Well, this worked!

One of my favorite breakfasts or brunches to make on a lazy weekend day is crepes.

I like them because the batter is very easy to make and once you get the hang of them, I actually think they are easier to make than pancakes!

Plus you can fill them with all kinds of delicious stuff.

The problem I’ve encountered with crepes is that it’s hard to feed a crowd with them. You can only make one at a time and people usually want 2-3 for a meal so if you’re feeding four people, that’s 10-12 crepes!

Then one day the idea of a crepe pie smacked me over the head and I had to try it immediately.

It worked better than I ever thought it would.

Savory Crepe Pie

Yield: Serves 4-6.

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Basic Crepe Batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 large eggs
1.5 cups milk
2 tablespoons melted butter (plus some for the pan)

Filling:
8 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 poblano pepper, diced
1/2 onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
6-8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and pepper
Butter, for the pie pan

Helpful Equipment:
Large nonstick skillet or crepe pan

Directions:

1) Make your crepe batter by mixing the dry ingredients together in a bowl and the wet ingredients (except butter) in a separate bowl. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Whisk in melted butter. Batter should be pretty runny. Let batter sit while you prep the filling.

2) Slice mushrooms, dice peppers, onions, and garlic. Add mushrooms to a large skillet with a drizzle of olive oil and saute over medium-high heat until the mushrooms release their liquid and soften, about 5-6 minutes.

3) Add other filling ingredients (except cheese) to the skillet and cook for another 4-5 minutes until peppers soften. Season filling with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of dried thyme. Set filling aside.

4) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

5) Using a large nonstick skillet, or crepe pan, add a small amount of butter over medium-high heat. Pour in about 1/2 cup of crepe batter and swirl it around the pan so it flattens out. Cook for 30-45 seconds on the first side until it firms up, then carefully flip the crepe and cook for another 15-20 seconds. Repeat until you have 4 large crepes. The batter will make 5-6 crepes so you can mess up one without worry.

6) Butter a pie pan and lay a crepe in the bottom of the pan. Add half of the mushroom filling and 1/3 of the grated cheese.

7) Top with a second crepe and 1/3 of the cheese.

8) Top with a third crepe. So the middle layer is just cheese basically.

9) Add rest of filling and cheese to top of the pie and top with the fourth crepe. Kind of crimp the edges of the crepe around the edges of the pie so it is mostly sealed.

10) Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

11) Let cool briefly and then slice and serve!

The Filling

Over the years, I’ve put together dozens of different crepe fillings. Sweet, savory, fruity, cheesy… you name it, you can probably stuff it in a crepe.

So I don’t want you to get the impression that this filling is the only filling that you can use for this recipe. This is just the one I used and it worked really well.

Good winter veggies.

Rinse and slice up the mushrooms and dice up your veggies. It’s okay to keep them in pretty big chunks. You don’t want the veggies to disappear in the dish.

Great flavors.

Then just add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a large skillet and toss in the mushrooms. Cook them over medium high heat until they start to soften and release their water. Then you can add in all the other veggies and continue to cook until they are soft.

Total cooking time for this will probably be in the 10 minute range. There’s actually a lot of wiggle room in how much you cook the veggies. It is important to saute them though so you can cook off some of the water in the veggies. Otherwise the filling would be very watery in your final dish.

When the veggies are cooked, season the filling with salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, and dried thyme.

Very important.

The Crepes

This is my basic crepe batter recipe. It’s never failed me really. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken right?

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl (minus the melted butter). Then stir the wet into the dry and finally stir in the butter.

Ideally, let this batter sit for a few minutes before making the crepes.

I like to make the batter, then make the filling, and by the time the filling is done the batter is rested and ready to go.

Pretty easy batter.

Like I said, I find cooking crepes easier than pancakes honestly. That said, you might mess up one or two. Don’t worry about it if you do. Since these are going in a layered dish, they don’t have to be perfect.

When you’re ready to cook a crepe, just add a small amount of butter to a large nonstick pan or a crepe pan and then pour in about 1/3-1/2 cup of crepe batter. Swirl it around in the pan so it flows out and forms an even, very thin crepe.

Cook the crepe for about 45 seconds on the first side and then give it a flip. Flipping is always the part that people mess up but just do your best. Like I said, they don’t have to be perfect.

Takes maybe a minute!

You need four crepes to make this dish so just go ahead and make four and stack them up on a plate or something.

Making the Pie

You can use almost any kind of pie dish that you have. Is it important to have something round though so the crepes fit snuggly in there.

To make sure the crepes don’t stick to your pan, butter the thing really well.

Butter is important.

Then lay in one crepe and make sure to push it down so it’s snug against all the walls of the pie pan. Then add about 1/2 of your mushroom filling and 1/3 of your grated cheese.

Bottom layer.

Then toss on the second crepe. For the middle layer, I just did an all cheese layer. So add another 1/3 of the cheese to this layer.

Speaking of cheese, be sure to use a good flavorful cheese for this. You don’t want to use a lot of cheese, but make sure to use good stuff! I used a nice sharp white cheddar.

Just cheese on this layer!

Add on the third crepe and then the rest of your filling stuff.

It should all stack up very nicely.

More of the same.

Put the top crepe on and kind of press the edges down around the sides of the pie pan. Again, don’t freak out if it isn’t perfect.

Stick this whole thing in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

The great part about baking this is that the top and bottom crepes actually get a bit crispy which is nice and then the center is just this awesome savory party.

So good!

I was worried that this would just fall apart when I sliced it, but if you let it cool for just a minute or two when you pull it out of the oven, it actually slices really nicely.

You can even make out all the layers.

One of my favorite brunches.

If this is all your serving, assume about 1/4 of the pie per person. If you’re serving this with some other stuff then you could cut it into sixths and be fine.

The good news is that you can make these in advance and then just toss them in the oven if you’re having people over.

This is the right way to do crepes for a group!

Millions of cinnamon rolls!

You know you’re a food blogger when…

1) You are used to eating meals at room temperature because you had to spend 10 minutes photographing the darn thing.

2) You have the grocery store aisles memorized.

3) You bring baked goods to bars during happy hour just so you can get them out of the house.

Number three is exactly what happened with this delicious thing. I made it, photographed it, ate more of it than I should have and then rushed out the door to catch a beer with some friends.

I was about to leave when I decided… what the heck… let’s bring it to the bar! This was a good idea. People loved it because the tiny little rolls are bite-sized. Even our server snuck a few pieces!

While I was going to write that this recipe is really great for brunches, it also happens to be perfect for bars.

Chocolate Chip Monkey Bread

Yield: Serves 10.

Prep Time: 30 minutes + rise time

Total Time: 4 hours

Ingredients:

Dough:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup milk, warm
1/3 cup water, warm
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon instant yeast
3.25 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
2 teaspoons salt
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (opt.)

