Our Time in Northern Idaho

Most of our time in our neighboring state was spent shopping and eating. We heard about Le Peep from my sister and her hubby. We decided to try it for breakfast on Tuesday. The food and staff were great. Greg had the Stuffed Poblano and I had their Eggs Bene special made with corned beef.

We walked along the boardwalk next to the restaurant and enjoyed the clear views and sunshine. It was early and still on the cool side.

Fortified from our breakfast we tackled several thrift stores, the Chef’s Cash and Carry, At Home, Tractor Supply and Costco. Idaho gasoline is fifty cents less a gallon than Washington. We go to the cash and carry regularly for supplies for our church kitchen. Sales tax is less in Idaho, too, so we took advantage of that for some of our regular purchases.

I did not take any photos at our early dinner at the Blue Bird in Uptown Coeur d’Alene. We both enjoyed the Halibut and Chips (French fries, Hoagies) with the in house tartar sauce and zesty ketchup. One more stop before we called it a night at Seasons where we split a slice of Huckleberry Cheesecake. Back to the hotel for a relaxing evening.

Before we packed up the car (which wasn’t an easy task), we had breakfast again at Le Peep. I had the stuffed french toast and Greg had a Mexican Skillet. Both dishes were delicious! After checking out of the hotel we started our trek back home with stops in Post Falls, Spokane and Deer Park.

Our stop in Post Falls happened to be right next store to another Tea Room I was not aware of and it really had all the tea vibes. It is called La Tea Da. It will be a treat to make some plans to return for tea.

On Thursday at our last session of Winter Bible Study I was informed of another Tea Room in Spokane. This one would be the closest for us to travel to so there might be a tea adventures in the near future at Brambleberry Cottage .

Today, Friday, is a baking day here at our country bungalow with our daughter-in-laws. Tomorrow is Addy’s birthday party. Katie and Andrew are traveling over today. I am and will be very busy with all our kids through the weekend.

Enjoy the weekend and I’ll catch early next week.

Yogurt Pancakes

These were a nice change from regular pancakes made with yogurt instead of milk. We enjoyed them with a dollop of plain yogurt and pure maple syrup. Since childhood our family has enjoyed pancakes with sour cream and syrup. If you’ve never tried it you should. With these yogurt pancakes we used yogurt instead of sour cream and we enjoyed them.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1-1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yogurt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
In separate bowl whisk together the yogurt, eggs, oil or butter and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients combining well.
Heat pan to medium high to cook the pancakes with a combo of vegetable oil and butter.
Use 1/3 cup measure to proportion the batter and end up with 8 uniform pancakes.
Cook to a golden brown on one side and flip and cook the other side.
Serve with your favorite toppings.

Yield: 8 pancakes

Double the recipe to serve more people.

Breakfast at the Feathers Hotel

Breakfast was included with our stay at the Feathers Hotel September 21st-23rd. We enjoyed some nice options they gave us.

‘Soft’ boiled eggs and Soldiers. A soldier is a thin strip of toasted bread, reminiscent of a soldier on parade. The shape lends itself to dipping into a soft-boiled egg that has had the top removed. Sadly my eggs were far from soft boiled.

On our second morning at breakfast I went for a Benedict. While on the subject of food we had another nice meal at The King’s Arms on Thursday of our stay in Woodstock.

Back to the Present: We are plugging away at February. Dear and I have a 30 minute walking routine through our home most mornings. I follow him with music on nice and loud to encourage us along our route. He commented one morning that we must look like the pirates on the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ ride at Disneyland. That gave us a chuckle. If you’ve been on that ride you might get the correct picture idea in your head. We are looking forward to being able to walk the Rotary trail again as soon as the worst of winter is over.

Happy Presidents Day to those of you who live in the U.S. of A. and Happy Family Day for our Canadian friends!

Chile Relleno Breakfast Bake

This would be a nice meal to have on New Year’s Day watching the Rose Parade or football games. Serve it with some chunky salsa. I’m cutting the recipe in half and making it to enjoy while watching the Rose Parade today. Interesting fact about the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl game, it always happens on January 1st unless January 1st lands on a Sunday. When January 1st lands on a Sunday the parade and game are moved to January 2nd. Today is the day.

