Mama's Brunch

I love watching Food Network, I gain a lot of my inspiration for cooking from here. Bobby Flay is a pretty incredible cook, I love his show Brunch at Bobby's. Brunch is my all-time favorite meal. I absolutely love it. When I became a mom I knew I would want to host a brunch with all the mamas and babies. After a few months to get my bearings, I was able to do so. I utilized one of Bobby Flay's brunches as my foundation and tweaked the recipes just a bit to fit in my cooking style.

Orange-Ricotta Pancakes with Fig Compote

3/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp  baking powder
salt
1 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla
orange zest
butter

Fig Compote
12 oz figs
4 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup trail mix (or any nuts you have around)
salt
pepper

Mix dry ingredients together. Then combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks, vanilla and zest in a separate bowl until smooth. Beat the egg whites in a standing mixer until stiff. Add dry ingredients to the ricotta and milk, fold to combine. Whisk in small amount of egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining egg whites. I heated up my griddle and brushed the surface with butter. Use 1/3 cup to scoop batter onto the griddle. When bubbles start to appear, flip.

Add all ingredients for compote together in a small sauce pan, cook over high heat and stir frequently. Should take about two minutes for the figs to soften and break down. Pour into bowl for serving.




Italian Home Fries

3 Tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic
1 small onion, sliced thinly
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 small yellow pepper, diced
1 1/2 lbs small new potatoes, diced
8 oz Italian hot sausage, remove from casing
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
drizzle olive oil
salt & pepper

The night before (to save time) I chopped everything up and put it into a ziploc bag. I stuck it into the fridge and the next morning, heated up the butter on the griddle and poured the ingredients onto the griddle pan. I added the fresh herbs once the onions, peppers and potatoes started to cook. The smell is incredible! Once the sausage is browned, cooked through and potatoes are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, your home fries are done!

Soft Scrambled Eggs with Italian Cheese and Tomato Bruschetta
1 loaf of Italian bread
olive oil
salt & pepper
3 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
handful of basil, julienne
10 large eggs
4 oz Italian cheeses

Preheat grill pan over medium heat, slice bread, drizzle with olive oil and place down on pan. While bread toasts, toss tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper and julienne basil in a bowl. Once bread is toasted, mound the tomato mixture on top.

Melt butter into a large saute pan over low heat. Crack eggs into a separate bowl and whisk until fluffy. Add in coarse black pepper. Add eggs into the pan, mix gently with rubber spatula. Fold in cheese and after a few minutes remove from heat. Serve eggs with bruschetta.

Orange-Pineapple Mimosas
champagne or prosecco
orange juice
pineapple juice

I love changing up mimosa flavors, find any yummy juice or nectar and top that off in your champagne glass.

Blueberry-Fennel Ice
ice cube tray
water
blueberries
fennel sprigs

I decided to jazz up my ice for serving water, so I put a few blueberries and fennel sprigs in the cube tray. Freeze and it looks pretty with the color. You can use any fruit, herbs, etc.


It was so wonderful to get together with my great mama

friends and to see their babies. Our little ones played and we took some adorable pictures. This brunch is great for any gathering.

Enjoy! xo Lo

Baby it's cold outside! A day's worth of yummy foods while staying cozy inside.

Whenever it is frigid outside I love to make foods that comfort the soul. Since I've been pregnant (6 months!) I have craved pancakes...in all varieties. And as much as I'd like to go out to eat every morning...our baby budget doesn't quite allow that. So I've given making them myself a go.

This particular morning I looked in my fridge and had fresh raspberries, left over sour cream and honey. I decided to be brave and use all of these ingredients in my pancakes.

Raspberry Sour Cream Pancakes with Orange Blossom Honey
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup whole milk (or half n half/heavy cream)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
1 cup of fresh raspberries
honey (or syrup)

Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together the rest of the ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Melt a tablespoon of butter (or olive oil) into your pan on medium-high heat. Ladle about 1/3 cup of batter into the pan. You should be able to make about three at a time, or depending on the size of pancakes you prefer. Cook until the edges start to bubble and brown, then flip. Cook for another two minutes and your pancakes should be ready to go!

I've been topping my pancakes with honey lately, so much healthier and quite delicious. This Saturday morning I actually had a fancy honey left over from Thanksgiving...orange blossom honey. It was divine on my pancakes. Plus the sour cream makes the batter incredibly fluffy. Hope you enjoy!

The next recipe is a snack fit for a queen by the roaring fire, friends gathered around the firepit outside or a couple cuddled on the couch. An avant-garde cheese plate.

Classique assiette de fromage (Classic Cheese Plate)
Ingredients:
1 bunch of red grapes
1 bunch of green grapes
1 bunch of purple grapes
a handful of fresh or dried figs
2-3 different kinds of cheese
honey
1 pear
1 apple
crackers

You really can put anything on your cheese plate. It just depends on what you prefer to snack on. I am in love with cheese. So I chose a smoked gouda and a Havarti cheese for my plate. I sliced these cheeses up and placed them on a pretty glass cake stand as my plate. Then I sliced my pear, apple and figs and placed them on the plate. Next was washing and placing the grapes in bunches on the plate, along with the crackers of your choice. The last addition was to ladle a bit of honey near the figs onto your cheese plate. You can use any kind of honey, to make this a little more special try a blossom honey, mine was an orange blossom honey and it was superb. Then serve! Trust me, this snack will be gone in no time.

My next recipe to share on a cold, blustery day would be my warm orange zest biscuits with a variety of toppings and a cup of tea.

Orange Zest Biscuits
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp cold cubed butter
2 Tbsp cold pieces of cream cheese
1 Tbsp orange zest
1 cup whole milk (or heavy cream)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients. Add cold butter, cream cheese and zest, use fork to combine. Should turn into small pea sized crumbles. Add milk and mix until combined. Make a ball of the dough and flatten, wrap in plastic wrap and let this sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes. After the dough has set, flour your surface and roll out the dough with your rolling pin (or take the easy way and lightly push it out with your hands) make as thin as you prefer. Then use your biscuit cutters or a simple cup and cut out your biscuits. Place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum or parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes and you'll pretty much want to eat these right away. To serve I set out pumpkin butter, apple butter, sour cherry preserves and creamed honey. You can top with anything you like or even simply butter. Out of all these options...my favorite was the pumpkin butter...but creamed honey topped with sour cherry preserves came in as a close second. Pour a hot cup of tea or coffee and se faire plaisir! (Enjoy yourself!)

My last recipe for the chilly day would be my pumpkin chocolate cake topped with slivered almonds. For some reason baking is one of the best things I like to do when it's cold or when I'm stuck inside. Hence the yummy cake!

Pumpkin-Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease two 8 inch round pans. In a medium bowl mix in flour, baking soda and salt. In a standing mixer/large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in vanilla, pumpkin and vegetable oil. Slowly add in the flour mixture and then slowly add in the milk. Divide batter evenly into pans. Bake 35-40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean when inserted in the center. Make or grab your frosting. Don't be too disappointed, but I didn't make my frosting this time. (I'm still perfecting my baking skills.) I used chocolate frosting and to fancy up the cake a bit I used slivered almonds for the top. Once the cake was cool, I frosted and topped with the almonds. And voila! Enjoy while the cake is still warm.

Hope you enjoyed all my recipes! Please leave any commentary about recipes you tried. xo Lo