1-2 tablespoons butter, soft for bundt pan.
1 teaspoon vegetable oil, for rising

Brown Sugar Coating:
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Helpful Equipment:
Bundt Pan

Directions:

1) Butter pan with 2 tablespoons softened butter and set aside for later.

2) In a large bowl, mix together milk, water, melted butter, sugar and yeast. Meanwhile, mix flour and salt in standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Turn machine to low and slowly add milk mixture. After dough comes together, increase speed to medium and mix until dough is shiny and smooth, 6 to 7 minutes. If at any point dough is very sticky, add more flour by the tablespoon.

If you don't have a mixer, just mix the ingredients in a bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a rough ball. Then turn out onto a floured surface and knead the dough until it forms a smooth ball, about 5-6 minutes.

3)Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and knead briefly to form smooth, round ball. Coat large bowl with vegetable oil or nonstick spray. Place dough in bowl and coat surface of dough. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until dough doubles in size, about an hour.

4) For the sugar mixture, mix brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Place melted butter in second bowl.

5) To finish bread, remove the dough from the bowl, and pat into a rough 10-inch square. Sprinkle chocolate chips on half of the dough and fold it over. Then roll out again to a square. Using a bench scraper or knife, cut dough into tiny 1/4-1/2 inch pieces.

6) Roll each piece into a rough ball and dip into the melted butter, allowing excess butter to drip back into the bowl. Roll in the brown sugar mixture, then layer balls in the Bundt pan. Try to stagger the balls so they form a single thing.

7) Cover the Bundt pan tightly with plastic wrap and let rise for another hour until the balls are about 2 inches from the top of the pan.

8) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap the pan and bake until the top is deep brown, about 35-40 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a late and allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

9) While the bread cools, whisk the confectioners’ sugar and milk in a small bowl until the lumps are gone. Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze over the monkey bread. Serve warm.

Adapted from a Brown Eyed Baker recipe.

The Dough

This dough is basically a cinnamon roll dough. It’s pretty much the easiest kind of dough to work with in my opinion. It’s really easy to mix and knead. It’s very soft and stretchy. It’s really easy to roll out and shape!

Start it by mixing all the dough ingredients except the salt and flour in a small bowl. Stir them together and let them sit for a minute or two to make sure the yeast is dissolved and active. It should start foaming a bit.

In a mixing bowl, combine your salt and flour and add in the liquid stuff. If you have a stand mixer, just mix this all together with the dough hook on low-medium speed until it comes together in a soft ball, about 5 minutes.

This is a really easy dough to make without a mixer though. Just stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon and once they are all together, knead the dough on a floured surface until it’s a nice smooth and soft ball.

Mixer or no mixer, if the dough ever gets sticky, add more flour.

Pretty straightforward

Once your dough ball is formed, add it to a bowl that’s been lightly oiled. I just used some vegetable oil and coated the inside of the bowl. Turn the dough ball over in the bowl so it gets nice and coated and then cover the dough and let it rise for about an hour. It should double in size.

This was my finished dough ball.

After a short rise.

Making the Balls

Now for the fun part. Scoop the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a large square. Then sprinkle your chocolate chips on half of the square.

The chocolate is optional, but I thought it worked perfectly in the recipe. You can use almost any chocolate chip. I just used some semi-sweet chips that I had in my pantry.

You only need a few ounces to get some nice chocolate flavor.

No need to go crazy with chocolate.

Fold the dough over and pack it down so the chocolate chips are more or less enclosed in dough.

Folded and lightly rolled.

Then use a knife or a dough scraper to chop up the dough into bite-sized pieces. You should shoot for 60-70 little pieces. About 1/2 inch squares is a good goal.

It’s actually good to have different sizes though so don’t worry about them all being totally even.

Approximately a million.

Filling the Pan

In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Also use a separate small bowl and gently melt some butter in the microwave.

Working with a few pieces of dough at a time, roll them into rough balls and dunk them in the melted butter.

No substitutions here...

Then toss them in the sugar and cinnamon mixture and roll them around. A light coating is all you need.

Like an inside out cinnamon roll

Then toss the finished balls in a bundt pan that has been pretty heavily buttered.

Keep going until you use all your dough. If you have a normal sized pan you’ll probably about half fill the pan which is perfect.

About half full is good.

If you don’t have a bundt pan, I don’t see why you couldn’t make this in a normal baking dish. It might not be quite as attractive, but it would still be delicious.

Regardless of the pan you choose, after you finish stacking all the balls of dough, cover the pan and let them rise a second time. About another hour should give you a great puffy dough.

While it might not look like these have risen much, keep in mind that they are also expanding to fill a bunch of little cracks that are in between all the dough balls. This second rise is really important.

A longer second rise.

Baking and Glazing

Once your dough has risen a second time, bake them at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes. They should be a nice golden brown and you might also notice some brown sugar bubbling up around the edges. That means it’s done!

This was my finished bread and it not only looked great, it smelled amazing!

Hello beautiful.

Let this cool in the pan for a few minutes and then invert it on a plate or platter.

Meanwhile, just stir together the powdered sugar and milk to make a very simple glaze.

Once the bread has cooled for 10 minutes or so, go ahead and drizzle the glaze all over it.

A simple glaze.

You could slice this, but I actually preferred serving it with toothpicks so people can just pick off the bread piece that they want.

Some people prefer the outer ones that get kind of crispy. Some like the inside ones that are soft.

So good!

For the delicious and show-stopping dessert that is produced, this thing really isn’t that hard to make. The dough is really easy to bring together and then it’s just a matter of rolling it, dunking it in butter and sugar and baking it.

In other words, you make do this. Anyone can make this.

And everyone should.

Ice cream in winter? Sure.

All this week on Macheesmo I’m making cookies! Be sure to check out the full list of cookie recipes on Macheesmo for even more cookie ideas.

As you’ll learn if you stick around for this full week, my definition of “cookie” is pretty broad. I should’ve probably called it “Dessert-that-you-can-eat-with-your-hands week”, but that doesn’t have the same flair.

Some might be shocked to see an ice cream based recipe in December, but I’m just not one of those guys that only likes to eat ice cream when it’s warm outside.

In fact, I’m up for eating ice cream pretty much any time. I could have hypothermia and be lost in the Canadian wilderness and probably still be up for a double scoop.

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches

Yield: 24 sandwiches

Prep Time: 1 hour + ice cream resting

Total Time: 2 hours + plus freezing time

Ingredients:

Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Makes 48 small cookies.
8.5 ounces cake flour (2 cups minus 2 Tbsp.)
8.5 ounces bread flour (1 2/3 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces chocolate chips

Vanilla Ice Cream:
Makes about 1 quart.
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
3/4 cup sugar
1 pinch salt
2 cups heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Helpful Equipment:
Stand mixer or hand mixer
Ice Cream maker (I used the kitchenaid attachment which works okay.)
Mesh Strainer (for straining ice cream custard)

Directions:

1) For ice cream, slip vanilla bean in half and scrape out seeds into a medium saucepan with milk, sugar, and salt. Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat immediately, cover, and let sit for one hour.

