Post by Alison Hein.

It’s almost time for the Super Bowl! This excites me for two reasons: 1) I get my husband back, and 2) my sister and I dream up an awesome game day menu with foods from both team’s hometowns. Well, I suppose there is a third cause for excitement – our very own New York Giants are once again poised to win the big game!

Janet and I are deep into our menu planning. We usually go through a ‘one from column A one from column B’ routine – a New York steakhouse chopped salad, New England clam chowder, mini-hot pastrami on rye sandwiches, lobster roll bites… well, you get the idea.

Anyway, this year I thought it would be fun to serve a Super Bowl breakfast as well. Instead of traditional dishes from each spot, I wanted to make one dish with elements from both locations. It also had to be pretty straight forward (so I have enough time to bake both cheesecake and Boston cream pie). Super Bowl Māgels, or Maple Bagels, form the perfect middle ground. A crisp, malty New York bagel adorned with a New England maple-infused schmear.

To me, maple syrup is one of nature’s wonders – honeyed, amber elixir I could eat by the spoonful. Sadly, some find it too sweet, so pour it into the cream cheese with a light hand. You will also need to refrigerate the spread for at least two hours to allow it to firm after mixing. All kinds of bagels, toasted or not, work well. My favorite is pumpernickel, but plain and cinnamon raisin are also delicious.

On game day, I plan on lingering with my māgel over a super, maple-y breakfast in bed. I’m not sure what the New York Giants will be serving that day, but I’m hopeful they’ll be eating the New England Patriots for breakfast.

Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese
2 to 3 tablespoons maple syrup
10 to 12 assorted bagels

Preparation
Remove cream cheese from refrigerator until softened. Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Pour in maple syrup and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Spoon maple cream cheese spread into a small container and refrigerate until firm, at least two hours. Serve with bagels.

Serves 10 to 12 people.

Tags: bed, Breakfast in Bed, Breakfast Recipes, Charles P. Rogers, Superbowl

Post by Alison Hein.

So far this year, I’ve made no gym or diet resolutions, and I’ve done plenty of eating. Sooner or later that has to change. In the meantime, I’m enjoying some good old-fashioned comfort food on these dreary January mornings. Waffles! Nothing warms the heart like biting into a crunchy-on-the-outside-fluffy-on-the-inside batter cake, its little grids filled to the brim with melted butter and maple syrup.

Not surprisingly, waffles originated in what is now Belgium (Think freshly whipped cream and ruby ripe berries!) in the form of wafers. Unleavened batter was poured onto wafer irons – two metal plates hinged together and attached to a long handle – then held over the fire to cook. Today, delicious variations of this simple theme abound across the globe.

Waffles are easy to make, but you will need a waffle iron and a little practice. Every iron differs and requires somewhere between ½ cup and ¾ cup of batter per waffle (mine uses ⅔ cup). You may create a few skinny waffles, or spillovers, until you get it just right. Try experimenting with different types of flour (wheat, rice, chestnut), or add some chopped fruit or nuts to the batter for variety. Kids, of course, love waffles. Any extras can be wrapped and frozen for a special weekday breakfast.

If you’re like me, and have no diet resolutions, or perhaps have given up already, try these waffles for a good old comforting breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup vegetable oil, or butter, melted and slightly cooled
½ cup sour cream
Cooking spray

Preparation
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. In separate bowl, add milk, eggs and vanilla and beat until frothy. Pour oil or melted butter into liquid mixture and stir well. Using a wooden spoon or hand mixer, gradually add liquid mixture to dry ingredients until batter is smooth. Stir in sour cream.

Spray waffle iron with cooking spray and heat to high. Pour ½ cup to ¾ cup batter into center of iron, making sure you have enough batter to evenly spread across the surface of your waffle iron. Cook until golden brown and crisp and waffle pulls away easily from iron, about 5 minutes. Serve warm with melted butter and maple syrup. Top with fruit, if you like.

Makes 4 to 5 waffles.

Tags: Breakfast in Bed, Charles P. Rogers, Children, family, Recipes, Waffles

Post by Alison Hein.

If you read my post last week, you know I recently returned fromTexaswhere I visited my sister-in-law Suzanne and her husband, Randy. What you don’t know is, besides my unfortunate cooking mishap, something really awesome occurred– Suzanne and Randy presented me with a cookbook written by Randy’s grandmother!

