Hash is one of those kitchen sink recipes—it can be made with anything you have on hand—but usually requires potatoes to be considered hash. It used to be a way for restaurants to salvage scraps of food, leftovers from other dishes. And while it’s still a utilitarian dish that helps people use up scraps, it’s become standard dish in its own right. It’s become a breakfast staple with many variations. This is a healthy version because it features tempeh.
Originally from Indonesia, tempeh is a fermented soybean cake. Indonesians consider it a meat substitute and, in fact, it is high in protein. It makes the perfect meat alternative for vegetarian dishes, as it does in this hash recipe. Have it for breakfast, or any other meal.
Still looking at the bowl of leftover cranberry sauce in the fridge? The nice thing about cranberry sauce is that it has a pretty long shelf life (the sugar acts as a preservative). But the question is always, what do I do with it all?
Well, I’m here to help. Once again, here is my list of 12 things to do with leftover cranberry sauce.
Mix a tablespoon of it into chicken or tuna salad.
Make a salad dressing. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons to a homemade vinaigrette.
Use it as a sauce for meats, vegetables, fish, and (my favorite) vegetarian “chicken” patties.
Mix about ½ cup to 1 cup of it into cheesecake before placing it in the oven. (Just swirl it in; don’t overmix.)
Dollop some on top of slices of pound or angel cake.
Stir about 1 cup of it into a big pot of chili.
Make ketchup out of it—add it to a traditional homemade ketchup recipe.
Turn it into salsa by adding some minced jalapeno or some chili powder and cumin to it, or a chutney by adding other dried or fresh fruits, such as raisins, chopped dates, or chopped apple.
Use it as jam for toast, muffins, or bagels.
Mix about ¼ cup into muffin batter (these will be the best cranberry muffins ever!).
Use it as an ingredient in homemade ice cream.
Add it to a breakfast bread.
This recipe is a healthy loaf (which many people appreciate after Thanksgiving), using whole wheat flour and flax seeds. You can have a healthy post-Thanksgiving breakfast or snack while still enjoying holiday flavors. You don’t need a lot of sugar, either, because there are sweeteners already in the sauce. As for the flax seeds, use a clean coffee grinder to grind it until you get a coarse powder. Enjoy!
Cranberry Sauce-Walnut Bread
1 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 tablespoons flax seeds, ground 2 tablespoons sugar or maple crystals 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon allspice ¼ teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 large eggs 3/4 cup buttermilk ½ cup cranberry sauce ½ cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper so that parchment sticks out of the sides (or grease it very well).
In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, flax seeds, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt.In a small bowl, mix together eggs and buttermilk.Mix this into the flour mixture just until all dry ingredients are moistened.Stir in the walnuts. Swirl in the cranberry sauce, but don’t mix it in completely—you just want it to run through the batter.Spoon batter into loaf pan. Bake until lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out fairly clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Some moist cranberry on the toothpick is okay.
Set pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Turn loaf out onto the rack. Serve warm or cool completely.
If you have any cranberry sauce left, dollop a spoonful on each slice.
I call Jackson Heights, Queens, the United Nations because half of the world’s cultures, nationalities, and identities can be found there. And where there are ethnic enclaves, there are markets that cater to those enclaves.
This New York neighborhood is home to just about every Central and South American nation you can find on the map, and I’m always going home with some new product I’ve never seen or tried before.
My forays into various ethnic markets have introduced me to many different grains in many different forms, from rice flakes to lotus nut puffs (okay, not technically a grain) to cracked corn. This past week, I found quinoa flakes.
The package recommends putting a couple of tablespoons into a smoothie or yogurt, and I’ve read suggestions to put it in baked goods in place of flour or oats. But I figured it would make a good breakfast porridge, too. I cooked a small quantity by itself, just to see what it was like. It tasted like…well…quinoa. It even had the little signature “strings” of cooked quinoa. But I found it to be a bit blah. Kind of like baby food.