2) Whisk together yolks in a bowl. Bring milk mixture back up to heat (not simmering, just hot). Once hot, whisk in about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture slowly into the yolks to temper them. THen whisk yolks back into milk mixture.

3) Cook over low heat, scraping regularly and stirring with a heat-resistant spatula. Cook until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula, about 5-6 minutes.

4) In a separate bowl, add cream and set bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice (ice bath). Once custard is thick, strain into cream. Stir well to combine and cool, then stir in vanilla extract.

5) Chill custard overnight or until thoroughly chilled. Then add to ice cream maker and churn according to instructions for your machine. Freeze ice cream until it's solid. I like to stir mine a few times while it is freezing solid to remove ice crystals.

For cookies:
1) Mix together dry ingredients (flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda). Set aside.

2) Cream together butter and sugars. Then mix in one egg at a time, slowly. Once all the eggs are incorporated, stir in vanilla.

3) Slowly stir in dry ingredients. Once dry ingredients are mixed in add chocolate chips and stir just until they are evenly distributed. Try not to overmix.

4) At this point you can chill the dough for up to 2 days if you want.

5) To bake, scoop tablespoon sized balls onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. You should get about 48 cookies out of the batch. Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes until they are lightly browned, but still somewhat soft.

6) Let cookies cool completely (preferably on a wire rack).

Making the sandwiches:
1) Once your cookies are made, transfer them to a large container and freeze them for about an hour.

2) Scoop a few tablespoon of ice cream and sandwich it between two cookies. Eat immediately or transfer to a freezer safe dish and freeze for up to 2 months.

Cookie recipe adapted from NY Times. Ice Cream adapted from a David Lebovitz recipe.

The Ice Cream

The most obvious shortcut that you could take for this recipe is just to buy ice cream from the store. You could sandwich almost any ice cream between these cookies and be in good shape. Since I figured I’d be snacking on these for a long time, I thought it would be worth it to make a really rich and delicious vanilla ice cream.

Any good vanilla ice cream recipe has to start with real vanilla beans. They are expensive, but the flavor is hard to beat.

Anytime you’re working with vanilla remember to split the bean and scrape out all those tiny vanilla seeds. Lots of flavor there!

Caviar? Nope. But still expensive.

If you’ve never made homemade ice cream before, it isn’t really that hard. You basically just make a custard and then chill it.

So start by combining your vanilla, sugar, salt, and milk in a saucepan. Bring this to a simmer and then let it sit, covered, for about an hour. This will infuse the milk with all that vanilla flavor (top left).

In a separate bowl, whisk together your egg yolks. Then heat up your milk mixture again (not simmering but hot). Then slowly whisk in about 1/2 cup of the milk mixture into the whisked yolks. This will bring them up to temperature and then you can whisk the warm yolks back into the hot milk mixture without worry that they will cook.

Cook this mixture over low heat until it thickens enough to coat a spatula. Be sure to stir this constantly and scrape the bottom of the pan to make sure it isn’t sticking. After 5-6 minutes, it should start to get very thick (bottom left).

Then strain this mixture and whisk it into your heavy cream. Add the vanilla and cool this as quickly as possible. I like to do this by putting the bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice (bottom right).

This might seem like a drawn out process, but minus the hour that you have to wait for the milk to infuse, it’s really only about 10 minutes of work.

Let this custard mixture chill thoroughly before making the ice cream. I recommend chilling it in the fridge for at least a few hours.

The Leftovers

A good vanilla bean will probably cost you $3-4. So don’t throw it away after you’re done with it in the custard mixture. There’s still tons of flavor in that bean actually. I like to cut my bean into a few pieces and add it to a dish with a few cups of sugar. Seal this and shake it up and after a week or so you’ll have some delicious vanilla sugar that you can use for a ton of things.

Still lots of flavor in those beans.

Making the Ice Cream

Depending on your ice cream maker, there will be different instructions for actually churning the ice cream.

I used my KitchenAid attachment which works pretty well. If I were buying an ice cream maker today though, I think I’d get a stand alone model.

Churn it!

Once your ice cream is churned to a nice soft serve consistency, you can scoop it into a dish and let it freeze solid in your freezer.

I actually like to take my ice cream out and stir it every hour or so just to make sure large ice crystals aren’t forming in the ice cream.

Soft serve.

The Cookies

I’m not going to go into a huge amount of detail on the chocolate chip cookies that I made for this. I used the same recipe that I used for my pretzel chocolate chip cookies. You can also check out the printed version of this recipe for thorough instructions.

Instead of making 18 huge cookies though, I made about 48 smaller cookies.

The cookies are pretty straightforward. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Cream together butter and sugars. Stir in eggs and extracts. Then slowly mix in flour followed by chocolate chips.

At this point you can chill the dough for a few days, but I just baked them immediately on this day. For the cookies you want to shoot for large tablespoon-sized cookies and should get 12 per baking sheet.

I recommend using parchment paper to make sure they don’t stick to the baking sheets.

Pretty straightforward.

Bake these cookies for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. They should be lightly browned around the edges and still a bit soft in the middle.

Let them cool completely.

Building the Sandwiches

The only trick to making these sandwiches is that I would recommend freezing the cookies quickly before actually making them. I just stacked all of my cookies in a large casserole dish and then froze them for about an hour. That will make them more firm and easier to work with.

Chill these guys first.

A few tablespoons of ice cream smashed between two cookies is all you need for a really delicious dessert.

These are a bit of work, I won’t lie, but they make a bunch and keep perfectly so your work will pay dividends. You could also take some shortcuts if you want like using store-bought ice cream.

So good.

There’s a couple of things that I love about this treat. First, it combines my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and my favorite vanilla ice cream recipe. So yea. These are good.

Second, I love that since you freeze these, they keep for a really long time! This recipe makes about two dozen ice cream sandwiches and eating more than one at a time is a feat. So they keep for a while and you’ll have easy access to a quick frozen dessert should the urge strike you.

Even though I made these about a month ago, I’m still snacking on them and they are basically as good as they were on day one!

Pretty Omelet

Growing up in a small Wyoming town, I wasn’t privy to the deliciousness of bagels and lox until I was in college. Sure, we had a good amount of smoked fish growing up, but smoked salmon, capers, red onions, and cream cheese on a bagel?

That was completely new to me and I’m pretty sure I ate nothing but that for about six months after discovering it. It’s one of my absolute favorite flavor combos so I try to sneak it into dishes every chance I get.

Some people (my wife) have a serious aversion to capers for some reason and you could definitely leave them out of this omelet if you want. To me though, they make the whole thing work.

The Lox Omelet

Yield: 1 omelet

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1-2 ounces smoked salmon
1 tablespoon capers
2 tablespoons red onions, diced
1-2 ounces cream cheese
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Fresh dill

Helpful Equipment:
Omelet pan

Directions:

1) Roughly chop or shred smoked salmon and dice red onions.

