Category Archives: Breakfast

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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Posted in Breakfast, Comfort Foods, Craving Buster, Dessert, Snack

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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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Baked Beignet

Posted on March 11, 2011 | 2 comments

If you haven’t encountered a beignet before, get somewhere french inspired stat! Or better yet make this and save your waistline. True, a beignet should be fried but well, I miss beignets and fried food doesn’t agree with my new foodie choices or at times…me. I made these tasty pastries for a changeling one shot we hosted this week and even amongst those who have not experienced the fried love that is beignet they were suitably devoured. That thing that really makes me love this version is the crispy shell you get from the sugar coating. Num! So, no need to fry to get that crispy bit of pastry happiness. Great, talking about the beignets has made me need some more of them. Omnomnom.

  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbl splenda
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/2 fat free sour cream
  • 1 tbl melted light margarine
  • 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 4 tbl sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  1. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and splenda in a bowl.
  2. Add the applesauce, sour cream, margarine and vinegar. Knead briefly until the dough comes together. Don’t overdo it though or the dough will get sticky and hard to work with.
  3. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl or ramekin.
  4. Take a teaspoon of dough, roll into a ball shape. Dip in the sugar mixture to coat.
  5. Place on the baking sheet. You should get around 26 beignets. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes or until golden.

Makes 26 beignets. Each beignet is 40 calories, .3 grams of fat and .3 grams of fibre. Want higher fibre? Try a whole wheat flour blend! It tastes just as great!

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Potato Pancake

Posted on February 16, 2011 | 5 comments

Yes, this is also called a Latkes but really I first heard them called potato pancake so I’ll go with that. A tasty brunch item or even a dinner side dish. These are great on their own with a bit of fat free sour cream and sautéed onions, or topped with  light cream cheese and salmon. Num! No limits with these really. I’ve even seen them eaten with honey. Sweet and savoury. My grandmother would often make something similar to these for breakfast. Want to add a bit more flavour to your potato pancake? Try subbing in a bit of shredded carrot or celery root instead of half of the potato. It’s great and more veggy nutritious goodness! These particular pancakes were made by my husband for a special weekend breakfast under some advisement from me. Goodtimes.

  • 200 grams potato
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 tbl whole wheat flour
  • 2 egg whites
  • salt and pepper to taste
  1. Grate potatoes and onion using the coarse side of the grater. Stir to combine. Using a colander, squeeze the mixture to get the excess liquid out.
  2. Move the mixture to a bowl. Add the flour, egg whites and seasoning.
  3. Spray a pan with non-stick. Heat to medium, when hot enough drop 1/4 cup of batter into piles on the pan. Leave plenty of room between the piles. Press the piles to form a flat pancake.
  4. Allow to brown on the bottom, about 3 minutes, flip carefully and allow other side to brown. Serve.

Makes plenty to serve 2 people. Each serving (half of the resulting pancakes) is 123 calories, .4 grams of fat and 3.1 grams of fibre.

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Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Sidedish

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Smoothie

Posted on January 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

My husband has been on a liquid and mush diet this week due to having his wisdom teeth removed. I asked him if it was painful losing wisdom stats, it was. A friend suggested he have a smoothie to help. So in the parade of things that were made I figured this was one of those I would actually eat too, and did. It’s nice to have the occasional smoothie. I haven’t made one for awhile but they are wonderfully simple and as I discovered great for when you sitting in front of a game all weekend. Hehe, so bad. I keep reading smoothie recipes that overly complicate the matter. Honestly a great tasting smoothie is not difficult and does not have to come from a lonely bottle on a supermarket shelf.

  • 100 grams light yogurt (I like source, this one used exotic coconut, pineapple, and banana but any flavour will do)
  • 1 small banana
  • 1/2 cup skim milk
  • 1/2 cup ice cubes
  1. Using a blender combine until smooth. Serve!

Now wasn’t that easy? Serves 1, contains 171 calories, .7 gram of fat and 2.4 grams of fibre. I had one for breakfast the other day with a fruit cup and was all set until lunch…aaand I had started my day with a couple of fruit servings and calcium under my belt already. How awesome is that?

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Hardcore Hobbit: Blueberry Muffins

Posted on January 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

This one was a bit of a triumph for me. I’m sort of anti blueberry muffin after a bad experience with one. Is it ironic that in the game blueberry muffins are used to remove fear effects? I was determined to make blueberry muffins once again tasty for me in the name of hobbitkind. I succeeded…granted I think I will stick to my muffins rather than store bought still. In fact this has given me the courage to try the other blueberry recipes too. Which makes my husband do some sort of happy dance I’m sure. I brought these to our Dresden Files group and amongst that group of fellow foodies they were happily devoured. I call that a huge success! In the game blueberry muffins contain flour, bunch of blueberries, and egg.

