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Brunching at home: A taste of fall

20 Oct

Beautiful foliage, pumpkins, Halloween, apples … what’s not to love about fall? Fall is my favorite season, and after a trip to Riamede Farms this past weekend, I was inspired to whip up the flavors of fall for my boyfriend and I while we watched the Giants game. I wanted to pass along some of the recipes so you can make your own fall brunch!

Goat cheese and apple omelette

We picked over six pounds of apples at Riamede, and I wanted to use some for brunch. I wasn’t quite sure how to incorporate them into an egg dish, so I went on a whim and created my own omelette. One of the types of apples we picked was Mutsu. I had never heard of this apple before, so I did some research on it. It is also known as the Crispin, and has a taste similar to Golden Delicious and Indo apples. I figured goat cheese would go well with apples, so I decided to combine it with a Mutsu apple in the omelette. I honestly had no idea what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised at how the goat cheese and the apple complemented each other!  The Mutsu was not too sweet and had a little bit of a tartness to it. It was a great cooking apple.

Pumpkin pancakes

Nothing says autumn like pumpkin! I drink pumpkin iced coffee every day. My current hand soap in my bathroom is Bath & Body Works Pumpkin Caramel Latte. I make pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting at least once every fall. So, you could say I’m a little bit of a pumpkin junkie. Pumpkin pancakes are the perfect fall brunch dish, so I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and experimented with these pancakes. I followed the recipe exactly and did not make any substitutions. The pancakes were moist with mild pumpkin flavor, and were not sweet at all. I would have preferred a bit of a stronger flavor, so if you’re making these yourself, I recommend enhancing the flavor with pumpkin butter or cinnamon whipped cream on top.

Hard apple cider

Cider is one of my other favorite things about fall. I’ve been on a big cider kick lately, so I wanted to treat myself to a glass of hard cider after making all that food. My local liquor store was out of most ciders, but they recommended Cidre Bouché Brut De Normandie, which is a French apple cider. It was very tart and super strong, but it went well with the two dishes that I made. If you’re looking for a light and slightly sweet apple cider, I recommend trying Crispin Cider, which I had recently at Puck Fair.

Fall has unlimited possibilities for delicious meals, so get creative with the sights and smells around you and cook up your own autumn brunch!

Written by: Jen

Brunching at home: Rooftop brunch

23 Sep

Brunch Gang loves exploring different brunch spots and trying new dishes, but there is a lot to be said for hosting brunch at home. With the summer winding down and the crisp fall air blowing in, we couldn’t think of a better time to brunch al fresco.

I’ll admit that I don’t enjoy cooking as much as I do baking, but I do like making breakfast. In the past year, I’ve made brunch dishes for my roommate and boyfriend numerous times for what we like to call Brunch and Basketball, where we watch Villanova basketball games and have brunch. From lemon ricotta pancakes to breakfast burritos, I switch up the menu so we get a taste of different kinds of breakfast foods.

For Brunch Gang’s get-together, I decided to make something sweet and something eggy: baked french toast with blueberries, and spinach, mushroom and onion quiche.

Baked French toast with blueberries
As you know, I love French toast, and if you’re pressed for time and don’t want to stand in front of the stove coating and flipping individual pieces of bread, this French toast casserole is the way to go.

The recipe is courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis from Food Network. A lot of reviewers on the recipe page warned that there was too much liquid for the amount of bread in the recipe. Instead of using only three slices of bread (as the recipe states), I used an entire Challah loaf. I made a couple of other adjustments — I didn’t include lemon zest, cut down on the maple syrup and milk, used two less eggs and added a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the mixture.

If you lessen the amount of liquid, make sure you don’t leave the casserole in the oven for the full 40 minutes or your French toast will be crunchy and dry. Mine came out well, but I shouldn’t have omitted so much liquid since I used more bread. Sprinkle a little powedered sugar on the French toast with some strawberries and bananas on the side, and you’ll have yourself a crowd pleaser!

Spinach, mushroom and onion quiche
This quiche is one of my absolute favorite brunching-at-home dishes! It’s something anyone can make, and the end result is delicious.