2) Add butter to a small omelet pan until melted over medium-high heat and then add the smoked salmon, red onions, and capers. Try to distribute the fillings evenly over the surface of the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes.

3) Meanwhile, whisk eggs together with milk with a fork to scramble them.

4) Pour eggs over the filling mixture in the pan. Turn heat down to medium and cook eggs. As the eggs cook, use a flat spatula to push the cooked eggs to the center and tilt the pan slightly to let the uncooked eggs flow to the outside.

5) Cook the eggs until they are almost all the way cooked. There will be a very thin layer of uncooked egg on the top and that's fine.

6) Add cream cheese to one half of the omelet and use a spatula to fold the egg over to form an omelet.

7) Cook omelet for another 30-45 seconds on each side to melt the cheese and finish cooking the eggs.

8) Serve omelet with fresh dill.

The Basics

It’s true that smoked salmon is a pricy ingredient, but the good news is that you don’t need to use a lot to get a lot of flavor from it. The same goes for capers. A little go a long way.

This four ounce package of smoked salmon set me back about $7, but it’s enough salmon for four omelets so that isn’t too bad.

It’s not my normal weekend omelet, but it’s a fun treat every once in awhile.

Not pictured: red onions

To get the fillings ready, dice the red onions pretty finely and just kind of shred the smoked salmon so it’s in pieces. Again, you don’t need a lot of each filling to get the flavors going.

Good looking plate.

Cooking the Omelet

In a small nonstick pan (this is a good one), add your butter over medium-high heat. Once it’s melted then go ahead and toss in all your filling ingredients: capers, onions, and salmon.

Let this stuff cook in the butter for just a few minutes. Basically, you just want to cook the onions a bit and heat everything up nicely.

Just a light saute.

While that’s cooking, you can go ahead and scramble your eggs. Just mix together a few eggs with some milk and whip them together until they are nice and fluffy.

I snapped a cool action shot of my scrambling. I was even using my left hand!

Action shot!

Go ahead and pour your eggs right over your fillings in the pan. It’ll sizzle and hiss and complain, but that’s good.

As the eggs cook, use a spatula to kind of push the cooked eggs into the center of the pan. Tilt the pan a bit then to let the uncooked eggs flow to the outer parts of the pan and cook.

After doing this for about 2-3 minutes you should end up with a lovely almost 100% cooked egg. There will still be a very thin layer of uncooked egg on the top, but that’s okay. It’ll finish cooking after we add the cheese.

Just a few minutes of cooking

For the cheese, just kind of toss a few spoonfuls of cream cheese on one side of the omelet. Don’t worry about smoothing it out or anything. Cream cheese melts quickly and as it melts it’ll even out.

Cream cheese melts pretty easily...

Then just take your spatula and fold over the omelet like so…

Looking good.

Put this back on the heat and cook it for about 30-45 seconds per side. When you’re flipping this guy, don’t be nervous about it. The melted cheese should keep everything together.

Cooking it briefly on both sides will make sure the cheese is melted and also finish cooking any uncooked egg on the inside of your omelet.

Serve this bad boy just like that or if you want to get fancy you can sprinkle on some chopped dill.

I could've eaten two of these...

This was one of the more flavorful omelets I’ve made for Macheesmo actually. All these flavors together just work.

It’s really delicious and would actually be a nice treat for the holidays also.

Assuming you can get your hands on some good smoked salmon, you’ve got to give this a shot!

A mess of awesome.

Have you ever had something that you know you should be doing regularly but you just can’t find time to get to it? I call this my procrastithing. I have many of them.

I think most people would say their procrastithing is something like going to the gym.

I have a bunch, but one of my procrastithings these days is listening to The Splendid Table podcast. That might sound ridiculous, but as a food blogger, it’s something that I should really be listening to every week. For some reason though, I have a hard time finding the time.

Of course, every time I do listen to it, I freakin’ love it. They talk about everything I want to hear about. I especially like the part of every show where listeners call in with super-random food or cooking questions and the host, Lynn, always has an amazing answer for every problem.

Recently, a guy called in and said something like, “I’m cooking brunch for 50 people. It needs to be filling, fast, hot, and all that good stuff.” It was a tough one. Her answer was something I had never thought of: Savory bread pudding.

As soon as the words came out of my speakers, I knew I had to make it.

Savory Bread Pudding

Yield: 8x8 dish.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes + Chill Time

Ingredients:

4-5 pieces of stale bread, torn into large pieces
1.5-2 cups various cheeses, I used cheddar and goat cheese
1-2 cups vegetables, I used a roasted red pepper and 1/2 an onion
4 large eggs
2 cups milk
1 Tablespoon butter, for dish
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Butter an 8x8 baking dish. Tear pieces of stale bread into large chunks and layer them in the buttered dish. If you don't have any really stale bread, toast your bread for 10 minutes in a 300 degree oven to dry it out.

2) Add any sort of grated or crumbled cheese to the top of the bread until it just barely covers the bread. Two cups will be more than enough. I used a mix of cheddar and goat cheese.

3) Add a few handfuls of leftover veggies (or meat) to the dish. You can use almost any fresh vegetable. I used a roasted red pepper and 1/2 an onion.

4) In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and milk and pour the mixture over the bread and vegetables.

5) Cover the dish and let it rest for at least 15 minutes or up to overnight in the fridge.

6) Season the dish with salt and pepper and a tiny pinch of ground nutmeg.

7) Bake the dish at 350 degrees covered for 20 minutes and then uncovered for 30 minutes. The dish is done when the custard in the center are set.

8) Let cool for a minute or two and then serve immediately!

Recipe adapted from a Splendid Table recipe.

What the Custard?

Just like any bread pudding, you need a good custard. Depending on the size of your dish and how much bread you have on hand, you might need more or less custard than the recipe above.

Always shoot for two eggs for every one cup of milk. That’ll make for a really good custard.

Just milk and eggs, baby.

Just whisk the eggs with the milk and set it aside until you need it.

The Pudding Parts

The best part about this recipe is its flexibility. I’ve only made it once, but I could tell immediately that you can put almost anything in it. You can use almost any kind of bread, any kind of cheese, and any kind of vegetable.

It’s the perfect leftover dish.

The one key to the dish is to make sure you have really stale bread. This will make sure that the bread can absorb a lot of the custard mixture. If you don’t have stale bread, no big deal. Just stick your bread in a 300 degree oven for about 10 minutes and it’ll dry it out quickly.

Then just break your bread into pieces and layer it into the bottom of a buttered baking dish.

Then cover the bread with whatever cheese you’re using. I went with cheddar and some goat cheese I have left over from my macaroni and (goat) cheese recipe.

Toast that bread if it isn't really stale.

The Vegetables

As I mentioned, you can shove almost any veggies you have around (cooked or raw) in this dish. I went with 1/2 an onion and a roasted red pepper. I’m having a hard time thinking of something you couldn’t put in this though. Almost anything goes.

