Category Archives: Breakfast

Hardcore Hobbit: Bowl of Oatmeal

Posted on June 13, 2011 | Leave a comment

According to LOTRO this simple breakfast dish is delicious and satisfying. I’ll say! I had this for breakfast and I’ve been full for hours. I love having a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast on a cloudy morning. Especially when I do it up like this. No boring oatmeal for me. I like to throw as much nutritional num in there as possible. In the game a bowl of oatmeal is made with a bottle of water, honey, and a bunch of oats. As usual I take it a bit further than that. The nuts I put in add this satisfying texture and omega 3. The fruit helps you along with those servings you should be trying to get in each day. Then the fibre! The whole combination to me tastes like a breakfast fruit crumble. Did I mention it is super quick and easy to make? Epic win.

  • 1/3 cup quick cooking oats
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 1/2 cup applesauce of choice (I like strawberry kiwi unsweetened from Motts)
  • 1 tbl chopped walnuts
  • 1 tsp honey
  1. Combine the oats, walnuts and water in a bowl. Microwave for 1 1/2 minute on high. Cover and allow to sit for 2 minutes.
  2. Stir in the applesauce.
  3. Drizzle the honey on top. It will melt and glaze the top. Enjoy!

Serves 1. Contains 230 calories, 6.7 grams fat, 39.5 grams carbs, 6.3 grams fibre, 5.5 grams protein. Remember a solid breakfast helps you fight orcs and cravings later in the day.

 

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Hardcore Hobbit: Complete Hobbit Breakfast

Posted on June 6, 2011 | 3 comments

Lotro tells us this delicious breakfast is full of potato, egg, bacon, and mushroom. Really, who could ask for more? This one came to us by accident sort of. Weekend breakfasts are my husband’s domain. Lately though he has been strapped for ideas. He told me he was in the mood for eggs though. So we talked it out and concluded that we should poach said egg and place it on a tasty potato pancake. Then he asked if I wanted bacon. To which I countered “you know…if we work in mushrooms…we have a complete hobbit breakfast!”. So, we tried it out and yes it works. Totally delicious and I would do it again. Each flavour comes through and it is indeed those ingredients in their purest form. Best of all, the egg was a perfect medium poach. My favourite kind. I love it when the egg yolk becomes this gooey buttery sauce to tie together the dish. Break the yolk first and dive in, you won’t regret it.

  • 2 medium red potatoes
  • 2 strips bacon
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 crimini mushrooms (or mushroom of choice), sliced
  • cooking spray
  • ground pepper to taste
  1. Peel, grate and squeeze the moisture out of the potatoes. Form into two cakes and set aside.
  2. Crisp the bacon in a pan and drain off the fat. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until the liquids come out and get soaked up again.
  3. Pulse the mushrooms in a blender to create a tapenade  like texture (chunky, not a puree). Set aside.
  4. Place the potato pancakes in the pan. Cook until golden on one side, about 5 minutes. Flip, press down, and cook until golden. Place on your plate.
  5. Poach the eggs to desired firmness. We use an egg poacher, for the free wheeling way of making these without a poacher you would best refer to Julia Child.
  6. Spoon the mushroom tapenade on the potato pancake. Place the poached egg on top and garnish with your pieces of bacon. Serve!

Serves two. Each serving contains 275 calories, 8.4 grams fat, 37.8 grams carbs, 4.9 grams fibre, and 13 grams protein. What a pretty plate and a tasty brunch that was. Go husband!

 

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Apple Cinnamon Bites

Posted on May 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

These are sort of like bite sized coffee cakes. They have that oh so tasty swirl of brown sugar and cinnamon. Yes, I am totally in love with my little mini cupcake pan. Adorable food is the way to go. You feel like you are totally indulging because you can have three instead of just one. These are awesome with a lovely foamy latte or special tea. These are just so cute! I think I might include these in a tea tray outside this summer. Anyone care to come over for afternoon tea?

