Accidentally Eggless

I literally woke up thinking about peanut butter french toast this morning. It's as if it came to me in a dream, and I knew as soon as my eyes popped open that I was making a beeline to the kitchen. I could taste what I was about to create... that crunchy outer layer filled with gooey, delicious peanut butter, dunked in a blueberry sauce. I started the water for my coffee and began gathering the necessary ingredients. I grabbed the bread, the peanut butter, some cinnamon, and a bottle of vanilla. All I needed now was an egg, one little egg... that I didn't have! Oh no, now what?! I pushed the plunger on my french press and poured myself a cup of coffee. I took stock of the items on my counter and began to formulate a plan. I certainly wasn't going to give up just because we were out of eggs. What I managed to come up with was quite scrumptious, if I do say so myself. I started by layering peanut butter between two pieces of whole grain bread. Then I coated each side of the sandwich in a batter made of almond milk, coconut oil, whole wheat flour, chickpea flour, and a little sugar and spice to round it out. I toasted both sides in a skillet and cut the sandwich into sticks. For the sauce, I whipped together a few spoonfuls of blueberry syrup and vanilla yogurt and got to dunking! Mmmm, mmmm. Who needs eggs, anyway?!

Batter for french toast:

1/2 C almond milk

2 Tbsp whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp chickpea flour

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 Tbsp ground almonds

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

pinch of nutmeg

Mix all ingredients together to form batter, thoroughly coat each piece of bread and cook on medium heat until golden brown on each side

Blueberry Yogurt Sauce:

equal parts blueberry syrup and vanilla yogurt

Salty Sunday

My latest culinary obsession is flavored salts. Simple to make and fun to use, they really pack a tasty punch. The recipe is as easy as pulsing coarse salt in a food processor with anything from szechuan pepper to dried rosemary. Over the past week, I have made several delicious varieties but the flavor du jour was lime salt. After all, it was St. Paddy's Day weekend so something green was in order. Equal parts lime zest and Celtic grey sea salt created the perfect companion to crispy sweet potato chips. Using a peeler, I sliced the potato paper thin. A quick flash in hot canola oil was all they needed to crisp up. Laid out on a paper towel, they received their sparse sprinkling of lime salt (a little bit goes a long way). The crunchy texture and powerful flavor was just enough to drown out my inner voice whispering "time to do your taxes... time to do your taxes".

Love, Love, Love....

Warning: this post is all about meat, and no small amount of it. Vegetarians, avert your eyes. While my normal diet is about 80 percent vegetarian, I spent the last 5 days on location in Texas where meat is king. During this shoot, I had the pleasure of working with Chef Tim Love, and if you don't know who he is... look him up and go to his restaurants. Bring your sense of adventure because you won't find baked chicken on his menus, but you will find rattlesnake, goat, rabbit, and elk. He has several options for your dining pleasure, but his oldest restaurant is The Lonesome Dove. It's here that you'll find the tastiest 30 ounce ribeye you've ever eaten. The presentation is quite a spectacle. On the other end of the spectrum is his famous burger joint, Love Shack. Burger topped with a quail egg, anyone? His newest restaurant, The Woodshed, offers casual dining with live music, cozy firepits and a morning coffee bar that serves up a damn good cup of joe, with a taco sidecar. Tacos with your coffee?.... only in Texas! Each day brings a new animal to the fire. You can tell what's cooking by the flag that flies on the front of the building. Is it pig? Is it goat? Is it lamb? Whatever it is, try it. Never in a million years would I expect to crave goat, but I am here to tell you it's delicious and I can't stop thinking about it. With another great shoot in the bag, it's now time to catch up on some sleep and remember that I really do love my job.