Another note of interest is the next time Christmas lands on a Sunday will be 2033. New Year’s Day will be on a Sunday in 2034.

Chili Relleno Breakfast Bake

Ingredients:
4-4oz. cans of whole green chilies
4 cups of shredded Cheddar Jack cheese combination
12 eggs
2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
Chunky salsa of your choice (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare 9 x 13 dish by greasing lightly.
Remove and drain the whole green chilies.
Slit the chilies open and lay flat covering the bottom of the dish.
Sprinkle the chilies with the cheese.
Beat the eggs, sour cream, and salt until thoroughly blended.
Pour over cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until center is set.
Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Serve with your favorite salsa.
Yield: 8-10 servings

Enjoy your Monday holiday everyone!

Eggs a la Goldenrod

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
A pinch of white pepper (you can substitute black pepper if you’d like)
2 tablespoons snipped chives
A tablespoon or more of prepared mustard according to taste (We enjoyed the country mustard with horseradish added)
8 hard boiled eggs
4 slices of toasted bread cut into triangles

Method:

Peel the hard boiled eggs and separate the yolk from the white.
Slice the egg whites into bite size portions.
Press the yolks through a sieve and set aside.
Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan over low heat.
Add the flour and blend well.
Add the salt and the pepper.
After about 4 minutes of cooking over low heat add the 2 cups of milk and turn up the heat to medium.
Stir constantly until the milk begins to thicken.
Whisk in the mustard.
Add the chives and the eggs whites and heat through.
Toast the bread and cut each piece into 4 triangles or whatever shape you’d like.
Place bread on a plate and scoop a good portion of the prepared white sauce mixture over the bread. Garnish with the egg yolk that was pressed through a sieve.

Note: I think this recipe would work well with some cooked crumbled sausage or bacon added to the white sauce.
This recipe will make at least 4 generous servings.

B & B

Since we are on the letter B for ABC Wednesday I’ll share the photos from our latest B & B experience (last Wednesday night) in Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington. B is for Bed and Breakfast!

The Five SeaSuns Bed and Breakfast…

The gardens on the property were lush and pretty.

Breakfast was delicious with some good conversations with the other guests.

Do you prefer to stay in a hotel or a bed and breakfast establishment when you travel?

We cooled down somewhat today and for that I am thankful. I’m a heat wimp!

Y is for Yum!

With all of our celebrations and visitors this time of year I decided I’d feature the yummy food that has been placed before us recently.

I’m linking to ABC Wednesday with thanks to Denise Nesbitt and the pithy team that keeps us going.

Yum, Yum, Yummy food glorious food!

Queen Mary Tea Room ~ Seattle, Washington

WESTMINSTER

Phyllo dough crust surrounds layers of ham, spinach, egg, onion, tomato, plus layers of assorted white cheeses. Served with a side of fresh fruit and a green salad

Breakfast with family from California at the Portage Bay Cafe ~ South Lake Union, Seattle

Dinner at the Canlis Lounge, Seattle, Washington, with our son and DIL for a late Mother’s Day/Father’s Day celebration.

Dinner at Red Star Tavern in Portland, Oregon, with my cousins during our time in town for a wedding.

Yes and Yippy, I even did some cooking. I’ll be posting my Huevos Rancheros with Gluten Free Ranchero Sauce later this month on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog.

Last to make you smile is the wedding cake doughnuts we enjoyed this last Saturday at the wedding we attended outside of Portland, Oregon. It was a morning wedding with Brunch served after the ceremony.

The doughnuts were ordered from Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland, Oregon.

Hope you weren’t hungry while you visited my contribution for the letter Y! I might be absent for Z and A since a trip across the pond is in my near future.

Saturday Snapshot!

A quick Saturday post and snapshot of how our day started. We were able to meet up with Judy (My Front Porch) one of the Mennonite Girls along with her hubby at the start of their road-trip to California. We had breakfast together in Shoreline, Washington and by the time we headed out to our cars the snow had started to fall. Thankfully this is a wet snow event with no sticking. It’s always great to get together and extra fun when our husbands can join us, too. Have a good safe trip and enjoy your sunny destination!