  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup splenda
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1/2 cup skim milk
  • 1/4 cup unpacked brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  1. Combine the flour, splenda, baking powder in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the applesauce, egg whites, and milk.
  2. Add the flour mixture to the apple sauce mixture gradually. Stir until well mixed.
  3. Spoon 1 tsp of batter into each mini cup of your mini cupcake pan.
  4. In a ramekin combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Top each mini bite with a half tsp of the cinnamon mixture. Using a toothpick swirl the mixture into the bite.
  5. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until golden.

Makes 36 bites. Each bite contains 26 calories, .1 gram of fat, 6.4 grams of carbs, .2 gram of fibre, and .9 gram of protein. So go ahead, have a few!

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Hardcore Hobbit: Lothlorien Waybread

Posted on May 9, 2011 | 4 comments

Those crazy lothlorien elves, adding herbs and spices to their lembas. Who do they think they are? Oh. Right. I had thought about just adding spices to a lembas bread as the description suggests, but really how would that be fun? So I made up a slightly sweet bun and went with it. My alternative to cream this time was definitely a tasty winner. In the game this bread is made with fresh cream, mixed herbs, mixed spices, and flour. It is definitely a highly portable bread, I grabbed one of these out the door for my husband to help fuel him through the errands we needed to run before heading home. Including talking to cranky insurance people…who may have been orcs…I’m not entirely sure. There was definitely something distinctly orcish going on there.

  • 4 tbl unpacked brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup unbleached flour
  • 1 tsp yeast
  • 2 tbl water
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened original almond milk
  • 1 tbl light cooking margarine
  • 1/2 tsp ground mace (freshly ground if possible)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 dried apricot halves
  1. Combine all the ingredients except the apricot halves. Knead throughly, allow to sit in a warm dark place to proof about 20 minutes or until it has doubled in size. Punch and proof again.
  2. Pound the apricot halves to 1/4 inch thickness and slice. You can add these to the dough or use them to decorate the tops of the buns before baking.
  3. Form into 6 buns and place on a baking tray. Allow to sit for 20 minutes.
  4. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes. Until a nice golden colour.

Makes 6 breads. Each bread contains 150 calories, 1.7 grams of fat, 30.1 grams of carbs, 1 gram of fibre, and 4.4 grams of protein. Definitely fantastic for a bit of omnom on the go!

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Posted in Breakfast, Dessert, Snack, The Hardcore Hobbit

Hardcore Hobbit: Sandson’s Famous Hardboiled Eggs

Posted on April 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

I’ve been waiting so long to do this one. When I first glanced at the recipe in LOTRO I knew exactly what I had to do for these eggs. I’ve been waiting for that perfect time of year to do this. In the game these eggs are made with eggs and onions. They are described as “what seem to be normal hardboiled eggs are really Farmer Sandson’s famous recipe!”. How do you make hardboiled eggs with onions, you may ask. Simple! We’ve been doing it in my family for years! Start saving your yellow onions skins! I think this method makes them taste better than your average hardboiled egg but then it could just be because they are pretty.

  • 4 white large eggs
  • 1-2 cups of dry yellow onion skins
  • COLD water
  1. Place the eggs in a medium saucepan. Fill with enough cold water to cover with an inch of water from the top of the highest egg.
  2. Add the onion skins to the pot covering the eggs.
  3. Bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat. Once it begins to boil reduce the heat to medium and allow to cook for 10 minutes. The water will get beautiful and dark, that’s perfect.
  4. Remove from heat and immediately place the eggs into icy water to chill. This keeps those egg yolks pretty and yellow, instead of greenish. Chill for atleast 5 minutes. Longer is perfectly ok.
  5. Remove from the icy water, rub dry with a towel and serve! Or keep in the fridge with the shells on for up to a week.

