Category: Breakfast and Brunch

Nutmeg is picky about her bananas. The fruit has to be perfect, not too green and certainly not a second too ripe. However, when it comes to banana bread, she has nothing but love for this sweet treat.
Most people have a banana loaf variation that they have perfected over the years, or one handed down from a relative. When this recipe landed on Nutmeg’s laptop from cyberspace, she could not resist trying it. A combination of lemons, olive oil, and bananas adapted from 101 Cookbooks, what is not to love?

Print Lemon Olive Oil Banana Bread Recipe type: Quick Breads Prep time:  10 mins Cook time:  50 mins Total time:  1 hour Serves: 1 Loaf   Like most sweet loafs this one is very easy to make. The use of olive oil and lemon make it a bit more contemporary than the one…

Recipes & Travel:
Banana bread, Banana bread recipes, Bananas, Easy baking recipes, Easy healthy snack recipes, Quick Breads

In France, there is always a school vacation at the end of October, when children and teachers have a week of reprieve from the classroom, and each other. The holiday extends to most public facing businesses on November 1st. You can certainly expect the post offices, banks, grocery stores and government offices to be closed on that day.

Why?
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Recipes & Travel:
Easy healthy snack recipes, Muffins, Provence Travel

France is known for many things; art, music, food, wine, cafés, diverse scenery etc… As a population, they are very proud of all things French, and if there is one thing that is clearly a huge part of the national culture it is the bread.  This country does not easily cater to those who might require a gluten-free regime, unless you can survive on French fries.  The bread is made fresh several times daily; every small town and village has at least one, or in some cases a few boulangeries.
Ginger of course is in heaven, since every meal promises a basket of fresh baguette or other equally good options.  Nutmeg has found you need to look a bit harder, but there are some options for “7-cereals” and multi-grain.  The Artisanal Boulangeries (fancier variety) tend to have some really decent quiche and/or tarts.  So far Nutmeg has tried quiche with tomatoes and Dijon (yum), quiche with salmon and capers, tarte…

Recipes & Travel:
Easy Appetizer Recipes, French Food, Provencal Food, Recipes for Savoury Tarts, Recipes for Tomatoes, Travel in France

Hot Sauce (Nutmeg’s Mum) loves bananas, she grew up in the West Indies on an island that produces bananas for export, so it was best to love them…
Bananas are considered a super-food:

Potassium-rich; studies show foods with high levels of potassium can reduce the risk of stroke by as much as 40%
High levels of the antioxidant phenolic compounds work to detoxify cancer-causing agents
Although not specifically high in calcium can help in the absorption of calcium
They reduce stomach acidity and in some cases may even reduce nausea (more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Banana bread recipes, Easy baking recipes, Easy healthy snack recipes, Food Nutritional Facts

Nutmeg is not really a brunch person.  Here is why:

Marginal coffee, as you may have gathered coffee is very important to Nutmeg, and generally speaking buffet style eating does not lend itself to good espresso and skinny lattes.
In addition to the coffee issue, the question is what to serve?  It is not breakfast, it is not lunch – hence the dilemma.
If you go out to a restaurant with a buffet it is typically a complex spread that runs the gambit of breakfast food to roast beef.
Ask any parent with young kids brunch is a disaster. They need to eat earlier and there is no way to keep them in their “Sunday best” until mid-morning.
Then there is the issue of timing, not too early, not too late…around 11am is typical, which compromises both morning and afternoon activities. (more…)

Recipes & Travel:
Easy Casseroles, make ahead brunch recipes, Recipes with Blueberries

Eve may have tempted Adam with an apple, or so the story goes, although it could just have easily been a pear.  The pear grows on trees in cooler temperate climates.  There are about 30 varieties of pears, although in North American grocery stores we may see 3-4 at the height of the season.  Pears (or the equivalent in local languages) have been cultivated since prehistoric times.  There is evidence of the use of pears in Roman times, as well as in parts of Africa and in Asia. Historians have traced the growth of pears in China back 3000 years.

Worldwide production is about 20 million tonnes, of which China produces over 12.5 million tonnes.  Generally, the harvest season for pears is late summer and early fall.  Pears are picked while they are still green, if left to ripen on the tree they turn yellow and starchy.  A single pear has about 100 calories, 6grams of fibre and 10% Vitamin…

Recipes & Travel:
Food Nutritional Facts, Pear Muffins, Recipes with Pears

Are you a Neil Diamond fan?  Nutmeg is for certain.  She is also a big granola fan and has been for many years.
Hot Sauce used to make homemade granola on a regular basis. There is nothing like the smell of a fresh batch in your house and eating it hot out of the oven.  The basic ingredients usually include: oats, nuts, wheat germ, dried fruit, sugar (or honey or molasses or maple syrup), oil. You can also add spices like cinnamon or ginger depending on your tastes.  Nutmeg loves granola served with berries and yogurt, Chili likes the same in different proportions (more granola and less fruit).  There are likely as many recipes for granola as there are for combinations of how to eat it.
Granola actually has a history prior to Neil Diamond’s “Crunchy Granola Suite” and prior to the hippie “granola” movement in the 1960’s.  The names Granula (invented in 1894 by Dr James Caleb Jackson) and Granola…

Recipes & Travel:
Breakfast Recipes, Easy healthy snack recipes, Healthy Granola Recipes