Butternut squash & sausage hash

Last week, weather changed over night and it almost feels like winter some days. I know we only get to enjoy spring and fall for a very short period of time but it's really going too fast. Just like how babies grow so fast. *sniff*. 

So now, my mini started her solids. She is really growing too fast. Way too fast. Having a baby who needs to be introduced to new foods every couple of days is actually a good thing though. That means I have to plan. No more "throw whatever I have and make a meal literally 30 minutes before dinner HAS to be served". I was a better meal planner when my tot was just starting solids. Because I had to introduce different foods every 3-4 days, I had to shop accordingly. He would only eat about 2oz at a time, so I would have to use the same ingredients for our meal. Then as he started to eat with us and I sometimes got lazy. Actually let me rephrase it, I got busy and more spontaneous. Okay, that sounds much better. 

After my mini had rice cereal for the first few days, I wanted to let her taste some fall flavor. And we love butternut squash. Roasted, sautéed, wrapped in bacon, soup, you name it. Sure enough, my girl absolutely loved it! She finished the first serving of butternut squash with big smiles accompanied by some squeals. So proud of my big girl. 

And with leftover squash, we made yummy hash. I like to use chorizo instead of Italian sausage too. It gives a depth to the flavor. But my tot prefers Italian sausage as chorizo can be a little spicy for him. I made this for dinner at 4pm, thinking I'd heat it up and serve it at dinner time but I ended up snacking on the whole dinner portion and that was my dinner. And of course, I had to go ahead and grab a bottle of hard cider for this fall themed "snack time". I was so happy with the harmony of the flavors. Now this is my happy hour. 

I make this for one skillet dinner a lot but it's also great to serve it as a hearty snack or breakfast with some toasted baguette. Dip a slice of toasted baguette in the soft runny yolk and top it with some hash. Oh my gosh. Delicious!

Butternut squash & sausage hash

Printable recipe 

Ingredients :

1 lb butternut squash, peeled and cubed(1/2" cubes)

8 oz Italian sausage(3-4 links, out of casing)

2 cups baby spinach

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste 

eggs to top the dish - optional

Directions :

1. On a heated skillet, brown the sausage on medium high heat and crumble it while stirring occasionally.

2. When it starts to brown and render the fat, add cubed butternut squash and onion. Sauté for a few minutes and add salt, pepper, paprika and apple cider vinegar and cover. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 6-7 minutes. 

3. Check if squash is done to your liking and add spinach. Cook just until wilted and make small wells for the eggs to stay. Crack an egg in each well, sprinkle salt and pepper, cover and cook just until the eggs are set. Serve immediately.

*Or you can scoop the hash into an individual serving vessel, crack an egg each and broil until eggs are set. This way, you get a little more browned hash which I love. 

*You can make ahead the hash, warm up and finish with the eggs before serving. 

Savory French toast

If you know me or have read my previous posts, you'd know my love for French toast. And I love sweet and savory together. This savory French toast is the perfect combination for that sweet and savory cravings. Custard itself doesn't contain anything sweet, so if you like savory toast alone, you don't have to add maple syrup to it. It's probably nice with some smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce too. Soft and eggy brioche bread with cheesy custard. Yum!

Thanks to my mini going back to sleep in the morning, I got to catch up my lost sleep due to night feedings. Meanwhile my tot nagged Steve, daddy I'm hungry! Breakfast please!! That's my boy. He chose daddy to go downstairs with him. By the time I went downstairs, they were done with their breakfast and playing with playdoh, Steve looking like a zombie. I, on the other hand, luxuriously slept a few more hours in the morning and made myself some delicious savory French toast. I felt so bad. But then Steve has been away on a business trip which means he got to enjoy undisturbed good night's sleep for days while I'm on night shift all by myself! 