Note: all the info I found for just one egg seems to vary. Check the package on your brand. For general info here is what I had: each egg contains 80 calories, 5 grams of fat, 0 carbs, 0 fibre, and 7 grams of protein. Also, I am not declaring for any particular sports team over there. I had them on hand and I live in Victoria, BC…I gotta put the Vancouver team up there lest I possibly face some sort of lynch mob or something. Hope you have as much fun making these as I do!

BTW you can totally make more than four with the amount of dye those egg skins will give you. Just cool and start again.

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Banana Mace Mini Donuts

Posted on April 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

I received a mini donut pan this week so I absolutely had to try it out. Healthier baked donuts? Yes please! I’m still tinkering with the spices I had bought from that lovely store. Today, my eye fell on the package of whole mace I had. So pretty and orange. I opened the package and gave it a sniff. YES! I never stopped and realized how delicious mace smells all on its own. I keep using it in blends. This time it needs to shine. Grinding it up made it smell even better! Mmmmm, I must do more with mace in the future.

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups unbleached flour
  • 1 cup splenda or sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp ground mace (I went with 1 tsp, but that might be too intense for most. I looove spices though)
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup egg substitute (like egg beaters)
  • 3 tbl melted light cooking margarine
  • 1/3 cup mashed banana
  1. If you are grinding your own mace from whole. This is the texture I brought the mace down to:
  2. Combine the flours, sugar/splenda, baking powder, baking soda, and mace in a bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl combine the milk and lemon juice. Stir. Add the banana, melted margarine, and egg substitute.
  4. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until well mixed.
  5. Fill the mini donut pan and bake at 325F for 12-15 minutes. The donuts should spring back when touched.

If you don’t have a donut pan don’t worry! These work out great as cake like cookies or even mini muffins.Makes 43 mini donuts, cookies, or mini muffins. Each (baked with splenda) contains 38 calories, .3 gram of fat, .5 gram of fibre, 8.4 carbs, and 1.6 grams of protein. With sugar they contain 56 calories, .3 gram of fat, .5 gram of fibre, 12 grams of carbs, and 1.6 grams of protein. To die for when they are still warm. Mmmmm. Saving some of these for breakfast with latte before we start running around tomorrow.

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Healthier Hot Cross Buns

Posted on March 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

Ooops a day late posting these. Got all caught up looking at bikes yesterday. The pedal kind. So excited about getting one finally. Especially with gas prices climbing more and more….and it isn’t even summer yet!! Time to find a better solution for those errands that are not within comfortable walking distance…which are a few. We are a bit out of the way here. Anyways! Hot cross buns. Those nummy treats that start coming out every spring. You see them there, taunting you, begging you to devour their souls….ummm….yeah. You get the idea.

  • 1 1/4 cup skim milk
  • 2 tbl dry yeast
  • 2 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbl unpacked brown sugar (you need this for that yeast to rise)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp cloves
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 6 tbl egg substitute (I use egg beaters)
  • 2 tbl light cooking margarine
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  1. If you have a bread machine you can skip all this by using the dough cycle according to your manufacturers directions.
  2. Heat milk to lukewarm and pour over the yeast, carefully.
  3. In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, sugar, and spices. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk mixture. Stir and add the eggs and then the margarines. Fold in the raisins and cranberries.
  4. Once they are evenly mixed in cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise to double it’s size. This usually takes about 2 hours.
  5. Once risen, grab pieces of the dough and shape into 18 buns and place on a baking sheet.  Allow to rise again slightly for about 30 minutes.
  6. Use scissors to snip the buns deeply in the form of a cross.
  7. Bake at 425F for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
  8. If you would like to glaze them I suggest a 1/2 cup icing sugar (if you can find the no calorie stuff even better) and about 1 tbl of lemon juice. Drizzle over hot buns.

Makes 18 buns. Each bun contains 112 calories, .8 gram of fat, 1.7 grams of fibre, 4 grams of protein, and 23 grams of carbs. These are tasty still warm and are sacrilegiously tasty first thing in the morning.

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