Breakfast

Spiced Apple and Pear butter is kind of becoming my canning specialty. Fruit butters are great for canning because there’s no messing around with any jelling agents or pressure canning. Just straightforward fruit, sugar, spices, and a water bath canner.

Typically, I cook up a batch of this in the slow cooker over a few days and then can it in 4 or 8 oz jars. This time I canned it in pint jars because that’s what I had handy. The butter can be spread on toast, or used in recipes that call for jam, like chocolate chip jam bars by my friend Tracy.

It happens to the best of us, with the best of intentions: black bananas. Some weeks James and I go through a bunch of bananas in record time. Other weeks, we’re left with 3 or 4 getting well past their prime. I don’t know about you, but there’s only so much banana bread I can bake! That’s where these Banana Ginger cookies come in.

True story about tea: When we lived in the UK, I took a misstep at the top of a very tall flight of metal stairs, and ended up falling down the entire flight. It was as painful as you imagine. The first step in first aid on the part of my British co-workers? A sugary, milky, strong cup of tea. I kid you not. As far as Brits are concerned, TEA FIXES EVERYTHING. And 99% of the time, they’re right.

These Mango Maple Muffins are an inspiration provided by my brother-in-law, Chris. He came to spend this Christmas with us. It was our first Christmas entirely at home, and it was more than wonderful to spend it with him.

Chris lives in London. And because he lives in London, we hardly ever see each other. We spent the entire holiday playing games (don’t get me started on the 3-day debate on whether it’s Rummi-cub or Rummi-CUBE.. for the record, I’m in the Rummi-Cube camp), eating chocolate and good food, and catching up. Pure heaven.

Tell you what – Migas are kind of a mess to look at. But in that good, ooooh look at all those lovely yummy bits sort of way.

What are Migas, you ask? Well, they’re a Tex-Mex breakfast food. Corn tortilla strips are fried in oil with a touch of salt until lightly crispy, then whipped eggs, and if you fancy it – peppers, onions, and cheddar cheese – are added and scrambled together. Traditionally they are served with fried potatoes and refried beans (which I promise, aren’t really fried at all, so as not to completely terrify your arteries with my description).

Halloween and Thanksgiving may be over, but I think any time is the perfect time for Pumpkin French Toast. What I really love about this recipe is that you can make it ahead of time: Overnight, or a couple of hours ahead, and it’s going to be a fantastic thing to wake the rest of your family up to.

I cannot claim to know Julie Potter, but I sure do know her Pumpkin Bread (although I am an authority on how lovely she is via email, since I wrote to ask her if I could post her recipe and got the most beautiful of replies – thanks again, Julie!). I think we all have …

Who doesn’t love a pumpkin empanada? Or an empanada of any kind, for that matter? Call it what you will: pasty, pocket, pie, or kolache, pastry enclosed pockets of food have been around probably almost as long as bread has. There’s not a single cuisine I can think of that doesn’t have some riff on …

Do you love pumpkin? Of course you do! (Well, unless you’re Annie from With Sprinkles On Top.) I love pumpkin so much, I’d marry it if I were a polygamist. Too much? Way back in August (sheesh, way back? waaah!), when I went to the Big Summer Potluck, I got to meet Abby Dodge, who …

This weekend is the first in a long time that we a) have a working kitchen and b) didn’t have any plans. I said to James mid-week, “So far, we don’t have any plans for the weekend. Let’s keep it that way!” Instead, we decided to spend the weekend sleeping in, and planning things we’d …