Anyway, it was especially delicious after a sweet nap. If you're a French toast lover, this is definitely something you'd want to try some time. Something different yet familiar. =)

Savory French toast

Printable recipe 

Ingredients :

4 slices day old bread(I used Brioche)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

6 Tbsp grated Parmesan

2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

butter for greasing the pan

Directions :

1. Whisk together eggs, milk and Parmesan. Add parsley, salt and pepper. 

2. Coat the bread with the egg mixture and cook on a heated and greased griddle. 

3. Serve with maple syrup(if you like sweet and savory together).

French toast cups

Long time no post! It has been a busy and exciting month for us. Our tot is promoted to a big bro as we welcomed our new baby daughter. It has been pretty hectic but good hectic. =) Foodwise, I have been consuming a whole lot of seaweed soup thanks to my Korean custom. In Korean culture, we eat/drink seaweed soup after giving birth as they believe seaweed soup cleanses your body and helps you recover. Good thing I actually love seaweed soup.

Anyway, now I guess we are two foodies and a tot plus one! She is so precious. My tot has always been big for his age but I still thought he's like a baby. Now that we have a wee one, he looks so big. He totally adores his baby sister and my heart just melts when I see the way he looks at his sister and cares for her. He's such a great big brother to her. Our mini's lucky and has nothing to worry about since her bro's got her back! =)

With a newborn at home, I haven't really cooked anything. Luckily, my mom stayed with us for a while so that was a big help. Cooking, caring for the baby and all the support. Now that everything's back to normal, I started to cook. My favorite breakfast of all time, French toast. But I wanted something different. A, I didn't feel like standing by the stove flipping french toast. B, I felt like making something cute. So there you go, french toast cups. 

 

 Mmm...Soft center and crusty top. Cinnamony sweet bites with fresh fruits. It is a very cute variation for french toast. I am a sucker for any kind of french toast so I am kind of bias but this is great if you like a little bit of bite. When I'm not using challah, I like using stale baguette for french toast because of its crust. And this muffin pan cup version definitely showcases the crust. 

Kids will love these and it'd be great to serve a crowd for a snack or part of a brunch menu since you don't have to stand by the stove. Another happy morning with yummy breakfast! =) 

French toast cups

* Makes about 10 individual cups.

Printable recipe 

Ingredients :

4 cups cubed bread(a day old bread is the best)

4 eggs

1 cup milk

2 Tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

powder sugar- optional

Directions :

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a muffin pan. You can line it with cupcake liners too.

2. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Soak the cubed bread in the mixture for a few minutes.

3. Scoop the bread and fill each cup of muffin pan. Drizzle leftover custard over the bread. Bake for 25 minutes.

4. Plate them and dust with powdered sugar.

Liege waffles

If you've ever been to NYC, you'd know about Waffles and dinges. It's a waffle truck started by a Belgian guy. Years ago when I went to Belgium, I totally fell in love with liege waffle. Regular Belgian waffle's totally yummy too but really, it's got nothing on liege waffle in my opinion. And of course NYC has got to have it somewhere! They have a few locations, my usual place was right outside of Bobby Flay's Bar Americain. And when I realized that I can get this beautiful bite of liege waffle right around my block in UES, I was over the moon! They only came to my block once a week though. Sunday morning. It was so convenient. I would go out and wait in line with my "hello, I just rolled out of bed for this goodness" look. 

Then my tot came in the picture. I used to stroll with him in central park almost everyday and these waffle guys have a cart there. It's not a truck, it's a cart in the park. And it was always a struggle to pass it. Then I would give in. Justifying, I will eat this waffle and jog around the great lawn a couple of loops, it will burn those calories right? Haha. Well..I was obviously dreaming but boy, that was good. And when my tot was old enough to walk with me, we would park the stroller at our favorite picnic spot, sit down and share enjoying nice breeze. That little mouth enjoying every bite of mommy's favorite waffles. Ah...memories. 

After we moved to suburbia, I guess I haven't looked hard enough but I haven't found liege waffles in any of good breakfast spots. It is not the most common waffles I have to say. So..what do I do? Make them at home! It's actually very simple to make them if you plan ahead. Because this is dough with yeast not batter, it takes some planning. But process is super simple. All you need is a little time. I whip the dough the night before and put it in the fridge. Next morning, take it out, add pearl sugar and let it rest while waffle iron's heating up. Then you're good to go. 

