Like most who are with child, I go through phases where I obsess over particular foods/food combinations, eating them again and again until they no longer appeal to me. For the past two weeks, I’ve been focused on a breakfast inspired by Cafe Gouda, a favorite restaurant from my days in the small town of Hickory, NC. Cafe Gouda opened its doors less than a mile from our first apartment together, and when I discovered a creation called The Rapp I stopped there many a morning for a perfectly satisfying breakfast treat. The components are simple: whole wheat tortilla, peanut butter, vanilla yogurt, sliced banana, granola and a generous drizzle of honey.

All (w)rapped up in a perfect breakfast package.

I don’t think this obsession will fade anytime soon.

I hate everything about summer….except for the produce. Berries, stone fruit, tomatoes, okra, string beans…it’s like Christmas in June, July AND August. I can’t get enough of my favorite summer fruits and veggies, and I’m always looking for new recipes to highlight the bounty. When my friend Melissa hosted a potluck brunch at her apartment and asked guests to bring seasonally-inspired dishes to share, I knew I wanted to contribute something sweet. But what would be the best vehicle for showcasing some of my favorite summer fruits? And more importantly, which summer fruits would I pick to star in my dish?  Raspberries and blueberries looked best at the farmer’s market, so I brought them home and searched for a winning recipe.

And now, I can add these muffins to the (short) list of things I love about summer.

The only way to improve a delicious blueberry muffin is to throw some raspberries in the mix. They retain a bit of tartness and take on a jammy texture that is absolutely divine. It’s difficult to add them to the batter without many of them bursting/falling apart, but even the fragmented berries gave a nice swirl of flavor to each muffin. You’ll find the recipe here. My only modification was to use brown sugar for the streusel topping, because really, isn’t that how streusel is supposed to be?

Breakfast has always been my culinary Achilles’ heel. Ironically, I love to eat it, but my ability to cook it is completely subpar. I do okay with eggs, but sweet breakfasts are a source of heartache and shame. I’m a good baker. Shouldn’t French toast, waffles and pancakes come naturally to me?

Pancakes are particularly difficult because I never know when it’s time to flip them, and flipping itself yields a slew of creative curse words. As a result, my pancakes don’t always look pretty, but they taste good, thanks to an adapted version of this recipe. They’re lightly sweet and golden brown thanks to banana and brown sugar. They have a nice texture thanks to dried oats and a combination of white and whole wheat flour. I’m hardly a pancake expert, but I’m starting to hone my technique and hope to one day be known among my children’s friends as the awesome mom who makes killer pancakes. (Either that, or the awesome mom who makes killer pasta carbonara. Maybe my kids will hang with an advanced culinary crowd.)

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

adapted from Food Network

makes 6 medium-sized pancakes

1/2 c old fashioned oats

1/4 c all purpose flour

1/4 c whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 c packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 c Greek yogurt

1/3 c milk

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large banana, mashed

2 tbsp butter, melted

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a separate, larger bowl, combine the yogurt, egg, milk and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring until just combined. Fold in the mashed banana and melted butter. Allow the mix to rest as you preheat a skillet or griddle to medium heat. Spray the pan with cooking spray and add the batter, 1/3 cup at a time. Cook for three to four minutes or until bubbles form on the surface of each cake, then flip and cook for an additional three to four minutes.

Most of my meals include vegetables. Most of my meals are made at home. Most of my meals are somewhat healthy. But every so often, I go to a restaurant and order something completely unhealthy and completely delicious. I’m especially vulnerable at restaurants that offer Southern cuisine, which is equal parts nostalgic (since I lived most of my adult life in the South) and novel (since I no longer live there and find myself subjected to Bay Area interpretations of classic Southern fare). My most recent moment of weakness occurred at Pican, an Oakland restaurant known for its Fried Chicken Eggs Benedict.

Yup – boneless fried chicken served with the usual poached egg and hollandaise sauce, along with Pican’s amazing house-made hot sauce. There was a lot going on here, and all of it was delicious. It was certainly rich and over the top, but ironically, it was much lighter than I expected it to be. The hollandaise was smooth and not at all greasy. The fried chicken was crispy and tender. The egg was a bit of a disappointment as it was over-poached (= no runny center), but I had no problem pushing it aside in favor of the other goodies on the plate.

Corey was equally curious about this dish, so we swapped plates and I enjoyed a few bites of his Pimento Cheese Burger.