Just dice up whatever veggies you want to use and toss them on.

You can use almost any veggie.

Then just pour your custard mixture right into your dish!

Action shot!

Give it a Rest

It’s very important to let this dish sit for at least 15 minutes, but ideally an hour, before baking it. You could make it the night before you needed it and just stick it in the fridge overnight. That would be fantastic.

When you are ready to bake it, season it well with salt and pepper and a pinch of ground nutmeg. The nutmeg will really bring out the cheese flavors. It works well, trust me.

Nutmeg is a secret ingredient.

Baking the Dish

Bake this awesome thing at 350 degrees. I recommend baking it for 20 minutes covered in foil and then uncovered for about 30 minutes or until the custard is set in the middle. It should get slightly crusty and browned around the edges.

This will make your house smell awesome!

Let this rest for a few minutes once it comes out of the oven and then scoop into it.

It’s absolutely packed with flavor.

This is a really great dish.

I could easily see how you could feed a bunch of people with this method. Just make these the day before the event and toss them all in the oven.

Done deal.

Does anyone else listen to The Splendid Table podcast? They do good work!

This is some serious flavor.

When goat cheese won the poll last week, I started immediately having Paradox of Choice woes. There’s just so much that you can do with goat cheese.

Staring at a log of fresh goat cheese is the food blogger equivalent of a fiction writer staring at a blank page.

I started immediately brainstorming. I could put it in some fancy appetizer. I could make a salad. I could make some strange (but probably delicious) dessert out of it.

Or I could do the right thing and make macaroni and cheese.

I almost always do the right thing.

Macaroni and (Goat) Cheese

Yield: Serves 6.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound macaroni, cooked
2 roasted red peppers, diced
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes (from oil), minced (about 6)
4 tablespoons butter + a bit for the pan
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk
6 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup goat cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Roast red peppers over a flame. If you have a gas stove, you can stick them right on the flame or you can grill them. You can also just used jarred peppers. Cook them until they are nicely charred all the way around.

2) Add peppers to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 10 minutes and then peel off pepper skins. It's okay if some skin is left on.

3) Dice peppers and sun-dried tomatoes.

4) Cook macaroni according to package.

5) For cheese sauce, add butter and flour to a medium pan over medium heat. Whisk together once butter has melted to form a roux. Cook for about 3 minutes, whisking constantly.

6) Slowly add milk to the roux, starting with just a few tablespoons. Whisk it constantly so no lumps form. Keep adding milk in small increments until all your milk is added and your sauce is silky smooth. Turn your heat down to medium-low and continue to cook it until it thickens.

7) Whisk in cheeses into the sauce and season with salt and pepper.

8) Drain pasta and mix with peppers and tomatoes, then stir in cheese sauce.

9) Add macaroni to a buttered baking dish (2.5 quart or 9x13). Top with bread crumbs and bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

10) Let cool briefly before serving.

Adapted from a recipe in How To Cook Everything.

The Add-Ins

You could leave out the add-ins in this recipe if you wanted and still be left with a pretty rocking macaroni and cheese. But there’s something about the deep flavor of the peppers and sun-dried tomatoes that works really well with the goat cheese.

Plus it’s fun to roast peppers on a gas stove.

Any flame will do.

If you don’t have a gas stove, you can also roast these guys on a grill or in a 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

You can also just buy the jarred peppers and use those.

If you do roast your own though, stick them in a bowl after they are nice and charred all over and cover them with plastic wrap. Let them sit and steam for about 10 minutes. That’ll make them much easier to peel.

Then just start peeling off the skin of each pepper. It’s okay if the peppers aren’t 100% peeled.

Some skin is okay.

Then just remove the seeds and dice them up along with a few sun-dried tomatoes. I like to use the sun-dried tomatoes that are in oil for this recipe. If you use the dried ones, reconstitute them in some hot water for a few minutes before using them.

Sun-dried tomatoes are also in there.

The Cheese Sauce

Besides the peppers and macaroni, the only thing left for this recipe is the cheese sauce. And let’s be honest. It’s the star of the show.

You’ll need this stuff.

A cheese sauce!

Start by adding the butter and flour to a medium pan and get it cooking over medium heat. It’s probably a good idea to melt the butter first and then add the flour, but I like to live on the edge so I just threw them in together.

The beginnings of something beautiful.

Once the butter melts, whisk the butter and flour together until it forms a paste (a roux to be specific and French). Continue to cook and whisk this paste until it turns a light brown color. This will probably take 3-4 minutes and you’ll end up with something like this.

That's the color you want.

Then start to slowly add your milk. When I say slowly, I mean start with just a few tablespoons and whisk that in. Then add a few more and whisk whisk whisk. If you add to much milk at once, your roux will get lumpy which will lead to a lumpy sauce.

Nobody likes a lumpy cheese sauce.

So work slowly and after a few minutes you should have all your milk incorporated with the roux and you’ll be left with a light gravy basically. Again, you could be French and refer to it as a Béchemel, but let’s be real. It’s gravy.

Once you have that part of the sauce done, you’ll need some cheese. Goat cheese is the star of the show obviously, but I added in some grated cheddar also just to give it a more complex flavor.

Hard to go wrong here...

Finishing the sauce is as easy as dumping all this cheese into the white sauce and continuing to whisk it until the cheeses are melted and smooth.

Lots of cheese....

Then just season the sauce with salt and pepper and you’re ready to make some serious mac and (goat) cheese.

Finishing the Mac and Cheese

Cook and drain whatever kind of macaroni you choose. I went with shells this time around, but you could use anything except those little wagon wheels.

I’m just kidding. You can use the wagon wheels. I have an irrational hatred of them for some reason.

Sorry. Getting sidetracked.

Add the peppers and tomatoes to the pasta and then pour on all of that delicious cheese sauce.

Whoa man.

Stir this all together and feel free to serve it up like that if you like or you can take it to the next step.

The next step being to pour the mac and cheese into a buttered casserole dish, top it with bread crumbs, and bake it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Bread crumbs give some texture.

The bread crumbs should crisp up a bit and give the dish some really nice texture.

Yum.

It’s pretty hard to go wrong with goat cheese I guess, but that should just make you even more confident to throw it in random dishes with abandon.

Betsy and I ended up housing about half of this in one meal which, for the record, is a lot of macaroni and cheese.

Pumpkin time.

Quick Admin Note: On Sunday and Monday, I’m going to be working on launching a new design for the Macheesmo because I’m a perfectionist and don’t like some of the features with the current layout. Because of that, there won’t be a new post on Monday and the site might be down for a bit over those two days. It’s all for the best though. The new layout is slick.

I’m sure that I’m not the only person in the world who goes over-board on pumpkin buying. I always imagine making tons of pies and so I buy a huge amount of canned pumpkin at some point in the Fall only to have it sit in my pantry for years.

So when Fall actually comes around, I’m always itching to use up some of the pumpkin in my pantry to make room for… more pumpkin.

