Weekend Breakfasts

During the week, my breakfast is usually a couple of handfuls of almonds and some homemade granola, maybe with some yogurt.  But, on the weekends, I love to make a late breakfast with delicious coffee.  Pancakes have been my favorite lately, and oatmeal/granola.  When delicious fruits are in season, they're where I start.

Al dente, rinsed, rolled oats with coconut flakes and pecans, bruleed with coconut oil and dark brown sugar.  Rinsed and al dente is by far the best way to prepare oats- with water (not milk!) and salt.  Rinse  with cool water all the gloppy starchy stuff off to reveal a chewy little squished-flat grain.  Heat them up again quickly to serve them.  You can also toast them dry beforehand to make them nuttier.  

Vanilla cream-top yogurt with fresh nectarine and homemade ginger granola, with a strawberry coconut milk smoothie. I usually use Brown Cow Yanilla Cream Top or another full fat high quality organic yogurt. I prefer Trader Joe's Vanilla sweetened coconut milk for cooking and drinking for both flavor and texture. 

Vegan pancakes with pecans and granola.  I almost always use this  basic pancake recipe, and then add stuff as I cook them: Nuts, granola, raw or toasted oats, raw or toasted nuts or seeds, fresh, frozen or dried fruit, etc.  I never like to make the same thing, the same way, twice.  

Vanilla yogurt, white nectarine, red plum, raw almonds, and holy basil tea.  

Sweet dark cherry and almond vegan pancakes with coconut oil, salty and sweet maple roasted walnuts. Toast the walnuts on medium heat until they start to smell toasty. Turn down the heat. Drizzle some maple syrup into the pan- it'll sizzle.  Toss the nuts with a silicone spatula to get the syrup coating evenly, and season with spices if you want.  Ideas: Alleppo pepper, smoked sea salt, dried herbs, cumin, vanilla.  You can also boil down apple cider to a thick syrup and do the same thing with the nuts.  Its explosively apple-y like a jolly rang

This was actually an afternoon snack, but I also had leftovers for breakfast. Plum, pluot, and fresh young summer apple pie, with vanilla bean bourbon whipped cream.My favorite fruit desserts like this have very little sugar, as this one does, and are rustic enough to let the fruit jump out. These hot-pink pluots were delicious both raw and cooked.  I used a cookie-cornmeal-cobbler-pie type crust, based on this, and replaced the 6 extra tablespoons of AP flour with finely ground cornmeal.