Feast, vegetarian brunch edition

Jenn and Atyya, two of my favorite people from grad school, came over for brunch this weekend and I wanted to make some really good food, a meal to test out my tiny kitchen. It's the first time I've lived alone in five years and I like having my own little space to share with just one little dog.***

So, what did I do to celebrate living in my new space and reuniting with my DC-area friends? I made waffles. And pumpkin oatmeal. And chipotle cheddar scrambled eggs with bell peppers and onions.

Yeah, it was a lot of food for just three people, especially since we weren't also planning on going into winter hibernation directly after eating. BUT. I wanted to put my kitchen through its paces and I like having leftover waffles that I can freeze and eat during the week. The leftover oatmeal got stored in little containers and will be toted to work for a few delicious breakfasts this week. There were no scrambled eggs left.

The waffles were not just any waffles. They were yeasted waffles. Waffles that fermented! Waffles whose batter smelled suspiciously like beer and had to sit out on the counter overnight! Crazy waffles. Crazy DELICIOUS waffles. The BEST WAFFLES I'VE EVER EATEN.

In addition to the waffles, I conceded to the season and made pumpkin oatmeal. This is one of the very few pumpkin dishes that I can eat and actually enjoy. I think it's because the steel-cut oats make the pumpkin texturally interesting. 

Finally, for something salty, I made chipotle cheddar scrambled eggs with bell peppers and onions. It was an excellent accompaniment.

We ate and talked and ate and talked some more. It's surprising how much catching up there is to do after only a few months. We were stuffed. Filled to bursting. Ready to fall away into blissful food comas. Brunch, y'all. It's what's up.


***Speaking of the little dog:

Buster is currently living it up with my parents, while I settle into my new place and get a routine going.
I am told he is enjoying the occasional scrambled egg for breakfast and chicken or beef for dinner.
Dog food? Yeah, my mom doesn't think it's nourishing enough on its own. DON'T GET ME STARTED. 

Look at this spoiled little mug. He sneaks onto the bed and uses my mom's pillows!
And he has the nerve to look annoyed that the camera woke him up.

He will be back with me soon enough though. A time of little doggy reckoning.

Cake batter fudge

I am the first person in line to throw serious shade at white chocolate. It's too sweet! It's not real chocolate! It crushes dreams and dims souls! . . . Okay, so maybe not the last thing, but you know what I mean. If only they didn't call it white chocolate, maybe I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand as the lesser chocolate, the pale (ha!) shadow of a more glorious form. Comparing white chocolate and dark chocolate is like comparing tomatoes and oranges. You're gonna be disappointed if you expect them to satisfy the same needs.

Why would I even attempt to use white chocolate as a base for fudge? I have a hell of a nerve, right? Yes, it's true, but I also have a wonderful friend who recently got herself knocked up, and I needed white chocolate in order to replicate cake batter in a way that wouldn't pose a hazard to her new uterine passenger. Raw egg consumption is generally frowned upon during pregnancy, so I thought I'd try to figure out a way to replicate a cake batter that I could mail halfway across the country. I chose cake batter, because my friend is that person who would (pre-pregnancy) much prefer to eat cake batter and cookie dough, instead of an actual baked good.

Twice-baked potato (forage)

Since moving into both a new apartment and new job, I haven't exactly had the time or energy to cook something involved. Now that I'm mostly unpacked and my job--while still overwhelming in its newness--is moving to a manageable level of chaos, I think I'll have some time to cook and bake. They may be less intense things for awhile, as I continue adjusting to being on my own again. This twice-baked potato is the result of a lack of energy to cook something labor-intensive.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder . . .

Also, I've been crazy busy, interviewing for a job, getting the job, finding a place to live, moving all of my stuff, unpacking all of my stuff, starting my job, and getting used to being a working stiff again.

Sorry! I know I have, like, 10 people who really read my blog and I know I've let you down by not posting. I'm going to try to make up for it soon. First, I will post a recipe for a twice-baked potato. It was delicious and I highly recommend it. Later in the week, I will post about the cake batter fudge and candy corn cookies I'm sending to a friend (who, hopefully, will not guess they are for her when she reads this).

While I get my shit together, why don't you check out the recipes I've added to my list of things I must eat and drink in the very near future?

French Onion Mac and Cheese from Smells Like Brownies

Chocolate Pavlova from Okra's Book Club

Praline Pumpkin Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting from Pinch My Salt

Ginger Bourbon Cider from Hungry Girl Por Vida

Sunday Morning Eggs Benedict from Sally's Baking Addiction

Parsley Salad with Almonds and Apricots from Budget Bytes

Sriracha Honey Popcorn Clusters from Heather Christo

Honey peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies

That's a mouthful, right? These cookies satisfy a lot of my wants, cookie-wise. They're slightly chewy, texturally interesting, not composed primarily of chocolate, and mildly honey-flavored.

Cinnamon brown sugar latte (vegan or no, choose your own adventure!)

How much do you love lattes? A lot, right? Me too. How much do you love paying $4-5 a pop? Yeah, not so much.

I saw a recipe for the dreaded (at least, for me) pumpkin spice latte and figured making myself a cinnamon brown sugar latte at home couldn't be too hard. It would also save me from dropping serious money at Starbucks every time I get a craving. 

Okara carrot muffies

As my many donut and dessert posts can attest, I'm not what you'd call a "clean eater." I don't ascribe to any particular diet, but I can appreciate vegetarian and vegan things. I'm still a little iffy on what exactly the Paleo diet is, but, (insert some sarcasm here) thank goodness, there are a bajillion websites that I can visit in order to get a better grip on it, if I feel so inclined.

Chocolate ganache

Ganache is one of the easiest things you can do to class up a plain cake, pretzels, or some less-than-stellar strawberries. It's just chopped chocolate with scalded hot cream poured over it. Use whatever kind of chocolate you like, though let's be real: white chocolate is NOT OKAY (if you're trying to feed me anyway). In this recipe, I used a mix of Ghiradelli Twilight (72% cacao), Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate, and one cup of Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Victoria sponge (yellow cake)

There are so many yellow cake recipes out there, but I've found many of them to be disappointing and kinda wasteful for what you get. EIGHT egg yolks?? Are you joking with that? Maybe if I had some angel food cake to make right after and needed the egg yolks, but man! I'd already sacrificed six egg yolks to the custard and I didn't feel right using only half of eight more eggs.

I searched high and low for a good yellow cake recipe and guess what? The Brits are lousy with them! But you wouldn't know it, because the crafty devils call it "Victoria Sponge." Hmph. Even worse, they don't slather it with chocolate buttercream like any DECENT American will normally do. They eat their cake with jam. JAM, I TELL YOU.

Vanilla pastry cream

For backstory, see my post about Boston cream pie.

I trust Dorie Greenspan more than any other cookbook writer/chef. Her recipes have never let me down. I own two of her cookbooks, Baking: From My Home to Yours and Around My French Table. I've used Baking way, way more than the other book, but everything I've made has been delicious so far. Given my current transient state (most of my stuff is in storage!) both cookbooks are packed away somewhere, so I had to go searching online to find her pastry cream recipe. Thankfully, there are many, many Dorie devotees online, who love her as much as I do.