It’s a sick cycle, but one that results in pretty delicious food.

Pumpkin Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 large egg
1 Cup milk
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 Cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 Cup pumpkin seeds, roasted
1 Teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cinnamon

Helpful Equipment:
- Muffin Tin

Directions:

1) Mix milk, egg, vanilla, and pumpkin puree in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth.

2) In a separate, larger bowl, mix together the dry ingredients including the pumpkin seeds.

3) Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Then stir in melted butter.

4) Butter 12 muffin tins and divide muffin batter between the tins.

5) Bake the muffins at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes until they are lightly browned and cooked through.

6) Let cool briefly before serving. Serve with pumpkin butter if you can!

Making the Batter

This is a pretty standard muffin batter that I just mixed in a few add-ins. Instead of normal sugar, I used brown sugar. Plus some pumpkin, seeds, vanilla, and cinnamon and you’re looking at a nice spin on a classic muffin.

Standard muffin business.

To get the batter started, mix all the liquid ingredients (milk, egg, and vanilla) with the pumpkin puree. Stir this until it’s an even texture.

The liquid stuff.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients including the pumpkin seeds.

If you’re carving pumpkins, feel free to use the seeds in the pumpkin. You just want to make sure that you roast them first. Dry off the seeds, toss them with a teaspoon of oil and a pinch of salt, and bake them at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.

Roasting them will give the seeds a much better flavor and texture.

Get it?

When your dry ingredients are stirred together, go ahead and mix in the wet stuff.

Stir this together until it’s in a rough batter. It’s okay if there are a few lumps. It doesn’t need to be perfect!

Smells good already.

As a final step, stir in the melted butter and mix everything together really well.

Butter always helps.

Baking the Muffins

Besides the butter that you add to the muffins, I also recommend using a small dab of butter to lube up the muffin tins. If you don’t do this, your muffins might stick really badly to the pan which is never fun.

You could also use paper wrappers if that’s more your style.

Once your tin is buttered lightly, divide the batter evenly among twelve tins. It’s okay to fill them up pretty high.

Butter those tins.

Bake these guys at 375 degrees for about 18-20 minutes.

When they come out, let them cool for a minute or two and then you can remove the muffins from the tin. The finished muffins should be a light golden brown color.

Good lookin' muffins.

I like to serve these muffins with butter or, if you can get your hands on some, a good pumpkin butter!

Pumpkin butter would've been ideal...

I think the pumpkin seeds kind of make this recipe. I love the color and subtle pumpkin flavor that the puree gives the muffins, but the seeds are like these little surprises in the muffins that give it some crunch and saltiness.

If you have some leftover pumpkin in the next month or two (and who doesn’t), give these guys a shot!

Yes please!

I’ve only used pink peppercorns a few times in my cooking life so I was excited when they won the poll last week.

These things can be kind of tricky to find. I wasn’t able to find any in my local grocery stores, but luckily I had some that I ordered online a while ago. If you’re in the market, I recommend getting them from Penzey’s. They have a very high quality product and they are what I used for this dish.

It’s really hard to describe the flavor of pink peppercorns. Before you cook with them, I recommend trying one by itself. The flavor is kind of sweet with an almost anise tone to it. It’s honestly a pretty subtle taste, especially when you compare it to a black peppercorn.

I figured that the light sweetness would go really well with a pork dish and I was very right. By stirring the peppercorns into a light pan gravy at the very end of cooking, they give the whole dish this really interesting flavor.

Pink Peppercorn Pork Milanese

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

4 boneless pork chops, butterflied and pounded thin
2 cups flour, seasoned well with salt and pepper
2 large eggs
3 cups panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated and mixed with Panko
1 cup oil for frying

Gravy:
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 Cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 - 3 cups milk
3 Tablespoons pink peppercorns
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Use a sharp knife and slice the pork chops down the center, butterflying them open. Try not to cut all the way through them.

2) Cover the chops with plastic wrap and pound them thin with a mallet or heavy pan.

3) Dredge the chops in flour that's been seasoned with salt and pepper. Then move to egg wash and finally move to the breadcrumb/parmesan breading.

4) Let the chops rest for 5-10 minutes before cooking them so the breadcrumbs can dry a bit.

5) Heat oil in a large heavy pan or skillet over medium high heat.

6) Add chops and cook for about 3 minutes per side until the chops are crispy and golden brown. Move finished chops to a 250 degree oven. Work in batches and don't over-crowd the pan.

7) Once chops are done, pour out most of the oil from the pan (you can save it for later). Add diced onion to pan and use oil and onion to scrape up any bits stuck to pan.

8) Whisk in flour and turn heat down to medium. Cook for a few minutes.

9) Slowly whisk in milk. As milk begins to simmer it should thicken. Feel free to add more milk if the gravy gets too thick.

10) Finally stir in peppercorns and a pinch of salt.

11) Pour gravy over pork chops and serve immediately.

Prepping the Pork

I love pork milanese when it’s made correctly. A good one will have a nice, crispy crust and juicy pork. Most people over-cook them though which is a travesty.

To start the pork, you need a few really good boneless pork chops. Using a sharp knife, butterfly them open, being careful not to cut them in half.

Don't cut all the way through it.

Cover each piece with plastic wrap and use a mallet or something heavy (pan will work) to lightly pound the pork into a thin even piece. The plastic wrap just keeps pieces of pork from flying all over your kitchen.

Thin is good.

Once you have all your pork chops butterflied and pounded thin, take each one and run it through the breading process.

For review, that means you start it in some flour that’s been well seasoned with salt and pepper. This step just helps dry out the pork and makes it easier for the other layers to stick to it.

Season that flour!

Then move the pork to the eggs. Turn it over a few times and make sure that each side is well-coated with egg.

Then in the egg!

Finally, move the pork to your breadcrumbs. I like to use Panko for this because they are really nice and light, but you could use any breadcrumb really. Be sure to mix some Parmesan cheese into your breadcrumbs to give it some salty flavor.

Really pack the breadcrumbs onto the pork so it sticks well.

Pack it on there.

Once your pork is breaded, let them rest for at least 5 minutes while you prepare your pan and stuff.

This is actually a really important step because it’ll give your breading a chance to kind of dry onto the pork. If you don’t do this, you’ll run the risk of having all your breading pull off when you cut into your pork.

Most important step.

Cooking the Pork

When you’re ready to cook the pork, add about a cup of oil to a large heavy pot or skillet. You just need a small amount of oil over the whole pan. Crank your heat up to medium-high and once your oil is hot, gently set your pork chops in the pan.

Be sure not to over-crowd the pan. If you’re doing more than two pork chops, you’ll want to work in batches. You definitely don’t want to have the chops overlapping or even touching.

Cook the chops for about 3 minutes per side. They should be awesomely browned when you flip them.

Not sure that olive oil is essential...

When the chops are done, move them to a 250 degree oven to stay warm and crispy while you cook the rest of the chops and make the gravy.

