The Holy Grail Of Chinese Breakfast

Have I ever shared with you my love for congee? Well, it's one of my favorite dishes. A childhood classic. Congee is a hot rice porridge that can easily be modified to include savory fillings such as chicken, scallops, pork and duck eggs, beef, and so forth. It is usually garnished with fresh green onions. It is a Chinese breakfast staple and goes wonderfully with deep fried crullers or steamed rice rolls. It is very popular on Asia and many breakfast restaurants will have it on their menu. There are restaurants dedicated entirely to congee and steamed rice rolls-sounds like heaven. For me, congee is one of the best breakfast dish to have in the chilly Canadian winters. It tastes so much better than oatmeal. As well, I tend to gravitate towards chicken congee when I am sick. There really is nothing quite as satisfying for me. 

Since it is predominantly made with white rice, a cup and a half, will yield a modest amount, I sometimes will replace it with brown rice. So next time you're out, give it a try. Your best bet is to order it at a restaurant that serves dimsum. 

Banana Monkey Bread

This recipe has become somewhat of a staple in my household. We usually buy bananas to either make smoothies or bread. I have modified this recipe many times over and probably will continue to do so as it is very versatile and a great way to get in your fiber during those busy mornings. It's filling and full of good stuff for you.

Preheat oven to 350degrees.

Dry Mixture:
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup of quick oats
2 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds
1 tablespoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
dash of salt

Sift all purpose and whole wheat flour into a mixing bowl to break up any clumps. Add the rest of the dry ingredients straight into the bowl. Use a bigger bowl since the wet ingredients will be added to this later.

Wet Mixture:

5 ripe bananas
2 eggs
3 heaping tablespoons of brown sugar
3 tablespoon of peanut butter (if refrigerated, set out on counter for 20 minutes to soften)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoon of butter (I shave it off the bar and gauge the amount by eyeballing it)
1/3 cup of milk

Peel all bananas and toss into a bowl separate from dry mixture. Crack eggs, add sugar, butter, extract and peanut into same bowl. I like to run a butter knife through the mixture to cut up the banana into small pieces. Next, use a potato masher to mash bananas and mix in the rest of the wet ingredients. The consistent should be somewhat runny (mainly b/c of the eggs) and small lumps. Add mixture to dry mixture and mix in with a sturdy fork or whatever tool you have available.  It should resemble a tossing motion as youre trying to mix in the wet with the dry while ensuring that you are not overworking the dough. Add the milk to further moisten the ingredients.

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Grease loaf pan and pour in final mixture. Gently shake pan to level mixture. Bake at 350degrees for about 45 minutes. If the top looks like its burning then cover it with a piece of tin foil to prevent further browning. Insert toothpick to check its readiness, it should come out clean.

My brother took a chunk out before I could take a picture!

This is how the bananas should be looking to make bread. At this point the bananas are extra sweetened due to the ripeness which requires less sugar to be used in the recipe. If the bananas in your grocery store are not ripe then make sure to check out their selection of reduced produce. They're good, if not better than non-reduced bananas as there is no wait time required for the bananas to ripen!

Enjoy!

Breakfast Bizzness

I had oatmeal for breakfast! This is an accomplishment in it self because I, for the most part, find oatmeal disgusting. Oatmeal has been totted as one of those holy grail whole grains that are good for heart health and keeping your waistline trim. Too say the least, I've always wanted to be someone that enjoyed the taste of oatmeal but it hasn't been much of a success. However, I tried again and had the instant Quaker oats with flavoring this morning . I was expecting it to be bad but it really wasn't. The portions are a little small and it tastes like it's high in sugar so not exactly the healthiest. Breakfast is usually a pain to figure out in the morning especially on that days when I have to rush out of the house first thing in the morning. This may be the solution? Probably not, I can see myself getting sick of it quick if I eat it every day, not to mention the sugar content. With some tweaks, I hope to avoid the prepackaged varieties and flavor it myself so that it is somewhat healthier. Let's hope it will be tasty afterward!