Elsie Druckhammer Patranella Sauer was born in 1905 in Washington-on-the-Brazos, otherwise known as “the heart ofTexas.” Randy describes her this way: “Elsie was a true Southern belle and genteel hostess who loved to cook and entertain. Then, an hour after everyone left her sophisticated cocktail party, she would put on her hunting boots and head off alone in search of wild game… and never return empty-handed.”

A true daughter of the Lone Star State, Elsie reinvented herself several times throughout her life. Her parents were German immigrants, and although Elsie had only a sixth-grade education, she later went on to secretarial school and a successful career atTexasA&MUniversity. She married twice, was widowed early, and raised a child mostly on her own. Throughout, she never lost her love of cooking.

“Cook, Eat, and be Merry with Elsie” is peppered with the German recipes of Elsie’s youth, Italian dishes from her first husband’s family, and many other ethnic specialties she learned from friends and neighbors in the melting pot of College Station, Texas.

You can be sure I will revisit Elsie’s book in the future, especially to try some of Randy’s favorites – Czech Kolaches and Texas Sheet Cake. In the meantime, here’s one of Elsie’s spicier choices, Eggs Creole. Elsie says you should serve Eggs Creole with hard rolls and fruit, which I found surprising, yet perfectly complemented this distinctive, lively dish.

Hope you enjoy Elsie’s spunky, Texas-style breakfast in bed!

Ingredients
6 eggs
Cooking spray

Red Sauce
1 small onion
1 green pepper
1 stalk celery
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
½ teaspoon Creole seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

White Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk

Topping
1 tablespoon butter, melted
½ cup bread crumbs
½ cup Parmesan cheese

Preparation
Place eggs in small heavy saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil on high heat and continue to cook eggs for 10 minutes, until hard-boiled. Cool, peel and slice. Spray baking dish with cooking spray. Place sliced eggs in dish and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To make red sauce, finely chop onion, pepper, celery and garlic. Heat olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped vegetables. Sauté about 8 to 10 minutes until soft but not browned, stirring occasionally. Add tomato sauce, Creole seasoning, salt and pepper. Simmer sauce until slightly thickened, 20 to 25 minutes. Make white sauce while red sauce simmers.

To make white sauce, melt butter in small heavy saucepan. Whisk in flour until smooth, thick paste forms. Whisk in milk and cook until slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour sauce evenly over sliced eggs. Let set for a few minutes, then pour red sauce evenly over white sauce. The white sauce becomes firm quickly, so it is easy to spread the red sauce without mixing the sauces.

To make topping, melt butter in small saucepan and remove from heat. Stir in breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese until thoroughly mixed. Spread evenly over red sauce. Place in oven and cool 20 minutes, until bread crumb topping is golden brown. Serve immediately with hard rolls and fruit on the side.

Makes 12 – 14 servings.

Tags: Breakfast, Breakfast in Bed, Breakfast Recipe, Charles P. Rogers Beds, family

Post by Alison Hein.

Sorry everyone, I’m a little short on photos this week. What I do have is a good story, a great recipe, and some words of wisdom for the new year.

We just got back from a trip to Texas, where my sister-in-law Suzanne and her husband Randy hosted a family holiday at their beautiful ranch. There were about 20 of us – from toddlers to grandparents – spending a few days visiting, playing, and eating.

I was happy to jump into Suzanne’s gorgeous kitchen to make dinner, which would end with a sweet, creamy flan. Another sister-in-law, Lindsay, offered to help. The two of us had pots cooking, beaters beating, and timers timing. Suddenly, more guests arrived, youngsters reached across the counter for gummy bears, teens searched for afternoon snacks, a bottle fell out of the refrigerator and crashed into pieces, and then, I put my fingertips into a dish containing the caramelized sugar I had just removed from the stove!

Later, reflecting on my bandaged hand and wondering how I had managed to do such a dumb thing, I realized I had lost my focus. I may have become so comfortable with flames and knives, and so confident in my cooking skills, that I was skimming across the common sense rules of basic kitchen safety:

• Never leave a cooking pot untended
• Wear an apron
• Put away potentially dangerous cooking tools immediately after use, and above all:
• Stay focused and present at all times while cooking

My husband swore he could see my fingerprints embedded in the sugary top of the flan. We all enjoyed it anyway, and I vowed to add “be focused and present” to the top of my New Year’s Resolutions.