The Pink Peppercorns

These things are really pretty actually. Love the color!

Not really peppercorns.

Once your pork is done frying, whatever you do, don’t wash your pan! You can use the same pan to make a very delicious gravy.

Start by pouring out most of the oil that’s in the pan. You can save it for frying something else later if you want. You’ll have lots of little bits of breadcrumbs and pork stuck to the pan which is great.

Add your diced onion to the pan and turn the heat down a bit to medium. Use the onion and leftover oil in the p an to scrape up any bits of stuff stuck to the pan. Then stir in your flour. The flour will stick to the onions and breadcrumbs and form kind of a oil-breadcrumb-onion roux.

Cook this down for a few minutes.

Onions and Roux.

Then bring out your whisk and slowly start whisking your milk into the roux. If you work slowly you should be able to whisk in all the milk without creating any lumps. As the milk heats up, it should start to thicken.

The gravy might need to simmer for 5-10 minutes to thicken completely and feel free to add more milk to it in small amounts if it seems too thick to you.

As a final step, season the gravy a bit with salt and stir in those lovely pink peppercorns. To distribute their flavor a bit more, I recommend crushing the peppercorns with the side of a big knife before adding them to the gravy.

It's all about the gravy!

Stir them in and just pour the gravy over the pork. You can either do this plate by plate or make one large family style dish with all the pork and all the gravy.

Done deal.

This was a really delicious fall meal. The pork is nice and crispy and the pink peppercorns give the gravy this very unique flavor. It’s like no other gravy you’ll ever have!

It might seem like a lot of work, but really the dish only takes about 30-45 minutes to make start to finish because the pork doesn’t take that long to cook.

Has anybody else tried pink peppercorns? Do you like them? Leave a comment!

Crazy good nachos.

Nachos are a frequent occurrence in our house. They tend to be pretty quick to make and are a great way to use leftovers. You can put almost anything on nachos and it’ll be good.

Also, I happen to be married to a Tex-mex fanatic.

So yea… we know our way around a chip.

My problem with nachos, mainly restaurant nachos, is that sometimes they are made in a careless way. Throw some crappy chips on a sheet pan, pile on a metric ton of random toppings, and coat everything with a two inch layer of cheese. Once you sit down to eat it, it’s like a scavenger hunt: searching through a mound trying to find that one perfect chip. The chip that is crispy, has just enough of each topping, and some melted cheese.

Sometimes it’s hopeless.

So while nachos are a quick weeknight meal for us a lot of times, sometimes I like to really spend time on my nachos to make them something special. I call these Sunday night nachos because while you could make them on a weeknight, they are better if you can spend some time with them.

The time you invest will pay pretty awesome Tex-mex dividends.

Sunday Night Nachos

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

15 corn tortillas, cut into sixths
1-2 cups vegetable oil, for frying chips

Bean Mash:
2 cans kidney beans, drained and mashed
1/4 red onion, minced
Handful of cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper

Ground Beef mixture:
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped peppers, poblano, red pepper, jalapeno, etc.
1/2 Cup salsa
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Teaspoon cumin seeds
1 Teaspoon paprika
Salt and pepper

Cheese Sauce:
1/4 Cup unsalted butter
1/4 Cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
2 cups grated cheese (I like Monterey Jack)
Salt and pepper

Quick Guacamole:
2 avocados
2 limes, juice only
1/4 red onion, diced
Handful of cilantro
Salt

Directions:

1) For the chips, cut the tortillas into sixths. Add a cup or two of oil to a large sturdy pan and add chips in small batches over medium-high heat. Cook the chips, turning occasionally, until they are lightly browned and not bubbling. Then remove them to a paper towel to drain. Salt lightly.

2) For bean mash, drain beans and lightly mash together with other ingredients. It doesn't have to be smooth.

3) Use any meat or veggie mixed with onions, peppers, salsa, and spices as a second topping for the chips.

4) For cheese sauce, start butter and flour over medium-high heat and cook, whisking frequently, for about 4 minutes. Roux should turn lightly brown. Then slowly whisk in milk until smooth. Once mixture thickens, whisk in cheese. If mixture is too thick, add more milk a few tablespoons at a time. Keep on low heat until needed.

5) Take each chip and top with a small amount of bean mash and meat mixture. Add finished chips to baking sheets.

6) Bake chips for 5-6 minutes at 350 degrees to meld flavors.

7) Stack chips on plates, pour cheese sauce over chips, add a second layer, more cheese sauce, top with guacamole.

Serve immediately!

Making the Chips

Betsy and I burn through a lot of tortilla chips. We snack on chips and salsa a lot or make quick nacho dishes pretty regularly.

But, when I’m looking to make a serious nacho dish, I spend the time to make my own chips. For some reason store bought chips are pretty flimsy. It’s almost like they start with corn tortillas that are 1/2 the thickness as corn tortillas that you buy in the store. While taste and texture is the main motivator for me, making your own chips is also about 75% cheaper than buying the chips.

To make the chips, you don’t need to really deep fry them as some might think. I usually just add a cup or two of oil to a large heavy skillet and get it going over medium-high heat. Then I add my chips in a single layer and cook them, flipping occasionally.

You don't need a lot of oil.

You’ll know they are done when they stop bubbling and are golden brown (that means most of the water is out of them).

When they come out of the pan, let them drain on a paper towel and season them with a pinch of salt. These guys will be crispy and sturdy: important for nachos.

Thick and crispy!

The Toppings

For me, the toppings on nachos are almost secondary to the chips and the cheese. This is because I’ve learned that almost anything is good on nachos. Any leftover veggie or meat that you have can easily be mixed with some spices and used as a topping.

For this version though, I made a few mixtures that I used for my toppings. The first was a quick bean mash. I just drained a few cans of kidney beans and mashed them up with some red onion, cilantro, and salt and pepper.

It’s almost like refried beans, but there’s no need to cook it really because we’ll bake the nachos later.

Doesn't get easier than mashing beans.

For my meat topping, I cooked my onion and a few diced peppers in a bit of olive oil over medium-high heat until they were soft. Then I added some spices (cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper) and finally my ground beef.

Once the beef was completely cooked, I stirred in a tiny amount of salsa just to round out the flavors a bit.

Actually pretty optional.

Meanwhile, I mixed up a quick guacamole. This isn’t my full-fledged guacamole which normally includes serrano peppers, shallots, and maybe some tomatoes. This is a quicker version that mainly just has a lot of lime juice which will go great with the nachos.

Not optional.

The Cheese Sauce

A lot of times nachos get in trouble in the cheese department. Don’t get me wrong, I love cheese as much as the next guy, but sometimes people over-do it. Restaurants are particularly guilty of this. They’ll just add pounds of grated cheese to each nacho dish and that works for the first minute or so that you are eating them, but eventually all that cheese solidifies into this strange layer that’s almost impenetrable.