This recipe also comes from Food Network, but from Paula Deen (it doesn’t include butter!). You can substitue the quiche fillings with anything you desire. Instead of bacon, I used half of an onion (chopped) and 1 1/2 cups of chopped mushrooms. I also substituted Swiss cheese with a lite Mexican blend of four cheeses. After about 35-40 minutes in the oven, you’ll have a fluffy, veggie-filled quiche — a perfect brunch dish to serve your guests!

Cheers to homemade brunch!
You got to have something to wash down all that yummy food, right? Enter bellinis. Target’s Archer Farms Italian soda is the perfect mixer for brunch cocktails. They sell a variety flavors so you’re sure to find one to satisfy your tastes.

We filled our glasses about 3/4 quarters with prosecco and topped the drinks off with orange passion mango or peach pear soda. The orange passion mango was super refreshing and tasted fruity and tropical, making it a great substitute for a regular mimosa. I found the peach pear to be a bit lighter and had a more subtle taste, with the pear flavor standing out more than the peach.

I encourage everyone to make brunch at home whenever you get the opportunity. There are a lot of wonderful, simple recipes to choose from on cooking websites and blogs, and brunch drinks are very easy to concoct. You can even host a potluck brunch with friends!

Written by: Stephanie

Brunching at home: Hurricane brunch

29 Aug

Hi brunchers! We hope everyone stayed safe during Hurricane Irene. Other than some power outages and flooding, it seems that most people are safe, and we’re happy to hear that!

The hurricane canceled our Saturday brunch plans, and it was clear that we weren’t going anywhere on Sunday, either. Since I knew I’d be stuck indoors all weekend, I figured this would be a great opportunity to make my own brunch. My usual breakfast consists of egg whites or cottage cheese, so I decided to make something a little more indulgent. I never make French toast at home, and I decided to try making that combined with one of my favorite desserts, crème brûlée. I also experimented with making my own sangria. My brunch turned out to be awesome, so I thought I would share with everyone!

Crème brûlée French toast

I found the perfect crème brûlée French toast recipe on Epicurious. I highly recommend this recipe. It was easy to follow, didn’t require any crazy ingredients, and the end result was delicious! There were some slight modifications to the recipe, however. I forgot corn syrup, but just ended up melting the butter and brown sugar without it, and it was fine. I also used Kahlúa in place of Grand Marnier, and I decided to keep the crusts on the toast to add some texture. After preparing the French toast, I refrigerated it for about 10 hours before putting it in the oven. I was so happy with the way it came out! It wasn’t overly soggy, and the brown sugar on the bottom of the dish looked like a perfect hard caramel that you see on crème brûlée. It wasn’t too sweet, either. I served it with fresh whipped cream and pure maple syrup. If you’re looking for the perfect French toast recipe, you have to try this!

Ham, brie and onion frittata

Since I was making brunch for five people, I decided to make an egg dish as well. I made a ham, brie and onion frittata. I sautéed the red onions while preparing the eggs, which I seasoned with garlic powder, parsley, salt, pepper and cream. I then added the ham, brie and onions, and poured the mixture into a skillet. I let it cook on the stove until it was almost done, and then moved it to the oven, where it baked at 500° F for just a few minutes. This gave it a nice crisp that you normally don’t get from just cooking it on the stove. All of the flavors tasted great together!

Raspberry tea sangria and cherry sangria

What would brunch be without drinks? I love white sangria, so I knew I had to get creative with making my own. I ended up making two sangrias. For the first, I combined Cupcake Vineyards Riesling with Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka and Stoli Raspberry. I then added some sugar and Pink Lady apple slices, peaches and white grapes. For the second sangria, I mixed Lo Tengo Torrents, an Argentinian white wine, with Pinnacle Cherry Whipped vodka. I also added sugar to this, as well as strawberries and cherries. I let both sit overnight and then added club soda right before I served. Both sangrias were great! The cherry sangria was definitely sweet, and I would recommend this for anyone who loves cherries. The raspberry tea sangria was delicious. The raspberry flavor wasn’t powerful, and the sweet tea vodka was perfect for the sangria. It was very refreshing.

Brunch at home was definitely the perfect way to recover from the storm. All of the dishes were easy to make and tasted delicious. As much as I love going out to brunch, brunching at home turned out to be quite a fun experience as well!

Written by: Jen

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