So then I blended it with rolled oats and made a half-and-half porridge. I added some maple syrup to give it some flavor, and topped it off with some chopped pecans for texture. It turned out much lighter than regular oatmeal, but because quinoa has protein, it’s filling nevertheless. And because it’s lighter, I think it would make a great breakfast for someone who is sick or has stomach issues.
Here’s the recipe for my preparation:
Quinoa-Oat Porridge
½ cup quinoa flakes
½ cup rolled oats
Pinch salt
Optional toppings:
Maple syrup
Honey
Chopped nuts
Fruit
Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a small pot. Add quinoa flakes, oat, and salt; lower heat, cover, and simmer 5 minutes, or until desired thickness. You can add more water if you want it looser.
Transfer to 2 bowls. Top with whatever toppings you like.
How many times have you heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? A million times since you were a kid, right?
I’ve never been much of a breakfast person. I can’t really eat first thing in the morning. My stomach just will not accept food when I first get up. It amazes me to know that some people roll out of bed, shuffle into their kitchens, and start eating. My routine is, I go to work, have a cup of coffee, and right around 10:30 or so, I’m ready to eat a little something. I know that’s not a great way to start my day, but it’s the best I can do.
Multigrain Morning Porridge
What I do try to do, however, is to make it a good, energy-inducing breakfast: oatmeal with walnuts or pecans; yogurt with fruit and seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, chia, and flax); whole grain bread with some kind of nut butter. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of green smoothies. The point is not only to curb hunger but to give your body and brain the proper fuel to do what it needs to do throughout the day. It appalls me to see people eating doughnuts, crullers, sugary muffins, and soda for breakfast. (I think muffins are good if they have nutritional components to them, like high-protein flours, nuts, and natural sugar alternatives.)
Breakfast porridges are a great choice and can be made with any grain you like, such as steel-cut oats, quinoa, millet, and barley. Below is my recipe for multi-grain porridge. I had the original recipe for this porridge in my collection for a while but never gave it a try. Not because it didn’t appeal to me (otherwise, I wouldn’t have clipped it), but because I so rarely make homemade porridge for breakfast. During the week, I never eat breakfast at home—I prepare whatever it is I’m going to have the night before and take it to work. On the weekends, I still don’t have time and usually just grab leftovers from the fridge. But whenever I can, I’ll make some kind of porridge.
I made some modifications to the recipe, based on what I had on hand and my personal preferences. The good thing is that this stays well in the fridge for a few days, so I can make a big batch and just reheat it.
Clockwise from upper right: Wheat berries, grits, amaranth, oats.
Mulitgrain Morning Porridge
Adapted from “Multigrain Breakfast Porridge” by
Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, Cooking Light, Oct. 2007
½ cup wheat berries, rinsed
¾ teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup steel-cut oats
3 tablespoons regular grits
¼ cup amaranth
¾ cup coconut or almond milk
¼ maple syrup
¼ cup dried blueberries or other dried fruit
½ cup chopped walnuts or other nuts
Bring 5 cups water to a boil. Add the wheat berries and salt; reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered until almost tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
Add the oats, grits, and amaranth and stir. Continue simmering until all grains are tender, about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in coconut milk, maple syrup, and fruit and cook another 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in nuts. Serve hot.
This porridge will keep for several days in the refrigerator. To reheat, stir in a little more coconut milk or water until it reaches the desired consistency. Heat over medium-low heat or in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes.
thing about cranberry sauce is that it has a pretty long shelf life (the sugar acts as a preservative). But the question is always, what do I do with it all?
In a small bowl, mix together eggs and buttermilk.
Mix this into the flour mixture just until all dry ingredients are moistened.
Stir in the walnuts. Swirl in the cranberry sauce, but don’t mix it in completely—you just want it to run through the batter.
Spoon batter into loaf pan. Bake until lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out fairly clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Some moist cranberry on the toothpick is okay.
Miz Chef 