That’s why, when I have time, I like to make a cheese sauce. It’s easier to distribute over the nachos and will stay liquid and gooey even at room temperature. So even if the nachos cool down a bit (which they will do), your cheese will stay melty.

To make the sauce, you need to start with a basic roux, which is just butter and flour whisked together in a pot. I usually cook mine over medium heat for about 4 minutes. It’ll turn a light brown color and that’s when you know it’s done.

You'll roux the day you don't try these.

At this point, slowly whisk in the milk. If you whisk well and start slowly, you shouldn’t develop any lumps in your sauce. If you do have a few lumps, you can usually whisk them out as the sauce heats up.

Once your milk is whisked in and the sauce is thick, go ahead and add in your grated cheese.

What's sunday night without cheese sauce?

Once the cheese is melted, keep the sauce on low and stir it occasionally. If it gets too thick, add a bit more milk to thin it out. Keep it warm until you need it.

Baking the Nachos

The next step for these nachos might be considered a bit overkill by some, but I like it. When I have the time, I like to literally top each chip individually.

This might sound crazy, but what you have to remember is that these chips are way sturdier than normal chips. They are way more filling. When we are done, 15-20 of these nachos will be a very good meal.

And once you get the hang of it you can top them really quickly. It’s takes me under five minutes to do. I just pick up a chip, add a small amount of bean mash, followed by a small spoonful of the beef topping, and add it to a sheet pan. Repeat.

A little OCD never hurt...

The benefit of this is that there isn’t any one perfect chip.

They are all perfect. Every single chip will have the perfect amount of every topping.

Once you get all your chips topped, I recommend sticking them in a 350 degree oven for about 5-6 minutes just to heat them up nicely and meld the flavors.

Plating the nachos

FINALLY! It’s time to eat.

Now that you have your cheese sauce done and your chips topped, you can stack them up!

Layer one.

Once you have one layer of chips and cheese on a plate, you can add a second right on top.

Again, the great part about this is that the toppings are perfectly distributed. Even when you get down to the bottom layer, the chips are just as crispy and just as good as the top layer.

Stack 'em up!

Top the second layer with more cheese sauce and a good dollop of guacamole.

These are ready to eat!

There's no good chip here. They are all good.

I get that these might be too much work for some people. Nachos are supposed to be easy right?

But seriously, you’ll be well-rewarded if you can find the time to make these happen. Make them on a weekend when you can pop open a cerveza and take your time with them.

What do you think? Worth it or crazy talk?

These are actually kind of healthy.

My pantry is in an embarrassing state of disrepair right now. I would guess I have 15-20 random bags of seeds, flours, and oats that I’m not really sure what to do with.

So anytime I make something baked I’m always trying to use up some of these random things.

The ironic thing about it is that the more I use them, the more I like them, so I just buy more when they run out. So the crazy pantry ends up growing instead of shrinking…

Champagne problems right?

Anyway, these pancakes are about as healthy as I’ll do on pancakes. They still have butter and syrup. It’s my view that if you aren’t willing to put butter in your pancakes, then you might as well not make them (unless you have some sort of dietary reason as to why you can’t have butter).

But these guys have a lot of good stuff in them also like chia seeds, flax seeds, and whole wheat flour. I was really happy with how they turned out.

Multigrain Pancakes

Yield: 8 medium pancakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Cup all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
1/2 Cup rolled oats
1/4 Cup ground flax seeds
1/4 Cup chia seeds
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
1 1/4 Cups milk
1/2 Cup buttermilk
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Quick Berry Topping:
2 Cups frozen berries
2 Tablespoons water
1/4 Cup sugar

Directions:

1) Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients (except butter) in a small bowl.

2) Stir wet stuff into dry stuff. Mix well and let sit for 15 minutes. If the batter is too thick, don't be afraid to add a bit more milk.

3) Right before making pancakes, stir in melted butter.

4) Cook pancakes over medium heat. Add a tiny amount of butter to the pan before starting pancakes. They should need to cook for about 2-3 minutes on the first side and then just a minute on side two.

5) Flip the pancakes when there are bubbles forming on the top and the sides are starting to dry up and become firm.

6) Serve pancakes right away with butter, syrup, and berry topping.

Making the Batter

There’s some pretty standard ingredients that almost any pancake recipe should have. You obviously need flour and some sort of leavening ingredient (baking powder/soda). Most will also have some dairy stuff for the liquids (buttermilk, milk, eggs, butter, etc). I think you could substitute these with soy products, but I’ve never really tried that.

The only substitutions that I made from the standard pancake ingredients is subbing some of the flour with whole wheat flour and also using brown sugar instead of normal sugar.

The normal stuff. Kind of.

What I did do though was add in some other delicious grains and seeds.

These guys give the pancakes a fantastic texture and an almost nutty flavor. I really liked them.

The fun stuff.

Pancake batter is pretty straightforward to mix. I’ve never really understood the advantage of boxed pancake mix. It maybe saves you 60 seconds and is way more expensive than just buying the individual ingredients.

Plus I just don’t think the resulting pancakes are as good!

To make the batter, just mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl and the wet ingredients (except melted butter) in a smaller bowl.

Then just stir your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients.

Wet into dry always.

Since this batter has oats in it, I recommend letting it sit for about 15 minutes before making the pancakes. This will give the batter a chance to absorb some of the liquids.

After that point, you might need to add a few extra tablespoons of milk if your batter is too thick. It should almost be the consistency of a thick gravy.

Right before you start making your pancakes, stir in your melted butter.

Gotta have it.

Cooking the Pancakes

I think one thing that people mess up sometimes when they make pancakes is cranking the heat up to super-hot on their pan. While this works great for steaks, it’s not a good idea for pancakes. Nobody likes medium rare pancakes.

So start your heat on medium which will give your pancake time to cook through as it browns on the outside. Use a nonstick griddle or skillet to cook your pancakes in and add just a tiny amount of butter to the pan before ladling in the batter. You want just enough butter to lightly coat the pan.

People always want to know about how you can tell when to flip the pancake. The two things I look for are bubbles forming on the top and the edges turning solid and slightly dry.

This guy is about ready to go.

Almost there...

Flip with confidence!

Perfect!

If you cook your first pancake and it’s too thick, add a bit more milk to the batter to thin it out. If it’s really then, then your batter is too runny, so stir in a bit more flour.

A Quick Berry Topping

I usually just like butter and syrup on my pancakes, but I had some frozen fruit (my freezer is maybe in more disarray than my pantry) so I thought I’d make a quick berry topping.

I just added a few cups of fruit with some water and sugar to a pot. Bring this to a simmer and cook down the berries until they are thick.

Quick and easy.

Even with the fruit topping, I still couldn’t resist topping the cakes with some butter and syrup.

Hopefully you can see all the goodies that are in these guys.

Great texture and flavor for these.

I thought these turned out fantastic. They are very filling but still light and fluffy as a pancake should be.

Because of all the add-ins your getting a lot of your daily fiber requirements just with a pancake. That’s pretty hard to beat!