Yogurt Biscuits & Breakfast Outside

I can’t say anything about breakfast and biscuits that I haven’t said before. I love them both. You know what makes them even better? The great outdoors.





Eating outside is one of the things that makes warm weather really, really great.





Bird songs and sunshine, the perfect accompaniment to the perfect breakfast.





This is another fantastic recipe from Heidi Swanson’s cookbook, Super Natural Every Day. Flakey and rich, these biscuits are pretty wonderful.

Yogurt Biscuits
From Super Natural Every Day
Makes 12-16 biscuits

1 ¼ cups spelt flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
1 ½ teaspoons fine-grain sea-salt
1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
½ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1 ⅓ cup greek-style plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 450 with a rack in the middle of the oven. Place an ungreased baking sheet in the oven to preheat as well.

Combine the flours, salt, and baking powder in a food processor. Sprinkle the butter across the top of the dry ingredients and pulse about 20 times, or until the mixture resembles tiny pebbles on a sandy beach. Add the yogurt and pulse a few times, or until the yogurt is just incorporated. Avoid overmixing, it’s fine if there are a few dry patches. Gather the dough into a ball and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead five times and press into an inch thick square. Cut in half and stack one on the other. Repeat two more times - flattening and stacking, then cutting. Add more all purpose flour to prevent sticking when needed. Press or roll out the dough into a 3/4 thick rectangle, but no thicker; if the dough is too tall, the biscuits will tilt and tip over while baking. Cut the dough into twelve equal biscuits.

Transfer the biscuits to the preheated baking sheet leaving 1/2 inch between each biscuit. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the bottoms are deeply golden and the biscuits are cooked through.

Happy Easter!

He is risen!

Honey & Rose Water Tapioca

Pudding is becoming one of my very favorite things to make. I like that it’s a slow process, if you’re doing right. It’s mindful cooking, not a 5 minute meal on your way out the door. It requires attention, and time. I like that it forces you to slow down for just a bit, to really enjoy the process.



So when I started flipping through Heidi Swansons new cookbook, Super Natural Every Day, the first recipe that popped out at me was her Honey & Rosewater Tapioca. It’s the ultimate slow down and enjoy recipe, there’s lot of stirring, watching, tasting, chopping of pistachios. It’s one for a long saturday afternoon.

The end product is totally worth the wait, too. It’s creamy, with bits of chewy tapioca, brightened by lemon zest, and perfectly accented by the pistachios on top. I didn’t have any rosewater to add, but I can only imagine that it would make it even more luxe.



Also, I’m a bit smitten with Heidi’s book. It’s so beautiful, filled with her amazing photography. You can tell how much love and care when into it’s creation. I love the conversational nature of her recipes, they are so easy to understand and implement. I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot more from Super Natural Every Day around here, and I definitely recommend picking up a copy for yourself.






Honey & Rosewater Tapioca

From Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day

Serves 4-6

3 cups / 710 ml milk

1/3 cup / 2.5 oz / 70 g small pearl tapioca

2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

1/4 tsp fine-grain sea salt

1/3 cup / 80 ml mild honey (I used clover)
2 tablespoons muscavdo sugar (i used organic dark brown sugar)

Grated zest of 1 small lemon

1/4 to 1 tsp rose water (I didn’t use this)
Chopped toasted pistachios

Soak the tapioca in 1 cup of the milk in a medium, heavy saucepan for 30 – 60 minutes. Whisk in the yolks, salt, honey, and remaining milk.

Over medium-low heat, slowly bring the mixture barely to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring regularly. This will take about 15 minutes. Decrease the heat and let the mixture fall to a gentle simmer. Keep it there, sitting, until the tapioca is fully cooked, another 20 minutes or so. The time needed can be significantly longer (or shorter) depending on the size of the tapioca pearls you’re using. The tapioca will tell you when it’s ready, if you watch carefully the pearls will swell up and become almost entirely translucent. The custardy part of the pudding will thicken dramatically as well. Continue tasting and assessing at this stage. It is even more critical to keep stirring at this point to avoid scorching.

Remove from heat, stir in the lemon zest, then let the pudding cool a bit; it will thicken more as it cools. Stir in the rose water and wait another few minutes. The tapioca tastes best served warm, topped with toasted pistachios, but is delicious cold as well.

Sausage Pancakes + an ode to the internet

I’ve been using the internet for a long time now. Probably since I was around 10 years old, when my dad helped me sign up for my first email account. That day, my parents warned me of the dangers of the web. I was told to never use my real name and to never chat with anyone I didn’t know.

When I started my blog, back in 2008, I still looked at the internet that way. A cold, impersonal place. A place to read the news and check email. Then, people started commenting. I started finding other blogs. Blogs filled with beautiful words, personal stories, pictures, names. Suddenly, the internet felt friendly, warm. It wasn’t a solitary activity anymore, it was all about interaction and sharing.



I could have never imagined back then I’d meet really good friends through twitter. I couldn’t have imagined that I’d find my passion through blogging, that I’d be speaking at a blogging conference only 2 1/2 years later. (Yes! I’m speaking at Blogher Food 2011! Will you be there? Let me know!)

It’s crazy, but the internet, and blogging have quite literally changed my life. Without it, I wouldn't have had an outlet for my creativity, that lead to my renewed passion for photography. I wouldn't have some of the friends I have now, as we live in different parts of the world.
And for that, I am thankful.

This recipe? It comes from another internet friend, Elisabeth. She posted about this ages ago and I’ve been making them since. It’s not so much a recipe as it is a suggestion, an idea. Sausage IN your pancakes, instead of beside them. It’s pretty awesome. I’m including my favorite pancake recipe, but if you already have a fave, just add sausage!



Near Perfection Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbs sugar
1 egg, beaten
3 tbs melted butter
1 cup milk (buttermilk is fantastic)
breakfast sausage, cooked & crumbled

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a medium bowl, whisk to combine. Add egg & butter, stir lightly. Add milk and whisk - not too much, it’ll make your pancakes rubbery.

Heat about half a tablespoon of butter a frying pan over medium-high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/3 cup for each pancake. Add sausage to the top, before flipping. Brown both sides. Top with maple syrup & enjoy!