blackberry vanilla almond muffins, two ways

Yes, more muffins. You're not complaining, are you??? By the way, please forgive the lack of pics around here, and the less-than-superb quality on this one -- our camera went kaput, so all I have is an ipod.

Whether you make these whole wheat or gluten-free, they make you think you're indulging in a decadent treat, when really you're giving yourself a whole host of nutrition. As long as you don't eat five in one sitting.

shhhh! they're, ahem, whole wheat

Whole wheat, no butter, and tastes good... impossible, you say? Nay! As luck would have it, I discovered this gem of a recipe on my very first attempt at whole wheat banana muffins, and they're perfect! Perfectly perfect. I do have to confess that, in what was not my proudest culinary moment, I took these from being pure, whole food made from mostly organic ingredients, to having a container of vanilla pudding from my pantry. But I forgot we were out of milk, and I stumbled upon some random pudding we had leftover from something else. So I used the whole container (single serving size) and upped the oil to 6 tablespoons. 

baked french toast - mother's day brunch finale

The piece de resistance for any brunch, but especially for a brunch that maman doesn't have to make herself.

When I was a kid, about 12 years old, we visited my mom's high school best friend (the same friend whose mom made this taco casserole). She baked the tastiest breakfast dish I'd ever had. I asked my mom if we could have the recipe and make it at home, and she flatly said something to the effect of, "I can't stand my eggs any way other than scrambled really well, and because this french toast has eggs in it, they might not get done all the way and might not be completely dry, and there might be a teeny, tiny drop of not-quite-done egg, and that would scare me and gross me out. So, no, you may not make this at home." Ok, she was nicer than that. But not by much.

However, somehow that recipe ended up in my mom's recipe box and I rediscovered the bliss of nutrient-bare french bread laden with eggs & milk, and gooey with caramelized sugar, butter & corn starch. And my holiday mornings became much better because of it.

*This must be MADE IN ADVANCE - prepare it the night before

blueberry banana muffins

It took a couple times to get this just right, but here's the final version that we all fell in love with. I tried to keep the sugar as low as possible, and use oats to a reasonable extent. If you watch your time, these muffins turn out fluffy and tender, despite the density of the whole wheat & oats. If you're like me and you're missing a kitchen timer, and you can't remember to look at the clock to save your life, well, they're still really good, just not quite as tender.

french toast

How do you take plain ol' French Toast & make it exciting? Well, I'm glad you asked. I'll tell ya how - you add cream or half-n-half. And plenty of butter. Mmmmmm. Delectable. If you're attempting to have multiple people eat breakfast at the same time, turn the oven on to warm (around 140) and place the cooked pieces on the center rack until you're ready to serve them all.

biscuts, beef, and rice

The recipe that started this whole food blog was the result of a couple of accidents: Mr. Improv had taken me literally when I said, "Get all the tomato stuff the recipe calls for" and he bought only the diced tomatoes, neglecting the spaghetti sauce; and I forgot to stop by the store on my way home from work the day I planned to make ravioli, leaving me without the necessary pasta sauce.

Because I regularly forget at least one item on my grocery list, plus regularly forget to even write one of the key ingredients down on my list, plus get whimsical once I don an apron, I already knew quite a bit about making something called dinner out of random ingredients that don't seem to go together.

And so, Biscuits, Beef and Rice was born, along with this food adventure. Bon apetit!