Spring is Here: Breakfast on the Grill

Future Women's Irish National Team players

Isn’t it great when the good weather finally arrives? In Chicago we really have to wait for it, but we are so, so grateful when it comes. I hate that the kids are cooped up for so many months and that I feel like I’m on a never-ending hunt for indoor activities that do not involve technology. Our backyard is a postage stamp and in the five years we have lived in our house we have managed not to fix it up at all, despite our best intentions. Still, we’ve got a small garden, a sandbox and a soccer goal.  What more could you ask for? Awesome neighbors. Yep, we’ve got those too, so we’re good.

This weekend wasn’t super warm but it was sunny, and nice enough to be outside for most of the day.  Our Cousins returned home to Ireland on Saturday and we were sad to see them go. The morning after they left, immediately after Isla woke up she ran downstairs to find them.  She came back up in tears after realizing that they were really gone.

But, before they left we had a big Irish breakfast courtesy of my father-in-law and the Irish Boutique. Winston’s sausages, Irish bacon, white pudding, black pudding, eggs, beans, hash browns, and pancakes and strawberries.  Paul was inside making the pancakes and because it was nice out, I decided to do all of the meats and the eggs outside on the grill. Recently, we’ve been using our grill for more than just your typical burgers and sausages. Grilling whole chickens, a turkey breast and now, breakfast. I haven’t tried it yet but I want to make fried chicken on the grill too, since I refuse to deep fry anything in the house.

I love the days when we can eat dinner (or breakfast) outside and stay out until bedtime. I love not having to clean up the stovetop - because I’m I freak about making sure the stovetop is always clean (even though nothing else is). I also love how cooking outside gets the kids outside and gets us all talking and playing and moving more. It may be a little premature but I’m already thinking about ice cream weather and what flavors we should make this year.

She likes black pudding! 

Baked French Toast: Made with Muffins

If there is one thing I hate, it’s waste.  Food waste is the worst. Re-purposing food is a big part of my life because let’s face it, not everything works out the way I hoped it would. That brings me to muffins. Now that Eve is eating solid food she seems to enjoy feeding herself rather than being spoon-fed. So, last week I made her a batch of super-healthy protein muffins - with whole wheat flour, chia seeds, eggs, almond flour, all kinds of good stuff. She loved them.  Great.

See what I mean? CRUMBS!

What I didn’t anticipate was the mess she would make with them! Muffin crumbs everywhere. Everywhere but in her mouth or tummy I suspect. Since I put so much love and nutrition into them I didn’t want to see them go to waste - sucked up in my vacuum or in the garbage after I finally got sick of vacuuming. On a mission to save them, I came up with the idea of making baked french toast, basically bread pudding, with protein muffins instead of bread. It was so easy to do, I just cut up the muffins and soaked them in my standard combination of liquid ingredients for french toast.  I threw the whole thing in the fridge overnight and, in the morning, baked it at 350F until it was cooked through.  Let me tell you...it was a winner. With the whole family. Nothing wasted, and BONUS, all of those eggs = even more protein for my growing little ones.

Muffins, ready to be re-purposed.

I started with 4 eggs but added another one which is why the recipe calls for 5. It's a judgment call really.*

*"It's a judgement call really." This should be my motto. Who am I kidding, it is my motto.

Muffin chunks go into the egg mixture.

After soaking, a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar and it's ready for the oven. 

Even though I came up with this recipe out of necessity, I would definitely make it again. Sometimes the humblest of dishes are the most comforting.  Bread pudding was created for the same reason, to make use of stale bread. Despite it’s humble roots, these days, bread pudding makes an appearance at even the fanciest restaurants.  But I love what it represents.  

For the kids I cut small pieces of the pudding and serve with syrup for dipping. We call it french toast bites. 

Baked French Toast: Made with Muffins

Baked French Toast (the breakfast way of saying “Bread Pudding”) is a great dish to make if you are having people over for brunch.  You can follow the recipe below using muffins, bread, even croissants. If you aren't cooking for kids, add a little Bailey’s to the mix and it would be great for your St. Patrick’s day spread.

5 eggs

⅓ cup half and half or milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-3 tablespoons maple syrup (depending on the sweetness of your muffins)

½ teaspoon kosher salt

6-8 muffins

Cinnamon and coarse sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350F.

Add first 5 ingredients to a baking dish and whisk until fully combined

Cut muffins into small pieces and add to egg mixture tossing with your hands or a large spoon and making sure all of the muffin pieces are covered in egg mixture.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and coarse sugar and bake about 40 minutes or until cooked through (start checking for doneness around the 30 minute mark).

Dutch Baby

I’m not sure exactly when it dawned on me, but I know it was sometime in the last couple of years...a dutch baby is just a giant, slightly sweet Yorkshire pudding. Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t like Yorkshire pudding or Dutch babies? I haven’t. I love the way they have soft bits and crispy bits, the way they puff up sky high in the oven and even the way they begin to fall in on themselves as they cool.  The way they are eggy but not too eggy and chewy but not too chewy. Did you know that they couldn’t be easier to make? Whoever came up with them was a genius.  

I promised the kids a special “Birthday Breakfast” in advance of their joint birthday party last weekend.  Because I knew it would be hard enough to get everyone out the door in time to pick up the cake and be there when our guests started to arrive, I decided to do the easiest thing possible and make a big, family-sized dutch baby. I made the batter the night before so that once we woke up it was just a matter of turning the oven on, preheating the pan and pouring in the batter.  

I implore you to try this at home.

Seriously.

Emmett loved watching it rise in the oven. Science at its best.  After about 15 minutes, our Dutch baby was ready.  I sprinkled it with powdered sugar, tore a piece off for each plate and let everyone apply their own toppings.  Yogurt, berries, almonds and maple syrup for me, mini m&m’s, marshmallows and yogurt chips for the littles. Even baby Eve was able to partake (I love that she’s getting to the age where she can eat table food).

To make the batter for these I simply used this Yorkshire pudding recipe and added a tablespoon of sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and a big pinch of cinnamon.  Alternatively, you could add sugar, vanilla and cinnamon to a box of Yorkshire pudding mix (available at the Irish Boutique).  

To make a 12-inch Dutch baby I followed this process:

Place a 12” cast iron pan in oven. Preheat oven to 450F.

Once it is hot, remove pan and put 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan.  

Put the pan back in the oven for a couple of minutes until butter has melted.  

Remove pan from oven and swirl butter in the pan to coat the bottom of the pan evenly.

Pour your batter in the pan and turn the oven down to 425F.

Cook for 15 minutes or until Dutch baby is cooked through but still soft in the center and puffy all over. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

It was hard to explain the term Dutch baby to Emmett so I told him it was called “Puffy Pancake”. That made a lot more sense.