  • 1 cup quick cooking oats
  • 1 cup flour (I used that new nutri flour)
  • 1/2 splenda or sugar (nutritionals reflect splenda)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup applesauce
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/4 cup light butter, melted
  • 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
  1. Combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and splenda in a bowl.
  2. In another bowl combine applesauce, egg whites, and butter.
  3. Add the egg mixture to the dry mixture, stir until just moistened. Carefully fold in the blueberries.
  4. Divide into 12 sprayed muffin tins. Bake at 375F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins. Each muffin contains 101 calories, 2.6 grams of fat, and 1.6 grams of fibre. Yes, that’s 101 calories…I love how our game master said “What? You mean I have to eat a hundred of these to even out?!” lol goodtimes.

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Fall Fruit Stuffed French Toast

Posted on November 12, 2010 | 2 comments

The fruit during the fall season is just so tasty. I especially love the abundance of apples and pears. So many varieties of delicious awesomeness. Once again my husband has provided an awesome special breakfast on the weekend. Have I mentioned publicly how much I love his special breakfasts? Screw that coffee stuff, they are definitely the best part of waking up. This time my husband was inspired by another Bobby Flay throwdown loss…hehe. For the bread we just used a store brand whole wheat bread that turned out to be our best nutritional option. Check them out! You don’t have to break the bank on silly expensive bread just to eat right.

  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 pear, peeled, cored, chopped
  • 1 apple, peeled, cored, chopped
  • 1 tbl low fat yogurt cheese or fat free cream cheese
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbl brown sugar, unpacked
  • 4 slices whole wheat bread
  1. Combine fruit, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan. Cook for a few minutes on medium high until tender. Allow to cool. Stir in the yogurt cheese.
  2. Combine egg whites and cinnamon in a large bowl. Heat a skillet on medium high.
  3. Dip bread in the egg mixture. Allow the bread to rest in the egg mixture for a just a few seconds to allow it to absorb the mix.
  4. Pan fry the slices of dipped bread. Once the sides are cooked top one slice with a bit of fruit filling then top with another slice. Heat for one minute and serve. Top the toast with 1 tbl of filling.

Serves two. Each serving contains 304 calories, 4.3 grams of fat and 7.7 grams of fibre. Take a look at that nice fibre! We had this as a brunch so I felt full for most of the day, ended up just having an afternoon snack instead of lunch really. I was still too full! French toast for breakfast is always a total win!

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Posted in Breakfast, Craving Buster

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Hardcore Hobbit: Applesauce

Posted on October 18, 2010 | 1 comment

Can I get a hurray for apple season? I love stocking up on apples and pears and just going nuts with them this time of year. This year I’m going to be canning a bunch of this applesauce for use throughout the winter. It is so tasty! Much better than the premade stuff I get at the store. My favourite applesauce use? Putting it on oatmeal on a cold morning. It makes breakfast taste like a nummy apple crumble dessert. How can you lose? I based the recipe this year off the applesauce found in LOTRO. In LOTRO applesauce contains: shire apples, honey, and cinnamon. I figured a shire apple must be like a royal gala apple, they look so alike! I’ve been told that any apple is a good apple for applesauce so use whatever you think a shire apple should be. I found a nice local honey and away I went.

  • 8 apples (I used gala), peeled and quartered
  • 4 tbl honey
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  1. Place the apples in your crockpot. Top with honey and spices.
  2. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. (enjoy how awesome the house smells)
  3. The apples will break down during cooking, you can stop there or remove half of the broken down apples, puree and stir back in for a smoother applesauce. Here is an example of the apples all broken down before the puree stage:
  4. Stovetop: Place the apples and other ingredients in a large pot, cook on medium heat, covered and stirring often until the apples have completely broken down. For smoother applesauce simply blend half of the broken down apples and stir back in.

I highly recommend doing this the crockpot way. Far less fuss, happy smelling house, and somehow a tastier sauce. This makes enough to fill 3 250ml jars. That makes about 12 servings. Each serving (1/4 cup) contains 65 calories, .3 grams of fat, and 2 grams of fibre.

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Posted in Breakfast, Comfort Foods, Dessert, Ingredient, Sidedish, Snack, The Hardcore Hobbit

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