fantastic.

Çilbir (”chill burr”) – Turkish Eggs & Yogurt
- serves 2 -

4 eggs
1 Tbsp white vinegar
2 C Greek yogurt
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp dill (optional)
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 baguette or a loaf of your preferred crusty white bread

1. Fill a small pot with water, add vinegar, and bring to a simmer.

2. While the water is heating up, mince the garlic. Add the garlic and dill to the yogurt, stir, and divide into two bowls.

3. When the water reaches a simmer, give it a quick stir and add the eggs one at a time. Depending on the size of the pot you use, you may need to poach the eggs in batches. A bigger pot of water will let you poach all four at once, but will take longer to heat up in the first place, so it comes out about the same.

4. Poach the eggs for 3-4 minutes.*

5. While the eggs are cooking, toast the bread and prepare the butter. Put the butter, paprika, cayenne, and turmeric in a small skillet. Heat over medium heat to melt the butter. As soon as the butter starts to foam, turn the heat off. You want to get a hint of the brown butter flavor, but it’s better to pull it off too early rather than too late, as you don’t want to burn the spices.

6. Remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon and put two in each bowl of yogurt.

7. Drizzle the spiced butter over the eggs.

8. Serve with crusty bread.

The dill isn’t traditional as far as I can tell, but another Turkish recipe I have uses a sauce with yogurt, garlic, and dill, and I think it’s perfect here. You can leave it out if you prefer.

The mix of paprika, cayenne, and turmeric is also an approximation, and can be adjusted to taste. At Public, they describe the dish as “Turkish eggs – Two poached eggs on Greek yogurt with kirmizi biber butter.” I looked around for a while trying to figure out exactly what kirmizi biber is, and the internet gave me inconclusive results. Some pages say it’s cayenne pepper. Some say it’s paprika. Some say it’s an entirely different kind of red pepper altogether. I don’t speak a bit of Turkish, so I have no idea what’s right. I don’t even know if the Turks eat it for breakfast or dinner. I do know it’s good though.

*Note: If you’ve never poached eggs before, it may take you a couple tries to get it right. People more skilled than me can give you tips on how to do it perfectly. Practice seems to help, as I’ve been getting it right lately. Thankfully, the dish is good even if the eggs are a touch overdone or underdone.

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What do you really know about it? It has whites. It has a yolk. And it makes a mean breakfast or killer dessert.

But its most important property, to me at least, remained shrouded in mystery after I racked my brain for the answer, and even consulted the Joy of Cooking bible – which had nada on the food science front.

How do eggs make baked goods rise?

Think hard. Not sure, are you?

Apparently the key is protein. When you incorporate air into eggs by whisking, you create bubbles. When you cook the batter, the air expands, making (the cake) rise. The protein in the egg whites solidifies and creates a stable structure that more or less holds its shape after the cooking is complete and the item cools. If you add a leavener like baking powder, it releases CO₂, creating even more lovely craters and a light, fluffy texture in the end result.

Why did I have eggs on the brain? One of my most favorite pancake recipes uses eggs plus just three more ingredients to make magic. Mixed in a blender, it’s very simple, very elegant, and tastes delicious with a generous squeeze of lemon and spoonful of powdered sugar.

German Pancake
- serves 2 -

1/8 cup butter
3 eggs
¾ cup milk
¾ cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350F. Melt the butter in a 2-3 quart ceramic baking or soufflé dish just until it starts to sizzle. In the meantime, blend the 3 eggs in the blender on high for one minute. Add the milk and flour to the eggs and blend all together for 30 seconds.

Pour the batter into the hot butter (scrape down the sides of the blender to get all the batter!). Bake 25-30 minutes until the pancake is puffed, golden brown, and a little crispy around the edges. Let it cool a few minutes and then cut into two pieces. Serve it warm with lemon wedges and powdered sugar.

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