I was kind of surprised to see Corey pick a burger over Pican’s barbecue plate, but it proved to be a winning decision. Tender beef, spicy pimento cheese, bacon and bread & butter pickles served up on the softest bun you can imagine. It was an excellent choice.

I’m so glad our friends Michael and Jess told us about Pican. I’d love to go back for dinner – not only for a dinner-sized portion of their chicken (served with gouda mac & cheese?!?), but also for their impressive cocktail and bourbon selection. After all, you can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of the girl…

Oh, yes. Ohhhhhhhhhh, yes.

What’s not to love about cinnamon rolls? Flaky on the outside. Slightly doughy on the inside. Oozing with cinnamon and sugar and coated with cream cheese frosting. These have to be one of my all-time favorite indulgence foods, and no one makes them like my momma makes them. She’s made this recipe for years, and I always assumed they were too difficult for me to master due to my fear of yeast. But like her homemade noodles, they’re surprisingly easy to make. Mom’s adapted her recipe for use with a bread machine, a stand mixer or your own two hands, so you really have no excuse not to try it! I’ve added some pictures to the recipe to show you the process – hopefully, you’ll find it as easy as I did.

And before we get to the recipe, allow me to announce the winner of my Spicy Giveaway! I drew randomly from all of your comments and the winner is commenter #17, Voula, who is truly a woman after my own heart with her mention of baklava and shrimp saganaki. Voula, please send me your mailing address at prettybythebay@gmail.com and I’ll ship your goodies. I strongly suggest you use some of your new cinnamon to make this recipe

Mom’s Cinnamon Rolls

makes about a dozen

Dough:

3 c unbleached all-purpose flour

4 tbsp white sugar

1 tsp salt

¼ c non-fat dry milk powder

1 c warm water

2 tbsp butter, softened

1 package rapid-rise yeast

Filling:

Softened butter

Brown Sugar (about 1 c, or to enough to generously cover rolled out dough)

Cinnamon (about 1 tsp, or more to taste)

Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, softened

2 tbsp butter, softened

½ box of powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1-2 tbsp cream or milk, or more as needed to achieve desired consistency

Step 1: Make the dough.

To make dough in a bread machine: Combine water, sugar, butter and salt in bottom of bread pan. Add flour, dry milk powder, adding yeast to the top, last. Run dough cycle, and remove from pan for first rising, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let rise until doubled.

To make dough in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook: Combine water, sugar, butter and salt in mixer bowl. Mix together yeast, flour and dry milk powder. Begin mixing liquid on slow speed, and gradually add dry ingredients. Knead according to your mixer’s recommendations, or until dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Remove dough hook, and put dough into a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

To make dough by hand: Combine water, sugar, butter and salt in a large bowl. Mix together yeast, flour and dry milk powder in a separate bowl, and gradually add to liquid, mixing well after each addition. Turn out onto a lightly floured board/table and knead until smooth, elastic and no longer sticky, adding additional flour to the board as needed, approximately 8-10 minutes. Put dough into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Before:

After:

Step 2: Roll and season the dough.

Punch down dough and turn out onto a lightly floured board/table. Roll into a long rectangle; the dough may spring back, but continue to work it until you’ve shaped a rectangle roughly 9″x15″ in size. It’s okay if the dough sticks a bit to your board or counter; stickiness will help you roll it out.  Spread with softened butter (a couple of tablespoons for a nice even coating.) Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon, followed by the brown sugar, and then the rest of the cinnamon.

Step 3: Shape and cut the rolls.

Beginning at the long edge, roll the rectangle toward you, stretching dough as you roll it. After it’s rolled, pinch the dough seam together so it’s closed off along the edge. Cut into rounds with a sharp knife, and place on a greased baking sheet, with the rolls barely touching. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until almost double. Bake at 375 degrees and check after 15 minutes. Rolls should be golden brown on top; if still doughy or not yet brown, return to the oven for 5 more minutes. Remove from baking sheet and allow to cool for a few minutes on a wire rack. (Caution, the melted sugar is molten hot!)

Step 4: Make the frosting and frost the rolls.

As the cinnamon rolls bake, combine softened cream cheese, butter and vanilla in mixer bowl. Beat until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar a little at a time, beating until well combined after each addition. Add cream or milk a tbsp at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Allow the rolls to cool slightly (just a few minutes) before frosting.