You can serve it with any of your favorite toppings. I love it with a little Spekloos(cookie butter). SO GOOD! That's how waffle guys serve it too. I always say no to whipped cream for liege waffle because I just don't like it with warm and chewy waffles, but that's just me. Come to think of it, I think have pretty particular preference when it comes to my waffles. Even though I don't take whipped cream for my liege waffle, I like my regular Belgium waffles with whipped cream and thin apple jam.

Oh, one thing about pearl sugar. You can usually get them from wholefoods or specialty food stores, if that doesn't work, amazon has them. You'll find Swedish and Belgian. Swedish is a lot finer than Belgian. You're supposed to use Belgian but I happened to have a lot of Swedish at home so until I use it all, I will be using Swedish and it is totally fine. Pearl sugar gets caramelized slightly in the waffle iron and gives a beautiful crunch to the chewy waffle. Because of the caramelization, it even taste fantastic without any topping. 

If you have a small family like us, you won't finish all these waffles. You can keep the leftover in the fridge for a few days and toast them as you need or they freeze well too. Very yummy when toasted. This is one of the few leftovers I actually get excited to eat. =)

Liege Waffles

*Makes about 10-12 waffles

 

Printable recipe 

Ingredients :

1 pkg dry yeast(1/4oz pack)

1/3 warm water

1 1/2 Tbsp sugar

1/8 tsp salt

2 cups all purpose flour

3 eggs

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup pearl sugar

Directions :

1. Add dry yeast and sugar to warm water. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

2. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add flour and salt. Add yeast mixture and start kneading. 

3. Add eggs to the mixer one at a time. When all mixed, add butter to it about 2Tbsp at a time, letting it fully incorporated. Batter won't be smooth at this point. 

4. You can let it rise in double for about an hour if making right away or just cover it and refrigerate overnight, it will slowly rise. 

5. When ready, heat the waffle iron. Meanwhile, mix in pearl sugar to the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. Using an ice cream scoop, place the dough on the waffle iron and cook. 

*Recipe from butter baking.

 Method slightly changed. 

 

Hash brown breakfast pizza

 

Every morning, my tot tells me what he wants for breakfast as if he's been thinking about breakfast all night. He wakes up, runs into my room, lays next to me and while cuddling, he tells me he wants this and that for breakfast. It's so funny. Sometimes he demands something that I don't have time for and I make something else thinking he wouldn't care much. But no...he would eat what I give him but he would talk about the menu of his choice until he gets it. So usually have to make it the next day at least. I have to admit he probably got it from me. When I have cravings, until I actually have whatever it is, I can't stop thinking about it.

And the other day, he asked for pizza for breakfast. He was half joking but I wanted to deliver his "vision" because it actually sounds like fun. And I found hash brown crust breakfast pizza. Its got all the elements he loves. Crispy hash brown crust with ham, eggs and cheese. So yummy and easy to serve and feed. I have not used frozen shredded potato before and I bought a bag of organic shredded potato for the first time. These are great! Works better than home shredded potatoes for hash because it's not moist like home version so I find it easier to make it crispy. And most of all, it's quick. Of course you can shred the potato at home but that needs to sit in a strainer for a little bit to get rid of liquid from potato. You can certainly top it with anything you like and make different versions. My tot absolutely loved it and devoured it. And left the sweetest comment, "Thank you for the yummy breakfast mommy!" That's my fuel that enables me get up and make breakfast even on a lazy morning. =) 

 

Hash brown breakfast pizza

*About 2 servings

Printable recipe 

Ingredients :

2 cups shredded potato(frozen or fresh-frozen works better though)

1/4 cup ham, cubed

2 eggs

1/4 cup cheese of your choice

spray oil

Directions :

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. On a parchment paper lined baking sheet, spray a little oil. Spread shredded potato and press it down. Spray oil on top and bake for 25 minutes. 

2. While hash brown's cooking, scramble eggs and heat cubed ham.

3. When hash brown's done, top it with eggs, ham and cheese. 

4. Put it back in the oven and bake 5-7 minutes or until cheese is melted and top browns a little. 

5. Serve immediately. 

*Adapted from the gunny sack.