Beet Marmalade: The Easiest Homemade Condiment

Want to impress your friends? This homemade beet marmalade should do the job. It's incredibly easy to make, and a great flavor combination.

All it takes is some cooked beets, lemon, ginger and sugar. The marmalade thickens as it cools, so don't be surprised at the consistency. Wait for it to completely cool in sterilized jars before spreading it on your favorite toast. Better yet, you can spread it on this great coffee cake to add a bit of savory to the sweetness.

I would like to say thanks to my cook-the-book partners. This is our last installment from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book. We started in July and ended today, with 13 chapters under our belts. I never would have tried half of what I did, so thanks for the ladies who blogged alongside me: Rachel, Aimee, Emily and Claudie. We had Sammy join us for a good bit of the book, too. It has been a pleasure getting to know each of you and I am amazed at the community that we have formed through our online alliance.

Enjoy the beet marmalade, and have a very happy and healthy new year!

Beet Marmalade

Ingredients:

• 4 medium-large beets, cooked and peeled
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 large lemon
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger

Method:

1. Put the beets in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped; or mash the beets by hand.
2. Transfer the beets to a heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir in the sugar.
3. Put the lemon and ginger into the food processor and process until finely chopped; or chop them by hand.
4. Add the lemon and ginger to the beet mixture and stir to blend.
5. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the marmalade has thickened a little.
6. This takes about 20 minutes – remember that the marmalade will get thicker considerably as it cools.
7. Remove from the heat and put up in sterilized jars if you are not going to use the marmalade for a month or more otherwise it will keep well in the refrigerator.

To learn how to sterilize jars, click here.

Marion Cunningham's Great Gluten-Free Coffee Cake

 I made a variation of Marion Cunningham's great coffee cake this morning. I used gluten-free flour and lactose-free sour cream. Maybe that makes the cake sound less tasty, but believe me, if turned out very well, and tasted almost like the real deal.

I've been working on gluten-free recipes for a few years. They always are good variations on the theme of the original full-wheat flour versions. They never taste exactly the same, so I wouldn't want to mislead you. It's a matter of getting used to a lighter textured pastry, a flavor change from the original. Different isn't always bad, just not exactly the taste you remembered.

Lacotse-free sour cream was a revelation to me. The texture is not the same, but the flavor is just as good and has brought back potato chips with onion dip into my life. I've never made a cake with sour cream, but had heard it would be extra moist, so I went to work.

I've never used a Bundt pan before. The batter was much thicker than I thought it would be, but it worked, I think, because of the baking soda. The cake turned out really light and crumbly. Not sure what kind of texture full-wheat flour would have yielded, but I was pleased with the results I got.

This is our second to last installment of the cook-the-book series of Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book. Check out the posts by my blog partners:  Rachel, Aimee, Emily and Claudie.

Great Gluten-Free Coffee Cake

from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book

one 10-inch tube cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups gluten-free flour (make your own or use this one from Gluten-Free Pantry)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup lactose-free sour cream (I used this one from Green Valley Organics)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or Bundt pan.
2. Put the butter in a large mixing bowl and beat for several seconds.
3. Add the sugar and beat until smooth.
4. Add the eggs and beat for 2 minutes, or until light and creamy.
5. Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and stir with a fork to blend well.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until smooth.
7. Add the sour cream and mi well.
8. Spoon the batter into the pan.
9. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a straw comes out clean when inserted into the center.
10. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes in the pan.
11. Invert onto a rack and cool a little bit before slicing.
12. Serve warm.

Trout Fried with Oatmeal: The Breakfast Book

Here we are again, it's Cook the Book time. This chapter of Marian Cunningham's The Breakfast Book is all about breakfast meat. Somehow, I found a fish dish.

I've never made trout before. My favorite way to eat it is smoked on toast with mayo. The recipe I found calls for trout, but it's encrusted in oatmeal and then fried. All signs pointed to yes for me, so I gave it a try.

The flavor was great, the fish was moist. The almond milk I used added a little bit of nuttiness to the oatmeal, so it was all good. If I could just get past the smell of the fish itself, this would be one of my go-to breakfast dishes.

My mother always has something to say about how fishy fish can smell. I hadn't ever experience this level of fishiness-of-the-fish before. Whoa! I made this two times because the first time I made it, the smell turned me off so much, I was afraid to eat it. The second time, I made it as soon as I got it home from the market, but the smell was the same. I do have an extra sensitive nose, which may have contributed to my reaction.

You may have a different experience, so I ask you to please give this a try, and to let me know. I hope you enjoy the flavor as much as I did!

Check out the posts by my cook the book partners:  Rachel, Aimee, Emily and Claudie.

Trout Fried with Oatmeal

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup milk (I use Almond Milk)
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup shortening, or a combination of oil and butter
• 4 trout
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Lemon wedges

Method:

1. Pour the milk in a large deep plate and spread the oatmeal on a piece of waxed paper. If you want a finer-textured oatmeal than the flakes, whir the rolled oats in a food processor.
2. Put the shortening in a large skillet and heat it over high heat.
3. Dip each trout in the milk and then in the oatmeal, coating each side completely,
4. Put the trout in the hot shortening and turn the heat down to medium-high.
5. Salt and pepper hte trout and cook for 3 to 4 minutes; then turn the trout and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on the other side – don't overcook.
6. Remove from the pan and serve with lemon wedges.

Hash Brown Potatoes: The Breakfast Book

Hash brown potatoes are a quick and easy side dish.

I don't buy much that's frozen, but I've always used frozen hash browns. They seemed like a tough dish to get right so I figured I'd stick to the packaged variety. This chapter of our cook the book project, with Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book, features potatoes. I chose hash browns since it's one of the few potato preparations I have never made.

They tasted way better than the packaged kind. So light, flavorful and crisp, I couldn't stop eating them. My daughter did admit that the real potatoes tasted better than the pre-made ones (only after she made it known that she wanted the pre-made and why was I bothering to mess with perfection?).

I cooked them in bacon grease and served them with bacon, too. You can fry them in olive oil or vegetable oil, if you're not as much of a bacon fanatic as I am.

Check out the posts by my cook the book partners:  Rachel, Aimee, Emily and Claudie.

Hash Brown Potatoes

serves 3

from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons bacon fat, oil or shortening
• 3 cups grated potatoes, raw or cooked
• Salt and lots of pepper

Method:

1. Heat the fat in a large skillet.
2. Spread the potatoes in a layer, pressing down with a spatula.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cook over medium heat for 6 to 7 minutes.
5. With the edge of the spatula, cut the circle of potatoes down the middle.
6. Turn each half over and sprinle again with salt and pepper.
7. Cook another 6 or 7 minutes, or until the potatoes are crisp and brown on the bottom.
8. Serve hot.