I just noticed who’s birthday it is today…

Happy Birthday George Washington!

I can not tell a lie, I’m lazing away this Saturday. What are you doing?

The Cherry on Top!

We only had a few hours on Monday morning of our last day in London before we would be picked up by our taxi and swooped to Heathrow Airport. We had noticed this restaurant upon exiting the Notting Hill tube station one night and I knew I wouldn’t be happy with myself if I didn’t make it back there when it was open to enjoy a meal.

It was so worth the walk there and back again for our breakfast. Quite a delight. I’ve followed and enjoyed Jamie Oliver from his debut on U.S. food channels. When Dear and I were in London in 2003 we ventured out to Fifteen his restaurant in North/East London that trained young unemployed people to work in the restaurant industry. That restaurant started in 2002.

The hostess sat us at a nice table in the back end of the 2nd floor of Recipease. We ordered off the great breakfast menu and as we waited for our food Josh said “So, do you think Jamie will be here soon?” Just as he said that I looked behind Josh and said “well there he is coming up the stairs right now!!!” We remained cool and collected as he passed our table and sat at a table right behind us for a breakfast meeting.

When the waiter brought us our drinks we asked him if he thought it would be okay for us to ask Jamie to take a photo with us. The waiter assured us that it would be cool. He said to let him get further in to his breakfast meeting and then to ask him.

The food was delicious and the presentation was top notch. I didn’t expect anything less. After we were done with our food, Jamie got up from his meeting and walked past our table. At this point Josh asked if he would be so kind as to take a photo with us. Jamie said of course and one of the waitresses offered to take the shot and Jamie even gave her suggestions as to the best angle to shoot the photo from. I only had my little camera with me.

Our waiter photo bombed the picture! We were cracking up when we saw that. We were wondering why he asked us “so, how did that photo turn out?”

Jamie Oliver is a very genuine person and it was fun to meet him and to talk to him. He stood at our table for a long time asking us questions and answering our questions about his restaurants. On the way back to our flat we kept pinching ourselves amazed at the fun “coincidence” of this meeting.

This little out of the blue experience was a wonderful wonderful ending to our England experience! It was the “Cherry on Top” for me.

Recipease is a food and kitchen shop where you can learn to cook right on the premises. There are take away options as well as a cafe on the upper level.

So farewell London and Piccadilly Circus where all the “humanity” seems to gather. And farewell to beautiful England with all your history and beautiful countryside and hedgerows and churches and graveyards and cobblestones. I could go on and on but until next time...”Parting is such sweet sorrow”.

So I am now officially done with my posts about our trip to England this past September.

This Friday I’m recuperating from a wonderful Christmas party we had here last night with our small group. We had a build your own soft taco/burrito meal with so many wonderful toppings to add to the Carnitas (pulled pork) that I had cooking in the slow cooker all day long. I’ll share the recipe later in December on Mennonite Girls Can Cook. I’m sorry I didn’t take one photo of the toppings all in a row. Oye!

Besides being done with my England posts, I am done done done with my Christmas decorations. Now I’ll just sit back and enjoy the twinkle here and there. I love all the twinkle (to shine with a flickering gleam of light, as a star or distant light) that this time of year brings for us to enjoy. Are you twinkling?

Fancy Egg Scramble…

Fancy eggs with no fuss the morning of. This was a go to recipe years ago and I decided to revive it and make it for a Sunday meal. It worked out great for inviting someone from church for brunch. We go to the 9:00 a.m. service. By the time our company found our home the egg dish was in the oven and half way done. Before church I washed the fruit and mixed it together. The other way I simplified the meal was to have muffins that were purchased. We were able to sit down and enjoy a meal and conversation with no fussing over the meal.

Click over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook to get the recipe!

We had this meal on Memorial Day weekend so it was also fun to set the table ahead of time and enjoy it all weekend.

This is a traveling week for me. Dear has been away since last Thursday and he arrives home tomorrow. I’m very excited to be reunited with him before I leave for Canada to fly to Winnipeg with the “girls” for some book signing events. I’ve never been to that part of Canada and I’m looking forward to seeing where our Betty and Charlotte live.

Hope you all have a good first full week of June!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Breakfast