Flan, a sweet crème caramel popular in Latin countries, is just as delicious for breakfast as it is for dessert, and there are many variations. This recipe is an easy Puerto Rican-style custard with just the right number of eggs for a smooth, sturdy texture, and enough vanilla to add a rich, aromatic flavor. If you try it, remember to be present while preparing, and later while enjoying, your sweet, creamy breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Fresh mixed berries for garnish (optional)

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350°. In a small heavy saucepan, cook the sugar over medium heat until caramel forms, stirring constantly until sugar caramelizes and becomes syrupy and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Pour the caramelized sugar into an 8-inch round mold. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy. Add the condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla. Mix well with the eggs.

Pour the mixture into the caramelized mold and cover with foil. Place in a water bath on a strong cookie sheet and bake for about 1 hour, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let the flan cool at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight before serving.

To serve, invert the flan onto a platter. Garnish top with fresh berries.

Photography courtesy of Suzanne Birdwell.

Tags: bed, Breakfast in Bed, Charles P, Children, family, Recipes

Post by Alison Hein.

My father-in-law, Neil, grew up in Philadelphia, and has fond memories of devouring sweet Sticky Buns from the Pennsylvania Dutch market at Reading Terminal. Neil can’t get Sticky Buns where he lives in Florida, so when we visit, I often pick some up at our local bakery before we travel. He says they are very good, but not quite up to Philly standards. So when we all assembled for the holidays recently and I pulled Neil’s name in the family holiday gift exchange, I thought, what better gift than homemade sticky buns?

Sticky Buns originated in Germany, where they are called Schnecken, or snails, for the coiled yeast dough. A thick sweet glaze is poured into a pan, and the coils are laid on top to rise before baking. The buns are flipped when done, and the honeyed glaze becomes the sweet, sticky topping.

If you’re used to working with bread dough this will be a snap. If not, give it a try anyway. Be prepared to spend a few hours in your kitchen, and let your dough rise in a warm quiet spot. It may seem like too much trouble, until your home fills with the aromas of freshly baked bread, toasted almonds and cinnamon, and your mouth waters in anticipation of a sweet, sticky, sinful breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
½ cup warm water
1 packet yeast
1 cup milk
¼ cup oil
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 ½ cups flour

Filling
4 tablespoons butter, melted (reserve 1 tablespoon for brushing tops of buns)
¼ cup cinnamon
½ cup raisins

Glaze
1 stick butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
¼ cup honey
½ cup sliced almonds

Preparation
Pour water into food processor. Water should be lukewarm, or slightly warmer than body temperature. Sprinkle yeast evenly on top. Set aside until yeast begins to activate, about 10 minutes.

Pour milk into heavy saucepan. Place on stove and cook over medium heat, without stirring, until milk is scalded (when little ripples begin to appear on top). Remove from heat. Add oil, sugar and salt and let cool slightly.

Lightly beat egg with milk mixture and pour into food processor. Add one cup of flour. Gently pulse on dough setting until mixed in. Add more flour, about one cup at a time, until thoroughly mixed. Gently pulse until dough is compressed and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl and form a sticky ball. Be careful not to overmix or dough will become tough.

Add about ½ teaspoon oil to a large bowl. Place dough in bowl. Turn and flip so oiled side faces up. Cover with light tea towel and set in warm, non-drafty place to rise for about one hour, until doubled in size.

Lightly grease 13×9-inch baking dish and set aside. To make glaze, combine butter, brown sugar and honey in small heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat until well blended and slightly thickened. Pour into bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle sliced almonds evenly over glaze mixture.

Punch down dough. Turn onto floured board and roll out to form a 12×18-inch rectangle. Brush dough with 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon and spread raisins evenly across dough. Roll dough into a coiled cylinder, and pinch along seam to seal. Slice cylinder into ½ inch slices. Place slices sideways, coiled centers facing up, into casserole dish. Brush with remaining tablespoon of melted butter, cover with light tea towel, and set aside to rise until doubled in size again and buns have expanded to touch each other and fill the pan, about one hour.

Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes until slightly puffed up and golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes in pan. Loosen edges of buns from side of pan with knife, and gently invert onto large platter or cutting board. Cut into 12 to 16 equal pieces.

Makes 12 – 16 sticky buns.

Tags: Breakfast, Charles P. Rogers, Children, family, Recipes, Sticky Buns