All posts filed under: brunch

Southern Greens Shakshuka | BHM Virtual Potluck

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February is Black History Month and to celebrate, I have joined up with 27 of the best black food bloggers from around the globe for a Virtual Potluck! From African to Creole, Caribbean to Southern there is something for everybody; with each blogger contributing their very own recipes in a number of categories (Meat Entree, Seafood Entree, Vegetarian Entree, Beverage and Dessert) to share with you each day of Black History Month. Check out and try some of the other amazing recipes from our participating bloggers listed at the end of this post! Those who know me well, know that I love a good brunch. If I’m totally honest, I would tell you that I pretty much live for brunch. Thoughts of where we’re going for brunch on on the weekend tend to dominate my late-week thoughts. I may or may not have a spreadsheet showing which brunch places in town serve bottomless mimosas…

A Food Photography Workshop and Savory Baked Oatmeal w/ Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese

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Two weekends ago, I was once again in my happy place, Portland, Oregon. I found the perfect excuse to go: a food photography and styling workshop taught by two Portland-based blogger/photographers, Eva Kosmas-Flores of Adventures in Cooking and Christiann Koepke of Portland Fresh. I virtually met both of these ladies through their Instagram accounts (@evakosmasflores and @portlandfresh), instantly falling in love with their beautifully moody photographs. So much so, that when they announced the Portland photography workshop in February, I signed up immediately without giving it a second thought. The morning of the workshop I caught the number 17 bus from our Airbnb to Tillamook Station, an event space nestled in a pre-war building in the heart of the Albina Industrial District. I was so nervous that I missed my stop and had to backtrack a couple of blocks. I breathed a sigh of relief as I rounded the corner and saw the bright yellow door of the building and other similarly nervous people laden with camera bags heading in the same direction. I tried to …

The Year I Learn to Bake: Savory Ham and Cheese Scones

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Easter has come and gone leaving behind a huge container of leftover ham that has found itself in a multitude of dishes throughout the week, and all throughout the week, I’ve been dreaming of these scones! I could hardly wait for Saturday morning to come so that I could finally make them!  Fluffy and golden, studded with bits of ham and pockets of melted cheese and slathered with butter; well, let’s just say these scones need to be in your belly, right now! With the help of a food processor, you can mix up these scones in mere minutes, and before you know it, these hot, buttery scones will be on your breakfast plate, ready to be devoured–or as in our case, snatched hot off the baking pan and devoured while standing in the kitchen!  Either way, you’re going to love these savory scones! I baked these scone in two batches. The second batch was made using the leftover dough from the first batch.  While the first batch baked in the oven, I shaped the leftover dough …

Farmer’s Market Breakfast with Poached Eggs

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I have a confession to make.  Until today, I have never successfully poached an egg. It’s crazy, I know!  I mean, egg-poaching is a very basic cooking skill and I feel so ashamed that until now, it has completely flummoxed me.  About a year or so ago, I was bound and determined to learn the proper technique, only to end up with a pot of what looked like egg-drop soup.  I tried again and again; and again and again, I failed. I was told my eggs were too fresh. Then I was told that maybe they weren’t fresh enough! And then, this week I happened upon a little article in Real Simple Magazine about the many uses of a meat thermometer that just happened to mention that the ideal temperature for poaching eggs was 180 degrees fahrenheit!  Eureka! That was the variable I never considered in my earlier attempts.  I knew that the water should be barely simmering, but I never thought to check the temperature.  Well, that’s what I did, and SUCCESS!  Beautiful, silky, …

Baked Eggs Over Polenta with Prosciutto

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Being born and raised in the South, a staple weekend breakfast in our house often consisted of eggs, bacon and grits; or, eggs, grits and country ham with red-eye gravy; or perhaps, eggs, sausage and grits.  Perhaps we would switch things up a bit and have fried fish and grits.  You’re probably beginning to notice a pattern here!  I’ve been living in the Southwest for 25 years, and what makes me sad is that grits are always hard, if not impossible, to find.  I can usually find the packages of instant grits, but they just aren’t the same and besides, that’s not the way Momma made them!  So, I’ve adapted, and instead of the white, coarse-ground grits of my youth, I now simply use golden polenta, which is almost exactly the same.  Both grits and polenta are made of ground corn, with the difference being that grits are made from ground alkali-treated hominy.   I know I’ve told you how much I love eggs and in this dish, the eggs are gently baked on top …